001Good evening, everybody, and welcome to our regularly scheduled board meeting. Can I have everybody stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Alrighty. And can I have a roll call, please? Director Espinoza? Here. Director Holien. Present. Director Tidholm. Present. And Director Alvarez and President Van have unexcused absences today, and I will be standing in for President Van. And to my right is our Superintendent, Dr. Duran. All righty. So, do we have any changes or-- I'm sorry, do we have any calls or changes for additions to our agenda this evening? Hearing and seeing none, we're going to move on to our recognitions. And our first recognition, we are going to have Fred Swanson come up, please, from the Highland Schools Foundation, to recognize the winners of the 2025 High Schools Foundation Gold Star Awards. Hello. [APPLAUSE] So, as
002we know, we do annual awards for outstanding members of the Highline community. And so this year, we had 155 nominations from teachers, students, community members for 115 individuals representing 32 schools, programs, and departments across Highline. And the winners this year, which you have already greeted at our other events, but is-- for Outstanding Alumni is Colleen Brandt-Schluter from Evergreen High School. Our Outstanding Classified Staff is Jorge Velasquez, who's a paraeducator at Bow Lake. Outstanding Professional Staff is Garrett Wade, the Athletic Director at Mount Rainier. Outstanding Administrator is Sativah Jones, who's standing here with me, Assistant Director of College and Career Readiness. Yay, Sativah. Outstanding Rookie Teacher is Amy Olson, who teaches 7th grade math at Pacific. And our Outstanding Teacher is Calvin Allen, 6th grade advisor and teacher at Highline Virtual Academy. And then I wanted
003to introduce you to our Outstanding Volunteer, Karla Fauvet from Hazel Valley Elementary, to talk to you a little bit about the work that she's been doing at Hazel Valley, and one of the reasons that she got this Gold Star Award. So Karla. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Well, thank you for the opportunity to be here. It means a lot to me to get this recognition today because now I can share it with our incredible team. Conectando Con Mi Comunidad now have a board of eight amazing members. Griselda, Giovanna, [INAUDIBLE], Sarita, Ana, Joanna, Alexia, and me, all mothers of kids in Hazel Valley. And we started Conectando to create a space for Spanish-speaking parents and guardians to ease integration at Hazel Valley Elementary. At our first meeting, we had 12 people and half of them were the organizers.
004And by the way, I want to say thank you to the Highline PTA Council for the support that we were given from the very first meeting. Now we're seeing the fruits of what we started in that first meeting. For our last meeting in April, we had around 350 people celebrating Día Del Niño, a cherished Latin American tradition. As almost everything that we do, the idea for this celebration came from a parent wanting to share a little bit of themselves with their own kids and with our community. I love that part of the district promise, is to have a culture of belonging. A culture where all are welcome, valued, and safe. That is exactly what we want to do with Conectando, create a space where parents can bring their whole selves and feel seen and heard,
005having their contributions valued, and their culture honored and not erased as it is part of the identity of their children. We are looking to grow not just in numbers, but we really want to plant ourselves and flourish. We want our kids to take pride as they see their parents being a part-- a valued part of the community, and having a voice that brings change, strength, and unity in our diversity. We need your support. We would love to have your support as we continue working with our community. There have been times when things got complicated and figuring out the logistics of working together seemed very hard within our own PTA. But under the wonderful leadership of our Co-President, Rebecca Welch, we kept the course. We need leaders and allies to push us out of our comfort
006zone, to have the hard conversations so we can learn together, and together, build a better future for our kids. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] So I think the work that Karla is doing really represents so much of what we like to celebrate at the foundation, which is both parents, teachers, administrators, students really showing up for all of the families in Highline. So thank you so much for this recognition. We're really grateful for the outstanding folks we have in Highline. [APPLAUSE] I think we're going to come up and do a photo, so bring everyone up. [APPLAUSE] You want to be in it? [LAUGHTER] 3, 2, 1. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] And for our next recognition, can I have Endalkachew Abebaw? Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Doran, board directors. My name is Endalkachew and I'm the Community Partnerships Manager for
007the district. This month, it's my privilege to recognize Southwest Youth and Family Services as a long-standing and deeply valued partner for our district. For over 45 years, Southwest Youth and Families has served our region, offering wraparound supports that address academic, emotional, and basic needs for our students and families. They have championed initiatives such as Open Doors, which we'll have the opportunity to learn a little bit more about later, offering individualized support for students re-engaging in educational pathways, helping them chart a pathway for graduation. New Futures, providing tutoring classes, and resource navigation to students and families directly in their homes, such as Windsor Heights and SeaTac, truly exemplifying the concept of meeting communities where they're at. They have also delivered mental health services for our students, and championed community wellness through advocacy and access through basic
008needs. Their compassion, consistency, and deep-rooted service have helped countless students in our district stay connected, supported, and on a path to success. We're incredibly grateful for their partnership and proud to recognize them today. To accept this recognition, I welcome Essence Russ, the Executive Director, as well as Bryan Hayes, Associate Executive Director of Programs. [APPLAUSE] Good evening. Thank you so much. Thank you, Endalkachew, for that great introduction. So on the behalf of Southwest Youth and Family Services, I humbly accept this award and this recognition. And I would like to take up less time and allow the folks who are on the ground doing the work with our families to be able to speak to that work, what it has meant to the community. So here with me, I have Carmen. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm so happy
009to be here. It's my first time. I come in a long time ago, but today is almost my first time. I'm very happy to say that I love my program. I have a kids in Highland District and go after-school program, and doing homework activities. In the summer, a lot of field trips. And I'm so-- the family is so happy. It's four sites. One in SeaTac, three in Burien, and Delridge has another program. But I have a family with me. I don't know if she wants to say something. But yes, I'm very excited to be here. Thank you so much to everyone for inviting us today. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Norma Ortiz. I'm one of the managers from the site is located in Burien. And honestly, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be--
