March-9-2020-Board-Meeting-Segment-2
[00:00:00] You, we're just pulling up the PowerPoint here. I just want to mention, um, it has been a busy month that that picture on the left is actually a beautiful mural now at Trillium primary school. Uh, another example of a partnership with, um, artists and our children. Um, and books, um, to paint a beautiful mural that then, um, brightens up their playground and celebrates reading.
And I'll explain the picture on the right later, but that is after Jennifer Spencer IMEs celebrating that we did a public showing of intelligent lives. So there we go. All right. Um. Like many of you have been out and about with district events, going to school plays, student presentations. We've also been very busy with learning walks and visits from other school districts.
Um, and then I was also able to join a director, Fitch and chair monitor at [00:01:00] the, um. Town hall with Western city hall with representative Kurt Schrader, Congressman Kurt Schrader, and then, um, the many athletic events. Um, I did not get to the boys Wilsonville because I was at the West Linn, um, where they did triumph over mountain side on Saturday.
Um, but I did see the heartbreaker of our, uh, West Linn girls in McMinnville. So, um, you both were at imaginary invalid and we were passing. Um, I had my hotdogs, I was at the game and you were at the play, but I did get to the imaginary invalid the weekend before and it was fantastic. It was a great play. We do have talented, um, youth and children in our school district.
And then just a couple other highlights I'll mention, um, Joe, if you can do the next slide. Um, as we've been talking about in our district, um, the consideration for a district online program to expand opportunities for our students with, um, learning [00:02:00] opportunities as well as timeline for taking online classes.
We're doing some learning ourselves. So we've been to a couple of conferences. Um, the one on the left is just, uh, the advertisement for the innovation Institute that I was able to attend along with, um, Kondwani who's our assistant director. Of information technology services. And then on the right, um, we sent four people Dr.
Downs, uh, will SAP and feel the teacher, dr  Gomez and Kurt Nelson, uh, to Austin, Texas for, for three days, three, four days of learning about online programs and blended learning programs. Um, at the  conference there. It's one of the. The best ones in the nation. That's every year. So everybody's coming back energized and excited, and we're ready to think about next steps and moving towards implementation.
And I was at that same Matt Dillard Pena, um, presentation. I think his story of being a child of an immigrant parent is powerful. [00:03:00] Being an author of. Uh, of color, I think for our young people is always powerful and sharing his story in pictures. Um, as well as in. Um, in text. Um, and then again, for all of us, it was this endeavor.
The first, the one that we had done, which was a joint partnership between our libraries and the city of Wilsonville and the city of West Linn library. So an example of three library systems coming together to pool resources to bring a magnificent author. Very well renowned in the nation. And then also such great, I mean, you can see he personally signed children's books, took pictures with them.
Um, it was fantastic. So, and we kind of made a hint for, um, next year we'll be at Wilsonville high school auditorium and let's see who we can bring. So making this an annual tradition, I want to thank, um, dr Pryor and dr  for meeting regularly with. Our school librarians who meet with them, the city librarians, to think about partnership [00:04:00] opportunities.
So it was a joint, um, adventure together. Another example of joint partnership. Uh, we partnered with, um, Lake Oswego school district, uh, last week to show the documentary intelligent lives, which you saw at your retreat. And, um, had a good turnout of folks there. And, um. I don't know if you've been to Lake theater, but you get to kind of eat while you're enjoying a documentary.
And then an opportunity for both of our school districts to share our work around inclusive practices. Um, we will continue to show this documentary because we have the rights to showing it as long as we don't profit from the, the showing of the documentary. So we planned to do another viewing in West Linn and then one in Wilsonville.
Um, and we can keep doing these annually if, if the interest is there and keep going. Uh, in terms of community partnerships, I was also able to be at the annual heart of gold, um, city of Boston rotary [00:05:00] dinner and auction. And you can see other folks from our school district. We have got our Wilsonville principals, their principals, Schmidt and principals.
Strandy from is a wood. There's a Dr. Michelle Jensen, the principal Boones ferry, and, uh, Annika Olson, the principal Meridian, and Dr. Spencer. I'm so, we were quite the table and had a lot of fun, but it was such a great cause to support the rotary as well as the coffee Creek, uh, through the child's eyes program.
A little update on each month when I report, I'm giving an update on where we are with the student investment account, and I mentioned that we were, had analyze the data in January that we received from the first rounds of input from the community. From there, I'm a team, developed a draft proposal of the grant and now we've been meeting with groups to get feedback on these seven proposed strategies.
Um, community members can attend a community forum on March 12th [00:06:00] here at the district office. If that's too difficult to, to be here, then it is also available through a webinar in both English and Spanish, and then able to take a survey afterwards. So we do understand about busy lives and the struggle of trying to get childcare sometimes.
So please, please. Um. Provide your input through the community webinar and survey if you're not able to attend on March 12th after we received that second round of feedback on those seven proposed ideas, we will make any adjustments if we need to, and then bring the final grant proposal to the board in April for approval.
That's just next month. All right. And then tomorrow is the, uh, Jane Goodall science symposium, and we once again have a spectacular keynote speaker, dr Brynne olden, who is an alumnus. Of Wilsonville high school. I think our keynote speakers are just getting younger. Three [00:07:00] when I look at the pictures. So, um, if you haven't been to the science symposium, it's absolutely spectacular.
And you can see all the projects beginning at five 30, they'll all be displayed this year. It's at West Linn high school, so they've alternated. So just make note of that. And then the keynotes. I'm speaker will begin in the auditorium. And then typically we have a panel of students who ask some questions of the scientist who's, who's here with us.
Um, and so she'll be in speaking at seven 30 and they'll be a panel. And then afterwards about eight 30, I believe, start all the awards. So it's quite a long evening, but it's a, a really exciting and fun time and just amazing the work that, that students produce in the kind of thinking that's, um, exhibited.
And then lastly, I just want to use my superintendent report time to give you an update on, um, how our school district is receiving information and responding in many [00:08:00] ways to the Corona virus. We have been sending out, as you know, many listserv messages. In addition, I've been connecting with you as board members.
