April 27 - AAPS Board of Education Meeting Notes

These are our notes for the Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education Study Session on April 27. The meeting was held in person at Forsythe Middle School. The meeting also aired on Zoom and on Xfinity Channel 18. The district typically posts the recording split into segments the day after the meeting or Xfinity Channel 18 will often replay it. The agenda for tonight’s meeting is available online.

Note, we are recording the meeting on Channel 18 and will take notes as we have time to watch it. We have filled out an outline based on the Agenda. Notes are taken through the start of public commentary.

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:01p. Some presenters will be joining via zoom.

Roll Call

Present: Gaynor, Kelly, Querijero, DuPree, Johnson, Lazarus

Absent: Baskett

Other Attendees: Swift,

Agenda

The Agenda is available on Board Docs. This is the approved agenda and will include any updates and results of any votes.

Motion to approve the Agenda by Johnson, seconded by DuPree, No discussion. Motion carries.

Events from our Sponsors

Nightmare on Cross St

Weekends in October

Kindergarten Open House and Playtime

Sunday, November 16

Public Commentary

As in the past, we will not be covering public commentary. Text of comments submitted in writing are available on BoardDocs.

Lazarus reviewed the rules for Public Commentary: Public comments pertain to district matters. Comments about individuals are expressly prohibited. Board members do not respond to public comments. We will listen carefully and followup as appropriate. Each commenter received 4 minutes. (Note, audio cut out during this section). There were technical difficulties through the first couple of commentaries.

Clarifications

Swift: We have the full comments from Mr Geffen.

Lazarus: Anything submitted in writing is on Board Docs

Swift: I have 2 items. I want to echo our gratitude to members of the community for speaking in person and read remote. We appreciate the engagement and listen to every comment offered. I do want to speak to Mr Geffen speaking we have done a lot of listening this week to our teachers and administrators and support staff. I regret there was some misunderstanding that occurred at the Equity community meeting. There was not an expectation that our staff attend the meeting. Our facilitator did not have the full information and I take full responsibility. We remain deeply committed to equity work. We have a great deal of work ahead of us, but we’ve made solid progress. I’m proud of our teachers and support staff. I was excited for Tuesday night for the work to be shared with the wider community.

I do want to address the concern regarding the error in our AAPS Digital curation process and having some technical problems. I appreciate the remarks from the Allen parent and want to address. Trustees you have the clarification and we will follow up with parents. As a response and clarification to the Title Jay’s Gay Agenda – there was an error in our digital curation process and the title was inadvertently leveled for adding books to AAPS. We share the concern the parent raised and we regret the error that made the title available to elementary and middle school students. We’ve taken 5 steps in response. Members of AAPS responded immediately and it was immediately corrected sot he book i snot available for younger students. All of the books incorrectly leveled have been correct. Titles that were checked out incorrectly have been removed from student account. We’ve added a control within SORA so default is high school only. Elementary and Middle School librarians will have to specifically add books. Parents whose child checked out an incorrectly leveled book will hear directly from school staff. Principals and administrators have been briefed. I want to be clear, that title should not have been made available to elementary and middle school students.

I appreciate the opportunity for those 2 updates. I hear the concerns on masking and we’ll address more in the superintendent’s update.

Gaynor: I have two things. I did find the text of the comment on Board Docs. I am drawing attention to the missed public commentary.

Lazarus: Ms Osinski, do you have it?

Gaynor: In the database, there is a link and it will popup. (Note the trustees see a different version of BoardDocs than we do). It is the Kohler comment. Gave his laptop to Ms Osinski to read.

Gaynor: I do have a statement related to Mr Geffen and the superintendent’s comments.

Lazarus: Clarifications are not for comments

Johnson: As parliamentarian, we have order and agenda for a reason.

Argument between Lazarus and Gaynor on appropriate time and whether it was for Items from Board or Clarifications.

Board went into recess. When meeting resumed after a roughly 15 minute break, commentary was not provided.

Reports of Associations

PTOC Presentation

Karmen Saran: Officer at Large for PTOC. We focus on three Cs. – Communication, Collaboration, and Coordination for our member PTOs.

