Seattle Schools Board Meeting Sept. 18, 2024

001[Music] okay [Music] d e e e your partnership as we work towards creating the best possible future for our students families and communities today we'll provide an update on well resource schools we'll discuss the two proposed Options under consideration uh summarize stakeholder feedback and and outline our engagement opportunities and the next steps I appreciate your involvement in this process and it's your engagement that makes our school system special I want to thank the board for their courageous steps towards fiscal and program stabilization it is indeed hard generational work this could this discussion can be challenging and emotional and as especially as we talk about schools that hold special place in many of our hearts including mine however I want to believe that amidst these challenges we can uncover New Opportunities last Wednesday we launched a

002public web Hub that includes a detailed analysis of our elementary school buildings and insights into what these changes might mean for our families we put our best thinking forward and are eager to listen to your feedback civil and constructive disagreement is a part is a vital part of how we democratically govern our schools this evening offers us yet another set of important feedback opportunities along so much of what we've already been hearing as a start of this engagement process we welcome the comments and we have our ud's team here with us to take notes and ensure we have comments logged and followup with speakers by email as appropriate on Bud's office can you can y'all give us a wave all right they're over there so folks have special comments and and information they want to

003provide our un un Buzz office is there so uh one I'm really emphasize a commitment to Services we understand that discussions about potential school closures and consolidations can create uncertainty I want to reassure you special education multilingual services and programs for highly capable students will not be diminished I'm going to say that again I want to assure you special education multilingual services and programs for highly capable services will not be diminished our commitment to providing these essential services and programs remains steadfast in fact our goal is to make sure that these programs and services more consistently provide access across our district we want to bring what works to more locally accessible neighborhood schools so that all students can Thrive and learn along with their peers we also will provide an overview of our budget budget

004process today outlining the challenges we face and the proposals that we're considering we've utilized our savings our rainy day funds and continue to Advocate with the legislature while we've had to make difficult reductions to staff and services we are committed to avoiding further cuts to our schools thank you for your attention tonight and back to you president Rankin thank you um sorry this is like sensory overload because I'm getting message from staff okay um thank you superintendent I I have a few things to share um here and then I will pass it over to our student members who are joining us for their first meeting um all the other meetings are going to yes thank you and I told them that this is how they all are just kidding just kidding um okay so uh

005public testimony is scheduled to be begin at 5:00 P p.m. depending on what business is happening it's possible that we will start that after 5:00 pm but we will not start it prior to 5:00 pm so that anyone who's planning on that you know and is is here um okay uh I know that a lot of people are here to provide comments on well resourced schools and um I I believe that you all probably have a lot of questions and concerns that we also have and so I definitely encourage you to um stay for a budget update and also we will be getting an update from staff um I think it's later on the agenda on the current state of the plan that's um being proposed there's no action happening this evening um and also

006the the board only has the ability to make decisions when we are here together in public so a lot of the things that you are wondering about we are also wondering about um as we uh don't decide things behind we're actually by state law not allowed to it's part of the the um transparency to the public is that decisions that are made by the board happen in public um so we look forward to seeing a presentation from staff and asking questions um and to hearing your comments and again encouraging you to stay for that conversation so that um you can see what questions we are asking and what questions you might still have that you can share with us um after the meeting um so um uh given that also even though we have this

007very sort of uh performative stance and an audience this is actually a a meeting of the board a business meeting of the board that's held in public as opposed to a a a presentation or performance for the public and so as much as possible we're going to try to make sure to get through the conversations and and do the important work that um we need to do on behalf of our community um here and and of course and as you are experiencing that is open to the public to watch um so given that during the public testimony period as with other governing bodies that's your opportunity to have some time to share thoughts here we don't respond it's not a two-way conversation um and we can't take questions as Dr Jones indicated the UDS folks

008are here to answer things that may be more staff connected I and I'm sure my fellow directors will be really paying attention to think uh on what is being said for um considerations we might want to think about in terms of how we give our direction to the superintendent about what happens next so like vision and values um that's our role so um yeah Buck buckle up um I will now pass it over to director Bragg to provide the first student member comments if you have some all right all right uh it's crazy being called that uh uh thank you all for the welcome to be here um we only have a couple of comments of course you know we're starting the start of the year was great for us and we did just want

009to mention the fact that so yes students are definitely feeling the tension in the district um the trickle down effect of both the tension of budget cuts and what is currently happening with decisions and what will be happening over the coming months is something students have felt we there has been rising tension a bit of antsy within student groups but it is we figuring it out um so just making the board and the community aware of that because you know student opinions are what we should be hearing and thinking about every effect on decisions that are made how they affect the students no matter what that might look like uh the student board members have not our current work has not led to anything concrete yet but our ideas are currently on educating students and

010connecting with the community to make sure that students are educated on what is happening which is the most important fact in reducing any stress of tension and I think that's it for my comments if Sai has any sorry um The Well resource schools propos proposal has sparked concern among many students at Ballard High School where I'm a student the potential closure of Salmon Bay k through eight has raised particular alarm many of my peers attended Salmon Bay from K through 8 and have siblings currently enrolled or planning to attend with over 600 students enrolled and considering that it's impacted so many generations students have expressed that its closures would not only display students but also dismember the community that has been built over the years a classmate asked me a couple days ago where will

011my brother go and that was the question I've been asking myself and wondering how I should answer it as a school board member thank [Applause] you thank you um do we have additional reports or updates from Liaisons board Liaisons or any other um any other issue any director needs to bring up no okay um all right we have next on our agenda progress monitoring um materials were added to today I think and um it's not quite what I expected um so I I guess I don't know directors if you have all have had a chance to review the materials I am inclined to uh it's sort of a description of progress monitoring which um progress monitoring is something that the board has directed so I don't I don't know that we need to take the

012time to do do that as a presentation um but uh actually I'm going to defer to um director Briggs who is our uh is going to take the lead on um progress monitoring sessions so if you have anything else to add or share please do yeah I um I just wanted to read this uh it's just a couple sentences um on effective goal monitoring from the council for great City schools because this is really the heart of student outcomes focused governance and this is why we're doing it um so it says gold monitoring is a conversation between the board and superintendent that provides boards the opportunity to evaluate the alignment between the community's vision for student outcomes the goals and current student performance and growth the reality while goals in reality may not match perfectly

013it only becomes problematic when there there is no evidence of student growth and even if students aren't yet growing and making progress that's only catastrophic if the superintendent doesn't have sufficiently aggressive strategies in place for helping students make progress so that is why we progress Monitor and that is that is literally the heart of student outcomes focused governance so if we're not monitoring our goals then I don't I don't think we need to have the president presentation any board directors have any comments or concerns about letting the the materials speak for themselves and people can read them and and moving on I go ahead oh oh okay um okay well actually okay so so we're not going to do um well I'm just going to add to that that we set our job is to

014set goals for the system based on what's the what the priorities are of our community that's the m one of the main roles of the Schoolboard and there's metrics connected to that of of how how do we know if students are learning how do we know if what the district is providing um is successful and so that's a it's a monthly exercise to evaluate whether the things that are said are manifesting into into reality for students um and um we're in the process now as a board of determining the goals and guardrails for the next strategic plan and we've just done um a intensive series of um last spring engagements with different Community stakeholder groups and representations from around the city um including three uh public meetings on what the what the biggest priorities are

015for the Seattle Community that we're elected to represent which is again every anyone living inside the boundaries of the school district whether or not you have kids in the district work for the district whatever that may be we really are representative of the entire Community about what we expect for kids progress monitoring is how we evaluate whether or not we're seeing outcomes that are aligned with our expectations um but if you want to read more about it you can read the presentation so let's see it is it is 4:40 we will not start public testimonial earlier than 5 but Michelle you had a question or excuse me vice president Sergio I don't need the title um so I have I have two things um it is yes it's it's difficult to sit up here and

016try to hear each other um when there's noise in the lobby and I am 100% in support of the noise in the lobby I think it represents what it looks like to actually model a democratic way of engaging with one another what our kids need are right now more than anytime we are seeing in our nation what it looks like when adults don't behave in a way that is a role model for our children so yes is it hard to hear absolutely and it's their it is part of our democracy to have construct AC Democratic protest so that's what we have in the lobby and we welcome it and we'll just deal with not being able to hear each other so that's I just want the kids I'm talking to the kids this is what

017it looks like and if adults around you are not modeling proper behavior you need to feel free to call us out okay so that's thing number one thing number two is um one of the things that we need to be 100% committed to is access for people who need have access needs and we have had the sign language Community consistently ask for sign language interpretation at our meetings um and it it has not happened and so I'm on behalf of the board going to apologize that we have not been able to to broker that and that we will broker it the seven of us will figure out how we because I've seen people in the audience have their family members interpret that's not children should not be interpreting for their parents that's that's not why

018we exist and so on behalf of the Community member that reached out to me asking why I apologize that we haven't gotten it done and I'm making a public commitment on recording I'm sure the media is here um uh and they'll I just hope they quote me accurately I am making a public commitment that we are going to do our best to provide access to the people who deserve to participate in this meetings and should not be excluded because they can't hear so that's my [Applause] commitment oh dear we don't want a hot mic here I might I might say something that'll get me in trouble with the FCC I'm try I haven't sworn yet in 5 years but I I almost did a couple weeks ago um uh thank you director sarju and I

019I want to add to that also that it's a problem here and it's a problem in our classrooms that I don't know how I I don't know how else we say well progress monitoring is actually one of those things are we making things accessible do it is it is so unacceptable that we have students in our schools that don't have access to the learning that's taking place or that their parents can't participate in things like IEP meetings because they don't have access um and yeah so just to add to that that um we're not we're not we're not playing around it's got to happen um okay so it is uh 444 um rather than uh let 15 minutes go by unused because we haven't yet reached public testimony time um I'm going to ask that

020we juggle the agenda a tiny bit and sorry there's a lot of pages here um yes we have a uh a budget development preview that I've have been told um shouldn't be too extensively long so I would like to ask Dr Bulman to come to the podium um I I think the the tables were set up for us to do those at the tables but let's just go for it here um Ellie's passing out materials and um if that's okay is everybody cool with a uh adjustment to the agenda okay um Dr bunman if you please Dr Jones you want to introduce or you want me to just go for it thank you try to be cognizant of time I know lots of people are spending their precious time here tonight to make their voices

021heard appreciate that and so I'll try to keep within the time constraint I want to thank uh directors brag and Yun for volunteering your time I have two kids who recently graduated from sale public schools and I know it's a lot to be a student and to do something like this so thank you for stepping up to do that there's a presentation that goes with this my main objective tonight is just to introduce a resolution that's part of the board packet and this resolution will'll provide direction to the superintendent for a budget proposal that it will um be coming forward in January of 2025 for the 2526 school year I wanted to Pro provide a little more context for the board on what that proposal will look like and how the well resource schools discussion

022may fit into that as that moves forward we can go to the next slide just a quick recap of what the district has been doing the last few years related to this budget challenge um significant decreases in the budget the last few years um trying to be more conservative with the fiscal practices ongoing reductions in the neighborhood of $90 million the last few years and as Dr Jones said earlier um the last two years has utilized the rainy day fund or savings account of the sale public schools and then last year borrowed some funding from its capital fund to supplement its operating fund so that it had a balanced budget for the school year that's just begun and so there's a lot of information I've seen a lot of questions in the in the discourse

023around the SE Public Schools recently um there's a FAQ that's linked there it's part of the well resource schools many of those questions are answered um there's details in the budget book that's available for folks to review and if people are really into the budget and nerdy about that there's a purple book which gives a a lot of detail on specific school funding challenges and how the schools are funded and so just wanted to highlight that those pieces of information for folks I know there's a lot of questions there's a lot of complex information out there next slide please you all have seen this before multiple times as board members this is the the budget for the year that we're in um and you'll see that the district is about 2third funded by the state

024and about 16% are 15.6 is from the local Levy um the district is CA from what it can raise from the local Levy and so that's just a point of information to keep in mind as these uh conversations progress and you'll see the $1.23 billion is the amount of resources the district has next slide this is a way of looking at what the district is spending and you'll see that it's $1.25 million there and that's because the loan is not considered a resource it's a one-time resource that's going to be paid back in the coming year and so it doesn't technically count as a resource so it's not a mistake it's just the way that the the system requires us to be um accounted for you'll see on this Slide the majority the large majority

02560% and 12% is around teaching and teaching support at the school so that's what the the business of Seattle Public Schools is is teaching and so the large majority in the neighborhood of 75% is spent on Direct teaching and teaching support at the schools and then the other way looking at this again it's a teaching organization 83% of the cost of sale Public Schools come in salaries and benefits of the people who work here and so any reductions that happen are going to impact salaries or benefits or numbers of employees at Seattle Public Schools is kind of the takeaway there next slide some of you have seen this before this is the sort of the history of the deficits in the red IND IND Ates the onetime um solutions that were enacted you'll see that

026there's less and less of that in the few years that have happened since 23 24 and then you'll see on the right there the $94 million is the projection for what the the deficit is that needs to be solve for the 25 26 year and there are minimal if any onetime solutions remaining there is no more opportunity for loan there is more new more raining day fund and so we're talking about ongoing solutions to help sustain the Seattle public schools and make it more stable going forward next slide questions rightly have come up around how $94 million would be closed by Saving approximately $30 million with school consolidations and it's just a part of the the solution here so propo proposed school consolidations if follow if happening would be a part of a solution and

027the remaining 64 million as an estimate would need to come from the legislature refer back to that original slide 63% of the funding come from the legislature um it's a state funded school system so more funding from the legislature to help bridge that Gap some potential one-time savings from this year that's about to that just ended in August um could be carried forward as a one-time basis to to bridge that Gap temporarily and then changes in transportation Staffing reductions again 83% of Staffing costs here increasing class sizes which has happened um last year into small amount in the secondary schools um ratios went from 30 to 31 last year um has an impact on kids in those programs program restructuring closures fees this year there's a voluntary athletic fee make that mandatory in the future

028as a consideration and salary reductions are potential tools here this next page is just a more formal list of that with some estimates of what the ranges of savings might be from some of those types of issues um the resolution is sort of directs the superintendent to consider these things in its current form we can go to the next slide legislature it's a very important year for the legislature not only for seal Public Schools but in for many districts um there are six districts now I think the last time we met on the budget there are five districts in binding conditions in the state of Washington now there are six um so Seattle Public Schools is not alone in this current challenge um so the district um we'll be asking along with other school districts

029for increased and more um appropriate funding for special education the operating costs of the school district and people Transportation are the main asks for this coming legislative session and then at the bottom there you can see last year the net impact of Seattle public schools in the legislative session was an increase of $7.6 million the year before there was a significant change in the multiplier for special ad funding and that resulted in $24 million which was a pretty high watermark in terms of legislative funding that was the largest increase in special education funding in State history y took a lot of cross state cross District advocacy yep and I know a lot of that is transpiring this year in anticipation of the session next slide is a way of looking at some potential ways of

030getting to bridging that $94 million gap and it's really difficult to see at least for me on the screen here I hope it's better for those watching um on teams or at home but you'll see the blue is an estimate for what the school consolidations in each of the um options that have been presented on the website are um $31 million in option A and 256 25.5 million in option b both of these Graphics anticipate changes in transportation which could save around a million $1 million going from two bell times to Three Time bell times and then just to that high water Market the legislature came back with $25 million in legislative funding that would be about $25 million and then the rest would have to come from other reductions within the district that list

031that we just looked at earlier if there were no closures for the 25 26 year that blue segment has become purple and the largest again back to the original information the largest portion spending is a school Staffing and so School Staffing would be changing in some ways in terms of how to balance the budget um for the 25 26 and going forward there's a board policy so for the the main objective today is to introduce this resolution new board policy from about a year ago um requires the superintendent to present A reduced educational program resolution and this is new language for what the superintendent and his team had been doing previously which was a fiscal stabilization plan resolution which is in effect the board giving the superintendent direction to consider these things don't consider these

032things and come back to us with a plan by a date um I'll get into a little more details on that in the next couple slides again the list of potential solutions that are in the resolution that's in your packet are listed there um and the the resolution is drafted to direct the superintendent to prioritize those so it's just not here's a list of things that you should consider in the budget propos what prioritize them which ones are furthest away from impacting student learning and the student experience next slide there's a lot of moving Parts this year at s public schools around school consolidation legislative session some other things um this resolution um anticipates the superintendent bring that back in January his proposal um and it anticipates the board voting on this resolution directing him

