2018-05-15 PPS School Board Work Session, Public Hearing

District	Portland Public Schools
Date	2018-05-15
Time	missing
Venue	missing
Meeting Type	work, town-hall
Directors Present	missing

Documents / Media

Transcripts

Event 1: Board Listening Session - May 15,2018

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good evening and welcome to our budget hearing this evening we have the board of directors the superintendent and we are first before we get started this evening I'm going to ask the translators who are here this evening to introduce come forward introduce interpreters come forward introduce themselves in the language that they'll be interpreting and then tell people where they're going to be standing please come forward when estar dismay amar hell Jimenez ESL interpret a CS que necesitan interpretation esto esto para docume man o derecha so my name is Kiera gracias Cristina eros KP reports AST winners diet is brusque amperior would you tie up on the hadith of a Telugu Sigma versus someone funny Chinese she was at her home indicates bangtong II was in my auto tune when funny gonna show you the way I hope in tummy didn't my name is dong I'm Fatima translator for tonight Tsingtao so no TV no currency soup diabetic have been proving Phi come on thank you thank you I also want to note that we do have materials that have been translated that are over on the table with Miss Hewson that are the superintendent's budget message so if anybody would like those we do have those available so before we get started this evening we're going to have a short just presentation of the superintendent's budget and I believe Ryan good evening my name is Ryan Duffy I'm the interim budget director and with me tonight I have Molly Bradley as well and we're just gonna give you a really quick overview on the budget just give you some very basic facts we don't want to take up a lot of time and then mainly leave time for all of you to to make sure and add you and get your feedback so we're gonna jump into this this is the same version that was given to the board on April 24th and really so our funding at Portland Public Schools we have a variety of different funds that's how we manage all of our resources most of these discussions and we talk about funding and budget we talk about our general fund and our general fund is where we have the most amount of discretion and as you can see from the page - it's our it's our largest fund so it's about six hundred fifty million dollars just to give you some context generally speaking we had some challenges this year with the budget we had expenses escalating faster than what our resources were so we had to make some very difficult changes to make all this work and in a in a very high level most of our expending most of our increases on spending were increases in our cost to our employees so for wages benefits insurance that type of thing really what we did to bap to balance the budget because we had like any government agency we have to have a balanced budget we reduced our budget reserve to an arat to a level that's less than optimal so it's less than we would like to see and we also you pray I've read about some of this and press we made some very difficult reductions in our central office those are those central departments at the at on Dickson Street so HR finance of central departments we made some reductions there so that's how we balanced our budget just to give you won't spend a whole on that time on on the numbers here but to give you some ideas on how this has changed year-over-year I'll focus really on our on our resources here so in the current year this is the 1718 budget we have about six hundred seventeen million dollars we expect that's going to increase to about 650 million next year so it's a pretty good increase still not sufficient state of Oregon no surprise doesn't fund k-12 at sufficient levels but it is increasing over time okay and then this just gives you an idea from a spending point of view we've broken this up into two very broad categories and Molly I'll go into a couple of different levels of detail really we're separating out school sight so those are all the teachers in the classrooms all the this focus on the classrooms and just for context that's about 310 million dollars in this next year's budget and then our central office these are a lot of our our finance HR it also includes things like special education ESL transportation spending that's really targeted our schools it also includes those sources as well and that's about 316 million and then the reserve I mentioned before at twenty three point eight for the budget year we'd like to see that's another six to ten million
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dollars higher but that's about all we could afford in this budget okay and then what you'll be seeing there's a lot of detail beneath this but largely speaking and you can read this also in the superintendent's priorities investments in our schools that was where we started we started there chronologically and we also started there from a priority point of view so we we really put a lot of dollars into our schools it's been our trend over the past decade past ten years equity to zero and the superintendent can give a lot more details in terms of what that what that really means and then really planning for the future and we'll have we have one page here that talks about some of the financial movements we see coming up on the horizon and this is a tough year and we and all the other districts across the state think that the next couple years will be difficult as well so it behooves us to make sure that we're we're doing everything we can to prepare for that okay I'll turn over Molly then hi thanks for joining us this evening so Ryan talked about the budget in a high level and we want to go down sorry go down in a little more detail part of that is our school site budgets so we talked about we're spending approximately 300 a little bit over three hundred ten million dollars a majority of that is in the wages and in the and the benefits that come along with it and then there's a small amount about five million dollars that's spent for you know school supplies or they internal you know small expenses that a school may have we did include a leadership organization chart because there has been quite a few changes of how the school is being how the central office is being structured we're practically done with it but we just wanted to point this out to people case they were curious about how it looked before now how it looks today so when the pieces Marine put up the central office numbers is we want to let people know that that central office number is a combination of two different types of spend there is their Student Services support spending that which we call essentially administered school resources which is like the special education your ESL and stuff like utility bills facilities management etc that really go directly to support the children and of that central office 58% of those spend goes to those kind of activities and then the remaining is for your overhead resources like IT finance you know that people who manage the curriculum etc so here's overall the spend that we have by the different teams I'm broken that you can see the CAS are versus the central office pieces you see some teams have people in both categories and some are just considered all central just to be clear this is a high level cut there's probably there's still dollars in that central that could be said it goes to the students but we wanted to be very conservative just showing you guys these numbers to to how we can divide them up and then the next thing ryan alluded to about coming up is that we are part of this pers our employees are part of that program and we are currently in 19 - 19 you can see there the percentages are fairly small and then they jump pretty large that's a piece that we have had wins in for the future so as we're looking at making I'm spending decisions today we have to think about the long term about that we have to cover those costs in the future of fiscal years and then next is our budgeted reserve so part of the mandates that we have is that we can't spend every dollar that we get in we need to leave part of it aside for any kind of emergencies or again for future things that we know we're coming up against headwaters or headwinds sorry I had waters so we have a mandate to keep so much in our back pocket to ensure that to help stabilize needs in the future and then there have been this budget doesn't cover everything that we want there are proposed investments that people come forward with we're talking about how we want to include them and as as we all know what budget is what we know best today and so we just want to make sure that we we give ourselves enough room to cover what we have to and if there's additional funds we can also do these kind of initiatives and then as I just said a budget is imperfect and so there are we do have known risks to the budget that we're still trying to figure out one of them is around middle school transition costs you know of transportation and final build-outs of locations determined along with our actual salaries for newly hired teachers so we have I want to say I think it's around like a 400 teachers that were looking to hire so we have some assumptions built in so if they come in considerably higher we'll have that as an impact to meeting our budget and then our health and welfare which is our
