School Board Meeting - May 3, 2023

001Well, good evening. Welcome to our regular scheduled board meeting on Wednesday, May 3rd. And please stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Roll call, please. Director Garcia. Here. Director Alvarez. Here. Director Hagos. Here. Director Van. Here, and Director Howell has an excused absence, and to my left is Dr. Ivan Duran, our superintendent. Any calls or changes to the board meeting agenda this evening? Yeah, I have one change. I'd like to move that the intro action item 9.1 is moved to the next board meeting, please. Motion is to move intro action item 9.1. The 2023-24 board meetings to our next board meeting. Do

002we have a second? I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. All right, we have lots of recognitions tonight. So 2.1, our Teacher Appreciation Month. All right, and I'll kick that one off. So we'd love to call up a few people when I read through this, and they're going to say a few words about the roots. Whereas teachers make public schools great, and whereas teachers open students' minds to ideas, knowledge and dreams, and where teachers keep American democracy alive by laying the foundation for good citizenship, and where teachers fill many roles as listeners, explorers, role models, motivators, and mentors, and whereas teachers continue to influence as long after our school days are only memories, and whereas the Washington office of Superintendent Public Instruction celebrates teachers May 1st through 5th, and the National Parent

003Teacher Association celebrates teachers May 8th through the 12th. Now therefore the School Board and Superintendent Filing Public Schools do hereby proclaim May 23rd as Teacher Appreciation Month in highlighting further encourage all students to observe this month by taking time to recognize and acknowledge the impact of teachers on our lives. I'd like to invite our HEA President, Sandy Hunt, to the microphone, Beverly Pecorro from Maritime, and Garrett Contour from Beau Lake, and Deborah Strayer, who is also serving as one of our guest teachers on a regular basis. Please come to the microphone. All right. Thank you for that proclamation. I guess this is my last opportunity to celebrate Teacher Appreciation as a member of Highline, as I am retiring. So I wanted to take this opportunity to invite our Gold Star winners. We have our Teacher

004of the Year, and our Rookie Teacher of the year here, and our guests teachers should be celebrated for all they do to keep our schools moving, and functioning, and successful, so please take it away. Like she said, I am Bev Pecorro. I teach at Maritime High School. This is my 16th year as a teacher, and my 7th in the district, and I just feel very grateful to work alongside everyone here, to know every student by name, strength, and need. And as I was thinking about how people can appreciate teachers, two words came to mind, and it was trust teachers. We have years of experience. Most of us in this district have Master's degrees. National boards, we work nights and weekends. We do everything. We give our heart and soul to this profession, and so to

005outsiders, to naysayers, trust the teachers. We've put in our blood, sweat, and tears to get to know the students in the district, and know their needs, and support them the best we can, so thank you. [APPLAUSE] Hello, my name is Garrett Contale. I am a first year teacher at Bow Lake Elementary. I teach Elementary General Music and 5th Grade Band, and I'm also this year's Rookie Teacher of the Year for the Gold Star awards, so just kind of a few thoughts. As an elementary music teacher, we often wear a lot of hats. Oftentimes, I am one of the first experiences students have with music in the classroom. So appreciation looks like a few different things. Appreciation looks like students engaging in music every day. Appreciation looks like families and school community supporting and engaging with

006their students in conversations surrounding music. Appreciation looks like an administration that supports Fine Arts throughout the entire school year. Appreciation looks like investing in Fine Arts, and then a few words just to leave you with it. Music education is for everyone. Music education is inclusive, and music education matters. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Good evening. My name is Deborah Strayer, and my first experience in the Highline School District was in 1958 when I was at kindergarten at Sunnydale. And it is now 2023, and over that time period, I've graduated from here. I came back as a substitute, substituted for a while, and then I taught in the district for 26 years full time. And now I substitute, and I can say that I have substituted in every middle school and high school program. I've made it to

007Maritime this year. I've been to Aviation. I've been to New Start, and I have a feel that my appreciation for the work that everyone does in the district to support students. We have wonderful programs. We have wonderful teachers and students, but one that struck me the best was a substitute that I used, and she said, when I was over at Evergreen, that as a substitute, we're just there not to change things, but make things go smoothly. And that's Lisa Peterson. She's one of our Gold Star substitutes, but all of our substitutes are great, but I just wanted to mimic her words. Thank you. Wonderful. Well, come on up. We'll take a quick photo with everybody. [APPLAUSE] All right, and fun fact-- last year, I realized Deb and my husband were in the same graduating class

008at Highline High School. [LAUGHTER] No, I think he graduated with my sister, Sue. Oh, sorry-- sister Sue. There we go. All right, so are you inviting-- did you want everybody, or just? [APPLAUSE] The Next recognition is Arts Education Month. All right, I am very fortunate to make this proclamation. Whereas the arts embodies much of the accumulated wisdom, and intellect, and imagination of humankind, and whereas the learning and art enhances and enriches the lives of all students, and whereas the arts play a unique role in the lives of families in our communities, and whereas all children deserve a quality art education, and whereas art education can teach creative problem solving and cultural knowledge, and whereas the arts offer multiple pathways to understanding for different types of learners, and whereas arts education increases connections between teacher students

009and their communities. Now, therefore, the School Board and Superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim May as Arts Education Month. You want to invite Everyone up Invite Teresa Fornoski from Seahorse Elementary School to accept this. [APPLAUSE] And you're more than welcome to say a few words, if you like. Thank you. I'd like to share a little bit about Seahorse as a microcosm of Highline, and how just recently we had our multicultural night, and how important the arts were in reflecting the culture and traditions through art, and music, and having a professional mariachi band, and having our band play mucho mariachi preceding them, and just the visual artwork all around that the students had created along with the songs that went with their art that they could listen to on video. And all the effort

010that our community came together to create that, and sharing, and honoring is so important, and that is what Highline is all about. And it continues to grow in those beautiful directions through all the arts, and thank you for all of the support to continue to make that happen. Wonderful, thank you. Come on up. We'll do a quick photo. And the next recognition is for School Nurse Day. OK, here we go. Whereas our children are our future, and by investing in them today we are securing our business, our community, and state leaders of tomorrow. And whereas the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our children is paramount to their growth and development, and whereas Highline School nurses are dedicated health care professionals who work in collaboration with families, school, and communities to develop and promote comprehensive