010for being chosen-- Southwest to be chosen in these awards. And thank you so much also for all the teachers from Highline, all the staff from Highline because this is a work that we are doing together. And as Carmen said, we love and we have a lot of passion for the community. We have many students attending Highline. And this is a teamwork, so we are connected with the teachers. We are connected with many others here in the community. So thank you so much for the opportunity to speak, and at least to say something, to say thank you to you. And, yeah, so thank you. [APPLAUSE] Yeah. Come on up for a photo. OK, everyone 3, 2-- great job. [APPLAUSE] Thank you for our community partners and Endalkachew. And we are going to move on to our
011scheduled communications. We have seven scheduled communications today. And on behalf of the board, we sincerely appreciate you taking the time to join us and share your thoughts this evening. You will notice that our norms and guidelines are displayed on the screen for your reference. Please remember that as you address the board, that there are students present or watching who are listening carefully to everything that you say. Please note that while the board is unable to respond directly to your testimony during this meeting, we do value your input. And thank you again for being here and speaking with us. First up, we have Calvin Allen. Good evening, Vice President Tidholm, Dr. Duran, members of the board. My name is Calvin Allen, a current teacher at Highline Virtual Academy, and I'm here to advocate for the creation
012of a digital learning pathway at HVA. As Highline's fully online 6 to 12 school, HVA already supports students with diverse learning styles and a flexible tech-forward environment, but it can be so much more. It can be a launch pad. With this unique structure, HVA is an ideal incubator for piloting new tech tools, digital platforms, and instructional models that can benefit the entire district. Imagine students using AI to identify bias in media projects, 3D printing to design creative solutions to real-world challenges in social studies, or coding to simulate experiments in science when lab access is limited. HVA is the ideal place to test and refine these kinds of innovative learning experiences before scaling them to comprehensive schools. Like power, technology is only as good as the people who wield it. I believe at HVA, we have
013the expertise and fortitude to take on this challenge and opportunity. Our educators are already leveraging digital tools to meet students where they are, and we're positioned to help train and support teachers across Highline in doing the same. I understand the concern that too much tech might replace the human connection in education, but if you come to the leadership classes at HVA, you will see students leveraging technology to create in-person opportunities to connect and interact with each other. But what we're proposing isn't more tech for tech's sake, it's smarter, more intentional. Integration enhances relationships, personalization, and equity in learning. A digital learning pathway at HVA would prepare students for 21st century careers, boost engagement, and position Highline as a leader in future-ready education. I encourage you to invest in this vision not just for Highline, but
014for the whole district. Thank you for your time. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Next up, we have Emily Lee. Hello. Good evening. I am-- my name is Emily Lee. I am a teacher at Highline Public Schools Open Doors Program at Highline College. We house the ELL Excel program, Pathway to College, and Adult High School Completion Program for students who are 21 and over. Our program offers a smaller environment for students to have individualized attention and support, many of whom have struggled in traditional and comprehensive high schools. A lot of students have full-time work and need flexibility to work towards their high school diploma while they support their families at the same time. A couple of things that are unique about our program. Being on a college campus means that we have resources from the college campus that
015we often utilize. For example, the creative writing class that I teach went to a poetry workshop that our college hosted. Our multilingual English learning students toward resources on campus, they have access to the writing and speaking tutoring centers. And they also have done learning exchanges with adult ESL LCAP program that is on Highline College Campus. Our heterogeneous classes offer a rich diversity in culture, age, skill. I often see older students who are mentoring younger students. And students who are creating connections across differences, and also with others who speak their same language and in their same cultures. A range in skill means that students learn from each other. And for students who are ready, they can have the opportunity to take college classes. Our program offers a pathway towards high school diploma and beyond for an
016important group of students who often don't fit the traditional high school model. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Next up, we have Megan Gibbard Kline. Hello, good evening. It's a pleasure to speak with you. My name is Megan Gibbard Kline. First of all, I'm a Highline Public Schools parent. My spouse and I have a kindergartner that started at Mountain View Elementary this year. I know all the Tiger tenets. I can sing the jingle by heart, and it's not even the end of the year. And I want to express my appreciation for the team at Mountain View Elementary. They are an incredible group of administrators and staff and teachers, and I can say with confidence, being both a volunteer at the library and attending school events, that that team knows every kid in that school by name,
017need, and strength, including my own, so we're really grateful for being a part of the community there. I'm here in my capacity tonight as one of the incoming co-chairs of Yes for Highline. We're an organization of community members and neighbors who come together to support the passage of bonds and levees in the Highland Public Schools. So we're looking forward to supporting future measures that may come up in the future, and we have a great organized team, and I want to say thank you for all of your work. And again, thanks to Mountain View Elementary, and looking forward to the work ahead. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. And next up, we have Alex Myrick. Good evening, directors. You may have already forgotten the heart-rending testimonies from the last board meeting, but they are worth revisiting. I've met many
018parents who are sick of seeing their children return from our schools bruised and even bleeding. Multiple complaints have had no effect. Vice principals have claimed that disciplining assaultive students is not part of their job. This is not a new problem. It is an old one that has been neglected and gotten worse. My apologies to Mr. Holien and Dr. Espinoza. You did not create this problem, you inherited it. Directors Alvarez and Van are missing tonight, but they have been missing in action on this issue for over a decade. The district has a major problem with absenteeism. Some of it is due to students feeling unsafe. Other families have checked out permanently. I have lived in the Highline district for over 30 years. My own children attended here from 1st to 12th grade. 15 years ago, on
019my way to work, I saw dozens of students waiting for their school bus. Now I see very few. This, of course, is merely anecdotal. Let's look at verifiable statistics on household involvement in Highline Schools. 70%. It would be bad enough if that were the percentage of households sending the children to our schools, but that is the percentage of households in our district that do not send their children to our schools. I am not lacking in compassion for these violent young bullies. Many of them are fearful themselves deep down. I started my career working in juvenile detention. Since then, I have done crisis intervention and family therapy with many dysfunctional families and manage youth shelters. No one wants to write them off or throw them away, but the other children need to be protected from them.
