001[Music] Good afternoon. We will call the meeting to order momentarily and SPS TV will begin broadcasting. The December 10th regular board meeting is called to order at 4:17 p.m. We would like to acknowledge we are on ancestral lands and the traditional territories of the Puet Sound Coast Salish people. Miss Worth, the roll call, please. Director Briggs, >> she will be here momentarily though I did get a text message from her. >> Okay. >> Uh, Director Lavali >> present. >> Director Ms. Rahi >> present. >> Director Ranken here. Director Smith, >> I believe she's joining us online. I didn't see her online though. >> Don't see her yet. Uh, Director Song >> here. President Topp >> here. >> Director Manglesen >> here. >> Director Masudi >> here. Director Yun. >> Perfect. Thank you. Well, we have
002a packed agenda this evening. Exciting agenda. And it looks like we uh do have Katie online. Do we want to just have her unmute and say here real fast? >> Director Smith. And I I said I said Katie. Sorry. Director Smith >> here. Yay. Thank you. All right. Uh well, we have a packed agenda this evening. I'm particularly excited for the two sort of work session items, but the first thing I'm going to do is turn it over to Superintendent Podesta for his comments. >> Thank you, President Topp. I'm uh really excited about this meeting, the first regular meeting we are having with the directors who have joined us. Um, and so this is the start of many transitions that I think will be uh really beneficial to Seattle public schools and and our students.
003I'd like to celebrate a few points. Um, this is worth repeating. We talked about it at the audit committee last night that OSPI reviews our special education programs on an annual basis and um, renders an opinion of what level of support districts need. And for the first time since this uh type of review has been done, um uh Seattle's program has been at deter at at uh determined to be at level one, which means no support that we're compliant with all their parameters, all the state's parameters for how we administer our special education programs. This is a huge testament um to the improvements we've been working very hard to make in this program. So, I just really want to acknowledge that. Um in terms of acknowledgements, also our communications team uh was recognized at a
004recent um convening of professionals for their work on and earned uh multiple awards for various products that they we've had with um SPS TV and through other venues. Again, we're working hard to try to be a little bit more transparent and um uh communicate better with our constituents. And so I appreciate all the work they're doing as well. Um the other transitions going on, uh we're going to be welcoming new superintendents soon. We have new directors. We have changes in administration at both the county and the city level. And I want to thank uh the previous administrations for their work. We have a great partnership with the city. A recent opportunity we had was when SNAP benefits were delayed um for families in our community. The city and the district partnered together. um the city
005sponsored um food which we were able to distribute since we um have connections with families and again we're working handinand glove during that period to make sure that we got supplemental um food to families in need uh when their SNAP uh benefits were suspended. So I just want to recognize some you know some good news um that we uh we have a lot to look forward to. We have a lot that we've accomplished. Um, and we've got a lot on this agenda and including uh election of uh board officers which is always exciting. So, thanks everyone for being here. >> Thank you, Superintendent Podesta. We'll go to student comments next. Start with Director Yun. >> So, we are scheduled to meet with the NAACP youth council this coming Monday. We met with them for the
006first time in July to introduce them to the revisions we are making to policy 1250. This will hopefully serve um as our last meeting so they can kind of give us the okay to move forward and in hopes to bring it to the entire board in January. Um and we just wanted to make it clear that we want to respect kind of the intent they had um in mind when creating this program but also kind of our role as student board members. there needed to be a couple revisions made to ensure that intent is still served with um those revisions in mind. >> Director Masudi, um I also wanted to give a quick update on our communication plans. We've been reviewing the district social media guidelines. I'll be following those as we start posting more
007regularly from the student representative Instagram account. Our goal is to share consistent updates about board meetings, student perspectives, and upcoming initiatives. And we've also posted a short fun recap video from our WAZA conference we recently attended. >> Director Manglesson, one last thing. Last week we were able to meet with the district's web team and we hope to start reshaping our web page on the SPS website so that we can better engage with um students across the district. Um, we're going to hopefully start working on this over winter break and um and hopefully have it running by second semester or the what it will look like in the beginning. It's a work in progress. Thank you for those updates. They're all very exciting and I'm excited for all of them and I'll put a plug in
008for the recap of the WASDA conference. Um, so go to Instagram, watch watch that. Um, I also uh want to thank Director Yun for following up on the uh student cell phone policy conversation that we had uh now a few meetings ago. She provided some comments to staff and I really appreciate the the hard work she's doing to make sure that you know the solutions that we are putting forth work for students and I so thank you director Yun. Um I also want to just welcome new directors to the dis. Last week, uh, December 3rd, we swore in Director Lavali, Director Smith, um, Director Song, and, uh, swore in again, Director Ms. Rahi. Um, this evening, we will be electing new board officers. As Superintendent Podesta said, the elections will happen after the consent agenda
009and before introduced items. So, we'll take a quick break after uh public testimony um and then continue on and and go from there. Just a few updates. Director Mahi Rankin and myself along with directors elect and staff attended an event hosted by the Alliance for Education and the Southeast Seattle Education Coalition on December 2nd. It was a great opportunity to meet with community leaders and and really discuss uh communication and how SPS communicates and how we can better communicate and engage our public. So I look forward to more sort of opportunities to strengthen our relationships and partners. Um also directors elect and staff attended the Washington state school directors association and anno annual conference at the end of November. Um we had a chance to learn and learn from and build relationships with other districts
010as well as each other. Um and on our agenda was an opportunity if board directors um had any kind of comments about lessons to learn, highlights for the conference from you. Um one thing you learned, one thing that maybe made you curious um to dive deeper or one thing you'll be bringing back to your service as the board. So want to give space now for for sort of thoughts from board directors there. Director Yun. So I attended a lot of sessions but I'm just going to for the sake of time go over three of them. So the first session I attended um President Top mentioned was a cell phone policy with the Ferndale school district. Um I was very intrigued on how they went about engaging community members, students and teachers on the implementation of
011the policy and also how they went about it even after implementing the policy. They the student student board members created a video of the rules and guidelines of what this policy would entail and they also made sure to engage with um all community members before implementing it. So I sent some of those artifacts to the board directors and also um staff who are involved in this. So I'm glad um the WASDA session was able to provide some of those insights. Um the second session I attended was with the Auburn School District. Um this was the I use it as a quote, but the lit literal title of the session is school safety is community safety. And that really spoke to me because when a school is safe and kids are safe and students are safe,
012um the entire community is safe. And that was kind of the vision they had. They specifically talked about the different types of safety like mental health safety, physical safety, and how they um implemented ensuring um policies to ensure those different types of safeties were um felt by students. And I just found it very intriguing intriguing again how they um specifically defined the different types of safeties and also came to recognize that safety can mean something very different to each person each community. So um I hope we also like take that into consideration when we like define terms at the board level that it could be up to people's interpretation. So making sure when we want to convey a certain message we're defining those terms. And the last session um session I'd like to emphasize is
013um a session I attended with the other student board directors and it was the first um session we attended called bridging the gap. This was a very um physical activity. There was um a lot of engaging and I I actually took a note from a quote from like Julie Shanks. I apologize I don't remember like her title but her quote was if we don't take time to build the culture we want we will be drained by the culture we have and this quote really spoke to me as we have new district leadership coming in and we have a new board so and I know um we want to see a lot of systemic change within this district and I really believe that if we change the culture first and we show that by um kind
014of the leadership positions we in we could really see the systemic change happening at a greater level. So I just wanted to share um the emphasis they had on culture. And the other thing was the culture pyramid. Sorry I'm taking a long time but basically at the top of the pyramid there was like success and then went down with courageous conversations um engagement, trust and relationships. And each time you um accomplish one of them you would go above um each level of the pyramid. So once you kind of build relationships, you can build trust, then you could engage, then you could have those courageous conversations and then you have success. So that's just something I wanted to emphasize and share with everyone. Thank you. >> Oh, thank you, director. You and other directors, a highlight
015for the conference, something you learned, something you're curious about or want to bring back to your board service. Director Ranken, >> um, I'm not going to answer them quite the way they're they're phrased, if that's okay. Um so part of the reason and thank you for making the time to have this conversation. Part of the reason I I asked for this is because um you know it's it's this is our first opportunity as as new newly elected and already elected board members to um access professional development for board members. And um we had six of seven of our board members at board boot camp which um was I had I not sure how many people said oh my gosh Liza you've got you've got everybody here and I said yeah yeah it's actually um extremely
016valuable opportunity and and Seattle I think has been isolating itself in ways that have been harmful for both our system and also just the way the board functions. Um so I was really excited that uh people were able to attend. Um another piece for transparency and stewardship of funds is that it is taxpayer dollars that send us to attend the conference and reserve that space. And so I think you know we need to reflect back to the community what we're doing with their investment and um how we're representing the community. And so um I attended all I think four four days um board boot camp. Um there's also a legislative conference or a legal conference which is really valuable but it was happening at the same time of board boot camp where they go over
017um different issues that are happening at the federal level and state level. Um, and then the breakout work sessions are such an amazing opportunity to connect with other board directors, but also to see where other districts are putting into place, best practices that that we can learn from because um there's a lot of great things happening in Seattle and we're very honestly very far behind a lot of the state in terms of just practices and superintendent board relations and operations. Um, and so any chance that we have to to access that information is valuable. And um, I think my I would love to know what uh, if anything surprised people. That would be something I would love to know from directors. Um, and uh, yeah, no, I think my my takeaway and what's exciting is
018always being in community with other nobody can really understand what a board director does except for another board director. Um, and and to kind of know that we're not doing this alone is always um, for me the most valuable thing of participating in some of those types of conferences. So, I'm really glad we were able to go. >> Thank you, Director Ranken. others. Okay. Oh, sorry, Director Manglesson. >> Um, yeah, I just wanted to say that I was I was really grateful to get to go. I think it was a really cool experience and being able to be with uh other people who were interested in the things that us as student board members were interested in and getting to kind of build that network of other students especially um and adults. But um it
019was really cool to be able to attend a a bunch of sessions. But um two that I really was I felt I felt very focused in and was really interested in was one that I attended was the science of reading which was um really cool to explore kind of um how like intentional reading curriculum especially for um younger students um can be addressed and um and I I'm definitely curious and kind of exploring that in the future. And I think that was um very impactful. But um the other one that I was incredibly interested in was the CT and arts education um session that director Rankin and I um got to attend. Um Gail Frasier is the Seattle public school's arts program manager spoke at this which and it was awesome to get to communicate
020with her. Um, as someone who's participated in skills center, um, and I'm incredibly interested in, uh, advocating for CTE, career technical education, and arts education. Um, it was really exciting to learn about what it will slash can look like in the future and about like the creative economy, creative careers. Um, and so really getting to explore how other districts and programs address that was was great and I was grateful to be there for it. Thank you so much for sharing others. All right, then we are going to move on to our committee and liaison reports. Um I will quickly start. I've stepped into and into serve as the head start liaison until new liaison is appointed. There's sort of this weird in between stage. Um, I just want to thank Whitney Smith for meeting with
021me last week to walk through the program and the responsibilities of the role. Just head start is an essential part of our early learning system. And this liaison work really matters. It's ensured ensures we're aligned accountable and supporting some of our youngest learners. And with that though, I'm also pleased to share that we have been approved for our Head Start grant which will provide funding retroactive to November 1st. This is an important milestone for the program and for the thousands of families who rely on those services. So looking to other board committee chair chairs or liaison for reports. Director Ranken. Um so for a legislative update uh you know there's uh simultaneously a lot and not very much happening at the federal level but uh the the biggest issue right now is that the elementary
022and secondary education are being moved to department of labor which the talking points of the administration are to streamline and streamline and reduce bureaucracy. Um it's actually going to do the opposite. it's going to increase bureaucracy. Um because the Department of Education can't be closed and is still responsible for oversight of these programs. Um what you know is actually happening is they're trying to just wear down Congress until they agree to close the department, which hopefully won't happen, but that's that's what's happening. Um and uh it's basically being peacemeal out to all sorts of other other departments. I have a chart that I can share if folks haven't seen it or would like it um that I won't go over now, but um right now there is a current budget extension that expires January 30th
023at which point there could be another government shutdown. I think people in general on all sides of the aisle really um didn't get a whole lot out of the shutdown that we just had. So, my sense is people will be trying to avoid a shutdown again, but there's a lot of um negotiating right now on um agreeing on outstanding funding bills for the current fiscal year and for uh the next fiscal year. Um uh I was on a call with some board members from other districts across the country and you know we're seeing um some issues around immigrant students um and families feeling unsafe. It's really ramping up um pretty significantly uh in some some of the eastern part of the country. It seems like even more than here. Um Boston and Broward County are
024both noticing that their enrollment is actually being impacted by families choosing to leave the United States because they just can't take the stress anymore and the fear of potentially being targeted. Um which is really just scary and horrible. Um there is some movement at the federal level to require districts to provide proof of citizenship of students which is also really scary. Um there is a stay of litigation right now to prevent that from happening, but that is something that's being attempted. And so I would ask um Superintendent Podesta and incoming um Superintendent Shelner uh if we might take this as take an opportunity to remind parents that they do not have to provide social security numbers and to make sure that our systems are not asking for people to provide social security numbers for identification.
025um as that that's one way that um this information is being accessed. Um there are cities in Florida also that have signed cooperative agreements with ICE and ICE is a really visible present around schools and and um really uh folks are struggling to support families and give them assurance when their fears are really grounded in very legitimate uh dangerous harmful threatening presence of of these things. their schools. They're try working really hard to keep their schools safe, but they also also know that between home and school is not safe for all families. Um, so that's something that we're dealing with somewhat and I I only expect to increase. Um, and hopefully we can keep continue to keep connecting with folks on the other side of the country and and just stay stay in community and
026communication to to make sure that our students and families are protected. Um the state level uh there's lots of preparation happening for the next for the 2026 session. Um Olympia was really busy in the last week or so. There's people folks are meeting in committee. There have been bills pre-filed. They're prepping for next session. Um the session starts in January. It's a short session as we know. Uh it'll likely be pretty challenging. Um and uh so two opportunities for us as a board is uh there's a the annual WASA WASDA WSBO legislative conference January 9th and 10th. Um anyone anyone interested should attend particularly if there's interest in in serving as the board's legislative liaison at some point. um that position is really about engaging with WASDA and collective advocacy across the state and the
027conference is a great opportunity to um connect with other board directors. Um it's not limited for sure. Anybody can go. Um I'm registered already as a WASDA board member. They register me, but um folks who want to go should definitely contact um Julia and Carrie to see about going. It's in SeaTac, so you don't have to stay overnight. um just drive down both days or one day. Um and student board members can come too. Uh so talk to the board office. Also in January, uh Cliff Traceman, our district's lobbyist and um Julia from the board office who leads our legisl legislative work um will be providing the board with a kind of a mini training about um legislative session. It'll be a couple days, like two days into legislative session, but um there are guidelines
028and and legal restrictions around what board directors can and can't do during session. And so we'll just all have that training together um to make sure that everyone's supported and can advocate effectively. And uh um yes uh we have um recommended that the the legislative liaison position which is two years shift to align with the bienium um and that we can we'll need to further discuss that and other liaison and committee positions uh at the retreat in February which leads me into the policy committee work um policy committee um update our committee will be closing out the current phase of work. We had two deliverables um that will be uh we had a meeting scheduled for this month. It will be held in January. um to close out those recommendations to provide to the board
029about uh future and ongoing work and policy. um policy is the law of the district and without a clear and regular mechanism for the board to provide oversight and receive reporting and regular updates from the superintendent um we we have the sort of the messy situation that we've been occupying for some time where um I give one really hey Evan one um example of where a lack of a structure oh sorry so let me back up for Second, our committee will be providing recommendations on a regular cadence of reviewing policies um both from the superintendent and of the board. Um and an example is uh highly capable services. There's a policy aligned with state law that requires the district provide highly capable services. Um we as a board struggled for many years especially after the
030the phase out of proposed phase out of the cohort to get information about what was actually happening what services were were being provided individual board members from the dis can demand things ask for things but unless the policy is updated and complying with law and directs reporting to the board it's not going to happen in any kind of regular way and what um uh without the mechanism and without also everybody on the board understanding what authority we actually do have um we don't have that. So I actually had to fight with staff and then fight with our legal team to bring forward recommendations that are aligned with what the state law requires. We're required to be provided with certain pieces of information by law. we were not getting those. Our legal department told me that
031I would be creating a legal liability by pointing out that we weren't getting this information. And this is the problem when the board doesn't have the authority it's meant to have through policy. And this is why the policy committee work is really important. If we're not keeping our policies updated and holding each other and the district accountable for following them, we end up with a district driven by legal complaints and concerns and the contract with SEA and that's it. So the policy committee work is not my special fund project. It's actually the work of the board. It needs to be really transparent. it needs to be really clear how we do this job for ourselves, for the district, for our students, for our community. And so that is the set of recommendations that um we'll
032be closing out on to bring to the full board. And then I really look forward to um working with the incoming superintendent and the full board in public meetings about how we fulfill the obligations of of the board both individually and um as a body. Uh the end >> other committee and liaison reports. Director Ms. Rahi. >> This is not a committee or leazison report, but it's a Joe Misrai report. Um I don't know where else this would fit in though. Um uh at the last meeting, uh which feels like six months ago now. uh we had a a presentation on the cell phone policy and on AI and I was cut off at the end because I was on the computer and couldn't get in because of a technological problem ironically enough uh with
033the conversation we were having and I just wanted to uh just offer very quickly my AI comments and I said I'm going to do this at the next meeting not thinking the next meeting would feel like a lifetime um but okay so uh just wanted to say we had this presentation on AI and I feel like all the comments that we had were rightfully very much lifting up the concerns we have around AI which I agree with all those and um I don't disagree with anything that anyone said. I feel like there is another half to that though that does need to be said uh which is why I want to jump in which is and with all those concerns in mind we do have some pressure and imperative to be talking about these things
034that are going to deeply impact the future of of the students in our schools right now. When we did the engagement sessions around the um the uh strategic plan, one of the things we heard most loudly was that folks want their students to leave SPS ready for the world that they're going to face. And those are oftentimes the aspects of the world that we like and some that we may be worried about like AI. Um and I think about in my work, you know, we I think a lot about the future of work. I'm not a tech person. We are often fighting against new technologies but um also aware of the reality that whether you're someone who works in an office or lifts a hammer for a living your job is going to be impacted
035by AI in some capacity. So, uh, I wanted to just maybe reflect a little bit of the positive in that I felt like, um, it's clear that district staff is doing a lot of thinking around how to introduce technologies, uh, in a way that, um, recognizes that they are dangerous and recognizing that we are at this precipice of we all don't know how to protect ourselves and our kids from these new technologies and yet we also have to be engaging with them. And I think that um, I think back to when I was a kid and someone said like, "Hey, computers might be important to this kid's future." and they made me play Oregon Trail and that probably helped me at some level and I think about my wife when she was teaching English um
036she's a principal now but uh you know they had um there's a a lot of debate around you know how Wikipedia can be used and is this dangerous because anyone can edit Wikipedia is it a source that people can actually use and she had to teach a curriculum she got to teach a curriculum in her class about how to responsibly use Wikipedia and how to know if something was edited rightly or wrongly and how to look at sources and so I just think that it's it's it opening up an interesting conversation about how we like I said I also don't agree with anything that was said about the challenges of AI and the dangers of it too. So I think it's is an interesting conversation around um how we both protect and also engage with
037this tool and I think I hope that the conversation that we had is not a oneanddone but that we're having more conversations and getting constant updates about this and able to ask lots of questions. Uh so hopefully this is something that's maybe not a perpetual agenda item but but is on the agenda um and that we're engaging with community about. Um, but more than anything, I just also wanted to um express appreciation because uh even with all the frustrations and concerns we have around AI, it's clear that there was a lot of work put into that presentation and a lot of work to think about our approach to it. So, um, wanted to show my appreciation for district staff in that. That's it. >> Thank you, Director Miss Rahi. I I agree. I think staff
038did started to think about a framework for how we're going to have this difficult conversation around AI and generative AI. other board directors committee or liaison reports. >> I have a committee question. >> Is that okay? >> Yeah. Is it? Yeah. I >> Yeah. I'm just wondering if the I got while I was out of town and just getting back like literally 15 minutes ago, I got um a text saying that the uh audit committee meeting that was supposed to happen yesterday. Did that end up happening? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Did you go to it, Jen? Oh, thank you. I I chaired it on your behalf. Sorry, can I go? >> Thank you. >> I chaired it on on on your behalf and then director Misrai was also not able to attend and so
039then thankfully um director Lavali was able to step in so we didn't have to reschedule it because it does involve a lot of people and it was a great >> meeting. Um highly recommend folks look back at the the notes and reports from there. Um some it was exciting to see some good work moving forward and we talked a little bit about um again a conversation for the full board trying to bring in more as as we've been talking about trying to bring in more public adviserss. >> Yeah. >> And how we can kind of expand that work and bring in more experts to support. >> Yeah. >> Um the audit. Okay. But it was a good meeting. >> Director Lavali. >> Yeah. I want to go back um Liza. I know in your legislative
040report you were talking about the impact of ICE on some of the schools and some of the laws that were going on. It has been impacting our communities as well. So I do want to bring light to that. I know there's a protest outside um shedding light to that. And so it has been deeply affecting our immigrant communities here on a on a very regular basis. So it's it's it might be happening even more in some other places. And it is it is deeply impacting children and attendance in some of our South Seattle schools >> and and in other districts too >> others. >> So we have about roughly 10 minutes till public testimony. So we're going to take a 10-minute recess. Um I kind of looked at the agenda and we can't move forward
041on anything else till after public testimony. So, we're going to take a 10-minute break. We will reconvene at 5:00 pm for public testimony. And we're going to start directly at 5:00 PM. So, come back like at 4:59 so we can roll right into it. Thank you. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] Grand [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat [Music] up here. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Everybody Heat. Heat. [Music] We have it is 5:00 pm, so we're going to reconvene here. Uh we're going to go into public testimony. Thank you all for being here this evening to provide public testimony. Um, board policy, 1400 provides our rules for testimony. The board expects the same standard of civility for those participating in public
042comment as the board expects of itself. Um, as board president, I have the right and I will interrupt any speaker who fails to observe a standard of civility required by our procedure. A speaker who fails to comply with these guidelines or who otherwise substantially disrupts the orderly operation of this meeting may be asked to leave the meeting. I'm going to pass it off to staff now to summarize a few additional points and then to start reading off the list of testimony speakers. Thank you, President Topp. The board will take testimony from those on the testimony list and we'll go to the waiting list if we are missing speakers. Please wait until called to approach the podium or unmute and only one person may speak at a time. The board's procedure provides that you that most
043of your time should be spent on the topic you signed up to speak to. Speakers may see their time to another person, but this must be done when the listed speaker is called. Time isn't restarted and the total time remains 2 minutes. The timer at the podium will indicate the time remaining for speakers here in person. When the light is red and a beep sounds, it means that your time has been exhausted and the next speaker will be called. For those joining by phone, the beep will be the indication that time has been exhausted. Moving into our list now, for those joining by phone, please press star six to unmute on the conference line. And for everyone, please do reintroduce yourself when called as I may miss some pronunciations as we move through today's list.
