2020-11-18 Youth Commission MinutesPage 1.1.1
Youth Commission Meeting Minutes 11/18/2020
Commission Members Present:
Chair Owen Lee
Treasurer Sydney Pearson
Hunter DeLeon
Secretary Brook Roberts
Grace Kamila
Co -Chair Jacob Sawyer
Finn Paynich
Brooke Rinehimer
Zane Marulitua
Aaron Nateephaisan
Staff Present:
Shannon Burley
Kim Anderson
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Owen Lee moved to call the meeting to order at 6:04 pm over Zoom
Owen read the land acknowledgment statement
II. MINUTES - Approval of 11/4/20 Meeting Minutes
Owen Lee moved to approve the 11/4/20 meeting's minutes with revisions to the attendance
list
Jacob Sawyer seconded that motion
Motion passed unanimously
III. ANNOUNCEMENTS
➢ Youth Commissioner Caitlin Chung has been selected to become the Student Representative on
the Diversity Commission, she will be resigning from the Youth Commission to take on that role
o Everyone was thankful for Caitlin's service and wished her the best
o Youth Commissioner Zane Marulitua will be moved up to the 7th seat, with anew
opening for the 10th position on the Youth Commission
o It is vital to continue to spread the word about this opening
IV. POLICE CHIEF INTERVIEW UPDATE FROM OWEN
➢ The Police Chief interview included two candidates: Jim Lawless, the Acting Chief of Police of the
Edmonds Police Department, and Sherman Pruitt is the current Chief of Police, Director of Public
Safety and Emergency Management Services, with the Sauk-Suiattle Police Department
➢ Community members from the Planning Board, Diversity Commission, and more
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➢ A big focus of the interview was on how each candidate would approach diversity training
➢ The panel concluded that with Chief Lawless continuing to serve in the same position, the
Edmonds Police Department would continue to do what it's done so far with no changes and
that Chief Pruitt would do a better job than him if he had the community's cooperation and
support (which he might not as a BIPOC individual)
➢ After the interviews with multiple panels — City Council will review the contents of the
interviews, interview the candidates, and recommend a candidate — Mayor will select a
candidate to serve as the Edmonds Police Chief — Council will confirm the nomination
V. YOUTH COMMISSION'S NEW INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
Previously, the OPMA prevented the creation of an Instagram account for the Youth
Commission, but thanks to Shannon and the Parks & Rec Department, a method that properly
complies was found
o Comments, story posts, regular posts, followers, DMs will all be saved to be OPMA
compliant
➢ The account will be a major asset in spreading information to teenagers around Edmonds in
releasing statements, spreading awareness issues, listing resources for issues that teenagers
face, etc.
@edmondsyouthcommission will be the handle
➢ A committee of Youth Commission members will manage the account and make posts (the
Social Media Committee); the committee will consist of Grace, Jacob, Owen, Hunter, and Brooke
➢ Owen will work with Kim after the meeting to get it setup
VI. MENTAL HEALTH PROJECT DISCUSSION
➢ At our next meeting, we'll be discussing mental health resource access within the Edmonds
School District with JoAnna Rockwood, a School Psychologist for the ESD and the Suicide
Prevention Coordinator, who is trained in teen mental health
➢ As for taking action regarding increasing mental health resource access, we need to consider
grants, school district financial contribution, and the commission budget
➢ Questions we have for JoAnna Rockwood:
o What is the district's current plan for addressing the mental health problem among
students? Is there a plan to make it a reality?
o How will she ensure that the program is equitable? What ideas are being considered to
make sure that the programs in place are actually helping everyone?
o How have counselors adapted to the online learning platform? What methods are being
used to support students and which are the most helpful?
o What's her opinion of the role of counselors in schools? What does she think of how
counselors are currently handling this situation, and what does she think of their job?
o What kinds of mental health services are being offered to elementary and middle school
students?
o How can counselors maintain confidentiality between student issues and parents?
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o How can counselors handle issues between students and teachers? For example, if a
student and teacher are having issues, what role does a counselor have in effectively
resolving that conflict?
➢ The mental health curriculum needs to be improved and expanded, and teachers who teach it
need to be screened
o For example, in IB, health classes aren't required; the only mental health education was
in freshman English classes—IB classes want the education, but don't want to have to
take another class
o Edmonds Heights K-12 doesn't have any mental health curriculum whatsoever
➢ Counselors of color are rare to find in schools, perhaps prioritizing ethnicity and experiences
during the hiring process could help BIPOC students reach out for help
➢ Counselors are assigned students by academic ability and last name, would an "at random"
assignment help in any way?
Important to note that student IDs and insurance cards have numbers that one could call for
crisis support
VII. SUPPORTING TEENS DURING THE COVID PANDEMIC
With our new Instagram account, we need to write a statement on supporting the wearing of
masks and staying home
o Maybe separating ourselves from Inslee's message? As certain people may be quick to
believe that everything Inslee says is "bad", but also using our own reasoning as to why
folks should wear masks
o Could also get more youth voices to issue support for Inslee's messages
We need to convince our followers, the youth of Edmonds, to stay safe and make wise
decisions; we could do this by:
o Making the virus personal, and mentioning that the long-term effects are still unknown
o Selling this public health issue as a community issue, and reinforce the fact that nobody
is immune to it, even the upper -middle class
o Posts aren't real life, we need people to do what they preach over social media
o Use visual models to show how easy this virus could spread and how quickly hospitals
could get overloaded
o Having the ASBs of Edmonds Schools post on their Instagram account reminders to wear
masks (and potentially promote our page as well)
Provide weekly updates on the status of a vaccine due to the high rate of unvaccinated children
in the Edmonds School District, but also be careful to not "relax" everyone and create a message
that says it's okay to not wear a mask and be easy on restrictions, etc.
Continue to provide links to mental health resources, could be linked on the website of the
Youth Commission
Ultimately release a statement as a Youth Commission about our honest opinions about staying
home and quarantining and asking how we can support the youth during this time
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Brook Roberts moved to remove the section on the agenda titled "What has Council been covering?"
and replace it with time to review final changes to the pronoun inclusion request to be sent to the
Mayor's Office
Owen Lee seconded that motion
Motion passed unanimously
VII. REVIEWING PRONOUN INCLUSION REQUEST TO BE SENT TO THE MAYOR'S OFFICE
Final changes to the document were made. The request will be on the December 2nd meeting's
consent agenda.
VIII. FINAL COMMENTS
Brook: at our next meeting, we will need to discuss how we can support the fundraiser for WA
Kids in Transition; he also might be late to the 12/2 Youth Commission meeting as he will be
attending a Snohomish County Children's Commission meeting before then
Owen: the Instagram page will be up by 11/19 with more information on GroupMe
➢ Jacob: he will ask around for people who could illustrate a Youth Commission profile photo
Grace: will ask her sister about creating a Youth Commission profile photo for us
➢ Shannon: Casey is returning from her maternity leave, she'll be back at the next meeting
IX. ADJOURNMENT
Owen Lee moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 pm
Brook Roberts seconded that motion
Meeting adjourned