2022-10-11 PPS School Board Regular Meeting

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District Portland Public Schools
Date 2022-10-11
Time 18:00:00
Venue PESC Auditorium
Meeting Type regular
Directors Present missing
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Event 1: PPS Board of Education Regular Meeting - 10/11/2022

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foreign foreign no titles
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I was like hold on am I getting fired all right don't work no more way down thank you enough we will get going in one minute laughs ready ready
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all right we are going to get going tonight um well you want to hear it again I heard it I hit it pretty hard all right is that said okay all right I don't want to break anything um this board of edu board meeting of the board of education for October 11 2022 is called to order for tonight's meeting any item that will be voted on has been posted on the PPS website under the board and meetings tab the meetings being live streamed on PPS TV services website and on Channel 28 and it will be replayed throughout the next two weeks so you can check the district website for replay times good evening thank you everyone for being here this evening and I think as you can see behind me director Lowry is joining us virtually this evening before we get started just to share a few reminders um thank you for being here we're excited you've taken time out of your day to get involved in our school district whether it's to testify or just to observe um one of the things that we all try and bring into this room is a sense of respect for one another so we agree to listen to words and experiences and and even though we may not always agree with your recommendations in return we ask you um to listen to us and and let us conduct our business even though you may not always agree with our decisions our ability as a community to do this civilly I think is one of those things that really makes us stronger so again thank you for being here we're really excited um if you wish to display signs or banners which we do love please remain in the autotome foyer behind the seating area just so that you don't block any attendees views of the proceedings and for safety reasons we also need to keep the walkways and aisles clear with that we are going to move into our agenda for tonight and we're going to start off tonight with a resolution to designate October 2022 as dyslexia Awareness Month um and our first item is this resolution to make this designation superintendent Guerrero would you please introduce this topic yes thank you chair Scott and good evening to our directors and everybody listening in and here present tonight um three years ago PPS Educators and Community stakeholders came together to develop the PPS dyslexia priority plan this multi-year plan identifies a set of key actions we're taking so we better serve our students with reading difficulties and disabilities it's our program's North Star guiding the work we do every day in service of our students Elizabeth Martin who I'm going to call forward is our District's administrator for K-12 dyslexia and reading intervention is here tonight and she's going to help us highlight some of the strategies that our plan focuses on thank you for joining us Elizabeth thank you superintendent and thank you directors um I want to start by saying thank you for proclaiming October as dyslexia awareness month and continuing to prioritize dyslexia I'm just going to say a couple words um we had a lot of historic adoptions this year but I want to highlight two of them that actually directly impact our students with dyslexia Wilson Reading system and Wilson just words are rolling out this year almost 200 Educators potentially impacting 1500 students will begin that implementation this year it's a structured literacy tool and it is accredited by the international dyslexia Association so thank you again for your support I want to thank our Advocates out there for pushing this forward and I guess it's always good to celebrate little Milestones like this because I think four years ago we would have been like really PBS is doing Wilson this is great so thank you and it's really a pleasure to be here with all of you thank you Ms Martin um do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 6584 second director brim Edwards moves and director Green's seconds is there any board discussion I will just say really quickly in the director of medwards follow-up I I do just want to note that this our dyslexia's priority plan and its overall theory of action I think it really has aligned they are aligned to help us achieve some of our goals around accelerating student achievement for third grade students in Reading I know we also as a district are really pleased that we were able to invest in teacher development and training to support student needs in the classroom and also reading supports in order to access the content and finally just really being grateful for the PPS dyslexia advocacy group who partnered with the district and help inform our system-wide supports and improvements so thank you for all of those things directory remembrance small add-ons as you covering odd points but I I think I want to just recognize the four years ago when people were advocating um for this
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um that it could have been an adversarial or tension between the district and The Advocates and I think the beautiful thing about it is there was really a partnership and it's benefited our students and um I wouldn't have guessed four years ago we'd be here today um but with the training that's happened and the impact on our students but it's been done in a way that's um a beautiful partnership with our community and I want to thank the parents and staff who've made it that way great thank you Ms Bradshaw is there any public comment no okay the board will now vote on resolution 6584 the Portland Public Schools Board of Education recognizes that dyslexia has significant educational implications that must be addressed and designates October 2022 as dyslexia Awareness Month all those in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes yes all opposed was indicate by saying no student representative McMahon enthusiastic yes great any abstentions resolution resolution 6584 is approved by a vote of seven to zero with student representative McMahon voting yes [Applause] and next up uh we are going to take up a resolution to recognize October as a national principles month superintendent Guerrero well this is another group of Educators um I'm glad that we're recognizing this evening our school administrators our school principals uh for my it's one of the most challenging and at the same time uh rewarding roles a critical role in any school system and certainly I recall for my own days as a school principal um you know there's nothing like serving at the school level and the leadership of our principals matters now more than ever every single day so I'm incredibly appreciative of the work that our principals do in service of our students and supporting our staff and our school communities each and every day I see it each week as I visit schools every week that our school building leaders continue to set the tone for our communities they take on those complex and often unexpected daily problems and issues or an always in solution mode they lift up and celebrate our students and they deliver the strong instructional leadership for our schools and to add some additional commentary why not give our chief of schools Dr John Franco an opportunity to share his appreciation on behalf of our central office here at PPS yes I'd be happy to thank you superintendent Guerrero of course chair Scott Vice chair Hollins School Board directors and of course student rent McMahon it is indeed my pleasure to talk a little bit about this resolution that you you have in front of you first I just want to say that leadership matters principles make a difference in fact according to a multitude of Ed research which you all know but including from John Hattie Linda darling Hammond the leadership provided by an effective building principal is second only to the guidance provided by the classroom teachers in impacting student learning in her study of the principleship darling Hammond States School leadership strongly affects student learning principals are Central to the task of building schools that promote powerful teaching and learning for all students although I have not been here long I have witnessed amazing leadership from our building principles and I do want to say when I say principles it includes assistant principals and vice principals as well but more importantly what I've seen in my short time here in my interactions they have solidified my initial assessment that are that our folks first and foremost are just great people coming off of two of the most difficult years we have begun the process of increasing our coherence as a district our principals have embraced this instructional Focus that our framework provides they have approached the implementation of our new curriculums with steadfast leadership resolve and positivity but I'd also like to acknowledge that being a principal which you all know is not just unfortunately about teaching and learning as the resolution you have clearly states principles are and they do so much more I often joke to colleagues that all you're expected to do is save the world I mean that's really what we ask them to do uh but in reality at times it feels as if our people are doing just that in August director brim Edwards articulated an experience she had outside of McDaniel high school during her August Leadership Institute it was a
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situation which was highly escalated between two individuals to which two of our administrators came in to help de-escalate that situation in a sense is a microcosm of the other skills that our principles possess and that they are required to have to effectively lead our school communities they are leaders they are counselors they are collaborators so with that I can't say enough about how fortunate we are to have the leaders that we have a happy National principles month month to our people um I just want to say on behalf of everyone thank you and that um they are immensely appreciated thank you [Applause] thank you Dr Franco do I have a motion in a second to adopt resolution 6585. so moved second trying to like here we go director to pass moves director constant seconds uh is there any board discussion I just wanted to say as a student who goes to school and still feels the impacts of the administrators every day I want to say thank you to all those out there who fight the good fight every day and are really there for your students and I have to shout out principal Watkins my principal and just say that you're amazing and to all the principals out there thank you so much for doing what you do here here hi Andrew I just want to say one thing Drew Lowry I just want to Echo what a student representative McMahon said and I I happened to be at Cleveland High School when the accident happened a week ago last Tuesday and witnessed our Administration in action um rendering Aid to the victim supporting students responding into something that is beyond um I think anyone's training and they did it with such Grace and especially principal Watkins led her staff and let her students with such empathy and Clarity and calm it was I'm just my daughter is a student at Cleveland and I am very thankful that those administrators the adults that are there for her and so many other students so thank you to all the administrators who go above and beyond and encounter situations beyond what we expect to have to deal with in the day and do so with such professionalism and Grace thank you very well said Ms Bradshaw is there any public comment no okay the board will now vote on resolution 