2022-11-15 PPS School Board Regular Meeting

From SunshinePPS Wiki
District Portland Public Schools
Date 2022-11-15
Time 18:00:00
Venue PESC Auditorium
Meeting Type regular
Directors Present missing
Load video
YouTube


Documents / Media

Notices/Agendas

Materials

Minutes

Transcripts

Event 1: PPS Board of Education Regular Meeting - 11/15/2022

00h 00m 00s
on my bike all right good evening everybody uh this meeting of the board of education for November 15 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 of meetings tab the meeting is being streamed live on PPS TV services website and on Channel 28 and it will be replayed throughout the next two weeks uh thanks everyone for being here tonight um and in my script it says director green is joining us virtually this evening but I actually believe he was pulled away on a family emergency so he will not be joining us tonight um before we get started I just want to share a few reminders for everyone um we ask that those who are attending the meeting tonight whether it's members of the public staff or ourselves as board members treat each other with respect we're really excited that you've taken time out of your day to get involved in our school district whether it's to testify or just observe the proceedings here tonight and I really believe that our ability to do this civilly is something that makes our community stronger if you wish to display signs or banners please remain in the auditorium Fue behind the seating area and just make sure you're not blocking any other attendees views of the proceedings and for safety reasons we also need to keep the walkways and aisles clear and in general just would appreciate it if everyone in the room can be mindful of others and remember that we are setting an example for our community's children tonight our first item on our agenda tonight is a resolution to recognize November as National Native American Heritage Month we want to acknowledge that today the month is already half over or more than half over but as this is our first meeting of the month we're now acknowledging this in a board meeting superintendent Guerrero would you like to introduce this resolution yes I would good evening directors thank you chair Scott this is actually a great opportunity because I don't think she's had the pleasure of being in front of the board in her new capacity as director of the title VI Indian education program Miss Jillian mirror who I'm going to ask to come up here to share about our current work that's happening in the Indian education program great to see you Julian in Nashua Nisha Jillian thank you my name is Jillian I'm Walla Walla Dakota and American European and I'm the director of Indian education here at PPS our currently program our program currently serves approximately 430 American Indian Alaska native students and our program is growing every day although data across the board shows that the district is not meeting the needs of our Native American students the data also shows the students who are enrolled in our program do better and have better educational outcomes than those who are not including better attendance lower disciplinary referrals and better math than reading scores with that being said I would like to thank the board and the superintendent for your commitment to Indian education among many other things our program is able to provide cultural enrichment opportunities to our students to help them feel connected to their culture and this large Urban setting that we have here in Portland our dedicated student Advocates and our community agent work hard to meet with as many students as possible not only going to schools to meet and hold space in small groups but also by supporting students and families with one-to-one support as needed we help support the native Montessori classroom at Fabian which is taught by the highly dedicated and skilled teacher Carrie as well as support the native Head Start classroom at Applegate and our staff also provide cultural lessons and support to classroom teachers across the district to request it and today I am joined by two of our current Indian ed students as well as the chairperson Desiree Rodriguez and vice chair Tamara Brown who serve on the Indian parent committee the vice chair Tamara as well myself our former Indian ed students and our program has a long history of serving native students in the Portland area and we look forward to being able to serve for many more years to come PPS has many Native employees and I want to give a shout out to their dedication as well we know that we're stronger when we work together and in ending I want to thank the board for for proclaiming November as Native American heritage month and I urge all Portland Public staff to celebrate the culture Heritage and economic economic contributions of Native Americans to our organ and the United States all the time it's not enough to see representation only one time a month our students to serve to see representation every day and all the time
00h 05m 00s
thank you very much do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 6607 so moved second director to pass moves director brim Edwards seconds and we're going to go ahead and read the resolution in a second is there any um board discussion before we do that I just love to learn um at some point by email about what your strategies are for reaching out to families and and getting more of our native children to enroll in the Indian Ed program um love to hear more about that thank you very much is there any public comment Ms pressure there's not okay great um student representative McMahon would you please read tonight's resolution so I've been asked to ask to recitals of this are a recitals Native American Indians are descendants of the original indigenous inhabitants of what is now the United States the Portland metro region rests on the traditional lands of the bands of Chinook Multnomah Clackamas Tualatin Malala kalapuya Wasco cowletts and the kalamet tribes these tribes established their communities in a resource-rich area were traded and fishing along the rivers and harvesting those natural resources that fed and maintain their families in the 1950s under the federal allocation policy a large segment of the native population in the U.S was forced to reallocate or relocate to several major cities of which Portland was won this is added to the diversity of tribal representation in the region Portland boasts of one of the largest and most diverse Urban Native American populations in the U.S the history of Native American Indians is Rich with those who positively influence and enrich our nation our society our region our state and our schools they're their entrepreneurship commitment to community service the value of justice and Liberty and social and cultural life on August 3rd 1990 president of the United States George W bush declared the month of November as the National American Native Heritage Month thereafter commonly referred to as Native American Heritage Month Native American Indians have made profound contributions and continue to make advances in education medicine art culture and public service and I've been a consistent and vital influence in our nation's growth and prosperity the Portland metro area's Native American Indian Community is diverse and growing with the population established to nearly seventy thousand as Oregon is a relocation site PBS students represent more than 150 tribal Nations as such we are humbled by Native American Indian employees families and communities who contribute to the accomplishment of PBS's mission understanding Native American Indian history is an important part of celebrating Native American Heritage Month the Oregon Indian Education Association introduced an Oregon governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill 13. tribal history and shared history in the 2017 legislative session this bill called upon the Oregon Department of Education to develop a Statewide curriculum related to the Native American Experience in Oregon including tribal history tribal sovereignty culture treaty rights government socioeconomic experiences and current events tribal history and shared history is one of the 11 objectives identified in the Odes American Indian Alaskan sorry Alaska native state plan in which every school district in Oregon implements historically accurate culturally embedded place-based contemporary and developing appropriate American Indian curriculum Oregon is now is one of several States adopting similar efforts to reaffirm the state's commitment to preserving tribal cultural integrity and the education of our citizens in May of 2018 the ode facilitated coordination of the creation of the essential understanding of Oregon's American Indians which has been used to develop American Indian curriculum and assessment tools for the 4th 8th and 10th grades aligning with state standards in the following content areas English language arts science math social studies and physical education and health Portland Public Schools office of Indian Education Office of teaching and learning and office of schools are engaged in this vital Statewide work as of January 2020 the state of Oregon requires implementation for the tribal history and shared history within all K through K-12 school districts throughout the state the office of schools and the office of teaching and learning will support we'll work together to support the implementation of this K-12 curriculum as foundational and fundamental elements of our culturally responsive teaching and learning for students in Portland Public Schools
00h 10m 00s
Portland Public Schools has a racial equity and Equity racial education Equity policy I apologize that states our persistence to affirming um overcome to affirmatively overcoming the educational barriers that have resulted in a persistent unacceptable achievement gap for black and Native students and to give each student the opportunity and the support to meet his or her Highest Potential or their Highest Potential um choosing to close opportunity gaps while raising achievement for all students is the top priority of the Board of Education the superintendent and all District staff the Portland Public School excuse me Board of Education believes every each and every student is to be celebrated and appreciated for the district's vibrant Contra for the distinct and vibrant contributions this is long I'm sorry um made by shared cultures languages ideas beliefs and values within our school Community tonight we are celebrating Native American students resolved the United United States the Portland Public School Board of Education hereby promises November 1st through November 30th as Native American Indian Heritage Month and encourages staff students and community members to observe and recognize and celebrate the culture Heritage and economic contributions of Native Americans to our Oregon and the United States through culturally relative activities and to learn from the past and understand the experience that we have shaped that has shaped the United States the superintendent or his designee shall work with all schools in the district to recognize Native American Indian Heritage Month through culturally relevant lessons and activities in November and throughout the school year thank you you'll be saying the United States proclaims when you're president of the senator speaking of the house that's exactly right and I apologize for all the mistakes I'm like that was great thank you thank you man McMahon and thank you for giving me the opportunity to read that out I really appreciate it and it's just very very important um and I'm so glad that we are recognizing in the school district chair Scott I I can't make the formal friendly Amendment but I'd like to suggest something our student reps suggested a more inclusive pronoun in recital eye to meet their Highest Potential please yep it was it was a good catch on the Fly and I think one that we will make for sure um thank you very much for reading that the board will now vote on resolution 6607 proclaiming the celebration of national Native American Indian Heritage Month in Portland Public Schools all in favor please indicate by saying yes all opposed please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes are there any abstentions great resolution 6607 is approved by a vote of six to zero with student representative McMahon voting yes thank you very much thank you [Applause] next up on our agenda tonight is resolution to recognize November 8th through 12th as National School psychology week do I have a motion and second to adopt resolution resolution 6606 so moved second George constant moves director room Edwards seconds is there any board discussion and anything student representative man you'd like to say on this was that a no I'm sorry I think as we've talked about many times here that um as we look at um mental health care and sort of where our students are the really important pieces that staff who care for students social emotional health do and so I think as we we look at the school sites and and the amazing work they do and the difference that it makes I think we all know that it's so key to our Student Success and their ability to to heal from uh the pandemic and um navigate this difficult world to multiples world we we find ourselves in these days totally agree and also I think we need to be um Vigilant about protecting our our resources and our sources of support for our school psychologists and other mental health supports in our school you know we have our students success act dollars and it was you know the number one concern that was raised around the state about how that money should be utilized so hopefully that stream continues and that use is prioritized and then with our Esser money that we know that will go away and we're also using some of that to support mental health needs so we need to be prepared in the future to to figure out how we're going to continue these Investments I'm just gonna add that we have the Balmer Institute now that's developing a pipeline for school um psychologists and I am really looking forward to seeing the throughput there and chair Scott we do have a senior staff prepared just to say a few words
