2019-02-26 PPS School Board Regular Meeting

District	Portland Public Schools
Date	2019-02-26
Time	missing
Venue	missing
Meeting Type	regular
Directors Present	missing

Documents / Media

Transcripts

Event 1: Regular Meeting of the Board of Education -February 26, 2019

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the regular meeting the regular meeting of the Board of Education no hello hello is it working yeah okay okay the regular meeting of the Board of Education for February 26 2019 is called to order welcome to everyone present in to our television viewers for tonight's meeting any item that will be voted on this evening has been posted as required by state law this meeting is being televised live and will be replayed throughout the next two weeks please check the board website for replay times this meeting is also being streamed live on our PPS t TV Services website as a reminder we now have our PPS ombudsman Judy mountain attending all regular board meetings specifically Judy will be here to listen to the public comments and if appropriate provide additional support to families who need or want it Judy can be reached at 5:03 nine one six three zero four five or at Ombudsman at PBS net we also have interpreters with us this evening and I'd like to ask them to come forward at this time introduce themselves in the language into which they'll be interpreting and inform the audience will they'll be located in the auditorium should someone need their assistance please use the microphone over there Stephanie Hong Kong someone will jump ah well my suicide homey and European nobody Monsieur you bound to the walkie lights i watch a ship WHL me as a barista yoga video para casi como todos not only about the size you cannot oppose all several changes okay board members are there any items in our business agenda that you have questions on yes yes on resolution five eight three three I'm going to be proposing just an additional sentence added to that that the travel is going to be paid out of the board office budget okay any other questions okay we will start with student and public comments Miss Powell do we have anyone signed up for do we have anybody signed up for student comment and as people are making their way to the microphones I'd like to review the guidelines for public comments the board thinks the community for taking the time to attend this meeting and provide your comments to the board we value public input as it informs our work and we look forward to hearing your thoughts reflections and concerns our responsibility as a board is to actively listen without distraction from our electronic device devices or papers board members and superintendent will not respond to comments or questions during public comments if you want to follow up from the board office please contact Rosanna Powell the board manager guidelines for public input emphasize respect and consideration of others complaints about individual employees should be directed to the superintendent's office as a personnel matter if you have additional items or materials you'd like to provide to the board of superintendent we ask that you give them to Miss Powell to just distribute requests to make public comments should be made ahead of time by contacting the board office or checking with Miss Powell prior to the start of the board meeting to see if there are thoughts available once the board meeting is started we can no longer accept new requests for public comment okay presenters you'll have a total of three minutes to share your comments please begin by stating your name and spelling your last name for the record during the first two minutes of your testimony a green light will appear when you have one minute remaining a yellow light will go on and when your time is up the red light will go on and a buzzer will sound we respectfully ask that you conclude
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your comments at that time so that other speakers will have their time at the microphone okay begin hi my name is Aiden Carter I'm a third grader at Rosa Parks elementary school I am safe at school and I like going year-round I like going year-round because of the short summer break and a better chance of college the short summer break helps kids not forget their smarts we do not forget what is talking with have to learn all over again because of Wang brakes the short break helps our kids receive quality education keeps us going to learn I can make with the material being taught and do better on my test its core higher it is great here at school because of my teachers that don't leave and I here for so many years they stayed here for a long time and most of the staff look like me first of all that has been here for over 20 years and they all care about us they don't rush to teach us and make sure we know to stand up for what is right they teach us that if we make a mistake to apologize and change our behavior with action that that is what we are asking you to do please change us back to a year-round school year-round our other products helps my mom and other parents this is because she doesn't have to look for childcare and spends less money she saves more by keeping me here at school and no sir I will learn all things that I'm supposed to all the things that also there's no need for summer school this is because we are year round and have no use for it because we are already in school while the summer breaks are ones used a family that farm gather and maintain crops I need to focus on learning and being out for something does not help with that the agricultural calendar does not help with studying and does not work for kids on my school have a great night thank you for listening and when we will and when and will we get our year-round school back [Applause] hello my name is Turner kale I am a fifth grader at Rosa Parks elementary school and I've heard some rumors that you guys wanted to change us back to traditional calendars I disagree with you I respectfully disagree with you guys because and I have a few statements to say why I think Iran schools better for kids because kids are less likely get Summer Slide even if students do get Summer Slide I most only forget a about a third fourth they didn't weren't kids with traditional calendars you just forget half of what they weren't no not at all saying those kids are not smart I'm all I'm saying students who get certified hold other students back from their full potential I'm learning because teachers have to spend a lot of time teaching old material when they could be teaching something new but what about summer vacation well and year-round school and keep little kids in year-round school such as me get more opportunities to take a few days to go to the beach or go camping throughout the year plus the teachers get a break hang out with their families more often I think kids should get short breaks in the year instead of the grand finale summer break I think children should always be learning something new for the future instead of reviewing stuff that other kids just forgot please base your decision on what the community wants please focus on the future of Rosa Parks Elementary and School Board thank you for your time [Music] [Applause] thank you next we have Rhiannon Myers and Elizabeth Oliver hi my name is Rhiannon Myers and I attend Rosa Parks Elementary in third grade so I have a question why do you guys think it's a good idea to march into our school and change the cow and change our calendar I am here to demand for a year-round calendar back I think I think next time you should ask parents students and teachers what they want and now all we really want to do ooh change our calendar back to year-round because if you don't change it back everyone will forget things they learned in school by the end of summer I am infuriated because you're around
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school is mostly all I know even though I have gone to two other schools this is the best one for me I like how year-round schools have a short break so I can come back and learn if you change our calendar you are basically saying you want people to forget what they learned thank you hello hello my name is Elizabeth I'm in fourth grade at Rosa Parks Elementary and I'm here to talk about the calendar being changed to standard from year-round most students at Rosa Parks don't know a standard calendar because we've been year around for our entire time here you made the decision to end our year-round calendar with I'm telling the people in packs about the most which is wrong because it was a sudden change and we weren't invited to the vote and that makes me feel like you don't care that it hurt our community my parents teach me that it taught me that it was that it is important to tell people before you make decisions about them and it is equally important to ask what their opinions are before decisions are made you did not do that which tells me that you don't really care about what we need instead it feels like you care about yourselves and don't like us being unique I feel like Rosa Parks being here I like Rosa Parks being year round because I get more breaks which means I'm not working too hard all the time I like it because it says unique as our community and it works for us please work with us students included by visiting and being willing to hear us and help us come up with unique plan that works for our school thank you thank you [Applause] next we have Kevin Zaragoza and Kojo Hakam Kevin Zarek osa hojo Hakam and Matt bacon Brenes same thing our name and okay and spell it Matt bigan brenes I am a former teacher at Mount Tabor middle school and currently a new teacher mentor coach al-hakam Chinese teacher Hosford middle school and program leader for the China research residency and I'm KSK massage you know from Mount Ebal middle school I teach Japanese and social studies at Mount Tabor and I am one of the two research residency first of all I want to say it's a hard act to follow thank you very so parks presenters that was terrific [Applause] and I'm thinking we all need to move to year-round school [Applause] and we're here to offer support for something different that is the travel our field trip and foreign travel policy that I believe you're going to be doing the first reading of tonight so I'm going to let Co Joe since a Laos start off and then we'll go to national CSA and then all I'll conclude members of the board parents students and fellow colleagues one Chantal good evening my name is Jojo Hakam Chinese immersion teacher and program leader for the China research residency or their CRR at Hosford Middle School in my 11 plus years at Hosford I have facilitated international exchanges for over 600 Chinese and Portland middle school students which has had a profound and long-lasting impact on not just the participants but also the families and equally important the communities they serve on both sides of the ocean it is my strong belief and it is our strong
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belief that replicating these experiences will make all students better and our district stronger we're very pleased with and strongly support the board's most recent proposal to create an eighth grade capstone advisory group to explore ways the district can expand experiential opportunities to all students in middle school in mill grades it is imperative that the three of us are key players in the process with that in mind the Mandarin immersion program or the MIP has already been very proactive and successful in expanding access throughout the district what started as a pipeline program with one class in each grade at Woodstock now includes two classes per grade at Woodstock with over 40% native speakers primarily of 1st and 2nd generation immigrant families and two more elementary schools MLK and Harrison Park two schools that serve historically underserved populations the first cohort of MLK students will begin their middles MIP experience at Tubman next year how is this all related to the CR and the capstone this year we are bringing the MIP Tosa on the CRR to China with the primary duty to research and lay groundwork for the tubman Mandarin program and to ensure the future Tubman students will have a similar in-country experience to follow up I have already started discussions with Ching Rin the MIP parent organization serving MLK and Tubman and plan to work with them closely in an advisory role as their school begins developing their capstone and residency program to China in closing we believe collaboration is key to the to success especially in relation to expanding opportunities and also in determining the needs of each unique community in PBS and making sure it is done right the Chinese have a saying manga and motion or the blind men rubbing an elephant each blind man is solely focused on his little space thinking that he's rubbing what he's rubbing is something other than the elephant without input from the key stakeholders particularly of the teachers and the PBS staff instrumental in developing the residency programs and capstone experiences we all remain the blind man rubbing the elephant we look forward to hearing how the board plans on including our expertise as we move forward thank you mina-san combo ah good evening I like to say thank you so much for the opportunity to share briefly with you the same support and enthusiasm for the board revised foreign travel policy and creation of an eighth grade capstone advisory group I'm case came session again and I've been teaching in the Japanese magnet program mountaha middle school for the last 20 years and one of the to trip leaders on the Japan research residency the other trip reader here are Matt pecan Brenes and I have witnessed like Kojo the many enduring lessons that this two-week cross-cultural academic experience has brought both thousands of PBS students and our partner schools and communities in Japan in particular we like Kojo see tremendous value in sharing our experiences developed resources ideas and more in helping always grade students across the district access a capstone project that propels them into high school one of the things that we have come to understand about Japan research residency is that it has so much more to teach than language and culture in fact it is so much more about developing a sense of agency in our students a feeling that they can take control and make a difference research project on both the Japan research residency and the China research residency revolves around a social issue that each student identifies for herself we challenge our learners to examine homelessness bullying climate change sexism racism Jen expectations and schools or whatever issue that they have identified as