Monday April 18 was our most recent meeting. We presented nominations for 2022-2023 elections. We have curent executive board embers serving again and new members. Elections at next general election meeting on May 17. We look forward to a board member to serve as representative to Board of Education next year, something we didn’t hae this year.

Work to revise bylaws is moving forward. They havebn’t been updated since 2014 and need revision to reflect social media and issues current bylaws are silent.

We are sponsoring 2 initiatives to support staff at Westerman and Pathways. Neither has a PTO, we want to acknowledge their staffs. We’ve asked PTSOs, and others to provide appreciation. Signup genius available to mid-May.

At April meeting we welcomed members from Washtenaw Community Mental Health Program. The 30 minute session lasted the entire meeting as members shared ideas and concerns. We forwarded Q&A section to Dr Swift for her information. It feels this is a major issue currently.

We appreciate our support from member PTOs, We plan to continue meeting via Zoom next year to make them as accessible as possible but also add some in person to build relationships.

Gaynor: I’d like to thank PTOC for their work especially this year and the last session on mental health. It was a heartfelt discussion on the issues we’re facing in schools.

Lazarus: Thank you. I appreciate all the god work the PTOC has been and has always worked on. You’re an integral part of the work our community does. Keep up the good work.

Saran: Thank you. I encourage everyone to get involved with PTOC and member councils. Many PTOs have elections this month and in May.

Board Committee Reports

None.

Superintendent Update

Swift: Celebrated Earth Day last Friday. We’ll hear more about that as our next agenda item.

Spring theater productions are coming this month & May. This Friday-Sunday Skyline presents Puffs. <There was an issue here with the recording and I missed her mentions of the Huron’s The Mystery of... at Huron (note this is listed as for mature audiences)>. Les Mis by Pioneer at Skyline because of construction at their theater. These events are on our calendar and can be found in Theater for Families. Pathways will debut their video release of Voices from the Past.

Last week we celebrated National Volunteer Week and appreciated being able to celebrate our parents, volunteers, community members and more. We appreciate having more than 350 active and registered volunteers who continue to provide important support.

Today we celebrate our AAPS Office Professionals Day and thank them for their partnership. They’re often the first face families see. We depend on all the diplomacy and skills they offer. Their jobs have been especially complex during COVID taking on extra responsibilities. They are the voice on the phone line, at the front desk, and responding to questions. And a special shoutout to Ms Osinski executive assistant to the board and Ms Soderberg who serves the superintendent’s office.

Occupational Therapists are also celebrated in April and we publicly express our appreciation for the health and wellness work they provide as integral members of student intervention and support services. The theme for 2022 is empowering everyday living.

It is also Autism Acceptance Month. The Autism Society is the nation’s leading grassroots autism organization with a mission to create connections empowering those in the autism community to live a full and rich live. This recognition has been around for more than 50 years, but last year the month was renamed Autism Acceptance Month. We will always work to spread awareness, but words matter. Acceptance is often one of the biggest barriers to developing a strong support system. The autism prevalence rate has been consistently increasing since 2000. Currently 1 in 44 children are diagnosed and cuts across all racial and socioeconomic groups. We are a stronger school community as we honor and embrace our diversity.

Events from our Sponsors

Nightmare on Cross St

Weekends in October

Kindergarten Open House and Playtime

Sunday, November 16

We continue to curate the Recent Topics and Information Page. We will be posting the environmental presentation that comes up next. There is lots going on in the district.

This is the 3rd week with more than 100 student, staff, volunteer COVID cases. This increase includes additional outbreaks across multiple schools. Universal masking has helped to limit spread including spread to staff. A big thanks to our school nurses and response team providing testing at schools and sending tests home. They’ve tested over 400 students in 11 buildings. Our goal is to keep our buildings open for in person learning and enrichment activities.

We are excited and just got the information that May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. They just got a flyer forwarded by APISA group. There are poetry workshops, author event, etc. <We will work to make sure these events make it to our calendar>

Lazarus: Any questions?

No trustee questions.