020That is your job. You are not living the promise. Please step up and do your job. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. And next up, we have Patricia Bailey. Good evening. Public education is in crisis, not just in the Highline School District, but across the nation. Deviant student behaviors and teacher burnout are at an all-time high, and every school reform only makes things worse. Two major problems have not been addressed-- the overregulation of the teaching profession and the outrageous behavior of some students. This results in the exit of creative, conscientious, experienced teachers. When students do not make adequate progress, the hammer falls on the classroom teacher. They are targeted with new classroom systems, philosophies, and procedures which are rolled out with regularity. These new fixes are often dressed up with the label of "best practices," but they will
021fail and be replaced with the next set of false "best practices." I know from experience that the overregulation of the classroom with new methods and programs stifles effective teaching. The teacher's obligation is to their academic discipline, not to a string of mandates. Normal oversight by administrators is needed to assure good teacher conduct, but having administrators perform walkthroughs looking for particular teaching practices, like sitting in circles, for example, is ridiculous. Teachers should be allowed to teach their disciplines the way their own common sense dictates. In addition, teachers should not be blamed for the unprecedented level of deviant student behavior current in our schools. Here again, teachers must be called on for their solutions to this terrible problem. Every effort should be made to retain experienced teachers, the real experts. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Next up,
022we have Clarisa Vargas. Good evening. My name is Clarisa. I am a student from the Open Doors Program at Highland College. I started off at Highline High School, but I wasn't able to finish my diploma there. So then a year later, I heard about the program of the Open Doors Program at Highline. I am currently a student there. I started off in fall of last year, 2024, and took two classes for winter. Then I took three classes for-- or sorry, I took two classes for fall and then I took three classes for winter. I'm currently doing my spring quarter there, and I am taking two classes. That is with Ms. Emily. That is creative writing. And then I am doing Algebra II with Mr. Romeo. I'm graduating this year, and I'm really thankful for the
023opportunities that the program has given me, and for the people that I've met there. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. And last, we have Luzauhn Burkardt. Greetings, I am Lazauhn Burkardt, and I am a student from the Open Doors Program of Highline College. Thank you. And I got here from, like, two options that I was presented at first. And this was the option that was most pleasing to me. And I usually thought nothing of it at first because I would say I'm a shut-in and didn't really think much of the world around me. And this program really opened my eyes to how great people are, and the diversity that was around me in the program. It made me feel more committed to what I was doing, knowing that I wouldn't get looked down upon by other
024children or people that were immature. And the wide variety of age groups helps with such. Even though we're all different, we all bleed the same. And my goal is to get my high school diploma, but slowly I see it becoming more than just that that I might want. I love the sight of other people coming together in clubs and all that. And I really like it here. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. And with that, we will move on to our superintendent's updates. Dr. Duran. All right. Thank you, Vice President Tidholm. I want to welcome everyone to the board meeting this evening. I'll keep my individual remarks short because we have three updates tonight. It's a busy time of year with lots of events, recognitions, celebrations, so it's been great to attend some of those and just see
025the wonderful work that our students are doing at this time of year. I want to thank Directors Espinoza and Holien for coming with me, and Dr. Ryan, and many school visits over the last couple of weeks. I've enjoyed learning about the good work happening in schools alongside each of you. Earlier today, we shared a joint message from Highline Public schools, Highline Education Association, Highline Association of Washington State Principals, Teamsters Local Union Number 763, and Highline Council PTA. This message reaffirms our commitment to belonging, inclusion, and safety, shared gratitude for those who have stood up for our students and district, and asked everyone to lead with our values and to keep lifting up the good happening in our schools. Thank you to everyone that joined in sending this powerful message. You can read the message on
026our website that was sent out today. I want to take a minute to thank and congratulate our amazing communications team for being awarded the Gold Medallion by the National School Public Relations Association. The Gold Medallion is the NSPRA's highest recognition for communication plans. This year, out of 76 competitive entries from across the United States, Highline's Cyber Communications Plan was one of the 13 awarded the 2025 Gold Medallion, so I think it's a time of great celebration. [APPLAUSE] And I'm going to take the moment to honor you, Tova, and give you a living the Promise Pin for so many of the great things you do, and this is just one recognition of why we are the best in the nation. [APPLAUSE] Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend and speak at the 11th Language Learning
027Symposium at Glacier Middle School. This event served as a powerful space to celebrate, reflect, and explore research based practices that support the academic and linguistic growth of multi-language learners in Highline. I was truly inspired by what I saw and heard. I learned so much and was especially impressed by the dedication of our educators who showed up eager to engage even after a full day of supporting students. The evening concluded with a shared meal, and at 7:30 PM, the room was still full, tables surrounded by educators deep in conversation and connection. So for the first update this evening, I'd like to welcome Lita O'Donnell to the podium to share our Board Policy 0050 Report on Parent and Family Engagement. Welcome, Lita. [APPLAUSE] Put my glasses on so I can see. Good evening, school board and Dr.
028Duran. My name is Lita O'Donnell, I'm the Director of Family and Community Partnerships. And I'm here for our annual Family Engagement Update. So I truly believe the work of family and community engagement is necessary for us to fulfill our promise. We need to be in partnership with our families and communities so that we know our students by name, strength, and need and that they graduate prepared for the future they choose. This is our yearly update, and I will be sharing just a snapshot of what's happening in Family Engagement this year, but we'll also have the opportunity to hear the work of our Family Action Committee and hear from one of our Family Action Committee parents. I'm going to talk about our Family Engagement Strategic Plan Goals and where we are with those measures. I'm going
029to highlight Academic Parent-Teacher Teams, our APPT, share around professional learning that's happening in our district, and then again, talk about the subcommittee collaboration of our Family Action Committee, and then have you hear from one of our families directly. So we do have some goals around Family Engagement and our Strategic Plan, and on our Strategic Plan dashboard, you will see that we have a goal around specific questions around our Strategic Plan Goal. And right now, our last year, the first year of the survey, we were at 85% favorability rate, and our goal is to increase by 2% each year. The Family Engagement survey is currently open. We've had over 550 families take the survey so far, and it will close on May 30. The second goal is around our schools having a Family Engagement Strategy from
030our Family Engagement Catalog in their annual action plan. And what is special about the Family Engagement Catalog is that those are strategies that have been vetted by our Family Action Committee as strategies that they would like to see happening in their schools. So last year was our baseline year and we were at 24%. I checked again today at the recent numbers, and we are up to 70%, and our goal is to be at 100% So I wanted to highlight this graphic before I started talking about some of the specific strategies that we're doing in Highline because when I first saw this, it was a surprise to me to think that our students are only with us 12% of the time, but if you think about six hours of instruction 180 days a year, it is
03112%. And so we know that learning is happening in our schools, and we know that 55% of the time that our students are with family and community, learning is also happening. And so it's imperative that the learning that's taking place at home complements the learning that's taking place in school and vice versa, and we do that through such initiatives or strategies around family engagement, like Academic Parent-Teacher Teams, or APPT. This is a research-based family engagement strategy that really helps families understand where their children are at academically, and then set goals and build relationships with teachers for students to meet those goals. I just want to share-- I know I shared some stuff in the board pre-reading, but I wanted to share a little bit about what the family experiences every time a family goes into
032an academic parent-teacher team meeting. There's always that relationship-building at the beginning. And then teachers introduce a foundational grade-level skill. So for example, it could be sight words. And then what's unique about Academic Parent-Teacher Teams is that parents have the opportunity to see student data. They see where their student is in comparison to other students in the classroom, and where students should be at the end of the year. And teachers take time and they model a practice activity with some materials. Families get to also practice. And then they set a SMART goal. And they get to take those materials home, and they can work with their student, or they maybe they've identified an aunt, an uncle, a cousin, or an older sibling, but someone who can work with students on that activity that really supports that
033foundational grade-level skill. So here's just some photos of APPT and action. So you'll see relationship-building happening at Beverly Park, and then you'll see some data-sharing that was taking place at White Center Heights. Here's a quote from one of our families who attends Academic Parent-Teacher Teams, and they say, "I enjoy these sessions. I'm glad to know where my child is and what I can do to help her learn." Here's a snapshot of where we are with Academic Parent-Teacher Teams we implemented in 2019. And we have three pilot schools who are still continuing with Academic Parent-Teacher Teams. And then you can see that we've added additional schools. And next year, I'm excited to announce that we're going to be launching into secondary. I want to share a quick story about Beverly Park because they have a special
034model there. Beverly Park came to have APPT in part, I believe, because the principal, Rick, had a coffee chat and asked families, "What would you like to see here at Beverly Park?" And there was a family there who had friends who have students at McMicken Heights who attended APPT, and they said "We want APPT at our school." And so Beverly Park has a special model. It's a multi-grade cohort model where the students and families are multi-language learning students who are dual-served in special education. So building the future of APPT, we know that APPT aligns with our strategic plan goals and our district priorities, and the goal would be to expand. Current grant funding ends after the 25-26 school year. We've had a grant from Stolte Family Foundation, and they are stepping away from funding educational
035priorities. So we are currently exploring sustainable funding options to support ongoing implementation, and also thinking how we partner with other departments across our district. Now I want to share a little bit about professional learning in the dual-capacity framework. So Family University is a professional learning that we've been focused on for families, and Powerful Partnerships is a book study that we've been doing with our educators. So for Family University, this is a workshop for families to learn more about how to navigate the system and building relationships. And here's just a quote from a family member who attended. They said, "It's a great crash course on learning about the school district. I wish I would have gotten on board sooner." And then here's some Family University shots in action. I just want to tell a fun story.