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important to them they examine that issue through a cross-cultural lens when they present this work at our final capstone events in June yes there is clearly growth and language and cultural understanding but most significantly parents and students report to us that they have gained a much clearer sense that they can do this that they can take ownership and responsibility in this world the academic year ends with a bang as with the Mandarin immersion program we have already been a part of sharing and are very much interested in more for starters the Chinese research residency was modeled after the Japan research residency that mine to help them get started we provided copies of materials the teachers at Mount Tabor had developed over many years along with consultation now in fact we continued to consult to this very day twelve years later that collaboration has sparked numerous additions and improvements over the years to both the CPR and the JRR CRR sorry Dessay CPR perhaps of even greater significance though has been the collaboration developed among the three eighth grade social studies programs co-located at Mount Tabor middle school both the neighborhood and the Spanish immersion eighth grade social studies programs made the move many years ago to adopt this idea of ending the academic year with a similar student-centered research project and presentation as with the Mandarin program we have shared strategies and solved problems collectively in both professional learning community and sometimes simply at the copy machine today all eighth graders of Mount Tabor conduct in-depth research on a topic of their choosing including surveys and expert interviews compile and analyze their data and present it into both parents and their peers yes all the eighth graders at Mount Tabor do go to Oaks Park for a bit of celebration to conclude their middle school experience but they also are challenged to finish to sprint to the end to the ticker-tape the end of the track and irrelevant and rigorous synthesis of information data ideas and experiences this has come to be in part through PBS supporting programs like the junior and CRR and the exchange of practice perhaps most importantly among colleagues we look forward to your continued support for both these programs and others and your promotion of collaboration through the eighth grade capstone advisory group we believe these ideas can fit well with superintendent Guerrero's request that all students no matter what school they attend have consistent access to rich and rigorous learning experiences thank you next we have Tony Jones and barb Macon good evening superintendent Guerrero PPS board members my name is Tony Jones I'm the president of Coalition of black men I'm here to speak about the proposed resolution to authorize location of multiple pathways to graduation and Pisa at the Benton Polytechnic school I am in support of the resolution and thankful that PPS leadership and board is taking steps in the right direction making a commitment to have the multiple pathways to graduation programs at Benson with facilities to accommodate the space in education needs of the most vulnerable students mostly youth of color is critical to address the educational disparities faced by these youth as several of you have attended the listening sessions at Benson you can attach to the dedication of the PBS staff to these youth and this helps retain and elevate these students participation and performance the coalition of black men with other community partners will continue to work with you observe whether the commitments in the resolutions will be met and make recommendations when we see the commitment in the resolution may be in
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jeopardy specifically as a resolution states building a dedicated building on the Benson campus for the multiple pathways to graduation programs Alliance reconnection Dart you know through the next bond proposal and it also relocate these programs to Kenton we notice will take a lot of work since I believe they'll ourselves that Kent now and we know that there's gonna be work needed at the school but I believe this is a decent solution since it has proximity to public transportation we wish they could be remained here remained at Benson but we know that this is a good alternative in the interim we thank the students and the staff for the unwavering advocacy and work to help address our community educational disparities in a positive way and we thank you we look forward to continue moving forward with this strategy to address kids of color and our equity needs in the community thank you [Applause] next we have Carolyn Hickman and Melissa du Clos hi my name is Melissa Duke lo D u CL OS my children are in kindergarten and second grade at Rosa Parks I'm grateful the board opened three spaces to hear from our community and I hope this is the beginning of a longer conversation I send my kids to Rosa Parks because of the year-round calendar I know the research on Summer Slide and the instructional time loss tree teaching old content each fall I know from experience that 12 week summer breaks are a burden for working families and I saw in Rosa Parks a school that was willing to try something new after three years I can tell you that the calendar works for Rosa Parks students I'm not sure you care about what works for our students though in the letter explaining the School Board's decision you cited difficulties managing multiple calendars within the roosevelt cluster and coordinating district-wide services programs and boundary discussions you told us why this calendar was hard for you your decision had nothing to do with the day to day experiences of Rosa Parks students teachers or parents this is a real-time illustration of the recent audit findings that PPS systematically fails to serve children of color at the town hall meeting on this audit Miss Moore claims that the new board of administration were working to improve but your failure to involve Rosa Parks families or staff in your decision show otherwise there's no evidence of change here you simply cannot serve communities you refuse to talk to I'm asking the school board for three things first reinstate Rosa Parks a school calendar with a commitment to work with parents to help it succeed there are issues with the calendar we have no after-school programs between July and September and no full-day camps during our breaks for example these are issues though that the district can help parents solve second invite Rosa Parks parents and staff to work with you on a clear set of metrics to judge the calendar success we can talk about test scores if we know what tests were using and what the benchmark for success is we can also talk about social-emotional development attendance teacher retention access to breakfast and lunch and parent satisfaction measured through comprehensive surveys let us help you set student centered goals for this pilot and then work with us to meet those goals third produce a public report evaluating the district's communication with parents that addresses what happened with pioneer Kairos and now Rosa Parks invite members of these communities as well as representatives from culturally specific organizations to develop a plan sorry for family engagement that demonstrates your commitment to changing the status quo for students of color in Portland thank you my name is Carolyn Hickman and I am a Rosa Parks parent currently I have a daughter in kindergarten at Rosa Parks and my plan is to send my other two kids to Rosa
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Parks I've had two kids I graduated from Rosa Parks I mention this because it speaks to my loving commitment to the Rosa Parks model and Rosa Parks my kids have been safe loved cared for it and looked after with the child at Georgia middle school and a teenager at Roosevelt I completely understand the value of what Rosa Parks offered what my children show up to school they are not they are not only see a principal who looks like then but also teachers and staff that supports it well my children because if their friends and other classrooms or interact with teachers in the halls they see a wide range of diversity culture religious beliefs in sexual orientation what frustrates me the most is the fact that we have the data that you all seem to love so much which shows that Portland Public Schools too continues to fail students and families of color the latest audit provided by Oregon Secretary of State reflects your inability to lead for for us you fail to place experienced principals in schools that need them because your values are out of order you have teacher turnover because the leaders that you place in buildings do not build relationships with their teachers maybe they can't leave because you can't teach them how I look at the cabinet of leaders selectively to inform you in this work and I'm still unconvinced that she know how to lead because there is no one who looks like me sitting next to you in those meetings [Applause] well I'm here tonight so that you see me my children in a year-round calendar that means so much to them I'm here to applaud Rosa Parks their principal teachers and staff for a job well done a job no one else can seem to do right when it comes to black and brown children I know I'm here to let you know that if the only way you can measure student success is to look at tests that we all know are fundamentally biased then we got bigger issues on our hands I fully support Rosa parts in the year-round calendar not because the data tells me is successful because me and my family are the data and I know [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and lastly we have young you and Tatyana tur doll my name is be young you spelled be ey o ung why you and I'm an ESL teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary I'd like to speak on the in justices that have impacted the Rosa Parks community I'd like to speak on the gentrification that exists when I look outside of classroom windows and see the $600,000 homes going up displacing our families out to Gresham to search for more affordable living environments I'd like to speak on an entire school board voting 7 is 0 in May of 2018 against year-round school in our community finding out about it two weeks ago I'd like to speak on having a secret board vote and putting it at the end of a five-hour meeting without notifying a single parent teacher student or the principal I'd like to speak on Rosa Parks students being measured by three different standardized tests in a five-year period I'd like to speak on behalf of our 19 languages and 25 ESL students who came to Rosa Parks with no prior schooling and are forced to take multiple standardized tests in a language they do not understand I'd like to speak on being measured by biased test scores instead of choosing to measure the socio economic benefit of year-round school that spreads out brakes and keeps our at-risk youth off the streets and inside a classroom that provides the 95% of students qualifying for free lunch a place to be fed and nurtured on a more consistent schedule I'd like to speak on our school losing 7
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FTE this year including its assistant principal and on-site substitute I'd like to speak on having the longest-tenured principal in Portland Public Schools [Applause] [Music] and what it would be like to lose her leadership and switch to a traditional calendar in the same year I'd like to speak on having an 88% teacher retention rate and a staff of color that mears the population we teach I'd like to speak on a no de report that stated how PPS is failing students of color and recommended the very things that Rosa Parks is already doing but since I only have three minutes I will say this when a child makes a mistake I tell our students that sorry is not enough I tell our students to be accountable and make things right school board members during a recent town hall meeting that addressed how PBS is failing students of color PPS apologized to our black and brown communities for decades of failure to support children of color sorry is not enough make us whole by rescinding the vote make us whole by providing Rosa Parks five additional years to become a permanent year-round school and show you this is the way to equitably serve our students of color make us whole by fulfilling what was promised to us five years ago and surveying our cluster schools to see if year-round school can be expanded make us whole by going beyond standardized tests and finding a socio-economic test that measures the stability year-round school provides and finally make us whole by providing our materials on time so we are ready for instruction on day one [Applause] [Applause] deprivation my name is Tatiana Trudel Tatiana Trudel te Rd al I'm a parent of two kids at access Academy and I'm here to remind you that access needs one central location I have kids who come home and say I hate the split I hate the split I don't like the split either so I told them I'll go and talk to the people who made the decision to split access into two locations we had a promise that the only thing that will change is the address and this is very far from a reality and I have many more gray hairs this year because it's been so many challenges and disruptions this year so we have locations that are very very far from most of PBS so we have some students whose families just could not handle the commute so had students who dropped out of PBS altogether so we have homeschooled kids at the result of the xsplit two locations means that we can't have a lot of joint classes like we used to have was elementary and middle schools we have we need now more p2p teachers to Learning Center's and again this is the result of the split the split was very badly planned and executed so when we came back from the summer break there were no teachers for many of the classes so my kid did not have a permanent math teachers for two months who had the same problem with B and Learning Center Learning Center specifically has been a huge problem we have twenty percent of kids in elementary grades who have IEP s it's a lot of autistic kids ADHD anxiety they need routine and structure but they've had full learning centered teachers just as here teacher number three was there only two weeks and then just was trying to set up a meeting with her to go over ap set up services and she was gone so what happened is that IPS were not implemented which is illegal but it also means that the kids were not supported there was a lot of disruptions in the learning process classes and and teachers were not
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supported so I want to remind you we need one central location my kid had hates the split but he really likes access because it's okay to be different it access it escape to be autistic it access there are a lot of kids who are no longer bullied and ostracized because they have a circle of friends they feel supported that finally feel a fit academically and socially and this is really worth it for us so please we really do need to have one central location where all these kids can be supported and can learn thank you [Applause] thank you everybody for your testimony and I just want to say that to the Rosa Parks families staff will be coming out to to talk with you and to work with you on on planning for what lies ahead and I think it's what we're interested in doing is working with you and and helping to and helping to make sure that the that Rosa Parks meets the needs of the students and the families as much as possible so there'll be more more information coming I think you all got a letter today and there will be more information coming about opportunities to share more input and and work with staff on on a solution going forward okay thank you okay this is this is not it's not an agenda item tonight we're not going to take a vote but staff will be coming out to work with the school community okay I want to thank everybody for your comments if you have any additional information that you'd like to share with the board please contact board manager Roseann Powell and once again we thank you all for coming tonight and sharing your views okay next item on the agenda is a resolution in support of education funding to the level recommended by the quality education model I'd like to ask director Anthony to to give some context to this resolution and to to read the the text of the resolution okay since since we're having some movement I think we'll recess for about three minutes convene the regular meeting the next item on the agenda is a resolution in support of education funding to the level recommended by the quality education model I'm going to ask
