2016-02-17 PPS School Board Regular Meeting
| District | Portland Public Schools |
|---|---|
| Date | 2016-02-17 |
| Time | missing |
| Venue | missing |
| Meeting Type | regular |
| Directors Present | missing |
Documents / Media
Notices/Agendas
Materials
02-17-16 Final Packet (17ef0280122a78e8).pdf Meeting Materials
02-17-16 Meeting Overview (b55c5fee81a983e0).pdf Meeting Overview
Minutes
Transcripts
Event 1: Board of Education - Regular Meeting - February 17, 2016
00h 00m 00s
very 17th is called order I'd like to
extend a warm welcome to everybody here
and to our television viewers any item
that will be voted on this evening has
been posted and required by state law
this meeting is being televised live and
will be replayed throughout the next two
weeks miss Huson are there any students
signed up for a student testimony none
okay do we have anybody sign up for
public comment we do we have Chan okay
and our first two speakers are Beth
shields and Brian unflattering if we
have a student that would like to come
up we'll start with a student
welcome go ahead and state your name my
I can't eat of it my name is Zoe Jacobs
claim a seventh-grader Spanish Immersion
student at West Sylvan my little sister
is a third grade Spanish Immersion
student at ainsworth i was at ainsworth
for six years throughout my time there
we did many activities with the English
side we ate lunch and had recess did
samba the Portland played this town the
arts times and book fairs buckaroo and
form friendships together having the
English and Spanish sides together has
given has given us all the opportunity
to learn more about different cultures I
think Spanish Immersion should stay
I ain't what where it has been for 30
years at ainsworth thank you for
thinking of a different and better way
to solve the overcrowding in the west
side thank you nice job all right Beth
shields and Brian on flat
Oh
welcome go ahead hi hi I'm when I
secured this position to speak before
the board d Brock had just revealed
scenario 2 a and I obviously felt a
strong need to speak up from my
neighborhood and four children being
kept at schools whose geography
topography and proximity to find their
belonging I feel like this message was
heard and I would like to thank d Brock
and the board members for your countless
hours in careful consideration i've had
three children's go through three
children go through the community site
at ainsworth to date that puts me at ten
years at the school for the record I
never applied to immersion program for
any of my children over the last weeks i
have watched things play out while
remaining relatively quiet i stood up
for my community and the right for
neighborhood kids to have access to
their neighborhood schools and then took
a seat but i feel compelled to speak out
now as over the last several days i
witnessed immersion parents actively
petitioning on and now around school
grounds posting signatures from parents
and children to support their stay at
the school and my intention is not to
push anyone else but a letter has been
sent out attached to this petition
stating ainsworth is one school ends
with SI is not a separate program and
part of this is accurate ainsworth is
one school and I understand that
families and kids believe in an equal
belonging to the school but these are
two very different programs housed
within its walls this is just simple
fact in first grade my son was in a
classroom of 36 kids at the start of the
year one teacher no aid an effort to
manage the class size the teacher began
farming kids out holding conferences
with parents on the twelfth day of
school one got put back one that moved
up one got moved in to teach Spanish
Immersion every day there were kids in
the hallways crying the experience was
miserable parents were told by the
principal and foundation that there was
no money for an aide that it would be
illegal to use Foundation funds for a TA
in the classroom if we wanted an aid we
as parents who have to
come up with the money ourselves it was
a lost year for my son he has been
diagnosed with an anxiety disorder that
makes it difficult to speak up in a
classroom especially when were the
teachers at her wits end and kids are
00h 05m 00s
packed in like sardines meanwhile down
the hallway Spanish Immersion has
classes cats and hasn't aid and even an
intern in the room sometimes two years
later it was revealed that aids within
the school should have been allocated
evenly between the two programs I don't
know how to speak to this and to the
best of my knowledge while attention was
called to the problem it was not remedy
in our team at ainsworth my children
have been in blended classrooms with 34
to 38 kids sometimes more even the best
teachers have been overwhelmed and
struggled to teach appropriate
curriculum meanwhile haces cap
classrooms and aids inequities and
conflicts come into play when funding
for resources and specialists for both
programs are pulled from one foundation
pot the nature of the spanish immersion
program simply demands more from our
school and community often gets left the
short end of the stick and I know this
is not emergence fault ainsworth has run
headfirst into the obvious problem of a
focus option program being co-located
collocate in public schools as our
populations grow and the community
classrooms absorb these large numbers
this is an issue that will come up time
and again for Ainsworth's Ainsworth
regardless of what happens or how the
chips fall I think this is an
opportunity to look at ourselves as a
community and address these conflicts
with great humility optimism and
perspective and find a way to make
ourselves better weather remain in one
building or somebody moves this is an
opportunity to look at how immersion
programs function in the PPS system and
perhaps change the model so they serve
the whole school teaching according to
skill and fluency rather than a grade