033to bring back his proposal in January in November um all of those dates sort of are subject to um how the board manages the the board agenda going forward and then the former board member who called this the Shoots and Ladders or the snake here's a a graphic of what the timeline looks in terms of the budget development process so we're again very at the beginning of this anticipating hopefully get some more Direction over the course of the next few months and then it all culminates in a a budget proposal in a book something like this um in June of 2025 and I think I'm at the time and there's the next steps any questions or clarifications I have have a question but do other directors have questions you want to go after me okay

034um and somebody help me because I don't know so is there a we have okay so we have the in our meeting materials are the is the draft of the educational program resolution yeah and then what can you remind me again when oh December okay so it's being introduced but there's a significant cushion of time to because here's my biggest concern is that we have directed the superintendent to focus everything on the impact to children and how we do or don't meet our make progress on our goals and I don't see that anywhere I I don't see how we can talk about like I understand that this is like the mechanics of the budget but I I what I need to see and what the board has directed what we all need to see is

035how are we making these decisions based on improving outcomes for for students and I don't see it so I don't know how to I mean I mean we're going to have hard decisions to make regardless but this is just completely absent of and and I when I said somebody help me because I feel like I've been saying this for like several years and I don't know how else to say it but um a budget is not like the budget is whatever we say it is barring like required you know required allocations from the state and stuff or from the from federal government but but we we don't have to take the budget from last year and just Upp or down the line items what I'm not seeing is the refocusing and rethinking about how we

036use our resources as whether or not they're more limited than we want them to be but how we use our resources to to provide the best service and make the best decisions for for children that's what we really need to see director brag go for it this is our opportunity to ask questions so go for it I mean my one thing was going to be a very similar question uh because this is so many just numbers numers this is so much just seeing the up or down of it but it wasn't considering the students because this isn't just budget cuts and getting rid of a deficit doesn't feel like it is just about lowering a number it's about lowering that number while still remembering these numbers affect the students in our day-to-day life Dr hery

037can we go back to the slide with the pie chart that had no blue on it that had what no blue that's it Y no blue no yeah so what's rolling around in my head is that even if we were to go forth with plan A or B we would still need to do some combination of everything that we see on this pie chart correct potentially yes what do you mean by potentially the legislature has a big oh okay outstanding the legislature that makes sense so what that says to me and I just want to confirm that per math that yall have done done y'all are anticipating that by closing somewhere between 17 21 schools there will be a savings of 30 million immediately that's that 25 to 30 here's my question if we're still

038going to have to do some combination barring the legislature of all of these things anyway do we have to have have the same intensity of footprint of augmenting learning environments for students that we have proposed does it have why what is the decision between 21 177 why could that number not be potentially less if it yields for a less disruptive I would say transition for students and Families give folks more time to prepare um and in some cases barring whatever the legislature might do and I just want to say that they we have received several calls from the legislators especially in the Seattle delegation that are interested in helping how do we take all those things into account and not unnecessarily potentially disrupt a students's learning environment if we have more than option A or

039be available at our [Applause] disposal and that could be a question for anybody who feels like to have a sub substantive answer whether it be superintendent Mr bman couple things as um I'm in I'm in agreement that we always need to be focusing on student outcomes and um one of the challenges here is we want to be able to make sure that we provide essential Services special education highly capable multilingual Services we want to continue to provide programs dual language immersion all those things where we think are essential to the learning experiences for our students we have to have resources to be able to do those right uh and so as we think about moving from a uh a number that's going to yield 30 million 25 million something less it's it's just a matter

040of how do we uh precisely preserve our programs preserve our services uh how do we not impact those in a negative way and so we can collaboratively we can get there we can think about that uh it's it's going to be a daunting challenge with with less resources sure but but our bottom line is how do we preserve the services that are essential for students and those program PRS that are really uh essential for students to thrive and so we we can figure that out as a collective uh it's just going to be it's going to be a harder challenge yeah and that makes perfect sense to me oh just really quickly we I just remember having several conversations um specifically with Fred podesta about the fact that sitting right in those seats that it

041took us decades to get to this problem and to me it seems challenging to think that we would expect the students who are in those buildings right now in the way that they are to shoulder the brunt of those Decades of problems in this very short period of time what I have also always been an advocate for is only financially if it makes sense and this is just Brandon's head Cannon but like if there's the opportunity to potentially do a more phased approach where it gives us an opportunity to do more Community engagement to learn from experience in some of our schools that we know structurally need our students deserve to learn in better spaces it would it is surprising to me that we would not also be looking at a plan that gives us

042some Runway to make sure that we do this well in a sense to where if we are closing 20 schools 17 schools all at once then we have no opportunity to do better as opposed to a situation to where we do maybe a lesser number learn replicate learn replicate so that we are doing as little harm as possible like that is at I spend a lot of time thinking about that and what I hear you saying superintendent Jones is that there potentially could be a pathway forward for that um and I just want to express before we get too far down this path that I am very interested in in having a conversation about that um so I'll leave it at that yeah I would say that probably more more relevant for the well resource

043like we're going to have another conversation about well resource schools so let's let's not I mean yeah um uh I would also argue that that the whole reason consolidation is being considered is not just a budget exercise is because we have fewer students than we've had in a very long time and we have students right now in buildings that are not sufficiently sufficiently staffed or resourced that we would be telling those students because we don't want to disrupt you you will continue to have a less than good education but that's why we need to see that the connection between like we can't make choices about the budget irrespective of what we're going to provide students and so like and and the plan of of roll up or roll whatever like that that could very well

044be but but we what we haven't seen that we need to see is how it will actually impact students how we actually can address the inequities that we have go for but president Rank and I mean I think I think one of the reasons why this is a relevant question to this topic is your point is that even with the school closures even with the option A you may still end up with staff reduction so right so so we're in this cycle where even with the largest footprint approach we may not be providing a school that has more resources uh because we actually may be providing schools that have fewer resources right and to dovetail with that I think in and I know I say this a lot but many things can be true at

045the same time right like there is a real need and we have a commitment to our students to make sure that they are learning in the best physical spaces possible and no matter how you slice it closing a school is vly disruptive and so if all I'm saying is like making sure and this is a I know that this is a topic best served for later L on in the presentation because I'm really excited to hear from the folks who have come out tonight but the the essence of the question is just really assessing on are the two options that we have in front of us regardless of if there's a plan or not because the two issues are actually separate there needs to be a plan and there also may need to be a

046third option right so like that that's what I'm trying to get at uh uh director Clark and then I'll go to director top and then we will go to public testimony unless anyone else has something director clerk okay thank you um for the time and I'll try to be brief um because I know there's a lot of people waiting um to share with us tonight um could we go back to the slide that um had showed option A and option b and had the pie charts um okay so when I'm looking at the blue section school consolidations um the 31.5 million with option A and the 25.5 million um with option b um are those sa like projected savings is that a net savings um or like have we factored in some of the PO

047potential cost to close schools um into these numbers or is this um yeah that's my question is a net Dr bman will you answer that question I believe it some of the costs of maintaining closer um differently used buildings going forward yes I'm sorry could you repeat that I did not hear that yes it's a net estimated savings thank you director top just on the slide Dr fman the what the difference between the two general fund balances on the 21 closing the 17 it's just making up the difference in terms of the 25 is different than the 31 on the other please use your microphone I think um and then so okay and so this doesn't also include any carry forward that there may be in the yellow slide the slide up in the upper

048left that would potentially include whatever carry forward is yes and then I guess my next question would be for Dr Jones kind of along the lines of Brandon and or sorry direct director hery and director Mahi is do you think do you feel like it is possible to close this budget with a smaller footprint of school closures do you think you can you you would be be able to bring a budget to the board that did that our money challenges are very real um and it would be very difficult to find those resources uh but nothing's impossible and we we could we could figure it out it would be more there be more sacrifices in other areas uh but we could propose uh a scenario where it's possible it it depends on how far we

049would go but yes [Applause] all right seeing no further questions thank you Dr bman we will hear from you again when's the next time on the snake the Shoots and Ladders next month on the levy conversation I need glasses October 9th oh okay so October 9th it kind of sounds far away but it's like three weeks from now um all right thank you so let's see so now we have now reached the public testimony part of our agenda sorry I've got too many things here um yes okay uh board procedure 1430 BP provides rules for public testimony we ask that speakers are respectful of these rules um I will summarize some parts of this procedure uh testimony will be taken today from those individuals called from our public testimony list and if applicable it's applicable

050the waiting list which are included on today's agenda posting on the Schoolboard website only those who are called by name should unmute their phones or step forward to the podium and only one person should speak at a time listed speakers May Seed their time to another person when the listed speaker name is called the total amount of time the total amount of time allowed will not exceed two minutes for the combined number of speakers time will not be restarted after the new speaker begins and the new speaker will not be called again later if they are on the testimony list or waiting list those who do not wish to have time seated to them may Decline and retain their place on the list this majority of the speakers time should be spent on the topic

051they have indicated they are speaking about and lastly the board I hate the sentence the board expects the same standard of Civility as it expects um of itself and as board president I have the right to and will interrupt any speaker who fails to observe the standard of Civility um which as I always say I really hate doing however as I said we we've got a lot to get through and we want to get to board business and so I ask please um that you keep your remarks to two minutes so that we can um get through the list and hear from those who have signed up um staff will read off the testimony speakers thank you president Ranken um for those who are joining us remotely for Testimony today in a moment you will

052be able to unmute if once your name is called on the conference line by pressing star six please also make sure to unmute on your device we only had a couple of people sign up to provide remote testimony um for our main testimony list um so it might take me a moment to get through all these additional mics and sift out the people who are indeed or um callers and sift out the people who are on the list um when I call you up please do reintroduce yourself apologies in advance I will not get all of your name pronunciations correct first on today's testimony list is leet Reef followed by Janice White and then Chris jackins and if you are not in the room and you are providing testimony I will come back to you

053if you're not able to get into the room by the time we move to the next speaker so do not worry um my name is leot raef and I'm here today to implore you to reconsider your proposal on school closures and elimination of option school programs I'm a seventh grader at Hamilton International middle school and an Alum of John Stanford International School where I studied in the Spanish track my parents are both Venezuelan immigrants and we live in Ballard in other words outside of the geozone for John Stanford international school next to me are my friends and alums from jsas whose families are also immigrants and Heritage speakers we all live outside of the jsis geozone we all grew up in families with two working parents who raised us going out of their way looking

054for opportunities for us to maintain our language and culture for example I can't tell you how many many times my parents interrupted me at the dinner table to remind me to talk to them in Spanish when my grandparents visit or I visit them I talk to them in Spanish and that is the best way to communicate and connect with them without spending half our school day at jsis learning and practicing Spanish I don't think I would be able to have the connection I have with my family maybe my parents could have paid for private lessons or something or maybe that would have been unaffordable to us I don't know I am a kid and don't fully understand all that is going on but what I do understand understand is that your plan will make it

055harder for kids like us to maintain our culture reducing our connection to our ancestors and inhibiting the communication with our relatives I understand that SPS needs money and is looking for opportunities to save but there has to be a better way as kids we look to adults to set an example of how to be inclusive and Foster Equity please as Leaders of Education in Seattle set that example don't close schools and eliminate our access to remain connected to our heritage and and John Stanford International School students wrote cards for the SPs board as a way to show how much they love our [Music] school the next speaker is Janice White after Janice White will be Chris jackins and then Ben gin if um any of our speakers do have um handouts you can leave them

056on the back table and we'll ensure that they are provided to the [Applause] board Janice it looks like you're unmuted on the conference line we should be able to hear you if you're unite muted on your device great I'm I'm here can you hear me I'm out of town and I wasn't sure of my connection yes we can hear you great um thank you my name is Janice White I'm the parent of three SPS graduates and president of a new nonprofit all youth belong with the mission of working to end systems and barriers that prevent disabled youth from fully participating in community life I was planning to testify today and ask you that ask that you remove policy 2190 from the consent agenda and not vote in favor of the proposed amendments why because the

057Amendments originally removed language that specifically required the district to use processes that would not result in underidentification of students of color students who receive special education services and students who are English language Learners and our concern was that by adopting these amendments you'd be removing policy language that enables families to Advocate on behalf of their children and hold the district accountable if for example a student is told as my autistic son was told for many years that until their behavior improves they're not entitled to access highly capable Services um on Monday though another parent Cliff Meyer and I sent president Rankin some suggested edits to policy 29 2190 and I'm really thrilled and want to thank president Ranken um for adding back in some language to address our concerns um I do want to say

058however that there is a continuing concern um that's really not addressed in the policy and that's about how the services will be delivered to these particular groups of students in the new neighborhood model as just one example um families were previously told by the advanced learning Department um that once the transition to the neighborhood model took place they understood that there would need to be alternative placements or a cohort model for 2E twice exceptional students and for those who don't know the term twice exceptional receives refers to students who have high cognitive abilities as well as learning disabilities um and we've had no information um uh forthcoming about how services in the neighborhood model will actually be deter be delivered to these students who have very significant needs and so we hope that as staff

059develop any additional new procedures and I know thank president Ranken again for sending other suggestions we sent on Monday to staff to consider in connection with development of the procedure um also I do want to remind you of the testimony I gave before the board in July Janice when I asked you to make sure that when the district announced its well-resourced School plan Janice I'm so sorry I have to cut you off so that we can get I'm so sorry that the two minutes has been exhausted but we would love to receive anything else you have to say in um by email the next speaker is Chris Jack Chris will be followed by benstein and then Stephanie gov [Applause] [Music] Yin my name is Chris jackins Box 84063 Seattle 98124 on selecting schools for the

060proposed February 2025 Capital Levy Four Points number one at the presentation on facility planning only two board directors attended in person number two building Mega schools is causing a massive loss of playground space number three the district failed to make any mention of environmental review number four the board plans to vote on which schools to put in the levy before the board votes on school closures please vote no on school closures six points number one the district insists on using the self-serving term well-resourced schools George Orwell would be proud number two the district is pitting schools against each other number three the claimed savings from closing schools has shrunk from $75 million to $30 million number four but tens of millions of other dollars are available the district can use the interest on Capital funds

061to cover operations cost per RCW 28a 320 320 number five it is not just about money the district wants to close schools no matter what number six it is not just that the district has picked the wrong schools it is that the district has picked the wrong thing to do please do not close schools there are lots of people on on the testimony list today including the waiting list please allow everyone to testify thank you very much the next speaker is Ben gin followed by Stephanie Gove Yin and then Candace Cas kasparian hi everybody my name is Ben gste and I'm proud I am a proud SPS parent a former Schoolboard candidate and a frustrated voter I'm here today to oppose both the renaming of HCC services to programs and school closures sadly I believe

062these two issues are deep related the amendment before you does more than simply rename Advanced learning offerings the new policy specifically removes the following line the school board recognizes consistent with the definition of basic education under state law that students capable of performing at significantly Advanced academic levels require specialized services in order to meet their basic educational needs in other words with this amendment we no longer believe Advanced learning is our responsibility as a result of this change what little Advanced learning support will be offered inside of neighborhood schools by will be done by already overburdened teachers with too little support this is by any definition arbitrary and capricious vote no this move is not only a failure to meet the responsibility placed on us by the state it is part of a disastrous strategy

063that future board members will spend decades repairing at the heart of that is school closures the heart of both School closure plans is a wholesale shift to uniformly sized massive buildings this is founded on the misguided belief that you'll get more leverage by serving each of those kids at lower cost this approach is deeply flawed first and most importantly our students are not Widgets or cookie cutters they are different and unique they are not to be masked produced at the lowest price second you are falling into the rosashana Trap you don't build the temple for high holy days you build it for the folks that you know will be there on a regular Friday night the reality is if we continue to end the services like HCC and du language learning that bring families into

064our district fewer kids will stay don't do it don't close stool schools don't fall into the Trap one last point the Northeast Regional Community meeting on school closures which is home by the way to one of the largest Jewish communities in Seattle is scheduled for Russia Shona please consider rescheduled that was definitely brought to staff's attention the the next speaker is Stephanie gav Yin followed by Candace casparian and then cha fo Tong my name is Stephanie goian I'm the parent of a second grader at Cascadia Elementary and two future SPS students since the board approved a policy in 2021 to move highly capable Services out of the cohort schools and back to the neighborhoods the district has not provided parents with any comprehensive plan for making it happen instead we have watched the elimination of

065existing neighborhood Advanced learning services and heard only Whispers of pilot programs with no details no outcomes data no impact on students parents are watching and this year Cascadia welcomed three 300 new students despite not having an incoming first grade class many our families who had previously chosen to stay in their neighborhood schools looked at this backwards progress and gave the district's plan a vote of no confidence tonight amidst the chaos of a school closure plan to which this is integral the district has not come to present the data on how this expands rather than reduces access but supposedly costs no money they have not come to show us how well resourced schools will be implemented to ensure that all or even any students will be given opportunities for more challenging work when they need it