But we thought this is an opportunity when often the public might be viewing this meeting for them to hear if they haven't received listserv messages. Um, it'd be a great venue for that and an opportunity if you think there are some questions, public may want to know when I'm done. Um, it's not typical in board reports, but in this one, entertain a few questions.
So I'll just briefly mentioned about these areas tonight, precautionary measures that we've provided for families. Preventative measures in our schools, our infectious disease response plan, how we continue to monitor for new information, and then our communication to our public. So in terms of precautionary measures, um, these should be familiar to you if you've been paying attention to the news, receiving a lot of updates, uh, because the Corona virus is a flu like virus.
Um, [00:09:00] the Oregon health authority and Clackamas public health department have urged schools to get the message out as well as be an educational source in our schools around these precautionary measures. Washing hands, covering your cough, avoid touching face areas and staying home. If you show show signs of symptoms or if you're sick or vulnerable in any way.
So you've seen a lot of our messages being really redundant about these precautionary measures and teachers are talking about them in the classroom in terms of preventative measures. People might ask, so what are you doing as a school district to make sure we're staying even healthier? We have increased beyond our typical cleaning routine, doing extra cleaning in the evenings of particularly high use.
Areas in our school. So attending more to door handles and light switches, and you can see the list there. Countertops and phones. Additionally, our bus contracting service for student is [00:10:00] also, um, after every run, um, the bus driver is getting out disinfectant wipes and doing another cleaning of high use areas.
On their bus. Um, hand rail seat tops. You can imagine where hands are touching quite a bit. Um, so we're doing extra precautionary measures there. Every classroom, um, has a cleaning solution available to the teacher, the instructor for additional wiping of surfaces and the solution in that. Um, container is one that adults need to use because it is a little higher strain of disinfectant.
So it does have a label on it that talks about the contents in it and make sure that we're using that. Adults are using that one. Um, and then we are just making sure that we have supplies that we need in case we ever had to do a full school disinfection, um, or multiple schools. Um, there is a shortage of disinfectants, not just hand sanitizer, but actually product out there for [00:11:00] school districts and, uh, businesses and organizations.
And I know folks have heard about. You know, can't find masks, but actually also is about certain kinds of disinfectants. So we've been fortunate to have a staff who's been proactive even years ago, and we have what are called foggers that allow you to clean an entire classroom in a quarter of the amount of time that hand wiping would require.
Um, so for example, we did need to disinfect some areas of Boones ferry this weekend. Um, and what would have taken probably four to five hours and a team of four to five people, um, took only one hour and 15 minutes. And that, um, it's a product where it's like a fogging, um, gun of some sort and you spray and it abs.
It wraps around every surface. And disinfects it, um, quickly and much more efficiently, um, than often hand wiping can do and amount of time is just cut down rapidly. [00:12:00] Um, school districts are looking for these products. The thing is they come from China, so they're just not available right now. And so we're fortunate that we.
Had them already available to us and we've told our neighboring school districts that if they need them, we'd be happy to loan them. Fortunately that the tablet product that goes in them is manufactured here in the United States. So we have plenty of product now and we're ordering more in case we need it.
So those kinds of procedures and processes we're ready to implement if we need to do anything beyond what I've described above here. Next, in terms of always being prepared. You know, we have an emergency operations plan that we use for all types of emergency events, and we've described those in past years, how we keep our drills current and keep our students safe.
Um, the infectious disease response plan is part of the EOP. And so it's a document that we'd been reviewing to make sure it's updated and that [00:13:00] the roles and responsibilities in that plan, um, pertain to the situation as well. So in that plan, um, it talks about what are the infectious disease considerations, the type, the severity, how you would clean.
Then every executive team member, um, who would have a role in leading or delegating responsibilities in the plan is listed with their roles and actions and functions. You know, what does a superintendent do? What does a chief of operations need to do and delegate so that it's really clear when we're in that.
Plan, who's ready to get up and going and begin moving on things. It has components, considerations for closing a school or a cluster of schools or the district. What would be the factors that we might want to think through? And of course, it's all very dependent on the type of infectious disease or how involved Oregon health authority may also be with their recommendations.
And then we also talk about in that plan, how we would communicate to public agencies, to city officials, to [00:14:00] constituents, to staff, to students. Um, just remembering that, um, there are a lot of folks that need to have that communication to the Oregon department of education, um, health authority and those kinds of things.
We are monitoring, um, constantly. As I know even families are getting information either from the news, but we actually go straight to the Oregon health authority website. We also get information from the CDC and Clackamas public health. We have a district safety leadership team, which I'm a part of. We meet regularly.
We're monitoring that information, communicating with our ESD as well as on phone conferences with other County school districts, um, to see what their responses are and if they need support or resources. And also letting the Oregon department of education know where our status is. Uh, we also monitor any updates from the Oregon school activities association, um, athletic events, activities, competitions, conferences, those kinds of things.
Do they have any guidance that's new or, [00:15:00] um. Uh, uh, advice that they would have if we're hosting an event in terms of precautions. And then of course, our district nursing team also monitors directly with Clackamas County public health. That's something they do all year anyway. That's one of their regular, um.
Agencies that they're in communication with, whether it's about measles or protests. As you know, they're always, um, in communication about health needs. So this is another area where they're serving as a really great resource for us. Um, and monitoring any updates. And then lastly, um, I've invited last slide.
There we go. I've invited, I'm Andrew Kihlstrom here. You've been getting a lot of great communication, and that's because of our communication director, and he's constantly monitoring social media as well as all those websites and resources that I mentioned, and he's kind of our lead. On making sure we have the most update information and just thought I'd give them a chance to share how he makes sure that word gets out to our constituents [00:16:00] are absolutely.
So, um, as you've probably seen, we've, we've done our best to provide some, some regular updates, um, pertinent information over the past couple of weeks here. And we are in daily communication with those public health officials, um, receiving regular reports from Oregon health authority, working with Clackamas County department of health.
Um, and then with our neighboring school districts as well. Um, you probably noticed, um, in, in seeing communications from neighboring districts that it looks similar to what we have provided our families. And that's very much intentional, um, working with those groups to ensure we're all sharing, you know, accurate educational information and making sure communities have, um, what they need to be proactive.