level the immersion program is a
wonderful program with many strong and
wonderful people who contribute to its
success and I really feel it is right in
celebrating itself but I have to stand
up and say that this shouldn't happen at
the expense of neighborhood kids
thank you my name is brian flatt and I'm
a parent of the Southwest school
district I've three children that go to
Ricky go to Robert gray and we'll be
going to Wilson's all three in September
each of those three schools tonight I
want to share my thoughts of many but
not all over southwest community
regarding the implications proposed by
the D brat boundary shifts past several
months have left lasting positive and
some negative impressions there have
been mentions of exclusivity segregation
and intent of focused programs the
latter was not developed to segregate it
was established to integrate however
some have recently implied that
segregation is a byproduct of this
proposal we respectfully disagree our
schools aren't successful because of
what where they are located they are
successful because of what their unique
communities students and employees put
into them we hope that those currently
contributed to their school's success
will remain committed regardless of
movement now or in the future we all
support the success of focused programs
but not if they take precedence over
accessibility to community schools let's
not confuse the difference between
focused programs and special need
programs the growth of one is a nice to
have the preservation of the other is a
must have
the current to be proposal was
developing a community crowdsourcing
hours of meetings and hundreds of
constructive recommendations it was not
the result of backroom deals secret
meetings and implied favoritism but
somewhere along the way it is divided
communities threaten relationships and
impeded progress towards a much bigger
picture want to encourage all of us to
evaluate the root cause of these
necessary boundary changes and realize
that it isn't the fault of our schools
or the communities who attend them it is
a result of our city's growing pains
lack of resources to plan for long-term
infrastructure and not learning from our
past I hope we all recognize that change
isn't coming it is here and more will be
on the way if we don't focus on a united
front rather than our disparate ways
thanks to all who continue to conduct
themselves with decorum during this
period of change we will continue to
support being conduit with Portland
planning transportation and urban growth
organizations to get bond measures
passed to help solve our underlying
growth issues for the long-term keeping
Portland amazing city we all call home
thank you very much thank you next we
have Lisa Hanson and Holly Ingram
00h 10m 00s
welcome how could my name is Lisa Hanson
with an e non oh and thank you for
giving me this opportunity to speak
tonight about the boundary change
proposals I am a mother to a
rambunctious kindergartner it ain't
worth and our family has been a part of
the homestead ohsu neighborhood for the
past 18 years although with a
kindergartner we are a new family to the
Ainsworth elementary community my
daughter is a part of the community
program our homestead neighborhood
strongly supports keeping children at
their local schools we were horrified at
the domino effect that was on the table
when proposal to a was considered as it
would have driven our neighborhood as
well as council crest and green hills
neighborhoods out of our local school to
other schools that were marked much
harder to reach the effect of
transferring children into new schools
with feeder patterns is incredibly
disruptive to students particularly
those during transitions I know this
firsthand from watching my own daughter
gets switched from one kindergarten
class to another after the first week of
school
we were informed of the change on Friday
allowing us the weekend to prepare
Allison for this change even though she
had only five days of school under her
belt at ainsworth we were wrong to think
how easy this transition would be many
tears were shed that weekend I did it
and it took a long period of transition
to get Alison back to where she felt
secure in her classroom and could look
towards the future at the perfect
certainty seeing how the Ainsworth
community was originally affected by
proposal to way this brought back
memories of our kindergarten transition
luckily for Alison's dubreq realized the
importance of keeping neighborhood
communities together and as a result
proposal to be was created unfortunately
other kids were now in a similar
situation to ours we believe that the
top priority for these boundary
proposals should be to keep school
communities together intact as much as
possible the ainsworth community was
particularly harshly affected by
proposal teeway transportation was a
major issue for our community with that
proposal as kids from council crest in
green hills would have to be transferred
from a walkable school to a difficult to
reach Ricky homestead which contains
ohsu as well as three other major
hospital systems is often massively
congested with hospital commuter traffic
and the route straight up the hill to
ainsworth in Lincoln is the only
direction from homestead that remains
uncongested at these times the homestead
neighborhood is an often overlooked area
that comprises Ainsworth that comprises
Ainsworth largest community neighborhood
group of minorities bringing
socio-economic and ethnic diversity to
the Ainsworth community homestead has
the highest percentage of minority
residents out of all of Southwest
Portland's Ainsworth catchment homestead
also has the largest proportion of
renters about fifty nine percent this is
two to three times as much as the rest
of ainsworth's Southwest Portland
catchment
my own daughters community kindergarten
class overwhelmingly reflects lists out
of 26 students eight are minorities