00h 15m 00s
to recognize our school psychologists as well so great now's a good time we do have uh filling in as our director of special education Michelle Muir here with us I think it's also her first time and from the board as well in this new capacity welcome chair Scott and board directors super Guerrero and our student representative McMahon now more than ever we are so grateful for the individual and Collective work that school psychologists have done in support of students families and school communities the school psychologists support students accessing core instruction in many ways including providing social emotional and mental health supports providing expertise and collaborating with others in the areas of Suicide Prevention behavioral safety planning uh functional Behavior assessments counseling care coordination and providing assessment and recommendations regarding special education ability eligibility currently the majority of the work that they do is coordinating the eligibility process for students with disabilities and providing those supports that I just mentioned for students with disabilities however we also have a comprehensive school psychologist program in seven of our schools it's an Innovative program that was begun a few years ago where they not only provide special education services and eligibility they also do the preemptive work in the hopes of keeping students from being referred to special education and providing those services to all students instead of just students with disabilities in that effort they've um helped to increase that implementation of those multi-tiered systems and supports that we have for students as well as disrupted the racially and linguistically disproportionate special ed referrals in the schools in which they work which is schools that are both TSI or and or CSI schools and some of our most underserved populations it's our hope to continue to grow this comprehensive school psychologist program and we're really grateful for your continued support in doing so for all the reasons Miss marriage is listed this month during a time of gratitude I also want to add my appreciation for the critical role that our school psychologists play in our school communities thank you great thank you very much Ms Bradshaw is there any public comment on this resolution no okay the board will now vote on resolution 6606 to recognize November 8th through 12 2022 as National School psychology week all those in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes any abstentions resolution 6606 is approved by a vote of six to zero with student representative McMahon voting yes we wait and they're twice apologies but you can vote twice if you want we're only going to count it once but um thank you thank you very much moving on the board will now vote on the consent agenda board members if there are any items you'd like to pull for discussion we'll set those aside for discussion about at the end of the meeting first Miss Bradshaw are there any changes to the consent agenda no board members are there any items you'd like to pull from the consent agenda for discussion or questions are you moving are you moving resolution 6616 off the consent agenda already has been separated out of the import book and it's separated yet great do I and and we can actually I this is something that I think has been a little bit unclear just clarify so we will we ask for things to be pulled then we'll do a motion in a second and then we'll have a chance for board discussion on the agenda so just so we can do that going forward so let's get the motion on the table um since there's nothing needs to be removed I need a motion a second to adopt the consent agenda second director brim Edwards moves and director Holland's seconds now is there any more discussion on the consent agenda Vice chair Hollins yeah so I have two things one again of course I'm a highlight the fact that we have 11.2 million dollars in contracts and there's no certified businesses on here um so I just wanted to us to really start taking a look at that more closely and as a board I mean I think we need to really look for our superintendent to make sure that that starts being a priority for PPS um because as we know you know when we are participating in economic
00h 20m 00s
fruits of PPS then our communities and our family takes part of that as well so I wanted to just make a note of that again and I had a question on 6611 I love to have the equity field trip percentage on here it says and they'll re do that means we're not giving anything on that or because that's the first time I've seen that on the field trip piece good evening um good evening director's um and um chair Vice chair and student representative um let me I want to make sure I hear your question so I can respond yeah I noticed that on the authorities of our off-campus activities I had a section in here for Equity field trips fun so I just want to know did the na mean we did not give any funds or that just like the like what did that mean because the first time I seen it on here so correct so it it may mean that um for this process there was not a a need based on the funding source to dip into the Equity Fund for this particular field trip and Derek Jones this was an addition to the form based on the policy committee discussion so that's where it came from yeah I do appreciate it on the other last this is great information yeah just thank you but it doesn't so we're not dipping in and you could see that you can see I I also wanted to make a comment about the contracts because of course I I look at that every time too and I didn't do the math this time because I was rushed when I was going over the materials but um I mean we we need to reflect the community's entire contributions by hiring people that are women women owned a minority owned businesses specifically and I was noticing when I was looking through the materials today that there were there were some potential there there's some opportunity there in some of our contracts to um to do a little bit more searching and find out if we can well first of all if they're certified at all I was wondering and also um I think we just we need to do I think we're going to fill that position but we do need to be very very intentional about where we spend our dollars I was going to add to that that I'm wondering if it would be possible um I apologize for not bringing this up earlier everyone but if we could get a quarterly update on the spend in minority uh Contracting communities so we are tracking we're tracking we're tracking the dollars I think in other words if we have 11 million dollars in contract I mean ideally we would see you know 20 of that spent in minority and women-owned business communities certainly I'm hearing loud and clear uh rco Dan young is here as well uh I think the board's familiar with annually re-report out a percentage goal that we certainly are striving for for certified businesses I you think you'll see us something similar for our Equity Fund as well but we can also see that the quarterly reports that go to the bond accountability committee the issue is that we've always struggled with is that even when we meet our aspirational goals which we have in the past or we come close to it tends to be from a few larger firms rather than really spreading the opportunity as widely so you know that's a conversation that's always worth having what are we doing to cultivate those opportunities to help train people to to reach out but but you can see that in the um we don't get the reports anymore direct to the board but we get the we get the documents right I was going to add my two years of fellowship and School Board Partners has introduced me to a whole range of minority owned businesses of every type that touch education from Consultants to you know curriculum providers to um I mean some of the services that we that we that we use here and um if there's some way I can help by making an introduction to that world of minority-owned businesses that work in education I would love to be that that um Bridge sure uh when the time's appropriate can certainly share uh the the Outreach I've also been doing along with either our CFO or CEO to encourage present at their Gatherings of the various organizations here locally and
00h 25m 00s
in the region to try to encourage support application processes Etc uh so we're I think you'll learn we're trying to make a concerted effort there great any other board discussion before we move to a vote to say that I'm going to be abstaining from the consent agenda vote tonight because my daughter is going on the Cleveland High School band trip the board will now vote on resolution 6608-6615 and 6619 all those in favor please indicate by saying yes we'll opposed please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes are there any abstentions yes consent agenda is approved by a vote of five to one with student representative Sorry by a vote of 5-0 with student representative McMahon unofficially voting yes yeah I got the math right I think I got the math right thank you um we we turned out a student in public comment um before we begin I do just want to quickly review our guidelines for public comment first thank you very much for taking the time to attend a meeting tonight and provide in your comment public input informs and improves our work as a board we look forward to hearing your thoughts Reflections and concerns tonight our Board office may follow up on any board related issues that are raised during public testimony we do request the complaints about individual individual employees be directed to the superintendent's office to be dealt with as a Personnel matter and if you have any additional materials or items that you'd like to provide to the board or to the superintendent we would ask that you email them to public comment all one word pps.net again public comment at pps.net when you begin your comments please clearly state your name and spell your last name you'll have three minutes to speak and you'll hear a sound after three minutes at which point we would appreciate if you could wrap up your thoughts with that Ms Bradshaw um do we have anyone signed up for student Republic comment we do Rachel Hagerty Hall thank you for being here and also I didn't say um the time we'll start the timer there will be a green light for most of it it'll switch to yellow and you have about 30 seconds left and then red when the time is up it does not matter either one and thank you very much for being here tonight and feel free to start whenever you are ready I think I was told I say my name first and then you start the time is that right that's right okay