Update: Environmental Sustainability in AAPS

Swift: We have presenters joining us virtually this evening. I appreciate support of trustees to reschedule study session from last week. We are rolling report into this evening as an information item. I’ll give a brief introduction. Demonstrated commitment to environmental sustainability. Each April we give an annual update. This has been a busy year for sustainability int he schools. The foundation for our approach is in policy 8000 series that was approved in 2018. It states climate change is real, increasing, and caused by human activity. The Ann Arbor community is committed to practice and support a healthy environment for present and future generations. AAPS has a responsibility to prepare current and future generations to respond to climate change through reduction of harmful human activities and promoiton of activities that restore.

Our most important role is teaching and learning and developing within our students a commitment to environmental sustainability.

Second is living our organizational commitment to the capital bond program to practice sustainability in the way we address renewal of our school campuses.

Thirdly, Mr Lauzzana will update us on capital bond and sustainability and share work of environmental sustainability taskforce to advise on formal sustainability plan that supports achieving goal with adjustments of operations and advise on capital improvement.

We’re looking forward to next steps. Finance committee will be reviewing some projects for reducing utility costs. Another next step is appointment of environmental sustainability officer. We have innovative next steps coming with ecducational opportunities from preschool-12th grade.

Links to presentations and video are on BoardDocs.

Environmental Education

Earth Day Everyday Video

AAPS Environmental Educators Dave Szczygiel and Coert Ambrosino were present virtually at the meeting on Environmental Education. You can see the presentation here so I am not going to take extensive notes. The program was pioneered in the late 1950s. One of the EE Pioneers was Bill Stapp who played an integral role in the Tbilisi Declaration in 1977 to layout a foundational definition of environmental education..

If your child has gone through AAPS they likely experienced these activities (pending OCVID modifications in 2020-2022)

Young 5s/K – Animal Habitats – outdoor activity was a COVID pivot and well received
1st Graders – Winter Animals at Kensington – Animal Adaptations
2nd Graders – Plant Communities
3rd Graders – Habitat Studies
4th Graders – Geology Study
5th Graders – Winter Survival – Shoutout to Food Services for a COVID safe meal plan this year
6th Graders – Weather & Water Walk

We’re working to put Freeman back on the district map. The advisory committee delivered recommendations in June 2019 linked in presentation. This year they have moved to the Freeman center with materials and offices and two classrooms ready for fall 2022. More than half of 5th grade did Winter Survival at Freeman and started a prairie restoration and observational carbon farming. Growing native flowers, grasses, and trees. Welcomed stakeholders to the site.

Prairie Restoration Project Video:

Seedling Day (not played during meeting but linked in prsentation):

Freeman Environmental Youth Council is a district wide high school environmental leadership group. It uses a youth-adult partnership framework with distributed student leadership. They’ve hosted a virtual symposium, publications, and created pledges and helped develop virtual curriculum. They played a video of student in their own words. It isn’t on YouTube, so I can’t embed it, but it is available here.

There will be an A2 Nature Guardians summer camp for 7-10 yr olds at Freeman.

New collaboration with Ecology Center. Just met with them today. Focus on plant communities for 2nd graders and focus on zero waste lesson. For 7th grade pilot they are planning a waste and water tour. Planning with HS science to have more opportunities to practice skills and apply knowledge.

Trustee Questions on Environmental Educaiton

Kelly: I appreciate how much can continue since it is outdoors. You mentioned programming around composting and recycling. Ist here cross pollination between learning and district practices? Can students learn as district engages in those endeavors..

Szczygiel: I think those can marry quite well and we can work on curriculum pieces that they can help us enhance. We’ll make it fit.

Ambrosino: I’m reminded of the around and around it goes that involves recycling. Some of the resources we crated last year created connections between classroom unit, EE programming, and what we’re actually doing with food waste. Many schools have small scale food composting and we’re getting it going at Freeman.

Kelly: I know in the past we’ve had presentations from AP students who’ve done work at the center. Are there interesting work the big kids are doing this year?

Ambrosino: We can invite AP Envionmental Science and ESS class at Huron back to site for biodiversity study that we’ve done in past years. Depending on schools, we may move back to their own campus and we would come out to support that. With the IB at Huron we have an upcoming planning meeting to see if one of their group projects interdisciplinary studies could be done at Freeman next year. <Editors Note: My daughter is currently in AP Environmental Science and they’ve done biodiversity studies outside on her high school campus>

Kelly: Is there anything you need from us at the board to further your work?

