FHS General Meeting Minutes
March 8th, 2018
FHS Library
Board Members in attendance include Betsy Salter, Jonell Alvi, Heidi McNamee, Lisa Zuniga, Rebecca Eaton, Beth Azar, Jean Hansen, Richelle Morgan, Amy Dirk, and Amber Wagner.
The meeting was called to order at 7pm and introductions were made.
A motion was made by Beth Azar to approve the minutes for the January 11th, 2018 General Meeting. Amber Wagner seconded the motion.
Educators of the month: Math teacher Deb Wasserman was nominated by Susie Silva-Strommer. Susie’s daughter was very encouraged by Ms. Wasserman and found her very warm and friendly. Susie said her daughter has had a wonderful and very positive experience with Ms. Wasserman.
A student nominated Spanish teacher, Ms. Tovar. The student wrote in an email that Ms. Tovar is a good listener and makes her classes fun and supportive. Ms. Tovar and the student who nominated her were unable to attend tonight’s meeting.
Guest Speaker:
Officer Robert Searle is the SRO (School Resource Officer) for the Franklin Cluster and spoke about safety policies. He stated that we have over 200 schools that the Youth Services Division responds to, with about 12 SRO’s to cover those schools. Typically, there is one SRO assigned to one cluster.
In Oregon, House Bill 4087, The Oregon Task Force on School Safety, was enacted in 2014. There are four areas of focus for improving safety. One of the items on this bill was to come up with terminology that was the same for all schools and first responders. This means that everyone would have the same definition for a lockdown, a lockout, evacuate, and shelter-in place.
Another recommendation that came out of this house bill was the development of a school safety line where anonymous tips can be reported. That site is
A third piece of this house bill was the development of a threat assessment team. Anytime there is some kind of student threat the school administration, the school counselors, and the SRO are responsible for assessing the threat. Principal Valder added that any kind of tips or information would go through this team.
The last piece of this house bill is the making available of floor plans for every single school for officers. Every officer should be able to pull up a plan of any given school should an emergency happen and these plans would be available through police/fire resources only. These plans would not be online publicly. We are the only agencies in the country that works together with the fire department and actually does training with the Portland Fire Bureau.
A recent Instagram threat was investigated and was determined to pertain to a school in McMinnville. Ms. Valder stated that when we get those kinds of phone calls from parents or students, administration is always in communication with the SRO and always check into the tip.
A question was asked if there are any changes as to how doors open and people gain access to the building. Franklin is a very visible building and ideally, you would have one point of entry, which would be the front door. However, this also comes down to student behavior and parents talking to their students about not propping and leaving doors open. Steve Matthews, Franklin High School’s Business Manager, said that they are working on having doors open at the beginning of school and during passing periods but having them all locked otherwise, with the exception of the front door. So for example, if a student is late to school, they would only have one point of entry, which would be the front doors.
Ms. Valder stated that there have been meetings with staff talking about all the glass in the building. The idea behind all of the glass is to make everything more visible, with more eyes seeing what is going on, having things less hidden, and in turn, being safer. This was pointed out that this concept is called Crime Prevention through Environmental Design.
One thing that has changed is that now there are two parking spots near the front of the building that is for SRO’s.
There was brief discussion on the Safe Oregon website. Ms. Valder said this is put on by the state and is going through some growing pains but is improving. A question was asked about how students get information about the website’s existence. Beth said she would get it posted on the PTSA Facebook page and get it into the newsletter.
A question was asked about how administration makes the decision to call or notify parents. Ms. Valder responded that the threat is assessed and if it’s an emergency you will hear immediately. If the threat is not an immediate emergency parents will get information via the next newsletter or an email from administration.
A question was asked of Steve Matthew’s about how long it would take to actually lock down the building or lock all the doors. He replied that it would probably take about three seconds. There is a single button that can be pushed to lock all doors down immediately.
A student asked if there is a set safety plan for each classroom in the building if an active shooter was in the school, especially in regards to all the glass in the building. Ms. Valder said this is something that will be talked about with staff. Mr. Matthew’s said each situation will be different and won’t necessarily follow an exact rehearsed drill.
A question was asked in regards to the recent Wi-Fi outage within PPS and how would staff be able to communicate. There is a landline at Franklin. There is also the ability to communicate through the fire alarm system as it is independent of Wi-Fi. Ms. Valder said that we are in one of the safest places in the district, being in the new building.
Still working on situations with this building.
Cathy Kirchner, who works for Portland State and is a parent of a Franklin graduate, says these conversations are happening through out all schools. Cathy highly recommends signing up for alert system through PPS. (text YES to 68453). She recommends administration and SRO’s to follow up on any tips. She recommends parents to trust the police when they say a threat is over. She reminded a parent that sometimes there is information that the police just cannot release to the parents. Ms. Valder also gave a reminder that sometimes there could be confidentiality issues and that we don’t want to place any assumptions on anyone.