066instead they have come requesting an amendment to the policy that eliminates even the vaguest details of what this policy is and what this plan looks like instead of showing how they will make it happen they have shown us over the past three years that they cannot and they have come to ask for no accountability I am asking you the board to reject the proposal and further to send it back to the district and demand public concrete plans with demonstra feasibility and measurable outcomes that are student focused before any more changes are made to this program and I am asking you to learn this lesson that what they could not do to move one program to the whole District in the last three years they cannot do for every program in The District in one year

067we need to be demanding the same concrete plans and measurable outcomes for every single program that would be disrupted by this closure plan please reject this amendment and reject this closure plan thank you next is Candace [Applause] casparian hi my name is Candis casbarian and I am a proud option School parent under these proposals Thorton Creek and schools like it would become neighborhood schools option schools like Thorton Creek who focus on social emotional and Expeditionary Learning offer a choice for parents who want something a little different for their kids Expeditionary Learning offers children a Hands-On learning experience and deepens a child's wonder and engagement as these lessons move into the real world after one year in an agricultural and environment-based Expedition my son is passionate about where his food is grown composting and preserving the

068environment for future Generations that's an important lesson that he probably wouldn't have gotten at another school my son is a highly sensitive boy I believe there are men in this room who could speak to what it's like growing up in a time when that was not acceptable in our society thoron Creek is a place that specializes in supporting my son and students like him where they can safely have those feelings while also being given the tools to regulate as well as advocate for themselves and where their peers are helped to understand them this helps to set them up for success in life in a world that still doesn't fully Embrace those who feel deeply having a highly sensitive child I don't want the generational trauma caused by being in classrooms where it's not accepted the

069goal in the past was to get people to know things and shove knowledge in our heads we had to memorize facts which we often all forgot when the tests were over now information is everywhere and we must Embrace learning to learn going into the future our children need to learn creativity and problem solving and Innovation for the future Thorton Creek does just that Seattle Public Schools is a 1 billion doll organization and you're looking to get rid of the research arm of that organization in Seattle the birthplace of innovation no organization would ever think to eliminate its research and experimentation especially an organization whose sole purpose is to educate the children of our city while the core of education should be consistent we also need to allow for experimentation that can give us data and

070better our children's learning it's true that option schools serve a small portion of Elementary learners but the teachings can be extrapolated to the whole District we the people elect the school board look around we're saying our beliefs do not align with these plans and there is a desire in the city for alternative educating choices homogenous learning models are not actually Equitable families know better than anyone with their individual children need to th and learning and taking away options from families means that only the wealthiest in the city get to meet their child's needs via private and Charter Schools comes at our option schools you'll see that they shouldn't be eliminated they should be expanded thank you for your time the next speaker is cha Fong Tong CH Fong outside okay does anybody know if she

071is on the way we will come back if um she arrives after after the next [Applause] speaker is Janelle um lard Isabel in the room oh here we go good afternoon my name is chel fot Tong a proud West Seattle High School parent and I seed my time to Renee Phelps hello I am a West Seattle High School teacher where I teach social studies West Seattle High School is facing unique challenges compared to what you've already heard this evening our high school is over enlo over enrolled we were estimated to have 1,400 students we on the first day of school had 1560 29 out of 64 of our teaching staff are have overages of over 150 students against our contractual limits and one of my colleagues has 1807 students he is not alone a significant

072number of our teachers have 170 students or more this is a history of inaccurate predictions from the school district and has let and we have had three years of no additional FTE released after the October 1 dates this is as you might imagine is having an incalculable effect on teachers we are since we are over and we are overwhelmed we are unable to practice the Equitable teaching practices that we all know benefit our students especially our students furthest from educational Justice we are unable to offer retakes it makes inclusion more difficult for our IEP and ml students with some classes are 42 some and we have struggled to fit desks into them so that our students are not sitting on the floor we are unable to advise our clubs that we have supported and maintained

073for years because we are overwhelmed we are unable to attend sporting events concerts and IEP meetings we are not able to offer the electives that our students demand and deserve we are unable to educate them in the best way that we know how if we are providing well-resourced schools for our students but we are unable to teach are we even a school thank you the next speaker is Janelle lardis after Janelle will be Sophia Conley and then Dustin Cole good evening I yield my time to Ansley orwig a 12th grade student at West Seattle high school as a senior at West Seattle High School who has aspirations to go to a top college and study in a stem field I wanted to take AP science classes as here to continue that track but I wasn't

074able to because the lower grades are so packed and have to get their science and math classes that I wasn't able to take the classes I wanted and it's decreased the number of elective classes that I now have to be a TA for my math teacher to fill that time that I didn't want to have to be I wanted to take the AP science but I wasn't able to so I think it would be beneficial to have more teachers to be able to teach our classes and it would help so much with the college application process for so many of our seniors to be able to take the classes they asked for and deserved so thank you the next speaker is Sophia Conley after Sophia Conley will be Dustin Cole and then christe Ma Ma

075I'm mea Ericson Sophia was gonna SE her time oh we are unable to do um seated time unless the speaker is here or on online okay oh Sophia um if you press star six you should be able to unmute does this count as my two minutes no sorry the directions tell me star five um I this is Sophie I see my time Ericson oh okay I am a parent of two IEP students at Topps one of whom is in the dhh program I want to implore you to keep tops open tops k to8 is the only School in the entire District that offers a dhh program for students in elementary and middle school the the benefits that these students get from being in a school with many other dhh peers and de staff cannot be

076replicated in neighborhood schools even splitting our dhh program up into an elementary cohort at one school and a middle school cohort at another would have a huge negative impact on our dhh students and staff they need access to as many deaf people and people fluent in ASL as possible for many of these students stops is the only place where they have access to multiple adults and peers who sign imagine not being able to communicate with anyone in your community almost everywhere you go that is my daughter's experience of the world having an interpreter present doesn't come close to the benefits of being a part of the Topps Community even if we didn't have a major shortage of interpreters in Washington our dhh population is also majority students of color and many are from low-income families

077many like my daughter have multiple disabilities these are literally the students furthest from educational Justice that SPS claims to care so deeply about ignoring the needs of this vulnerable population is highly unethical and inequitable equity and equality are not the same thing our students are not all the same and making every school as similar as possible doesn't improve Equity Equity is about meeting needs it is about prioritizing and lifting up the most vulnerable so that they have an equal chance of success in life the overall number of students impacted by closing and redrawing boundaries for this many schools is too high and this plan does not increase equity for our most vulnerable students in the district calling the bigger schools well resourced schools doesn't magically make it true we can do better the next speaker

078is Dustin Cole After Dustin will be christe Ma and then Caitlyn Murdoch hello my name is Dustin Cole and I'm a special education teacher at Graham Hill Elementary and I'm also on the board of Seattle special education PTSA our school provides inclusion for our students with significant disabilities we support our students in developing life skills and long-term friendships October is disability History Month our families have fought hard for these critical services and they won't go back our teachers who have spent their life advocating for these children won't go back the district has no plan for our disabled students furthest from educational Justice and we refuse to go back I yield the rest of my time to this mother Tavia mcculler hello so one of my main concerns are with the remaining schools I feel like

079and from the looks of it in the information that the schools will still be underfunded it's going to cause a lot of confusion a lot of instability and it's going to drive our families away and no that's my biggest concern um there's only a few schools that offer focus and distinct program actually um I don't even know any other school that has a distinct program so I'm just wondering what that look like for parents like mine for my son his friends in the dis and focus programs um and finally like what's the plan what what is that going to look like um the classes are already overpopulated so they're already over capacity so I just I'm here to advocate for my son because he's not able to and yeah thank you next is Chris chrisy

080Mai and then Caitlyn Murdoch followed by Michelle Campbell hi I'm here to talk about Thorton Creek and Expeditionary Learning that's long been associated with social and emotional learning learning to learn and not just memorize and other now widely accepted educational standards Thorton Creek is continuing to innovate in ways big and small one small way is that we tried out having recess before lunch and found that kids were eating better they were fueled and they were focused um other bigger ways are that we have really innovated special ed programs and where we've been teaching without screens for a long time which we're now seeing seeing in the news is associated with really big educational benefits other good thing is that it's not costing Seattle Public Schools anything more we're close to average in terms of the

081cost for allocated P allocation per student but we have a really high special education population and we're getting results our test scores are higher than the average Seattle public schools and Washington State awarded us an award last June for outstanding achievement for the whole school for closing the opportunity gap for students growth and academic achievement in my view options schools are significantly more Equitable than neighborhood schools you don't have to buy an expensive home to be able to go to a good school anyone in the city of Seattle can come to Thorton Creek and that's reflected in our diversity our racial makeup mirrors Seattle almost identically we also have 15% low income and 21% of our students are classified as disabled with schools being properly enrolled and and taking away schools that were uh unsafe

082or under under enrolled Thorton Creek won't pose a threat to those schools in terms of enrollment and taking away resources and so we would encourage you to keep Thorton Creek as an option school I understand Seattle Public Schools wants to get everything into one school they want to have Expeditionary Learning and dual language and stem all in one school but there just aren't enough hours in the day to do that and even if it could be done it would take a really long time to implement and in the meantime we should be keeping the award-winning schools like Thorton Creek that are currently meeting the standards of well-resourced schools my one last thing cuz I know I'm out of time is that if we do move forward I would really encourage the district to allow students

083to stay where they are if their school remains open thank you next is Caitlyn Murdoch followed by Michelle Campbell and then Liz Barry I'm Caitlyn Murdoch and I'll be sending you my full testimony on uh on Friday via email I'm a proud SPS Alum former Middle School teacher and a parent to two SPS elementary students I have spent the majority of my professional career advocating for students furth this from educational Justice I am deeply committed to the public school model if option schools are closed I am concerned about the decline and eventual collapse of public education in Seattle multiple studies show that when students move to a middle school their academic achievement fall substantially compared to those who stay in a kada 8 school 98% of private schools use a k to8 model those furthest

084from educational Justice benefit most from the K to8 model black students suffer larger drops in math during and following the transition to middle school as do those already with lower levels of academic achievement as Eleanor a sixth grader here today says as a kid with a disability I need a calm quiet and safe place to learn Pathfinder is amazing at creating an environment where students with different types of disabilities can Thrive when done well option schools provide more opportunity for diversity and Equity then geographically limited neighborhood schools that de facto segregate due the continued historic ramifications of housing discrimination in Seattle keeping option schools will keep predictable and consistent operational systems as there is nearly no decline in projected enrollment at Option schools these programs are wanted in our communities option schools serve 177% of

085our population and finish each year with waiting lists option schools keep per student funding in public education we should interpret the 22% of K to 12 age students attending private school and the more than 12200 students in South Seattle Charter Schools as a clear indication that families want Choice including lowincome bipo families and families with disabilities families are willing to leave when their only option is a neighborhood school that does not meet their needs families are willing to stay when there are options that serve them Joie a seventh grader at Pathfinder says we have built a community because we've known each other for years I had the opportunity to go to a private school that I turn down because in big schools you can get missed all students have the right to apply to option

086schools equality and Equity are not the same you propose a system system of neighborhood schools based on equality while ignoring your imperative to provide multiple Pathways to success and a meaningful variety of opportunities to all students we the community and your constituents ask that the school board examine all available options to close the budget deficit before closing schools that provide proven benefits and choice to all students in the district thank you the next speaker is Michelle Campbell after Michelle will be Liz Barry and then Nicole salisburg [Applause] Michelle if you're online you'll need to press Start oh I think I can see you unmuted online we can hear you can you hear me yes we can okay hi my name is Michelle Campbell and I'm seeding my time to Samantha fog she's also hello hello

087my name is Samantha fog co-president of Seattle Council PTSA speaking on behalf of our board with a mission to make every child's potential a reality from the first time School consolidation was mentioned we had been sharing with superintendent Jones that our families need to be partners fully engaged in part of the process while dual capacity framework was not implemented it was still our expectation that any plan presented would Elevate and improve the experiences of our students putting into practice the policies of our school board our communities are tired of just being told they are cared about thought about and considered performative language means nothing without implementation policies must be put into practice our students need a plan that honors the full range of our community of Learners by providing an education that prepares each student

088for their plans for college career life we need an education that our children do not need to heal from we need a plan that center student outcomes staff has not even given us a website that is in a format that is accessible to all of our families two years ago we asked that whatever was brought forward by staff be done so in a timely manner it was our expectation that District staff and trying to meet the challenge would use all existing resources including all District staff principes Educators working with our families our partners and our city we ask our volunteer Advocates to connect with their full communities it is not too much to ask that our superintendent work with his full staff and that he values success over secrecy the concept of a plan that

089has been laid out on the web Hub prioritizes facilities over families with an untenable timeline and no evidence of how the needs of our full range of Learners will be supported we see none of the information we have shared with our superintendent reflected in anything other than platitude to our school board we honor and respect respect the vision and values put forward in your consistent and long-standing direction to Center the outcomes of students we do not see this Vision reflected in the actions of our district and we are out of time thank you the next speaker is Liz Barry after Liz will be Nicole Salisbury and then I will get to it next hello I'm Liz Barry I'm in Seattle Council PTSA Executive Board member a long time SPS dual language teacher at Denny and

090an SPS parent of two children at Concord the well-resourced schools proposals mention expanding the Dual language program and I'm here to offer to help expanding DL is a shared goal of many dual language Educators and families it is a critical strategy for multilingual students especially there is increasing interest in DL as more and more bilingual preschools open across our city the amazing dual language Educators across our district District have built and sustained programs the incredible families that are part of our dual language communities want their children to continue on the pathway to by literacy there are obstacles but we can find Solutions like Highline we could have one dl School in each region with specific enrollment policies that prioritize access for multilingual Learners like Belleview Transportation could be provided from the neighborhood elementary schools to

091decrease costs naming specific future DL schools now is critical so that staff and families can begin to prepare by sponsoring visas we can recruit teachers from across the world OSBI wants to support districts in developing their dual language programs we can do this for our students dual language programs are the epitome of equity a core value of SPS they reach students from many different backgrounds cultural experiences multilingual students continue to develop their home language skills and non- multilingual students are immersed in a new culture and language for our multilingual heritage native speakers DL classes are a space where their needs interests and assets are at the Forefront of the classroom by centering their experiences every student in the room benefits and our world benefits from more multiliterate citizens the Dual language model can provide Advanced

092learning opportunities for our HD students IEP supports for our students in special education and critical learning in the home languages of many of our multilingual students our students deserve a clear path for their language acquisition Journey and let's help them find that place in our Seattle schools I also brought a small gift for you to share as one of the ways that dual language supports students by literacy Journey this is the 2024 bilingual poetry anthology laida Latina written by Denny DL 8th graders last year in collaboration with Jack straw Cultural Center thank you next is Nicole Salisbury after Nicole is Adam mollus and then matis ber uh beru I'm Nicole Salsbury I seed my time to cesil S sto Smith stoal hello I'm cesiley I come to you as a parent of 5-year-old alula at

093John Stanford also the deputy managing director of Seattle Children's Theater and a dual Citizen and international Dei consultant I present myself at the intersection of parent advocate for Seattle Youth and citizen voicing my concerns about equity access and inclusion considerations in the school choice policy as it's currently laid out I can't help but question how the district is refining or def uh defining racist and equity anti-racism and equity and the risk appetite for the amount of harm and impact this shift will make I Define equity not as systems to create equal processes but instead a set of considerations evaluations decision-making and processes that are created to elicit equal outcomes outcomes like growth Community good humans cultural celebration representation and an authentic consideration of the needs of a very unique set of young people as I

094currently see this issue drawing staunch boundary lines and assuming that the same policies can apply to all of the schools and processes leaves a massive Gap in equity not only for students in dual language programs like mine those who are Heritage speakers but also socioeconomic standing students who have been more impacted by covid closures those who are currently behind the learning curve and will continue to experience shifts for their last year years of Elementary School those in need of additional support those who thrive in smaller spaces learning opportunities and those who are geographically and financially excluded from particular neighborhoods neighborhoods like mine if we shift our measuring to equity instead of equality I would love to see us reentering the needs of the children over our processes what percentage of students is it okay to

095interrupt what are the benefits and challenges of moving these students how are we prioritizing the anti-racist impact of these decisions in 2022 only 38% of homeowners in Seattle were not white the impact of School zoning has a direct correlation on our housing prices what is the cost of community that we are willing to Bear okay thank you uh more data tells us that uh children who frequently change schools tend to share certain background characteristics that are markers of disadvantage why are we putting our students in the same bucket students who are low income status racial ethnic eth ethnically diverse inner city residents single parent households migrant stat St speaking English as a second language stressful life events like death and divorce grade repetition behavioral difficulties all of that we are putting our students at risk