044The first speaker is Raiden Colberg. Hello, my name is Raiden Colberg and I seed my time to Hania. Hello everybody, my name is Hana and I am going to be reading a statement um written in Spanish by a woman named Darlene who is the mother of um children that are that go to Seattle public schools. Academy. Beach public schools. Thank you. Oh, hang on just a moment. We're going to translate that real fast. We want to make sure the important message >> is translated. Oh, >> perfect. Thank you. >> Okay. My name is Darl Gadoron and my children are Hefer Di and Yam. We came to this country in August 2021, fleeing my country, Guatemala, because of death threats against me and my children if I testified against the people who robbed me of my
045motorcycle at gunpoint months earlier. Fearing they would carry out uh their threats, I decided to come to this country seeking asylum. We came here to provide for my family and if they are deported, all that work will be for nothing. But unfortunately, my asylum request was denied because it was considered just another criminal case in my country and my two children and I received a deportation order. We are afraid to return to our country and that those people were carrying out their threats knowing we are back home and alone. It is just me and my children. I don't have any family to support me. That is why we are asking Rainer Beach community, the Seattle school district, and everyone who can help to stop the deportation of me and my two children. I am not
046the only mother going through the situation. And it is necessary that the community not only knows this is happening, but also that those can use their positions in society to put an end to the separation of communities and families. It would affect us immensely emotionally to think about the risk we would have to face living alone. My children have their communities and friends at school whom they don't want to be separated from. And as a mother, I have sacrificed so much to raise them through the situation. I am appealing to everyone who feels moved to do everything possible to stop my family's deportation. Thank you. [Applause] The next speaker is Caitlyn Murdoch. Hi, >> hear you. We can hear you. >> This is the third time that I'm testifying about an enrollment department that pushes
047half-baked policies before seeking the required feedback of the board under policy 6010 and in blatant disregard of guardrail 4, requiring community engagement before making decisions. To quote Superintendent Sheliner, "The first thing is to actually listen to people and have plans. I've seen people present an idea with no plan behind it. That's not okay. You can't bring a half-baked idea to the board or the community. End quote. A year ago, the assistant superintendent of school operations proposed closing all option schools. Six months later, she admitted to a hidden policy of not moving weight lists, which for years artificially decreased enrollment. Just last March, six option schools lost assistant principal support at the same time, a highly improbable result. Superintendent Podesta was made aware in May, yet families were still turned away. Facing public outcry, weight lists
048were moved unevenly in the summer. Today, we are asked to trust the same people without them showing any work of the impact that this has on students and staff. The superintendent stated that weight lists will be moved to 85% of capacity. Why are we reserving room at option schools when there is no other way to enroll than to go through the choice process? Is the answer because a cap would keep the same option schools just under the threshold for the AP support. they need. Is it because the enrollment department cannot guarantee less than a 15% error rate in enrollment projections? 20% of families left on weight list leave the district. In 2024, if SPS had retained these students, nearly $12 million would have been added to the budget. Dissolving weight lists on May 31st will
049not lead to increased stability. Families inevitably leave the district in the summer along with their funding. Without backfilling their seats with active weight lists, money will again be left on the table. The true problems in need of fixing are inaccurate enrollment rejections, budgets essentially fixed six months before the start of the year, and unaccountable weighted staffing standards. Without addressing these root causes, an artificial deadline will exacerbate the problem it is meant to fix. As Superintendent Schelinger observed, trust requires presence, transparency, and genuine engagement. Seattle deserves that. End quote. Tonight, please direct district staff to allow schools to enroll to their full capacity, to keep weight lists operating through the first week of school, and to stop making changes to enrollment without first bringing a portfolio of researchbased and impact assessed decisions to the board and
050community. Seattle's children deserve that. Thank you. The next speaker is Isara Jimenez Guera. >> Hi, I'm Isa Himenez Gera and I'm going to seed my time to Ashley. I'm reading on behalf of Mr. G. Uh Dylan's teacher. Uh my name is Tilman Geel. I'm an educator in Seattle public schools and currently teach fourth grade at Dunlap Elementary in Reineer Beach. Dylan is my fourth grade class. He is kind, compassionate, respectful, and a bright child. I only have known Dylan since the start of the school year, but it does not take long to see what a great kid Dylan is. He has many friends at school and is familiar with our staff. He loves to play soccer and makes jokes with his classmates. Dylan clearly has roots in the community and has been at Dunlap since
051kindergarten. Dylan and his family are immigrants from Guatemala. Both of his parents work hard to support their three children. The youngest being their two-year-old daughter who Dylan helps take care of. Dylan's family is under considerable considerable stress and hardship due to due to their current situation. I see every day in the classroom for Dylan. I see this every day in the classroom for Dylan. Students come to school to learn, to make friends, to feel joy, to feel safe. However, we know that without basic needs and security met outside of school, it can be extremely difficult difficult for students to thrive. Dylan has mentioned to me on several occasions how afraid and sad he is due to the threat of deportation. I see how stressed he is and how the situation occupies his mind at all
052times. I ask you, put yourself in his shoes, a 10-year-old child of immigrants whose family is looking at being looking at being torn apart. This is a traumatic and devastating experience for anyone, especially a child. I have held a meeting amongst my students to discuss the potential of losing Dylan and his family. I asked students to reflect and express their feelings as well as show support for a friend and classmate. Many of my students, as well as myself, are children of immigrants. They are upset, confused, saddened, and disturbed at what is happening to Dylan's family. As a teacher, I'm trying my best to navigate the situation. and I would be lying to say that this didn't affect me as well. I care for all my students and want to see the best for them. It
053hurts me to think of the effect that this deportation could have on Dylan and other students and families. Currently, we are doing our best to stay strong for Dylan and to show support for his family. My class recently took our first field trip to Carke Park. Students were laughing and smiling. Dylan was amongst this joy and I wish I could bring this experience every day. Thank you for your time. [Applause] The next speaker is Genevieve. Good evening board members. My name is Genevie Walker and I'm a South Seattle mother of two children. My eldest daughter started kindergarten at Southshore this year. I'd like to share an experience and ask this board to consider their role in preventing similar events from happening to other families. On September 15th, after school pickup, my two girls and I
054were enjoying our new school community at the upper playground by Southshore when two shot when several shots rang out. I looked up to see a shooter and two others in the playfields 100 steps from us. I grabbed my youngest and we dropped down as I yelled for my kindergartenner to get down from the climbing structure. The shooter unloaded their gun, not injuring anyone, and then ran away. The shooter was clearly a child, a teenager. Then we heard another child cry out, "I'm never coming back to this park," he said. "The same thing happened last week." Later, I learned that this was the third instance of shots fired at the playfields this month, that month, during daylight, and while families were present. Why did a child have a gun? What made them feel so unsafe that
055they chose to fire it near young children? Many in our community believe the violent events in September were partly caused by Seattle public schools decision to move the inter agency school from Columbia City to the South Lake campus. We feel this move happened without meaningful community input, without adequate notice to students and families, and without a clear public explanation. We still do not understand why students were placed at a campus in a neighborhood unsafe for them, one where many now feel they must defend themselves or avoid school entirely. We don't know and can't know whether the September 15th shooter was an inter agency student or even involved in this manufactured turf war. And yet, it is horrifying to learn that SPS's reszoning decision has created unsafe conditions for many and therefore all of the 1600
056students that attend school in the Reineer Henderson corridor. I ask that the board review the reasonzoning procedures with attention to procedural justice and explain how they will prevent similar failures in the future. Families should clearly understand how to engage with the board to protect their safety. I also urge the board to acknowledge this resoning as a serious mistake to offer solace for the communities affected. Thank you for your time in public service. >> The next speaker is Evan Peterson. >> Hi, my name is Liz. I'm Evan's mom and this is Evan. I'm gonna read on her behalf, but these are her words. Um, hi. My name is Evan. I'm seven years old and in second grade at Southshore. I experienced gun violence at the park by our house last year. People started shooting and my
057mom was holding me. I thought we were going to die. We saw the police and I thought that they were the bad guys because I saw their guns out and it made me very afraid. After we were done hiding, we ran with our f friends to their house until it was safe to go home. Now I feel worried all the time. I feel scared. If you want to do it, you can too. I feel scared that someone might break in or that somebody will knock on the door and then we will answer and then they will shoot a gun. At school, I feel afraid being on the playground and nervous there will be a shelter in place or a lockdown where you have to shut everything and you can't talk. You have to be silent
058and you have to lock all the doors. I go to Kids Co. after school and we don't go on the big playground at school anymore. It's because if a shooting happened, it would be harder to run inside in time. A lot of times the gate to our school playground is locked, so we have to play in the area for the little kids in front of the school instead. I wish we could have a bigger area to play in because it's small and kind of boring. It is closer to the door, though, so I'm glad we would be able to make it back inside if we needed to shelter in place. I wish the grown-ups could make it better, like make the schools a little more safer. Maybe there could be people that go outside once
059in a while and just make sure that nobody's who's coming around with guns. Maybe there could be cameras on the trees around the school and not just outside inside too so they could see if anyone's trying to sneak in or anything. We don't go back to the park anymore. I'm afraid that it might happen again. Like I know it probably won't, but I'm not really sure. I'm also afraid to be at school sometimes without my mom. I have a lot of stomach aches and headaches now. Sometimes I bite my nails until they bleed. I'm afraid to sleep by myself at night. I think my body is trying to tell me something. My mom says the more we talk about this, the more people will listen to help figure out how to help us feel safe.
060She tells me I'm brave, even if I don't believe her. Sometimes I don't want to just feel safe. I want to know that I'm safe. My friends and I deserve to be safe going to school, the park, the store, walking places, anywhere. Please do everything you can to help us. Thank you for your time and allowing me to speak, and thank you for letting me say what I think and what I feel. Thank you. [Applause] Next speaker is Enrio Abadesco. My name is Enrico Aaresco. Um, I see my time to Annabelle Andre. Good evening. Safety is clearly on top of mind of our communities. I am reading a statement by Will Depasoy, a third, fourth, and fifth split classroom teacher at Dunlap. A couple of months ago, our class started missing a student. Victor was
061with me the previous year as a fourth grader, a quiet, shy boy from Mexico, interested in getting better at English and learning. He made solid friends with his classmates, particularly two other boys who did a lot of translating for him and for me in my teaching to Victor. At family conference, his mom showed care and concern about his progress, and it would be her or his older brother from high school, diligently picking him up at the end of the day. I remember how Victor would do his very best to sit up close with his notebook with his buddies on either side while I taught, trying to listen and copy notes. He'd bring home many books, especially on geography. and he was always volunteering his recess time to take care of our salmon aquarium with water
062changes or taking care of our school garden by getting the hoses linked up and the spigot turned on to water our vegetables. He eagerly went on all of our field trips whether it was watching the nutcracker snowshoeing in the cascades or just taking a walk around the neighborhood. In our classroom studies of Washington geography and in his everyday experiences with other classmates from around the world, Victor was taking care of and making this country his home. I asked to continue him teaching him in fifth grade as I could see his confidence in English was growing over the course of a year. According to our Spanish-sp speaking staff, his father was lost to violence in Guedo, Mexico. And the family, especially the boys, were threatened by gangs often enough that they had to leave to their
063for their safety. They were not criminals and no threat to any of us at this current administration tries to paint them as. In fact, they were a welcome addition to our network of families that support our school. We as staff looked forward to all the progress he would make this year as he got ready for middle school. And then in October, all of a sudden, he was gone. Monday, then Tuesday, until I texted Thursday and found the mother texting back from Mexico. She had responsibly gone to her asylum hearing and was declined. and so had to make the difficult choice to return to a place where safety for her and her kids was not guaranteed. I am unsure about the legal counsel or any support she had during the hearing, but the consequence was an
064empty desk in my class for that week and a loss of motivated student and great kid. His entire class, especially his two buddies, were visibly upset and we wrote goodbye notes while our staff tried and find ways to keep the lines of communication alive. We mourn for the times Victor's smile would appear when he learned how to say something in English or when he was with us doing something fun like releasing our salmon he helps raise into a lake wash into Lake Washington. If he had stayed, we know he would have been the future neighbor you'd want to have around. We wish he and his mom would have had a stronger chance. And now we want every student we have at Dunlap like Dylan to know that they don't have to face a deportation hearing
065along any alone anymore. Victor's family deportation back then in October leads us to protect Dylan now and to keep any student, no matter who the administration targets next, free from fear while learning in our classrooms in the Seattle public schools. Defend Darlene and her family. [Applause] The next speaker is Abe Diaz. My name is Abe Diaz and I'm seating my time to Megan Lee. Okay. >> My name is Megan Lee and I have been a teacher at Seattle public schools for eight years. I was also the first grade teacher of the student whose family is facing deportation orders. My school Dunlop Elementary has a transitional population where students frequently come and go for a variety of reasons. However, as a direct impact of attacks on immigrant rights and an increase in visible ICE commu activity
066in our region, I've seen more drastic changes within our school community. Today, I'd like to share my experiences of the impacts on my six and seven-year-old students. Last year, two of my students missed weeks and weeks of school without notice. Their attendance became spotty. Although the girls loved school and didn't live far from campus, it became clear that their families were struggling to feel safe bringing them to and from school. Another student never came back to school and we found out later that her mom moved them out of the country, one of several self-deportations at her school that year. Her friends made her belated goodbye cards and asked when she could visit. This year, the office got a call from one of my students parents. She said they were moving and after some probing added
067that they were moving back to Colombia. This time we did have enough notice to say goodbye, take pictures together, and give hugs. My class had time to prepare for the change in our classroom community. Her mom asked if we had an online school option so her daughter could stay in touch with her classmates and teacher. It's hard when a student leaves my class. Each student adds to the energy level, the personality, and the joy in our community. It's devastating when they leave without notice. Even more so when I know it wasn't their family's choice. I take their names down from our line order list, their self-portrait from the bulletin board and their cubby labels. I adjust rug partners and clear out their desks. I remind their classmates that they've left the school even though they'll
068always be a part of our Dunlot community. It's a true loss and one that could be mitigated if families felt supported by our school and district and if they felt safe enough to ask us for help. Dunlap is not the only school facing these losses. We need to come together and make our support visible. I'm calling on the board and district to condemn ICE presence in our communities. Thank you. The next speaker is Chai Cornita. Hello, my name is Chi Cornetta. Um, that was really heartbreaking listening to all of your stories. Thank you for coming and sharing. Uh, I'm actually here tonight to talk about enrollment. I'm a parent of two SPS elementary kids who are here tonight. Uh, but first, I'd like to welcome all of the new board members. Um, I and many
069other parents feel very optimistic that SPS is headed in the right direction with this new new leadership under the new board and the new superintendent, Ben Shiner. I thank you also to Drs Paula Montgomery and Drs. Torres Morales um for truly engaging with the community before making meaningful changes to highly capable services. I really appreciate people's willingness to talk to me at SPS. Everyone from teachers to principles and even the superintendent himself. Um I I've met many families who have left SPS. Everyone from sorry I've met many many families who who left SPS because they felt unheard and I told them that in my experience it feels different this time. Um I think this time it feels like it's getting better. maintaining good communication um and actually following through are key to rebuilding trust with
070the community and making things better for students. This fall I went to several high highly uh capable engagement sessions and I was impressed by the turnout. Over 100 people at some of them or most of them actually. Uh so I went to the enrollment info session on November 13th and I I was surprised to see that I was only one of two families there and I was like what happened? You know did SPS reach out to existing families and importantly to interested families. Um SPS is facing a financial crisis because we've lost so many students to private schools, um charter schools, home schools, and neighboring school districts. Many of these students still live in Seattle and we can bring them back, but we need to tell them about all the great educational opportunities that SPS
071has to offer and all the new deadlines that they need to meet in order to access these choices. Um I sent a question to the enrollment department and the response was like, uh families can get their questions answered by going to an enrollment session. And I was like, but what if they don't know about the sessions or they have to work and they can't make it? How is that equitable? So, I understand that things evolve and change with each session as new questions come up, but it would be nice if all of this information is easy to find and available. Um, changes need to be need to be communicated clearly and impromptly to all families, especially if SPS wants to grow enrollment rather than shrink it. Thank you. >> The next speaker is Linda Rigger.