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insurance about what that's going to be for the next year's and then just so you guys know we want to give you comfort in that you know we put these budgets together they're a living document you know we know where we're at today but we're always looking at ways to improve our spend and how we can make every dollar even more beneficial to the community that we serve so so a little bit into the future and and typically we look at these in 12-month pieces but we want to make sure we looked we know we've got some spending pressures on the horizon and so we looked at 2019 and 2020 state of Oregon funds k-12 education on the biennium it's on a two-year cycle and we believe that the new biennium will be higher funding levels from the state of Oregon still not sufficient but we do expect some kind of increase from PBS's point of view we expect enrollment to be largely flat and it has been up slightly to flat over the past couple years we expect that trend will continue so what that means is more dollars spread across about the same number of students and then we also know we have financial pressures so Molly mentioned our first and that's something that we have limited ability to manage that's managed at the state level our Health and Welfare costs will increase you see that across the economy we're no different and then the board has a target that they've adopted to bring the reserves up to five percent by 2021 and so that'll take we'll have to set dollars aside to to meet that target those are just some some pressures we see coming up if we're to I won't bore you with all the numbers here but if we're to put what we think are our best estimate on a revenue forecast together with his spending forecast we definitely see some some some belt-tightening in the future so that as board members district administrators this is the eye we have towards the futures really being responsible through our resources today because it wouldn't be good for us to assume that tomorrow is gonna bring plenty of resources and no pressure and then just give you an idea on a timeline budget process takes a firm number of months the next big milestone is for the board to approve the budget that's been adopted or excuse me that's been proposed by the superintendent and then we will plan to adopt that same budget on 626 and then it goes live our fiscal year starts on July 1st so we need to have wrapped up by then okay so with that I'll turn it back over to the board chair [Music] thank you very much so before we get started this is designed to be a listening session for an opportunity for the community to share their concerns their perspectives with the board and the superintendent just a some background on our process going forward so next Tuesday we have a board meeting in which the budget will be on the agenda again and then we have two board meetings in June we have one meeting on the 12th and one meeting on the 26th and on the 12th will be formally approving the budget and the 26 there's a second step step which is an adoption and we have a budget that that's been proposed and this afternoon we had a budget work session with the board discussing potential modifications or additions or some changes to the budget and I think there were some areas that were identified by board members working with the superintendent that we're going to have a further discussion with on next Tuesday at the board meeting and this meeting is also designed for us to hear from the community about your thoughts on the budget so we'll be taking our conversation that we had today plus the comments and concerns and suggestions from this meeting into our next board meeting next Tuesday so with that I'm going to ask miss Houston are you gonna call it two at the same time and this is a little bit different from our board meetings we don't have the lights what we'd ask is for people to keep your comments to three or three or four minutes so it won't be same and hard fast but we do have a fairly long list of people who have asked to speak so we asked for people to keep it short and that way everybody will have a chance to speak before it gets too late so with that other except for miss Houston told me that we had we had said that we weren't going to have lights I
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guess that was already indicated to people that we weren't gonna weren't going to use lights but keep your three minutes our timer going so with that Miss Houston please call the first two individuals forward and I'd ask the people to start with your your name and spell your last name for the record thank you okay Barry Williams and Bailey Harding my name is Bailey Harding my last name is har D ing and I just wrote a statement to the board regarding RJ so I'm currently a senior at Madison High School which is one of four or five schools in the district that have a restorative justice coordinator at their location I have learned that having RJ be a part of our school environment is very important Janka is our coordinator and our ally he supports us and stands behind us in day to day life I'm having a coordinator at our school brings a comfortability to an environment of discomfort RJ is that tool for some students that can mean the difference between education or exclusion freedom or incarceration restorative justice is about growing strong trustworthy relationships RJ is a way of life it's about respecting acknowledging understanding and validating one another and our experiences as human race by doing this we develop a basic understanding of ourselves and I also believe that having a representation of a person of color in this kind of position is imperative to the success and confidence of our fellow students I can sit here today and tell you that my personal experience experience with RJ has been nothing short of saving my life at the beginning of the year I went through a traumatic experience that caused me to be in and out of the hospital I began starting my days off checking in with Jana and talking about what I could do to help myself and get through each day I believe this is what helped me stay on track and keep me motivated to graduate he also helped me reintegrate to the school as he has done for so many other people and also no one in our school serves this function like he does my new report done by the Oregon Council on civil rights shows that Oregon incarcerate stealing people at a higher rate than almost any other state we need to realize that RJ can stop bad behaviors in its tracks and turn it around into something positive which will give all skate holders tools to handle situations actions and repercussions in a healthy way if RJ is saved and expanded I think we can see a drastic change in stats of youth incarceration and/or higher school dropout rates by giving an alternative to suspension or expulsion we're sort of justice can help break the school to Prison Pipeline which means higher student attendance and graduation rates as you crunch your numbers for our school budget I ask you not to put a price on students well-being instability it is painful to me to have to be here voicing equity concerns for future generations as I won't be at Madison next year I'm worried about our underclassmen of color and our student body as a whole taking away our partnership with resolutions Northwest and our rj coordinator would be a regression in backtracking in all of our equity work at madison we are not done learning from rj coordinator and there is more to do that requires a commitment from our board to the expansion of restorative justice and not cutting our partnership with a company that is working so well for our building in others on behalf of all the students we feel you're silencing us and telling us you don't care and I'm here to let our voices be heard loud and clear we all have been through such insane trials and tribulations as a community and we stand here before you stronger than ever and we deserve to have our voices heard restorative justice matters we matter and finally I wanted to leave you with a quote from the superintendent at the last Friday forum meeting we attended he said we need to critically examine our system we need to do what works for students student engagement positive behavior intentions and adopt a multi-tiered system of support and creating safe environments I believe that all the evidence that we have for you today validates this quote and we need to renew contracts with resolutions Northwest thank you hi my name is Barry Williams last week at the board meeting I shared with you about what I love about my school and what I was worth will change the next year I have heard no response to my testimony so I am here to speak again if I'm okay school had larger classes next year I imagine my class will be overwhelming with every student from one grade and one class we will have all the personalities of the students together
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when when we were all together some students may active in class it would be better for us to be and two groups it if there are lots of kids in a class did it will not have their own space to think my teacher might need to stop there wanting to settle things and this worker into our education currently in our class there are table groups we work together to encourage one another and help each other if we have to add more students we will have to add more tables and there will be no space for good season I want our school to grow responsibly the only way to do that is to begin a boundary review and said anytime one for action so that more kids will start coming to our local school and have the resources our school needs to keep the dream alive thank you [Applause] next we have Beth Cavanaugh and Shamika Owens hello I'm Beth Cavanaugh ca va and a ugh yesterday I along with 18 other PPS parents submitted a formal complaint with the district regarding single-strand neighborhood k5 programs at schools serving high percentages of historically underserved students as a debauch member in 2016 I received a presentation from PBS staff outlining the challenges of single strand neighborhood programs co-located with DLI these programs make up the vast majority of our single strand neighborhood schools much of most of which are title one and serving more than 50% historically underserved students with higher concentrations of poverty and special education needs than in their co-located DLI programs some of these challenges include all students who are not native speakers of the partner DLI language entering after kindergarten must go into the single neighborhood strand special education students with a language disability for example autism spectrum disorder or dyslexia often drop out of DLI and are concentrated in the neighborhood strand high rates of mobility on the neighborhood side can cause unpredictable class sizes which are often very large or too small teachers and students in the single strand are isolated without partner class for grade-level mentor teachers and planning or options to split high need students to different sections these issues are problematic enough on their own but the fact is that the majority of the students isolated in these single strands in PPS are historically underserved students this is a matter of equitable educational opportunity and racial equity PBS's racial equity policy states that to achieve educational equity PPS will provide additional and differentiated resources to support the success of all students including students of color PPS needs to permanently adjust the staffing ratio to guarantee a minimum of two neighborhood strands in schools serving high percentages of kids of color which requires additional resources specified in the racial equity policy going forward PPS needs to commit the necessary district-wide boundary review and focus option review required to increase enrollment in the future and in void citing temporary programs in single strand schools until that happens PPS has identified this problem as shown in the presentations to Dirac teaching and learning board committee in October and board committee in October of 2016 parents have been communicating with PPS staff and the school board about their experiences in these situations for at least that long D Brock has written recommendations expressing these concerns at the finance audit and operations committee meeting on April 17th of this year the PPS staff presentation listed single strands as item number one on the list of what still needs to be improved about the new staffing ratio and yet single strands have still not been addressed and appropriately staffed teacher and staff transitions in the beginning of the school year can be traumatic for students especially in vulnerable populations therefore additional FTE should be assigned to single neighborhood strands immediately where space is available to offer the maximum time for administrators to identify high quality teachers and support community stability waiting until October is too late thank you
