2017-08-11 PPS School Board Special Meeting
| District | Portland Public Schools |
|---|---|
| Date | 2017-08-11 |
| Time | missing |
| Venue | missing |
| Meeting Type | special |
| Directors Present | missing |
Documents / Media
Notices/Agendas
08-11-17 Special Meeting Notice (d4bbb1d5afab9e60).pdf Public Notice
Materials
None
Minutes
Transcripts
Event 1: Special Meeting of the Board-Superintendent-August 11, 2017
00h 00m 00s
20:17 is called to order welcome to
everyone present and to our television
viewers this meeting will be replayed
throughout the next two weeks
please check the board websites Thank
You director content please check the
director website for replay times for
calling this meter meeting to consider
the hiring of Portland's new
superintendent to start the meeting I'm
going to provide an overview of the
superintendent recruitment process ask
director Moore to summarize the position
description and then ask director coms
damn to talk about the match of the
candidate that we're going to consider
this morning and then we will introduce
a resolution and we will have a board
discussion
so I want to provide a although we've
updated the community over the last
several weeks or for the last two months
on the process I want to just provide an
overview of our process starting in June
when the former board chair Tom curler
appointed a task force that then morphed
into the full boards work but it started
in June and we've been working hard all
summer it was an intense and
comprehensive process that included
public input throughout and I had
frequent updates to the community
parents and staff first I'd like to have
talked about community and public input
in the spring the prior board conducted
public community meetings to determine
the community's priorities for the new
superintendent some of these were
targeted meetings with historically
underserved populations in our city we
had an online survey that brought in
opinions of hundreds more in the
community the new board retained this
really important community input that
was previously conducted to sharpen and
refocus our position description we then
went back to key stakeholders and asked
for more feedback on a position
description to make sure that we had it
right it became more focused and
connected with what our community wants
in a new leader our number one priority
is hiring an education leader either a
current superintendent or a leader with
a large district with experience as an
education leader we did not consider any
non-traditional candidates and director
Moore will talk a little bit more about
the specifics of the position
description second we in the
superintendent recruitment we had a much
more aggressive thorough candidate
outreach the new board tapped a new lead
search consultant one with Oregon ties
who knows our community we wanted
somebody who knew the different parts of
our community the diversity of it and
the complexity that could better help us
find someone who was a good match our
search went beyond simply posting a job
description we actively recruited
candidates
specs from the northwest and the country
we attracted a wide range of highly
qualified candidates and successfully
narrow the pool down first through
delving into backgrounds and then by
interviewing those who were appropriate
to advance in a process we asked parents
staff and community members and national
leaders to recommend candidates and they
and they did it was quite heartening we
had a really vigorous response to our
request for people to recommend people
who they thought would be good fits who
met our position description so over a
course of six weeks we really received
lots of candidates second we at the very
beginning when we renewed the
recruitment we went back and looked at
what happened last year and you know
what sort of learnings we could take
from that recruitment and we did a
00h 05m 00s
number of things differently in addition
to bringing on tapping a new lead
consultant who had familiarity with
Oregon we also looked at the
compensation and I want to thank
directors Anthony and Bailey for all the
work they did on this we asked them to
review not only the North West Market
ranges for other superintendents of
large districts but to in addition to do
a national survey of sort of comparable
cities of cost of living so that we when
we went out and talked to candidates
that we knew that we could be
competitive but also offer something
that a compensation package that was
right for our community that was
fiscally responsible and so and we set a
market range for the compensation in
addition we in terms of the background
checks we went back much further this
time than last recruitment last time it
went back seven years this time we had a
much more comprehensive approach to the
background checks just in terms of
length and scope in addition in terms of
the other part of the process is we had
a reference process and board members
actively contacted references
I want to thank director more for
compiling and providing a summary to the
board in addition another aspect that
was different this time is we decided in
advance to start the process by very
clearly communicating with our
candidates that we'd have a standard
district contract it was not not to be
negotiated after an offer was made but
that we would we have a pretty standard
approach we'd have competitive
compensation but that our superintendent
would have standard health care benefits
that PBS employees have they would also
be paying their 6% pickup and other
pretty standard things that are included