036We did a Family University at Chinook, and in Family University, we share how families can partner with their child's school or with the district, and one of the ways is we talk about how they can come and speak at a school board meeting. And that very next Wednesday night, one of the families who was at the Family University showed up at a school board meeting to share with the school board their thoughts on education and what they would like to see happening for their student. So powerful partnerships. This is a book study that we've been doing. It's a book from Dr. Karen Mapp out of Harvard. And what I really love about this particular professional learning is that we brought together a small group of educators. And not only does it provide guidance or highlight
037strategies, it really encourages our educators to reflect on their own experience and relationships with students families to improve their engagement practices. At a recent session, it was on how do we support families of students with IEPs? And the teacher reflection was families feel comfortable when they feel like that the child is growing in academics, or just to hear the child is doing well and understanding. So now, I'd like to share some information around our Family Action Committee, particularly the subcommittee work that's been happening with district leaders. I'm really happy that we've had district leaders across our four initiatives, or SLIM, Secondary redesign Literacy Inclusion and MTSS, our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, come in and work with our Family Action Committee and partnership. Communication was a big theme that came across all of the groups, and
038I'm just going to highlight some of the work of each of those subcommittees. So for secondary redesign, the questions for families are really, how can schools share more information effectively? And how can schools partner with families to increase awareness? For our literacy group, it was really about encouraging dialogue, about reading between families and students-- and you'll see some mock-ups of some bookmarks that are in the process of being made that were co-created with our Family Action Committee. For inclusionary practices, they want to invite families to a board meeting in October during Disability Awareness Month to share their perspective, but one of the things that I thought was really neat was the Family Action Committee members want to host and facilitate meetings to share with families what inclusion is. And then for multi-tiered systems of support
039in action, they're developing family-facing materials so families can understand what MTSS is and what this could look like for their student. This document, as well as the bookmarks, we are hoping to have ready in place in September, but no later than student-led conferences. Budget was another subcommittee area. Jackie has been coming and giving updates to the Family Action Committee all year long. Since the legislative session ended April 27, they're actually going to have their meeting tomorrow to assess what those changes are and have updates on funding. This subcommittee, as well as all of the other subcommittees on the FAC, will continue working together next year. And then Parent and Family Engagement, our last subcommittee, they really worked on the policy revisions for 0050, which will be introduced later in the board meeting. And before I
040turn it over to our family to speak, I just want to do some recognitions. And I would love for the district Family and Community Engagement Team to please stand. [APPLAUSE] Dr. Roderick, Rocio, Rosie, and Rosa, affectionately known as the four R's, and of course, you had the pleasure of meeting Endalkachew, and Anjelika, our world language translator is also here today. And then I would love for our families who are here from the Family Action Committee to please stand. [APPLAUSE] And now for our star. Rayna, unfortunately, had a family emergency and wasn't able to come, but we have Paty Palomino, a long-time FAC member, who's going to come up and share her experience on the FAC. Paty? [APPLAUSE] [SPEAKING SPANISH] Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Patricia. I'm happy to be here tonight as a
041member of the FAC. It's been wonderful. I've been very lucky to be able to help with my voice to reach other families, and along with other parents, make my voice be heard. And in this way, I will keep working together with parents and teachers so we can reach our goals. [SPEAKING SPANISH] My experience in the subcommittee has been very great and constructive. With many things being accomplished, putting pieces together, which we were missing, we learn from everyone and made decisions collaboratively, which will lead us to a better future for our students. [SPEAKING SPANISH] I hope to continue participating in this way and be an inspiration for parents who might want to join, and see the progress that's being accomplished by being in the subcommittee as a parent, as well as seeing the improvements being made
042in schools. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you, Paty, thank you, Juan, thank you, school board, and thank you, Dr. Duran. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Really appreciate our families being here tonight and appreciate all the work that you've done over this year, and it's been really exciting to be able to have the opportunity to dig into our priorities and be able to hear some feedback. I know in one of the groups I sat in on MTSS, they really challenged us to work on the language and how we share the information with families because sometimes we use too much "edu" talk and what we try to describe. So really grateful for the learning we had there. I would now like to welcome Jeb Binns, the President of the Highline Education Association, to the podium. Welcome, Jeb, great
043to see you. [APPLAUSE] I saw the laptop there and I figured I'd sit back down, and then, oh, there it was, there you go. Thank you, good evening, Dr. Duran, school board, nice to see you all. I just wanted to take a moment to just lift up the joint statement that you brought up. I appreciate the willingness that the district had to entertain putting together something like this to highlight the work that we're doing. And I think that it takes courage and strength of character to not only to create it, but to sign off and endorse it and to publish, especially in today's climate. So I just want to thank the district for its partnership and all the other organizations that sign off, our principal friends and our teamsters friends, our PTSAs, the board. So
044thank you for that. I take a brief moment to brag about a former Highline student, graduated from Mount Rainier, who just graduated from University of Colorado Boulder with an integrative physiology degree and a sociology minor. Highline Public Schools did her well. And so I now have a graduate buff in the Binns household, which is pretty exciting. So that's pretty awesome, and to think that-- and she was able to-- she actually came back last year and worked as a paraeducator at the end of the year, school year, and then helped in the Special Ed Department last summer. So it was nice to see the payback come back around, so that was pretty wonderful. Last week, Vice President Shawna Moore and I attended the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project Fundraiser Gala in Downtown Seattle. The Highline Education Association
045was a proud sponsor of the event. And just listening to the work that folks are doing to help support our communities is amazing. The fundraiser raised $1.4 million in a single evening, including-- I think about our events, and you never do raise the paddle until you know somebody's going to do it. They had a Shawna individual contributor who was in the audience, and then one who was also there, but did not want anyone to know who they were. So that was pretty amazing as we went through. So I waited for lots of those zeros to fall down before I raised my paddle, just in all honesty, to go through, but it was a great place to be there. I just want to close-- I normally do a "here are the fun things I saw at
