2022-03-01 PPS School Board Regular Meeting

District	Portland Public Schools
Date	2022-03-01
Time	18:00:00
Venue	BESC Auditorium
Meeting Type	regular
Directors Present	missing

Documents / Media

Transcripts

Event 1: 3/01/22 PPS Board of Education Regular Meeting

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hi everybody get started it's great to see everybody here it's a lot of interest in our meeting tonight uh this board board meeting of the board of education for march 1st 2022 is called the order it's mardi gras tonight so we're going to try to get through our agenda and get on to fat tuesday for tonight's meeting any item that will be voted on has been posted on the pps website under the board and meetings tabs the meeting is being streamed live on pps tv services website and on channel 28 and will be replayed throughout the next two weeks please check the district website for replay times good evening and welcome to everyone here tonight we are pleased to have our meetings open to the public for in-person attendance it's it's great to have everybody here i'd like to remind everyone that we continue to follow all follow governor kate brown's statewide indoor mask requirement for all indoor public settings whether vaccinated or not and please remember to keep aisles clear and if you're holding a sign please keep it low so as not to block the view of your community members that might be sitting behind you we're going to start out by recognizing march 2022 as developmental disabilities developmental disabilities awareness month superintendent guerrero would you like to introduce this next item yes thank you chair to pass and good evening directors and to our audience here in attendance are watching from home uh yes national developmental disabilities awareness month is recognized and celebrated during the month of march this is an acknowledgment that started in 1987 as a way to increase public awareness of the needs and potential of americans who face developmental disabilities and to provide the opportunities they need in order to live productive lives and achieve their full potential developmental disabilities are defined as impairments in physical learning language or behavior areas i can't think of a better person to speak to this topic and [Music] this recognition than noel sisk our special education family engagement specialist who's joining us virtually this evening to share a few words about the importance of supporting our students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the families raising them noel thank you for being with us thank you for letting me join can you hear me okay we can okay good um thank you so much superintendent um guerrero and uh board um this lies so close to my heart because i am raising now an adult with an intellectual and developmental disability she turned 18 this year and attends grant where i am tonight so thank you for letting me join virtually um this is so important i think as a community as a school district and as families and students who um have this lived experience that we wrap around them that we provide the same opportunities that we do to people who don't have disabilities and we know that the outcomes for the students and the adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities are often less than a whole life and i think us as a school district and educators and the community can really make sure to make that difference and to break down those barriers and to break down um just the oppression that this group often experiences especially when it intersects with race and language um some of the things that we as a district i know post povid it's been hard for everyone students families and professionals and so with so much compassion we've been trying to still bring um these supports to families in a much needed time um i have a colleague paulina larenes who also works with me so we've doubled forces in that over the last year which has been amazing and she's bilingual in spanish and supporting all district-wide like myself but is even better because she can do it in two languages um much smarter than i am and so um the engagement we've been able to do is we have been supporting the transition to kindergarten both with interpretation that she's now able to provide that for spanish-speaking families in their native language um we had a great turnout this year for that so preparing early childhood special education families in navigating the school age special education so we have another one coming up next month we've started a family and community newsletter which is now posted to our website so monthly you're going to be getting updates and resources we're giving more opportunities for the community families and students to give input on their lived experience with portland public schools and the special education services that they have been
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um receiving and so with i think it's next week my hovid's killing my brain um next week we have input sessions that we're doing with a group called urban collaborative who's doing a district wide review of these special education services especially in our communication behavior classrooms our intensive skills classrooms and those areas that are really serving students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and how can we make that better and so we're excited to be able to give that opportunity to the families to tell us what's been wonderful what has been not so wonderful and how can we work together to change that um speak is back up and running so we have an advisory committee meeting monthly that is able to um i have about 15 members currently and we're still trying to stretch that and diversify that part of working with the community engagement department even though i and paulina work in community and family engagement we don't reside in that you know we reside in special education so we're working with them to broaden some of these opportunities for having affinity groups that were are specific to disability within schools as we know families often feel disenfranchised when they either have to move to a school that's not their neighborhood school or they have to move to something that is um just you know not as a community related to their lived experience so we're trying to change that as well and then the last thing i was going to bring up is that this year will be the first year our extended school year services for students who qualify for esy will be done in two week chunks at the end of the school year and then in the first part of august in order to allow students who most likely have these intellectual developmental disabilities who access esy to also participate in the accelerated learning opportunities that the district is providing as well as the recovery services that we're doing as a district so that they won't have to choose this or this but they'll be able to have the same experience as everyone else and i just thank you for doing this again it's so important and thank you for letting me be here tonight thank you so much noelle and please thank your colleague whose name i did not write down um free for your service for your i'm sorry paulina larinas thank you to the work that you've done for the district on behalf of the kids with developmental disabilities i really appreciate your work thank you so much i want to also let you uh the audience know that um director lowry is is in uh attending virtually so she's here um she's uh taking care of her mother so there she is thank you um director lowry for being here i'll be the voice in the sky again so thank you noelle do i have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 6461 resolution to recognize march 2022 as developmental disabilities awareness month i'm going to give it to director lowry and director green is going to have to be a second on this one it's a first is there any board discussion ms bradshaw is there any public comment no i just wanted to say it's great to hear update noel and we look forward to hearing about the results of that sort of inventory or assessment that's coming in that you mentioned and um thanks for all you do thank you so much i just want to echo that and say i so appreciate the way that your team is expanding and being really thoughtful about ways we can better serve especially our families that might not be able to access our systems um that we have set up to help them and so the fact that we're doing spanish language and i hope we continue to expand that thank you so much thank you so much we really value that and recognize that there's a much different cultural lived experience when you're talking about disability and the more aware and we can be of that the better we're going to serve those families and students so thank you so much did you have a comment yeah i'm just going to join in because i've sat in many community meetings where noel was that person who sat next to a parent who maybe was new to pps or wasn't quite sure how to navigate the system and i've seen the work you've done and i know it is um symbolic for and representative of the work that so many of other other pps
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staff do to take care of of all of our students and um i know we have many of them in our audience today um so i thank you for taking care of our students um not just during march but all year long the pandemic has been particularly hard on these students and families and so just lots of appreciation for the care that you provide to all of our students it's much much appreciated thank you thank you so much for that the board will now vote on resolution 6461. resolution to recognize march 2022 as developmental disabilities awareness month all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes i'll oppose please indicate no sorry i was still thank you are there any abstentions resolution 6461 is now approved by a vote of seven to zero with student representative weinberg voting yes great thank you thank you you can clap for that one that's great uh the next is a resolution to recognize classified and non represented employees appreciation week you only get a week march 7th to 11th it's not enough absolutely it's march 7 to 11 20 22. um superintendent gereto would you like to introduce this item yes chair well here at pps our classified employees are non-represented employees they perform a wide range of essential work roles in campus safety food services office and clerical work school maintenance and operations transportation academic assistants para educator services library and media assistants computer services our staff carry out a wide variety of tasks and important responsibilities at pps many are on the front line of our community interactions they help make our offices positive and welcoming they enable our departments to run smoothly some work behind the scenes but all making sure that we provide safe learning environments for our students i'm going to invite sharon reese our chief human resources officers just to say a few more words good evening chair depass student representative weinberg and directors we have a slideshow of some of the images of the many employees that are represented in this group next week pbs will join thousands of other school districts across across the country and celebrating and recognizing classified and non-represented employees across our public school systems tonight you have the opportunity to consider and vote on resolution 6462 recognizing march 7th 211 2022 is classified and non-represented employee appreciation week this is an opportunity for all of us students families staff and you our school board to celebrate and appreciate these important colleagues essential to school operations because of the dedication of these classified and non-represented individuals pps is able to get our students to and from school safely each and every day maintain and upkeep our school buildings so that powerful rich learning can occur engage and interact with families often in languages other than english provide healthy and nutrition meals nutritious excuse me meals to every pbs student provide additional care to students who need extra attention and so much more at pbs whether you are in a classroom every day or clerk in finance we are all educators that means that whether you serve meals to students maintain our school grounds repair facilities clean and maintain buildings translate and interpret messages and meetings provide clerical support or work directly with students our people and the roles they have are critical and essential to the school experience and ensuring every student at pbs can learn in a safe and joyful environment this annual tradition also includes a celebration of years of service i am in awe of the dedication and commitment by so many on our team many who have dedicated their entire life or a huge chunk of their life to the children and students of portland for example next week dwayne hill and steven scott will celebrate 44 excuse me 45. it's hard to believe 45 and 40 years respectively as custodians at pbs [Applause] this is why one week is not enough eight other colleagues will celebrate more than 30 years of service at pbs
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from where i stand these three to four decades of service are not just years on paper they represent generations of portlanders touched by their incredible service we congratulate and thank every pbs employee celebrating five years to 45 years of service to portland public schools lastly to everyone serving our students thank you this school year has been a challenging one for every one of us our classified and non-represented staff being honored tonight represent the exceptional level of flexibility and adaptability we've seen these last years as the head of human resources for portland public schools and as a pps mom of two students i simply want to thank you thank you um thanks to all of our staff particularly this week our classified and non-represented employees do i have a motion second hey we just shaved two seconds off the meeting thank you say yes and it's easy because your initials are just opposite of each other so that's very easy so is there any board discussion ms bradshaw is there any public comment yes we have michelle batten and she is virtual on our way over now great thank you can you hear me we can welcome ms batten good evening everyone i would like to echo what all has been said i'm michelle batten uh president of the portland federation of school professionals pfsp i wanted to take this opportunity to send out a rousing thank you to the 1375 members represented by pfsb this has been a very tough year as was stated as we've transitioned back to in-person learning and working our classification members our classified members represent over 70 job classifications at all buildings we are everywhere in the classroom special education in libraries transportation campus safety translating for our students and families and all the behind the scenes support of our students and communities some fun facts about pfsp members our oldest member is 86 our youngest member is 19. our two longest tenured members have been here 44 years additionally we are the most diverse of the bargaining groups our members are 64 percent white 13 latino 10 black 8 percent asian 1 american indian and 4 percent who like myself identify as multi-racial we are a lively group bringing with us our rich heritages and our passion for the students we support i thank the school board for recognizing classified employees tonight it is a pleasure and an honor to represent these 375 amazing employees thank you thank you the board will now vote on resolution 6462 resolution to recognize classified and non-representative non-represented employee appreciation week march 7th through the 11th 2022 all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no and then are there any abstentions resolution 6462 is approved by a vote of 7-0 with student representative weinberg voting yes thank you the board will now vote on the consent agenda board members if there are any items you'd like to pull at this time for discussion we'll set those aside for discussion and and vote at the end of the meeting ms bradshaw is there any are there any items you'd like to i'm sorry um ms bradshaw are there any changes to the consent agenda yes um resolution 6460 was revised and posted prior to the meeting and resolution 6464 was removed from the consent agenda 6460 revised and 6464 was removed thank you director lowry um okay um so do i have a motion not fair i would like
