2019-01-02 Youth Commission MinutesYouth Commission 1/2/19 Meeting Minutes
Commission Members Present
Staff Present
Caitlin Chung
Shannon Burley
Kaleb Nichols
Casey Colley
Nathanael Perdomo
Noah Erickson
Stephany Janssen
1. Call meeting to order
Shannon called the meeting to order and asked each member how their holiday break was. Shannon
announced that she was working to draft the staff position job description and would send it to the
members prior to posting so they know what to expect from the city staff. Shannon reminded the
members that on January 8th 5 candidates were going before council to interview for the 3
remaining chairs. This interview will be very similar to the 1st round of applicants except this time it's
competitive with 5 candidates applying for 3 chairs. We (the city and commission) will not know who
was selected until later that week or the start of the following week. The city is hoping to have the
whole commission seated by the January 16th meeting to vote for chairs and treasurer. Everyone
had homework from the first meeting, a short bio and picture to be posted to the webpage, and no
one has emailed it in to Casey Colley yet. Most likely due to the fact that all the members had school
work to finish over their break.
2. Review and Approve minutes
Each commissioner read through the minutes from the 12/19/18 meeting and approved them to be
posted online for the public Thursday January 3rd
3. Team Building
M&M's roundtable. Get a bag of m&m's and ask members to take 5 pieces. Whatever color the
person gets means that they have to answer a specific question about themselves. Go around the
table having each member choose one color to share, go around the table till there are no colors
left. Questions where assigned colors as follows:
• Red: What is your favorite sport to play or watch?
• Blue: What is favorite vacation spot or weekend getaway?
• Yellow: What is your dream job?
• Orange: What accomplishment are you the proudest of?
• Green: If you could change anything in your life, what would it be?
• Brown: If you had a superpower, what would it be?
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Stephany's dream job is to be a Supreme Court justice. Kaleb's dream job would be to be a policy
advisor to a politician. Noah's favorite vacation spot or getaway is Lake Chelan. Caitlin's favorite vacation
spot is Switzerland. Nathanael's favorite spot was a camp on an island off Vancouver B.C. Casey's
proudest accomplishment was competing at the national level for women's rugby. Shannon's favorite
vacation spot is Whistler, B.C. Stephany is proud of attaining a scholarship to study a summer at Oxford.
Kaleb is proud of winning state cup with his soccer team. Noah is proud of attaining his seat on the
youth commission. Caitlin's favorite sport to watch is basketball, her favorite team is the Seattle Storm.
Nathanael's dream job would be to be a sports broadcaster for the NBA. Casey's favorite weekend
getaway is her family property in hood canal. Shannon would change her life to include soccer again.
Stephany's favorite vacation spot is Bali. Noah would choose telepathy is he could have a superpower.
Caitlin would change where she lives if she could to her hometown of San Francisco. Nathanael is proud
that his two dogs choose to come to him over his brother. Shannon's proudest moment was when she
was asked to be executive director for a Seattle Storm game. Stephany's favorite sport to watch is
basketball. Nathanael would choose to teleport if he could choose a superpower to avoid driving.
Shannon played soccer.
4. Continued work plan discussion
Shannon would like to see the commission identify priorities and start to lay the foundation and
groundwork for the work plan. This is the first commission of Edmonds so there is no clear path to
define its success or rules of what work to follow. The current members will shape and start the
commission.
Some ideas from the Kirkland Youth Commission that Stephany shared is the teen center, ticket court,
and mental illness videos. It started as a small commission like Edmonds and now has grown and is very
dynamic.
Commission would like to list the interested topics the commission would like to take on and make it
more concrete. Figure out how to talk about it and make a work plan for taking on the issue.
Some items talked about last meeting (12/19/18) were mental illness, gun violence, immigration, and
safety in school, marsh, better street lighting, homelessness, and more programs for teens in Edmonds.
We should start with some hard issues and also more local attainable issues. Say the marsh is still
controversial and it would be good to know where the youth stands on the marsh. There are older more
vocal citizens engaged in the marsh but no teens.
