001Good evening, everybody. It's great to see everybody here tonight. Thank you for joining us on our regular school board meeting. Today is Wednesday, April 15. With that, I'll have everybody stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance. [INAUDIBLE] Thank you. Roll call please. Director Alvarez. Here. Director Espinoza. Here. Director Holien. Here. Director Tidholm. Present. President Van. Here. Thank you so much for that. Any calls for changes or additions to tonight's board meeting agenda? I hear and see none. Thank you. We're going to move on to our acknowledgment and appreciation. Quite a few appreciations this evening. So first one is National Autism month. Can I please have Katie Virga our Executive Director of Student Learning, to accept? And Director Alvarez, you're going to read the proclamation. Thank you. Whereas autism is a persuasive developmental disorder affecting the
002social, communication, and behavioral skills of those affected by it. And whereas as more health professionals become proficient in diagnosing autism, more children are being diagnosed on the autism spectrum, resulting in rates as high as 1 in 59 children nationally. And whereas while there is no cure for autism, it is well documented that if individuals with autism receive intervention early in their lives, it often is possible for those individuals to lead significantly improved lives. And whereas there is no spectrum of needs associated with autism from mild to severe, some individuals require a lifetime of specialized and community support services to ensure their health and safety, and to support their families' resilience as they manage the psychological and financial burden autism presents. Whereas Autism Society of Washington is spearheading awareness efforts in order to educate parents, professionals,
003and the general public about autism and its effects, now, therefore, the board and superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim April 2026 as National Autism Awareness Month in Highline, and urge citizens to join with the Highline Special Needs Parent Teacher Association to become better educated on the subject of autism spectrum disorders. Thank you so much, Director Alvarez. Katie, would you like to say something? I just want to recognize how hard everybody in Highline Public Schools works to make sure that inclusion is not just a buzzword, but lived and breathed. And it's really based on recognizing students' strengths, and celebrating those and seeing what every child brings into the classroom. So I'm just very pleased with everything that I've learned since I've been here. And I want to give a shout-out to all of the
004educators in our space and beyond that do this work every day. Thank you so much. Come on up for a picture. [INAUDIBLE] Our next acknowledgment is its School Library Month. Can I please have Bob Vegar and Kirsten Gunn come on up. Director Espinoza will read the proclamation. Whereas the school library program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information. And whereas the school librarian's role is to provide the leadership and expertise to ensure that the library program is an integral part of the instructional program of the school. And whereas the board of education has entrusted the school librarian in each school to teach the skills of using information through the traditional resources and new technologies, to provide literature appreciation activities, and to guide and encourage content and reading to
005every student. And whereas lifelong learning begins and is created through the school library curriculum of the elementary and secondary schools. And whereas the school library program adds to the individual growth and the development of all students, while fostering both excellence and equity in education. And whereas, the school librarians of Highline Public Schools have dedicated their work for quality programs for all students. Now, therefore, the board and superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim April 2026 as School Library Month in Highline. And we urge all of our citizens to join in acknowledging the importance of our schools and the dedication of our librarians. Thank you for all that you do. Dr. Duran, members of the Highline School Board, my name is Bob Vegar, librarian at Tyee High School. It is a privilege and an honor
006to speak to you today as we celebrate-- as you celebrate and recognize Librarian Month with us. For those who may not realize, school libraries are a school's most essential community hub, providing a space for our students who we serve daily throughout the school year. Research tells us that strong library programs with a variety of interesting reading materials, along with quality information access, coupled with solid research skills taught by librarians, certainly promotes student achievement. And no matter the subject students participate in, be it math, science, civics, no matter what the content is, the more students engage with reading, research again and again shows us students will see better outcomes for achievement across the board. What makes a great school librarian? Well, they are certificated teachers who lead information media and digital research instructions. A librarian is
007well qualified staff member who curates resources supporting both students and teachers. Librarians are knowledgeable about literature and pop culture trends, helping students find books they love. And I am thrilled to say all of our librarians here at Highline, be it elementary or secondary, certainly meet and exceed those benchmarks. A school library is a unique space on a school's campus. Libraries operate on an idea called voluntary inquiry. This means students can freely enter library spaces to pick and choose reading material of their own free will. Librarians fully support and defend the First Amendment of the United States. The 1982 Supreme Court ruling in the landmark school library case, Island Trees School District Versus Pico established school boards cannot remove books just because they disagree with the subject matter or ideas in books, as this is an
008infringement of our students' First Amendment rights. And I am happy that we live in a region here where our school district respects this decision, and the Highline School District is no exception. I would like to mention briefly some great things that are happening. Some of our secondary libraries very quickly-- Evergreen High School, big year, new building. April has been thrilled with the new space. She has organized reading challenges, hosted a guest author, added great titles, and sees many students who have enjoyed the new space. At Sylvester Middle School, Beverly has also hosted an author, teaches research skills using databases, covers lessons concerning ethics of AI, and has created displays featuring women's, Black history, Native American, and Arab myths. Pacific Middle School-- Sarah is currently in the middle of their spring reading challenge, hosting a book
009fair from Scholastic. And her students recently participated in March Madness competition. At Chinook Middle School, Josie is currently focusing on poetry. And she also hosted a local author who helped held a poetry workshop for her students. At Mount Rainier, Lisa has begun a new way to advertise exciting and new titles. Using her Promethean board, she displays titles on the board so students can visually see what is available in her collection at Highline High School. I did not get a chance to catch up with Kirsten about what is currently happening at her library. However, I can assure everyone her library is a shining star in this district. And at Tyee, we are also enjoying the new building and space. We have added nearly 1,100 new titles, of which 700 of those titles came from capital planning
010funding. I have supported classroom lessons covering database research, writing children's books, and one very interesting lesson where the students were learning about street art graffiti used as social commentary. So again, Dr. Duran, school board, thank you for recognizing the month of April, celebrating Library Month. Thank you very much. I just want to add a few things on behalf of our elementary colleagues. I'm Kirsten. I'm at Highline, but I am here representing Louise Chambers, who is going to speak on behalf of elementary, and unfortunately ended up with a medical emergency, but still managed to send me this today from the hospital. So take that as you will for a librarian's commitment. So what Louise says is, each day in HPS elementary libraries, we are working to live the Highline Promise as the only teachers who work
011with every student every week in our schools. That's a lot of names, strengths and needs we take care to learn with joy and pride. We further help our youngest learners get ready for the future they choose by developing collections with their interests and requests in mind, while fostering their research skills and love of lifelong learning through teaching library content standards. We are proud to fill our physical and online shelves with diverse books and authors, as well as books in students' home languages to add to the goal of a culture of belonging. We incorporate makerspace, coding, robotics, and art into our lessons and library resources to support the goal of innovative learning. Those of us who teach at dual-language schools incorporate GLAD and other HPS-approved instructional strategies to support the strategic goal of bilingual and biliterate,
