2014-10-06 PPS School Board Study Session
| District | Portland Public Schools |
|---|---|
| Date | 2014-10-06 |
| Time | missing |
| Venue | missing |
| Meeting Type | study |
| Directors Present | missing |
Documents / Media
Notices/Agendas
Materials
Final Packet 10-06-14 (14f25f49f4d5daa8).pdf Meeting Materials
Minutes
Transcripts
Event 1: Board of Education - Study Session - October 6, 2014
00h 00m 00s
okay
somebody but it reminds
me there we
go good evening everyone this study
session of the board of education for
October 6 2014 is called to order I'd
like to extend a very warm welcome to
everyone present and to our television
viewers while our study sessions are
generally limited to our receipt of
information from staff and discussion of
that information and review of
resolutions prior to a vote at times we
conduct votes during study sessions any
item that will be voted on this evening
has been posted as required by state law
this meeting is being televised live and
will be replayed through the next two
weeks please check the Board website for
replay times this meeting is also being
streamed live on our PPS TV services
website so at this this time we'll start
off with public comment Miss Houston do
we have any one signed up for public
comment yes we have six our first two
speakers are Sandra gray and musy
Olo great so while you're coming up to
testify I'll go ahead and um let you
know about our instructions for public
comment yeah okay go ahead and have a
seat right there there you go thank you
for taking the time to attend this
meeting and provide your comments to the
board we value public input and we look
forward to hearing your thoughts
reflection and concerns our
responsibility as a board is to actively
listen and reflect on your comments the
board will not respond to any comments
or questions during public comment but
we have asked our board manager Rosanne
poell to follow up on issues raised
during public testimony and Rosanne is
sitting right over here at the
end guidelines for public input
emphasize respect and consideration of
others complaints about individual
employees should be directed to the
superintendent's office as a Personnel
matter you have a total of three minutes
to share your comments please Begin by
stating your name and spelling your last
name for the record for the first two
minutes if your testimony a green light
will come on right there in front of
you when you have one minute remaining
the yellow light will come on and when
uh your time is up the red light will go
on in a buzer will sound and we
respectfully ask that you wrap up your
comments at that time again we sincerely
appreciate your input and we're happy to
have you here this evening thank you you
may go
ahead hello thanks for allowing me to
speak my name is Sandra Gray g r a y I
am a parent at Beverly clear School I've
been a parent at Beverly clear school
for seven years and I'm here
representing many families that live
east of 47th that will be impacted by
some options that I think you may be
hearing tonight uh given for Beverly
Clary school for the 2015 2016 year and
I would like actually the people that
I'm representing to stand up and you can
stay throughout the two minutes or you
can sit back down but I want to see
who's who I'm representing we are all in
agreement that option two which you will
see later I'm guessing I'm feel weird
that this is
beforehand um reopening Rose City Park
as a starter boundary is not the option
that takes every child at BCS into
consideration and should not be
considered for 2015 2016 while the three
campus solution that we are currently in
is an inconvenience for some parents the
educational and social needs of every
child are currently being met to the
fullest the three campus situation is
working temporarily and all kids are
enjoying smaller class sizes option two
is another short-term fix it creates new
problems with trying to start a mini
school with few families little funding
and no PPS experience opening a new
school reopening a school requires
extensive deliberation planning and
funding to ensure a lapse in quality
education does not occur for any
child all children in BCS and PPS should
have their educational needs met and
reopening a starter school with 80 to 90
children to alleviate overcrowding and
inconveniences should not be taken
lightly and I'm personally surprised
it's even being considered the current
three campus solution continues to give
every BCS child the robust program they
deserve several PPS schools should be so
lucky to have what we have and are more
deserving of the designation
Hotpot you found a solution for us and
we thank you
Judy um and we may need to continue the
solution for one more year to give PPS a
chance to reopen a neighborhood School
the correct way with a district boundary
boundary review we are a very reasonable
group of people we are aware that
there's overcrowding at Beverly clear
school and a permanent solution needs to
be found we fully support Rose City Park
School reopening but we believe if we're
truly taking the children into account
this decision needs to be part of the
districtwide boundary r view and include
the neighboring schools please open a
school with a robust program with all of
the options available at all the other
schools that includes our whole
00h 05m 00s
neighborhood and takes into
consideration the diverse voices of the
community community and not just the
loudest thank you thank you very
much go ahead thank you very much my
name is m ol I'm the chairman of Somali
American Council of Oregon uh most of as
you know you don't know Somali Community
as of study done by 2008 in when
Portland State University was about
8,000 today the estimate is about 12 to
15,000 in our state of Oregon most of
site in monic County study done by
Coalition of color and also Portland
State done um I was looking at the
numbers uh for the Somali Community it's
very miserable and that that thing was
submitted in the last meeting event that
the the the committee had it shows that
achievement math gap of
13.5% it's well below to anybody else
that you can look in the list and also
achievement gap for reading also is
about
20.4% when I came to advocate for Somali
Community was about three and a half
years ago when when we had an incident
that brought our community together and
at that time we're dealing in the sight
of uh uh law enforcement but after three
and a half years of dealing with that we
realize the problem is coming from the
education system and the Portland School
District system is coming up and I've
seen today kids that are in the system
that are pro prone to fail prone to
become especially our male male youth
are going to the justice system directly
in Seattle we have about 300 youngsters
are in jail system over there and
Portland is going that direction if you
don't reverse the Somali population in
2010 and this according to The Oregonian
it was third population in the Portland
School District that means as of 20101
Somali Community should have a chance
and given opportunity for dual language
emerging
program as we speaking today the summer
is when I brought this subject up it's
been proposed the last time and there
are people that still believe that this
issue doesn't exist or even even the
community doesn't it's not our town just
because we don't see in our quarters and
we're learning that the American Justice
American System of of democracy doesn't
mean we should have our rights should
not be should be ignored if we don't do
that if we don't help the kids already
in the system we're going to have a kids
like batula batula she's she came here
ninth came here and she was placed in
nth grade when she couldn't even write
her name and three years later she was
given a degree that to no her basically
she went to PCC and they told her to go
she spent three more years learning the
English language and six years later now
she's learning how to how to do numbers
and basic AC academics we know the Dual
language emersion has a 90% success rate
compared to the current rate of 50%
which in Somali Community the numbers
speak clearly I urge you to do the right
thing I urge you to do what you have
done for other communities and help our
Somali American Kids for the future
thank you very much thank
you thank you our next two
speakers Meg Hagen and Dave Porter
would you tell me when the red
light just say something because I'll be
I'll be
reading go
ahead chair n superintendent Smith
members of the board and members of the
public my name is Dave Porter p o r t r
with both the second and the
districtwide boundary review process
coming before you soon there will be a
lot of rhetoric about neighborhood
schools tonight I wish to offer a few
comments about expanding dual language
emerging programs in the context of a
system of neighborhood schools in a
district with growing enrollment I do
not think closing schools should be a
major worry but how to increase racial
equity and how to expand immersion
programs should both attract your
attention first we call that emerging
programs now enroll about 18% of
kindergarteners that 18% could and
should rise to 33% over the next 5 years
given the plan suggested to you second
think ahead to a system of elementary
schools in which one-third of the
students are in dual language immersing
programs do we have students
transferring all over the district or do
we design and de develop those
additional immersion programs in a
geographic system of neighborhood
schools there is a wide range of options
from having one do language emerging
strand out of the usual three at each
and every neighborhood school to having
every third neighborhood school as a
neighborhood dual language immersion
school with no English only component
with lots of combination and mixtures in
between we need to rethink enrollment
and transfer rules to make immersion
programs less disruptive to existing
only neighborhood schools to make them
more supportive of racial Equity to make
them more accessible to Neighborhood
students and to make them more integral
to a system of neighborhood schools
00h 10m 00s
third some some current PPS emerging
programs are now hostile to Neighborhood
students in limiting neighborhood
Admissions and thus Turning Away
neighborhood applicants here's the data
from the
201314 lottery which turned away 103
neighborhood emersion applicants from
their neighborhood emersion School
fourth a neighborhood school does not
need to be an all an an all English only
School PPS now has one form of
neighborhood dual language emerging
schools schools that enroll primarily
neighborhood students that have one or
more strands of Spanish Immersion that
have one or more English only strands
and that do not permit out of
neighborhood transfers into the emersion
program James John rler Scott and S are
examples of such neighborhood Spanish
dual language emersion schools fifth a
neighborhood school could also be an all
emerging School a neighborhood school
does not need to have an English only
component Hillsboro for example has
three neighborhood all Spanish emerging
schools with no englishon components all
neighborhood students can attend the
neighborhood emerging program parents
who do not want their children to attend
the neighborhood Spanish emerging school
can opt out and TR Transportation will
be provided to an alternative school and
there's there's from their web page PPS
currently has no such neighborhood all
emerging School Richmond is an all
Japanese emerging school but gives no
priority to proximity or neighborhood in
admissions it
could thank
you
good evening board my name is Meg Hagen
ha a g an on behalf of the approximately
8,500 PPS students who have dyslexia I'd
like to tell you that October is
dyslexia awareness month because of this
I challenge you to take action this
month towards helping our student
population with this most common
learning disability the decisions you
are tasked with making can improve
children reading at grade level which
can reduce behavior problems and also
increase graduation rates at PPS if a
student does not read at grade level by
grade three they have a four times
higher chance of dropping out of school
I am here because my son is in that risk
pool and has a one in seven chance of
ever becoming a grade level reader our
son is in the fifth grade and is bright
inquisitive kind handsome and dyslexic
on every report card he has received the
highest marks for characteristics of a
successful learner and yet last year our
intelligent son did not meet in reading
or math on the Oaks exams he struggles
with writing as
well our dyslexia Journey began in first
grade wonderful professionals with
master's degrees in education psychology
and counseling were convinced that his
reading would just take off even after I
outlined how he clearly exhibited signs
of dyslexia his reading never took off
in third grade we paid for an outside
evaluation which confirmed that our son
has dyslexia and disg graphia he is
severe enough to Warrant an IEP his IEP
at times has not addressed his deficits
in decoding and it has always lacked the
needed intensity he currently receives
two hours of small group reading
instruction per week with a special
education teacher that we absolutely
adore research shows that he needs two
hours of intervention per day to to
become a grade level reader which is
also the RTI tier three
recommendation to quote Louisa Moes
reading is rocket science waiting until
a child fails in third grade makes
interventions much more costly and less
effective prevention is a less costly
option the K2 years are when the brain
has the plasticity to enable the
dyslexic child on reading tasks to shift
from using the inefficient left side of
the brain to the more efficient right
side of the brain as a non-dyslexic
child does numerous functional MRI
studies will confirm this how do we help
the kids who are most at risk for
reading failure start with un ival
screenings in K1 begin powerful daily
50-minute interventions that and have
classroom teachers providing systemic
and explicit instruction in the five
pillars of reading while I admire the
storytime rollout superintendent Smith a
program like that will not address a
learning disability like dyslexia that
is neurological in origin please fund
dyslexia training for every stud every
teacher in every school follow the
Oregon literacy framework use RTI in
every school use explicit systematic
direct instruction in the K3 classroom
to capture our older dyslexic students
use RTI and provide a summer program
modeled after the Heyman settlement
School in Kentucky which for 33 years
has been closing reading gaps and math
gaps over a five-week period in the
summer and I provided information with
you for you thank you very
much our last two speakers are Shannon
foxley and Bob Butler
00h 15m 00s
you can go
ahead good evening board my name is
Shannon foxley FIS and Frank o x l y in
my everyday life I wear a number of
different but equally important hats
school counselor Portland par parent and
member of the pH executive board today I
come to you wearing a hat of
professional school counselor I've
worked for PPS since February 2011 and
in that time have worked in four schools
for seven different principles I've had
a case load as small as 360 and as high
as almost 800 I've worked halftime in
two schools and since the 2013 14 school
year I've had the blessing of working
full-time in one school regular
Elementary School I'm here today to talk
about the $4 million that superintendent
Smith has earmarked for her three
initiatives for the school year more
specifically about the plan to increase
the Restort of Justice program within
our schools as a professional school
counselor when I went through the 4day
RJ training last August it wasn't a New
Concept but one that grounded my work
with the different Clarity and practice
when I do research on a truly
sustainable RJ program like rjoy in
Oakland it gives me great hope in
creating a system that meets students
where they are where they are coming
from and supports them in creating a
school practice that helps them learn to
read for comprehension by the end of
third grade and graduate from high
school as well as lower our issues with
um students of color and suspensions but
to truly create an RJ program that is
alive and sustainable we need a
long-term vision and adequate Staffing
to sustain it the most recent issue of
rethinking schools magazine editorial
spoke directly to the concept of what is
and what what isn't restor of Justice
the overwhelming message for this
editorial is we need a system that is
thought out planful and future thinking
instead of sending an RJ coach into a
building for one to four years and then
pulling them out at the end of a grant
we need to create a social emotional
support system that is sustainable and
vibrant I want to give you guys some
numbers numbers
480
654
470
450 350 these are the case loads of five
counselors in this school district all
five work in focused priority schools
all are the only counselor in their
building and all are funded by PPS at
halftime FTE but work full-time because
their principal feels that having a
full-time counselor is a priority for
their building and the principales back
filled with the general funds these
counselors work with students and
families and do their best to meet their
needs I'm sure each of these amazing
people would love to implement the
tenants of RJ in their buildings but how
which is where I have my ask is we are
looking at the $4 million surplus
instead of putting money in get another
initiative that will shift with every
staff member who leaves or principal who
has moved use that money to increase the
number of professional school counselors
in your elementary middle and K8 schools
train us the people who work with these
students every day to create a system of
restorative justice use amazing people
from resolutions Northwest who I adore
to help us create design programs to
support all students in their path to
learning but provide more professional
scho school counselors to do it increase
the school counseling Matrix so every
school K8 has full-time counselors or
two and allows principles to use the
precious FTE their backfilling
counselors with to provide additional
teaching support thank you thank
you okay um thank you again for your
comments
um please feel free to connect with our
um board manager Rosanne pal if you have
any questions or if there's additional
information any of you'd like to leave
with with the board um so let's move on
to our first agenda item which is an
update uh we're pleased to once again
receive an update on our boundary review
process as a reminder PPS partnered with
PSU Center for Public Service in this
process superintendent Smith would you
like to introduce this item um I would
and while I'm introducing I'll ask um um
John Isaac who is our um chief of
communications and public affairs Judy
Brennan who directs our enrollment
transfer office Phil keying keyling with
the Center for Public Service and Wendy
Willis who's with the national policy
consensus Center and just as a reminder
um back in February of 2013 the board
approved resolution
4718 which asked the District staff to
develop and recommend a process for
comprehensive review of school School
boundaries districtwide and policies
related to student assignment and
transfer to better align with the racial
educational Equity policy and promote
strong capture rates and academic
programs at every grade level um and
part of what we then did was
commissioned sacket or the
superintendent advisory committee on
enrollment and transfer to take a look
at the enrollment and transfer policies
and we engaged an inter governmental
agreement with Portland State to look at
the boundary review process um we heard
00h 20m 00s
in May the first report on phase one um
came before the board at that point
rather than moving right into what was
the recommended phase two we we we
accepted the recommendation to do a
bridge um report which is what is being
presented to myself and the board this
evening uh and we look forward to
hearing your report so um and I'll ask
John Isaac to go ahead and start it off
okay thank you superintendent Smith and
thank you members of the board we're
excited to be back here with you uh to
talk give an update on districtwide
Boundary review um and and uh we're
gonna our presentation tonight is going
to have three sections to it the first
is uh Judy Brenan will be presenting
updated enrollment growth forecasts for
you uh then we're going to hear from uh
Wendy Willis and Phil keasling from the
PSU Center for Public Service U their
recommendations for initiating
districtwide boundary review in
coordination with other important PPS
initiatives and then we'll be going back
to Judy for steps to diagnose and
address urgent enrollment issues and
these will all flow right into each
other and you'll understand understand
the order in which we're doing them just
to provide the context for the
presentations tonight uh res resolution
4718 uh adopted by the board last year
called for districtwide boundary
enrollment and transfer review um and
PPS policy 4.1.0 45 calls for an annual
assessment of enrollment issue issues
and the PSU population Research Center
provides biannual updates of
districtwide enrollment forecasts all of
this is obviously intertwined which is
why we're doing this all in
uh report to you tonight so I'm GNA go
ahead and turn it over to Judy who will
do the first
part good evening and um I'm very
excited because I get to start with the
big picture great news I don't always
get to be in that role so this is this
is fun for me I hope um it's of interest
to you so I'm just going to start by
setting the context of where we are as a
district in terms of our enrollment um
as you likely know we are still
compiling the actual enrollment counts
for the 1415 school year uh there's
still quite a bit of data clean up to do
and make sure that all the schools have
reported everything in but um I can
report that it looks like we're going to
have about 500 more students across the
system this year than we did last year
which makes it the sixth straight year
of overall enrollment
increase and I'm also going to share a
little bit of information with you
tonight about our most recent report
from the population Research Center that
shows that that enrollment growth is
forecast to continue for the foreseeable
future in fact to the tune of
6,276 more students across the next 15
years than what we had last
year it's a lot I know told you this is
the fun part a little bit about those
forecast um the population Research
Center um we've had a partnership with
them for many years um every other year
we get a full set so on the even years
we get a full report this one's about 80
pages long on the odd years we get an
update of um just the one-year forecast
and then support for our annual um
Staffing process since 2009 those
districtwide forecasts have been
accurate within
0.1% of actual enrollment so another way
to say that is for what the demographers
forecast for one or two or three or four
years out theyve been right compared to
the real numbers of kids within one kid
for every thousand that we have in our
system so that's pretty Sharp
Shooting um the new report we have is
based on our 2013 enrollment it takes
into account our known population
housing and enrollment changes there's
information that comes in from all sorts
of of um Metro sources on what's
happening in the larger environment and
just as a reminder the forecasts assume
that the same School boundaries and
enrollment patterns occur into the
future of course we can change those
which is why we get the new forecast
every couple of years but what you'll
see in this report is what our system
could look like if all of our enrollment
um patterns were the same but we just
had 6,200 more students if you're
interested in seeing the report um you
can find it on our PPS website by going
to PPS departments dat policy analysis
and looking under enrollment
projections so when you get there some
of the things that you'll find include
this
um I think this is the pointer that I'm
going to try and
use is this my
pointer yes okay so all of them start
from this point of 2013
2014 and this chart illustrates that we
really get three different scenarios in
00h 25m 00s
the biggest picture the high medium and
low over the last several years Portland
Public Schools has consistently come in
between the medium and high growth
forecast I've included on this chart the
um I've included on this chart where the