072Hello, my name is Linda Regore and I will be reading a teacher's testimony from Dumb Elementary. My name is Christa Short. I'm a multilingual teacher at two schools in South Seattle. Uh my students are children of immigrants who have experienced immigration themselves, oftentimes under extremely traumatic circumstances. Now, as ICE targets people in the streets all over Seattle, many of these families are feeling that this new home that they have may that they have made is no longer safe, regardless of their immigration status. At several schools across the district, families have reported to their children's teachers that they no longer feel safe in this country and must make the hard decision to leave. Other families have shared that they have received summons to immigration court and are worried they won't return home from such appointments. Some
073families have decided to self-deport rather than risk detention. And then there are students and families that just disappear, leaving their teachers and classmates wondering if they are safe. For those that stay, there are many families who don't feel safe bringing their kids to school when they know ICE may be active in their neighborhood. This results in accumulating absences and missed learning for our students uh furthers from education justice. As educators, one of our highest priorities is ensuring the safety of our students. And in these times, that must include the safety of their families as well. We are calling on Seattle public schools to do better to support our families and ensure their safety in our community. Seattle public schools should have protocols to in place to alert families to any active threats that may impact
074their ability to either drop off or pick up their students from school. Additionally, establishing onem safe zones around every district building would further allow families to feel secure bringing their children to school and reduce absences for these students. The district should also do more to connect families to resources about how they can keep themselves safe or where they may be able to find immigration and legal support. Furthermore, the district needs to communicate more clearly and accessibly with their families about the steps that they are taking to keep them and their children safe in the light of the current political environment. This means communicating clearly and directly to families in their home language, not through emailed links to web pages full of legal ease. We are calling on you to help Darlin's family and the many
075families like her like hers across the district. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Dr. Torres Morales. Uh, the next speaker is Gloria Ramirez. >> Gloria Ramirez. >> You'll need to press star six to unmute. >> Okay, we are going to move on to the next speaker. but we will come back if we see your number. >> Thank you. >> The next speaker is Chris Jkins. My name is Chris Jenkins, Box 84063, Seattle 98124. My compliments to all the speakers today. You're doing a very nice job. Thank you very much for being here. On newly elected schoolboard directors, thanks for being on the board. Please improve board oversight. Ask that items be removed from the consent agenda for district staff to first give an overview on the new superintendent. Three points. Number one, does the board want
076the new superintendent to produce results for Seattle that match the results in his current district? Number two, in the new superintendent's current district, according to the 2023 24 Lancing, Michigan annual education report, 12 out of 24 schools, 50% had a per status whose performance is in the lowest 5% of all schools in the state. Number three, I do not find this inspiring. Was this information previously withheld from the board on the $ 1.7 million Rogers Elementary construction change order? Please vote no. Save this money and instead provide $68,000 a year to the general fund budget. On the $2.2 million Microsoft contract, the board report notes that the action enables use of generative AI. Please have a public discussion and vote no on progress monitoring. The district is gathering data using computer adaptive tests. I oppose
077this approach. Results are less comparable. It also asks harder questions until students fail. That harms learning. Thank you very much. The next speaker is Manuela Sie. Wastardes. My name is Manuel Sly. I am a Latino community advocate and student safety chair for Seattle Council BTSA. I want to welcome the newly elected schoolboard members. I look forward to true collaboration with between the the school board and communities across the district. I'm here to talk about the need of deep, intentional, inclusive community engagement and how that is directly connected to student safety. Seattle public schools must partner with families because safety is a team effort. To be a team player, you need to be accountable to your team. You need to um where we transparent with your decisions and unapologetically inclusive and respectful of all players. You
078have and you will listen to testimony this evening that reflects the reality of students struggles and affirms the need to listen to parents, students, and staff before making decisions that impact entire communities. decisions like staffing, facilities, safety and security measures, enrollment, bell times. I ask members of the school board to ask the right questions from staff and district leadership, follow up on the answers and information given, ensure implementation happens, and hold the system accountable to do right by students. When families facing deportation feel unsupported. When students with disabilities have no appropriate restrooms to use. When parents exercising their right to appeal disciplinary action are intimidated. The system needs to be held accountable to their promise of safe and welcoming environments. No student is safe until all students are safe. We have an opportunity to create
079change together with a new school board, an incoming superintendent, and a renewed commitment from the public to work in collaboration, always centering students. Thank you. [Applause] The next speaker is Samantha Fog. You'll have to press star six to unmute. Okay, we are going to move on but we will come back to you. The next speaker is Glenn Thistle. Hi, I'm Glenn and I seed my time to JRM. I'm JR. I represent um an as a SPS alumni and as part of an South Seattle, we find SPS complicit in the deportations of our families because you do not have a sense of responsibility for your family safety that extends beyond the classroom. We demand that you take a more active role in the fight against ICE in our communities this school year. More than recess or
080finals, the greatest worry for working-class migrant families is ICE. Darlene and her two sons, a Seattle public schools family, has two days to present proof of self-deportion or risk arrest, detention, and deportation. In two days, Darlene's two sons desk could be emptied. They'll be torn from their friends, their childhood, their education, their entire lives for Guatemala, where no relatives or place to stay waits for them. Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Laian, Thai, Afghan, Somali, Samoan, Tongan, Ethiopian, Iritan, Mexican, Salvadorian, Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, and many other migrants of Reineer Valley gives this district the diversity they take so much pride in. Yet, so many southen families from the global south faith uh face threats from ICE and other predatory institutions that rip up families uh like the military and the recruiters, the military and the industry of war.
081are a big reason why many of us are here in the first place. The military and the recruiters often especially target and take advantage of our students facing insecurity due to their family's immigration status and unstable conditions created by US imperialism and militarism. Board members provide the genuinely safe and welcoming schools for your families. SPS promises in school board resolution number uh 2016/17-12. Ally with your community and foster the relationships that allow families to speak out like Darlene's so that all migrants can be defended. Our campaigns allow for wins like the recent halt of deportation and temporary restraining order against ICE of another migrant, Kuya Gi. Take a proactive approach to the issues facing immigrant families. Facilitate the immediate release of emergency funds. Connect um families to your network of legal counsel. Have research done
082about disappearing families and enforce training related to immigrant rights to all employees districtwide. Migrant students and their families cannot accept your silence on this matter any longer. They need answers and action now. Defend Darlene. The next speaker is Sabrina Burr. My name is Sabrina Burr, immediate past president for Seattle Council President, Seattle Council PTSA and D7 area director Consera Ingera, meaning how are the children? I will tell you our children are not well and we are failing our moral obligation to their future. Every student is a legacy to their family and every and even some make legacy for this district. Our decisions impact students, staff, families, and the communities we serve. Decisions cannot be made in silos without proper engagement and open honest communication with all impacted. We have it written in policy. policies and
083guardrail violations. You continue to ignore and or enforce the ones you have never heard, you never held our previous superintendent accountable for. In southeast Seattle, Seattle public schools has created conditions that not only put our students and staff in danger, but the surrounding schools and the southeast community as well. Parents of four schools worked to coordinate a safety meeting with SPS and SPD about community safety. What I heard from these families was heartbreaking. Many of them along with their children experience neighborhood gun violence on multiple occasions for some looking to partner for solutions. Our schools are unresponsive, unprepared, and lack the resources and skills needed. These trauma experiences affect students learning, sense of being and safety. Many of them are on their first steps in their journey through Seattle public schools. Inter agency at to
084Alan Sugyama High School has decreased in in attendance by more than 50%. Students, we have failed the last opportunity to fill the gaps of us undereducating them. We do not want to see another loss of life that could have been prevented, nor Seattle public schools false narratives or stories. We want action, transparency, honesty, authentic communication um are the foundations for trust and it is necessary for healthy relationships. We must end these emotionally abusive relationships with students, staff, and families. Let's embrace healing centered engagement. Let's move from fear to love. Let's restore trust and become about the business of our students. Thank you. >> The next speaker is June Ivers. You'll need to press star six to unmute. June, we can see your number. Press star six to unmute. >> Thank you. Can you hear me
085now? >> Yes, we can. Thank you school board members for showing up for our communities. My name is June Ivers and I'm a community storyteller and a co-treasure for the student voices with Seattle Council PTSA. We are in the crossroads of great systems change at a global, federal, state, and local levels and have incredible opportunity to support our community and our most valuable resource, our children. As anxiety, trauma, and harm continue to chip away at the mental health of all of our children, I want to take a moment to frame and focus our lens on the inter agency and bridges program that stands as a critical need in shaping our budget and infrastructure. These programs meet the need to support them as they transition through life. Let us set our students to succeed and not
086pull out the ladder behind us as we rapidly head towards budget writing. And given that some of our schools and programs are less well known and understood by the school board and have been neglected by the previous superintendent, the louder conversations from the community has been resistant to change, but our reactionary governance based in protection of the status quo is continuing to chip away at the students who are shunned from being present in this conversation. I request that the board conduct a work session focused on those programs and schools serving our students most excluded from the access to power. Budgets are a moral document set with intention. In order to know how to effectively budget, you must be fluent in the needs of our students. We ask that the staff and the students from these
087schools, not just the administrators, be given the opportunity to present and share their stories. Thank you so much. [Applause] The next speaker is Michelle Campbell. Michelle Campbell, if you're online, you'll have to press star six to unmute. Okay, we're going to move on, but we will come back to you. Uh, the next speaker is Janice White. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Great. This is Janice White. Um, I had the honor of participating on Saturday as a panelist in a statewide summit with educators and advocates working to reduce restraint and eliminate isolation in Washington schools. Thank you to Director Rankin for attending as well as to the Seattle educators and families who were there. The data about restraint and isolation shows that black students, students of color, and students with disabilities
088are disproportionately affected by these harmful practices, especially students at the intersection of those identities. Students who don't feel safe in our schools are not going to make academic progress. While the school board enacted policy to eliminate isolation in SPS, there is still a lot of work to be done. Policy 3246 calls for an annual report to the board. The report for school year 2023 24 was not published on the district website until July 2025, more than a year after the 2023 24 school year ended. That should not be acceptable. We also know that there are many unreported instances of restraint. We need to make sure that educators and families understand that the reason for reporting is to identify schools and individual students in real time who would benefit from technical assistance to reduce those restraints.
089You should be asking what systems are in place to recognize when technical assistance is needed and how that assistance is being provided. In addition, we need to shift from using outdated behavior management practices that are not effective and instead adopt culturally responsive and evidence-based frameworks that focus on addressing the reasons some students are not able to meet expectations in order to prevent concerning student behaviors which lead to students being restrained. Dr. Ross Green, who's developed a framework called collaborative and proactive solutions and has been doing this work for decades, gave the keynote at the summit on Saturday and is working now with OSPI throughout the state to help schools and districts make this shift. Let's embrace and be part of that work. Thank you. The next speaker is Huing Yang. My name is Hing Yang.
090I received my time before Nathan. Hello. Um, today you have heard from Darlin and her story in her own words. You have heard from four different educators at Dunlap who have shared testimony about the impacts that ICE has in our classrooms. And just before this board meeting, the Southoun community rallied outside of this building to make our public fight. You continue to insist that your policy for ICE exists and it is sufficient. We are telling you that it is not enough and that SPS students, specifically working-class migrants, are being torn from our classrooms and our educators feel unsupported having to navigating ICE arrests on their own. We understand that you are not ICE, but we are telling you that you must take a larger role in this fight. We are calling on Seattle public schools
091to take a decisive stance against deportations across Seattle. Recognize your responsibility regarding the safety of your students and that it extends beyond SPS classrooms. Provide proper training for SPF staff on how to respond to ICE. An active training, not something passive like emails to resources. Use your political sway and financial resources to halt the deportation of Darlin and her family. Thank you. [Applause] The next speaker is Olive Saugo. Good afternoon. My name is Olive Go. I'm a parent of two children who attended Beacon Hill International School. My child, James Duggar, was struggling at Beacon Hill. Romel Bradford was the one caregiver and educator who gained James' trust. Because of Romel's consistent care and attention over two years, James is today a thriving sixth grader. Romel has been under investigation by Seattle public schools since June
0922025. We believe the grounds for his investigation are flimsy. No parent or student has complained about Romel. To the contrary, many have stood up for him in this investigation brought about by another teacher at Beacon Hill. Romel, if terminated by SPS, will reduce even more the presence of black educators at Beacon Hill International School. In the last year alone, Beacon Hill has gone from six black teachers and support staff to two if Romel is fired. We therefore believe Romel's investigation to be part of a pattern of bullying and harassment of black educators at Beacon Hill International School. Black educators are already under represented in our community. Students of color like my sons need educators like Romel for their belonging and thriving. If anything, Romel's relational approach to teaching is exactly what our children need more
093of, not less. Termination by SPS of Romel Bretford would contradict your mission of racial equity to focus on students of color who are furthest from educational justice. As you listen next to my fellow parents, ask yourselves this. Would we be here today discussing potential dismissal of a white or Asian woman teacher, writing letters to her students, sharing her personal experiences so that young people feel seen, heard, and supported? My request to SPS board is one, do not terminate Romel Bretford. Number two, please instead investigate how Romel has been for many years a racism and harassment at Beacon Hill International School. This is what you can do to make racial equity a real outcome and not just a state of goal in remote situation. Thank you. [Applause] The next speaker is Warina Wheeler. Hi, my name
094is Wina Wheeler. I am a parent of students at Dunlap Elementary and Rener Beach High School. I have had the pleasure of meeting several parents um in crisis. We're all in crisis together. There was a shooting during the daytime, believe the first week or second week of school. Um I met one parent that led to meeting many parents that were impacted not by that shooting, but actually several shootings. I'm a native of South Seattle. I'm also a victim of gun violence and know how to navigate in situations where no one will respond. So, what's sad is is that I've been meeting with these parents and other community members sharing how we can um pretty much support each other in how do we move forward? How do we um get how do we get therapy for
095our kids? There's nothing available for elementary um school students. We were brought into a meeting that we pretty much fought for for about a month to meet with Seattle School District. Um, we were brought into a room with people that are not decision makers. Um, I'll be honest, it was an insult to our intelligence. It was a presentation had nothing to do with what we wanted to know. Um, there are parents here that have never experienced this and they never should. Um, I think it's a shame that we're spending time and money on things that don't make sense and people aren't showing up because they're uncomfortable to have a situ a conversation. So, I'd rather you be uncomfortable, don't want to hear what we're saying than to have one of our kids harmed or killed
096and no one knows what to do. If you don't know what you're doing or need someone else to step in that step in that position, say that. I'd rather hear we don't know or we're working on it instead of sending people in the room together that have the same questions for the district. That was a presentation that pretty much had an organization that has questions for the district and possibly how they can help. That was parents that have questions and not sure what the answers are to those questions. And we all were putting in a room with pretty much the battle each other. I don't know. We didn't get anything done and we have organically been coming together to see how we can support each other and show up like this where we can get
097some questions answered and possibly you can understand where we stand. Um there is no support for organizations that know how to respond to gun violence. Um, no one at the school has been trained to respond to gun violence and yet we have to send our kids every day when they're under they're traumatized and then they potentially can be held under um behavioral concerns or send to the office where the parents may not be comfortable with letting the school know what's going on, deemed that they will be victim blamed um or we don't know how to respond to that or just a number of different things. I've been sitting with several parents um listening, understanding, and then also my child was sent from another school district to Seattle because of a similar situation. So, at this
098point, it's not just a Seattle thing. It's starting to look like a state thing. And um we want answers. If my daughter still wants to say something, I'm going to give her the opportunity to. My daughter has been impacted by gun violence several times. And when you ask for help, everyone always refers you back to the school. Is your school is your child's school age? Okay, reach out to the resource person. Reach out to this person. They're not they're not trained. And I don't blame them for not having an answer, not knowing what to do. They're not trained to respond. And if they do respond, it's usually cause harm. So, I'll let my daughter say something because she just has a little bit to say it's impacting her. >> Check your kids backpack before they
099go to school. and we want to feel safe and respected. >> That's it. Thank you for your time. >> The next speaker is Jana Parker. Press star six to unmute. Hold on. Now press star six to unmute. Hi, this is Jana Parker. I'm not being allowed in the building for the testimony. Can somebody open the door? >> Hello. >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Staff is letting you in. Let's move to the next person. We will come back to you when you are physically in this space. >> Okay. The next speaker is Jasmine Cortez. Hi, good evening. Um, my name is Jasmine Cortez. I'm a 2025 um graduate of inner agency southeast location and I'm here to talk about my experience and my concerns currently. Um during my time at inner agency academy, I
100had a positive experience because being in our own location in Columbia City gave me and my classmates an opportunity for a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment. Teachers were dedicated to teaching students without having to worry about threats out in the community and inside our school. and we felt safe and ready to learn. But in October 2024, fights between um different campuses in our agency were reported to the district. More fights have happened before and after and currently recently and both um and both outside schools and in neighborhood parks. All in incidents are reported to the school administration and the school district and central office. This year's decision to move inter agency into a building together with an existing high school without listening to students, families, and staff is unacceptable and irresponsible. An unnecessary bet on
101student safety and well-being. This decision was made behind closed doors without consulting to our school communities. I worry about the students and the school district and I want the school district to review their decision and put the student safety first. Also, I support the creation of an associated student body in inter agency academy locations. Um, students have the right to organize and have their voices heard and the district leadership to have responsibility to listen and avoid dangerous situations like the one at Alan Caya building. Thank you. The next speaker is Jana Parker. Good evening. Um, sorry about that um being late, but the weather's great. So, my name is Jana Parker. I'm a parent and I serve on the board of Seattle Special Education PTSA. Um, as you heard tonight and before tonight, Bridges program
102um about the Bridges program, there is a harmful pattern overall of no urgency when students with disabilities need support. Teachers are doing everything they can, but the Southwest Adult Transition Program is still not a safe space. It should not take another issue. It should not take two weeks to hear back on a student's urgent medical issue. Compliance is often prioritized over students needs. The district likes to say that parents are equal members of students teams, but disabled parents um they don't get accommodations and they're not treated as necessary. They are treated as optional. For example, after years of using Zoom for a real-time transcript, I was told uh by staff that they they could not provide it because quote, "Our school is not a DHH school site." When parents don't receive records in advance or
103cannot access meetings, they are not equal members of their child's team. Accessibility is not an extra. It is how disabled parents access meetings and participate in their child's education. And that's how we recognize are recognized as partners. Your section 504 policy is built delay into this this system. It is unsafe to allow 25 days just to decide whether eval to evaluate and another 30 days to quote unquote evaluate when 504 process 504 process rarely involves testing. That can mean two months for a child drowning while waiting for basic support. It is especially harmful when student when a student has just been evaluated for special education and recommended a 504 plan. I have two sentences left. Students should not have to wait again for another bureaucratic step to receive basic accommodations. Please fix these policy flaws
104to keep our children safe and and end this wait to fail approach that allows the district to drag their feet. Thank you. The next speaker is Christopher Fontana. >> Good evening. The five of us have a sequence of speakers. It would make much more sense for Stephano, who is a couple speakers after me, to precede me >> and Mike is not. >> We have to keep in order. And we actually only have two more speakers left on the uh testimony list this evening. Thanks for your service. Good evening. I'm Christopher Fontana. My son received one of the letters at Beacon Hill International School for Mr. Bradford. As it happens, I've provided professional development to thousands of educators across the country, including nearly a thousand Seattle Public School educators, including the entire staff of Beacon Hill
105International School. These professional development trainings and coachings focus on building culturally responsive relationships and inclusive, equitable learning communities where students feel belonging. These letters, these supposed letters, rather than provoke an investigation, should earn Mr. Bradford the highest rating on the revised Danielson evaluation model that the district uses based on my 38 years in education in our biased educational system. I firmly believe that the allegations against Mr. Bradford were born out of racist antilack sentiment by staff at Beacon Hill International School. I have observed BHIS staff who do not have cross-cultural competencies, who do not teach with culturally responsive practices, who are unconsciously anti-lack, [Music] and who are lost and/or conspicuously silent each time race or racial equity comes up in conversation. White SPS educators who have made any attempt to move forward on their own
106racial identity journey know that when it comes to conversations around race, silence from white colleagues amounts to complicity with the status quo which centers whiteness. There is a dangerous disconnect between what Seattle Public Schools HR department believes is appropriate teaching and what principles actually use to evaluate teachers. In a district that claims to hold racial equity as a core value, I request that this board step in to prevent yet another character assassination of an outstanding and exemplary black male educator. Thank you. We received word that Michael Schlloth will not be able to provide testimony tonight. Um, I'm going to go back to the people that we missed and then we will move into the wait list. Gloria Ramirez Gloria Ramirez. >> I think we're going to move on. We don't, just to clarify, we don't
107see Gloria Ramirez online. No, >> we don't. >> Um, Samantha Fog. >> For the record, my name is Samantha Fog, a parent in Seattle public schools. Seattle public schools cannot make our families safe on its own. But our communities, our city cannot keep our children safe without you being deeply engaged in this work. Thank you to director Smith, principal Benz, and former director Sarju for attending the allies and deafood training this weekend and topps PTO for hosting. Understanding civil rights is the first step to being able to make sure that our students receive them. As threats to our students and communities increase and federal protections disappear or become threats, directors, you can no longer rely on the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights to be a backs stop or to be the mechanism that
108forces your hand. You must vote to support our district in honoring civil rights and also hold our district accountable, not just performatively, but in our buildings and in our classrooms. This is on you now. Keeping our children safe requires you to be actively engaged with our city, our CBOS, our police departments, our youth. It requires you to speak out and advocate on behalf of our children, with our city, with the federal government, with the state. It means understanding that our children need to be able to get to and from school. And when you move a school, sometimes you change the safety of that route. And families need to be able to safely gather before and after school. It means knowing enough about what happenings what's happening in communities to support our families and students and
109knowing that moving around creates life-threatening situations. You must engage with our students inter agency bridges virtual option decisions that are made in your name or by you have safety consequences. We need to work together. Our school buildings, central office, across our city, across our state with our families. Our state legislator is dropping pre-filed bills now. And some of them, like Senator Valdez 5855, have a direct impact on the safety of our families. And I hope that you will advocate for law enforcement to not be masked. like Representative Burk's 2116, which will be about funding. And then there are bills that are more directly about you. Experience and expertise and navigating this difficult legislative session will be critical. School safety is community safety. I heard that from Director Yun tonight and I really wanted to reiterate
110that and to thank you for considering your role in the policies and making sure that they keep our children safe and that you understand whether or not they're being implemented. Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Michelle Campbell. You'll need to Oh, you're unmuted. Hello. Um, my name is Michelle Campbell and I'm a mom to a fourth grader at Samppoint Elementary and secretary of Seattle Council PTSA. I want to thank everyone who has taken time tonight to testify so far. I also want to thank everyone who is listening to and receiving this testimony. Both take courage. It's clear that we have a lot of work to do together. I listened to the school board audit meeting yesterday afternoon. A few audits discussed were concerning PTA and CBO partnerships. One of the findings was a lack
111of reliable and structured volunteer vetting process. This is a safety concern and should be addressed immediately. Anyone that interacts with students must be properly vetted. This is the responsibility of the district and it's not negotiable. Our community is too familiar with the harm that occurs when adults that have access to our children are not properly vetted. I think SPS office, SPS central office has just one volunteer coordinator for the entire district. So I can understand why this is a current liability. I also understand that the district is having to make really hard decisions when it comes to balancing the budget year after year because of a a structural financial deficit. We know we are not lacking community opinions about how this deficit should be solved. We are however lacking urgency, an authentic coordinated effort, radical
112imagination, reciprocal accountability, and decisions that center students, community values, and foundational beliefs. Safety is not negotiable. Solving a structural financial deficit requires structural change. We cannot simply tweak around the edges. Improving student outcomes is going to require a deep examination of all our adult behaviors, naming what we see, and working together to create a safe and sustainable system where all our students can thrive. Thank you. >> Moving into the wait list, the next speaker is Stfano Mazili. >> Thank you and thank you for your time. Uh my name is Stephano Matili and I'm also a parent at Beacon Hill. Uh and speaking about the decision on Romel Bradford. So SPS will decide Raml's future based on whether his conduct warrants termination because he's a safety threat or just remediation. We feel that termination is not
113warranted. Uh though a case may be made for additional coaching and guidance. I would like to focus on the facts in three key areas we understand SPS will judge him on. First, teachers must not share personal experiences as a way to build rapport with students that could be considered leading to grooming and exclusionary behavior. It is a fact that 60 plus parents signed up in support of RML uh positive influence on Beacon Hill children after being made aware and shown some of the letters that are being used in this case. None of those parents or students who received letters had shared that this was unacceptable. we can provide any of those testimonies and would like to see any counterfactual. Second, supervisors have considered that Raml's boundaries with students may require further guidance, but none have
114reported him as a safety concern ever. Will he be terminated because he chose to build rapport perhaps wrongly in this way? Third, teachers may communicate equally and must communicate equally with all students in the ca in their classes and then not select individuals which could be perceived as crossing boundaries. If it is not a school safety violation, then this is about teaching this teacher better boundaries. Teach him and let him show that he can be better with those boundary decisions and perhaps time management in future to avoid such accusations. We want SPS board to recognize that this potentially is actually repeated bullying and potentially motivated by anti-black racism. This needs your investigation at Beacon Hill and consideration in the decision on RL Bradford. Thank you. [Applause] The next speaker is Lisa Kero. Good evening. My
115name is Lisa Cedo. I am a mother of two who have gone through Beacon Hill International School. My youngest is still there as a fifth grader. In May 2024, my husband Christopher was diagnosed with acute myoid leukemia. RL uh Bradford knew of this diagnosis and went out of his way to take care of our son, checking in on him every day, letting him know he was cared for and supported and encouraging him to stay focused at school because that is who he is and what he does. Mr. Bradford has been by far the most influential and positive educator in both of our children's lives. So, we were surprised and shocked uh when an SPS investigator spoke with us in mid midepptember when we learned that Mr. Bradford was under HR investigation for letters he wrote
116to students like the one he wrote to my to our son. We brought copies of this letter in case anybody would like to read them this evening. This was hands down one of the kindest and most supportive letters we have ever received about our two children from any educator. one that I'm sure any parent would be touched and moved by. We were and remain shocked again to learn that this letter was considered to have crossed boundaries for sharing too much personal information. In this time of massive era defining change, it is educators like Raml who bring their heart and soul to their work and who honor students on their own individual journeys. it. That is what allows me to stay hopeful. Losing Mr. Bradford would be a disheartening and tragic loss for SPS and the
117entire community. Thank you. [Applause] If there is still time, we would like um to invite a student to speak on behalf of Romel. >> So, we have technically hit our limit of public testimony speakers this evening, but I appreciate that. Thank you so much. I'm told per policy I don't think we can make an exception for for our policy but we will go have a break and directors will have an opportunity to go and speak to the student during the break right here um right following our public testimony just to make sure that we are staying within our policy and our rules and and keeping a fair process for everyone um including folks who did not make the the public testimony list this evening. Um, I think that concludes our public testimony. I want to
118just thank everyone uh who came out this evening, took time from their busy lives to provide with us testimony for so we can best do our jobs. I specifically just want to uplift and recognize the fear and concern expressed um regarding ICE and I'm hoping that uh the folks here who spoke were willing to work with the board um and staff to figure out how better we can support our families and students. With that um we our public testimony has concluded. We are going to take a fiveinut break now. um opportunity for for transition as we move into work um and opportunity for board directors to also uh uh talk a little bit talk with folks in the audience. So we will come join back together here at uh 6:20 I think. Can't quite see
119the clock. 6:20. Yes. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. [Music] I'm [Music] happy. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] We are going to join back together here. We have a lot to get through on our agenda this evening. And I realize I'm the only board director up here. [Music] Director Ranken, I'm going to pull you back. >> I'm present even though I'm not at the diet. >> Yes. Director Director Smith is also here. We need one more director and we can continue on. Mine's have a lot to do this evening. So, we have reached the consent portion of today's agenda. May I have a motion for the consent agenda? >> I move I move approval of the consent agenda.
