2017-04-25 PPS School Board Regular Meeting, Public Hearing
| District | Portland Public Schools |
|---|---|
| Date | 2017-04-25 |
| Time | missing |
| Venue | missing |
| Meeting Type | regular, town-hall |
| Directors Present | missing |
Documents / Media
Notices/Agendas
Materials
04-25-17 Final Packet (a13771d50b37a2ff).pdf Meeting Materials
04-25-17 Meeting Overview (af00921a40d65bfd).pdf Meeting Overview
REVISED PPTS (59e1c0f088df2e84).pdf Revised PowerPoints
Minutes
Transcripts
Event 1: PPS Board Budget Listening Session - April 25, 2017
00h 00m 00s
all right you will get better okay
meeting it our way we have to go many
people here to testify thank you very
much like to call this public hearing
for April 26 2017 to order and convene
the board as the Budget Committee thank
you all for being here at the board and
set aside an hour this evening to hear
your comments on the superintendent's
proposed 2017 2018 budget there are many
who wish to testify we are requesting
that you please limit your comments to
two minutes public feedback is very
important to us the board acting as the
Budget Committee will take everything
into consideration before before
approving the budget which is scheduled
for May 23rd we have scheduled an
additional one hour public hearing on
the budget for May 9th here in the board
auditorium that hearing will begin at 5
o'clock we have interpreters with us
tonight and I'd like to vice invite them
up at this time to introduce themselves
and indicate where they will be located
in the room just go to the microphone
please and introduce yourself my name is
Gerardo Villegas I'm a Spanish
interpreter oh sorry I'll be sitting
over here thank you
and yeah witching called the Washington
Mandir put on what I need you will see
how much is that was a native of the
city would have produced a significant
level Kuzak all right thank you all very
much
director as far as a brown and director
Knowles will be joining us shortly miss
Huston would you please call up our
first two speakers Celeste Lewis and
ginger Taylor
if
good evening I'm my name is ginger
Taylor and I'm a vice principal from
Lincoln High School and I was just going
to ask if our first speaker was not with
us if Jim Henson could join me in
comparison I'm the school psychologist
and we can I and I'm actually gonna have
Jim get us started what we were very
happy to have mindfulness studies in our
school and have get our arrangement with
peace in schools to provide those
mindfulness classes mindfulness is very
feasible and acceptable to our community
to our students to our staff to
appearance in our community and it's
accessible particularly to our students
of color we have about 7% African
American students at Lincoln but the
numbers that are in relative mindfulness
class are far above that that is a
mindfulness class yes has less stigma
than some of our other services and we
feel as an important part of our equity
efforts we also think that our
mindfulness class relates to many of our
p80 concerns around school violence
mindfulness has been shown to lower
aggression to others to increase skills
in handling aggression that's directed
to the self to lower substance abuse and
to lower stress-related sickness and
thereby improve attendance we need
mindfulness studies at Lincoln
depression and mental health problems in
latest PBS discussed for school surveys
35% of the lincoln community indicated
that depression and mental health
problems were significant at lincoln
compared to 12% at other schools so we
very much need them in our multi-tiered
system of supports we've integrated
mindfulness studies into our system of
supports for students at Lincoln and
ginger will talk about that
thank you okay again I'm ginger Taylor
vice principal Lincoln High School the
things that I would like to just
highlight are that mindfulness
strategies and methods align clearly
with trauma-informed practices that
resist the recurrence of trauma and
promote resiliency and resiliency
happens to be one of the school climate
character traits that that we are trying
to instill on our students we consider
mindfulness studies to be a Tier one
support when you look at our MTS s
brochure and in our RTI model and when
00h 05m 00s
we review the MTS s support this year we
are trying to push it into a tier 2
intervention and be more intentional
around using it as a strategy for
students as Jim mentioned many of our
students that have had child find
interventions have resulted in having
schedule adjustments that now allow them
to take advantage of our mindfulness
studies and this year we're continuing
to be more intentional with our practice
and have work to have many of our
students who have 504 accommodation
plans around ADHD anxiety and depression
now are able to access mindfulness and
use it for self-regulation and self
still self management and we have about
fourteen percent of the students on 504
plans taking advantage of the
mindfulness studies and then if you I
don't know if you all have this data
sheet okay it's it's a survey of
students and their perceptions and and
experiences from having taken advantage
of the mindfulness studies and my hope
is that some someone else will share
that with you but specifically Lincoln
students that were surveyed finished
please please
Lincoln students that were surveyed
shared that 96 96
percent of the students that were
surveyed from Lincoln said that they
would definitely recommend mindfulness
for a friend and in the same survey a
similar number of Lincoln students
reported experiencing less stress
anxiety and tension as a result of being
in the mindfulness class thank you thank
you Miss miss Taylor Miss Taylor could
you please give that treat to Roseann
towel to make copy next speakers EEMA of
Hamish Jeff and Suzanne Clarke
hi i'm suzanne clark proud parent of a
third grader at beach Elementary School
in North Portland our much-loved
principal Vanessa Martinez has worked
incredibly hard to implement mind up and
restorative justice programs to foster a
positive learning environment at beach
I'm here today to ask you to please give
back just one of the F T's of the 5fps
we're losing in this proposed budget so
that Beach can have a student management
specialist on staff and continue these
effective programs I'm also asking PPS
to fund beaches to schools separately
because something that I'm not proud of
is that in 2017 beaches of segregated
school as you know beaches to schools
treated as one a community program and a
Spanish immersion program our Spanish
immersion program has only 16% on free
and reduced lunch while the community
program has over 70% on free and reduced
lunch yet no title one funding or other
supports are received on the community
side because PBS insists that beach is
one school our most historically
underserved students are in the
community program black students make up
34% of that program but only 6% of the
immersion program in 2017 Beach is
segregated and PBS is concealing that by
forcing these programs into one school
if the community if the community