last set of forecasts were that's this
purple line with the red
numbers it started at a lower point
because the demographers in 2012 thought
we'd have fewer kids in 2013 than we
really did and it doesn't go up as high
the difference going out about 10 years
sorry I'm I'm pointer
challenged is between the new medium
growth forecast and the old medium
growth forecast is about 800 students
over a 10-year period of time the medium
growth forecast which is this red line
in the center is the one that's used to
create school specific grade specific
forecasts but I think it's important to
point out that there is a broad range of
change that could happen in the system
and that over the last several years
Portland PPS enrollment has tended to
track a little bit higher than medium so
when you think about long-term
planning advisible to be ready for this
but don't be surprised if you could even
be in this
range a little bit more about those
forecasts by grade grouping so this
chart illustrates um four different
kinds of grade groupings K2 on the
bottom the three through five grades six
through eight or Middle grades and then
our high school grades in our current
configuration we see that it's the lower
grades that have been growing most
rapidly over the last few years that
just stands to reason more kids starting
at kindergarten are where we've seen the
most kids over time or recently however
as that larger group of students moves
forward you can eventually see that it
will impact all of our grade levels and
actually over the 15 years it's our high
schools that will experience about 36%
of the projected growth over the 15-year
period um so that tracks really closely
with um your decisions around long range
facility planning and making sure that
we have flexible high school facilities
to absorb more
students and then finally I wanted to
point out now this is kind of just
colorful
spaghetti up here so I'm not going to go
into a lot of details but I just wanted
to give you that sense that each of
these lines represents a different K12
cluster of students by where they live
in Portland this is how many attend um
lived in Port in our district by cluster
last year this is how many are expected
to be in the district by cluster in 15
years the point I want to make is that
they're all growing they're all moving
in the growth Direction but the rate of
growths are different and they're all
starting from somewhat different places
so it's important that we understand
where our schools are starting from how
many of them have enough room for more
students now how many of them are
experiencing overcrowding even as we
think about how to plan for that
future so in terms of thinking about
planning for that future 6,200 more
students how will we be ready for them
how will our programs our buildings our
boundaries really be towards those
future needs um I'm really pleased that
we're now going to hear from John's
going to teed up a little bit and then
we're going to hear from our um friends
from Center for Public Service and
National policy consensus Center and
then we'll take um questions and
comments about this section once they're
finished okay thanks Judy so we're going
to move into the second part here which
is uh we're going to hear from our team
from Portland State but I wanted to do a
quick uh bringing us forward from the
last time they were here if you remember
they completed a Readiness assessment uh
in which they came to the board at the
uh end of last school year to report on
that which was mostly an externally
focused uh assessment where they
interviewed uh 30 St over 30
stakeholders um about the the
community's perspective on districtwide
Boundary review they also laid out
initially based on our old numbers the
projected enrollment growth and the need
to look at our enrollment management
they also reviewed um processes that
other communities had gone through who
were facing similar a similar Challenge
and the the report had two main
conclusions one was that it recommended
a series of options that could be
undertaken to to complete districtwide
Band review and today you're going to
hear a more specific recommendation from
uh the PSU Center for Public Service and
they also said that they felt that we
needed to undergo an internal alignment
phase so while we got great feedback
from the external Community um we needed
to spend the summer working with our
internal stakeholders to identify
00h 30m 00s
alignment within the organization and um
before I turn it over to them I want to
say that it was we got excellent
participation from across the
organization during the summer when it's
typically very difficult um to do this
kind of thing uh I really want to thank
our senior directors and the office of
school performance I want to thank uh
the direct reports to the superintendent
I want to thank uh papsa our principal's
Association uh administrators of color
and the Portland associate Portland
Association of teachers in particular
Suzanne Cohen who help pull together uh
alignment sessions as we called them
with all of those different stakeholders
um all of that feedback is um was
incorporated into this report and so
with that I want to turn it over to Phil
keasley and Wendy Willis from the PSU
Center for Public
Service John thank you very much my name
is Phil keyling director for the Center
for Public Service if the shorthand
version of the enrollment picture is
what a difference five years can make
the Shand for coming here to tonight to
report on our second phase is what a
difference a single year can make in our
sense of the Readiness of the district
to engage in a very comprehensive
process for its citizens to address
issues such as boundary review as John
mentioned we spent the summer helping uh
uh folks within Portland Public Schools
System including members of the board uh
and we want to thank everybody for all
the time and attention they focused on
this very important task to work on
issues of alignment and building a
foundation for success and we are
especially heartened to come here
tonight with the conclusion that the
organization now seems ready to launch
such a deep and arguably
unprecedented citizen engagement effort
that certainly involves districtwide
boundary review but we just as strongly
recommend that in conducting such an
effort the district not focus solely or
even primarily on Boundary review view
why is that boundary review can and is
an important tool in right sizing
schools to create more Equitable
offerings but it is clearly not the only
or even the biggest challenge and
opportunity facing the district as board
members you keenly know and we heard
this repeatedly from all the people we
talked to that boundaries are
inextricably linked to key issues such
as enrollment and transfer policies that
saf has been so hard at work at school
facility use Staffing formulas grade
configurations and of course the
district's foundational racial
educational Equity policy there was wide
recognition and solid alignment for
example behind superintendent Smith's
three priorities meeting third grade
reading levels accelerating High School
graduation reducing the unacceptably
disperate rates of
discipline but while districtwide
boundary review can certainly help
achieve these important goals
virtually no one told us that
districtwide boundary review is a key or
even the primary lever much less the
primary lever to achieve them so to
launch and then try to confin a deep
Community conversation to boundary
review only essentially having to put
off limit citizen comments and concerns
about all these other linked issues Not
only would risk failure but more
importantly would fail to take advant AG
of what we see as an exceptional window
of opportunity that the district now has
to build a strong and sustainable
foundation for citizen engagement for
years to come across a range of
issues in happy contrast to recent
Decades of concerns about little to
cheer about this school year starts with
more than 400 newly hired teachers a
much stronger financial situation and
arguably the best chance in decades for
citizens to feel they can do more than
simply hunker down and defend what they
have and try to prevent more of what
they value from being taken away and
instead can think about what they can
add and improve to make real progress to
key goals and their Vision Chief among
them the district's racial Equity
educational policy so as our report
recommends rather than confine such an
engagement process solely to boundary
review the district should frame it as
values growth and Equity conversation
and set explicit and very ambitious
goals to ensure a broad diversity of
views something my colleague Wendy
Willis would go into more in a
moment won't being more ambitious bring
more
risk as we talked to so many people
inside and outside the district more
than 200 of them between our two efforts
we came to the conclusion that it was
actually less risky in terms of ensuring
long range success so that when the
00h 35m 00s
district is ready to move on
districtwide boundaries and we believe
this can be as early as 201617 school
year as we outlined in our first report
the chances of lasting success and a
sustainable framework will be high
you'll find in the report various
findings and recommendations one I
especially want to call your attention
to right now is how the district should
deal with the hot spots the enrollment
issues that cannot wait to that end we
recommend the establishment of a 21
member
districtwide boundary review advisory
committee de bra as if we need another
acronym but maybe we do whose chair is
appointed by the superintendent and
which has given a precise and clear
charge first and foremost in the near
term to address those cute acute en
enrollment issues in a few places and
then later to turn its attention to
helping you build on the results of the
engagement process to help with larger
questions of districtwide boundaries the
makeup of that uh committee is detailed
in the report and you could see the
broad range that's represented here
finally other recommendations involve
developing a comprehensive and
userfriendly website to convey important
information in an accessible form a
commitment to ensure Baseline program
offerings at every school and available
to every student and the articulation of
a longer term Equity Vision that can be
used not just to determine how we best
go about districtwide boundaries but
also to operationalize a host of other
key decisions now I'd like to turn it
over to Wendy Willis to talk in more
detail about the specific citizen
engagement process and its key elements
that we
recommend great thank you thank you for
having us back we're happy to be here
again um I'd like to talk with you a
little bit about what some of the
details might look like of a large
public process with very ambitious goals
um as Phil mentioned one of the things
that we found um in our internal
alignment meetings and in the meetings
that we had with external stakeholders
during the Spring was there's there is
Broad and deep um commitment to
Equitable offerings and equity in the
district but how people talk about it
what they mean by that those things are
not necessarily the same and while
there's some um there's there's more
alignment internally than there is
externally a There's an opportunity to
have a conversation about those issues
in a way that we haven't seen in a long
time but as you know in order to have a
conversation about equity and one that
is equitably conducted um it takes a
different kind of Engagement process
than has been available to PPS and to
other public entities really in the past
so um particularly segmented strategies
are going to be necessary to reach
underrepresented communities um where
mistrust is really really the highest so
you'll see a det I know you have a
detailed out line in the report of what
a public engagement process might look
like but I wanted to point out some of
the the high points um the goals are
very ambitious um and that is to reach
40% of families um PPS families uh
across the district so that at any point
40% of of those families have um have
weighed in on on values growth and
Equity engage 50% so fully half uh
participation from families from the PPS
identified historically um under
represented groups engage an average of
40% on a school by school basis so you
can't have 80% of one school that
balances 0% on another so each school is
um would also be engaged at a 40% level
and then then really narrow down um
schools that look like they're likely to
have be affected by districtwide bound r
view and have historically
underrepresented communities and get at
least 60% representation there those are
very ambitious goals and we know that
the um the way that uh we have conducted
public engagement in the past uh will
not lead to these kind of results and so
we've proposed a um what we're really
call is essentially a community
organizing infrastructure that we would
encourage the district to adopt some
version of now um to be used as an
investment in the future so you'll see
some of the details um one of the things
about setting such ambitious goals is uh
with some of the technology that's
available you can check daily to see how
you're doing on your demographic goals
so you can every day you could say we
know where we are on a school basis we
know where we are districtwide and we
know where we are on historically
underrepresented communities and be very
adaptable throughout the process to
redeploy resources to those places where
uh the the initially tried um uh
techniques are not working so far so
it's a way to be um both responsive and
adaptable one of the reasons that
historically underrepresented
communities often aren't represented is
the we tried but they didn't come are
00h 40m 00s
argument and this is a way um to to
redeploy resources in a very different
way and to design processes that are
culturally specific and and um driven by
leaders in those communities so we would
imagine dozens of Partnerships um a lot
of listening and that it would be um
conducted over a few months in order to
allow people to respond in a variety of
different ways that said there's a lot
of Outreach that's really differentiated
but then the data would come back into a
single instrument that then would be
available to you to to um to both
analyze and and differentiate for years
to come if that's what you wanted to do
so if you got the data back you could
see where the whole District fell you
could see where particular school
buildings fell you could see where
demographic groups fell um and you could
compare those things the other thing it
does is if there's lack of clarity you
it allows you to go back and out and
have focus groups or for conversations
to try to get clarity around priorities
by um by particular communities so it's
a um very specified way of doing
engagement the one of the other things
we wanted to point out from the
recommendation is that we see this as an
opportunity for for PPS and the school
buildings to also build social capital
as well as just get data um and so to
have a very flexible model where
in-person events could really be held um
in an infinite number of ways um and
that there be a packet available in
multiple languages where there could be
a deliberative process and people could
converse with their neighbors and
classmates um in order to then go back
in um and weigh in on these questions
finally we want to point out that
there's an opportunity both for um to
engage informal leaders which we know
play a really important role uh in
school buildings and students who all
can play a really important role in
families for you know helping younger
siblings helping families that don't
speak English but and also helping their
classmates particip
but that but that those uh kinds of
informal relationships can sew seeds
that can last for years to come so yes I
know this must sound like a lot of work
which we will say that between if uh
between the climate survey that you all
have have have uh authorized and this
values um proposition all everybody here
um and everybody in all the buildings
would sort of be need to be focused on
this and pulling in the same direction
but that said we believe that this
investment can make a major difference
in relationships in the community um and
in giving you something to work with in
the future so that as those pathways are
um are forged that they're there um to
be used in any in any number of ways
over time so that I think concludes
where we
are oh yeah sorry about that I should
have turned that so this this explains
some of the segmentation where we know
that there's a lot of PPS um uh
knowledge and relationships with family
and it families at a whole bunch of
different levels both at the school
level and at the districtwide level so
to think about using those resources um
to engage families there are also um
several contracts with community- based
organizations that could be that could
be used and expanded to work on this
we've talked about the informal leaders
connections and then there are um many
other uh workers out there who deal who
deal with PPS families including
community health workers and Community
Education workers who are in people's
homes talking with their families and
oftentimes the issues that come up in
those are educational issues so at any
time uh those those resources could be
deployed um to make sure that people are
have a chance to
participate I think we
can actually I want to I'm GNA jump in
and speak to this so what we when um the
first draft of this recommendation was
brought to me um what we wanted to look
at is how do we Eng uh um coordinate
this process with the work we know we're
already going to be doing this year um
based on the direction of the board to
conduct a district-wide climate survey
which will be the first climate survey
that the district We Believe The
District's conducted in about a decade
so we wanted to look at this as a real
opportunity um how do we do both surveys
one which is uh we're giving our
families an opportunity to give us
feedback on their experience at their
individual school so the climate surveys
climate survey instruments we're
reviewing and we're planning on bringing
to the climate committee that you've
created um ask parents and students to
answer a series of questions about their
experience and perceptions about their
experience at their individual school so
that's the context in which uh
participants in that survey will be
answering um I'm a parent at ainson
elementary and so I will be as answering
as my experience at that individual
school um this survey that what we're
calling values growth Equity survey is
00h 45m 00s
Big Picture This is longterm it involves
all of the topics that we've discussed
here and is based on the recommendation
that that comes from both reports that
just doing a community engagement
process around districtwide boundary
review is not going to be successful
it'll be frustrating because there's a
desire in the community to provide input
and feedback on the long-term plans for
the district around a whole host of
issues which are all interrelated so
this is the timeline that we've put
together for this and the reality is
both surveys provide our Community a
really truly historic opportunity to
really be engaged in the big questions
that we want to answer here at the
district and that if we do it right both
can build on each other um and the other
the last thing I add before I go into
this is that in the in the climate
survey instruments that we've been
reviewing in in preparation to bring to
the board climate committee they call
for about 20 to 30% districtwide
participation for them to be successful
and if you look at other school
districts that that successfully do
climate surveys they they get about that
level of participation each year so
that's what we're already going to be
striving for as a district when we do
the climate survey so we looked at how
we can use one to build on the other so
what we're proposing is that the uh Deb
be uh convened immediately uh to begin
working with Judy on the hotspots that
you're going to hear about in a minute
on our our really acute emergency
enrollment challenges and at the same
time uh We Begin work with the board
climate committee which will be work
working with you to schedule meeting
soon on developing the climate survey
the timeline for the climate survey and
the communications and Community
engagement plan for that survey so we're
going to have a leadin to The Climate
survey where we want to raise awareness
of the community about the opportunity
right we need to get people ready to
take it it's a new thing that we haven't
done districtwide and we want all of our
parents and students to know what's
coming what it's about and get ready to
take the survey and we also need to
develop strategies to reach our
historically under sered communities
which aren't going to be as responsive
to a computer survey that's online or an
email survey so we're doing both
in-person opportunities at schools but
we're also going out into the community
meeting with different groups and
developing different strategies to get a
high level of Engagement in the climate
survey so as I said we're going to be
looking to get about 20 to 30%
participation in that survey hopefully
higher right hopefully we can get it but
that's what the the the successful
instruments that other school districts
have done call for about that level um
so we'll be the plan is for us to to
launch that awareness raising and
organizing effort right after the first
of the year which would lead into a six
week time period in which the climate
survey will be open so again we'll keep
it open so we can drive and continue to
drive participation and awareness in the
community and we can begin to adopt some
of the strategies that um the PSU Center
is recommending here where we can track
it by school we can go into a school
where we have low participation we can
work with parent leaders at that school
Community leaders at that school the
principal the teachers and encouraging
students and families to participate so
we're getting participation from across
the district once the climate survey
closes and goes to our system planning
performance team to begin analyzing that
data then we'll move into another
awareness raising effort to get the
community ready and excited to take the
values growth and Equity survey so you
can see how they can build one on the
next and then that survey will be open
for about six to eight weeks again where
we're really driving the strategies that
they're talking about out here um I can
see us we we've been working in
community involvement in public affairs
already and drafting initial plans where
we would be doing going door too
potentially at some schools where we
just aren't getting the participation
and we need to get out and and encourage
folks to take the survey it would also
include strategies like take-home
packets where people get organized like
a party at their home invite other
families at their school to take it and
respond um we would translate the survey
into all the language we all the
languages we translate into we'd offer
it in paper offer it over online offer
it at a computer terminal in a school if
we need to um all of this to try to hit
that goal at for 40% partic
participation districtwide and then we
would close the survey at the end of
April and then have time for the PSU
Center for Public Service to analyze
that data and provide us a report and
the results looking to be made to become
public sometime around the end of the
year that information then would go to
the districtwide boundary review
advisory committee would then be charged
with using that information to begin the
districtwide looking at updating
boundaries across the district um so you
have you achieve that goal but you also
provide our community a truly uh
exciting new opportunity to weigh in on
the big questions that we're looking at
as we're planning for growth and equity
in the
future so that's a lot on the big
process and the big picture there's a
little bit more information that we do
want to share with you tonight that's
kind of the reality check but we thought
00h 50m 00s
this would be a good time to pause see
what kind of questions you have and hear
from you if that's okay and then but but
keep in mind we do want to come back and
talk briefly about our urgent issues
before we conclude this entire
presentation so is
um chair NES you ready for questions now
and then we'll conclude the rest in a
moment are you ready for questions now