046schools," and I want to take this opportunity tonight to lift up some of the work from our jointly bargained committees. And for those who don't necessarily know what those are, those are the committees that we have established in our collective bargaining process to help us with the work. And they're joint committees because they're chaired not only by a member of the association, but also by a member of the district. And I want to take some time, there's some folks who are present, I want to thank the work of our Joint Inclusive Services Team that's co-chaired by Janet Parker and Sarah Fox. The work that they've done on inclusion has been tremendous, monumental, overwhelming to put together the work, and the amount of time that they've put on that, I just want to thank both Jen
047and Sarah for their leadership. Our school-based Behavior Support Team, co-chaired by Tracey Worthman and Melissa Pointer. The work trying to go through to coordinate-- we talked about MTSS, looking at that-- we talk too much in acronyms, by the way, in this business, but the Tier Fidelity Index and the things that we're doing to try to figure out how our schools and are functioning and working, and to take a look and how to put that, I just appreciate their leadership. Our Highline Equity and Anti Racist Team, HEART-- also, all of our teams have names, by the way, because we're cute like that, is co-chaired by Shawna Moore and Deanna Rousseau, the work they're doing to take a look at our system and analyze it through an equity lens is greatly appreciated. And then I would say
048that I co-chair this committee, but I really don't. The work falls-- I'm the entitled co-chair on it, but I just want to thank Bernard Koontz for all the work on the IMC and doing that. We had that meeting on Wednesdays prior to the board meetings. And the work looking at the curriculum we adopt and the processes and making sure that the systems are in place, I just want to thank the work that Bernard and his team do to make that happen and all the folks who are on that committee. So with that, I'll conclude my report with a great thanks. So thank you very much. Very good. Thank you, Jeb. [APPLAUSE] All right. And now I'd like to welcome Jackie Bryant, our Chief Financial Officer, to the podium to give the monthly budget update. And
049as Jackie's coming up here, is again, this a reminder to audience members of community, it's a way for us to provide more transparency with our budget, is where we are on a monthly basis, as well as what we're projecting and thinking about in the future. Welcome, Jackie. Good evening, board directors, Dr. Duran. This is the last official monthly update of this fiscal year. Next month, we will be here presenting the budget for 25-26. So, exciting. Tonight, I'm going to cover some year-to-date information as of the end of April. Again, this April is not closed yet, so these are tentative numbers that may change, but they are the information we currently have. And then some updates about 25-26 budget development. So you can see, our May enrollment continues to be well over our budgeted projections. We're
050547 FTE over our budget projection right now. So that is resulting in additional revenue, which we'll talk about in a little bit of how that's going to affect the overall budget, and going into next year, what that looks like as well. Our year-to-date information, we are exactly where we would expect to be at this time of year. We've collected 59% of our revenue, and about 64% of our expenditures have been spent to date. This is what we would expect to see in April because the other half of our levy isn't accounted for yet in these numbers, in the revenue numbers. So you'll see a big bump when we look at May numbers, revenue will increase. So as I mentioned, you can see the local-- this is a breakdown by revenue source. And you can see
051our local revenue is still about half of what we would expect, and that's because we receive the other half in April, and we usually take takes us about a month to have that put in the books and accounted for before we present it and close the month. State funding, we are projected to, of course, receive additional revenue because of our additional enrollment this year. So it will be higher than projected. Same with federal dollars. We are right where we should be with federal dollars, and we will continue to monitor those. And our other funds, usually this is what we would expect this time of year. A lot of those are grants that close towards the end of the year, and so we receive large sums of funds towards the end of the fiscal year. So
052this is an expected deviation from the 11.8 that's budgeted. Our expenditures are also right on track of what we would expect for the year. We've expended about 127.9 million out of regular instruction. The one area that we are trending higher, which is what we have seen year over year, is special education. It is expected to be higher than budgeted this year, and we will bring you the official numbers next month when we come with our June updates and our projections for the following year. But yes, that one we are expecting to go over the budgeted amount. CTE and Skill Center is trending at exactly where we would expect at this time of year. Compensatory education, which is, of course, our LAP funds, our Learning Assistance Program funds, our high-poverty LAP funds, our transitional bilingual program,
053among some other larger grants that we put into this category, exactly where we would expect as well. We received part of those through apportionment each month, and we also claim some of those dollars, so they're reimbursement. So you can see, we also tend to receive larger sums towards the end of the year as we do our year-end close. And then support services, exactly trending where we should be this time of year. So 25-26 budget development. You can see, this is the timeline that we've been presenting each month. We are almost at the end of the timeline. We've had a really busy year. May has been really heads down, creating the budget that we will present to you next month. And also going through the legislative changes and updates that we received at the end of
054the month. The Governor signed the budget yesterday, and so we now know exactly what revenue to expect next year. We had been waiting on that, and so I'll talk about that in a few minutes, the timing for that as well. But you can see, we have done a lot of engagement this year. This is our board and school leader engagement. So of course, I've been doing the updates each month, but we've also had-- we'll have three work sessions when we're done with this fiscal year, as well as quite a few teacher and school leader engagement opportunities. So for staff, families, student, and community engagement, we are also at the end of the year with this. We have done quite a bit this year. The SALT, Superintendent Advisory Leadership Team, met three times this year and
055discussed budget and different ways we can align our resources to strategies. We've had two thought exchanges to date. We'll do one more thought exchange, so we'll have three budget-related thought exchanges by the end of the fiscal year. And then we've also had a lot of other advisory teams that meet. So as mentioned, Family Action committee, we have a subcommittee that's budget-related, our CFAC team, which is all things capital, and our Capital Advisory Team. So just as some context as we go into next month. So June is everything budget. We have four weeks in a row where we will be talking to you about budget-related activities. And so to set up what you will see next month, just a reminder where we've been and where we are now and where we're going. So 23-24 last year,