so Rachel my name is Rachel Haggerty Hall and I guess I'm ready you're good to go I'm good to go I did this last time good evening I'm here to give my perspective on how Portland Public Schools special education administrators have become cynically spinning the concept of inclusion in order to justify severely limiting the provision of a Continuum of services for special education students in PPS I'm here tonight to talk specifically about the negative effects that eliminating or reducing the number of social emotional Focus classes in the district would have on every single student in the district including my child SCS focused classes serve the students whose behaviors mean they need a setting with fewer students and more adult support these are students who behave whose behaviors impact their own and others ability to access learning my child was born with brain differences that have caused her to have behavioral challenges since she was 18 months old she qualified for special education as a three-year-old and has multiple medical diagnoses that cause her behavioral challenges in the first grade she was sent home and suspended on multiple occasions thus being denied her right to an education in fact she attended four schools including several months at pioneered during first grade after things begin to turn around for her at Pioneer she began attending Buckman with a social emotional Focus class placement and this is when my child's true breakthrough happened the staff had a plan to slowly and thoughtfully integrate her into general education classes over time she began to spend more and more time in general education but could always get support from Focus class staff when she needed it some of you may have Deja Vu be feeling Deja Vu regarding this issue five years ago I sat before you and explained the need for a variety of educational settings for students when the district was attempting to dismantle pioneer the board members who were serving at that time including several of you have the opportunity to do the right thing and push back against the plan to dismantle Pioneer but did not do so once again pps's Communications Department is trotting out the same false narrative and disingenuous use of the word inclusion that they use when they argued for dismantling Pioneer suggesting that people who are not the parents of children with special needs and people who do not work in schools with direct student contact somehow know more about what children need than their parents and Educators how insulting have some respect for intelligence and be honest financial resources are limited and an expedient way to balance the books is to limit special education options in the name of inclusion if you decide to approve a cost-saving
00h 30m 00s
plan don't pretend that this is what's better for kids children with social emotional disorders who are not properly supported can and do disrupt the education of all students in a class or a building this is devastating for the child with disabilities whose needs are not being met it's devastating for the children who are continually who continually miss out on their legally mandated Services because special education teachers are called to deal with emergency situations and it's devastating for the children who just want to feel safe and learn in their classrooms board members I urge you to ask hard questions about motivation money and Staffing this district has made bad decisions in the past ck8 schools that have taken years to undo please don't make the mistake of naively trusting those who prefer to know more about students needs than their parents and teachers listen to parents listen to teachers use your critical thinking skills and maintain a Continuum of support for special education that is true inclusion thank you thanks for your comments thank you for your time I really do appreciate it Nora Layman nope either one is fine welcome hi thank you nice to be here tonight uh my name is Nora Layman and I'm a parent volunteer with families for climate and a mom of a first grader at Scott Elementary go Scotties and I'm speaking tonight because I'm frustrated um that a methane heating system is still included in the Benson reconstruction and no one seems willing to do what it takes to get fossil fuels out of the new building now rather than planning for yet another retrofit down the road in April 20th April 2021 PPS high school students first testified before County Commissioners about the connection between childhood asthma and gas cook stoves and last week Multnomah County Public Health Department issued a new report warning about the health hazards from burning methane gas indoors to protect Public Health improve air quality at homes and mitigate climate change this report recommends switching out gas stoves and other gas burning appliances like furnaces with electric appliances at time of replacement those students help strike a match that is about to change Regional policy for the better we need to stay clear on the facts at this late hour in the world's remaining carbon budget there is no safe level of climate warming gases left to emit PPS cannot wave away investing in a methane heating system for Benson High by saying that the district will still get to Net Zero by 2040. pps's carbon neutrality goal maybe 18 years out but the district will need to work very hard to get there in time and it's critical that everyone involved be willing to face up to mistakes along the way and model them transparently as learning opportunities for our whole community system change is hard but every delay in misstep to remove fossil fuels from our buildings transportation and Landscapes has a price lives lost and diminished both here in Portland and in less resourced less adaptable countries around the globe if PPS remains unwilling to re-engineer Benson's methane heating system we strongly encourage the district to revisit the plans and at minimum identify all electrification opportunities that our construction schedule neutral an important example will the Benson kitchen be all electric PPS should ensure that children and staff are not exposed to Benzene nitrogen dioxide carbon monoxide formaldehyde and other health hazards that are well documented to be emitted by gas ranges whether it's the culinary arts instructional facilities and high schools or any of the dozens of kitchens operated by nutrition services around the district it's time to make a plan to align these facilities with the most recent public health guidance from the county which states quote our review of the most recent scientific literature found conclusively that gas stoves are a health hazard especially for children with growing lungs to protect against pollution-driven respiratory problems we recommend a transition away from combusting appliances in favor of healthy electric Alternatives whenever possible end quote in conclusion I'm not a construction project manager but I can tell you this I don't think PPS should separate its financial decisions from our kids health and long-term survival there must be data and Analysis that include them from the beginning the choice to put gas into Benson was done in a vacuum based on upfront Capital costs and not long-term system operation costs and long-term human costs there was no cost benefit study we can't let that happen again our kids are counting on us to get this right Thank you thank you for your testimony um and also just to say really quickly I really appreciate the suggestions about
00h 35m 00s
looking at some of the existing things that are as you put it construction project neutral so I'm actually going to ask Vice chair Hollins at the next facilities and operations committee to I think pose that question to staff and see what we can do so thank you for your testimony tonight assuming Corin Rasmussen hi my name is Corinne Rasmussen r-a-s-m-u-s-s-e-n I am speaking here tonight to advocate for bridger's Community needs while also offering a perspective on the initial stages of the segc implementation as it relates to Bridger Elementary School on May 24th this board adopted resolution 6513 which results in Bridger Elementary undergoing profound changes our Spanish DLI students will be joining the lent community and our neighborhood program as it exists today will disband replaced by creative science moving into the current Bridger site this resolution was heartbreaking for our community but we understand that change is hard and we wholeheartedly support change that will lead to Equitable programs and outcomes for our bipoc and all students across Southeast Portland so what has happened since then there have been two forms at Bridger where District staff have come to answer questions and address our concerns their first was held on September 21st and a majority of DLI families in attendance said they could not commit to attending lent next year without detailed information on transportation and child care no detailed commitments or Transportation were available despite the resolution that y'all signed including language that transportation to lent from Bridger Elementary neighborhood students would be provided similarly similarly no information on Child Care was given families were told that lent has a sun program sun is not child care it is not available five days a week before or after school or even year round there's a break between sessions and this leaves Working Families without a viable solution at the next forum on October 21st Bridger families again raised the same concerns and still received no updates to this day we still do not know if there will be a bus where and when it will pick up or drop off or how many years of busing will be guaranteed or whether or not families will have adequate before and after care options for their children we are quickly approaching transfer deadlines and the district needs to provide this information before parents are expected to make a decision we have been clear about the information that families need to plans for this transition these are families that value the DLI program and want to stick with it however nobody chooses the mystery door when it comes to their child's education without answers attrition from DLI will accelerate and let's be frank who's leaving it's predominantly white families for whom a DLI education is a choice not the Spanish-speaking families for whom this program was built for to benefit and close historic educational gaps this is systemic racism and the direct consequence of this District's failure to plan for the transition PPS is putting Southeast Spanish DLI program in jeopardy with a seeming lack of urgency and transparency around these simple requests part of the district's mission for scgc was to create a robust whole school DLI program and without providing these aforementioned supports this laudable goal is at risk our third primary concern from our community is overcrowding when creative science moves into Bridger next year parents have been asking the district to share forecasted enrollment which includes projections on neighborhood DLI students and current fifth graders choosing to stay transparent and share those projections with us it has been nearly six months since the resolution passed and Bridger families have received no additional information or commitments from the district on the three areas consistently highlighted as top priorities Transportation child care and overcrowding we are asking that's clear specific details and commitments about transportation and Child Care at lent and projected enrollment at CSS at Bridger be provided to families by December 15th throughout this process Bridger has been a patient and collaborative partner and agreed to these drastic changes we believed in good faith that the district would implement the changes responsibly now the Bridger Community is being asked to commit to schools next year without certainty on how our children will get to school who will care for them before and after Mr Rasmussen could you I'm almost done thank you and it's Dr Rasmussen by the way if the school building will be over woefully overcrowded we ask that you approach this situation as if this were your own child and work with us to get the information we need by December 15th thank you for your time [Applause]
00h 40m 00s