Ambrosino: We appreciate continued support of program. We’re doing what we can to implement recommendations and phased implementation. Our calendar is quite full. We’re in the field almost every day.. I hope our staff can grow to expand those learning opportunities.

Kelly: When there is a particular opportunity, can you make sure the Board has that in our email boxes.

Querijero: Thanks for the presentation and I’v worked with you on the taskforce this year. Coming out of a breakout room earlier, we talked about a symposium where students feature their work and I saw that in the presentation tonight.

Ambrosino: I hope some of these events can happen at Freeman in the future to get students and the public to the site to celebrate that work.

Lazarus: I have one question and want to stay thank you. I had no idea you did all that work. I am familiar with the 5th grade survival. My children come back with interesting stories. I do have a question on the native plant propagation is that only students or something you reach out to the community. What do you do with all those plants – I see trays with probably 100s of plants?

Ambrosino: It was a series of workshops for Youth Council with owner of Wild Type Native Plant Nursery this year. So far, just a student audience. Hosting community events is part of our vision. We do have plants available that are currently growing. If any board members want them, we are raising more. But many will be used in our summer program to improve the front courtyard.

Looking to next year, as we bring the 2nd graders, we hope to continue the propagation work.

Swift: The final piece I want to add is the design of a program like this is similar to PLTW. It is to have a set of educators who are the highest expertise and enthusiasm and cross-pollinate those practices across the teaching staff. They are part of a district wide network.

Events from our Sponsors

Nightmare on Cross St

Weekends in October

Kindergarten Open House and Playtime

Sunday, November 16

Capital Improvement Program Environmental Sustainability

Presentation is available on Board Docs

One of the cornerstones is Sustainable & Environmentally responsible infrastructure. Environmental factors affect how students hear, breathe, see, feel, think and learn.

Received over $389K in rebates from DTE for energy efficiency efforts like updating building automation, high performance lighting replacements, and retro-commissioning efforts.

Freeman removed large portions of Freeman to no-mow area.
District Wide recycling improvements,
4 electric buses
Improving stormwater management.

Goal by 2024 to have 100% with AC by Fall 2024 for improved learning environment.

Through bond program we will be the largest owner of solar in Washtenaw County except for DTE once we complete the summer 2022 projects. It represents 6% of AAPS annual electrical consumption. An annual savings of $180K.

Other sustainability efforts:

Lower Carbon Impact Paving – recycled asphalt base material, low carbon concrete pilot, low embodied materials task force
Materials Recovery & Construction & Demolition Debris recycling –
- 110 tons steel recycled using 75% less energy than virgin steel,
- 40 pallets (1 semi-trailer) of acoustic ceiling tiles recycled.
Adding Geothermal at Clague & Forsythe – more cost-effective and make buildings mostly electric with small natural gas backup.
Outdoor Learning Enhancements for all elementary & K-8

Trustee Questions on Capital Improvement Project Sustainability

Johnson: Thank you for the presentation. It’s gratifying to see the ideas and words that were in pamphlets becoming solar panels on roofs. About the rebates from DTE, you mentioned $389K, how does that end up impact our budget? Is it a credit on our DTE electricity bill? Some other wya?

Lauzzana: The credits are available to any commercial or residential entity who installs equipment that goes beyond a certain level of efficiency. For commercial customers typically you fill out an application that our HVAC technician does and it comes int he form of a check. That check goes back to the general fund.

Johnson: That’s how you do it for your home too, so I’m surprised.

Kelly: I heard you say Solar produces about 6% of our total energy need. But we’re also putting in AC which is a huge energy hot.

Lauzzana: Unfortunately, I don’t have a slide or hard numbers for you, but I’ve run the numbers. We’re playing catchup a bit. The AC is outpacing the solar production. I’m hoping we can catch up soon. We’re also saving with the LED lights. They are 25-40% more efficient than the fluorescents they are replacing. I look forward to digging into the numbers. We’ve also added square footage with modulars and COVID downtime. It’s hard to normalize over the last few years. I’m hopeful we’re not too far behind by adding AC.