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director Anthony to read the resolution and provide some context good evening the context for this is pretty simple and it's pretty straightforward for 29 years now Oregon has grossly underfunded its public schools and we are sick of it enough is enough and at this moment we have a brief window with the legislature where we think we may be able to get in enough revenue reform to be able to get the funding that public education so badly needs so a resolution in support of education funding to the level recommended by the quality education model since the passage of measure 5 in 1990 Oregon has consistently disinvested in public education and failed to adopt a means of sustainably paying for all essential public services and funding a strong system of public education is the best investment Oregonians can make to strengthen our economy create thriving communities and improve the quality of life for every Oregonian and Oregon students need a well-rounded curriculum that includes art music PE career and technical training and co-curricular activities as well as supports to meet their individualized needs and efforts to close the academic achievement gap and supports for students who have been historically underserved must be expanded and Oregon's public schools have experienced 30 years of unstable and inadequate funding that has resulted in dire consequences including teacher and staff layoffs relentless program cuts some of the largest class sizes and one of the shortest school years in the country and the quality education model adopted in 1999 has consistently defined a high quality educational system should look like for Oregon students but the legislature has never provided the funding to meet it and the work of the Joint Committee on Student Success represents an opportunity to define what our schools can be and find the means of sustainably paying for them and students in our public schools face challenging learning conditions due to lack of resources and can no longer wait for the public education they deserve resolved Portland School District Board of Directors supports and encourages efforts in the legislature to increase revenues sufficient to provide stable funding to the level of the qem in order to assure educational opportunities for every student in every district in our state the Portland Public Schools Board of Education pledges to join and support the efforts of the Oregonians for student success campaign to ensure that Oregon's lawmakers prioritize investments to improve the educational outcomes for Oregon's greatest natural resource our children thank you the board will now consider resolution number five eight to six do I have a motion in a second director Anthony moves director Esparza Brown seconds the adoption of resolution number five eight to six miss Powell is there any public comment is there any board discussion on the resolution okay I think it's well past time okay we will now vote on resolution number five eight two six all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no any abstentions resolution number five eight two six is approved by a vote of seven to one and I should probably take this opportunity to mention that the student representative Nick Paisley is out sick this evening and also I just wanted to add that this support of and advocacy and at the legislature in support of funding of the qem level as part of a statewide coalition of school districts and the Oregon School Boards Association leading the charge there so school districts across all of Oregon are passing similar resolutions and really showing up strong in Salem this year saying we need to do better for kids along with other partners including Oregon Education Association and a number of other organizations that are that are all trying to work together to convince the legislature to actually put
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their money where their mouth is do right back kids okay the next item is the superintendent's reports super-intense Thank You director more waiting we're in a new tradition of using visuals here we go good evening director students parents and community staff thank you for being here tonight before I begin though my report I want to acknowledge our speakers and community members who were present here this evening we appreciate your passion and your commitment to our students I am committed I know that my team is committed to ensure students excel academically and socially we look forward to working in a more collaborative fashion to accomplish this shared goal we are in agreement about the need for expanded learning time supports and opportunities as well as was evident last week students educators and staff joined thousands of others in Salem to make sure that education and educational funding is a top priority to lawmakers this is a picture of a sea of red representing public education needing to be a priority on the steps of the State Capitol on Presidents Day speaking of the budget today we met with our school principals all of them and our central office teams to discuss the 2019-20 budget we shared with them that we are presently experiencing a 17 million dollar budget gap and how we are working actively to resolve it resolved it costs are up revenues are down and this gap is due to several factors including lower than predicted enrollment declining poverty rates in the district and lower numbers of English language learner students PPS is already taking steps to minimize impacts on schools this includes further belt tightening and cuts at the central office though there are cuts you will see incremental investments in direct supports to schools in curriculum student supports and special education as our budget development process continues we will be sharing more details in the coming weeks as part of our budget development process and so we can and we will manage our budget our buildings and all of our resources to provide the maximum benefit for our students but we do need help from Salem public education must be a clear priority in our state to ensure adequate funding of our schools I along with other superintendents and educational leaders from around the state continue to participate in ongoing meetings and conversations including again today with Governor Brown to discuss public school funding we stand firm in our belief that the state must do more for its fools and reverse the decades of divestment that has been Oregon near the bottom of the nation in terms of funding the immediate budget considerations will not stand in the way of the work we are continuing to improve the educational experience for our students in our schools as we heard earlier this month we've begun work on district-wide assessment of all of our facilities and have laid the early groundwork to begin our enrollment and program balancing already we are having to manage some very real space constraints at some of our schools including here at Bridger for example we are pleased that a short-term plan is emerging that proposes to send Bridgers three kindergarten classes to the nearby Holliday annex in time for next school year this action results from a concerted outreach effort in which staff and community collaborated on possible options to relieve crowding Holliday annex which is nearby offers many amenities for our younger learners and was by far the more popular option among staff and families I look forward to visiting the site tomorrow with representatives of the Bridger community as we finalize feasibility of this plan four loko locating Bridger kindergarteners our our ultimate goal of course is that we have the right balance of enrollment and programming at every one of our schools this will be part of our longer-term look at the way we can make the best use of the buildings we have and in the work aimed at ensuring a balance of enrollment at every one of them I had the honor of attending and speaking at the annual International Youth Leadership Conference at Portland State University last week this is an annual and inspiring gathering of students many of them representing Portland Public Schools dedicated to understanding and supporting the unique experiences of our immigrant youth and emergent bilinguals students the conference is built around a few themes student leadership global citizenship and celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity as I said in my opening
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remarks there we as a district aspire to create opportunities to expand students worldviews far beyond our local boundaries the unique perspectives of our immigrant family students matters greatly to us we celebrate our students cultural and linguistic diversity congratulations to all the students and the organizers for a very successful event and for preparing a great many workshops that both students and educators like myself who had the opportunity to participate in these important conversations as we head into the fourth week of our successful school survey we are seeing some encouraging results already nearly 90 percent of students in grades 5 7 and 10 have taken the student survey this is more than triple the rate of the previous year thank you to our area system superintendents and our principals for helping achieve this level of participation more than 11,000 families have participated in the family survey that's more than double the last survey with two weeks still to go we are looking at a we are hoping for a higher participation rate but already we have a good sample set so please we encourage everyone to go to the survey link or go to our website for further information we're looking forward to sharing the results next month when the survey window closes here with the board a couple quick notes of congratulations to celebrate our students across the district first as a former grappler myself I want to congratulate Jonte Hardaway who last weekend won the state wrestling championship in the 120-pound division the last time that's deserving of an applause Donte Hardaway if you're listening the last time we had a state wrestling champion was Jefferson's Josiah Williams who won in 2016 in the 145 pound bracket congratulations to Jean Tay let's hear it for the Lent and Winter Haven chest teens the lent school leopards they dominated the annual regional tournament for elementary and middle school players the elementary team won by a landslide and a special shout-out to issho Chu who went to perfect five and oh and won first place the middle school team barely missed first place missing by half a point to Winterhaven which took first at the regional tournaments and today on a related note the Portland Trail Blazers Foundation announced a generous gift to lends chess club to support their continued success both regionally and statewide so thank you to the Blazers for supporting our students and our schools great job Winterhaven and lent chess competitors [Applause] and finally I'm also excited to share that this coming Thursday we will welcome students from across our school communities who are part of Black Student Union's Latino student organizations Native students circles and other culturally specific student organizations for an interactive evening centered on student voice their student voice as we continue to build our capacity to engage in meaningful community with our students this event is one in a series of events that we will have to engage all of our students but especially students from diverse communities directors that concludes my report checkmate thank you the next item on the agenda is the Trillium charter school the board has a resolution before us to terminate the Trillium public charter school I'd like to ask director constan chair the board's Charter Committee to provide the reports Thank You director Moore so the process for reviewing renewal and potentially terminating charter schools is very prescribed by the state this is the responsibility that the Charter Committee and ultimately the full board has in terms of oversight of our charter schools so we had four or five schools this year in a renewal process that we went through reviewing student achievement data financial data and all of that and then a subsequent hearing on one renewal and then with the review of Trillium we had a special condition which was that the school after two years of failing performance data based on the metrics that the stay provide the school was put into a plan of improvement which was carefully part carefully partnering with our charter office in terms of working through the goals of the plan of improvement and within the one year
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period for that plan the student achievement goals were not met and there's another provision in the state statute regarding oversight and potential revocation of charter status which pertains to financial stability and we also discuss some some concerns around the financial stability of the organization particularly given a really precipitous decline in enrollment in the last two years and so following those discussions it was the recommendation of the Charter subcommittee to the full board that it's incumbent upon us to revoke their charter status at this time so we have our director of our charter programs Tara O'Neill it's coming up as with Karina Wolfe who is our director of multiple pathways which oversees the charter school office who can provide the basis of the staff recommendation that was provided to the board as well as a little bit of context around how the district has been working with Trillium through this whole plan of improvement process welcome thank you Board of Education and superintendent Guerrero at this time we would like to share historical and current information regarding Trillium charter school that has led to the recommendation to terminate the Charter with Trillium charter school Trillium charter school opened in year 2002 to three as a k12 public charter school sponsored by PPS trilliums charter with PPS has been renewed three times in 2007 2012 and in accordance with the criteria established in Orr three three eight point zero five point zero six five at its last renewal trillium was instructed by the PPS Board of Education to provide a written plan to improve the performance of its students in math at all grade bands and that agreement was formalized in the renewal contract in 2017 after two consecutive years of failure to meet academic expectations in math in grades three through eight trillium was required by contract to submit an action plan of improvement for students in math grades 3 through 8 for the 2017-18 school year per contract failure to make progress towards improvement within one year of implementing the plan of improvement may result in termination the aspect results an Oregon report card assessment of trilliums performance in 2017 18 reflected a third consecutive year of poor performance in grades 3 through 8 math in addition the 2017-18 smarter balanced assessment results indicated an additional consecutive year of poor performance in English language arts for all students in grades 3 through 8 necessitating and the addition of grades 3 through 8 in the English language arts to the action plan of improvement for 1819 the financial model of the charter schools is based on student enrollment reimbursement each school provides a projected budget for each school year in which monthly reconciliation is completed with the actual number of students attending trillium has an enrollment capacity of 365 students and historically enrolls between 340 and 350 students per year trilliums 2018-19 budget was based on an assumption of enrollment of 350 students at a time when they had 289 students they communicated hopes they would boost enrollment over the summer of 2018 as of today Trillium has 201 students of which nine are kindergarten indicating there are no kindergarten students on the wait list this year trilliums total enrollment reflects a decline of over 40% since school year 2016-17 with an associated decline in revenue which it was not adequately accounted for in trilliums 1819 budget trillium has experienced staffing changes in its finance office and at this time the district does not have accurate financial records to assess cash balance or monthly cash flow through the end of this current fiscal year will we continue to request financial reports we have not received them this causes us grave concern the results of trilliums plan of improvement and current financial stability stability concerns were reported at the February 8th board charter schools committee meeting at that meeting a recommendation was made to terminate the Charter with Trillium charter school effective June 30th 2019 based on failure to meet student performance requirements and failure to maintain financial stability while charter schools must follow federal law and those state laws listed in Orr 3 3 8 1 1 5 many statues and statutes and rules apply to other public schools and districts do not apply to charter