120>> Second. Approval of the consent agenda has been moved by Vice President Briggs and seconded by Director Merahi. Just so folks are aware, item seven, BTA 5, approval of Microsoft Enterprise license agreement has been removed from the consent agenda at the request of Director Smith prior to the meeting. Um, do directors have any additional items they would like to remove from the consent agenda? >> I would like to remove item number nine for John Rogers Elementary. Okay, we have item nine from John uh um removed from the consent agenda. >> May I have a revised motion for the consent agenda as amended? >> Oops. >> I move approval of the consent agenda as amended. >> Second. Approval of the consent agenda as amended has been moved by Vice President Briggs and seconded by Director Mahi.
121Call um all in favor um of the consent agenda as amended signify by saying I. >> I. Those opposed. The consent agenda has passed unanimously. So, and we will move to items removed from the consent agenda. Um, and we'll start with uh the item the approval of the Microsoft Enterprise license agreement. May I have a motion for this item? >> I move the board of directors to authorize the superintendent to execute a 12-month contract with Dell Computer Corp. to provide Microsoft enterprise license solutions from January 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2026 for a total not to exceed amount of 2,267626 [Music] 26. >> Take your time. 2,2667,626 plus watch Washington state sales tax with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to take any necessary actions to implement the purchase
122orders. Immediate action is in the best interest of the district. >> Second. >> Okay. Uh, Vice President Briggs has made the motion and director Misrai is seconded. Um, Director Smith, you requested that this item be removed from the consent agenda to allow you to abstain from the vote due to a conflict of in interest. Would you like to provide any further comment? >> Um, no further comment. Um, I have a conflict of interest, so I will be abstaining. >> Perfect. Do any other directors have questions or discussion? Director Song. Uh, I I do have a question. Um, is there a reason why it's a 12-month contract and not a longer contract? >> So, we will let's call up uh Carlos to come up to the podium and answer questions here. >> Carlo, good evening, directors.
123Um, yes. Uh the we're trying to negotiate some uh credits and this was the best way to get the the most amount of credits uh for this year and once we go through this this year of contract we'll be able to negotiate better better uh credits on the the newest contract. >> Further questions. Right. See if staff will please call the vote. Director Miss Rahi. >> Hi. >> Director Ranken. >> Hi. >> Director Smith. >> Oh, she's abstaining. >> Oh, >> she needs to say >> sorry. I know. Sorry. My my is low. I click on unmute and it takes a second and abstain. >> Director Song. Yes. Vice President Briggs. >> I director Lavali >> I President Top >> I. >> This motion is passed with six yeses and one abstension. Great. This moved
124the other item pulled from the consent agenda. John Rogers Elementary Construction change order number 24 to contract P51 5186. Can I have a motion for this item? I move that the school board authorize the superintendent to execute construction change order number 24 in the amount of 1 million7 100 72,439 plus Washington state sales tax with any minor additions, deletions, and modifications deemed necessary by the superintendent and to make any necessary actions to implement the change order. Immediate action is in the best interest of the district. >> Second. Uh, vice pres president Briggs made a motion uh for this uh for this and uh director Miseri seconded. Sorry everyone. Um wondering staffwise, Dr. Bleman, is this are you speaking to this or for questions? And then I assume director Lavali has some questions. >> Assistant superintendent
125for finance. I have Amanda Fulford, the project manager on this project with me to help ask answer any questions. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. Um, as this is the 24th change order on this project, can I get some ability to know what the overruns have been and if this is within a normal range for an increase at this point, late point in the project? >> Sure. >> Yes, absolutely. Oh, can you hear me? There we go. Yes, I'm a little shorter. Uh, yes. So to your first question, um to your second question, excuse me. This is a typical uh amount you would see for a contract this size for the uh scale of the replacement project that we did. Um this was actually it encompasses a lot of unforeseen conditions that we were
126wrapping up with a contractor. Uh not to get into it too much, but John Rogers is approximately a 9 acre site and we ran into a lot of water issues on site. We actually found that there was some storm water running off the hill onto the property once we took up the existing drainage which contributed to a substantial amount of deatering over what we had anticipated in the contract as well as a lot of unsuitable soils. So that is a primary uh cause contributor to this contract change order. Superintendent Podesta. And >> I just to make one point. Um there are many many change orders on big construction projects that a change order doesn't equate to a cost overrun. Um we structure these contracts allowing us to make decisions on the way and work with
127our contractors. So, um I I wouldn't want to leave the impression that 24 means 24 cost overruns that that that um we we constantly monitor contracts and and adapt to conditions and give our contractors directions and those are contractual change order. Again, that that isn't equivalent to an overrun. >> Thank you for that clarification. >> Thank you, >> Director Song. Um I have more of a comment versus or request versus a question. I think um what's in this bar it's hard for us to gauge the size of this uh change order without knowing the cost of the overall project and um the kind of combined sum of change orders. So in the future I think it might just be like one addition that we could have in here that would help us bring this into
128context. Thank you. Other directors. All right. Can we please have a vote on this item? >> Director Ranken. >> I. Director Smith. >> I. >> Director Song. >> Yes. >> Vice President Briggs. I >> director Lavali. >> I director Ms. Rahi. >> I >> President Top. >> I >> This motion has passed unanimously. >> All right, we are off to officer election. So, I'm told this has to happen after the consent portion of the agenda, which seems uh like a bizarre part of our policy, but that's where it fits. So, um the re first regular board meeting in December is our annual organizational meeting where we conduct officer elections. We'll now move to the um election of board officers. And I'm going to turn it over to Superintendent Podesta who will preside over the election
129process as secretary of the board. Superintendent Podesta. >> Thank you, President Top. I thinking for a week, should I grab that gavvel and just pound it >> just in case you in case you guys get out of line. But yeah, but yeah. Um, so uh let me walk through the process for each officer position, president, vice president, and member at large. I will take nominations from the board. After all nominations are made for position, there will be an opportunity for directors to provide comments before voting. After comments have been completed, the board will vote for each position in the order the nominations were made. Compliant with state law and board policy, the voting will be conducted in a roll uh roll call format. The voting concludes when at the point when one nomination receives four
130or more votes. After the president has been elected, we'll move on to the vice president, then the member at large. So in summary uh nominations discussion and then votes um and then at the conclusion for all the positions uh the election of all the positions opportunities will uh the elected officers will have an opportunity to provide remarks um and officers are seated right away for the rest of this meeting if I believe I have that right. So um uh nominations are now open for the office of president. >> I would like to nominate director top >> and I failed to note that seconds are not required but they certainly would be accepted. >> I second. Are are there any other nominations on staff? Could we um call the vote? >> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
131I said you had remarks. See, um there opportunity for everyone to make remarks. So, uh >> I'd love to speak to the nomination if that's okay. I don't know what is director. >> Miss Rahi, >> can I try your I think it's been a busy year and I think President Topp has done an exceptional job navigating a lot of very complex issues. um not least of which is uh going through the process of um engaging with the um the search firm and navigating that whole dynamic all the community engagement that we did through that and then eventually hiring a new superintendent. I think we talked at was it the last meeting? It feels like a long time ago. The last full meeting. Uh and I think rightfully all all of my fellow directors were very
132complimentary of of the work that President Top did during that time. And I think um probably a lot of the people in the public don't know but the president role is taking on a lot of work already. These are jobs that are a lot of work and that are not fully compensated or really compensated at all. Um and uh whoever takes on the role president is is is agreeing to do even more. So I think it is a total gift uh to this board and to our our school system that uh director top is even willing to do another term. Um but I think more than anything you know we have a lot of change happening uh right now. Now, we have a new superintendent coming in and a lot of change in the city.
133We have a new mayor, a new county exec. And I think that uh having um some stability in that presidential role uh to carry over for um the start of this new superintendent's tenure will be very valuable for our whole system. And I hope uh that you'll be willing to do it again. >> Any other directors have comments? >> Director Ranken. Um, yeah, I'll I mean it's not necessary to second, but I'll second what what Director Miss Rahi said and also um take this opportunity to to kind of re-emphasize something I said earlier in the meeting, which is that um it's we have a very inexperienced board as a whole and um the stronger the board as a whole can be, the better for Seattle students and for all of us. and that the role
134of the president and I'm not sure why you want to do it again but um it is one of additional responsibility it's not one of additional authority the authority belongs to the board as a whole and so bigger picture-wise I think you know a lot of other districts have a rotation that it's it's not it's not a political jocking for something it's not a it's it's a all right it's my turn I'll I'll do it I'll run the meetings I'll put in the extra time. Um, I think ideally that's where I would love to see our board get is that that any one of us, any one of the people occupying the seats fully understands our our authority and role and could lead as president. Um, and uh, but I think I do think there
135is a lot of change happening and that um, uh, director top, director Briggs and director Miss Rahi have worked well together as a team. I think bringing on our new um uh superintendent and with lots of different relationships up in the air and and our need to be integrated with so many different systems, maintaining some some stability where we can is a positive thing right now. And I appreciate all three of them for being willing to take on that added um time. Um but yeah, I just kind of wanted to to to state that for the health and robustness of the board as a whole, um my sort of a future vision would be one where ideally anyone would be prepared um to take on that responsibility and uh just ensure that the governance the
136role of the governing board is is equally borne by by all members. um with appreciation for someone who's willing to do the extra time and run the meeting. So, this is a long way of saying like I support what Joe said and I encourage us all to um step up our game, I guess, in a way or or continue to be engaged in what it actually means to be on the board. So, we don't we're not reliant on individuals um that together we're a really strong body. Any further comments by any of the directors? All right. Sorry for jumping the gun before. Ms. Worth. Would you call vote? >> Director Briggs. >> I. >> Director Lavali. I >> Director Ms. >> I. >> Director Ranken. I >> director Smith. >> I >> director Song. >>
137Yes. >> Director Top. >> I >> The nomination of Director Top as board president has passed unanimously. >> Thank you. >> Great. So again, we'll move through the process and invite um officers to make comments when we would uh elected all three. So now nominations are open um for the office of vice president. >> I mean spoiler spoiler um uh I would like to nominate um director Briggs. >> I'll second that. >> All right. Would any directors like to make any comments? and make a comment. Um [Laughter] um I think you know I alluded to this uh in my oath of office speech. I'm really looking for really significant changes to how this board um is going to be doing its business and um over the course of campaigning I heard from a lot of
138the public that this governance framework has really not been serving our district very well and in fact um three of us participated in a Seattle Times webinar and um Ryan who is moderating it said that there were a lot of questions about student outcomes focused governance. So, I haven't had an opportunity to um engage director Briggs about um her plans um if she were to serve in the leadership role, but um I open kind of discussion about what kind of changes she would anticipate, >> further comments. >> Was that I don't know. I I'm not sure if that was a direct ask to Director Briggs or just generally >> anybody else. >> I mean, it's it's up to the board. It's not up to the vice president. So, I don't know. >> Are you Are
139you just interested in what my perspective is? Okay. >> So, so I'm I don't have a um particular allegiance to student outcomes focused governance. I I do think it's important that we have a governance framework that um that has been noted in multiple audits and reports over a period of many decades that it was very important for the functioning of the district for the board to adopt a policy governance model. Um so I think that it would be very um misguided of us to ignore that direction. Um I support having a best practices policy governance framework. Um, I'm totally I'd be happy to use the WASDA framework that uh is the state sanctioned um version that all the other school districts in our state use um or at least it's a reference um for them.
140So, yeah, that's basically my feelings on the topic. If you have any follow-up questions, I'm happy to answer. Yeah, I um am wondering if this if you're planning to continue to engage uh coaching services or consulting services um from the people who uh lead to student outcomes focused governance. Again, that's I don't think that's my choice or I I think that would be a board discussion. So, I don't I I don't have a I would be open to having that conversation as a board. >> Any further questions or comments regarding this nomination? >> Yeah, I didn't want to say this now, but it's been brought up. We didn't implement it. We're not doing student outcomes focused governance. It's been weaponized. It's been misconstrued. Um, we need a framework to make sure that we do the
141job of the board. We don't have that. We're not using one. We do need change desperately. And so, can we just stop this nonsense? Like, seriously, I know people ran on it to repeal it. Congratulations, it's repealed. Like, it's there's nothing to what we have to talk about as a board and with the next superintendent. And one thing I'm very excited about the next superintendent about is he really understands board governance and the role of the board superintendent relationship and I think that conversation will go very differently with a person who wants to engage in that relationship and understands the importance and doesn't see the board as an annoyance as has been the case for many many years and several superintendent and so student outcomes focused governance I mean nobody's as far as I know
142engaging in training at this point. Um, and if we if there were to be a contract renewal, that would be the board would have to approve that in a public meeting. So, it's it's gone. It's done. It doesn't happen. It hasn't been happening. There's even an audit from 2024 that describes the ways in which it has not been happening. >> Initial contract was not brought to the board for approval. um the first time around. Um you know, I was um eating lunch in the cafeteria earlier today. I kind of disagree with your um characterization. I do think student outcomes focused governance has been present in this district and a very specific concern that I have was I ran into some staff members while I was at the cafeteria and I was having a conversation with
143them. The staff member saw her supervisor and she saw some district leaders and she immediately expressed to me that she was going to get in trouble for having a conversation with me. That is the overhang of this governance framework and I really would like us to move forward where we are able to have conversations with staff members as board members. We are all one team. We're all working together and that is the change that I >> the framework does not bar staff members from having conversations with board directors. So I think this is not the right time for this conversation. >> I would be really actually I would be thrilled for us to have an actual own honest and open conversation about this when it's scheduled for the agenda because it's been weaponized and politicized
144and it ultimately hurts children. >> I I appreciate this discussion. If we could have any further comments related to the election of officers, that'd be great. If any if anyone has more comments to make on that subject specifically and if not it's worth could you call for the vote? Director Lavali. I >> Director Ms. Rahi. >> I. >> Director Ranken. >> Yes. >> Director Smith. >> I. >> Director Song. >> No. >> Director Top. >> I. >> Director Briggs. >> I. The nomination of Director Briggs as vice president has passed by a vote of six yes and one no. >> Great. Thank you. So nominations are now uh open for the office of member at large. Do I have any nominations? >> I would like to Oh, sorry. Yeah. Oh no, no, go for it.
145I forgot to nominate Director Mazari. Second. >> Are there any other nominations >> hearing? None. Would any directors have comments they'd like to make? I have a few comments just because uh director Misrai uh I have come to rely on you on this board as someone to seek advice from to and when things did get difficult to kind of help navigate how to move forward. I think you bring a thoughtful, calm, steady presence to difficult and highstake conversations. Um, I really appreciate your ability to push on issues um when things really matter and to keep uh students at this center. I would super excited for you to continue as in this role as member at large and you are very good at seconding items. >> Right. Any further comments? If not, Miss Worth, did you
146call the vote? >> I I have one. >> I just I also want to echo I appreciate Joe's um uh support of of when things are are difficult and being um uh level-headed. Um and uh something I appreciate also is he intrinsically understands that no one board director has authority, that everything should be done as a body. I feel like transparency is a great strength of Joe's and um that's especially important uh as a board officer. You know, by our policy, by law, the officers don't get to decide things that are not voted on by the board. Um and I just appreciate the the kind of common sense straightforwardness that Joe brings to that role. >> Great. Thank you. Last call. Any comments? Otherwise, Miss Wart, could you call the vote? >> Director Miss Rahi.