Alyssa potasnik okay welcome I my name is Alyssa patasnick that's [Music] p-o-t-a-s-z-n-i-k you pronounced it perfectly good evening my name is Alyssa patasnik I've taught special education in Texas and California for the past 12 years last year I was the special education department chair for my campus in Austin and was voted teacher of the year I care deeply about public education and special education in particular I have fought my entire career with students for students with disabilities and their families and my work reflects that I began working for PPS in August by September I was desperately looking for another job when I told people I would be working for PPS and they told me how bad it was I would reply there is no possible way it can be as bad as it was in Texas and I was laughably wrong I cannot hope to summarize the multitude of issues with special education in PPS in three minutes but I will do my best under the guise of inclusion and Equity my campus does not have self-contained classrooms Beyond an ISC class for students whose academic needs cannot be met in the general education classroom special education encompasses a Continuum of services PPS has not properly resourced this Continuum and so students are not actually being served in their least restrictive environment in addition a critical lack of Staffing ensures that these students are marginalized and left behind sticking a student with disabilities and a general education classroom without the proper Staffing and supports is not inclusion it is not the lre and it is not a free appropriate public education as a result students who need greater support are left to flounder and one of two things happens either their behaviors are so Extreme as to create an unsafe environment for themselves and their classmates or they would draw they stop coming to class they stop trying completely eventually they might be placed in a program on another campus which is even more restrictive than if they had had access to resource classes to begin with add in the attempts to change the contract to further affect this Continuum the lack of Department chairs the complete disconnect between District admin and what's happening on the campus level as well as a completely untenable caseload size and it is no wonder that sped teachers are leaving the district in Mass what angers me the most about all of this is that it's done under the guise of diversity and inclusion and Equity as always when poor systems like this are put into place it hurts our most marginalized students our low-income students of color who have disabilities don't tell me before every meeting that I need to Center the experiences of our black and brown students when every decision that the district has made especially when it comes to special education is hurting and failing these kids say it's about money because it is it cheaper to yank out supports for these kids in the name of inclusion Pat yourselves on the back and congratulate yourselves for how inclusive you're being rather than adequately staff our schools and serve our kids PPS you should be ashamed of yourself thank you [Applause] that concludes general public comment thank you again everyone for comments tonight and please feel free to connect with our senior board manager Roseanne Powell if you have something specific who's sitting right over here if you have something specific you want to follow up on with the board or the board office uh next up uh we have President Bonilla from the Portland Association of teachers uh welcome hello thank you for having me being able to make it in person it's been one of those days so I appreciate uh Roseanne Powell and Kara Bradshaw for setting this up so that I could show up and speak um so uh first as always I'd like to start with appreciations today we had our contract Administration meeting which is where the district and the union come together to talk about issues that we see that might be widespread that impacts the administration of our contract and we got through our entire agenda today as well as had almost every member of our human relations uh or human resources Labor Relations team setting up follow-up emails on different topics um on the same day so I just want to appreciate that responsiveness and the work that they are doing and our educators are doing and getting some of these issues that we've been dealing with for some for multiple school years actually resolved so that was really awesome
00h 45m 00s
um I'm also really excited uh for our contract negotiations tomorrow um Pat we are looking forward to bringing some Educators to speak to their experiences and buildings um and finish presenting our initial proposal around article 9 which student discipline and safety um as Educators we believe that every student deserves a classroom environment where they can learn and Thrive particularly our special education students who face such unique and varied challenges we've had two special education Community Coalition meetings where we heard from Specialists General and general Educators parents Guardians former board members lawyers who work around special education law Pat leadership and as the educator you just heard from uh noted many of them were sharing their concerns around the lack of access to a proper education for their students and their children and the district pushed towards inclusion which has not yet been defined or declared it's just the Whispers our Educators our hearing and parents are hearing I also know that the district has been sending out a survey with every individualized education plan that is completed to families asking them around asking them for their opinion around language that would lead to a more um inclusive environment for our students uh without any kind of conversation with the union or uh Educators around what that would actually look like or mean um we believe that we are bargaining right now over two very pressing issues facing our district what do we do about the sharp rise in safety and behavior issues across PBS and how do we best meet the needs of our special education students so we're asking for six different things we're asking for credible and consistent data collection for five years we've been struggling to get PBS to collect and publish accurate data on student discipline um and so until we can see those numbers that haven't been uh you know massage manipulated changed through uh you know the inputting or not inputting of referrals that Educators provide it's very difficult to have an honest conversation about how to support students who are struggling we're also looking for district-wide standards and having those standards equitably applied I think several folks have talked about that for different situations here in the public comment uh you know PBS is a patchwork of different approaches addressing student behavior and we need to make sure that we have um the same approach that is flexible that can incorporate and Encompass the needs of all of our students in all of our schools and that we're making sure that we have those common standards and they're being applied consistently for our students we also need adequate staff and space to provide that full Continuum that full spectrum of student supports as that one parent discussed her child was able to feel and be successful when she was able to go to a social emotional classroom and so we we know that even students with behavior issues may need different types of support to be successful that doesn't necessarily mean special ed but we need to be prepared to provide students the spaces and Staffing necessary to give each student the supports that they need that are tailored to those individual needs we have heard too many stories of students having a really hard time at school and needing more support and having to have those difficult moments in public in the hallway in the main office in places where the stigma of their needs increases and it leads to as that former educator that the previous educator discussed leads to that stigmatization causing them to no longer want to come to school and school should be a place that everyone feels they belong we also believe that special education placements have to be determined by students families and educators our students our families our front line educators are really in the best position to identify the classroom environment that will help our special education students Thrive and we need to make sure that PBS continues to have these individualized learning environments and schools especially in those sites that don't exist and we also want to make sure that we have these district-wide environmental safety standards right we know that the district has a plan a multi-year about decade long plan around um updating our buildings but no one should have to work in a classroom without heat or electricity or wear molds and rat droppings are following the air right we shouldn't have classrooms where we have more students allowed than you know is is reasonably safe we need to make sure
00h 50m 00s
that even though we are incrementally bettering these spaces that the kids shouldn't suffer as we try to solve these problems students and Educators deserve better and then lastly we just want to make sure that as a district we're complying with our active shooter protocols right like it's already scary enough we've seen so much gun violence in our neighborhoods in our communities and when our students have to walk through and active shooter drill it's even more upsetting when we as Educators can't follow the steps that we're telling kids are necessary to keep them safe we need to make sure that our classrooms have doors that lock from the inside that we have blinds that actually work and that can close and that every classroom or space where students or Educators might be have a phone or a two-way radio or some way to communicate with the front office so this is all to say that you know I'm really looking forward to continuing this conversation with PPS leaders and and we know that our Educators and our kids do well if they can and that through our bargain we can make sure we create the environment that allows everyone to succeed um so thank you for the time and uh I'm looking forward to seeing everyone uh tomorrow during our bargain thank you president Bonilla appreciate you being here of course okay next up on on our agenda uh the Portland Federation of school professionals has requested to speak this evening and I believe President Batten is here oh virtually as well great welcome I think we had president Batten a moment ago there we go can you hear me it doesn't look like you can see me yet we can hear you okay um thank you everyone um I'm Michelle Batten b-a-t-t-e-n president of pfsp the Union representing classified employees at Portland Public Schools last month I came to you sharing concerns regarding Staffing safety and the workload issues of the employees I represent I also shared statistics outlining the disparate treatment of my Workforce both in equity and in gender we are now Midway through November and the issues have not been resolved in fact the situation is more urgent Staffing shortages abound and daily there are significant injuries to my members and the others who support our students this week alone I'm working with three members who have sustained concussions and other injuries arising from students with needs that can't be supported if these Staffing shortages are to be resolved employees must feel they are valued by their employer Portland Public Schools and they do not you the school board and superintendent must revisit how you show respect to these diverse employees who support your most vulnerable students and all the others who help this school district run every day do you pay them a livable wage do you provide them a safe working environment do you offer relief to their untenable workload sadly by your lack of support to these loyal employees your answer is obviously no from the first gain employee is hired the Betrayal begins oh by the way you won't be getting any breaks maybe a lunch here and there even though your contract and the law require them we're really short staffed so you're covering three times as many students as we said you would when we hired you you haven't had any safety training yet and you may not even know who your supervisor is but welcome to PPS there isn't a shortage of people willing to work they are just not willing to work here for these wages sustaining these injuries with no respite in sight please work with and listen to the groups who represent your employees we're not doing this work for fame and Glory we're here because we value our members your employees we value those who support our students and our communities thank you thank you president Patton we appreciate you being here tonight Ms Bradshaw I think that's it for testimony tonight great um we are moving on to the student Representatives report student