012even when we are not ourselves. Our sister schools also support this goal through incorporating bilingual resources in their collections and teaching materials. Finally, through STEAM activities we implement, we are excited to help our learners become future-ready by developing 21st century skills, including communication, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and digital literacy. Thank you all, board and Dr. Duran for your time and support of libraries, librarians, and library assistants in HPS. Thank you so much. I'll have you come on up for a picture, please? If there are other librarians, please come on up. [AUDIO OUT] We have a community partner here this evening. It's Play-Well TEK? Can I please have Lita O'Donnell, our Director of Family and Community Partnerships, come on up? Thank you, Board President, Van directors, and Superintendent Duran. I'm really excited that we have the opportunity
013to celebrate Play-Well TEKnologies tonight. It's wonderful to be able to recognize a partner that instills curiosity, velocity, creativity, and hands-on problem-solving skills for our students. Tonight, I'd like you to hear from one of our building leaders where Play-Well has been a long-time partner. And I'm happy to introduce Alex Haas, principal of McMicken Heights, to share a little bit about the partnership, and then followed by Richard Arum, the Seattle Area Manager for Play-Well TEKnologies. Alex? I'd like to address the Board with true appreciation for our partnership, and also the appreciation for Highline Public Schools and the Family and Community Engagement Office that helps to make our partnerships come to life, and really make our school a true community school. And I want to highlight LEGO Play-Well TEKnologies as a really amazing partner. That was actually born
014out of some vision that students were clamoring for a space to engage with engineering and makerspace activities and enrichment and, through a partnership through LEGO Play-Well TEKnologies, has been a steady, consistent offering. And we know that we can rely on them to provide highly engaging content that provides the enrichment that our students and families greatly appreciate, and that we can't always fit into the busy school day. So again, I can't say enough about how we greatly appreciate the eight-year partnership, and again, the offers from Highline Public Schools to fund those partnerships. That has been truly a gift to McMicken Heights Elementary. First of all, I want to thank you all for inviting us here today. It's a real honor to be recognized for the work that we do. My name is Richard Arum. I'm the
015Seattle area manager for Play-Well TEKnologies. We offer STEM-based courses using LEGOs. Our students, our engineers, and LEGOs are the materials that they use to learn. At Play-Well, we know that kids are gifted creators. So we strive to provide an environment where students can create without fear of mistakes. That's something that we like to instill in them. Engineers, they don't get it right the first time. They have to keep trying. They make mistakes. Things don't always work. They don't give up. They keep trying. They keep exploring. They keep experimenting. We want to create an environment where students can explore STEM concepts through play, and they can express their creativity. We encourage positive attitudes towards engineering and science, using something fun that they love. And our partnership, as was mentioned, with Highline Schools has been going back
016for since 2018. And over that time, we have been privileged enough to work in seven different schools here in the district. We have offered 50 courses at this point. We have a couple running right now. And we have worked with nearly 800 students. And every day that we work with them, we get to see their creativity, their exploration. I thought I could do a very brief demonstration of something that we might do in one of our classes. So this is a simple vehicle. It's a snowmobile. So the way we would operate our classes, we would present them with the project of the day. You can all see as well-- little snowmobile. And the engineering concepts that we will talk about is the pullback motor that's in this snowmobile here. And we would talk about when
017we pull it back, the clock spring that's inside this pullback motor, how we're building up that potential energy. So when we release it, as the kinetic energy gets released, it propels our vehicle forward. So we would show our students how to build this simple version of a snowmobile. We could talk about what a snowmobile is and how they work and all that kind of thing. And then we would break it down into smaller, what we call subassemblies, so that they could see it in more digestible parts. And we would take it through and demonstrate for them how we built our simple snowmobile. We don't give them written instructions. They're not following something along. They're taking, they're coming and touching the materials. They're exploring, they're experimenting. They're seeing how they can put it together. And then
018we give them the freedom and the creativity to make it however they want. So this is a simple version of the snowmobile. What do you want to add to it? What other decorations do you want to add? What other materials do you want to use? We have bricks, we have gears, we have axles, and all sorts of materials-- tens of thousands of LEGO pieces that we bring into the classroom. So it's not just learning the STEM concepts. It's also fostering an environment where they get to explore and experiment and use their creativity. And we see success over and over again. And it's really been a pleasure and an honor to bring our programs to the students in Highline. So thank you again for recognizing us. Thank you to Principal for inviting us here tonight. Thank
019you so much. So I do have one comment and a challenge to our students, though. As a parent of three kids that love LEGOs, I challenge those students to come up with LEGOs that don't hurt when you step on them. I would love that. We do have a great system of cleanup at the end of our classes. So when you see the floor covered in LEGO materials, we give each student a job, your job is to pick up these bushings. Your job is to get these bricks. And they get really invested, and they're very excited to pick up their material. I'll let you talk to my kids. Yeah, absolutely. Come on up here for a picture, please. [AUDIO OUT] Alongside the recognition showcase tonight, we have many more throughout the month of April. We invite
020you to visit our Facebook page to explore these additional recognitions. It's Math Awareness Month, Poetry Month, Arab-American Heritage Month, World Autism Awareness Day, National Paraprofessional Appreciation Day, National School Librarian Day, National Assistant Principals Week, National Libraries Week, Volunteer Recognition Day, Earth Day, Administrative Professionals Day, and National Apprenticeship Week. So thank you for that. That concludes our recognitions and acknowledgments. We're going to move to our superintendent's report. Dr. Duran. All right. Thank you, President Van. I want to welcome everyone to the board meeting this evening. Welcome back from spring break. Hope everyone had time to recharge, spend time with family and friends over the break. My family and I traveled to the desert, and we spent a lot of time hiking out in nature. And just know for me that spending time outdoors is very important
021to me, and I just love introducing that to my boys. I found that on really long hikes, jelly beans are a great motivator. I visited Glacier Middle School this morning with Dr Reinig and we were able to observe a really bright spot. In our efforts to support our educators and our students. Glacier provides weekly training for their paraeducators focused on supporting multilingual learners. We were able to observe the training today and hear content related to the science of reading and key structure elements that support student learning. Paraeducators also taught a lesson with a student and received immediate direct feedback from Glacier's multilingual coordinator. This is a real bright spot and a strong example of school-based innovation. Identifying the challenge and designing a thoughtful solution to address it, it was great to see. I see on
022the agenda tonight, there are public testimony speakers signed up to speak about the location of Realistic Transition Program, RTP, and Community Based Services, CBS. A couple of members of my cabinet team met with staff yesterday afternoon and shared the feedback with me last night. I appreciate the staff for their advocacy and take it seriously. These conversations will continue. Highline is going through a refinement process in the last year of our 2023 strategic plan, we are using the word "refinement" because we know our current strategic plan goals and priorities are the right work, and our community supports them. As we move into the next phase of our strategic plan, we are focused on how we build on our progress to further implement and better measure the progress of those goals on a regular basis. We anticipate
023bringing the proposed 2026 31 strategic plan goals before the board for its review and approval in June 2026. I would now like to invite Jeb Binns, Highland education president, to come to the podium to share a few remarks. Welcome, Jeb. Good to see you again. Good evening, Dr. Duran, President Van, directors. You mentioned hikes with kids. My wife and her father-- because it was a thing that he did when she was little, called jellybeans and M&Ms "energy tablets." And so that worked really well, so everyone was going to stop for an energy tablet. So I thought that was a good thing. Welcome back and happy fourth quarter. We have Jackie Robinson days left. Because we actually had a moment in a meeting where someone said a number. And someone said, it's too soon to count.