147>> Sorry, you we're next on the list. >> Director Ranken. >> Yes. >> Director Smith. >> I. >> Director Song. >> Yes. >> Director Top. >> I. >> Director Briggs. I director Lavali I >> the nomination of director Ms. Rahi as member at large has passed unanimously. >> Thank you. Uh congratulations president top vice president Brics and member at large Miss Rahee. Uh so apparently I need to read the new officers into the rec the everything old is new again. Read the new officers into the record. So, for the record, um, Seattle public schools board of directors president is Gina Top, vice president is Evan Briggs, and member at large is Joe Misrai. Um, so now I'd like to uh turn it uh over to uh President Top to for any comments she would like
148to make. >> Yeah, I I don't have any specific comments other than um I think that what we saw a little bit this evening is some of the things that I hope that we can address um at our retreat. some of what which is sort of talking through how we want to govern as a body moving forward as well as I think putting in place a code of conduct for how we as as members work together and I saw that I've heard that from many different directors um wanting to kind of have some clarity about you know how we have a working relationship since there are differing views um I don't have any other comments are you passing it back to me am I recessing going to pass it to Vice President Briggs to see
149if she has any comments. >> I'm very honored to serve in the role of vice president for a second year. That's all. >> Thank you for your service. And um member at large, Miss Rahi, do you have any comments? >> I think I've enjoyed uh the collaboration with President Top and Vice President Briggs over the last year. And gosh, this mic is just not great. I'm gonna scoot back here. Uh, oh, see that works. Um, and I think that it's, you know, it' be nice to do that for another year. And I do think that, um, it's clear that there's going to be some choppy things that we have to work through as a board, but I think that, um, you know, we we can all do that together. And hopefully, um, we have lots
150more time and space for those uh, maybe difficult at times conversations, but but but they're important ones, too. All right. >> So, congratulations to our new board officers and I will reluctantly uh give the gavl back to President B. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> All right. Uh and agreed. I look Thank you. Um I look forward to working both with Vice President Briggs and Director Misrai again. I think we make a a good team. Um, but with that, we're going to take a brief recess to reset for the remainder of the meeting. Um, and I'll call back the meeting at let's let's do seven, but let's really try to be in our seats by seven. And we'll be Oh, no. We'll be up here still because we're going to do introduced items. So,
151we still have a lot to go. So, 7 please. I'm actually going to say 658. So, that way folks are back. 658. [Music] We we can keep going. All right. I'm seeing nodding heads that we should keep going. Perfect. So we will move into the move into the introduction items. So uh the first item for introduction is approval of the negotiated 2026 27 202728 school year calendars. I'm going to pass it over to Dr. Pritchette Goodman to introduce this item. >> Good evening. Dr. Sarah Pritchette Goodman, assistant superintendent for human resources. Um, again, introducing our um negotiated um school calendars for the 2026 27 school year and the 202728 school years. Um, approval of this item would uh I'm sorry, approval of this item would approve the calendars as negotiated with SEA and our other
152labor partners who participated in the process um to develop our calendars. Calendars have been created using the formulas um as outlined in our approved um Seattle Education Association CBA. Um I will note that these calendars for the next two years do include a day in between semesters. We had went away from that um that day in between semesters when we were able to go to remote um instruction during inclement weather. So that was brought back in as we've changed um or OSPI's changed guidance on remote work um or remote school during inclement weather. Um we invited all of our labor partners to come in and talk with us and discuss the calendars. Um again we um we've considered all the options and both SEA and PASS have agreed to the attached calendars in the documents
153and I'll pause there for any questions. >> Director Lavali, >> you already knew already knew I had a question. Um I just wanted to check I know we've had problems with our calendars in the past conflicting with um different religious holidays. Have for both of these years we doublech checked various religions that are are practiced within our schools to make sure that start dates, graduation dates and more don't conflict with those. We have looked at we have a standard set of um holidays that are included in the calendar and then we pass out to all of our schools guidance around the um various religious holidays that are observed and practiced by our students and staff. And we have given guidance to schools um to encourage them not to have those particular types of larger events
154and things of that nature on days that would be um considered religious holidays and such. but also for our start days and our start of kindergarten days. I know those have conflicted in the past specifically with Jewish holidays. So, can I get confirmation that those have been factored into this calendar this time for these next two school years? >> The start date for the school year is part of the formula that's in our collective bargaining agreement and that is the first Wednesday of September. So that piece has started. I will note that um around the start date for Kinder and um check that and I can speak to that when we come back for approval. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Director Anken, >> thank you. Um this is actually uh such a good example
155of where uh uh board board board time and and our authority as a board has been um uh disappeared into other functions over the course of decades. Um so under RCW28A3307 the board has the power to fix the time for annual opening and closing of schools and for the daily dismissal of pupils before the regular time for closing schools. So in my experience over the last decade um and what I can see reading back uh somehow this board obligation as community representatives has been of both bell times and of start dates and end dates of the calendar has been uh given over to contract negotiations with with SEA. So we we approve it but this is a really good example of the um when people call boards a rubber stamp. we've already pre-approved it. We've
156already said it's between the union and the district and we will vote yes when the time comes. And that's actually I mean that that's how that's how this all works. Like spoiler alert, that's how this all works. Um so uh this the school calendar is one of the few things that impacts every single student, family, staff member, uh community member. Um, and yet the decision is made. I see you you talk to representatives, but it's ultimately between one of 13 labor partners and and district staff and the board doesn't have a say in this process. Um, so I don't know how far back this decision goes. Um but I believe that when it comes to the setting of the school calendar that that is a way bigger issue and also of course SEA and its
157members are part of the broader community but the fact that we have 13 labor partners and we represent the full community and it's ultimately being decided by one labor partner and district staff. um this thing that impacts so many people and there's also we don't there's nothing here to show um you know I I know a lot of districts around the state and around the country are expand or exploring uh modified calendars that with a shorter winter break and more frequent breaks throughout the year. I'm not suggesting we do that. I'm just suggesting that the community the full community should have a say in our school calendar. Um, and I would ask I don't know the board and superintendent how we can reclaim the authority as representatives of the full community over what the calendar
158actually looks like in that process. So, it's not so much about these dates specifically, but that we have the the the board as an entity has given away the community's voice in the school calendar historically. Did you want me to Okay. Um Oh, >> yeah. If you if you have any if you I don't know how far back, like I said, I don't know how far back this goes, but I think, you know, there's a lot of reasons I think a lot of community members would be interested in talking about the school calendar and the structure as it is now doesn't provide that. >> Correct. Um >> I have one comment and then um Dr. Pritchette Goodman can correct me because if I'm wrong because she's always smarter than I am, but um I just
159to the extent that these are driven by labor contracts with all our labor partners, those are also approved by the board. So I wouldn't say that that has been completely delegated. I think we could think about the timing of this discussion and are there parameters that the board would like to set for those negotiation. Ultimately, we do have to negotiate with a lot of people. I'm not saying that would be simple, but um it's I guess I just would like to say the board has a hand in in those discussions as well. >> I mean, I think Oh, sorry. I know that >> it's a little farther. >> No, but I'll um the the actual language within the contract um predates me obviously um goes back a number of years and um it would require
160negotiation. So, we're up for negotiation. Um the way the contract language reads right now gives us some specific timelines in which we need to bring this before the board. So happy to work with our partner in this particular instance with SEA because it would be um looking at a waiver of the language that they currently have now and if they're open to negotiations around the contract to that would affect next year and the following year. I was just going to say I think that that you brought up a problem and also then brought up a potential solution to it which would be engaging with the board and I think other folks in the community not just the board but I think it's it's a community discussion prior to the conversation with SCA and I think
161that that would probably be a good future order of operations that might just make this you know feel like we're we have more say into that process and I did look and it doesn't look like the two start dates conflict with Russashana. There's probably other concerns, but that one we can check that box. >> Yeah. Oh, director Song. >> Um I have I submitted a question in advance and I think the answer was shared with the full board around um when graduation dates are set and I I didn't get a full answer. I think that um can we communicate to our families the timeline for when we will make a decision about graduation dates because families are uh necessarily making travel plans. Um I know uh this year in particular is kind of complicated because
162of FIFA. Um, I would love to set expectations uh not just this year but going forward for when this district um will work determine with its high schools uh the graduation dates by what date will we be able to communicate to families what date their graduation is and the location. >> Absolutely. I think this current school year was complex because of Memorial Stadium and finding another location um to hold our graduation. So we certainly will take that under adisement although it doesn't particularly pertain other than knowing when um when the 175 days have passed so that we can start having senior graduations. So um certainly we'll take that back to the folks that are making that decision around graduation dates. >> Yeah, I think it would be wise to start planning for the 27 year
163as well. But um any clarity we we can provide to families right now around FIFA because Memorial Stadium we have known is going was going to be under construction for some time. So um it's been a point of stress for families. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you Dr. Pritchette Goodman. >> Absolutely. I would just say I do think I'll just to close that out a little bit. This is an introduced item. We'll bring it back to next month's agenda, but I do think that uh there are some questions to be answered here. I think that were unanswered this evening. And I hope that we can get some responses um from staff to the full board uh about those issues. Um with that, we'll move into our second item for introduction. Amendment to board
164policy number 4311, school safety and security services program. I'm gonna pass it over to Director Mizrahi to introduce this item. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, so this is um I would classify this as cleanup and clarification. So, uh, I know for those of us that are that were been on the board, uh, longer, we're probably getting tired of talking about 4311, but, um, in the conversation that we had, uh, particularly around the, um, the SRO um, uh, decision, there was a lot of, um, community feedback and questions that made it clear that there was a lack of clarity around um, what that moratorum did and what how how that rule extends and uh whether or not officers in like the course of their just daily work or whatever were allowed to access school buildings because
165of the moratorium. So I think we had pretty good clarity from the questions that we asked that the moratorum actually had nothing to do with that and that that we had policies that were pretty clear on that point that um that officers still had access to the building should they need to come in to respond to an emergency or um take a statement from a student or or or a faculty member. Uh or even you know the example that was given where you have a an officer who's who's stationed around the building. Can they come in to chat with the principal and tell them about what's going on? going to come in to use the restroom or or whatever and um there was some feeling in the community and I think I don't want to
166speak for anyone but I think maybe a bit on on the part of SPD as well that what the mortorium did was it made that level of engagement impossible and I think whenever there's a miscommunication I think there there who you can you can get into all sorts of questions about how that originated and why that's the case but I think that obviously we bear some responsibility for that and It's the onus is on us to be as clear as possible in our policies. And I think that um hopefully this change, like I said, is just cleanup uh and clarity because I don't think it actually changes any policy um uh uh will make that more clear. So I think for folks who are wanting a deeper change to 4311, I think uh unfortunately I
167don't think this is it for you. And for folks who are worried about a deeper change to 4311, good news. This isn't changing that much. Um uh so either everyone's going to be a little happy or a little bit upset depending on whether you're a glass half full or glass half empty person. But I think that um the main takeaway here is that obviously I think based on even the testimony today there's a lot more conversation to be had around safety. I think that's a huge area that we all want to be engaged in and talking about this is not that conversation. This is just cleanup and clarification based on feedback that we got around um around some maybe lack of clarity in the community around our policy. So, I'm just going to read because
168it's a it's a very simple change. So, it's just adding the sentence, "Nothing in this policy otherwise prohibits or constrains the district from coordinating with law enforcement agencies and officers for emergency response or for allowing access to the district schools and facilities consistent with state laws and applicable district policies and procedure." That's it. And then it moves around this as a general rule sentence. So, uh the last thing I'll say is that for people who are really closely watching, you say, "Wait, didn't we already talk about this and pass this?" We actually did pass it as part of an amendment to our 4311 amendment, but because the underlying amendment didn't pass, all the change to the amendment also didn't pass. So, we've already kind of talked about this. We've already discussed it, but it actually
169didn't change our policy because the underlying change didn't pass on the SRO thing. So, that's where we are. That's that's what I'm proposing and we'll have a chance to talk about it next meeting, I guess. >> Questions or discussion? Director Ranken. Sorry. >> Um, thank you. Yeah, I think um, so now I'm the only one on the board that was around at the time of the moratorium and voted on that. Um, and and it it has been a challenge since then and there have been multiple police chiefs since then. Um uh but much like the uh you know misconstrued arm of SOFG with staff, the misconstrued arm of moratorium. I've had police officers say, "Well, you said we to me directly, well, you said we can't come into your buildings." And I'm like, "No, that's
170actually not what we said." Um so, uh I appreciate the clarity and I'm wondering, um I don't think a lot of SPD is probably watching our board meeting. So, uh, what the action or what's sort of any implication of passing the policy would do, does that allow you, Superintendent Podesta, to more clearly maybe send a memo to the police chief that's that restates that that they can say this is the official word from the school district and feel more confident sharing that within their ranks for clarity or is there is there something else like what else can we can we do to and and also I can't let this policy be brought up without repeating most of the time when police come to our schools it's because somebody inside the building who is supposed to
171be there has caught them. >> Um we can continue um continue to uh reiterate this point to them. I think we've had several staff discussions myself previous superintendent have had this conversation. I usually what we hear um their concern is but what does the board think? So me can you know I I we we're happy to send a letter but I I think you taking this action and maybe the board also >> I was just going to say >> drawing attention to it might make some sense >> and and if the you know Gina as board president on behalf of the board can assert something that's in our board adopted policy that could be a joint letter so or we could all sign a letter being really clear that like this is the board's intent
172and this is our commitment to whatever whatever needs to happen to take that out of the equation. Um and then also in terms of clarity, I thinkou aside, u school SRO aside, um think that having clarity and some of the issues that were brought up in public testimony today too about when is it a school matter, when is it a police matter, having anou just entity to entity or maybe not evenou, but like agreed upon rules of engagement for clarity about just when there are things that permeate the the veil between schools and community with the same members of the community. How can we support consistent agreements and understanding between the school district and the police department for our community and understanding who who has authority when how we do work together um and how
173it ultimately is in service of supporting students. I think I still think that's something I would like to see um just administration to administration uh that would help with some clarity for a lot of these issues. >> We we've made that offer in the past and we'll continue to say you know over an umbrella u written understanding of the how that engagement we think is a good idea. It obviously takes two to tango but we'd like to do that. >> Well, anything that the the board can do to support that that would be great to know. Thank you. Director Lavali. >> Yeah. Um, I wanted to Sorry, hold on. I forgot to print out my Well, I did print them out. I left them on my printer. Um, your ending comment where you bring as
174a general rule. I wanted to get a little bit of clarification around the wording in that um because it says as a general rule, law enforcement activity should take place at a location other than school premises. Um, when you're talking about that, does that bar someone like, you know, Detective Cookie runs a chess club down in Rainineer Beach? Does that bar Detective Cookie from doing a um chess meetup in one of our Southoun schools at some point in time? >> Yeah. No, I I appreciate the question. So, one, just to clarify, that as a general rule sentence was is currently in 4311. So it so so nothing about the amendment changes that. But I would say my understanding and director Rankin as being the only person on the board who was here when this policy
175passed maybe can speak to it. But I think this is exactly the type of clarification that we want right that that nothing about our current policy would bar officer cookie from engaging coming onto campus to do the chess club thing. But we want to make that clear. And so I I think the answer the simple answer is that yes he can do that and he can probably do that now but under his policy. Thank you. She she can probably do that now and we'll have even more clarification that she can do that with this new policy. >> Thank you. >> Other comments? Director Yun, >> thank you for the clarity. Director Mazari, this isn't a question but a comment. I just want to recognize that there are a lot of um hurt feelings in the
176Garfield community because they put months of research effort to create the SEO pilot program that reflected their community values and address some of the school safety concerns they have. You know, parents, students, staff, PTSA, they took a lot of time to draft this community at MUO and they did everything they were told. So I just wanted to recognize that there are a lot of hurt feelings um in this community and they may feel undervalued and unheard right now. Um trust was broke broken and the emotional investment because this is not an easy topic for anyone to talk about. Um they made in creating this doppel program was essentially unheard. So I just wanted to recognize that there are these feelings in this community. >> Thank you. other directors. Right. Again, this is only excuse me,
177only up for introduction, but director Misrai, I appreciate you taking the time to do this sort of cleanup and clarification. I do think it's important that the board take take an action here and I look forward to this on the agenda. Uh we are now going >> director Ranken, >> sorry about that. Thank you. Um, I uh would love to know if when this comes back next month um if we can hear an update also about a letter or any other action that may be needed that would be helpful. Thank you. >> All right, we are now going to move to the tables for our work session. I'm going to say this now before we get there. I I think we have probably about just looking at the time we want to keep about each
178session to 45 minutes so we can get through each portion. Um I'll after the presentation I'll kind of gauge amount of time but 40 roughly 45 minutes each to get us through. So we'll head to the UN now. [Music] All right. So, our first presentation is on the budget. The second one is an enrollment update. I'm actually very excited for the budget presentation. Uh not so much for this meeting, but for some of the future uh things that I I think will be happening with the budget. Maybe some outcroppings of what happened. I don't know if that's the right way to say it. uh from the uh budget ad hoc budget committee. But with that um am I passing it to Dr. Bleman or Superintendent Podesta? One or the other. Dr. Bleman. >> Thank you.