6585 the Board of Education recognizes October 2022 as National principles month and extends sincere appreciation and gratitude to school principals Vice principals and assistant principals for their individual and Collective commitment to the success of every student in Portland Public Schools all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes yes yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes are there any abstentions resolution 6585 is approved by a vote of seven to zero with student representative McMahon voting yes moving on in our agenda to the consent agenda we will now vote on the consent agenda board members if there are any items you would like to pull for discussion we can set those aside for discussion and vote at the end of the meeting Ms Bradshaw are there any changes to tonight's consent agenda no board members are there any items you'd like to pull from the consent agenda for discussion or questions do I have a motion and a second to adopt the consent agenda motion director green moves director constant seconds the adoption of the consent agenda any further board discussion Ms Bradshaw is there any public comment no the board will now vote on resolutions 6586 through 6590 all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes yes all a post please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes any abstentions the consent agenda is approved by a vote of 7-0 with student representative McMahon voting yes okay moving on to student and public comment before we begin let me just take a quick moment to review guidelines for public comment first thank you again for being here and taking time to attend the meeting providing your comments input from the public both in forms and improves our work and we look forward to hearing your thoughts Reflections and concerns tonight uh the board office may follow up on board related issues raised during public testimony we do request that any complaints about individual employees be directed to the superintendent's office as a personal matter and if you have any additional materials or items you'd like to provide to the board or superintendent you can email those to public comment all one word pps.net again that's public comment at pps.net when you begin your comment please make sure you clearly state your name and spell your last name you'll have three minutes to speak and you will hear a sound after three minutes which means
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it's time to conclude your comments and there is a timer along the top that'll be green most of the time yellow in the last 30 seconds and turns red when the when the three minutes is up Ms Bradshaw I know we do have people signed up for public comments so why don't we call up first first folks Lourdes Stephanie Velez Hernandez [Applause] welcome um my name is Stephanie and my last name is about uh v-e-l-e-z um I'm from Kellogg middle school and I'm here to talk about sexual assault and harassment and how it's tough in PBS um along with how we should handle it I recognize this problem last year when other students fought against Kellogg just to learn about the consequence procedure at PPS during that process they went they went through I realized that we need better publicity on the consequences what's happening is crime and if students don't know the consequences to their actions they'll think it's okay to sexually assault and harass other students and keep doing it publicity to the consequences should go along with more lessons teaching us what sexual assault and harassment is and tutor reported to we should all know what sexual assault and harassment is because as far as I know it should be your job to teach us this type of information better consequences should be placed a phone call home won't do anything or stop anything we have to take this seriously it's too much for your students and you should know that enough is enough thank you for your time thank you [Applause] thank you for your testimony sorry Esme Caulfield Mason Annika Houghton welcome hello board my name is Annika hoden h-o-u-g-h-t-o-n I use she her pronouns and I am an 8th grader here from North Portland and Oakley Green Middle School I'm here today to talk about multiple curriculum issues in the eighth grade we have students in the wrong grade level classes a lack of teachers and a lack of electives and arts opportunities for some students first off in 8th grade alone we are missing a site support instructor and substitute coordinator a permanent DLI dual language immersion teacher and a permanent PE Health instructor secondly there are at least two students currently in eighth grade who have been put in the elective of their choice but to do that the school chose to put them in 7th grade PE and health classes instead of eighth grade health they are not currently getting the education they need and deserve and this needs to change also when the school staff made the schedule they had the teacher list DLI class put at the same time as almost all the available electives forcing most if not all the Ally students into student publication when most of those kids didn't even put student publication on their top five list of electives one specific problem has been the advance band last year the 16-person intermediate band was comprised of eight DLI students four who left the school for high school or another reason one who chose not to continue and only three were remaining to continue so the school decided that since there's not enough Advance students to combine Advanced intermediate bands therefore leaving the remaining Advance band students to relearn skills and taking away our opportunities for many others I would now like to directly quote the Portland Public Schools Visual and Performing Arts Department mission statement Portland Public Schools Visual Arts and pro Visual and Performing Arts department will ensure Equitable access for all students to high quality dance music theater and visual arts education where is that Equitable access as eighth graders we are preparing for
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high school and getting ready for New Challenges but now I am forced to choose between preparing for Spanish or preparing for high school music my fellow students are having to make the same choice between Spanish and steam classes art classes drama classes and more Equity is having the people who are behind having their needs met and the people ahead having their needs met whose needs are really being met in this situation thank you thank you we have Nima Cruz who is virtual Nina you have to accept the request to move as a panelist okay should I call the next person and she's not moving over and then yeah why don't we do that and try and work with Nina to to get her over here so Sarah Messier welcome good evening my name is Sarah Messier m-e-s-s-i-e-r and I'm a proud parent of a second grader at Rosa Parks Elementary School I'm here to desperately beg for immediate Safety and Security resources for my school following a lockdown event on September 12th I've submitted written testimony to the board about this last month and I'm here today to look you in the eyes to say the district is failing the Rosa Parks community on September 12th while kindergartners and first graders are outside on recess an unknown individual entered school grounds threatening to take students and threaten to shoot and kill teachers earlier today I emailed you a copy of a staff Member's First hand account I encourage you to read it it is horrifying I applaud my School's staff and administration in their Swift response that kept everyone unharmed they got the School on lockdown immediately called the police however this individual was not apprehended by the police and I'm assuming is still at Large so I'm here today to Advocate to the board that the district provides my school more security resources my school administration asked the district for campus monitor which other schools have the district denied this request our vice principal who is is now acting at those as the school's security guard and is outside anytime kids are outside so that means our vice principal is taken away from his academic focused work during drop-off pickup recess and while kids are moving back and forth between Jim because we don't have a gym in our school our kids have to go to a community center and walk outside to go to gym he recently shared a parent's meeting that he's able to get out two or three emails between times when he has to be outside how can the district justify that this is supporting the academic success of Rosa Parks students are beautifully diverse student body is already testing behind their peers in the district so when our vice principal is filling in as a security guard because the district denied them adequate security Staffing that inflicts and perpetuates academic harm on a community that's already left behind by the district I'm also here to advocate for parents we have that we have access to safety information in an equitable manner parents were notified in the event about the event in English only which only reaches 63 percent of the families in my school it is unconscionable that the district did not provide emergency translation services to ensure all families have access to safety information additionally two District staff Molly Rome and ratty Lurie were happy to answer my questions one-on-one but deny requests that the district hold a parent Town Hall at my school with interpreters so all families are afford the same opportunity to get their questions answered how does this uphold the district's supposed commitment to racial equity and social justice lastly I just want to relay how forgotten we feel at my school I keep having conversations with staff and parents and we're asking each other where is the district and then we look at each other with that knowing look oh right we know why we're a school in North Portland we're a school with very diverse student body we're a school that doesn't have a large number of engaged white parents storming the district's doors the safety of my kid his friends and his teachers should not be dependent on the district's political calculations of whether parents at the school are going to make noise about it or not I appreciate any help from the board to push the district to provide these