Um. And then also, you know, working with our staff, making sure internal communications are strong so that, you know, staff are aware of, of all the important updates out there, um, and have pertinent information they need in terms of, um, work expectations or, and other relevant [00:17:00] information. Um, and then what we really tried to do is point our families to, um, resources that are available out there.
Um, if you've been to our website recently, you'll notice, um, we put together a pretty comprehensive. Webpage with, um, whether it's OHA, Rhett resources, Clackamas County resources, CDC resources. Um, really anything you want to know in multiple languages too is, is something we've tried to provide. Um, and then in terms of those regular updates, you know, it really is, um, following recommendations of Oregon health authority.
Um, to ensure that families are up to date, um, know where our thinking is, what we're doing proactively. Um, and then knowing that if there is, you know, if things progress, if, um, parents need to know about action, a district is going to take that. We can provide that in a timely manner. Um, up to date, we've relied on kind of our standard communication methods, which is, you know, our listserv, um, system, our social media, our website, email.
[00:18:00] Um, in the event that, um, you know, there was a school closure or something to that degree, we would rely on our school messenger system, which is really our emergency communication system. Then that's when a parent would receive a text alert, um, possibly a robocall email, uh, providing all that UpToDate information and, and, you know, making sure, um, families are aware of, of what is happening.
Um, in those moments. Um, and then like Dr. Logan mentioned, we're, we're just monitoring this daily, making sure we have that, that, that most UpToDate information and, and then being responsive to, um, naturally. And in a situation like this, we get many questions, concerns from the community. And what we've promised to do is do our best to get back to those questions in a very timely manner and make sure our community feels comfortable with what we're doing at a school level.
So that's really what we've been focused on from a community standpoint up to up to this point. [00:19:00] So that concludes my report and I wanted to end it with this update so that if you had any questions or comments that you wanted to make at this time, we know that there are folks who don't come to these meetings, but watch on television.
So if there's any comments you feel you want to make on this topic, I think this is a good time to do that for our constituents to hear, um, from the school district. Or questions you have for for me, ginger.
So thank you for both of your communication, um, would, and the communication, um, that you're getting in on this issue. I think the largest question I have, and then I have subsequent one is, is really around the board. And what is our role during this kind of crisis? Um. What is the [00:20:00] delineation of the role, um, regarding school closures?
And is there a point at time that you're affecting the calendar at which it becomes a board, um, involvement? Um, are you making decisions? Dr Ludwig as a superintendent, are principals making decisions? And then, um. The overarching question is how can we support the efforts that you have? So, and your presentation.
I wondered, um, are we having to use more time for staff to do the cleaning at night? Um. And is it increasing the cost of our busing services? So do we need to be considering, um, changing the budget? Um, is there a role that we can have in supporting you in the things that you're already doing? Um. Eh, already we have a state of [00:21:00] emergency by the government, the governor and the County.
But are there things kind of on the political end that is more of a board consideration and role that we can consider that supports your effort? Um, we'll start there, but I have probably some followups.
Well, I think one of the most important roles of the board is being informed and having the factual information and being, um, conduits and purveyors of that information with the public. So when you get asked, what's the school district doing that you feel you have those talking points. So I feel it's one of the most important roles you play is to feel confident in the steps and the measures that the district is taking and that you're able to communicate those when asked.
Um, when it comes time for board level types of decisions, you, you should know, I will come to you. If it is something that a calendar needs to be changed or, uh, an amount of resource needs to be increased, that takes board [00:22:00] approval or board vote, I will come to you. Um, but otherwise, so far the time and resources have been within budget.
Um, what we allocated towards supplies. We, um, so far those extra tablets that I mentioned that go in those foggers, um, are within our budget. And so we're able to purchase those. Um, but if something is extraordinary or does require quite a shift of some funds that maybe we were hoping to, to allocate somewhere else, I would let you know the rationale for that.
Um. We're not at a place yet where we've had a direct case in one of our schools that has prompted a closure. Um, and you've seen now there's been, uh, several, you've seen different responses from different school districts. Of course, Lake Oswego was. The first in the nation and there was an abundance of caution.
And so the response was longer in terms of duration of cleaning and keeping kids home. And then we recently saw with Hillsborough, the determination was much [00:23:00] shorter as folks knew a little bit more information and they were able to clean their school in one night and kids came back the next day. So it happened on a weekend.
Which school didn't need to close. So in those instances, always informing the board. Um, I would let you know if we were at that point. Um, O H a M are the ones that would inform us if there's been a confirmed case. And so we would be receiving information from them and a lot of guidance too, around how to communicate that to the public.
And then likely their recommendations for, um, you know, what, uh, what the next steps would be depending on the type of case that it was. And in terms of, um, those who were in contact with the infection. So I think everybody is navigating that case by case, depending on the situation. Um, and then the decision of how we inform.
Our public is also carefully guided remembering about FERPA and HIPAA that we don't disclose individual's [00:24:00] identities, but we do need to let our community know if there's, um, a direct case, um, in one of our schools. So we're not at that point yet, but we are paying attention very closely to how other school districts are responding and how their communities are responding.
Also then. To the level of action and communication and taking good notes on what seems to, to feel reasonable, safe, um, efficient and effective. Um. So that was, I hope I addressed role of board. Um, uh, right now there haven't been any school districts in Oregon that have closed for a long duration of time.
It really has been about this question of cleaning the school and then students returning that short duration is not, is something pretty easy. For me to inform the board if we ever got to a place where there was a longer duration for either an unsure amount of time or, or week or several weeks, um, we'd be in much more conversation about the implications of [00:25:00] that.
And those are conversations every school district in Oregon is checking in with their ESTs with each other. To think about, um, how would we navigate that? Should we be in those situations? Um, I'll stop there and let you ask your next questions. I can tell you from having teens that I routinely tell them that the frontal lobe is not fully developed.
And, and, um, you can say stay home when you're coughing and not feeling well, but it, the frontal lobe development as impaired. And so, um, in that regard, I want to ask some questions, particularly around high school students. Um. Who feel invincible. You know, how are we at the high school level? Um, allowing students to feel like miss school isn't going to impact their future, [00:26:00] their AP scores.