program were its own school though
students would receive desperately
needed funding for SMS and instructional
reading coaches Alliance high school at
Benson I believe is treated as a
separate program so this is there is a
precedent Beach's Community Program has
15 tier 3 students that are trauma
impacted and that on any given day at
any given moment blow out of the
classroom run around the building and
sometimes even out of the school and
actually live across from the school and
on numerous occasions I've seen multiple
staff people have to corral a student
back into the school so with the current
budget our principal is forced to reduce
her staff by 5 FTE which equates to 10
staff reductions at beach and between
January and
this year our principal had 24 unfilled
staff absences and daily crises crisis
situations that had to be triage with
support staff with the proposed budget
we'd have no support staff and bigger
classes rendering students completely
unsupervised by any adults at times our
principal will spend our time subbing
classes are putting out fires instead of
00h 10m 00s
leading the school that's one heck of an
expensive sub so again I'm asking you to
please give Beach back at least one FTE
so it can have an SMS on staff I'm also
asking that beaches disparate programs
be funded separately thank you so much
thank you
what time is it is digital it is you
board of ppps
my name is I not when I shoot II
yep it's doubly I spare the elementary
school III represent a Kerala meant
elementary school away and therefore
alone middle school as well oh nice but
you were supposed to be nice I really
appreciate that you took the time not
least let's say to listen to us anyway
and I was not used to but we learned
that there will be big cuts today in the
central office is a soccer captain
autism that they will that they will
also cut our wonderful interpreters when
I teach in year per kid nucleus in the
last few years
Roberta risque is its name is Russian
lion
Nakata in my Saddam he posed beneath
look it always call and find out but hit
me you know it is the latest news what
does she do deserve each other
yeah something about the school matters
you only did that
Adamo hominem the older would always
would pick up and answer our questions
name exact solution of petrol boy spring
is already difficult for us in a
different country using a block of muddy
among these kids we don't know English
well and I'm
poetry in detail just to help our
children to crochet a visionary oh it's
a treat Nico if if there if you if you
cut individuals that speak a second
language when I'm not teaching them and
you pop reviewer on then you're making
it very difficult for us okay right on
key though Stu please moisture continue
which takes away the line for our for us
to communicate with with you guys
tomorrow yet nah good this year with
national influence on the future success
of our children is your just cuz I just
open also known within the last time I
never say me what you know is not a very
friendly discourse and what to disgorge
corner your Portland region booth great
I've seen you with a with a Russian
community school achillea sacra Chilean
I hope you never had them they cancelled
one kindergarten class civilization a
program and a russian-speaking course in
approval or engineered walk lasso and
the request to to keep the two classes
the support estate ready to lean upon
Chile Nicola the the parents that made a
request will haven't received a and
answer e FM ESL and applied you about
the podium of the team of the Russian
community yeah don't post out Kim they
only have a half of the staff is it just
as a crochet T shooting Russian
russian-speaking interpreters
DMS Italy did for us that's very stupid
it seems that a little worried
open that talks about the yes 18 after a
pasta yet coverage that that that our
that what we say doesn't
I make an effluence mattress if I invest
in you
we'd like to ask you not to remove
pedagogical interpreters yesterday
originally this turquoise-y epidemic for
machine to not leave parents without
this useful resource thank you thank you
yeah as a parent I also like to say what
I did you can you smell me we first are
upset about us no Vietnam pomegranate
mashup video which it's been many it's
been a lot of years since our since our
interpreters have been helping us it
clean eyes master can you please
introduce yourself to say your name for
the record
my name is UNITA my name is tonita
and I'm from the school from the Kelley
School District okay so we need to just
00h 15m 00s
proceed with the people who have come
and signed up for testimony we need our
clerk to call the next person sign - I
was a social worker could I speak for a
minute just maybe a couple sentences or
whatever living we any theory which is
against midnight mass games because of
because of the system are the rare
interpreter comes there didn't know
what's going on I need to move back to
DC they won't be able they won't be able
to interpret the same way that our
already interpreted that have been
working there all good absolutely we
could have called her anytime an
economist to check should answer and
help us nombre de la macchina violence -
for us parents is very important for us
to have a personal like that okay and I
realized rely on okay not really
okay thank you but we do need to proceed
with the other people who are signed up
for testimony but if you have testimony
that you want to leave either in Russian
or in English if it's in Russian we can
have it
related for atoms so please leave that
with with our clerk okay okay thank you
thank you thank you sit taverley Morgan
and Sam hedrick's thank you I'm Caverly
Morgan the Portland Public School
District is the first district in our
nation to address the emotional and
mental well-being of our teens by
offering mindful studies and six of our
schools hopefully eight in the fall
thanks to Brian Chatard of Wilson high
school we've not just be on a new
program but a movement as the executive
director of peace in schools I hear
about the countless emails we receive
each week from all over the nation and
actually all over the world from people
who want to implement this program and
while we intend to expand beyond
Portland our focus now is on perfecting
what we're doing here you might wonder
why we've gotten the attention of CNN
The Washington Post in the New York
Times and while we've why we've been
featured twice on the cover of mindful
magazine a national publication and it's
because no other city in the country is
offering this extensive of a class to
this many students most mindfulness
programs are quick interventions they
don't have the capacity to offer the
depth and duration of a semester-long
course with a very intensive curriculum
Portland is the first city in the nation
to host a class that not only teaches
students the fundamentals of mindfulness
practice it invites students into a deep
experience of self inquiry that allows
for a new relationship with themselves
others and the world around them it's a