024So instead, it's Jackie Robinson days left, so we'll get it sorted out in turn. I'm excited to see how colleagues and Teamsters in the house. So it's good to have you here. And thank you for being here and advocating for your groups. The pending RIF authorization has folks nervous. Continued transparency is appreciated. We all know that tomorrow is, for at least HEA, contract return day. And our retirements are always that special wonder, that gift that keeps on giving when you don't quite know what's going to happen until the last minute. We have appreciated folks who have made that commitment to do that early, to let people know, to help a newer colleague avoid some angst of not knowing what their future holds. So thank you for everyone who has done that ahead of time. And
025I just appreciate and hope that we continue the candor and the real talk, because it's greatly appreciated. I also appreciate the spirit and the vibe at our bargaining table. We got a lot of work to do. We've had two sessions. We go back to the table a week from Tuesday. Our group is meeting to discuss our survey results tomorrow all day, so looking forward to that energy. So far the connections are real. While I'm on a collaboration and appreciation train, I'd like to thank Claire for your work with regarding the bandit. Teshon for always enlightening conversations on all things AI, Katie and Lauren on our work around gist. Sean, Sarah, Michaela, and Bernard for our weekly labor management meetings, Kisa for our MTS journey. And finally Jennifer, Steve, Ivan, Shawna, Veronica, Elizabeth for our monthly
026summit meetings, which are always nice. It's great to have access. There are so many places where associations don't have access to district leadership. And we are very fortunate in our relations there. And of course, a big thank you, and maybe the biggest thank you, to all the members of HEA and Teamsters for doing the work. Thanks. All right, thank you, Jeb. And that concludes my superintendent comments tonight. Thank you, Doctor. And we're going to move to our Director Reports. With that, I'm going to have Director Tidholm start off first. Good evening, everybody. Welcome back from spring break. I hope everybody's settling into your week. A couple things coming up. CollegeCon at Evergreen High School is going to be Saturday the 25th of April from 9:00 to 3:00. Students and families are going to have the
027opportunity to come and explore college and career training, as well as other paths that are available after high school. It's a free event for families with students grades 7 through 12. And it includes transportation, breakfast, lunch, and childcare. And more information is available on our website as well. Innovation Heights Academy is also going to be having another info session coming up on the 28th of April 8:30 to 9:30 at the school location. And that's all that I have. Thank you. Director Tidholm. Director. Holien. Hi, everyone. The new Pacific Middle School achieved a massive milestone. Crews just installed the final beam. Before the final beams were put in place, the students actually signed the final beam. It was pretty cool. Their names will now be part of the new school for decades to come. This 2022
028bond-funded project continues to be on budget and on schedule to open in the fall of 2027. A couple other things. President Van and myself had a wonderful time recognizing over 100 Gold Star nominees two weeks ago. It was such a wonderful event. Thank you to the Highline Foundation for supporting the district in such a meaningful way. I also had a great time serving breakfast at Marvista Elementary alongside Kristina Marsh, assistant director of nutrition services, and Mooney, who is their breakfast and lunch chef, two weeks ago. It was great to see how much dedication, work thoughtfulness goes into providing breakfast for thousands of students each month. And also during my visit, I also saw the kindness of Tim McClellan a long-time custodian / breakfast, lunch helper. He truly does embody the Highline promise of knowing every
029student by name, strength, and need. And that is all I have. Thank you, Director Holien. Dr. Espinoza. Yeah. Thanks. So today, we had the academic parent teacher team meeting at Madrona. And I was there with my son Ashuni, who's over there. He's a fifth grader, I'm very proud of his hard work, and all the teachers and the staff's work to support our students, I think it was maybe a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, I went to the Evergreen AP Psych Policy Workshop. And I was there with Holly, who's the chief policy officer, and Director Alvarez. And we heard from many students who spent the year identifying issues that are important to them and crafting some policy recommendations. These issues were really close to heart and to their experiences as students. And one
030of the things that was really impactful for me was just to see how the teacher really held that space for them and facilitated conversation. There was a lot of silence, and he allowed that silence to grow into really thoughtful discussion. So I appreciated that. Let's see, we also had a retreat maybe two weeks ago. So we did some good work there, planning for the next few phases of the board's work. And let's see, I think we also have a video about Tyee High School that we want to share with you. So before we show that video, I can share a little bit about what we're going to be watching. So we're less than a year into the new Tyee High School, and we are already seeing positive impacts on our students. Students are learning in
031safe and modern spaces that are built for them and to allow them to learn best. There are flexible classrooms and collaborative spaces which give students more hands-on learning, and they allow students to build skills and work together and explore future career paths. The new Tyee High School was made possible by the community support of the voter-approved 2022 bond. So I think we're ready to watch the video. [MUSIC PLAYING] This new building represents a fresh start, a new beginning. When they walk the halls of new Tyee, it screams, you belong here, and that their dreams will be nurtured in this new building. It represents pride, it represents hope, and it represents opportunity. And that's for the entire community. They come to school and they want to be here. They're in classes that are clean, comfortable. There's
032a lot of natural light coming in. So I really think about their ability to focus and to be comfortable and to feel like they belong here. It shows that they care about our future, because this just gives us so much more possibilities to work with in our school. It just gives us the resources that we need. So it's nice to see that everyone's willing to pitch in for the youth. It feels amazing. It just shows that people really care about us. I like the College and Career Center because the teachers are very helpful there. It's always peaceful and quiet. So then if you need to get work done, that's probably the best spot to hang out or do your work. These workspaces allow our students to learn how it fits them best. The commons and