011health care programs for our youth. And whereas in addition to providing for students' immediate health needs, school nurses continually promote healthy lifestyles, and provide health and safety education to students and staff. Now therefore, the School Board and Superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim that May 10th, 2023, is National School Nurse Day, and highlight and further encourage all Highline citizens to promote the good health of our students, and recognize school nurses for their contributions to the health of our children. Great. I'd like to invite Bradley Lehrer, Director of Health Services. Sherry Taylor, Lead Nurse, Nyesha Erickson, RN, Trina Geist, LPN, and Rosalie Bender-Lee, or anyone else that you brought up. I think that's everyone. Come on up. [LAUGHTER] Opportunity. I actually didn't prepare any words. [APPLAUSE] I do know that the team is so

012thankful to be able to serve with our students, and especially in a setting that's a very large primary care setting, and I think something that is so beneficial to the outcomes that we're looking to achieve with our province, so anyone else? [CLAPPING] OK. All right, wonderful. Thank you. [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] And our last one is our School Lunch Hero Day recognition. Whereas nutritious meals at school are an essential part of school day, and whereas the staff of the District School Meals and Nutrition Department are committed to providing healthful nutritious meals to the district's children, and whereas the men and women who prepare and serve meals help nurture our children through their daily interactions and support. Now therefore, the School Board and Superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim Friday, May 5th as School Lunch Hero

013Day in Highline, and call upon all Highland citizens to express their appreciation to these valuable employees, and I commend their good work on behalf of children. Thank you. All right. I'd love to invite Lisa Johnson, Grace Garcia, from Hilltop, Kitchen Lead. Tiasha Ward from Cascade, Kitchen Helper, and I think you have one more that joined you. Julia Webb. All right, welcome. Congratulations. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Well, here in Highline, our staff are rock stars. We are on track to serve 2 million meals this year, and for all of you parents out there, you can relate that feeding kids, sometimes it's challenging. We want them to be happy every day. We want them to like what we're serving every day, and we work really hard. But we also want to work with the local farmers and introduce

014new foods, so be looking for Washington asparagus. It's coming. [LAUGHTER] So thanks, everyone, and we hope that everyone recognizes all of our wonderful heroes that are serving our meals this Friday. Thank you. Wonderful, thank you. And always. Come on up. [APPLAUSE] OK, everybody. OK, and before we move on to our school presentation by Des Moines Elementary School, I would like to have a point of privilege that just came right off the presses, so it's hot. Catherine Carbone Rodgers has been selected as its 2023 Berry Gaskins Mentor Legacy Winner, so give her a round of applause. [APPLAUSE] This national award recognizes an individual for their deep commitment in supporting and mentoring school communication colleagues. Catherine is everything you want in a chief communication officer. She exudes servant leadership, superior professionalism, and a keen talent for developing

015others. She is known in our community for being a clear and trusted source of information. She is an expert at honoring many perspectives while remaining committed to Highline's promise. A storyteller at her core, she centered student, family, and staff voice through all facets of her work. Catherine's leadership is invaluable not just to Highline, but her colleagues across the state and nation. She is a strong advocate for the school communications profession at a regional and national level. She is always willing to help a colleague in another district through a crisis, difficult situation, or new challenge. She has built an exemplary body of work that serves as a model for others across North America. Thank you, Catherine, for your leadership in Highline over the last two decades. So everybody give Catherine another hand. [APPLAUSE] And come on

016up for the photo opportunity. Ha, ha, ha. Surprise. All right, and next up, it's going to be our school presentation. Welcome, Dr. Jennifer Riding to do the introduction, our Chief Academic Officer. Good evening, everyone. As was named, I'm Jennifer, a Chief Academic Officer, and previous proud parent and Administrator at Des Moines Elementary, so it is with sincere privilege that I welcome up, and introduce Rick Wiesen and Rebecca Williams, Principal and Assistant Principal. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. School Board members, School Board President Jovan, Superintendent Dr. Duran, and members of the community, it is an honor to be in front of you this evening, to tell a little bit about the Des Moines story. My name is Rick Weisen. I'm the proud Principal, and this is Rebecca Williams, my Assistant Principal. If we have any members of the

017Des Moines family-- I know we have a couple-- if they could just be if stand and be recognized. There's one in the back, one of my proud families, and [INAUDIBLE], and Alessandro. There's Alessandro right there. [APPLAUSE] So when we talk about the promise, that's what we're talking about, is how we support all of our students to be the best they can be, to build confidence, and thinking about how we can help them get to our promise, which is really about every student name, strength, and need prepared to graduate and choose a future that they so choose. And we get the privilege every day to be able to work alongside our students, and really help them grow, and get to that place. So at Des Moines, we have two key strategies that were really our priorities

018that we really have been focusing on, really thinking about culturally relevant and inclusive practices that are supporting what we're really doing for our students on a daily basis. And the first one is building positive connections, so it's paramount that we are always thinking about how we can support each student so they have the confidence necessary to be successful, and the second priority is monitoring growth. So how do we know how they're doing? How do we monitor that progress, and help build on their learning on a day-to-day basis? So priority one is really about that sense of connectedness and sense of belonging, so it's thinking about what structures can we put in place-- and this year we've been very intentional about building and conferring sessions one-on-one, so every student has the opportunity to work with their

019teacher, and other staff members, really thinking about what does it look like, what does it sound like, for that student to know that they are known by others, that we know that they understand, also, that they're like, oh, I am a learner, and this is exactly what this looks like, and sounds like. And so those happen daily. We are conferring daily with all of our students. Knowing social, emotional, academic strengths, so it's up to us to not only just the academics, but also what are the needs of the students have on a daily basis that might be outside of the academic component. And then it's also thinking about our ABCs. So we have the ABCs-- always try, and be respectful, responsible, and cooperate with others. And so everything we do, if you come into the

020school, is around the ABCs. And it's really about promoting confidence, promoting identity. It's about sharing good times with kids, and helping them be happy. It's about building citizens, so those are the ABCs of Des Moines, and they've been there for a while. So priority two is about monitoring growth. So that is some practices that we've been engaging in as a staff to really help us know where our students are. So formative assessments is one of the areas of which we've really focused on, and I would say that is something that's really big, but we're really focusing on how we are very intentionally knowing how students are progressing on a daily basis within a week's time, within a month's time, within a quarter's time, in a year's time. And so that is consistently happening. We use

021rubrics, so the rubrics are in place for us to help students to guide them, so they understand where they might be now, and where they're going. So thinking about that trajectory of learning, and so we're really thinking about what that looks like, and showcasing that is a really important part of the instruction. We provide feedback, so that's daily and happening all the time, that students will pick up on the feedback we give them, and that tells a lot about how they feel at school. And so we're very intentional about the feedback we're providing for students, and thinking about really building that confidence, again, and support, by being very intentional about, and precise, with the types of words we're using when we talk with students, and also administrators with the adults, as well. And then the

