Hello. It works okay.

We got these fancy new mics here, so please bear with us.

It may take us a few minutes to figure out how it all works.

Alright, so welcome to this regular session

of the Ashland School Board.

April 11th, 2024.

I officially call this meeting

to order my gavels back there somewhere.

That's okay. We'll do without, so let the records show

that all five board members are present and accounted for.

And I will have,

What does Willow

or Hank want or not Sorry.

Do either of you wanna read the land

Acknowledgement?

Oh, do you guys, yeah, when do you wanna read? Alright.

Okay. So I will have Director Franco read

the Land acknowledgement tonight. Next time. Next time.

We acknowledge that the sacred land that we live

and learn on today belongs to.

We acknowledge, sorry, new mics.

We acknowledge that the sacred land that we live

and learn on today belongs to the Tema, Shasta, Modoc,

Klamath and Umpqua Peoples.

We honor and acknowledge the traditional owners

of the land we now call the United States.

We recognize the Native American people's continuing

connection to land, place, waters and community.

We pay our respects to their cultures, country

and elders past, present, and emerging.

Thank you. Okay,

so next item is the adoption of the agenda.

And do we have any requests to change the agenda?

Yes, I would like to add an agenda item.

Okay.

Can we add long-term use of district land?

Okay. Do we vote on that? Yeah. Okay.

Can I have a motion

to add long-term use land? I

Move to add, I move to add long-term use

of district land to the agenda. I second

All in favor?

Okay, so moved.

So we will add that as we'll call it nine a

land statement after the board reports.

Okay. Next we have adoption of the consent agenda.

So I will take a motion to approve the consent

agenda as presented.

I actually wanna pull in, okay.

Oh,

Mic, mic

Up, mic again.

I'd like to pull the enrollment report please.

Okay,

so let's go ahead we can, okay.

We can discuss that and then we'll

go back and improve the rest of it. Okay,

Great.

So part of the increasing enrollment committee,

we looked at a list of families

that live in Ashland but do not attend our schools.

And interestingly enough, we found about 250 home schools

or, or students

that are attending homeschool among that list.

So one of the things I noticed on the enrollment report is

that both Willow, wind

and trails, our two choice schools,

have maintained enrollment back to their prior numbers

prior to CID.

And so one of the goals, the,

of the enrollment increasing enrollment committee will be

to reach out to those families to see

what we can do to welcome them back into our district.

And one of the other unique things I noticed is that

Walker has a significantly lower amount

and that is due to that inner district transfer,

which they discontinued in 2019.

I always get the year wrong. And so

we are really hopeful on the increasing enrollment

and I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention.

And then also give a softball to Ben

for his report on CTE

because I would love to win some of those

students back once they learn about all the amazing programs

that the district offers that a lot

of families aren't aware of. That's

It.

Okay. Thank you Jill. Okay,

so we will then I will again take a motion

to approve the remainder of the consent agenda as presented.

I move to approve as presented. I second. All in

Second.

All in favor? Yes. So moved.

Alright, so next up we have Principal Ben Bell here

to talk about the a HS career

and technical Education update.

Good?

No there it's,

Hello.

Now you see what we're dealing with.

All right. Good evening and thank you.

I appreciate the opportunity to be here and to highlight

and give you a brief overview

of our CTE programming at Ashland High School.

CTE stands for Career Technical Education.

And if you look at the background of the title slide here,

that's a picture taken from just a few weeks ago actually.

And this is a, a great opportunity that our,

our woods teacher, Mark Miller, started last year.

And these are kindergartners on the high school campus in

our wood shop working with our high school students.

And we, we bring in the,

the kindergartners every few weeks.

Each school has an opportunity to do that.

And the high schoolers have set up stations

and guide the kindergartners through how to use basic tools.

And at the end of it, they produce a, a project

that they get to take home and give to their parents.

So shamelessly we are, you know,

indoctrinating our future grizzlies

to the benefits of this program.

So CTE is is very clearly and,

and explicitly career connected learning

and it features a, a variety

of education programs and courses.

We really want to focus on utilizing 21st century

technology wherever possible.

And these programs are really focusing on

providing technical skills, professional practices,

specific academic knowledge around specific industries

and trades and opportunities for careers post high school

in high wage in demand careers.

And, and really we wanna provide an opportunity for students

to be able to enter those industries potentially immediately

after high school if that's what they choose to do.

So this is a, a list of our programs

that we have currently at Ashland High School.

And there wasn't a mission

Business management should also be on the list as well.

That's a, a program that is currently taught by

teacher Quinn, Hal Dane,

who has had great success over the past few years,

really growing that program.

Along with that business management specifically,

there is a, a nationwide kind

of industry focused club called deca.

And he brought that club back last year.

And so over the past couple years already, we've been able

to successfully send students on to compete nationally.

And so that means they,

they won regional competition state level

and then progressed to the national level, which was,

we felt like that was a great success

considering we had just reintroduced the program.

And so I think next month we're looking at sending a,

another small group of students to compete nationally along

with the business management course.

Our upper level students have helped Quinn reestablish

a student store on campus

and that's at the front of our commons at,

so they are currently selling baked treats

that our culinary program makes culinary being another one

of our CTE programs.

So our culinary students bake those treats, they go

to the student's store, our business students are selling

them, the money comes back into our business program

and then that can help reduce some of the student costs for

trips DECA related and, and things like that

and helps put money back into the program.

So those things have been really positive developments

culturally and in terms of programming for our students

and of course opportunities for them to,

to compete and shine.

We also have digital arts,

which includes programs like graphic design,

digital photography,

so this is gonna be really technology focused

related programming.

We also have technical theater,

which you see on display anytime you come

and see one of our drama productions manufacturing

and design, which is gonna include woods stained glass,

computer aided design and interior design.

We have a mechanics program, culinary,

which I already mentioned.

And last year we introduced a pre-apprenticeship program,

which is sort of a tag along to the manufacturing

and design pathway.

And students that participate in that program

are completing all of the prerequisites that are

required to enter pre-apprenticeship programs

in industries like plumbing, electrical, hvac, really

skills focused

and high paying jobs that don't require a college degree.

And so I'll go to the next slide.

Kind of jumping to the middle section there.

Last year was our first year, as I said,

we had 18 Ashland High School students participate in the

pre-apprenticeship program.

There were 47 students in the valley that participated,

I think mostly from Medford.

And of those there were a total of 17 completers,

but 12 of those were from Ashland High School.

And so we're feeling really good at this point about

that success rate, especially compared to

neighboring schools and districts.

And we're expecting similar results this year from our

current pre-apprenticeship group

and we had five of those students go on

and actually complete and,

and be admitted to the pre-apprenticeship program

with Crater Electric.

So already starting to, to see the,

the benefits of that program.

And then just generally, I think it's important to point out

that we, we typically see students

that participate in our CTE programming

graduate at a higher rate overall than our

overall graduation rate.

That was true last year as well.

Students that took at least one CTE course

graduated last year at a rate

of 93% for Ashland High School.

And our overall average was just over 90%.

That rings true across the state and,

and generally nationally as well for students

that are participating in these programs.

And again, a lot of the reason is

because students want to know that

what they're learning is relevant to them,

that it's gonna be relevant after high school.

And when they enter these programs, it's immediately obvious

to them how the skills

that they're learning are gonna translate to

post high school jobs and and careers.

So I wanted to give one

of our students an opportunity

to share his experience as well.

We extended the invitation to, to several other students,

but because they are so career focused,

they had some trouble getting away from their,

their jobs that they also work.

So I'm gonna let Eli speak about his experience.

Thank you so much. Hi, my name is Eli Mayo Adams.

I am a junior. I take four CTE classes at a HS

Culinary Business woods

and as well as the pre-apprenticeship class.

These classes are by far my favorite classes of the day

due to, and I think it's largely due to the passion of the,

of the teachers of the, in the subject,

their energy is passed on to the students causing us

to excel and always have a good time.

It just makes it feel very special. Thank you.

Does anyone have any questions,

Eva?

Yeah, I actually, I understand what an apprentice is.

I'm not sure I understand what a pre-apprentice is.

So can you explain that?

The pre-apprenticeship class is really just like a

stepping stone and a idea of, it's an overarching

for all of the different trades

and it gives you certifications that you'll need

for all the trades

and just overall ideas as well as site visits to try

to figure out what you want to do after high school.

For me especially, I still don't know,

but this has really given me a lot of ideas

and a lot of things to look at

and it's, it's just a really, really great class

to just figure out what you want to do after high school.

I say I I I agree with you Eli, that

that is super fun.

It's been really impactful for my

and

students that

I have a question for you because I got awesome.

Talk about workforce. I got a tour

of facilities at Passion High School was awesome.

I recommend that for people. I was curious about capacity.

So are we pretty much at capacity programs?

I'm gonna say yes and no.

So in terms of actual physical space at every space right

now is sort of designated for a program along

traditionally as part of the manufacturing pathway.

We've also had metals as, as a part of that,

our teacher that we've had teaching metals over the past few

years has been on a halftime leave.

And that half that he's on leave for is,

is the metals programming.

So right now that program is, is sort of on hold

and it takes up a significant space.

It it's got a big footprint on campus.

So I think there's sort

of a question mark at this point about the, the future of

that particular part of the program

and how we can use the equipment that's currently there

and in that space in the future.

Yeah.

So can I just ask you, you talked about the

pre-apprenticeship being,

or you at least looked at those numbers that were

for the region,

but this is something that we're specifically,

it's not a collaborative program, right?

We're just doing this here at a HS You were just comparing

those numbers to other districts around us.

Yes.

You're red, it should be working.

No, now it's off. Yeah,

It's better be rid for hot.

Right? For hot. Got it. Okay.

So there is within the, so ESD,

which serves our, our regional districts,

a regional CTE coordinator.

And so there are regional programs

and pre-apprenticeship existed in

Medford for a number of years.

I'm not sure how long prior to us sort of joining on.

And so our teacher, Mark Miller, will coordinate

with the Medford schools to have field trips happening

to, to sites in the valley at calm times.

So there's some coordination,

but our pre apprenticeship program there, there are students

in our site participating.

Okay. But then we we're sending them, I mean, I guess

or the, the goal is to then send them out to these different

pre preexisting apprenticeships

that, that are already out there.

Like you were talking about the creator

electrical. So that's right.

So a required part of the course is for students to

actually go out on a certain number of skill tracks.

And so they're scheduled before the semester starts.

And in order for students to pass

and meet requirements, I forget what the number is, but

Five

Five.

And so they're all different kind of,

so students get, and then there's some, some common level

certification that they do,

for example, certification, which is

Gonna

Be required in any industry or job site.