096of by these changes that we're proposing and lastly I ask how are we determining the true cost of this what is the cost of tearing apart best friends what is the cost of Dreams Deferred displaced and destroyed what is the cost of removing Heritage speakers from language programs what is the cost of further segregation of our city with no end in sight what is the cost of these essential services becoming essentially depleted services I don't know the cost but I know my child shouldn't pay it thank you the next speaker is Adam mollus after Adam will be matis withu and then Chris Longhurst is Adam in the [Applause] room do we have Adam oh Adam is remote um this is Adam mares I need my time to sign of en is the speaker who time

097was seated to on the phone I see my time to Leslie Harris surprise as am I um I was here in June and I said I didn't want to be correct and this plan fails on any number of metrics and we're a datadriven district this fails it fails in communication it fails in respect it fails in the recognition that our children are not cookie cutter children alternative education has brought forth good ideas that have been expanded throughout the district I was quoted in the paper are some of our alternative I hate the word option because alternative is more appropriate didn't like it then don't like it now are they too white yes they are but his brother Blandford former School Board director of renown said what is your problem statement if it's too white then

098fix it do not kill it it is a shame and it is it is absolutely malpractice thank you the next speaker is matis berthume um followed by Chris Longhurst and then Laur Marie Rivera hello this is can you hear me is this matis this is China Balden my time was or Adam seated his time to me and I unmuted um that time was already utilized by another speaker who time was seated to them we are to matis who I believe is at the podium no online oh online matis um if you're able to unmute on the conference line we should be able to hear you hello this is matis I'd like to feed my time to Karen bangero I'm Kent bangero I'm a product of Texas Public Schools while I was exceptional at memorizing and

099taking tests my brother struggled and was labeled a bad disruptive kid he was not a bad kid he was neurod Divergent and unsupported both my sons now are twice exceptional gifted in some areas but also with learning disability both boys have IEPs and receive specialty and special education services at Thorton Creek my oldest started at a traditional school and experienced total burnout in a single semester we are part of the 66% of IEP families that can't stay at our neighborhood school but that's okay because we found our perfect fit in community in Thorton Creek where my sons are not viewed as problematic but rather valued members of the community equal is not equity and education homogenized schools take away a child's ability to learn how they learn best Cooper does best by moving his body

100unlike a Traditional School it's Borton Creek's Expeditionary Learning style that couples with his extended resource team that powerfully allows Cooper to learn at his Pace with the right level of support while our neighborhood School View Ridge is a perfect fit for Cooper's good friend it follows a traditional model and does not offer the extended resource program it simply is not possible for Cooper to sit still for 6 hours with a single break but he contributes to and benefits from being in a general education classroom most of the day as one of the most educated and Wealthy cities in America it's unbelievable that we're having this conversation are we really going to take away special education pathway schools are we really going to make kids like my son fit standard models and believe that they're bad

101kids when they just simply can't option schools break generational trauma and Seattle can and should do better for my children than was done for my brother 30 years ago in Texas option schools pull resources for students who like my child has been historically underserved it's mathematically impossible to replicate all of the specialized programs we currently have at all neighborhood schools it's an admirable goal but not fiscally reality the budget already can't extend to hire the Specialists needed in every school our highest goal must be for schools to be a safe space for k for children to thrive in to believe that they are good kids and for them to have the confidence that they know how to learn I expect the school board to operate in good faith towards that goal both Options under SPSS

102current plan are a step in the wrong direction a step away from equity for children like mine options are equity and education and we cannot destroy the progress made thank you next is Chris Longhurst followed by Laura Marie Rivera and then Sam Gutierrez Chris Longhurst I see my time to Taran Longhurst hi first I want to call attention to the fact that there's no ASL interpreter tonight despite the fact that tops k through eight deaf and heart of hearing program is on the agenda this is just a symptom of the greater problem that the well-resourced school um uh proposal would exacerbate deaf and heart of hearing families and children are consistently overlooked my son is 8 years old and heart of hearing he has finally found a home at tops we spent the last few

103years in our neighborhood School a well-resourced 500 plus new building in a beautiful neighborhood school and I spent 8 months fighting to get out of it and come to Tops and now I'm there and facing the reality that it might close that I finally found a school for my son where he is not the only person with a hearing a in his school where he doesn't feel ostracized and othered and made fun of and bullied where he is now advocating for himself at school where he asked to hook his hearing aids up to the microphone in the room on his own because other people in the classroom do where he's not spending his entire day almost his entire day in the extended Access program at his neighborhood school where he needed more special education services

104but now he's at tops where he spends almost his entire day in the general education program because he has the right resources and the right teachers in the right building that is already prepared for these students we cannot close option schools that are already prepared for the right to to serve these children ASL interpreter is not here tonight because it's difficult to get an ASL interpreter we already have a program and a school that is set up for that and it's taken time to get it that way so you can't pick up this program and just move it somewhere else 66% of children don't have their services in their neighborhood school that's what it says on the well resource School proposal who says we want them in our neighborhood school I want my kid in

105a centralized program with other defin heart of hearings kids I was at my neighborhood school so would love to tell you more about it if anyone would ever like to listen CU I've been in both thank you the next speaker is Laura Marie Rivera Laura Marie Rivero will be followed by Sam Gutierrez and then Lily [Applause] aen good afternoon my name is Laura Marie Rivera and I'm the parent of four SPS students two recent grads and two in elementary school we've lived in Seattle for eight years now and one of the things that Drew us to the city was Seattle Public Schools unfortunately SPS has been dismantling the best parts of the system and attempting to repackage them as excellence and well-resourced schools let's be clear the current proposals are neither they are simply a

106concept of a plan and we know from SPS past concept plans that they simply do not work SPS is a system with around 50,000 students and each of them is an individual they bring different strengths and challenges and hopes and dreams and it is absurd to treat them as if they're all the same one of the district goals is equity but the current plan to make all of the schools equal is not the same thing eliminating the most successful and sought-after programs in the district and pretending that those services will then be offered in the neighborhood schools is a joke we need option schools k through eight dual language immersion highly capable deaf and hard and heart of hearing medically fragile and neurode Divergent affirming by removing these options you are removing Choice widening the

107equity Gap and losing more enrollment to other districts Charters and independent schools and the ableism abounds the list of closures disproportionately affects our students with disabilities who already have a lower graduation rate than other marginalized groups these are our students furthest from educational Justice Ice by destroying their communities and support systems you're setting their education back years and will likely result in significant student civil rights violations and about accessibility where are the interpreters ASL was specifically requested for the meeting and the well-resourced school plan was not communicated or translated in a clear and timely manner there have been no meaningful Community engagement and now with only one meeting a month families are left unheard over 100 people signed up to testify and over 300 showed up here today when will you listen this concept of

108a plan is shameful and in no way shape or form does it result in a well-resourced school thank you the next speaker is Sam Gutierrez after Sam will be Lily Aken and then Sarah [Applause] palanco Hi Sam gues I'm a mom to kiddos um making sure that your child is well adapted to their English environment without assimilating is a tricky balance to find but we were able to find such a balance at their dual language immersion option School a few years ago I attended a meeting with SPS for the first time the topic was what makes our schools feel safe and our answer was having access to a school with a kind of diversity that makes my child be proud of being of speaking Spanish when she can help her mod lingual peers I was

109grateful to be a part of a district that I thought understood and valued diversity but it made my family and me a brown Mexican immigrant a minority that you claim you want to pay attention to feel unseen and welcome frequently asked questions for your proposals say dual enish will be a neighborhood School model with potential to expand access to more schools serving multilingual students where they live great that makes sense what is your plan for the rest of us that can only access this plans uh this programs via option schools though you go on to say option schools disproportionately serve students who have access to additional educational resources and they take resources away from neighborhood schools so you're doing away with them I ask you have you met every one of us that are Ser

110the schools today because what about us in the middle there are many of us who don't qualify for free on Ros lunch but also cannot afford private school or tutors who are renters with a limited budget and happen to live in areas where their cities are less concentrated do our kids not matter this idea that members of specific communities be native or her speakers de for Heart of hearing neurodiverse or medically fragile should only be able to access the programs and services their children need if they live in a area with a high concentration of similar children is segregation trust discerned and you've been unsuccessful in your promise of serving kids in the highly capable program at every neighborhood school so I am more than a little skeptical of this new promise of offering DLI

111programs and services for neurodiverse and medical Fragile Kids and programs for highly capable kids and and and at every school during a time of budget issues even if it's a wonderful Vision if you truly care about Equity instead of restricting access based on residents I ask that you work on increasing Equitable access make sure that a child monolingual or deerheart hearing or medically fragile or neurodiverse has a spot at the school that can best serve them regardless of where they live please retain the option scho School model until you can actually offer these programs more widely and equitably throughout the district thank you the next speaker is Lily Aken after Lily will be Sarah Pano and then Paul [Applause] Bugala good afternoon first I want to thank our board for your dedication and service especially

112during these challenging times thank you my name is Le Lily eeken I'm a mother to three children in Seattle Public Schools ranging from a senior in high school to a second grader I've served on PTA as a community leader for years and my advocacy goes beyond the schools and reaches across country borders however I am here today to talk about well-resourced schools the well resource School proposal has raised significant concerns in our district Comm and our communities while we appreciate the information provided so far many key details are still missing which is causing confusion and anxiety without clear communication people are feeling filling in the gaps with alarming and likely incorrect assumptions communities need to know details of how you plan to offer access to the deaf and Harden hearing special education HTC Pathways and

113DLI programs just to name a few communities need to know how these two current proposals are centered around student outcomes because right now without key details it feels as though these proposals are centered around closing buildings and not around children's needs for example Seattle Public Schools acknowledges the superpower of DLI language immersion and plans to expands expand DLI even so there are widespread fears that with options schools becoming neighborhood schools or DLI boundary lines changing DLI will be eliminated and schools uh students who have are native speakers who have attended DLI schools for several years and don't live in the neighbor neighborhood will be forced to return to their local school schools this narrative Fosters a sense of inequity ex and exclusion and will result in the complete collapse of your existing models communities desperately

114need Clarity and detailed information on the proposals as soon as possible to prevent these fears from taking root if the specifics are not available yet I would like to offer you just a few suggestions retain number one retain special education programs in options schools transitioning to Neighborhood schools two keep current students in their programs regardless of whether they live in the designated neighborhood area three for DLI programs create and set aside as many spaces as possible for native speakers outside the neighborhood Zone Dr Jones please take this pivotal moment to challenge yourself and your District staff to Center your plans around accessibility equity and student outcomes collaborate with communities who want to be partner in this process we are hopeful that with more transparency we can work together to create a better future for all

115students in Seattle Public Schools thank you for your time and consideration next is Sarah Peno Peno and followed by Paul Bugala and then Nelson Conley Sarah's online we can hear you Sarah you can or can't we can hear you Sarah oh I think we should be able to hear you now you can hear me okay I'd like to see my T to Zoe Briant hello my name is Zoe Bryant and I a new freshman in Wes High SCH school I'm speaking here today about an issue that arose at the start of the new school year I was very excited about this new school year as I wanted to start a new club for moth trials in law I did all my research into how to start a club in the school and made a plan

116of how to contact everyone including the YMCA for guidance and starting such a club but first I needed a classroom and a teacher but all all of this planning came to a halt because of one huge problem teachers can't run any clubs this is because of all the extra students that have they have been put with I spoke to a teacher on my first day and they had to deny the use of their room because they have 28 students over what their Max is this means they don't even have enough desks for all of them and they aren't the only one this is concerning as none of them can even run the club even run the clubs that they already created before this year this teacher I spoke to runs a model un club which

117I was thinking of joining as well as starting my own club and now I can't do either I'm concerned about this as now people cannot create clubs that could possibly help them get into into good Colleges and Schools I am sure that I'm not the only student who wants to start a club or run one either to learn more or to be able to get into good schools because of it what I'm requesting is a fix to this overpopulation of classes by possibly getting more teachers for subjects that are crowded without hassling the teachers with extra workloads although I could run the club during lunch because of the short shortened lunchtime and the extra workload on these teachers the teachers have to use their own lunchtime to catch up on all the students just because

118there are too many this also H halts not just me but others as well there are many clubs at Wes high school and now many cannot run which hals other students in joining and exploring their interests many people come to clubs to learn have a good time or to have good things on their college application like I am doing and now they can't so as I just stated this impacts not just me but everybody in the school I call for a resolve to this issue so that clubs can continue so that people can join and explore their interests and be able to learn new items from such clubs thank you for your time the next speaker is Paul Bala followed by Nelson Conley and then Joe [Applause] Mangan hi my name is Paul Bal West

119Seattle high school student parent rather and I see my time I see my time to hly rof thank you hi West Seattle High School parent um and PTSA president um listening to Zoe's testimony is heartbreaking to me and and in the zone of a well-resourced school plan we're feeling it on both ends of the spectrum West Seattle high is underresourced While others communities are concerned about closures we are in desperate need of FTE we need support Staffing support the principal has a clear plan of how to allocate so that we can reduced class loads the teachers are at a Breaking Point the students are suffering mightily it cannot stand preferably before October 1st when enrollment numbers are are locked in uh we are asking for at least two full FTE to be assigned and to

120align with our student enrollment the compounding factor of budget cuts over years has meant that our FTE allocations have not been met over the last I easily two years probably three so we are over um just the two FTE is required um thank you the next speaker is Nelson Conley after Nelson will be Joe Mangan and if they are both here that will conclude testimony hi I this is nelon connley I see my time to wedna who is in be in person hi there everybody uh so um I'm a tops parent uh I have sorry about that um I have uh something to say about facilities and about how they interact with our kids' lives so uh Topps has the dhh program there have been facility modifications to the building to support that it has

121a unique audio setup that's really key for a lot of the students and the staff um I don't think it's going to be that feasible to just disperse that across every building where we're going to have kids with dhh needs um but above and beyond that one of the other parents said something about the centralization of the program and how it creates kind of a community and I want to talk a little bit about my child he has an incredibly rare DNA repair disorder called zerum that causes him to get radiation burns from sunlight so the building has had UV blocking film applied on the entire structure to keep all of this light from uh getting in and just giving him Burns and instant cancer um he also has neurological symptoms which is why he's

122been losing his hearing uh in second grade we found out that he was starting to have hearing loss which uh other things means that I had have talked with my child about how he was going to go deaf uh that was not an easy conversation to have it has taken him uh it took a year to get tops filmed so that he could start going there after transferring from L where he had been before uh and then it took him another two years in school at tops for the program there to do something for him that I could not do for him uh being at tops helped him to adjust to this new normal to accept this change in himself and to be okay with it and to be able to move forward because the

123steps that he takes to do that help his brain to develop and keep his auditory deterioration from spreading the tops dhh Community program May literally be extending his life I cannot tell you how important this is for us and for all the people that we've met there please please please give that some consideration thank you the final speaker is Joe Mangan hi all thank you for the work you've put into this plan it's never a fun conversation when school closures cuts are on the topic so thank you also want to say that I appreciate the transparency of the site and the interactive resources that are definitely helpful in getting informed I'm a new parent to SPS I have a kindergarten that started eight days ago it's going great shout out to Mrs Smith thank you

124so much but this plan and this roll out are giving me pause as parents we want to plant the future of our kids in the best Garden possible this process is causing my wife and I to have conversations about which Garden we think is best to grow our child's future in is SPS the right patch do we consider options outside of the public school system like home homeschool I love my kids but I don't know if I love them homeschool that much you know I'm not I'm not homeschool in love with them you know that'd be tough and I also understand there's families out there they don't they don't have the the the privilege of making a decision they're they're going to be stuck and locked into whatever plan youall decide so I I'm thinking

125is this turmoil an early warning sign of things to come if continued confidence in enrolling in SPS is a priority I just want you to know what it feels like as a new parent I have concerns we all want the same thing Equitable sustainable challenging environments for a diverse set of students we all want Diversified stable Gardens for our kids to flourish in the options that are being presented seem disproportionately chaotic to the benefit they are hoping to achieve closing 21 schools to save $30 million when the shortfall is 100 million that's a gap the balance between how these newly burdened schools would actually be well resourced as another $70 million needs to be cut that's a gap the impact analysis on the most vulnerable students in special education that depend on stability that's a

126gap I have to believe that you members of the board wouldn't sign up for these unpaid positions unless you were passionate about creating positive stable flourishing environments for our children with what I've been able to digest there seems to be a lot of chaos introduced in these Solutions with Benefits that still fall short of the stated need my ask is that we please take a breath work together answer the unanswered questions and lean into a plan that the majority can understand and rally behind thank you for your time president Rank and that was the 25th speaker to conclude testimony thank you consider do directors need a pause before we move into the other do we need to take a short recess some more people well we have like the agenda left okay we're going to