179Thank you. I think I just heard the board president say you're not looking forward to this presentation. >> I'm looking forward to this presentation and even more to the January presentation from some of the things that you've previewed for us in this in this study session. Thank you. >> And my Yeah, >> I'll turn my mic off so we're not making some background noise. >> Thank you. Um, you good? So, today we're presenting the year-end financial report um and the sort of a summary of it. There's the F196 which all school districts uh is how they report their financial information. This is posted online for S public schools. It's not yet on OSPA website for all the school districts, but ours is posted for folks who want to go into the deep level of detail
180here. Tonight is just a uh sort of summary of this information. Part of the objective here tonight is to continue to um demonstrate listening and understanding. And so trying to make sure that there's shared understanding of this information within this U-shaped table um within the Seattle public schools um staff and students and families and the community at large. So we're just trying to get to a place of better understanding. So some of this information is just straight from the report. We'll go through that and other visits are different attempts at trying to explain it a little bit differently for um the communities who are interested in this topic. I've got the clicker, but it's not working. Oh, was that me or was that you, Carrie? All right. >> Thank you. So, the there two board
181policies that we'll talk a little bit about tonight. board policy 6030 which requires an annual financial report to the board. There's a formal report attached to the board agenda and again this is the summary of that and then board policy which is um the newer of the two policies related to financial reporting and you can see some of the level of detail there. I just want to highlight that the second bullet point around a a formal report that shows historical actual spending and enrollment data in conjunction with year-over-year trends in student outcomes at the building grade, district, and demographic levels is not something that Seattle public schools is currently putting together ourselves. That's mostly a description of the OSPI report card information that's shared across the state of Washington. We do have folks internally since
182this policy is relatively new looking to see if that's something we can replicate um simply with for Seattle public schools but just wanted to highlight that that information that's described there is currently available in the OSPI report card. I think that's a great source of information because it gives people the ability to compare with other schools with other districts on how those trends relate to the the rest of the state state of Washington. So, just wanted to highlight that um that we're in compliance, but in that way on that part of board policy 0061, a few sort of foundational pieces of information before we get into the meat of the presentation. Just for those who don't live their lives on fiscal years like some of us do, our fiscal year starts September 1st, so about
183the school year start um and ends August 31st. It's not a calendar year. It's not July 1st to June 30th as many other government entities are and it's not the federal fiscal year, but this is September 1st through August 31st, which is typical of school districts in the state of Washington. And again, the following information is straight from the F-196 report, which is aund and something page 94 page report that is published on our website. Now, um we do submit that to OSPI. They do a review of it. auditors will come in and review this to make it a sort of an official financial audit, an audited report sometime in the next few months and then we'll have an audited financial report based largely on the information in this in this F196 report. One other
184thing I want to highlight is there's some good questions in terms of understanding around why we categorize some of the things we do and one of the answers to that is because that's what the state requires us to do. so we can have like to like comparisons across the districts in the state of Washington. So, I'll get into a little bit more of that as the presentation goes on. Here's a good example of that. Um, tonight we're going to talk about information in a variety of ways. Um, programs, activity codes, and object codes. And so, that's another way that the state says you should present the information. It's confusing for everyone involved. Um, I've gotten some questions recently around is there a way to do kind of a relational database look at these. Um, in
185the F-196 there are attempts at that. So there's P starting on page 42 here's the program basic education. Down the left side of the page it lists the activity codes and across the top it lists the object code. So you can see in basic education how much is spent on goods and or purchase services in instruction. So there that is available. It's not the level of detail we're presenting tonight but I want to make sure people are aware that that sort of information is available in that F196 report. Said a little bit about this. Um we have tried um in the last few years to make sure this information is um accessible on our website and so the monthly reports that we do to the board are all there. The F196 is already there from
186the year that ended um August 31st 1st. Um and then our budget pages are there as well as well as the audit. So just wanted to highlight this resource for people who want to access the the more detailed information on their own time. we'll get to the meat of the topic here. So, the first page here that we're that I have highlighted is um some of the key takeaways from the year end. And again, this is the year that ended August 31st of 2025 um five months ago. So teaching and teaching support is continuing to be the largest area of spending looking at it by activity and it's continuing to increase a little bit and that's in large part because other areas of the district are decreasing and we'll get into some detail about that
187later. Another highlight is that state underfunding in certain areas continues to be a significant issue for Seattle public schools in many school districts in the state of Washington. um Germaine to Seattle public schools. Our fund balance is becoming increasingly more important and it's continuing to decrease. Fund balance is essentially uh count for a savings account of sorts or your equity if you think about it in that way. Um while all of that's going on, student and family needs are continuing to increase and we heard lots of testimony tonight around different needs in the community. Um, and inflation continues to be a challenge for Seattle public schools as it does for u most entities and most people right now. Um, this report we're going to go through, we're going to spend most of our time on
188the general fund conversation. That's the operating fund. That's what operates the schools. That's what operates the district. Um, the capital project fund is what builds the buildings and does major maintenance to the buildings. um primarily funded by the levy, the capital levies. Um and then there's a debt service fund. I have some good news on that at the end of the report. And then the associated students body t spoiler down it's a teaser, not a spoiler alert. So there's good news in here somewhere. Um and then the associated student body fund is uh accounting for all the financial activity related to fundraising and fees for students um optional activities at school. So just to highlight a few things and of course if directors have questions along the way happy to entertain those. Um this is
189the way of looking at our general fund resources. So this is the monies coming into Seattle public schools over the last three years in the different categories of funding. I do want to highlight a couple of things. That first line, the local levy, so that's the levy that Seattle or Seattle, city of Seattle residents voted yes on um this last year. And the legislature allowed school districts have more authority to raise more money locally. And so that number will go up next year. You'll see it's been pretty consistent. It's driven by enrollment and by the cap that was previously there. That cap has changed. That number will go up a little bit next year and it'll go up a little bit more the next year as we collect more levy proceeds. The other part I
190want to highlight is the two lines that start with state state aortionment and state grants. Together those are about 2thirds of the revenue coming into Seattle public schools 67.04%. Um so the preponderance of revenue coming into Seattle public schools continues to be from the state of Washington. And then the third number I want to highlight is the second to last line there, the fund balance. So that $23,700,000 is the amount of money we had to use from our savings account or the fund balance to make sure that we were able to cover all those expenses. That $1,195,000 or 1 billion195 million in expenditures. So, three sort of key things. The levy is going to be changing. State funding continues to be the the most important. And then we did use around $23 million from our
191fund balance to to pay all the bills last year. This is just a graphical way of looking at that for those who think that is easier to digest. The first way of looking at the expenditures is by program. And so a few things I want to highlight here. Um the furthest to the right column shows the percentage change from the prior year. And you'll see the the total change is around 5%. And there's a few things that increased significantly more than that. Special education um more students with more needs. Um the state also has responded with some more safety net funding. The sale public schools has been taking advantage of um vocational education and skills center. So that's increases in enrollment in those programs. There's been more offerings of CTE programs and students are taking
192up on that and skill center enrollment was up last year. And then one of the the more confusing parts of our financial information is this category that the state um mandates we use around compensatory programs. And so that is not what some folks think about as compensatory um services that are provided to students where the district hasn't served them. This is a category of spending um from title funds, from uh learning assistance program funds, from the Head Start program um and some other things that are not typically considered sort of this comp compensatory services. So, this is the way the state categorizes that. I've been working with uh the incoming superintendent on some more information on how to share that information a little more broadly, but just wanted to highlight that that um that's a
193title, it's LAP, it's head start, it's other programs. It's not what some might think of as comp compensatory damages uh spending. And again, just a graphical way of looking at that. Another way of sort of looking at the information is by object. Um, couple things to highlight there. First, you'll see the spoiler alert, Seattle public schools is primarily um, staff is the primary expenditure. It's always around more than 80% and in last year it was 81.83%. Um some of the growth in those numbers is driven largely by um colas or cost of living adjustments um funded in part by the state. Um it doesn't necessarily mean staff is growing but it means the expenditures for staff are growing. Um the other couple things I want to highlight um are supplies and materials and purchase services
194in particular. So there's lots of questions that come up around purchase services. The largest things that are in that $179 million are things like insurance premiums, utilities, um, special education services, transportation, the bus contract is in there. That's in the neighborhood of 40 or $50 million, Running Start contracts we have with the community colleges where we pay them um, for their Running Start students, and then legal services. So that $179 million is not just services that are um extra for a school district. Much of that the majority of that is those things like insurance, utilities, special education services, bus services, and things like that. So just wanted to highlight that. That's one of the the that's the largest number below the the uh salaries and wages portion of it. I might see some questions in
195some eyes, but I'm not gonna go there unless someone wants me to. >> Let's keep going and do questions at the end so we can see what how much time we have. >> Okay. And the fi final way is by activity. Again, people business, the majority of spending is in teaching and teaching support. Um, combine those two numbers, it's uh in the neighborhood of more than 70%. Here's where um we're going to spend quite a bit of time taking a deeper dive. Um so the fund balance for sale public schools and many other school districts is becoming increasingly important. Um this is a detailed look at what makes up that $97 million that we had at the end of August. And you'll see there's different categories. Some of them are just called restricted or non-spendable.
196And then there's a whole bunch that are called assigned. The difference there is the non-spendable or the restricted are things that are sort of off limits to balance the budget by law, by rule, or just by common sense. The inventory in the warehouse isn't going to pay the payroll in any given month. Um the assigned are things that the school district is making choices around. So, S public schools has some carry forward. So, schools that don't spend all of their um discretionary money get to carry it forward from year to year. There's a levy with the city of Seattle, essentially a grant program where there's some extra funding if the city if the school district performs at a certain level that accumulates over years. There's a legal reserve that's at 11.5 million. That's an estimate
197of what the spending on legal cases might be. Um sort of a projection on that. And then the big one there is assigned one time. So, of that $97 million, in order to balance the budget for the year we're in currently, 2526, we used $48 million to come up with a balanced budget. Add all that up, there's $4 million left over, and that's the amount that we would have available to help to help to balance next year's budget if the district and the board choose to use that to help with a budget balancing solution for next year. The next few pages are details on that. And again, I just wanted to highlight that um restricted and assigned um portion of that um for the board and for um others. Here's a graphical picture of the
198same thing we're talking about. You'll see that in the 2021 school year, at the end of that school year, the fund balance was in the neighborhood of $180 million. Now it's 97, a little bit more than half what it was. Um the green there, um that's the rainy day fund. So the the district and the board decided to as part of the solution over the last few years was to eliminate that fund to help balance the budget. And you'll see that's why there's no green part of the the the bars um in the year that we're talking about tonight. Different way of looking at this um beginning fund balance for this year was 121 million. Add up all the money that came in or was utilized to meet the expenditures. Subtract out the expenditures and
199it's 97 million is what was left in that this year. So, $23 million dip into the fund balance for last year. That's a lot. I'm going to keep going. So, a question that um necessarily has been um a big part of the conversation at Seattle public schools the last few years is around the structural deficit. So, trying to be and I think I shared some of this last time, but we've nuanced a little bit of it um for this year-end report. Um so, what do we mean when we say that we have a structural deficit and it just simply means that we're expecting to spend more money in the given year than we are expecting to bring in. So, it's like a family. If you have a certain amount of income coming in and your
200budget is says you're going to plan to spend a little bit more, that's what this simply is. So, structural deficit, your spending is planned to be more than what you expect to bring in in any given year or into the future. Um, some of the things that are causing this here at Seattle Public Schools, um, again, I highlighted a few of those earlier. Um, costs are increasing faster than the revenue. So, one example is compensation. The state provides funding for colas, cost of living increases um, to school districts. for sale public schools, they don't provide enough for the number and the types of employees that we have. So, initially out of the gate, if we had one employee making $50,000 a year and the state said give them a 10% raise, they're underfunding that 10%
201raise by a certain amount. So, that's a big part of a structural deficit. Since we're a people organization, staff costs are a big part of that. And in any year, that numbers are between seven and 11 million for all the staff across the district. um inflation. We're all um acutely in tune with legal expenses continue to go up. Um you saw on the previous slides the fund uh assigned legal monies is about doubled the last few years. So there's been more litigation going on than had been in the past. Um student needs can do an increase as facilities get older. There's more need to maintain them. Transportation go costs go up for obvious reasons. um whole litany of things where costs are increasing faster than the the money coming in. Things like special education, transportation,
202culinary uh are funded specifically by the state but not enough for sale public schools. So um for example um transportation services under spend by more than $10 million each year for the services that we provide to our community bilingual similar similar equation. Um declining enrollment is a part of this fact this equation. Um the district's enrollment isn't tanking, it's going down. Um not significantly each year, but it is going down, continuing to go down. And the school districts are largely funded based on their enrollment. And then district choices. So, we had a consulting group come in and work um with the staff, with the board on some of the choices the district has made and how they compare to what other districts that they work with or other districts across the country or in the
203state are doing. And so, they highlighted some of the choices that Seattle has made around transportation, the elementary school portfolio, the configuration of other schools, some of the supports we provide to um schools and classrooms and instructional assistance. And there's a whole 190 something page report on that. But just wanted to highlight some of this is just the Seattle public schools choosing to make do operations the way that it does and provide the the things that we do in the way that we do. Questions around how we project. So um the budget team, the accounting team get together and we figure out what's all the different levers are that might contribute to increasing that deficit, changing that deficit. and for this year that we're talking about. So about this time in 2023, all the information
204came together and said if we bring in as much revenue and enrollment as what we think it's going to be and if the expenditures are what we think they're going to be, the difference is going to be about $und00 million in that year. So if everything went off as we hoped it would or planned that it might, that difference would be $und00 million. You'd spend more $und00 million more than um you would bring in the 2425 school year. Then we start the budget development process because that's not a tenable situation. So in that year specifically to work towards this balanced budget which is a requirement for all school districts in Washington. Um the district relied on a mix of different solutions. One of them was an inner fund loan from our capital fund. We used
205some of that fund balance which we tal I talked extensively about earlier. Um we reduced made some reductions in central office. We made some reductions in school staffing and school um per pupil funding. I think in that year there was some additional state funding that came in um sort of at the last minute at the end of the legislative session. $50 per uh per pupil for some maintenance and operation expenditures. That was onetime funding doesn't continue into the next year. We should get that on the legislative agenda to continue that. Um and then we delayed any repayments back to the rainy day fund or the economic stabilization account. There's a board policy that says we should be repaying that. So every year we don't, we bring it to the board and say, "Do you want
206to do this or should we keep using that to help balance the budget?" The last few years we've used it to balance the budget. All of that happened. We ended up saying, "Okay, if everything goes exactly as we planned, we'll have $78 million coming out of that fund balance to make ends meet." That's not exactly what happened. Things were different because it's a school district and it's very complex. Um, so you'll see their sort of summary level and this is a slide that I think we'll continue to refine over time to get a little deeper in detail as to what some of the things are and what some of the levers are. We have a group of staff in the district um sort of working on the how to better predict all of these things.
207There's 10 areas we've identified that are sort of have potential for big fluctuations. So um the summary of what happened for that school year is enrollment was a little bit higher. So that came with a little bit more revenue. Um some of our plan expenses didn't pan out as we intended or we thought they might. So there were some vacancies. The district does rely on some of that vacant positions to happen throughout the school year and it uses it to offset some other costs um each year. There were some point expenses that were not not lower than projected but were higher than projected. So there was some netting out there. Um there was that l that $50 per student sort of at the end of the legislative session and then there were other changes around
208interest rates were higher than anticipated. Capital um programming that helped supplement the operating fund didn't happen exactly as we anticipated. Um there were emerging needs that happened throughout the year. I think there was $11 million and emerging needs that were covered by some of the the vacant positions and other things. Then legal costs went up. So those are some examples there. So instead of that $78 million that we thought we might need out of the fund balance, we ended up needing that $23 million to to pay the 1001 bill195 million in expenditures in that year. It's a lot. Um so the bottom line here is the district has not run out of money. Even though every year we have a hund00 million deficit, we do things to mitigate that and then operations happen. And so
209we've been making those reductions. Um this the legislaturator has come through a little bit in the last few years. Last year in particular with that local levy l cap change was fairly significant for sale public schools. And then our results have been a little bit better. So those expenditures that weren't realized have been higher than those that were unanticipated the last couple years. And then we've been using some of our savings, some of that fund balance to cover that shortfall. So bottom line here is that fund balance is dwindling. Um it's doesn't without structural changes in the revenue side or the expenditure side that will continue to dwindle to a point where it will not exist anymore. Trying to think about this a different way that may be more accessible is thinking of a family.
210Um so family thought they've their salaries were $100,000 in total for a year. They pl they sat down. They did their budget and it was going to be $110,000 for all the things they wanted or needed to do. They looked at their savings account and said, "Okay, to do all those things, we're going to need to use $10,000 from our savings account." Um, the year happened, they decided not to do some of those things, $3,000 of those things. So now they're saying, "We only need to spend$7,000 out of our savings account." And then one of the family members got a raise at work. So something to the positive happened sort of unexpectedly. So in the end they only needed to spend $5,000 out of their savings account to meet all their expenses for that year.
211Even though they thought it was going to be 110, it was 105 by the by the end of the year. So just a a different way of looking at that. And then a third way of looking at that is just using a one of the many complex departments at Seattle public schools as an example. Um and I'll try and be brief about this. So transportation is something that has lots of variability in it. Um so in this given year they're anticipating expenditures going up by $3 million. Um and that that would make the the gap between what they're receiving from the state and from uh between that and the expenditures from 19.6 to $22.6 million. So that's the underfunded part of transportation. As we went through that second process in the bigger example when we
212went from 104 to 78, part of that 78 million was transportation saying, "Hey, we can do some changes to our routes." I think that was year there were 12 routing changes um that came to the board and that will save us approximately $6.7 million. So instead of a deficit of $3 million being added to it, we're saving $3.7 million from that deficit. Part of that 104 to 78. But then the year happened. There were some preschool places, preschool locations added. Bus transportation was part of that and it sort of consumed some of most of that savings for that year. So just there's a dozen or so different departments that are pretty complicated like this and they're all feeding into trying to project how all the the financial information will be uh happen each year. Departments
213like mine are very simple. It's me and one other person. If we're here, we kind of know what we're going to spend, but departments like transportation are much more complex. That's the end of the operating or the general fund part of this. I can keep going. Just a few more slides. Capital projects similarly projects a budget in this year. It was um what am I looking at here? They're projecting to spend 631 million. They only spent $443 million. Part of that, this was the year where Alky was slightly delayed and some other larger projects were delayed. So they had planned as if these things were going to happen on a timeline. They didn't. And so there was some savings there. Alkai is still being built. I think um at least a couple of you have
214toured it recently. I think it's close to finished. I'm not sure. Um but so it's catching up now. So that was in large part why there was a a a change there from what was originally anticipated. This is the good news. So the district took out a loan to well I don't know if it's good news. This building was financed by the district through a loan or through bonds. Next year on December 1st, 2026, we will pay off that bond or that loan. So, this will no longer be a part of the financial um statement after next year. So, we'll have a party on December 1st to celebrate that. And then the final part of this is the associate the ASB fund. And so this is again um the optional nonredit extracurricular events or activities
215um that happen in schools and they all budget for that separately at each school. I think tonight you endorsed or approved an ASB formation for inter agency. So those types of activities are happening in many of the schools. Um and this they each put together a budget and this is a compilation of their budgets and what happened in the 2425 school year. Thank you, Dr. Bleman. So, we are going to go around and we're going to take questions. I'm going to do something similar to last time. I don't want to limit anyone's questions because I know this material is extremely important, but I also know Dr. Bleman is willing to take questions outside of this time as well. Um, so we'll just go around keeping questions or comments to roughly two minutes. Um, and then
216we'll see where we're at and see if we have any time to do more than that. But again, I think that that this I don't want this to feel limiting. There's lots of time to answer questions. This is this. So, we'll just start with Director Lavali. Lal. >> Hey. All right. When I'm looking at the general fund expenditures by program, um, where you see regular instruction, special instruction, vocational education over the past three school years, you see some pretty large increases, one of them being special education. At some point, can we get information as to more because it increased by 16 million from 2022 to 2025. So at some point can we get more detailed information of where increases are happening and the what is happening with them so that we can start to really
217know where those increases are and if they are I mean I don't not the word appropriate but if if they are if we've kind of accounted for that increase and why it's happening. >> Absolutely. Yes. Um my next question is within the actual results slide um it says 20 something and the print is cut off. It's closer to the end of the document. Um where you were talking about that what actually happened over the course of the 2425 school year said enrollment for 2425 was higher than anticipated and some planned expenses were lower than projected. You said vacant positions, sick leave, etc. that have been unfilled. Are those positions that are trying to be filled or because they are left vacant, are they just vacant for the year where somebody actually needs an additional person
218in that school? >> Um, I think it's a combination of things. The district tries to project the number of positions that will be needed to serve all of the needs around things like special education, um, >> multilingual services, and sometimes the needs are greater or smaller than what was anticipated at the in we're doing this way fairly far in advance of when the school year actually starts. So that's a portion of it. A portion of the vacant positions is also things custodial staff, maintenance staff. there's some fairly significant turnover in some of those jobs for lots of reasons and so there's some vacancies in there that occur over time. The budget does assume that we've got all those positions filled because that's the intent. Um but it's not always how this actually plays out. Um
219those are a few examples of what makes up that vacant position savings. >> Okay. Thank you. Y >> I'm gonna lean on my friend Fred if he wants to add anything at any point to any of this. We um we have also instituted for non-represented positions mostly in the central office a hiring freeze which is not u and this been going on for a few years. Some of those positions we continue to carry. So I think that's um created a a bit of a vacancy because we we will you know make those final decisions as part of a sustainable budget is his position we go ever. So there is a small number of positions that are kind of intentionally vacant. Um but that's not the bulk of it. >> Dr. Massudi, sorry my mic everyone
220is >> combined for some reason. >> It's not doing so great. >> Um this is like more of a clarifying question, but I know you gave the example with the family and the um funds with the family. Um in the actual results, I'm just kind of confused. But actually doesn't mean that only 23 million is used. What happens like what happens to the rest of the funds? Cuz there's 78 million. >> Say to ask it one more time. I was focused on the family. >> Um what does it mean that only 23 million of the funds were utilized? What happens to the rest of the funds? >> So those are part the rest of them is that 97 million that remains. And so there was 121 million. Um, we did not end up having to
221use 78 million of that to pay the bills that year. We only needed to use 23 million. And so the rest of it is maintained in that fund balance or savings account is what I'm using as shorthand for that. Is that helpful? Great. Thank you. Great question. >> Um, I just wanted to compliment you and your team. This is um this general fund balance with the detail of um all the things that are assigned or restricted and then having the supplemental um kind of expl text explanation of what those line items are is very very helpful um because I think the that fund balance has been somewhat opaque in the past. Um I do have some clarifying questions about some of these line items. So um when it says restricted um revenues for carryover cash
222received that not spent but has legal restrictions from labor contracts or government agencies is is that just related to cola or >> an example of that is sub reimbursement. So there's a category of funds when a stu or when a teacher or cert certificated staff member is out of the building um and a sub is not found then there's some funding that goes to that building to make up for that in different ways. So it's restricted by the labor agreement and it acrus into that school's um pot for lack of a better way of saying it. Um so it's restricted by the labor agreement is the large portion largest portion of that >> and so it acrru to the school and do they have to spend it on substitutes or are they able to >>
223there this is a very complicated question um they can spend it on different things they can spend on things for the school they can spend it on the stu the teachers who are most impacted by the absence of that other teacher or that other staff member um there's conversations around other ways they can use it the the district and sea have a memo that tries to outline all the different scenarios and how those will be handled. >> Okay. Um the other question I have is between the assigned one time and then the assigned budget balancing. So in the text part it says that um a you know a portion of the a portion of the one time I guess I'm just confused like why we are zeroed out on the 25 for budget balancing if
224some of the 49 million is going to go to budget balancing is is there >> the so zeroed out because the superintendent and board haven't decided yet whether to move that $4 million up to that budget balancing for the 2627year budget. So once that decision is if that decision is made to use that to help balance 2627 it would just move up to that other category the assigned to budget to balance the budget for 2627. >> Oh okay. Okay. Now I understand it's going forward. Um and then the around assigned legal reserve that there's a pretty significant increase between um 24 and 25. Can I know we've talked about it but I think it might be helpful to share with >> this is the projection for what um the likelihood is in terms of case
225or settlements that have that are currently active at Salem public schools. Um, so that's the districts and the legal team's best estimate for what might be needed to settle or um take care of any of those legal cases that are active. >> And was the change in the statute of limitations something that happened between the 24? There's been a change. Um there's a and I don't know the specifics of this, but can get back to folks on that if it's um if you need it, but there was a change where um some cases from longer ago are no longer now sort of back uh eligible for litigation. I'm looking at the attorney to my left making sure I'm saying these things right. Um and so there's uh there is in part some of the changes
226have impacted this. Um there's also some insurance. So insurance only covers back certain types of cases for a period of time. Some of those cases have come forward which is also contributing to a a larger number there. Um so looking in terms of the actual results um unanticipated one-time legislative funding um that for the 2425 school year um was that the retroactive >> that was the $50 per student >> and that is truly one time it's not ongoing. Okay. Um, okay. >> And that was in part, I think, and I don't want to speak for the legislature, but there are not an insignificant insignificant number of districts who are um having significant financial difficulties. And so there was some cash flow concerns for some of them and that would help them to make sure that
227they had could meet their cash flow needs through the balance of that year. Okay. Um and then I think my final question and maybe it's can get very complex to explain but um the inner fund loan. So um in a sense we didn't end up using the inner fund loan because we had enough of our fund balance to um end the year in the black. But um now what do we do with the inner fund loan? So the easiest way to explain that is by looking at this. So the district took the district is required to have a balanced budget. One of the ways we could have balanced the budget in that year was to utilize or assign some of these things differently. So we could have taken the legal reserve or the levy performance
228reserve and assigned that to the budget balancing line. So your questions are connecting here now. Um the district didn't want to do that. That was the time when we were trying to determine around the number of schools and the the loan was essentially to buy a little bit of time to make some difficult decisions around the budget and not to encumber those things to balance the previous or the future year's budgets, but to leave them sort of where they are back to the what actually happened. We didn't actually need to use the loan proceeds because results were better than the budget anticipated and we didn't have to use these. The reason I'm spending so much time talking about these and thank you very much for all the questions is because now we're back to that
229same position where loan is not an option. It's not part of the law or the OSPI rules right now. And these are the things we'll need to start talking about if we can't come up with structural changes that are sufficient to offset it. And I love the question and if that doesn't make sense, I'm happy to try and explain it differently in the future. Dr. Manglesen. >> Um, as of right now, I don't have any questions. Thank you. >> You're my favorite board member. >> Sorry, Director Smith. We skipped you uh on screen. Director Smith. >> I don't know where to go. >> I'm unmuted. Um I don't have any particular questions, but I do want to second um Director Lali's comments about looking forward to um a deeper dive on the special education spending.