Gateway sign, on the online survey it was a 50/50 split. Were the teens represented? Probably not. This
kind of item doesn't really interest teens. Strong opinions empower teens to have a voice in what's
happening in Edmonds. How do we reach teens? Commission is a handful of teen representatives, what
do they care about? When the teens are represented well their voice can be very powerful.
Caitlin said she knows other students at school that walk around with boards in their backpacks as a
means of possible protection if an active shooter were to present themselves on campus. Students are
scared and feel unsafe.
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Noah said he knows students that carry pocket knives on them as a means of defense, once again
students are scared and feel unsafe.
Kaleb broke down issues into three categories; big issue, local issue, and small issue. Thoughts are to
choose one issue that fits into each category and begin working on it. They could be gun violence,
marsh, and getting word out about the youth commission.
Stephany is wondering how do we approach the issues and why do the youth care about it. Figuring out
how to tackle the issue that students care about then approach it at an angle demonstrating how it
affects your their life.
Speaking of local gun violence and a local issue the recent Sr. Center shooting was brought to attention.
All of the present members saw or heard about the snapchat invites to come to the party that evening.
The center was rented out as a "ballroom dance" that appears to be misleading. There were multiple
shots fired, one homicide, and many Edmonds Woodway High School students were present. For this
tragedy there was a range of citizens affected in our community. It was not just one group in the
community. How do we prevent this?
Shannon stated as adults we can tell students what to do if they hear, or suspect anything wrong to
report it. If it's not reported then what?
Caitlin brought up the fake gun picture and threat at Edmonds Woodway and how it was handled
poorly. Students are told not to talk or report these threats on social media, which is a main
communication platform among students. Instead the school emailed students at 9pm the night prior.
Hardly any students check their email regularly making it inefficient to communicate through. They sent
emails to parents and students and said there would be more police presence at school. Members from
Woodway did not feel there was an increase in presence. I (Casey) suggested they may have been
undercover or not in uniform. The bottom line was the students still did not feel safe.
Noah talked about the Mountlake Terrace week where there were threats to students. He did not hear
about any threat for 3 days until the school began a modified lockdown.
There is a huge break down of communication between school staff/administrators and students. There
has been no assemblies recognizing and educating students on gun violence, teachers do not talk about
it to students, students are left blind to threats to their own safety. It's great that they claim to care but
there is no action taken with educating or training students. Is it possible that the school staff/admin do
not want to start fear, panic or add more stress to students? Members state they have more stress and
fear when they are uneducated or left out of the communication of the threats.
Looking at how Parkland survivors dealt with the tragedy and gun violence could lend some ideas to the
Edmonds commission. There is a man who stands on the corners of the westgate intersection on the
104 who holds a sign with each school shooting when another occurs in the USA. It may be helpful to
connect with him and see what resources he could possibly offer.
What action should be taken —there is a wide range of pieces to focus on.
Schools do not talk about campus security other than lockdown drills. Edmonds Woodway and
Mountlake Terrace have homeroom periods or similar class times. What if that time was utilized to talk
about some of this? We the commission could ask the police chief of Edmonds to come to a meeting to
talk about actions taken for school safety. Members should look to be educated about actions before
asking the chief to come in. Commission should find out if there is training materials for school
staff/admin about active shooters, how to react, how to communicate and how to educate and prevent
them. Look up the increased numbers of shootings, have there been better steps taken after? Is it just
locking more doors? Action for commission would be to find those material and look into statistics
locally, statewide, and nationally.
There is a lot of groups working to address these concerns. They may have information or local chapters
the commission could connect with. There is liberty united starting at Edmonds Woodway based from
the Sandy training force. This would cover how to look and handle panic and frenzy's with information.
Look into what has been implemented, what has worked, what has failed, why, what training faculty has
been to, what trainings are students given?
There needs to be a stronger community in Edmonds, there is a lack of connection between groups. Too
many students are using humor as a defense mechanism laughing off serious issues. Nathanael said
bullying isn't taken seriously by teachers when reported since there is lots of humor surrounding it.