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resources for my school thank you [Applause] [Applause] okay looks like we have Dima Cruz yes great welcome Miss Cruz hi can okay hi my name is Nema curious c-r-e-w-s I'm so concerned about my education and my preparation for the future I'm concerned on many levels but for one there is no daily Landing targets and it's hard to monitor my growth as a learning my dad is asking me each day about learning targets and I can't give them to him I'm receiving A's but no don't harm receiving the great I'm just doing work and turning it in I took the maps test a couple about a week ago and I still have not received my score the division 22 real estate the teacher understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage Learners in their own growth to monitor learning progress and to guide the teachers and Learners decision making so if you want to see changes in achievement I would focus more on what is happening in the classroom do you have any questions I figured thank you for your time thank you thank you thank you [Applause] Carol heacock is Bradshaw are we calling the next three together that's in my notes here yes Christine lafonte and Robert Foster foreign [Applause] welcome thank you hi I'm Carol heacock h-e-a-c-o-c-k I'm a small business owner who became a special ed school bus driver I thought it would be an easy somewhat part-time job with good benefits that I could blend with my business the depth of my ignorance was vast tonight I'm going to share information that may be new to you as it was to me I am so proud to be a special ed school bus driver I'm now on my fourth year transporting our most vulnerable children to and from school I'm also the OSHA Safety Committee secretary our staff are caring and passionate about our profession and serving our community we did not want to be here tonight speaking to you unfortunately we feel that all attempts to resolve our theft and vandalism issues have failed theft and vandalism started creeping up during the pandemic the constant theft of taxpayers property is now the new normal in fact the past two mornings we have arrived each morning to work only to find more fuel theft and more buses ransacked drivers feel the PPS yards are now an open house for thieves over the past two and a half years between 30 and 40 percent of our fleet has had theft and vandalism sometimes repeatedly taking them out of service this even includes four of our newest buses these three of which have been vandalized twice and one of these three times so far catalytic converters on these new buses are twenty two hundred dollars plus labor to replace this also takes buses out of service for one to three months while we wait for parts to arrive one of our mechanics is now spending half of his time replacing converters and mixing other theft and vandalism issues rather than helping to maintain our aging Fleet thieves have stolen dozens and these have made dozens of holes in our gates and fences stolen catalytic converters stolen hundreds if not thousands of gallons of fuel and damaged many gas tanks some can be repaired some must be replaced does the EPA know about all of this fuel going into our water system right literally down the drain it overflows whatever they're filling we have had a tablet for our new GPS system stolen the door of a van and a bus with its two-way radio they drove the bus through a lock gate thieves then listened to confidential transmissions and swore over the two-way radio while children were listening in drivers are used to buses with broken fuel gauges broken or no air conditioning broken visors driving on an
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August school day in a bus with no air conditioning the list goes on and on but now with mechanics consumed with repairing theft and vandalism they are falling farther behind with maintaining our Fleet our mechanics are heroes not magicians as long as current staff can remember the transportation department has been understaffed and done the best they can with the fleet we have all of these added repairs are just too much we need proper security to keep staff and students safe thank you for your time thank you hi my name is Christine lafonte I've been driving PPS students with special needs since March of 2020. I'm here to advocate for all the best drivers who are feeling unsafe in our bus yards due to lack of security poor lighting and the ongoing thus from thieves cutting our fences to steal our catalytic converters Fuel and to rummage through our buses this is especially concerning in our remote bus yard that is located half a mile from our buildings surrounded by Woods in a vacant lot last year I had my route I had a route that had me returning late to the yard and oftentimes I was by myself at dark in our unsecured and dim lot surrounded by Rosa buses not knowing they're a d knowing there would be no one to call out to for help if someone were to physically attack me this created a fear I never thought I would experience at a workplace and I started carrying pepper spray but when it was brought to my attention that this was although non-lethal it was considered a weapon on District property I felt I had to leave it at home along with any sense of security I had left this was and is frightening because there are still thieves casing our yards not knowing where the lion is drawn with these people and how far they'll go is nerve-wracking to say the least just last Tuesday I arrived at my bus in the morning and immediately discovered it had been rummaged through overnight and since our buses don't lock thieves and unauthorized people have full and easy access searching for an intruder drug paraphernalia like needles and possibly human defecation has become an unfortunate addition to our everyday pre-trip bus inspections I'm sure you can imagine how violated you might feel walking into your office on Monday morning finding it ransacked and not knowing if they're still an intruder around I love my job and with all of its challenges the threat of personal security in our yards is the only thing that makes me consider leaving it I would feel devastated if myself or a co-worker were to be physically violated to get adequate Security in our yards thank you [Applause] [Music] good evening my name is Bob Foster I'm a PPS special education bus driver I'm in my fourth year of driving the bus my topic is on the actual security we have in our Columbia and Marineland bus yards our yard security at both locations is woefully inadequate the lack of security is at the heart of need of needing to improve personal safety and stop both theft and vandalism issues at our workplace our current fencing consists of standard Cyclone type fencing Columbia yard fencing is approximately six feet high which is easily scalable marine land fencing is much higher with barbed wire along the top of the fence this type of cyclone fencing is being cut with bolt cutters creating large holes allowing it to be easily breached the gates to both yards have also been vandalized and damaged to gain entry fence repairs or fence repair expenditures from September 2018 to May of 2022 have totaled 76 fence repairs at a cost of 34 650 dollars our security service provides one patrol car for both yards located a half mile apart between the hours of 6 a.m to or 6 pm to 5 am for our two properties the security costs are more than 22 000 a month it appears that there has been no accountability for the stolen bus taken in the spring of 2022 or for buses that have been vandalized and taken out of service we also have no sick no CCTV or any electronic type of deterrent of deterrent our suggested solutions would be installing fencing with tighter with a tighter weave that cannot be cut with Cutters possibly consider fencing that has an electronic component to install new gates that require some sort of access code or car to enter currently our gates are open at both yards all day allowing folks to wander in and out at any time three a security patrol that is visible overnight that provides deterrence and install electronic deterrents such as monitored CCTV as well as lighting with
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motion detection it is my understanding that our current transportation management has brought these issues to the attention of our District's Risk Management Department it feels like it is what it is is the existing attitude basically paying as we go is cheaper than finding a solution to stopping this conduct my question is what is the district's cost Tipping Point hopefully that Tipping Point is not when someone is injured at our last safety meeting it was suggested that employees take shifts camping out in our yards while this was stated out of frustration it highlights the seriousness of how many employees feel their personal safety is at risk last year the shop provided a mechanic to be at Marineland on some mornings and evenings to help with personal safety while this was much appreciated security guard is not in their job description guarding the Lots prevents them from maintaining our Fleet and puts the mechanic's safety In Harm's Way there's a federal mandate to provide transportation for our most vulnerable students vandalism and theft disrupts that process we are all taxpayers and we should all be frustrated seeing our tax dollars being spent to deal with this ongoing safety and vandalism challenges while not being proactive to correct this environment these dollars could be better spent on our students thank you director Holmes yes I I just want to kind of respond to that um being in in the transportation industry I feel your pain yards across the state and across the country is going through this same issue from private companies to schools to anywhere that has an automobile I know a company who spends millions and millions of dollars with security um same security guys are are speaking of um and we and still have this problem can't hire enough uh security guards to be on the lottery because they're getting taken up by a lot of other companies as well and that's one of the things that we talk about um in some of our interpretation meetings um and they're doing this in broad daylight they're doing this whether it's at night whether it's in the morning whether it's in the afternoon they're they're defilating and it's not just come from the security of trying to secure your lot but also looking at part of police and their response to to things as well and so it's it's it's a big problem that we're all having um you know catalytic converter problems we probably get our trucks cut once a week and we have we have dogs we have TV we have we can show the police who they are but it's still an issue and so I'm not dismissing that it's not and of course the mitigation could happen but I just want you guys to understand that this is a problem everyone is having um and which everybody is trying to scramble to figure out how to how to fix the problem so we have a contractor one of our best contractors per student they were having the same issues at their yard and it's my understanding that they did install a new fence with with it's electrified right and they're in their theft and vandalism has pretty much gone down to zero so if we use the proper fencing and take you know and put gates in that we actually have to access with a card or whatever it can work it'll at least reduce what's going on now it's the wild west out there right now Christine was saying it's dangerous right right and I don't know if any of you have been down to the Marine line a lot but it's away from the management building and it's very dangerous down there and like she said the way the buses are parked you can't tell if anybody's in between the buses or not thank you very much for your testimony okay yeah thank you yeah just I [Applause] talked about it well I should just gonna say I appreciate the concern about employee safety but also just your concern about our District's um assets and the things that we need to serve our students um because you don't have to come I'm here tonight to talk about that but I really appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns great thank you Ms Bradshaw Susie friedlander Paige Morrison