022PLC process. So that is our process by which how we work as a team of adults to really think about what the instruction looks like. It's that whole process of [AUDIO OUT] assessments we're going to use to monitor how students are doing, instruct. [AUDIO OUT] and do some assessments, again, and reflect on that practice, and [AUDIO OUT].. So delivering on the promise. So there's lots of different ways, I would say, that it is essentially connected to an adult. [AUDIO OUT] feel that [AUDIO OUT] Whether it's to celebrate, if it's they have a need for support, so connecting every student to an adult is essential. [AUDIO OUT] Dedicated to the process by which we [AUDIO OUT] The adjustment [AUDIO OUT] For students across the board that [AUDIO OUT] process, or that [AUDIO OUT] Which is our

023class meeting, so that's a structure you would see in every classroom, every day. And that's designed, really, to [AUDIO OUT] sort of practices. [AUDIO OUT] Every classroom, it's on our master schedule, and it is a priority. [AUDIO OUT] Reading partners, we have a LEGO club, which is super fun, but it's hard to get in because a lot of people want to come. [AUDIO OUT] City of Des Moines [AUDIO OUT] Rotary, which there are members here who have been very supportive with us, as well. South King County Fire and Rescue provides some clothing for us, and our wonderful PTS, which are providing resources, materials, tutoring, [AUDIO OUT] In their school, and obviously-- but I have two that I would like to share with you this evening. So Julia Ramos is a fourth grader [AUDIO OUT] I'm

024going to cue the video, and then we'll get a chance to hear from them. My name is Julia, and I'm in fourth grade at Des Moines [AUDIO OUT] Hi, Julia. It's nice to see you today. Thank you so much for being here. [AUDIO OUT] First, I'm really interested in knowing [AUDIO OUT] Oh, this is a good idea, so I start writing my own. That's also another good thing that I'm good at. Very nice, and what are your goals in reading? My goals are to get into a fifth grade, sixth grade level of reading, so yeah. Very nice, and how does your teacher help you with either reading, or writing, or just as a learner? She helps us correct our answers, but in a good way. So if we get something wrong, she's like, oh. I'll

025help you, so she says this, and yeah. Perfect, and how is she helping you? She helps me by communicating. We meet with some of my classmates, and it helps me not stutter a lot because I stutter so much that you can't really understand me, and it helps me because people are like, oh, it's this. And I was like, oh, OK. And I can't really communicate, talk with people as much, because I get really nervous. So she helps me with my communications. Very nice, and just one last question. If there was one thing you'd like to see different at Des Moines, or something we could be thinking about to make it better, what could that be? I don't know. Everything's perfect here. Ooh, I love that answer. Well, maybe we'll think about other things in the

026future, but thank you so much. I appreciate your time. That was great. I couldn't help it. It was a one-take, and-- [LAUGHTER] --all right, now we have [AUDIO OUT] Manaea. So my name is Manaea, and my daughter is Tuimanu. Very nice, so thank you so much for coming today, just an opportunity to hear from our families a little bit about what their experience is here at Des Moines, and our Des Moines promise is really centered on knowing that every student is someone who is known, that they know that we believe in them, that we see them. We hear them. And so from your perspective as a parent, how has that gone for Nunu. Well, for her, she's definitely heard. I think everybody knows her. Even if it's not her first name, it's her nickname, Nunu,

027and everyone calls her that. It's not just the staff, too. It's the students. The students also know her, but yeah. She's done so much better. When we first came in, she was having a hard time because I didn't know, and was thankfully-- to your staff, too-- the teachers were very well-equipped to tell me what could be happening with her, as well. Just the interaction between her, the staff, as well as me and the staff, then helping me, and then helping her, and then, it's just, yeah. If you had asked me how my school was during this time, I wouldn't have got any of this type of help. But having her be able to do that, and having a school that she's able to get that? I couldn't have asked for more, to be honest. That's

028great. I appreciate that. So if you wanted more from Des Moines, so what would that look like? What would be something else you would like us to think about? Well, you guys are already doing something that I thought would have been a good idea, but you guys were already implementing it, and that's the fact that it's not a special education class, per se. It's true that that's where they are, but they also have a secondary class that's in their grade that they're able to go. And I love that because I didn't like when they were treated different, and it helps not just those who are having different social issues to integrate into, how do you interact with people who are considered normal? But also, how they are able to interact with people who have special

029needs because then it's not so much of a, oh, don't talk to them because they're this, or whatever, and I love that. I would have suggested that, but you already do it. [AUDIO OUT] Any time you get the opportunity to hear from your families, and we have a lot of work to do, just like any school. And fundamentally, it is really just thinking about how, on a day-to-day basis, we can do our priorities in service of the promise. But we celebrate. There's lots to celebrate. So in terms of a panorama, so thinking about social emotional, 95% of our students indicated that goal setting or social emotional learning was a strength, and that's great to hear because goal setting is something we've been really working on with our conferences. In academics, so in reading, we have

03011% increase in students who are at or above grade level from fall to winter in the I-Ready Assessment, and the 19% of students that were two or more grade levels below decrease from fall to winter. So we're seeing that progress, and we're expecting to see it continue this spring. We're just doing now, that assessment, so we're looking forward to that. And then in terms of an adult practice, so we have professional cycles of learning. And so it is an opportunity for teams of staff to come together, and really be able to focus. We focused on our two priorities, so conferencing and formative assessment were the two that we did. And actually, Ms. Williams and I are off stage during those. Are times for the adults to get together, and really practice, and show each other

031what's happening in the classrooms. So we had a multitude of opportunities where those staff members have been able to do that, and really organically building that efficacy and agency that we want to see from our staff. So it's really exciting to see that happen, and it's good. So next steps, so we are lucky to be working with West End, an outside organization to work on developing academic parent teacher teams, and so that's APPT for short. We are really focusing on how we can build more consistent opportunities to connect with our families, more so formally than we've done before. And so this will allow us to have a series of more interactions at grade levels or groups to come in and just really talk about goal setting-- well, to talk about the promise-- but to talk

032about goal setting, talk about the ways in which we can connect at the school, and with families. We're part of a cohort of schools that are focusing on inclusion, so thinking about how we can really build our practices to support all students getting all support in different ways. And so that's another area that we continue to work, and then universal design for learning. So thinking about equitable experiences for students, and how we can really build choice, and different avenues to be able to have students access content. So those are some areas and next steps for us that we're going to continue to build on, and finally, just again, as principal, I want to take the opportunity just to say thank you very much for being able to share just a little bit of Des Moines