A question was asked concerning the budget for SRO’s and how this gets prioritized. Portland Police makes the budget for SRO’s. Ms. Valder said that every time city budget talks come up, the SRO’s are on the chopping block. She said that administration has gotten really good at letter writing and advocating for these services. If a parent wanted to write a letter of support this would go to the Mayors office or to City Council.
A question was asked about what are the sort of things parents should be talking to their students about. The answers to this include: If you see something, say something and having situational awareness, being aware of your surroundings. Ms. Valder also added that parents should pay attention and notice whom your kids are talking about, who are the bullies, and who is being bullied/ threatened. She also reminded parents to check their student’s phones and emails.
Administrative News:
Ms. Valder said the district has decided that the March 14th event is an all support day. Administration will be working with staff and students on how they want to honor that day and they will make time and space for that day to happen.
For the April protest, officers will not be getting involved. It is being viewed as an observation piece. The details haven’t been completely finalized yet and they are trying to keep it as organic as possible.
There will be a Q/A for students with administration that will happen sometime after the March 14th event but not on that day.
Beth asked about the April 20th walkout and if the 60 day rule for seniors will apply and will they be punished. Ms. Valder said no. This day will be about activism and administration has to be apolitical here but is supporting student safety.
Ms. Valder had some reminders to announce. The musical “Anything Goes” starts this week.
The 60-day rule for seniors is coming up. The 60 school days prior to graduation students can’t violate any major school rules or they may not walk at graduation. They would still graduate but they would not be able to walk across the stage at the actual ceremony. This rule has evolved from being anti-drugs/alcohol to also include no fighting and vandalism. Ms. Valder also said that administrations amongst PPS high schools all communicate so that everyone is on board with the same rule.
The brand new 2018/2019 calendar is out. This calendar does not impact tutorial but there are no more early dismissals. August 14-17 is registration.
Administration is currently working on staffing for next year. The new numbers look supportive for Franklin but not necessarily for every school in the district. We are probably not looking at any cuts to staffing and probably some new hires. We will be staffing for a student population of 1823 next year, which will be about 100 more than this year. Incoming freshman will have to show proof of address that they live within the Franklin boundaries.
A brief update on the principal hire was given. The search was originally opened and then closed, then re-opened and is now closed again. The hope is that there should be a hire around spring break. There is a parent committee that can be joined for principal hirelings but it was noted that this wouldn’t just be for Franklin but for all principal hiring’s throughout the district.
Treasurer’s Report:
Amber said there is not a lot of activity right now. She is expecting a $1000.00 check from our latest restaurant partnership.
Auction News:
The estimated amount raised from the auction is $37,500. This is %75 as the rest of the money goes to All Hands Raised.
There are still wooden plaques for sale that are $20. There are also still two buy-ins available: The Poker Party on Friday, May 18th and Rocklandia on Saturday, October 6th.
Other than those things, everything else at the auction sold.
Grad Night Update:
Amber will be working on Grad Night now that the auction is over. She will be doing the coordinating up until the actual night of and then Jean Hansen will be in charge on the night of. Kendra Wenzel will be doing registration. Amber said that those without seniors are encouraged to volunteer the night of which will be June 5th and MJCC.
Next Year’s FHS Board:
Rebecca and Beth are the nominating committee and next year’s slate will be voted on in May. Rebecca said that we have nominees for most of the major positions and that the call for next year’s board has been in the bulletin.
New Business:
Betsy said the Oregon PTA Spring Conference is coming up and there is money in the PTSA account if someone would like to go. The conference is April 14th and 15th at the Holiday Inn at the Portland Airport.
A change of standing rules for the PTSA board has been proposed. In the past we have had several positions open that have been titled at “Minority Members”. The original intent was to create a more diverse board but now the board would like to not pigeon hole them into being Minority Members.
Beth Azar made a motion to change the language of the position from Minority Members to Members at Large. Laura Smoyer seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Lisa Zuniga made a motion that the PTSA will hold Regular Association meetings at least four times a year, and Executive Board meetings at least six times a year, with meeting dates and location to be determined at the discretion of the Executive Board, in coordination with school administration, and announced by the start of each school year. Laura Smoyer moved to adopt this motion. Rebecca Eaton seconded the motion. The motion was passed.
Rebecca gave a quick update in Legislative news that the teacher contract has been approved.
Heidi said that Franklin’s day for volunteering at the clothing center is Monday (March 12th) and that they have enough people but more volunteers are always welcome.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:47 p.m.