Kelly: You mentioned more efficient bulbs, and steel recycling. I heard you say the equation is complicated. Do we measure the progress we are making on reducing. carbon footprint or diverting from landfills? Do we know how much we’re getting better or how much we need to catchup.

Lauzzana: Excellent question. That’s one of the goals in establishing a sustainability management plan for the district. How to measure, how best to approach that. One challenge in measuring diversion rate is the statistic we know is number of times a dumpster is picked up – recycling vs waste. There is no method to know if the dumpster was full or almost empty. Often what people will use is periodic survey maybe every April and see how full they are. I’m looking forward to developing metrics and getting more specific with some of them.

Kelly: I’d also like to know how we measure against other similar organizations like we do with testing. I know that’s a future hope.

Gaynor: Two items – the net electricity use and more about recycling. Can you tell me what the recycling grant was for specifically. I know with COVID and coming back how are our recycling efforts in classroom? I’ve heard recycling items in classrooms are getting dumped in general trash.

Lauzzana: The grant was from Eagle agency state of Michigan. It paid for bins in classroom, collection. I don’t remember the exact number.

Gaynor: The environmental director position where are we on the timeline?

Swift: We are in the interview process and I plan to engage each trustee on next steps.

Gaynor: I guess these next two items are as much for the board. We’ve made the decision to keep using styrofoam lunch trays. There’s an expense involved. How committed are we to do everything we possibly can to go carbon neutral. Were members of the task force asked for input on this presentation.

Swift; What we’ve brought to you tonight is not their update. They are tasked with that separately and have discussed when they want to do that.

Querijero: Real quick question on national, statewide and local movement to push for a public municipal utility. When we see solar panels on top of roofs and share the savings we get in rebates. Did you do impact on cost savings or costs incur if the city of Ann Arbor shift to a public power. How have you reserached and how will it impact what we’ve done and continue to do.

Lauzzana: The rebates are not tied to solar installations. Those are for more efficient lights, and boilers, and building automation. There has been talk of public utility for decades. The current momentum is interesting. The team the city has is the strongest yet. My understanding is they will soon approve a deeper dive study into what that will involve. I do’t have info on cost/feasibility as it would apply to AAPS.

Lazarus: I keep looking at the 6% and all the solar panels on roofs. I know we don’t have a way to harness that and it is use it or put it back in the grid. I know there are requirements through legislation that we can’t transmit and sell ourselves. So, we’re at 6%, do we have enough space to produce enough energy through solar to get us even to 50%.

Querijero: We’ll all keep it on our radar and return as they have a study published.

Lauzzana: We have a number of limitations that fall in 2 main areas. We have the capital bond so the financing is not as big of a consideration. The two are physical space.. Generally speaking for an elementary school without high use areas like commercial kitchen, swimming pool, and one story. It is feasible for a one story building like Haisley to cover theirs. With multi-story building you still have the same amount of roof, but more to cover. Like Community has 3 stories and mechanical equipment taking space on the roof. The other regulation we have is regulatory. The current net metering limits us to 150kWH on one electrical meter and caps us out at a building. That would cover a smaller elementary. That won’t cover a high school or even a larger middle school. When we overproduce on a sunny day and don’t have a lot of people in the building we push back to grid and get about 40% back for selling. We don’t want to overproduce too much and lengthens payback times. There are exciting other options and opportunities like Querijero mentioned with municipal utility or leverage programs by utilities to buy into large scale wind farms or solar that also feed into DTE grid. We look forward to bringing through the committee process.

Lazarus: I’m aware of some of the utility programs for green power and think it’s something we should take a closer look at. When you look at carbon footprint, you have to take into consideration of manufacturing a product and look at what we save in our carbon footprint.

Lauzzana: That’s an important part of thinking of carbon neutrality. Manufacture of solar panels, transportation to site, installation staff have carbon footprint. I’ve heard a solar panel is about 2 years to break even on the embodied carbon of purchase, manufacture, transportation, and installation. With energy efficiency improvements, it similar and evolving. With construction its difficult to calculate embodied carbon. We know steel, concrete, wood, etc. The equipment level is harder.. We don’t have that yet, but it is becoming industry standard.