Um, there, how are we allowing for them to make up miss schoolwork? What. Um, messages are we sending when it comes to going to a sporting event or going to a symphony event? Um, how are we overcoming the tendency of high school students to believe that they're invincible?
I could answer that, I'd write a book. Right.
Um, you know, I think it, I think parents have to be deeply involved in helping their children make those decisions too. And so while we have given those precautionary measures and encouraged students, staff and families, please stay home if you're not feeling well. Um, in the end, those are decisions [00:27:00] that families make together.
And, um, what we've seen is a little rise in our absenteeism this week. And I think every school district has seen that. And I don't attribute it to a, a panic. What I think is happening is families are listening to, if you're not feeling well, don't send your child. So where they're ordinarily may have.
Said, you know, it's a little cold. I think you'll be okay. They're now feeling incredibly responsible to their community and erring on the side of caution. And so we're seeing little higher rate of absenteeism. It's still not, um. Super high. I mean, we're still functioning classes as normal. Um, teachers are incredibly sensitive to this, this time that we're in and that, um, they need to make adjustments around schoolwork, expectations.
We're not in that place yet. Where, um, successive days that we might close school could impact assignments. Um, there could be a [00:28:00] family here or there that may decide out of an extraordinary amount of caution that they self selectively want. To keep their child home for a number of weeks. Um, in that case, we would, uh, you know, respect that decision that's theirs to make with their healthcare provider, um, and their physician, and then what they might need from us in terms of some schoolwork or, um, a couple of asks if they're in that situation.
Would we send a laptop home? And we've said, of course, um, you can check one out with our school libraries and have what you need at home. So. Oh, I see. Okay. And then, um, that really moves me to staff questions. And again, how do we support your efforts? And so, are there concerns, um, regarding, um, any of the contracts that we have with classified or certified that would be impacted by, um, um.
[00:29:00] Increased, um, virus issues in our community. Um, how do we support, particularly those staff members who are more exposed to the cleaning, um, those kinds of things, particularly allele cup, Boones ferry. Uh, where though. Probably wasn't, but could have been some exposure to the virus there. How, um, how, how are we protecting our cleaning stuff, um, or our nutritional staff in terms of greater exposure.
And then are you, that's it.
Miss any of those? Um, we are meeting regularly with our association. Um, so we've had, um, not just communications by a text and messaging, but actually sat down with our licensed association and talked through some of the knowns. And what [00:30:00] we are responding to, um, in terms of supporting them and providing items for them to wipe in their classrooms.
Those disinfectant bottles, assurances that we have, um, the cleaning supplies that we, that we need if we had to close a school. So that reduced anxiety and assuring them that we would support a decision that their healthcare provider, uh, worked on with them in terms of staying home if they were sick or feeling vulnerable.
Um. And then of course, if, if there is a case in our district, we will follow the guidance of, of what the CDC and OHA have asked us to do in terms of quarantine and those kinds of processes. Um, so we've talked through that with our associations. They are incredibly appreciative. It's a collaborative partnership.
Um, so those kinds of conversations are pretty easy to have an incredibly supportive of each other in terms of our classified staff who then do some of this, um, really important work of cleaning and disinfecting and making sure our spaces are safe for children. They have been magnanimous. [00:31:00] Um, this weekend.
Um, our chief of operations, mr Pat McGough just put out the, Hey, we, we decided just out of caution to give some sections of Boones ferry and extra cleaning. Who would like to come? It was voluntary, um, in terms of we weren't Manda mandating anyone to work, but volunteering for work and over and above and beyond.
People signed up and said they'd come, they get the proper training on how to handle those fogging machines, um, so that they know how to do that safely for themselves. Um, and any kind of supports they feel they need. And like I said, it, what would may have taken a whole day to do all those sections was done in an hour and 15 minutes.
Because those fogging apparatuses are incredibly efficient and easy to use, and they're incredibly safe product to relatively safe product for adults to handle with their gloves on. And um, and so forth. Was that, I'm trying to track, you had contracts with our associations, so we talked through [00:32:00] that. And then protecting the cleaning staff.
And I think the last question I have is we're in a time publicly where there's some distrust of information that comes from government. And so, um, for me personally, it's reassuring to hear you talk about who you're talking to and what your plans are and that you already had a plan for this kind of situation and some of your thinking.
Um. Because some of the communication is we're relying on the Oregon health authority. We're relying on what the CDC says, and in this time where there's some distrust about, um, information that's coming from government bodies. Um, it's difficult to overcome that distress when we're in this kind of time of fear when we're talking about exposure.
Um. And I just want to reiterate how important it is to know [00:33:00] that the person close to us as that's making decisions or decisions with other team members, um, as someone that we have some trust and believe is using considered Justin judgment and focusing on the safety of our kids and their families. So thank you.
All right. Um, we will now move on to the consent agenda. Am I on the right? Yeah. Uh, is there a motion? I will move that the board adopt the consent agenda. I have a second. Ben moved and seconded. Would you please call it pro vote? Ellen hives. Estee Thompson. Hi. Right. And . Yes. Ginger fetch Elsie Kane. All right.
All right. Thank you. The consent agenda has been approved. We will move on to communications from the audience, and we do have [00:34:00] some people who've signed up to share with us this evening. Um. Before I begin, uh, calling people up to the podium to share information with us. I just want to remind you that, uh, we're appreciative of having people come and share with us.
Um, unfortunately the way this is set up, it's a time for, or I guess fortunately, it depends how you look at it, uh, for the board to be able to hear, um, your comments. Um, however, it's just not a time or the place where the board would have the opportunity to answer or respond to those. It's just we're taking it under advisement and consideration for the future.
Um, public comment is limited to three minutes per speaker, and if you go over three minutes, then, um, I will politely, uh, ask you to wrap it up. And, um, uh.
Uh, Oh. Also, uh, public [00:35:00] comment is a time for, you know, sharing, but it's certainly not a time for singling out individual district employees or students or speaking about, um, either in a way in which they could be readily identified. Um, there is a separate process and procedure for doing that. Um, it just happens outside of the public comment session.