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welcome thanks for being here you can start whenever you're ready good evening board members my name is Paige Morrison my son is a first grader at Creston Elementary I'm here tonight to speak on the issue of covid vaccine medical and religious exemptions for PPS volunteers last month I wrote a letter to the board on this subject which was signed by over 70 PPS parents and Portland Community members I will read some parts of that letter in case you're not familiar with it parents and community members who wish to volunteer in person on a school campus must show proof of covid-19 vaccination according to the oha's vaccination requirement for teachers and School staff however PPS has not been accepting medical or religious exemptions for volunteers there are many reasons that this practice is problematic and most Oregon school districts have changed their practices to allow exemptions and to comply with Civil Rights Act PPS needs to immediately change their discriminatory discriminatory practices and accept medical and religious exemptions from volunteers by refusing volunteers the use of exemptions PPS is not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for individuals unable to to be vaccinated due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief School teachers and staff and students have been allowed exemptions for the coveted vaccinations so why are volunteers being singled out during this time of understaffing at schools we need to encourage our community to be involved and allow them to share their talents and support with our teachers and students the newest CDC guidance for covid-19 prevention no longer does draws a distinction between the social treatment of people who are up to date on their vaccinations and those who are not they say that the vaccines can prevent serious illness but they are not effective at preventing infection or transmission they also understand that most people have some degree of immunity through either a coveted infection a vaccination or both for these reasons the CDC guidance encourage encourages minimizing barriers to social educational and economic activity Additionally the actions of PPS do not follow the OHA vaccination rule the rule states nothing in this rule is intended to prohibit schools or school-based programs from complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and state law equivalence for individuals unable to be vaccinated due to a medical medical condition or sincerely held religious belief children have had their educational and social lives heavily impacted by the pandemic for the past three years we need to do all that we can to support our children and encourage parent and Community involvement in our schools PBS needs to allow all qualified volunteers to participate on campuses we are a city of kindness and inclusion let it show so this letter was signed and supported by over 70 PPS parents and Portland Community members who have I've been in contact with since submitting this letter to the board I've been in communication with Roseanne Powell the board senior manager and Catherine Burkhart the security specialist for ppus regarding this topic I was told that they were working on a system to accept accept exemptions I finally received a PPS attestation form this afternoon from Miss Burkhart it contained some ambiguous statements which I hope will not be used to further exclude volunteers but I'm hopeful that the exemption acceptance process will go smoothly and that volunteers will will soon be allowed exemptions and in schools again in the future I truly hope that PPS is more attentive to situations of religious and medical discrimination upholding civil and medical rights should be a top priority for PPS thank you thank you Miss Morgan and my understanding superintendent we're probably on the same page here I just wanted to make sure for clarification to our public and potential volunteers that we have updated uh our procedures uh folks can find at pps.net backslash volunteers uh our new process for individuals who wish to volunteer in our schools uh want to fill out an attestation form regarding a medical or religious exemption so we are creating an Avenue
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for for more folks to be in our school communities great thank you for that update yeah thank you thank you for your testimony thank you Ms Bradshaw David scholton [Applause] welcome my name is David scholten last name is spelled s-c-h-o-l-t-e-n and I'm Mindy pesacek last name p-e-s-i-c-e-k I'm actually here to deliver some testimony from a teacher was not able to be here today so I'll read her words but before we do that I just want to say that I stand in solidarity with the women at Kellogg Middle School who are the victims of violent crimes against their bodies and are justly demanding rigorous education and strong consequences that Center the needs of the victims um so this is coming from another teacher in PPS my name is Teresa Egan I'm a 20-year plus veteran teacher upon my return from caring for my in-laws I tested positive for covid I was severely ill with fevers cough nasal congestion sleeplessness coupled with extreme fatigue loss of taste and smell sore throat and general cerebral confusion I followed CDC guidelines by quarantining for five days and then nine more days because my symptoms were persisting and not improving I went back to work because I felt like I had to but I was sent home because of my cough in General on Wellness I was informed by my admin that my first five days would be considered quarantine days and additional two days would be sick time but when I received my pay stub I saw the depletion of seven of my 10 sick days when my concerns made it to HR they told me they would no longer allow for quarantine leave and I had to use my sick time I had to use seven of my ten sick days for this one bout with covid even though I simply followed CDC guidelines I have three sick days for the entire year I still feel ill coughing fatigued and brain hazed I am forced to decide whether to take care of myself or take a significant pay cut do I have to put off medical procedures or appointments because I don't have sick time I'm being forced to choose between my health money or the wellness and safety of others this is not okay dear members of the board I invite you to close your eyes if you do don't mind thank you thank you so much thank you Andrew I appreciate that um I just want you to imagine a teacher maybe your favorite teacher your high school teacher and you imagine this teacher who cares deeply and is working tirelessly imagine this teacher is a high school geometry teacher and they have some students at a first grade math level they could work anywhere but they are really too passionate to change their career now imagine this teacher has underlying health conditions and that this teacher has been told by their doctor that the stress of their job is too much and that they should change careers um this teacher is working through finals with her students and gets stressed out and gets sick and they're not able to take that leave because they've already taken off their leave for covet I also want you to imagine that this teacher is going to need to take time off to go to see doctors and to see other therapists to help with their underlying conditions should this teacher work at another District who's willing to provide sick leave without it being deducted from covid who's going to teach some of our most vulnerable students when this teacher is no longer here and what will you tell families when so many teachers are gone and I just want to let everyone know that um we support the union Coalition petition with over 900 science signatures to provide quarantine leave thank you thank you [Applause] Ms Bradshaw that concludes general public comments thank you very much for everyone who showed up for comments tonight in addition I believe we have President Angela Bonilla from Pat here with us to talk to us as well welcome [Applause] welcome president Bonilla nice person um so as always I will start with an appreciation um well I want to Second the appreciation already given to our staff and administrators over at Cleveland High School um we were contacted right away uh when the incident happened and we're told that the administrators went ahead and called that lock down and lock out so that officers could conduct their investigation and we were also told there was an educator who performed CPR
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until the paramedics showed up so I just want to appreciate all the adults in that really made sure to do everything they could to support our students and um for the district's response and and bringing in a bunch of counselors and social workers to support our students and staff so that they weren't experiencing this without support I also want to appreciate um our well we held a meeting with our early childhood Educators and administrators in order to discuss streamlining and clarifying the calendar and the professional duties and so I just want to thank Sarah Fitch and also the early learning division Administration and the staff for coming together to try to problem solve um so I have I emailed and said I was here to speak about special education and I will but there are a couple items on the board agenda today that I want to make sure to um speak to so the board tonight will discuss HB 4030 which is the money that was given to support uh schools by uh Oregon legislature um I would love to see the itemized list of where this money is going I know the application when we talk to legislators stated that it should be this plan should be made in collaboration with their Union partners there was no meeting that Pat was invited to to have this conversation I know pfsp had a conversation but we were not invited and you know I that's that's concerning so I'd love to know where this money is going um especially when we have Provisions in our contract to support the retention of Educators to look at why schools are having high turnover and those Provisions have not yet been followed by the district so if we're going to spend money on those things I'd love to see what those things are because there are mechanisms in place that just haven't been used I also have questions about FTE because I always have questions about FTE but what are I I'd love to know what our final counts for student enrollment and class size are I know it's October and every time I ask the question I was told wait until October so it's October 11th so I'm going to bring the question back and wanting to know um you know PBS again added 340 FTE last year while cutting 87 Educators from classrooms so where are those FTE you know it's really hard to say these are important and worthwhile positions when we don't know where they are and with the conversations around the budget and uh the heavy cuts that we may or may not be encountering next year it's really important to know where this FTE is if the district could afford to bring in 340 more FTE than last year and yet cut 87 Educators from from classrooms so now I will go ahead and start my remarks around special education so Ida B Wells Barnett once said that the way to right wrongs is To Shine the Light Of Truth upon them so I'm going to use my time at these school board meetings to appreciate what PBS is doing while also shining a light of Truth on the wrongs that need to be made right so last night we brought at Pat our special Educators together to share their experiences this year as you all know almost 20 of our students are identified or in the process of being identified for special education this increase in their workloads since covid hit was expected however the pervasive lack of Staffing curriculum training and time has made it nearly impossible to serve the needs of our special education students when a speech language pathologist has to ensure the safety of a student trying to run out of the building they cannot deliver speech services to the students on their caseload when a Learning Center teacher is told to be the one-on-one support for a student with lagging social emotional skills because they're kicking and punching other students in class that teacher cannot deliver services to the 30 other students on their caseload last night when we heard from these Educators we had over 70 special Educators come together and we had nearly every type of sped environment present from adaptive PE to Learning Centers to communication Behavior classrooms we also had Specialists such as our speech language Pathologists our slps and occupational therapists across all these varied programs there were a few consistent themes and concerns the time for planning and case management a middle school educator shared that she starts her day at 7 30 a.m so she can open windows and reduce the temperature in her classroom she is medically fragile students who are at risk of seizures and other health