Johnson: I do want to mention and I don’t know if it will be in the next section, but earlier meetings we talked about embodied carbon and how to measure. That is a task for the task force to give a recommendation on how to do it.

Lazarus: It is important so we can make decisions on what we’re buying and installing. This will last generations. Lets make sure we’re going down the path right.

Environmental Sustainability Task Force Update

This section continues in the power point linked above.

Environmental Sustainability task force has been meeting monthly. We are selecting an environmental sustainability officer. Position is posted and are in the interview stage.

Did background work studying other school districts across US and one in Australia. Used stars to highlight what other districts are doing that resonated with task force members. High starred items include

School Green Teams
Robust Curriculum Integration
Outdoor Learning Environments
Frequent/Regular reporting requirements

Did a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats analysis. Then a SOAR – Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results

Looked at BOE Policy 8000 and came up with 4 workding groups

Teaching & Learning
Health & Wellness
Climate Resilience
Community Partnerships

Now working on SMARTIE – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Based, Inclusive, Equitable – through working groups

Trustee Questions on Task Force

Kelly: On the SWOT and SOAR does the size of the sticky notes indicate popularity, or is it just random?

Lauzzana: It’s an artifact of the system and how wordy some are. Users can make them bigger themselves. We did do some clean up and consolidating of similar notes, but made sure all views were represented.

Querijero: Having been on the task force it was really collaborative and these do represent ideas from all.

Johnson: To add to what Querijero said, it is a collaborative process. When you have head down working on it, it’s important to look at a higher level. That’s what we’re doing now talking to people in community with expertise. The task force is also doing benchmarking of other districts. We’re not creating everything from scratch. We’re trying to learn from other best practices. We are on track to the goals we had. Thanks to Mr Lauzzana and team for their support.

Lazarus: In closing thanks for this great work. I know we gave you a big goal and there are lots of parts and pieces before you can give us a recommendation, but it looks like you’re on the right track.

Second Briefing

Second Briefings are being provided on:

2022-2023 Air Conditioning & Lighting Projects – Additional Bid Categories
- AN-2089 Bach
- AN-2090 Eberwhite
- AN-2091 Forsythe & Wines
AN-2092 Classroom Furniture Purchase for Newly Constructed Middle School Classrooms
Pioneer High School Theater Renovation – AN-2093 – New Carpet
AN-2094 Summer 2022 Instructional Technology Refreshment for Students, Teachers, and Classrooms
AN-2095 Fuel Cooperative Purchase

There are no changes. Trustee questions:

Gaynor: Just one comment we’ve become a screen world and I’m on as much as anyone, and I know it’s in the schools. Most of the spending on this purchase is staff, but some is for the youngest students. I’d be interested in knowing range of youngest students spend on screens in classroom (K/1/2) and some uses of it. And some statistical measures or standards. If we could get that at some point.

Swift: Thank you. I appreciate the question. I see across the district that technology serves quality instruction, not the other way around. I see a marked reduce of usage among early grades. I know they use it as a tool, but I see with printed materials and down on the carpet. I’ll take it back to the team.

Querijero: I have a followup comment. I would say we believe there is less face time in front of a computer that we are in person. When we went to capacity to go full remote, we required teachers to do more to submit things on line. If we see a drop back, there is a comparable lift for teachers to accommodate for a system we don’t use as much.

Swift: Duly noted.

Consent Agenda

AN-2092 Classroom Furniture Purchase for Newly Constructed Middle School Classrooms
Pioneer High School Theater Renovation – AN-2093 – New Carpet
AN-2095 Fuel Cooperative Purchase
Approve Minutes of the April 12 Regular Meeting
Approve Donations
- Subaru of America & Adopt-a-Classroom donated $12,500 to Pittsfield Elementary.
- Caryn Soderberg donated an infant car seat to the Westerman Preschool & Family Center.

Motioned by Johnson, seconded by Kelly. No discussion. Motion unanimously approved.

Board Action

Approve 2022-23 Air Conditioning and Lighting Projects

AN-2089 Bach
AN-2090 Eberwhite
AN-2091 Forsythe & Wines

Motion by Kelly, Seconded by DuPree. No discussion. motion unanimously approved.