catalyst for transformation and in a
society plagued by suicide and acts of
self harm bullying and other violence in
general this work is critical one of
this we began once the students have
created an environment of care to
and once we move beyond the foundational
mindfulness practices that many of you
are probably familiar with in the room
sitting meditation walking meditation
eating meditation students dive into a
curriculum that opens the way for a new
way of being students learn how to
embody who they authentic we are they
will learn how to be comfortable in
their own skin and they learn how to
love did anyone in your high school talk
to you about learning how to love
learning how to be in relationship with
yourself and others students are taught
how to fully recognize the negative
self-talk and how to discover the
compassionate mentor within how to step
back from the mind of limitation how to
recognize right wrong thinking good bad
thinking and not get stuck in it I hope
you'll continue to support this
evolution in education I hope you'll not
only allow it but can you continue but
rather recognize the vital need that's
being met through this work and I hope
you'll become deeply engaged in the
evolution of our education I know we to
all of you that our students deserve it
thank you very much thank you and I just
want to say we are going to have to keep
everybody to their times we have 27
people signed up for testimony so those
of you who go over are just taking the
time for mothers who have shown up and
share their views at the end of the line
thank you my name is Sam Hendricks I'm
the managing director of peace and
schools in our three years in working
with the district we brought mindfulness
based social-emotional education to the
majority now the majority of PBS high
schools and most recently Grant and
Roosevelt high schools have requested to
00h 20m 00s
join the other six current school
partners just to give you a bit of
background about this program the
district contracts with peace in schools
our nonprofit organization to send
highly trained skilled and experienced
mindfulness instructors into classrooms
we work alongside PBS PBS teachers and
of course called mindful studies which
is taught in three sections in each
schools now our facilitators facilitate
the most in-depth school-based
mindfulness course ever designed for
teens we used evidence-based
trauma-informed
approaches that are vetted and tested
and continuously refined every principle
that we work with has described the
program in various terms as a vital tool
for the emotional and mental well-being
of their students even in the midst of
these serious cuts even in the midst of
hard choices eight schools have
forecasted and staffed up for mindful
studies this fall clearly they do not
want this program cut and neither do the
1000 plus students who are served by it
the the findings that were described by
our friends at Lincoln really indicate
why students why this is such a powerful
program for the students it takes one
hundred and sixty three thousand dollars
to fund a program that will serve eight
schools and reach 1,100 students that's
145 dollars per student per year this
money doesn't just thunder another
elective it provides proactive
preventive tools for mental health and
for many teams those tools make success
in school and in life possible
one last word about the value that piece
and schools provides to the district as
a nonprofit organization that
exclusively serves PPS we've subsidized
this program substantially with grants
and fundraising for every dollar you
invest in peace in schools we invest $2
in PPS and its students that's over
three hundred thousand dollars of
resources every year lost to the
district if this program goes away it's
a mistake to let that happen thank you
so much thank you so much
[Applause]
excusive our next speakers are Kathy
Roberge and Evan boss
hi thank you for your time my name is
Kathy Roberge and I am a mental health
consultant that is part of the Multnomah
County school-based mental health
program and I am placed at the Alliance
at meek campus I work with individuals
that struggle with all kinds of
stressors in their life lots of our
students have been traumatized not just
one time but experienced complex and
multiple traumatization
many of our students have been to
multiple high schools and those high
schools did not fit for them our high
school provides an environment where our
students can be emotionally and
academically supported what I would like
to say is that the peace and schools
program at our school has done amazing
things for our school environment and
for some individual students I have
worked with multiple students over the
two years that I have been at meek who
have benefited from this program they
talk about it they discuss it I had
students who were not attending school
and it one of them told me just recently
I am in mindfulness and I'm that's one
of the reasons I come to school she
wasn't coming for about a month she came
back and said I love that class these
are the classes that assist with
improving school performance helping
with mental health challenges as others
have pointed out there's plenty of
research that indicates that and some of
that's been mentioned I just want to
also say that we know that these kids
need to have those social emotional
needs met in order to be able to focus
in school many of our students are
unable to do that we encourage this
class and many have come out feeling so
much better and more productive I can't
tell you how much I appreciate this
program at our school and I support it
fully to be implemented again and we the
money allotted for the program thank you
hi Evan floss I'm speaking today as a
concerned citizen regarding peace in
schools I've spent over 15 years in
public health and as a population health
00h 25m 00s
management professional in Portland
health systems and care delivery systems
I'm also a mother of a third and fourth
grader in PPS and I'm a board member of
peace in schools I've seen firsthand the
long-term emotional and physical health
impacts of trauma from people's
formative experiences I've managed PTSD
treatment clinics substance abuse
treatment clinics and spent years
working to improve health in the
workplace I got involved with peace in
schools because I truly believe we need
to go as a public health professional we
need to go further upstream to intervene
in people's lives before they enter the
workforce before they come become adults
and this is a critical time in the teen
years because healthcare institutions
like the one I work for and public
health institutions are rapidly
discovering that social and emotional
well-being underpins individual health
and the ability to make lifestyle
choices that impact things like chronic
conditions later in life large health
systems are right now preparing to
invest a lot of money to support
trauma-informed school-based programs in
the immediate immediate future and going
forward here in our region so what piece
in schools is doing is truly