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to pull uh resolution six four five two six four five two uh it's resolution 64 6452 to authorize off-campus activities and so we'll pull that resolution off for the uh discussion at the end of the meeting is that correct um for a process perspective can we vote on the consent agenda as amended with 6460 four six revised removed and six four five two pulled for discussion at the end of the meeting i like to make a motion i think we can i was just gonna ask if i had a motion and a second to adopt the amended consent agenda you do have a motion second oops h.g first um director green moves director holland seconds the adoption of the consent agenda as amended is there any board discussion on the consent agenda and ms bradshaw do we have public comment no okay the board will now vote on resolutions six four six two through six four five nine i'm sorry six four six zero six four five two was pulled so it's six four five three three six four six zero six okay six four five three three six four six zero thank you for the clarification the board will now vote on resolutions six four five three through six four six zero all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no are there any abstentions the consent agenda is as amended is approved by a vote of seven to zero with student representative weinberg voting yes great we now turn to student and public comment before we begin i'd like to review the guidelines for public comment first the board thanks you for taking the time to attend the meeting and providing your comments public input informs and improves our work and we look forward to hearing your thoughts your reflections and concerns our responsibility as a board is to actively listen and to that end i'd ask each of us to give our full attention to the people in front of us our board office may follow up on board related issues raised during public testimony and we request that any complaints about individual employees please be directed to the superintendent's office as a personnel matter if you have additional materials or items that you'd like to provide to the board or superintendent we ask that you email them to public comment all one word at pps.net that's public comment pps.net publiccomment pps.net please make sure when you begin your comment you clearly state your name and spell your last name ms bradshaw do we have anyone signed up for student or public comment yes we have both grace grady miss grady is in person supposed to be miss grady ruby shoal welcome you'll want to state your first name and spell your last name and you each have three minutes okay thanks um hello my name is ruby waz shaw washala spelled w-a-a-s space no hyphen s-h-u-l-l hello my name is sienna and my last name is spelled l-o-p-e-z lopez yes okay thank you um we are sixth graders at kellogg middle school we used to go to bridger elementary we're here today to speak to you about why spanish dli should stay at kellogg let me tell you why i think the sdli program should stay at kellogg because this is our neighborhood and our community and we have a right to stay at kellogg like everyone else by removing the spanish immersion you're stripping away the diversity and separating communities that form that kellogg it's not just about numbers our struggles matter too my dad came here from mexico and because there wasn't anything like the sdli program he struggled through most of his time in school the program is meant to be inclusive and is doing a good job of
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that however by removing the sdli program it's doing exact opposite by making us feel excluded and unwanted it feels like it's taking a step backwards in our community if you truly care about equity and inclusion please consider keeping spanish emerging at kellogg it's what's best for the sdli program and its students and families and keeping kellogg strong thank you [Applause] thank you we have a community at kellogg of which the spanish gli is very important kellogg was created with spanish in mind for example we have a spanish-speaking secretary and the spanish gli teachers are a huge part of the kellogg team these teachers and administration work together to support our spanish dli students breaking up this community just a year after it was formed could be detrimental to the spanish dli students for a vulnerable immigrant population that disruption is especially harmful taking away this incredible new school and growing community from the students that pps says it's most important to protect would be harmful and hurtful so i ask you the board members to imagine how it would feel after the excitement and success of kellogg to have that all taken away [Applause] thank you thank you for your comments charlie lupro oh [Applause] hi my name is charlie lupro l-u-p-r-o i am a 7th grader at roseway heights middle school i don't want to be here i don't like public speaking i feel embarrassed and overwhelmed my mom asked me if i was interested in speaking here thinking there was no way i would ever agree but i said yes because this feels very important to me i am here because teachers and students desperately need help and they are not getting what they need for many of my peers in person school has been chaotic and overwhelming i've had forced exposure to bad situations and have been right up front to verbal and physical violence punching dragging scratching teachers trying to stop it yelling kids filming everyone crowding around i've seen teachers put their bodies between students attacking each other i've seen teachers get hit everyone has their own problems and needs including administration and there are not enough people to help administration can't get around to help all the teachers and teachers can't get around to help all the students sometimes there aren't enough subs and people like librarians and guidance counselors have to step in there just isn't enough support there are not enough people i've loved a lot of my teachers through all of my schooling experience so much that i wanted to be a teacher throughout elementary school but now knowing what teachers go through i don't want to be a teacher anymore i don't want to have to pull kids off of each other in a fight and then just move on to the next period i don't want to have to juggle so much all the time and not get the support and help i need i don't want to have a student who i care for and who needs my help but not have the resources and time to support them in the way they deserve teachers are already dealing with a lot and would keep piling more and more on their shoulders i would be struggling more if i didn't have the great teachers i've had to support me i love my teachers please help them please listen to them they're the ones who know what they need and what students need thank you for listening thank you [Applause] we have ben stevenson and they're remote on their way over now
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hello can you all hear me we can awesome thank you my name is ben stevenson i used to um pronouns s-t-e-v-e-n-s-o-n i am here as an 11th grader at cleveland high school and a member of the sunrise movement pdx i am here because pps students are demanding strong climate action and our voices must be heard this is why thousands of students walked out this fall to demand strong climate action and this is why the board must pass a strong climate crisis response policy with no cuts and no concessions i'd like to echo the sentiments of the letter that sunrise sent to you all members of the board and follow through on this and and hold you to your desire for climate action i'm going to start off by talking about some principles um from sunrise a movement which i've lived a movement which i've lived by and thousands of youth around uphold these principles and i believe that if we can do that you can as well the first is we shine bright in my experience with political activism and working with government it's easy to have a negative story and this is the case with the climate crisis response policy as well you can see the headline pbs has failed its students by letting their futures burn but this is also a great positive opportunity and this is what i want to focus on tonight this is an opportunity for pbs to shine bright as a national leader in taking climate action and protecting and standing up for the safety and concerns of students um and la also had a recent climate policy that they passed and we can follow in those footsteps as well and again it's an opportunity to stand up for students and listen to community especially in a time when there's a lot of division among the district and other issues that the district is facing another one of the principles that i've been living by is we take initiative um just the other day the united nations came out with a report calling for transformational change to address the climate crisis and nothing less and pps has the power to do this transformational change to make a difference we are the largest you all are the largest land owner in the city of some of the biggest kitchens and your first priority must be student safety in in a world defined by the climate crisis this means uplifting the needs of students whose safety is jeopardized by climate in action and eliminating your carbon footprint climate crisis is only going to get solved by everybody doing what they can and passing a strong climate crisis response policy is what pps needs to do to stand up for the needs and desires of students and while some may say that this is difficult we faced adversity before with the coven 19 pandemic and the alternative in action on the climate crisis is even worse while passing the climate crisis response policy is only a first step for climate action and we must continue to hold each other accountable i strongly urge the pps school board to enact this policy to stand up for students their safety and listen to the community thank you thank you [Applause] you have ada crandall [Applause] good evening school board members my name is aydah crandall i'm c-r-a-n-d-a-l-l i am a sophomore at grant high school i'm here tonight to ask that you vote yes on the climate crisis response policy over the years i have not seen climate justice reflected in this district many of our schools do not have the resources to teach about or act on sustainable practices student advocacy efforts have often been shut down or had to work around pps as an obstacle rather than an ally i am optimistic that this policy is the first step towards changing that towards true action and collaboration however i worry that it could fall into the same pattern as past climate justice initiatives where promises are made yet action falls short the support for this policy is loud and clear but i am here because i don't want a victorious yes vote on a random tuesday night rainy school board meeting to be the last that we hear of this at we don't either at the end of the day it doesn't matter what policy is written and passed it matters that you follow through true climate justice is not about empty
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words it's about action passing this policy is a commitment to that action to your students and to the future we have less than eight years to stop the climate crisis that number gets thrown around a lot but i don't think it often sinks in by the time i am 23 years old we may have passed the threshold that leaves this planet uninhabitable for future generations a current first grader in pps will have barely finished middle school a child born today will have their climate fate sealed at age eight some people call me a pessimist when it comes to the climate crisis they say i'm being too negative but i think that i'm just seeing what's there and i need you to see it too i'm not i'm not saying that stopping climate change is an impossible task i'm saying i'm not saying that there's no solution i know you're trying i see that and i appreciate it i really do but i need you to understand that the climate crisis response policy is only the beginning passing it is the first step but it is certainly not the last there are a lot of people here tonight watching this moment remembering this moment we will do everything in our power to hold you accountable to your vote tonight but ultimately accountability is something that has to be taken it can't just be put upon you you can choose to take accountability you can choose to fight for us you can choose to vote yes and then act we are counting on you to do so thank you thank you [Applause] we have ella higgs virtually hi ella will be here just a moment hi steve higgs um and i'm with you hello we can't see your face we can only see the lower part of your body okay so i don't know where you can okay it looks like ms higgs is frozen is there any way to contact her or um yes i'll tell the next person dial back in and then reach out okay um we have grace grady is here also called grace oh hi welcome yeah come on come on come on down just state your first name and spell your last name and then we'll you've got three minutes to to testify thank you um sorry i just need to pull up what i have um my name is grace gaddy um last name g-a-d-d-y ready to go we're ready we're ready to listen to you yes thank you great thank you um chair to pass vice chair scott and members of the portland public schools board my name is grace gaddy i'm a junior at mcdaniel high school i've attended portland public schools for over 12 years we my climate justice classmates
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teacher myself and over 200 mcdaniel students and staff are here whether in person or in spirit before you today to urge you to vote in support of the bold and necessary climate crisis response policy while emissions reduction and sustainable infrastructure are important today i'm more interested in the pillar 3 objective providing effective environmental and sustainability education this is because in all honesty in 2050 most kids won't care if their schools have phased out gas fired equipment they shouldn't have to by signing on to this policy pps will be committing to change for the long haul a worthy commitment so that students in the near and far future won't see their low carbon schools and deep paved school yards as extraordinary but just ordinary climate justice and equity education is just as much the keystone to a livable future as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lucky for us young people are ready and willing to learn i recently sat in on an eco club meeting of 6th graders from roseway heights middle school a feeder school into mcdaniel i'm surprised and inspired by the student's enthusiasm which was evident in their excitement to tell me everything about their school's garden i watched as they quieted for their teacher to translate climate justice indigenous food sovereignty and sustainability into language which they could understand absorbing every new word though i'm a young person myself it gives me hope to see elementary and middle school students who light up at the proposition to have class outside or make protest signs it should be all of ours joy and responsibility to nurture this blooming curiosity in youth of all ages and backgrounds i believe that this policy has the potential to catalyze historic change in this city we love equip every pps student with the tools to be a climate leader and allow us to play our part in a global just transition knowing this we the youth ask the school board will you let this opportunity pass you by thank you for your time and consideration i yield my time thank you it looked like ella had connected to video are you there would you like to try now ella yes thank you welcome ella here we go um thank you hi my name is ella higgs higgs and i'm a student at roosevelt high school and my friends and classmates and i care so much about climate change and we have a video to share with you all you've gotta go to the video here for some reason we're not hearing the music i'm wondering if we can restart yeah can i try something please yeah let me mute myself and see if that's better yeah you have to go to like the source yeah the music all right let me just cherish okay um instead of that i'm just going to share a few things that the student said while this video is going to make sure we're discussing it's a narrated video that has a music background that's quite pleasant so we had a suggestion that make sure the sound is shared with the screen sharing um we're all learning together some quotes are let's let pps be a model for the world on how reduce reducing the impacts of climate change
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and i wonder what part of the policy is important to you climate change is impacting my health as well as those around me we need to start acting now how can pps care about our education and not our planet how can we have an education if we don't even have a livable planet where are all the islands going let's have cafeterias so serve more local plant-based seasonal ingredients instead of ingredients shipped from far away places let's use more environmentally friendly companies for school foods we should be able to recycle in every school and use bulk serving instead of all the plastic waste from into individually wrapped foods we can't we be done with the single-use plastics already at the very least let's take some first steps together i'm excited to see pps transition its vehicle feet to electric and low emissions vehicles let's construct energy and efficient high performing buildings that are safer and more resistant to the impacts of climate change my schoolmate kate says environmental issues affect me personally because i work in the fishing industry and the global warming affects the fish populations we need more accountability we're ready for a carbon neutral school system the best thing for pps students is more accountability on climate change like gratitude said the climate crisis has already been solved all we have to do now is wake up and change let's model the solutions that are being taught and practice what we preach this is our home we are in a crisis we stand for earth the future is now we need to take the steps to change we need you to have our backs for real thank you ella rahee ready [Applause] we live our community values so we all come up together excellent thank you uh good evening pbs board members my name is rahee reddy r-e-d-d-y and i'm a parent of a fifth grader at bridger in the dual language immersion i'm here to speak uh about segc and ask you to consider our voices and perspectives as you deliberate in march behind me you're gonna see real families real parents and kids that will be impacted by your decisions so we have just a few things we want to share with you as kind of lenses for you to consider as you are approaching these different scenarios the first thing is do not tear apart a program and a community that is built to close the achievement gap for latinx and bypoc students in southeast at kellogg our communities have shared time and time again that dismantling and relocating the spanish-language community-centered program at kellogg and displaying displacing so many bypass families will be devastating for these families and strike a blow to a community that's there to for their success and to close the gap and reject these ideas that this is a special interest program the program at kellogg also helps latinx students who are in marysville and other other schools that feed into it with culturally specific and culturally competent staff to support them immigrant communities have been displaced and dislocated you know that in southeast and it's been our dual language programs and the staffing and cultural competency that has actually helped families through all of it you made a commitment to boost black and latino student achievement and so we ask build on the success of kellogg don't harm it help it grow and thrive the second piece is reject efforts to pit one bipod community against another please please you may hear i'm sorry i want to keep the time thank you guys uh you may hear from some in the segc that the only way