in Portland's superintendent contracts
in the past so that's all been done
another thing just to talk about the
interview and background reference
checking process the candidate
interviews were based on scores of
questions and really again this all
those community meetings that happened
with the board that the prior board and
then are engaged with the community and
that really helped us build questions to
ask the candidates of what things were
important what our community members
wanted to see the candidate interview
questions included things about our
unique Portland things unique to
Portland a candidate's track record of
increasing achievement for students
discussions about high school success
college prep career technical education
ESL special ed budgeting management
facilities planning experience with
bonds educational vision community input
and working with parents and a broad
variety of community partners so that
was sort of the scope of what we looked
at we had a very different process this
time I think the last time the
candidates who went through the process
I think would attest to it being very
comprehensive exhaustively comprehensive
but just to provide an overview the
board really wanted to get to know
candidates and they're thinking in a
variety of formats our we started with
more than 40 prospects and candidates
and in the first round director Tom Sam
who's the vice chair of the board at the
time and I personally spoke to had very
lengthy phone conversations or meetings
with prospects and then when we had a
list of applicants and the board had
narrowed down that group to a group that
we felt will qualified in many ways not
all because just to be clear there's no
candidate it's going to perfectly set
our position description but ones that
felt met many of the metrics that based
on that we then had a long and extensive
panel interview by the board with the
candidates and again more of a
traditional panel interview type setting
but exploring a wide variety of topics
and then after that then the third round
the candidates who then came back there
were basically two parts to that
interview process with the school board
we decided to do something different we
really wanted to see how candidates
since all since we were all speaking to
educational leaders the candidates there
was a non-traditional we asked all of
00h 10m 00s
them to bring data from their district
and we asked them to bring data around
three very specific areas just so we we
would have an opportunity to talk with
them about things that are important to
Portland and Portland students and
deportment families and the three sort
of data sets we asked them to bring was
information around third-grade reading
data on discipline disparities and data
on a graduation rates and to have also
all of this information disaggregated so
we could hear the candidates talk about
how they were doing on three three areas
that are important to our school system
and our families
and then we ask them to talk about what
they were proud of and that in that data
and where they thought that they had
places that they could improve what they
had learned from it and then how it
would be apply it would apply to to
Portland and I think the board members
and we come out and discussion we all
found that really revealing in terms of
how a candidate would approach the work
and how the candidate would work with
our teaching staff and the building
staff and the people here in the central
office and how they would build a system
the supports for students and really you
know I think we all listen closely
particularly in the places where
improvement was still needed because
frankly there's places in Portland where
we have we we have we need to improve on
things for our students and so those are
really rich discussions that we had with
the candidates we also asked what their
role was in that in that work the end at
the same time of this third round we
also set up a interviews with a half-day
with two dozen community and staff and
employees stakeholders an opportunity to
discuss issues and answer questions that
feedback then was summarized and
provided to the board and that feedback
really allowed us then in our next round
to really probe deeper on some issues
that were raised by people in the
community and some of the stakeholders
allowed us to ask another set of
questions so it prompted I think a
really full discussion beyond just the
sort of expertise that the board members
of the relationships the board members
have and in addition that feedback will
also be a guide for our transition
planning so for the public schools as
everyone knows this has been a
time of transition and some uncertainty
and we're going to want to build the
transition plan that provides stability
that all of our stakeholders have an
opportunity to participate in the new
work of not only the board but with the
new superintendent the fourth round of
interviews I said it was exhaustive was
individual meetings with board
candidates for follow-up questions and
additional information so we started
with 40 prospects and candidates and we
narrowed it down to our choice several
hundred community members have
participated in helping the school board
hire a Nuke leader the school board came
together quickly and I really want to
thank my fellow board members this has
been a very a summer that was not free
of meetings it was we spent a lot of
time on this process but we've narrowed
it down to a single candidate and we
really had an opportunity I think to
combine the strengths and expertise of
all the board members and also just the