Okay, thank you. I've got one more question.

So from what I understand,

we have a unique mix

of CT programs across all the high schools in the region.

Like you don't do the same thing.

Eek point just has like a new ag program, which is cool.

Phoenix talent does their construction stuff, which is cool.

When we lost open enrollment, did we see a decline from not,

did we see folks before while we had open enrollment,

did we see kids coming to Ashton High School

because of our unique mix

of CT programs that we offered there?

That's a really good question.

I I just wanted to say that

my daughter's a mechanical engineer

and the reason that she succeeds in a 95% male dominated

occupation is because part of it is

because she got, she took CAD at Ashland High School,

she took jewelry, she took, oh my gosh,

even stuff, video production stuff.

And that really gave her a leg up.

So I think it's so fantastic.

We have this opportunity for girls where they can get

that hands-on experience that they need to then go on

and be really successful when they go to college

or if they go into a trade.

So I'm really pleased that we have this opportunity

and I'm hoping you have girls participating in,

in your CTE programs

and you're seeing that kind of path continue.

Yeah, I,

Yeah, I just wanna re reiterate what Eli said.

I've heard a lot of sentiment from a lot of students

that their favorite classes are those CTE classes.

'cause you know, not everyone loves math class

and it's really good to hear like people ex excited to go

to go to class and,

and learn things that they feel is gonna be like pertinent

to, to what they're doing in the future.

'cause we know not everyone takes the same, same path.

That's also,

All right, any more questions?

And I, I really, I like that point that you made as well,

that these are so important, not just for people

who are going to trades, but this can also be really a huge

background for people going onto other types of education.

So, alright. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, Ben, I think you stay on the hot seat.

Our next presentation is SROs.

Okay. So next we will maybe be having a discussion

of school resource officers at Ashland High School

with Benjamin Bell and Rebecca Brunson.

Just a reminder to let folks know you have to be four

to six inches away from the mic to be heard

And the red light has to be on.

Thank you. A

That's optional.

Yeah.

Okay. Okay, Alan,

Good evening everyone.

Thank you for being here with us tonight

to our community members, our students,

and our school board for the opportunity to discuss

the return of the school resource SRO

program to Ashland Schools.

Since its beginning,

which we found out was over 25 years ago,

the SRO program has been an integral part

of our school culture and significantly

impacted campus safety.

Its present was actually incredibly impactful

until 2015 when the City of Ashland

faced budget and staffing decisions.

And it necessitated the cut of the SRO program,

which actually led to its temporary suspension.

And

Here, so during the tenure with Ashland Schools,

our SROs have not only represented the Ashland Police

Department, but they've also played roles in our schools.

SROs have been mentors to our students.

They've been athletic coaches, they've been guest

teachers, educators.

We also have a HS graduates

and parents in our school district

and on Ashland Police Department.

And they've all made substantial contributions

to our students' growth and again, to campus safety.

The SROs, multifaceted involvement in our schools,

I'm gonna go back one slide.

Have enriched the educational experience for many

of our students and have significantly contributed

to the overall safety of our campuses

today or tonight.

After a two year working relationship between numerous

community members, many conversations including

Superintendent Bog Donna, chief O'Mara, his team, many

of whom are here tonight, we can discuss the return

of the SRO program.

The dialogue around the return

of the SRO has been a collaborative effort involving a wide

range of constituents.

We've strived to be sensitive to all perspectives

and have been driven by the needs

of our high school students.

This inclusive approach has been pivotal

in shaping the direction of all of our conversations.

Two years ago, our students voiced a strong desire

for an SRO.

Their voices have been at the forefront

of these conversations

and they've shaped the direction of all the work

that we've done to date.

We value our students, we believe in their perspectives

and we know how powerful their words are.

So tonight you'll hear from them

and you'll hear from some other community members.

So you won't have to just hear me the whole time.

Earlier this year, two of our board members met

with our student leadership

to gain deeper insights into these perspectives.

Our engagement with student leadership has been,

again, it's been dynamic.

We've continued conversations

with many different groups.

We have had conversations facilitated by community members

who are also in the audience tonight,

and who you'll hear from, including Ashland pd,

support from the S-O-E-S-D, and both our middle

and high school administrative teams.

Our students, our staff

and our community members will share their

experiences with you tonight.

Their perspectives

and their desires to drive this effort.

So I think with that, we'll start with some

of the student perspectives

and conversations as to

why the SRO is important to our students.

Hello. Hi. Thank you for having me.

My name is Mackenzie Locklin

and I am a junior at Ashland High School

and I am also a member

of the Ashland High School Leadership Program.

And I'm going to read a statement submitted

by our Asian Student Union president

before I make some of my own points.

Unfortunately, she was not able to make it today,

but she writes, oh, sorry.

I would like to thank Ms. Weston

for allowing me this opportunities

to speak on finding more ways to create a campus

that feels safe for students.

Over the last decade or so,

we have seen an uprising in violence in our schools,

whether it is threats from the community members

directed at Stafford students

or someone who has reached their breaking point

and feels like they need to do something drastic.

Personally, there have been days when I've worried about

coming to school and hearing the principal announce

that there is a situation.

Though this is a small, somewhat safe town, there are,

we are still subjected to hearing protests

and threats that end in devastation

by having an SRO on campus.

This shows that we are willing to create changes

to ensure the safety of students and staff.

With enough time, I hope to see students comfortable

with having an SRO on campus as well as them knowing

that they're on the side of the students.

I look forward to having another member on campus.

Thank you. That is Sophie French, the president

of Asian Student Union.

To kind of build on that, a lot of people have been asking

questions as to why some students are saying no

to an SRO on campus.

And unfortunately I'm seeing as a student

that most of those students

who are saying no are probably kids who are doing

illegal activities on school.

And they're worried that police presence at Ashland High

School will be, will make the SROs job

to give out minor possession tickets and stuff.

And I've noticed that those kids who are

doing things they shouldn't be doing are the ones

who are getting the most nervous about an SRO on campus.

But everyday students are really excited

about police presence.

We have had police officers be judges in our talent show.

And just recently we had a student versus staff basketball

game that we had a police officer play in that was super fun

and everyone was cheering names.

And it was, it's really exciting to have

police pre presence for most people.

And another thing is having an SRO on campus helps foster

these really good relationships for the future.

I grew up really, really, really afraid

of police officers for whatever reason.

And slowly through connections through school

and in an elementary school

and at school, now I've come to know

that they're actually very helpful and very safe people.

And knowing that as a student, I can actually go

to police officers for help knowing that

that's actually their job and

that there's no reason to be afraid of them.

I can use that as an adult.

And I think fostering these healthy connections

as a student in high school would be really fun.

And kind of thinking as an, as a student of having an SRO

as more of like a peer

and a mentor instead of like a dictator

or a, I don't know what the word is,

but like someone to catch you for doing something bad

that is not the SROs job.

That is our lovely, amazing Dean Ms. Sarah West's job.

She says, she tells us, she tells us to say

that I love her so dearly. She's my favorite,

I promise.

But I think

the only reason students are afraid of the an SRO on campus,

I'm sorry, Sarah, I love you.

The only reason students are afraid of an SRO on campus is

because they're afraid of getting in trouble

or not having a friend.

I'm sorry, I I need to object.

As, as a sociologist

and a social scientist, I think it's unfair

to represent all the people who may object

as potential criminals.

From what I understand,

you guys have not done a comprehensive

survey of all students.

You don't understand the reasons behind that.

So I would please hope

that you would not represent students in that way.

I understand maybe you've heard some anecdotes

and I'm sure that could be a concern.

There's a lot of other people

who have very legitimate concerns

and I think it's really important we grapple with

that when we're having this discussion.

Absolutely. My my apologies, I'm, I'm to be very clear,

I am not trying to speak for all students when I say this,

the few students who I have heard object, those,

those are the students I am talking about.

And I will let Kendra

and Hank talk about the steps we have made with

especially our affinity groups on in this discussion.

But I I, I've made most of my points, but thank you. Thank

You.

Would this would be a great time for you to talk about some

of the outreach work that you've done?

Yeah, yeah.

I think Mac really touched on the, a lot of key points

and especially a commonality that I, that I noticed in a lot

of the conversation I've had with students around the campus

is, is just apprehension.

Because obviously you hear, oh,

there's gonna be a police officer on campus.

You have assumed negative things.

And I found that

that almost every time I've had a a full conversation

with people, they've, they've come around to it.

Maybe not every single person is a hundred percent

I want an a police officer on campus full time.

But they're definitely more open to the conversation.

And so I think a lot of the, the stigma

has, has kind of hurt the initial response to the program.

But we really have tried to get

like a full form conversation around,

around what's gonna happen or maybe happen.

And while talking to the affinity groups,

I'll let Kendra talk more about that.

We just, we noticed that once we,

once we had a full dialogue with them, we

noticed a lot more, a lot more willingness to learn more

and maybe be in support of the program.

Yeah, I think Matt did a beautiful job of kind

of summarizing all of our little points that we touched on.

But I have opportunity to speak with BSU, last Student Union

and, and women's Affinity group.

And it definitely is a sense of lack

of understanding is typically the

first, am I too close to this?

Okay. Lack

of understanding is definitely the initial issue

with apprehension.

But once people realize, oh,

there's actually cops on campus pretty much every day

anyways, and an additional,

and the addition of an SRO is more so the addition

of another counselor than it is a disciplinary officer.

There's actually a lot of receptive feedback to that.

People seem really positive.

The biggest concern that most members of BSU

and the Womens Affinity Group had was just that it's,

we find an officer that connects with the students.

We don't, no, no student wants another authoritative figure

telling them what they're doing wrong or disciplining them.

Having somebody that is, that you can just connect with

and you can go and you can ask your questions

and is just really, feels like part

of campus was always the biggest overall concern,

but most it was very overwhelmingly positive,

which was really fun to hear.

But yeah. And then we spoke when we met a couple months ago

about a survey which we have not conducted.

You were right to get a kind of a feeler of the exact people

that are not automatically super on board,

but yeah, we'll talk about that later.

Yeah. And my last point is we just, our, our main,

main goal throughout this year has just been kind

of normalizing having officers on campus in a positive light

because I feel like a lot of times we see them when,

when someone's doing something wrong.

But we really tried to, tried to get the,

get the good things like associated with,

with police officers.

So we had the, the donuts

and the, the student for the staff basketball game

and they were at our corn hole tournaments

and judges in the talent show.

And so we've noticed that, I think over the,

this year we've seen a lot more people willing to,

to come up to police officers and reach out and,

and have a conversation, which I think is a really good,

really good first step in, in creating good relationships.