230Um you're trying to see if I know there's increasing need of of students. So that's when the spending goes up. But if there are ways that we can make our services more efficient um while still delivering, you know, the the services students need um that's something I would look forward to. Um and I would also like to request um maybe a deeper dive in the future on the capital spending and how that looks with um I think our creative uses of being able to update buildings. um and how that looks. I would be interested in that in the future. But no questions on this report in particular. Thank you very much for all this information. >> Thank you, Director Smith. Director Ranken, >> uh I had the opportunity to participate in a 2 by 2,
231so I got a lot of my questions answered, so I'm not I'm not going to repeat them. Um, but I do want to repeat the thanks for, you know, we the way that this information is being presented is something we've been asking for and pushing for for a long time. And so I wanted to recognize both of you for um being responsive to that. Um and uh this this is positive positive movement and I look forward to um more linkages between how we're spending and how students are doing and um that's I mean this is technical and interesting and it's important that the board understands you know uh where our money is going but the most important obligation that we have is to approving a budget that aligns with meeting the needs of our students
232and the expectations of our community. Um, and so, uh, yeah, I appreciate the your your movement towards your storytelling is and and I would also just suggest that, you know, years back there used to be more opportunities for the community to have there would be community engagement sessions on the budget that board members were invited to attend, but it was a community session. It wasn't a board meeting. Um and some of the way this is presented I think would be really helpful for for community members too. >> Yeah. Part of this is informed by a couple meetings we had with community recently. The PTSA group and the um strategic plan task force. We presented similar information. Got lots of feedback from them. Presented them with a potential draft survey. They hated it. So we're revisiting
233how that might look. There's some budget questions in a survey that'll be going out on the strategic plan in the near future. And so we're trying to lean into how to better communicate this information because without this information we can't come up with solutions that are satisfactory to the community or with the community. So that's part of the >> I also really appreciate that you are saying they hated it. >> Yeah. truly >> well you were there that I don't know it >> and and that that that's being taken seriously there there you know it's it's important >> director Lavali and I bonded over a different way of approaching the survey possibly in the future so >> director Yun >> all right director Msrai >> so one question uh on slide 11. I'm going to
234say something and then you tell me if I'm not understanding if I misunderstand things because it's leading to a question. So on the on the income side of things, >> yes, >> there are certain things certain buckets of money that come in that we spend on whatever operations and then some things that come in that are for specific programs like under federal grants for example where there's money that's for school lunch program. You can't spend that on teachers, right? Okay. So, jumping ahead to page 13. I don't need an answer to this now. I think it'd be helpful to know which programs there's a delta between what we're getting reimbursed and what we're spending and which ones are sort of like matched up. So, like for example on compensatory programs, if we're spending 95 million,
235are we getting 95 million to then spend on that? like because then you know my point is like an increase there doesn't matter if if the income matches the expenditure. >> So I can give you a few examples we're using. So part of the calculus there's a there's a limited number but there are some and they're significant that are restricted in the way you're describing from the state um or the feds. So for example special education spending the district spent I want to make sure these numbers are at least somewhat comparable in the neighborhood of4 billion dollars. the the lack the spending that was not funded by the state or the feds for that spending was the deficit was about hund00 million. So there's $100 million less in revenue coming in for special ed than
236there was in spending for sale public schools multilingual similar story. The difference there is about $29 million. Um food services was around $6 million and transportation's in the neighborhood of 19 or $20 million. So those are sort of the big hitters in terms of what the the restricted spending from the state or the feds are. Um and that's a big contributor to the the bottom line. So >> I think understanding those >> is super important for us because it's a what we need to advocate to increase this the the income side on but then also try and figure out internally like why are we spending more than we're getting on this. So that's helpful. >> So your question made sense. It was perfect. President Briggs. Um, I also don't have any specific questions right now,
237but also want to e echo the thanks for um just all the information and the the different the I see the effort that was put into presenting it in a variety of ways and I think that's so helpful and it is really true that for some people a grid really resonates, other people want to see a graphic like a pigraph and um I so I appreciate you taking the time to to present it in a variety of ways and make it as accessible as possible. Y and I do if I have one more minute uh I want to thank Linda Sebringer our executive director of budget Christy Mager director of accounting for helping to inform much of this and then also thank sort of the participation of the community around how this would be more
238approachable information of course asked Fred I run everything by him he says this doesn't make sense can you make it more sense make it more make it make more sense so um thank you for that we're trying >> I I do have one question just cuz it's um could superintendent Podesta you preview a little bit for us and I know it's probably not fully ready for prime time what we should be expecting come January. So in January um we want more members of the uh senior leadership team, the cabinet to present their budgets. And last few years we've talked about just really how we're handling the deficit. Um and what we'd like to do since there's new directors, we're entering into many transitions. We're trying to finalize a strategic plan people um to have departments
239at some level combination of departments without making this a six-hour meeting describe just what's in their budget. And I'm not I don't literally mean in a zerobased fashion, but just describe this is um what this program is. this is how we spend and this is how we're prioritized um in a manner that's consistent with the district's goals, the community's goals that we're all working on and then end with and given our financial constraints and in any other reallocations we've made of resources to meet our meet the goals what we're not going to do. So I think it's a it would this conversation will occur in a different sequence and there will be some different faces involved than than we're used to. Um we are still um figuring this out and we haven't done it this
240way before. So we're going to ask for a little bit of grace but I think it'll be again it'll be moving in a better direction than we've had these conversations prior. >> Thank you Director Song. Um that's very exciting and um can I make a request that along kind of dubtailing what director Misarrai was asking about um the departments that have kind of those larger gaps between funding and program spending, they could spend a little time explaining how much of it is underfunding from our res um state and federal government and how much of it are specific program choices. >> That's a great suggestion. Thank you, >> Dr. Bottoman. Jeff's move. >> Just one final thing. We published the annual report as part of the board packet. I made a mistake on a formula. So
241there'll be an updated version. It's just a small mistake, a billion dollars. So you'll see an updated version on a very specific part of that report. Um so just don't be surprised. There'll be an update. There was just a formula that got uh messed up a little bit and was caught too late to update it for this meeting. So >> appreciate that. Thank you so much, Dr. Butleman. We're only like five minutes behind what I was projecting, which is super exciting. We're going to move into the enrollment update. We'll give a moment for staff to transition over, but we're going to power through. So, if you need to take a break, please take a break through the presentation. Welcome, Director Manu and Dr. Campbell. But I will, I guess, pass it over to uh Superintendent
242Podesta to kick us off. >> I think we need to get the right >> We do have a slide deck, right? We need to get the right slide deck up. >> And is this incorrect? >> Yes, we have. >> We have updated slides. So this this slide deck that we have is incorrect, we are getting a new updated slide deck. >> And being mindful of time, I will turn it over to Dr. Camp. [Music] >> Good evening, uh, directors. Um, it's a privilege and honor to be with you tonight. Appreciate all that you do. I just want to highlight the fact that um for some of you this is um really familiar territory. These are some things that we began talking about last year as sort of corrections to how we were approaching enrollment. I
243think one of the main things that emerged last spring as we were working with enrollment was that um uh we have a couple of processes that come online. We assign students, we build budgets, we assign staff and to a certain extent those things feed into each other. But we were very mindful last year of the fact that as we think about enrollment, we think about our families in our community. We really want to honor um h what our families and students and communities are saying through the choice process that when they say I would like to go to a different school from my neighborhood uh assigned school, which that could be an option school or it could be another neighborhood school, that they're telling us something about what they think is going to be the
244best fit for their student and we really want to honor that. Um, so in all that we're doing right now, we want to maintain that as our core uh priority and our core value, which is to honor what our families uh and students uh tell us about what is best for their student um and update our processes so that it matches that and can really honor that. Um so with that, I will turn the time over to uh Fal Manu who's the phenomenal leader of our enrollment planning team. Good evening everyone and welcome new directors. It's great to see you and congratulations President Topps, Vice President Briggs and uh at large Dr. Vizrai. Uh this evening we're going to do an update on enrollment but um as you notice we omitted the enrollment update. So
245there was conversations >> the numbers. Yeah. >> Yeah. It was um as far as the numbers uh the budget office u updated you beautifully on what was happening and so there would have been confusion if we provided the um enrollment projections versus the actual enrollment because of the time frame and the view that we provide that that data. So, we're going to delay that update and would like and look forward to updating you in sometime in January. Um, probably another work session, but it'd be really great to kind of deep dive into the enrollment planning side of that u whole enrollment process. And so, uh, just wanted to clarify that. So, today's overview is, uh, we're going to summarize some of the changes for the school choice lottery timeline. Um there was conversations uh last
246year spring if you can recall some of you that have been here about expanding choice and it's all about choice and so just want to really hone in on um some of those changes that we decided to do based on um those conversations with families. We've also heard feedback even prior to that about um when they're notified versus um all of the other state or uh federal admission guidelines with preschool um private school charter schools. And so we were really thoughtful and intentional in looking at how we can um consider all that but also um plan better and um create um better conditions for our staff, our educators and ultimately a welcoming environment um on day one on the first day of school. We recognize that choice is um very much on everybody's mind when
247it comes to the new year for uh the next school year and it's a huge process and so with this change and moving that timeline forward a month instead of February in the past we've now moved it up to January. So we're going to go over that process and the rationale behind that and then share with you um how our engagement is going. I know we heard some testimony about how only two families showed up at uh one site, but we gained momentum and so um we had over 450 actually show up to our events um both in person and virtually. So, we're really proud of that and we'll share some of that community feedback and then we'll do some outlining on next steps to move into that earlier open enrollment timeline and some key
248milestones that we'd like to update with you through this progress. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. So, what's changed? So, our open enrollment now begins January 5th through the 31st. So, that's a whole month where families can participate in open enrollment to be considered for priority. Those priorities are considered uh sibling and then geozone. Geozone um represents an option school. It doesn't have a boundary because it's not a neighborhood school. So, you do have to apply during this month to um um obtain a priority if uh if it's applicable. We will extend the school choice process um through the deadline of March 31st, but starting February 1st through March 31st. That is a late application process. So, we'll go into that a little bit more. And then the weightless dissolvement of uh all of our weight list
249will then be May 31st. Now this timeline when it shifted, people um asked during our feedback uh in our engagement about how this works because uh they're used to a August 31st dissolution. So um we shared with families to keep in mind that the timeline that we are using is um the same months that um we're carrying as we did in the past. So for example the weight list um started in or were created for May and June and we did not move any weight list in July and August and so three months. So for this new timeline it's also three months of duration. Yep. And so again, um what we reiter are reiterating is that planning piece and we want to work smarter and knowing and understanding that our landscape has shifted um significantly
250from um a growth mentality to now declining enrollment. And um and we can say that out loud, but we now have to be smarter in how we look at those seats for example at space so that we can optimize that opportunity but also be mindful of sustainability. So I think we talked a little bit about the rationale um just three key components improving planning staffing and staffing folks earlier um provide families with more timely decisions and um before the springtime and so they they're having a deposit put down on a certain uh preschool or private school uh they have ample time to make a decision and um they'll receive that decision early rather than after spring. And can you share when families will receive notification of their assignment if they requested a choice seat? >>
251Yes. Um and it'll be throughout this uh slide deck, but uh notification will now be February 24th versus April midappril. And then as far as our communication roll out, um uh we did a multi-function um approach. We did emails. We have done um newsletters and of course our engagements in person and virtually. We'll go over those um aspects of uh how that turned out and feedback uh with our communities. So the total events that uh were held so far uh were seven two virtual and five in-person sessions. We had um a in-person session at every region and uh we have three actual virtual sessions and two we've already conducted. Like I said, over 450 families attended these meetings and it was absolutely phenomenal and overwhelmingly um positive. Uh families had great questions. They came in
252really curious, wanting to understand. Um, you know, some of some people used different adjectives of their questions that they weren't concerning. They were just curious and and really needing understanding. And so, a lot of them had individualized um questions. And so, the staff was able to stay after even after the event um had ended to really um have them get clarification on what they need to be doing with their family to be more informed. And so, families really resonated with that. And so they were hoping to have more uh virtual in person. So we're going to be looking at that. Um but as far as um scheduled ones, we um have them um scheduled for uh another virtual uh event in January plus our admissions fair that is coming up as well in January. So
253this is just um go back once. Yeah. Uh one more just so as you can see in November uh we did a bunch of events and then um uh three in December and just um the virtual event last night which we um had over 200 families attend that virtual event. >> And each of those events had interpreters available in all of our our top five six languages including ASL. Mhm. >> And all of those interpreters were there regardless if it was needed or not. So um we had a you know full complement of languages available for families. >> I will I will add that many of our interpreters are from our admissions team. So they were also able to provide really specialized support for our families during during that time. >> So these are some
254of the key questions that um came up uh throughout our uh attendance. um school tours, highly capable eligibility and testing, our dual language immersion programs and pathways. Um preschool um and then just um some questions around choice seats and um and then policy assignments and how that worked. Um this is pretty small, but here's some themes that we heard. Um Marne, if you want to read it. um a desire for clarity and simple guidelines on steps and timelines. Sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming uh when you think about all the different um things. A family who who applies for choice can put up to five choice options. Um and then they would be weight listed for their first choice if that's if if it's overs subscribed, if there aren't seats. Um but then families
255want to they wonder, okay, then how do I decide which is my second and which is my third? you know, they want to know that they're going to have the optimal opportunity to to to receive their first choice assignment. And again, one of the things we reassured them is that we're opening the window earlier and we're opening it wider. So the aim is to actually provide as many choice seats and I know the number 85% has has been floating around. 85% of operational capacity. So operational capacity is the familiar term that you would see um in the facilities master pan master plan that you um saw a few weeks ago. Um that's the capacity that we're using. However, many of our current schools including um some of our option schools that are that are very
256popular and highly over you know many many choice requests come in for them are over 85% capacity. Some have wondered does that mean you're going to make us smaller? Absolutely not. that is we're not going to make a school smaller as a result of this. Our aim is to provide as many families as possible with their first choice with that which they have told us through their actions is what they think is going to be best for their student. So we're certainly not going to cap anybody. The aim is to assign the students to see what the demand is. Assign them before we build budgets and staffing so that we're not constrained by the staff. And again, that's the thing we heard last spring. You say you're full. The building's not full. Yes, but we
257have all of our staff. So, why are you assigning staff before you're assigning kids? So, again, this timeline allows us to assign as many students as as we really think is going to work within that building space. And again, we're not going to constrain it. Um, we do have to be thoughtful about what's physically possible. Um, but in most cases, um, you know, many of our buildings have have some capacity. um do those assignments early so that we can then move into that budget and staffing um and have that be more solid and readier so that we're not doing those um adjustments later in the school year. So, we also redesigned our uh website, our enrollment website is much more clearer. Um we worked with our um our web development team to make sure that
258it's very much easier to navigate. Um we had um requests for translated materials and multilingual support. So those choice forms um are available as an interactive um online form but they're available in translation as PDF forms in all of our uh top five languages. Um again interest in school tours families are used to school tours happening more in February. Most of our schools are moving their tours back so that they can accommodate that. Um they want lots of updates through school channels and so we're really working with our school leaders as well. In many cases, those are trusted uh people within their communities and also working with our community partners and including our preschools. And there's a strong interest in choice andor option schools. So, not just option schools. Many of our families are interested
259in choosing into another neighborhood school. So, we always want to reemphasize that it's not just our option schools. Um again, trying to find that right fit for our students. Um lots of questions about preschool. A lot of families want to know if they automatically can move from preschool into their kindergarten. Some of our preschoolers are enrolled in SPS. That's typically if they're in a developmental preschool program and and those they are enrolled in Seattle public schools. They don't need to reenroll, but most of our preschools, you do need to do that enrollment step. Um lots of interest in highly capable certainly um you heard tonight from from the community member about that. Um STEM and dual language immersion. So again, just interest in in those opportunities. So our next steps is we're going to continue
260with our engagement on information sessions. And these are additional events that I mentioned earlier, uh January 15th, Saturday event. January 10th, our admissions fair. And then January 31st 31st, we're going to have another Saturday registration fair. And this is the last day for on-time applications for priority consideration. That seems to be a rush uh for families and so we are opening up the John Stanford Center on a Saturday to help families um get last minute things done for for them for registration and school choice. >> So we'll provide live in-person support on that day. One another question that families had a lot was it if I apply right on January 1, does that put me ahead of the line? It does not. anytime during the month of January, you are within that window of on
261time applications. So, um there's no benefit to getting it in at 12:01 a.m. on January the 5th versus 11:59 p.m. on January the 31st um within that month. So, we want to make as many opportunities as possible for families to show that choice again so that we can plan for what our families are telling us they want and need. That is the goal. We have been engaging with preschool providers. We just had a recent virtual um event there with them. 100 directors of the city of Seattle preschool. Um and so we're continuing to work with our early learning department to um provide more uh virtual events or um in-person events with them. Um we're doing early communication pushes in all of our languages for registration and school choice. We're continuing with that. And then we're
262just going to continue to monitor and prepare for um with our progress on the shift with this new timeline. And then we'll keep our board regularly updated with key milestones >> and we will be looking at the impact of this on our families looking for those indicators. Is this resulting in more families? We have good evidence from last spring. Many more families received their first choice assignment. Again, that is our goal. So we want to make sure that that's clear. And also a reminder that first comes enrollment. The first task is for families to actually enroll their students in Seattle public schools. And for most of our families, 90% of our families, they're good. They get their neighborhood school, they're fine. So again, this focus on this this choice and early uh open enrollment is
263it's critical because it is an important factor and an indicator in our community, but it's also we don't want it to totally eclipse the fact that our goal is to have our families in in in our city and in our community feel really good about our schools to know what's great about our schools. So at our uh January 10th admissions fair event, lots of our neighborhood schools are there showing out. They're sharing. They have displays. Their staff members are there. And we told our our families it's a great opportunity to get to know the feel of each of these schools so that you can you don't you can actually see many many different schools rather than going to individual tours. So again enrolling our families is first and foremost what we want to do and
264then if they want to exercise choice that is a part of that as well. >> And that concludes our presentation and we'll take questions. >> Going to do questions. We'll do we're going to go around the U this way this time. Uh I am again don't want to limit questions but we will wrap up at 8:55 this evening. So if we want to continue the conversation we can definitely do that but it won't be this evening. So we'll start with uh member at large Miss Zarahi. >> Yeah thank you. And I mean, first of all, I think as a director who was talking a lot about um this process and weight list last year, I really appreciate all the work that's gone into this and uh the clear um indications of just listening to what
265community was asking for. And before I ask the questions, I just want to say I fully expect that there may be things in this that were like, oh, that didn't work, you know, and like we're trying new things. So, so I hope you all feel like you have the grace to like you're trying something new. you're listening to community and that may lead to unintended consequences and that's and we'll figure that out the next time we do it. So, want to say that as a board member who is pretty uh interested in this last time. Just a few quick questions. Um, so uh the 85% uh capacity is something that I've been getting asked a lot about. You answer my question that you're talking about operational capacity, not the not the teacher capacity because we
266haven't assigned teachers yet. Okay. Correct. Um, and then just for my own knowledge, what's the magic behind 85%? Is it what's the reason for 85 and not 90? Like why did we why are we settling on that? >> That's that's what our that's what we typically use when we think about that's both capital and enrollment, but it's really it's it's what our capital department likes to see our schools at. It gives us a little bit of flexibility. Um, particularly in in our in our neighborhood schools because we know that families and students are guaranteed a seat. So it leaves that additional capacity but many of our schools are well over that 85%. It's just a target for us. It's not a constraint. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. Totally. That that's helpful. Um and then on
267so thinking about either if it's folks who are trying to choice into a non-option school or people who are trying to go to an option school, they're not in the geo zone. Um, I know that last year one of the criteria for deciding who got assigned was the impact that it may have on their neighborhood school. Is is that that's not something that we're looking at now, >> right? Yeah. Okay. >> Right. Um, yes, there was a level of protecting the surrounding schools and so um that staffing capacity helped um with that process and looking at how many uh seats to fill in a certain school. So, but we've removed that because we are now going to staff as me as much as we can and then we would cap it off with and and
268determine the staffing from there. >> Yeah. Enrolling and then staffing. And I think it's it's a good thing to bring up because I would anticipate and we have already modeled it out. Um some schools that are really going to feel this. They are going to get smaller and so we will have to decide. We cannot let and I've said this before. We're not going to let schools die on the vine. And we've that phrase was brought up last year in when we were talking about school closures. That's not an option. No student should go to a school that is not able to thrive. So that means we will have some decisions to make about these schools that are very small. Um and and that will be something just to anticipate right now. Um which schools
269we again we can anticipate which schools will be impacted based on historical choice patterns. Um, and those schools will likely become quite a bit smaller. >> Got it. And then my last question, then I just have one comment. Um, with the earlier timeline, what what happens, and I guess it was true with the later timeline, too. What happens with um families that move to the district after the timeline? Um, and particularly thinking about maybe families that move here that are heritage language speakers in a in a target language of a dual school. Mhm. >> So that's a common um you know movement of uh migration uh for us that we take a look at. But uh for example after the weight list actually is dissolved um those seats that were left over that weren't filled
270or are unfilled because of attrition then new enrollment um students can request an option school upon request at the time of enrollment. Those seats are also dedicated for um hardship appeals that we need to review as well. and then also program placements. So there's a myriad of uh programs that are looking for space and so we coordinate with those applicable departments to see if there's space in in those uh particular schools. >> And I if I can add I think one thing previously that if you did move in in the summertime um and we had that weight list going through the summer, you really didn't have >> an option. Um now that will be open because we're dissolving the weight list. It actually makes it more accessible to families. So I think that's a really
271important I understand uh the heartburn around that in some ways but at the same time this actually opens up the possibility of being a family that may be experiencing more turbulence and maybe more mobility in your life and that you actually would if if there were space becoming available that you would have access to that seat. I also want to point out that um after those weight lists are dissolved and you still aren't in that school that you um think is right for your student, you may then do a transfer appeal. So that that is not the end of the line. You still have that opportunity um uh to submit that transfer appeal. But it does open up as you say the opportunity for families that are just moving. >> That makes sense. That's smart.