033the gathering area was built with intentionality, where it's a place where students can come together, talk, mingle. And it also creates this strong sense of belonging, which every young person needs to thrive. For my students and for generations to come, they will know that they deserve the very best because that's what new Tyee represents. Thank you, Dr. Espinoza. Director Alvarez. Last, but not least. Well, I guess not last, because then you're next. [CHUCKLES] April is our National Language Access Month. I know we shared some recognitions earlier today. But I want to make sure that we also make time to note that April is National Language Access Month, and that we have over 89 languages spoken by our families here at Highline. And what an amazing opportunity and asset for us to really recognize that they
034already come, like if we're going to graduate bilingual biliterate that our students are already thriving as they speak their own language and understand their own culture. So last year, Highline supported more than 2,400 interpretation requests and about 5,000 interpretation phone calls. And I can say that I feel proud at Highline-- I think our interpreters and also our family engagement and family liaison are homegrown, most of them have graduated here from Highline and stay here in Highline. So they know our families. This work helps schools stay welcoming, inclusive, and connected. And I'm proud to be Highline. That's it. Thank you so much, Director Alvarez. So our Community Led Capitals Facilities Advisory Committee reached consensus on their next bond recommendation at their March 30 meeting. The recommendation followed a series of 11 meetings over the past two
035years, which they reviewed building conditions and data around that, enrollment and tax rate projections, cost estimates, conceptual site plans, and the thoughts exchange feedback. We anticipate they will present the recommendation bond package at the June 3 school board meeting. A summary of CFAC's March 30 meeting and recommendation bond package is on our website, so please go check that out. Right before spring break, I had the opportunity to walk alongside Dr. Duran at Tyee's Spring Break Success Night. It was a great evening where a lot of our community partners came out and supported our students, gave them resources. So it was really great to be there. It was well attended by our students and their families, so it was great. Even right before spring break, they were ready to go. So that concludes our board reports
036for this evening. We're going to move to our scheduled communication. On behalf of the board, we sincerely appreciate you taking the time to join us and sharing your thoughts this evening. You'll notice that our norms and guidelines are displayed on the screens for your reference. Please remember that you're addressing the board, and there may be students present or watching who are listening carefully to what you are saying. Please note while the board is unable to respond directly to your testimony during the meeting, we value your input. So thank you again for being here and speaking with us. First up is Kathryn Morris. Hi. My name is Kathryn Morris. I'm a speech language pathologist. I've worked for Highline and at CBS four the past 10 years. I'm here speaking today to highlight the CBS transition program.
037I think that this program, which is such a huge part of my life and the lives of the other staff and students there is something that over time, I found, is frequently unknown among other Highline staff, and feels like it's on the margins of the school district. I want to use my time to tell you about us and our amazing students. CBS serves students ages 18 to 22 years old, who all have IEPs and are significantly impacted by their disabilities. The purpose of transition is to be the final educational springboard for students into the working world and the world of their communities. CBS students spend half the school day at internships in the community, and most of them take the Metro bus or walk from the school. They work at places like Grocery Outlet, the
038Criminal Justice Training Center, the Manhattan in Des Moines' food banks, Angelo's Restaurant, McLendon Hardware, and more. The other half of the day they spend in academic, social, and prevocational skills groups. Students at CBS also participate in community outings every Thursday. Outings give students the opportunity to participate in real-life rec and leisure, but also in the execution of a plan from start to finish. Examples of this include planning a snack to make, making a grocery list, walking to QFC to buy the groceries, and following a recipe to bake and enjoy some cupcakes. Other community outings include taking the Link to explore the U District, riding Metro to the library or the mall, or planning a trip to a restaurant, and then ordering and enjoying a meal. Community-based internships and activities give our students the chance to
039figure out what they like, what they are good at, make plans, take public transit, and use the life skills they learn at CBS to play an active role in the Highline community. Come see us. [AUDIO OUT] Thank you. Michelle Thomas? Good evening. I'd like to begin by thanking the school board, the superintendent, and district leadership for your continued commitment to serving all students. I recognize the complexity of the decisions you make and appreciate the care behind them. I'm here speaking in the spirit of clarity and partnership, and want to reintroduce adult transition programs. As an instructor at RTP, I'm here to advocate for the needs of our adult transition students at RTP and CBS. These programs support students with disabilities as they prepare for adult life. RTP and CBS are not traditional classroom programs. They
040are community-based models built on real-world access, skill development, and post-secondary outcomes. Because of that, program design and location are foundational to student success. First, access to public transportation is essential. Our students rely on public transit to attend classes, reach job sites, and build independence. This access is not a convenience. It's a pathway to adult participation. Second, our students need intentional, flexible spaces areas for large group instruction, small group work, and private one-on-one support. Third proximity to Highline College, PSSC, and other community resources is critical. Students regularly access classes and services there, and barriers to that access quickly limit opportunity. Finally, community-based learning and internships must remain central. Students succeed when they can consistently engage in real workplaces and community settings. When these elements are in place, students make meaningful progress towards independence and employment. When
041they're not, those pathways become significantly harder, and sometimes impossible, to traverse. Again, I share this in the spirit of clarity and partnership, and ask that these core needs remain central in planning and future decision-making. Thank you very much. Next is Izas Indacoechea. Thank you, board members, for the opportunity to talk in front of you all. Today, I'm here as an educator at Highline High School and a mother at Quarry Heights. Have you ever been to a high school library during lunchtime? I was truly shocked the first time I went. Was there a party going on and I hadn't been invited? The tables were packed with students reading, doing puzzles. Some were just chatting while coloring. Then it hit me. The library is the place where students look for a calm space go and find refuge.