voice of the community was infused
within this process so I'm excited this
morning to be presenting Guadalupe eggs
Guerrero as the candidate to be our next
superintendent he's a proven educator
who brings a deep understanding of
classroom teaching and is connected to
what students need and children need to
succeed our goal was to hire an
educational leader whose student focused
and his experience building and
sustaining systems to support every
student leaving our schools ready for
college career in life and he is that
leader and with that I'm going to ask
for a deeper discussion or presentation
by both director Moore and director cons
dam of director Moore where you provide
the overview of the position description
and director Kahn Sam why the board felt
that
00h 15m 00s
why Lupe Guerrero was the right
candidate and the best match of the
candidates that we mess with the
position description is on the website
so if you're interested in the gory
details you can find it there I'm going
to give kind of a an overview and I
think the best summary is in the opening
narrative of the position description we
are looking for a transformational
leader who can harness the community
support and work collaboratively with
all stakeholders students parents
educators staff in our communities to
develop a shared vision for the district
and create a robust organization capable
of implementing it the ideal candidate
will manage PPS as an effective student
focused organization with a professional
culture that embraces transparency
equity continuous quality improvement
and a commitment to excellence and we
specified some desired characteristics
in in a few categories first an
effective systems-thinking manager who
can work collaboratively with
stakeholders to establish a shared
vision and an actionable strategic plan
for a student-centered School District
who can align fiscal resources who can
build robust and effective management
structures capable of implementing
large-scale initiatives with fidelity
and accountability establishes
district-wide expectations for programs
and services to ensure equity and
equitable access to educational
opportunities for all students who can
oversee the modernization program second
a capable communicator and team builder
who has demonstrated skills in
exercising collaborative leadership to
build both a strong district
organization and partnerships with
stakeholders in pursuit of a shared
student-centered vision
who can build a strong district
management team productive relationship
with the board who communicates
thoroughly effectively and regularly
with both the board and the community
and and all of our stakeholders fosters
a positive professional climate of trust
and respect who has a demonstrated track
record of working in diverse urban
and/or suburban environments and the
third major category a knowledgeable and
experienced instructional leader who
believes deeply in educating the whole
child and makes decisions based on their
impact on students who can work with the
board and all stakeholders to develop a
shared educational vision for the
district and a clear strategic plan to
deliver it within existing resources and
is fully committed to providing
equitable educational opportunities and
ensuring safe nurturing learning
environments for all students so that
was our position description Thank You
director Moore director Khan Sam will
you please share based on our months of
interviews and conversations why we
believe again there's there's there's no
candidate out there that meets all of it
it's not possible I think no district
finds that but the one that the
candidates on why we felt he masked
matched best of the candidates that we
interviewed I would be delighted to
so first addressing Guadalupe Guerrero's
experience going back to when he was a
student
he's a English language learner when he
entered school in the Bay Area and in
California and it was really through his
experiences as a student that he started
to see education as the pathway for for
all the opportunity that he hoped to
find and so he excelled as a student
bilingual was involved in is an
accomplished musician
an accomplished athlete so really became
connected to
his own path to his future through his
experience in school went on to become a
paraeducator and an excellent teacher a
principal and administrator so these are
all experiences that are incredibly
important to being able to lead
effectively in this role as a teacher he
was recognized as an instructional
leader this is what led him to his
pathway as an administrator where he was
able to really take what he had learned
in terms of what is effective teaching
in the classroom and try to bring it to
a broader system's level and learn with
other teachers engaged in the same
00h 20m 00s
process and help everyone learn from one
another in that process so in his role
in San Francisco he ended up overseeing
a group of struggling schools in the
district and really leading a
comprehensive strategy to move the to
propel those schools to greater success
using student data using incredible
collaboration among the teachers in
those schools to really invest in best
practices and in the heart of it really
was learning together these
opportunities for teachers to take the
time to work with one another about what
was going on in their classrooms what
was what they were seeing as pivotal in
terms of leading to student success so
this was some of the data that we
reviewed as a board that Julia referred
to in our in our selection process we
really spent a lot of time with data on