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to get their idea of a perfect number on enrollment in harrison park for the benefit of black and native students as they should be benefited can only happen by moving all of the immigrants around and dismantling sdlia kellogg and moving them to harrison park you'll he you'll keep hearing that while white majority schools also should stay at comfortable levels of change that that somehow is also good for black and native students we ask you to reject zero-sum thinking when it asks you to choose one marginalized group over another and leaves those with power and privilege untouched by the burdens zero some choices are a form of white supremacy culture thinking and it leaves you with very few options that are almost all sub-optimal and you know that and so we ask you to really support both black native students and the latinx community that needs you to close the achievement gap and we ask you to support your staff who have agreed with that and felt that the last proposal was the right one i'm sorry there was a lot of cheering and then please the last piece factor in the real cost of disruption staff turnover and principal turnover when you're looking at numbers and projections around enrollment you have to factor all of that into your thinking because those real world impacts will matter on the outcomes you're trying to achieve at the end of the day thank you so much for your time thank you jane come out [Music] hi good evening my name is jane coleman c-o-m-e-a-u-l-t i use she-herd pronouns and i'm here on behalf of the eco school network a local non-profit that serves 77 local schools amy higgs the executive director and i have worked with mike rosen and the climate justice committee and pps board and staff on this climate crisis response climate justice and sustainable practices policy since the beginning i'm here with the full support of our network and urge the school board to vote yes to the draft tonight for 13 years parent volunteers and students in the ecoschool network have been launching projects in their schools that touch on many of the goals of this policy through student green teams and climate justice clubs they've been creating school gardens and habitats walk and bike programs and reducing cafeteria waste and while the district has generally been supportive the work had to be done school by school and projects face so many barriers pps systems were not set up with carbon reduction in mind and it's past time for these systems to change implementation won't be easy of course and staff capacity required may exceed what's available we hope you'll call on community partners such as the eco school network and others to help get it done i hope that every parent teacher staff student and board member who shape this policy all feel some sense of ownership for this and carry forward with that a willingness to roll up our sleeves and work together to make this policy successful this is extremely important and urgent work on monday the intergovernmental panel on climate change released a report telling us that the dangers of climate change are mounting so rapidly that they could soon overwhelm the ability of both nature and humanity to adapt unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly reduced it also reinforced what we already know but have failed to adequately address about the human impact that the effects of climate change will continue to be felt by those who are both least responsible and have the fewest resources to respond to it with this policy pps can feel proud of doing its part to fight to fight climate change and promote climate justice this is a momentous occasion we're celebrating when we started working on the policy we researched similar efforts from around the country and believe that this draft policy is one of the boldest and most comprehensive climate response policies of any school district in the u.s at the december 14th board meeting a pps student ada crandall giving testimony ask the board is climate justice something that you value and something that you want to take action on and each of you raised your hands to say yes this is an opportunity to demonstrate your leadership by voting yes to adopt the draft climate crisis response climate justice and sustainable practices policy tonight thank you thank you
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angela bonilla hello my name is angela bonilla b-o-n-i-l-l-a i am an educator at scott school in northeast portland and i've worked for pps for about eight years i'm also the president-elect of p-a-t thanks i'm here before you today to share my concerns around the district's proposed staffing cuts and to discuss the opportunity we have to create great public schools for everyone i understand that saying there's money does not make it so as some board members have tweeted out however 20 page slideshows saying there isn't money doesn't make it so either we have learned that pps will receive 507.6 million dollars from the state school fund next year that's a 2.5 million dollar increase from this year i wonder when was the last time any of our district leadership or our school board was at roseway heights or george middle school or chavez k-8 or roosevelt high school one is or tubman what is the last time they were there to be on walkie responding to the dozens of calls that they get daily for support for students struggling to be safe we need support we need investment instead of telling us that we need to do more with less we need our school board to be willing to question district leadership's perception of what our schools need and listen to the educators and staff on the ground we are at a crucial point in our funding timeline we can reverse course now and stop students and families from enduring ballooning class sizes our union and the folks on the ground delivering services are saying we need to keep our schools staffed at current levels we can no longer wait for folks to decide that our students and families are worth financially investing in that's the urgency i want you to understand i know it feels uncertain or that like this might not be the right time to make such an investment but if we don't stand up for our families when we have an opportunity to stay the course and have better class sizes next year when will there be a better time after the next plan pandemic the next homelessness crisis the next economic downturn enough is enough we can build something better something great but we need your help we need the district to have the courage to join teachers and families in saying together we will do what's best for our kids for our families for our staff no matter how much it costs no matter how long it takes because that is our duty as a public school system because that is what is right because that is what our students deserve and so as i ran for president of pat i ran on the idea that united we can and united we will so united we can create schools where students and families truly feel they belong and united we can create community schools that support students during tragedies and cheer them on through their triumphs united we can create great public schools for everyone and united we will the question is are you ready to join us in that vision thank you thank you [Music] [Applause] joanne shepard [Applause] hello good evening my name is joanne uh shepard s-h-e-p-a-r-d um hello everybody hello i teach first grade at whitman elementary a title one school in southeast portland and i've come before you tonight with a question why should i stay at pps over the over the past few months i've been actively recruited by neighboring public school districts i'm a highly educated multilingual queer black woman i assume based on the values of this um this body in this district that y'all hope to retain me how does this fte proposal this budget contribute to or detract from my retainment here let's back up i started in pps as a kindergarten assistant six years ago and i have stayed at the same title one
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school whitman for six years i've seen a lot of upper echelon administrative turnover and every year it seems the suits get nicer but whitman has only continued to receive less resources cut and cut and cut in comparison from my first year in 2016 to next year we will be cut four classroom teachers four educational assistants two para educators .5 sped 0.5 ell 0.4 pe and .5 art note that i am talking about the cuts overall for the past six years not just from this year to next i encourage this body to look at the pattern of resource allocation for title 1 schools and not just the year to year change and despite our title 1 status we are one of the schools that is facing cuts in all honesty it feels like either you don't know how bad things are or you don't care but but how could you know you've only been here a couple years it is demoralizing for this body to say that the budget is allocated appropriately when the top tiers of administration receive bonuses and raises and those who provide direct student services face cuts if a budget if a budget is a moral document why should i stay here i reread the pps vision and graduate portrait which i actually really like by the way specifically of the 10 pps core values i want to highlight how this current staffing proposal does not align with the following four values one students at the center how does this proposal put students at the center two honesty and integrity how is any of this process transparent how can i trust the district that has continued to lie whether intentional or unintentional three relationships how does this proposal build trust and how does this enable educators to build relationships four partnerships and collaboration and i'll quote we believe that together we oh real quick we believe that together we know and can achieve a great deal and that by leveraging the collective actions of a group of committed stakeholders we can achieve our vision so why are you not leveraging this collective action of these stakeholders in in closing i'll just say i am staying but i'm staying because i believe we can leverage this collective action to achieve our shared vision i'm staying will you um [Applause] [Music] [Applause] maya von gelder [Applause] i was prepared to speak tonight when given a spot but found out that a friend ginger uzar didn't make it off the wait list so i'd like to read her testimony and send mine in in writing instead this is ginger last name spelled h-u-i-z-a-r oh should i spell my last name too maya van gaal during are you testifying for yourself i'm reading her because they wouldn't let me give my spot up to her they said i couldn't speak tonight thank you um it's about my last name or no doesn't matter yes please okay maya von geldern lower case v o n capital g e l d e r n and my pronouns are she her hers can we restart her time so that it doesn't interfere yes thank you thank you can we restart thank you director green ginger is a special education learning center teacher at george middle school and mom of grants district student council rep danny cage [Applause] in her words i'm here tonight to address the proposed staffing cuts middle schools and pps have struggled more than others to maintain safe learning environments and staffing our middle school aged children are in one of the most formative and developmentally chaotic stages of life postpandemic we are seeing higher rates of mental health crisis including suicidal ideation self-harm deprivation isolation and anxiety we are seeing bullying in person and
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social media bullying sexual harassment and assaults and increased physical violence all of this leads to lower school success higher mental emotional and behavioral health needs and increased school community needs as a special education teacher in a title 1 school i sorry have had to address each of these issues this year without invested district support or resources teaching materials or training i share this because it is a comfortable seat to have at the table that allows each of you as pps leadership the power to decide who gets cut from our buildings next year you cannot understand what we put into teaching that has nothing to do with meeting grade level academic outcomes but everything to do with how our kids feel when they enter our schools [Applause] and that makes a difference in their overall educational experience you are not the person who gets punched who provides a safe space to the child needing respite who pulls the screaming child off another and hugs their shaking body as they make death's threats death threats sorry hard words to say who leads whole class interventions after hate speech or racism has been used in a room or who talks our kids down off ledges each day we are only numbers to you but we are so much more than numbers the work we do in our schools especially for our communities who are more impacted is not measurable by life standardized testing or a per pupil funding model students who are english language learners are not counted as a whole student in your staff funding model resulting in ell staffing cuts and services in many schools directly based upon outdated elpa test data this is racist every child deserves to be counted as a whole student and your funding model despite what language they speak or how well they speak it teachers should not be penalized because pps has already made poor money management decisions such as millions spent on cameras which went unused last spring in the words of director greene it's on the record there is projected to be an increase in per pupil funding for the state school fund an increase in funding from student investment account providing pps with 38 million dollars for next school year continued funding from the arts tax and teacher levy providing pps with a hundred million dollars and the hundred million dollars in essr federal relief fund funding which has to be used by 2024. a session comes to a close oea believes that the legislature is poised to make over 420 million dollars in new investments in public education next von gilden i'm almost done i just wanted to remind you thank you that the timer went off next year is not the year to cut staff with this additional funding this is the year to provide what we have systematically sorry systemically denied these students as stated by the student success act at the heart of the ssa is a commitment to improving access and opportunities for students who have been historically underserved in the educational system this cannot be done by cutting teachers thank you [Applause] that concludes who we have signed up for public comment did you say that concludes public comment um thank you all for coming i know there's you could be home eating dinner or a multitude of other things that are just as important as being here so i thank you for your comments and your concerns feel free to connect with our senior board manager if you have additional materials or anything specifically you'd like to follow up with we'll now hear comments from the portland association of teachers our agreement with the portland association of teachers provides time on the agenda if they request it it's not timed and i'd like to welcome pat president elizabeth thiel hello um i i have multiple devices to set up here to be able to share a couple of slides i'm looking for roseanne's eye there right over to your yes your left so pardon me as i get myself logged in again