we are we really want to know what you
think
okay board comments
questions looks like nobody has a
question director kler um so I mean I
appreciate the the inner relation
between the two uh just to be clear from
from my
standpoint um the climate survey is not
a one-off thing it's
institutionalized
360 uh yearly instrument exercise
engagement call it what you want want um
that involves the the the parents and
the students and the teachers so the the
whole the whole Community
um and getting that right is critical so
I mean you guys connected the dots and I
think appropriately so
um so just the one thing that that and
and I would hope that that PSU would be
helpful to you John and as you bring to
us what that survey would look like um
and that would incorporate some of these
things so just right off the top of my
head is they you know you had a goal of
40% minimum I think and you're saying
we'd be successful at 20 to 30 so uh you
just just to make sure that everybody's
on the same page on all this what let me
just clarify what I'm saying is in the
instrument so we've been looking at
other districts in preparation to bring
this to the board climate committee so
that's one thing I want to clear we know
we'll be working with the board
committee on this yeah um that the the
surveys we've looked at that other
districts have used they say you need to
try to get 20 to 30% participation we're
actually setting a higher goal for
ourselves than what those surveys say
that we should do I just want to be
clear about that and I also want to say
that we agree about the annual basis for
that and one thing I really appreciate
and I'll that Wendy speak to this is
that this recommendation it it says in
the report would would put PPS in a
position because of the work it takes to
do this right to be able to do a robust
Community engagement process annually
for example around a climate survey that
becomes annual and not have to do this
level of work again because we've
developed the infrastructure to do it so
it actually sets us up to do this more
regularly on an annual basis right and
so I so the where
I total agreement all that and that's
where my question is on um do do
you
it seems like we're turning around and
then you know boom boom and is is there
a way is that is that too much overload
to people and and can you can we get
what we want through a great climate
survey and and maybe the answer is no
but I just wanted to hear the the
dialogue around that one thing that we
um know and have learned about um public
behavior when it comes to these kinds of
surveys is uh they actually the more
uh the public hears from the public
entity the better the participation rate
is and so in fact um in some ways they
said people who study these things say
that if you if they hear from you once a
month that's a really good way to keep
people participating with you so um if
we could use these to build on each
other then with the sort of promise that
another climate survey will come next
year and maybe budget you know whatever
comes in between um it it it it appears
that public Behavior actually improves
with each each successive um activity
particularly if the public entity is
responsive to what they
hear oh Dr
Regan hi uh exciting stuff um I wanted
to ask a I I have one comment and then I
had two um kind of questions um first in
terms of the community engagement it's
incredibly exciting for us to be out
doing this I know that there's been a
couple times um as I've been on the
board that we've gone out and done
pretty massive listening sessions with
our community we did it before we hired
Vicky Phillips we did it before we hired
Carol a superintendent and we did it
after we failed with our 2011 bond by
half a percentage point and in each of
those times I think that um we we were
closer to the community than I felt um
at other times uh when you have the
opportunity to to sit and mostly listen
00h 55m 00s
uh I mean we say engage I don't know if
engage means engage or if it means
listen I hope it means mostly listening
um so I'm actually really excited about
this process and I think we'll learn a
ton if we don't get defensive and that's
the big thing is not to get defensive
just to hear um so I had um two
questions one is I participated a while
back in a um a City
Club uh think out loud um event related
to the Oregon values and beliefs uh
survey that's done every 10 years and I
was kind of the education representative
and um I recall that they talked quite a
bit about you know a pessimism Gap you
know what what people want in terms of
parent engagement and what they expect
what people want in terms of civic
education versus what they get that sort
of thing what I really remember is them
doing a lot of comparisons between sort
of Rural Oregon and the Portland metro
area and the rest and so my first
question is is there anything to be
gained by us talking with Davis hiitz
who did that survey and who has done it
for years you know every decade um to
see what they could maybe share with us
about our process and you know how how
the mood has changed over the decades um
is there anything to gain from doing
that engagement yes
um I think that's a really great idea
especially in thinking about how to
frame the questions based on what they
learn from um from that data um the
organ values and beliefs survey actually
the public engagement piece went through
Oregon's kitchen table so we have a very
close relationship with Davis hi could
you explain to people what Oregon
kitchen table is so organ's kitchen
table is a um standing piece of online
infrastructure um where you that so if
you say you sign up for Oregon's kitchen
table and say I'm willing to um engage
with public uh entities and leaders
who'd like my opinion on a whole variety
of topics and you can either do it
Statewide or you can do it down to the
local level and so there you know
there's already several thousand people
from Portland area that have signed up
for work at kitchen table so they're
available already um uh for this kind of
process the thing we do know is that is
not the that can't be the only strategy
um that all these other strategies are
necessary to get particularly
underrepresented communities but the
thing that it does give you is a place
to put all that data um and aggregate it
um so that all so that you're not losing
what's happening in these in-person
events so that's where it all kind of
lands eventually uh so that's so I think
it's a great idea to to work with Davis
Sait talk to them about getting some of
the craft the cross tabulations from
values and beliefs okay that's awesome
thank you um and then I had a question
if you could put up the slide about the
D bra
members um I had a question about that
because I I love in general what I'm
seeing here um I had a couple of
questions one would be a uh PPS uh
Communications person on as part of the
membership um one would be potentially
uh Portland Community College or hire Le
Ed representative on here um might be
smart um I'm not sure if it fits as well
with the boundary discussion but I think
it does and probably the most important
one that I was thinking about is um prek
Head Start or special ed because one of
the things that we found as we have um
boundary issues come up it's those
groups that are often um pushed out or
moved um you know either Your Head Start
program it's it's it's easy to take one
or two of those classes and move them
somewhere else it's easy to take a
special ed class and move it somewhere
else and yet for those particular
students that's incredibly hard so I
guess I'm interested in be looking at
those two populations in particular that
seem to be uh overly um disadvantaged
when we have boundary issues that come
up um and I don't know when you look at
the three appointees of the
superintendent um you know maybe we have
some fudge room in there to add one or
two other people but I just wanted to
give you those suggestions anyway thank
you thank you so I I would add a couple
more to that since Bobby brought that
piece up um I'm looking for classified
Union as well as p
and you're also missing a student
rep which I think Mina was uh about to
jump on
that
sorry sorry about that there no points
thank
you was that are those all your
questions for now okay
Steve if we set up a system to gather
all this data
01h 00m 00s
then and to get all these opinions on
things how do we guarantee that the
questions are giving us accurate
opinions I don't know you I'm sure you
guys are familiar with the tell survey
that they did tens of thousands of
teachers I thought they had two pretty
good questions on that out of the what
they have maybe a hundred questions two
there were probably two pretty good
questions the rest of them were pretty
much worthless a lot of them were were
set up to to get what they
wanted and
I I'm sorry we we don't have a tendency
around here to do that to go forward and
say okay let's kind of open this up and
really hear what's going on it'd be nice
but I don't know how we're going to do
that this uh who's putting together the
survey so I can tell you how we've done
it in the past um is we work with a um
this actually takes one of this is one
of the most timec consuming pieces of
the preparation sure which is working
with the entity who's asked for the the
survey the consultation um and passing
that thing around to everyone you can
think of to say is this and in fact if
there are um contrasting arguments that
you're trying to try to evaluate say is
this or is this not your best argument
um to make sure that the the that
Advocates have their best arguments in
um and that everybody and before you
push send that there's a deep consensus
around that this is the best that this
is the best you can do and it is a timec
consuming process um often times we've
asked stakeholders community members
Advocates um to actually review these
surveys before they ever go out so it
takes kind of a long time actually so we
start to work we start to propose but
then really dozens of of um iterations
between the time you start to write you
know draft and the time it actually goes
out
and I'll add that I think it's a very
important question that the point of
this is not to uh the point of this is
to elicit what your patrons the citizens
District students parents Etc what they
really believe and think and what they
value that may mean making some forc
choices in terms of the question design
it may mean learning some things that
may be at odds with what you might have
wanted to to to hope that you would
learn if if you go but that's the
Integrity of it is to is to try to get
at what people value and how they feel
about these key issues if you go out to
a real wide range of people here's where
I think there's a uh the difficulty
becomes if you go to a real wide range
of people they don't even know who's
sitting on the school board they don't
know one member of the other I've met a
whole bunch of those uh people this
evening from Beverly Clary can't tell
you philosophically the differences
between the people sitting on the school
board which have this huge effect on
what's taking place and so when you go
out you get people who really don't have
any idea what's going on they have
attitudes about certain small things but
when you get a large survey a lot of
that survey is not covered of course and
so what happens quite frequently is that
the survey questions end up not taking
that into account and eliciting the
responses that we want to get to make us
look good and do what we want to do and
so for me for me that's going to where
that's going to be where I'm going to be
looking to see if it works and this is a
huge effort but it's not worth the time
and energy if we're going to approach it
that way if we're not going to approach
it with an open mind with open questions
really looking to see around these
particular questions for instance here's
a perfect example is the testing in the
school district I cannot talk hardly to
a parent who likees likes the
testing yet
we as a as a body we kind of I don't
mean the Schoolboard but this whole
building pushes the testing but you
can't find a parent or a teacher hardly
that thinks it's really a positive
aspect so do you ask if you ask that
question and it comes back and nobody
cares about the answer anyhow that's
another problem too so I mean for me
that's kind of where I'm going to be
going is looking at that big effort a
lot of time is it going to be worthwhile
only if we approach it that way and I
haven't seen us approach almost anything
that way in the year I've been in this
board and School Board not one time
hardly once maybe on a little bit of
some stuff so there you
go Dr
BL I just wanted to start off by saying
thank you this is um I thought it was
actually really affirming of all the
work that's been done um up to this and
I actually get really excited um because
I think since the time I've been on the
school board I've been trying to figure
out a way how do we build both V like
the three or four or the five issues
01h 05m 00s
that you say are inextricably linked
whether that's grade configuration and
we haven't had the vehicle to do this
and so I appreciate both your hearing
the feedback about how do we step back
and say you know if we force this as
just a districtwide boundary
conversation we're are we're already
changing the outcome of what we can do
in fact it's going to it's going to
result in bad feelings and not going to
be very successful so I'm really excited
about that and I'm hopeful
that once we make this investment and
this is only possible because we are in
a time of growing enrollment with a
different state environment um but at
this time that we can build an
infrastructure of parent engagement that
is very different than what has
traditionally been seen in this
organization and that super excites me
so along with my colleagues I'm looking
very closely at what are the informal
networks and those are very ambitious
40% of every school 50 or 40% of the
whole District 50% of underservice
um those are
fantastic love to see them hire and
those are very ambitious um I had one
question which will probably probably
relates more to what we're about to talk
about but I just wanted to clarify that
all these enrollment projections um
assume current assumptions such as
growth patterns and particularly capture
rates is that correct correct okay so
for example if we build a new school and
all of a sudden a lot of people are
really excited and start attending that
school um that's going to affect these
enrollment projections yes and when our
graduation rate Rises substantially
we're going to have more kids right all
of those things could influence it right
um so I guess I'll just leave it at that
but thank you for this work I think it's
really well done and I appreciate the
articulation of I think that if people
take time to read the report they will
find themselves in it or find something
that resonates really clearly with them
um and I know that we're coming up on
some of the hot spots which we have some
guests here for night which might have
different feelings about it but um at
least it's raising the issues that we
need to articulate and be clear
about I want to make one comment because
something you said director bile to me
relates to a point that director bu was
making which is um 40% is I mean it's
really ambitious and there's a lot of
places I've worked in my background
Community organizing where I wouldn't
even come to a public meeting and never
suggest you're going to get there I
firmly believe our community is so Gage
engaged in our schools and is so hungry
to weigh in on the future of the school
district that we can get there but to do
it it also requires us to ask real
questions that people want to weigh in
on so if we're going to hit 40% we can't
put out a survey that somebody looks at
and says oh okay well they're not asking
me the important questions so hitting
the goals and putting out a survey
that's truly getting at the questions
our community wants to weigh in on that
relate to Bounder review enrollment and
transfer Equitable program offerings all
those things they are in extri linked to
each other um but I firmly believe that
the school district here in Portland is
we can hit those kinds of targets
because we have engagement at that level
every single day in this District it's
just around different things so this is
going to be a matter of saying hey we
need you to take this eight to 10
minutes to fill out this survey or do it
however it works with your community so
that we can have our finger on the pulse
of where the where our parents our
families our teachers are on these big
questions before we make big decision
like a districtwide b
changes sure just a real quick followup
um as as I'm sure some other people's
minds have gone what are how do we
anticipate if we're going to have paper
and we're going to have computer with
you know I could take a survey three
different on three different times and
be a different person according to the
computer how are we going to control for
making sure that um somebody doesn't
wait it one way or another the police no
um uh how we have done it in the past is
well how we do it typically is there you
have a unique link for your survey so it
comes to you you have a unique link and
then it dies as soon as you've used it
and so on online there's you don't have
access to it again um with the paper
surveys there is less control we do have
a little honor System where we say I you
know you signed something saying this is
the only time I filled this out um and
and I have to say um we've never had a
situation a ballot stuffing situation um
typically the paper surveys are used by
communities that have never engaged and
so the idea that they would start
engaging multiple times um seems
unlikely and so I think that's probably
the the the best answer that we can give
you Matt thank you for coming and uh it
seems like the the last time you came
and gave a an update it seemed like the
writing was on the wall that in fact uh
there were more variables than just the
01h 10m 00s
boundary that we needed to um talk about
your the Wordle you know drives at home
I think with uh with all the things we
have to uh all the things we have to
consider um I want to say quickly I
really I do again will Echo and
appreciate the the level of Engagement
that is um uh is planned on in this I
think that your your strategy is exactly
uh is exactly right on uh but most of my
questions are I think are around the
what you know we call the
hotpots and uh and one of the things
that is interesting to me or maybe one
of the questions that I'll have so think
about this as we go into this next
section is uh I I keep on remembering
that adage of uh when all you have is a
hammer everything looks like a nail and
uh and I think that um if it's true that
we have more Tools in our toolbx on on a
longer term
process how different is that on a
shorter term process do we in a in the
shorter term do we have fewer tools and
if we do why uh so that would be that
would be my question as we're talking
about you know hot spots immediate needs
urgency all of those things um in
enrollment challenges so I'd like to
know as we as we talk about that what
are the what are the variables and how
are we considering those variables so
as a little preview to my future
questions do you have something sure
yeah so I'll um Dr agree with everything
you said I guess um you also had a
couple pieces um so thank you so much
for this um couple piece in your report
that we haven't talked about as explicit
yet one was the um for having providing
a website that provided more um easy to
access data for each school so we have
you know a big big book that comes out
every year a lot of work goes into
creating that but it sounds like
repurposing that into something that's
more user friendly and provides really
to be clear um what actually is
available across different schools
because I think as you point out there's
a lot of distrust that there is a
different um level into some degrees
there are based on different um the
ability there's we have our Equity
investment we have foundations and so
forth so appreciate that a lot as well
as um the actual work that we take to
make sure that we have clarified all
that and made that public so I guess to
me I mean so we've got the establishment
and facilitation of the Deb we've got
this engagement process that you've
outlined including the climate survey
and we've got the work to kind of
coordinate and update and make more user
friendly all the information about each
school and that's a lot and so you point
out in the um report that District staff
are already working pretty much at
capacity and have any number of
initiatives and we've got our work plan
it will be approving tonight with a
whole range and that just is the top
very top things and there's a million
other so I guess just to to flag that
and to ask you know as the
superintendent is looking at moving this
forward or whatever that process is and
I'm not entirely clear whether this is
to you and then it goes forth that
there's going to be a budget implication
and we and and I think there needs to be
recognition that this takes a lot of
work on top of the hard work that is
already happening in this building so
I'm very excited to see it happen I just
wanted to to recognize that and there
there's going to need to be some
additional capacity um on top of the the
jobs that folks are already doing I'm
really excited to see it to see it
happen okay well I'll say thank you also
um I don't think it was any big surprise
to me that you told us that we needed to
do more than just Bry review I think
we've been looking at that for quite
some time um I did have one concern as I
look through this um I
I was worried about what's happening to
the rest of our community because this
focuses on the schools and the people
who are in the schools but I had I had
students in important public schools for
19 years but I don't anymore but I'm on
the school board so clearly I still care
and I know that we have 80% of our
population really cares and so my
concern is that we are that we listen to
that group as well
both those who do not yet have students
in Portland Public Schools and those who
have gone all the way through and um are
still um interested in supporting the
schools and so I'm asking you know how
are we reaching out to that group of
people so um we um recommendation we
would make to you is that you that
anybody who lives in your ZIP codes um
can weigh in so you know whether
children are whether they have children
PPS or not are available to weigh in and
that that we broadly encourage people to
01h 15m 00s
participate but that the resources the
organizing resources really be focused
on um Guardians parents and students
within Portland Public Schools um but
that it certainly is and that you would
then be able to differentiate I mean
you'd ask people do you have do you or
do not have a child in Portland Public
Schools and then you could say this is
where people without children in PPS
fall and this is where people with with
children fall yeah and we did not set
explicit the goals for those other
populations but just an example what the
values growth and Equity concerns are of
people that believe they're likely to
have kids in the future in the poor the
public schools is really important
information to have right and what is
nice about this tool is you can
differentiate between those with kids
and those without or to come and you can
compare those and I think that's going
to be part of the robustness of this and
why it will be very Val going forward
and you then of course can cross check
as you do the annual climate surveys
which we recommended I think in the
first report and very glad to hear of of
the interest in in having that uh
continue going
forward so I'm going to continue to be
very interested in how we reach out to
the rest of the community um I don't
know if that's Gathering our partners I
see 80 percenters up there in the back
and there are others uh to to grab those
people
you know 80% of our community is 80%
only 20% of our community have uh
children in school so I'm going to be
very interested in that as we go forward
so thanks sorry I had to clarifying
question Mr round um you mentioned
absolutely rightly that the configur
grade configuration and program needs to
be part of this so I just wanted to
clarify would that be under the Deb's
charge that they would be have the
ability to make recommendations around
potential changes in configurations and
programs or that be different would they