That's a great segue into Owen's.

We're gonna watch her intro.

Thank you.

I'll use this one then.

Hi, my name's Owen Taylor

and I'm a junior right now at Ashland High School,

and I'm also part of the leadership team

that Mac was talking about.

And I really am grateful for this opportunity

to discuss the SRO

because I find it's a very important

thing for our high school.

And I wanted to preface it by

talking about the point that our board member over here,

I'm sorry I don't trust myself to say your last name.

Okay. I think your point about not automatically

putting these people into groups of oh,

they don't want an SRO because they're doing something bad.

I think that's an important point.

And my experience at Ashland High School, I'm very lucky

to say that I've never had a time where I felt

unsafe on campus.

And I know that's a rare thing to say,

and I'm, I'm very proud of that fact.

And I know that's not an experience shared

by all of my peers.

So I, I looked at the S-R-S-R-O in

a different lens because I didn't feel I was qualified

to look at it in a lens of, oh, do I want this

because I don't do things bad

and I wanna punish bad things that are done by other kids

because that's not what the purpose of this is.

So I wanted to look through it in more

of like a community building aspect,

because I feel like

the community engagement is the paramount thing in high

school because it goes back to the CTE thing, actually.

Whatever path you take college,

pre-apprenticeship right into the workforce, you have to

be able to engage with your community,

have respect for

people in authority places.

And I feel like implementing an SRO

person at Ashland High School would be a fantastic,

fantastic opportunity to kind

of act as a, an intermediary between

kids in high school, we're kids, right?

We wanna have fun. And in four years you go to college,

you go to work, it's a, it's a tight transition.

And if we're able to interact with a police officer, someone

who has authority,

but also approachableness somebody

who we know we can go up to at any time for any reason,

and we will be respected, we will be listened to,

and also we will be made to feel safe.

I feel like that is a,

a very positive thing about this proposal.

And going back to what I said earlier about how I'm very,

very lucky to say that on,

in my experience at Ashton High School,

I've never felt unsafe to go to school.

And I think that's really a testament to the administration,

Mr. Bell, Ms.

Weston, for fostering this, this freedom

that we have at Ashland High School where, you know,

we sign a social contract where we're given freedom,

but also if you fall out of line, you're,

you're gonna get reprimanded.

And obviously in the real world,

there are bigger consequences.

So in high school, I feel like when we are able

to have open discussion, frankly, it doesn't even have

to be about an issue.

If you wanna chit chat with the SRO to have

that opportunity, I think is just, we're, we're

so lucky to have the opportunity to have this opportunity,

the opportunity of the SRO

and I just wanted to voice my support for this.

So thank you.

So we're going to segue into what,

what is a school resource officer,

and we're going to hear from some of our community partners.

So thank you.

Hello, my name is Mike Jackson.

I am a police officer with the Medford Police Department.

I have been a police officer for 26 years, 18

of those years have been in the schools.

I have served South Medford High School,

and then I moved over to McLaughlin Middle School.

I am also here representing the Oregon School Resource

Officers Association, an association

that I have been president of for over a decade.

And I also recently started serving on the board

of directors for the National Association

of School Resource Officers.

Far be it for me to take away from the, the kids' time,

but if there's someone that you want to pepper

with questions, it's probably me.

So we're gonna talk about what a,

what a a school resource officer is.

School resource Officer is,

is a police officer assigned primarily to the schools.

Certainly we will, we will leave the schools from time

to time and, and, and assist our, our, our,

our patrol partners.

But our, our primary assignment is being in the schools

besides my middle school where I work,

I also have three elementary schools

and a public charter school that I work with.

We, I'm gonna, why don't we skip a couple of slides, go

to the triad.

Oh, you did. Okay. There was a really cool slide.

So the, the National Association of School Resource Officers

is really the, the, the kind of the gold standard in terms

of, of school resource officer and school safety training.

And what they teach is what they call the NS o triad.

And that is the SRO as a teacher, counselor, cop.

So there's the teaching part.

We are guest presenters in classrooms

going in and talking about everything from drugs

and alcohol to, you know, bill of rights,

to internet safety, to, you know, really just about anything

that, that you would want us to come and talk about.

In fact, I, I love

that we're here on a night when we're also focused on CTE

because there are high schools in southern Oregon

where the SRO teaches a class intro to law enforcement.

We just recently, my,

my partner over at South Medford High School recently

started teaching an intro

to law enforcement class at the school.

So he actually is an instructor at,

at South, so that's pretty exciting.

Counselor. We are informal counselors, mentors, coaches,

cheerleaders, and finally cop.

There is a time that there is

enforcement that needs to happen.

We, we put COP last, there's a reason for that.

And, and that's because that's the hat

that we prefer to put on last.

If you look at school resource officers versus

patrol officers being called into schools

to handle situations when they are called,

there are studies, I don't have the citations with me,

but you will find that when it comes to violations

and misdemeanors, school resource officers actually tend

to charge for lesser offenses.

Felonies are felonies

and they tend to be charged about the same.

But patrol officers tend to to charge a little bit,

a little bit higher levels of crimes and misdemeanors and,

and, and violations.

And I think that really comes down to the fact

that school resource officers being a part of

the school community

and being aware of everything that's going on,

a patrol officer and,

and you've been both, yeah, a patrol officer

who comes into the school knows what's happening right now.

They know the facts of the case.

Here's what happened, this person did this,

this person said this.

A school resource officer who's a part of that community

knows the kids, knows the parents, knows

that there are additional consequences, knows

that this kid isn't gonna be able to play in the concert

or gonna be able to, to practice with the team.

And, and, and

because SROs tend

to see the bigger picture when it does come

to the enforcement part, we actually tend

to go a little bit easier on the kids.

And certainly the, the, the last thing that SROs ever want

to be is disciplinarians.

If you look at the history

of the school resource officer going all the way back

to the, the mid fifties in Flint, Michigan, in the,

the sixties in, in, in Phoenix, Arizona, I'm sorry, Tucson,

Arizona, where, where SROs really kind of got their start.

And then going through the seventies

and the eighties, the SRO programs

that have been successful are the SRO programs where

they knew to stay in their lane.

And whenever an SRO was called upon to be a disciplinarian

and, you know, issue school consequences, detention and,

and, and enforce school rules,

those programs failed

because that's not what the police officer is there to do.

They're there to support, to support the kids.

They're there to support the teachers and the administrators

and to, you know, help them to be able to, to do their jobs

and to be there if needed.

And then also to be, you know, kind of that extra layer of,

of, of, of accountability or,

or counseling or, or what have you.

But certainly I've, I've never met an SRO that wants

to go into the, into the schools

and catch kids, you know, doing,

doing little things they shouldn't be doing.

Okay. Any

Questions before we do one more?

I should just say I'm Bon Stewart, I'm

the detective sergeant with the Ashland Police Department,

and I was the last SRO for Ashland Police

for the Ashland School District.

And that was in 2014, 2015.

And Mike's here because he, this is what he does

and he can define it for you better than I can,

but I can tell you everything he said is true.

I was never there to enforce the school rules.

I, there's not one school rule I ever enforced.

And the only enforcement I did take was

I was asked to do that by the school.

I didn't do anything, the school didn't want me to.

And I was, I was there as a mentor.

I mentored at least 10 kids in their senior project,

two kids in their eighth grade project.

One of 'em is a freshman here at the high school now.

So that's, that's the program is

for protecting the kids, protecting the campus,

and being here for the kids.

That's, that's what I was here for when I did it.

Well, and, and I, building on that, what's,

what's great about the SRO is

because, is is that the SRO really becomes a part of

that community and every school community,

every school district is going to be a little bit different.

An SRO in Ashland might look a little bit different than an

SRO in Medford or West Lynn or in Newburgh

or, you know, someplace else in our great state.

And you know, we don't, we don't walk around the school

looking for kids doing wrong so that we can get 'em.

In fact, the vast, vast majority of time when we are called

to take some sort of enforcement action, it's

because something has, you know, come to light

and we are being called into a situation to assist one

of the school administrators

who is already involved in some sort of investigation.

We don't tend to walk

around self-initiating like a maybe a patrol officer would

on the street that's gonna stop a speeder.

That's, that's really not what we're there to do.

And if I can just kind of build on something

that you said earlier, you made the point

that there are any number of reasons why a kid would

not feel very comfortable around a police officer.

And I completely agree with you

and what I love about being an SRO is that

I get to interact with those kids every day

in non-enforcement situations.

A kid that the only time they've ever

been anywhere near the police was maybe

a really tough emotional, possibly even violent

situation where the police came in

and the police didn't have the, the opportunity

to be very nice because of the nature of the, the situation.

You know, I mean a a a good cop in a situation like that

where, you know, a domestic violence situation

and the, you know, the kids

are there or something like that.

I mean, maybe, maybe you notice those kids

and you're able to grab a stepped animal out of your trunk

or something like that and pat the kid on the head and try

and make the kid feel better.

But I mean, what kind of a of an effect is that going

to have on a, on a kid who's just seen you maybe put his,

his father in handcuffs and take him to jail?

I get to be in the hallway with that kid

every single day in non-enforcement situations.

And I'm just a big goofy guy in the

halls handing out stickers.

And what I love is when I can identify one

of those students that clearly has

fears or, or,

or anger negative feelings towards law enforcement,

because I love to be able to, to, to go

to work a little bit on that kid

and see if I can kind of build those bridges.

I

Have add to that, I'm gonna add to that.

So I, I live in, I live in this community

and I run into kids.

They're adults now

that I had enforcement action at the school with,

and they thank me almost every time I see them.

But they, they go outta their way to talk to me today

because of the way I dealt with them when they were,

they did something stupid and I didn't judge them.

They appreciated the way they were handled.

And it was because I knew them.

And, and like he said, I talked

to them every day when I wasn't doing,

when I didn't have to write 'em a ticket.

Usually it was writing them a ticket.

It was, I can't even remember a time I

took a student to jail.

Just doesn't happen. And, and, and,

and the other thing is, cops don't like busting kids.

That is like, kids think they do, but we hate it.

It's like not fun.

It's like the least fun cops have is when they get called

to the school to deal with kids.

They don't want to deal, they don't wanna deal with it.

That's why they, the, the other cops, they want an SRO

'cause they don't want to deal with the

stuff that's happening at the school.

Any questions? We have one more little mini panel. Yes.

Oh yeah, that's okay.

So I I I noticed with the agreement that we have

with the potential SRO, that there's a lot of education

that's going additional education just around students,

you know, trauma informed practices,

implicit bias, those kinds of things.

Is is that education the same across the board

or is that the piece that you're referencing as far

as different education happens in Ashland versus Medford?