042And that happened to be just one regular day. It was one of the days when librarians organized school projects, [INAUDIBLE] making, poetry workshop, origami, books [INAUDIBLE]. They not only offer books. They give students a warm and welcoming place, somewhere where they can just be themselves without being bothered. I've seen librarians give a student their favorite snack and a tissue when a meltdown was happening. Definitely, they are trusted people to whom our students go when they need something more than a pencil. Their value isn't only about the welcoming space they provide. It is also how much they support academics. Qualified librarians can effectively teach how to find reliable resources and encourage literacy. Surely, all this couldn't be done by a computer or a checkout machine. There's no AI in the world with such a big heart
043and smart brain. When I asked my own children, they showed amazement by the amount and wide variety of books that librarians offer. Librarians curate collections based on student likes, and work hard to find something appropriate. Library is my daughter's favorite subject. I understood that they feel hard taken care of and held by their awesome librarians. Our librarians don't only know each student by name, strength, and need. They also know teachers. And believe me, we teachers also meet someone in our community who knows us by name, strength, and need. Thank you for your time. And thank you to all our wonderful librarians. [INAUDIBLE] Thank you. Molly McCoy. [INAUDIBLE] I'm Molly, and this is Reid, who is a student at CBS. He's 20 years old and loving that program, as far as I can tell. I appreciate
044the opportunity to speak to you regarding the proposed relocation of the transition and community-based programs within the Highline School District. The current proposal appears to prioritize the use of an available facility over the functional needs of the programs being moved-- understood you guys are looking at it though. These programs, including School to Work, College Bridge, and Community Inclusion are not location-neutral. Their effectiveness depends directly on access to public transportation, proximity to local businesses and employment sites, integration with community partners, and coordination with Puget Sound Skills Center, among others. The proposed site and plan that was presented to us in the meeting on April 2 that described moving the new site as soon as possible with a permit and construction timeline is in a residential area with reduced access to employment opportunities. It's further from key
045program partners, has less capacity than the current sites just physically, which are already a little constrained. And this creates a program-location mismatch, which risks reducing community-based instruction time, limiting student access to work experiences, undermining transition outcomes for students. The concerns that Reid and I have are stakeholder engagement with families and staff, which occurred after planning had already advanced, architectural design work that appears to be underway prior to voter approval of any bond. And communication has indicated the decision is already made, despite the fact that CFAC is an advisory council. So Reid and I are respectfully requesting a pause on the proposal until the district provides a side-by-side analysis of how each site supports program outcomes, a capacity analysis aligned with current and projected enrollment, a transportation and access analysis, including transit and job proximity, stakeholder
046engagement process that meaningfully influences the outcome. We're not res-- [AUDIO OUT] Thank you very much. [AUDIO OUT] Thanks, Reid, for showing up, bud. Atal Krorr. Thank you. Kaori Reyes Montejano. Do you have a translator? So you have four minutes this evening. [SPEAKING SPANISH] Can we have you speak into the mic? We'll get you set up here. [SPEAKING SPANISH] Good evening. My name is Kaori. I go to Hilltop Elementary School. I wanted to talk about the flaws and needs in my school. One of the flaws is the temperature in the classrooms is often very cold, and we're cold. The primary playground is very old. There are many things on top of it. Kids are often saying that the bathrooms always get clogged. We need better security. The roof is literally falling apart. There's mold growing in
047Ms. Duarte's class. There are no fire alarms in the classrooms. The paint is falling off the walls. There's almost no light in the bathrooms and there's no one to clean the classroom. All that is a bit of many flaws in the school, and I hope you take into account some of our suggestions. That is all. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you for that. Aaron Barrientos. Hello. My name is Aaron Barrientos. I'm from fourth grade at Hilltop elementary. I would like to talk to you guys about my school and their flaws and other stuff that's going on. A few months ago-- not a few years, but a year ago, our school's roof was leaking, and they had to close the doors. Our district did not close the doors, and my teacher decided to
048close the doors so nobody got hurt. And the roof almost fell off. And there's paint falling off in our classes, just like Karoi did say. And there's no fire alarms in the hallways. We need better security and we had to clean for ourselves. And we would like that you would consider to remodel the school, and we could have a better time at school. That's it. Thank you, Aaron. That's great. Mason Constantino. My name is Mason Constantino. I'm a fourth grade teacher at Hilltop. I have the-- oh, thank you. I have the privilege to teach both Kaori and Aaron. I just want to point out a few of the things that we see as primarily issues of equity at Hilltop Elementary, which has been, and continues to be, a leader in both dual language and inclusion
049practices. We take on a lot of big challenges and have amazing students. What is letting us down are our facilities, and so we are here to formally ask for our inclusion in the next bond. It's a dire need. As our students have said, it ranges from, upwards of 10 years ago, when the roof started leaking, and we've been repeatedly told that roof has been fixed. I'm sure that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been dumped into that. It has not fixed it. Repeatedly, every time there is heavy rain, there's water coming through the roof. There are lights that were dangling four years ago that are still dangling today in the hallway with live electricity. Those are the days that we had to decide to shut down two classrooms. Our teacher, Senora Duarte, her second grade
050room has been shut down for mold that they found three months ago. There's mold that has forced her to teach in a portable for multiple days with little to no notice beforehand. It is mold that is dangerous for our students to teach. And we have incredible students, incredible staff. And they deserve facilities that reflect the commitment that they have. And these students here, our fourth graders are speaking-- not for them. They'll never see the new school if we get it. But they're speaking, hoping that next generation of Hilltop students has the facilities they deserve. Thank you. [AUDIO OUT] Thank you. Sue Blasak. Hi. Good evening, board members and superintendent. I'm a developmental preschool teacher at Valley View Early Learning Center. Eight of 12 students in my classroom come in with developmental delays. By this time
051in spring, all of the students have made progress, each in their own way. Our work is very rewarding. But tonight, I wanted to talk about, our school combines ECAP program and developmental preschool. And we are the starting point for many families experiencing the educational system. And we take that very seriously. So tonight, I really want to give kudos to the family support team from the ECAP program, who enable us to do so much more for the families than we could be doing without them. And four of them are here Linda, Moran, Jamie, and Rosio, can you guys stand up? So I just want to say, they coordinate the meetings where parents give us input on what's important to them. From that feedback, they've created different presentations on early literacy skills, kindergarten readiness, social-emotional learning, parenting--