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schools while charter schools have significant autonomy from district policies this autonomy comes with greater accountability for meeting the standards and outcomes set in law and by contract if a charter school fails to meet state standards and outcomes it can ultimately lose its charter with the sponsor through the termination process described in RFC 3550 rozier o / o Rs 3 3 8.10 5 - a a notice of intent to terminate charter was delivered to Trillium charter school on February 13 2009 stating the grounds for termination as ors three three eight point one zero five 1b failure to meet student performance requirements and E failure to maintain financial stability a public hearing was held on February 20th 2019 / o AR 5 81 0 to 6 - 0 5 0 0 section 4 the proposed effective date of termination is June 30th 2019 median statutory excuse me median statutory requirement that notice be given at least 60 days prior to the proposed effective date of determination with regard to what's missing there's been questions with regard to what's missing financially or inaccurate the financial indicators on the framework are mostly taken from the information on the municipal audit which is information from the previous school year 1718 our current concerns financially are related to the stability in the 2018-19 year when enrollment has fallen off by an additional 30 percent from the previous year without a clear outline of how the school has adjusted budget and expenses to accommodate for that loss of revenue well we collect quarterly financial reports from each school we have asked Trillium additionally for monthly cash flow cash balance and cash flow projections through the end of this fiscal year which they have been unable to produce for us since his changeover in their financial office in November we did receive some additional information on February 4th 2019 that was partially updated with annotations for known in inaccuracies from the Trillium staff on June 30th 2018 the audit showed an unrestricted fund balance of four hundred thousand two hundred and one dollars on December 31st 2018 Trillium provided PPS with an unreconciled balance sheet and it showed a two hundred nine thousand dollar cash balance their December 2018 projection showed a projected loss of two hundred and sixty three thousand seven hundred and fifty seven dollars and 73 cents the enrollment is down 80 students from two hundred and eighty nine to two hundred and nine for the 1890 2018-19 the enrollment was down fifty-one students from 342 to eighty nine for 2017-18 the school has shared goals of fundraising though their fundraising records show a history of no more than thirty thousand dollars fund raised and then just to respond to an attitude that kind of on the academic side Tara's gonna speak to that good evening Trillium Charter School has had poor or inconsistent performance for the last three years the school has been operating under a plan of improvement for specific academic achievement concerns since January of 2018 the planned outcomes of which were not met smarter balanced achievement academic results for 2017-18 reflect very poor math achievement for grades three through eight for the third year in a row in addition there have been growing organizational and financial concerns in the past year in the past two years there's been significant turnover within the Trillium staff including the executive director the business office the heads of school and teachers as well as turnover of nearly all the Trillium board members finally the school's enrollment has fallen off significantly as Karina alluded to the reduction enrollment significantly impacts the school's financial viability effectively reducing the school's revenue by about forty forty five percent within the last two years and if you have any questions we can take those now I guess we'll just open it up for conversation recognizing that this is a very difficult position for us to be in because this involves students experience everyday families experience and I will be the first to say that I know that we have many students at Trillium who really feel strongly that
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they are being well served by a very caring validated validating community and some really incredibly professional dedicated loving educators and I would say from spending time with the students and spending time in the building that's all very evident but based on the information that we have just that we have been presented and that was just recounted here our fiduciary responsibilities that's put upon this board from the state is to hold our charter schools accountable to these very clear metrics through a very clear process and that is the moment that we find ourselves in right now well in addition to the fiduciary responsibilities certainly it's about academic progress of all students and knowing that Trillium has often many historically underserved marginalized students if we can't ever lower the bar for any student and that's really the issue here is another issue is that that we haven't been able to see that gap closed and that isn't going to happen overnight but I guess we haven't seen progress in closing that gap over time and that's a huge red flag moving forward we have to ensure that our students have the opportunity every one of them to have a high-quality educational program that is going to help them meet those state standards towards graduation and unfortunately we haven't seen that happen and that gap close at Trillium I would say also that the the schedule for this process is also laid out in state statute as Ms wolf just referred to a bit but part of what is coming to bear on this schedule right now is that if the board does concur with the staff report to revoke this Charter the district and speaking for myself as a member of the board want to make sure that it is done in time that we can maximize all the opportunities for our students and families in terms of figuring out the the right placement for all of these students and we can depending on how we vote this evening there can there will be many further conversations about how to best serve each of these students and families moving forward but this is the season that we're in right now where lotteries are taking place for focus option programs and it's planning for enrollment in all of our areas schools so I just wanted to lay that out there with regard to the timing of things one of the things I have complained about with our relationship with charter schools with our relationship with many different mandates from the state and actually about many different organizations all over is that we end up stuck with the responsibility with out being given the authority but I do want to ask what help have we been able to give to Trillium during this last year I know that often it's quite constrained what we are able to do but what have we been able to to deliver so throughout this year we have been able to work with the Trillium executive director and head of school to bring about maps testing the process the process has begun as of October and had a series of meetings with PPS testing and with the Maps vendor and that was an ongoing process of about a couple of meetings and a back and forth from PPS testing in terms of updating with information and that process is not yet completed so offering the the path to get maps from PPS because PPS already has the licenses other charter schools are actually accessing maps testing through their own individual contracts with maps and other inner internet other
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ways of supporting in this past year the the original financial person at Trillium had some questions around how to forecast state school funding etc and providing templates and worksheets on how to forecast that so that the budget could be made more realistic based on what the student enrollment is and additionally for all the charter schools we hold monthly charter school directors meetings where the charter school directors help form what is on that agenda and they can support each other in their help their colleagues with whatever is happening at the time in terms of providing support for each other quite often charter school directors are the best help for other charter school directors coming from the same place so anything to add yeah I would also say that all of our charter schools have access to our professional learning so it was previously learning campus now it's pepper so we try to make professional learning opportunities available to their heads of schools as well as their staffs and I would also add that as the current executive director came on board we did reach out to a retired administrator who was a very successful charter school administrator and asked to try to build a relationship a mentorship relationship or just to reach out for for a new executive director to be able to to give some guidance from that seat and very appropriately that early school and board have done that and have did a nice job with that as well and we would just point out that the employees are employees of the Trillium charter school board and that organization and so there's also opportunities for that organizations for to provide professional development and support for their employees so they were provided opportunities for professional development through us you know have they poor taken in that I've been part of the various opportunities for PD and around instruction I don't I don't know that there's been a participation in PD around instruction the pedagogical model at Trillium would be very different from what PPS would be doing for professional development and additionally other than what is provided at the monthly charter directors meetings I don't I don't know what else has been participated in it has been offered okay just to clarify on is it map or maps with an ass whichever is just just to clarify trillium requested access to the map assessment at first our understanding was that couldn't happen because their computers were not secured so originally trillium approached PBS testing to find out whether or not that was a possibility the PPS testing coordinator talked with the charter schools office to say is this something we should do for charter schools and we determined why not we have the licenses let's do it so yeah absolutely and moving forward with that the the testing coordinator had to do some logistical work work with the nwea vendor and set up a meeting where the executive director and if the Charter Schools office nwe a vendor and the testing coordinator were all discussing what was needed and what the possibilities would be at the end of that meeting I believe there was a communication by email about whether or not trilliums technology would work and was later responded to by the executive director saying yes it would work they were not they had windows it was going to work okay so from that point forward our testing coordinator moved forward to find out what needed to happen to make this continue and I think the last update that we had from her was on February 5th so this was a process that occurred between about the end of October to February 5th the entire back-and-forth current status right now
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is that okay is that our our PPS testing department just recently I believe yesterday got updated about all of that because that testing coordinator actually left employment with PPS so we're we're picking that up and moving forward with it but to answer your question very directly there were concerns at following the meeting or questions that arose which arise with with any of our schools just around the security of student data and so that was one of the next steps which happened as the executive director the director went back to Trillium tests to understand it's and confirm that this that the PPS requirements and the NWA requirements for protection of student data would be able to be met okay and we learned that that security existed when I'm gonna say probably mid January B mid beginning or mid January I don't I didn't bring my dates with me so and just to clarify one more thing on the financial status we know their cash balance was roughly four hundred thousand at the end of the last school year can I can I answer your previous question so on January 14th I apologize I did have it right here On January 14th is the meeting that Miss O'Neal's talking referencing with NWA and WEA and on January 30th was when we received feedback from Trillium charter schools executive director that that they after assessing the tech that Trillium had switched to Windows in the last year and they would be able to pursue so it was the end of January when the process happened in December and January okay thank you so at the end the last school year their cash balance was roughly $400,000 the best we know it was down to about two hundred thousand at the end of December so what that end of December sorry lots of papers December 31st 2018 trillion provided PPS and unreconciled balance see that sheet that showed a two hundred and nine thousand dollar cash balance there December 2018 projection showed a projected loss of negative two hundred and sixty three thousand seven hundred and fifty seven dollars so is that the loss between the end of last school year and December 31st so there's a difference between June 3rd and June 30th of 2018 they had an unrestricted fund balance of of four hundred and nine thousand dollars in December they had an unreconciled balance that said they had a 2009 two hundred and nine thousand dollar cash balance but their December 2018 projections showed a projected loss of two hundred and sixty three thousand is that projected loss is that going forward through June is that I reviewed the financial records this evening and there is a cash flow projection sheet that was submitted at the second at the end of the second quarter in December that showed actuals from July through December that then they projected from January through June and if of 2019 my concern is the accuracy of the numbers when I see the actuals for July through December the salary expenses are higher than what they've projected for January through June for the second half of the year and I asked if they had reduced positions to lower the salary and I was it was reported they did not we were given an email back that said they hadn't although we know that they have combined some classrooms so we just can't put the two things together in line with what the financial projections were saying so with the cash flow through June 30th of 19 it does show that two hundred and I need the sheet
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so that was 238 just a point 263,000 so part of the refers to the fact that we did not get a revised budget that reflects the actual change in enrollment the budget that we had reflects the prior enrollment projections which are 60 plus students more and the attendant revenue right when I review the financial statements it's hard to get a clear understanding they have noted on the record submitted to us that specific numbers and the balance sheet are not accurate I believe the changeover and financial the financial staff there the the new person has reported that they haven't been able to reconcile yet from them when what the other person had left and so that is of concern that we don't have reconciled financial reports and also I would want to see the leadership of the school to be supporting the financial person to reconcile this so we could get that clearer understanding of the current financial status at the school from the records we have we cannot tell can I just get a can you explain what a reconciled budget means I mean what exactly so when you build a budget based on a certain enrollment figure and then they come in at a lower enrollment figure then you would need to reproject the revenue at a lower level and then that would then you would need to also reduce the expenditures in order to have a balanced budget so it's possible in the last half the school year for a loss along the same lines as what's happening over the previous six months so something the projection is through June 30th at two hundred and sixty three thousand and to the negative so they're projecting overall for the year of 1819 negative two hundred and sixty three thousand dollar loss so sixty three don't know how that's correct revenue is that is coming in from the state basis that is correct we would need more information from the school to be able to reconcile okay so and that's going from four hundred subtracting two sixty three is that that's it that's the math but that's not accounting for any balances yeah education expert I'm gonna defer to defer to the educators on the academics at the school but just to follow on the financial side so the audit that we have actually shows it looked through a quick review that i fairly clean on it from last year and then based on the financials that we have it's probably a reasonable expectation that because the enrolment that there will be a loss or sort of a financial challenge on their balance sheet yes but and they've submitted quarterly reports but not the monthly cash I would say the December 31st quarterly report has not been submitted well what has been submitted is not its got not accurate not verified written all over it from the school so that's not I wouldn't accept that as a financial report because it is not reconciled so on their balance sheet they just looking at sort of what a reasonable person could speculate because you actually have I think we can make some reasonable speculations but not with certainty they also have a building or a capital asset and what is the on the liability side of the sheet there's long track they make is that something they could leverage on an operational basis just your professional opinion yeah the fixed assets are for the building and land etc is 2.7 million dollars is so that's to the good and