groundbreaking it is trauma-informed
work it's intervening to support teams
with tangible skills and to continue to
offer peace in schools in PPS we will be
aligned with this collective action and
momentum so this is not the time to move
away from peace in schools this is truly
the time to enhance and deepen that
partnership it's the future of PBS we
will all collectively benefit from that
as a community and I believe that the
return on investment that you can make
in this program it's a very efficient
program as Sam shared it's very
effective the small investment you can
make will reap large rewards because of
this community momentum and this
collective momentum in this direction
thank you thank you very much
[Applause]
Jenice King and Amira Streeter
Jenice Ching and mbrs feeder
hi good evening can y'all hear me okay
great
my name is Ginny's chain I am the policy
manager at upon oh I here to testify on
behalf of the ethnic studies resolution
that you all passed last year first of
all thank you for passing that I think
right now more than ever it was very
timely considering that it's been a very
challenging political climate where
there has been a lot of there's been
heightened and more crying cake crimes I
would say graffiti in on school grounds
as well as nearby schools our students
are really feeling that kind of fear and
being targeted as students of color in
this district in it not just in this
district but you know even around our
larger communities and so we really see
that this is an important work and I
would like to just highlight this for
the board and ask for your support and
fully funding this implementation
project next year we've made a funding
request for specifically this summer
teacher training and development a lot
of our engagement this year on the
Oversight Committee that I'm helping to
facilitate we've been talking to
principals and teachers in this district
many of them want to actually they're
you know they want this training they
want to learn how to offer multiple
perspectives in the classroom they just
don't have that training and so we're
asking that this board keep this issue a
priority and fund that teacher training
this summer for teachers to embed ethnic
studies into some of the core classes
next year we also want I also want to
highlight that the teacher training I
mean there's a real need for quality
teacher training but not necessarily at
the expense of the instructional time
that our students are in school for so
if there is a way that we can provide
that teacher training and supports to
make sure that you know our teachers out
there again are prepared to teach this
material not the expense of that
instructional time that's what I would
support and lastly I'd also like you all
to continue to support
the implementation process the Oversight
Committee next year as there is going to
be ongoing work to be done so thank you
thank you
hello so my name is Sarah Muhammad
enough I'm a junior in Penson high
school and I'm a student advisory Cal
student advisory committee member for
the ethnic studies I'm here to ask for
your support before we fund the ethnic
00h 30m 00s
studies implementation I think so they
come from youth because because years of
color not seeing themselves represented
in their classes and there are social
studies classes youth are very hungry -
these are very hungry for more
information about their backgrounds and
their racial groups and how they're
contributed and they're in their society
according to many of the surveys many
surveys and listening sessions we've
done recently a use of color want
teachers who are really open minded and
really care about what they're teaching
go ethnic study classes and I really
care about like what the student wants
is that what to laugh once what what
really student want to learn in that
class youth are youth of color are
telling us that they are not learning
about their racial groups and all the
ethnic studies classes are really all
the social studies classes are really
centered in the white bulbs these are
also telling us that they want teachers
that understands the role of race and
racism and other systems of our kind of
operation and the US history and also
want a teacher that knows how to handle
conflicts and bar conflicts disagreement
situations and their classrooms
I think cities is really important to me
because it really helps a climate
acknowledge the students about their
identities and backgrounds
and reveal the positive they reveal the
positive parts of their culture and
cultures and identity finally I just
want I would really appreciate if you
will fund our implementation thank you
thank you very much
[Applause]
hi my name is Asha I'm a freshman at
Jefferson High School and I am a member
of the Student Advisory Committee for
ethnic studies I am asking the board to
fund ethnic studies in the classrooms
next year because ethnic studies
provides knowledge to navigate systems
and larger societies and ethnic studies
promote cross-cultural learning that is
important during this challenging
political moment because it helps us to
understand other people's experiences
and perspectives being informed is the
first step to being an engaged citizen
this is personally important to me
because my teachers have not been able
to teach me about other people's
perspectives in a way it should be
taught and finally I am asking the board
to help us out and fun as Nick says
thank you very much Sakhalin psychology
Noir and Marie Taylor
thank you hello my name is Takao Jinora
and I am a concerned parent and a
community member thank you very much for
the opportunity gave me today to testify
in front of you how much I am
disappointed the decision that Portland
Public School to eliminate translation
and interpretation services employees
when I heard then we use that Portland
Public Schools contracting out the
translation services outside the vendors
who are literally have no relationship
with our families and their students at
the same token do not have education
experience in our school classroom
settings and the more than that they do
not build the trust the family they
would serve as decide as a community we
are still facing many challenges of
communications and coming a long way
gradually to be part of the school's
system our family do not involve with
the different activities in school of
their children yet and it's where these
employees of translation interpretation
services bridge the gaps between school
and parents if we dismantle today that
system functioning even though the
department needs more investment and
training but outsourcing is led the
00h 35m 00s
solution to tackle per long problem of
under serving a community of color as a
parent if I highlight some examples that
I had that I know for the firsthand how
single mother in my community who do not
speak the language of our school needs
to call her school children and the ones
to inform one of the children is not
feeling well
said he she would come to school that
particular day Portland Public School