Or is there kind of, or both.

So is there education for SROs that's

provided by the SRO education? You know,

Or I don't think the education is different.

I think the school cultures are different.

I, I think that what might be expected

of me at my middle school might not be expected

of the SO here.

And, and that's fine. I mean, that's a community

by community decision.

I will tell you that when Portland had had SROs, I,

I was very good friends with, with some of them.

And the way that they did their jobs was drastically

different than the way that, that we did our jobs.

'cause 'cause they didn't write any tickets at all.

They were all about the, the, the mentoring and the,

and the classroom presentations

and the presence, all the positive stuff.

But the schools tended to handle anything

unless it was a very serious situation.

They really kind of, you know, chose

to have the SROs not be involved in that.

And that was the choice of that community.

And, and, and that's where the communication

and the collaboration come in

because, you know, you're, you're if,

if there's a an SRO at, at Ashland High School

that SRO needs to be on the same page as the dean

and as the administration and, and,

and they're going to, they're gonna sit down

and they're gonna, you know, make decisions together and,

and, and, you know, do what they believe is right

for the school, what they believe is right for the child.

The education piece in terms of say a a, a basic

40 hour SRO

course, a training course.

And then there's, I think it's a 24 hour advanced course

that tends to be more uniform across the board.

And then what, what we offer here in Oregon with, with our

annual school safety conference

this year it's, it's in July, up in, up in Seaside,

we bring in different presenters and,

and different topics every year.

And so we have people from all over, all over the state,

not just school resource officers,

but also school administrators, juvenile probation officers,

campus monitors, even school board members.

You're all welcome to come and join us if you'd like.

I, I'm very excited.

I I believe that the non-sworn people are actually going

to outnumber the police officers at the

school cop conference this year.

And that's something we've worked very,

very hard to achieve.

And it's, and it's about building those bridges

and that partnership and

that collaboration and working together.

So if, if there are certain, certain preferences

or sensitivities that one community has

that maybe don't exist as strongly in another community,

that's gonna be reflected in the school,

that's gonna be reflected in the culture, in the climate,

in the leadership, and,

and everybody's gonna be on the, on the same page with that.

And, and when it comes to, you know, making decisions,

occasionally there might be a reason that an SRO will feel

strongly as to whether a kid should be cited.

And, and a a an administrator might feel differently about

that and, you know, they can have

that discussion at that time.

I can tell you, normally when I have that discussion,

I'm the one trying to talk the

administrator out of the citation.

That's true. So I, I wanna get a sense of

what constitutes a behavioral intervention.

I guess the sense I wanna get is they have their policies,

they have the administration deals with,

when does an sro what has to happen?

Generally speaking, if you wouldn't call the police,

you wouldn't involve the SRO.

And I say generally

because there are times that maybe there's a, a student,

maybe a, a larger student who's, who's blowing out

and the maybe a, a staff member feels a little bit,

you know, a little bit of fear contacting this student

and they will ask, you know, Hey, can,

can you come along with me?

This, this student has not broken any laws.

And so as an SROI am not there

to take any enforcement action, right?

Obviously if a law is broken in

my presence, then that could change.

But I may stand by at a distance

and allow my school administrator to do their job.

But generally speaking, if, if I'm going to be involved,

it would be the sort of thing that, that,

that a school administrator would call the police

and say, could we, could we have an officer

come out and help us with this?

I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't tell kids

to take their hoods off or stop running in the hallways

or spit out the gum.

Yeah, I mean, I think the thing that just, you know,

thinking lot about the literature's divided, right?

There's a lot

of literature on positive

Have I hear microphone?

Oh yeah, sorry.

And I think as a school board member,

for me, I wanna make sure

that if we have an SRO we are in the positive half

of outcomes for students.

Because there, I mean,

we're all aware there can be some really,

in the past there's been some really unfortunate uses

of SRO SROs on campus.

So I just wanna be, you know,

as a board member doing my due diligence

about questions like privacy.

So in terms of having access to students'

mental health records or their academic records, HIP

and ferpa, how, what is the role of the SRO in terms

of that kind of access?

So according to case law,

a school resource officer is considered a school official.

And so as such, we do have access

to those kinds of records.

Hmm. Now different districts do choose

to handle that differently.

And it's certainly not uniform across the board,

but sharing that information with an SRO, there are no FERPA

issues with that.

In fact, I actually work very closely

with not only the school counselor,

but also the family solutions,

mental health professionals that are in my building.

And generally speaking,

those interactions happen when they will be speaking

with a student and maybe the student is

talking about something that needs possibly to be reported

to me or the student appears to be a danger to themselves.

And they will actually either call me to their office

or escort the student into my office.

But we collaborate very closely with mental health.

Now that being said, obviously when you're talking

to a mental health counselor, there is,

there is confidentiality there.

They're not going to share information

with me about a student

unless it's something that needs to be, you know, reported

because they're a mandatory reporter.

But in terms of class schedules

and, you know, phone numbers, contact information

and, and stuff like that.

Achievement performance at school, that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah. So we are, and and generally, and,

and I know there's some stuff in here about, about MOUs.

One of the things that is important is, is to have a,

a well-written MOU between the law enforcement agency

and the school district that clearly spells out each side's

ex expectations and, and

and what they're, what they're going to share,

what they're entitled to, what they're not entitled to,

what their job is, what the expectations are.

Thank you. That's helpful. Thank you.

I'll just add that when, when I was the SRO and,

and when I wasn't the SROI was,

I worked closely with the schools.

I, that's why I became the SRO.

And even after the SRO program went away,

I still was the officer that got called to the school.

And I can tell you I never knew any of the kids' grades.

If that's a concern of yours.

And we talk, and being a, a school official as an SRO, one

of the things you're allowed to do,

'cause the school's allowed to do it, is search their bag.

For whatever reason, the school has a reason

to search their bag.

The SRO is not gonna, in Ashlyn,

the SRO is not gonna do that.

The SRO, whoever that who will be,

and the three, three young men who have put in their names

to be the next SRO are here tonight.

That person won't be the person who searches the bag.

If the school wants to search the bag,

they'll search the bag.

If they find something illegal,

then they'll involve the SRO.

That's, even though they could involve the SRO earlier,

they won't, that's not part of what we, that's not

what we want to be on campus for.

Yeah, and I understand, I mean that's, I think that

that level of privacy is, it's really important

to protect our students' privacy.

So I think it's important to have the, in the MOU,

this stuff being very, very clear. Right.

Yeah.

Oh, are we at the questions point?

Yeah, no, go ahead.

So this kind of ties into maybe the next step too,

but some questions that are coming up for me about this is,

it, it really seems that how it's implemented is key

to the success of the program.

And you know,

as we think about it from a policy decision, one of the, the

scenarios that I'm mapping out for myself is, you know,

if I, if I knew it was you there,

because I know you a little bit,

I'd be, oh, this is gonna be great.

This is gonna be fine. Right?

It, but planning a policy around

future potential people that we, we don't know,

or maybe we're not even in the, in this position anymore.

And so trying to define a policy that will

ensure best practices over time.

And I, I guess I'm, I'm curious

how you would define best practices for implementation of A

SRO position being the experts.

So

It's for you.

Well, not everybody can be a police officer

and not every police officer can be an SRO.

It, it, it definitely takes a special, a special type of cop

to go and, and work with kids.

And so I think it, it is extremely important to, to select

somebody who has the right personality,

the right temperament, the right attitude.

And frankly, that is not a decision that is made just

by my agency.

Every process that we have ever had choosing an SRO,

there has always been school district representation there

as well because it's very important that,

that the school has a hand in also, you know, a voice in,

in, in choosing who their officer was going to be.

Because, you know, they,

these kids are talking about having a,

having a cop on campus.

When you have an SRO on on your campus, that's your

cop on campus.

It's the same officer every single day.

And, and it's just as if you're, you're picking a, a teacher

or a coach or a counselor.

You have to, you have to pick the right person, number one.

Number two, obviously this, this, this person needs

to be trained school-based law is,

is different than, than law out on the street.

Searches are different. Who can act as as whose agent there?

I mean there are a lot of, of, of details, a lot

of ins and outs.

There's, there's a reason that courts up to

and including the Supreme Court recognize the school

resource officer as being a really different animal than,

than just an average police officer on the street.

Because there is a special relationship

and there is additional access to students

and there is additional access to information.

And so, so as that person, you have to be somebody

who is going to be able to work with your administration

and not come in and,

and just decide, well this is how I'm going to do this.

You need to have a team player, you need to have someone

that's going to come in and wants to be a part of

that team. Does that answer your question?

Yes, thank you. Okay, thank you.

We have one more, one more section if that's okay with you.

I'm gonna just bring up some of our other community members,

DL and you wanna bring those three up?

Paul, would you like to come on up? Absolutely.

Ben do you wanna come back? I can answer it.

Good evening. Board members, district administrators,

esteemed colleagues and students.

My name is Paul Heward

and for the last 20 years I have taught social studies

and English language arts at Ashland High School.

I was asked if I would be interested in speaking tonight

because I'm a strong supporter of having an SRO on campus.

And what I wanna offer are my own personal reflections

solely based on my experience with SROs on campus.

And also the difference not having an SRO makes,

one of the most important things

that takes place on any campus are the reli,

excuse me, the relationships that are built

between the adults there and the students.

And I work hard in the classroom

and I know all my colleagues do work very, very hard

to connect with every student to have a relationship

with every student because in the long run that's

what allows you to reach all kinds of different kids

no matter where they are, to meet them

where their needs are.

It's no different with school resource officers

and I'm very, you know, you know, proud

to know Vaughn very well.

He was the school resource officer during my time here

and it's been 10 years since we've had an SRO.

I see Ashland High School

as essentially a small town of 900 people.

There are 900 people there

and that's just the students throw in another 60,

70 individuals who are staff among others.

And that's quite a sizable community.

We deserve to have our own police officer. We truly do.

I didn't come here to tell horror stories,

but at the same time, I have to be frank,

I arrive rather early on campus in order

to get my classroom ready to deal with grading to do

so in the quiet in the morning.

And I have come to school

and had a colleague who also arrives very early, come

and tell me Paul could you please come with me?

There's somebody sleeping out in front

of the entrance to my classroom.

What do I do? We have all known

as teachers, and sometimes it's just sort

of the scuttlebutt, you know, in terms of, you know,

lunchroom chatter where there are students

who we're deeply concerned about, we're concerned about

not just their behavior, not just their mental health,

just are they okay?

And they can exhibit, you know, at,

at times worrisome behavior.

And we think, what can we do?

