Parents and a board candidate urge more multilingual liaisons and clearer district communication
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Summary
During public comment a board candidate called for expanded multilingual liaisons across 38 schools; a parent group representative asked the board for greater accountability and transparency following the teachers' strike and expressed concerns about staff expression policy.
Two public speakers at the Oct. 28 Evergreen School District board meeting urged the district to expand multilingual outreach and improve transparency.
Jacob Smith, who identified himself as a candidate for the Evergreen School Board, said the district—s three liaisons are insufficient for a district with 38 schools and contrasted Evergreen with Vancouver School District, which he said has 14 liaisons and language-specific coverage. Smith said limited liaison staffing can leave non-English-speaking families without timely support during time-sensitive tasks such as course forecasting and schedule creation.
"We cannot rely on only three liaisons between our 38 schools," Smith said, urging the board to consider more language-specific support and to avoid relying on students as interpreters during enrollment and forecasting.
Catherine Furtick, a parent and volunteer, said she represents a parent group of roughly 2,000 members formed during the teacher strike and called for improved accountability and communication. Furtick raised concerns about a staff expression policy that she said may silence employee voices, argued that the community groups who helped pass the district levy have been active contributors, and asked the board to engage the broader community.
Board chair closed the public comment period after Furtick—s remarks. No formal board action on liaisons or the staff-expression policy occurred during the meeting.
Sources: public comments by Jacob Smith and Catherine Furtick during the Oct. 28 board meeting.