seven of whom live in the homestead
neighborhood out of these kids five out
of seven live in rental and within this
group languages other than English are
spoken at home and my time is up i
assume i will finally conclude i'm going
to skip over something things but what I
just wanted to end with there is some
other things saying that I personally
don't approve of proposals to a a to be
but what I want to conclude is that I
acknowledge the challenges that you the
school board face in trying to solve the
problem caused by the residential
development and subsequent school
overcrowding in Northwest Portland and
thank you and d Rock for your commitment
to all the students in Portland I would
I would like to ask that you I would
like to ask that as you prepare the
final boundary change proposal you bide
by the Portland school board policy that
all PPS students have the right to
attend their neighborhood school and
take this into account the importance of
neighborhoods school accessibility and
equity that are significant for the
ainsworth school community thank you and
those of you that that brought written
comments like yourself if you could
leave them with Karen and then we'll ask
appaman I can re refer to him so thank
you what do you mean and board members
superintendent Smith PBS staff and
fellow community members my name is
holly Ingram and I'm the president of
the PTA a tricky elementary and a proud
PBS employee I'm here tonight
anticipation of your decision you will
make about how to redraw district
boundaries well I know superintendent
Smith has not presented you a
recommendation I request that you should
consider the following framework as you
build
the proposal around her proposal first
and foremost leave no school under serve
our hope is that no school in this
process ends up under enrolled and the
risks risks losing services if this
00h 15m 00s
isn't evitable please provide a plan of
additional funding to maintain
programming and services for
under-enrolled schools in current
scenario for to be both Hayhurst and
bribed a mile or at risk ironically
right a mile and hayhurst if they're
right sized along with Ricky feed into
Robert gray then they will be over
capacity at gray with wilson also over
capacity we need to clearly think about
enhanced middle school facilities and in
the near term and long term second
provide continuity for our kids kudos
for superintendent Smith smoothing
parents fears by announcing her
recommendation to include grab the
grandfathering we ask you to enhance
this by enabling elementary school
students to stay in their current feeder
patterns through high school so they can
continue to grow with their current
cohorts third keep neighborhoods hold as
you consider the new boundaries please
consider our natural neighborhoods and
prioritize walk ability for students
students currents walking zones Maps
provide a thoughtful anchor anchor if
school focus school programs must be
really ok today bourhood growth let's
make sure they have fantastic facilities
and support which they'll thrive
and finally an appeal to all of you
concerned parents as well as friends who
have been involved in this process we
are observing a challenging time for
Portland Public Schools while there is
no easy to way to do it address the
specific challenges that come with
Portland's rapid growth I'm disheartened
to see just how far the rebounding
process has driven wedges into our
community parents are lashing out one
another dividing our speculation and
fear way too many hours are being spent
on social media and at meetings instead
of with our kids my ask is that we all
unite and that you as a school board
members lead us through this process
betrayer transparent and inclusive shut
down the room where Mills agree to not
cut special deals behind doors and let's
work together to make PBS schools great
thank you next we have Lori Lyons
lachman and Rosie plaque
hi my name is Lori Loughlin I have a
fourth grader at beach school in the
neighborhood side and I am a proud
Jefferson cluster parent I appreciate
the hours and thoughtful deliberations
that deep rack members and staff have
put into a dressing over in
under-enrolled schools inequitable
programming and K aids throughout the
district as you know the 2012 Jefferson
cluster enrollment balancing resulted in
resolution 4718 that closed off the
green focus option to create a to campus
k-8 with Chief Joe as a k3 and ugly
green as a 48 it also developed the D
brag to address enrollment issues in
alignment with a racial education equity
policy and increased neighborhood school
capture rates and balanced enrollment
throughout the district since then our
cluster has been working together to
plan the reopening of a middle schools
since many of our K aids have
consistently failed to provide equitable
education opportunities or even the full
core program for middle squared students
we have patiently waited and are
prepared to support this change now d
Brack recommended that oakley green open
as a middle school in fall of 2016
representatives throughout our schools
in the Jefferson cluster have vetted
these recommendations in a variety of
forums and fully supported I ask that
you vote on this recommendation at your
februari twenty-third board meeting even
if that means uncoupling it from the
remaining recommendations administrators
staff and stakeholders believe that
oakley grain can open as a strong and
cohesive middle school in fall of 2016
with beach Chief Joseph and woodland as
feeders this configuration solves a
series of problems it relieves acute
overcrowding at beach the sixth and
eighth grade students feeding into
oakley maintain the Jefferson and
Roosevelt dual enrollment boundary it
provides critical core and elective
programming to more students it
accommodates all currently enrolled
students in grade five through seven at
00h 20m 00s
be
chief Joe and woodlawn and provides a