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good evening first I wanted to welcome you all to our home because many of us call this home so welcome and for those of you who know how we do it at our house this is testimony right so we gonna open it right first giving honor to God to Yahweh who was the center of my life and why I do everything that I do thank you for this opportunity to share and actually I'm sharing with everybody so i'ma stand this way if that's all right On February April 13th at the 50th anniversary celebration the student-led effort to rename this school dr. Martin Luther King Elementary then Highland school those who are aware of the Vanport chapter of Black Portland's history will understand why the neighborhood was formerly known as Highland during our celebration in honor of this legendary hero and world leader I was formally introduced to mr. Guadalupe Guerrero at which point he looked me in my eye shook my hand and thanked me for my leadership to which I replied God in me leadership is no more than offering dedicated support to a dynamic team he did not respond thus I was unsure of whether he or not he heard me or perhaps my response was too deep too raw or too real either way I asked you now mr. superintendent mr. chief equity officer each of you members of our board why do you lead is it to exercise power over others is it to maintain a sense of control is it because you want to make a name for yourself is it to further protect and hear to the status quo or is it because you see the needs around you and you are committed to do what's right because if it's the latter what is being done here tonight is exactly the opposite dr. Martin Luther King's school community has not only asked but invited you multiple times we have begged you to come and listen to us as a community that you might have the opportunity to hear our hearts over the course of the 2017-18 school year we have patiently waited through all of the pump fakes and false starts and now you have come into our very living room - neither listen nor to hear us but to disseminate information about the decisions you have already made that directly affect us dr. Martin Luther King jr. community as well as the other communities throughout the district I believe there has been enough testimony given to guide in the process of making the right decision or doing the right thing I'm not going to waste your time properly resize boundaries and re-releasing of FTE our dream is not a hope nor it is a prayer but a commitment to what we will achieve the value of our humanity and your ability to be humane are two things which we deeply and strongly believe to continue to inflict harm on the most hurt communities is abysmal most would agree though here we stand at the hand of PPS a school that not only historically but is currently maliciously systematically unapologetically being victimized as a school as well as a collective community in this moment we will be heard no longer do we care whether or not you wish to listen we will continue to stay true to our dr. Martin Luther King jr. school community common unity vision we will continue to pull together and build towards dr. Martin Luther King's dream not just here but throughout all of PBS because we fully recognize that we cannot survive let alone thrive in a vacuum and positional leadership means nothing without a team our vision we will stand and we will build upon the existing community and I want I don't want to read this just for MLK because this is all of us we can choose to do this we we can build upon the existing community by reinforcing old and creating new bridges of common unity we can clearly redefine the US and we get rid of us and then as we holistically invite the voice of the entire community as we sincerely listen and allow each other's words to be heard we can create the type of community that
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inspires us all to take part in all PBS programming and decision-making and I would like to extend an extra welcome to our security because out of all the meetings that I've been to I have yet to see security standing behind the board I wonder if there's a nominee has a purpose [Applause] [Music] [Applause] our next speakers are Zeta Hatfield and grace groom hi I'm sada Hatfield h80 fi eld as a senior at Madison high school I have been able to point out disparities and inequities like our superintendent said at one friday for restorative justice is important because it promotes safety in schools and it lets us recognize where harm has been done I feel it is a tremendous harm to take away our Jay from us especially after we've continuously express our love for it with restorative justice behind me I've developed a desire to be the change I wish to see RJ has helped me immensely grow as a person helping me recognize my own weaknesses and issues that were holding me back from becoming the leader I was meant to be it's helped me understand that there is power and altruism not individualism these practices have helped me stepped into other shoes and be empathetic empathy is the ability to share and understand others feelings something that we as students feel we lack from our elders the people creating and reshaping our school systems it is our goal to give respect to those we work with and we ask for it in return it is students like us who have the power and desire to recognize wrongdoings among our peers address it and give them the tools to squash conflicts with peace and integrity having an RJ coordinator in the building gives us someone to look up to and faith that someone believes in us RJ has made an incredible dent in the ruckus of our high school but the dim elation is far from done it has brought us together to get closer as classmates helped us find our interval individual voices and helped us to teach others and help others voices be heard it has created a passion inside us that makes us fight without hesitation for what we've worked so hard on these last few years and the importance of fighting for our futures it is no question that we need restorative justice in schools that is why we have banded together as a student by ourselves for our sakes as I stand before you today I ask that we work to restore the relationships between staff and students as that you hear our voices and realize what an extraordinary tool restorative justice is in our school systems students are rarely invited to the decision-making only informed after the damage has been done as my classmates and I prepare to move on to the next chapters in our lives we ask that these practices are available to the class of 2019 2020 21 and everyone who follows foot with budget cuts in mind please understand the restorative justice is crucial to our success crucial to our safety and crucial to our confidence as we grow from Tim and young people to the next leaders of this school system this city and this nation with hundreds of hundreds of students who want to keep and expand restorative justice as they you grant us the peace of having our day in schools we've brought with us some things we'd like to share we have a student petition a letter signed by the majority of our staff and a survey of a collection of about 300 students please take a look at these pieces of writing as they support all the information we've put before you also I'd like to invite everybody to our potluck tomorrow at Madison High School from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. here we are going to be celebrating a restorative justice and it's also a really good visual to see how my classmates my community gets together for our own free will to save and expand restorative justice thank you my name is grace groom gr oom thank you for accepting the invitation to come and be here tonight for this board hearing sorry board listening session I hope that you will also accept the invitation that staff have made and the PTA has made multiple times to come and learn
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more about our school and how you can be an ally for Martin Luther King student centered equity focused two phrases I'm hearing an awful lot and not seeing a lot of action on if we allow a co-located program to be sited in a school that has K through five single strand that harms children some of the most vulnerable children we have in our school district it is not student SEC word student centered it is certainly not equity focused I really strongly encourage you to look hard at the budget and how in the heck we have landed with a staffing formula that has still allowed single Strad programs at primarily at schools that serve large majorities of historically underserved students that does not put equity first fix that in the meantime fix the staffing before October before we lose a chance of getting teachers who really really want to serve this community and bring more staff to MLK our students deserve it thank you [Applause] next we have Amy Higgs and Brian Conley hi I'm Amy Higgs h IG GS and I'm the executive director of the Eco school network the Eco school network trains and supports parents who lead sustainability efforts in 40 PPS schools and other districts the success of these projects has been facilitated by a nancy bond the PBS Resource Conservation coordinator Nancy's retiring soon and the district has proposed to eliminate this position I'm also a taxpayer and mom of two kids in PPS schools including da Vinci a school that cannot accommodate access students by the way I'm here to talk about the resource conservation coordinator position which focuses on conserving resources environmental and financial as far as I understand this is the only staff position in the district of 6,000 employees that focuses specifically on conservation or sustainability I wanted to talk about the math behind this position at first glance cutting the position appears to save the district between 50 and $100,000 assuming that a new coordinator could be hired for that much including benefits that cost to PPS is on one side of the equation but let's look at the math on the other side of the equation what kind of money does this job save the district each year I'm going to read a list of savings to the district that the person in this position has spearheaded and I apologize for not having all the data here this position has installed dual flush toilets which saves the district one hundred and thirty thousand dollars every year that would cover her