033with you this evening. Very proud, and a great place, a great community, and happy to serve. Wonderful, thank you. Thank you very much. [APPLAUSE] Any questions from the board here? I'm going to start with Director Garcia? No questions, just thank you so much for all the hard work. Thank you very much. Director Hagos? OK, yeah. I can go. I do notice how much effort you and the school team is putting into having all the work aligned to the district mission and vision around the Highline promise. It's evident in your own buildings mission. I was reading through that the other day, and it's very clear that you've embedded it into your school buildings mission. It's in the priorities that you have, and it's in the celebrations that you have. The data is also showing, so I

034know that you're putting a lot of work into that. You cannot miss that, and I appreciate that work. I wanted to say the evidence of success with the 95% goal setting, that's amazing. I mean, we teach that in the highschool and beyond plan work, and we can't-- eighth graders are struggling with that. So to have that accomplished in kindergarten through fifth grade, and it's directly related to future planning, I love seeing that. And also, your MTSS work around decreasing around the 20% of students with the highest academic need, decreasing the amount of years that they are behind. So I can see that the MTSS work is also being applied, and used, and kids are seeing some progress. So that's wonderful, as well. I will say that I know that although our MLL students, or ELL

035learners, have less growth, just in general for ELA. But I am pleased to see that there is absolutely no disproportionality in math-- zero. It was amazing. I loved reading through that data, as well. And so I do have a question. I noticed that you guys have a preschool program, and I'm curious to learn how long has that program been in the Des Moines Elementary. So about three years. We had one program, and then we built it to two, and so it's awesome, and it's never a dull day on the campus at Des Moines. But it just enriches the opportunity within our school to have that continuum. Some of those students will stay at Des Moines as they transition to kindergarten. Some will likely be in other schools, but oftentimes it's just the reminder you need

036at the beginning of the day, as you see a three-year-old walk in. And you're like, that's why we're doing this work. And then when you go to the fifth grade class, you're validated by it. Have you noticed an increase or improved readiness for the learning standards for kindergartners as they come in? Yeah, I would say yes. I would say more so with our Ready K programs. So we also have a Ready K program, which is actually, theoretically, those students that are going to enter into kindergarten next year. They come after the school year is started, so yes, I would definitely say from my experience that when they come in the door in September, that they've already got a sense of what this is going to look like, and what this is going to feel like.

037And so that's the spirit of that program, and then also for those pre-K programs that I mentioned, those are opportunities for families, as well, to be in, and enculterate into the school, and really see what that's going to look like, and feel like. Because obviously there's oftentimes a jump from pre-K to kinter, and it's like this new world, right? And so it really is an opportunity for them to come in. We have a field trip coming up where an outside organization's preschool programs is going to come in, and we're going to show them what it looks at lunch, just all those kind of things that I would want my child to have experience with before starting in school, and I would want to, as a parent, be able to have a sense of. Thank you.

038I'm glad that's the case. I do have one more question. I am impressed with last year's percentage around attendance rate. It was phenomenal. About 90% of your kids were showing up. 93, yeah. I was floored by that number, and it's exciting because we know the impact of attendance on student learning. So to see that what National Research shows is if you missed 10% or more, you academically fall behind, as well as social emotional struggles. But with that number, it shows that wasn't the case for your school. That's exciting to see. However, there's a dip this past year, and I'm curious. It's about a 20% dip. It's pretty high. I know that the priority number one talks about that connection to kids, and my hope is that those connections help to get those kids back up

039with their healthy school-going habits. Yeah, and we have a team that regularly looks-- I think, every Wednesday, correct?-- that looks at our data, and looks at our attendance rates, and thinks about who do we need to connect with. How are we going to connect? Checking in with families on that personal level to ask about what we can do to help support students being here every day, and a lot of times it is case-by-case basis. We look for trends just like anybody would, but yeah. Ultimately, the goal is that the more you feel you're connected with a place, in this case, Des Moines Elementary, the more you're going to want to be there. It's a beautiful campus, and last thing I just want to say is I did notice that you guys have surpassed your pre-pandemic

040academic outcome for science for the number of percentage of kids that have met their Science Standards, so kudos. To all of our teachers in that regard. Thank you, Director Hagos. Direct Alvarez? Just good to hear, like music to my ears around the preschool, and that connection. It's just a blessing to be able to walk in. Those kids already have been in that school before, and so you know, nothing new coming in. They're just moving on up. I also wanted to just say thank you. I saw that you also highlighted the adult learning. I think it's important. A lot of times we tend to forget. I know everyone's doing it, but I think highlighting it it's important. It's important to get those teachers in there, and having those PLCs, and if we are lifelong learners, we

041all could use some either refresher, or just continuing our learning, so thank you for highlighting that. And thank you for all you're doing. Director Hagos has amazing stats around all these incredible things you're doing. I learned a lot today, as well, but Thank you again. It's been just awesome to hear all the work that's happening. Well, and it's continuing, right? Thank you so much, and I do have one question around your academic success. These numbers are just phenomenal-- just doing some additional research. So can you just tell me what the strategies are for the 11% increase from fall to winter, and then also the decrease from the two levels or below? Yeah, I think it's priority one, and priority two. I think it really is knowing students, and knowing where they are, and I really

042think it is about setting up systems within the school such as our conferences that happen consistently, where we can have those ongoing conversations with students. We're really wanting them to be aware of who they are as a learner. And we have to be also thinking about where they are as a person. And so it's those conferences is a really critical part of that, and then I also think it's about MTSS structure. So it's thinking about the team that we have at Des Moines that looks at the data, confers with teachers, thinks about what's going well, where do we need to make adjustments, thinks about the curriculum, and thinks about all those types of pieces. Our MTTS component of that really does allow us to really monitor consistently, and I think what you monitor gets done.

043So I think that's kind of the notion of it, and it's not easy. I will mention that it is not easy. It's challenging. It's hard to keep these systems going sometimes, but it is intentional on our part to make sure that we are consistently doing that. I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Wonderful. I just want to thank you, and did you want to at all have the family come up and say anything at all, or were you-- I know they came, so. Well, I think she's going to be coming up. OK, there she. Oh, she's out there with her-- we'll just wave to her. I think she's here for another reason-- She might come out. She's here for another reason, but she's also-- Awesome, very good. [LAUGHTER] OK, thank you. Well, thank you very

044much for your presentation. Thank you very much. [APPLAUSE] All right, as we move to our public testimony, on behalf of the board, we would like to thank you for coming and speaking this evening. Our norms and rules are posted up on the screen, so please be mindful that you're here to speak to the board, and there may be students here, or watching, that are playing that are paying attention to your words. In addition, the board will not be able to respond directly to you about your testimony during the meeting. We have a full slate tonight. We have 20-plus, additional 4 on the wait list. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to call the first two up, and then once those two are done, I'll call the next two up, so we can