strictly be limited to boundary changes
how I think we envision it that they
that this would be focused on boundaries
because it's going to be complex enough
right but I can imagine a situation
where dbre here's a situation that
involves um involves grade configuration
and says you know back to superintendent
Smith this seems to be a grade
configuration issue that we can't solve
just with boundaries and so that that
conversation you know continue so that
they would might be sort of the conduit
I mean just been part of the issue that
there has been a place as as long as
well as the issues around perceptions
Andor reality of inequitable program
offerings and just that whole balance of
what's available in every single School
regardless but at the same time
Equitable you know Equity is not equal
and how are we having some variation
that is reasonable between our schools
yet is transparent and folks are aware
of it so there hasn't been a place for
those concerns or the issue of of config
configuration changes to come forward
and I wasn't sure if that would be the
committee or I just didn't want that
this huge issues to get lost in this and
there's already a lot a lot that would
be going
on so I'll just put it
out anything else for us you have you
have next phase right well yes um
because we couldn't just leave on that
you know the high note of the future
we're going to go ahead and take a few
minutes to say you know we've got some
Reality Checking that that we're going
to be doing right now and so you can um
anticipate some things happening in the
coming months um overarching assumption
similar somewhat similar to last year's
is that to to the degree possible we're
going to keep changes minimal so that we
can be better informed and really start
using more effectively the the things
that come out of that Community process
um however places that are seeing acute
enrollment issues now where you can't
concentrate on education and achievement
for kids because you don't have enough
space for the kids um we may need to
make some changes there and we're not
here to recommend any changes for you
tonight but I did want to show you the
list of schools that are likely to be
ones where we would have to consider
some degree of change there shouldn't be
any surprises up here I'm sorry to say
we didn't resolve all these things last
year um but they're not new the the
second tier schools closer to the bottom
are ones that are on our watch list sort
of really chronic issues that could um
50 more students than any one of those
schools could could create a real
problem but we think that there's
probably enough space for all of them to
continue next year without change we're
looking more closely at that on the tier
one schools though that's the ones at
the top that's where it's more likely
that they're going to have more students
next year than what they have
appropriate classroom spaces designated
for these are all schools where we've
01h 20m 00s
made some level of significant change
before and we've got some tough choices
ahead of
us um to director Morton's comments our
choices remain the same we are going to
look and see so let me just flip yeah
here we go what we'll be doing
particularly over the next month is
working with our principals the senior
directors facilities staff and program
staff to figure out what the need need
is not just now but going into next year
if there were no changes next year could
you live with it and where um it doesn't
appear that they can live with it as
configured we would work together to
identify options first for any kind of
internal building or program changes is
there anything we can change or move
that just that will help us get by it's
um it's a duct tape
approach um and there aren then we're
going to have to go to the set of major
changes and major changes could be
moving a program moving some kids who
are in that building because of a
program to a different location it could
be a major facility upgrade including
placing modular classrooms there um
which we have a minimal amount of budget
for are very expensive and may be there
long after the enrollment problem gets
resolved and then of course there's the
possibility that we could look at doing
a boundary change so once we come back
with um some of those kinds of
suggestions as warranted to the
superintendent she and possibly you
depending on the scope of the change
would need to make those decisions
before we get into our annual budget
Staffing transfer cycle so that's the
timeline that we're looking
at specifically a little bit about
boundary change because you heard about
the potential for a
deck um most boundary changes involve
multiple schools go beyond the scope of
what you can do in that building that's
what a boundary change is it says take
some of these kids and involve another
school in their educational future and
that's really outside what our preferred
scope of activities is this year in
advance of that growth values and Equity
process but we'll go there in places
where we think it would be most
effective so I'm just going to lay out
an exception here which I know you heard
um some public comment about as well
that could be and it really is just a
could be at this point establishing a
starting point for a neighborhood bound
for the Rose City Park school because we
are using it as the third campus for the
Beverly clear school and are heavily
invested in resources to maintain that
we haven't thought effectively about
what the grade structure would be where
the lines would be drawn it's just an
idea anything that looks like a
relatively concrete idea that you could
take for a boundary review we would want
to go ahead and activate the
de to help us work through that
possibility so in the case of Beverly
clear maybe one maybe even two of the
other schools that were on that tier one
list we would ask them to take a look at
what um what the options are how
boundary change would fit at an opt as
an option and give us advice back um
obviously if it were a boundary change
all of that would have to come back to
you before it got approved but we don't
necessarily expect that D would take on
every kind of decision around internal
moves shifting classroom space and the
like definitely we would want them to be
involved in something had to do with
boundary so that is um a sense of where
what you can expect to be hearing more
about in the coming weeks to months on
our um on our
hotspots um all of that in the hopefully
in the bigger Ser in the service of
having a broader process that can help
us establish a way to manage for the
that growth and for all those new kids
in the
future that's
it any other questions uh Dr Regan
Bobby hi
um on your previous slide when you said
steps to diagnose and address enrollment
problems um my concern with number
one um especially when you're
identifying options or developing major
chain proposals is who you're working
with and I don't don't see parents on
there I don't see impacted uh community
members affected community members
neighborhood associations all of that so
um I would like that to be broader um
and I think a lot of the parents can you
know come up with some good and creative
ideas to help us um through this um but
I'd also like you to add board members
to it so for example on West svin there
was a meeting last week There's a
meeting this week um about you know
they're a tier 2 school and some of the
01h 25m 00s
possible changes that are going to have
to happen and I heard about it from a
woman who stopped me when I was walking
my dog that's not how I as a board
member should hear about things in my
zone or generally so I just ask staff to
be really mindful that we are out in the
community all the time and if you're
talking about Beverly clearly be sure
that you have the school board member
who's specifically in that zone but even
more broadly let us know when meetings
are happening so we have an opportunity
to participate as
possible um thank you for those
suggestions and I want to point out that
um we do consider the first couple steps
in number one a largely internal process
where's the problem how many classrooms
that you're going to need next year I
mean that those are largely technical um
and we're going to do the best we can to
say there's very little that has to be
um addressed for next year but all of
these schools are experien in discomfort
now all of the communities are
definitely invested in making it work as
well as they can for the teachers and
the kids who were in those classrooms
every day so we certainly wouldn't get
um deeply into number two let alone
number three without having some um
Community discussions about that
sometimes the community is having
discussions about it we don't even know
about but um but when it comes time for
us to start saying here's the way that
we could do this what do you think um
we'll want to make sure that they're in
the loop and so to the to we absolutely
will and didn't intend to leave them out
I was probably a little short started
sighted in the writing of it f I just
want to make sure it's thanks for the
heads up on the um on the west meeting
to it thank you don't it's on account
Wednesday is the next one it was last
one today was the last one thank
you see I don't even
know Dr
bu appreciate Bobby who continues to ask
my questions just in front of
me it's really on top of stuff she did
leave out teachers however on her uh
excellent question the the fact that
it's a technical thing I don't think it
has much to do with involving people UPF
front I think you bring in parents and
teachers and principls and Senior
directors facilities and program staff
all upfront at the beginning because
that's what gets you the trust of the
community when you go out and say here's
what we think should take place and the
community goes wow they already made up
their mind instead of involving those
people up front uh we were
talking boy my memory is so bad I can't
remember exactly when it was but we were
talking to some of those immersion
programs I think I we we didn't even
know we didn't even involve the teachers
in a real conversation and I don't mean
a conversation where the principal goes
out and says this is what we're thinking
da da da go out and ask those teachers
what they think and figure out how
you're going to free them up to get real
answers because right now once we give
them that suggestion then you're never
going to get real answers and you need
to figure out it's it's the same to a
certain degree with the parents though
not to the same degree as it is with the
teachers the teachers don't want they
don't want to go against what the answer
is so we don't get the real answers and
I think those people need to be upfront
personally I'm going to continue to push
for that and someday maybe we'll even
get there that would be nice thank you
director bu the second um the second
line underneath number one that
identifying options for internal
building and program changes in my
experience where we've done the best at
that is when we've taken the problem
quickly to teachers um and got their
input on it they're the ones using the
space and they always have a lot of of
really creative ideas for how things
could change they always bring up
something that we wouldn't have thought
of otherwise so that's a routine I think
it's great I just think they ought to be
up front on number one not on number two
and that's my own opinion they're in the
middle of number one number one theid
option the second dash line and number
one um it's a routine for that routine
to say like so then the senior director
and me or someone else like we go to a
staff meeting and we say we understand
you're crowded here's how the numbers
look here's what it's looking like for
next year the principal is right there
we're all talking together um what's
this feel like for you and what can we
do about it is is part of that
routine be nice other um other comments
Dr Martin so if we take a step back from
that I'm I I think I have a good idea of
how we begin the conversation when
enrollment is
low uh but I'm interested in who pulls
the fire alarm
on the when enrollment is high when it
01h 30m 00s
becomes you know quote
uncomfortable uh and uncomfortable to
the point where it becomes a tier one
versus a tier two uh and and that may
help me I mean I can I really
appreciated that your comment of uh it
begins to get in the way of
education so I I guess I want to unpack
that a little bit and pulls that alarm
and says okay it's getting in the way of
educating our youth we need to move
forward with
this um so our experience is that the
principles are um the strongest level of
advocates for the conditions in they're
building and it's their relationship
with the senior directors and program
directors in this building that's the
primary route to that we're also doing
so it's sort of it's um it's top down if
you will where you've got people like me
looking at enrollment number numbers
looking at the class sizes per grade
level looking at how many they had last
year comparing it to the looking at the
formula so you've got you've got that
and it's combining with the voices that
we're getting from the schools from the
principls or from teacher leaders from
community members saying this is what
we're experiencing we're checking we're
saying okay the data is trending like
that or wow that's really different than
what we think we're seeing in the data
we need to understand better what's
going on and and it's those two things
coming together that's what normally is
happening in late October early November
and then it's around between
Thanksgiving and um Christmas that we're
coming back to you with that priorities
list tonight is an indication that we're
already trying to get ahead of that
timeline because there were so many
issues that didn't get resolved last
year and because we're trying to create
an environment where we can reset the
whole
process um without without expending so
much energy this year on um solving a
thousand problems in a thousand
different ways so um I don't know if
that answered your
question um yeah what moves a school
from a tier one to a tier two it's about
listening at this time of year it's
about checking data but also listening
so the first week of school the emails
um from mea principles and and they were
great at responding when they could is
I'm seeing your numbers are high how's
it feeling oh five kindergartens this
year tell me how you're doing it so um
and I'm not the only voice on it I would
say our senior directors um uh Tony
Magano and his facilities team and
others are the on the ground folks who
trying to put all these pieces together
so that the priority list is as tight as
it has to be um but and really reflects
on the kinds of issues that uh if we
don't address them you may see an impact
on on on achievement in those
environments so I think the only other
question that not question but but
comment but maybe something to think
about as we continue to look at this is
um how we reconcile the voices that are
saying well no actually your um
uncomfortable is our
cozy uh where this doesn't uh this
doesn't feel like my child is getting
anything less um but were concerned with
our children getting something less if a
change occurs because I think there's a
lot of fear associated with that
change thank you um so that would be my
that reconciliation how do we um how do
we manage that and how do we how do we
incorporate that into the decision
making
process
BL um so this is where more of my
questions come in um so a couple of
things that um I'll start with um some
of the tier 2 schools um I noticed just
kind of in reading through them five of
five of the nine schools that are there
are k8s and this goes back to that point
that these issues are inextricably
linked right um but so then I was
surprised that as we move further even
into your into the PSU report um um that
it was that DB was charged with starting
a bound a boundary change um for for
example Beverly clear rather than
looking at maybe it's a grade
configuration issue or some other it
wasn't look for a solution it was
charged them immediately with fixing
that boundary um and I don't I don't
know if that's the answer or not but it
it just it made me wonder um especially
when I said like the again Bly clear is
a tier one so it's not a tier two that
can wait um but it just highlighted the
01h 35m 00s
importance of how inextricably linked
those two are and um what I took away
from directors more common about a
hammer um is Right are we are we still
looking to always use that boundary
change um instead of looking at other
options um the the second um question I
had I didn't wait for an answer do you
want to comment I don't know that there
is a comment but I also don't want to
ask a question in that
specifically to the question about are
we always looking at boundary change the
answer is no in fact it's my understand
I have been advised by many community
members internal staff even from board
members that we need to have a way to
use boundary change more effectively and
do less of the internal
reconfigurations less of paying for
facility changes if we can have
effective boundary changes so we're
trying to move in Direction Where
boundary changes are actually more
effective in the future the list that we
have the schools that you're seeing here
we don't think boundary change is a
short-term advisable solution for most
any place that there might be an
exception to that where boundary change
would make sense we would want to
activate the Deb sooner rather than
later get their feet wet um to get that
going great you just one how I think uh
on this initial round of work for DB
before it's districtwide I think think
um what we envisioned that there' be
some screening process at the staff
level saying it looks like a boundary
change might be a likely solution to
this and send those problems to DB and
if if if dbre got into that and said you
know I don't think boundary review
boundary change is the right thing here
then it would go back to the staff level
and and some of these other things would
be activated so I I would imagine it as
a kind of iterative process um uh that
you might go back and for depending on
once people start to to delve into the
details that um then it would change
right with a caution of that if you send
a problem to a District boundary Review
Committee um the chances of them sending
it back and saying never mind we're not
going to look at the district might
might be a challenge I don't know I
think I'd rather send it back to you it
could be that we get them all
back um this the second question is is
actually really just a reiteration of
what director Regan was saying is
there's a paragraph right before we get
to tier one schools about
um The Challenge we have in finding
space of growing and changing programs
citing new language immersion programs
and supporting facility needs for
special education in multiple Pathways
again I feel like in the past those have
been because they're more Standalone
programs we tend to ship them around
more often and they're usually with some
of our more um fragile or more um
disengaged students um to whom it's more
important for that stability um so as we
go through this I guess I just want to
be really attentive that they don't end
up taking a shorter end um of of what we
would consider the best options and the
final question I had was there's also um
one of the tier one schools is Kelly
Elementary and there's a um note in here
that x% of students are out from out of
District do we know what percent of
students those are it just says X perent
Russian students for the Russian
immersion I think might be a placeholder
I
don't that's really embarrassing um I
believe
57% it's just over half out of District
so I guess really embarrassing I just I
want to highlight that for us as as
colleagues because last year when we
were asked about enrollment um open
enrollment um we we chose to allow a
second um a second kindergarten there
which exacerbates this problem so we we
find those tensions I'll send that um
thank
you on that sure um yeah and I just want
to say I really appreciate the
thoughtful that You' laid up all the
different challenges in these different
schools and the different possibilities
and um echoing what director BL said I
mean that you've very thoughtfully
pointed out that um for instance at
siten where we just put a head start and
that's contributing to the great success
of that school where we have a very
vulnerable population that's located far
away so that you've Incorporated all
those complexities and challenges and
concerns um so again just so I
understand though the D brck would be
the one who would be looking at each of
these challenges are you
I'm just unclear because in the past
sort of you and your department have
gone out and done a process in each area
that has been identified as the must
deal with spot so going back to this um
one two three a lot of work in number
one that's at the building level things
that are getting into number two where
we can't resolve within the
building anything that's related to
boundary we would activate de roundo I
don't think that we would activate them
around for example a program change
a decision on whether um for example um
uh we have creative science and Head
Start that share a building and we would
01h 40m 00s
love it if there was enough space for
all of the kids next year but we don't
think there is right so there's some
important conversations that have to be
um held between both those program staff
um but I don't think that we would ask
Deb necessarily to weigh in on a program
location not at this time not when we're
trying to move them and bring them up to
speed about everything they would need
to know mostly about boundaries um that
doesn't mean they don't need to know
that there are other things that are
happening there are other ways to
resolve issues this is what it's it's
it's looking like but at this point we
want a boundary re review
body um to assist us in this process
long term it isn't clear where the
overlap is between um all of these
different moving Parts it's clear that
it hasn't been clear in the past and one
of our jobs is to make it so I don't
know that this singular advisory
committee as an oversight board um would
be the necessarily the way to do that um
we still have some to learn one one way
I would you might look at it as you
would not want a situation where a
boundary review was recommended and the
answer from DB was well we never looked
at
that and in fact you might see this is
any time you get to a point where a
boundary review is a serious possibility
that you want to make sure that Deb has
fully vetted it and made a
recommendation specific to whether a
boundary review boundary change in this
particular situation is in their
judgment warrant and that's I think one
of the one of the reasons that we
thought that a de bra was important
because that is a very
consequential kind of move especially in
the short term when you haven't yet done
districtwide
so Judy am I correct in um my thinking
that the D Brack is boundaries we'll go
through and we'll have these two surveys
we'll learn more about what the
community thinks and that's where we
talk about grade configurations and some
of those other issues is that correct so
that discussion is not happening until
after the
surveys great thank you just so long as
it
happens any other
questions no okay thank you again and
really appreciate all your hard work and
your time you take to come and talk to
us about it look forward to having an
ongoing relationship it looks
like okay so at this time we'll move on
to our next um agenda item and that
would be achievement compacts uh so we
receive recommendations from the
achievement compact advisory committee
superintendent Smith would you like to
introduce this item I would so for the
to present the achievement compact
Amanda whan who's the chief of staff um
Sarah singer who is our senior director
of system planning and performance
Suzanne Cohen who is vice president of
Portland Association of teachers and
Melissa Goff who is our assistant
superintendent of teaching and learning
will present um their the work of the
achievement compact committee advisory
Comm and do we have something new at our
place tonight or is everything been s so
you have a couple things you have I
believe a PowerPoint and then this
morning we received guidance around
setting the investment targets that was
different than the assumptions that we
had made so you received updated
investment
targets thank