127take a f minute recess I'm just going to say we're going to take a five minute recess we will reconvene at um uh the I can't do it 625 [Music] better [Music] okay [Music] okay [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] a [Music] okay [Music] okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] please return to the Das focus in the audience if you have conversations you want to continue please take them into the lobby and then rejoin us I don't know you guys saw the spiders yes yes yes we there was a spider big spider suddenly ran across the thing herewhere reaction was big sper all right we are in the action do we have wait do sorry do we have yes we are in the action item section of our agenda starting with the consent agenda um agenda yeah we do

128um here it is jeez Louise may I have a motion for the consent agenda please I move for approval of the consent agenda I second oh I see do directors have any questions oh I'm on the wrong page sorry okay I'm going to remove number five from the consent agenda okay um any other items or questions no okay so I don't know uh if office Board office staff heard that item five is being pulled um May I plee oh sorry the approval of the consent agenda has been moved by director seru second by director Briggs um and we're yes and now I would ask for a motion to approve the agenda as the consent agenda as amended I move for approval of the consent agenda as amended I second all those in favor of approval

129of the consent agenda as amended please signify by saying I I I I you still have to say [Music] I oh I think that's passed unanimously unan yeah the motion has passed unanimously um sorry I mixed up my pages uh well I'll go to director top now for the item that was removed yeah I think that I I gave oh wait sorry do we need to make a motion first and then talk about it okay may I please have a motion for the uh uh to consider and vote on the item that was pulled okay point of clarification I moved for approval of the agenda amended agenda and we all voted on that now I'm moving to discuss we pulled one item off the consent agena and so we have to make a motion um

130for that by itself to consider this it okay where am I reading that I move that the school board amend board policy number 2190 highly capable of services and rename as board policy 2190 highly capable program as attached to the board action report and now do we vote now we need a second Dr bricks all right St as the puller of the item yeah uh I I I think notified staff I was going to pull this item just because I had a quick question really or I I need help in understanding what the Practical effects or on the ground impacts are of changing the name or changing the name from program to service services from services to program thank you director sarju all right well as the as the board sponsor I will just say

131there are some notes that explain that it's in the bar on on the item and that also just um that the uh that this was introduced last month yeah and I see Dr stoski at the podium uh good evening Mike stoski assistant superintendent of academics so on the the ground uh implications of this really from the classroom uh for parents for students for staff for central office staff for Community is just the consistency of language aligning it um and so what we're trying to do and I think what this really gets to is that the program uh piece of it will help us uh come back to the board on a consistent basis and when we're reporting back to you um on a yearly basis Beyond what's required for the RCW and The Wack um

132to be speaking the same language or similar language and trying to get out the confusion about when we're talking about uh Services versus programs and uh seeing that consistency be aligned in our language and reflected in board policy um and I want to add to that that after it was introduced discussions that I had with staff and the legal department uh looking at the what it says in the state statute um uh program wait yeah program is something that's required like special a special educ ation program um no I'm going to have it backwards sorry whatever it says in the thing but it's the difference between what's required by the state and what a student actually receives in the classroom and so the also the reason that um some language that someone else mentioned is

133that it was a direct copy and paste from state law and the policy says that you must follow state law so it doesn't change our our belief that students should have a required service it just doesn't duplicate State language yeah it's the duplication and then also in the bar on uh the bottom of page three uh very succinctly uh calls it out um at the very end it says the models are referred to Seattle Public Schools highly capable program with the ways in which students are uh served refer to as services and so it's trying to uh I think this bar clearly uh lays out that we're not losing anything uh what we're trying to gain is clarification um for for the public and for our students and staff um and and the other thing

134is that I just have to say is that it was brought it was not brought forward by staff it was brought forward by me because staff hadn't brought it forward in over a year since asking to align it with state law um and the requirements in there are that we receive an annual report in alignment with what is in state law about what the services are for students in Seattle public schools and I would I'm not sure if I should well I'll direct this to to the board's employee the commitment that I heard was um uh 30 to 45 days for to receive an actual plan um is that still something we can expect I can speak to that uh yes we we've had a a couple of personnel issues where we have key people

135missing in key leadership positions but we are going to deliver on that timeline uh that you and uh Dr Jones agreed upon we will have something for you great thank you to directors have other questions yeah yeah so I just before we vote on this I want to understand is this more of a semantic change or like a substantive change I put a different way is anything going to change tomorrow if we vote for this no it's the it's the semantics being aligned with the RCW and wack okay vice president Sergio I think I just heard you say you're going to deliver something and I'm not did you say what something was yes the the highly capable plan that uh Dr Jones agreed to with uh president Ranken is what will be given to Dr

136Jones to give to the board thank you I just wanted I there was a lot said so I needed to clarify no I I appreciate it can I can I put in a request for I guess when we have that plan that we have a work session to discuss it and re and and look at it and learn from it we do have in the working on the um well I'll say TBD but but we had already considered setting aside time for academic programs and services generally and I would be included in that yes uh uh president Ranken exactly what you spoke about we're we're already planning and and talking about uh special education multiple Lal services and highly capable of doing a work session with the board that will be a part of it

137thank you I have no any other questions all right the roll call please director hery thank you director stoski I director Mahi hi vice president seru I director top I director Briggs I director Clark abstain president Ranken I this motion has passed to the vote of six yes and one exstension thank you uh moving on to our oh we don't have an action item we have introduction items uh we did wait we did the budget okay so you mentioned in the budget session the educational program resolution but it was not yet introduced and we're introducing that now is that correct all right um so lost my place again uh well introduction item one is approval of board resolution um 2024 25-9 educational program reduction per board policy 0060 approval of this item would adopt board

138resolution number 24 25-9 educational program reduction as attached to this board action report by whom is this being introduced I thought we did this earlier this is Introduction of the resolution that we presented on earlier in the meeting well we didn't introduce the actual resolution we we we introduced the introduction of the resolution I mean it was mentioned but we didn't actually introduce it as an item so I'm Dr Kurt Bulman assistant superintendent for finance and this is the resolution directing the superintendent um to present a um reduced educational program resolution um plan in January of 2025 to balance the budget for 2526 sorry [Music] um do we have the item to look at oops be too small on the screen that's what I was just asking the resolution all right and Dr Bulman if

139you don't mind could you just kind of overview it for us and point out anything that might not have been in that package that that we went through is there anything is there anything demonstrably different I mean we all have plenty of time to do our work and read it and study it and recommend changes I think the most substantive part if you could scroll to the result yes there um the list of um solutions that the superintendent would be directed to contemplate and presenting that budget proposal um that's number two and I think number four is pertinent which contemplates if there are no school consolidations or other um large scale reductions moving forward by the board that there' be a proposal around that and number five is to ensure that the proposals um caused

140by this resolution take student outcomes um first in mind do we need further clarification from the board about what that actually means what expectations me we may have based on that direction I think if there's things that you think need to be clarified that would be great to hear those does anyone have any questions about this now maybe are we approving this at our will this be no not tonight but are we December December thank you it's being introduced early which we appreciate thank you all right sounds like we're all going to study it and come back great sorry for the misunderstanding no that's okay thank you um okay we did the budget development uh preview okay I believe we're moving on to the tables for a uh uh update on well resource schools please

141take your microphone with you thank here here compter okay is everybody else's M we we only one mic at a time um all right Dr Jones uh good evening once again board members thank you for this opportunity to share a update on well resource schools I'm joined by well resource schools officer Dr Marne Campbell chief operations officer Fred Fred podesta and Chief of Staff Bev Redmond uh this team has worked diligently and put a tremendous amount of effort into getting us to this point and I want to thank them for their expertise throughout this process I also want to reiterate that and acknowledge that this is not an easy conversation uh we all care deeply about our schools across our city because we value and treasure the schools in our community uh this is a

142gift that I've personally benefited from and I want to extend it across the city so our goal for today's update on well resource schools is to ground Us in where we've been and provide an update of where we are and we where we're going with this initiative um as we all agree our primary responsibility as a school system is to create the conditions for academic success for students uh we risk compromising this goal when we cannot fully staff our kindergarten through fifth grade fundamental starting place for our Scholars uh one choice is in front of us is focusing on fewer schools spending Less on operating buildings and to uh in order to make sure that we're providing stable and consistent support to our students uh these things are are necessary as we go forward so

143today I'm here to talk about how we might pursue that choice as I said earlier we are we are in a listening phase uh as I prepare to make uh preliminary recommendations I'm listening to the board our community our staff and about how we can balance our interest in carving this path forward so we are we this is not a done deal and we're trying to make sure that we're we're focused on listening and actively listening and responding accordingly and so uh what we'll cover today is the big picture uh like I mentioned where we where we've been and vision where we are uh information and option sharing and then the next steps of where we're going next slide please um well resource schools is a critical effort but it does not exist in isolation

144uh this fits into the bigger picture of what we're seeking to do uh for our entire system as we look at fiscal stabilization um as Dr butman mentioned we're working hard to balance our budget and overcome a $94 million deficit uh we're also designing Seattle public schools for long-term sustainability uh and as we look at uh part of our year zero work plan uh we'll dive more more into that in a minute but that's around uh also stabilization we're trying to make sure that we're working in a targeted and strategic Direction uh also critical to our year zero efforts is moving in the targeted and strategic direction that we discussed in the last presentation uh by Dr Bulman so uh to reiterate we're working with the board to set goals and guard rails uh based

145on our district vision and values of the community then we're pursuing those with a set of evidence-based strategies and Investments over the next 5 years and that's the strategic planning process next slide please so let's revisit uh the year zero vision that we've been discussing uh year zero uh as I mentioned is about sustainability this is about creating uh stable structures upon which we can execute our next strategic plan and build for future and we can see in the operation arm of this Pentagon well-resourced schools is one part of our Quest is a sustainable school system it's it's it's necessary but far from sufficient to achieve the stability that our system needs and deserves next slide please uh we are here not to reiterate what the rationale for why School consolidation and transitioning to a

146system of well resource schools are necessary but I do want to remind us that the plan grows out of our opportunity to address uh a series of compounding challenges that our school system is facing uh steadily declining enrollment with 29 of our elementary schools serving more than Ser serving fewer than 300 students as I mentioned a $94 million budget deficit that well-resourced schools can can ideally help us to to close uh and then we have the inequitable resources that result in even access to Staffing programs services and academic offerings next slide please so as we address these challenges by transitioning to a system of well resource schools uh our our goal is to create conditions for better academic outcomes through creating systems uh where schools are home to stable budgets and Staffing consistency and programs

147and services multiple teachers per grade level allowing for the type of collaboration that makes uh teaching effective art music PE and more and we want to ground all of this in schools that are intimately connected to our community uh we know this is a big challenge to do this we know that there's a lot of uh opportunities here lots of um ways that we can connect but we we have to be diligent about our efforts to make sure that all these things are working on behalf of student outcomes so if we go to the next slide um we didn't come up with with this Vision on our own uh we engag with community over the last year we listen deeply to their vision of a well resource school and that became the basis how we

148defined uh a well resourc school and as you can see from this graphic that we've looked at before multiple teachers per grade level full-time support staff inclusive learning seal supports art music and PE opportunities uh stable operational budgets safe healthy beautiful schools and grounds and connections to the community so this is this is what we interpreted from what the community told us and it's the vision for a well resourced school next slide please so this slide is really talking talks about the means to the end and if if you look across uh the bottom of this slide you see the tools that we're using are trying to create fiscal stabilization we're doing racial Equity analysis we're looking at our SP special education program we're looking at our capacity of our buildings and our demographic analysis

149building conditions learning environment and Regional distribution all this is all this is going into our planning for our next strategic plan so if you see our Focus across the top and what we're trying to achieve at the end at the end of this next slide please so I'm going to turn it over to Dr Campbell here but this is a a timeline of where we are uh we if to walk through this we we uh we identified the challenges in terms of the signific significant budget Gap related to our portfolio of schools the this opportunity emerged with us looking at the vision for well resourc schools we started to meet with community and gathered well a well resource School definition then we had the board charged to develop models to be responsive to this uh

150we've had uh Community meetings and then we've developed models with the racial and and educational equity and Excellence focus and then we've recently uh launched our we have our web Hub launched and today we're doing an update and we'll be moving shortly into Regional Gatherings affinity group Gatherings to to gain more information from community and perspective I'll present ultimately a superintendent's recommendation uh from that we'll we have to do public reviews and hearings and then uh the superintendent will bring a final recommend ation for board action so this is the timeline and we're we're at this point today we're we're in September and we're we're moving forward uh so Dr Campbell uh I want you to start here and talk about where we are and do the balance of the presentation thank you thank you

151thank you superintendent Jones and board directors thank you so much I appreciate your time and your attention and your commitment to all of this um if we can go to the next slide I want to just reiterate actually if you can go back for one minute um those first two uh segments the challenge identified the opportunity emerging I think that we always have to be attentive to these moments where we see a challenge and then see within that challenge what is possible and and widening our gaze a little bit and seeing what we can accomplish and I think you all as as board directors have really opened up that conversation for us to really come to what we see as our vision for Seattle Public Schools um I've been a school leader for a long

152time a parent in Seattle public schools I'm deeply involved in the community and so first of all grounding everything that we do and student outcomes is absolutely imperative one of the things we've been able to do and we can go to the next slide um is on the team that has been working not yeah it's it's got It's weirdly displaying um most of us um that have been working on this well resource schools um this final iteration that you now have are um oh sorry hello Jor Clark hi everyone I'm eating my dinner yeah bring share yes wow that's good that's uh we are most of us our Educators have worked in schools and I think that makes a big difference that we uh I've seen a lot of comments that have said the people

153are looking just it's like we're looking at spreadsheets and numbers I want to assure you every one of us has visited these schools we've visited with teachers we've visited with school leaders we've been School leaders that have confronted these issues um and we have very much brought that ethos to this work um so uh we uh took a took a big leap last week on September 11th in in launching our web Hub and we um aimed for more information rather than less um so I I want to just applaud everybody it has been an enormous I believe a res resource to our community um with our scenarios these two scenarios were developed with some parameters that were requested in in uh a variety of ways by uh our instructional staff uh asking us to look

154at Option schools some of the demographic some of the impact some of the role that option schools have some of our programming like dual language immersion so those are those scenarios were developed with some of those parameters and then looking at some some Logistics around how what our suite or what our system of schools looks like um our amazing team in enrollment planning actually created that was an in-house created interactive map I want to uh just speak the name of Tim Dand who's our GIS specialist who did a lot of work in getting that up and running um we believe that in providing that opportunity for families to actually look at what could come next um we were concerned is it going to look like it's it's absolutely going to happen next but I said

155you know any parent Guardian Grandma Auntie who sees the name of a school closing their first question is going to be where where can my kid go and we didn't want that to be a blank space we wanted that to be something you could look at um the analysis document that you have has school- by school data every single one of our schools that serve students K through 5 that's Elementary and K8 schools it has our demographic analyses of plan a and plan B um it has boundary Maps again um some people have said why didn't you engage Us in the boundary map planning well we couldn't have done that without telling you which schools we were looking at so we have not wanted to be uh you know sort of hidden about the process

156but we also wanted to be sure that we were releasing information in a way that was respectful to everyone's roles in in in what we're doing and that we wanted our families to be able to have access as soon as possible but we used some tried-and-true sort of principles for boundary Maps which are basically looking at geographical um and and roadway barriers and also just looking at um boundaries that would create the right number of students um you can also see maps and methods for regional analysis um we dynamically updating frequently asked questions so I will hopefully get pretty quickly to those um so that some of them do speak to some of the questions that were raised tonight I want to be clear the numbers that we've used to make our decisions are the

157numbers that the public now has access to there's nothing hidden I also want to be clear that those numbers are based on our best uh projections of enrollment and that they're based in most cases on residents so current residents there are some variables to that but that was um in in Consulting with a number of other districts the best proxy we could use to anticipate what these schools could and would look like so we'll continue to update our responses in uh in our frequently asked questions we received them through let's talk and we uh we respond to those so again you're familiar I believe proposed option A again this is a this is just a a model for consideration 21 closing schools 52 well research schools option b and no um no option or K8

158schools option b has 56 uh schools and 17 closing that includes um a K8 options School in every region um we reflect here that this is reflective of our community's input that that when we went out in the spring um there was some sort of sense that you know option schools or k schools might be under consideration we heard that concern we also heard from some of our families who said actually when we have multiple kids in middle and elementary school it actually is important to our family ecosystem to be able to have a k at school where the older kids can take care of the younger kids bring them home from school so we really wanted to be responsive and reflective and and incorporate that as well um the well-resourced schools options webpage has