position alone that one-act she has acquired or managed sewer and stormwater projects at forty schools which saves eighty thousand dollars a year for the district she's acquired grant money and rebates for the district's saving two million dollars every month she reviews every school's utility bills for errors which saves almost a million dollars a year she has shortened the sleep cycle and changed power settings on computers throughout the district saving two hundred thousand dollars a year other energy conservation efforts through the district that she has spearheaded save about a million dollars a year and there are some numbers I wasn't able to find money saved through transportation improvements like propane powered school buses employee commuting program water conservation efforts like low-flow faucets drought resistant plants waste management she actually manages the largest garbage contract in the metro region and coordinates a very successful recycling and composting program in the district she's acquired community donations for D paving tree planting nature play areas vegetable gardens and native plants at sixty PPS schools this position also coordinates in-kind donations and harnesses the work of hundreds of parents students teachers local businesses public agencies and nonprofits that all want to advance sustainability including an AmeriCorps member who serves about 10,000 students over the past 10 years or so these community partners need a district representative to help navigate district policies and procedures their volunteer time is a gift to the district and the economic value of all those contributions is in the millions so in there are also indirect economic impacts let's not forget of the impact of this job on the earth and on our children and on our community the children educated the wildlife protected the veggies grown and tasted the waste diverted the fossil fuels never removed from the earth and the skills learned
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these things have enormous economic value too so what the total what is the total amount of money saved by this position I don't have the exact figures but it's clear that this budget cut doesn't add up this is part of PBS that has been going really well Nancy put PBS on the map as a national leader for sustainable schools she has been invaluable for PR for the district helping the district turn media coverage for happy reasons like school gardens and being the first certified LEED Platinum building school in the country Nancy has built and nurtured hundreds of community relations across sectors and can train her replacement to do the same if you choose to proceed with this cut that doesn't seem to make any sense we really would appreciate an explanation I strongly advise you to preserve 20 years of progress and institutional memory and to prioritize sustainability by continuing to fund this position [Applause] hello I'm Brian Conley Bri aan co and lui we have 17 school days yet left in the year and yet 326 Portland public school students have no school we have 32 business days left in the fiscal year and we have no budget the good news is we still have an opportunity we still have time to change course I'm here today to calling you to fund three important items FTE for two strands at Martin Luther King budget for a focus option review and for a proper boundary review next year one way you can manage this is to leave access at our CP for this year moving access to two sites is estimated to cost at least 1 million annually above the current school budget that's a 50% increase per student that's money we don't have and if we can find it it would be better spent supporting historically underserved students every realistic combination currently proposed for citing access at two locations involves at least one of the following increased disenfranchisement of African American and other hú students decreased space and resources available to davinci students decreasing the funds available to PBS by drastically increasing the annual cost of access some people have asked and probably are asking how will not moving access allow us to spend funds on MLK FTE or a focus option review or a boundary review the answer is the superintendent has already committed to spending these funds to provide access students the same level of services or better keeping access together at one site is the only way to do this without spending more money keeping access at our CP is the least worth at leas the least worst option all other options involve at least one of the above conditions or displacing neighborhood students who are not all right slated to move next year one-way access note so this is only one way right I'm sure there are other ways if I can find a way if our parents can find a way there are other ways there are ways that were proposed previously and when we went down this road of siting the middle schools and we didn't first decide how we were going to ensure that 300 students had a school that was a mistake and and that's what we should have been focused on is not where are we going to put access but how are we going to keep our promise to our district parents to open these middle schools without harming any students current services access can remain at our CP by moving BD Li to Harrison Park and distributing Rose Way Heights cohort among Lee Vestal Scott and between eighty and a hundred and eighty Beverly Cleary students this is how bad our data is we're not even sure if it's 80 or 180 those students could be distributed to Irvington next year this creates right size schools this plan helps several schools immediately and doesn't increase the cost of the district I really do appreciate all the work that you all have done I recognize that your volunteers and you've put a lot of hours into this unfortunately I'm going to ask you to put some more hours into it because this plan is doable if you have the will and the desire to spend money to increase equity rather than to spend money just to cover a bad plan I guess that's really all I have to say except to thank I'm okay for having us here and to remind everyone that we're all PBS parents and really we need to focus on centering equity for the most underserved and and not reducing services for any student that has needs thank you
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our next speakers are Megan Khan and Jessica Lottie hello my name is Megan Khan K Ahn ten years ago I started my teaching career right here at Martin Luther King jr. school I'm proud to serve this community and honor to work in this incredibly diverse school teaching these amazing children every day MLK jr. staff has repeatedly asked to meet with board members to discuss the needs of our school we have not received any response from board members about these requests I'm here tonight to ask you to support our school and to invite you to again to come here from our staff and another time when we can speak longer than three minutes in my ten years here our school has never gotten a boundary growth despite having the smallest boundary in the district and serving some of the most vulnerable children in the district who you say you prioritize our school is not under enrolled because we can't attract families to come here even if we did capture 100% of the boundary area we would still be under enrolled we are under enrolled because of racism and push back on boundary changes when the Jefferson cluster boundary changes were pushed through a few years back our school was threatened with closure closing the school hurts most of our vulnerable of children and families these threats have been made repeatedly in my 10 years here what hasn't happened is a boundary growth this board refuses the boundary growth from this fall or the school this past fall when you approve the opening of the two middle schools superintendent board members we need you to budget for a boundary review we need you to grow our boundaries so we can give kids the robust culturally responsive educational program they need and deserve time and again PPS has shown that it will not prioritize the needs of the black and brown students at MLK jr. it seems like you think our families won't make as much fuss as the white families of other schools in this district this has got to stop it is not equity focused or student-centered our kids need and deserve your support not a school closure for next year or school staff or just one section of every grave K through five in our neighborhood program this does not serve equity it perpetuates the harmful effects of institutionalized racism it hurts our children and they have plenty of hurts already adverse childhood experiences are real for my students the majority of my students are struggling with impacts of trauma on a daily basis they need and deserve our support to give them all the resources they can to overcome these struggles this year I'm the only second-grade teacher for our neighborhood program I have just five boys in my class these boys are lonely and isolated because of your refusal to grow our boundaries kids cannot flourish with this much isolation they cannot grow relationships with other kids if there are no other kids around I have no teaching partner with whom to plan instruction my students are the only get my ideas instead of benefiting from at least two teachers working together I firmly believe that that is the best way to improve instruction is through intentional collaboration my students deserve the same instructional support most other kids in the district receive when their teachers have grade-level partners so where students need and deserve to at least have two strands at every grade level at MLK jr. they need and deserve to have a robust educational program that can only come with more FTE release now not waiting for October enrollment counts Martin Luther King jr. school and community need and deserve a significant boundary growth fund focus option review and boundary review I asked you all and everyone who can hear me to join me and be allies for the amazing children and staff families of this school create a budget that supports the needs of Martin Luther King jr. school thank you my name is Jessica Lottie la HTI today I'm here to read a letter that was written by myself and nine other members of the Grant and Lincoln cluster schools dear superintendent Guerrero and PPS board members we are writing to you to implore you to do the right thing at this moment in time as parents within PPS system we have witnessed PPS make decision after the Senate decision benefiting those in our district who have the most at the expense of those who are already underserved and who have been systematically denied fair access to resources we implore you to provide the funding and f2e to allow Martin Luther King jr. Scott and vestal schools to neighbourhood strands for each grade we implore you to honor the commitment the board made to these schools in November of last year providing two strands is critical to student learning it allows educators to balance classrooms based on individual and collective student needs provides opportunities for educators to collaborate and greatly reduces the likelihood of unmanageable class sizes of 28 students or more providing two strands were also helped create a virtuous cycle drawing families back to their neighborhood schools their borrow