year planning time to right-size their
boundaries as k 5s going forward we have
developed a draft transition and
implementation plan that addresses staff
staffing models community building PBIS
partnership development transportation
and capital investments this transition
planning needs to start immediately we
have a historic opportunity for PPS in
our Jefferson cluster community to
partner together on a shared and
positive solution that will immediately
increase opportunities for our students
over a decade of inequalities or
iniquity sorry we look forward to
continuing our engagement with you to
open a second middle school in our
cluster the harriet tubman middle school
for the 2017-18 school year thank you
hello my name is Rosie plaid I'm the PTA
president at Chapman ever since D Brax
final recommendation at Carol Smith the
west side has entered a new stage of
division amongst communities with rumors
private meetings with no public input or
meeting or minutes shared Chapman
leaders have not participated or
endorsed any ideas coming from these
meetings that may be presented to the
board board members have also
participated in these meetings which of
course they encouraged to do in order to
educate themselves on the various
concerns of Westside families rules were
developed by D Brack and approved by the
board in October of 2015 that states
further proposals developed by any
stakeholder including community members
d brac members district staff or board
members that impacts communities and not
seeking feedback from those impacted
communities lies in direct violation of
resolution 5149 as we move forward I
hope to see communities revert back to
this high level of transparency and that
the school board continues with the same
level as was conducted with the D brac
meetings including community feedback
from all affected parties in the event
that a new scenario is put on the table
scenario 2 beam does address the
overcrowding at Chapman and we support
the proposal with adjustments to help
maintain programming at under-enrolled
schools and the inclusion of the
Willamette Heights neighborhood at
Chapman which is located at the farthest
north west corner of our catchment I
have heard that moving portions of
Chapman to the east side irvington and
Boise Elliot are potential parts of new
scenarios created by community members
moving Chapman to the east side effects
bridge traffic loss of walkability in an
area where many inner-city families
really do walk and many do not own cars
also being aware of relocating the most
vulnerable students as homeless shelters
and most of Chapman's affordable family
housing units would be potentially
affected finally in the east side is
experiencing enormous growth as well and
their boundary issues have not been
addressed there are a lot of variables
and data that would need to be
thoroughly evaluated first it is hard to
imagine that busing Chapman neighborhood
children to the east side would be
considered over relocating a non
neighborhood program that is in the
heart of the northwest the area with the
largest projected growth it was brought
up back in November that eighty-five
percent of mlc students are from the
east side it seems like this should
still be on the table for consideration
when the ripple effect throughout the
west side due to Chapman's overcrowding
will potentially negatively affect many
neighborhood schools PBS stated two
reasons not to located mlc and convert
the couch building into a neighborhood
school one that there are not enough
students to support to Northwest schools
chapman in the couch building however
however a significant flaw of to be is
creating similar problems with bridal
milan Hayhurst under-enrolled and the
growth of the pearl isn't slowing down
to i understand that the community is
the classroom for mlc students and an
urban environment is needed for the
curriculum but there are other urban
areas with vacant schools within the
city a short bus ride away from downtown
this entire process has illuminated the
inequalities of schools and programs
throughout the city as the boundary
process enters this next phase PBS needs
to focus on equity all students should
have equal access to everything from
languages to small class sizes two
specials regardless of the building size
or
school population after this boundary
change my final request is that the
commitment to transparency and community
involvement continues throughout this
next process thank you our next two
speakers are a video Garcia and Jeannie
savage
00h 25m 00s
welcome hi go ahead thank you my name is
Rudy Garcia I'm my children in Spanish
Immersion program I let me start with a
few facts about a program eighty percent
of the ends worth historically
underserved population is part of the
Spanish Immersion historically in this
herb is currently twenty five percent of
the immersion program and thanks to the
lottery changes isn't trying to be above
thirty percent by 2017 our community
contains families from at least 13
different countries including Mexico
Argentina Chile Spain kooba Bolivia
Colombia and El Salvador we value our
diversity as a critical part of the
program and the character of school
historically underserved population is
only six point six in the English
program and the immersion programs a key
component of providing the diversity at
ainsworth I was troubled and none of the
evaluation criteria might aid in by the
PPS racial equity lens were addressed by
the deeper act should be proposal
perhaps that was because there was only
48 hours to evaluate the proposal before
voting and at that time there was zero
focus outreach to the historical desert
community and native speakers impacted
in direct violation of the PPA is racial
educational equity policy section F we
serve our community and ninety-three
percent opposed to be ninety two percent
say is II Sylvan will be more difficult