you okay so um good evening I'm Amanda
wh Chief of Staff Melissa assistant
superintendent of teaching and learning
I'm Sarah singer senior director of
system planning and performance suanne
Cohen Middle School teacher vice
president P Committee
Member so so the four of us are going to
try and tag team through this
presentation um so I should make clear
from the beginning that Melissa and I
are long Tim before before you go any
further can we go ahead and clear the
back so that we can hear what's
happening
here
there we go thank you that makes it a
little easier to hear you so Melissa and
I are both longtime members of the to
the ACH longtime people involved in the
achievement compacts but I want to say
that Sarah and Suzanne are both new this
year to the achievement compact so just
want to give that as a little bit of a
preference preface Sarah and I are going
to walk you through the data and the
methodology and Melissa and Suzanne are
going to be talking through some of the
strategies that our committee's
discussed over the years and also
available to answer any questions that
you may
have so just as a little bit of
01h 45m 00s
background information the Oregon
education investment board designed the
achievement compacts for all K12
districts they're intended to focus
funding and strategies at the state and
local level toward achievement of the
state's education goals and the
committee with the board guidance has
opted to set ambitious
targets so this is a list of the people
who are on the committee so we have
Melissa suzan Von Trung Michael Bower
Carl Logan Matthew Olen Elizabeth Cen
Taylor Elizabeth teal Molly Chun Terry
Harrington and Payton
Chapman we also have um this board has
elected to put two effect ex officio
members on our achievement compactive
committee that's Jason Trombley from the
Coalition communs of color and a shell
from the PTA um I would also say we've
had students in the past so Mina is a
former achievement compact advisory
committee member um and just want to say
again thank this board for opting to to
add those ex officio members they have
added a really phenomenal perspective to
our committee every year I know that um
we've tried to convince our surrounding
districts and the state to allow that on
the other achievement compact committees
I don't know if anybody else has still
opted to do
that Manda can I ask you a question sure
you're saying that the the achievement
compact the makeup of the achievement
compact is determined by the state and
so we can't add these ex officiers as
regular members correct
wow
so um the the staff to the achievement
compact advisory committee is myself
Kathy coing coning who I'd like to thank
for her big help on this Sarah singer
and Joseph sugs from research and
evaluation so these are the multiple
achievement compact targets that we do
every year so this is the list of them
that I will not walk you through um
recognizing that for each of these
targets we also disaggregate that data
by race ethnicity um free and reduced
meal status and special programs special
education tag um talented and gifted and
English as a second
language so a couple of things that we
just wanted to provide some context for
in the beginning so um for the purposes
of this report um we our definition of
historically underserved stands for um
is for economically disadvantaged
students English language Learners
students with disabilities black hispan
American Indian native um Alaskan native
Pacific Islander students so normally
when we research when we as a district
refer to historically underserved
students we're only um referring to
those students of racial categories but
in this case it also includes um
economically disadvantaged English
language Learners and students with
disabilities and the reason for that um
is that the state achievement compact
refers to these students as
disadvantaged students as part of our
achievement compact report three years
ago we started calling them historically
underserved as a way to not use deficit
language um another clarification is
that the state does not provide us
disaggregated data for white students so
um as you know in pre previous years
what we've done is set our targets and
our closing of the achievement Gap based
on the data of white students the
achievement compact does not
disaggregate for white
students okay so in setting our um
achievement compact targets we have
always set um for the last three years
ambitious goals in line with the state's
goal of 40 4020 so 40 Stu 40% of all
oregonians having a bachelor's degree
40% having an associates degree and 20%
um a high school diploma
GED a certificate and a modified diploma
um we have consistently asked for the
funding in order to meet those goals and
have said it in a way where we are
trying to set ambitious goals that
really reflect the urgency that this
district has around all students
achieving um important to point out that
for the
20135 um the state legislature funding
appropriation into the state school fund
is only 75% of the amount required to
fund the quality education model so
where we still have a gap in our
funding okay so I'm going to walk
through some attendance related data um
there's targets for sixth grade and
ninth grade and we met um all attendance
related targets um for both historically
underserved students and just all
students in
general so as I stated in a number of
situations that what the the achievement
compact advisory committee did was set
very ambitious targets so one of those
was 100% of students graduate in four
years by 2025 that's in line with the
state's 40 4020 goal what we've
recognized is that even in places such
01h 50m 00s
as our four-year cohort graduation rate
where we've made gains in the last years
we still have not met some of those
targets which are extremely ambitious so
here our methodology to determine the
annual was to determine the annual
constant growth rate necessary to reach
that 100% by
2025 this depicts our graduation rates
um for various racial and ethnic um
groups and what you'll see is that for
Asian Hispanic historically underserved
students and all students we have
trended upwards in the past uh three
years but for our Alaskan native um and
Native American population our Pacific
Islander population and our black
students um we are
stagnant and just as a point of claric
when it says nth graders 20091 for
example that's the cohort of the ninth
the nth grade cohort in 20091 um four
years later they would have graduated in
1213 so in terms of how we performed
against our
Target what you'll see is um we set
again fairly ambitious targets we um
were shy by two percentage points for
historically underserved students
and um a small amount for all
students so for our fiveyear completion
rate target this committee had
recommended that 100% of this year's
10th graders complete high school or the
equivalent in five years so that was a
back map from 100% 5year completion rate
in
20178 and we said that three years ago
where we said that Year's that Year's
eighth graders we wanted to be 5 year
completion
rate and here you can see our fiveyear
completion rate for the um the past two
years of data that we have this data we
have data
for so you're using a four-year
graduation rate but a fiveyear
completion rate so can you correct
explain to folks what completion grad
yeah the fouryear cohort graduation rate
is is um uh kind of the typical thing
that I think most people are used to
hearing about the fiveyear completion
rate um takes into account students who
have completed within five years and
completing means they have um either a
regular diploma or a modified diploma or
an extended diploma or a
GED and just one um point we wanted to
to note
is that there is actually a large
difference between our four-year cohor
graduation rate and our fifth year
completion rate and this this is
especially the case for some of our
historically underserved student groups
so for example for students with
disabilities we see a 32 percentage
Point difference between the four-year
graduation rate and the five-year
completion rate we see a 30 percentage
Point difference between our um American
India and Alaskan native population as
well
in terms of our fiveyear completion rate
we were shy um we were not able to meet
our our targets um this
year for either historically underserved
students or all
students so again three years ago this
committee um recommended to the board
and the board set a target of 100% of
that Year's kindergarten students um
reading to learn by the end of third
grade so that's now this year's second
graders so this is a back map from 100%
at in
20156 and here's our data of on uh
students for third grade reading whether
they've met or exceeded the Oaks
Benchmark for the past three years and
we um have trended downward in most for
most student
groups
in comparison to the state the state has
um also trended downward or remained
relatively stagnant on third grade
reading um PPS does continue to
outperform the state overall um we are
also stagnant and then um this is data
on our PPS historically underserved
students we don't have have that data
for the state at this
01h 55m 00s
point and we um failed to meet our third
grade reading Target that we
set so um ninth grade credits earned
this is a metric that has changed
numerous times over the last three years
um the definition we are it is currently
that it is um earning six credits six or
more high school credits by the time
you're entering 10th grade one of the
changes this year was that the state
asked for that data to be reported at
the end of July many of our students are
not done getting their summer school
credits by the end of July we had an
extension into August however we also
know that a number of credits are still
also not entered in August so what you
can see here is the difference between
the number that shows up on the
achievement compact which is the
83.2% versus what we were able to pull
when we compared to how we've done it in
the past which is pulling those credits
in mid-september where we're at
84.2% and then 74.7 and 75.6 for our
historically underserved students and
showing again you know the impact that
our summer school and the options there
have for students in terms of doing
summer credit and credit
recovery
and this um slide just depicts our
Target on Ninth Grade credits earned and
um we are short on our
Target we are using the data the nth
grade credits data attained in
mid-september for this
picture um so moving forward this
committee um met last week and propos
proposing targets um proposing targets
to you as the board in order to set for
the achievement compact um members of
the achievement compact advisory
committee unanimously recommend that the
board declined to set targets for the
three metrics that would employ the
smarter balanced assessment until we
receive assurances that the assessment
is reliable valid and free from cultural
linguistic and socioeconomic bias this
is coming from the resolution that this
board passed in July of
2014 and can you explain to us what
happens if we decline to fill those out
no no what so quite honestly um I don't
we don't know so there um I I don't know
if other school districts are thinking
about that um we have not received a ton
of guidance from OD or oib regarding
what sanctions are for not meeting
targets or for declining to uh set
targets
so as you can see this would be this
would be the committee's recommendation
of not setting targets around thir grade
reading proficiency fifth grade math
proficiency eighth grade math
proficiency so these are the three
targets that in previous years have used
the Oregon's assessment of Knowledge and
Skills that test is going has gone away
this year the it is moving to the
smarter balanced assessment we will not
have Baseline data in order to set those
targets um nor do we know about the
reliability
validity of that
test was there
another was there
another was there another section that
had to do with academic there's third
grade reading and two math was there
another reading that's in there when you
go back to the beginning was there
another um there's kindergarten
Readiness assessment there's not another
reading there's not another
I will the targets have the targets over
the last few years have switched a
number of times so they've um yeah
that's what I was you had a list of the
targets I thought I saw one was another
may have been sixth grade
attendance
grade so I have a question which is uh
so we're not going to be doing the the
task that we all said is not worth but
uh but we have a goal of everybody
reading by third grade so how are we
going to measure it so um okay so what
the committee so the so um as this board
knows we are currently in the process of
preparing a joint committee of teachers
and central office administration um
principles looking at our assessment
practices within the district so the
recommendation from the achievement
compact advisory committee is that that
committee is tasked with identifying
a um measurement for around ensuring
that we are made our students are
reading to learn and so and making that
02h 00m 00s
recommendation to the board they're
coming in November to you so really
looking at how you would assess
achievement on third grade reading as
well as fifth grade math and eighth
grade potentially we were really the
achievement compact advisory committee
focused on the third grade reading as we
had had set three the three main goals
which were the nth grade on track the
fiveyear completion and the third grade
raing so those were the three main goals
that the achievement compact advisory
committee had
identified can I just before we move on
let's um right now the recommendation is
not to set anything for third fifth and
eth um but without Baseline data let's
just pretend that we wanted to set goals
how would we how would we even go about
setting goals without data or having
experienced the test or to even know
what a cut score is or is there guidance
or recommendations well at this point in
time uh no so the crosswalk between Oaks
and the smarter balanced assessment has
not yet been built so that we understand
how
um how they may or may not connect so we
would be guessing so we'd pick something
like
40% knowing that history or what we
understand about smarter balance is that
more kids will not do well on this than
previously so we just pick a person we
is that that's what they're recommending
is that we just pick
something they want us to set a
Target thank you Steve
um kind of a little comment along with
great yeah picking something is probably
a good way to go if you take like go
look and see what happened in New York
and you're Dro 30% on your numbers and
that becomes your targets but the pro
the other problem that you face with the
common chorus those particular targets
third grade reading there's no such
thing in the common chorus thir grade
reading do exist they're not going to be
able to take the common the the SBC test
and equate it to a reading it's not set
up to do that you don't have a reading
test and you might be able to do the
math but there's no reading Common Core
reading thing so we can't do it anyhow
once we get a we get a read we get what
they will call reading which isn't going
to really be a grade level it's going to
be how well you understand the Common
Core then we could if we were at 21%
past we could say okay now we want 24%
to pass next year but it's never going
to be a reading so one of the things we
need to look at I think in the district
is exactly what you're talking about I
think it's a wonderful report by the way
that you put together that that what how
are we going to measure of a kid's third
grade reading you can't do it with the
espc test they don't do it so how are we
going to do it so are we going to do
more testing yeah and add in let's let
them move on okay we're all a little we
a little bit beyond Way Beyond actually
where we're supposed to be right now so
why don't you guys go ahead not okay
well and
I I would just like to respond that that
is the function of the balanced
assessment work team so the work team
that um that both District staff and
Union leadership are participating in
part of their task will be around that
specifically
possible um so for the other targets
these here are the College and Career
Readiness targets the committee
recommended employing the same
methodology again which you can see is
the back mapping that we've done in the
past um and employing the same targets
again around kindergarten assessment
participation sixth grade uh attendance
ninth grade attendance and nth grade
credits
earned
the so uh this is where Suzanne and I
get to share with you the strategies
that were discussed um identified by
committee members to help us meet our
targets so we have a number and Suzanne
and I did not rehearse this in advance
so um so I'll go and you jump okay okay
great um so one of the things that we
really spoke to as a committee was the
need for Hands-On experiential learning
we believe as a committee that Project
based learning is actually something
that has uh become missing as budgets
have been uh tightened down over the
course of time we've seen less and less
fewer and fewer opportunities for our
students to engage in Hands-On learning
and we believe that there's a strong
correlation between that and um and
student results so you'll see the
Hands-On learning
list um of suest gested uh engagement
activities for our kids uh we also
believe that dual language immersion and
access to second language acquisition
02h 05m 00s
for non-emerging students should be
taking place across all grades and
schools and continuing to look at how do
we engage in our dual language immersion
expansion so that U we see bilingualism
as a value held in
PPS cheer suzan you might want to speak
so you can get
it um so other things that we discussed
were uh we've seen promising results
from Avid Avid is a program that we have
used primarily in our Gear Up feeder
schools we have invested some dollars in
expansion for Avid the committee
recommends that we continue along that
uh bent we also recognize the need for
more culturally specific supports for
students and families around um within
specific areas in education where where
we have not been doing a great job I
would say that uh that in particular was
a strong point that we discussed around
the early literacy goals that we have
around third grade
reading we also discussed the need to
invest as this board has discussed as
well many of these things in wraparound
supports for all ages to ensure that our
students are healthy and well cared for
and feel supported by the schools in
addition to by their homes and we talked
about expanding Arts programming and
this extended both to include Arts
teachers and also to look at
Partnerships where we've already
embedded some professional development
work with uh Arts integration programing
such as with our partnership with right
brain initiative we've seen some
compelling data come from from that
program that we'll share with the board
later and uh really looking at time for
movement and exploration for our
students so when is the time for them
during a very crowded school day to
actually get up move around um and this
does tie back again to the Project based
learning it also um uh ties back to kids
just having the space uh to one of the
things we talked about this last week
was um in kindergarten children used to
have an opportunity to nap so as we go
to full day kindergarten and our little
kids are pretty exhausted by the awesome
learning experiences that they become
engaged in whereas also their time for
their brain to have a little bit of
downtime and or or recess movement
breaks as
well thank you oh
okay I guess I'll just so I can get some
Applause um I
was I I attended two committee meetings
but I was um really very impressed
there's there's no shortage of really
amazing people on the achievement
compacts both you know from the teacher
side and the district side um and and I
don't don't think we're short on ideas
for what can help our students achieve
um I think what we came to you know
these our ambitious goals that we
everyone is committed to achieving um
most of these things don't come without
a cost associated with them and so
that's where we are also looking to
partner to get the funding we need so we
um think that it would obviously help to
have a certified librarian in every
school and and books available for the
libraries um there's so many stories of
students that can't bring home the books
that they check out if they are so lucky
to get to check out books um lower class
sizes um obviously in the primary grades
will help with with reading instruction
um also you know looking at Blended
classrooms that are unintentional just
um and how does that affect a student's
ability parents and community outreach
and engagement and then um and then
support for the teachers and
administrators in the
buildings
keep okay so we um the people teams are
just were talked about a lot uh Staffing
and support um in the earlier grades so
that it can move forward so really kind
of looking at what we're doing in those
K3 grades uh what are our class sizes
what are our supports for those students
um so that we're getting that early
intervention that we know is so
meaningful um the wraparound services
will help us with all our targets with
attendance um keeping students in school
that really involves people inhouse that
know the students that are there on a
regular basis that can support um and
with our special education students as
well and then talking about
um our professional development
sometimes comes and goes based on
funding and the importance for
consistency with that or if we invest a
lot of money in a
program um you know do we have the
long-term range to keep the professional
development around it going um and to
support that program for several
years and then our question for you is
are these the right targets so we'd be
02h 10m 00s
bringing this back to you for a vote
next Tuesday and it is due to the state
by October
15th so my question for
you is um these are all wonderful
strategies and um all of them cost money
so I'm assuming that as we're doing our
budget presentations we're going to hear
from you about each one of these
strategies and you're going to call us
back to the achievement Compact and why
we are asking for this kind of money for
each one of these
strategies it may not be each single
strategy but there will you will see
that um these are themes that have
emerged around all three of the
priorities and a number of our
discussions that we've had around the
budget great thank
you comments about the I would say the
same about the when the superintendent
comes to us with um some strategies or
some Investments with the some money
yeah
agree comments about the targets
any Dr
BL one one I'll start with a question
about the the strategies that were
listed as you pointed out Suzanne
there's no shortage of ideas of what
we'd like to invest in and I'm curious
what the process is for us to understand
what the the most Strategic investment
is because even if the state does what
we hope it does which is um continue its
reinvestment in education it's likely
that we won't have enough funding um to
invest in all of these and so how is the
achievement compact or how is this the
the committee or how is this list
generated because um I I might catch
some push back on this because these are
all great things for kids um it also
feels a little bit like me going on the
street and asking parents like hey what
else do you want in school
um it it doesn't feel um as thoughtful
or as strategic as I would maybe think
but maybe people on the street are that
Savvy and coming up with the right
ones so
um so this is a list of the strategies
that have been identified by the
achievement compact advisory committee
over the last three years so I just want
to be clear that what we really wanted
to demonstrate in listing them here do
you do you meet on the street
so um what we're what we're trying to
demonstrate here is that while we have
we have set really ambitious targets
around this what we're recognizing is
that a number of the strategies you know
we haven't been able to put into place a
number of the strategies that we've been
able to identify over the last three
years because of funding so um in terms
of our work for this year um we are not
doing a strategic
you know statement to you what we're do
what we are wanting to provide you with
is a a background of a number of the
discussions that we've had over three