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and then roseanne i don't seem to have the ability to oh wait hold on maybe i do to share my screen thanks guys [Applause] i just have to find the right screen to share there we go okay i think i got it okay thanks guys all right hello um now one more device to get ready sorry about that guys here we go hi everybody hello chair depass superintendent guerrero student rep weinberg and all the members of the board thank you for allowing me again to address you this evening last week i came before you to talk about proposed staffing cuts which will reduce the number of teaching positions in pps and increase class sizes across the district i asked you to take a different path i'm here today because while pps has proceeded with cuts there is still time to change course and make next year a better year and we have additional information that now makes that pathway even clearer at the board meeting last week pps staff presented a thorough presentation on district funding thank you very much for the for providing that information in this public forum having had time to review the presentation i want to continue the conversation tonight first some good news and it is posted on the slide since i spoke to you last oregon did publish its state fund estimates from next year they came out on thursday the outcome is good news for pps pps presented last week an anticipated enrollment loss of 3 500 or 8 percent that's the number that's been sent to the community and referenced several times including in the presentation on tuesday but the weighted enrollment change in pps enrollment is just 3.5 percent at the same time weighted per pupil funding is going up this means that pps now has assurance that we will be receiving slightly more money from the state next year than this year overall not less and significantly more funding for each student and i want you to note that the way the weighted funding works is some students count as one and some students count as more than one because of increased identified need by the state when pps's weight goes up that means we're serving more students with more identified need and the state's intention is for us to spend more on them this puts pps in a much better position than when you projected that eight percent decline in enrollment and which could create an eight percent drop in funding it's not this is of course in addition to the teacher levy dollars which are stable despite a drop in enrollment and the student success act the student investment account money which is stable despite lower enrollment and the s r funds which must be invested in our students over the next two years i believe there's about 70 million dollars left to spend from those funds this is really positive news and it reinforces the conclusion that there is not a funding shortfall that requires us to cut teachers and raise class sizes [Applause] rather we can and we must give each of our students more now i have a few questions or a question about one of the slides you presented yesterday so as of last week pps presented projections that pps is planning to spend an additional 48 million dollars next year above this year's spending this is the slide from last week so that increase in projected spending was already the plan even with the plan to have an eight percent cut enrollment that was presented so the good news is i think we're on the same page that we do have additional resources to invest in our students it's about a seven percent increase in spending according to this slide uh my question is what is the plan for that additional spending why are we cutting teachers while increasing our spending by 48 million dollars i'm particularly interested in knowing what cuts from central office are planned we [Applause]
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cuts to direct services to students should be the last resort and just about every single one of you told us that when we interviewed you when you were as a as a union when you were running for your position that if you had to make budget cuts that funding taking funds away from classrooms would be the last resort we are not facing a budget crisis we do not have a funding shortfall and yet we're talking about cutting supports from students [Applause] so finally i want to talk about enrollment projections for last year last week pps presented a chart showing the historical and projected enrollment in our schools during the distance learning uh during distance learning we lost students and the beginning of the green line up there shows that last year the district presented those students would come back that's the little the v that starts with the blue line then delta hit and we started this school year at the height of the most deadly surge in covid19 while children under 12 were still unable to be vaccinated many families remained on a waitlist for the online learning academy for months some families chose to keep their student at home or to enroll in online programs outside the district well i i believe and hope that next year is going to be a better year and that we're not going to be facing anything like the delta surge but it appears that pps is no longer anticipating that any of those students will ever come back so the orange line represents pps's current projection and there and it says in the circle at the bottom there's no more there's no more anticipation of a bump other parents and community members i talk to know families who are planning to come back next school year and we need to be ready for them in the fortunate and likely event that those families do choose to come back to pps we have not planned for that a school that we are staffing now to have 31 in each first grade class may actually end up with 33 or 34. we could try to add positions in the fall to account for those students coming back but it is unlikely we'll be able to fill them as teachers will have already accepted jobs there's a better way we can make this a school district that families want to come back to and that families want to stay in we do that by investing in our students by lowering our class sizes so students can get the attention and support they need every day so now i have some more good news i was told late last week that pps has lowered the maximum middle school class size from 35 to 33 in title 1 middle schools and 34 in other schools i'm told that this added back 12 teaching positions so i want to thank you that's a good start let's do more we are still cutting 31.5 positions for middle school instead of reducing the number of educators could we lower middle school class sizes to no higher than 32 how about no higher than 30 in our title one middle schools like harriet tubman lane roseway heights ockley green and george let's keep going pps is currently eliminating 65 elementary teacher positions instead we could utilize those positions to bring class sizes down starting with our csi schools instead of fourth grade and fifth grade up to 32 students in csi schools like wrigler and sitton why not keep those class sizes under 30. our title one schools like james john and harrison park have kindergarten and first class kindergarten and first grade classes up to 28. how about we allocate some of those 65 positions so that we can cap them at 26. if there is still fte left after that we could keep going and invest in smaller class sizes in all our schools we still have the opportunity to make next year a better year the resources are available the need is undeniable and the teachers are here wanting to stay in our school communities on assignments already becoming official for many they've already been told that they are unassigned but teachers haven't left yet you can still direct the district to improve the staffing ratios and make next year a better year for the students we have and the students we hope to get back thank you again for listening for taking the time and initiative to put us on a better path while we still have a chance i know we all care about our school district and we're asking for you to take action to make sure next year is better thank you very much for listening thank you
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sure sure to pass can i make a quick comment um this is to the superintendent thank you for everyone's testimony tonight thank you um uh ms thiel for that testimony as well i'd like to just we have a budget session coming up next week um and i would just like to ask the superintendent as we go into that um and his staff to help you know prepare some information i i think that this conversation is so important that we need to have as a as a board and as a district it already has started and i think that's that's where we are right now i'm just going to be really blunt i'm concerned by a lot of the misinformation that i'm receiving in emails but i don't want to blame the people sending that because i think it's important for us to make sure that we're being very clear about the assumptions that we're using and i think it's really important that we start with the same assumptions we're not going to end up at the same place even with the same assumptions but if we don't start with the same assumptions we're never going to get to a community oriented or collaborative solution so you know i i hear tonight talking about the increase from the state school fund to 2.5 million dollars i have no reason to question that number i'm assuming that's accurate i think the other side of that equation we need to talk about are the are the cost increases as well and you know i've done public budgets a long time and i hate to sort of make that that analogy between public budgets and personal budgets but sometimes it is helpful and i think you know one way to think about you know the cost and the revenues are that if if your you know if your income goes up in a year um from fifty thousand dollars to fifty five thousand dollars you know you have five thousand dollars more if your rent goes up in that same year by ten thousand dollars have you made more money you haven't right and you're behind as an individual the question for us and and again i don't want to say where we are but i think the question that i'd like to ask you know staff to talk about next week is when we talk about these increases in in in funding which i think are real what are the increases in costs and where are those coming from and is that something we have some control over um i heard talk about sort of the resource allocation for title one schools in particular i think that's a really important issue to look at my understanding is that we have invested significantly more per pupil in title 1 schools than we have in others and that's been part of the district's efforts over the last few years around racial equity and so i think making sure we're really clear about that and and whether there's more we can or should be doing i think is going to be really important i think the esther funding was raised and i know there was a slide from staff last week about how that money's going to be spent or that we were planning to spend that 70 million over the next two years i think being very specific with the community where are those dollars going will be really important to the conversation um and then finally just the overall question of where is you know where where is that increase you know we've got the increase in dollars and and i think um ms deal you talked about i think it was 48 million dollars you know and and let's be really clear about where that's going because again my understanding as a board member is that those resources are going primarily towards staff towards towards schools towards towards you know um the type of improvements but but let me be clear we need to show that to you and that's what i want to make sure as a district that we're able to do and so i would just ask as we go into the budget session next week i think starting with those assumptions will then allow us to have a really important conversation about what's that balance between spending our one-time resources our ongoing resources and and what do we do in this current budget year and how does that filter into future budget years as well because that's an important question that as a board we can't just look at 2223 we have to look at what happens in 23 24 24 25 and beyond so as long as we're talking about the the budget session i also think we need to understand because what i don't feel like i have is the full picture of what's happening um you know i'm hearing from a lot of areas from the district about from schools communities about cuts and what that means and and what staffing ratio it is based on and i think for us to have integrity in our budgeting process we need to just lay that all out um because if we're if we're going to add or subtract or have this particular staffing ratio i think what would benefit the whole community is being able to understand sort of back to your like starting with the whole set of assumptions so we know what the assumptions are what are the staffing ratios what are the um the cuts that are rolling out across schools so that we can actually look at them as a whole versus responding just to a particular community or and maybe an anecdote but without all of that it's hard to see the full picture it's from my perspective i'd also like to advocate i think last week when we were here we um were as a means of diffusing the tension somewhat we said that there would be a a work session that we could kind of get get the more full picture of the budget um and i would i would advocate for that as well since we're talking um i think the thing that i would like to see and i believe i brought this up to part of the team um earlier today as well
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is that if we're going to make a a decision one way or another um because i've been under the impression that we weren't going to have cuts and now i'm starting to hear that there are going to be cuts and i've been under the impression that the um that that what we're doing is about making things better for for the students that are involved and that we want to make this day a great school year for the for the students involved and so what i think i'd like to see as we prepare to come into the budget season and we're going to be talking about it is i'd like to see something that says what would it look like if we reduce the class sizes to let's say 26 27 all the way around across the board and then from there what does that what does that staffing look like so if we're going let's say we do a blanket a blanket reduction and i say this because in every other field that i'm in in every other circle that i'm in we talk about how we can't go back to the pre-pandemic status because it wasn't healthy for us as black people and because it wasn't healthy for us to go you know i'm saying it wasn't healthy for us then for as black people and pre-pandemic it got worse for us during the pandemic so now that we're starting to see changes why go back to pre-pandemic and i've been hearing a lot of a lot of the talk has been around where we're getting our classroom sizes back to pre-pandemic class sizes which is why i'm making that statement so instead of getting our classes back to pre-clan pre-pandemic class sizes what would it look like if we said because we understand that students learn better in smaller class sizes that we want to across the board minimize our class size from our maximum class size from 34 to 26 or 24 or something like that and then from a financial perspective how much does that actually cost us right so if we reduce it across the board flat line across the board how much money does that cost us do the schools have the infrastructure to support that support that move meaning that we've got enough room to have um four or three or whatever the classes may end up being but do we have the infrastructure to support that and then before we start looking at cutting our teachers if we reduce the class sizes could we give our students a better experience by spreading those teachers out and i'm thinking about george um specifically i'm not gonna lie i'm not gonna lie i'm thinking about i'm thinking about schools like george where it's it's tough it's tough and somebody asked out there um have you been at um george to do the walkie yes i have yes i have they they they know me by name at george and so and and so and i'm bringing that up because if we had across the board i know that it would be tough i don't even know that it would be easy and i'm not smart enough to figure that out for myself that's why i'm talking to the experts and i didn't want to blindside anybody so i want everybody here to know that i called and i talked to the staff earlier to let them know that i was going to ask this question tonight because i didn't want anybody to feel as though oh pastor herman get up there and he he why didn't you tell me this and you should have let me know i don't do that that is not how i function but that does not mean that i don't want the answer right and so i believe that there's a way that's what i would like to see in the work session and so why don't we explore the potentiality there and um you know it would help me also to know what that looks like on the ground i don't have a good uh sense of what that looks like what the costs and benefits are sure to pass can i add something please sure thank you i always seem to follow director green and his elegance speaking but it's tough but um i agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying i want to take it a step further one of our public commenters was saying like part of our vision is to center students so i want to see in our budget proposal i know me and a lot of other students we see these numbers we don't see what that is like in the classroom for the students i want to be able or for you guys to paint a picture of what this funding will look like for students i want to see the class sizes what the supports are for students direct supports speech pathologists counselors social workers [Applause] and specifically i know a lot of elementary school teachers have been reaching about out about the cuts in arts and pe so i would also like to see how this is affecting our students directly thank you student representative weinberg i'm going to move us forward in the interest of time thank you for that rich discussion and for your creative thinking i appreciate that we're going to move