promotes inclusiveness and equity in our
school and the community of color should
feel that they are part of the parcel in
our school stakeholders but we do not
see these days in your own budget that
inclusive of inclusive and equity above
all it was not a long time ago when some
of the local newspapers published some
complain of our families and as you
might be aware that Somali community
students graduate rate is not that great
closing I am arguing our board members
to reconsider this decision of
elimination this department which I
believe it will ill-advised decision in
which Portland Public Schools to
contract out their work outside
companies who do not have known how
skills and trust of our families
contracting out is not the answer thank
you and the public schools has to walk
to the desk thank you thanks hello I'm a
retailer and I teach in the mindful
Studies program at Madison high school
I'm here before you now to speak very
specifically about mindful studies
funding as an equity issue and I'm glad
that you guys would be reviewing your
equity stuff later on today cultural
transformations of policies people
practices and partnerships to build a
more equitable inclusive organization
I'm very grateful that Bryan Chatard at
Wilson saw the benefit of this program
and figured out how to move it from an
after-school program that impacted a few
to a four credit class that now reaches
hundreds of kids every year in the
district in order for Bryan to do that
he had to approach his foundation to
help cover expenses the program then
spread to Lincoln and Cleveland which is
fabulous several of you along with the
lens of Po and equity department
recognize that while it is wonderful
that predominantly white predominantly
financial staples and comfortable
students can access the tools and guess
what the program
is equally if not more important that
black and brown students of limited
financial means with significant trauma
and barriers to accessing support also
have the opportunity to access this
program with that in mind the equity
department help provide funding for this
program which is loud Madison and
Franklin to start their programs
everyone in this room knows that Wilson
Lincoln and Cleveland are not losing
this valuable program they have
principal students parents and
foundations that will find a way to
continue funding it we also know that
Franklin and Cleveland have amazing
students administrators and parents but
are lacking the financial resources
needed to run mindful studies without
PBS support if you are not willing to
find a creative way way to maintain
funding especially for the schools that
most needed you're essentially saying
that is appropriate and acceptable for
this program to be reserved for those
who can pay and that like so many issues
facing our students of color if you
can't find the money too bad the board
has been vocal in recent years about the
importance of equity the necessity and
morality of doing more for historically
underserved populations what are you
going to do right now for my kids thank
you thank you very much
[Applause]
hi I'm Debra crews I'm a substitute
teacher at PBS and I have two children
in the PPS schools that filter into
Lincoln my plea to the board is this
before anything else please do not cut
teaching positions before cutting
positions cut out the purchase of the
new language arts curriculum before
cutting teaching positions cut the Tosa
is required because of that new
curriculum purchase before cutting
teaching positions consider everything
else there is to lose because whenever
you'd lose a teaching position the
students lose more students lose on
individual attention they lose focus in
overcrowded classrooms students lose
differentiation observations assessments
participation feedback the list of
losses keeps adding up until a student
achievements drops I've received the
training and taught this new curriculum
and I can tell you three things first
it's not fully supported not enough
training not enough prep time printed
00h 40m 00s
materials that you have to search out
and go to the print shop for using
teachers times that they don't have to
upper grades have to use lower grade
books to scaffold students into the new
program the books you aren't trained on
our photocopy difficult to read and half
manuals with no given support another
time sucks
three teachers are already overwhelmed
with what they need to do giving them
larger class sizes and the new
curriculum in three different subjects
subjects is asking for failure I've seen
teachers struggle with this new
curriculum with decent class sizes
cutting positions over a new curriculum
that will take more time and energy away
from the teachers that you do retain is
a losing idea the one way to keep the
district student focused is to keep
teaching physicians the best way to meet
all student needs and keep learning
equitable for all is to keep teaching
physicians if the board cannot find a
way to change the budget in order to
save teaching physicians then please let
the parents know how we can because we
can be a powerful constituent we must
find a way to work together to keep as
many teaching physicians as we can even
though I love the Lucy Calkins
curriculum it's not a choice we have to
keep teachers over that thank you
I want to answer your question about
what what we can do and let you know
that there are cards in the back of the
room from Oregon rising which are
postcards for everyone to take and fill
out and send to your legislators send to
the co-chairs of the House Ways and
Means Committee send to the governor
please communicate with everybody down
in Salem that we need more revenue for
school it's almost like you were a plant
or I was because as I'm going to speak
hello my name is diana Randi I'm a
parent of three children they're all all
Portland public school students a fourth
grader two graduates I live in North
Portland because of the large age gap
between my children I've been a PPS
parent for the last 16 consecutive years
and I still have eight years to go
that's a watch out during these 16 years
my children have experienced cuts every
year to PE music the library art to
their teachers the staff there have been
school closures concurrent increases in
classroom size cuts to the school year
and now my daughter's school Beach
Elementary in North Portland stands to
lose five FTE which in real terms means
among other things the loss of our
vice-principal the school climate
specialist an entire kindergarten class
full-time PE teacher librarian EAS in
the classroom but you know we've never
ever experienced in 16 years in Portland
Public Schools stable school funding and
I am NOT here tonight to critique the
decisions made by PBS about how to
address this latest funding catastrophe
nor am I going to beg the school board
to save our programs while cutting other
important and crucial programs because
we all know that these are not real
choices everyone in this room knows that
while we fight for the crumbs the
elephant in the room is happily