159received I just wanted 48,000 views within the first 48 Hours 48,000 views within the first 48 Hours our um interactive web map received 50,000 interactions within the first first day so that tells us that what we're providing is being you utilized and seen and valued by our community um so just to share that those are the things that we made public this is just a little bit of a spotlight uh yeah 58,000 actually in the first two days um we saw a very option we had 30,000 views so again we're looking for that input that tells us that we're having that these tools are meeting or at least their families are people in the community are engaging with it and I want to thank thank our um Community for taking time to make meaning out

160of our proposals to take that time to look at it to think about it it's complex uh there's a lot to think about it but I also know that as again as a parent I would have gone straight to where's my kid going to go what's changing is that friend going to be in that school fully recognize that that's also the way we might um interact with this information to the next slide just um our let's talk platform uh we're monitoring that every single day um this is just a snapshot as of Friday yeah September the 13th um we see uh some key topic areas boundaries and assignments was the largest one enrollment projections was one K8 School option schools and dual language immersion um you can kind of see the scale of those questions

161and interactions so again it's really important for us to know what our student what our community rather the questions that they have and how they're engaging with us any questions about this before I move on director hery thank you okay cool so before I get started there's just a characterization that I'm struggling with because when I talk to parents the first thing that they asked me is not necessarily where is their kid going to go as opposed to why is my school closing so like that's one and I have a very I have two very simple questions the first one and I wrote them down so can you tell me the potential difference and impact on our third grade literacy goal between option A and option b the poten imp on the I want to

162make sure I'm responding to that yeah I'm going to wait sorry and I hate to do this because we get such negative feedback so much that it is nice to hear Applause but I am going to ask that folks please silently observe because it does have the impact on influencing what directors feel comfortable saying and asking so if you could please even though I I don't really like asking that but um I want to make sure that directors are making comments based on what we need to hear not based on oo they clapped for that thank you thank you I think it is the question and I would also add that um and I've been meeting regularly both with our our um directors of K education K5 and then secondary as well um to talk

163about this very thing um because none of this matters if we don't have an aligned plan for how this will actually impact learning so I would also have us think about that graduating um College and Career ready having taken Advanced courses so where that third grade takes us so our our working um belief that's based on research and evidence is is that in having multiple teachers per grade level there are more opportunities for differentiation and extension which can sound like random words but really means um teachers can be matched to kids for one thing that where they can meet their needs it means that we have more opportunities for inclusion we have more opportunities um for for staff and teachers to actually collaborate and work on their curriculum and get stronger so option b I

164would say we have fewer schools where we can say we have multiple teachers per grade level option A is the one that gets us closer to to meeting those things that we feel like are components of well resource schools um both are possible we will absolutely do it but option b um it it you know people have talked about we're not creating cookie cutter models my metaphor is some of our schools only have butter and the other one only has flour and the only I mean they don't things when things get too spread out we can't even make the cookies we we don't even have all that we need we will do it so um option A has more promising if we think that having multiple teachers per grade level that creates and supports um

165the uh professional efficacy of our staff gets us closer to that totally get that and I think that that is headed in the direction of what people are looking for and what the board is expecting in terms of like because here's my thing as an educator I I have to deal in specifics and this goes on both sides this is coming from the board this is coming from the answers that we receive this is coming from coming from the questions that we receive from the public I'm it it really does kind of diminish the quality of the conversation if we focus on the idea of where's a plan where's a plan where's a plan if we are not really getting into the specific of okay when you say plan what do you mean what I

166mean is that we have three very clear goals and especially given the fact that only one of those goals is inextricably linked to elementary school in my opinion there should be some real Clarity linked to all of the things that y'all have brought forward to us within progress monitoring into how either plan A or B is going to get us closer to those student outcomes the other piece of that is understanding what is the differential and impact between the plans that you bring forward like I said I think you're headed in the right direction but what I am really looking for in order to have confidence in giving my vote to either of these plans or something else that might come later is that level of specificity the other piece that I really want to

167bring home is can you say whether or not schools that are currently on the list are doing a better job of reaching our goals in third grade literacy as opposed to the ones that are not that's a really great question and one we we considered a lot what one thing that we do know is that when districts have used that as a deciding factor that is academic outcomes sure to close schools in other districts that has not led to good outcomes in terms of um in terms of anti-racism it has Le it has led to the preponderance of closures of certain schools so I would say that this work this primary work is not the full plan it is the technical piece sure that we then immediately Bridge into and what is that promise going

168to look like in these schools totally get that appreciate that here's where I'm really trying to go as I have said from the beginning of this process this is going to be incredibly complex I cannot support anything that is a whole whale removal for the sake of wholesale removal we cannot approach this as a highlighter method and I know that's not what y'all are doing but that is how it feels to a lot of folks and perception is reality in many cases what I am trying to get at is that in order for me to full-throated support whatever you put in front of me I need to see how from your Vantage Point and it does not have to be perfect I'm not seeking Perfection but I am seeking Clarity right what I am looking

169for is a very clear articulated thesis about how moving from status quo to whatever is on the other side of this decision is going to get us to closer to achieving the goals that we have in addition a justification that even though the schools that are on the list may or may not be doing a great job of getting us in terms of our third grade literacy goal to the end where we are desired to be how do we make sure that through this process all of that learning all of those relationships all of those special things that make that possible that are largely latent in community are not lost with the closing of a physical space so I am really just trying to drive home the point it has to all come back to

170the goals and I will be a full thoed supporter if y'all can come to me with a plan that shows how we are going to be closer to our student outcomes goals on the other side of this and it can't just be the fact that there will be more teachers per grade band it has to be intertwined with the strategies that y'all have presented to us or tell us that this is one of the critical changes that needs to happen in order for us to get closer to our goal so I just wanted to make that super clear um can I and I see that a couple directors have hands up there's actually not that many slides left I would like to recommend that we move right past the initial assumptions and concerns because to

171be quite honest that feels a lot like gaslighting they have these concerns oh it's not a concern because this is this like looking through it it is a concern so don't tell us it's not a concern and um please can we skip through that because we can read that on our own and go to the final slide and then open it up for discussion okay so you don't want us to clarify some of these things that we've clarified if there's something that seems like it can't be understood by by us reading it um but I'm not really interested in justification of okay things that people are feeling that they shouldn't feel it um president rankon I just had a followup to Brandon's question is it appropriate for me to do that now or would you

172like me to wait would you mind holding and I'll come to you first just to just to get to this last slide and then I'll come to you first is that okay okay okay thanks thank you thank you and I just I very sensitive to the gaslighting comment uh the the clarification was intended to be just that that where we were not clear when we get a question we try to answer that question not saying those concerns matter don't matter rather we're saying that we recognized that we wer we did not address everything so I just I want to be sure that I'm clear that I'm not trying to discount or disregard anyone's concerns um so you you're moving to the Where Do We Go From Here ongoing I would like to yes please right

173so where we go from here is an an additional round of community Gatherings we have those scheduled uh one per region those will be regionally focused um many of our leaders will be there um they will be intended as as authentic opportunities uh to hear more from our communities recognizing that as many people who have been tuned into all of this we know that there are many there are many many more for whom we are still not reaching them and so our goal is to get as many people as possible hearing about this um and again some people say you've told me this already don't go over it again I I'm sorry about that and I can guarantee you that for some people this is new so we are going to take every opportunity to

174to engage again and to listen at a deep level to what did we miss and I hear that we miss what we're missing in part is what is the academic tie into this work again bearing in mind that this is largely structural but yes without that AB academic emphasis it's not going to feel complete what are we experiencing right now in terms of our response to what we're seeing these are two possibilities we had to put something out there for people to react to and then the third would be how do we move forward do we move forward and if so what would it take what assurances would we want to have is it third grade reading is it we're going to actually focus on Stam in every school in a meaningful way is it

175that we're going to make sure that we have we obviously will but we want to think about what would make this work for you what kind of transition would make sense maybe it's no transition at all so those will be and we will be gathering that information every single time that we meet and and processing that and it to you and and to our superintendent superintendent will be there but making sure that we're keeping track of that um we don't have this listed here but it's very very important to me and to all of us we are also planning affinity group meetings in people's primary language so that they're not sitting in a in an English meeting having interpreters speak to them we're actually going to the community where our community is already Gathering we

176have staff members who speak those languages who are going to be also in ucing and that is very important to me I want us to think about who we have heard from thus far even tonight and who we have not heard from so we are very intentionally um engaging in that way and we have one online engagement that's our first one the 24th plan and then we have this a spot open for depending on our need a follow-up online engagement another thing that we are doing and I have been doing but looking at service and program placement so we heard tonight some some concern a very deep deeply felt concerned about where our services are going to be um we have mapped out our city and looked at where we don't have a lot of

177access we have some schools that for a variety of reasons um have quite a few uh what we might think of as a service delivery model for I APS for example um we are looking at how we do that so that it is working for our students and our families we are validating our work through the various third party mechanisms including um an analysis from a professor uh University of Texas at Austin who worked with San Antonio Public Schools uh Dr Green and also uh Partners in New York City public schools and also education Northwest is doing a desk review of our of our planning so that we have others looking at our work um we're modeling scenarios for Staffing so that's also a question that comes up we we want to make sure that

178we have an idea of what it would take to implement it however we move forward um assembling transition teams so we've been doing that work uh since SE setember meeting with various departments centrally here to say what is the work that needs to happen if we were to make these transitions we need to scope it out it's we're not going to be able to do it overnight so we actually have lined up our calendars to know what are critical points that we have to meet and then what are ones that where we're going to have to flex um we have a pass advisory team that is beginning to meet that is our our school leaders um and we hope to also be then we will assemble teams however we go with our schools that are

179closing and the schools that are going to be receiving them so that we can make sure that that we're creating that space for that transition that Caring Transition work to happen um setting future School level curricular fosi so we heard tonight about um Expeditionary Learning which is phenomenal um Innovative Creative Learning is happening in many many of our schools um but we have some schools that have have sort of identified themselves as an expeditionary learning school which is phenomenal uh we would like to um seed some resources with all of our schools whatever Suite of schools we we finalize with um to actually do takes a pause so that we we this is an opportunity to reset and rethink what is our instructional Focus no I will add no elementary school should have students sitting

180still for six hours a day I think that that would never be acceptable so if that needs to be corrected then that needs to be corrected but we need to make sure that all of our schools are engaging in that um in that Innovation work and then conducting that learning needs and resource Equity analyses so all of this is work that that we are partnering with our instructional colleagues our colleagues in uh coordinated school health and that is where we are going next um I will say finally um the all of Seattle Public Schools coming together is is not something that happens naturally we can easily work within our own departments but a big part of my work um even prior to this being my my primary work was bringing together folks from different areas

181in the organization because we do share common goals we just don't always have an opportunity to recognize them so all of us working together to make our this primary initial School experience the best it can be is something that we will continue to work on thank you thank you as promised director Clark thank you president Ranken for put letting me skip the line there if I did um I um wanted to follow up have I had a follow-up question um from um some of uh Brandon's question um earlier um so I'm C you know I've heard from a number of community members who I think are a little confused about um how we could have a like how there could be a scenario in which um the number of like we're closing let's option A

182or option b um how we could end up with the the remaining schools having more teacher like uh multiple teachers per grade as you said um could you just explain a little bit like how um we would be able to do that and how that balances with um the Staffing changes that would occur as as we potentially transition to fewer schools yes thank you for that question I think it's a it's it's a great question essentially um our our teacher student teacher ratios um are what they are so as more students and any and any school leader will tell you the more students you get the more staff you get so right now our capacity the the It's a combination of utilizing our buildings where there is empty space where we have classrooms available um

183and then as as students perhaps consolidate into one school those staff will follow those students so you will then have a larger number of students in each grade level so that you can have those additional teachers within those grade levels so staff follow students is kind of a a basic way to think about it and I I have talked to people who said so now we're just going to have 40 40 kids in every classroom no we have we we have identified quite carefully where the space is in buildings that's that this classroom space and made sure then that that's those staff members will be there does that make sense that's really helpful and so I'm assuming that that um is a part of the calculation that went into the current propos like how we

184ended up with the current proposed list of schools that would remain open if that that calculation was a piece of that um how you how we how you came up with this list absolutely and if you look there's a sort of a regional analysis section of course I won't be able to find it but basically that says in in in individual regions well if you look at um page 31 of your analysis document uh so for option A the southwest region um has the maximum students projected so we're talking the max over the next 10 years would be 4564 that's residents if we want to have schools at about 456 so a lot of our time was spent initially saying so what's the right if it is a little bit of a numbers exercise although

185we're aware that these numbers are all children but you have to say so but how many schools do you need well that's about 10 schools we then proceeded to say okay well we've got 13 schools in the southwest region so given these other factors building condition how many kids can a school hold can even hold that many kids what's the regional and there's some heat Maps also where you can see we did that density of population analysis what's the best than 10 schools to serve and support that region so you'll see in the Southeast region similarly 4,29 over the next 10 years that's the maximum uh projected that would be about nine schools so that kind of gives you an idea of how we said and we looked at those schools then that had the

186capacity to house those students that was a really critical piece of it um there's an early on graphic that shows a well resource school and you have buildings students and then services and programs and staff those are the three things that go into deciding how we create that that school model so if that's helpful that's there for option A and option b that's very helpful thank you I've been um hearing a lot about how this process um had a lot to do with building specifications and other things and so I just wanted to get some clarity on um how you all um approached the decision on of U making the proposed list and um thank you for taking the time to explain that for me and everyone else in the room thank you so much

187for the question it's a it's an excellent question and again thinking about um about if we're thinking about the southwest region um one of our amazing dear schools there Santa slow as we looked at Okay so what are the 10 schools that can create this sort of well resource model Santa slow is a building that is need in in need of a lot of repair it's an open concept school so it had a it did not have the the qualities of having that um learning environment that that the external team thought was optimal and it also um it just wasn't going to meet those criteria in a couple of way so it was not so much about we want to close a school but it was about saying what are the 10 schools buildings that

188exist that we think are going to best serve this this community director Zario and then director Mahi um I want to track back to what uh director hery the the original question and then the restatement and the reason why why I want to track back is because when we started this in December of 2023 I really thought we were clear about the expectations that would track to the result of of this process and so what I mean by that is we are concerned about are the goals the outcomes of the goals we set and what I'm I'm going to be honest is I'm I'm frustrated because I don't see the connection and I don't hear it when I hear you know when I hear answers for example to director Hy's question and so I'm I'm

189going to I'm standing here like what are these people hearing right this presentation everybody should be able to understand it it should make sense to them that so first of all parents we have to close schools there is no other I'm not to pre you know play a game with you and do a pretend like well maybe no we have to close schools but as director hery said I'm not voting for anything that actually doesn't deliberately connect to the goals which is outcomes for students I will not vote for anything and right now it's September 18th I don't see how we can get to where we need to be and be able to reassure parents yes it is a loss when your child school closes this is not the first round and it's definitely not

190my first rodeo of school closures in this district for 37 years I have been through the painful experience of a school closing opening opening closing open like whatever right it it doesn't feel good and it's it's concerning to parents but I'm going to tell you we're not we're not inspiring confidence in the people in our audience that we're actually making decisions focused on student outcomes we as a board are talking about student outcomes but it's really hard to convince it's hard for me as an elected official to convince anybody when even I don't understand it I need to get to a place where when I'm having a conversation with the mom from Broadview Thompson that I can say no here's why your school was on the list I had to tell her I have no

191idea because I actually haven't seen why your school is on the list and so I don't want to keep going around and around the mulberry bush we're in September I'm not confident we can get this done I feel like I'm being backed in a corner I'm going to be honest because I want the parents to hear this I feel like I'm being backed in a corner to vote Yes or vote no and I'm taking a stand right here I'm not doing either if I don't have a justifiable plan that I can actually engage with parents about parents if your school closes you're not going to be happy but what I want for you to understand is why and then what for your child that's where we need to go okay my school needs to close

192then how am I going to meet the need of my deaf and heart of hearing student in a building that's already been retrofitted to serve deaf and hearted hearing students we're not going to move them to another school where we have to do retrofit like that's the level I'm frustrated and so I'm going to stop here because I think I've said over and over again what my expectations are and this is not directed at any staff I feel like I'm crazy I'm going to be honest I feel like am I missing did I not hear right oh maybe I'm losing my mind oh maybe I shouldn't be an elect official because I need to go back to school and get a PhD so I can understand this stuff no I got a master's degree that

193should be enough and you shouldn't have to have one like I don't need a master's degree to understand this and the parents shouldn't either and we have got to present to them a plan that they can understand they may not like it cuz we're not going for popularity votes here they may not like it but if we can't answer if the plan doesn't answer Brandon's question then then thank can I just one quick no and and I'm I'm going to say that's not the first time we've we've been saying this for like since May at the latest um uh director Mahi okay so I have a few questions so I'm gonna also I'm gonna ask one of my questions but then I'm gonna get back in the queue for one of my second questions okay