to access ninety-five percent believe
this will impact their children in a
negative way the war has said focus
options I quote actively seek to create
a sense of community with which racial
economic and cultural isolation and
reduced a proposal that isolates eighty
percent of the historical underserved
population in two separate facility is
difficult to reconcile with those values
this program has 30 years of excess with
diverse populations with children that
are thriving integrated in this school
why we put in all this a risk I often
get the question well then what is your
proposal but every citizens must can
propose ideas but is a belief of my
community that those solutions must be
fairly interest annually vetted another
process that should be led by private
citizens how can we advocate for
something that hasn't been assessed with
my community's reluctant to Reese
perpetrating the very ingested that has
been forced on us while PPS takes the
time to create long-term solutions i
believe there are better sir x options
based on current under Roman insert in
surrounding schools and nobody romaine
Chapman can be fully absorbed by the
boundary of website schools without
exceeding a class of 28 just like the
spanish immersion classes at ainsworth
why not reduce the over carbon Hayhurst
an odyssey in the 2016 in state within a
year why live vital mei-ling's what we
sat and under Roman while the spanish
immersion moves out there was enough
website emerging the man last year to
support a full four strand elementary
school in the west side so please create
a Wilson clustering mission option
taking pressure of Lincoln in the future
if we want to respect grandfathering
compelling voluntary options are the
fastest way to drive change why would
impede why wouldn't this be the first
things we consider instead of the last
the scenario to chew a chubby have two
things in common they were massively
disrupted and then don't solve the
problem our data shows that Chapman
would be overcrowded within a few years
so lean for the problem long term should
be merged with the ongoing district-wide
analysis for 2017 so we can look at the
problem holistically above all let's
learn from our mistakes with chewy don't
rush be transparent with the community a
lot of time for real feedback by
affected community principals and
teachers be consistent with the system
policies and please don't fall into the
trap of believing that devices social
media performance are representative of
public sentiment please look past those
loud voices and to understand the
overall sentiment that really represents
the interest of a whole community we
will certainly value the opportunity to
engage with the board members and work
through more viable solutions that
should be I will I will be remiss if I
didn't close bipolar thinking Alex Perry
member of the Latino network and lone
dissenting de Burgh member that should
be and thank you for your efforts and
all your work
welcome I my name is Jeannie savage and
I'm from bride a mile and I have a son
in the eighth grade at West Sylvan and I
have two daughters it brought a mile
Elementary in 2nd 4th grade I'm a family
physician and I deliver babies and I
also work in a community health centers
serving mostly the Latino population so
I'm here basically for two main points
I'm more nervous now so excuse me for
trembling a bit first of all we have 32
children at West Sylvan that have been
slightly overlooked and we have planned
to go to Lincoln for I since third grade
moving here on our third graders son's
best friend lives across the street and
00h 30m 00s
we've been incorporated with the Lincoln
brand since then we played basketball
for Lincoln at third fourth fifth grade
and then to put continue that these
plans have been laid down and these kids
have had expectations I agree that that
moving hastily forward with any plan is
is not a good idea I've left a handout
out there that I would like you to refer
to to kind of go through the reasons why
I don't think to be works and the reason
why many people up here other reasons
that many people have already stayed in
I do I just have one thing really to say
and going forward I think it's important
that any plan takes into the highest
regard what happens to the children and
I know that seems obvious but I think
it's really important that we don't
leave out just those 32 that we look and
we see what their lives were like it's a
big transition in adolescence I know
from talking with kids that if you ask
them why they tend to make good
decisions is because their friends are
with them if you take 32 and separate
them out you go directly against what
you've said you would do and you make it
tough on these kids my my other mother
reason to talk this evening is for the
under enrollment issue i think it's been
covered i think that it's not good to to
create any plan that takes away from the
success of other schools I agree with
change I think change needs to happen I
don't think anybody in my community is
against change but I think it needs to
be done thoughtfully I think it needs to
be done collaboratively and I think that
the energy that has been created by this
whole process is amazing look at all
these people who are out there
participating in this community event
that is what I'm thankful for and
thankful that my son is up here seeing
it and and I'm thankful that you're
listening and please take into account
everything that everybody said let these
kids go through they deserve it it's the
right thing to do you'll be following
your directives and you'll you'll feel
good about yourself thank you thank you
and lastly we have naira Perez and one
rockin thank you um hello my name is
Maya Perez and I thank you all for your
time and for all your efforts into
solving this legal paso that we sell it
without a place a tree state your full
name yes hello my name is naira perez
and thank you so much for all your hard