So should you be bordering on, um, being a little bit too specific or pointed, um, with potential criticism? Then again, I would just hold you and then we would, um, give you an opportunity to see if you could correct. Or accommodate what you want to share. And then if not, we'll, we'll make sure that we're able to hear you, but just in a different setting.
So with that being said, I understand we have three people who would like to come up and speak together, and it's, I'm so poor with pronunciation, but it looks like Jennis Seymour, Amy [00:36:00] Olsen and Amy Eckley. Is that correct? Ah, I would welcome you three to, to come on up and then if you'd each just state your name.
Are you speaking on the same topic one after the other or all three of you are going to come up together? I'm sorry. So yeah, it is all on the same topic and then we're just following. Okay. Okay, perfect. All right then I will call you one at a time, but yeah, if you just then state your name and address for the record, I'd appreciate it.
Okay. Um, good evening to all of you tonight. My name is Janice Timor. We live at two three eight five Southwest Buckman road. I grew up in the area and I graduated from Wilsonville high school. I currently have a sixth grader at athe, a third grader, and a kindergartener at Stafford primary. My concern tonight is student behavior, lack of discipline in our schools, and the lack of district communication and clarity regarding the all inclusion model.
My first two questions I would like to address tonight are why are negative distracting, dangerous behaviors continually [00:37:00] tolerated, and how are teachers supported to teach through such disruptive behavior and rule abiding students supported to learn when these distracting and inappropriate behaviors are not being addressed?
My sixth grader has witnessed a child jumping off desks in Spanish class and other child chewing glue sticks and science and shares about excessive foul language, spoken in class and yelled in the hallways at school on a regular basis. In my son's words, he says, mom, I can't focus, and it's distracting.
Sometimes the teacher say something if they see it, but most of the time I don't think the teachers know what to do. Again, these are my son's words. As a parent, I would like to understand what recourse teachers have to address these behaviors when they occur. What power do we have as a district put in the hands of teachers to be able to take necessary action?
It seems that all we have done is remove any and all of the 30 from our teachers. My boys have experienced traumatizing events at school firsthand in [00:38:00] situations. Over the last two years, my husband and I have communicated our issues to the principals at both Stafford and athe Creek. Our communication was discouraging.
Um, and I believe both situations were handled. Corely. Ultimately, my trust of school level administration has been broken. This leads me to question the district administration and the implementation of your restorative practices on the district website. Your guiding principles state. Each child is to have effective physical space, not just a space where they are babysat, but where they can effectively learn.
Teachers have relationships with high expectations. Yet it seems the expectations for student behavior drop year after year with no recourse. This leads me to my concern about the all inclusion model. It is, to my knowledge, the Oregon adopted full inclusion six years ago. In the last three years, this model has been fully rolled out and implemented in our district.
We are now recognized on a national level for being the trailblazers of an all inclusive [00:39:00] model. We are paving the way. However, there are hundreds of parents questioning the benefits of this model with valid concern. I am submitting 10 questions to the school board that I feel are crucial as our district moves forward with this model.
Um, and I have additional copies if anyone would like one. Um, I respectfully request a written response to and, or a separate meeting to discuss your course of action for our concerns. These questions have been asked over and over by our parents without receiving a clear answer from the district administration or the school board.
This is unacceptable. And if you're going to implement this model of learning, then you must also be willing to be held accountable for the learning and learning environments being created by the small models. Um, I volunteer often at Stafford and on numerous occasions I've seen kids who are in trouble and hanging out with
The secretary minutes. Just quickly conclude. Okay. School secretaries have to make them sit still. Sit up, be quiet, get back in their chair. And I don't believe it's their job to [00:40:00] babysit challenging children. Um, yeah. Submit that. Okay. If you would, and then we can review it and see if we can't get back to you.
Okay. Thank you.
Amy Olson.
Okay. Absolutely. Thank you.
Yeah.
And then Amy as well, if you'd just state your name and address. Okay. My name is Amy Olson and I live at three five one sunshine lane, West Linn, and have a third grade son at Stafford. I stabbed her two weeks ago. My son's third grade class missed out on an hour of instructional [00:41:00] time because one of his classmates could not be read.
Hold on. I'm sorry. Yeah, that's a specific, specific, yeah. Okay. So what I've experienced in my son's classroom is there have been, there's been a lot of lack of instructional time due to the teacher having to redirect her attention to. A particular student. And I believe that it's important for her to be able to use her time more wisely to instruct her students in the classroom.
And what I've seen on a consistent basis is, um, behavior that takes away from that. And I think it's really important for her to be able to focus on the students as a whole, as her whole class. And not just one in particular. Um. I have seen, uh, schedules adjusted for a particular student that I think, again, takes away from her, her instructional time, and it's disruptive to the class as a whole.
Um, I've seen other students have to, [00:42:00] I'm going to just stop you because I do think that like we're talking about particular student on a particular teacher. I mean, I think what you're trying to communicate is as a practice that you would like to see. Additional support to this teacher or all teachers in inclusive classrooms like that would be a better approach.
Then I'm specifically talking about this one incident with this one student in this one classroom. Does that make? Well, so I guess I want to express that. I've seen it on multiple occasions and I, I'm in the classroom pretty consistently and it consistently happens. So what we would like to see is that the West Linn, Wilson middle school district communicate more clearly with the parents and families and constituents and educators and other professional working.
Professionals working in the district about where the lines exist for this all inclusive model, specifically when a class must be cleared out to allow for one student to rage openly or how parents are notified about this, um, where is the log or the documentation tracking how many minutes and [00:43:00] hours of teaching are being lost each and every day?
In the schools across the district. Why are there not monthly reports at each board meeting and about the number of classroom clears in the past to allow for full transparency and to incite action and policy that can improve this model documentation, open communication, willingness to acknowledge what is not working is imperative for all children, families, educators, and our entire district to continue moving forward and positively progressing.
