ALT After an hour of powerful public comment, President Rankin gave passionate remarks. She reflected on the need for students to be at the center of a school closure decision and concluded by sharing “I can’t imagine that we get to the place where everybody feels good about voting YES in January [on the school closure plan] we have now.” Director Sarju added that “we can't do this closing of schools, unless we can assure parents that were not going to damage their children.” Rankin wanted to take a vote to reject the preliminary closure plan. Attorney Greg Narver advised against it since Board Policy 6883 on school closures procedure requires site-based public hearings to happen before a final vote. Since voting to reject the closure plan was not an option, Rankin said she would use her presidential power to postpone the public hearings as a means to get the closure plan to be rescinded. After a 20-minute recess, Superintendent Jones gave a brief School Closures Update that consiste