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then they also have long-term debt of 2.8 million 2.8 million so they look so there's more debt than the asset is valued on the balance sheet so they're really so if if the school in land were sold I I don't have an appraisal there to know what that value that true value is this is their current fixed asset which is probably the purchase price for building the school not necessarily the current market value it doesn't ownership go back to the stage I don't know the answer to that so director Rosen and I were at Trillium yesterday and we asked a number of financial questions and the responses we got about the district's request for financial statements was that there been this transition and they hadn't had a chance to prepare the statements I think part of our conversation we like well tomorrow night we're having a hearing so I think from my standpoint it's that we have to go with the information that that we have now obviously there's a you know potentially a process by which Trillium can appeal and I guess if they could get their records together that would be one thing but I think from what we have tonight and that's been supplied it doesn't appear that they reasonable conclusion would be that they're not potentially a going concern through the end of this the school year is that so because I can't verify the accuracy of the rest of the projections for the rest of the year I mean if we just assume that their numbers are all correct they would have a 200 and was it 60 $3,000 but we have no basis even on which to make that assumption a lot of you know we don't have enough information in order to verify the accuracy of the financial reports board the sort of steps you went through to secure the financial information or what sorts of agreements you had so we we have deliverables that we require of all the charter schools and charter schools give us quarterly financials included in that as a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement we get an annual budget it's usually delivered by May first and then anytime there's a change in the state school fund or any major change we ask for a revision on that budget in addition beginning in November October November we realized that the budget that we had for Trillium was inaccurate so we began asking for a more accurate budget and asking for some monthly reporting not just quarterly and at that time was also when they were undergoing some transition in their finance office and so there was a changeover and a period of time where things were just in flux and so at this point we still have not received our q2 reports or those monthly other than the monthly projections that you just heard about and just to reiterate I think the main reason that you considered that budget inaccurate was because it was based on revenue flowing for an enrolment of 350 students when there were only 203 or so currently enrolled well the other piece that was questionable was the grants and donations line of 300,000 in the revised budget when historically it was thirty thousand right what was the total budget roughly Paul Burke ask your desk next question I'll get back to you so um I'm curious you know the end of the day the Trillium Board is ultimately responsible for the governance and the the financial responsibilities of the Charter and I'm wondering what interaction we had the
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district had with the board or was it all with the staff we have attended I think two board meetings in this year and also Trillium board meetings and also sent email information and requests and copied both the Trillium finance office as well as the Trillium board president and had a number of email exchanges about that um the true most recent Trillium board meeting that I attended was actually when they were embarking on the transition of Finance personnel and the Trillium Board was also asking for the same information that the district had been asking we also had a few board members who came to our charter committee meeting and we had a robust conversation with them question and answer and then we've heard from several members of the board it came to the hearing as well but we had a real real opportunity for dialogue in the committee meeting so the did we had any information from them though from the the board I mean I'm assuming they have a executive committee and a treasurer nothing formally transmitted we had testimony from the board president and the hearing so I just have revenue expenditures from the audited statement so I know that they're confirmed numbers so the revenues for 1718 were two point three six million in the expenditures for the same year were 2.44 million two point four four million can you clarify what the what the requirements are for charter schools in terms of their their fiscal health and in the kind of reporting requirements that are expected so the district determines that by contract so in the contract we asked for the quarterly statements district finance office goes through those statements and has a spreadsheet they use the input the data from and when there are red flags or concerns then we will ask the charter schools to provide additional information and more frequent information and we also require their annual municipal audit and when required we will ask for the treasurer's reports from board meetings is it allowable for a charter school to have to run a deficit I need an accountant to answer that because I want to make so then I would say they spent more more expenditures and they had revenue last year but their fund balance is still in the positive so they're not at a deficit mode their fund balance went down by seventy six thousand dollars ending at eight hundred and fourteen thousand dollars and June 30th 2018 but if we assume that the numbers that you have are or even close to accurate this group this one right here is an audited financial statement so I feel like that thought for the current fund for the current year so if I wrote these numbers down right you can run it at a deficit until you run out of cash right so so the projection is that by June 30th 2019 they would be two hundred and sixty three thousand dollars in the hole they would have two hundred and sixty three thousand more in expenditures and they have coming in in revenue right I would need to look at the statement to see if that fund balances included in that same a night I don't have that in front of me a case where we had more expenditures than revenue in a given year but if we had an ending fund balance it's okay so the critical question is whether they have an ending fund balance that's sustainable in a year in which their expenditures are greater than their I mean if they've over budget revenue by six hundred thousand dollars this year there's not gonna be anything left at the unreconciled part right so the difficulty for for this situation in particular is the that there is not a person on staff there that can help
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reconcile us to recognize exactly what their financial standing is well they have not provided we haven't received any financial reports that shows that and so the concern is as enrollment has declined that the revenue will not come and their expenditures are continuing and so that by the end of the earth without having someone with strong financial projection skill set that's the concern that I have right now so I mean from where I sit you know the the essential question is it is this school going to be able to keep the doors open even for the rest of this academic year I mean apart from whether they can make a go of it next year can they keep the doors open through June that's a very real and significant consideration and part of the deliberation is if we have 200 children under our care who all of a sudden have no place to go to school in the middle of spring so I mean I think this speaks to the timing of it you know it's it's our responsibility to to try to mitigate harm for students if if they're not going to be able to if Trillium is not going to be able to keep the doors open through June it would be much more difficult for students and families to be left kind of high and dry sometime in I don't know whenever May when when it's going to be very difficult to make alternative arrangements both for this year and for the following year so yeah I mean that's our responsibility that this is why we're talking about this right now and if I mean I have to say at least from a financial standpoint [Music] the most troubling piece of information I received was that Trillium cannot provide accurate information at this point and and that after a number of months of requests we still have not received that critical information that's disturbing that speaks to I mean the the criterion is five financial management oars my initial stability I mean that speaks to a kind of critical system deficit that is putting children at risk am I wrong No it's true we we just had Portland Public Schools just had a clean financial on it so I want to just ask them nother question that I think is sort of just like washing people in the community would had I had so this trillium had its charter renewed last win 2017 year spring as a thousand sign a five-year charter yes and so were your and a half into it what's what's the precedent for here at PBS or somewhere else in the state for stepping in in sort of mid mid tenure you know haven't been on the board before when we had lots of charters and some that ended up not being renewed normally it was at the the renewal time period so maybe if you could speak to sort of what the process was a precipitated sort of this mid mid charter ten years usually that philosophy is charters are placed where sort of innovation is allowed to happen and so they sink or swim on their own but that's the beauty of they they don't
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have a lot of the accountability or sort of all the other strings that come with being a school within a public school systems they have a lot of autonomy but that autonomy also allows them you know to fail if that's the case and so I'm curious you know should we let shall we have let it played out what what brought the staff to recommendation to put something in place and why we're here midway through their charter period so one of the things you just said was they don't have a lot of accountability and actually the opposite is true they don't they don't they have more autonomy and they have actually more accountability by law than the district schools that autonomy is so that they can innovate and try things and the accountability is so that schools don't try things into failure at the expense of students and I think generally the law is set up to do a review at a renewal cycle but very clearly our Oregon charter school law does have a process in place for the very specific criteria that are outlined for terminating a charter during its term and one of the reasons that we do take so much annual achievement data and attendance data and all the other standards that we check is so that we can constantly be ensuring that the charter schools are healthy and that students are getting what they need and it's so that school board's can intervene if there is a concern about a charter school PBS's contract with charter schools does have this agreement that after two years of a failed standard any standard failed for two years consecutively will result in an improvement plan and we have not in the past had any other school come to that so this is our first time through this process each year on every charter school we complete an annual performance framework and report and with regard to what was brought attention is areas of not meeting both in academic and financial concerns from the 1718 school year so when those are brought forward both internally and then shared with the charter school subcommittee as they are for all schools going through a renewal or any school that we have concerns about that's the process that we as a district take every year in our review site visits where we look at our organizational our each school's organizational capacity fiscal stability and academic performance so each of those three are the three components that comprise our performance evaluation for every charter school concerns that came up in previous years but certainly in last year's are what charted the course for how we proceeded this year okay there is beating a dead horse here okay so you've been asking for these reports since October as we progressed into November was when we began to ask for additional monthly reports cash flow etc okay and and none of those requests have been fulfilled to date not adequately okay has there been any any proposal from Trillium about or any suggestion when they might be able to produce adequate accounting to respond to those requests I don't think I've received a time frame although I absolutely know they're working on trying to get the information that's you know I just have not had a date we have not received the information requested and well well I well I appreciate communication with their staff they have not been able to produce what the district has asked for and in these while the timeframe for this process has been right clear but I mean there's the and they have not they have not said you know we can't give you two this week but give us X amount of time and we'll be able to deliver they have not said that we they have said that the former financial