056we took $8 million in reductions going into the 24-25 year. So, most of those were made at around Central Office positions, contracts, and some travel. We also had a loss of all of our ESSER funds, which we had expected. That wasn't unexpected. But also, when you receive money year over year, sometimes it feels like it's ongoing money when it's not. So we had planned very well for that, and we did reduce all of the expenses that were being paid for out of ESSER, either shifted to other funds or reduced those altogether. And we ended our year with an unassigned fund balance of 7%. So a reminder, the board policy is 3%, a minimum of 3% or higher, and we are at 7% right now. 24-25-- so this fiscal year, our enrollment was higher than we
057had projected, which means our budget-- our revenue will come in higher than expected, which is great news because we went into the year expecting to use about $6 to $7 million in fund balance to offset the underfunding. With the additional revenue we now think will come in about exactly equal. So we're expecting expenditures and revenues to match this year. So we aren't expecting to use a large amount of fund balance towards the end of this year. Which is great because it allowed us a year to allow the long legislative session to happen, to see if we were-- what kind of additional revenue we were going to receive from the state. And we had made the decision to make no additional reductions going into next year. So we didn't make reductions for the budget, you will
058see, going into 25-26. For 25-26, you will see a lot more information about it next month, but we have steady enrollment projected. So we're not expecting a large decline or a large increase in enrollment. So pretty steady. We did receive a minimal amount of new revenue from the legislature-- and we'll go over that on the next slide, but we are expecting to run higher expenditures next year than revenues, which means we will be using some of our fund balance next year, and we'll have to make some decisions after that how to rightsize those expenditures and revenues. So our legislative update, the big three you've heard about all year, special education was the first one-- and again, all of these were signed-- all these bills were signed yesterday, so we know now that these are the
059final numbers. Special education did receive some additional revenue. They eliminated the funding cap. So previously, you had to have-- 16% was the funding cap, and there is now no cap. And they also increased the multiplier to 1.16. Not a large increase, but an increase. One thing I think that's really important to note that was very unexpected and came the last week of the legislative session was an accounting change that was made within the bill itself. So we are now no district, of all of the districts in the state, are allowed to use local levy dollars to offset the underfunding of special education. So within the bill, it says that we now have to shift basic education dollars over to special education to offset that underfunding. So what that means is you will see a lot
060less districts talking about using local levy dollars for special education and more districts talking about basic education now being underfunded because it really is just a shift of dollars. It's not additional revenue. MSOCs-- so Material Supplies and Operating Costs, we did receive about $110 per student, under what we were hoping for, but still grateful for the bump. Transportation, there was no additional funding. We talked about that before. And then we did receive levy authority increase. So each district now can increase their levy authority and collect additional local dollars to offset some of those costs. So what's next? We are still-- our budget team is still waiting patiently for the OSPI tools to come out because it was such a long session and there was so much unknown this year that OSPI didn't really release any
061tools until the Governor signed the budget, and now they're updating their tools. So once we get those, the budget team will be heads down, entering numbers in, and that's what we present to you when we come and do the budget intro and action. It's the F-203, which is our revenue projections, the F-195, which is the budget, next year's budget, and the F-195F, which is the four-year projections. And so once we receive those, we will enter those and send them off to you as soon as we can. Our board work session is scheduled for June 12. So that is the budget work session. We will have intro this year on June 18. The public hearing will be June 25, so the following week, and then action for the budget will be July 2. And this is
062different than we've done it in the past. We've done public hearing work session and intro all in one day. For a few different reasons, we spaced it out this year. One, because we're not getting our tools until so much later that we couldn't ensure that we'd have everything done in time for the work session. And because we want to allow the public to have time to review and come to the public hearing after they've had a chance to see the budget and come in and to the public hearing. And then July 2 is the last board meeting and the only board meeting in July. And we have to have a budget passed by August 31 by state law. So that is my update for tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions. I just want to
063thank you, Jackie, for your work you've done. Are there any questions from the board for tonight? Thank you. OK. And, as Jackie stepping away, as we give some of the updates, we will also give more background with some of the funding from the state. We have some other information. We'll talk to specifics, but we were definitely disappointed with-- we're grateful for the funding that we were receiving, but also disappointed. And a good example of that was the Special Education Bill was originally funded at $1.6 billion, and in the end, it being funded under $400 million. So, definitely have more work to do with our legislators to help them know the work that we-- the support that we need in order to help our students and really ensure that they are funding basic education. That concludes
064my Superintendent's Update tonight. Thank you, Dr. Duran, Jackie, Jebb. And moving on to our school board reports, and we will start with the legislative updates, which, thank you very much, Jackie, for covering a lot of that for me, but yesterday was the last day for the Governor to sign the bills into law. He signed the operating budget without any vetoes to the sections that impact K-12 education-- K-to-12 education, sorry. Also, Senate Bill 5814, which, unless interpreted very narrowly, will exact a tax on school districts that use temporary staffing services. We do, at Highline, use temporary staffing services to fill roles where we can't otherwise fill them, such as special education and nursing. We don't know the impact of it yet because the rules for the services that will exactly be impacted are not known yet.
065He, the Governor, also signed a bill to increase the levy authority, which Jackie mentioned, which is good news for us. Over the next few weeks, our budget team will be continuing to crunch these numbers, if she hasn't already, wouldn't be surprised, bless their hearts, as they prepare for bringing forward our new budget for the school year 2025 and 2026. And this will be the last regular legislative update for the year, and I look forward to beginning these again come January when the legislature gets back in session. And moving on to our director reports. And we will start at the far right with Director Dr. Espinoza. Thank you. So Sylvester Orchestra and Band earns awards. Middle school students from Sylvester recently competed at the Music in the Parks Festival. And they came home with first place.