045get those moving. First up, Keshana Russell, and Elsa Robbins. [APPLAUSE] On behalf of Tyee staff and other district educators, we urgently raise our concern about the reduction of FTD in the Tyee Counseling Department for the upcoming school year. Despite the district's positive change in reducing counselor to student ratios, Tyee will be the only high school in the district to lose a counselor. The projected enrollment numbers do not adequately address the student needs, and the counseling workload, and the actual enrollment numbers consistently surpasses projections. Tyee has the highest percentage of students in special education, multi-language learners, McKinney Vento, and low income students. For example, when looking at the specific need categories, Tyee counselors will be serving a counselor to student ratio that is 59% higher for students in special education, 61% higher in males, and 55%

046higher for homeless students if we reduce to three counselors. Lastly, we appealed to board policy 50.10, which emphasizes retention practices for a high quality, diverse workforce. The counselor being displaced matches not only the demographics of the student body, but is also an alumni of Tyee High School. By retaining a fourth counselor, specifically, Kiana Russell, the district will demonstrate its alignment to the board policy around the retention of staff of color. As Tyee is a highly diverse school, maintaining staff of color in the counseling department shows we are committed to the diverse needs of our students. We urge you to move this issue to the consent agenda, and vote to keep four counselors at Tyee. Your support in maintaining four counselors at Tyree will undoubtedly be a profound and positive impact on our students, and their

047well-being. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Next up, Linda Lambert and Kimberly Rodriguez. Hi, I'm Aisiera Robins. Sorry if I missed my call, busy mom here. My name is Aisiera Robins. Good evening, buenos noches. I'm one of the counselors at Tyee High Shool, and I'm here to express my concerns regarding losing a fourth counselor. I have been working for the district for almost eight years, six of them I worked as a bilingual educator and family liaison at Evergreen High School. When I worked over there, I was able to learn the diverse needs of Evergreen students, so when I transferred to Tyee High School, I was excited to keep working with the same students. However, when I became a counselor at Tyee, I was blown away with the need and the challenges that our students face. For that reason,

048I'm strongly advocating to keep a fourth counselor, Keshana Russell, who is a Black counselor, somebody that graduated from Tyee, and somebody that matches our demographics. As a mother of a student in the Highland School District, I cannot imagine how confusing it's going to be for parents, or guardians and families, to realize that their student might be able to have multiple school counselors throughout their high school career. As a mother of a child with a disability, autism, I cannot stress how heartbroken I am to realize that our students in the special education program are going to be highly impacted. For that reason, I'm asking you to please reconsider this. We would appreciate if you can take a look at the multiple layers of complication that this is going to affect our students, families, community, and the

049Tyee staff. Please move this matter to the consent agenda, and vote to keep four counselors at Tyee. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] [LAUGHTER] Oh, he's hiding in there. That's nice. Linda Lambert, and Kimberly Rodriguez. Hi, I want to thank you so much for letting me speak today. I've had the privilege to work at Tyee High School for the last 22 years as an Inclusion Special Ed Teacher. In 2001 when I started, we were a school for just over a week when we started to help our students process September 11th. There's been a lot of changes in that time to our school, our community, to our world, and to our students. The students we have now are very different than the students we had in 2001, but one thing hasn't changed, and that is our students need to

050drive our focus. At Tyee, as we started a comprehensive high school, and then we went to small schools, and then we came back to comprehensive, it was all with the focus to better our students. I'm here today to ask if we can continue to do what's in the best interest of our students, and drive that focus. Because of boundary changes, the number of students Tyee has has decreased, but that doesn't mean the needs have. Looking at numbers on paper, that doesn't show the adequateness of what our students are needing. The daily trauma that the students are experiencing just alone in my classroom has increased. I know just this week I've already had to contact our counselors five times to ask for their support, and I'm only one teacher, and this is only Wednesday. I can't

051imagine how many requests they receive a week, and that's in addition to supporting students with high school graduation requirements, testing, and scheduling. Our counselors provide a place where our students feel safe and heard. I ask that you, as the school board, you make a decision focused on the needs of the students, and help advocate to allocate the resources so we can maintain four counselors. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Kimberly Rodriguez. Hello, good evening. My name is Kimberly Rodriguez I teach at Glacier Middle School, and I'm here to advocate for maintaining four counselors at Tyee High School. I am reading a letter in-- how do I say this? Another coworker, Eric Henry, is not here. It's very important for his voice and words to be heard, so I'm reading the letter in behalf of him. "My name is

052Eric Henry. I work in credit recovery at my high school, and in this role of getting students to graduation, I work with the counseling department almost daily. I am so sorry I am not able to attend because of an issue, and I feel this is vitally important to the health and well-being of students. I understand that there are budget constraints, policies, and formulas, and to be honest, there's almost no better place to spend money than at Tyee High School. That will yield direct tangible and life giving benefit for our students, then our counseling team. They are amazing, and they do so much, so well. Our students recognize that, seemingly almost daily, including today. I have students whose live has overwhelmed them. They are not able to concentrate or study, and they have needs that require

053a deeper intervention than us teachers can provide. Already, there is more than our counseling can fully attend. Already, there are more students in their caseload than our counseling team can fully attend to, and the simple math is that if we take away 25% of our counseling team, a lot less students will find the hope, vision, wisdom, direction, access to resources, and direct intervention that makes such a huge difference in their lives. We all, at Tyee, fully recognize this value, and that this is why we have turned out [AUDIO OUT] [APPLAUSE] Can we please have Alison Thomas, and Judith Prado up? Good evening. My name is Allison Thomas. I'm a science teacher at Tyee High School. I would like to speak to the importance of retaining four counselors at Tyee as essential to creating a culture

054of belonging at Tyee. As a teacher, I often recognize students who are not able to focus on learning, or even make it into class because they do not have all of their needs met. This leads to isolation, feeling disconnected from the peers and from the subject matter, and fuels further absences, and a sense of hopelessness in the classroom. I've seen this more and more since the onset of the pandemic. Our counselors are so crucial in providing and connecting students to the appropriate resources they need. However, their workload to support all of these varying student needs is exhausting and unsustainable. In addition to meeting with several students each day, they cover advisories, facilitate restorative justice circles in classrooms, and fulfill many other roles. Our counselors have unmatched knowledge about our students' graduation requirements, and all of