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incidents when the temperature gets too hot she then helps gets them and get them into the classroom and begins to teach but then there's a call on the walkie they need someone trained to support a student in crisis the educator sends out the para to support and now they have to retool their plan for the day with one less staff member this happens multiple times a day with this level of need across the building the educator rarely if ever gets a 30-minute lunch without having to watch her students this is often she's often at work until 6 pm at night two and a half hours past the end of her work day just to ensure she documented all the incidents that happened throughout the day that includes calling parents documenting Services scheduling follow-up meetings and planning for the next day the bottom line is that this year special Educators have been saddled with huge caseloads that are frankly impossible to manage in addition to planning what they will teach according to each student's individualized education plan or IEP they also have to prepare each student's paperwork and manage their case in recent years 20 percent of an Educator's time each week would be dedicated to case management but as the story I shared illustrates Educators aren't getting anything remotely close to that this year next we have Staffing and professionalism last year I know you all heard about the feeding team which supports our most vulnerable students who need help eating and that that team was going to be cut the Specialists on that team as well as all of their speech language pathologist colleagues voice their concerns to sped leadership when you remove one of the two full-time speech language Pathologists from the team that could be disastrous and potentially harm our students our other slps are not trained to do the specialized work and cannot take this on and yet the district's response the team was given a less than half-time person who's not trained yet on how to do the feeding protocols the remaining slps must Now train the remaining SLP must Now train her colleague and also train the evaluate every student who cannot eat independently for services and train the site-based staff on feeding protocols despite the impossible workload the sped department is determined to cut that FTE during one of the SLP Cadre meetings when Educators call asked for a plan for the feeding team and how they're going to be trained to do the specialized work their mics were cut and the chat was turned off they were literally silenced so PBS does not need to spend millions of dollars in contracts to learn why educators are leaving the lack of respect from our administrators and District leaders [Applause] the lack of respect from our administrators and District leaders the lack of appropriate Staffing the fear of not being able to serve your students appropriately this is why Educators leave they want to stay and serve our students but they cannot continue to work under conditions that leave them feeling unsuccessful they want to partner with the district but sped administrators refuse to partner with our Educators and draw from their personal experience this is not what's best for our Educators and it is not what's best for our students lastly the lack of relevant training and professional development one special educator in an intensive skills classroom went to the professional development for wit and wisdom our new English language arts curriculum they listened and they waited for any information about how this curriculum is supposed to work for her students with severe learning needs and there was nothing after she reviewed the FAQ the office of teaching and learning created for the curriculum she saw two simple questions posted under the special education section how does this curriculum work for kids with IEPs and one-on-one instruction how does this work in special ed classrooms as of 4 pm today those questions are still unanswered the document literally has blank cells there so she wasted days that she could have spent doing anything else to support her students but instead was forced to listen to a training that did not support her ability to serve those students the fact that PPS has been on a shopping spree for our new curricular materials over the past few months has only exacerbated the situation unfortunately most of these new materials are not culturally relevant or appropriate and that's something Educators have repeatedly shared with District leaders in both our monthly instructional um practices Council meetings as well as in district-sponsored professional development sessions promoting adoption of these new materials when 20 of our students are identified or on the or about to be identified as special education as needing special education why are we adopting curricula
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that are not tailored to support students with IEPs [Music] and why are sped staff forced to sit through professional development Cadre meetings and other training that have nothing to do with the materials they use or that they need and why when they speak up are they ignored and told that they'll get more guidance at a later date this is unacceptable our special education students and our Educators deserve better I always say this but our working conditions are our students learning conditions and this meeting we had last night made it very clear our students and sped deserve the best the district can offer not to be treated as an afterthought and as president I want to make it very clear to all of our educators we are going to do everything we can in our power to fight for our Specialists and for our students and we look forward to collaborating with the district and hopefully turning the tide so that every single student especially our most vulnerable and the ones who have the highest need get what they need and what they deserve at school thank you thank you president Bonilla okay appreciate that um next up we have uh president Michelle Batten here on this evening behalf of the Portland Federation of school professionals welcome [Applause] good evening chair Scott school board members and superintendent Guerrero I am Michelle Batten b-a-t-t-e-n president of pfsp the Union representing classified employees at Portland Public Schools tonight I would like to quickly discuss two issues again our efforts to renew the memorandum of agreement with PPS regarding covet leave again I will reiterate the importance of employees having access to paid covet time before any other employee leaves must be utilized there is no opportunity in our language for abusing the use of coveted leave access would require a positive test confirmed by medical or school-based personnel the employees who need this self safeguard for the welfare of themselves and their own families are the same staff who have been on your front lines for almost three years supporting our students their families and the community let's work just as hard to keep them safe the other item I would like to address tonight is the critical shortness in Staffing it is beyond dire and this is only October and I had to smile to myself because president Angela from Pat sounded identical to what I had written for example as of this last Thursday Pioneer School was short 15 para Educators and one therapeutic intervention coach that's a shortage of 16 student-facing employees at a school that supports students with intense Behavior needs imagine being in a classroom missing 30 of your co-workers on his website and in its Communications PPS stresses its commitment to racial equity and social justice the district shares their efforts to grow their own teacher prep programs for para Educators and education assistants in your own Grant application for House Bill 4030 funds PBS stated it needed to better understand the root cause of current Recruitment and Retention challenges let me help in the pfsp bargaining unit 78 of its employees are female 35 percent are non-white you historically do not value a group of employees made up mostly of women and those of color even as you espouse equity they are not paid a livable wage although we have experienced a year of high inflation with even more to come it does not appear that much value is given to these diverse employees as they support your most fragile students those students with special needs students learning English students whose families have fled genocide if you did you would let them know how much you value them giving them the resources to care for their own families and showing them the respect their work deserves as we come out of the pandemic as
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Portland has added a hundred and thirty thousand work from home jobs as day care especially programs supporting lower income families still have limited openings why would a person choose to work for PPS as an educational assistant whose beginning wage is 16 an hour when they can get 18.75 plus a signing bonus and free meals at Burgerville our esle our ESL educational assistants start at 17 and Perez at 19. that is not a livable wage tonight you've mentioned your new Grant the preschool for all program adopted in Oregon did you know that the grant required a beginning wage for the preschool educational assistance that was three dollars and 20 cents more per hour than what PPS EAS make and that PPS tried to get a waiver to not have to pay that Kevin's Multnomah County denied it to better understand Recruitment and Retention issues provide a living wage for more than just central office provide the resources for employees to successfully do their job provide them Staffing and supports so they may go home at night able to care for themselves and their own families thank you foreign thank you president Batten next we have uh Kelly Bond and I think is it newshay Newsom from The District Council of unions [Applause] welcome thank you superintendent Guerrero chairperson Scott and esteemed board members thank you for having us give the opportunity to address the board I am Kelly Bond b-o-n-d as in James I'm the shade Newsome n-e-w-s-o-m-e is my last name I am with the the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 48 and I'm a delegate to The District Council of unions we are business representatives for the members of the DCU DCU has recently changed some membership representation and we want you to know who we are we are also here to emphasize values DCU have in common with Portland Public Schools as stated on your website the core values we believe we share with ppsr every human being has intrinsic value creating trusting relationships working together and building on the strengths of our diversity are essential for a strong community everyone has the ability to learn when individuals have Equitable and just access to Opportunities and have satisfied basic needs they can realize their full potential and contribute to the community involving stakeholders in decision making leads to better outcomes and assuming individual and Collective responsibility for the choices we make is critical to creating the future we desire the DCU is here to continue working on building honest trusting relationships with PPS We Believe Equitable respectful treatment is the foundation for creating environment where all of us may fully develop our potentials create a caring community and provide the employees as well as the students with the ability to excel this requires both sides to contribute as stakeholders for better outcomes with win-win situations Within These core values so eloquently reflected on pps's website are these strategies we use the DCU hope that you take to heart as pointed on the Portland Public's website because our members really truly take it to heart and the strategies of states to create a system-wide culture that reflects on ethic of service excellence and respect to create Partnerships with State stakeholders to achieve our strategic objectives and messages and missions it also States we will actively select support and retain employees who