052whatever the parents want. We had a game night where families learned and practiced different games that helped their math skills. And each of them could take a game home, which was very cool. We've often done a resource fair which, I know, takes a lot of time, connecting the families with a lot of community resources, different service agencies. These events are really popular and they help build a strong sense of community. Also, family support has created a family room that all the families in the school can access. It provides food, clothing, shoes, diapers, school supplies, other essentials. Thank you. [AUDIO OUT] Thank you very much. Aniha Salgado. Good evening, everyone. Sorry. My name is Aniha Toledo. I am a full-time mama. I have been in this country for almost nine years now, born and raised in
053Mexico. And even with my university degree, I came here to learn a lot. I learned the new rules in this new country. I learned the language. I learned the culture. I learned that without ECAP program, I wouldn't be able to understand the school system here. I have two daughters, and both went through the Highline preschool program. When my girls were in preschool, there were so many benefits that went beyond schooling, and it gave me time to volunteer in classrooms. For me to be a parent advocate in schools and participate in events, which gave me a voice and gave me, my girls confidence, and it starts growing as learners, these skills continue today. I felt so supported now when my girls went to preschool, because it is not only the scary feeling of if we are
054going to fit in. But also, I was worried that my girls were behind, and it could turn worse for the coming years into kindergarten. Just like other families, my girls are now in a dual-language program. And they put into practice all the skills that they have learned during the early years, which is a very important stage for our kiddos. We feel prepared for school and life, including social-emotional skills, foundation skills for reading, math, and science. They even provide us information and resources to support families in moving towards their individual and family's goals. And my goal was to learn and help, and realize that being a parent wasn't enough to continue helping kids in their early learning stages. But to become a preschool instructor now will help even more. Now as a preschool teacher, [INAUDIBLE] I'm
055proud to say I support and help over 30 students [INAUDIBLE]. Thank you very much. Caple Young. [INAUDIBLE], yeah. [INAUDIBLE] I think this one. My name is Caple Young. And I am here to talk about my experience with [INAUDIBLE]. OK, so in the fall, the elevator at Tyee did not work for four days. I could only attend to two classes because the rest-- because the rest were on the second and third floors. Mr Martin, the para that helps me, and Ms. Asami my case manager, had to get all of my work. Even though I had to do the work, no one was there to teach me how to do it. I would do the work with Mr Martin in the conference room without my teachers or classmates. I felt sad and frustrated that I couldn't attend
056my other classes because the elevator was broken after three days, Ms. Asami moved her downstairs so I could learn from her instead of sitting in a conference room. Since then, the elevator has broken two more times. One time it was broken while I was upstairs, and I had to go without my wheelchair. I didn't get to go to school the next day because I didn't have a wheelchair. I felt safe and comfortable. I didn't get my wheelchair back until that evening. Mrs Asami has always been there for me when the elevator was broken. I am glad she is my teacher who has helped Tyee make a school that is safe for people like me who use wheelchairs. It would make us feel more included and successful. Thank you very much. David Ruby. I'll be really
057quick. I'm just here to celebrate the librarians. My mother was a librarian, worked really hard for her credential. And I just commend the district for all that you do to keep librarians the coolest nerds in the school, the place where really teachers secretly like to go to get away from our own classrooms. And I just really hope that we don't make some of the mistakes neighboring districts have made to get cheap on librarians or staff on the cheap or anything like that. They're really the lifeblood of our schools, and a place for me also to escape, and then go back and be better for my kids. So thank you. [INAUDIBLE] Thank you very much. Maura Fenelon. That was pretty close. I'm Maura. I work at Valley View. I am a developmental preschool teacher, like Sue.
058And I wanted to talk a little bit about the benefits of Valley View as a center. Being an early learning center gives the Valley View families and the Valley View staff access to things that they might not normally have if they were-- sorry-- developmental preschool students at other sites, they don't have access to the things that the students at Valley View might have. Because we have such wonderful family support and ECAP colleagues that we can work with, learn from, one of the benefits of being at a center is that we're all in the trenches together. We're all doing early learning. There's not a teacher in the building who's got 12-year-olds, 11-year-olds, however old fifth graders are. That's too old for me to teach. So I don't know the number. But to when we have a
059student that we're struggling to support, we get to bounce ideas off of each other. We have each other as resources. Even if we just need to complain a little bit, we all know what each other has been through in terms of classroom behaviors, classroom management. The most common challenges we each face in our classrooms-- they might be different in specific. But they're similar in general enough that we can all come together and put our heads together and help each other out. And as Sue was saying, we have such wonderful family support resources in our ECAP colleagues, and all of the help with food, help with clothes, help with diapers-- all things that the special education preschool students also need, but would have such a harder time accessing if we didn't have a center that also
060had ECAP and wonderful resources that they bring with us. Thank you very much. Vera Newton. Hello. I am Vera Newton. And I am also a special education teacher here at Valley View Early Learning Center. I'm here to talk about some really important work that Valley View has been doing towards inclusion. In my current role, I'm split between both an itinerant and extended day teacher. An extended day is a service provided to students who are served on IEPs who are not making progress, and need extra support to start making progress on those goals. I have had the opportunity to really work with a lot of the ICAP classrooms this year. And I have seen like the positive impact it has for them to be able to access their Gen Ed peers. Kids who weren't doing large
061group instruction, who weren't socializing with their friends, are now holding hands and walking in Highline independently. And that's huge for some of our kiddos. I have seen students with high support needs start accessing language and communication through their peer models in ICAP classrooms. I've seen students starting to play near them, copying actions, learning how to play with new toys in new ways. An extended day when students were not accessing circle time or small group, they start to sit and attend circle, and they're part of the classroom and part of the community. And this is because ECAP is part of Valley View. It is a huge part of Valley View. It creates opportunity for preschool students to have multiple placement options for them to access their least-restrictive environment, where it's not just developmental. But also, ICAP
062is an opportunity for them to be provided special education services. I'm here to advocate that we expand itinerant also outside of just Valley View, but really thinking about the north end of our district as well. And we really do need ICAP for our kiddos to be accessing general education, preschool classrooms for a place where inclusion starts for them to access that in their Gen Ed classrooms. Thank you. [AUDIO OUT] Thank you very much. Crystal German. Hello. Deja vu, I've been here before. I'm here today because a beloved and absolutely necessary community resource is slated to be removed by the school district. Many of you have not had a clear definition of what the Shark Garden is. You hear "garden" and think of a few patches of dirt with some beans or tomato plants. But the