00h 55m 00s
representative McMahon thank you good evening everyone um so I just want to start off my report with um the resolution and obviously what we have on this month which is the national Native American Indian Heritage Month I was hoping that some of the members from our native Student Union from Cleveland would be able to join us but unfortunately due to the glaring burden of college applications biology tests and a French project they were unable to make it tonight but I would love to share some celebrations from their group that they wanted to come forward a lot of times native students are looked at as something in the past and are not really recognized for the current work of community service social justice and Equity that they push forward every day within their schools Cleveland High School recently our NSU has been able to get the nine flags of the federally recognized tribes here in Oregon though they do not Encompass the non-federally recognized tribes which still provide so much cultural benefit and insight to our students and to many students within Portland Public Schools are members of these flags go to represent the history of these nations who have continuously strived to ensure that their cultural Legacy is not forgotten and that their students are taken care of and it's really the work and the dedication to community service that continues this tradition and allows for our native students to thrive within our schools and so I just want to really highlight the work of those individuals who continue every day we obviously had some of them in this room earlier and the students that despite the trauma of coming to a school building and living in a world in which has not been kind to them or their cultural identity that they continue to fight for what's right and I think it's important to appreciate that students are really the lifeblood of our institution and it's their work and their energy that is the reason we are here today and that we have successes as a group that we can move forward together and be better and so it's just their celebrations and thank you so much to all the native student unions across PBS who work to ensure that those legacies are not forgotten and that students remain successful within the PBS buildings then moving on to some good news recently I was able to go watch the Cleveland play it was zombie prom this year it was a musical it was very good and I think it just goes to highlight the amazing Arts education that we have in our buildings and also the dedication of our teachers our theater director at Cleveland is halftime but the students went on to say in the final show that I was able to watch that these educators are so committed that even if they're part-time that even if they don't have all the resources or the props or the budget that they need to put on these shows they really put in the effort to ensure that students find their place within the Arts and that they're able to explore that passion and share that with the rest of the school community and I love going to our band recitals and our plays because sometimes it's underappreciated but it's so amazing the work that those people put in to make it happen and that happens across the district not just at my school play and also at Benson High School CTE students or classes are going on field trips to meet industry leaders and to learn from those who know it best and I think it really goes to show the depth of education and the importance of CTE education in our classrooms and I think it's so great that students really get that depth of knowledge um and then I say my commentary on just the second resolution which is about our school psychologists um I just want to call it out specifically that it's so important and I think we had some individuals from our community up here just talking about the challenges and it is so much emotional labor it is so tricky and I want to say that despite all of the terrible conditions that we've already heard about tonight that our Educators decide to stay with us and it's really the commitment to their students that they do like they put their students well-being over everything else and they continue to do that despite the degradation to their own personal life to their family life to even as we see like back to their to their bodies to their own selves and it's that Dedication that is so inspiring and as a student who knows the ins and outs of school I go almost every day um and it's really seeing that passion and that dedication because I I feel that work I am in school I feel the benefits of the work that you put in and I know the challenges and I do not have separation from that so I appreciate the work that you all put into making sure that students are safe that students are cared for and that students feel loved and can really um go into school and have that education that they should be guaranteed um so on that note thank you and that concludes my student comment thank you representative next up on our agenda board committee and Conference reports uh I will just
01h 00m 00s
open it up if any board members have updates on the committee work that is going on now would be the time to bring them forward attractive remembrance sure I have two of two reports um first the Levy committee met and the levy provides more than 100 million annually for our schools based on current law we had a presentations up about options to adjust the rate and also about the five election dates that we have that we potentially could look to for referral and talked about the pros and cons and rank them um as a committee um also based on current law and the discussion we had about the the the rate um and the impacts of changing the rate uh we made a decision at that we would not be recommending a rate change at this time and that there's some work that will shift over to the intergovernmental committee um to look at whether there's either a statutory or constitutional change that could be that should be considered before we go out for a local option and then the other just report I have is the um the board liaison for the climate crisis response committee they had their first meeting as you all know we um voted to [Music] um install nine community members including two students um earlier tonight we approved the chair they had a great [Music] um launch of their committee and I think in the process of getting organized and already talking about sort of how they want to frame up um their their re their oversight and then ultimately their report to the board at the end of the year um it was a great discussion and I think they'll be um happy to hear that there is potentially going to be a discussion in the facilities and operations committee about Benson that came up as a topic um and so they'll be interested in that had a lot of questions related to that um also just the the other notable thing is there was a sort of a Showcase of a new tool for the greenhouse gas inventory and how it would be measured that is going to be a great way for all of us to see sort of the type of sort of where we stand now and the progress we're going to make and it can be used in a number of different ways that will be a great graphic for us and a way to visually see the products we're making great thank you I have a really brief conference report and I'm going to leave early I'm not feeling very well but I want to share Out director green and I through school board Partners fellowships had a chance to visit the Alex Haley Farm just outside of Knoxville Tennessee and it's an important location because it was the site of the Clinton 12 integrated Tennessee schools in 1956 I believe um and the the integration process was met with terrific violence from the KKK and others in the community um Alex Haley bought this Farm as a writer's Retreat and uh died a little bit too early and the children's defense fund ended up buying the property um they were able to salvage it there was a golf course planned after Alex Haley died and their financing fell through Marion Wright Edelman envisioned a place where the well-being of the education well-being of children was first and foremost and so our conference was made up of school board members from around the country in this place that envisions a world where kids are thriving and uh the focus of of the conference with people power and professionalization so really advocating for school board members to get additional um training like the necessary trainings um to use our power to change the way kids and students in this country are educated specifically School Board um they created many of the racist policies and discriminatory policies that we see today over the last 50 to 60 years and it's on us to dismantle those so I'll leave it at that it was a wonderful place to be um there are over 400 works of art from a donated by a former professor of African studies and then Maya Lin has two buildings on that property a chapel that's uh built after Noah's Ark and a
01h 05m 00s
library that that represents African-American authors and has a beautiful little children's area um thank you um we have an intergovernmental committee meeting on the 21st so everyone should have received our draft legislative agenda so I would really love to hear back from everyone um if you have input on that or just save it for the meeting join us at the meetings yes um so that's important I want to hear from everybody uh on that because then it will come to the board on um December 6th is that correct 13th okay um and then just the other committee is the Jefferson um comprehensive planning committee has been meeting and um we need to see how it shakes out but as at this point our final meeting has been canceled and that it will just be a town hall which is occurring on Wednesday so please put the word out encourage people far and wide to come to the town hall these Town Halls have been decently well attended up to this point but I encourage everybody to sort of cue into this process because that's going to be coming to the board that's December 6th isn't it Jefferson is the sixth so it's the 13th also okay so December in December so there were some materials presented at the last facilities and operations committee meeting but it's going to be really important for everybody to sort of check into that process because we're going to be asked to approve a master plan and it was actually presented at the facilities committee meeting that there's a lot of room after the master planning process to make all sorts of changes to you know major details and of course that's true because it's just the beginning of the formal design process but I would really caution everyone that although that's what was represented that has not always been the case and you know we just had the recent example of um you know not providing athletic space for Lincoln student athletes because it wasn't specifically earmarked in the master plan and there was an unwillingness to go back and address that so I think it's on us to make sure that if you have you know doubts or questions or things that you don't see specifically called out even given that we're sort of in the um conceptual level um let let it be known because um that's the beginning of the the winnowing process that happens during design so tell everybody to come to our town hall on Wednesday also the students the community outreach has been pretty impressive in that process including student-led did you go to Tay's uh yeah I was out of town but they did a great job putting it on and um they did great Outreach and so really trying to find people where they are and and let everybody know what's going on with that process great thank you thank you are there more committee updates well I have just one from uh facilities and operations committee um in reference to director costumes we had a report on the Jefferson Master Plan update they have kind of decided on two options the two design options one is of course a rebuild on the south end of the property and the other one is of course the remodelization remodelizing the existing structure um and the engagement piece has been outstanding uh for the Jefferson um Jefferson site um the engagement piece has uh you know when I hear from the community um they very they feel very inclusive um they are hearing from different hearing from different folks from alumni to current students um that how this engagement process has been gone so I definitely want to make sure we give kudos to our engagement folks that they have done an outstanding job with this process and I like director costume said this is only the beginning um you know this is only the beginning there's going to be a lot more when it comes to the design piece as well and also um I don't know if we'll be getting an update on the deaf modernization I mean the draft master plan at the next facilities and operation meeting so I encourage every board member to be at that meeting because the next one in