years on this and really our work this
year was really around um what we were
recommending for the 1415 Compact and um
we also engaged in a discussion with
both Melissa around third grade reading
budget and Antonio um assistant
superintendent Antonio Lopez around the
high school graduation and completion
budget where the committee members
provided feedback to the two of them
regarding the budget they're developing
and bringing back to
you and I guess I I can I can speak for
the teachers and I can make an
assumption for the administrators that
we would very much I mean we weren't
tasked with ranking you know which is
more important or which is more valuable
but I think that that kind of input or
given finite money I mean like what can
be done um with integrity and done to
the level that it needs to be done with
and I you know would definitely say that
we would enjoy participating in a
process like that and think we'd have
some really valuable input um Educators
on how to achieve your goals of third
grade reading given the limited
resources and I think you can see um you
know some things that we've done spoton
given the resources we have and other
things like you know movement doesn't
necessarily have a high price tag
associated with it um and yet we're
seeing you know declining recess in many
of our schools so there's some stuff
that we could just also be looking at
like brain research and brain
development and just you know looking at
stuff like
that can I ask another sorry follow
up it's a question about the methodology
so this might be actually for Mr sugs um
I thought in our packet that there was a
slight change in methodology um that we
had back mapped originally which meant
different ears had different growth
targets um as we mapped that then I
thought in our materials that there was
something about just kind of a flat 10%
step did I misread that so there's a
both um so we did a slight change in the
me methodology of the backmapping in
that we um agreed unanimously to
accelerate the targets for the
historically underserved students um and
02h 15m 00s
those back Maps so the way we had done
the methodology originally Joe you can
come up and hit me at any point was that
it was sort of a slower gain over the
first few years and then a faster gain
at the end what in our discussion with
the committee was we wanted to see a
constant acceleration from the get-go um
so that wound up changing that back
mapping a little bit um the 10% one um
so on Ninth Grade on track we had
originally three years ago done that to
mirror our Milestone data um the
Milestone goals and if you remember back
when we did Milestones that was really
looking at the 5% gain and the 5% yeah
so um one of the problems that we had
was we had um incorrectly at one point
put in data around a 10% gain but it
should have been a 5% so that was one of
the clarifications that was
made other comments GE Jack so um so
appreciate um your work and I really
appreciate your um kind of pointing out
in a way that there's this gap between
what the the state is actually providing
in terms of its Investments and what we
know about the ways that we could be
investing and actually moving these
numbers toward the state's state school
so obviously um in a number of areas
with the really crucial and exception of
third grade reading um we are gaining
but we're not gaining fast enough and
we're certainly I mean the governor's
goals are very high and I'm not seeing
the accompanying commitment to while
there has been some turnaround
investment I'm not seeing the
accompanying commitment to a very high
ambitious level of investment um in the
types of programs and um strategies you
identify so um so I just I just struggle
with being incredibly depressed by this
but also just being re-energized by that
we're regardless of this form that I
don't know if it's just me but I have a
really hard time with the state's
understanding the state's form and
making much sense of it so I appreciate
that you have provided it to us in an
understandable manner so thank you for
that um uh it's just um I'm struggling
between you know are these the right
targets well we're doing our very best
to try to reach you've back mapped and
we're trying to reach this these very
high targets without um the quality and
education model that would um arguably
give us the best shot at reaching them
so um and I want us to be as ambitious
and work as hard as we can to reach all
those goals but um that's just that's
just part of my struggle but I also
appreciate suzan your point that it
isn't always about investment that we
what can we be doing as a district um to
be um more mindful about the different
choices we make and I feel like we're
moving in that direction but we have a
lot more to do but just having you all
um be working together and thinking
about this and making it visible um
gives me hope so I appreciate
that I guess I just want to thank you
for um the leadership with the
resolution um and and realizing that you
know it's without knowing anything about
the esac test we don't want anything to
be
punitive um for our district for our
teachers for our students um and so I I
think that I guess I'm really grateful
to have that kind of leadership and I
think it you know was felt by everyone
on the achievement cont impa committee
that not knowing what happens if we meet
or don't meet these goals we didn't want
to to write those in and go against the
I really appreciate your leadership back
at you and I think to me personally you
know I want to keep this what your work
visible we have to submit this this form
to the state but I want to keep what
you're doing is the that and and the
other um work grps around the district
and all the efforts that are going on so
the work that that you you're doing to
try to um say what is a meaningful
measure of having making sure that our
third graders are able to read and and
that's that's to me is where where I'm
interested in hearing and having you
guys continue to to weigh in and and
hearing from our teachers and and our
staff so I'm excited about that
part Dr Martin um so I know this is uh
in many ways a game of inches and
incremental gains and I think we can
celebrate those incremental gains I
can't help but think though that um uh
that we're not
reaching as far as we could um I'm
disappointed that our targets aren't
higher and uh a part of my
disappointment I think even more
importantly than the target is that I'm
not entirely convinced that
uh collectively we all agree that every
child in our schools can
achieve so uh until we can collectively
02h 20m 00s
get to that place um I'm not sure we're
we're going to ever reach um reach those
audacious goals that that we should have
um on the you know the third
grade uh reading Proficiency in fifth
grade and eighth grade proficiency and
not having any goals because not having
a um uh not having a
baseline uh I mean each of those should
be at a 100 every kid moving out of that
third grade out of that fifth grade out
of that eighth grade needs to be reading
at Benchmark and uh and if we look at it
that way it might be a little free for
us that every one of those kids in those
classrooms can achieve at that level um
and that's audacious I think uh can we
get there I don't know but if we if we
have that mindset can we get there get
higher than we were last year than our
actual was last year maybe so I'm more
inclined um although again logic tells
me this is a like I said a game of
inches I'm more inclined to want to be
audacious about this and fail being
audacious than fail being minimalist and
saying that this is Let's do an
incremental gain or what we think we can
achieve because I mean I I was about to
say what we think we can achieve um you
yeah sure you can achieve that but it's
not where you need to be but obviously
what we think we can achieve hasn't been
achievable yet um so uh so yeah that's
that's my feeling and I'm looking this
direction but I'm also looking this
direction
too uh and I know this isn't uh this
isn't um easy uh information to present
to this evening so I thank you for for
bringing bringing it
forward any
others uh director rean yeah I would
share director Martin's concern about
the incrementalism um and it would be
curious to submit this back to the state
and say 100% on every goal and just see
what kind of reaction that gives us too
um but it is what we should be heading
toward um I have uh three questions one
is on uh handson learning strategy um
did the uh committee members talk about
outdoor school at
all or could not this year we did not
specifically speak Outdoor School talk
about Outdoor School
because we reduced it from 5 days to 3
days and um to me if you want to talk
about Hands-On experiential learning
there's really nothing better than that
for that week and um and what it does
for for kids um you know during the
sixth grade but also for the high school
kids who are the uh counselors and the
leadership skills and our teachers of
tomorrow in many cases um I just think
there's huge opportunities there for us
to be thinking about that so I'd love to
have the committee at least talk about
it um the one question I had for David
Williams in the back our government
relations person is in terms of these ex
officio members um are
we thinking about trying to drop some uh
legislation or something that would say
that uh a cheap and compact advisory
committee membership should be expanded
to include or should there should be
some flexib ability to expand uh
membership on a district by District
level uh yeah thank you director rean
that's excellent question um I noted it
when you asked it before the legislation
has been brought previously um by uh the
Oregon school boards Association and the
organ PTA uh in a previous session to
add um other members as voting members
of the committee um it has not survived
the legislative process uh which also
included um some uh veto threats from
the governor as well about changing the
makeup of that along with as you know
they' brought bills to change the makeup
of the oib as well so it has faced an
uphill Challenge and we supported it
when they brought it before and
certainly would support it
again wow it just blows my mind because
the other one was not having a school
board member on the oib right and a
parent a parent representative but you
know in the achievement compacts I mean
what what is the thinking or the harm in
having one or two um uh folks identified
by each individual
District I'm asking the wrong person I
02h 25m 00s
we support the bill so I I know I just
don't I don't get it okay um and then
the final question is um Carol thank you
David um you have set a goal that 100%
of third graders in Portland school
would be reading a grade level um within
two years and so um again getting back
to our you know discuss how how are you
measuring 100% if I mean I'm presuming
you're not going to be using the of
balanced assessment either so how are
you no but that's why we're asking the
assessment committee to figure out
what's our local measure of how are we
doing it and I think
the being consistent with the resolution
that we submitted to the state about how
we want to approach um the smarter
balance and how we utilize smarter
balance and how the state utilizes
smarter balance feels consistent with
what this
particular document is uh in our thing
and I think we're figuring out a local
measure for us for third grade to do
third grade reading which we're still
holding 100% as our goal so that's the
goal we've claimed um director Morton we
claimed
100% no and I get the 100% but by what
measure that's what the assessment
commit is going to do and that's the
work we've asked them to right when we
said it we were still using Oaks so now
that we won't have Oaks
it's to that committee right so in the
time period since we set that goal we
have uh moved from Oaks to smarter
balanced assessment and this board has
adopted a policy around the smarter
balanced assessment so um or not a
policy thank you resolution for the
right word so with those two changing
factors and our understanding of just
best practice and assessment and want to
have multiple indicators around students
ability to students ability is period
within any given subject area it's one
of the tasks of the assessment work team
to look particularly at third grade
reading to establish what will we be
using as our indicator of
100% other comment I guess I I mean to
clarify I don't think I mean I want to
definitely speak for everyone on the
committee that no one didn't think that
students are capable that 100% of our
students are capable and it was in no
way to undermine superintendent Smith's
and our District's priority around third
grade reading it was more to support the
resolution in a compact with the state
versus what we want to achieve and then
for the outdoor school we though we
didn't talk specifically about that I
think what we were and then maybe this
would be a way to be strategic with the
money too is to look at where there's
overlap but there's programs like that
that not only help with academics and
learning but also help with the social
emotional piece that we know is so
important so then helping with our
retention and um absenteeism rate so um
you know we're supportive of any
programs like that and we all I mean I
don't think there was anyone around the
table that didn't have a story of what
kept them in school and it was like
drama or CTE you know wasn't the math
class even though I love
it that's great thanks okay any other
comments about the
targets director
BL so I guess one thing that as I try to
figure out these Target
um the the challenge I always have with
especially academic outcomes right is
that you get them about a year and a
half after you actually did the work
there's nothing to see how we're
progressing is there any discussion um
because those third grade targets are
not what we were hoping for um and I
don't want to come back next year and
say whoops again like are there I don't
know if it's process check-ins or if
it's if we're developing a local
assessment like how are we getting this
data more real time so that we can it's
almost like an early warning system for
this target right so currently as a
district specific to early literacy we
use Dibbles as a common measure across
all of all of our uh early grade levels
K through three um Dibbles is an
assessment that can be used three times
a year in addition to progress
monitoring students and what it doesn't
do for you is diagnose the actual
reading difficulties that a student
having but it does give you an indicator
of whether a student is at some risk or
at very high risk of not being on track
for their literacy gains uh we currently
use that consistently across the
district we are um building in a data
wall that allows us to be paying
attention to that data in a diff little
different way schools have had paper
pencil card data walls that they use at
their individual sites it's um a less
dynamic uh process for them so what we
want is for teachers to be able to inter
hear the interventions that we're doing
with this group of kids and here's the
change that we're seen as a result and
be able to share that with each other
02h 30m 00s
share those U promising practices so the
other shift that's happened this year is
tighter conversations with the senior
directors and the principes around how
are you looking at your data as far as
uh specific to early literacy around the
Dibbles data and then what are those
questions you're asking that are
follow-up questions so you're getting
more into the um deeper and truer
conversation around student literacy
gains so not just holding it to what
percentage of students are at Benchmark
as indicated by Dibbles what percent
aren't but the greater conversation of
if you have a number of students who are
showing is at risk using this assessment
what are those things that you're doing
in your classroom where you're seeing
the greatest gains uh what are those
things that you are doing differently as
a result of looking at the stat what
other what other indicators are you
looking looking at around early literacy
for your students and how might we be
able to use those as a school and as a
system that's much tighter this year
than it has been in years past and we've
just begun so that first assessment just
completed in September and is there any
way for did you I was just going to say
and Melissa did a little bit of a
preview of some of the discussions that
we've been having with our partners
around the the budget development is
really like what are we doing in order
to support some of that progress
monitoring and around data collection
and making that more available and
accessible for schools and I guess I I'd
be curious if there's interest in our um
our our seeing that data it sounds like
we're doing things more more tightly at
the site base level but I I guess I just
I do not want to be back here in another
year and say whoops well we're going to
try a little bit this and we're going to
be a little bit tighter on that I mean
that that is just going the wrong way
and I just
um it's just going the wrong way and we
need to reverse it um the second second
um comment is or I've lost track what
comment it is actually um is the uh
achievement compact talked a little bit
about expanding dual language for
immersion emerging bilinguals that's
fantastic and I'm still not sure that
like that's a pretty intensive and it
usually starts when students are young
I'm not sure that we still have a good
onboarding on ramping um for students
that are in ESL that came to us at a
different time and that's not an
effective strategy so I guess I just
hope that we can um find a strategy I
don't think we have a good articulation
yet of of how we best do that um and my
other concern and this was related to
what I was saying about like this is
this is a good list and I I hear this
list of what we can do and what could be
Investments but my concern is that if we
always if we only go back to doing what
we've always done we're going to get the
same results and the same results are
not good enough um and so we have to
come up with the strategies that are
most effective we can't just go back and
fill and what we've always done
so others Dr
PE this whole conversation is really
difficult for me because one of the
things that if you want children to read
at grade level then you have to teach
them to read at grade level I mean you
have to teach them to read and that
takes that's a large thing it's not like
you go out and say okay we're going to
do this in the classroom we're going to
make the teacher a better teacher that's
not EXA that didn't work sorry I mean
how are we doing we're went down pretty
much right a lot of our things how are
we doing how are we following the the
whole Reform movement idea of the
testing and the data and everything how
are we doing not particularly very good
how are they doing in Oregon not
particularly very good how's everybody
doing not particularly very good what
you have to do is identify those kids
who can't read and teach them to read
and that's not a strategy that you can
necessarily do in one classroom
I disagree in a in a little bit with
what Matt said he said 100% of the kids
can learn he that's correct but are we
set up to teach 100% of them to get to
grade level are we out here in other
types of things do we are we doing the
things that will get those kids to read
and and to some degree we're restricted
from doing some of them and some of them
we should be doing we the fact that we
don't have
Librarians certificated Librarians in
all our elementary schools that's how
you get children interested in books and
if they get interested in books guess
what they will often read That's
everybody who's ever taught school knows
that I mean this is and and that's shown
over and over and over by the research
and if a kid's a couple grade levels
behind guess what you got to get that
kid some extra help and if a kid's
dyslexic and that's the problem guess
what you got to get that kid some extra
help this idea that you can that the
teachers themselves can be improved to
where they can get the larger percentage
of their kids to read a great that's
just poppycock really it it's not how
02h 35m 00s
you do it how you do it is you go in
there and you teach those kids to read
and you focus on that and and I'm not
even criticizing what we're doing we're
doing what we think that we should be
doing but we have the wrong push at it
that's why I complain about the
Milestones themselves they mess us up
what we should be looking at as our
objective is can every child read I know
teachers who at the end of the year
every kid in their class can read at
grade level regardless of the situation
because they did what it took to get
them there and if you have 30 kids and a
lot of them are difficult children in
terms of teaching yes they can learn but
can we teach them all that's the
question not whether whether our
teachers believe they can learn I've
never seen one teacher in in my entire
life that did not believe that each of
their children could learn I mean where
is that coming from that's craziness
that's crazy talk in a way what it is is
can we teach them and it's not
incremental with teaching them it's
getting in and figuring out who can and
can't read and teaching them and putting
the time and the energy in and giving
the teachers the support to do that
that's totally different in a way that
what that than what we've done and what
we're talking about I love the idea of
what they're doing here with this
committee because they're saying here
begin to look at it like this but it's
not enough because we still have to
identify this kid can't read so what do
we KN do we do in this CL in this
classroom in this school to get this kid
to read it's not generalized and we're
going to look at the things that's not
that it's not going to help us really
doing what we need to do okay well thank
you because that's exactly what I
thought we were talking about so I
totally agree with you thank you
director
bu um any other anybody
else okay thank you very much for your
presentation and for all your
explanations and look forward to hearing
from you all
again okay on to coordinated early
intering
services to not superintendent Smith
would you like to introduce this item I
would so this is going to be a report on
our coordinator
Services plan and Melissa goof our
assistant superintendent for teaching
and learning and Mary Pearson our
director of special education will
present the
plan so we're going to just take a brief
moment and make sure that we get the
correct Power
Point quick
bre do a quick
bre
for the TV Camera huh do something for
the TV
camera just wait for
them you can take a break if you
want
02h 40m 00s
we
mat
Steve Steve Bobby we're gonna
start
you guys want to go
ahead hi there uh my name is Melissa go
I'm the assistant superintendent for
teaching and learning and I'm Mary
Pearson senior director of special
education and tonight Mary and I are
looking forward to sharing with you our
coordinated early intervening Services
plan that we submitted last week to the
Oregon Department of Education uh
addressing our uh finding insignificant
disproportionality in exclusionary
disciplinary practices for over 10 days
uh within our special education student
population we uh will be sharing more
information with you when special
education presents to you I believe in
November November uh but we wanted to
make sure that we got this in front of
you tonight so to make sure that you had
the same information that we have uh in
this
work and before I get started I want to
just um
um add to what Melissa said about uh we
will be coming to present a larger plan
to you in November which is kind of a
special education redesign this is a
small part of a much larger plan
so um so what is coordinated early
intervening Services um the individuals
with Disabilities Act idea allows for
school districts to use 15% of their
idea funds for tier 2 and tier three
interventions for general education
students so districts always have that
option to do that in cases when there's
significant disproportionality districts
are required to use 15% of their idea
funds for tier 2 and tier three
interventions for spe uh for general
education students um just there are
four areas where districts can receive
significant disproportionality just for
your information one is around
discipline d uh significant
disproportionality and discipline one is
around significant um disproportionality
for just identification for special
education and then one is for