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person said that in October in November so I think what happens is we're getting consistently put off for a longer period of time okay without an end any other questions from the board no but I'm in up something I want to say okay so will now consider resolution number five eight to seven a resolution approving termination of the chatter agreement with Trillium charter school do I have a motion in a second second director Anthony moves director konstanz seconds the adoption of resolution number five eight to seven news Powell is there any public comment yes we have two we have dani rosen and joseph brian thank you for oh good Thank You Trillium students families my name is dani rosen ro sen trillion students families and PPS support members my name is dani rosen my pronouns are she her her he him his I'm the current sheriff the Oregon chapter of Clifton and co-chair of the Oregon listen national advisory council today I'm asking the board to commit to keep the Trillium charter school open as the letter from the Trillium PTSA is asked provide reasonable time to continue and to address the deficiencies that been identified I'm here because of the concern that several LGBTQ students and families could be impacted by the closure of Trillium Trillium has provided many of these students a last resort learning environment having an experienced bullying or other hostile acts in previous schools well I recognize that PBS has done much to address the incidence of bullying and intimidation and harassment in recent years there's been an uptick in incidents reported nationwide here in the Portland metro area physical assaults have been increasing the concern of parents guardians concerned community members and organizations such as Clisson are not unfounded the resources available to students in all schools within PPS are stretched thin one benefit that Trillium provides as a community of emotional protective factors the long term attendance at Trillium the kate through K through 12 provides an opportunity to create a cohort of peers that support each other when schools change from elementary school to middle school in high school each change introduces new challenges to build a similar protective group more critical is each school change introduced as a factor of fear and expectations of negative incidents name-calling an exclusion that will make successful learning more difficult trillium with adequate support provides a model for addressing these concerns like no other school in the district one of the area's concerns one of the areas that has been used to justify the closure is the lack of performance on standard tests on the elementary grade levels where these concerns are being highlighted I am confused of high school is performing better than average and will be closed as part of this closure Trillium has a different kind of elementary curriculum and may not be adequately reflected in the state standardized testing I have submitted a letter that speaks to the less measurable skills that are developed trillium but are critical for today's and future business environments skills such as Lakeland learning and collaborative working environments finally the apparent issues that have been growing before the current before the current executive director took charge finally a current director stepped in in critical time as an interim director and has such limited authority to address these issues since being appointed to the position at full time these have been multi requests for very support without apparent success PPS should first consider what impact they have had that has impeded the school's recovery and then consider what supports needed to grow this available resource for these youth at Trillium currently and for future students thank you very much I apologize for our confusion about the process around this so you know was going to read a statement with we're from the PTA at our school we were going to read it together I asked the chair if we could come together to present that thank you very much I really appreciate the flexibility and thank you Danny
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hi my name is Sonia and I am very grateful to have an opportunity to communicate here I wanted to first acknowledge the fact that I know that you guys are faced with a very difficult decision seeing the budget gap that you guys are facing for the coming year I also wanted to validate you and the state of Oregon for being leaders at a national level in terms of providing or having the intention to create an environment that addresses national challenges in regards to violence in excessive suicide and just general struggles that communities that are vulnerable and historically underserved are facing I do believe that our school it's part of that solution the parents of Trillium preparedstatement da says we're deeply concerned by some of the errors omissions and arguments set forth by the staff analysis and report to the board it is obvious from recent statements that not sufficient information exists to be able to make a decision that's beyond a shadow of a doubt the right decision I also wanted to point out that in answering the question of what actual help trillium receive from PPS the question wasn't actually answered fully Maps was not implemented at the school even those steps were taking to get to that point that never actually occurred further when talking about some of the help available that was not helped that was directly addressed to trillium knowing the circumstances that the school was in also the equity funding and the finances yeah and having a financial background you know that if there are errors on the entry of the money you know that money coming in might not have been recorded as was money being paid out that would impact the debt records of the school so there you guys have noted that there's a potential that the school will be on a deficit because of their enrollment but you're failing to acknowledge the fact that there might also be a lot more money there that hasn't been reported overall it appears that the PPS board is being impressed with a choice to either terminate the trainer charter now or to shut down the school effective the end of this year or to decline to do so at this time but revisit the issue in 2019 with Express thread that at that time Trillium once again faced the prospect of revocation and closure although the second option appears to offer Trillium a chance to address the issues identified by the Charter School Department this option too appears designed to ensure that the it's the mice rather why it's widely recognized that it takes at least two to four years to turn a struggling school around the second option still provides far less time than that the PPS has known that Trillium has been struggling for at least six years under the prior administration and no obvious efficient support was provided given the fact that it continued to go down in its performance right PPS actually has an option to make a different choice to allow Trillium to continue to operate for no less than the remainder of its current charter agreement until June of 2020 2022 while providing the support that are needed for the school to move forward on its current path of improvement in student performance and returning to financial stability given the significant efforts that have already been undertaking to take Trillium back and get to land back on track in the multiple weights that the school serves vital needs within PPS community that their option is the only reasonable outcome and I know I'm out of time thank you so much for living [Applause] any other public comment Miss Powell okay okay no no I was just asking if there was anybody else there's not well if you go to can you come up Flores I am the president of the PTA and I'm hearing a lot of very strong concerns about the financial situation of the school which is warranted since you are missing a lot of reports that you need and I just wanted to offer that I'm a small business person I've been in business for 28 years I've done our books and our taxes and our accounting for all of that time I can offer my services as a consultant to the school and be their assistant to make sure those reports get to you if you can give us two weeks time we can give you accurate reports and I will do everything I need to do to make
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sure they are exactly the correct information and everything that that you need to make your decision will be available to you thank you any further board discussion so I was in the board in 2003 when Trillium first received its charter it was a time when there were lots of charters in PBS a number of them started then and I served on the edit option committee at the time and which was the committee's and it's now called the Charter Committee and I think one of the things I learned from serving on that committee was that the responsibility of starting and operating a school is really complex and challenging I think a lot of parents here who were part of the process of sort of the ongoing support of a school it's it's hard and I think you know we know that and we've got a lot of support in a big system and people who have a lot of experience so I just want to acknowledge that I think there's been a lot of care given in to sort of nurturing Trillium over the years and that should be acknowledged I also think at the time when we granted the Charter the concept was to start at elementary in middle and eventually grow to a high school and it was the at the time at the time and I think maybe it still is the only charter that had strived to provide this sort of k-12 environment so not only is it a hard thing to run open and operated at a charter school but I think Trillium predict picked a particularly tough challenge which to really provide over this broad range of grades a charter experience so for me it's it's really sad that we're here where we are today knowing the time and effort and commitment that people put into building building Trillium when director Rosen and I visited Trillium yesterday we had some great conversations with the high school students they wrapped well for Trillium they talked about their their senior capstone projects and I'll say the testimony that we had at the hearing that was held was really compelling and I think students spoke to the sense of belonging they had at the school and the support they really felt from the adults and the broader Trillium community so I think shout out to all the parents who've been in and community members who have been involved in Trillium however it is a charters board's responsibility to manage and lead and really guide the financial and education affects of a charter and it's not the school districts responsibility and I think we're faced with a really unfortunate choice tonight and I'm concerned that while I think it's a very reasonable conclusion to come to that Trillium is in very dire financial situation and may not be able to make it through the year we don't we're not gonna we don't know that with certainty because we don't have all the documents requested so what I would say is while we are going to take a vote tonight and make a decision as a board that Trillium has there's a there's a process in the Charter process that if you provide the financial information that's that's one piece it's not the academic piece but it's one piece of the information so that is always an option for a Trillium to pursue so I think it's a very generous offer but we have to make the decision tonight based on the information we have so I'm gonna support the committee's recommendation but it's with with the sadness that that's the where we are tonight I'd like to add one thing to and this is really on the
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academic side of things which I want to recognize executive director Mays because she stepped into this role I think based on what you've told us not really knowing entirely the status of the school either in terms of management and finances but even with the educational program and curriculum and professional support and all that and as well head of school Jamie I'm forgetting your last name but I think it's clear and it was clear for me in my visit because I visited Trillium in the past under different leadership that there is a renewed sense of academic rigor and there has been a lot of attention paid to that but unfortunately you stepped into this situation in the final year of a really serious really serious academic deficiencies so aside from the grave financial issues that we were talking about tonight I did want to address that and to publicly recognize that there did seem to be seeds of a positive trajectory and just to recognize your care and leadership and the supportive community that you have nurtured and advocated for a Trillium because it's very special it's the finances every one of us recognizes the community that is so important but just not knowing and really the most realistic assumptions we can make are just you know can you even get through the year or maybe you could but only if you made substantial staff cuts now which I mean to me that's the best picture I can make of the reality and it's that's not good I also want to respond to the gentleman I'm good at that I'm really concerned about the students and their feeling of safety and understand that they have a community there and to reiterate I think that that's why we're having this discussion in this vote now to allow for some choice so hopefully we can help find placements find new communities for the students and I really want I'm sorry and I really want to work with our schools in general about you know how we allow for the vast diversity of our students and for everybody to live in one community and how we create that community and an acceptance I mean it's it's a it's just a good time to reiterate that we are a diverse world and a diverse community and acknowledge that we have to do that for all of our schools and I know that we've been working with our schools and talking about that I think we have new community student support offices and I think we are I mean that's a commitment by all of us to ensure that safety and well-being emotionally as well for all of our students so I do I do want to say that our charter office and our multiple pathways program does have a plan in place for families around assistance with the enrollment process and the placement process but also broader support and it doesn't doesn't quite feel like the right moment to go into the details of that other than to say that I know that families will be hearing from our team okay I'm gonna have to I mean we've we've gotten quite a lot of public testimony and so we have a resolution on the table
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and this this is this is not this is certainly not about greed and it's that we we have a responsibility to to address the financial stability of the school precisely because what we're if Trillium has to close what we're trying to do is to do this in an orderly fashion so that we can actually work with families and students to find the most appropriate educational placements for them and if we wait if we wait until I mean I I think all of us up here recognize the the work that Trillium has done over the years it has an extraordinary proportion of students with identified special needs for a charter school and and I think we want to congratulate you all it's been it's been a journey over many years but the reality is a charter school must be financially sustainable and manat to mention it it has to be it has to be serving the educational needs of students as well and we have we have a responsibility as the Board of Education for Portland Public Schools we have very little flexibility in this this is all being driven by state statute and the and the requirements of charter schools and one of the requirements actually we've all been talking about this for the last weekend the entire PTA and working on financial solutions I know you've all spoken about for a moment the equity available from the value of the school building the school building apparently has 2.7 million in its value therefore because it is property of the 501 C 3 that is Trillium we can go to a bank and we have a lender lined up to lend us against that equity value just like anybody gets a second mortgage on their house and we can use that as interim funding to get us to the end of the year if we should need it we don't know if we need it but I understand you're worried if we need it we have it we have 55 students that are kindergarteners on our waitlist ready to start in September okay 2019 we've worked very hard they've come through they we have their applications they're on our waitlist they represent four hundred and sixty-seven thousand dollars then we'll be added to trilliums available funds to work next year and that's only so far okay because that's what our entire PTA has been working on increasing enrollment by getting visibility so the community knows we're here for the longest time everybody I spoke to about Trillium the only thing they said is oh it would be so nice to send my children there but they're you know they have a lottery system we're not gonna get in so the community the larger community that wants to send their students to Trillium are out there with this misconception so we have been advertising and putting all of our money into advertising and we have gotten fifty five new kindergarten students on our waitlist representing four hundred and sixty-seven thousand dollars to add to our budget next year all we need is interim funds we can get that from up from a second mortgage on the building since we own the building