01h 10m 00s
December will be voting on on that so I'll invite everyone to come so they can get a more in-depth um understanding um of that we talked about the budget savings from Lincoln High School um and when we talked about the saving piece we looked at the overall savings that we're possibly getting from not just the Lincoln piece but from the budget savings from Kellogg but except with McDaniels and to look at what we can do as a whole with all the dollars versus just one and we're looking to have that number around September of 2023 um and I am in support with you as far as you know and I've let uh the team know that you know we have not invested in our Athletics over the last two million two billion dollars worth of bonds and so I would want to look at what all those savings are and looking at what we can put into Athletics um even if it's a small portion you know if we have to start the phases in some of those properties well maybe we can't do the whole thing maybe we just do part of it or do some of it here and do some of it there um but it is definitely um something that we're going to be looking at hopefully we'll be looking at next year as far as those dollars and then the we had a Harriet Tubman update um which is actually some great news um I had got a call before right before the last facility operations um committee that Kairos board um had agreed to preliminary preliminary arrangements to co-locate Tubman and Kairos in the co-located building at the humble site so that was some great news so now we're going to be looking at walking down that path of citing uh Tubman uh where the Kairos building is that's it great thank you Vice chair Hollens um director pass I know you're not feeling well so I'm actually um want to make sure you can get out of here um I would like to move one of our agenda items forward which is resolution 6616 and so uh it's okay with the board we're going to move on to that item next this is a settlement agreement with Fortis construction that was removed from from the consent agenda and I'm asking if there's a motion in a second to adopt resolution 6616. so moved second director Lowry moves and vice chair Holland's seconds is there any board discussion about this before we vote I'm going to make one quick comment on that um I know we had got briefed on it before um and I know everybody know where I stand at I probably would be a no vote on this um for a couple reasons one I know in the construction industry that I partake in as well that when we looked at this law that was we knew it was coming and so for me you know when we start doing our budgeting for construction sites we even even though we didn't know if it was going to pass or not we added it into our our estimates and it'd be for me it'd be hard-pressed to think that a company that would have not done that knowing that if this was only coming on the table so that's me any further board discussion uh Ms Bradshaw is there any public comment on this item no great the board will now vote on resolution 6616 settlement agreement all those in favor please indicate by saying yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no no student representative McMahon yes are there any abstentions resolution resolution 6616 is approved by a vote of four to two with student representative McMahon voting yes director to pass thank you for staying for that I appreciate that um moving back to where we left off apologies for just a second uh superintendent Guerrero I think we're moving on to the appointment of the racial equity and social justice Community advisory committee sure and I'm going to remind directors and our community a little bit more about this item and while I'm doing that I'm going to ask two of our resj team members to come down just for moral support Lydia Gamboa and will Fernandez so in 2021 Oregon legislature passed Senate Bill 732 requires each School District to convene an educational Equity advisory committee we're calling it our resj community advisory committee it specifies certain committee responsibilities this legislation and specific membership selection
01h 15m 00s
requirements so this bill requires the committee and this is straight from the bill that the committee will advise School District boards about the educational Equity impacts of policy decisions and that it will advise the school district superintendent about the educational Equity impacts of policy decisions as well see It'll inform the School District board and school district superintendent when a situation arises in a school of the district that negatively impacts underrepresented students and Advising the board and superintendent on how best to handle that situation uh this bill gives uh for the legislation now it gives District superintendents the responsibility for coordinating the member nomination process and in proposing approved finalists to the school district board which we're doing this evening uh in August the board approved an initial slate if you'll recall of committee members with a plan to do further community outreach which has been done for parent staff and additional teacher positions on the committee once the school year was underway so after a robust Outreach and selection process 12 members have been selected from over 50 applications for the board's consideration this evening and I want to recognize that directors to pass in brim Edwards participated on the selection committee as well so the team is here to take any questions if you have them director brim Edwards any thoughts anything to add well because I participate in the in the process I don't have any questions I think we have we had an outstanding group of applicants um I mean it was really hard to narrow it down so hopefully we'll find other ways to utilize the talents and expertise of those who aren't on the committee but um we I think have an excellent slate to recommend to the to the board great thank you um do we have a motion in a second I just love to just say one quick thing about this dating Ledesma also um I worked with her in terms of looking at the student side and students that would be appointed to the board and I just wanted to shout out that one of the students that has been appointed is actually also a District student council representative so it's really great to see kind of that intersection of leadership and also see that students of color really being represented within our leadership in multiple different ways so I just thought that was great to see all right thank you do we have a motion and second to adopt resolution 6617 so move second Church constant moves director brim Edwards seconds is there any additional board discussion Ms Bradshaw is there any public comment no the board will now vote on resolution 6617 approving the racial equity and social justice Community advisory committee Charter committee members all those in favor please indicate by saying yes yes yes I'll post please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes yes and any abstentions so resolution 6617 is approved by a vote of five to zero with student representative McMahon voting yes it's great I just want to say thanks to everybody who's willing to serve and being willing to engage and volunteer your time for the good of our students so thank you very much to the whole entire uh group that we've just approved it's exciting say the same thing we're looking forward to working with this new committee uh thank you to the rsj team and senior director Ledesma for shepherding the process and for our board's participation thank you thank you excellent next up we have a first reading of policy recessions chair Lowry uh policy committee chair Lowry just to be clear I'm not taking it over from you tonight um you have in your packet the staff report about these rescissions the policy committee is continuing to do the work of improving our policies refining them and staff is going through to look at things that just no longer fit our practices or things that we cover in other places and so both of the policies before you tonight are either not in alignment with our values or are things that we don't do any longer and so we're just those are before you tonight we'll be voting on them after the 21 Day comment period thank you director Lowry um the policies proposed to be rescinded will be posted on the board website and the public comment period is a minimum of 21 days contact information for public comment will be posted with the policy the board will hold the second reading of these policies on December 13 2022 and I probably should have asked if the board had any questions for policy chair Lowry before reading that last part I was going to eat cake but instead I'm ready um uh okay great thank you very much so we will again hold the second reading of these policies on December 13th and moving on to the next item which is a resolution to approve the appointment of a Metro policy advisory committee member the Metropolitan advisory committee also known as mpac established by the metro Charter in 1992 Metro is
01h 20m 00s
the regional government for those of you who don't know advises the Metro Council on a range of topics including Regional Transportation Planning management of the urban growth boundary protection of lands for natural resources future Urban or other uses and other growth management and land use planning matters required by state law or determined by the council to be a regional concern because all of these issues may be of concern to schools school districts are represented by a voting position on mpac according to the committee bylaws the member and Alternate positions representing school districts are to be appointed jointly by the governing bodies of the school districts represented which include Portland Public Schools the member and Alternate from the school boards in the Metro region will be appointed jointly by the governing bodies of the school district's represented and must be from different districts as part of this process school boards were asked to submit nominations for the member and Alternate position earlier this summer Beaverton School District nominated Susan Greenberg for the member position in Hillsboro School District nominated Mark Watson for the alternate position which we are being asked to approve by resolution and I will just note here that um I think as most people know but in case you don't I am the deputy CEO at Metro and so I will be recusing myself tonight from voting since the mpac actually advises Metro it doesn't feel super great to vote on someone who's going to be advising me so I will be abstaining from tonight's vote with that do I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 6618 so moved second director constant moves and vice chair Holland seconds uh is there any board discussion student representative McMahon and here and serve our community thank you very much um and no public comment Ms Bradshaw no all right the the board will now vote on resolution 6618 to approve the appointment of a Metro policy advisory committee member all those in favor please indicate by saying yes yes all opposed please indicate by saying no student representative McMahon yes and I as I mentioned will be abstaining from tonight's vote resolution 6618 is approved by a vote of four to zero with one abstention and student representative McMahon voting yes next up uh annual report on the student investment account so Sony Guerrero yes chair well this is exciting each year the state of Oregon requires districts to provide an annual report on how the student investment account Sia dollars were invested during the last school year so tonight we're going to take the opportunity