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allowing those stools to continue to grow and thrive PBS continues to fail our most vulnerable students perpetuating and exacerbating inequity PBS and the board are complicit in one continuing to delay much-needed boundary changes allowing school boundaries to become to be more aligned with SES than they are with proximity to schools and classroom availability to failing to hold staff accountable for providing accurate data preventing informed decision making 3 allowing for school-based foundations creating a pronounced divide in school funding and for failing to adequately review focus options allowing students and funding to be pulled away from neighborhood schools thereby further segregating the school district superintendent and the board this list barely scratches the surface of the inequity within PBS don't continue the pattern provide two strands because equity additionally and this is this is just me personally I'd like to request that you reconsider eliminating the resource conservation department this team of one-plus volunteers as you heard earlier saves the district a ton of money and obviously reduces our environmental impact so thank you next we have Smith lye and Brook Bergland hi there my name is Smith Leigh L AI I'm a Scott school parent with two children in the Spanish immersion program my third graders class is slated to be combined next year into a single immersion strand because of low school enrollment and that's just part of a larger puzzle around single strands across the district especially among neighborhood programs I grappled with what to say tonight whether to rehash the well-known issues around how detrimental to student learning it is to maintain these single strands but I know you're well aware of the challenges faced by both students and teachers it's been documented and discussed for years I know you've seen the demographics for the schools primarily affected by the single strand issue the majority of these schools including Scott Martin Luther King jr. and vestal are title one schools and populated by historically underserved students Scott specifically created a co-located DLI program not merely as a fun add-on a regiment program for students already swimming in resources but as a way to reach underserved emerging bilingual students members of our communities have attended so many board meetings and boundary enrollment and listening sessions and I think I can speak for many of us that we feel let down by the district I listen to night after night of stirring compelling testimony like those given tonight during these meetings we thought surely the district would make some tough but necessary decisions around boundary changes but that did not happen and now here we are with under enrolled schools while our more resource rich neighbors have sacrificed nothing part of me wonders what's left to say that hasn't been said before the optics on this are rotten the most vulnerable students in the district's get crapped upon time and time again we feel pride in our schools and our students and in our communities but it is frustrating and demoralizing to feel like the district truly doesn't make decisions from students in our perspective sometimes it feels like you don't want us to succeed which I recognize might sound inflammatory but it's true it feels relentless these meetings the letter-writing all of it and I feel fortunate to have the time to be here tonight it's a luxury a lot of parents don't have we're gonna keep showing up on behalf of our students who deserve more than they've been given our schools folks that are here tonight from Martin Luther King jr. Scott and Vestal those of us here we need additional FTE to be successful at our schools we're asking that you keep your promises to provide equitable education opportunities to all students in the district promises to specifically do away with single strain of neighborhood programs it's not enough to talk about equity we expect action thank you next we have Steve Buell and Elizabeth Israel Davis my name's Steve Buell bue L I want to talk about the educational part of the budget K through 8 but before that we're gonna really get rid of the resource resource conservation department are you kidding yeah it must be that one almost must be a joke uh-huh also you guys promised two
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strands to these you problem I was in November now you're gonna go back on it I mean you'd said you'll do it well you need to follow through and do it I'm sorry that's the way I look at the world but maybe you don't there's five things that I think should have been in this budget that aren't there all have to do with children sometimes that's why they don't get there first we're just not going to teach those older or immigrant children English we're just let them go and keep tossing them in those classrooms like biology and physics without them having the English background to be able to do anything and actually be successful in our school so I guess we are I don't see it in there I don't think it's a good idea one thing that hasn't been mentioned even by me his we're struggling with the writing in our schools all schools across the country are struggling with the writing and I haven't heard anybody really talk about it I hope the superintendent eventually will put together some real emphasis on getting kids to write because there's teachers they when you're doing things like the common core teachers don't really take the time and energy often to do the writing you have to correct it you have to work with it it in it we need to actually have that coming push on that coming from the top back in 1981 I had did the same thing did it said hey we need to do writing they started to do it things got better we're struggling there we're cutting our backer of libraries people from full-time to half-time I think it's a big mistake libraries are critical to our schools and it's just we've been moving on getting them better better more solid they're still not even anywhere near probably where they should be but to cut them back several librarians to half-time from full-time is really a big mistake our reading still is not directed enough at children who can't read period we're still talking and reading testing and so forth but we really need to get in there with reading teachers that's who teaches people teachers and get reading teachers into those schools and teach those kids who can't read at all are they at all three now I'm talking mostly about english-speaking children there because the others other children who don't speak English they take a little longer but all those children who speak English out of their home should be able to be reading and the the other thing that we're messing up in this budget again is the middle schools it's back to the same thing we're not really laying out things that engage children and we're not we're gonna go to six period day we're still gonna do that Jamin hey come on you're gonna build and spend millions and then we're gonna go to a six period day which eliminates huge amounts of why we went to the middle schools in the first place so I don't know those things are bothersome to me but you can live with them or out of my guess one of the one of the big topics overall things that I think we're going down the wrong road to some degree possibly and that's in our educational budget the superintendent who's a good solid educator talks about performance metrics key performance indicators data-driven evidence-based and on and on but an actuality these aren't your educational program these are tools for teachers to use in your program and our program is such a mess that we don't even know where things are we don't really have a plan in before we get teachers these tools and focusing on the tools we may want to straighten out the plan of how we're planning to educate children teachers teach children and so we need to have a program based we've moved a little in this direction but nowhere near where we should we need to have a program based way to staff the schools so every school regardless of where they are regardless at their Gorge middle school or MLK or Ainsworth they have equal programs and then once we get to that point that's then your building how you actually are educating your children and then that allows you to put on top of that the special programs which meets the equity based on the fact that you can actually spill out why you get a reading teacher why you get a tag program and it's fair across the district and we wouldn't have these schools that are these outlying schools that are a lot worse off or a lot better off than other schools and it's just we need to move in those directions and I'm I haven't heard much about that yet they did a little jump but not anywhere near what we need to thank you
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[Applause] hello my name is Elizabeth Israel Davis is our a EE L - Davis and in the board discussion prior to this I heard dr. Valentino mentioned the intention to direct more funds toward teacher training specifically in the area of literacy yes please right now all over the district teachers have students with Tier three instructional needs in reading in their classes these teacher teachers are asking and in some cases begging for training and project read in order to be able to meet those needs the response that many are receiving is either silence or denial due to lack of resource some are being denied because their school isn't in the right stage of EB BL but in the meantime they're being offered no alternative as a tier 3 intervention um teachers are willing some are even desperate we don't like to not be able to teach our students right now officialy project read is our adoption for tier two and three reading intervention and not everybody has access to it we need to change that so that is my highly specific budget request is more training for classroom teachers in project read I've had a look at LOI it's been about an hour with just the orange box I'd like to see the green box it's not going to cut it for our most highly impacted kids in my opinion as an aside but that's all thank you our next speakers are Erika Bridgman and Kelly oh ting erricka richmond bri DG EMA n and i'm standing here as a parent of a 6th grader and a 2nd grader at boise elliot humboldt but before i get started i want to also say that i in addition to being a parent i also have an undergraduate degree that was focused specifically on multicultural education and a graduate degree that's in public health with a focus on maternal and child health and i have spent a lot of this year watching the district look at what to do with access and I want to say support access because of course children who have special learning needs need an environment in which they can learn obviously but I have seen us go from one vulnerable population after another maybe we should displace the Native Americans maybe we should displace people at Kairos maybe we should just place people with special needs and what is happening is that at the mean time I also see parents coming up with all kinds of amazing solutions that could work that are not being heard by the district including keeping access where it is for now but I've seen many options and many schools and our voices are not being listened to now I'm going to go back to Boise several years ago I was a Humboldt parent and I was walking I was also a graduate school student and I had a child who was very young she could barely walk at that point and a kindergartner at Humboldt was walking my kindergartner to Humboldt and the news cameras of Fox News were there that was how I as a parent when I saw those news reporters found out that my kindergartners school was going to close from that point as Humboldt parents we organized and we tried to stop and we lost and it worked out ok because actually I love being at Boise but it didn't work out okay because of any support from the district it worked out because we as a community work together to feed you're out how to be a community together and at that time the district said this is the last merger we are already the Boise Elliot and Humboldt neighborhood we are three neighborhoods