055the inner workings of Tyee. They respond to teacher and family inquiries all day long. I know I often turn to them with questions when I don't know where else to turn. If we lose a counseling position, the workload for the remaining three counselors will be too much, and many student needs will go unmet as a result. Also, significant wisdom will be lost from our campus. I've taught at three high schools. I've observed that the counseling needs, the need to support a sense of belonging, are not equal among all high schools. Tyee has a more significant need, and the equitable action would be to retain four counselors at Tyee to better address those student needs. Thank you for your consideration. [APPLAUSE] I'm a little short. Good afternoon, Superintendent Duran, and the Highline School Board. Thank you

056for taking the time to express our concerns. My name is Judy Prado. I am a Language Coordinator at Tyee High School. I've been with the district for eight years, and I have committed my service to this district at the Tyee campus for the last eight years. I am here today to address the reduction of FTE in that high counseling department, as are my colleagues, for the upcoming year, and what it means for our students, but in particular, I would like to address multilingual English language learners on our campus. While we understand that overall this is a positive change for comprehensive high schools and students across the district, it is a devastating loss on our campus. As the Language Coordinator on campus, I work closely with counselors, and have recently arrived newcomers to determine placement for

057English support along with overall needs, while an orientation meeting for newly enrolled students might take 30 minutes with a counselor, we are looking at 60 to 90 minutes per newcomers, and oftentimes during this meetings, we don't get the opportunity to talk credits on our needs for graduation because we're making sure our other needs are met, which inevitably calls for additional follow up with students and their families. 42% of our students in the Newcomer Program currently, meaning that they have recently arrived, are unaccompanied minors, and are not living with their parents. I am willing to say that this is the most vulnerable student population we serve on campus. Not only are these students trying to manage an adjustment to a new country with a different culture, language, but they're oftentimes, on their own, meeting their families

058and/or sponsors here for the first time. It is a very difficult transition to manage during such critical time and adolescent development, even if the ones that are with parents who have not been with them for years, it can be very difficult to try to build that relationship. I have met countless hours with counselors, social workers, students alike, that supported and connected to-- Thank you. [AUDIO OUT] [APPLAUSE] Andy Newman, and Desiree Robinette. My name is Andy Newman. Good evening. Thank you for having us here today. I've been a classroom teacher at Tyee for 10 years. In March, I shared with you a list of the kinds of needs students at Tyee are bringing with them each day. That list was not exhaustive, nor was it complete, nor did I read it in its entirety, but you

059have this list in front of you today. Today, I wish to acknowledge something a little bit different. I want to acknowledge that around the country pulpits like this in school board meetings have been used to fight, and based on what I saw here in March, this has also been true here in Highline. I also want to acknowledge that I, too, have used this pulpit to fight, and I can imagine that to be on the receiving end of all that fighting is exhausting, and that an act of self-preservation could be to disconnect from what we say here tonight. But tonight, Tyee is not here to fight with you. We really want to work together with you. We want to explore what equity could look like off the paper, beyond the symposium-- the strategic plan in its

060physical form. So please hear the statements tonight as that, an invitation to be creative, a call to work together so that all those students on lists like mine can move through this stage of their life with a consistent, compassionate counselor, who has the time, and is resourced to authentically support them. Perhaps realities are different on different campuses in Highline, but at Tyee, the people most tied to our scholars' success academically, their emotional well-being, and their physical safety, are counselors. Sometimes I can't get them to cross the threshold of my classroom without them. Losing a school counselor means losing part of the foundation that keeps our students rooted here in school. Please accept this invitation to think creatively, and to act boldly with us, and please move this to the consent agenda this evening. Thank you.

061[APPLAUSE] Good evening, board members, President Van, Superintendent Dr. Duran. My name is Desiree Robinette, and I'm a proud teacher at Tyee, and I will be speaking on behalf of Healthpoint. "To whom it may concern, my name is Eli Lotz. I'm a licensed Psychologist and Behavioral Health Provider working at the Healthpoint Teen Center at Tyee High School. I provide behavioral health intervention, and support to students of Tyee high school and Chinook middle school in collaboration with the Tyee and Chinook school counselors. Recently, I was made aware of the district's intention to reduce the counseling staff at Tyee high school for the next school year. I am writing this letter to strongly discourage this decision, as I believe it will cause significant harm to the most vulnerable students at Tyee. Tyee High School serves a population of

062students who have a high likelihood of needing mental health and educational supports due to a disproportionate burden of adverse childhood experiences, and negative impacted social determinants of health. Challenges routinely faced by this population of students include psychological trauma, economic housing instability, food insecurity, immigration stress, language barriers, structural and institutional racism, and difficulty accessing appropriate medical and mental health care. Because of these factors, Tyee students and their families need an extraordinary level of support to overcome barriers to learning, and achieve academic success, and success in social and emotional well-being. School counselors provide an absolutely vital personal connection to resources and supports within the school and broader community. Just this year, I have personally worked with Tyee counselors to help students experiencing onset psychosis, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, disruptive behavior at school, homelessness, emotional,

063physical, sexual abuse, high risk substance use, and many other life-altering barriers to healthy living. Without adequate staffing of the Tyee counseling-- [BEEPING] Thank you for your time. [APPLAUSE] Next up, Jen Truong and Mike Whitfield. Hi, Superintendent Duran, and board directors. Thank you for all of the time and energy you placed into serving our Highline Public Schools community. My name is Jen Truong, and I'm one of the four school counselors at Tyee High School. I'm accountable to the students and families we serve, and as someone accountable to the community we serve, I'm here tonight to strongly urge you to consider allocating the funds required to maintain four counselors at Tyee. I've had the privilege of being at Tyee for almost 10 years, and the level of mental health needs on this campus is at its highest.

064Post-pandemic, I truly believe that we are still continuing to uncover the very real impacts of isolation, grief, and loss that occurred over the last few years. This year alone, I am serving students who are facing unstable housing, physical, emotional, sexual abuse, depression, and anxiety, suicidal ideation, and numerous mental health diagnoses of bipolar disorder, PTSD, eating disorders, and the highest number of onset of psychosis that I've ever experienced in my time as an educator. Those are only some of the experiences of only one fourth of our population that happens to be on my caseload. I've just highlighted some of the mental health needs of our campus, but remember that school counselors at the school also support students with academic, college, and career goals. I am accountable to these students, and adding 60 more to my caseload

065means each student at Tyee will get a lot less support. The updated contract to increase the counseling support across the district is a huge win. However, Tyee is the only secondary school to face a loss in counseling support. The Tyee student community needs and deserves to maintain four counselors, especially now. To practice equity, our district uses the equity lens to make decisions. Question two of equity lens asks, does this decision have unintended consequences, such as ignoring or worsening existing disparities? Displacing one is an unintended consequence. [BEEPING] Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Got to put this mic up a little bit. Sorry about that. Dear members of the board, and superintendent Doran, thank you for the time. As your School Counseling Department Chair at Tyee High School, I'm here to speak to you about your strategic plan, and