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two hundred two point seven million dollars in value in the building we can access that okay we're not gonna run out of money before the end of the year we're fine and we are this the momentum of this school is phenomenal we have three times the people on the PTA we got 15 dedicated members that are running around like crazy making everything possible so we have the funds to the school is beautiful so the people come through it and the people like yeah I want to send my kids here we've got them there waiting a stack of them there waiting for us to do this you people are mourning our school with us knowing how valuable it is not wanting to let it go and let it disappear you don't have to okay we have that that is our financial solution no matter where our books are right now whatever we need to get to the end of the year so we have the new school year starting with all the new students that are coming at us right now we'll be fine okay you don't have to close us for the worry of the financial situation you don't have to close us for the worry of the school of the grades either I mean we've got six months that we've been able to work on the math grades okay this is the new program that we started which was the action plan which was January 2018 you have six months data on it we were supposed to have a whole year's data but you're not looking at this year's data you're looking at the end of 2018 you haven't gotten even this fall's data six months data on math data we have hired a new math specialist for the school give him a chance to work we got it our math breaks did improve they just didn't improve up to the point where we said they would improve they improve 20% instead of 40% they're improving we are doing it we are doing it across the board this place is working you do not have to shut us down thank you okay the board will now vote on resolution number five 827 all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes I'll oppose please indicate by saying no are there any abstentions resolution number five eight to seven is approved by a vote of seven to zero there is yes there is yes and the Charter office can help the next item on the agenda is multiple pathways to graduation location analysis at last week's work session the board discussed the multiple pathways to graduation location analysis the board is now ready to vote on the resolution the board will now consider resolution number five 8:00 to 8:00 do I have a motion director Anthony moves and director at sponsor Brown seconds the motion to adopt resolution 5 8:00 to 8:00 Miss Powell is there any public comment Miss Powell sorry is there any public comment we have one we have John fresh all I'm I mean I've read it but does anybody have it my name is John Greco g r ue SCH o w and I'm here to speak in support of keeping the Alliance high school on the on the Benson campus there are way too few options already for students struggling to complete their education and graduate from high school traditional high school doesn't work for everyone I would actually say it doesn't work for many students and we all need to be more creative in providing a broader range of academic choices not shrinking them too often a student who
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fails in a traditional school faces very limited post high school options such as a nun fulfilling minimum-wage job or military enlistment for military recruiters these kids are a prime target and they're targeted for deployment to a war zone not a viable career we should be able to do better than relying on McDonald's or the Armed Forces to step in when students see no other future I urge you to fought to find room for Alliance high school at Benson and expand such options instead of cutting them thank you thanks John is there any board discussion on this resolution one a of the result copy but it refers to the collate the co-locate the has list and then it has the Portland virtual scholars it's my understanding that's just a classroom virtual scholars it's not the actual virtual scholars program is that right is that correct because the virtual scholars program is actually located at Holliday annex that like the office the the district-wide program office and teachers operate out of the Holliday annex what we have at currently at Benson high school is a classroom that that virtual scholars operates in all day long and I believe that's what is is referenced in the resolution so maybe just a perfecting amendment to add the word classroom maybe with an apostrophe s in brackets after that so that it allows for if it's more than one classroom is that it's essentially a satellite classroom ideally we would have something like that at every comprehensive so I'm just adding one a second line after Portland virtual scholars just the word classroom with a bracket around the s okay do you want so moved second director broom Edwards moves a director constant seconds a motion to amend the language as noted any discussion I have another language amendment I could piggyback or we could do it again it's equally minor and persnickety ok we'll we'll do a M combine okay go ahead okay well any discussion on that okay um vote on the amendment to for director perimeter its language change all in favor say yes yes yes posed abstentions okay the amendment passes to make it to propose another amendment looking at same article 1 of the resolution under B and says build a dedicated building on Benson campus property for MGP programs : Alliance High School at Benson I would like to strike at Benson so it just says Alliance High School and then it does the point is it does clarify below on item I of that there still is staff work to be done to evaluate Alliance at meet campus programming needs to determine feasibility of co-locating in new building at Benson I would say instead of co-locating uniting the and this doesn't have to be part of the amendment but uniting the Alliance community in one building on the Benson campus we're still awaiting that staff report so just to make it really clear that approval of this resolution does not preclude that future conversation about a United Alliance so the amendment is simply to strike at Benson from 1b where it says Alliance High School at Benson okay director constan moves this amendment do we have a second second director constand moves director more seconds the amendment to strike at
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Benson in 1b any discussion I do have a question for miss Wolfe I know the board has frequently tied itself in knots over what things are named do you have any issue with that I do not okay thank you that was an easy one thank you okay okay any further discussion on the amendment okay all in favor say yes yes yes opposed say no abstentions okay the this second amendment passes seven to zero any further board discussion just a question I think it's just the nature of the we've been through so many versions of this but in 2a I probably or maybe this is add and I don't know but there's a reference to the team parent child care and food and clothes closets are we is this replicating that in the separate building or is it there's one of those for the Benson campus well I'm just wondering what this what this says okay one for the one shared tank teen parent center one shared team parent center one food closet one clothes closet okay great just that's all I needed I'd want to make sure okay you see some efficiencies campus efficiencies well I'd just go back to our historical issues about sharing facilities or not at Benson good programs and I get that it makes sense to only have one Center but you know want to make sure that everybody using that Center is actually welcome in the Benson building well maybe there Benson campus facilities for those for those shared facilities which is really important for their established that way at the start versus their one buildings properties and then somebody else comes in so starting with a shared proposition so the way it's worded now is that the dedicated standalone MGP building would host the team parents for others to access okay so they'll they do welcome the medicine okay so this is a on it yeah okay any further discussion okay all in favor of resolution 5 8 to 8 please need to keep by saying yes yes opposed say no any abstentions okay resolution 5 8 to 8 is approved by a vote of 7 to 0 okay next item is a first reading on the compulsory enrollment age and grade level at entrance policy four point one zero point zero two zero I'd like to ask director Bryn Edwards as chair of the boards policy and governance committee to introduce the item director more so this came out of the policy and governance committee after we had two meetings on it and considered this it was brought to us by staff and it came out of the committee with a unanimous recommendation and I'd like to ask the Judy Brennan from the enrollment transfer office to provide a brief overview we tried to do some consolidation and really set things up so that as we enter our enrollment season were providing clear guidance to schools parents in the community as you probably know our schools welcome more than 5,000 new students each year I'm representing a group of departments
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who through a recent review recognized that our district policy and practice has unfortunately been unclear in a few areas that rate relate to those newcomer students and that's resulted in some confusion some delays in enrollment and unfortunately in some cases actually in placing students with the same age and educational experience in different grade levels at different schools this has been particularly true for two groups of students those who are early in their career in PBS they're seeking entrance into kindergarten or first grade but their birth date occurs after the September 1st cutoff we may find that in school a it would result in a child being enrolled in kindergarten whereas in school B they would enroll that child with the same birth date in 1st grade this is also especially true for children who are entering at higher grades and whose prior school experience has been in other countries or who come without complete academic transcripts Superintendent Carrera mentioned earlier to you the importance and the value of our immigrant students as was felt in the International Youth Leadership Conference last week these are the very types of students who also may be coming after extended periods of time away from school and we want to do everything that we can to make sure that there are arrival experience is welcoming is Swift and allows them an appropriate placement unfortunately because of a lack of clarity both in our procedures and training but also at the policy level we would find that you could have a school that might enroll one student a 17 year old in 11th grade and another school who would enroll that student based on what they believe to be their educational background so in ninth grade so that's what we're here to help clean up tonight as I said worked with a team of multiple departments and we are providing you with draft policy changes that we believe will direct more consistent and equitable enrollment practices through a single streamlined policy highlights as you know most families choose to enroll their five-year-old in kindergarten but this revised policy will clarify that students who come to PBS having completed kindergarten elsewhere are allowed to enroll in first grade even if their birth date they'll turn six after September first students who come to us as six-year-olds but who have not completed kindergarten may enroll in kindergarten instead of going straight to first grade students who come to us mid-year may continue in the grade level of their prior school even if their birthdate was after that September first cut off and then perhaps most importantly for those students who are arriving in PBS with that interrupted prior experience or incomplete transcripts they will be placed in the grade levels that correspond with their age teachers and councils or will work together with parents and students to select courses in consideration of the student's academic skill level in addition to these content changes and based on the much appreciated suggestions of the policy and government's committee we're proposing a more streamlined policy structure so that parents and other stakeholders can find essential guidance on school entry in a single policy we've taken information about compulsory enrollment pulled it out of one policy have set it together here and we've taken other information about the right to request early entry to kindergarten and from an other policy as a result of that we are also recommending the rescission of policy 4.1 0.032 that's in front of you tonight please know that there is also important related policy work that will be coming to you shortly led by the office of teaching and learning that includes revision of promotion and retention policies and procedures revision of policy and procedures for exemption to compulsory education and revision of procedures for early entry to that exists in an administrative directive right now even though that is related work it's important work and it's coming soon we believe that and are asking for your consideration of these proposed changes to this essential school entry policy now because now is when so many of those new students are coming to us through those connected kindergarten events and it will also help us set up training support and other essential tools for all of our school enrolment teams so that they are fully prepared to meet the the majority of our new students as they come to us right at the start of the school year so that's the package that we have in front of you I appreciate your attention and we're here if you have any questions
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thank you I think especially what you mentioned about students coming from other countries and where we might look at their level of education and place that way we're parents that wouldn't be alarming to meriting parents because other countries often would play that's their educational system but you know we need to be age-appropriate and provide the supports that students need to to fill in those gaps so I think this is a great start changing the change in policy so thanks for dressing this and I just wanted to call out that at the International Youth Leadership Forum last week we had a panel of students who had graduated from PBS but all come in as immigrants in middle or high school and they were talking about what their experiences were and what they were doing now and how they'd been served well and how we could have done better nearly every single one of them talked about the confusion and the disorientation upon arrival of not knowing where they were going to be placed or being placed in a certain grade and then having it rescinded and having confusion with their family and had lack of alignment with other peers or even family members of the same age and it wasn't we didn't ask about that experience but it came forth from nearly every single one of them as something that had been fairly traumatic you think you're bringing that for we hope that this is a small piece that will help drive you know that broader system change to create that more welcoming environment we have a lot of other ideas on that subject as well how'd it be more welcoming thank you so again that came out of committee recommendation to have at first read or to be introduced and to go into the public comment period [Music] website and the public comment period is 21 days with the last day to comment being March 19th 2019 the board will hold a second reading of the amended policy at the March 19th meeting okay next item is a business agenda the board will now oh okay we have another first reading director Broome Edwards thank you sure more so in addition the policy and governance committee had an opportunity to have several meetings over the last couple months on policy 6.5 0.010 it's been renamed field trips foreign travel and other off-campus activities as board members may recall we had a first reading on some basic changes and those changes really were driven initially by the Whitehurst report from last spring and what we focused on in that initial set of changes was really making clear providing direction to school communities about staff conduct professional conduct boundaries on field trips and travel also we made really clear the distinction between school sponsored trips and non school sponsored trips then in January we had some additional language that was offered that was under consideration by the board and those changes that did a number of things relating to I think addressing some issues that board members saw around equity so a very strongly held view by committee members superintendent that no students should not be able to go on a field trip or travel because of financial issues or potentially discriminatory treatment at places where students were traveling to so there was another set of language added and then we entered into another public comment period and then on let's see our last policy and Governance Committee meeting we had a discussion about some of the feedback that we received from the broader community around the changes have been proposed so this is how the legislative process is supposed to work there was a base set of policy changes we opened it up for public comment we got a lot of public comment and a whole