to share with you and the community how we're aligning those Investments to our strategic plan because after all that's our roadmap so we know that our strategic plan is our blueprint to create the necessary conditions we like to think to meet our board goals an accelerating achievement for students of color in particular and continue working at eliminating persistent gaps using our board goals as our North Star so we want to introduce tonight while we have an attention on this to talk a bit more about our PPS strategic plan how we're monitoring our progress uh internally uh which we're sharing with board and public along the way so here to present this evening is our chief staff former Forbes 30 under 30 Jonathan Garcia good evening directors uh so uh okay um Jonathan Garcia chief of staff uh we'll get started here the quality and stability of our district are rooted in good long-term planning trust and Community Partnerships this is why we brought our community and organization Partners together to define a comprehensive shared Vision PPS reimagined and to develop the Strategic plan that guides us along the way we have clear student academic treatment student goals that you all voted and approved that enables enable us to measure our progress at the very heart of our plan is our graduate portrait together we pledge that Portland Public Schools will graduate compassionate critical thinkers who are able to collaborate and solve problems and lead a more socially just world together we've pledged to center student voices and our shared commitment to racial equity and social justice in doing right by black Native American and students of color I want to bring those shared commitments to the front of our minds as we consider our student investment account Investments this evening both those we've made and those we will make for going forward I'm especially proud to introduce the dashboard which will keep our parents students staff Community Partners and of course you our school board directors updated on our team and Management's progress towards an educational ecosystem steeped in racial equity and academic achievement now you know as well as I do that our student investment account dollars are just one piece of our funding puzzle our
01h 25m 00s
federal and state Partners have provided several distinct funding sources but seeing them as distinct would not be strategic and it would not be in service of our shared commitment to racial equity and academic Excellence so we have worked quite intentionally to maximize those Investments by aligning them as you might recall from this last past spring we've categorized our investments into five categories addressing unfinished learning increasing learning opportunities providing high quality emotional mental health and wraparound supports creating more time for educators to plan collaborate and prepare and obviously make meaningful progress on our communities top top priorities of course some of our funding also supports or our summer funding supports our pk-12 operations you can see here a how we're aligning resources to disrupt underachievement and accelerate Equitable student learning we've made significant investments in professional development so that our Educators and school leaders receive the training they need to better teach and support all of our kids and as we emerge from distance learning and face a world filled with significant social economic and environmental pressures we continue to make direct student services and support a top priority this includes investing in new learning support staff to Target specific student groups needing learning acceleration it includes culturally specific Services it includes whole child support they increase investments in mental and Behavioral Health counseling and social work and it includes meeting our students where they are and offering diverse Pathways to academic growth and achievement and at the heart of our learning spaces are trusted adults Educators coaches counselors mental health support professionals and Community Partners these people are catalysts for the change we seek the student investment act has helped fund over 200 of these in that invaluable team members to support our work towards racial equity and academic Excellence our external Partners have buoyed this investment to go even further on behalf of our students of color but our Collective work has not been without challenges the district submitted the first student investment account plan in March of 2020 and you certainly know the series of unprecedented and compounding challenges that follow while we received much less money than we've anticipated we anticipated receiving the student investment account funds were received helped respond to and offset many hurdles while making incremental progress towards racial equity and academic excellence we had to plan to adjust our plan to address our emergency reprioritization of funds to respond to the immediate challenges we faced another challenge to note is that we delayed that the delayed year two Grant agreements disproportionately impacted the charter school and community-based education organization's ability to implement their plans and their plans were delayed as a result story of uh of Dreams Deferred by the pandemic is not unique to Portland I'm extremely proud of how everyone at PPS weathered the story and I'm proud of how quickly once we return to some normalcy we have made the space to reprioritize our progress towards racial equity and academic excellence so what does that look like in practice our commitment to long-term planning includes careful prioritization making sure we're laser focused on what we must accomplish now so that we can build on those accomplishments moving forward you're aware that our strategic plan identified 22 strategic outcomes and 63 goals we cannot lose sight of those but working on all of those simultaneously would mean we're working on everything and nothing at the same time and so we're zeroing in on the on in on the nine most pressing strategic outcomes transforming structures for racial Equity cultivating a culture of racial equity and Care planning for the center for black student Excellence you can see how these aligned with each other and with our focus on racial equity and social and academic excellence academic Excellence is also furthered by the development and implementation of an integrated instructional framework and by implementing our multi-tier systems of support and we're also striving to develop a diverse high quality and thriving Workforce here at PPS we're socializing our vision and our strategic plan we're establishing a system-wide project management culture and practice and we're embedding our system data driven continuous Improvement practices across the district and you can see how these nine outcomes map neatly to our five strategic priorities for this school year alone in these priorities you get a tangible sense of how we are aligning our resources whether they come from our student investment account or from the money you approve in our budgets towards racial equity and academic Excellence we are implementing a new instructional framework and a new curriculum that rigorous and standard space across our schools we're keeping our promise to voters that are curriculum will be comprehensive culture responsive and current
01h 30m 00s
we're working to get all students and especially our black Native American other students of color the support they need for high quality learning this includes investing in new learning support to staff to Target specific student groups needing learning acceleration it includes expansion of Career Technical education and the Arts it includes whole child support like increased investments in mental and Behavioral Health counseling and social work to balance his attention to high quality learning supporting our Educators to the uh to balance his attention to high quality learning supporting our Educators to deliver high quality teaching is important we're doing this through significant investments in professional development and obviously notably uh much with uh with our Esser dollars we continue to revitalize our physical spaces and we're working to create inspiring and joyful learning environments that rise to meet the demands of our changing climate and we're doing all this with attention to our organizational culture we're working to create a culture that is always always in service of our children and youth and we want to be completely open about with our community about our progress collectively you me and our educators are superintendent our central office leaders we all work hard to build back the community's trust in our district and we aim to sustain that that's why I'm proud to share with you tonight our new public-facing dashboard which will keep our community updated on our progress towards our priorities this is still an early development and will continue to expand and refine what is included Dr Renard Adams who would not who could not be with us here tonight and his team in systems performance is managing this effort as part of our Focus to be data driven and focus on system being at a time at top performance where we have encountered an obstacle that has slowed us down we will share where we're success succeeding in meeting our goals we want to celebrate that with our community as well this is all in service of aligning our student investment account Investments planning and Reporting with the implementation of forward together and the board goals this includes bolstering progress monitoring and evaluation tools and practices that provide deeper insights all as part of our continuous Improvement system we want to Leverage The Investments over time to achieve the district's priorities and we will get there faster by inviting our community into the process and that concludes my presentation thank you very much Chief Garcia at this point we'll open it up for any board questions or discussion I I've been looking forward to this I look forward to actually getting into the dashboard and seeing it are we going to be able to do something like that for our Sr dollars as well say more or are we planning to it's just just a dashboard about how we have made the investment and whether we can no baritone knows this is my favorite subject two important questions how do we make transparent invisible to the community how we've invested those dollars and then secondly how do we share with them the progress we're making leveraging all of our revenues towards our organizational goals right and specifically how if we connected those Investments to our goals yeah yes that's what we're trying to do from a technical perspective showing a dashboard we have not uh moved along those lines but we do submit our quarterly reports to Ode we're working to update our our website it's static it's not as fancy this has been priority to focus on um our our strategic Plan and there's been conversations on how to create the connection to not just a server but like what is the overall budget linked to that uh and so it's it's it's conversations we've had but we don't have any specific like concrete plans to be able to have a uh budgeted dashboard I I just I'm interested on two levels one because I think it's important to be able to to convey to the community what we're doing with that infusion of funds and then two looking ahead to uh when we know when we don't have them anymore um we need to have a really clear way to see which of those Investments really had a high impact because that's we're going to have to carry that into our next budget process and say we were able to do these demonstration projects we were able to experiment with some strategies that we haven't had the resources to support in the past what really really worked for kids and how do we find the money to keep doing it that's especially true when you see the slide with all the Strategic Investments uh how we've been able to really push that agenda forward whether it's work in the high schools supports in our
01h 35m 00s