this set of schools that he oversaw he
was the architect of the professional
development for that initiative working
with the teachers and administrators we
also had the opportunity to talk with
some of the principals in those schools
and one of the conversations I had with
a principal of one of those schools was
interesting and that he said that as a
teacher and an administrator during that
time he felt like he was on a parallel
path with his students that his his
learning and growth as an educator was
as phenomenal as the gains that he saw
his students make and I thought that
that was really an interesting comment
so really a strong instructional leader
and then a systems thinker as we de
mentioned that was an important part of
our position description and what we
were looking for in terms of being able
to harness the resources of central
office in service to schools and in
service to Student Success so we heard
that again and again and the people we
spoke to about his experiences that he
he's able to craft a vision and then
figure out what is the implementation
plan for making sure that this is
successful in service to our students
and that's really exactly the kind of
skills that we were were looking for and
it was clear that that he's been able to
do that I think the next thing I want to
focus on is that he has really had a
tremendous focus on equity and
historically underserved students in his
last school district San Francisco is a
relatively high performing School
District but it had a huge achievement
gap and that was his primary focus there
was to figure out how to make real
progress with those students who clearly
hadn't been served well by the district
and that again is some of the the
positive data that we reviewed his focus
on on equity is something that he's very
passionate about talking about because
it comes from his personal experience
and how his life changed by his
opportunity to pursue a path in
education so I look forward to him being
able to share that with his story with
everyone in our school district next you
know he is really well prepared for this
role in this process we had a pool that
included successful sitting
superintendents who have had experience
in that top job as well as others who
didn't lelou brigadeiro obviously has
not been a superintendent he
a deputy in a large complex school
district but he has assiduously prepared
himself for the role both in terms of
the experiences that he's had in schools
and in administration but also in his
educational pathway his work at Harvard
has worked with superintendent training
program his affiliation with all sorts
of national support organizations that
continue to to give him insights he also
is really a lifelong learner and part of
that is his commitment to having
personal mentors for him to develop in
his role and and some of his particular
personal mentors are some of the most
respected superintendents in the country
so that's another really tremendous
asset that he brings to this role and
you know lastly I would just speak to
his his honed but intrinsic leadership
abilities and his his personal integrity
first and foremost it's really clear he
has a tremendous love of learning the
personal joy and satisfaction that you
can see when he talks about seeing
individual students make gains and
00h 25m 00s
particularly students who might have
been stuck or students who have been
historically underserved is really
inspiring he has a great passion for
this work he he really has a steadfast
belief that every child can succeed and
that our system and all the educators
and adults connected to it need to carry
that belief with them at all times so I
think another aspect that was important
for us to look at was we're not just his
qualifications but how do we envision
this person as a leader of our team of
our you know every single person that
works from this district from the newly
hired paint crew downstairs to our pair
of educators to our nutrition services
workers to our bus drivers to our
teachers to our central office staff you
know how can he connect with
they're experienced in their jobs and
provide strong and inspiring leadership
and I think given the personal qualities
we've seen and the dedication he's had
to his career at this bar and the
results he's gotten I think we still
have a high degree of confidence that
he's a match for this system Thank You
director Tom salmon will everybody love
it
chance to speak during the discussion
phase there's just two more things
before we actually consider the
resolution that I wanted to add when I
discussed the contract I did not mention
that there's just what there's a sort of
two provisions once depended on
obviously and getting it be at an Oregon
superintendent's license it's clear so
he's applied for it already and then
just the final fingerprint background
check coming through but that's
provision is in the contract and then
the second thing I wanted to do before
we start on the board consideration as I
wanted to thank the senior board manager
Roseanne where is she she's off doing
something I'm being helpful this process
we would she's good we don't need
anything on Roseanne we were just
thanking you for all the support you've
provided the board over the last two
months it's been quite remarkable and at
all hours I can attest and since three
of the seven board members are night
owls often that was after midnight I
also wanted to thank Karen Houston for
her support and also the full
communications team that as we thought
to really throughout the process inform
the broader community about what we were