Approve AN-2094 Summer 2022 Instructional Technology Refreshment

Motioned by Johnson, Seconded by DuPree. No discussion . motion unanimously approved

Motion to Approve Limited Schools of Choice for 2022-2023 School Year

Swift: Trustees this is the same approach we have used for several years. We’ve been cautious during the pandemic that we are working to support families and prioritize those in our district and then fill in with first in district transfer and then schools of choice. For 2 years of pandemic, we relied on schools of choice less because we had an agreement with superintendents that if families were displaced due to COVID we would honor keeping them. Now, we are going back to the traditional formal process for school of choice. It is a strategy that allows families to maintain consistency in school.

We have maintained school of choice enrollment around 10%. We’re about 11% this year. I do see a greater reliance on it due to mobility due to COVID.

Gaynor: Just a short comment, I’m going to vote no for reasons I’ve explained in past years and am willing to send my reasoning for it. I’m sensitive to what Dr Swift mentioned about families who have been priced out or other reasons have moved out of boundaries, but from ecological to equity reasons, I’m going to vote against it.

Motioned by Johnson, Seconded by Kelly. No discussion . motion approved 5-1 with Gaynor voting no.

Items for Agenda Planning

Kelly: I think this is appropriate here. April 21 WISD did its budget and constituent boards need to approve. Materials will come to Dr Swift and she will prepare the usual annual presentation for us to attend. It will have to occur at 2 separate meetings the way our board action does.

Lazarus: Is there a date it needs to be done by?

Swift: I know there is a date but don’t know it.

Items from the Board

Gaynor: Because there have been many emails to the board and administration about last Wednesday’s professional development and Mr Geffen didn’t have the time he thought he would have, I’d like to read a few short paragraphs.

Gaynor: Dr Swift Do you know what Dr Sealey-Ruiz contract cost the district?

Swift; I don’t have it tonight but we will share it.

Gaynor: Thank you. Here is what I have to say. While the subject of my statement is related to Wednesday’s staff professional development, I am speaking about the board’s responsibility and myself is complicit in supporting a culture in which we gloss over problems and shy away from addressing them in meaningful ways. Equity work is extremely important and the board has given full support to the administration as they roll out our efforts The current initiative is at least 4 years old. Dr Sealey-Ruiz who has presented at 6 professional development sessions has a very important message to love all our students and have the cultural literacy to do so and reflect on implicit biases to do so successfully. All sessions were primarily lecture only with minimal feedback from staff. I attended many and value message and information. However I felt 2 would have been sufficient with building level work for staff to address issues in a practical way. I didn’t speak up early on.

Something went awry last Wednesday. She expected larger turnout during community session the night before and chastised the staff for not showing up. Staff commented in chat and it was shut down. It took over 24 hours for a vague statement from the district as to how it should have handled and no statement of amends or request for forgiveness. I want to thank those who spoke up. We can’t just say we hear you and continue on.

We the board are complicit and responsible. We supported the foundation for this to happen. Maybe we’re ok with that. If we continue on how we were. We weren’t present at the PD and couldn’t handle it then. But we are responsible for the culture in the district. Equity is important to all of us. Often all we do is talk about it. We don’t have in depth conversations at building level. We bring in people to talk at staff – administrators, teachers. How much of our work is performative? Do we monitor what is happening with special education? The Hanover report with special education has been languishing for 3 years. Yes we have advisory groups, but do we value their input? I’ve seen those with contrary opinions pushed to the side and quit coming.

We put an environmental task force and what did we do, vetoed 3 of the most knowledgable skilled people. Are we asking hard questions at all? We do public relations events.

Why do we rarely hear from teachers? Yes, they are busy, but worry about consequences and get a reputation. Why are teachers so fearful? Those who speak up are punished. I’ve been removed from board committees for breaking board code of contact, engaging with community on Facebook, disclosing trustees may have violated spirit of open meetings act in a closed meeting, a myriad of reasons were stated without evidence. The message was clear, go along to get along. And I have for months, but I can’t when the stakes are high.

We don’t speak of complex issues in public. Mostly we leave things to administrations.