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and one our building is overflowing we do not have a separate auditorium and gym and lunch room if you house another program in our room that means we our children will not be able to have access to physical education and meet their requirements because there is no space where the access people can eat and we can eat and we can hold our assemblies and that one room is used to support community events Boise is basically open from 8 o'clock in the morning until almost seven o'clock at night most days because we are so involved with community themes to support our families there so I refuse to say that in defending our school though that I stand against Keene or Givenchy or any of the others because I think that she strands need to happen but I want you to understand that you are continued to put communities vulnerable community is petty and s against each other instead of looking at neighborhoods that have more privilege that could house that could house this program and it's not right to say okay it's gonna be Boise the only african-american predominantly african-american school left in the entire states and we have almost no notice we need to stop making decisions about african-american communities without us like there none of you are here to represent my community and all of you are making decisions about it so that needs to stop what you need to do is to listen to the many solutions consider keeping us at at Rose City Park and try to figure out how to make this work you can't decide to put something at a school 18 days before the school year closes and then we don't have any time to organize and get our voices out there finally on the public health perspective I want to say maybe it's not that big of a deal we could be like okay our kids don't have as much physical education or whatever we have a lot of trauma ty kids we have a lot of kids who have been through a lot this experience of structural violence and racism my son is now 12 if he's at southeast and we were in Southeast and he got a toy little plastic gun this this big couldn't resemble anything at a birthday party and he's like oh my god mama I have a little plastic gun someone could shoot me we're in Southeast he's terrified all the time as a young black boy but he is not terrified in Boise that is what that means that is a place where our kids feel safe where we can braid our hair and dance our dances and study about Malcolm X and Che Guevara and all of that and our teachers love our children and that is our only safe place and the only place like it in Oregon so please reconsider and stop making decisions about us without us hi my name is Kelly edding Oh a TT ing and I give this statement and support a grout parents of third graders in their efforts to make a plea for smaller class sizes for our students at grout Elementary in Southeast Portland I speak on behalf of my son's third grade teacher miss van clock who was unable to make it tonight and she says our students are the ones that are most vulnerable and at-risk for academic success our classes are too big and our students too valuable to continue with such large class sizes we are way over the recently negotiated class size threshold our principal has to spread resources as best she sees fit but what really needs to happen for us to close the achievement gap is for our class sizes to be small enough to help support each student wherever they are at large class sizes combined with title ones students does not create equity in our schools please consider giving additional FTE specific specifically to address class size in our buildings miss van clock currently has 34 students in her third grade class 18 of them are below the poverty line there are ten cultures and countries represented Russian Cantonese South Africa and Mexican Afghani Cambodian Korean Nigerian Tanzanian and Native American seven are English language learning students we also have four major religions represented students and special education students with active child services involvement in their families and identified talented and gifted students in even more than that there are students who are living daily in trauma every single student with their unique background in history wants to learn they demand to learn as as only any eight-year-old child can and they deserve her attention and her ability to teach them miss van clock had to make the choice of giving her students space to learn or individual desk she got rid of all the desks hers too just so she could have enough room to learn not because it's the trend or because it creates better community because it does do those things no doubt but she did it just to move around just to be able to move around each other in the classroom
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and now she stands next to a file cabinet to make phone calls to parents grouts third graders have already spent one year in an overcrowded classroom with teachers who were stretched too thin unless the third third teacher is added to the fourth-grade thirty they will continue to remain behind their peers 34 students 34 humans in one class is to many our students deserve better thank you next we have Heidi Hill and Paige Thomas No ah there it is thank you sorry hello my name is Heidi hill h IL l am the mother of a current grouch third grader I'm with Kelly grout third grade we have been at grout since kindergarten we need an additional fourth grade teacher for the next school year the current PPS budget allows for only two fourth-grade teachers currently I am specifically calling to replace the third grade teacher that was lost for this current year and not replaced without that third teacher our third our current third grade classes are way over your recently negotiated class size threshold grouts third graders have now spent one year in an overcrowded classroom with teachers who are stretched too thin as our teacher stated she got rid of all the desks because there is not enough room for all of these bodies in this classroom four of the students in our class have to sit on the floor as their assigned seats we are also experiencing more behavior issues this year than any other year which is disruptive to the learning process for all of our students I asked my son his oh I'll skip that part I asked my son his thoughts on having a large class today and he said we have a lot of chaos this year and we can possibly get more kids next year so we would get more chaos and more chaos means not having the teacher be able to teach and not being able to teach means not learning enough and that may cause failing the grade which would be horrible yes that was all one sentence this was our first year for standardized testing grout third graders are testing below the PPS average testing achievements in English reading writing and math unless a 3rd grade teacher is added in the 4th grade they will continue to remain behind their peers which of course we do not want you the PPS mission states every student by name prepared for college career and participation as an active community member regardless of race income or zip code as the statement from our teacher listed we have many underserved students in this particular class at grout we have 10 different cultures in the third grade 17% of our class are ESL and 54% of our particular third-grade class is living below the poverty line we love grout and want to see the school and all of its children succeed which is why we are here tonight I support our teacher as much as I possibly can but only she can teach these students I am one of the privileged parents that are able and willing to help our teachers with tasks and janitorial maintenance on a volunteer basis because I care not all parents can not all parents even know about this meeting tonight let alone the PPS processes into helping getting the resources and teachers we need I am raised up I am representing all of grouts current third-grade students to ask you for your help in maintaining the PPS mission and get them back on track to succeed and get them prepared for college regardless of race or income we have to work together on this we've taken the hit this year and have seen what happens when class sizes are too big we have also sent you individually letters with the statistics given to us by principal Annie now it's your turn to honor your mission they really need that third grade T 3rd teacher back in their lives next year please budget us 1:1 we have Ray Lister and Pat Christiansen good evening so on maybe my name is Ray Lister I'm a business representative as L is ter and I'm a business representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and I represent some of the maintenance and videography workers that you have here at the district I'm a little I'm here