neediest schools um whether it's Arts expansion uh Etc you see the list here the the counselors the family supports the mental health we would be in a very different situation if we didn't have the capacity of all these folks uh post pandemic right now and I'll just second what director constant said I I don't think we need a fancy interactive dashboard I do think a simple but clear you know two-pager that we can presenter in the budget process that really says you know here are the dollars you received here's what we spent on and then connect them as the superintendent just mentioned you know to to to results to you know um to achievement is going to be really important as we talk to the community so I appreciate you continuing to bring up that issue director constant I think it's important so additional questions well I do have a question but it's more process um I have my roughly tonight um so I'm I'm curious these Investments were made without the benefit of knowing what had happened during the pandemic correct because we didn't have we didn't have a cycle of we're bringing uh Leslie Odell here our senior director of federal and state programs am I getting a title right the question I couldn't hear you back I was just um if this is the look back report correct yes so these were Investments we made without full sort of visibility to what um what had happened with our students during the pandemic because we didn't have full Baseline data correct so our first year if you'll remember we um that's when the pandemic happened and we had uh our funding significantly cut this is a look back on last year as we were responding to what we anticipated was going to be uh where our needs were so when we get to the next year's budget cycle it'll be informed by what we know happened with students and in a oh this year yeah and and the layer to that is part of the integrated Grant guidance as well so overall at the state level there is an effort to not just take Sia but a few other funding streams High School Success at which is measure 98 and and start so this was like the first cycle and now as we've progressed through it how do we start building for the next four years and to say that this uh the integrated Grant guidance is really it's modeling itself off of the Sia process and they're still working out the Kinks there at ode as they're dealing with what you know we're dealing with but again this is the annual report process which we anticipate we will keep but it'll be broader with all of the grants not exclusively Sia so as you can imagine how cumbersome it is for districts to have to respond to each of these individually and the feedback and I'm glad that we have a way to report how we braid it all into this integrated plan which is exactly what we're talking about here how do we leverage all our available resources to uh Power our strategic plan for lack of a better word yeah it'd be interesting um I guess whether we are going to Benchmark it all against what other districts did and what sort of they found in their first year and last year of funding and sort of what what worked and what didn't is that is there an effort to do that at all at this like at the coastal level or um to well just you know off the cuff uh I'll let Leslie talk but we all Saw s back results a couple weeks ago across the state um our our local mesd has a Consortium and then ode is working with all of the uh esds across to to actually compile this information and and really see uh you know we're really early in this so what are the results as they as these Investments continue that is the in in that's the intent and the uh of these of these reports actually so great so they'll all at some point get that'd be great um because it would just be interesting to see what um what other strategies the other districts utilized and what sort of results they got and then my can I can I just say one one comment I mean I think I think that's right and we're excited to to be able to to to compare if you will and learn best practices I will just highlight you know based on just information that we've seen again you know we we can tell
01h 40m 00s
what's interesting about what you see in front of you is that um a lot of these were decided on pre-pandemic right when we went out to our community uh and had a you know robust engagement we heard the need for high quality emotional mental health and wraparound support so I mean everything you see on this list you know and as you as you go post pandemic right or is it during and after the pandemic um these still apply right and so and they've been Amplified and I think we have an opportunity one to share our best uh learnings you know uh as well and then learn from from other other districts yeah it's interesting because um it's a pretty good list um the only thing is I because I was I'd forgotten that was made before because I was like it's missing acceleration but that's about the only thing that's missing so I had just one other uh question and if we're going to have a discussion at a different time about the Strategic plan and the dashboard I could ask it then but I think Now's the Time Now's the Time okay um so I'm was looking at the Strategic plan and the dashboard and um I can't really tell like on some of them it is assessing the progress and it has a number like eight percent or 14 or one percent but I can't tell it's um how the what because because there's not a a smart number I'm trying to figure out how you how you picked a number or what's that based on is there sort of a data pack behind it or yeah there there is and I think one of the things that we that I recognize coming into this meeting uh is obviously not having Dr Adams here whose team is running the back end um I can share share with you that our project management office alongside our system performance team are gathering that data so there are inputs that are going into to determine whether you know what the status of each are one of the documents that we'll send um and I think one of one of the outcomes of this is we're going to have a one pager that kind of provides some explanation you know for folks to have access to uh that includes for example you know what each uh status exam you know means so what is on track some disruption major disruptions mean so you know I think as we rolled this out we wanted to just make sure that it was one of those we all knew what this all means because we've been in the work but now making sure that the public knows what these all mean so you'll start to see iterations of that here in the next few weeks coming out of Dr Adams's office person looking at it um I'd want to know like where are we trying to get and what does it mean to be eight percent down the road um it may be like wow we've made great progress or maybe oh that's kind of slow but it's um so having uh I guess bringing forward some of the the context um would be useful but uh absolutely additional comments or thoughts um yep this is great as we head into the budget process where we have that so that we can see like based on the Investments we have we've made not just with these dollars but other dollars um you know here's the type of progress we made and if we you know dialed up or dialed down you know what being able to look at what how that might impact our progress is that what we'll do in the in the have access to in the budget process well I think what's tough is you want sort of an add value coefficient for each of these factors at a particular site I wish it were that easy and that clean I think it's the combination of things in in certain School communities in conversation with those School communities around their needs um but we do think there's a set of high leverage strategies and we're hearing schools say we've seen the difference that it's made over here we have a pocket of need here as well I know we were having this conversation uh last night and last week so we want to head that direction and we want the best information we can get we'll certainly have our mid-year growth data as well so that'll be another indicator we'll try to heat map that or we'll leave it to Dr Adams to do some magic with but we're also interested knowing that resources are likely going to get more constrained so which of these are really making a difference it's not just for the Sia it's for it's all everything strategic plan correct all the braided strands yes all the braided strands okay and superintendent what I what I think I heard you say because I think it's a really important point you know disaggregating to like this particular program having an impact is going to be
01h 45m 00s
tough what we are doing though is we have an overall strategy in a strategic plan connected to our board goals um which is intended to achieve those and and I think maybe picking up I'm not sure this is what director Meadows was saying but but it sounded a little bit similar to how do we as we go into this budget process talk really clearly about the decisions we're making and the impact that I'll have on student achievement and the student achievement that we've laid out in our board goals and I think that you know whenever we're in uh potential cut year which we expect this year may very well be um I think having those conversations is really important that you know if we you know you're going to propose a budget um and I think as part of that budget I would be really interested in you saying you know look given our resources given constraints or you know maybe um Phil Knight decides to to you know donate some money to to education in Portland but either way to to Really sort of say according to the board goal um this is what you think you can achieve and then as we go through our budget process and as a board make some decisions having you know also a discussion about whether that will you know potentially increase student achievement or in some cases may even take away from it depending on the priorities I think it's going to be a really important part of the conversation I agreed uh and if somebody has a connection I'd love to make the sales pitch there about the work we're doing here at PPS um I I think um from my seat anyways a superintendent you know trying to uh play my part in leading District Improvement any superintendent's first task is get schools off State accountability less right like that's the first thing we want to make sure and do I think we've made progress there with 15 School communities coming off that state accountability list but for me that's not enough we've got to maintain continued progress in those schools they're still not at the level we want them to be but how do we start to orient to the other pockets of student student groups that exist across the school portfolio which we talked about last night but more importantly how do we start to develop that heat map of how schools are doing towards the board goals right so I think director Hollins really was making this point so that'll be an interesting list to really look at and then say well is it math over here so the learning specialist you want to assign there the professional development you want to do in that particular campus might be different from another one that's more working on third grade literacy and where the reading goals are where we want them to be for student groups so the application of strategies there might look more tailored and customized to that too so this is this is where it gets fun with the money ball of it all when you have limited pie to try to spread it out and be really targeted about those Investments which as you know is my unfinished dissertation it's an interesting Evolution because um you know when we first were making decisions about this differentiated Staffing to have all those schools designated by the state sort of released us from having to create our own structure or to to determine how we were going to make those decisions now that we've worked ourselves out of that situation it's our invitation to just be more thoughtful and how do we have the resources follow the students and the services follow the students in a little bit more nuanced way great thank you very much for the presentation I really appreciate it um with that is there any other business um I'm just gonna have a statement for the record on uh resolution 6616 was that the settlement okay I may also I may also have a statement for the record on on that as well um thank you very much any other business we are adjourned oh I'm sorry the next regular meeting of the board will be held on December 13th the meeting is


Sources

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sunshinepps.org/index.php?title=2022-11-15_PPS_School_Board_Regular_Meeting&oldid=10359"
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Center for Transparent Analysis and Policy
Powered by MediaWiki
Powered by Semantic MediaWiki