work and for looking at this puzzling
topic that we have ahead and I am here
to represent ainsworth Spanish Immersion
historically underserved population
proposal to be specifically targets this
population which represents 25% of Si
currently the second largest hu school
population on the west side in our
community their parents whose kids are
integrated at ainsworth that have
limited access to internet and whose
primary language is Spanish parents that
won't attend your meetings or go to the
PBS website to see if PBS has translated
documents into Spanish we feel left out
with literally no time to react and be
heard we keep hearing that deep Bragg
and PPS knows what is best for us
without anybody reaching out to us so
our community did our own survey and we
want to share those results with you so
we may no longer be numbers and
statistics but voices 93% of our
community is opposed to to be the Bragg
was told from stuff that the ECB
location may offer better access for
native spanish-speaking students from
other parts of the west side we're here
to tell you that ninety-two percent of
our community says that that is not true
and that actually will be more difficult
for them to access the program if
relocated we're here to help to tell you
that ninety-five percent of our
historically underserved population
thinks that proposal to be is going to
affect our kids negatively some comments
from parents are our son will feel like
he was being punished for being of
Hispanic descent another
spanish-speaking parents said my son
feels safe at ainsworth now we feel
scared we don't know what is going to
happen the negative effects are just not
are not just psychological but
educational to that historically
underserved population that ain't were
we'll need to choose between following
the SI program and join an experiment
with lots of uncertainties gambling with
the education of their kids or forego
the immersion and attend their
neighborhood school where they will fall
behind academically struggling to keep
up there is research that demonstrate
00h 35m 00s
both facts when the superintendent and
the board studied this proposal we
challenge you to apply the equity lens
under the racial educational equity
policy which says the district shall
create welcoming environments that
reflect and support the racial and
ethnic diversity of the student
population and community I ask you to
consider that proposal to be is actually
doing the opposite of this it is taken
as the ethnic diversity out of ainsworth
separating us from our community
isolating us as or as one of our Latino
parents has said moving us out of sight
with a hispanic latino feel like
relocating inside out of eggs worth a
brutus from a community where we are
integrated in the words of one parent my
child my children will be singled out
they will understand that learning their
language will have negative consequences
and it is going back in time when
speaking Spanish was something that you
shouldn't do so you could fit in my son
will be taught that he doesn't belong
finally I asked you as another parent
has asked before that when you think of
the impact of this decision don't just
look at numbers think about the parents
that are not here the ones that you
didn't hear from but they are there we
are there at Spanish Immersion ain't
worth someone's ain't worth thank you so
much
welcome thank you very much good good
good evening my name is Juan Gomez I'm a
parent at ainsworth Spanish Immersion
and i am going to read a letter to you
from another parent from a Spanish
Immersion at ainsworth his name is Jorge
Padilla unfortunately he couldn't be
here tonight with us he's working also I
just wanted to mention that this letter
has been translated from Spanish as he
doesn't speak English I am that parent
that PPS refers to the historically
underserved that population that PPS is
working hard in closing the achievement
gap I am that parent whose kids are at
Spanish Immersion at ainsworth and that
this proposal to be leaves behind I am
that parent that can come to the D black
or PPS meetings because they don't even
know what that means because the
communication that we received comes in
english i am that parent that doesn't
have a driver's license driver's license
the one that doesn't have papers and
it's afraid to talk i am that parent
that leaves far away that lives from far
away from ainsworth the one that drives
an hour to get to the only spanish
immersion program on the west side that
parent that made the promise to his kids
to embrace their heritage and share it
with the community in that community is
ain't worth I am that hopeful parent
that see his children belong to a
community that otherwise they won't have
access to I am that parent that PP has
called last year to enroll my kids have
spanish immersion at ainsworth because
PPS told me that it was a successful
program and that it will be the best for
my kids I am that parent that now it's
lost in translation that doesn't
understand why we are being marginalized
separated from our community and from a
flourishing school the one that is left
behind after all p ps efforts to reach
out to us the one that becomes the brac
in PBS numbers and stats
we are there at Spanish Immersion at
ainsworth we just don't have a voice you
won't see us at your meetings we won't
write you letters and you will try once
again to close the achievement gap that
you were close to achieve at spanish
immersion at ainsworth please when you
make your decision think about that
parent that is not here tonight that you
didn't hear from we are there we are in
and I'm gonna disparate chair curler
asked earlier if you did put your
testimony in writing will you leave it
with Karen just because I will add it to
the back of the proposal I give to the
board all the testimony that was read
here tonight so please leave it so that
I can do that and um thank you letter