066The symphonic band earned a superior rating and the chamber orchestra received an excellent rating. We are, of course, Highline proud of their talent and dedication. I also want to share that last week, I participated in the Puget Sound Skills Center College and Career Fair interview, so I had the pleasure of interviewing a couple of students. And I have a couple of their reflections that I just wanted to share with you because they certainly warmed my heart. One of them said "Thank you for interviewing me. It was very helpful and a great learning experience. I have always struggled with interviews and I feel much more confident in my abilities to converse now." It was especially inspiring for me to support those students and staff, and also complete some of those interviews in Spanish with students who
067are just very eager to be a part of our Highline Schools community. Thank you. And Director Holien? Thank you. Wanted to give an update on the Pacific groundbreaking and the farewell ceremonies on Tuesday, June 3 at 4:00 PM. That is actually the groundbreaking ceremony. Following the ceremony, alumni and community members are welcome to take a last walk through the existing school. Construction of the new Pacific Middle School begins in July. And the new building, which is funded by the 2022 voter-approved bond, is scheduled to open in September of '27. It was a pretty busy last couple of weeks. Last night, me and Dr. Duran went to the 14th Annual Scholar Athlete event, which recognized over-- there was 16 student athletes that were recognized on stage, along with some other community members that contribute to our
068schools that you would otherwise probably not even recognize. It was pretty special to go to that. I was able to serve lunch at Parkside with Lisa Johnson, the Director of Nutritional Services. I learned a lot about the nutritional side of Highline, and it was wonderful experience. Thank you. We also heard that students think you're the chef now. That is 100% accurate. Yes. As for me, I also got to attend PSSC's mock interviews for my second year in a row. It was amazing. Thank you very much, Dr. Espinoza, for assisting with one of the students who I attempted to assist, but my limited Spanish was not working, so I appreciate you being so flexible. And it's just-- it's great seeing the kids and seeing them so confident. And when they're not confident, by the end of
069the interview, just being able to speak life into them and reminding them, just like last year, I was baffled last year, my first time when the students sit down and the first thing that they say is, "Well, I don't really have any experience," and then go list off all of these credentials and things that they have gotten that a lot of grown-ups don't even have. And I'm looking at them like you do realize, you're graduating high school? Not even there yet, and you have more of these credentials and certifications than a lot of adults have. And like a light bulb going off in their head, like, oh, wait a minute, you are well above the curve. And the work experience that they have, it was just-- it was great. And they brought their resumes this
070year, which we didn't do last year, so we got to give them a little bit of feedback on that. But yeah, it was great. Again, excuse me. I also wanted to thank Lita and our Family Action Committee and our family engagement specialist. As many of you know, some of you don't, prior to sitting in this position, I was on the Family Action Committee as well. And being a parent in Highline for 10 years prior to being where I am, I really got to know the Family Engagement Team. And I greatly appreciate you, Lita, and Rosie, Rocio, and-- Rosie, Rocio, and Rosa-- the Rs always get me tongue-twisted. Anjelica and Roger Coulette and Moona and anybody else that I missed, just the support that I had as a parent was amazing and really made it-- I
071mean, being a parent is fun enough as your babies are going through all these different transitions and you're trying to keep up. And then being on this side and being able to engage, I appreciate you on all levels, and I see you all. And Keyson as well on that team. Well, prior on that team. She's a big boss now. And congratulations also. So I got to attend, last week with Dr. Duran, the Highline Foundation's award where 42 graduating seniors receive scholarships. The foundation awarded $350,000 to these babies, and it was just-- it was amazing being able to see them so proud and beaming and hearing about some of their plans that they have for after graduation was lovely. And I was just honored to be able to be there to support and be a part
072of it. And that is all that I have. So, moving on to our consent agenda. Can I have a motion to approve our consent agenda? I motion to approve our consent agenda. I second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Yes. Any opposed? Hearing and seeing none, thank you. Director Tidholm, did you vote? Did I say aye? Oh, I said it in my head. Let me try that again. All in favor? Aye. Yes. Any opposed? Alrighty. Hearing and seeing none, thank you. And moving on to our action items. First item that we have on our agenda today is 8.1, Motion to approve the 2024-2025 Running Start Expenditures Increase. Do we have any questions or comments, directors? I do have a question. Going through the notes, it looks like the revenue source fiscal impact is marked as
073an annual increase in expenditures. Is that supposed to be a one-time? Yes. So Running Start, at the beginning of each year, we do a bar for Running Start expenditures that we expect to cover the full year. Because enrollment increased this year, so did the Running Start enrollment. And so the pass-through amounts that we now owe to the colleges have increased, so that's what this increase is for. Gotcha. That makes sense. Thank you, Jackie. Can I please have a motion on 8.1? I move that the Highline School Board approve the increase of $1,028,000 for increased 2024-2025 Running Start exponentials. I second. Roll call, please. Director Espinoza? Yes. Director. Holien? Yes. Vice President Tidholm? Yea. This motion passes 3 to none. Thank you. Next up, 8.2. Motion to approve Pacific Middle School Replacement Project, Grant of Easement
074with Puget Sound Energy-- oh my goodness, I can't speak today, I'm sorry. Grant of Easement with Puget Sound Energy. Any questions or comments, directors? No, I just want to make a comment that we don't want to talk about a deed or anything-- Are you sure? --again. OK. I move-- any other questions? Hearing and seeing none, can I please have a motion? I move that the Highline School Board approve the easement to Puget Sound energy for the Pacific Middle School Replacement Project. I second. Roll call, please. Director Holien? Aye. Director Espinoza? Yes. President Van? I'm sorry, Vice President Tidholm? Yea. And Director Holien, can I just confirm, is that a yes or a no? Yes. OK, thank you. This motion passes 3 to none. Thank you. Next, we have 8.3, Motion to approve Final Acceptance and
075Closeout Approval of Memorial Stadium Synthetic Turf Replacement Project, PO Number CP240007. Any questions or comments? Hearing and seeing none, can I have a motion? I move that the Highline School Board approve the closeout of project CP240007, the Memorial Stadium Synthetic Turf Replacement completed by Shaw Sports Turf through King County-- or KCDA Contracting. I second that. Roll call, please. Director Espinoza? Yes. Director Holien? Yes. Vice President Tidholm? Yea. This motion passes 3 to none. Thank you. Next up, Motion to approve Final Acceptance of Closeout Micro K12 Contract, Security Video Replacement Phase 2, PO Number CP230030. Any questions or comments? I did have a question. So these are cameras outside of the building, Jackie? Can we have you at the podium, please? Thank you. Oh, and Ellie. Thank you. Ellie can answer this specific question. So, these
076are actually all the cameras we switch from the old cameras, that system that we had, to [INAUDIBLE] system, which is the-- [INAUDIBLE] thank you. We switched from the existing-- sorry. OK. So we switched from the existing system to [INAUDIBLE] system, which was cloud basis. And these cameras for interior, as well as exterior. So we had an extensive review with our security leadership to make sure that we know the area that we needed to-- even if we had to add or replace the existing one with the new system. OK. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Hearing and seeing none, can I please have a motion. I move that the Highline School Board approve the closeout of project number CP230030, Security Video Replacement Phase 2, completed by Microcomputer Systems, Incorporated. And do I have a second?