Typically most active shooters have a trigger or signal that doesn't get "seen" or reported beforehand.
Building a cohesive supportive community can be powerful in preventing these triggers and bullying.
Looking at connections between active shooters and mental illness, but not demonizing mental illness as
being crazy, or violent. Many that suffer from mental illness are not aggressive or crazy.
Stephany said there is a huge lack of mental illness education in school. On mental illness awareness day
there is testing that takes place so there is not assembly or education covered on the illness.
Nathanael stated that we hear a lot about active shooters but not a lot about mental illness. There is a
stigma attached and it doesn't get as many "clicks" as the dramatic and horrible news of a shooter.
Kaleb said there is a disillusion occurring in schools and students are giving up on taking care of
themselves when dealing with mental illness. It's ignored since there is the negative stigma attached.
When we have less fear there can be more involvement from students, staff, and community.
Noah shared Mountlake Terrace had no information on mental health or education.
Depression and anxiety are labeled with mass shooters and violence, this makes others that are not
violent and suffer from depression not want to talk about it.
Nathanael said the school's brief moment educating on the matter showed a video of Bob, bob was
suffering from mental illness and of course is portrayed as CRAZY in the video, this teaches students to
associate these illnesses with being crazy —making no one want to share they feel this way and
continuing the negative stigma. Depression is linked with suicide maybe the schools can have
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professionals such as therapists come into schools and educate without a filter on the realities of mental
illness and how many are affected and that it doesn't make you crazy.
Caitlin shared that the library has had a mental health forum with professionals talking about the issues,
how to help, and this may be a great resource. If it was offered quarterly and focused more on teens and
school.
I (Casey) asked if they have a health course that covers mental health. I shared I nanny a kid that attends
a private school, in 6tn grade, that came home with a paper informing parents that the class was going to
learn about depression and anxiety. The paper also required permission for the kids to learn about it. I
thought it should be taught to all students how to keep yourself healthy physically and mentally!
Noah said he believes that the school district has to get parent permission for anything rated past PG.
Kaleb said his health class demonized mental health when really it should be promoting self -care.
Stigma that mentally ill=crazy needs to be broken.
Education needs to take place that teaches self -care. This is an important skill to learn since it will
matter for the rest of your life, maybe more than some other subjects taught at school.
Huge lack of suicide awareness and education. The media has been handling the celebrity suicides, these
celebrities hold higher positions for outreach, and however all the education/outreach that is left with
articles is the suicide prevention number. When you're at the lowest point, do you really want to call a
stranger? More resources are better, how to see signs, etc. Look into organizations and find out what
we can do, what has been done, next step ... there's been a rise in athletes who have come forward to
talk about the mental illness they have battled and suicidal thoughts.
Noah shared the Trevor project:
It was founded in 1998 by the creators or the Academy Award winning short film TREVOR, The
Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide
prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young
people under 25. www.thetrevorpro*ect.org
Kaleb shared the Moms Demand Action group:
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America is a grassroots movement of Americans fighting
for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence. Moms Demand Action
campaigns for a new and stronger solutions to lax gun laws and loopholes that jeopardize the
safety of our families. Moms Demand Action has established a chapter in every state of the
country and, along with Mayors against Illegal Guns, Students Demand Action and the
Everytown Survivor Network, it is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence
prevention organization in the country with more than 5 million supporter and more than
300,000 donors. www.momsdemandaction.org
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Look into these groups and similar ones to see if there are local chapters to talk with and outreach
materials created and available.
One suggestion for a work plan:
1. Action Item —Mental Illness
2. Put together a pamphlet with insurance coverage —research different resources
At Mountlake Terrace there is a counselor that goes around and pulls students out of class for
50 minute period to have therapy sessions. This is done weekly, there is no charge, no insurance
and no need for parental/guardian approval or knowledge. Look into creating a position within
the Edmonds school district that goes to a different school each day working with students who
can't afford or due to shame/embarrassment do not want to inform their families.
Look at Center for Human Services.
Meeting adjourned.
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