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contribute to accomplishing the mission and strategic objectives and who reflects the diversity of your students last but not least it states we will provide the means and flexibility necessary for each student and Department to develop and Implement a plan that may that meets the Strategic objectives and holds each accountable for their contribution and meeting those objectives PBS DCU staff come to work and get paid less than their private and public sector constituents our members constantly reflect the ethics of service excellence and respect and the work that they perform every day and let's be clear all the positions at the school district is they hold value this small number of currently 62 employees doing the work of 89 full-time employee positions work hard to maintain over 100 plus buildings provided for 49 000 students this is a daunting fate but our members hold in high regards of the safety of the community our children and the staff we're looking forward to working with you at PPS and the expectation that Portland Public Schools core values and strategies as stated on Portland Public Schools website ring true and will be demonstrated in future opportunities for the DCU and PPS to work together to achieve our common goals strive to select support and retain our valuable community members call Portland Public Schools district of Union employees thank you for your time and have a great day [Applause] thank you great thank you very much and finally tonight we're going to wrap up comments this evening by hearing from I believe it's Veronica Green from the service employees International Union thank you for being here welcome my name is Veronica green and I'm the proud lunch lady at creative science school hopefully I will still be there next year um and also I have a freshman at um Franklin his name is Julian and Valentina is a fifth grader at Glencoe um and I also want to say I'm solidarity with the teachers I see what they go through every day and they're the backbone of the district really good evening chair Scott board members and superintendent Guerrero thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak even though there was no more public comment um time available as you've heard tonight our community's health is at risk and as winter approaches it will only get worse with colds flus and a predicted surge of covid-19 infections okay we are part of the Union Coalition here at PPS and we are here tonight because we need your help when the letter of agreement that allowed staff with kova to use quarantine leave expired June 30th it put our entire community at risk we're asking that you direct human resources to negotiate with us so we can find a mutually benefit beneficial solution that ensures our schools are safe and healthy as possible here are two examples from my colleagues of how access to covid leave has impacted them the first example at the beginning of the school year my nephew got sick with covid they quarantined but it spread to others in the household I knew that I could not afford to miss any work so I went to wearing masks all the time even at home I had to cook and deliver food to closed doors pick up medicine for people run errands stay away from everyone I got lucky that I was the only one out of 10 people not to get it but because I could not afford to miss work and lose my leaves I had to quarantine myself for my whole family and go two weeks without holding and comforting my seven-year-old daughter and my special needs son I could only see them from a distance on screen as a mother it was so hard and stressful for me I had to choose between staying home with them or later when they got sick at that point their grandparents were also homesick late later that may not have been the case and since then I have had to take a few days off because my daughter was sick and no one else could be home to take care of take care of her if I had to take time off because of covet at the start of the year I would not have had the paid time when she needed me or my son has his necessary appointments the second example excuse me I was most worried to call out for covet for two reasons I was sick for a week prior to catching covid so I didn't want another occurrence towards a write-up just for being sick I was literally crying because I was afraid of the
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repercussions with the mandatory five days off I now have completely drained my sick leave it's not even flu season and I have no sick time available the current system isn't working the solution PPS is offered of making staff exhaust all of their sick vacation and other available paid leaves before they are eligible for coveted leave won't work either it's time we work together to find a real solution that ensures our schools are as safe and healthy as possible and um I know you guys also received a copy of this it's um 911 signatures from PPS students staff parents Community supporters and um you'll see in that there's pictures of a lot of people that couldn't be here because they work evenings for PPS thank you very much [Applause] thank you very much for the testimony uh next up our student Representatives report student representative McMahon thank you so I'm doing a bit of a longer one today just because I did not get the opportunity to give one last board meeting I was sick and I decided that puking at home was much better than puking here so I'm happy to be back and to give my student rep report today so I want to first touch on the incident that happened to Cleveland I myself am a Cleveland student and I know a lot of students intimately who had to witness the tragedy that happened in front of our school I want to put my heart out to all those individuals out there who are impacted and also just to kudos to our administrators and teachers who really took a big hand in personal accountability for ensuring that every student felt safe after that account and just making sure that everyone was okay and that we could move forward and I really appreciate the work that went into that um I also since I wasn't able to give this last meeting I also my heart goes out to the Lincoln Community um a former Lincoln student unfortunately took their own life and I just want to say for anyone that's struggling with mental health I understand what that's like I want you to know that you're loved and that you're supported and my heart really goes out to those impacted at Lincoln and the serious consequences or the serious hurt that comes out of that happening within a community all right um so now to move on something that I hope to continue throughout my student reports I have asked the District student council to come out with some celebrations that we had over the week and my hope is down the line we'll have one from every school represented on the District student council however today I fear that I did not give them quite enough notice because the one celebration that we got is that 55 hoco tickets have been sold at Benson and as long as they sell 62 then they will meet their quota in terms of covering the decorations so but I think even that goes to show that small celebrations are still celebrations and that sometimes just keeping things together or selling 55 tickets is something that we should be taking note of and we should be celebrating all right next I want to move on to two events that I got the opportunity to attend within the last couple of weeks the first being the Alameda bike bus I very gratefully skipped out on my French class to get to go and take part in this amazing program it's put on by Sam Balto who is the PE teacher there Danny cage and I both got the opportunity to go and I think it highlights not only a amazing Community event and program but also an amazing opportunity for PBS as we move into legislative sessions Sam Balto has worked alongside a non-profit organization to put forward a bill that will allow us or remove the barriers to paying our families and our community members to take part in these mass transportation programs to school I think the bike bus is a great example but unfortunately that's not Equitable for every school and so things like walk to school or safe walks these are all ways that we can help promote Community Spirit as well as take an active role in the safety of our students by allowing Community involvement and I look forward to moving into legislative sessions so that we can support these sort of bills another thing was the band playathon I want to highlight the student that came up here today to talk about how we really do need to be showing up for our Arts programs for those that don't know the Cleveland band playathon is where our Cleveland band all of them play from 4 30 to 9 o'clock I got to stay for two hours and it was amazing the work and the effort that these band teachers not only the teachers but the students put in to put on these fundraisers and to really show the community the skill and the expertise that these students have through our art programs I think that's something we should support something we should praise and something we should
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take an active part of in continuing I want to highlight the fact that we do have an instrument shortage right now and that really if we're going to get that money and if we're going to solve these issues then that needs to be something that we're doing at the state level and another thing that I just look forward to highlighting when I go as I'm working alongside our government relations department as we finalize our legislative agenda okay next thing principles month I want to say to all the administrators out there thank you I want to highlight of course my personal Cleveland administrators um calling them out by name I'm gonna do it Sean Murray Elena langdal Danielle Coda and Joanne Watkins I want you to know that I appreciate you and the students of Cleveland appreciate you thank you for the work that you did not only recently but that you've done over the past two years to ensure that students feel appreciated and though I cannot speak to every administrator and every teacher in the district I know you work equally as hard to ensure that our students feel appreciated and loved every time they come into the building I want you to know that me as a student and the students that I talk to every day feel that impact that you are the lifeblood of this district and that I will do everything I can to support you so moving into that final piece I want to highlight something that the SEI Union put forward let's give dignity to rest and recover without having to choose between meaning financial obligations we need to support the people in this District I know that this board is committed to that I know that our district is committed to that and I think it's time that we really put our actions where we say we will and that will come through this legislative session fighting really really hard to ensure that we get the funding we need to properly engage in these programs and to really ensure that our people that our community that our friends that our families and that our students the people who we strive to serve know that we are behind them that we are with them and I can say personally that I will do everything I can to ensure that that happens all right and also to all the sophomores that have to go on to the PSAT I am really sorry it kind of sucks but I know that you'll all do amazing and I wish you the best of luck tomorrow thanks thank you student representative appreciate that uh next up we have board committing conference reports I'm going to note that we are about 20 25 minutes over time but I do want to give any um board members you do not you do not feel obligated to give an update on your committee but if you have an important update on your committee uh now would be the time to do it so I will not go down the road I'll just open it up if anybody has anything they want to share going once then I will also note and uh um I haven't gone back I know we did talk at our Retreat about committee chairs putting forward uh work plans for the year that include both deliverables with due dates and I know we have received some of those and I appreciate that I think there may be still a couple in the works but I won't call anybody out um but I would just uh and I think I've talked to most of you about that so we'll continue down that road of making sure we have really clear deliverables and agendas for the rest of the year appreciate it all I just want to note I'm one of the people that did turn in a work plan with deliverables and dates yes and times and yes we're good yes and we have definitely received quite a few so thank you for that no I knew I knew she had come through many of you have so I yeah this is not this is an appreciation appreciation all right next up uh we have a resolution to approve the budget calendar for the 2023-24 budget board members we discussed this at the last board meeting um and I believe there has been a change to the first draft to move the appointment of the cbrc members to our next meeting on October 25th and I think that's because we had such a large number of cbrc applicants which is actually a really good thing um so with that let's get a motion to put on I'm going to interrupt you I'm going to just say this is Haley I'm going to say that we need to give a big shout out to Jordan Cooper the confidential Administrative Assistant for our CFO who has put together an incredible interview process to help us with the huge number of applicants we have for cbrc and we will have names for you at the next board meeting fantastic um so let's get a question sure need your mics off version of the has us approving the budget calendar on October 25th so do we need to change that because we're actually approving it on so let's put the motion on the table and then we can talk about the specifics and whether any changes are needed so do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution 6591 motion director green moves director constant seconds and now board discussion director brim Edwards yeah it's seems that we should just correct it because we're actually approving the budget calendar at the October 11th meeting versus the 25th unless I have a third