077I second. Roll call, please. Director Holien? Yes. Director Espinoza? Yes. Vice President Tidholm? Yea. This motion passes 3 to none. Thank you. And Item 8.5 has been postponed to our June 4, 2025 Agenda. And that concludes our action items for the day. So, moving on to our intro items. 10.1, we have a presentation. Lita and Keisa, can I have you please-- the Motion to approve revisions to Board Policy 0050, Parent and Family Engagement. And just very quickly for the record, Vice President Tidholm, there are no introduction in action items-- And for the record, there are no introduction in action items, thank you. Hello again. So today, I'm excited to share revisions to our Family Engagement Policy designed to better align Policy 0050 with the District Strategic Plan living our promise and our superintendent's vision. Our
078goal is to strengthen Family Engagement through clearer, more actionable language and intentional alignment with district priorities. And so our Family Action Committee subcommittee reviewed the existing policy, gathered input from families and staff, and developed the recommendations that you have before you. These are informed by the feedback and our strategic goals. So key changes to the policy include incorporating the district's vision and beliefs to anchor the policy, using more explicit language to ensure clarity and accountability, clarifying roles and expectations for both schools and families, and ensuring the policy reflects our commitment to equity, access, and community voice. Thank you, Lita. Directors, any questions, comments? Hearing and-- oh, nope. Hearing and seeing none, thank you, Lita. Thank you. 10.2, Motion to approve resolution 3-25, Municipal Research Service Centers, MRSC, Roster. Directors, any questions or comments? I have
079a question. When putting together the list of vendors, it is coming directly from the state or from Highline? Or from you? The Department of Commerce. Hi, I'm Andrew, the district's controller. I oversee the procurement team that is putting this before you. Yeah, the Department of Commerce made this an option. The overall idea being government should be available to all members of the community. The formal process of bidding is costly for both contractors and the district, so the Department of Commerce created this roster. Anyone from the state goes through the process pre-vets them so that they can be available to do that kind of government work and we can select from a far broader group of contractors. Thank you, Andrew. Sure. Any other questions, comments? One more question. Is there a screen or a tool to
080use to make sure that we are working with smaller businesses? There are some laws around that that I think the RCW and the bar speaks to, but yeah, there's a process that you would go through that the Department of Commerce has set up to be able to be on this roster and just a far wider variety than locally because we have a smaller roster ourselves, but this is statewide, following state law, but there is some small business, minority-owned, women-owned applicable aspects to it, I think, that is maintained by the State Department of Commerce. OK. Thank you. I have one more for you. Sure, sure. At the end of the day, this is going to be costing about 1.1 million per annual. Is that accurate? I don't think so. I think it was-- I'll double-check because
081I think it was $1,000. Let me pull up, I have it here on my-- That is accurate. Yeah, 1,000. Yes. So I was like, mm, that's a lot. No, it's relatively cheap. Again, the cost of going through a formal RFP or bidding process is going to far exceed anything like that. So it'll be a savings for the district contractors, labor, all-- That's-- I was relooking at my notes and I don't know why I put a million there. No worries. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? Thank you. And moving on, looks like 10.3 to 10.6 is going to have a single presentation as Riley Todd. Thank you very kindly. We have 10.3, Motion to approve Career Link, South Seattle College Open Doors 1418 Program; 10.4, Motion to approve Highline College Open Doors 1418 Program; 10.5, Motion
082to approve Southwest Houston Family Services Open Doors 1418 Program; and 10.6, Motion to approve Graduation Alliance Open Doors 1418 Program and Alternative Learning Experience Program. Riley? Thank you for the introduction. Yeah, my name is Riley Todd. I'm the Assistant Director of Alternative Education Programs. Good evening. It's my first time meeting the new directors here. Dr. Duran, good evening to you. Yeah, I get to present the annual renewal of our Open Door contracted partnership programs. This is a portfolio of four different distinct programs operated by South Seattle College, Highline college, Southwest Youth and Family Services, and Graduation Alliance. These programs serve older students, students who are 16 to 21 years of age, highly deficient in credit, unable to graduate with their cohort, have dropped out, or are likely to drop out, and it provides them options
083to continue their education wherever they're at. These programs offer students the pathways to diploma, pathways to college courses, pathways to GED. One of the cool opportunities that exists in our college-based programs is you can lock in your GED, get 4 credits for that GED towards your diploma, and continue working towards your diploma and/or college classes through 21 years old at no cost to that student. The funding model is a pass-through model. So we receive the funding. We, the district, receive the funding when students are enrolled. And when they make indicators of academic progress, and then we pass that funding on to these partner agencies, retaining a 7% indirect fee, which is expected to be about $160,000 that stays here with the district next school year. The important thing to understand about these programs is these
084partnerships are old. Most of them are well over 10 years old. They receive no allocation from our operating budget. They receive no money upfront for the services they do. And this funding is only available to them through partnership with the school district. And so if this is not renewed, these programs are likely to close their doors and these students are likely to drop out or leave the district. I always like to share a few stories. We heard a little bit about the great things happening at Southwest Youth and Family. We heard from some students at Highline College. So I have some short examples from the Career Link Program at South Seattle College tonight. Heidi started out this program at an early age, but wasn't able to maintain her engagement originally. But she returned to the
085program at 20 years old, finished her diploma with a 3.84 GPA, and is now thriving in her third quarter of culinary school at South Seattle College. Additionally, Amayas fell behind in school during the pandemic and struggled to reengage his home schooled afterwards, but he found the support he needed at Career Link, and this year he earned an A in his first college class, and is set to graduate college in winter of 2025. Any questions that you have tonight. Put a lot of information in the bar. I just have a couple comments. I think the Open Doors policy-- or the program, sorry, is wonderful. I think it bridges the gap of the Highline promise to reach individuals that wouldn't technically achieve whatever they end up doing after they leave the Highline community. And I just think
086it's a wonderful program. I agree. Thank you. I just wanted to say one quickly. Riley, I know in my first year, I had the opportunity to attend the Open Doors graduation at Southwest Youth where I got to meet Mr. Bryan Hayes over there. So if you make sure and get us those dates so we have those two graduation dates, so we can also make sure they're included to the board. We will have a few cards with your name on it already, so we'll get those to you. Thank you. All right, have a good evening. Thank you so much. Thank you, Riley. Next up, we have 10.7, Motion to approve the Final Acceptance of Closeout for McKinstry HVAC Improvements Project, ESSER II/III Funded PO Number P220444. Any questions or comments, directors? Hearing and seeing none, and
087friendly reminder, we have two weeks if we have any other questions or thoughts that come up. For the record, we do not have any items added to the Consent Agenda. And that concludes our agenda for the evening. Can I have a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Can I get a second? I second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Hearing and seeing none, we are adjourned for the evening. Thank you, folks. Have a great, lovely evening. [APPLAUSE]