doing on our approach and provide for
feedback that the communication staff
really helped us get the word out over
the summer to parents and family and
also appreciate the translation team
when we sent over you know multiple
times over the last two months a request
to have things translated on pretty
short notice so that all of our families
would have access to the information
that they provided it quickly even
during the summer months I want to just
acknowledge that support that we
received with that the board is going to
now consider resolution five four nine
six you all have the resolution in front
of you it's a resolution there's a
number of recitals but the resolution
would be to the Board of Education vote
to authorize and approve and offered to
be extended to Guadalupe Guadalupe
Guerrero to be the superintendent at
Portland Public Schools and with that
I'd like
Esparza Brown to make the motion I move
this board back at the board I extend an
offer to Guadalupe Cadet Oh for the
position of Superintendent CPS zero
second second everyone let it be noted
that director Esparza Brown has moved
the Guadalupe Guerrero have an offer
extended to him to be the next
superintendent and that it's been
seconded by many parties on the board at
this point at this point I'd asked for
board discussion on the resolution and
I'm going to ask director as far as a
brown to kick this off if you're ready
and let us know if you'd rather have us
start with somebody else
no no I would I would love to I'm
honored at the Latina and speaking for
the Latino community of Portland I think
that this is a historic day I am so
thrilled that we are at this point of
hiring our next leader and am absolutely
00h 30m 00s
certain that that's a good I don't have
the skills and and the knowledge and and
the ganas as we would today really the
will and determination to make the
changes needed so that we close those
historic achievement gap
he is laser focused in that area further
this is
making history in that in the history of
Portland Public Schools we have not had
and looking at different tenants and I'm
thrilled for the 16% of Latino students
in the district that will have a role
model and we will create different
narratives for them I think there's
having him in the role offered so much
to our Latino students that sometimes
you know have to look long and hard to
find Latinos in leadership positions so
for many reasons I cannot be more more
pleased that we are at this point of
extending an offer to this highly
skilled educator with a very unique road
in himself as an English Learner who was
able to excel academically and as it's
been noted before he is an accomplished
musician he was an Eagle Scout he brings
so many qualities of that that we that
we admire and not only our community but
the broader community so I am once again
just thrilled that we are here and
looking forward to the long history
together and looking forward to as we
proceed collaboratively to really bring
together all of the you know creative
visions a new vision for our district
thank you on director as far as the
brown and I'm going to say that it was
really a pleasure to have you as part of
the process because I think you really
sort of tested our candidates and their
knowledge of their processes given your
background and education and your
expertise that I feel like we got to a
depth of a conversation about our
candidates that with our candidates that
we wouldn't have had without you at the
table so thank you for your
participation I'm gonna well thank you
and I wish I could be there for an
eight-person
we wish you could be here as well I'm
just gonna from an order standpoint
unless director Rosen you're not ready
I'm just going to start just and go down
the the row you can defer to director
Bueller Bailey if you want to but you're
not ready but no sorry so I just wanted
to thank all the board members for their
hard work to get to this point
Julia was right we all was all hands on
deck especially the last week and it was
pretty intense and say that how pleased
I am that mr. Guadalupe Aguero is going
to become our leader as a superintendent
he's eminently qualified and I've really
been impressed with him during the
interviews especially his use of data
his flexibility in responding to data
and making adjustments along the way and
I'll just close by saying how excited I
am that it's Friday and it's such a
special Friday for Portland Public
Schools director Bailey yeah I'm just
really excited and enthusiastic after
the second interview with Guadalupe he
left the room and I said let's hire this
guy call him back I was ready then of
course we had other great candidates too
so it was a little tongue-in-cheek but
that that's that's where we ended up so
I'm I'm really excited that we have I
think a great leader coming on board and
and yeah you know we worked really well
together
on this process and that that that was
pretty sweet as well I'm gonna pass down
but I'm just going to build on one thing
that director Bailey said is that we had
some great candidates and we had some
people who had been national super
intent of the year who had directed
districts for a long period of time who
had great data so you know they've been
big small medium-sized districts complex
districts successful track records so at
every stage of the process we found it
really difficult to narrow it
down so it was not we didn't take
director Bailey's tradition but we
really had a third of our guiding yes
00h 35m 00s
director Warren yeah I just want to say
a little bit more about that I was so
impressed by the pool candidates we got