066the critical issue that's facing our school next year. Because of the decision made to assign counselors based on numerical caseloads, Tyee is suffering an unintended consequence of losing the vital support of a school counselor. This loss will seriously impact our ability to execute the strategic plan that you've laid out for us in a number of ways. We're all here tonight to ask for your help. The equal policy of using student caseload counting is not an equitable choice to meet the needs of our students. Tyee's population is unique, with students from 49 countries that speak 46 languages. We have higher ratios of students experiencing homelessness and poverty, higher ratios of students served in the ML support program, higher ratios of students served in special education. Our raw count of students does not accurately demonstrate the needs

067of our campus. Maintaining four counselors a Tyee is a rare opportunity to serve the actual need of our students. Yet, to be clear, this is not a decision that sets precedent. Rather, it is unprecedented. The story of our campus is different. The needs of our students are different. This moment in time with its legislation policy, campus change over, the COVID recovery, represent a singular instance. This is an ask, one ask, for one call, for one campus, one time. In two years, Tyee will return to the brand new campus that's being built. When we do, it is likely that more students will come, and more than three counselors will be needed even if we only follow the current ratios laid out. So why not give our students the support they need with regard to mental health,

068SEL, graduation, post-secondary planning college, and career success, and more? For two years, you can make this move that will likely come to pass in the future, anyway, which protects our students from losing another trusted adult from their lives, and provides the continuity of care to our students who so desperately need that stable support. I urge you to consider the myriad of voices ringing out from Tyee through our staff and student speakers tonight. Please move this item from onto the agendas, and vote to maintain four school counselors at Tyee. Thank you for your time. [APPLAUSE] Next up, Scott Morrison and [INAUDIBLE].. Hello. Thank you for having me. My name is Scott Morrison. I'm a teacher at Tyee. I made a mistake, which is I did not write down what I was going to say ahead of

069time, but I'm going to do my best. I guess the bottom line for me is this is something that we deserve as a school. Our students deserve to have four counselors. Our staff deserve to have four counselors. Our counselors all deserve to be here. They've all worked really hard. You've heard so many good points tonight from everybody else that's spoken. I don't really have too much to add on all of that, other than just to reiterate what they've already said, and just say again, we deserve this. Our students deserve this. Our students have a lot of ACES, Adverse Childhood Experiences. They need a lot of support. Our counselors really help a lot giving our students what they need to be successful in every aspect of their lives. Not just completing schoolwork, but with everything. They

070deserve this. We all deserve this. That's it, thanks. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Sorry. Hi, my name is Sadpreet Kaur, and I teach Biology ML Biology, and Newcomer ML English at Tyee High School. Some of the first words that our newcomer ML Students learn to say in English are bathroom, counselor, and soccer. The words we've learned first in a new language are often the ones that are especially meaningful to us. All kids got to go to the bathroom in school, and a huge number of our students love soccer, but something that I think is really special about Tyee is that the super-strong relationships that our students build with their counselors. Our ML students are incredibly resilient individuals who are navigating life in a new country, in a new language. They often come to the United States for

071a whole host of reasons, which a large number of them, unfortunately, fleeing violence and other challenging circumstances in their home country. Our ML students need lots of supports in a new country. Supports including accessing basic Human Services like food and shelter, support with accessing mental health supports, especially if they're coming in with a history of trauma, support with navigating academics and education in a whole new country, support with just being a teenager, and basic teenage drama stuff. So our counselors are crucial for cultivating a sense of belonging in school for all of our students, but especially for ML students, who are some of our most vulnerable students. As a school, around 33% of our students qualify for ML services. We currently have four counselors at Tyee, but with the reduced number of counselors next year,

072the caseload ratio of counselors to ML students will be 1 to 87 ML students, which compared to Mount Rainier High School, they would be at 1 to 54 ML students. That's a 61% difference. Equity is different from equality. Equity is about doing what is just, and what is right. It is about giving the most resources to the most vulnerable, so that everyone has equal opportunity. I am asking you as a teacher to please do the equitable thing, and help us maintain four counselors at Tyee High School. Thank you for considering our request. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Heather Pancreats, and then Katie Kressley. Hello, my name is Heather Pancreats, and I'm currently a student at Seattle University School Counseling Master's Program, and I'm a current Student Intern at Tyee High School. Also, as of February, I'm

073a part time school counselor there at the school. And a reduction in counselor staffs means that next year, they will not be able to support future interns, which impacts their ability to give to the counseling world. I am currently reading a letter from Michael Borges, the registrar at Tyee high school. So, "I have become aware that Tyee will lose one of the amazing counselors at the end of the school year. Keshawna Russell has been exemplary school counselor that I have worked with for a number of years. The reduction in staffing with the counseling department would be felt in several ways. One, our current estimated enrolments for the 2023 to '24 school year are 683, which is about where our current student population is this year. The current caseload for counselors is averaging 171.5 students per

074counselor. Next year, this number would rise to 228, a sizable difference. Two, as of today, we have gained approximately 150 new students since the beginning of '22 to '23 school year. That is 21% of our current student population. New students who enroll after the start of the year require counselors to work with the registrar to review and evaluate transcripts from past schools, and create a schedule tailored to the student's educational needs. If we see the number of enrollments in the new school year, the loss of a counselor would be felt deeply. Three, I sincerely believe that counselors shouldering the redistributed workload would hamper the school's ability to find creative and supportive solutions to our current students day-to-day challenges, just of being a teenager in this current social climate. On a personal note, when I was

075in high school, I only went to my counselors to change a schedule, or to discuss college plans. They now help students navigate everything-- [BEEPING] Thank you for your time. [APPLAUSE] Good evening, directors. My name is Katie, and first off, I would like to support the counselors at Tyee. And for the rest of my time, I would like to cede to Patty-- or to Patricia-- who is going to continue speaking about the strategic plan. As stated previously, schools have become indoctrination centers for a new state religion, a sexual identity cult. It promulgates the idea one can be born in the wrong body. This reveals the overt religious nature of this belief system, as it posits a body separate from an apparent soul, and the soul being inserted in the mismatched body with different pronouns needed. You

076can imagine how uncomfortable it makes students of other faiths and beliefs feel when they are asked the pronouns. They're being invalidated and alienated with this kind of overt bias. That's why the recent actions of a Southwest Washington South School District are so important, and present us with changes that can be taken immediately in Highline. [INAUDIBLE] of Seattle of school districts has stopped teachers from asking students for their pronouns. Superintendent Rosenkranz explained, quote, "we need to provide an inclusive environment for all our students, including those who think differently," unquote. Teachers will accommodate students who voluntarily ask the teacher to use names or pronouns different from the ones listed on the school records, but the parents would also be informed of those changes. This way parents can help their child, who may be suffering from depression, undue

