Seattle School Board Meeting, September 17, 2025

I'm going to try to live blog the meeting so you won't be seeing full sentences. Agenda

I see Gina Topp, Michelle Sarju, Evan Briggs, Joe Mizrahi, Liza Rankin, and Superintendent Fred Podesta on the dais along with at least two student members. Sarah Clark and Brandon Hersey are there virtually. 

Maybe we should run a pool to see if Director Hersey will come - in person - to at least one more board meeting in person before December. 

Topp talked about upcoming meetings around the superintendent search and hopes directors will attend as many community meetings as possible. Here's a good chance to see which directors make this a priority. 

Superintendent Comments

Start of new year and it's great - he's been to 16 buildings. Opened three new buildings and "they are remarkable." Big topic is high school lunchtime change and he and Rocky Torres Morales met with some students for an hour. He said maybe they need to listen to what students experience at schools. Update on Strategic Planning tonight. 

For some reason, they moved to tables for the high school lunch briefing.

There is to be a High School Lunch Briefing update right after the Superintendent comments. It's a lot of the same stuff as before so why are they bothering? Let's see.

You can see a number of high school kids seated behind the tables. 

He apologized again for the timing and "clearly, didn't land it right in buildings." "What is it we really want but think we are in alignment with the legal issues." "Not everyone is going to get everything they want." 

Dr. Torres Morales was lead on this discussion. Clubs and lunch don't count to instructional time which is 1,080 state hours. 30 minutes for lunch gives 1,093 hours which is over state mandate but this is because of Wednesday early release, snow days, etc. 

The concern with splitting is around time to socialize and clubs and activities as well as safety concerns. I'm trying to understand if they did this previously with one lunch, what didn't happen that they say needs to happen?

He urges students to talk to ASB officers as the conversation will continue. Podesta said he thinks it would be good to have a standing meeting with ASB. 

Will have next updates from school leadership tomorrow and Friday. 

Podesta finished saying we have some ambitious goals around high school graduation, "sometime in next month, we will have a conversation about BELL TIMES." He said it was a big and important topic. 

Topp - pre-COVID had multiple lunches except Lincoln. During COVID had one lunch at home but just some schools. Came back and differing lunchtimes at different schools. All this Podesta and Torres Morales said is true. 

Torres Morales said for kids going off campus "we have to give them time to get their food, eat, hygiene, etc." (Me: So maybe close campuses then if that takes more time?)

Podesta said they are working on a new structure for unified leadership. 

Mizrahi - A lot of questions, lack of clarity for the why? Lincoln already has one 30-minute lunch so why? Podestat - Teachers also get a 30-minute duty-free lunch. When will clubs happen? Doesn't make sense to have everyone in motion all at once. He says there were serious safety concerns and how many adults can supervise so many students. If half of students are in class, we know who is looking out for them.

Mizrahi - 20 minutes seated lunch, what is that based on? Torres Morales says there are two parts and that 20 minutes comes in on part two. Bigger question is the rush to do this. Doing engagement afterwards, solving problems created by it afterwards. Making students suffer for the mistake of doing this late. I am confident there are solutions. 

Podesta brought up safety, again and it could be risky. 

Mizrahi but to be clear, going in without clear solutions. Podesta pushed back and said we have done this before and it can be done. "We can dust off strategies we had in the past."

Sarju - "We all make mistakes. What's important is how we recover from them." Talking about students in the third person and we have student board directors and didn't engage them. "This situation didn't have to happen like this." Will student believe us that we are committed to engaging them on actions that affect them? Trust has been broken and there has to be repair. So not just about school lunch. 

She said they can't respond to emails because the Board had nothing to do with the decision and they were NOT apprise of it ahead of time. (Me: Oh my. That is bad.) 

Let's utilize our student members and allow all high school students to understand how the system works. 

One student member passed on saying anything. Massudi?

Clark - We need to listen to our students. Different situations for different high schools and there is not a one size fits all solution. This proposal seems to have violated a guardrail around super not making decisions without engagement. She is doubtful that this will come to fruition by October 6th. "We might consider a one-year policy to build the muscle we need." Roll back the splits and engage each school community. (Me: I don't think this makes staff happy at all.) 

Student director Yuen - Thanked Torres Morales for agreeing to come to ASB meeting. She said all the student directors would have liked some notice on this before it was announced. 

Student voice and feedback are two different things. Feedback is a reaction to what has already happened but student voices comes before and incorporating that student voice in policies and actions. 

At Ballard we had hour lunch including passing period and now 30-minute with 10 minutes between 2nd and 3rd for advisory time, but it is not so useful. Make decisions that go through out this affects the student day. 

Torres Morales, that's why we did extension to October 6th and understand this is school dependent. Ballard principal, for example, is engaging with students right now. 

Briggs - I'm hearing from my own kids and others and these identified problems are not an issue of getting kids through line at lunch. Current schedule works at some schools so why change if they already have a 30 minute lunch? As long as we are compliant with state law, why change? 

Podesta - Had supervisory issues at lunch and everyone needs a break at lunch. "I struggle to understand what clubs accomplished with both lunch and a meeting." (there were a few boos).

Briggs said we need to go see what is really happening.

Student director Mengleson declined to speak.

Rankin - Her Hale student came home and said, "What the hell?" Handled badly and this came up two years ago and lack of clarity then as well. She said back then it felt operational but we didn't have whole picture. Should have been put to rest two years ago. 