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version it's printed out two days I will defer to our CFO dog deal good evening uh you have identified a typo so we can correct that I think that two things to note is that October 25th will be when we bring the cbrc appointees and then it is for presentation today so that adopted date should be the 11th great good catch and um general counsel large I believe uh as a sort of a typo we can probably just make that change and also I would say we are voting on the calendar but just as a note the calendar also changes throughout the year so it is something that by state law we have to adopt um we don't have to adopt changes to it every time a date changes so great so I think we've noted thank you for that catch other discussion on the calendar before we move to a vote I raise this um at previous interviews last year just a concern about the sort of type type turnaround between um the day that we get the proposed budget and the uh the approval uh Which is less than four weeks and just the size of the budget um and I know because of Staffing capacities and this isn't a criticism at all but because of Staffing capacities last year was a lot of discussion about having a volume three which would be sort of the more Community friendly version um that that we didn't get that produced um so just thinking about how on the front end we if if we're not going to have sort of the community or have the ability to produce a sort of published Community friendly version um that in that time period that we have something that is sort of translating does the crosswalk between a more technical document and um one that our community um can more easily understand so that's one thing and I'm I say just concerned about the four weeks isn't very much very much and we have just a a board meeting which has a lot of other things and then one work session and then the other question I had was about [Music] um the Octo sort of October and then the February and March um meetings and so this past year I guess the question is were we gonna in October November going to get the sort of Staffing class size sort of the the October reconciliation are we getting that this this fall or are we when are we getting that information is that question specifically around when like class sizes Staffing that well I think there was going to be like okay we have to wait till everything settles in October and then we'll do sort of like here's out here's like the level set at the beginning of the year um so the recalibration um and so I'm just curious if that if that's contemplated in in here Dr Adams is coming I think I know what he's gonna say but I these are sort of uh you're looking for a set of data even though we're talking about our budget development calendar Dr Adams sure um good evening everyone our hope is to provide some preliminary enrollment information prior to the end of this month hopefully before next meeting and if all goes well we'll have a brief presentation or enrollment knowing that this enrollment is still preliminary we've gotten to the October one date but now there's all the cleanup that happens in the school and the reconciliation that happens between and among the school districts to make sure that we're only counting the students that are actually ours so and would that include like um the the Ft the like the held back FTE and the 10 Southeast guiding Coalition FTE so that we'd sort of see where all those landed so I was um under the impression that you wanted an enrollment report if we want a staffing report I can certainly work on that as well um in terms of my understanding is Dr Franco had been providing updates on the SGS segc um Staffing hold back and where that is but I can certainly work with the superintendent on that well I guess
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I I thought what we were going to be going to fall was so here's where everything landed with the school enrollments and where sort of the ShakeOut happened um because last spring there were some because of enrollment um changes FTE added and then there were some added during the summer and then this fall and sort of just like where everything I see so so an updated spreadsheet with the class sizes at the elementary school we can certainly provide that yes great thank you um and then I guess this other question may be for you as well this is what I get for sitting down I'm confusing um so last year when we had a discussion about the Staffing um the Staffing formula and class sizes um I think it was like this this is the Staffing formula that sort of was here when you got here um and sort of the pre-covered one and I'm curious whether as part of like our budget calendar and the budget process um there's going to be sort of a revamped sort of Staffing guidelines or are we rolling into next year was pretty with with the same one or how is that um how is that going to interplay with the budget just because Staffing is the vast majority of the budget well as you know almost every school district reiterates its Staffing handbook especially for school leaders who want to start settling their rosters and as we take updated enrollment into account so it's a fair question and it's one that we have to look at as a staff internally and even as we begin Now sort of starting to sort out priority areas you know there there are costs to making shifts or fine-tuning any particular area and we're just beginning conversations obviously it's it's the beginning of October but we want to get to a place to where we can propose making some continued uh improvements but you know as you might expect those come with a price tag and so what's coming off the table you know to be able to afford those and the other question here I know we're looking at the budget calendar and trying to start conversations as early as possible and certainly hearing from our community hearing what directors uh sort of priority areas are in service towards our board goals we also don't have I know you've heard me say this before we won't have a clear fiscal picture uh and so we're trying to develop and design a budget uh when we won't have final Clarity there uh until the spring so this this will be an iterative uh process too and just like my one is a calendar related because I just I well we're beginning to Veer into actual budget conversations and I just want to point out we do have a work session in November correct um Chief Delgadillo so I mean we I would encourage the specific questions around the budget we can bring those to that November work session but just thinking about calendar dates today which is what we're approving yeah I guess um because of the general nature what what would be I guess is a question for a superintendent Guerrero if there are specific like topic areas do you want us to share those with you so for example we're looking at just like a generic placeholder if there's a specific topic do you want us to share that with what's the process you want us would like us to use sure to help you a few ways when we have our work session on this that's when you have an opportunity as as a group for us to sort of make meaning of that the other is we have ongoing one-on-one times between directors and the superintendent uh for sure and of course we're we'll be prioritizing areas for investment you know depending on their return towards our student achievement effort so you know that that's the lens by which we're looking through it but certainly want to hear the earlier the better uh if there's some areas where you're hoping that we shed some spotlight great thank you great any additional I guess flip a coin sorry I keep erasing my hand but that's the only way I know how um so I just have a really quick question and I've never been through this process before so I might be off base here I was wondering I see budget planning and then Budget Building do we have a time where the board reflects on the budget process that we can build in because I'd love to see like an official reflection of the process that way like when we get to this point next year we actually have like in real time like these were all the issues that we saw with this year these are all the things that went really well just so that like we have that time built in where we can really reflect on how it went
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it's not explicitly called out in the calendar but it is um integrated from the perspective of the board work sessions um and being able to engage the community and go through those motions but uh certainly we can I think for an ex iteration carve out uh what it what the what that could look like but it is it's a through line through through uh the the year and and student representative McMahon you may not know or maybe you do that's actually a recommended best practice of the government Finance Officers Association so you've you've nailed it in terms of something that we should be doing so I appreciate that question also byronie I would encourage you to um get together with Chief Delgadillo to figure out a process for um engaging the DSC in the budget process so that they can help inform our work yes please definitely on the list and I had a pleasure it last late last year of engaging but uh for sure we'll be uh doing that as part of our process here in the in the late fall Ms Bradshaw is there any public comment tonight there is there's karanja Cruz and he's virtual so I'm bringing them over right now good evening Mr Cruz welcome all right good evening chair Ford superintendent um I just got a quick question um before you guys vote on notice there's a community engagement event section and also notice that it said uh uh to be announced or TBD I believe but it did not have any check marks uh connected to it so I'll just curious is this a working document or I'll just have some questions around that great thank you for the testimony and uh Chief Delgadillo would you like to address the community engagement events yeah absolutely so these are being developed and there'll be different iterations from survey to work sessions to presentations uh recorded YouTube videos so it's a variety of different uh mediums to engage with engage in community with so we don't necessarily check one of those boxes because it board won't necessarily be taking action and then the board is not required to attend so whether they they inform or review it will be something that um it's it's at their discretion so we don't uh um required it of them by putting a check mark there great thank you any other public comment no okay let's move uh towards a vote on the uh resolution to approve the budget calendar prepare for the 2023-2024 budget this is resolution 6591 all those in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes are there any abstentions resolution 6591 is approved by a vote of 7-0 with student representative Mayon voting yes all right let the process begin Chief davidia thank you uh next up uh we have a resolution to approve the required instructional time exemption superintendent Guerrero Here Comes our deputy Oar 581-22-2320 that's the one that uh requires some instructional time in Oregon school districts uh needing to bring forward exceptions uh to meeting those compliance requirements so tonight we're asking the board to approve exceptions in two areas instructional hours for all kindergarten students and seniors at two particular High Schools Cleveland and Roosevelt for this past school year 21-22 I think you'll hear there were some exceptional circumstances in those cases as well as our alternative education program so we have Deputy superintendent Proctor and our assistant superintendent Margaret Calvert to speak a little bit more to the details good evening thank you superintendent Corral and board directors and board members it's a pleasure to be with you here this evening as well as student representative uh bronnie thank you um so tonight's staff is asking the