devouring the cake and that elephant is
our corporate citizens who are unwilling
to pay their fair share of their taxes
and our elected officials who will not
do their job and make them do it so my
question to every one of you on the
board is this how do you intend to
leverage your power as a board and fight
for our students and demand that
legislators do their job and obtain
stable and appropriate funding for our
public schools because this is hardly
radical or impossible endeavor right now
the legislature has the opportunity to
raise the funds we need and finally
provide stable funding for our schools
by doing things like setting a
reasonable corporate minimum tax and
closing other tax loopholes but they
will not do it unless we all make them
this past months have been trying times
but they've demonstrated that people
banding together can have incredible
power and I hope that every person in
this room will join me and others as we
push and push hard for our state
legislature to meaningfully address the
funding crisis we are once again facing
thank you Marko's Turner
and Tom from Mount Scott
school board directors thank you for the
opportunity to speak here today my name
is Tom Dujardin and I have the honor of
serving as executive director of Mount
scott Learning Center one of the
district's contracted alternative
programs I'm here to thank you and the
school district for our strong
partnership in serving students that for
a variety of reasons were previously
00h 45m 00s
unsuccessful in a larger traditional
school environments these students some
of whom you will hear from today and
many who are in the audience also
representing the other schools had
either dropped out of school or at a
serious risk of dropping out before
enrolling in one of the district's
contracted programs using our
partnership has allowed us to recapture
these students and re-engage them in
their education at Mount Scott more than
90 percent of our students successfully
earn their high school diploma and more
than 80 percent currently pursue a to
post-secondary education and training
most of these students had little hope
of college or even high school
graduation before attending Mount Scott
and this is true for all of our programs
the ongoing challenge is that Mount
Scott and the other CBO's received as 80
percent of the funding per student that
PPS allocates to students at larger
traditional schools in most cases Mount
Scott and the other program is
represented here tonight you do more
with less the disparity is even more
concerning with the news of the school
districts plan budget cuts to Mount
Scott and the other contracted
alternative programs next year we all
recognize the difficult challenge you
have this budget cycle and that you will
have to make some very tough choices my
argument is one I believe makes
financial sense
I simply urge you to strongly consider
maintaining the funding levels for
programs like Mount scott that are
already saving the district thousands of
dollars each year and already doing more
with less every student no matter what
their challenges are or were deserve
success thank you for your support and
helping us live out that mission every
day thank you for your work
[Applause]
hello everyone
thanks for taking the time to hear what
I have to say my name is Marcos Turner
and I'm currently a 16 year old
sophomore mouse Cal Learning Center
first of all before attending Mouse
Scott I dealt with severe anxiety and
anger issues for quite some time right
off the bat I knew I couldn't handle
going to a larger traditional school I
wouldn't last very long with the big
classrooms and such I'd most likely get
distracted however now if Scott ended up
being the perfect fit for me and I'm
really glad about that and my
grandparents and I came across Mouse God
I'd have no idea where I'd be a mouse
got the one-on-one teaching the
comfortable class rooms with up to
probably 15 students max and the
teachers caring ways it's really
phenomenal to me and the teachers how
they care has been a large positive
affect on me and all my time being here
makes me want to come back every year
and because of mouse Scott I'm a 4.0
student and free of anxiety and I love
going to school and if I wasn't a mouse
Scott I want to be Who I am today I want
to be so positive or confident I found
motivation and I cracked out of my shell
after my first year so I'm very happy
about that at first before attending my
Scott my anxiety went through the roof
thinking of how they were going to make
new friends or pass my classes there was
a lot of what-ifs but now what ifs don't
exist for me so I'm so happy and
grateful that I can officially say I'm
going to college at a and anywhere
ordinary high school I don't know if I
could have controlled by anxiety or
anger mouths God helped me by giving me
the tools on how to deal with it and I'm
very grateful about that it would have
escalated most likely because if I
didn't go to mouth Scott it would have
gone a little worse I think but a I'm on
track for graduating early and overall
now Scott is a very safe committee to me
and I don't need to worry anymore so
happy
next we have Jalan T Jefferson and Lily
Williams welcome so my name is Lillian
Williams and I'm a senior at Mount scott
Learning Center and I will be graduating
this June I've struggled with schools a
lot in the past from failing grades to
general behavior and dealing with the
frustrations of my own personal life and
I never got the attention in school that
I needed that's not me being selfish
that's me holding on to the last string
of self-worth I had less and caring
about my education in my future when I
attended the larger traditional schools
the classes were so huge to the point
where I've seen students sitting on
window seals and dusty water-damaged
floors because there was no room at the
desk
and teachers did offer help after class
but with ten or more students from each
class a day asking for help the teachers
wouldn't actually spend time with you
until you understood the subject it
usually was a brief one or two minute
read explaining of what was went over in
class and if you are lucky they would
spend an extra minute or two going into
00h 50m 00s
detail over the subject that was taught
coming to mount Scott Learning Center
has completely changed my view on the
education system the amount Scott
classes are small enough to where you
get that one-on-one time with your
teachers that is necessary for your
success
yet big enough at the same time you
don't feel singled out not only has the
school helped me develop a newfound love
for education but has helped me learn to
love and appreciate and understand my
self-worth I've become more comfortable
in communicating my struggles and
shortcomings and how I feel and I'm so
thankful to this school that I've been
able to experience the success that I
thought would never be obtainable for me
I just hope that many students for years
and years to come are able to experience
the same love comfort and success that I
have at mount Scott thank you
[Applause]