This time, the whys may still exist and what is an emergency and one was created here. Students were very good about coordinating student voices including students with disabilities. She called what happens over lunch "simple." 

She said she did not want to be involved in individual school lunch hours. She went off on what I would call a SOFG rant. She said Podesta did not create situation but he has to solve the problem. Ask colleagues to tell what we will and will not tell you what we would expect structurally. On and on and on she goes. 

Podesta said it needs to be agreed to by October 15 (that date is the one when HYA hopes to offer superintendent candidates). 

Public Testimony is very full at 25 regular slots filled plus 39 on the waitlist. Looks like the major topics are school lunch times, Indian Education, and safety and SEO. Please note, I will not transcript all speakers' comments if they don't add something new to a topic.

Nico Bacon - school lunch. Ballard student speaking. Unstructured and unsupervised time for them to talk to classmates. What separates two lunches from one? Ask yourselves why so many students have risen up on this topic. 

Jose Vargas - ceded to Alicia Winger - teacher at Bridges. Program got moved and some directors worried about vagueness in plan. Two weeks into school for most impacted students, removed resources and isolated students even more than before. Asking for leadership to listen to us and takes action. We need supports for students. 

Jake Milstein - Ballard and Blaine, two different issues. Blaine has two teacher issue. Declare 2 FTE policy to be ended. For Ballard, It's harder to get into good universities and it's important to help students with extracurriculars. Please act now on both issues. 

Laura Lehni - lunchtime. Ballard High School activity coordinator. It's not about lunches and always hear at SPS trainings that students are at the heart of what we do. What separates two lunches from one? We've heard the reasoning but do you understand the day to day of student life and the ways we are impacted by this two-lunch decision.

Uti Hawkins - ceded time to Suzy Beedy. This is around Bridges and apparently there is not a good way for handwashing for those students in portables. The bathroom isn't even ADA compliant. Some classrooms are short-staffed. No security there, no kitchen space for life skills and no quiet space. No gym. Roxhill was a better location. IEPs are not being met. 

Jesse McFeron - Every Child Matters Day - teacher in North Seattle and working with Urban Native Alliance for years. UNA want to urge the Board to support Every Child Matters Day for Native children and past wrongs. Challenge Board to adopt the proclamation because SPS sits on Native lands. 

Holly Mendez - Issues at Bridges. Ceded time to Sophie Nelson. Moved to Rainier High and nothing was designed around those students' needs. Not close to needed equipment and services. We are understaffed and jobs are not posted. Confusion over what Bridges can access and use at RBHS. Please fight for Bridges. 

Willow Milstein - Ballard lunch issue, she's a junior. Students who have eating disorders will have issues if they don't feel safe. I am a club leader with the Architecture Club. Please add time to school day, just 6 minutes a day. 

Nicole Dias - Bridges issues - ceded time to a SEA VP - reading from Bridges employee, feeling disrespected. No real professional development with no release time for CPR and first aid. 

Gordon Macdougall - Every Child Matters Day resolution. Large crowd of Native folks and supporters. Retired SPS teacher who helped Native students. Shoreline SD has made a resolution. Sandra LaFontaine, boarding school survivor, I went voluntarily. 

Melissa Englund - Garfield High enrollment is down because of safety issues. We need to trust and support Dr. Hart. Officers can respond in a way that others can't. Please don't delay a vote. Ryland Springer, student, it's irony that we are talking about lunches but at Garfield, you might die. We have been postponed and silenced and no action to stop gun violence. 

Karin Zaugg Black - grad of Garfield and has students at Garfield. Supports SEO pilot program at Garfield. We mourn our students experiencing gun violence. Please support this program. 

Jennifer Marquardt - cede time to Jade Warren. Garfield student worried about safety. We don't want an officer sitting outside on their phone and treating us like a paycheck. We need them in our schools but we don't want racist officers in our schools. Want people who want to be part of our community. 

Cherylynne Crowther - Bridges Special Education. She is with Seattle Council Special Education PTSA and parent of Bridges of student. This is a federally required program to transition students out of the system and into jobs and employment. 

Addie - junior of Ingraham, unhappy about lunch split. 

Maia De Robertis - Junior at Ingraham. Lunch is when students and clubs meet. Foster belonging and prepare us for college and career. What works for one school may not work for another. 

Amelia Winter - Junior at Ingraham. Possible solution, 50 minute lunches to eat and retakes and clubs. She laid out a specific plan. Interesting idea and she says it will work for all schools. Is going to send to board members. 

Enrico Abadesco - ceding time to Yang a student at RBHS. Talking about a Filipino group that is against more military recruitment time. She said they are being aggressively recruited. 

Zoe Bryant -sophomore at West Seattle HS. Talked about lunchtime issues

Ben Krokower - not available

Sarah Sense Wilson - Indian education and CBO - Urban Native Alliance president, 18 years of advocacy is a model to uplift Native students. Please support Every Child Matters Day (orange shirt day). 

Kay Fiddler - Every Child Matters Day - member of Native tribe - Please support this day. Board doesn't listen as well as it used to.

Anneke Loggers -not available

Blaine Parce - Every Child Matters Day - a Native person with two children in SPS. 

Lisa Rivera - Every Child Matters Day - on the board of Urban Native Alliance. Wants to see Native history in curriculum.

Allison Kent - Bridges teacher, Roxhill was old and no security, no nurse mostly, but it seems the move has not helped the program. 

So despite the long waitlist, they did not add speakers.