194um uh I'm looking at the slide the feedback received in messaging platform and I think it's quite telling that the number one piece of feedback was on boundaries and assignments and um I guess I would ask real quick you know percentage wise when I look at the school closures and combine that with the change to the option program uh and combine that with what seemed to me to be pretty massive boundary changes do you have have you modeled like a percent of the number of students that are impacted by all the changes and that's not my question that's like a and that's in your report so you can find that yeah I I can tell you what page it's on thank you um so so then thinking about this I I went back I don't

195know if um I'm happy to be fact checked if I'm wrong but I could not find a single example of when a boundary has changed and students have not been granted grandparenting or continuing assignments uh to stay at their current school and when I read the the website what it said was it said uh whether students will be granted continuing assignments will depend on the specific scenario adopted by the school board that sort of makes it seem like it's our decision so I would say for me if it's our decision I think that there absolutely should be continuing enrollment for students and and if if it's about the two scenarios we've only been presented with two different scenario so I guess I want to ask very directly in in either of the scenarios what is

196the continuing assignment that students will be offered so let me first of all point you to page 18 which actually quite clearly spells out for option A and there's also one for option b the number of students that are impacted by boundary changes bear in mind again these are scenarios presented as models that could work so what that will depend on is if we go for scenario a where we have a closer to an 85% building utilization um that would impact we would have to look at whether or not a Contin we don't say grandfathering that has roots and voting rights and and racism in our country so we say continuing assignments uh would depend very much on um what the capacity looks like for those buildings so it's not up to you we would

197just have to run that scenario and say how possible is it so that we're not going to over over tax the capacity of our schools so have those scenarios been run I mean do we know the answer to that yet so we it would just depend on how many schools were closing so let's say that we were going with option A how many people get how many people get continuing enrollment under option A like I'm not mad about the answer being no so again I don't I don't want to say the answer is no I'm not trying to be evasive is it every fifth grader and their subsequent siblings is it every fifth grader is it everyone I mean I think we would just have to determine what would that look like but you all

198are the ones runs running running the numbers so correct so if we pick option A uhhuh because you're saying that depending on the scenario that we pick is how much continuing enrollment is going to be offered so if we pick option A I need to know how many students are going to be offered continuing enrollment under that is it going to be I don't know the answer to those questions and I appreciate being grounded in our goals I also want to be grounded in our guard rails and the first guard rail is around engagement I don't think people can meaningfully engage if they don't have the answer to that question yes so they would can I ask for can I ask for clarification from probably Board office staff am I right in my understanding that

199uh board approval is required for build enclosures for boundary change and assignment changes assignment changes so it actually would be a board decision so we cannot say Grant people continuing assignment that is part of our assignment we have procedures and protocols that we follow so it would actually need to come from the board thank you I mean the recommendation is made to us we don't have to develop the the enrollment plan but the the it cannot be implemented without board approval thank you in order for us to know what we would be approving we would need to give that guidance and let them know what we want right and I'm just making clear that that it can't just it can't just appear that it has to be brought to the to the board for approval

200to be enacted but I guess I just want to say I I still don't feel like I have an answer to my question like so so if we were to pick scenario a how many students will have continuing enrollment I I can't tell you that right now but I could yeah okay I mean so we have engagements plan with the public in the next two weeks so what we know by then so what I would say is the intent of that engagement is if our community said like how could we move forward and the answer what just what you're saying we only think we can move forward if we have the option for continuing assignments that absolutely would be something that we would then take into consideration I'm hearing right now as a I'm going

201to give you like a spoiler I guarantee the community is not going to say we don't want continuing enrollment they're going to say they want it right so I mean so I think we should map out the scenarios to to to be able to honestly tell people and engage with them with how many people are going to get continuing enrollment uh I'm gonna go to other I'm going to put you in the queue I'm going to go to director top director top and then director brag and then director Briggs oh okay okay go ahead yeah sorry so my thing is like can we look as y'all are coming back to us at other major districts CU a lot of folks are going through this in the country and see what accommodations they have provided to

202their families and maybe we could get like a suite of things because here's my worry that you're going to go and do these engagements and it's not going to go well because people don't have anything to resp respond to like if you go to a family and say hey how can we make this like really hard Choice like better without giving them options to choose from they're going to say don't make the choice so it's just like I I want to set y'all up for success and I think having something to expose families to would be a really really helpful tool thank you director top so I think somebody is that is that me is it you oh uh hello yes but while it is me I would just want to do a quick time

203check that it is 7:40 and I do want to make sure that every director has at least one opportunity to provide questions or comments I said at least one so see if I can gain my train of thought here again uh I think we've seen today and we've seen through public testimony there are no easy choices here we have a budget deficit and there are there there are no decisions that we get to make here that are going to be easy whether it's school closures or not and or school closures plus really as we work to balance our budget and or try to get more funding from the state um I think Brandon's question is key in h how these models get to or better serve getting to our goals and I think we've also

204given an impossible task to staff to say Hey you know we have to cut the budget by $100 million but get better outcomes for our kids let's just be fair that's what we're saying like cut cut 100 million but get better outcomes for our kids um that that that's really hard and uh I am not convinced scenario A or B gets us better outcomes for for our kids specifically hearing from the community um these past week um I think to make large changes like this you have to have we have to all be in it together um we have to work as a city and I'm not sure we're there we have to bring the community with us and I don't think we've brought the community with us at this point um so with all

205of that being said and I think that the last part of that is there are a lot of unanswered questions whether it is you know s uh continuing assignments whether it's dual language immersion whether it's some special education questions de of Harden hearing programs that we can't answer yet not the saying we don't have answers but we but we are not we we we don't have answers yet what I'm going to do tonight is I'm going to make a motion yep uh and I'm going to make a motion can I ask that everybody gets the chance to speak at least once first I'm going to make a motion Liza uh I see legal coming no I can't when can I make a motion the agend what's the motion you're it's going to be about well

206resourced schools well we need everybody needs to have the opportunity to to respond to this [Music] first after everyone has an opportunity to speak can I make my motion uh if it's well well I don't as it pertains to well resourc schools which is on the agenda no but but the motion isn't what's the mo read the motion you're sure I uh I move that we direct the superintendent to draft a school closure plan C that uh has a smaller number of closures from four to six schools um and it to be presented at the upcoming engagement sessions the plan should uh prioritize minimizing disruption to students limit limiting programmatic and Boundary changes I actually don't believe it's necessary because we've already given direction that we have a plan provided to us that meets the

207needs of students and this one doesn't I still would like to move forward with that motion if possible I think recommending the number of schools is not we we need to see what the actual impact is to students for whatever the number is and I don't have I I don't want us to place that limitation on it vote no on the motion no can I address this yeah individual directors of course can express anything they choose about what they would or wouldn't support or what they'd be inclined to entertain when you're putting a motion that is a collective directive to the superintendent about what may or may not be in his preliminary recommendation which hasn't come yet that's Collective board action uh and that item was not on the agenda the public wasn't given a

208chance to see it or comment on it the board has many options if it wants to take that directive action one would be to schedule the special meeting for example with that item specifically on the agenda and that can be done on 24 hours notice U but to add an action item late in the game when it wasn't on the agenda the public didn't have notice on it is going to cause uh I'll just I'm going to stop there and say concern wasn't this on the agenda this evening have to but would I have to put my specific motion on the agenda in order for it to be considered or is it notice and enough that the well-resourced schools is on the agenda and therefore the public is therefore noticed that board directors may make

209decisions about things collectively on something no because it was actually explicitly stated there would not be decisions made today yeah no no it is too late to take for the board to take Collective action on a new motion that motion would have to be have agreed uh by agreement it could have been 24 hours agreement of the uh board president superintendent it could have gone on the agenda on the posted agenda but to call for a collective board action on when only the general topic was on not as an action item but as a discussion here uh no the answer is no so if I had a motion in the future that the board president and the superintendent didn't want to put on the agenda but I still wanted it to bring forward what would

210be the pathway for that well first I'd like to say if you bring it to me I will put on the agenda so that is a a big wondering what the process is there I'm happy to answer it under state law and policy 1400 a special meeting can be called either by the board president or by a majority of other board directors the word used is petition but basically four directors would have to go on the record saying they wanted a special meeting and that could be identified as the agenda item and action item for that meeting I not sure I agree with your legal counsel here I think I will go along with it and I will not move forward but I I am not sure I agree with it because that styes any

211board director from ever really making a motion specifically a motion that the chair does not agree with no that that is that's absolutely not correct and without calling a special meeting we change the policy well we can it can also be changed on the agenda but right now I am declaring and actually and I had the same argument of about something else that I tried to make a motion on for with the legal but in this moment in time I feel very strongly that every director needs a chance to speak before we would even consider something totally different director B right thank you would like the chance to speak and get saie the chance to speak before it is 8 and we have to leave or should leave importantly our homework we do we are

212students um so I mean there are points that director tops brings up and director hery that I think are important to bring to the table with is the fact that there is nothing I think the voting members of the board should consider unless you know more student outcome based things especially with you mentioned transition teams uh both in the presentation and a handful of times on uh the uh well resource Schools page there is a little bit about what those are but the transition between the between when schools close and uh the students going into that is honestly one of the biggest pieces of student outcomes because sure in 5 years it might not feel like anything if these school if and when these schools close but at the moment that they close these transition

213teams for both staff and students and families and siblings of those families are the most important because those will determine the student outcomes that align with the goals set by the board that instance so what it there is not I have not seen as clear defined plan it might be in the thing and you can direct me to a page here what what is that transition plan did you want me to respond or do you want i' actually love for the superintendent to have a chance to respond I saw you go for your microphone thank you it's actually it's not and also if there's not one yet just please just say there's not one yet that's being developed Dr Campbell is perfectly capable of responding to the transition plan I'm going to defer to Dr

214Campbell please we have not yet fully developed that but identified that as a really key thing to do yes by no I'm gonna I you're cutting in line Michelle I know but the question the answer to the question was there is not a draft plan that's important the answer to your question director Briggs I'm going to actually uh oh yeah let um director Yun jump ahead of you and then I'll come to Youk you just a clarifying question are the Dual language immersion programs only being cutting K8 schools or also high schools because I believe that West Seattle High School testified in the previous board meeting regarding the Mandarin program being removed and if this will be implemented to all SPS schools how will students take at least two years of world world language as

215a graduation requirement by the Washington State Board of Education so right now I think this this current iteration of the work pertains to K through five so I but k k through fifth graders um so your question is can you say the second part again so the Washington State Board of Education requires high school students to take at least two years of word language and the previous board meeting West Seattle High School testified for their mandat mentoring program possibly possibly being cut if that is being implemented to more or maybe all SPS schools how will students meet that requirement so I I think that's a great question I don't know that it you're talking about language programs being cut at West Seattle High School yes I'm not I don't think that really not in this

216area right now I think it's a great question but that's not really what we're yeah I just wanted to ask it to clarify cuz when we're talking about the well resource school plans I think it applies to all SPS schools in the future too thank you director Briggs thank you um so one thing that strikes me is this the slide where do we go from here um I it feels very much to me like we should have started here not where do we go um we should have already determined service and program placement um modeled scenarios for Staffing validated the work through a third party assembled transition teams like these were this is all the meat that should have been included in the plan because what we gave families instead was a shell of a

217plan of here's a building that your kid's going to go to and none of this information was included in that um and so if it had been I think all of these initial assumptions and concerns many of them could have been preemptively addressed because the that information would have been included in a plan and and I I feel that it's really unfair for us to ask families to get on board with with this when we have provided no meat to this it's literally a skeleton um and it's a massive disruption um it's a huge loss and and we have what are they even signing up for um I mean a lot of these answers too are just um they feel like words on a page and there's you know SPS will offer more inclusive learning

218environment for all students okay great how what does that look like um services and programs be equitably distributed across Seattle Public Schools honoring historic placement in community populations great how I we can't just say this stuff and we can't just say student out we're we're centering student outcomes when we're clearly not we can't keep saying it and not doing it um so I have a that's that's just my big overarching issue with all of this um I don't blame Community for for for not trusting that these thing why why would they why would they trust um and and and I am genuinely confused as to how this has gone unaddressed up until this point when we have been saying for months and months we have to start with these these things not we don't make

219these decisions and then figure that out so I I I'm I'm just very confused at why we're here right now at in this place without these questions having been answered I um uh I'm I'm going to to me and then I'm going to go back back to Joe and anyone else who may have followup if if they would like and if uh if we all can stand it um so I I tried to write my things down and I'm just going to go through them all um the first thing I went back and I watched our work sessions from May 8th and June 26 and I took a whole bunch of notes about what was committed to what board directors gave direction as and what we heard as a commitment um and uh I am

220echoing fellow directors I I don't see a change from what we saw in those meetings to now um so one thing though also is that we we actually so historically there has been lots of there's been other times where there's been boundary changes and it's been very hard in 2006 there literally were like physical threats in this room at this same type of meeting um and so I'm very proud of all of us for not repeating that um what I'm not proud of us for repeating is a scenario where we can't provide answers and can't bring our community along um I we we all made that vote in May with to under to to provide direction to the superintendent to bring us a plan that included school school consolidation we we were behind it we

221understood it could be as many as 20 schools and that was a scary big number but also we believed in the commitments that we were making in that in those discussions and saw the vision and saw okay if we can lay this out like enrollment is down enrollment is down we know that we can't fully resource a building with only 10 and something kids they they literally do not have access to the same things that a kid at a larger school does and that doesn't make it cookie cutter because I actually I actually find that our current neighborhood elementary schools are not cookie cutter Schools they're all wildly individual what shouldn't be individual is the access to opportunity and resources that should be standard you shouldn't have to live in a certain neighborhood or try

222to get into a good school my kids went to Neighborhood schools still go to Neighborhood schools all of our neighborhood schools should be good schools and we should also retain optional programs and other supports for kids who maybe that's not the best fit um but but I I really kind of bristle at the the cookie cutter comment because right now we have a wildly inequitable system based on what kids can and can't access and that is absolutely not okay so disruption isn't necessarily A Bad Thing disruption without a reason or a how how the how the how the juice is going to be worth the squeeze is is a totally different thing but what what has been provided to community is pure disruption and and the boundary stuff like I can understand that as a

223this is theoretically what it looks like to better balance the students that we have with an a more appropriate number of buildings okay um but that's not the same as what is the impact to this school Community what is the impact on this child's education what is the impact on relationships and it's as we said lots of times in May and June and I think I wrote down Joe specifically said um the how is as important if not more important than the what and I I actually believe I said that the first time I ever gave testimony to the Schoolboard in 2015 that what you're doing is is maybe going to be hard and how you do it really really matters when you're talking about people's children so um yeah don't don't necessarily believe disruption

224is bad um but it but disruption just to disrupt is not okay um option A versus option b I think is a wildly false dichotomy I think there's a ton of different like why would we not con if we have the same number of students Okay so we've got the students that we have for K5 right and we've maybe determined this is this is a more appropriate number of buildings I would really like to see an analysis of why couldn't we just you know if if we determine the six through eight part of a K8 is we too expensive and doesn't yield the results make it a K5 they we'd still have however many K5 schools some of them could be option schools I don't like I'm kind of baffled as to why that's not

225and I know I I asked that months ago um uh in terms of the boundary decisions oh god um I I don't think five Community Gatherings is at all sufficient I don't think it's what we believe we were all committing to in the spring in our understanding of what would happen between now and then um uh the commitments that I heard from staff were to use external expertise which I've just heard a little bit but I still would like to know more about that and what the timeline might look like look like we were committed that there would be that the district would be detail oriented around implementation that we would assess the process as we go there was talk about Community workshops over the summer on different on different topics to to address you

226know to understand the wants wishes and needs of families um it is with those commitments to building a stronger more sustainable system that better aligns Resources with students that I voted yes on the on the acceptance that consolidation is necessary and I um those those the the things that I came to the leap of faith quite honestly the absolute leap of faith that we took and support of our work together and voting yes on that was based on a number of things that have not materialized um and I really just can't understand how we don't have the academic team at the table and I can't understand why the well resource system still includes our segregated models of special education why are we worried about access resource Focus whatever those are made up by Seattle public

227schools and they're based on Staffing ratios and we've been talking about this for over two years and I can't understand why a well-resourced system wouldn't create a better structure to serve students with disabilities why we would why we would plan a massive systemic change and still keep the yeah maybe now they'll be at every school but the model itself I can't we can't keep talking about it this is our o this was our opportunity to drastically change the trajectory of our school district District um so I and so here's here's my question I I and with Gina I don't believe 20 schools is possible between now and December I just do not unless unless there's a whole bunch of other things happening that we haven't been informed about I do not believe that our system