And we always hope as teachers that there are all kinds of

resources available, psychological resources, counseling,

resources, the things that we simply try to do

as, as educators.

I regret to say that I don't always feel

safe at Ashland High School.

Now, that's not Mr. Bog Nova's fault.

That's not Ben Bell's fault.

I, I don't lay blame at the feet of any of the people

who are my bosses or coworkers or anything like that.

I truly believe that we live in a society that is beginning

to forget the basics of a social contract.

That was the glue that sort

of held us together for many, many years.

I regret to say that, you know, I'm not a psychologist,

nor do I play one on tv.

But I, I see things that are going on with kids

that just seem not to be right.

And I say the following, not to be dramatic,

but just to tell you how I truly feel.

If you have concerns

about having a school resource officer on campus,

come join me under my desk during a lockdown.

Come see what that's like. Come see what

that's like to be in the trenches.

And it's not that I want a school resource officer

to kick down the door, come in in guns blazing,

you know, save me and the kids.

I want, I want the kids to be safe. I wanna be safe.

I wanna go home at the end of my day

and see my wife and my dog.

I just know that when I watch people like Bond do his job,

he had such an incredible relationship with students.

And it's those relationships

that stop the bad things from happening

before they actually happen either

because of that, you know, social emotional intervention

that takes place because of just having an SRO there.

Or that kids trust this officer and will come to the officer

and they'll say, Hey, there's a person who,

they probably don't use this term,

but they're telegraphic their intentions.

And I think that that is what we need

because Ashland High School is a small town

and we deserve to have our own law enforcement officer.

So those are my personal reflections.

I realize that not all may agree with me.

I certainly am not intending to be a spokesman

for the teachers at Ashland High School,

but I do know I've seen a difference

and I know the positive difference that an SRO can make.

And I certainly ask with all my heart

that you will not just simply support,

but encourage the return of an SRO to our campus.

Thank you very much. If you have any questions,

I'll be more than happy to answer them for you.

I just wanna say thank you, Paul, thank you for, thank you

for sharing your experience. Appreciate it.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Hello again. I just wanna start off by

sharing my, my appreciation for our students who,

who spoke here, I think pretty eloquently about the,

the potential SRO position at Ashland High School.

And I just wanna highlight a, a few points.

As the principal, I think it's important for

everyone to know that there is a, a weekly

police presence at, at the school on average, anywhere from

one to five to six times a week,

depending on, on what's going on.

Different times where we need to reach out

to law enforcement for support, for consultation.

And as I think has been clear in,

in the conversation up to this point

or what's been shared, is the importance of relationship

that is the driving force of, of

what makes successful work happen

with teenagers is, is relationships.

Whether that's you're a teacher, counselor,

whatever your role is in the school.

And I, I think understanding the reality that we,

we do consistently have a PD support on our campus,

I think it just makes a lot of sense for that person

to be a, a single consistent person that can

be on our campus daily learn who our students are,

learn about our parents, and,

and start to develop those, those relationships.

And also relationships with our staff too.

I understand that it's a, a complex issue

and there are many different reasons why some folks may be

concerned or hesitant about having an SRO on campus.

And I think that those are all valid.

I wanna reiterate as, as the principal,

that the SRO is not a disciplinarian

and will not be involved in enforcing our,

our school policies or our discipline matrix or,

or any of those things that either we do as administrators

or our dean of students engages in on a regular basis.

Those are school functions and,

and we will handle that as a school staff.

And so I really think of the SRO as a, a resource for us,

someone who would be ingrained in our school culture,

and we'll really make the work that we do

with students more, more efficient and more successful.

And, and I would expect

to have more positive student outcomes as a result

of having an SRO If that weren't the case than I,

I don't think it would be worth it to be honest.

And so that, that's something that I would e expect

as a result of, of having this,

this position in person here.

I think another really important point to emphasize is the

aspect of just overall school safety and security.

We conducted a lockdown drill last week,

and part of the planning

and preparation for that, we reached out to a PD,

we had a pre-meeting with them and,

and went through the steps that we were gonna follow.

They had a presence on our campus

while we conducted the drill

and were part of the, the debrief that happened as well.

And I think it would be incredibly valuable

to have a person, an officer who

is there for all of our drills, understands all

of our procedures, is engaged with all

of our safety and security planning.

One of the things that, that I realized as we invited,

you know, multiple officers on our campus for this drill was

that many of them didn't know our campus.

And, and I don't fault them at all for that,

but I, if we ever have a real emergency,

we're gonna need someone who can

engage with and coordinate with all

of the emergency services and,

and know our campus very well.

And so I, I think that's invaluable.

We, we need some, some extra help

and support with securing our campus.

As you all know, it's, it's a very open campus

and that's culturally, I think something

that's been important for a long time.

But I think Paul raises some, some really valid points, is

that we sometimes have community members who,

who come onto campus either before school starts

or during the school day,

and aren't responsive to,

to us when we ask them to leave campus.

And it, it can make for

an, an uncertain situation.

And so more than once over the past few years, we've had

to call a PD to support us with

escorting community members off campus.

And that presents an unsafe situation for our staff

that have to be on the front line

and deal with those situations.

And I would feel a lot of comfort for our students

and for our staff to have someone on our site

who again knows our campus

and would be able to, to provide the support

that we would really benefit from in those situations.

So I, I just kind of wanna leave with the,

with the idea that I think this position is part

of an overall puzzle, an overall picture

of school safety and security.

It's not the one thing that I would expect to fix all

of our, our different issues,

but I think it's an important part of the solution.

And if, if we're engaging

with law enforcement on a regular basis anyway,

I think it's just logical for it to be a consistent person

who can integrate into the fabric of our school.

I I just wanna speak up about a couple of concerns.

Eva mentioned the, the research

and you know, so far, far we've heard from people

with skin like ours,

and I would've really liked to have heard from a student

of color, I understand that Sophie

from the Asian Student Union did give a report,

but I, I would've liked to have heard from our students

of color, color who may be a minority

but are the ones that could be negatively affected.

And you know, at the end of the day,

this isn't our decision, right?

This is an operations decision, but,

but I want, what I wanna have confidence in

is the ongoing implementation of this in a way

where our students, our newer neurodivergent students

are all of our students of color feel safe and welcome.

And that is, that is the primary reason why that is on one

of our three goals.

And so, I don't know DL if you're willing to speak

or Becca,

but I would really like to hear from one

of you or if there's any volunteers,

I don't wanna call you out, but

I can, I don't know if either of them would, like,

would you, it's okay to say no.

Do you wanna talk a little bit about some of the outreach

that has been done?

Do you come up?

Yeah. And also I just moved off softball field

and I'm on maternity.

So why you gave like this today.

So I was actually not in the family meeting.

We all facilitated that one where we brought this

Do my own risk assessments.

I've worked in the Medford school district as well.

So you have an s RL on site

and you look at the statistics around, you know, when there,

you know, God forbid there is some sort

of event happens on campus, the response time of the schools

that have SROs present,

there's a clear difference in schools that, that being said,

there is harm can possibly address those things.

We're having these conversations, I know that hasn't come

through clearly tonight.

We did invite our b ssu, one

of our BSU co-presidents to be here.

She wasn't able to be here.

So we were asking for those voices to come here.

So don't we left those voices out.

And d can share a little bit of feedback that the parents

of those students of color also, how do we really make sure

that we have ongoing dialogue with this isn't working out.

How do we express that and that this is not working

out college.

How are we gonna address that?

What are the systems of accountability for both you

and the school district that's we choose,

as I say, so often

and I come second what she said,

very simple ideas.

So compared some thoughts, I'm gonna say this

and again, I hate, do I say there, no offense anyone

I not trying be, but there are concerns

and as we talked about idea how talk about kids see

these things, I've seen things that feel like

when you bring in SR there's a negative connotation

that they feel they're gonna have.

And how we kids, I respect

just said at the same time as he asked for, once you come

and sit at the desk with you under the desk with you, I want

to know why don't you just come stand, walk to class

through the hallways with me as these kids hear inward,

your phone in the hallway.

How about you walk through me and them through that?

They figure out how to change

that within the actual school district.

And that's not just you, I knowbody,

but that's happening too.

And so if you're thinking about this again,

my back back says, I'm not yet,

I I'm not sitting on board again.

I understand the, so I've also seen the negative happen.

I've seen the students who have this all

relationship been very positive.

I've also seen the students who have all relationship,

unfortunately being at one of the district seen in

that negative relationship

and seen when that student color was,

to be honest with you, that student color was

shown, was not shown the same respect as a white student

who was in the same, in the same role.

Hopefully wrong, but one shown given much less respect

and was police car.

So it does happen, but at the same time I've also seen

trying be wish wash here, also seen those officers

who have made will accept

and who made that change in their, their lives

as they are going to immediate someone to help.

And so it's very, again,

we are all concerned about the person who's there,

the relationship, who's there, who's that person

and what happens when that switches to switch switches

him, what will they be still be

that personal spread order to get

that personal spread if something that didn't happen.

But when that, when that, when we get that switch, is

that person still gonna have a respect that that here thinks

that they already have?

That makes sense. That's

because I've seen it in other districts.

Obviously I know one district

I like obviously we'll call districts name one.

It's more like the police. And that's,

and that's how the kids, who are the kids,

the op kids who are having to

that now I know there's a different situation,

different talk, different point of view.

But when you have an opportunity to have that

now one thing I do like

what I understand is do if things are coming into place

and the school district feels like there's a negativity

that's going on, they several relationship

and I think Sam

and Ty have done a great job in that sense,

we realize there's a possibility.

So, and just in case we want be able to,

I think that's actually a positive same way.

Some I think

important speak about that.

But they were not always positive

and responsible for not positive.

I've heard so many negative things.

Again, I heard so positive going back and forth here

because that's what I've heard.

Those sort of things I've seen not just heard some things

I've seen in my life.

That's what very difficult situation.

Yes, we wanna make sure all

of our students are very safe and protected.

Yes, we wanna make sure that our students do not feel harmed

by people are supposed to be protected and supporting them.

And yes, we want to make sure that if something Dr be

to have that there was a, a safe way

and a easy

and positive way in order for our students to accept and I

and and I our teachers as well

because I, I had

that when I was teaching and,

and when things like Virginia Tech happened

or what have you, of course you, you still have.

So, but at the same time there's gotta be a, you

just say not just physically, but also mentally.

And I'm putting something on the student that

no other student that doesn't look like

me is having been work.

So those are the two, I mean just again, being mindful of

that and also being mindful of

if the right person is in place

and that somehow as we say down the line as it goes on,

that right person proves

that person does not prove to be the right person.

Do we all have the strict fortitude to say

this is something we need to

Thank you.