yeah the letters that you just did great
ok and then Carol I think it would be
good just to for you to describe the
next process you've now been handed
recommendations ok so I've now received
the recommendations from d brac as last
as of last Tuesday I will and part of
what I go through now I have had an
implementation team that's been looking
at the proposals as they've been
formulated by D Brack and looking to
00h 40m 00s
advise me about what's involved in
actually implementing them so what costs
will be involved what are the staffing
implications what are the curricular and
facility implications and like
sequencing what money we have available
to actually make these things happen and
do them with integrity so numbers of
things I'm now considering have to do
with our ability to implement because
the whole goal behind this was to end up
with a better product than we currently
have so like we're looking at our
ability to deliver I will then go
through some listening but lit but
limited so really looking at the things
that were put forward to me by D Brack i
will do a listening session on the west
side and one on the east side the one on
the west side will be really
specifically in
vut a shin and with good translation for
spanish-speaking families but it's open
to the entire west side on the east side
I want to hear more from specifically
Jefferson cluster so it's open to the
entire east side but I want to hear Jeff
cluster folks in particular in terms of
readiness because what I'll be trying to
weigh is the urgency against what kind
of planning and ability to deliver a
quality product given the timing that
this decision will ultimately be made
because I'll make a recommendation to
the board the board then is going to be
doing more listening so it's likely that
an actual decision won't happen for a
bit and reduces our likelihood of being
able to do implementation by fall so I'm
just going to say that's part of what
I'm weighing but I will make
recommendations about about
implementation I will also go through a
process with the board who have been all
out attending many of these listening
sessions and as well as listening to
people but I'll meet with each of them
individually to hear their thoughts
before i do my recommendation so that
I'm really making sure to incorporate
whatever they've gleaned and whatever
insight because you've got a whole group
of people who've been really actively
out listening to voices and as you know
even by what you here tonight they don't
all line up in a really simple solution
this is not a really easy one and we are
as a community grappling with really
significant growth that we've got to
figure out how we how we handle and
really honor what we love about our
neighborhood schools so we'll also be
doing individual outreach through our
dual language immersion department to
the 17 spanish-speaking families who are
in the ainsworth program so they can
speak to us individually and with in
their native language so that and I will
get a report that says to me here's what
those families so like really
specifically we'll build will be doing
individual reach out to be able to hear
from families so if there's other things
that I need to
a minute and then I put together a
proposal that will come to the board in
the next couple of weeks that then it's
in their court they then go through
additional listening and wrestling and
can tweak or do do modify based on what
they hear so it's we've got another
couple layers to go through and I just
want to say the letters that people have
written me have it just since it's been
in my court have been so incredibly
thoughtful and with really just really
trying to put forward here other ways to
think about something please make sure
you notice this because you may not know
this but just really thoughtful trying
to help move us to positive solutions
and in a way that really respects
everybody involved so I just want to
really appreciate the voices that have
come forward I have really been
advocating continued transparency in our
process because i feel like people have
really been trying to contribute to how
do we land something that really works
for our community so i just want to say
thank you for that and i will include
the testimony in the letters in my
proposal to the board so those are all
visible to them as well so so thank you
all great thank you girl and then find a
regulation to 17 families so and again
this is coming from a recommendation
from my implementation team is that
we've got families that as you mentioned
we are not likely to come and speak
necessarily in in a large community
meeting but would do that we want to
hear from individually and so our dual
language immersion department has
offered to do individual phone calls to
families and then give me a report
that's saying here's what we heard so
and actually similar to what you just
did sevens you
that don't speak English is that you
know for a 17 Hispanic families 17
spanish-speaking families is what i was
told that that so here's what I'm gonna
say to you that may be wrong that means
you're wrong and I'm gathering that it
is so here's what I'll say I'm relying
on them to tell me who it is they're
going to call so let me just leave it at
that and will will seek more information
to make sure we make the right phone
calls but it was individual reach out
00h 45m 00s
rather than depending on who shows up at
a community meeting i think is the main
point there is understanding that we may
not be hearing all the voices and take
and during this chapter doing a personal
outreach to make sure that we're hearing
from people so that was really the point
of it okay so okay to two meetings that
i'll do one is west side and one is east
side but i'm doing special invitation to
communities that were directly in
because i'm going to be basing my
recommendations on what I got from d
brac right so I'm not starting from