Thank you. And uh, Amy Eckley
and then again, name, address, please. I am Amy . My address is three, eight, five, seven Southwest trail road. It's Walton. It's seven Oh six two um, and I'm going to just really echo what's been said, but I really want my comments to be recorded from a teaching background. I've been a professional educator in Oregon for 17 years.
I'm still [00:44:00] licensed, although I'm not teaching in a public school. I may feel like one of the biggest things I continue to hear as a parent, as a teacher. Um, I was formerly a school PTA board member at our school, been to several district meetings over the years where I've just tried to listen. And then oftentimes because of the way my mind thinks, um, I'm a forward thinker.
And so I tend to ask big questions about what are we doing to mitigate issues that are coming, that are within our view. And I feel like a lot of times those questions are met with. Uh, but I know we're dealing with so many issues on a day to day basis in a school district, and we're putting out fires imminently every day.
And I value that. We've heard so much testimony tonight about amazing things happening in our district, and I don't diminish any of that. But as a teacher, there are so many issues going on in the classrooms that I just feel we cannot continue to more. We [00:45:00] cannot continue to brush them under the rug.
Hoping that they're going to go away because the trajectory we are on as a culture. And as a nation is currently a little scary with behavior, and so it's not limited to West Linn. Wilsonville, I'm speaking on behalf of teachers across the state of Oregon. I am not a Wesleyan Wilsonville teacher, but I taught in a neighboring district for many years, and I am no longer in the classroom, partially because at the middle school level where I taught the behaviors were very difficult to cope with, and it was often met with my administrators saying, we wish we could help you.
But there's nothing we can do. Our hands are tied and they just feel like for teachers, that's not good enough. As a district, we have to be able to answer them with, we're right here behind you and here's what we're doing and here's what we're actively working on. And so the questions, I just want to post an night.
Some of these will sound redundant. How are teachers being supported to manage and address extreme student behavior? And I'm kind of talking about [00:46:00] the. Not the 85 90% that's just typical kid behavior. We're talking about these extreme behaviors that we're seeing in the last few years, not we didn't necessarily see 20 years ago.
So what are we doing? These are extreme behaviors. How are we preparing teachers? Um, how have we looked at individual gen ed classes and teachers? And maybe there's a reason that not every gen ed class is the most appropriate place for every single student. In theory, yes, it would be. And that would be ideal.
But maybe certain classes or even certain teachers are not prepared to handle every issue. Um, we've brought up calming rooms in the past. There are schools locally that are using them successfully as well as nationally. Um, that's something we've brought up at our school in PTA and it has often been met with just, eh, we're not really doing that here.
Um. I would like a quantifiable number of how many outbursts are allowed in a classroom that sacrifice instructional time. [00:47:00] At what point can we say, as a district, it's enough. This teacher's had enough. We have teachers leaving the classroom. We have teachers leaving the profession, and Amy is three minutes.
I just want to wrap up by saying, I know that public schools are the ultimate testing ground for new policies, new procedures, new models they should be, and they will continue to be. But I think it's really important that as a progressive district, we are very careful about how we consider moving forward with behavior issues.
Thank you for your time. Thank you.
Gabriel Miller, if you come up and please share name and address, I'd appreciate it. . My name is Gabriel Miller. I live at 2325 carriageway in West Linn. Uh, this school district in the state of Oregon, claim inclusivity and equity are of the utmost importance. And we hear [00:48:00] this constantly from teachers and administrators, but do you really believe these ideas and practice them?
I believe the answer is no. Most of the time, and the school district has not been completely honest about what it does actually doing versus what it claims to believe. Our school district is no more inclusive than anywhere else. It is simply inclusive of the groups it chooses. There are hundreds of examples within this district, many of which you heard tonight of disruptive behavior within classrooms, often to the point of criminal assault.
What has been done? Nothing. Because most of the students and parents who speak out about the chaos and disruptive behavior don't belong to the victim groups that are favored. They are ignored. Their voices are apparently unworthy of our attention. That has to end, and we must consider these voices if you want us to trust you with our children right now, many parents don't.
Many parents believe the primary mission has become indoctrinating our children with progressive values rather than teaching them facts [00:49:00] and truth. Your website States that you wish to disrupt systems of racism and generate equitable outcomes for all students while eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps.
That sounds compassionate and noble, but it's not going to help our children become better educated and attain more wisdom maybe rather than spending our time and money combating systemic racism unnecessarily. And trying to generate outcomes for students. We should let them generate their own outcomes by simply educating them properly and teaching them the truth.
Maybe instead of espousing divisive ideas such as white privilege, the district should recognize the real privilege is living in Oregon and the United States a privilege we all have. Regardless, there is no need for conversations about inclusivity and equitability. If all educators simply do the job that educators are supposed to do, we entrust schools to educate our children, not to promote ideas or values, no [00:50:00] matter how important you may feel those values are.
If my daughter chooses to be open minded to other people's beliefs. It is because we are good parents and did a good job of teaching her to be respectful of others regardless of who they are. It's not because the school district indoctrinated her into adopting their beliefs or views. We entrust and pay teachers to teach my daughter reading, writing, and math among a few other subjects, most of which are never even discussed.
The state is failing miserably at this. Please leave the social engineering up to our parents, up to her parents. If you are going to continue to place a bold emphasis on inclusivity and equity, I think it is reasonable and fair to expect the following all references to any specific class, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other group of people.
It should be removed from district and school media and written material. If the goal is absolute inclusivity, what could be more inclusive than that? When you begin [00:51:00] advocating and actively promoting specific groups of people, aren't you, by definition, being exposed? Thank you for your time.
yes.
I'm just going to be her assistant for a minute. No problem. My name is Peyton fish. My address is one zero eight nine Southwest Nelson Jack. I'm seven years old and I am a second grader at Bloomsbury primary. I'm here because I worry and I don't want to go to school because of all the problems in my class.
I don't like that. I have to see other kids being rushed to my teacher and classmates hear bad words all day or getting hit. These levels make me feel scared and frustrated. I feel like I can't run. [00:52:00] It's very hard to ignore it. I also feel bad for my teacher. I feel like every year this hasn't gotten better.