Yeah. Can I just close up with one thing? Yeah, sure.

And I'll just, the whole thought I would just like,

as a school board member, I'm sure my colleagues would share

in this, just invite the community that if it,

if it does get implemented

and if it's not working, that you have a direct

line to the school board.

This is something that we could implement a policy

if it's not working.

And so I just wanna make an invitation to students of color.

I know most of our students are up night at night right now

watching this school board meeting.

So just wanna make sure

Well I wanna, I wanna build on that a little bit

and I know I want to thank, thank you everybody, students,

Mike and Bond, Paul, Benjamin, thank you, Becca

and dl, thank you especially Rebecca,

because we only see the tip of the iceberg of the thought

and work that you put into this.

And that's a lot, even the tip of that iceberg.

So I really appreciate that.

I know we're gonna hear public comment tonight about this

and, and I want to echo some

of the thoughts I've already heard that I, I see the value

of broadly addressing safety at every point we can

for our school community from way, way upstream care to

active response to unlikely but terrible things.

And I see that this is a part of doing that.

It's a really big part of doing that.

'cause a lot of those points, as Mike pointed out,

it's even part of the puzzle in addressing

dangers of behavioral health crisis.

So including substance use, increased violence

and suicide risk for our students.

So I really appreciate that.

And the thing that moved me personally was hearing a story

specifically bon about you knowing a student

and recognizing that they were not a threat

and it being the difference between a, a good outcome

and a tragic one.

And so I really, that was a thing for me that was like,

oh yeah, totally, we need to try this out the

but trust and verify.

So yes, I hear all that and I trust and verify

and we know the community that we live in.

So the m mo I wanna give you a chance, Rebecca,

because the MOU slide said

we're gonna do a continual evaluation.

And, and that's what I'm hearing is that we need to do that

and and DL you were talking about, yeah, we can sever it

and throw it away, but I'd rather not sever something.

I'd rather course correct and collaborate

and work on not just throwing something away if we hear

that it's not working for one thing, Jill,

you were asking about implementation

and you're concern there, and I wanna hear

what it's gonna look like.

'cause I'm sure you've thought a lot about this.

What is it gonna actually look like to ensure

that the addition of an officer is gonna equitably increase

safety for everyone on campus as, as you pointed out,

our students of color, our queer

and stand transgender youth, as Jill pointed out,

are neuro neurodivergent folks, excuse me, who we know tend

to be historically disproportionately treated unjustly.

So what you've thought about the mechanisms

and so I wanna hear the mechanism

besides severing that relationship,

what are we gonna do before we get to that point?

Sure.

I was not prepared to answer that question tonight.

However, I'm wondering in terms

of time if we would have the opportunity to discuss

that further at possibly an executive session.

Is that or would

or I could put superintendent bogged on if on the spot

because he has also been working alongside

I I live on the spot, so that's okay.

I I think you know what you're asking.

What I hear you asking is how do we know if it's working?

How do we know if it isn't?

And, and how do we assure

that we are doing our due diligence?

How does the board know that they're doing their due

diligence to make our schools welcoming

and safe places for all students and all community members?

I, I don't have a a a silver bullet for that,

but I think some of the things that, you know,

you heard from DL are some of the things that,

that we have to think about.

How are our students experiencing our

schools just to begin with.

We still are faced with many of the same issues, all

of the same issues that we see across the country in terms

of the experiences of many of our minoritized students.

That's just the reality of it.

In our schools, in our systems,

we've done a tremendous amount of work as a district

to begin to understand implicit bias

and our role in a system that presents barriers to kids.

That work is just begun. That's just the surface of it.

It is a, a something that we have

to continually reflectively act on.

And I know from having talked with Chief Ramira,

that's absolutely a part of the fabric

of a PD and their goal.

He's drafting policy specifically for the SRO program

around some of these pieces by the idea

of putting in an MOU, it does a couple of things.

It articulates very clearly what is our goal in engaging

with law enforcement, what are we trying to do?

And you heard a lot of that here tonight from folks.

And then it talks about specific engagement

and regular engagement with our student unions

that really has to be at their invitation

because it's their space.

And that's really how much of the interaction,

and I appreciate D'S guidance and,

and how to approach our kids around that.

It's their space for us to enter at their request, right?

But I think there has to be continuous engagement there.

I think we need to have the same conversation next year

with our district wide EDI committee

and say, we would like to have an opportunity for you to

talk with, engage with and gather feedback

and share experiences with our SRO with our administration,

but it has to be on your terms.

So I think those are two very critical pieces.

Lastly, I think that least annually with the board,

a presentation from the SROA presentation from

maybe administration at the high school, maybe from some

of the kids that we've talked about or seen here tonight,

or some of the ones that weren't able to make it tonight

and some of the mental health

professionals that they work with.

One of the pieces that I would share, you know,

when you talk about law enforcement, we have a number of

what we call multidisciplinary teams at schools

that we gather people together to sign solve problems

for kids, whether that's a student with a disability

or a student with a, a family crisis

or a mental health crisis or a family issue

or whatever it might be.

Having an SRO at the table for those meetings is one

of the ways that we share that data.

And I do think we can explicitly talk about some

of those pieces in, because privacy is important too,

and the data is important too

and delineate how, how, how we might share that information

and when it's appropriate too.

So those are some of the,

I don't have dates and calendars, right?

And that won't be be mine to do.

But I think each of those activities is very much clearly

delineated in the MOU

and I think that's how you get authentic accountability

for something like this is through engaging with people

and hearing directly what's working and what isn't.

So,

So I I I just wanna say that I think it's really important

that in talking to kids in, in the affinity groups,

that's great, but the kids who are not engaged in school,

Ben, you and I have those conversations a lot are really the

kids we need to hear from in this.

So we need to build things in where we are talking

to those kids who are disengaged and how do we do that?

That'll be a great thing to solve,

but I think it's really important.

And then I think statistics are really important too.

How many encounters with an SRL lead

to a chargeable offense, for example?

So are we, are we seeing more, my concern

of course is are we seeing more kids being cited for things

that we wouldn't expect?

For example, things that are

lower on the totem pole in terms of, of, of concerns.

Just a lot of data

for me is really gonna be helpful I think, in understanding

and really some very strict boundaries

around privacy. Right?

And I think both of those are appropriate

and very achievable.

Thank you. I mean,

obviously we could spend another three hours talking about

the details of what this is really gonna look like.

I think, I mean, just so everybody understands,

the board does not need to take any action at this point.

We are here to, you know, hear everything

and obviously there's an enormous as potential for benefit

and there's also significant potential for harm here.

So we need to just sort of keep those two,

two things in mind and make sure

that we guide this process the right way.

And obviously I think,

I know we're all gonna be very interested in

how we're gonna select somebody for this role.

I think that's gonna be very critical.

And obviously we want all these voices to be heard in that.

And we also wanna know a lot more about yes,

exactly the data that we get back from it,

and also how we can adjust course

or even stop course if we need to.

I would like to hear, I I I, I know

that we have other stuff to do on the agenda tonight,

but this is really, really important for us.

It's a big meeting and

Somebody's trying to get my attention over

Here.

Well, we have, I, Rebecca was, I,

I think we have three officers here tonight

and I wanted to make sure

that we had an opportunity if we were gonna hear from them

to do that, because I wouldn't wanna sit through this long

with school board meeting expecting

to present without getting an opportunity to present.

But I also wanna get

to know the folks that we're talking about.

I, so I would love that if that's possible.

I, I'm gonna,

I know

Dan, are we allowed to bring the candidates up

or they're here in full support

To, I am mixed

and I'm a member of the LQ community

and I didn't state that upfront

because this, I think it was relevant as a person,

but I fully agree that we need to have policies in place

that we make sure we do have the right officer

because I did grow up afraid of officers.

I grew up in a broken home where officers came

and there were really, really intense moments where

I wish the situation was handled differently.

And growing up in positions

where at school we've had these opportunities

to have these bonding moments with these officers

through games or through talent shows

or just having them around, it's been helpful for me to know

that it's not just a negative thing.

There can be positive things, and I totally agree with you.

We need to have a very strong policy

building this training.

I don't know if they go through a specific training,

but a training that these officers go through

to support these students.

But I think it is important to have this presence

because I didn't know

that officers could be truly a same thing.

I knew they were supposed to be,

but I didn't know that it was always going

to work out that way.

And getting to know officers in our district

that like I can see on the street

and go, oh, hey, nice to see you again.

That's super special to have as someone who is part

of a minority group who did grow up with that negative image

and now is learning

that it's something new and something special.

It can be a positive.

Thank you Mackenzie. Those were very good words.

Thank you.

I don't think we're gonna put the officers on the spot

tonight there.

I think it's still in, it's in the works,

but they are here in full support of our community of,

and our students, our staff.

Cool. Are, oh, I, I misspoke. We

Haven't finalized the process yet,

but if you I can introduce 'em.

It's no secret who's applied.

So I mean, I'm not gonna ask 'em to speak then we'll have to

No, if they just wanna

introduce themselves, that would be great.

Yeah. I'm Angel Valez, I'm a police officer

and I'm one, you guys want me to share something else?

That's fine. Whatever you're comfortable with.

Did you, did we win the basketball league of the staff

or We lost

7 57 seconds Shorter as would've won.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I'm Gomez. I'm a police officer in national,

been police officer for five years, worked with the

Sea River and also justice juvenile department.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Mike Bates.

I'm a police officer, the Sea of National Force.

I'm a proud graduate of the after school district.

Been a police officer for about nine years now and,

and very excited about the process

because I remember Bond bugging me.

I remember Officer Williams DJing our dances

and I know that that had a huge impact on me moving forward,

growing up, and eventually career.

Thank you. All right.

Well thank you to everybody who spoke. Are we, are we good?

Thank you. Also, especially,

I wanna thank our student representative, Hank

and Kendra for, for all your work.

I know you've done a lot in

what led up to this, so thank you.

Okay. Oh, I closed my agenda.

Student board rep representative report. You guys are up.

I don't have an extensive amount of stuff

because a lot of what I've been working on has been covered

in the, in this meeting so far.

So I don't have anything new.

I've kind of, I've kind of given everything I have

That is just fine.

We're way behind schedule. So

Myself as well, just also the continuing

future student council at the high school and board rep

Process.

Yes. Yeah. Great. Thank you.

Okay, so do you guys have a separate student report or? Yes.

Okay. So you can go ahead with that.

Yeah, so we had a, an eventful eventful month at a HS

and we had a lot of successful students.

I'll try to get to them all,

but I don't know if I,

I know there's a lot of stuff going on.