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now to the student representatives report student representative weinberg are you ready to share your report yes i am um thank you for all the public comment commenters tonight especially the students i believe this is probably the largest turnout of students we've seen at any public board meeting that i've been at in the past three years [Applause] i especially appreciate the age range of students we are seeing because a lot of times the advocacy we see are um from high schoolers so i appreciate the amount of elementary school and middle school students who are here testifying or even in the crowd thank you for being interested in this enormous body who makes a lot of decisions about your education um i don't have much to report on today since we did meet seven days ago um but i am excited to announce that at the next board meeting in two weeks we'll have a new student rep elected and i'll be able to introduce them to you all thank you [Applause] all right uh thank you jackson um let's go and move on to uh board committee and conference reports um and we'll go ahead and just go quickly through these if we can um audit committee any updates all right charter and alternative programs any updates i meet tomorrow great uh intergovernmental director lowry uh we met two weeks ago and had a really great conversation about our relationship with houseless camps and we also talked with safe routes to schools and got some information about that program and ways that we can expand that our staff is working on a grant to make it that all schools have access to the safe routes to schools program right now we see disproportionate access given the fact that most of those are parent-run um activities and so the city is partnering with pbs to increase that um and then like i said we had a great conversation with our safety team about houseless camps and we have a great new staff member who came to us from the city of portland that is helping us as we begin to think about ways to keep our students safe and be good neighbors so that was our meeting great thank you uh nothing's been going on the policy committee i don't think director bernard was right yeah that's a joke um we've got two items later on um after two years bringing the climate policy to the committee i did i have a it's not on your list but i do have a report from the harriet tubman middle school and the rose quarter that the legislature put 120 million dollars into a bill for a rebuild of harriet tubman and we have a lot of people to thank for that our allies both in the community and also governor brown legislative leadership and lots of work by pps staff so it still has got two more votes to go but we appear to be on our way to having the state uh rectify a historic uh wrong so fantastic thank you um facilities and operations director hollands no report okay uh the elections task force that's mine um we did meet well so we had a discussion last week um the elections task force met yesterday just to go over a little bit more of the refinements to the maps based on some of the um council that's got our board discussion from last week and we talked again about a path forward and and really since we didn't hear a lot of interest in the board from making significant changes immediately in terms of of moving away um from from the the the current zone elections um we are going to be looking just at what what do we need to do legally around reapportionment based on the census um the task force will be coming back to the board with a recommendation um in a few weeks maybe a couple months around that sort of options a and b and then we'll have a more full board discussion about that so we can move that forward quickly and then the task force is also going to be putting all those other issues um continuing to look at zone elections looking at campaign finance looking at who gets to vote in our elections um on sort of a medium and long-term path so we'll be sketching that out as well so more more to come on that um and then the last one um i guess uh well southeast guiding coalition will be getting an update in a future meeting so um i think that is it and share to pass i will turn it back over to you thank you thank you very much um so are we at we just finished those so first reading first reading so um elections tax force um policy so um first reading of the policy so director broome edwards would you like to introduce a proposed policy yes um so this is a policy that
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sorry about that uh so this is a policy that um is a revision of an existing policy um actually the board rewrote this policy a couple years ago following the whitehurst misconduct report and we made a number of changes one of the things that we left in it um after discussion with the superintendent that we still had the school board approving any international travel and also approving any travel more than 150 miles from from portland and the revision that we are bringing to the board tonight that for first reading would essentially revise the provision in the policy about who approves and removing the board approval and replacing it with a staff level approval so it's a relatively minor change i will say that there also was a discussion in the committee that um while there was um there has been conversation about more board members about us getting you know proving individuals uh field trips and sometimes the timing um being off and what issues that causes for school communities and communities that are traveling but the one value that we did see of looking at over the past several years of the field trips is looking at potentially inequities across our schools of what school communities had the opportunities to travel and the cost for students how it was being paid for um so in the committee discussion we talked about an interest even though we're moving we would be proposing to remove the board approval that we're very interested in taking a larger look at how travel and we all know as parents how important those experiences outside of the classroom can be and so wanting to really um look into so what what do our students have access to and equity so that's just that's a separate piece of work from the policy committee but um i guess i'm since you're on the policy committee um uh just something for leadership that we're interested in looking at um well i i've been sitting here for a couple and a half years and one of the first things that i recognized that struck me was who was going who was traveling and where they were traveling to i just it struck me like a ton of bricks um when i noticed the trips that we were approving you know to europe or you know places far and away and who is getting to um to participate in those experiences great well the beauty of do you have students going to china for instance chair is that you can put that on the agenda but i think there will that's a decision that board members would welcome but in the meantime um what we have tonight is the first reading of the revisions to uh policy 6.50.010 um this proposed policy change will be posted on the board website public comment period is a minimum of 21 days contact information public comment will be posted with the policy and assuming that we don't have any major revisions either in the committee or based on public comment the board would have a second reading or approval of these this policy revisions um on um at the april 5th uh 2022 board meeting great thank you we'll now consider the second reading of the climate crisis response policy climate justice and sustainable practices policy director brem edwards will you please introduce the climate crisis response climate justice and sustainable practices policy before i ask for a motion and i want to mention that there we tried to start a student video but i think someone smarter than i and tech has figured out how we can have the sound it's about a two minute two and a half minute video um i think that we're um we can play it now so we're going to play the video and then i'm going to introduce the policy or yes i'd like to play the video because it's a student voice a student um i guess i don't know the students they're they're starring in it that's from they are from roosevelt high school but i i guess i wasn't clear on their role if they directed and did the art direction for it if they're just starring in it so with the climate teacher who helped them put this together and it's a it's an audio about what they want to see from a from a student perspective around climate change and the role they want us to play and yes i think it'd be great to show it and and to lead off this discussion it's a great it's a great way to kick off this it's also student voice which is important to us
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what'd you say it'll take a minute it's okay breathing so this is a moment for everybody to take a water break i know but after two years i'm like ready to go stretch anticipation we need to have noodles up here or something yeah thank you mr riser i feel like we should lower the lights we just decarbonized the presentation [Music] um [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] bye [Music] thank you roosevelt students we heard about food waste prevention waste prevention education warming climate around fishing and fisheries energy and buildings and recycling and we didn't hear that i saw anything about transportation but that's a big uh carbon footprint also so thank you we'll go ahead and um you'll introduce the uh this second reading yeah i love it i i i'm thinking like in the future that we should kick off all of our major policies with student voice um so it was a great way to kick it off and actually this introduction tonight is going to be bookended by student voice because we're going to start with the roosevelt students and we're going to end with student voice of jackson our board student rep and danny cage um our district student council rep on the policy committee um so hopefully we'll get the full uh infusion of
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student voice um so yesterday a united nations report written by 270 researchers from 67 countries was released and it paid in a grim picture of our future as time is running out to fix the earth's climate diverse to avert the most catastrophic effects the report said that urgent action action is needed to reduce greenhouse gas carbon and methane commissions tonight we at pps have an opportunity to both lay down a marker for our response to the climate crisis facing our planet and our school community and to clearly commit to what actions we will take as the largest school district in the state pps has a significant operational carbon footprint between our buildings and our bus and vehicle fleet we have more than 80 school buildings an average age which have an average age of about 80 years most are energy efficient are ready for dramatic climate or weather changes we have more than 50 000 students and staff getting to and from school daily mostly in school buses or single occupancy vehicles that have significant climate impacts and we're also a significant purchaser of goods and materials tonight we have before us for final consideration the climate crisis response climate justice and sustainable businesses practices policy this policy was created debated shaped and molded over the last two years it started as the idea of the climate justice committee a group of students pps staff and community members who worked with the eco school network to draft a policy for this pbs school board's consideration it was bold and comprehensive and informed by the voices of our youth climate leaders and our commitment to racial equity knowing that the impacts of climate disruption harmed students of color and their families the most the policy set the policy set 2050 as the net zero carbon goal and outlined three pillars with strong climate goals underneath each pillar over the last year as is the case with most policy discussions there were questions and debates about costs what's possible staff capacity priorities the role of front line communities the lack of technology and innovation to achieve our goals and who would hold pps accountable it would be the natural course in these committee discussions to compromise set lower goals uncover reasons why something couldn't happen or shouldn't happen point to budget and cost issues or set this aside because there are many other priorities and challenges facing us but that didn't happen actually quite the opposite it was so heartening because yes there was a natural tension between what we needed to do and and what staff board and community had in terms of operational concerns about funding and capabilities and to actually do the work and whether there was the available technology to evolve our infrastructure and our vehicle feed at one point it looked like while we had a common vision of the future there was an agreement on the policy path and the milestones to get there as a policy committee chair i asked staff and partners in the work to think about what was absolutely essential for us to be successful in response to our climate challenges advocates staff and committee members brought open minds a willingness to work together and and through the technical obstacles and a commitment to our common vision the result is this policy a policy that's bolder more focused on front-line communities more informed by youth climate leaders and our racial equity commitment and in some cases more aggressive than it had been a year ago including moving our net zero greenhouse gas emissions target from 2050 to 2040. highlights of the policy committee's draft include pps committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero emissions by 2040 a requirement that pps design and construct new low-carbon schools and prohibits fossil fuel infrastructures in new buildings and phases phases it out in current buildings a commitment by pps to take steps to ensure staff and students learn about and engage in climate solutions climate resiliencies and climate justice practices a requirement that pbs transition is vehicle fleet and contracted vehicle fleet to um to electric or low emission or renewable fuels it directs pps to establish school-based infrastructure and support staff and students to walk bike bus or telecommute to reduce single occupancy car commuting and it commits pps to supporting front-line student communities to build resilience from climate change induces stress this will be a sustain a sustainable and durable policy framework because it was built by the community this could not have been possible without the climate climate justice committee the eco school network and key community leaders who stayed at the table to work through the technical and operational obstacles mike rosen amy higgs and jane kamalt they stayed at the table for more than two years to work through technical and operational issues pbs students i'm so glad to see you here tonight um because you inspired us you kept the