identification within particular
eligibility categories and then the
fourth is um uh over representation in
one particular setting like for a a a
really a restrictive
setting so just I'm sure you've seen
this before but just just to familiarize
you again with multi-tiered systems of
support we're really talking about tier
2 and tier three interventions that are
specialized tier two being specialized
for groups you know the tier one is the
the supports that all students get tier
two is really looking at that um smaller
groups and targeted um interventions and
then tier three is obviously
individualized very individualized
supports so the requirements of this
funding is that we um 15% of our IDE
budget would which would be about $1.5
million of idea over the two years which
20145 and 1516 are allocated to tier 2
and three inter uh behavior supports in
this case for general education students
we're required to submit a plan with a
budget to um OD that outline what the
expenditures are and how they will be
allocated over the two
years um we're we're required to Target
our Focus around prevention strategies
and in this case um we will be
especially targeting black students in
our
02h 45m 00s
interventions and then um we follow the
annual reporting
requirements
um I think it's important to go back and
look at our data um we have made
progress over the years um what you see
here in the first graph is non-sp
special education students so from 2009
to 2013 which are the two years where we
receive significant
disproportionality our overall um
discipline for non-speed students went
from uh 227 to 110 from sped students
from 101 to 38 and then for our black
students from
44 um to 19 and then white students from
44 to 133 so and again I need to these
are specifically students who have been
removed um either suspended or expelled
from school for more than 10 days in a
school
year so given this Improvement why are
we um sitting here talking about um this
our early intervening
Services um in 2012 13 there were 19
students that experienced exclusionary
practices of more than 10 days in a
school year um over 13 schools and that
um Although our exclusionary rates have
significantly decreased since
2009 our rates for white students have
decreased at a higher Pace than our
students of color in this case our
African-American
students so our early um intervening
funds um what we're focusing on is
prevention I loved what this the
counselor said when she was up here
earlier
um I couldn't agree more um that um we
we believe that um that our school
psychologists like school counselors are
a resource in the building that is at is
is at the building level and is um can
have uh tremendous leverage around this
work um so we're asking that formally
15% of our school pyes spend their time
on prevention um this is aligned with
their National um organization the
National Association of school
psychologists um and they're the
National Association of school
psychologist sorry psychologist um
Service delivery model really focuses on
prevention um it focuses on systemwide
um uh sort of in putting systems in
place that permeate all aspects of the
service delivery model so looking at
really data driven decision making
accountability um you know collaboration
and Consulting
um it also looks at services at the
student level so really um targeting
individual student supports as well as
looking systemwide at the building Mary
yes what percentage of our schools have
a full-time psychologist on staff oh I
don't have that data off the top of my
head high schools do all um I believe
all of our high schools do um some of
them have more than a 1.0 but no not in
our Ka buildings um it it's ranged it's
on a staffing formula so I can get that
information to you though but all of our
schools have access to I psychologist at
least part-time yes
okay um so why School psychologists um
because they are a school-based resource
that um has the professional capacity
and the knowledge to to drive some of
this work and like I said it's an
alignment with the National Association
of school
psychologists um 10 domains of practice
so what we have done over the last year
is we have a an advisory group of school
psychologists that we meet with on a
monthly basis we started this
conversation last year so even though
well before we knew about this
significant disproportionality we were
already moving in this direction um
because this is really what their
National Organization recommends and we
believe it's best practice so uh the
work that we're doing with our advisory
council is um looking at their job at at
a more deeper level so obviously if
we're going to ask them to spend 15% of
their time on prevention we need to take
other things off of their plate so we're
looking at how we can streamline some
other portions of their position and the
things that they do um and so and I
think I had sent you we've sent out a a
survey to them they um as actually
looking at how many school syes are
already doing this because many are
because again if if you've graduated in
the last 10 years this is sort of the
02h 50m 00s
training that you've gotten so
um and then of course this is just part
of a much larger plan that is part of
the superintendent's um priorities um
but some of the things that we have
decided as a group that we will focus on
as far as professional development for
our school psychologists is around
culturally responsive
PBIS um restorative practices really
making sure that all of our school sites
are leaders in their building around
functional Behavior assessment um and
then we're um looking to have them all
trained in what's called team initiated
problem solving which is um is sort of a
um research-based way of looking at data
and running effective meetings that is
really um research based on um using
data to make decision making
that's it so
questions questions from board
members yes director Bu you're going to
come back with a another plan when was
that so in November I believe I'm on the
one of your agendas to um come back
around sort of a SP redesign Brad plan
yeah this is that would be much more of
a department a a whole department
redesign and is that going through the
committee that the is the committee
working on that the one on the uh
discipline disparity
committee um no no I so the discipline
disparity committee isn't working on the
plan no this is this is a much larger
plan around special education redesign
on our service delivery model not just
around discipline our whole Service
delivery
model yeah
so we're all all of the was all this
stuff the 1.6 million that we have to
deal with did that deal with general
education African-American students also
uh I believe so yes with the so but we
don't do we have a plan for coming back
in November to deal with that oh I I
mean I'm on that commit you're on you're
on you're the special ed part so so
Melissa Shea I mean we have next meeting
we're coming with the budgets on the
three priorities so that will be at your
next board meeting and one of those is
the disproportion discipline District
the districtwide plan what they're
speaking up tonight is specifically the
finding around special education dis
next next week also include
non
funding Parts in other words suppose we
decided that the plan was we want to we
want want to have our principles and our
teachers get along better because that
would allow them to talk in a better way
within setting up the disciplinary
structure of their school their
behavioral things it's a critical thing
for instance around PBIS it's a critical
thing around restorative justice to have
those people get along so but that
doesn't cost any money we tell them the
we we train our principles on how to get
along so I mean is that part of the I
mean how how broad how broad are we
going here on this plan so I I I hope
I'm understanding your question uh I'm
not sure I do okay um so if you do let
me know so that so that you know um so
senior director Pearson and I have been
meeting with um with Chief Equity
officer lenzo Po and today we met again
with Janine fakuda uh from the office of
equity to go over the these examples of
the professional development priorities
that are embedded yes in the office in
teaching and learning side of the work
and also embedded within the work that
will be brought to you next week so you
will see further these same components
you will see within the proposal that
comes to you next week as well question
okay I guess
that my question is broader than the
equity issue it's around the it's
discipline disparity and so we need a
plan which
creates Alternatives I'm sorry forgive
me those types of things see when I we
have an alternative plan we have a plan
how we we we need to relook at how we're
doing uh uh our discipline structure
within the school district we need to
look at how we're doing in in each
school we need to get those people
getting together in
order I'm talking about an overall way
where we actually approach the whole
problem not the singular problem kind of
absolutely which is the numbers exactly
we can just quit suspending and that
take care sorry yeah so I apologize um I
didn't make it clear that so Chief
02h 55m 00s
Equity officer lenzo PO is actually
overseeing our uh disciplinary um goals
the priority that that the
superintendent has SP has placed around
exclusionary practices particularly
disproportionality and student
discipline so it will Encompass not only
Equity components but it will Encompass
the the larger strategic components that
we're talking about districtwide in
regards to exclusionary disciplinary
practices and that's coming from the
Strategic component is coming from the
same three people here or is that coming
from and actually um so I think some of
what you're speaking to we've set as a
larger um our large are part of our
larger goals and actually even part of
the the work plan in terms of how are we
working more collaboratively with our um
our teachers how are with the climate
surveys of how are we looking at the
climate in our schools the successful
schools so a number of things you're
talking about the overarching things are
present in our more Global work plan and
what you're going to see in these
individual budgets are much more
strategies specific to that but what
you're talking about more globally how
are we getting along with each other how
are we working more collaboratively how
are we imp go together with this is that
going to presented sometime to the board
that's my question I think but it
doesn't sound like it's going to be in
the the special ed material that's
brought to us and it and it doesn't
sound to me like it's going to be into
money and it doesn't sound to me like so
it's buil around the three thing so is
it is it going to be presented to us
someplace so some of this we talked
about in our work with you guys this
summer and we like I'm going to I'm
going to Def like bump this to when you
were talking about your work plan which
will be the next thing because the
number of the that items you're
addressing fit there and let you and
connect to every one of the other
strategies because we had a goal about
how are we working more collaborative
with our Union and we've got a whole
work plan under that we've done some
stuff about the climate survey which
will be applied to every individual
school and we've got a work plan around
that so numbers of the things you talked
about as part of your work session this
summer are in motion and will impact the
work of these individual strategy teams
um
but they're not going to necessarily be
called out in each one of the strategies
so the answer is see in our work plan
that disci line some discipline data is
in December January and June work
sessions so you'll see discipline data
but is that the discipline plan how to
reduce out of school discipline so and
that budget's coming to we'll have a
plan from you that's broader and we be
okay great thank you question all this
right now let's just stick to this
particular plan and this topic we're
getting a little Broad and I think that
it's hard to answer all those questions
when we don't really know what's
happening in December right now so let's
just stick with this and and I think
that it's important to note that this
will nest in a much larger plan that is
in total alignment right and just this
piece came up because there were
questions about what is the directive
what's the and is when so this is just
informational so that every that we and
the public understand what that was
about but obviously it's part of a much
larger
exactly so in terms of the um
coordinator early intervening Services
plan it looks like there's a
districtwide component and then it looks
like there's a targeted plan and the
target plan says that 12 targeted
schools will be included in a
districtwide plan and will receive a
high level of follow-up coaching and
support what are the 12 targeted schools
that you're referring to and those are
the targ targeted schools that is part
of the larger plan with the district and
out of the um office of equity and I
don't know that those I mean I think we
have a draft plan of the targeted
schools but we don't have a final plan
is that correct okay so I was just
trying to understand if that was related
to the 13
schools where we had black boys expelled
or but some of them might overlap it's
a part of the uh conundrum with a
finding like this is the um um the
seeming misalignment between the finding
and how you're directed to then use the
dollars so the finding is specific to
within special education we're able to
look specifically at that
disproportionality data which we have an
issue with disproportionality across our
system we're very well aware of our need
to address that and when you speak to
the 13
schools uh at which the 19 students were
suspended or expelled for over 10 days
the dollars by design of the finding are
to be spent across the district in
general
03h 00m 00s
education uh targeted activities so it
isn't um the the the dollars don't go
specifically to special education
practices nor do they go specifically to
uh individual schools so when we talk
about a targeted plan and we say the 12
targeted schools mhm
where's that coming from I'm sorry and
that's that's again that's a part of the
larger District plan and they're still
trying to Define what um targets they're
going to use to identify those schools
so we've just come up with 12 schools
that we're going to Target resources to
I mean why why not 10 why not 14 I'm
just trying to understand when it says
the 12 targeted schools where where is
that and I don't I don't I mean the
criteria was based on High level high
number of not necessarily exclusionary
practices but so this is what's coming
to you next week as a part of the
discipline disparities plan okay so yeah
yeah and then my other question was in
terms of um the reasons that uh these
students and not just the the 19 uh
black students but um you know are out
of school suspensions the reasons uh
that they're out of school is that going
to come to us in more detail whether it
was you know insubordination drugs gun
safety whatever it was yes I have that
data I can get it you okay I'd
appreciate saying that yeah school yes
and by school yeah because I appreciate
we would I would assume that we were
going to take very different approaches
depending on what the infraction was I
mean in some cases you you don't want
that child in school if it's a severe
enough infraction but there's obviously
completely different professional
development and other things that come
into play depending on what the
infraction is right so the intention of
these dollars really is to look at that
yellow band so where can we be
preventative not across every single
student but students who we start to see
um maybe exhibiting behaviors that are
just atypical within a classroom setting
and and not uh um not addressed by one
teacher the same way as it's addressed
by another teacher so what are those
things that we can do differently in
order to engage with students through an
asset-based approach um and prevent
things escalating to the point where you
would say well of course there are some
things we would be expelling the student
for right so the intention of these
dollars is to invest prior to us getting
to a point where a student's Behavior
would be such that we would be concerned
about it okay director
bu I've had several constituents ask me
about the 1.6 million now the 1.6
million which is now what what
percentage of the 1.6 million was spent
on the activities that were going to to
be spending them on now under the new
plan under before we were given the
penalty of those having to spend the 1.6
million what percentage of the 1.6
million was spent on what we're going to
spend it on to begin with um I would
have to work with the budget office to
get the exact amount because some staff
are already on those funds on Ida funds
and it's so it it's depends but um m
question that of course is built around
do we now need to go back into the
special ed department and and backfill
no we we have the money in our idea in
reserves that we will use use reserves
there okay thank you well I that's not
that's not District reserves it's idea
reserves yeah it's idea reserves and
right so I wanted to make sure that that
yeah was
out and and also a lot of the work work
that um senior director Pearson has done
with her team has been very proactive
around this so when we receed the
finding uh we were not surprised by this
finding and I don't think anybody in
this room would have been surprised by
this finding this is from data from 2012
13 we've discussed this data multiple
times we know we aren't meeting our
obligations to our students around this
work um so when the special education
budget was built this year which
includes both looking at how they spend
their general fund but also how do they
invest their idea funds Mary and her
team really built around how can we
proactively build in to the to the
optional 15% to to spend that idea
funding differently so we had already
built that the difference and it's back
on one of the earlier slides which you
don't have anyway um the difference
really is not only the the assignation
of the dollars but it's the reporting so
Mary and her team had already planned
had already been working with school
Sykes around how do we do our work more
in alignment with with what your
National Organization is saying we need
to do how do we have your input into
03h 05m 00s
doing that how do we increase FTE so we
increased the school psych FTE by 5 FTE
already prior to this occurring um with
the intentionality of having this
approach be the approach that we move to
so uh in that planning uh Mary and her
team were able to to specifically try to
address some of these
issues one of the differences is we have
to report we have to code every
expenditure as a part of this finding
now under CIS whereas we would not have
needed to actually code those dollars in
that way prior to the prior to the
finding so did the money drop I mean did
the numbers drop from if this is
20101 no was 20112 this is 2012 133 data
that they're using correct so it was
just this last year two years ago two
years ago so well two years then last
year's data did did the numbers drop
since we'd already begin to move in that
direction did the numbers go down and we
don't we don't have the official numbers
from the state they're always almost two
years
behind we send don't we send them the
numbers yes if we looked at the numbers
that we sent did the numbers go down
since we're already the numbers I
believe it it's pretty much stayed
steady the new stuff didn't go down so
what we're this budget build was just
for this 1415 school year so the budget
build I was referencing with you was the
work Mary and her team did last January
through June thank you that was sorry
thank you other questions or
comments drer
blow
um one I just appreciate us continuing
to have this conversation about dis
proportionality um as you said it's it's
not surprising it's unacceptable um but
it's not surprising and we've known it's
an issue and I guess I just wanted to
comment that I've heard some community
members say why why is this still an
issue um and I I want to note the
aggressive action that you all have
taken and again it's still not
acceptable where we're at but I just
want to make sure that when we say that
tomorrow or next year whenever we get
rid of um disproportionate discipline
it's really about taking the correct
action to try to figure out how to keep
as many kids in school as we possibly
can because we know when they're not
with us um they're not learning what we
were hoping that to to give them um
right and so I just I just want to
highlight um because I I think these as
as disappointing as the third grade
reading um and the academic numbers were
before I find it um very hopeful that we
had a 51% Improvement and the number of
exclusionary discipline um down to 110
across the district that um students
with disabilities uh saw
62.4% Improvement down to 38 students um
and a reduction in the exclusion
exclusionary discipline with black black
students that it's down
56.8% it's still over the threshold of
disproportionality which isn't okay um
and that is significant movement and I
don't want us to be so afraid or so
worried about public input or feedback
that we don't continue to tackle this
head on and that's what I hear you guys
saying so I appreciate that um and I
look forward to hearing what the plan is
both for the district and within special
ed because I know special ed has been
working on this for about a year a year
and a half as part of the courageous
conversations and how do we stop
overidentification and all of that so
thank you thank you I look forward to
sharing more with you great
others what he said what he said okay me
too thank you very much thank you
appreciate you being
here okay now we'll move on to the
business agenda business agenda Excuse
Me Miss Houston are there any changes to
the business agenda there is not do I
have a motion at a second to adopt the
business
agenda uh director Marton um I'd like to
request that we pull out the resolution
recognizing indigenous people's day and
talk about that separately that's not in
the
business I don't think it's in there I
it's in there
I'd like to make a
motion um before or after the business
agenda to suspend our rules to possibly
consider something in addition a
resolution okay I wanted to pull uh
resolution
4965 we a chunk okay so um director
Morton I think uh think director kler
brought up beginning that is not
actually in the business agenda so we'll
wait and either you or director B can
bring that up when we finish the
business agenda um and then director
Regan would like to to uh poll
03h 10m 00s
4965 is there a second for that
second um all those in
favor I
opposed representative I I the prot that
was the protocols yes yes okay
okay so why don't we go ahead and do
4965
firsts so
comments so we have an
amended version where are we it is I
think was based on your input so so I
was bringing forward Amendment do we
need to have a a motion to consider it
first before I bring forward the
amendment or do I just bring the
amendment I think we already have we had
a motion to pull so I think first you
have to go ahead and tell us what your
Amendment would be and then we'll okay
so um in um resolution number 4965 which
is adopting board member expectations
and operating protocols there's no
reference in here to another employee of
ours who is the um District performance
auditor uh the position is currently not
filled but it is one of our
responsibilities and so I wanted to
include language in here um similar to
the you know language Rel to the
superintendent on what our kind of R
roles and responsibilities and operating
Protocols are around the performance
auditor so in the uh first on the page
that says board member expectations and
operating protocols I was suggesting
that we add a a new uh five that says
hire set goals for and evaluate the
board performance
auditor and then later on where we talk
about priority setting and evalue
valuation I would add a d so this would
be under superintendent evaluation of C
D would be per board performance auditor
would say the board will establish a
process for determining which annual
performance audits will be implemented
and will ensure that the board
performance Auditors provided with the
access the support to accomplish the
audit mostly I just want to reference
the fact that we have another employee
and another function that wasn't