272Yeah. My last point, not a question, but just, you know, I think it'll be interesting to see come, you know, mid January, are we getting the same level of of of >> applications and requests that we did in previous years? And that'll be an early indicator of how's this new timeline, how is it being communicated? You know, is it too early for families? So, I think we'll know that early on and I'll be interested to see that. >> Absolutely. And we'll provide that update with you. >> And I think it's it's we're looking at demand, assignment, and then staffing. And we think that that's really the right sequence to do it in. And we'll know what that demand looks like right away. It'll give us much clearer information about how to how to really sustain
273and support and staff our portfolio of schools. So, um, you know, if if you recall earlier when we were meeting with the prior board about this, we actually looked at, well, what if we did it in October or you know, like if we really wanted to radically change this? So, we we tried to play it out. we felt like one month earlier is actually going to get us some some benefits without completely um uh just taking it to ground zero and starting all over again. And as FA said, we are holding those weight lists for that same period of time that we were previously. We're just not holding them through this summer. >> Thank you, Director Yun. Yeah, I just really appreciate how organized the community sess engagement sessions are. I've can attest to like
274the social media planning because I've seen that on the Instagram. I followed the Seattle public schools. I know there was been a post um for every um engagement session. So, thank you for that. I also saw that first thing on the website whenever I opened it. I was going to join one, but I had a conflict. So, like I just want to let you know thank you for that. Um, and then my other thing, I don't know how relevant this would be, but la like last uh, March, my middle school counselor reached out to me for like a family engagement session happening at Hamilton. Um, and they were asking for student pan or high school student panelists to come on and speak about um, experiences they have at their high school to give more insight
275about their specific high school to parents who are choosing high schools for their um, students. So, I just want to let you know that is happening and maybe that could somehow tie in. I don't know if the district's like involved in that, but >> thank you so much. And that's often something we do up in a high school, middle school principal for our risers so that families can come in and hear from students. You know, here was my experience. Um so really that's a case where I mean I think we look at the different levels of communication the school level where you can do that and bring those students back is really wonderful. It's great that you were um asked to do that. So thank you. Appreciate that. We also have students that um attend
276our admissions fair for those schools that they're in and they're it's such a difference and um they participate and speak their truth to other families if they're looking at different schools and it's really powerful and impactful. >> Dr. Ranken, >> thanks. Um uh it's it's this is it's very late. This is a long meeting and um I am not totally clear why we so this is not to say anything about anybody's work. It feels like this could have been a a memo to the board. This doesn't feel very governance level. This feels very very in the weeds operational and people are interested in it and that's fine. Um I just don't know that we need to keep everybody here until almost 9:00 to to have this conversation. The conversation I would like to have is
277still the bigger picture that's missing is we don't have a good description for our community or the board about what the portfolio of schools is that we offer, why you might want an option school. They've been largely just determined by vibes. Um, and so I, you know, I would really like us to be more more clear and more consistently supportive of those program because I mean, ever since I've been a community member, the PE people have always, oh, they're going to close option schools, which by the way, I've never said I want to do, just to state that for the record. um it's always been a worry because they're a different program, but they're treated the same under the WSS and other formulas as as a as a regular um comprehensive neighborhood school. That's not
278really sustainable until we actually define what is it that this program does differently and how might it need to be staffed differently or treated differently. We're going to always have this this thing and we saw it too. you know, people want to choose option schools because they're different, but then the idea that they wouldn't have the exact same staffing as a neighborhood school brought brought people out, you know, up in arms. And it's like, well, then what are what are you actually opting into? >> And then the bigger picture of that is we have a lot of students who are not well served by any of these programs and we're just ignoring them >> to be quite frank. And I mean the the ultimate and alternative education would be inter agency and bridges. We don't
279talk about those kids or those programs or that staffing or those placements at all. We spent so much time talking about this tiny group of families who it's fantastic that they can choose where they go. We're now because we're not talking about what that portfolio looks like and what schools need to survive and what you are actually choosing when you choose a neighbor uh an option school or a different neighborhood school. Um it feels like we're going to have schools compete with each other for students and I really am nervous about that. >> Yeah. >> I don't think that's good for kids, right? Um, and so I I also just so that's that's like the bigger picture of what as a representative of the full community and from the board level I would like to
280know how this is aligned with our expectations for students and how this impacts our budget. There's not a conversation here about that. It is going to impact neighborhood schools. We are we're basically allowing the free market of parent choice to determines what schools lose resources and we're not talking about that and and that's really concerning. Um we also this the new weightless timeline is just a reversion to what we used to have in 2017 and 2018 exact same timeline. And so again as a community member I was part of a group of people who advocated to extend the weightless timeline. Lots of things are different now than they were then. So there may be different things that that we're gaining by returning to that. But I I am not clear on how we're not just
281exchanging current challenges for previous challenges. Are we actually solving a problem? Are we just trading trading problems? Um, and so I while I think this is great and I really really really truly appreciate listening to families and us not sort of harming everybody by spreading everything so thin that kind of nobody has what they want. Like that's not that's not good either. I do really appreciate that and I appreciate the responsiveness to families. Um, but I have to force myself to to think about it from from the the bigger picture about what this what impact this actually has on students and our and our system. And so, um, I yeah, >> I guess one observation I would have is what is a policy is that we do allow school choice and the the constraints we'd
282placed on it before were a bit um arbitrary and ambiguous and we would be happy to um support the board in the conversation about what what is the our vision, what do we think about school choice. So, I think what we tried to move to, if we have it, let's really have it. Um, >> and let's really have it and make sure that it's actually protected and available. >> Um, yeah. >> And that there isn't um, you know, kind of a black box and how much choice there is because that's what we heard from the community. How much choice do people want? So, you you're right. This isn't a policy discussion. This is our attempt to optimize our procedures within the policy envelope that the board has already >> provided. So I yeah I guess
283I would just say where what I would like the board board time to be spent on is actually discussing what policy changes we may need to make to to not have to revisit this every year or two to actually provide clear directions about the expectations and protections of choice in our system so that you all can operationalize it in a way that is responsive to that direction instead of just sort of responding to different sets of of com complaints and we never quite really get there. The other big big question I have is um for students with disabilities. I mean you brought up developmental preschool. Those students already don't get a say in where they go to school because not everyone will take them. And so they're they don't have access any access to this
284choice. They don't even have access necessarily to their neighborhood school that should be something available to every child. And that is a that when we talk about enrolling first and then staffing, when are we going to do that for students with disabilities? >> Thank you, Director Ranken. >> Dr. Manglesen, >> I don't have any questions or comments. >> Director Smith, sorry. It always takes a second to unmute. Um I will definitely be here in person when I when I can. Um sorry just gathering gathering my thoughts. There was a lot um from direin. So that was a good discussion. Um and one of my thoughts was just about um the roll out and ensuring that there are multilingual options in the text, email and social media and school newsletters. I think every other discussion of
285the communications on enrollment um covered that. So I think that's probably yes that that was well covered as far as making sure that that information was accessible. And then my just my other comment um I think that it is difficult to see what option schools are really available in which programs. And so that does align with um director Rankin's comments about you know what is our portfolio of schools and you know what options do people have and um I think that I think that there might be some growing pains with this change in enrollment. I think it is a necessary step and I hope that as we see the impacts we will be looking at them very closely in order to um influence the policy discussions that will follow. Thank you. >> Thank you, >>
286Director Song. Um, it's really exciting to see how well attended our engagement sessions are and I just wanted to note that our a lot of the schools have been hosting uh tours already. I had the opportunity to go to Garfield's last week and it was very very well attended. Um while I was there, I had multiple people ask me the same question, which is for students who um were designated as HCC in elementary school, left for um SPS in middle school, but would like to return to SPS and high school. Can they get their HCC designation and therefore they can um go with an HCC pathway school like Garfield? Um I wasn't able to find that information on the website and the ministers also weren't entirely sure. >> So if there's been a lag of
287attendance um since they left uh we would just need to know if they continue to qualify. So they would need to um I would reach out to the AC department to ensure that um they have continued that um type of uh courses um when they were away. um and they will take a look at that and review that those courses and if they're deemed eligible, yes, they can then opt into um an HC high school at that time. But um I'm probably saying too much to be dangerous. And so I would rather have somebody from the HC department confirm that, but um that has been my experience. if if they've gone away and came back, as long as they continued those um courses um and the HC department has reviewed them and deemed them eligible,
288then they can continue on with their pathway in high school. >> I think we need a little bit of clarification on that process because it currently looks like you need to take some tests perhaps and so it sounds like what you're describing is that the HC department needs to perhaps look at a transcript and then they will make a determination. But I think we need really specific information to give to families about who you send that transcript to, what are the things they're looking for, when will they give you an answer so that it's in time for them to participate in this choice window. Um, my second question is, so I love that you um included a slide around what kind of feedback and questions you were getting from the engagement um sessions. I'm wondering
289if uh questions around after school care came up at all and if that was a consideration um and if um that's something I think the district should consider in terms of trying to recruit students into the district. Yeah, those those >> uh school age child care services are provided by our community partners um in partnership with our schools and those are agreements that are created at the at the school site um and they run their own registration and and all of that. So really our our guidance is um you know to to work with your school, see what they have available. We did get questions how do we apply? You apply to the organization. Sometimes the schools help out and facilitate that, but really it's it's usually a community-based organization that is running that service.
290So, um certainly we know that that's in this I've said this many times at our sessions, so Val's heard me say this, but it's a critical part of the ecosystem for our families and communities having that before and after school care. We fully recognize that. I was a working parent and you know really relied on those kinds of services to make sure that that uh that my family was able to function. And so we know that that's very important. So we don't uh we have a very I would say a dotted line to the partnerships office. Uh I meet with Susan Hall around both preschool and child care on-site child care regularly um to talk about just issues, make sure that we're working well with our partners and our goal would be um that that's
291available at every school. It's it's not currently. The other uh thing that people don't always realize is that when our CBOS's enter into um partnership agreements with us, which means they use our space rent free um if as if as long as they're ali aligned with our goals and and adhere to some criteria that we ask them to adhere to. One of them is that we want them to be able to provide enough uh spaces for up to a third of the school's population. So that if we give them that alignment agreement, we're confident that they can provide for what we think. We think a third is about the right number of of students who would be needing those services. Um but right now just again voluntarily Tyler Hamilton and I are looking at those
292um organizations that have long wait lists to say what is it that's constraining us from providing those seats for families that really need it. So that's ongoing work that we're doing. Um we're working with the partnerships office on that. Yeah. Thank you. >> Great. >> We're also hearing though from families that the earlier timeline is really helping them so that they can plan for these uh type of situations. >> Makes sense. Um my next question is going back to the 85% operational capacity. So, um maybe I'm not entirely understanding this, but I know that there are some of our schools and I'm thinking of um two of our language immersion schools and then um another option school where traditionally you well let's use the example the language immersion schools like traditionally every six years you
293would add an extra class of kindergarten um because there is actual physical space for that extra class. Um and then then in the recent years that has not been allowed. So um you know if we're trying to get to this um you know our operating model is that we're going to do the enrollment and then we're going to staff um are those schools able to add back those kindergarten classes. So I'm going to share this so that there's no confusion. So we control the enrollment with option schools because there's an entry process. We but we what we don't control is the uh neighborhood schools enrollment. Those fluctuate because of housing nearby that may um pop up unexpectedly. And so those are the uh schools that we make sure that we're looking at 85% and not
294at full capacity so that there's flexibility and growth for option schools. Um, we also look at um room for growth because we would like to um honor choice year-over-year. If we f fill everybody to 100% then those cohorts um will then rise um to each uh grade. And so the only room that we would be looking at is kindergarten. And so we would minimize a lot of the those options. So, we're trying to be that flexible to make sure that um we don't open up new sections that would impede on uh capital's planning for those future uh facilities flexibility. Um we control that enrollment. So, we want to make sure that if we're going to expand that we don't open up new sections because then if we open up one section in kindergarten for example
295of four and they're at three then now we have to open up a section for first grade, second grade, third grade as they rise and that becomes um unattainable at some point because now um they're either over their capacity or they maximized it where we have no wiggle room to then consider choice seats. But that capacity exists because in the past those kindergarten that like they added one more kindergarten and um that there was a like I can think of >> the flexibility the flexibility was there because at that time there was growth in the neighborhood schools and we were trying to alleviate the capacity from >> the neighborhood schools. And so option schools were created for that sole purpose to alleviate capacity from that growth of those neighborhood schools instead of moving to a
296boundary change for example which was uh quite disruptive. And so instead of creating another school with a boundary we opened up an option school with no boundary but a geo zone. We were able to offset that capacity um considerably by moving those uh students over to those classrooms. and we probably did start out um at four kindergartens to alleviate the capacity. We're not in that landscape anymore. We're at a a decline year-over-year. And so now we're just going to need to manage those seats and also um viability for our neighborhood schools to some degree. And so we were we are slowly um looking at those ratios and moving as much as we can. >> Okay. That sounds not entirely consistent with like what the general approach with is, but this is sort of an edge
297case. Um, and my last question, >> director Song, we're gonna move to the last two directors. I know you have more questions. I'm sorry. >> We can certainly talk outside of this. >> Director Mudi, >> I don't have any questions. Thank you. >> Director Ali, >> I do have questions. Um, I emailed them earlier. Um I'm going to try to choose the top ones. How what are your metrics for evaluation on this process? >> So we we have a lot of metrics but what we do is um we obviously are looking at our migration and how many students are wanting to move in for example this school choice process. Um the biggest metrics that we look at is our PB23 report in September and how many of these kids actually show up. And so um
298that is a measurement of how um those those kids are being moved because a lot of students they um get awarded to choice but then they want to return to their neighborhood school or change. So um those activities is also u measured and so we're looking at that because this again this is progress. It's not perfection, but we recognize that you know what, if we can look at this and look at this time span and see if we can meet all of our parents' needs as well as the planning needs, um we're going to look at those same metrics and we are looking at um our region enrollment as well. We look at um our trends. Um we have historical trends from 10 15 years that we look at every year when we look at
299our annual projections. We also consider all of these influxes and attrition. And so um for example in February we projected 49,69 students. We came in in February October 1st at 48,957. That's a a variance of 112 students and that's uh 98 99% accuracy. And so that level of high accuracy um helps stabilize that that budget. I know you mentioned a 1.55, but I'm not sure where that data came from. We can certainly take a look at your data and how you got to that and arrived to that, but I'm just letting you know that we look at those metrics every year, the next five years and also 10 years. >> I actually didn't mention any data in my question, the first one. >> Oh, sorry. I'm talking about your email. Sorry. >> Um I I
300will ask about data in a question. Um, >> we you have time for maybe a half a question more because I'm going to end this meeting at nine at nine and I know that there's more probably more questions and also be happy to answer progress. Uh, there'll be another update too. >> Um, and this will be that data question that I had emailed. Well, actually I'm going to ask about HC HC students to kind of back piggyback a little bit on what Vivian was asking. The timelines for HC students have changed as well, but they don't get their um official HC um information of whether they have qualified into the program until I believe just a few weeks before they have to make a decision. Do you really think that that's enough time for parents
301to make an informed decision? >> They have an extended timeline for that. So, we've actually created it. We've worked with the highly capable department to make sure that they have ample time for that. Yeah. >> All right. We're going to wrap up there. Um, but I want to make sure that staff knows that you have lots more questions. It sounds like an email was sent um and uh uh this is our last meeting before the new year. So, wishing everyone a a wonderful winter break and a happy 2026. Happy New Year. And there being no further business to come before the board, the regular board meeting is now adjourned at 8:59 p.m. Thank you everyone. Thank you.