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basically to ask you to be careful I'm concerned because I know that 61 positions were eliminated at central office and of those 61 positions I think around 40 of them were actual people whose jobs were eliminated and they're not going to be working with the district as of June 30th one of those people is my friend my brother dan dan greens been working for this school district for 25 years and he brings video like this to the community I'm gonna borrow a line from Washington Washington Post democracy dies in darkness we don't want to see things like this go silent and you may not know Dan is 50% of the workers that you have for all the all the schools in this district that worries me the idea that several of my of the positions that you were looking to hire for and the electrical department were eliminated yes they were empty and so those weren't real people that were affected just then but the schools are going to be impacted the same way if you think you can hire contractors to do better work for Less in this market I'm sorry I got a bridge I can sell you in Arizona anyway I I'm just asking I know what you're doing is hard your your volunteers I get it what you're doing is very difficult and you've been you've been faced I wish that I was talking to the people who put this pile in your lap you know it's difficult but please be careful because what you do today is gonna in fact affect every single one of these people for the rest of their lives and and the kids deserve better Thanks [Music] [Applause] evening everyone at Christiansen chri ste n Sen I don't want to get too far off in the weeds but I kind of have an obligation I too am a volunteer I'm the president of the District Council of unions and I represent maintenance workers who take care of your facilities these facilities that we're currently trying to replace because they weren't fully funded for decades the district has in the past promised that if you got your bond which they got almost eight hundred million dollars that they would take care of these facilities not only the old ones that you're in now but the new ones that you're getting unfortunately as we speak there's 1.2 million dollars being pulled out of the maintenance T but budget we're not asking for more maintenance we're asking that you don't take from what you have because the people that are serving you now which is less than a hundred people for nearly a hundred buildings can't stay in front of all the issues what it's on their back the fact that the buildings are still open after being 70 years old on average so I'm asking the board to to fulfill their obligations that they made in the past to support taking care of the facilities that you have and to get off into leads like I started mmm there was a slide up here a few minutes ago well actually half hour plus ago showing that there was issues in the budget that were that could be I can't even remember the term that was used now but that were harmful or potential harmful excuse me to next year's budget one of them was listed was health and welfare increases I'm standing before you today as a six-year trustee on the health and welfare board for the School District Health and Welfare five of those years have been flat there's been no increases to the district budget and we don't foresee any increases going forward so I'm not sure why there's a scare tactic of million dollars four million dollars to nine million dollars being put on the board when we don't see any increases coming your way because it's been one of the few things that's well managed on your behalf with your money the only place I can see that there could potentially be an increase in the health and welfare and I'm very much available to be educated if I'm miss speaking to anyone who's on the front of the room here is the unrepresented the people who do not belong to unions do not belong to your health and welfare trust which is being jointly managed they are in the Oh web which is a whole different plan which is and has and will continue to cost you more money for Less benefits it's unfortunate that the district historically not necessarily this group in front of you well maybe one or two of them chose to split the split them off and pull them out of this well-funded very good health insurance plan that you currently are your employees currently enjoy I'd also like to point out that aside from the superintendent everyone up here is a volunteer and I thank you I know you have real challenges in front of you and I'm and I'm really been torn about coming to the microphone because here we are once again with heartfelt testimony what's touching your lives at home and in your communities and your
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neighborhoods in the future and I feel that and I want to support all of your efforts with that said my responsibility is to the people that I represent which are being cut and here's an example that really concerns me at the May 1st meeting of this budget hearing I came to the meeting and I testified and I asked for the board to look back at the promises they've made and a whole whole - the promises that they've made I've had absolutely zero feedback from any of the people in the front of this room since that meeting but what I have gotten is feedback from my members my members are telling me they're getting layoff notices one of the gentleman's right over here so what management's currently doing is they're imposing the proposed budget not the approved budget not the one your elected officials are in charge of not the budget you'll know about the end of June but the proposed at that at that meeting on the first I gave a large egg message about continuing to engage the process and now I feel like I need to apologize to you because it appears there is no process they're letting us vent before they do what the superintendent wanted to do and it's really hard for me to deliver that message because I believe in process I'm a 35 year union member and I represent and for what's best for large groups not what's good for me but what's good for the body this is disruptive to the future and I'm really hoping that they'll engage the many assets that you're that are in front of you to this point you're totally silent you're missing lots of opportunities and it's unfortunate that I have to be here tonight to continue and I will continue with larger groups of support in the future if we don't get to see some change because your future your kids your families your tax dollars is what's being managed right here and it looks like there is no process [Music] our last two speakers on the list are Alex Montfort and Gabrielle Riley good evening so Jesus I'm really loud sometimes so I'm Alex Montfort I teach here at King going on ten years I have lived through the initial D Brack absurdity participated spoke at a number of the Jeff cluster meetings only to see no changes in the boundaries our boundaries the smallest boundary in the district still no changes there's numerous people that have come up here and spoken about the single strands we've been disenfranchised I shouldn't say we are black and brown students and their families have been disenfranchised for years for years and it's been enabled by white flight where families can just sign a way to get their kids taken to another school a not black and brown school and it's ridiculous when Shamika asked why do you lead I lead because there's a need and the need is in our families and our students that have been so disenfranchised and constantly pushed at the cusp of we're going to close you we're not we're gonna do this no we're gonna shove access in here like this hole access process has been unfair to the access families it first started out with you trying to like pit them against the pioneer families which is completely unfair to both parties now in your next installments you're talking about shoving them into high minority high need schools specifically that I'm referring to or Boise and us so yet again you're pitting the access families against the needy populations and that's ridiculous and it's not fair to them and it's not fair to our families if you want a solution to this find them a school I have a son who just went through aa cleese inaugural year that whole program got shoved through in a really quick way with limited planning with limited vision and it was a fiasco like if any of you paid any attention ah Cleese first year was ludicrous you're opening up Tubman thank God you have Butler who's actually been on the on the
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team for close to two years now and then you're also doing the other middle school like just do one thing right do one thing well and then roll it out but don't shove access into our schools and disenfranchise our students and our families roll out Tubman but do it right and then learn from the mistakes sockley learn and with your growing pains at Tubman and then roll out the third middle school you have a school they have a school access has a school and this whole thing I mean if it's not us if it's not Boise its Applegate its rice I mean have a frickin plan it's not just throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what sticks see and who's gonna like fight back the least which gets me back to the D Brack problem because the whole reason that our boundaries stays the way it is is because you're afraid to upset the taxpayers because of their property values is that a reason to make educational decisions and you have taken over as the head of equity this whole process is inequitable which means you all need to find someone who can recognize inequality and put them in frickin charge of it because this is not an equitable situation [Applause] everyone I'm Gabriel Riley ril ey for the record first I want to say thanks treat you guys to listening to me I realized you guys have a really hard job and sitting back listening to all the testimony here I feel a little selfish coming here on behalf of my board but here I am nonetheless I'm Gabby Riley I work at as EGF architects I've been involved with the Portland Workforce Alliance for the past like four four years and I'm here because I got involved with volunteering for some of the career days that we do at our office and those career days really helped spearhead me and to start into volunteer for the Portland Workforce Alliance and I've been serving on as the board secretary for now for the past three years going on four so with that I'll read just a statement that we have here prepared it won't take much more of your time on behalf of our board leadership I'd like to share this brief statement of support in favor of career education and CTE in public Portland Public Schools we don't need to tell you the value of CTE classes or their impact on graduation rates or on the outcomes for minority and low-income students PDF PWA has worked in partnership with the school district for about 13 years to provide career learning experiences to thousands of students each year we see we've seen firsthand the value of these experiences and connections provide to both the students and employers that welcome those students into their businesses we have also seen the impact of PBS choosing to invest in career coordinators CTE classes and central support we recognize that there are hard choices to be made during the budgeting process this is why though this is why we ask that you continue to support this valuable effort in PBS it has taken us year two years to build up this these amazing offerings for the young people in Portland schools and we want to continue to help this effort grow and thrive for generations to come and also thank you for the increase that you all gave us last year so we hope that you continue to do so Anna Garwood GA our WOD and I'm the program director of the youth programs at growing gardens I'm here just to raise the visibility about school gardens in our district and advocate for their continued support we have 78% of schools and PBS actually have school gardens that's the higher income schools as usually PTA supported at other schools there's a mix of nonprofits the son programs passionate volunteers that pull it off teachers use that the gardens as outdoor learning spaces for science especially tied to the next generation science standards for math for environmental literacy for other subjects as well and teachers report back to us that they the really hands-on learning early enhances as students