mentioned in here in any capacity so
that is my
Amendment
so I caught um we have a paper copy I
don't have it I I don't have it it was
in some of the materials that on a desk
took
me so this is this is why it's important
to get all this stuff done before we
have a board meeting and not to have a
stack of papers in front of us at board
meetings
so
okay so I think that's a motion Bobby
yes
okay so director Regan moves a change to
uh the operating protocols adding a
section five around hiring setting goals
for an evaluating the performance
auditor and to
the 1 D
priorities under 1 d a hold up one yeah
1
D um again establishing the process for
determining annual performance Audits
and ensuring that the board performance
audits provide with access to support
and
accomplish um actually okay so that's
the
motion that's a second so my one uh so
I'll start comments um because I believe
that there is already a process set
under the
um our current policies about how to
determine which um audits will be
implemented with
your so there's also a policy around a
variety of things that are in here I
know I just want to make sure that we
have it in here that that's one of our
responsibilities and we have a committee
that's been established to do this very
thing and I'm saying it's already it's
already really there but yeah so
okay any other comments
okay all those in favor of the
Amendments as stated say I I
opposed and I saw student representative
as also an
i okay others director
bule uh do I talk to I can talk to the
whole motion now the motion that motion
has already been I can talk to the whole
the whole your I can you speak to the
resolution right okay I have spent time
at more than one previous board meeting
explaining problems with these protocols
and basically nothing has changed they
are still plagued by first uh director
bu before you go into that you have to
have a motion for some kind of a change
or before you move into that well I'll
wait for the res I thought we could
03h 15m 00s
speak to the resolution
now that's what I was speaking to the
resolution isn't the resolution before
us we haven't how do we make a motion to
something that wasn't before us I I'll
I'll do that for you okay right here I
thought that's what I thought you had
another amendment no
okay all right so let's go ahead and
vote on resolution
4965 that's what I'm talking to 4965
this is okay I'm sorry discussion about
that that's okay let's have board
discussion on very it's very it is very
confusing a little I appreciate yeah
okay uh I'll start over I have spent
time at more than one previous board
meeting explaining problems with these
protocols and basically nothing has
changed they are still plagued by what
my mother used to call silliness for
over a year I have tried to help the
board majority understand we are not a
private club but an elected government
body with important responsibilities
I've explained we need to follow federal
law state law including open meetings
laws and our own policies I have
explained past practice and how it works
and how resolutions are binding but must
follow the law and our own policy but
obviously to no avail since I have been
over much of this protocol territory
before with no success and since protoc
calls are not binding anyway I won't
spend a lot of time reviewing but as a
prime example I will focus on just one
sentence and using that one sentence
point out why no board member should
Vote for This resolution under the third
section headed communication the
protocols state board members should
refrain from personally criticizing
another board member or District staff
in public let's talk about the board
member part maybe some of my fellow
colleagues have heard of something
called the United States Constitution a
very important part of the Constitution
is the First Amendment which outlines
the major rights of each citizen in the
United
States I brought copies for each of you
I'll pass on
now that's the
Constitution first
am that's that's funny I know
a very important part of the
Constitution is the first amendment I
have brought copies for each of you and
I made a couple copies for anyone in the
audience who might like one later
they're kind of cool I put a little US
flag on them in case someone didn't know
what the US flag looked like and
somebody just commented that this is not
Congress it starts out Congress but we
are under the same laws because it's
federal law and so we're under those
laws see they're not uh breach to not
breach freedom of speech same typical
thing the First Amendment outlines the
five most basic rights of American
citizens the Supreme Court has said the
rights are in order first is religious
freedom second is freedom of speech the
one we have botched third is freedom of
the press fourth is freedom to peaceably
assemble and fifth is another we should
be particularly in tune to the right to
petition the government for redress of
grievances it would seem to be clear
that telling a board member to not
criticize another board member in public
certainly goes against freedom of speech
the most sacred right of freedom of
speech is religious speech but political
speech is a close second so here come
the Board elections and we are telling
each board member to not criticize
another member in public this may be the
most absurd assertion we have made since
I have been on the board and that is
saying something frankly I would think
the board majority would all be a little
embarrassed over this after all we are
the people in the community directly
responsible for making making sure our
children receive an education and
citizenship which not only teaches
American government but their rights
under the law but even more so we are
the district which has the nation's most
outstanding High School constitutional
Scholars any of which could tell you in
a minute that rest in fact we have one
up here could tell you in a minute that
restricting protected speech is the act
of a totalitarian government body I
would thank Miss nolles who works at a
university would know better and I would
thank Mr Morton who runs a school filled
with children who ancestors had their
rights stripped from them for centuries
might be a little cognizant of
protecting basic rights but I guess not
so vote so vote away but as for me I am
voting
no thank
you other comments director Atkins sure
just real quick so I just appreciate I
mean that we've worked on this document
a number of times over several Retreats
and so we're adopting it normally also
appreciate that the same section under
communication that director bu was just
coming to the very next item D is board
members retain the right to express
individual opinions and when doing so
will clearly state that the opinion is
his or hers and not that of the board so
I appreciate that that that Clause as
03h 20m 00s
well but um one thing that for folks who
weren't listening into our last um
discussion of this at our most recent
retreat was that um we adopted this
knowing that we have to also work this
year on getting our policies updated and
that hopefully this document can be a
lot more streamlined in the future
because a lot of it sort of duplicates
and so anyway I just wanted to remind um
just let folks know about that I
appreciate and just this may be um we
also had related to the I guess I'll
bring it up when we get to the
4966 because just to be in parallel with
the changes around um having the auditor
and just that that work plan is a living
document and that got added as well but
we don't necessarily have to vote on it
because it is a living document so we
have all the requirements for the audit
are already our policies right so and
then it's again it's that duplication
that we're trying to get rid
of and next time we won't have to have
it in there so right and also just to
point out that we have I'm looking
forward to the the work with the
Committees that's getting underway so we
have the the audit committee and the
charter committee and the brand new
climate committee as well as the
District board groups that to
participate on so that's anus of it as
well so anyway we're glad thanks I just
want to say thanks again for all the
work that went into um shaping these as
well as most importantly the work plan
it's really exciting to have that um and
this will be up on the website as well
so great Dr so most times when we are
looking at resolutions or oftentimes
when we're looking at resolutions um
they're actually um kind of a revision
to a
current
policy um is that the case with this one
I mean not quite understanding your so a
lot of times when we pass a resolution
it is a revision you'll see on the
bottom of the resolution when it was
first adopted by the board in 1972 and
then it was revised in ' 84 and then it
revised again in '97 and it was revised
again so I guess my question is has the
board adopted board member expectation
and operating protocols in the past
yes so why is that not listed I
don't
hi um so I think the date stamp that
you're talking about is normally at the
bottom of the policies that are adopted
by the board normally for the
resolutions we don't acknowledge the
number of times that they've been
adopted but um this board has I think
for the last three years adopted these
operating protocols and we've had them
up on the website um and passed
resolutions for
them okay okay that's
helpful um so one of my I mean in
general I think having um board member
expectations and operating protocols
makes sense um at the same time one of
my concerns is I feel like a lot of
times we um
when when um staff or uh board
leadership wants to shut down
discussions this is what you end up
doing you go over these over and over
and over over again um and I'm not
saying that about this board I'm saying
it about another board that I served on
um uh where it was important for board
members to be speaking up and out and um
what the staff and and the board
leadership did was just constantly go
back to you know like every month
relooking at our protocols and it was uh
unbelievably frustrating and a complete
and utter waste of time so um I feel
like we've already spent way too much
time on this um I'm I'm fine moving
forward with it I guess um I don't look
at this as binding particularly um and I
guess if as binding binding um if
somebody tells me it's binding I'll vote
no but I'm assuming this is more about
expectations on how we uh treat each
other um on a staff so Amanda could you
uh talk to us about whether this is just
uh expectations or whether this is
presumably binding in some way because
um I will change my vote depending on
your
answer I don't know how I don't know how
it could be I don't know how it could be
binding since we're all individually
elect title alone says board member
expectations and protocols and so it's
just just expectations we have for each
it's our working agreements and it's
just a okay there's nothing binding
about it so that to me is important
because there are a couple of pieces in
there in here that I would probably take
some exception to a little bit uh
although I certainly appreciate the need
for us to have some respectful tools of
Engagement as we work together so
03h 25m 00s
okay Dr B I just wanted to make a
comment in um regarding director bule's
um comments director bu and you and I
can talk about this maybe more in a more
appropriate setting then at the Das but
I just want to acknowledge that um I
felt co-opting another group's uh
oppression um for uh for personal gain
or to make someone's Point especially
someone from the dominant culture um is
quite inappropriate and again I'm happy
to talk to you later about that um but I
just wanted to put it on
record other
comments um yeah just I mean I like how
Bob I think this you know we spent too
much time on this and it's basically you
know act as as a adult and
um respectable elected official
so that's kind of how I view the thing
um the uh but I do agree on the on on
the
uh the criticism political speech aspect
of it I find a
little uh not
correct so I mean I agree with Steve on
that particular Point um and also
there's some there's one thing in there
that says you shall vote on every single
measure and um I don't want to be told
that because like on this particular
issue I may
abstain any other
comments
okay okay then we'll vote on resolution
4965 Miss Houston would you do a roll
call vote
please
director I'm voting no I'm voting for
The Constitution and against the uh and
against the uh resolution director bot
yes director
rean yes director Atkins yes director
Morton yes director kler
abin uh chair NES
yes and student representative yes
resolution passes thank
you okay um now to our regular business
agenda any other comments on the
business so agenda maybe it's I don't if
it's a point of order I mean the so the
areas of focus and um work plan for
20145 um staff did in light of Bobby
bringing forward that change in addition
to the operating protocols they did put
in I mean I just want to back up and
clarify that this is a living document
inant attended to be that so we're we're
voting to approve it tonight not because
nothing on this will ever change um this
includes you know when things are coming
to us but it's our commitment and our um
public you know commitment to this but
it doesn't mean that it's every piece of
this is out to a set in stone but
acknowledging that Bobby had brought
forward that addition to clarify that
yes we are doing the the work forance
auditor staff did put in um that so I
didn't know good if we needed to go
through the same process it's already in
there isn't it it wasn't before but it
is now so it's now in the revised
version on the back on a second am I
looking at the wrong
one it's a it's a working document so
I'm not sure that we were specific I
know I'm just saying it's going to keep
changing it's now sorry the revised but
it's going to keep changing so okay
that's fine I appreciate it isn't there
that's fine we have we have an amended
version that added a cell that said
establish audit plan November complete
audit June that's all perfect which was
going to be added as soon as the audit
committee met and decided to do that
very so I'm
just and I just wanted to call out one
thing that I'm very pleased about in um
in our um plan here which is that
the intergovernmental agreement agement
here with the mol Education Service
District includes funding for our
current outdoor schools so um really
pleased that we are have been able to
continue it at some level um certainly
hope at some level at some time very
soon we'll be able to expand it back to
the full week but anyway it's exciting
that it's in there for us to vote on
tonight any other
comments okay in that case uh let's vote
on the business agenda all in favor
please indicate by saying yes yes yes
all opposed any
extensions this agenda is approved by a
vote of 7 to zero with student
representative jall voting
03h 30m 00s
yes director director B sorry it's okay
I I'd like to make a motion um there's a
resolution that's been at your tables
that I've talked individually with um to
you but in order to consider this
resolution not having had it in packets
um per our protocols and processes um we
would need to have um a 2third u
majority of the board agree to suspend
our rules um so I'd like to make a
motion to sup suspend our ordinary rules
to consider uh the next
resolution is there a second to the
motion no second that
discussion can I have a chance to read
it I haven't seen this before this is
just on whether we're going to consider
it
so I'll wait for a few
minutes
go ahead all those in in favor of
suspending the rules in order to
consider uh this resolution recognizing
indigenous people's day say I I I
opposed no okay student representative J
yes okay okay so now we can go ahead and
consider the
resolution um I'd like to make a
resolution or a motion to consider the
resolution recognizing indigenous
people's day
um okay chair NOS I'll need resolution
number I don't know what our last one
4967 yep 4967
4967
um do you want me to read it you want me
to read it prior to a second or do you
want I think everybody here has it so
and everybody's read it is that
correct okay do we have a
second
second discussion
director B yeah I don't know I think
that's probably a good idea but I do
have
a I do have a couple comments one is if
we're going to encourage District staff
to include the teaching of the history
culture and governments of the
indigenous peoples of our state first of
all I think the state probably should be
of our nation uh or actually should be
maybe of our North American South Amer
Central America we should be teaching
that but not just our state but we
should actually be doing this not just
having a day we should actually have
curriculum that's built around where
this fits into our social studies
curriculum and in our social studies
curriculum in a lot of places is
practically non-existent I was talking
to teacher the other day says you
understand Steve that nobody is teaching
any social studies in our school in K
through five so we're not this is nice
but I would much rather see added on a
section that said and I'd love to come
back and say
because relevant his history should be
taught throughout our school system and
it and it should include indigenous
peoples they should include black
history it should include Latino history
we should have that as a major area of
focus in what we're doing in our schools
now I was back when I co-authored the
desegregation plan way back
way back what that was one of the major
things we did was added in black history
and we told the superintendent to get
that going we want it going I'm I I
think we need to look at our whole
social studies framework Within These
different various sections of history
that obviously should be in there and
throughout the whole thing they're not
you don't pick them out and just put
them here you put them into the whole
historical context so I would love to
see the people who are voting for this
along with
me who have four votes kind of on the
board come back with a plan that says
okay let's get this social studies
straightened out let's get this relevant
history and and even some relevant
cultural things going in our schools
03h 35m 00s
where we don't have them so they're come
from the center not left up to the
occasional teacher who does that so I'm
planning to vote for this but I'd love
to see actual some something that would
really affect the kids in the long run
thank you other
comments sure Dr Morton
um I'm obviously excited to uh to see
something like this I think there's um
there's a lot more to it I can you know
I understand from your frame director
bule uh putting it within a historical
context I think uh the larger
implications actually fit within our
current modern context of how we engage
and serve our native students within our
Portland Public School buildings um I
think this is a a really positive
gesture that allows us to create um
allows us the environment in which we
can create insiders into our into our
schools and I think if we were to look
and or if we were to talk to parents and
families and caregivers of native kids
within our schools right now they very
much feel like
Outsiders and I think there are some
exceptions to that rule but from my
experience that's the rule um there are
a couple of organizations that are
working on exactly what director bu had
uh recommended one is the American
Indian Alaskan native Oregon education
State planning advisory panel which is
working with Oregon Department of
Education on developing curriculum
appropriate um for the teach teing of uh
indigenous issues across the state's
curriculum the other is uh the Oregon
Indian Education Association which is
made up of Educators and administrators
from around the state um that is working
on something very similar to this so
we're we are not alone in um the need to
identify and create a curriculum that's
relevant and uh also reflects an
appropriate history I think that goes
without saying but also even more
importantly reflex reflects a um
current uh modern position of native
people in our community and I think this
is this is one of those first
opportunities and the fact that it is
referred to as indigenous uh is one that
um by its word reflects both uh
indigenous people of North America uh
and also indigenous people of Central
and South America and Indigenous people
from around the world so um I think it's
one that that definitely shows the
indigenous value of inclusivity and I'm
going to support
it other
comments yeah I would just say like I
Echo what um Matt's been saying I think
it's an important first step and
something that should be a longterm
thing but um this this is coming up this
would be next Monday like just like that
motion would be really nice for students
who are from that category to like have
something they um see themselves like in
the school but then from that hopefully
that would Inspire more people to like
bring it more into the school and for
teachers to get educated and we should
be there helping them and like giving
them the tools they
need thank you
others director bu yeah I just want to
follow up on what Matt said I'm just
saying if we're going to do it let's do
it let's get at it let's get this let's
get this stuff done and I know it's not
going to come from me because you're not
going to allow me to do it but it can
come from people on this board and I'm
100% willing to support it and I think
we need to go for it and quit fooling
around with it other comments thank you
director bow well I was um since the
members of the public probably don't
have a copy I to read through it um but
before I do that I'm I'm also hoping um
that this is a small step yes within our
district um but I'm also hoping to
encourage our city state and County
leaders um to also make the movement to
recognize
um recognize indigenous folks uh and
their
contributions so with that uh the
recitals for resolution 4967 resolution
recognizing indigenous people's day is
one the Board of Education board
recognizes that indigenous peoples of
the lands that would later become known
as Americas have occupied these lands
since time
immemorial two the board recognized the
fact that Portland was built upon the
homelands and Villages of the indigenous
peoples of this region without whom the
city would not have been possible three
the board values the many contributions
made to our community Through indigenous
people's knowledge labor technology
science philosophy arts and the Deep
03h 40m 00s
cultural contribution that has
substantially shaped the character of
the city of Portland four the board has
a responsibility to oppose the
systematic racism toward indigenous
peoples in the United states which
perpetuates high rates of poverty and
income inequality exacerbating
disproportionate health education and
social
crises five the board seeks to combat
Prejudice and eliminate discrimination
and institutionalized racism and to
promote awareness understanding and good
relations among indigenous peoples in
all other segments of our district
recital six the board promotes the
closing of the equity Gap for indigenous
peoples through policies and practices
that reflect the experiences of
indigenous peoples ensure greater access
and opportunity and honor our nation's
indigenous Roots history and
contributions resolutions one the board
strongly encourages District staff to
include the teaching of the history
culture and governments of the
indigenous peoples of our state two the
board recognizes the second Monday of
October as indigenous people's day and
three
the board commits to continuous support
of the well-being and growth of every
Portland Public School student
especially our American Indian and
Indigenous
students thank you and um that'll be up
on our website as
well so any other
comments no okay that in that case um
let's go ahead and vote on resolution
4967 all those in favor say I
opposed okay um seven that the excuse me
the resolution passes 7 to zero with
student representative voting
yes Dr B I just wanted to thank my
colleagues for um considering this on
such short notice um I know that it goes
outside the norm and I just want to say
I really appreciate it thank you for
bringing it forward thank
you anything else board members okay
next meeting of the board will be held
Sources
- PPS Board of Education, Archive 2014-2015, https://www.pps.net/Page/1893 (accessed: 2022-03-24T00:57:53.371200Z)
- PPS Communications, "Board of Education" (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CC942A46270A16E (accessed: 2023-10-10T04:10:04.879786Z)