I would like to have a safe classroom where I can you
Thank you very much for standing up there and sharing. You did a very good job, Jenna. Well, my name's Jana fish and I live at the same address. One one zero eight nine Southwest, not some drive and Wilsonville. I have three children. One attends wood middle school, my two other children to attendance, very primary school.
I remember the Boones ferry PSS, and I'm an avid volunteer at the school. Over the past three years, I have witnessed a drastic increase in disruptive and unsafe behaviors in my children's classrooms have been scary. I have voiced my concerns to administration. Dr Pryor, dr Ludwig NTU, the school board members.
Well, the administration and the teachers are working as hard as they can to deal with these issues. They don't have the resources and support to stop them. [00:53:00] Have we ever asked our teachers about these types of incidents? How are we tracking them? If we have asked teachers and are tracking these things, where's the data?
Cause I would love to see it. We can't sit by and act like nothing is happening in our schools. We have a problem and we need to act. How is it okay to ask children to learn in a classroom where children's screams at words such as Butthead. Stupid shut up as well as many other severe words. How would you feel after a classmate has hit you.
How can you possibly learn when your teacher is constantly interrupted with inappropriate words or unsafe behaviors and they are pulled and then trying to regain your attention to the lesson. Do the vault and disruptive learning environment. So the past two years, my sweet daughter has developed anxiety about being at school.
It got so bad this year, the after Christmas break we had to reduce the amount of time she attends school. I can't blame her for feeling this way. And quite honestly, you can see the passion I have about this topic [00:54:00] or these past two years, she has been hit, kicked, had things thrown at her, as had to hide under tables to protect herself and unsafe situations.
Even with the reduced schedule, she still comes home to report daily about things that are happening. My heartbreaks, as I hear her detail, the environment she is supposed to be learning in. Can you honestly say you would want your children in a classroom environment like this. My daughter wants to be at school with her friends.
She wants to learn. I applaud the teachers and the administrators who are doing everything they can to work in these conditions. Our classrooms should be places where teachers can teach and students can learn, and our children and teachers deserve better, and I implore you to make a bigger effort to focus on behavior and safety in our schools.
Thank you.
You and Carrie clinky
[00:55:00] You're six Southwest Camelot street. In the last three years, I've met with many of you, actually most of you about disruptive learning. I had no idea that I was going to be one of many talking tonight. No idea. I'd like to start by reading the first West Linn, Wilsonville guiding principle. Everyone deserves to feel valued, safe, cared for, and a sense of belonging to their school community.
Safe, valued, cared for. These are core values to West Linn. Wilsonville, I'm here tonight to plead for a call to action to stand up for our most vulnerable children who may be experiencing daily trauma in the classroom. The disruptive learning crisis puts our core values at risk and diminishes learning time.
The emotional toll of seeing verbal and physical outbursts and aggression must be taken seriously.  disruptive learning report States quote, students are witnessing and experiencing chaotic sometimes violent situations as a result of these disruptions. Some students have been physically [00:56:00] injured. Many respondents express deep concerns about how students were traumatized by exposure to repeated disruptions and how behavioral outbursts were being normalized.
Without increased support, all students will continue to suffer and quote. It's not acceptable to normalize it. Please imagine what you might feel if someone next to you right now stood up, started screaming, you had to cover your ears cower. Then they got up and they started racing around right now, lifting up chairs over their head.
Now imagine that your child was sitting right next to you.
Your first instinct would be to protect your child. Then raised to safety. Now imagining that happening again and then possibly again, and then imagine that you were unaware of the majority of these outburst, yet you continued to send your child to school. This exemplifies reality in some classrooms.
Last instructional time when we already have one of the shortest school [00:57:00] years in the nation is a huge hurdle to overcome, diminish continuity in lessons. The teacher resorting to plan B and modifying instruction to accommodate challenging behavioral cohorts is unacceptable. Essentially, all of our vision themes are demolished for the majority of the class.
With the actions of a few learning for all suffers. Our district must track the data. Dr Pryor, dr Ludwig, we've discussed this. You know my heart about tracking data. Be transparent with that data, our restorative practices, making a dent in this alarming behavior in the last three years. What does the data say?
Follow it. These data points really matter to me. What our state test scores have plummeted over the last five years, and my homeschool. Even though our ELL numbers and SCS numbers stay relatively stable too. There's been an alarming increase in behavioral and unsafe [00:58:00] incidents in our homeschool that matters to me.
I have some requests today. Please lower class sizes and increased, specifically trained para educators to help overburdened teachers create a faster FBA system to get children on behavior plans quickly and efficiently increase monetary support. For sped department. Case floats. Consider behavioral coaches for every single school so that the ICS can do their jobs.
And focus on curriculum enrichment and following the data to reach all students. All students carry. That is three two points and I'm almost done. Consider building a specific targeted instruction systems for all children in the sip plan and the SSA framework enrichment skill grouping. Advanced coursework supplemental curriculum would be a great use of the fraction of the 7.6 million that's coming up for the students investment account grant.
Who that S S a. I'll skip my last point, but in closing, I'd like to implore you all to fight [00:59:00] to make our classrooms more peaceful so that more high quality learning and engagement can take place. Thank you so much.
and Carrie as well, since you didn't get the chance to finish that last point, if you want to email that to us, that'd be great. Thank you. Um, as well as with, if anybody else didn't get to close, you're all welcome to do that. Um, at Tricia Britton.
Okay.
Well. Good evening. My name is Trisha Britton and I live on six, five, four two Palomino way in West Linn. I'm a dedicated parent and after hearing everybody speak tonight, I'm actually going to be speaking on behalf of the concerns and topics that have been brought forth this evening. I first want you to know that I can sympathize with being in your position.
I can only imagine that hearing from lots of different people about [01:00:00] various topics and concerns all over the district is a big response responsibility on your part. So thank you for listening and know you are recognized and appreciated for taking this on. We have dedicated parents. Do you want to fix the concerns that we bring to your attention?
We are not here just to complain. Therefore, we see that there needs to be a more effective way of taking action on these issues and communicating more effectively in order to create improvements within our schools and in our district. For example, just based on, um, what I heard this evening. Um, our district has multiple safety plans in place and you just clearly explained a detailed plan regarding health safety with regards to the coronavirus.