hi y'all how y'all doing
my name is Tara I'm 17 years old and I'm
a junior I'm on Scott Learning Center
I've been a part of this school for
almost two years and without a doubt the
best school I've been to yet the school
I changed my life because my work is
better I get one-on-one time with my
teachers and my grades I'm more higher
than ever before when I first came to my
Scott you know I immediately felt
welcome and my scottson was safe in some
place I've ever been to
I had my other schools you know I was
really struggling man you know bad
grades not really going to class because
I always feel like I'm failing and I
don't if I don't graduate on time but
you know honestly when I wasn't when I
came to my Scott everything completely
changed man it's just anything with
myself you know I felt more happy and
what I do and now I'm also a 4.0 student
and this time I know for a fact I will
be graduating early next year and you
know honestly from me because because of
my Scott man you know I'm more stronger
than I was before and I honestly
appreciate the staff and all that they
do man I really ask that you guys like
you know really supported us you know
what we do because it has changed a lot
of students lives at the school thank
you
[Applause]
next we have Heather Meharry and Kiana
McElroy
my name is Heather mihari and I am the
school secretary at Chapman at the
Ramona I'd say good evening but there's
nothing good about why we're here I've
worked for PPS for 16 years I speak for
myself and classified employees everyone
talks about teacher cuts but no one is
mentioned but almost 200 classified
employees had jobs cut hours decreased
or were unassigned this is what I do
I've stabilized broken limbs treated
head injuries and set with kids during
seizures while waiting for paramedics
I keep charts and give medication
without nurses classified employees
manage Children's Health
I meet buses and check schedules to keep
kids safe I secure the building
evacuate students and keep them calm
during emergencies or student outbursts
I fix shoes and eyeglasses with duct
tape and paper clips I comfort children
in crisis or trauma
ayuda a Familia scandal habla English I
help struggling families find assistance
and resources during the snowstorms
classifieds stayed with stranded kids
some until 10:00 or 11:00 at night
although we're not being paid for part
of those days I answer calls file
documents handle records and enter data
while responding to a thousand
emergencies my title is school secretary
but I'm a critical part of keeping
children safe and well classified
employees are qualified dedicated people
good at our jobs and proud of our work I
don't know the solution but I know many
people in different positions have told
me they feel the Tosa program does not
enrich classroom education and money
could be saved by closing it classifieds
00h 55m 00s
are one of the last remaining safety
nets in the district if you balance your
budget on our backs it's not just done
why
but dangerous please reconsider Kiana
Mackel ho come from Cleveland High
School I have taken mindfulness for two
years I just wanted to start off by
saying the truth peace in schools has
changed my life and the lives of many
students in the PBS district mindfulness
has impacted my school environment my
peers and my community in amazing ways
cutting this crucial program in our
schools would be in no way beneficial
and I believe it would only negatively
impact the student body I've suffered
from eating disorders depression anxiety
and breakdowns in school and I have to
tell you without the precious tools of
peace in schools that peace in schools
has taught me I honestly don't know
where I would leave mindfulness teaches
its students
tools to believe in themselves to
empower themselves and accept themselves
the importance of mindfulness in school
is indescribable I've seen this program
help people off of medication I've seen
this program help students safe be safe
from themselves
mindfulness lets students be themselves
learn about themselves and liberate
themselves I ask of you for two PPS to
please consider the negative impact of
cutting this program would be on the
student body and the community please
creep this amazing program in our
schools thank you I also have a small
petition of 250 signed
next we have Robert Benton and
Christopher cook
I'm Christopher cook that I can wait for
Robert okay thank you for your time my
name is Christopher cook and I'm the
father of a Portland school student
looking over the budget the budgets bond
generated funding I believe that the
allocation of funds for planning the
upgrades to Cleveland Jefferson and
Wilson high schools should include the
study an assessment of what impact this
and the next Bond will have on
financially on renters in the city I'm
hoping this board can work proactively
with the tax supervising and
Conservation Commission to achieve this
though information supply to the voters
sites example levy rates for houses 26 -
193 also applies to apartment complex
owners and the result will most likely
be increased rents given the affordable
housing crisis in Portland not assessing
the potential a bond has in raising rent
does the community a disservice though
the need to improve our schools is clear
the need for all the facts to be
presented is also a core value that
needs to be championed by the board the
final presentation of bonds the board
proposes can easily be misinterpreted by
the electorate not only does a running
tally of school bonds not make its way
into voting materials the data supplied
seems to strategically emit the full
scope of each bonds in position wording
and subsequent and city sanctioned bond
assessments even focuses on home values
of west of the molec well amat as if to
distract from the fact that these costs
will be shouldered by everyone citywide
this can only give rise to knee-jerk
funding strategies and an us-versus-them
approach to maintaining equitability in
the city yes we need to fix our schools
but we also need to gather and analyze
data to discern how bond levies trickle
down to everyone residing in Portland
not just homeowners then use the
findings to develop more dynamic ways to
pay for the care of our schools and
students need in the feeds in the future
so moving forward I urge the board to
reach out to the TSTC to ask what they
that they also track how upcoming bonds
impact renters and communicate the
findings before additional bond measures
are put forward thank you
other fences are you here
le Baumgartner and Lia star
thank you
I'm Lea should I wait for Ellie don't we
go ahead okay my name is Lea I am a
parent of three PPS students thank you
for having me as you know grant families
and its feeder school families have
01h 00m 00s
critical concerns about the grant to
marshal transportation during the
upcoming two-year remodel of Grant High
School
we are grateful that our concerns were
heard thank you funding for grant to
marshal transportation is in the 2017 to
18 budget in a three tiered proposal
this transportation will help alleviate