scratch I'm taking what they gave me
communities have been directly impacted
in their recommendation I want to them
hear more from about okay what does this
mean what do you do to improve or refine
like I want really direct what does this
mean to you so I'm doing direct reach
out and saying I need to hear from you
but it's not exclusive if anybody can
come from the west side to the west side
or you come to either listening session
or both but I really directly want to
hear from communities that are impacted
make sense
cluster which is that one thing to think
about ultimate were concerned about is
if you wait wait for us the
implementations district-wide is going
to be immense and so we want to go we're
ready to bring the work literally with
you so that we can allow your fears and
you guys if you put together a strategic
plan yourself be sure to prove okay
before be sure to provide it and and I
will say my implementation team is going
to do some reach out to you directly to
do some listening and and it's likely
that implementation of this entire thing
is not going to be like a one or
two-year thing this is likely be
multiple years because we're talking
multiple buildings we're talking not a
huge big influx of money that I mean
we're talking still the same resources
we're working with right now and trying
to make a pretty significant transition
and we do not want to do some yeah we
want to do this well we want to do well
okay is that enough yeah that's thank
you that was perfect great I just wanted
to publicly thank chair curler for
opening up more opportunity for public
testimony tonight anything it was really
important
and the other thing I'll say is so Carol
just talked about the process then it
comes to the board everybody in on this
board is totally committed to a process
where everybody's hurt so we haven't
finalized what this looks like but I
think we're all on the same page that
it's will be will be exhausted so thank
you listen yeah all right thank you
everybody for all your testimony all
right our next topic is the board
priorities on December one of 2015 the
board voted honest priorities for 2 15
16 and 16 17 school years since the time
that time the board has been working on
metrics Rose priorities in conjunction
with the superintendent and her staff
we're ready to vote on those metrics
tonight the board will now consider
resolution 5 to 10 adopting board
priority metrics for 2 15 16 16 17
school year do I have we should mention
we did yeah we think we've had four open
meetings on these and we've also had
various committees so it's been a lot of
it's actually been a lot of great work
and I think it has us together with
Carol and her team focused on what needs
to get done do I have a motion so moved
well second director Anthony moves
director const am seconds to adopt
resolution five to 10 miss Susan is a
public comment
you know is there any for discussion on
this resolution and we've had we've been
discussing quite a bit yeah let's see if
there's any surprises on our boat I the
board will now vote on resolution 5 to
10 a ver please indicate by saying yes
yes yes all opposed indicate by saying
no any abstentions the resolution 5 to
10 is approved by a vote of 720 with
student representative Davis and voting
yes yes okay well good well done
00h 50m 00s
everybody yeah we now are going to go
into a conference a four-member
conference report so director content
you like to provide it fortunately visit
ah sure i made went to New York two
weeks ago at the invitation of
leadership with our teachers union to
visit the consortium schools which is a
group of high schools in New York City
that have had a waiver from the new york
state Regents from their standardized
testing model to do what they refer to
as performance-based assessment and so
we had an opportunity to talk with
leaders in the school leaders of the
consortium about how that has worked how
they have over the years refined these
very detailed rubrics for evaluating
student performance we got to visit a
couple of schools and see this
assessment model in action which one of
the pieces of that that was really
compelling to me was a whole peer-review
component of it so students were each
each performance-based assessment team
had the instructor the instructor of the
class that the student was enrolled in
another teacher in the school and then
another student so the experience was
just as as useful for the other student
doing the really thoughtful review of
his or her peer as it was for the
student who was
19 his or her her work and it was it was
really interesting and instructive and
you know we will move forward in terms
of refining our own best practices in
terms of student assessment as a
district so it was very useful good
thank you any other questions for Amy
okay the business consent the board will
now consider the remainder of the
business agenda already have voted on 5
to 10 for members or any other I'm just
like to pull before we go on a you
puddin you want to pull any item before
we vote on the consent miss Susan are
there any changes to the business of
Jeff you know okay do I have a motion
and a second to adopt the business
agenda so moved second director Anthony
moves and dr. spars of Browns seconds to
adoption of the business agendas who's
in there any public comment there is not
okay the board will now vote on the
agenda all in favor please by indicate
by saying yes yes yes all posing to give
us a no any abstentions the business
agenda is proved by a vote of 720 with
student representing Davis and voting
YES Odin yes okay the next meeting of
the board will be held tuesday februari
Sources
- PPS Board of Education, Archive 2015-2016, https://www.pps.net/Page/7356 (accessed: 2022-03-24T00:57:52.304471Z)
- PPS Communications, "Board of Education" (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CC942A46270A16E (accessed: 2023-10-10T04:10:04.879786Z)