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variety of topics and based on that tonight we're having a replacement first reading for that policy and I want to just highlight a couple of the changes that are both in the policy in this modified policy that we're now having a first reading for tonight and then also talked about some things that aren't actually in the policy but are I think complimentary to the work ahead so the first item is there had been references to the recisions of the administrative directives and the staff report should be clear that administrative directives are the domain of the superintendent and staff the board doesn't create or resend them so essentially when the policies are changed the superintendent staff review the policy and makes a determination of whether abs need to be changed so we're just removing that from the staff report it created some concerns about what it was changing to and that's really not the board's purview we're a policymaking body then in addition it's part of the dialogue with the community there was a suggestion that we look at things not in a deficit mode but in a asset mode and that the value that the eighth-grade capstone or experiential learning travel could have for more students than just the ones currently that are taking advantage of it so when we get to the eventual consideration of the resolution which would adopt the policies I mean we I'm assuming we get there that resolution would also add the following language create an eighth grade experiencial learning advisory group to catalog current capstone programs and share information explore ways to expand experiential learning opportunities across PBS for all students in the middle grades and to assist with the identification of barriers and logistical considerations that will inform PBS staff as they develop a long term plan and consider this component as part of ongoing work related to middle school redesign and then in then to the policy language itself we have we're striking the language that limits that travel to five days and in its place again I think this is going for maybe a deficit face to an asset base looking at the concern there had been the students who weren't traveling and the sort of the continuation of their learning experience so in addition to leading the travel the day limits we're replacing it with district staff responsible for overseeing extended travel must notify building administrators and advance the trip so that plans for continuity of curriculum and instruction can be assured for students remaining on campus those plans must be communicated to the school community and observes that no disruption in curriculum or programming will occur for students remaining on campus and then so that's the sort of essence of the changes and I want to thank the superintendent for his suggestions and engagement under the policy revisions process and these are their complementary pieces and also to the broader school community who weighed in on the proposed policy we on this also gave us an opportunity so to do a practice on our communicating things out to the broader community so we have now twice sent out the proposed changes to principals to communicate to their school communities so and that has generated some feedback and this will be part of the sort of the ongoing practice that hopefully we will engage in so that when we're making substantive changes to policies that impact the school communities that they are aware of the changes as they're happening and can can weigh in I also want to thank the office of the General Counsel and risk management for their assistance in this because really at this base at the beginning was an attempt by the board to capture the sort of the spirit of the recommendation from the Whitehurst report about student safety while they're traveling and I want to just address one issue that is the last issue that we're not putting in the policy or changing that has been recommended and I want to know why we're not changing it there was there's been some concern or questions about the board's the the provision in the policy about the board
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review and approval of all out-of-state travel and foreign travel and I just want to know that's that's currently a requirement the board approve it so for the last seven board meetings if people look into the business agenda you'll see sort of a chart and a list of trips that are out of state or foreign foreign trips that the board is approving so this is just a routine part of our sort of responsibilities as the board members those are all pre vetted through risk management and district staff before they come to the board so we we are we are retaining that is it's an important component of the work but I just want to note that that it's not a new provision that we're adding it it the board review and approval is part of existing policy so that came out of the committee with a unanimous vote to move it to four our first reading or an introduction so move into the twenty one day I just want to thank the participation from in this process from particularly the Japanese immersion program ionic I and all who testified at our meeting our committee meeting last week and in a very generous spirit offered to really help guide this process around identifying experiential learning experiences for all of our experience experiences excuse me for all of our eighth graders which fits into a suite of activities that we've identified for a long time we're in middle school you have something like that each year sixth grade outdoor schools seventh grade makerspace experience and then eighth grade to be determined but some meaningful experience and so that was a really generous proposal and then tonight with the testimony from the three gentlemen representing the Mandarin immersion program the same thing so we really appreciate it and we will take you up on it and we're sorry about the bumpy road and we all ended up in in a better place and and thanks for your engagement just a couple appreciations one this is what policy development is supposed to look like when you're looking at them periodically and you're looking to update and refresh you oftentimes enter them with some questions that might be a concern and it raises questions with the broader community as well and and hopefully we provide the opportunity to listen some of that feedback so I also want to share an appreciation for those folks who extended the offer who did come to my office and what I thought was a very constructive conversation I know many folks appear similarly spoke with members of various communities but I think what resulted was even stronger language so even just getting beyond thinking about an 8th grade capstone experience for all of our eighth graders to actually think beyond that pre-k 12 what experiential learning actually means in PBS and what kind of opportunities can we guarantee to give access to all of our students so that's something that would happen overnight but a good question for us to tackle as part of the educational program for for all of our students so just want to thank folks who lent their input in this process I know we had a lot of interesting topics on tonight's agenda but could we just have a show of hands if you were here to listen in on this topic tonight thank you thank you will be posted on the board website and the public comment period is 21 days with the last day to comment being March 19 2019 the board will hold a second reading of the amended policy at the at the March 19th meeting okay next item is the business agenda the board will now vote on the remaining items in the business agenda having already voted on resolutions 5a to 6 through 5 8 to 8 Miss Powell are there the changes to the business agenda no
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travel costs will be charged the board office budget okay okay was not correct it's not that travel is not coming out of the board budget office right but for appropriate accountability and transparency board travel should come out of the board office budget at a conversation with the superintendent and the board chair we had a lengthy discussion last last spring around the board office budget and and there's nothing it just particular about this trip but it is better practice so that staff is not in a position where they have where they're approving board travel that this was not a question of staff approving board travel so staff initiating paying for it so our board office budget should pay for travel that way staff is not in the position of having to say yes or no to board members or to be in the position of offering offering travel to board members I also checked with best practices of council and that's what they recommend as well the Council of the great city schools that be through with the board office budget any trouble that's correct I defer to that okay so I do believe we need to pull this out of the business agenda do we have a motion to consider some first you want a motion to approve the resolution get a second will be a motion to amend okay I need a motion so moved second okay director Bailey moves in director Constance seconds the adoption of the business agenda no five eight three three five eight three three resolution five eight three three okay is there any public comment okay Miss Powell did you get the language change okay okay so yes now we need an amendment okay so I'm offering an amendment so at the end of the resolved after March 19th just put and travel cost will be charged to the board office budget okay so sorry director Barry Edwards moves the amendment director Bailey seconds okay any further discussion okay will now vote on the amendments for two resolution five eight three three that's right number okay all in favor say yes yes opposed say no abstentions okay the amendment passes by vote is seven to zero okay now we will return to the yeah we have to vote on that agenda five eight three three as amended okay sorry it's late already okay all in it's already been moved okay all in favor of risen resolution five eight three three as amended please say yes opposed say no abstentions okay the amended resolution five eight three three this by a vote of seven zero okay now we're gonna do the regular business agenda do we have a motion and a second for the business agenda to approve the business agenda okay okay director Rosen moves director Anthony seconds the approval of the business agenda is there any public comment no any board discussion yes I just want to make sure we all noted the wording in resolution v 829 on the parking lot easement that basically said we you know we have to pass this to get the to get grant finished and our partners at the city are not being partners with us I think that's worth noting and I think there's also additional issues around that we are adding value for them in terms of fire egress there for which
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we're not being compensated that we were and and was it for them to be able to access their own facility through our improvements for which we have to pay solely and we're having to do this because of city regulations right and just don't even ask about the expensive streetlights I think I think this is a discussion to be continued at a later date okay any other discussion on the business agenda okay the board will now vote I'm all in favor of the business agenda please indicate by saying yes yes and say no any extensions the business agenda is approved by a vote of seven to zero okay do we have any board committee or conference reports just that the International Youth Leadership Forum which we've mentioned a couple of times was such an incredibly powerful and joyful day and these are students that so often don't feel recognized let alone celebrate it and there were all sorts of supports there was a Career Expo there were there was a workshop on pathways for bilingual teachers you know incredible and the day ended I have to say with a talent show and a fashion show so we had students in the fashion show with whatever they wanted to wear from Central African Republic Pakistan Afghanistan the Congo Ghana Eritrea Guatemala I mean it was so beautiful and I just want to thank all the staff that was involved in putting it together and those students were on cloud cloud 9 any others just work on our educational vision process continues apace last week we had an open house at Wilson High School and on Sunday the life changed Church hosted a number of congregations from the african-american church community this week we're looking at grant at Marshall tomorrow night see Friday night at Roosevelt's and Saturday at Jefferson open houses so the work continues we're getting great input from from folks and stay tuned for more so that both the Audit Committee and the policy and governance committee met the audit committee took some time to hear an audit that was I described it as a leftover audit hey there as the leftover audit it was caught by the plan B consultant to see around athletics and X and co-curricular activities and so we we had a discussion about the audit findings potential recommendation and some implementation items they're going to come back to the next meeting just to have the sort of next phase of the discussion about that particular audit and we'll be sharing it with the rest of the board both the it's not an audit it's a review as well as the staff action plan in addition we continue to work on our the Secretary of State's audit our audit action plan that will be responsible for overseeing and then in the policy and governance committee we've took action tonight on two items that came out of it but we also had a discussion about the work plan for the next six months and you know incorporated some priorities that are issues that staff has brought to us some issues that were in the Secretary of State's audit that we committed to the student rep policy and then probably the biggest piece of our work that we just that we're going to be weighing in - as on 6 our six-month calendar is a wholesale review of the start of a wholesale review of all of
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our policies with the Oregon School Boards Association so we we have a work plan if non-committee members want to see it we can well circulate it so you can see sort of what's what's in the queue could you send that around yeah any other business ok the next regular meeting of the board will be held on March 15 and this

Sources

PPS Board of Education, Archive 2018-2019, https://www.pps.net/Page/14001 (accessed: 2022-03-24T00:57:50.174924Z)
PPS Communications, "Board of Education" (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CC942A46270A16E (accessed: 2023-10-10T04:10:04.879786Z)

2019-02-26 PPS School Board Regular Meeting

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Event 1: Regular Meeting of the Board of Education -February 26, 2019

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