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pressure on and demonstrated why pps future is in good hands as the students are committed passionate leaders who won't accept lip service or platitudes and instead demand a real response so thank you sunrise pdx and youth climate leaders walked out marched held sit-ins and demanded action they were the catalyst for the climate action and will hold pbs and us all accountable i'm going to ask two of ours i mentioned two of our student leaders who participate in the policy development um joining the introduction tonight and i also want to give a shout out to all the adult climate leaders who helped craft this policy and supported students as they found their voice um as climate leaders in our in our community and with a special shout out to the roosevelt um we've had so many great um videos and communications from the roosevelt community and from roosevelt teachers it's also important to recognize the people who sat at the table the current policy committee members directors de pass green lowry and also our student ref on the committee danny cage and jackson weinberg as well in addition because this spanned more than one board i want to recognize rita moore and scott bailey two other board members and student rep uh nathaniel nathaniel shu because um all those people collectively along with the community sat through two years of meetings grounded you know grinding through both big issues but also the specific nuances of each section it also wouldn't have been possible without the deep engagement and partnership with pps staff they played a critical role in getting to yes around the implementation which is going to be really challenging let's not make no mistake about it um so i um want to just share my appreciation for the consistent and thoughtful leadership and partnership of liz large and erin pressberg through 25 versions of the policy as well as the support from superintendent guerrero dan young mary kane aurora hymel tanya mckay and emily cortenage there also um are a long list of climate organizations that provided technical expertise and support for us as we kind of wrestled with um these various issues and i want to thank all of them so adoption of this bold and comprehensive policy framework with aggressive net zero carbon goals is both a challenge and an opportunity for our school district but climate action is absolutely critical for our planet our school community and our schools we're going to need to work together to meet these aggressive goals and i expect our community to hold us accountable for measurable progress on climate action and climate justice our work isn't done after tonight we need to move ahead with deliberate speed to name the community-based climate crisis response committee that's named in this committee that will monitor progress and hold pps and its leaders accountable both for the implementation and also meeting our climate response milestones and so now i want to ask um jackson who participated in many of our discussions to share your thoughts on the really important third pillar which i didn't really discuss but that's the one focus on the students and then afterwards asked danny to speak to it as well yes thank you i have been on the policy committee for three years and two of those years was spent on the climate crisis response policy plus all of the other normal policies we get through so two-thirds of my time essentially meeting every other week for two hours this year and three hours last year um has been spent a lot of it on this um i can confidently say from this and the subcommittee meetings we held last year um that i've spent 50 plus hours um working on this policy um and communicating with students about it um and that's my 50 hours not to include all of the student leaders all of the other board members all of the staff time that we have put into this policy um i'm not gonna uh reiterate all of the names and groups that director brim edwards named but i appreciate you guys as well and so does pbs for your work in this policy i also wanted to um expand on the um testimony given by ada today um about how this is one step and hopefully the first step towards um realizing this policy we're gonna need consistent measures um and consistency along the board um to implement this policy and continue to push for climate justice in our schools um part of that is including um budgeting for next year and every successive year we need to be focusing on the climate crisis and also depending on the voters to pass all of the successive bonds so we can um rebuild all of our schools who
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um julia our director ben edwards referred to earlier are over 80 years old on average also appointing the nine-person committee they need to start immediately and we need to get started on identifying students and teachers and community leaders to serve on that and lastly i'm really looking forward to the administrative directive that will be developed over the next months maybe even a year to really figure out how pbs plans to implement this policy and lastly the final pillar it would have been easy for pps to just say we're going to be net zero by 2040 but not only did we say we want all of our schools all of our students all of our community members to be safe in the future but we also said we wanted to continue to educate our students on the climate crisis and engage them in climate solutions this policy and its three pillars will be a role model for the rest of the oregon schools and hopefully a nationwide example of how to be successful in addressing the climate crisis thank you i'll pass it on to danny cage now thank you hey danny [Applause] um let's see uh thank you student representative weinberg for your work um and your words on this as well i would also like to thank every student who spoke before me um in support of the climate policy uh to every student that spoke i want to remind you that you um are the reason that we are doing this policy and you are also the drivers for accountability on this policy without further ado good evening directors uh superintendent guerrero and community members i'm beyond honored to be introducing this policy here today i want to start by reiterating the appreciation for all of our amazing community partners district staff teachers students climate-based organizations and many others who help shape this policy as a student i am excited that we are finally at the stage that we are right now with this policy years ago students led walkouts across the country to call for direct action on climate change here in portland students went above and beyond with rocket sit-ins walkouts marches testifying before this very board and much more to promote a message to our elected official officials both local and federal to listen to our plea and be leaders amongst the climate crisis i should know i was one of those students who called on pps and other government agencies to step up and be leaders now i stand before you to be introducing this policy that we took through the streets through walkouts years ago this policy is big and this policy is bold i believe that pps is the trendsetter for school districts across the state and tonight i can say that statement with confidence we have been the leading school district in oregon in regards to climate policy and now will be the leading school district and climate justice and climate education as well this policy tackles a presenting solutions and learning based options lowering our net zero target goals teaching students to understand that climate change is a byproduct of oppressive systems such as capitalism colonialism white supremacy and so much more to community engagement but we are not done yet yet one climate policy does not necessarily make us climate leaders but it's a good place to start it will take holding the district accountable to this policy and holding ourselves accountable to the values of our students but tonight we have taken the first step in truly committing to longevity of our students upon this passage upon this passage of this policy pps will be a leading example of how a school district can be a climate leader thank you for being brave and thank you for being bold i will now read the first parts of the preamble to this policy that was crafted by representative weinberg and chief of chief of staff jonathan garcia and myself in response to human cause cause climate crisis currently underway and the direct harm being done to our district society and the planet portland public schools is committing to the immediate mobilization resources for climate action to this end the district commits to reducing greenhouse gases emissions and minimizing other negative environmental impacts improving our school's community's health and wellness and building a culture of learning and responsibility and sustainability centered on our values of racial equity and climate justice climate change disproportionately impacts the vulnerable communities members of our communities and we will prioritize serving people with disabilities and communities of color and other vulnerable populations
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the district aims to educate and empower students as leaders in the tradition transition to a sustainable city and a restorative society our goal is that all students to be environmentally illiterate literate and to understand the connections between their daily actions and the natural world by using climate-based learning civic action as a context for meeting academic goals described in a graduate portrait the district will prioritize investments that achieve the greatest emissions reduction while integrating climate action into our curriculum and developing a culture of environmental stewardship and climate justice through organization other efforts which have been on the lower impact of emissions will require major changes in infrastructure and will be implemented over the long term thank you thank you thank you danny [Applause] thank you thank you both um i should just note that this came out of committee um after several um several uh years and many many meetings with a uh unanimous recommendation from the committee members and i really thank the committee members for diving into the the the big issues and the oxford commas uh that was director lowry um because we have the policy because everybody contributed greatly to to it so um with that i offer it up to the the board for its final consideration happy to answer any questions people might have remaining sure so thank you everybody that you listed for the work on this policy i know it's been two years i've only been involved for the last year pps as a system has the largest potential in the buildings and transportation areas which um are responsible for the bulk of the carbon emissions that we emit as a district um and so buildings we know new buildings we're aiming for net zero old buildings we can adapt uh not not quite as efficiently though the electrification of the fleet reducing also the miles traveled with parents crisscrossing because they're not going to their neighborhood schools should be something we should consider down the line i also want to note that higher income people in our community and this is not just in portland typically have a larger carbon footprints but they also have the means to offset those um those carbon footprints and so it's a pay to play system that favors higher income people when actually lower income people and people of color suffer the greatest impacts globally from climate change um i say nothing about us without us and i mean that with the opportunities we have in education and curriculum that we have an opportunity to not just develop engineers and mathematicians and scientists but also we have great opportunity with the career technical education in developing a pipeline a green workforce that can help mitigate the climate change right here in our communities we had many people die from the heat wave vulnerable populations right here in portland and we have an opportunity now as as a community to put cooling units in the apartments of those people that are the most vulnerable and so the queer technical piece is not lost on me i'm sorry to go on and on i'm very passionate about this myself so i want to know if we have do we have any other board discussion i do i have a motion in a second to adopt resolution 6463 resolution to climate crisis response climate justice and sustainable practices policy i'm going to move it um if thank you for the courtesy directory i was going to i was watching for that one director brim edwards moves and hollands holland and constand get to share we're not we're not excluding anybody um is there any board discussion i'm anxious to move along to the hear the public um testimony but i just want to uh say one thing that's especially gratifying to me about this process over the last two years is the first of all the student leadership which is that is absolutely what planted the seed of urgency on this policy and so thank you thank you for bringing everybody together thank you for get taken to the streets hi thank you for um just all the thoughtful engagement on the hard work of crafting the language and figuring out okay if these are our goals how are we going to really walk the talk because that's the hard part um really crafting the policies so thank you first and foremost to our student leaders but also just the incredible amount of um engagement from
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the community i have heard from so many people in the last week students that i know students who have graduated who are aware that we're voting on this and have reached out to me about it um all sorts of friends who work in the environmental community who you know i had sent the policy to and it provided thoughtful engagement and have been talking with their colleagues and looking at examples around the country i mean this is one of the fairly rare examples where we really have engaged the the broad community in our work and there's no question in my mind that our work is better for it so this means a lot to me tonight and moving on thank you is there any further board discussion um is there any public comment and i see your hand raised i don't know um if you're on the list but i'm willing to hear you out if you allow the people that have signed up prior um to go first one i'll recognize you and that's yeah thank you too yes we have mike rosen so your microphone on school board school board policy chair brim edwards directors and superintendent guerrero i'm mike rosen r-o-s-e-n i represent the pps climate justice committee we are a group of teachers students parents scientists and community activists and i'm here to express our strong support for the pps climate crisis response climate justice and sustainable practices policy this policy has been over two years in the making and is a true collaboration among the members of the cjc the ecoschool network pps technical staff and the board's policy committee it reflects the interests and values of our whole community to protect current and future generations from the ravages of climate change to say the least the policy also reflects the district's intent to take responsibility to step up to the challenge of reducing its carbon footprint to zero by 2040. this is not a token effort of solidarity pps is one of the city's biggest property owners operates one of the biggest kitchens and largest bus fleets in the city and as such is one of portland's biggest sources of co2 according to our research we believe this to be one of the most comprehensive and boldest if not the boldest school district climate action policies in the nation highlights of the policy include prioritizing students and front-line community members in decision-making enhanced commitment to climate justice education providing robust accountability and transparency through the creation of the climate crisis response committee the completion of the policy and its release to the public to public comment is a huge achievement however the work is just beginning it will be very important that pps staff deliver an administrative directive quickly and then begin implementation as 2040 is an aggressive timeline it will also be a high priority for the district to formulate and activate a robust climate crisis response committee in addition to prioritizing its membership towards the frontline community its members should include the advocates who have the technical expertise wrote and stewarded this policy on its more than two year journey it is important to acknowledge the relentless work of director brim edwards who artfully guided this policy to the public comment process for the last six months as the chair she led the work with internal and external stakeholders who had diverse and sometimes divergent views through a collaborative drafting process that resulted in a bold student-centered climate policy this was no small task her efforts are most appreciated in addition to the cjc and the ecoschool network i would like to thank the many other organizations and jurisdictions that have supported this work including the coalition of communities of color sierra club oregon environmental council sunrise movement 350 pdx families for climate climate solutions breach collective cascadia wildlands electrified corvallis green energy institute city of portland and multnomah county and finally we're especially grateful to the many concerned students who made their voices heard and for whom this policy will directly benefit thank you thank you [Applause]