I will try to do better.

Events from our Sponsors

Nightmare on Cross St

Weekends in October

Kindergarten Open House and Playtime

Sunday, November 16

Lazarus: Thank you for sharing your opinion. Do any board members have something to share?

Querijero: First, Trustee Gaynor I recognize the time it took you to choose those words and say them out load. The names you mentioned on sustainability task force. When we looked at all those names, I advocated that they were all qualified and no one is more qualified than another. We have so many people who have a chance to say something in roles they already have, why wouldn’t we give someone who doesn’t already have the chance the opportunity to speak out and make a difference.

On another thing you said, as a board we sit here and give full support on equity to the administration. I’d say thats true as a board because we support the work of our superintendent. But it’s not without discussion, debate, and concerns. Yes we do bring some of those up privately, but it’s hard to get engaged conversation when these spots happen at the end after 3.5 hours.

The last thing is how you started with reference to PD on Wednesday the 20th. I’m more interested in a direct solution than to comment on our complicity and not say anything about it. Personally as a board member and having been a teacher and sat through many PD in K-12 and post-secondary, my comment would be to say whether the final sessions with this person could gain versus what we put our staff through with this person who are unsatisfied with the apology. That’s my concern and my answer would be a different no.

And I did have things I wanted to bring to items from the board but I am reluctant to bring them up without Trustee Baskett would relate to what I said 2 weeks ago including Land Acknowledgment because I think all 7 of us need to be here.

Johnson: I’d also like to respond to trustee Gaynor and some comments. We need to be careful to suggest we speak for all teachers and read on teachers commentary and don’t include others. We did get comments from other teachers that Gaynor left out. We’ve heard from teachers who support Dr Sealey-Ruiz and felt she was unfairly attacked in the chat session. We need to be clear about that.

I’m sorry people took offense to comments that were made. As someone who has worked in diversity and inclusion for most of my professional career, this reminds me of organizations I’ve worked with. Equity work starts in an effort to improve marginalized people. When someone makes a comment that offends certain people, the organization shifts away from the marginalized group and the feelings of the majority take priority. In our case we’re shifting from marginalized students we serve to deal with this discomfort from adults. She is a nationally renowned adult who has worked hard to excel in her fields. I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews over the past year. She may have just had a bad day based on one comment or meeting. We should how some empathy. We can’t have growth without tough conversations. The last company we brought in was dismissed when adults feelings were hurt. I won’t stand by and let that happen again.

DuPree: I’ll be quick. I didn’t get a chance to share thoughts on conference I attended with Baskett in San Diego. Presentation on holistic support of children given by social work association.. Some school districts don’t have any social workers. While we are working to have enough and culturally competent, we should be grateful we have them. A couple more things that were moving a drum circle with members from across the nation – different races, different socioeconomic, etc. but we sounded great. A chance to go and learn so much. I can get slides from presentations for you to look over if you wish.

I want to express appreciation to Dispute Resolution Center I just started restorative justice facilitator training. Already done by Charissa Bass at Skyline and Amy McLoughlin at Community who have already done the training.

Thanks to SISS office for hosting myself and Gaynor at their meeting. A couple points I want to bring up from a survey that I forwarded to Dr Swift. One question was I felt SISS understood my role. 43% strongly disagreed with that vs 4.1% that agree. Another that stood out was I felt my work was appreciated, 39% strongly disagree. These stood out as I read an article as 2/3 who left an organization did because they didn’t feel appreciated. They need to know we appreciate them and they are important to our students. I want to say I appreciate you and thank you for inviting us.

Querijero: I have a comment to which I felt offended. I noticed you said Thank you for your opinion. after myself and Gaynor. But didn’t say it after Johnson, but I just want to point out that is also opinion.

Lazarus: So Sorry, and thank you Johnson for your opinion. Thank you Trustee DuPree for your report. I’m glad you enjoyed the conference. I was sad I couldn’t make it. It’s always a good experience to be able to talk to other board embers across the nation and see what is going on beyond our walls. We’re lucky with a supportive community and a stellar teacher base we do appreciate – SISS, elementary, middle school. We wouldn’t be the district we are today without our people.