I can't guarantee I got every single thing.

But tomorrow night we have Grids Pageant,

which is a really fun event with,

with our students performing

and it's a fundraiser, so it's,

it'd be really great if everyone could come out and support.

As mentioned, we had our staff

or student basketball game on Tuesday

that the students did win.

We had, We,

the Brain Bowl team is competing in the finals

this Saturday, the 13th.

They earned their spot a couple weeks back, I believe.

And upcoming. We have a clash in the quad, which is

where we have a multiple student bands performing on

our a HS quad.

That'll be happening April 26th.

And it's a really good, really good

fun time every year.

We had our spring formal dance at SOU last Saturday

and it was a lot of fun for everyone there.

And one thing I really want

to emphasize is we had our state SPAC testing,

our state testing recently

and we had a lot of trouble with that last year as, as like

with participation, but from students.

And I really want to give a shout out to our administration

for, for emphasizing how important it is.

'cause I noticed there's a, a big change in the,

in the mentality of the students this year.

And I hope, hope it's reflected in the

scores because you got it.

It really seemed like now the, it's the exception,

not the rule of, of someone trying in on the state test

of someone not trying on the state testing.

Excuse me. And there's been good incentives

and like,

there's been some staff parking spots opened up.

So, so I, I think, I think it'll, the,

the scores will come out a little bit better hopefully.

And, and other things,

we have our careers in gear field trip coming up

for all students and it's a great way to, for our students

to see possible employers

or education opportunities as we mentioned.

Also, DECA is preparing to go to nationals in Anaheim, so

that should be really fun and a great opportunity for them.

And our theater won honor troop at the state competition in

Salem and I was not able to find the math team specific

what they placed, but I know they did very

well at their competition.

Second. Thank you. Second? Yes. There you go.

That's

All I have. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next we have a EA report

with Alan Browski.

Thank you. Everyone had something

to say this week. Sorry

About that.

Oh boy.

I know. I, I can handle it.

But when I, when I was on the radio, my job was

to fill three hours and make it take a long time.

But Eva was the, the newscaster on the same station.

I was, I was quick. Yeah.

And your job was to be so I could just hand it to you

and you can read that And

thank you for mentioning Brain Bowl.

If you wanna watch it hasn't happened yet,

but it'll be Sunday on PBS.

So at four o'clock JV

and five o'clock for varsity channel eight.

Okay. A EA says, a EA is excited to welcome Dr.

Hatrick to our district.

There's gonna be a theme throughout this theme.

We were thankful to see him touring our schools

meeting staff and students.

We are looking forward to fostering those ongoing

relationships, connections,

and positive movement forward together.

The evaluation committee has begun meeting observation data

shows that some administrators have been able

to get into classrooms regularly and some haven't yet.

We are hopeful for a shift in

district level meeting expectations to provide more time

and space for administrators to connect

with students in classrooms.

Some a EA members advocated in the short session

to protect the rights of school libraries

and classrooms to carry

and teach books that feature diverse characters

and experiences.

Bargaining has been slow moving.

We spent a lot of time creating ground rules

that honor multiple perspectives,

ensure action items are followed

and promote transparency through open meetings.

We are hopeful that this foundation will support the

work going forward.

Over at the high school,

Ashland High School hosted their first PTA meeting

since Covid yesterday.

Meeting dates and times will be posted in the gris

Agram All are welcome.

We are excited about the opportunity to beautify the campus

support student programs, provide volunteer opportunities

and connection points for families

and to make positive overall impact

in the lives of students.

So that's a new change.

A MS staff is extremely concerned about.

The district's plan to eliminate an in-person librarian.

The curriculum, events

and opportunities Carl Pryor contributes through the library

is priceless Band students are on their way to OSU

and orchestra students are gearing up

for their upcoming performance this month.

For our school-wide goal,

we are working on the healthy choices

by encouraging students to do physical

activity during lunches.

The leadership class is continuing

to work on hosting fun games and activities during lunch.

They've been playing dodgeball, doing scavenger hunts

and organizing staff for students basketball games.

Have they been winning staff? Yeah. Okay.

Teachers were about to win ours

and then it was cut off 57 seconds early by one

of those young students who just left here

'cause it was a little rigged.

Ashlyn Connect. Excuse me. We heard all about

It

And I can't get mad at 'em.

He's on my brain ball team. Okay.

Ashlyn Connects Students have enjoyed several field trips

with neighborhood schools, including hiking with trails

and art projects in their classroom at Walker.

Students continue to meet with Amanda individually as well

as the option to come in person

for academic support twice a week.

Amanda has been working closely with her administrator

and staff at the high school

to help eighth grade students participate in forecasting

and transition meetings in preparation for high school,

the high school staff has been amazingly

supportive and welcoming.

We are planning our end of year celebration for all the K

through eight students, including ways to honor

and send off eighth grade students in

into their next chapter.

Bellevue. We have been busy learning how

to tie dye from our incredibly knowledgeable EA Mary Linden.

We will all be wearing our matching shirts

to show Bellevue Pride at the change maker

March next Wednesday.

We are disappointed by the recent proposal

that cut school librarian positions.

The support that librarians offer our students at all levels

is invaluable to their progress in becoming critical

thinkers in our ever-changing world.

We hope that the district will consider a different avenue

to make up the deficit for next school year.

Helman Helman celebrated spirit week

before spring break with fun outfits and themes.

We had a nice turnout at our science fair with lots

of creative stem projects.

Our spring music performance was held on Friday

before spring break and Amy led the school in

a beautiful performance.

As always, Mr.

Brian led an awesome title one funded Math night.

Helman Dragons head up to Portland this weekend

to compete in the state OOB competition.

We are looking forward to our annual change maker assembly

and March at a s eighth HS on April 17th.

The last session of strong Girls, strong Women is about

to begin with a focus on female entrepreneurship

and field trips into the community.

Planning is underway for Helen's annual Mayfair on May 5th.

All are welcome to this fun family friendly fundraiser.

Third through fifth grades are getting ready

to embark on state and district testing

and staff was excited to meet Mr.

Hatrick and they look forward to seeing more

of him in their classrooms in the fall Walker

students and staff are enjoying the nice weather at recess,

are using our beautiful courtyard during lunches

and are hoping to break ground on our new garden

before the end of the school year as well.

Fourth and fifth grade students are gearing

up for their biking unit.

The whole school really enjoyed the disability dreams

and awareness assembly and the q and a sessions.

Students have been engaging in lots of art projects

to prepare for Da Vinci Night

where our community will gather for desserts, math games

and art exhibits.

Staff are worried about how the budget will impact roles

and responsibilities

with concerns about increased responsibilities

for the same amount of pay.

We are looking forward to collaborating with Dr. Hatrick.

And finally, Willow Wind.

Students have been getting off campus

and exploring the community.

Kindergarten visited the a HS work woodworking class

and they got a course in building small planters

for succulent starts while grades one

through three will be visiting their senior

pen pals in Medford.

Next week, grades four

and five attended a Friday afternoon SOU softball game

whereby the Raiders played Providence Montana

students in grades six through eight.

Strolled over to the grower's market on Tuesday

and enjoyed lunch at the new Scienceworks location.

The first of many such visits

to happen in the next two months.

All classes are preparing

for the change maker March next week

and students are very excited

to join other schools for this event.

Planning is also underway for our annual mayday event

where eighth graders will lead the celebration

with a Maypole Dance Spring Crafts

and outdoor games round out the afternoon,

which is always attended by families.

And welcome Dr. Hatrick.

We look forward to having you join us

Join.

I just wanna point out Alan, that

I was worried when you said at Willow,

when students were getting out to explore their community,

that it was a euphemism for kids ditching school.

So I was glad to hear about the,

Alright, thank you Alan.

Next do we have OSCA report? Steven Essic.

So I actually don't have a lot to report.

I didn't hear from a lot of people,

but I think it was 'cause of the spring break.

But OSCA Chapter 42,

our bargaining is gonna continue next Tuesday.

4 16 24 members in the community can follow along

with open bargaining and see updates by navigating

to the district website

and clicking the OSEA bargaining updates button.

We still have a lot of articles to work through

and look forward to.

Continued negotiations members

and classified staff should expect a more thorough summary

of bargaining activities from the OSEA board

or her executive board next week.

OSEA Chapter 40 twos election is kicking off

and nominations for delegates

to represent our chapter at our state conference.

Those nominations are open.

And then we also have some executive board officer

positions that are opening up.

So this year we have nominations open for our president,

treasurer and school board representative.

Those are full terms

and we have nominations opened for our secretary position,

which would finish out a term

our current secretary is gonna be leaving us.

And we are so thankful to have in NCO Monz on our team

and we hope he has a great time when he moves on.

And so members can send in nominations.

There's a number of ways to do that.

They received that information in our last general meeting

and there was also an email May 7th.

We're gonna be holding an in-person general meeting

with Food and refreshments to finish that refle

that election and vote for all of the nominations.

So we're excited for Democracy at work

and look forward to those election results.

Next month, May 6th

through May 10th is Teacher Appreciation Week,

which we all look forward to

and are excited to celebrate our teachers

and our colleagues at a EA for our site Roundup.

I, like I said, I think a lot

of people were still coming off of the spring break,

but I got Ashland High School site Roundup.

They had a great spring formal dance last week hosted

by the National Honor Society.

After it was postponed due to snow, I was really worried

that we had to refund a lot of tickets.

We didn't end up having to do too many, so, which is great

'cause that is all money that goes to National Honor Society

for their scholarships and to fund the next year's dance.

So the weather was a lot better.

We had about 360 students show up to the dance

and thanks to a dedicated group of staff

and volunteers, I, it went off without a hitch.

I don't think there was any problems then Ashland High

School is still without a media specialist librarian.

Just to kind of bounce off the a MS situation

this year we lost our librarian to another district.

So we are still without a librarian.

Ashland High School's, rogue News bravely put out a special

state of the high school edition this month,

which I encourage people to check out.

I think it was just a lot of really

great journalism from them.

Friday, April 19th, HS.

Climate Action Club is hosting an Earth Day

celebration on campus.

That's after school at three.

So anybody in the community's welcome to come out.

There's usually some people playing music, some poetry,

and then some other vendors that are doing different things.

Thursday, April 25th,

the career in Gear Expo students mentioned that.

Just thankful for Jennifer Marsden, our classified college

and career specialist who has been keeping

that annual tradition alive.

We're really thankful for her. I know she's working remotely

right now, so a little extra hurdle for her.

Finally, Friday, April 26th,

we have her third annual clash on the quad.

Third, yeah, third.

And it's just a fun event that's at three

or three 30, right as the right as the bell rings.