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hello it's weird being on this end you said you were going to come back and you did oh you did um good evening my name is rita moore mwore thank you for this opportunity to speak in support of the climate crisis response policy just yesterday the un's inter intergovernmental panel on climate change issued a report that laid out in stock detail the future that awaits us if we collectively fail to act the report says quote transformational changes are needed to safeguard human well-being unquote that means every institution and system public and private must urgently understand its contribution to climate change and reimagine its practices i'm proud that pps is embracing its responsibility and publicly committing to ambitious transformational climate goals including continuing its deliberate shift away from false all fossil fuels while the district has been engaged in some of this work for a number of years this policy provides a strategic framework to guide decision making and actionable goals to which the district can be held accountable the problem with climate change is that its worst effects will be in the future even as our daily activities determine that future unfortunately humans are not built to think long term and in the crush of daily life the future is usually an afterthought so it's important to articulate bold policies to focus the mind and impel behavior change to my knowledge no other school district in the country has committed to such a comprehensive and meaningful set of climate actions i hope that pps's commitment to transforming its practices both educational and operational toward a sustainability grounded in principles of equity and climate justice can serve as a model for other districts and governments to do likewise it's the state's largest school district one of its largest employers and one of the largest property owners in portland consistent intentional action by pps can contribute significantly to achieving the ambitious climate goals adopted by the city and the state but ultimately lofty goals and soaring rhetoric will not avert the catastrophe laid out in the ipcc report only bold leadership will accordingly i urge pps to join with many others in strongly advocating that the i5 expansion be cancelled proposed proposed state funds to relocate harriet tubman middle school seem appropriate reparations for a past bad act its meeting should not be undermined by doubling down on that original injustice much less in the midst of an existential climate crisis finally i'm proud of the way this policy was developed the original proposal for this policy emanated from students teachers and the community students have for many years now been at the forefront of demanding climate justice in pps pushing us all to act with the urgency this crisis demands the educational changes outlined in this policy will empower our graduates to fulfill our vision able to cooperate solve problems and lead for a more socially socially just global climate over the last 18 months board members worked with students community members and our exceptional staff to craft a policy that will provide a coherent and enduring strategic framework for genuinely meaningful climate action i'm grateful for the opportunity to have worked on this groundbreaking policy and strongly urge the board to adopt it tonight thank you thank you [Applause] if i'd known that uh former board member and policy chair uh moore was going to be here i would have added her to the oxford comma comment but really thank you for your contribution uh to this policy uh rita we have scott bailey and we have another former board member yeah it's like old home week thank you yeah it is a little weird to be back i was really upset that somebody was in my parking space that my id ass wouldn't let me in the back door um okay uh chair to pass vice chair scott i always loved it when somebody actually added the vice chair thing when i was
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director student rep weinberg superintendent and the inimitable liz large and most especially ms bradshaw ah yeah yeah okay um thanks for inviting me to here to uh here to testify tonight um this is a great moment to pass this policy which took a lot of work i want to reiterate the thanks to central office staff you already named them all aaron aurora dan emily tanya mary liz and i hope i didn't forget anybody uh it was easy to work with them on this policy because they are already doing a lot of it and that's something that kind of gets lost of oh we have a new policy so we'll start on it our staff has been doing that for years and so they helped shape the policy that's going to take us forward in i think the most effective way possible giving our given our resources um they rock uh i also want to thank the many teachers uh some still active some retired i'm gonna throw a couple of names out but i got to know a bunch of them sitting on meetings last year and just total respect there jan zuckerman who was here earlier bill bigelow erica barca trejo bullock rachel haynes tim sweinhardt and many many others um real they've been the ones creating um curriculum for years and uh doing amazing things in the classroom as well as advocating for change uh and third the students way too many to name um i didn't get i haven't met danny uh but jackson of course um anyway uh lots of students over the years doing great things thank you um this policy has many key points including the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. focusing our limited resources where they will have the maximum impact on emissions and prohibiting new and phasing out existing fossil fuel infrastructure and equipment my neighbor michael hall who is a leader in the movement to ban gas-powered lead blowers is very happy with the language in the policy and those those two stroke engines kick out a lot of emissions um and a crucial point the policy calls on pps to collaborate with students and frontline communities in holding us all accountable and moving forward um i also want to agree with former director moore about ei5 expansion you know please come out against it it's just the wrong direction and a huge waste of money uh and finally can we please get nicole replaced uh to work on curriculum so anyway that's all for tonight it's great to see everybody weird to be here on the other side um keep up the good work thanks yes thank you thank you former director bailey that concludes who has signed up for public comment thank you and then um i'd like to recognize um mr chu um we'll give you the same courtesy as everyone else i appreciate you being here thank you um it's interesting you know seeing rita moore scott bailey mike rosen in here because uh they were the board when harry tubman reopened back in four years ago um [Music] i'm frustrated and i express it and once again it's coming from a place of love but i gotta say this and this would drive me completely mad you're sitting here talking about this climate justice and racial equity and once again i'm glad that rita said about the i5 and the relocation of tubman that i mean the policy is great and shout out to danny cage ada crandall and jackson and the folks who are behind that that's that's good but policy is one thing you know there's this thing about practice and and any teacher knows that that's where it comes down to practice like what you do in the classroom you talk all day that's what you do in the classroom that makes the difference right so my thing is that there's a philosophy there's like philosophically you're talking about this climate justice thing and racial equity right and at the same time odot's sitting here telling us that this this freeway is
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gonna get expanded and then we gotta relocate harry to the middle school and right there that that's me it seems like a paradox right it's a conflict of interest you can't pass policy and at the same time once you know uh you know allow odot to to expand the freeway if you believe in climate justice and then to move harry town middle school which is an issue of racial equity white supremacy and racism and extended gentrification in 2022. so i think that this district for a long time there's been a big gap between us in the classrooms and y'all up there the thing is if we actually come together and actually you all listen what we're saying like once again we're frustrated right because we're not heard right we have better things to do to come to board meeting and yell at y'all but if that's what it takes i'll do it but the thing is right that's where we're that's a crazy making right there right so you pass this policy but your actions don't match up and then when we ask questions we're shut down or place under investigation right so so my thing is like if you want to move forward right then once again you gotta include the people that are on the ground right they know what's going down and so like i don't think that's been the thing but once again it can turn that way if not it's gonna happen regardless of whether with you or not so that's that's what i'm saying but once again shout out to the youth that actually speaking up and once again rita moore and scott bailey talking about that i5 they are on point and i will take their words for it if you don't take mine thank you so much um i just want to make a note that um you know that we have a system that i i don't agree with the system all the time many of the times i don't but i wanted to recognize you specifically because of that wanting to bridge this gap between us and them and i wanted to hear your thoughts and i'm really glad that you showed up and and shared your thoughts with us thank you we can clap we can clap for mr two thank you um so sorry um [Music] it is time to vote the board will now vote on resolution 6463 the resolution to adopt the climate crisis response climate justice and sustainable practices policy all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes enthusiastic yeses all those opposed please indicate by saying no and then are there any abstentions resolution 6463 is approved by a vote of 7-0 with student representative voting yes yes we can clap for that one too i mean it's it's mardi gras and we passed the climate policy like it feels like a really good special night tonight okay before we adjourn um yes i just want to make sure that for the record i also express my appreciation to our student leaders for their persistence their tenacity uh their advocacy uh i think the byproduct the result of all of that effort uh is a very bold policy uh we look forward to operationalizing the next steps uh to make this all true and execute on this policy so thank you to our student leaders thank you so much for your comments uh yeah we're doing this is the it's your future uh we're talking about that report that came out on monday was really dire so um happy to uh put that happy to celebrate that tonight thank you um before we adjourn we had one item that was pulled from the consent agenda and i believe it was resolution six four five two um did you want to um did you did we're gonna just is there's more discussion about that that's the resolution to uh authorized off-campus activities and there were a list of um three activities i believe yes thank you for that um so i just had a couple questions around uh this authorization for off-campus activity pieces um so when i see on here like estimated cost is that the cost that pps is paying or is that the cost our students are paying because when i looked through some of the work it looked like it was our students was paying and then on some of them pps paid part of it but then on some of them they did not so i just want to know the reasoning behind that what's the true cost of the what is what is that is it's there's a thousand dollars and is that per student is that the question well no they it has an estimated cost on here but when you look in each one there's a cost that the district pays and then the cost that student pays so i just want to know one if why we don't pay the whole cost for the student to how come some schools get some
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assistance from pps and some schools don't that is an excellent question that is a fair question i'm going to have our regional superintendent for secondary schools margaret calvert come up uh it's a good observation director hollins because there is a lot of variability and the types of trips who bears the cost sometimes how much the district is supporting but i'll let margaret speak more to gonna it are we good okay good evening um uh uh board of directors thank you for the question director hollins uh there are a couple things that we are um this for this current school year we're we're just coming back into um uh field trips and out-of-state travel and overnight travel so appreciate the question there are a couple of things that happen with field trips as we go through um depending on whether the trip is required and is connected to a specific educational experience as one piece um as as to whether it's on the field trip form like the some of the form the actual language in there about whether or not it's a required trip or if it's a voluntary trip we are seeing i believe are trips that are associated with athletics and or a competition that is out of state for an extracurricular team i believe for tonight so part of what ends up happening um if if it's athletic teams for example um they often will plan for a trip um sometimes years in advance honestly and work through um fundraising and whatnot that then helps support that the uh the travel if it is the if it's an athletic team um what that looks like as far as like the district part of the contribution and whatnot on the forum itself it would depend i like i i think we have to look at what the details are of the each specific trip sometimes what ends up happening is that the per student cost is identified but it may be covered by fundraising so it and what that looks like it'll depend so i think it's it's hard to say what the specifics are but they they do vary um depending on what the trips are but if it's uh and you're seeing the overnight ones so it looks slightly different like for the state tournament or various other pieces like that um um depends on what the the trip is so i know that these particular ones are for um like spring well i think one of them is a spring break trip um director hollands yeah so okay so so what i'm hearing it there's like there's not a process for determining which stuff we pay for which stuff we do pay for because when i look on here they all are athletic related say it again when i look on here they're all the athletic related whether it's a tennis or or robotics right and so i'm just trying to try to understand like how can we allocate funds for one group and not allocate funds for another group if you're talking about equity like for instance and they're not picking on anyone you know i got you lincoln has getting some money from the district well otto b wells is not so i think it's a there are two different questions on there one is it is it a question of interpretation of how people fill out the form as one piece and i so i'd have to go back and look at what what that is so yeah it could be pretty simple i'll see on one the one for lincoln it just says to compete on the national level and as that's it but then when i see look at the other ones it talks about more academic things that it's going to happen during this trip and they get nothing so i'm just that's that's not you know adding up to me for the i think that i think the question is when the when athletics is a big one right so like so let me look at either my question is what contemplate a school getting some financial assistance from the district versus schools that don't get financial assistance so i i think it's a question it's not exactly that direct i guess because if i'm att like so i was a high school basketball coach right so i spent time and we would do um there'd be trips that we would plan over winter break perhaps right so we as a team would fundraise for that right so that as so that is a contribution of the team whether or not that i fell out of the forum and it said that that was coming from the district or coming from the team is part of the is part of your question i i don't know that i'd have to go back and ask that question of the coaches about what how that shows up on that form right because it says what's the per pupil contribution or
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cost is one of the questions on there and so i i'm happy to go back and ask but i would say the vast majority of teams that travel fundraise specifically for that travel so okay some directors go ahead i think what you're getting at is the same question that's arising for me hearing you yep and and i think we have some homework to do to really sort of speak factually around let's look at the record over the last few years about who goes where and who's paying for that because i think what we all want to see is equitable opportunities for students to have out of school or field trip experiences you know available to them as well and maybe in some of those cases we need to set aside some subsidies to be able to enable those experiences but it would be good to survey sort of what does that look like over time and probably pre-pandemic the last couple years is probably a little sparse but what i think we want is an even experience not who has fundraising capability or what high school might you go to like how do we make sure all of our students perhaps have that experience as well so it's a good question to investigate but i appreciate you bringing up the topic i'm also wondering if much slice much like we had the purchasing department add a column to indicate whether it's a minority woman owned business i'm wondering if um director holland's something like so there's a clear pathway so we know what's fundraised what the student has to come up with what the district's paying and then and that trend out i think would be really helpful too i'd love to see that as well i just know that when roosevelt's girls basketball team went it listed that the district was um that they were paying x amount of money per student and in fact what happened is the district and i say the district because i'm part of the district now so i'm i am the problem um you have the lapel pin on and everything all that all that so i don't exclude myself but as a district we said if it's going to cost you 30 000 to get there and you raise 29 you're not going and yet those games yet those games got included in their listing of the number of games that as a as a league they were going to be playing so what we were told is if you don't raise enough money to get there then you're not going and we're not going to uh reschedule any future games for you to make up the games that you lost so your record is going to be minimized by that much so i guess that's where i'm trying to get to either if we're given if we're giving any team some money if we're giving any teams any program anybody anywhere black white whatever if one school qualifies then every school needs to qualify for for funding and i'm that's what i want to see so i think that we can i'm i'm certainly happy to pull and look at travel over the last um pre-pandemic and look at some of the the pieces i think that it's your point around equity and equity of access is is well taken and who travels and for what purpose i think um and i heard people speak to that earlier this evening about um how is that determined and and where what are we seeing so happy to help look at that and to bring some further information i think that um the uh the spaces and and um for what does that look like and how is that distributed across schools and school communities i think is something that's worthy of attention so happy to help with that i had a quick question on the estimated cost is that the total cost per student or is that the cost out-of-pocket cost for students so i have i don't have the form in front of me exactly i don't have the exact form in front of me but i'm happy i'm happy to go to look at it it's something in one place that the question is that what is the cost of the trip a total like a total dollar amount in other places it's a cost per student and another place it's how much are students responsible for yeah i actually don't have access to those documents on my board but but the cost on the resolution that is posted so there's like one thousand dollars is the estimated cost what is estimated cost referring to i believe i so i don't have access that's the students i think it's the per student the student's portion that's the student i think that's the first question okay i'm gonna move us along i appreciate your willingness to help and director hollins um did you have more questions or are you satisfied with the uh with are you satisfied with faction but so do we have a do do that do they have a budget that they use for helping schools for trips who's they athletically do the district do we have a budget not that i'm aware of so where does this money come from that they should gauge it