228is capable of delivering on a 20 School reduction of school a 20 School reduction that that we can feel comfortable voting on in December and I want to tell you that now because I don't want it to be December 1st and have us go oh no I don't think we can vote on this so what direction do you need from the board what do we need to do and and is is our assessment completely wrong and you do have plans for all of these things and a timeline for how it can happen to meet I want to be really clear if we won't know in December it won't be because we got nervous about 20 schools it will be because we can't see how it works so it's September what are we going to do

229is it appropriate to respond I would love a response so I I I just want to direct you first of all to page 13 of your of your document where we do have Staffing structures for both off uh options at a 300 R student range 400 student range 500 student range so we have we are working on modeling scenarios for Staffing we're working with our current weighted Staffing standards formula which um you know again it's a little bit of a leap so we've been trying to work with you know the sort of the best structures that we have we do have a program and services placement map I hear you and I just our deepest my personal deepest interest is in making sure that we do not have segregated services for students with IEPs what

230we have right now is schools that say I cannot serve you here we don't do that here you need to go over there so the first step is to say actually everyone's going to be able to do that here certainly I hear you it sounds like we're creating more segregation what we're doing is we're saying you don't get to say we don't have space for you we're saying first of all that that we're going to make sure that that is possible and then we're also working with the special ed team to say can we start eradicating these boundaries between these sort of um fairly arbitrary titles now deaf heart ofering medically fragile I want to be really clear those are Specialized Service models that we absolutely recognize the significance of having those served in a

231centralized spot that is very important um but I I just want to be really clear we so we do so most of these things are very much underway we will have by 1st of October to October 10th or so um some formal thirdparty reviews we've been meeting all summer with colleagues from different districts but we will have something to share with you um so these things very much are underway um but you know I I I agree we need the academic Focus here we need the academic team here to fill in one thing I will say and and it's it's a broad statement but what this does in part that I think is significant is we're focusing our resources on student facing staff and pulling away from staff that it takes to run a building

232right so what this does is it says we're actually going to keep our folks who actually teach kids and we're going to remove some of those other folks principles and other folks that are running these buildings that aren't full so that we can double down and reinvest in actually having the folks that are in the classroom so that is a really significant operating assumption here but which which is something I think we fully understood and why we wanted to approve why we were why we were or not approve why we accepted the recommendation of consolidation because given the trajectory of enrollment that 100% makes sense M what I question is whether we can see validation by December for 20 schools and I I I think it's just I mean and we've been talking about a

233lot about kids and families which of course is the priority but staff I mean I I know staff is saying we're going to do what we're supposed to do what in one classroom what does that even look like um and and we can't take any more leaps of faith we need to see it so president Rank and you asked a very specific question um going into to this we knew that this was going to be a a tremendously heavy lift um we've identified a lot of information that we need to produce a lot of scenarios that we need to produce and to deliver on uh student outcomes uh to do whole system design like we're talking about it does take time clearly there's not enough uh expectations met in terms of where we are right

234now to get to the level of confidence that this Board needs to have and the community needs to have it's going to take more time these These are these are there's not been a district anywhere that has gone through a whole system design change like this that didn't take a lot of effort it was it it took years for many of the districts that uh have done this uh fully uh we look at the most recent one San Antonio Jefferson County those all took a a lot of time time and so we need to take the time that it takes to get it right and so uh we knew this was a challenge when we started it uh and if we're not there yet we're not there yet I I it's disappointing but if we're

235not there yet we we still need to do more work it doesn't we still have the budget challenge we still have a need to stabilize programs and uh services that those are those are critical we we've set out on a course Seattle public schools which I'm very proud of we lead with racial equity and that is important that we embody that in our services and our programs and access so we we still have more work to do this is this is an honest rendering of what needs to happen and December is coming quickly and a lot of things need to happen in order for us to be able to flip the switch to make this go so that is that is the truth um and that's where we are current state so with that uh

236for you all to be comfortable to bring a a vote forward there's a lot of work that this team has to do in order to get some of these things done and so uh if it's takes it takes the amount of time that it takes and we don't we're not we don't have any muscle memory doing this level of change and so I just want to offer that up as a contextual understanding of where we are right now I'm not discounting the work of this team we've done a lot of work the 285 page document there's a lot of analysis in there but if there's more work that we need to do we we need to do it so I I'll pause right there all right and then I've got director M director hery I

237just wanted to lift that up because I know that like for folks who are watching this they're going to see a lot of fireworks on like how we are having this conversation but let me be super clear I have a complete confidence in our superintendent and this building in this district has been this w for decades so to think that like over the course of 3 months that we were going to be able to do something like incredibly different than what the norm has been is a very high goal that our superintendent and his team have really try to lift up and before any of this we would have not been having these types of conversations especially not to this degree of certainty around like how we are going to get this done I say

238that to say all of that plan is these folks that are sitting right here while they are leading the work are not the ones that are typing out the plan and are actually crunching the numbers and things like that so what I really want everybody and I hope that there are folks who are working above us and out in our buildings to hear me on is that we are in deep stuff this problem is not going to wait this problem is is not going to go away there are no black helicopters that are going to come save us and I want all of y'all staff to hear us when we say we're not changing our minds here these questions are not going to change and I know that y'all sit with us and y'all hear

239this and y'all are all incredibly intelligent people so I know that between us communicating it to y'all and y'all communicating to the people that are actually going to make it go there is a vemo and vast disconnect so the thing that needs to be addressed is that disconnect because we cannot afford to our families that came out here tonight cannot afford to be spending that type of time advocating for something that they have an inalienable right to and I know everybody at this table understands that and I want to know from your perspective superintendent Jones what do we as a board and Community need to do to support you in delivering on the plan that I know that you understand coming from us because if there is a disconnect that we can be effective in

240supporting you and making some type of change or getting some type of progress we are willing to do that and you don't necessarily need to answer that question right now but what I want to vly say is that like I am here and I support you and let us know what you need from us as a board to deliver on all the things that we asked for director Miss Rahi yeah okay I have two comments and then a question and then I'm gonna be done for the night uh but I appreciate that this is going long but as you said at the beginning we don't get a chance to talk about this is our time to ask these questions we cannot do that privately so um so first of all I wanted to Echo director

241Top's uh suggestion for a scaleb model I think it helps us make sure that we get it right helps us be helps us build Community Trust and it helps us see what Olympia does this session because I think like we have such a big problem we're not just going to cut our way out of this problem so I think that that having having a scaled back plan that then allows us to if we need to do something in the future is great and I hope that uh we can get that without having to do an emergency meeting or whatever that that that that you've heard that at least a few directors want to see that plan um I do want to ask a specific question on Dual language and also um I think Echo what

242director SGI was saying about just how hard it is to understand some of these answers on this so um and I'm glad that you read this answer too director BR so services and programs will be equitably distributed across Seattle Public Schools honoring historic placement and Community populations which I think is a tough answer because it doesn't actually give an answer so I I want to ask directly there are five schools right now that are dual language emerence schools will dual language stay at those schools even if they shift to a neighborhood model so I think what's on thank you for the question right now we have three and just to contextualize it maybe you all know this maybe you don't three uh neighborhood DLI schools where we have set aside seats for Heritage speakers for

243native speakers so that they are able to access that we have two that are option schools our goal would be to make all five of those current schools neighborhood schools with native speakers set aside and because we know that currently at John Stanford and we've done that and I'm happy to include the demographic analysis the their Heritage speakers at John Stanford and McDonald currently don't necessarily live there we would add some Services where they do live which is in a different part of the city so we're also looking at then expanding that so that would be our recommendation is that they become neighborhood School models with Heritage speakers set asides as well as adding some potentially to James Baldwin and Olympic Hills so I think that's great I really appreciate that answer and I would

244just offer a friendly suggestion that in like answering questions you should say that you should say it will stay at the schools that it's at and we're expanding to these schools I think that language like honoring historic placement is not right as committal as people want to hear so I think we can be more clear in our language and how we answer that to the public thank you I I that brings up a one for me which is we heard pretty clearly in our board engagement with the community about vision and values how important it was to the community as a whole the kids have access to dual language and multi-lingual learning however there are some people that don't want that and so if if those are neighborhood schools will the people who live in

245the neighborhood attendance area have the option to to go to an English only track if they want to yes that is the intention these are attendance area schools that everybody has access to and I think just again to think about and you all know this but an attendance area school that is the school that for many families that is the school they go they can go to they're not going to opt into something else so yes they should be able to have access to an English track um that is the design yes so okay director Zario um I don't is my microphone going in and out can I have yours oh yeah go ahead oh yours is still on yeah glad I didn't have a hot mic moment saying something stupid um we're at September

24618th I don't need everybody has a watch or a phone um and what we're leaving we what we're doing is we're leaving here tonight without answers for Family and that's to me profoundly disappointing um I again I said I'm not in a popularity contest with any of these people like you either like me or you don't like okay fine I'm not looking for new friends at my age but what I am committed to is outcomes for students and I may disagree with a parent we may not like each other but I love your child I love your babies because if we don't love all of our babies we're going to end up in a worse situation that we're in in our country right now in real time the adults are not modeling for our children

247the society we want to live in we have been we started this in December 2023 and now here we are in September and we are the there is no way I'm speaking to the parents I don't see a way for us to get this done because the time between December 23rd and now a lot that should have happened didn't happen and that's just a fact it's not a criticism I know it doesn't feel good sometimes to articulate facts because it feels like criticism but 1+ one is two and that doesn't change we started this in December and here we are now trying to Crunch into three month months what we've had nine months to actually do that doesn't build confidence for the community all it does is it create more anxiety this has been an

248anxiety producing exercise for parents and families caregivers and quite honestly board directors because I'm serious y'all when I say I have felt like I'm crazy I'm being on like I don't understand what's happening happening and so I cannot say to you with confidence that I can support this plan and I can say to you with confidence we have to close schools like there isn't another option there's no more money the FED isn't going to cut the interest rate and then funnel that money to Seattle Public Schools like we're out of money we're in the red just like in your own household checking account if there's not money for vacation and you've mortgaged your house to the max there's no more money and that's where we are we're actually mortgaging our children's future here and it's

249up to us to to stop that cycle because that's what's been happening for 50 years here so I don't want to pretend but I'm also like not willing to settle for just five schools CU I know how that works for black and brown kids I'm going to be honest I know how it works it's where Sabrina's over there shaking her head we've been down this road before so it's not about the number to me it's about how are we improving outcomes for children and if that's with five schools if that's with 25 schools the number is not what's important it's the student and outcomes for the student and so here we are what are we going to do board of directors I don't want to pretend I don't want to just keep going on till

250December and and trying to get in five Community meetings which I personally don't think is enough we didn't have sign language here tonight so that is a whole big group of people that didn't get to participate in in our our activities here and how many other I I say them because they keep coming up they keep asking for sign language interpretation and somehow we can't we can't seem to find an A sign language interpreter when I have one at my church every single Sunday and it's a different person every single Sunday we have sign language at my church every single Sunday so I I don't believe we can't find sign language interpreters I just the evidence is not compelling me to believe that so what are we going to do are we going to pretend

251like we're going to go through till December and we're going to vote on a plan because right now I'm saying I'm not voting I I don't see how Marne you can get me a plan that actually answers Brandon's question I don't see how you superintendent Jones can get me a plan that answers Joe's questions right because we have less than three months if we're being really honest November is a wash December is a wash we're active two weeks in November and two weeks in December we don't have three months what are we going to do I'm I'm asking the question is this appropriate uh council member narver am I stepping out of line here legally by saying what are we going to do because it's not on the agenda it's appropriate to ask that that

252was a joke you didn't have to come up I made you put your I mean yes I'm there we go I'm not the boss of the board when I am here to give advice to try and keep things in line with the opma all I do is give advice but I been advising on it for 18 years uh I do it to protect the board because you're the ones who get sued if if somebody thinks there's been a violation board directors can express any opinion they like the concern is when we're looking for unified board action and that's when I raised the concern about it being on the agenda I will say I've worked for five board presidents and two superintendents and not once has any of them ever declined to put something on the

253agenda even if they're strongly opposed to it it's easy to get there we just need one day notice but in terms of expressing opinions that's exactly what these sessions are for you're not out of line in any way uh and nor is any other member of this uh board for expressing their their strong opinions thank you for my gold legal star so I can I answer Michelle Michelle's question to the well with my opinion of what we're going to do um I personally am freezing cold and very hungry right now and I've been here for over 5 hours and I think this is actually not our responsibility to come up with the next what what we do from here we have given our feedback and our Direction and um I think we are we should

254be free to go home now and leave it to the people who are getting paid to do this job to figure out what the next step is um and and I'll add to that that what I have heard from the board consistently is that we understand the scale of this problem and we want to have a plan we can improve in December so I think what and we don't want to surprise anybody and we what the some uh Brandon was talking about you know the historical of this building and you all know my favorite book is that report from 1990 that I read from like it this is longstanding and what has happened in far back history and in you know mine and Brandon's time on the board definitely is the board being backed into

255a corner and being expected to vote to approve something that doesn't pass muster because well then what are we going to do about this or what are we going or that's the state deadline and I I want to make as clear as possible right now that I don't believe this board will vote on something to save anybody's butt except for children so we need to have a plan we can we can need to have a plan we can vote on not a plan we're forced to accept and if that means changing the scale of it or whatever whatever it is I even said to Dr Jones if the plan is that the staff does an evaluation and the best way to get outcomes for students is to sell all of our buildings and have Elementary

256School and T-Mobile stadium if that if if staff can say here's how that would yield the best outcomes I mean obviously that's obviously I'm exaggerating but like if that is if that was what was brought to us and they said we did all the we ran all the scenarios we ran all the costs this is really going to serve students that's what we want to see respectfully I categorically reject the notion that we would intentionally back the board into a corner I need to say that that's that's I'm saying that's a historical pattern director Clark um thank you I guess I'm gonna ask one last question um first of all I just before I do that I've just spent the last I don't even know how many minutes looking at board policy 1400 um and

257I I really suggest that um um we might want to take a look at that and add some clarity around the difference between meetings and noticing and calling a motion during a meeting which I think falls under the Robert's Rule of Order which says that everyone has equal rights to do that but I don't want to get into a debate about it right now but if we are forming an ad hoc policy committee maybe we could look at it there um my um Dr Campbell I um really loved how specific you were about dual language programs and what the plan is to continue those um under um the proposals that you're developing right now and I guess I have some similar questions that I doubt you're going to be able to answer tonight about other

258programs um in other buildings that are set to be closed um I know that many of our schools partner with Seattle Seattle Parks and Recreation they partner with um nonprofit Early Learning providers um to have C uh pre services in buildings and I would love to learn how um if it's possible to take a similar approach as you all have done with dual language to be able to get very specific about um other programs in buildings that are set to be closed how we would maintain those and how students would be able to continue to participate in them thank you and one of the designs that's built into all of this is that expanding access to preschool and child care is something we absolutely heard from our families is critical so we have been meeting

259for several months now with our we have a new um Early Learning director um and with our Partnerships office um and with our our our um CBO Partners um as well as the city of Seattle and so we have multiple um prek models including Head Start development of pre um SP so we we actually do have a map of what that could potentially look like so these things are underway just weren't shared tonight but we can absolutely bring that to you thank you I um just um I've been hearing from a lot of child care providers participating that in that group who have concern and so it would be great to be able to see um some of what you've been modeling so far so I have a timeline question president rank the October meeting

260is we we talk about the end of the year but the October meeting is when we're the superintendent is supposed to give his preliminary recommendations which is the actual kickoff to us doing hearings at the schools for close so really our deadline to answer all of these questions to get all of this information to do all of this to figure out the outcomes is our October meeting which I think is on October 8th so two weeks nth thank you someone I got one more day it is I it is it's just not possible in that in that time frame and I think we have to be realistic here that that it is not possible and that we want the best plan possible and we can't get it by October 8th or nth or ninth and

261no matter what the plan looks like there's 100 million hold to solve that's not going to change unfortunately I mean I'm I'm agree and none of these decisions are easy we've always Sol 30% of the problem yeah is there um uh I guess I I guess I would will work reest on behalf of the board and it's not a motion it's just a request um that we receive some more information maybe this week about a potential timeline or what I just I think you know I would just really hate for us to get to December and be like oh my God we can't do this now what are we going to do and I would like to request then a four a plan C four to six schools uh there being no further business on

262the agenda this meeting stands ajour oh my God it is cold in here at 8:30 p.m. [Music]