Three o'clock. Three o'clock, get there.

And lastly, I had the opportunity

to sit on the first meeting for the a HS,

it was the Grizzly Parent Association.

I was told it was the Grizzly Teacher organization, so,

or the parent teacher organization.

So I was down there and I hope

to see more faces in the next one.

A little interesting study that I was coming across was

that 75% of internal work in

academia happens because of women.

And I saw that at the Grizzly Parent Association.

It was all women there other than the two admin who are,

are there and myself and Isaiah Creel who was there.

So I would love to see more, more, more fathers or adults

or guys there to give a different perspective

and to do some of that internal service work

that is often left for women.

Other than that, I, like I said,

don't have any other other sites to report on.

Alright, thank you Steven.

So I have had a motion

to move the public comment next before board report.

You all okay with that? So Jackie, I believe we have three,

should I go ahead and call?

Yes. Okay. Okay.

So first I have Matt Damon if you'd like to come up. Okay.

I can, you probably know the rules.

State your name, your city. And you have two minutes.

Yes.

While you're doing that, I was so excited

that we had such a packed board meeting.

were gonna stay through the whole thing. Oh

Yeah.

Two, two minutes and Samuel will be your timekeeper. Okay,

I'm gonna read in that case.

Okay. My name is Matt Damon

and I'm glad to be here with all of you.

I know all of you care very deeply about

the district, as do I.

I, I've worked in the district

for 24 years in various capacities.

Over the past eight years, one of my roles has been to serve

as the elementary library media specialist.

Three years ago, the position was reduced by two thirds,

eliminating library instruction

for about a thousand students at three elementary schools.

The position I now hold is as a library manager

for three libraries rather than a library media teacher.

I think this has been a sad loss to our district

and certainly a loss for students who are missing a piece of

what should be essential learning.

Tonight I'm here to express my concerns about what appears

to be the district's intention

to eliminate librarian positions at Ashland Middle School

and Ashland High School for next year.

This is a more drastic cut even than was made three years

ago At the elementary level.

The new proposal would eliminate all direct instruction from

trained librarians to students as well

as librarian collaboration with teachers

and lesson support for teachers.

What is now proposed is the libraries be run

by the classified library staff

who already have very full job descriptions,

but who would now be asked

to take on additional tasks they are not trained for.

The plan is to provide classified library staff

with remote support from a library

and contracted out for some consultation hours.

To me, this all seems woefully inadequate.

We live in the age of information,

a time when information literacy is essential for success.

Students should be learning about books,

about exploring literature, about how

to do research about trustworthy sources

and about digital citizenship, et cetera, et cetera.

From a trained librarian, I don't believe

that eliminating these positions is a wise decision

for our district, which prides itself in

educational excellence.

I implore district leadership

and school board members to retain certified library media,

librarian media specialist positions at a HS

and a MS. Thank you.

Thank you, Matt. Okay, next I have Steven Esig.

You would like to come up.

Okay. So we already know who you are, I think,

But yeah.

Hello, my name is Steven Asig.

I'm an Ashland community member and district employee.

I'm not here speaking on behalf of OSEA

or in my role with OSEA.

And I'm deeply tripled

by the district's priorities while pushing

for armed police presence in schools

with high paying position.

They've simultaneously defunded

and dismantled our equity, diversity,

and inclusion department and our slashing library funds.

This move to install police forces on campus contradicts the

professed support for the movement for black lives

and the ongoing cuts

to library services neglects crucial issues like media

literacy and declining reading levels across

the nation and Oregon.

And we saw SPAC scores last board meeting.

It's a disservice to our community

to push such an unimaginative and uninspired approach

and then command the most privileged students, groups

of students to push this effort

and bring it to the board without a comprehensive

survey from all students.

And a year marked by losses, budget cuts,

collapsing ceilings,

dwindling counseling and library services.

It's disheartening to see these responses

to economic anxiety

and mental health struggles veer towards further

criminalization and increased policing, presenting officers

as informal counselors instead of addressing root problems

and moving towards truly transformative

and restorative practices. Thank you.

Thank you, Steven. Next I have Isaiah Creel.

My name's Isaiah Creel.

I'm a teacher and a a parent over here in Ashland.

And I I am okay. After that basketball game.

I wasn't a flop. You know, Marcella's got those big thighs.

I took a knee right to the stomach.

That guy, I'm telling you, I'm glad he is on our team.

Really. And you

know, it wasn't a flop.

Gonna say, this is my two minutes.

Hasn't started yet. Has it?

Might need policy, the two.

Okay. All right. All

Right.

No personal comments. Okay. All right.

You get 15 extra seconds just to clear.

I just wanna take an opportunity to remind us all

that cops are not teachers, teachers are teachers,

cops are not counselors.

Counselors are counselors.

Now I understand that the city is going to pay

for the police officer's salary and that's fantastic.

But if the city wants a teacher,

they should give us money to hire more teachers.

If the city wants more counselors, they should give us money

to hire more counselors.

Calling a cop a teacher, cheapens my profession.

Police officers are quite literally government

sponsored agents of violence.

Now, calling them anything

or considering them, anything other than

that is disingenuous.

Having them present is simply a visual reminder

of the violence that they

and they alone are authorized in our society.

So as we go forward with this plan, keep in mind that

that is what they are and that is what they represent.

Regardless of how they are at cornhole, they are

the government sponsored agents of violence.

Thank you. Ann Gaffney.

Good evening. I'm Ann Gaffney. I live next door.

My son is in eighth grade at Ashland Middle School.

And we're a relatively recent transplants

to Ashland from the East coast.

I heard something tonight in the discussion about the SRO

that left me wondering

and that I wanted to sort of highlight for you all.

And that is that people shared today,

tonight that they were scared.

But I'm not sure that the solution to what they're scared

of in all of those instances is actually the SRO position.

And so I just wanna highlight for us all that we need

to be looking at the reasons why folks are scared

and what are the appropriate solutions.

And maybe the SRO is part of that solution,

but I don't think it's the entire solution.

And so I want us just, just focus on like,

there are these other things that we need to be looking at

regardless of which way we go at the SRO

position. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Okay.

And I will also note that we got four written statements

that Jackie is sending to us for the board to read.

Thank you. Okay,

so now we will go on with board report.

Anybody wanna start us off? We can just go down the line.

Sure. I'll just start. I'm gonna make it super quick.

The high school reimagining Committee

Committee is going strong.

We're getting ready to conduct student focus groups at a HS

and we're putting together a survey for a HS Teachers

board retreat, which we all did.

And I just, I'm a I, I'm a sur optimist.

We had a Dream Builders lunch

and we raised $30,000 for scholarships.

Wow. I'm really excited. And a chunk of those do go to

Ashland Seniors.

So just wanna say that. That was very thrilling. That's me.

I will also keep it very concise.

I would say the high point is probably the

Calendaring Innovation Committee is wrapping up work.

We're hoping to be done

and able to present at the May work session.

So it's been a great process

and I'm excited to share what we've put together with y'all.

And then beyond that, I've just been meeting with teachers

and, and staff when they wanna reach out

and listening to their perspective.

So just trying to be available for people who wanna share

what their per needs are.

All right. Well I guess I'll

go next if we're going down the road.

Yep. Board retreats.

That was a, a very useful part of our day.

I think we need to do more of that.

I think we are all in agreement.

I've had a very nice time lately getting

to know Dr. Patrick better as we are preparing

to welcome him to our district.

That's been great. And I've been spending an awful lot

of time with our high school OAB team

that I am coaching this year.

And we are heading it to states

tomorrow, so that's very exciting.

Along with the Hellman Dragons, boop boop boop boop.

So, and

I'll just, I'll say I know I,

I spoke last time about the amazing performance

by our orchestra in getting to states.

We also had a quintet that placed second,

which also has now qualified for states as an alternate.

So there will be a whole group of students going up for

that in another couple weeks, which is great.

So, alright.

So yeah, had a great retreat, like lots of

just new ideas we heard about

and it was just good time together as a board.

We don't get a lot of time together to just brainstorm

and chat about new things happening.

So it was good quality time also.

Yes, I've got to spend some time with Dr.

Hatrick and really excited for him

to come on board full time

and met with the innovation committees.

Our, our innovation committee met twice as a full committee,

which we have about 20 volunteers on

that committee as a whole.

And then we have three subcommittees.

So we've brought the committee together two different times

since the last board meeting, so

that we've been working hard to try to meet some deadlines

before the end of the school year.

So that was great. And that's what

I had forgotten about the board

retreat, so thank you for reminding me.

That feels like ages ago,

but it was wonderful for I love that opportunity.

More of that Yes, please. To chat and,

and hear about some really fun stuff,

especially a great conversation about ai.

So I really appreciate that.

And, and it's, it's wonderful getting

to know Dr. Patrick better.

I missed our last work session. I'm sorry about that.

I was outta town. It was worthwhile.

But the work I've been enjoying is

with the enrollment committee and so I love it.

Love it. Because it's community members helping solve the

problem of declining enrollment with ideas

for stabilizing in the short and long term.

It's important we know because number one, it contributes

to a vibrant community,

but also when we keep hearing about budget problems

and budget things that are ongoing, that is one

of the major contributors to ongoing budget health.

So I'm, we can't keep scaling schools down

proportionally when we lose students.

So stabilizing that is, is really important

and I'm really glad the committee has ideas for short

and long term ways to do that.

I'm super encouraged by that.

And, and the, my little part of that has been really

helping us

and I'm excited about over the next couple weeks encouraging

learning from the families that live in the district

that are not enrolled and the opportunity to reengage folks

that we lost during covid,

but also to, to learn from them so we can inform our,

our programs moving forward.

So it's been really great work. Thank you.

All right. Thank you Dan. So now we have our little extra

agenda item, which Jill will be presenting. Great.

I'm gonna mostly read this,

but this is a

last minute agenda item on the long-term

use of district land.

About two years ago, Eva Stoic

and Sabrina Pome created three board directed

innovation committees.

One of those committees was titled Increasing was entitled

Increasing Enrollment.

I led that committee and it is made up

of about 20 volunteers from different

aspects of our community.

One of the subcommittees in that group focused on a report

that revealed the increasing lack of affordable housing

for young families, equipped

with research from Eco Northwest that revealed

for every two units of Snowberry Brook Town homes,

we had one student that's compared with one student

for every four single family residences in Ashland.

And one student for every seven apartment units.

So with the governor

of Oregon declaring a housing E emergency,

the housing subcommittee

for increasing enrollment knew we were on the right track.

So after a land use analysis

and working in conjunction with Steve Mitchell,

our executive director of operations,

we determined the land located on the corner of Mountain