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students learning we put together a proposal with the other school garden organizations in the area to continue to support school garden education at title 1 schools and I hope you consider this proposal and thank you for coming out to see some of the school gardens and I welcome any of the rest of you to do so as well thanks [Applause] so that's it so I'd like to thank everybody for coming this evening as I said at the the beginning of the meeting or the listening session that prior to this board meeting we had a discussion about those budget items that [Music] potentially are gonna get modified before the board is for the board has its final approval some of the items that were mentioned tonight are those that were also raised by board members and by the superintendent and staff as potential adjustments so at our meeting on Tuesday the 22nd I expect we'll continue that discussion and potentially have some staff modifications or proposals for the board to consider so I want to thank everybody for coming tonight and asks board members if there's anything that anybody wants to add superintendent Greer oh no I want to thank everybody for on a beautiful evening coming out and sharing your perspectives and concerns with us thank

Event 2: PPS Board Budget Work Session - May 15, 2018 -MLK

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and ah and ah ah I gabriel is a teacher like that talking i ah [Music] in factory rich for the teachers and well yes mons [Music] ah [Music] [Music] [Music] ah a i talking is my part of extinction [Music] ] [Music] yes
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south [Music] so how can we minutes and to do watching the program about lap 0 improving i ads this time he has mastered 6 h for them [Music] 8 and 4 dollars per course his father you are for everything or [ Music] connection mentioned 10 in the bank and [Music]
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2 book that will fight with the flesh [Music] fundamentally station [Music] jorge kerz the ordinary of blood and or [Music] and [Music] [Music] and claudio's report get the trace with him although ah I'm going to be captain the two close to the case and this is also the case but of course what it is [Music] and look how the studio is to get here yes
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yes and order is the people because I'm going to be the dragon game for nicole land to see ways they have to take dark steps to look for the bottles received and behind 2 ah ah [Music] thanks d [Music] o [Music] some streets where they stand out later more to excuse why d and there are many or not all yes you can talk [Music ] mayer I don't know [Music]
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ah [Music] for this [Music] ah before [Music] of having felt and it's not easy days on earth this like water [Music] welcome but only for soccer fire and that good day ah ah [Music] but before leaning over rooms or if you want is one of the people what d well not here ah
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although there are more ah from channels and a lot [Music] [Music] i 120 miles below be visible again d administration what you do from hamas but with his and and today [Music] you know 1 act in the reference report although it is this that is to blame how it turns out i looking back ah
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and why is it there [Music] I have waited guided and on him male since the Saturday under pressure from the city [Music] these two years is passion [Music] 3 [Music] at the level of guardáns praises ours [Music] ah not only thinks the guy came down [Music] thanks and ah [Music] go out for a walk we have and then I go to the dream of the sea [Music] [Music] it's over
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now it's not my type 2 bye and anger 1 being in those towns with the best attractions different of course 4 from flowers I have given him freedom he appears similar to the service convention efe contact bags is ours you think that your father the betis for his banality car platforms [Music] well in Uruguay at the same wow and there it's nothing good well [Music] only as a player [Music] for that and in the renaut
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and it has been commented is to the devil although files ah and evolution in form really as why and and you are just a girl at night [Music] and ah ah I don't know this body saves money ruins in the party session ah oh and 6 how the first indicator no no of the same for all am [Music]
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we can use the parked it 's good to have them [Music] also also trees no and i [Music] 3 the teacher [Music] before and he tells me finished in this technique or oh well and oh less the reconversion in a stroke degrees 2 d you don't understand statistics and balances in consortiums 2 ours to blacks on the day of betis way ah and [Music] and i [Music]
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for more and little by little ah [Music ] plus we make new ones when we were reflecting up to here yours no clothes weening in the end beat the powerful in the christian fragment [Music] yes we have the performance of the hype now nations [Music] about the first set of conventions poor from reuters well and rest you will be in bodies and ah e scouts financed and gray bite
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yes [Music] [Music] low levels go als when this was excused by strangers and accesses alone to end [Mú sica] [Music] you raise the page to work the same way and it really is incredible to one and winehouse the apple website of two properties that why and we encourage reasons well no no and 12 for me [Music] n the truth friend yes it is older as [Music] [Music] eating sandwiches of fate is for the boys
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and [Music] [Music] for a matter of waiting to see well yes by profession he sends her like what is his vision [Music] yes 4 through her [ Music] where the world jimmy cowan deras first and I too go to brisbane argues this man then yes [Music] [Music] to this to the star well and [Music] can well I'm [Music]
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[Music] lost this machine [ Music] this lucky to witness [Music] [Applause]

Event 3: PPS Bond Work Session - May 15, 2018 - MLK School

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[Music] and he shares and Spain [Laughter] why there is their life there, well, to attend to each other I'm dancing or their reading versions ah [Music ] apart from others sometimes he [Music] [Music] ah decisions but no i s trees uy d ah you can I live with this teacher studying the Lord my life [Music] and a half this month [Music]
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what [Music] or several and traditions [Music] james bond whiskey since with respirator [Music] [Music] or there is franklin words the enemy so sure the organization of spending ah [Music] but that began to start because of what he does to talk about the facts also i ah to jaime a i and yes da look 9 hello 2 I have not put ah I have had and according to ziganda d álex o y de laughter and in the form
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give me action of his five present soldiers this line has nothing to him and then and baird aynak sustainable curiosities and to serve that there is for less without counting the repression for the efe with him favorites about this season da ah 50 and that's why for children we will make the point that's why where d coldest 6 but from [Music] but ah why don't you do well but they will design to see French ah amen to our city
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so far and serious telam e the intervention but 2 d yes d and and africa now or then ah [Applause] ah absolutely any message ah ah well all this and to come back they have to lie to the 6 of the product ah and by the way rhymes and there from behind see
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max jones 6 of january and april ah queen ah it 's an air the water and the wind ah and yes yes no ah space team and bye cool orbea yes 6 if you want for two before i ah another in freedom and in it you will see yes line x wakefield extinction with milk
00h 25m 00s
ah acz yes no rose you see in the water i pitchers abstraction stringer yes i and yes [Music] dyn y 6 [Music] and that's it and harris 2 adex but 6 [Music] why he's already there and there he is feeling like that my life
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and well in the doubles about being the same 4 2 at minute 62 the order to and the same is normal that and so and so as our weight is saver finally in which all my beloved parents are 40 for the segment in essence I was nine no longer 6 6 ah more sometimes with the intentions of the gentleman although and as a student [Music] i ah ah [Music] very [Music] ah has [Music] [Music] I'm going to address [Music] that's why
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then [Music] ah yes ah life 2 is d [Music] to do ah ah new modes of production or genesis also from 86 that d 1 to any more culture v let's see if it's right and [Applause] 6
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how where are your brand 20 but no it's and and [Music] if you're fine I put online days and i well wow ah and [Music] see them [Music] and people min 6 the ifai that the scientist and ah and 2 2 I don't know no no [Music] [Music] al least not like computers that nothing else
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with this [Music] sweet e pressure to assign them reservists instantaneously yes good friends the solution i and [Music] without discipline 1 nor of questions and 86 first important [Laughter] ah well [Music] 3 ah [Music] here of your but no yes form and me to you good 8 [Music]
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i levels yo 5 yes 2 against d ah this but [Music] ace [Music] [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)