063Shark Garden is so much more than that. It is a critical community asset. The Shark Garden supports food production, community garden plots, an apiary, and outdoor classroom, 18 educational gardens. It provides food access education, community health and environmental stewardship to the Burien community in a way that nothing else does. The impact is real and measurable. Over 7,000 pounds of organic, culturally relevant produce has been donated to both local food banks. Our pea patch plots primarily serve BIPOC families in our community. In collaboration with nonprofits, businesses, schools, and local experts, the Shark Garden has hosted over 145 free classes and community events. This is not just a garden. It is a living classroom, a source of nourishment, a cultural hub and a place where community is built. I urge you to reconsider the removal of the
064Shark Garden, and recognize the vital role it plays in the health, resilience, and well-being of our community here in Burien. Thank you. [AUDIO OUT] Thank you very much. And that concludes our scheduled communications for this evening. Appreciate everybody coming out and speaking to us. With that, we're going to move to our consent agenda. Any questions or comments? With that, can I please have a motion to approve our consent agenda? I move that Highline School Board approve the consent agenda. May I have a second? I'll second that. All those in favor? Aye. Yes. Any opposed? Hear and see none. Just going to pause for a quick minute here. There's no items removed from the consent agenda. No action items tonight. We do have one intro in action. This is 9.1, Motion to approve the '26, '27
065regular board meeting dates. I just want to share with you guys some topics or some bullet points here. Per board Policy 1400, the board annually approves the following year's schedule of regular board meetings. Regular scheduled board meetings shall begin at 6:00 PM on the dates and in locations approved by the board, unless otherwise indicated. The board may choose to have only one meeting in some months, depending on holidays, scheduling conflicts, and/or board conferences. While this agenda is to approve only board meetings per Policy 1400 special meetings, including work sessions, board retreats, and exec sessions are also anticipated. So this item is before the board for intro and action this evening because the calendar was discussed at our 26th board retreat. With that, any questions or concerns about our proposed meeting dates? Hearing none, can I
066please have a motion? I move that the Highline School Board approve the '26, '27 schedule of regular school board meetings. Second, please. I second. All those in favor? I need a roll call. [INAUDIBLE] Roll call, please. Of course. Director Tidholm. Yea. Director Espinoza. Yea. Director Alvarez Yea. Director Holien. Yea. President Van. Yea. This motion passes 5 to 0. Thank you. I realized what I was doing when I said it, so thank you. Good evening. We have nine introduction items here. 10.1, motion to approve revision and renaming of Board Policy 4321, which is advertising, sponsorships, and contests. Any questions or comments on this? And for these following nine items, if there are any concerns, please send an email to Dr. Duran myself, and we can get those answered before our next meeting. I only have one
067question regarding where the funds would go for this. Holly or Tova, you might be able to answer that. I apologize, I did not send this question in advance. So you can [INAUDIBLE] if we decide to do something for revenue? Yes. Yeah. Well, thank you for the question, and thanks for allowing me to come up and answer. You know, we're not quite sure yet if we'll be able to bring in revenue. That's the hope. We are working with business services to identify a way to track revenue. There are some opportunities to bring in revenue for advertisement on athletic programs or scoreboards that would go back to the athletic department. We are also going to be investigating how we might be able to put some sponsorship into some of our printed communication material. The goal is to
068offset that cost, so it could be kind of a zero sum. But we're not quite sure yet. We've researched with other school districts that have done this across the country. We're told the first few years are a lot of cold-calling, and it takes a couple of years to up, up and going, but we will definitely keep the board updated on that. Great. Thank you, Tova. Thank you very much. 10.2, motion to approve revisions to Board Policy 4330, Use of School Facilities. Any questions or comments on this? I have one I noticed that we are adding the ability to rent out facilities. Where could we advertise that to garner more money? What would that look like? In the bar, we reference that our first priority would be-- we have a list of priority. And then if
069anybody is going to go in for commercial opportunities, that would be some of the later things that we would have. But we haven't really spent time advertising the use of our bills or our buildings. It's something we can consider if the board would want us to. Great. Thanks. Thank you so much, Dr. Duran. Any other questions or comments in regards to 10.2? Just quick clarification of what it says. In the bar, it says the tiers give first priority district school and partner programs, then to nonprofit community organizations, and last to for profit or commerce enterprises. Thank you. 10.3, motion to approve Resolution 04-26 WIAA for the '26, '27 school year. Questions or comments? Hearing and seeing none. 10.4, motion to approve resolution 05-26. This is the Tyee High School Replacement Project, Acceptance of Building Commission
070Report. Any questions or comments? Hearing and seeing none. 10.5-- motion to approve Resolution 06-26, issue non-renewal notices pursuant to a reduction in force to achieve a balanced budget and properly staff and District educational programs and departments. Any questions or comments? I did. I found this a little confusing for me. So this is just to let folks know about the decisions that have been made. Yeah well, Sarah Baker, come up, executive Director of human resources to respond. Good evening, board. Thank you for the question, Director Espinoza. At this stage, this is a routine, perfunctory item that comes to the board every year. Statutorily, we have to issue all contracts, unless we're doing something else, by May 15. So this is in front of you today to flag the routine nature of it. And the team is
071currently going through analysis about the extent to which any sort of reduction in force would be necessary. It's important to note that every year, we have people that are technically in this category. Partial contracts is an example of that. So it's pretty routine, pretty regular. And at the point that we're at action, you'll have more information about the impact for this year. Great. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Sarah. Any other questions? Thank you. 10.6, this is motion to approve Resolution 07-26, Authorizing the District to sell Property Located at 18330 4th Avenue South, Burien, Washington, to Millennial Builders, LLC. Questions or comments? I just have a comment. I want to thank Jackie for really diving into our properties. I believe Dr. Grubb has done a lot of work on this as well, to really look at
072what we have as a district, and to utilize and/or sell items or properties that we no longer need. So thank you for that work. I did have a question. So this is the property that's by the Big Picture campus? OK, so I remember a couple of months ago, a community organization came to the meeting, and was possibly interested in buying the property or creating a community hub there. What happened to them? Thank you for the question. They did not put in a bid to purchase the property. And so this was the only offer that we received on that property. And do we know what's going to happen, like how it's going to be used? I don't know specifically. The developer that is interested in purchasing it is still doing their due diligence to ensure that,
073if they do buy the property, they have access to sewer lines and everything else. So we don't have their plans currently. OK. So I think we also had meetings about the, I guess, priorities, about how we would sell property or the use of property that we sell, if it's for a community organization or community development. Has that framework been used here? No, because we only received one offer on this property. And we have to sell it within the appraised value. Actually, this offer that came in was for the appraised value of the property. And that's the only one we received. OK. Yeah. Thank you very much. Great question. 10.7, we do have a presentation? Can I get Teshon to come up? This is motion to approve Highline Public School Student Proficiency and Growth Assessment System.
