More than a third of all PAT members participated in the survey, so I wanted to say thanks to all of you, especially the PAT Advocacy Committee for overseeing this importnt project. PAT will continue voicing the perspectives and concerns of classroom educators with our elected leaders. And as we detail below, you've given us plenty to talk about. Our safety survey presentation came a week after PPS administrators were in front of the Board, giving them a progress report on the District's efforts to reduce exclusionary discipline and reduce racial disproportionality. And two weeks ago the District notified PAT that they believe our contract is in violation of the new state law, SB 553, which imposes limits on out-of-school suspensions and expulsions for students in the fifth grade or lower. Discipline-related issues will continue to be a hot topic for the District and a top priority for PAT. That's why it's important to be clear when it comes to what we believe on behalf of our students. As educators, we all want to reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions in Portland's schools. We know that if kids aren't in school, they aren't learning. And as a union committed to social justice, we have to recognize and address the racial disparities in discipline, not just here in Portland but nationwide. The figures are staggering, and what's happening is just not right. No one believes it's OK to suspend or expel black, brown, and native students more frequently than their white counterparts. But as we told the Board last night, PPS' approach, dictating an arbitrary reduction in suspensions and expulsions, is starting at the wrong end of the problem. We need real supports in place on the front end, so we can head off the kinds of behaviors that trigger suspensions or expulsions, not wish those problems away..As a union, PAT is committed to building the schools all Portland students deserve, and that includes a safe and supportive learning environment. And, as we detailed for the Board last night, our recent member survey makes it clear that PPS has a long way to go. We found that: More than a third of our educators do not feel like they work in a safe school environment. This is double the number who reported an unsafe work environment in the TELL survey the year before. Seventy percent believe there is not adequate special education support for behavior that creates unsafe classroom conditions. Half report their administrators have not clearly communicated policies and procedures about student conduct. Almost half find that consequences given to students by PPS administrators are not consistent with our written discipline policies. What the survey also makes clear is that the District is setting a goal for those of us in the classroom without giving us adequate resources to achieve it. They are sweeping problems under the rug, discouraging and under-reporting referrals and other disciplines. The District's approach towards restorative justice seems aimed at garnering publicity rather than addressing behavior problems. Implementation has been so piecemeal and top-down that in most places failure is almost guaranteed. We have to recognize that doing this right costs a lot more money up front. But in the long run it saves PPS, and the state, so much more because we're setting people up for success in life and disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. As educators, we will never stop working to create a safe and supportive learning environment in all our schools. But we know we can't do that by wishing away the very real problems facing some of our students, or minimizing the resources required to do this effectively. As we told the Board, we look forward to working with the District on solutions designed to support both our students and our educators. In Solidarity, Gwen Sullivan, President