Based on the concerns heard by parents this evening, would it be possible to request a similar plan communicated to the community for the safety in the classroom when it comes to the behavior and physical emotional safety in the classrooms? Specifically requesting tracking and documentation. We are requesting ways to improve the outcomes for our children's education.
This needs to be [01:01:00] taken seriously. What is the best way to do this? So I would like to point out that there is an Oregon statue that is already in place. It's RS three two nine seven Oh four which could be a benefit to all of us. This statute has to do with school councils, also known as like councils and can be the bridge that staff and parents could use to strategize on how to fix the issues like the ones presented this evening.
The council would assist of teachers, parents. Other staff and work with the principal to develop, review, and evaluate school improvement programs and school budgets. These councils would be working together within their individual schools as well as partnering with the district these day to day issues that Angela individually effect.
Schools then become the responsibility of the site council. It is a more direct way to effectively manage issues and topic because it creates a vehicle for improvement planning within each individual school. As of now, this is where we are with how issues and topics are managed. As parents, we have first gone to the teachers second, [01:02:00] then to the principal, then to assistant superintendents next at times to the superintendent, and then we still don't see improvements or change.
When we speak to, um, then we are here speaking at board meetings, having a site council would eliminate all the middlemen and provide a practical way of communication in order to gain a successful strategy for improvement. This has to happen, as I've stated above, the way we have to communicate issues and topics currently is proving to be ineffective.
While it lacks collaboration of all parties. There's also little improvement with several of the topics presented this evening. That is a big problem. We have a statue in place that would generate strategies for the improvement in schools about all of these topics presented this evening. So why are we not adopting this in our district?
So my ask to you is that we create site councils within each school in order to provide effective communication, collaboration, and improvements for a quality, safe and age appropriate education for our children. Thank you.
[01:03:00] Yeah.
good evening. My name is David . My address is two, nine one zero carriageway West Linn, Oregon. Uh, this is very difficult for me, uh, to speak like this in front of people. English is not my first language. Um, so, uh, bear with me. Um, so I hope this stresses how important this is to me and to my family and community.
Um, my wife and I have lived in West Linn for nearly six years. We have three children, two of them at Trillium Creek elementary. Um, I come from immigrant parents and an ancient tradition that includes theology and philosophy, which [01:04:00] disagrees with much of what is found in the comprehensive education sexuality plan for the school district.
My culture and community believes that sexuality should be taught by parents to their children and not the state. As a person of color and a great minority in West Linn, I feel that what is land to be taught or is being taught about sexual orientation and gender theory is an attack on my cultural beliefs in my tradition and on my children.
I have a right to raise my children in the tradition of my ancestors. This curriculum would only confuse my kids and single them out to be bold. Opting out is an option which occurred when I was a kid and all that happened is I was singled out. My family was singled [01:05:00] out and bullied even more.
I would not want that to happen to my kids because of different beliefs that they have or the color of their skin. The comprehensive education sexuality plan has many unintended consequences, especially for minority parents in the district. I only learned that the board passed this sex education plan and Mary, many parents feel like it was done with minimum.
Minority, minority input, especially from dads. I am gravely concerned with the sex education plan. I thank you for your time and consideration and hope to speak with you individually.
David and Amanda Kirti.
[01:06:00] My name's Amanda purity. I live at, uh, one nine, two, two, five Southwest 46th Avenue and 12th son. Um, and I just wanted to say I have, um, three kids in the district as well. And, um, we love this district, and I have seen. I've actually come before that. Not this board, but a board. Les Lynn was in billboard before and I've seen that they care a lot about one when parents speak.
And I've seen you make amazing changes. So I'm really hopeful that, that I speaking here today, that that will have an impact and that you will continue, like you have been to listening to us. Um. So I've had kids in the district for the entire six years since things have sort of shifted. Um, people have talked about the inclusivity.
I don't really know what it's called, but, um, I can only speak to what we've experienced in [01:07:00] Stafford and athe, which is where my kids have attended. And now going on to West Linn high school. Um. I think that the truth is, is that most parents in these schools don't really know what is happening. Um, at least that's been my experience with the friends that I've reached out to.
So I think that when there's a disruptive situation in a classroom, um, there's a few select kids that go home and tell their parents. But there's a lot that don't. And, and I think that if the school administrators would consider reaching out to the majority of the classrooms, um, to say, you know, we, we have, this situation's happening.
And how was your child feeling about learning, um, in the classroom? I think you might get a better understanding of, of really what those other kids that are silent are failing. Um. My sixth grader continues to tell me that I'm getting sent out of class is cool and it's like a reward. And the kids always get to come back [01:08:00] and they don't really see the point of following the rules.
Like these literally asked me why? Why do I have to follow the rules? This whoever gets sent out and comes back and it's fun. They go have like a little play time out in the hall or whatever. So I, that concerns me because. I'm not sure what the message is to the kids. Um, I also just want to say my eighth grader who's, who's now a freshman, and, um, so my freshman in high school who was an eighth grader last year, and he, sorry.
Um, he had a situation where in one of the classrooms they were, there was a group of kids bragging about the goal was to break the teacher. Is that too specific? Yeah. Okay, so I don't know how to say he was an eighth grader, but anyway, yeah, go bigger. Like what? What is your, what's the issue you have?
First issue was there was kids that were bragging to my son and [01:09:00] other kids that they wanted to break the teacher every day. So, Mmm. I don't know how else to say that. And they succeeded. The teacher left. I don't, so I guess what I'm, what I'm hoping you will consider doing is, is checking in with the teachers, cause I'm not sure who's advocating for them.
Um, I feel like a lot of times we were a lot about the, the, um, the kids and learning, which is very important. But I feel like the teachers maybe are getting a little bit forgotten about, are they getting trained? Are they, do they feel supported? So my, my. My request is that you speak to them, and especially the teachers that have been in our district for the entire six years.
Um, I would be curious to hear what they have to say now versus things six years ago and what's been good and bad. So thank you very much.
[01:10:00] all right. That is. All that I have signed up. Is that accurate for anybody here who wants to speak? All right.