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where that money come from it depends on the on the situation i have like on the specific one in front of you i have to look i'm not some is athletic some is the individual school so we could get some clarification we can get some martial assassins and if it's it it yes it'll depend so if there's a specific question we can go back and look so i think that if they're do schools have discretionary like their every school has a budget that you can contribute things to the most of the school's budget goes to copy machines and paper honestly but um although a little less now because people are using less paper but because we passed our climate policy we're printing on both sides anything less but it it depends on the specificity of it you know of of the specific situation it and what are the like what is the context so it it's a tough one there's not a specific space that is happening that's not something that's that is probably applied very um consistently right in that realm but it is it'll be uh relative to what are the um what's happening so i know that as a principal at jefferson when we were uh traveling or if there were pieces that we were looking at um as far as uh anything from mock trial um uh fees for application fees right or entry fees versus various other things you know like i think that those were those were pieces that would come to a principle for some decisions as well as um just thinking about what are opportunities to help cover costs so it's varied because i think field trips are varied but in this particular situation it i i i think that it's that there is a entrance fee but i i would have to look in i don't have the details enough to answer it but this is an area right for uh you know investigation and we can have do that somewhat when we're looking at the policy because the other issue is not just how much is being fundraised how much is being paid by families how much is the district pain the other issue is who has access to these opportunities because it's pretty hit or miss now just based on you know an enthusiastic resourceful teacher who decides or coach who decides that they want to provide this experience for the kids so they figure out how to make it happen and they fundraise in the community but everybody doesn't have that coach or have that teacher so it is i think it might make a director constantly like it might make a very nice um audit topic actually um director hollands um because that that way we get exactly we're we're getting exactly the questions answered about where the money's coming from good evening directors good evening directors jonathan garcia chief of staff here uh so just got off the phone with our senior director of athletics and to to be clear when athletic event trips field trips happen uh schools as athletic teams fundraise so we have booster clubs we have uh student body accounts uh so that's the primary driver of how we get our uh how field trips are are underdone if there are if there are needs if there are is there if they've raised 90 or 95 percent of the of the money uh our athletic team as you know the pio foundation and a number of other initiatives run by athletics team uh really would offset any any any uh uh needed money to to to finish the travel so uh so uh our senior director of athletics really works with with the schools the high schools and the specific teams for these these individualized uh tournaments or trips uh outside of their area that is absolutely not true because he the the if we're talking about the same people if we're talking about the same people and i don't like the name blast but i think marshall haskins and diallo um are the ones and i if you say it to me today it's got to be true tomorrow and i was told specifically that if it costs thirty thousand dollars and you raise 29 and can't come up with the other thousand you're not going so maybe maybe it was a joke maybe it was a joke because at the time i was like it's cool i'm not even worried about it i got the i got the 20 right now that i can drop on it she's not worried about the district coming up with the money we'll get the money because we've never asked you for anything but the fact that you you said that to me you know so i'm just putting that out there because i don't want us to i don't know it's not true and so your your experience may have not been true so i think it's important for us to to take this information this conversation i don't think it's going to
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be fruitful for us to to engage in this without all the key players so it's important to have our our senior director of athletics absolutely here so that we can understand specifically how funding works for these types of events field trips absolutely and i guess the other piece i would just say is that that travel shows up in a variety of ways and athletics is one right so i think even for what you're looking at tonight there's there's there's a variety of opportunities i think how how i think anyway i think we've agreed to pulling some information and looking at the distribution what does that look like in equity of access and and and students having um not only access but actually being able to uh participate in some of these activities so happy to do that yeah and i know you brought up a pil foundation what is that sure it's uh and and director bryn maters i believe is the treasurer of the foundation so maybe you could speak a little bit too to it but it's a non-profit organization that supports uh pio athletics in their organization so is that through pps or outside i'm happy to share it was started by a number of parents i'm not a i'm a co-founder but not no longer an officer um and it was started originally to raise funds it was back when there were no middle school sports or there were only middle school sports for basically school communities that could afford it and so it really was designed to raise money to provide equitable athletic opportunities um and it has a like volunteer it's a 501 3c 3c 501c3 it has a board of directors and um every year they do a couple fundraising projects and i'm trying to think right before the pandemic they funded the career the college coordinator to help students who might not get help um being able to get scholarships sort of like d3 scholarships and to be able to play um sports um in college so they've done a variety of different things so that's not so that's a non-pps it's not yes yeah it doesn't so so that's a lot of people so that's not something where we looking to get funds in to help equalize out the front or that's just one of the places that we look at you could ask i mean if pbs is not that i know of pbs has never asked i guess i'm kind of confused but i think looking at it now when you talk about the firmware i think i've seen it on the pps website so is it a pps thing or not the pll foundation yeah the pio foundation is a non-profit independent nonprofit uh that supports works on behalf of and in support of pio athletics for pps so that is a funding source that we could use to so i think can i just i think some important questions have been asked tonight but is there something we're driving to tonight yeah some information come back we're going to keep talking about it yeah but this thing has been this thing has been for a while so for them not having the questions right now it's not an excuse for not to ask the questions because they don't have the answers now it just felt like we've gone down some rabbit holes here well we it is an equity is a rabbit hole it's been a rabbit hole feast for decades and and it's going to continue to be a rabbit hole until we continue to look at it and address it head-on i think we need to address it i think all of us in our agreement address it i'm actually asking what are we driving towards tonight so once again we're having the conversations i would like to some answers as far as what kind of budget that we have for for travel or whatever we use for funds to help those teams out that would be one i would like to see what that budget is because we have funds that i've noticed i just want to make sure i'm i'm writing that the question is around athletics is that right or is it funny for trips say it again funding for trips experiential funding for for trips athletics and whether it's robotics yeah so uh absolutely so i want to make sure that that that the board understands the scope of that that work uh there are independent nonprofits that specifically work to fundraise to send our students out to japan and other nations every year to our goal language immersion program so there is a lot of active fundraising as you know chair brent edwards on the policy committee is looking at fundraising across the district because it is you know when when you have schools that can raise 15 20 000 to send their kids to a week-long experience in japan and some students don't have access so how do we have that a conversation in a way that doesn't limit the resource or the access to any student but actually lifts up the opportunity for every kid to have access to these type of opportunities so let's do this so let's narrow it to athletics for right now and then as we get into the broader picture we can get into that let's nail to athletics for right now
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i think um in the interest of time will it sounds like we have a request in um to uh follow the fundraising stream to get a better understanding of the field trips and the money and the different fundraising non-profits and um it sounds like we have a promise of staff to follow up uh with us i'd be interested in sure to pass i want to be clear though what i heard was uh we're gonna get information on uh athletic event or athletic field trips uh funded by pps not we're not going to go into the other endeavors um is there a reason why we wouldn't look at um like the travel to japan and china the robotics and some of those other experiences or is that i'm asking you as staff sure i think we're well i think two things one we're having really uh good conversations at the at the policy committee uh with chairman edwards and i look forward to having those discussions there uh and secondly if i'm uh transparent i mean we're in two months three months into uh before uh budget proposals and we have a number of things this will this will carve out three or four ft uh uh staff members dedicated to do a deep analysis which is if that's the pleasure of the board we're willing to to take take that on thank you um so i'm not going to move do we have a motion well i think that was a question actually like do we want to prioritize this request that we're making in this time in the budget process to do this deep dive into athletics i mean i think there's probably a middle ground where we can just get a spreadsheet of the requests that have come to the board in you know let's call it 20 you know 18 school year 2019 school year and this year take a look at it where are they coming from who is paying it'll give us a sense of things and then we can discuss whether it's in the policy committee or elsewhere how do we want to address equity of access here also i think we can probably get a lot more clarifying information from mr haskins once he knows that we have had this conversation while he is watching hoops and director hollins yes i um so i heard that director hollins would like to limit it to just to athletics i'd like to see the whole and if if that information isn't available in a spreadsheet i think that would be great but it sounds like we would like to be walked through so we have an understanding and get that trend line starting and i think 2018 is great because that's it would be two years before the pandemic we could have a sense of the trends before before the pandemic hit so 2018 2019 school year is what i heard and then this current school year is that right that's correct okay and director hollands am i correct about that 2018 19 2019 yeah well we looked at that and i would like to see what kind of budget we have for that as well so say it again the budget okay for that so i do think that there are some trips that are time sensitive yeah okay yeah we actually have another one we have not voted and do i have a motion and a second motion to adopt resolution six four five two did i hear um green uh i motioned okay green and holland we had some baseball coaches shaking in there oh and we should have said that from the beginning this is a yes we just i just won't forget this i have a motion director green a second from director hollins to authorize off campus activities um i think we're ready to vote is there any board discussion i think i see the directors i think director scott is packing his bags right now we didn't have enough does nobody else want to go home not oh god nobody else wanted all right i would just say listening to this conversation from idaho um i think it's really important that we i think director holland is what you said about equity work and going down rabbit hall holes and this is really important and i think we have to balance that with the staff time on the budget and the equity work there so i think the compromise we've reached is a really good one to get information from staff but to do it in a scope that's reasonable while we're doing all this other important work absolutely okay i believe that we're ready to vote on res to adopt resolution 6452 the resolution to authorize off-campus activities that's in front of us tonight all those in favor please say yes yes yes yes all those opposed please say no or indicate by saying no a student representative weinberg yes so resolution 6452 passes by a vote of 7-0 with student representative voting yes and we have one more item of business i do see director scott so i'm just packing up in this site you can you can
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go get your pack all it is is i want the director brem edwards has has forgotten to thank somebody and it's important i want to make sure that um in the thank yous um shanice clark um the director of our community engagement for the work she did on the policy and so um terry if you could do your magic and splice this into all the other thank you but this is a special a special shout out to shanice uh clark thank you very much for your help because it's an important acknowledgement thank you for the courtesy and another business another business grant roosevelt cleveland and lincoln have moved on from the first round of the playoffs for boys basketball ida b wells and benson put up a good fight see ya see you next week thank you [Applause]

Sources

PPS Board of Education, BoardBook Public View, https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Organization/915 (accessed: 2023-01-25T21:27:49.720701Z)
PPS Communications, "Board of Education" (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8CC942A46270A16E (accessed: 2023-10-10T04:10:04.879786Z)
PPS Communications, "PPS Board of Education Meetings" (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbZtlBHJZmkdC_tt72iEiQXsgBxAQRwtM (accessed: 2023-10-14T01:02:33.351363Z)
PPS Board of Education, PPS Board of Education - Full Board Meetings (YouTube playlist), https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk0IYRijyKDW0GVGkV4xIiOAc-j4KVdFh (accessed: 2023-10-11T05:43:28.081119Z)

2022-03-01 PPS School Board Regular Meeting

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Event 1: 3/01/22 PPS Board of Education Regular Meeting

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