074Sarah, you're here too. Hi. Good evening, President Van, members of the board, Dr. Duran. We're grateful to be able to speak to introduction item 10.7. You might recall, two years ago, we were in front of the board, and asked for two years to be able to continue the purchase with i-Ready based on the information that we had, as well as to give us time to do a comprehensive RFP to look a little bit deeper into how the program was being used-- and to also continue to have access to data for growth monitoring, as well as assessment and screening. So we're happy to report that we've gone through that two-year process. And we have some results from the group who did the deep RFP work. Sarah's going to get deeper into that. And then we'll be
075here to ask and answer any questions. Thank you, Teshon. Good evening, board directors, Dr. Duran. So before I present some of the highlights of or the recommendation, I wanted to go through some highlights of the process. One of the main challenges we face is that currently-- one of the main challenges we face is that currently, to the best of our knowledge, there is no single assessment tool that comprehensively fulfills all the requirements of our district. As a result, we acknowledge that the selection of any assessment tool may reduce some barriers while inadvertently creating others. Our goal with this RFP process was to ultimately select a student proficiency and growth assessment system that minimizes barriers for our students as much as possible. Some of our process highlights. The RFP review team membership reflected diverse individuals and
076perspectives from across the system. Team members co-developed scoring criteria to ensure that each proposal would be evaluated consistently across all submissions. Each team member submitted individual scores based on vendor submission materials and demonstrations. And this recommendation is based on a combination of averaged individual scores, group discussions, and broader system constraints and impacts. After extensive review of six submitted proposals, i-Ready, informed by Curriculum Associates was selected as the highest scoring assessment tool for a one-year contract in school year 2026, '27, with the option to renew annually through school year 2030, '31. This selection allows us to maintain our ongoing progress monitoring efforts around student proficiency and growth, in alignment with our strategic plan goals and SLIM priorities. It also provides an opportunity to build on how we leverage assessment data to foster student agency and goal-setting,
077understand their growth, and chart a learning path forward, all key strategies of our literacy initiative. While i-Ready Inform does not currently offer parallel K through 12 assessment in Spanish reading, their new adaptive Spanish assessment, i-Ready Inform de Lectura is designed to support multilingual learners striving for biliteracy using culturally-relevant content developed in Spanish, not translated or trans-adapted. Assessment results provide insight into K through 6 Spanish reading development, and will support our schools and making instructional decisions to support literacy and biliteracy efforts. And finally, as mentioned in the Board Action Report, a comprehensive review of personalized instruction usage is currently underway to optimize license purchasing and ensure resources are used effectively. Thank you for this time. Do you have any questions? Thank you so much, Sarah. Directors, any follow-up questions? I just want to clarify that based
078upon-- yeah, we did talk to HEA specialists, teachers, district administrators, counselors, et cetera. Yes. Especially following our previous RFP cycle, there was a very intensive screening process, making sure that we have balanced representation across HEA membership, central office leaders, everything from teachers up to admins, and trying to also represent subject matter expertise in different areas. So it was very comprehensive, ensuring that we met those standards. Wonderful. Thank you. Just one reminder. [INAUDIBLE] I already have the capability of testing in Spanish? They do. So the K through 6 new adaptive Spanish, i-Ready Inform de Lectura, that is new as of this current year. So we're currently in a pilot phase of that. It is adaptive, like the English reading. And then we have the fixed assessment, the assessment of Spanish reading for seventh and eighth grade.
079So that one, they're still working on creating adaptive version of it. But at least they have a fixed form version of it right now. OK. Thank you. That's just a reminder. [INAUDIBLE] Thank you. Any other questions or comments? I do have one question. Thank you. So this is for a one-year extension? And just looking at list price versus net price, it says that there's a savings of $286,000 approximately for this the one-year extension, right? And up to five years, with the possible five-year extension. If we were-- So it's one plus possible five. If we were to do a five-year contract, their payment plan wouldn't necessarily be annual payments. They would front load it into the first three years for the five-year thing, and offer a discount through that. More likely, we're going to have to
080do annual contract renewals. But that also creates an opportunity to pivot our features and what we're paying for, so that we can make sure we're getting the best fit for our students each year. Beautiful Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. 10.8, this is motion to approve the declaration of identified district vehicles as surplus property and authorize sale via GovDeals. Questions or comments? Seeing none. And last is 10.9, motion to approve Contract with Garland for Replacement of Roofs at original Beverly Park and Puget Sound Skills Center. Questions or comments? Hearing and seeing none. I do want to follow back up with Hilltop in regards to their roof and see how we can prioritize that. So that concludes our intro items for this evening. Any additions for the upcoming consent agenda? I'd like to make
081a motion that we move 10.8, the motion to approve the declaration of identified district vehicles as surplus property and authorize sale via GovDeals, this is something routine when we are surplussing in our stuff. So it's nothing new. So I think that could be moved to that consent agenda. Thank you very much. Can I please get a second? I will second that. All in favor? Aye. Yes. Aye. Thank you. Appreciate that. So we're going to move 10.8 to our Consent Agenda. With that, that concludes our meeting for this evening. Can I please have a motion to adjourn? I make a motion we adjourn. I will second that. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you so much, everybody, for being here this evening.