and I will admit that the idea of being
able to successfully conclude a
superintendent search in two months and
have somebody named by the time school
started this year I have to say in June
that that struck me as a UH a pipe dream
well yeah yeah captain I am a skeptic
and and I was just blown away by the
pool of candidates that we got and it
was difficult to to narrow the field as
we went so I am I'm thrilled that
Guadalupe at Guerrero is going to be
coming at Portland I am I am really
confident that he's got the the mix of
skills and and the kind of passion and
the commitment the commitment to
Portland even I mean this is a guy who I
think we're pretty confident is going to
be here to see through this
transformation I mean this is this is as
good as I could have hoped so I'm I am
excited I'm hoping everybody else is as
excited as we are and I think all of us
just can't wait to start working with
this guy I think this is going to be
great for Portland students
join Moore's direct consume just to
build on Rita's point I want to
reiterate that I do it was a tough
decision but one that I think we all
have more confidence in because we did
have a good pool of candidates and I
want to call out Hank Harris and hya
associates for their help in this
process and really beating the bushes to
bring forward some great candidates and
I think what's most exciting to me about
what Eluga Guerrero is that he sees a
wonderful opportunity here he has a very
hopeful and optimistic intention about
how we're all going to work together to
strengthen our school system for our
students and that's really exciting I
hope that he's able to to sort of bring
that to all of our teachers and all of
our staff in our schools so that we can
we can begin an era of real momentum for
our kids director Anthony thank you I'm
not going to repeat what's been said
about mr. Guerrero's I have experienced
his abilities and his values which i
think are just exceptional but I do want
to say that leaders in San Francisco
United and community leaders in San
Francisco have spoken glowingly to me
about mr. Guerrero's ability to work
productively with politicians and
political bodies at all levels and of
all stripes he spent years successfully
lobbying successive iterations of the
San Francisco Board of Education San
Francisco Board of Supervisors the
California state legislature and the
California governor's office it's very
clear to me that in this year of cut
budgets for districts across the state
that mr. Guerrero will be both the
educational and the community leader
Portland Public Schools and the state of
Oregon need to secure our students and
our teachers the resources they need to
succeed Thank You director Anthony is
there any other dr. rosen please so I
just wanted since we're thinking people
want to say one last thing and build off
of what Scott said this really was a
team effort and we worked
extraordinarily well together and hard
together but it was under the leadership
of chair Brenna Edwards and I want to
thank you personally for all your hard
work and for the vice-chairs
Julie Esparza Brown and Rita Moore if
anyone worked the hardest it was those
three so thank you so I'm just going to
00h 40m 00s
say before we have our vote if I'm
assuming if we have a positive vote and
acceptance of the offer we're going to
need the whole community to work
together to really serve our students
well so this isn't word such board
members we're not done we're not just
handing a project off to a new
superintendent that this will be an
effort to make our schools strong and
serve every student is going to be a
collaborative team process with a new
superintendent who's going to need a lot
of support he doesn't know Portland so
we need to welcome him and I'll deliver
collaborative together not only the
board but the super superintendent
senior staff building staff and I know
just because of conversations I've had
that that is the spirit with which
Guadalupe will approach the work as well
so just look I have one left thank you
it can it can wait till after go ahead I
just want to thank our interim
superintendent Yousef a lot for stepping
into the breach here and adding a lot of
job responsibilities to has already have
lift overseeing our operations side of
our house here and obviously our new
superintendent is not going to show up
tomorrow so we'll still need to rely on
Yusuf's leadership in the coming days so
thank you very much for stepping into
this test role and we'll just keep on
keeping on thank you very much Jesus I
second that Amy yes I think yes very
much appreciate house the competent
hands that are destructive than now in
this transition time thank you I think
the full board agrees with director Kang
Sam and director Esparza Brown so thank
you for noting that the board will now
vote on resolution five four nine six
instead of just a regular Bose Bose
voice vote I'm going to ask for Miss
Susan to call the roll please
yes yes absolutely a director more yes
director Constance yes director Anthony
yes and Sharon Edwards yes so I'm
delighted to announce that resolution
five four nine six authorizing the Board
of Education to approve an offer be
extended to Guadalupe Guerrero to be the
superintendent health program public
schools has been approved and the
meeting is adjourned
[Applause]
Sources
- PPS Board of Education, Archive 2017-2018, https://www.pps.net/Page/12568 (accessed: 2022-03-24T00:57:51.006202Z)
- PPS Communications, "Board of Education" (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CC942A46270A16E (accessed: 2023-10-10T04:10:04.879786Z)