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board to vote on exemptions to require instructional time Oar require an instructional time requires all school districts to ensure that at least 92 percent of all students in the district and at least 80 percent of um of students at each School operated by the district are scheduled to receive annually a minimum hours of instructional time for grade 12 that is 966 hours for grades 9 through 11 that's 990 hours and from grades K to 8 that is 900 hours Oar also allows for districts in Oregon to use exemptions to ensure a compliance to this Oar during the 2021-22 school year PPS had um November 12th um and January 21st added as in professional learning days therefore removing them as instructional days and in addition we also had one snow day on April 11th because of these three days we were not made up some schools and grade levels fell out of compliance with the oar staff is asking the board to approve the resolution to utilize allowable exemptions making the district compliant um again for the 21 22 school year all schools are actually in compliance with the required instructional time as defined by the Oar with the exception of the following schools and grade levels kindergarten across the district grade 12 students at Cleveland and Roosevelt High School Alliance High School which is an alternative school and the Metropolitan Learning Center mlc grades K to eight by the board voting for these exemptions the district is able to be in compliance with the state and at the October 25th board meeting we will be presenting the division 22 Community report also required and there you will also be able to hear a little bit more detail about that and with this vote we will be able in totality to be in compliance with the oer thank you any questions thank you very much we'll open it up to board questions well thanks for the record so the kindergarten exemption or waiver that we're providing that's just a last year it's not a go forward um so this year the can the kindergarten classes and the two high schools will meet would would meet the the requirements so we are voting for uh the exemptions for the 21-22 school year which is passed uh we have to go through the course of this school year as we don't know for example how snow days and other you know um uh incidents you know things that we don't anticipate currently we do anticipate you know yes I could say today uh as of today we anticipate that we will be in compliance however if there is a shift in in snow days or uh anything coming forward then that may that may shift the outcome but we wouldn't have the unplanned professional development days I mean well it won't be yeah we it would be a an event it would be an event that would cause us correct but we don't have we don't have a structural deficit no not at all although we can we can we expect to um not be in compliance just given the structure of their curriculum for Alliance and mlc and Ola for certain schools and I'll let uh assistant superintendent Calvert so we um similar to uh practices that we've asked for in the past with alternative schools that that will be similar and in in the practice we have had up to this point um I think that uh there's uh some it's part of the division 22 report it's probably will be more clear as we go through in the division 22 of course is backwards looking right but but we will have at that opportunity um to speak specifically to the alternative Ed options correct and you know again just to emphasize that out of our um you know schools our totality of schools we are here before you today to ask for the exemption for
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um two high schools two alternative programs and kindergarten grade I just want to make a comment that um you know even though our our running start for kindergarten puts us at that ragged edge of uh meeting the instructional hours requirements it is you know a huge success and really important and really valued by our families and teachers so in lieu of being able to you know make a contract change that allows us to add a couple extra days for kindergarten teachers which is something we might consider um then we're always going to be close to that edge but it's not something that I personally would be willing to sacrifice great let's uh put this on the table the motion uh do I have a motion in a second to adopt this resolution I'll make a motion second director green makes the motion I think director brim Edwards and constant both simultaneously seconded um is there any further board discussion report member or superintendent do we have any testimony on this tonight okay the board will now vote on resolution 6592 to approve oar581022-2320 retire required instructional time exemption long 2021-22 kindergarten instructional time and seniors at Cleveland and Roosevelt high schools all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes any abstentions resolution 6592 is approved by a vote of 7-0 with student representative Mann voting yes Oh and next we vote on the second resolution on this topic apologies um so I need a motion and a second to adopt resolution 6593 no which is a resolution to approve oar 5a1022-2320 required instructional time exemption 2021-22 permission to exempt an alternative education program I'll make the motion director green makes the motion uh and director constant seconds any board discussion on this comments no the board will now vote on that long long titled resolution all those in favor it's resolution 6593 for the record all in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yeah yes I'll oppose please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon please indicate your vote Yes are there any abstentions resolution 6593 is approved by a vote of seven to zero with student representative McMahon voting yes okay are there any uh there's nothing pulled from the consent agenda any other business that board members would like to put on the table at this time gotta written statement I'm going to submit for the record Kate Dooley noted um I do have one more item really quickly for tonight before we break I just want to note for the record that on October 1st this was superintendo Guerrero's five-year anniversary at Portland Public Schools and I just want to share a few highlights of the past few years under superintendent Guerrero um because uh now's a good time to embarrass him in 200 expect 18 uh we had PBS Vision reimagined in which you and your team led a community-wide process to draft a graduate portrait and identify educator Essentials and system shifts to make the vision a reality this is actually one of the very first things I did when I was interested in getting on the school board was come to one of those events uh and uh maybe it was right after I was elected but anyway it was it was uh it was it was great and really well done much of this has really been socialized in the district and it's now our responsibility to make this a reality so we're there with you on that um you've established a much needed instructional framework you've rolled out much needed new curriculum professional development to implement the investment that we've made through the 2020 Bond and and those things are very much focused on our student achievement goals there are Innovative initiatives quite a few of them but one to call out is the center for black student Excellence which I'm just very proud to be on a board that's moving forward on that um you've been able to expand Career Technical education visual Performing Arts Pathways throughout the district partnered with the Balmer Institute we're actually going to be the first school district to collaborate with the University of Oregon in a bold new approach to the behavioral mental health challenges of our students and bringing uh eight million dollars of philanthropic resources to support our efforts to become a better organization from The Wallace Foundation supporting the development of an equity-centered principal leadership pipeline in collaboration with PSU Lewis and Clark the uh ode and teacher standards and practices commission so I just want to take a moment at the end of the meeting to say thank you um I know over these past five years you've experienced many challenges many of which you did not expect when you arrived despite that I appreciate the improvements that have
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been made in the district those that are still in progress as we work to increase student achievement for all of our students and eliminate the generational unacceptable and frankly immoral achievement gaps for our students of color thank you for your students thank you for your service to the students of our district here I'd like to add something one thing which is you also managed to bring a bunch of rock stars here to our district many of whom are sitting in this room right now which is a huge part of your legacy just the the strengthening of our foundations which I can say were quite shaky when you showed up so to look out and see the professionals here right now working so hard every day to realize our ambitious plans didn't happen by accident and it was a huge undercurrent of work for you I mean continues to be but throughout your whole time here so I really want to appreciate that thank you chair Scott and directors for the opportunity to serve the students of the Portland Public Schools and our Educators and leaders the work is complex and it is full of challenges and director constant just sort of stole my thunder because I was going to say the same thing and I said it to the team on Saturday during our all-day Retreat around they're not here by accident they are rock stars and we do have the leadership that's going to propel us another step closer I believe if we stay focused and you've heard me say that before so I appreciate our partnership and I know you share my commitment and strengthening Portland Public Schools to be the premier school system that we all believe it can be so thank you for remembering our anniversary foreign thank you for your leadership uh the next regular meeting of the board will be held on October 25th we are adjourned and we will be gathering as soon as we can for our work session


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