unreasonably long commute times for many
grant students and prevent absenteeism
and late arrivals both of which we know
increase the odds of students dropping
out as you know the state reimburses PPS
for 70% of transportation costs I am
here to strongly encourage approval for
transportation services to grant
students during this PPS budget process
and to give grant and the Transportation
Department latitude to adjust the plan
as the community needs it we have
consistently said the common goal for
grant to marshal transportation is a
reasonable and equitable amount of
commute time for all grant students
facing this long - your time of
necessary commuting further with this
budget we are asking you to direct PPS
transportation to work with families to
create extremely direct Express and time
efficient focus routes to expedite
travel times for students
minimal stops fastest routes possible
that may mean changing the plan for zone
2 and zone 3 planning for the current
and documented bus driver shortage in
Portland is crucial voters approved to
2012 bond with the understanding that
we'd get what we voted and paid for in
two weeks voters are considering whether
or not to vote YES for the upcoming
measure 26 - 193 that ensures safe
modern and healthy schools for students
PPS can demonstrate that a yes vote
ensures follow-through by including
transportation for grant students as was
in the original 2012 bond materials
thank you thank you so much for the
opportunity to speak my name is Ellie
Baumgartner I'm a speech language
pathologist I work supporting both the
ESL and special education departments
closer I'm here speaking on behalf of
concerned speech-language pathologists
and other educators in special education
we as a group are very concerned about
the potential cuts to our translation
and interpretation staff who are
invaluable I'm here to share I'm here to
share what they do specifically for
special education and how they support
our mission not only in special
education but also to support federal
law under I DEA in supporting culturally
and linguistically diverse students
especially in these uncertain times for
our immigrant families a gentleman named
mr. really Saeed one of our translation
and interpretation staff is one of many
who are invaluable to our appropriate
assessment and referral processes in
special education we are implored to
improve our culturally responsive
practices in special education in the
way that we refer assess and interpret
evaluation especially for culturally
linguistically diverse students when we
look at ourselves as special educators
we are predominantly white monolingual
english-speaking staff who which does
not represent the communities of our
families
mr. really Saeed has helped just as one
example in helping families from our
Somali speaking community he took time
to work with me and my specialist team
at a specific building helping a student
who had had a stroke as a baby and was
in an intensive Skills Center getting a
special education support he made sure
that we understood the specific cultural
and linguistic barriers that this family
would have in the assessment process
which led to us having a warm clear
consistent relationship improving family
engagement he helped me as the
speech-language pathologist look at my
tools and make sure that the way I was
assessing this young child was
appropriate for his background he said
don't use the picture of the hot dog he
won't he won't know what that is don't
use the picture of that skirt his mom
doesn't wear one like that so that I
could ensure that the way that I assess
this child was matching his cultural
linguistic back
and that's just one example of the tools
and procedures and support with their
cultural knowledge very specific to our
community I we run the risk if we if we
contract out this service we won't run
the risk of losing this integral
relationship that our translation
interpretation staff have with our
community which levels the playing field
for our family thank you very much
01h 05m 00s
[Applause]
cambio and Irma Hernandez welcome hi hi
I'm Linda campy oh and I'm the teacher
librarian media specialist at Wilson
high school I'm retiring and the
position has been cut in half I would
like to talk about the importance of
having a teacher librarian media
specialist at every school and
specifically full-time at every high
school I know that principals are faced
with difficult decisions however aspects
of the academic core should not be a
choice but a requirement for providing
an equitable and highly effective
educational structure and since a
full-time librarian is considered part
of the high school core curriculum I'm
wondering why it isn't a splendid as
such and how it can be an exception we
can all agree that literacy is the
foundation for all learning yet I've
heard that certified librarians and
assistants are being cut and many PPS
schools I want to explain the cuts to
these positions are not just FTE they
are actually cuts to information
literacy programs the program involves
research skills instruction including
website evaluation information analysis
content selection fake news
identification source citation and
literary criticism all of the
instruction is done by certified
librarian a position considered by the
district as a fundamental part of the
high school core curriculum and a
fundamental part of really the continuum
of our of our all grade levels all of
these learning and information
activities are needed to build the
knowledge required by
students to be successful future
citizens those library FTE is not
guaranteed we have an inequitable
situation of PPS with some students
gaining more opportunities than others
some high school students will graduate
prepared to enter college or the
workforce as knowledgeable citizen
voters and some will not be prepared the
irony of this matter is that school
library programs are being left behind
while concern grows to me - every
student succeeds act scores of research
shows that professionally staffed school
libraries with strong programming
contribute to increasing student
achievement and higher graduation rates
informational literacies instruction is
a is a continuum that should be taught
at all grade levels I hope you will
seriously consider furnishing all
schools with specific required library
program FTE to keep a professional
certified librarian and assistance it's
for the students because they are the
ones that will lose thank you thank you
say thank you to everyone who testified
tonight also encourage any of you to
send testimony or for the thoughts to
the board office for us all to review
this public hearing is adjourned and we
will reconvene in five minutes for our
normal board meetings thank you very
Sources
- PPS Board of Education, Archive 2016-2017, https://www.pps.net/Page/10970 (accessed: 2022-03-24T00:57:51.375732Z)
- PPS Communications, "Board of Education" (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CC942A46270A16E (accessed: 2023-10-10T04:10:04.879786Z)