077peer pressure, or other mental issues. An outside commission agreed with the superintendent, stating that asking students for pronouns could be psychologically damaging at a time in their lives when they are all prone to confusion. Let's follow Law Center School District's lead to help all students feel comfortable in Highline Schools, and stop trying to force them into alien beliefs. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Casey Sweeney Easter, and then Stephanie Hasselbauer. I am Stephanie Hasselbauer. I'm here as a staff member. My pronouns are she/her, and I am yielding my time to Brandis Strandhold. Oh, oh, I got to go stand. OK. Good afternoon, wonderful board, and Dr. Van-- getting everything confused-- Dr. Duran, Director Van. I wish, sometimes. [LAUGHTER] My pronouns are she/her. My name is Brandis Strandhold. I teach at McMicken Heights Elementary. We are directly related to

078Tyee. Our students, most of them end up at Tyee, some to Glacier, and I am also here to talk about our strategic plan goals. I'm here talking about our first strategic plan goal, which is the culture of belonging, and how that ties into being future-ready. I am a wonderful product of the Highline School District. I attended, first, Seacrest Elementary, then Gregory Heights, then Sylvester, and Highline. I currently work in a school that is on the other side of the airport, but is so near and dear to my heart because our population is-- sorry to everyone else-- the best. Our community is amazing. I am here talking about myself, and how I am, because I'm a direct product, we can look to my experience, and think about how our students are going to be moving through

079the school system, and beyond into the workforce. I experienced a lot of trauma growing up. I have talked a little bit about this before. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was younger. I could not afford the medication, so I was not treated for 30 years, and now seeking that, or receiving that treatment, and finding out that my brain actually can be a beautiful place, and not so chaotic. But-- [BEEPING] Wow. [LAUGHTER] Thank you. I'm going to go quickly. Actually, since she ceded her time to you, you can't speak again. What? Yeah, sorry. OK, but so then does that mean my time is-- [AUDIO OUT] Can't yield it to someone else? Yes. No, that's it. Is Casey Sweeney Easter available? No? OK, thank you. Daniel Wesley, and then Alex Myrick. Good evening. My name is

080Daniel Wesley. Thank you for giving me this time, acknowledging our board and our superintendent. I'm a Physical Educator at Tyee. I'm new this year with 30 years experience teaching both art and physical education, and I just wanted to let you know that within the short time that I've been at Tyee, I've experienced some miracles happen, and it tends to be an ongoing thing. And it's nothing I'm making up. It's something that I witnessed firsthand. I do appreciate working with our counselors, who are very effective, nurturing, caring, and original, and genuine to our students, and they need it. To have them not be there next year is removing the heart and soul of the school, so I ask that you please reconsider the thoughts, and support our students. And when they're in my class, they'll tell

081you the experience, so I'm really hoping that choice and decision will be for the best interest of our young people, and of course, their counselors. Thank you very much. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Good evening. I began speaking to the board on transgender ideology last fall. I hesitate to use the term gender affirming care, because it's really gender repudiation. Since I first addressed you on this subject, the evidence in favor of so-called gender affirming care has been even more thoroughly discredited as flawed, exaggerated, and misleading. Documentation is submitted. The CDC announced this week that the number of LGBTQ high school students went from 11% in 2015 to 26% in 2021. The number of minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria tripled from 2017 to 2021. This is not a left versus right issue. It is not a science versus

082religion issue. I know of multiple evolutionary biologists who are atheists, and are certain that transgender ideology will end in chaos, and the failure of our society. If a patient has a medical disorder, there are blood tests, imaging techniques, or other objective methods to confirm the diagnosis. The ideologues promoting treatment protocols for gender dysphoria would have you believe it is an endocrine condition with physical symptoms. This is a lie. Having been a licensed mental health professional for three decades, I can assure you that gender dysphoria is a mental health condition defined in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," and not an endocrine condition. As humans, we are all mammals. Mammals are dimorphic, either male or female. Nearly every cell in our complex bodies contains either XX, or XY chromosomes. Thus, no amount of hormonal

083and surgical intervention can change anyone to the opposite sex. The peer-reviewed "Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy" published an article in January of this year describing 140 different studies. Documentation is submitted. Please stop supporting this travesty. [BEEPING] Thank-- [AUDIO OUT] [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Next up is Ben Folgers, and then we'll take two from the wait list. Hello. My name is Ben Folgers. I'm a teacher at Mount Rainier. I'm also a proud member of HEA, and I'm a building rep, which is going to bring some context in this conversation. So I'm here to bring forward a concern that stems from an experience colleagues had here in this building a couple of weeks ago at a Curriculum Adoption Night. This colleague is a woman of Color, and she shared that a community member was in conversation with

084somebody else, and pointed to her, and said, "these initiatives are why we hire people like her." And he continued to berate her, saying abusive and obscene things, such as calling her people barbaric. What is surprising to me, though, is that while this was happening, multiple district staff walked by, and did nothing-- well, sorry. They did do something. There was some form of email jumping between person to person before it finally reached my principal. My colleague also reported this incident to the district, and was told by another employee that this man frequently says and does these things in these places, including board meetings, and that she just needs to have a tougher skin to deal with it. Board, I just come here to ask why, since this person violated policy 4200 regarding visitors in our space,

085why he was not asked to leave? I come here again to ask, why was nothing done, and why is nothing done at these board meetings when your expectations here are frequently violated, right? Because as a teacher, if I am setting forth boundaries, routines, and expectations for my students in my classroom, and they are frequently violated, that's bad teaching. We are constantly asked at our building to stop this language from happening according to policy 5000, so why are we not holding the same standards for community members who enter into our spaces, as well, to treat our staff with respect? That's it. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Now we'll have two from the wait list, Shari Duggan, and Ashley McClure. Good evening, board. The pandemic when our kids were isolated at home was a traumatic mental health disaster. Concurrently,

086diagnosis of school-aged youth with gender dysphoria doubled between 2019 and 2021. After listening to quite a few horrific stories from young detransitioners, a few things became obvious. Number one, aside from parents, there are really no gatekeepers for this process, as it can be as easy as making a phone call to begin taking hormones. Young people need gatekeepers, people that love them and care about their welfare when making big decisions. Number two, mental health gets worse once they start hormone blockers. It doesn't improve, and this goes against the narrative. Number three, the narrative also calls puberty blockers a pause on puberty, but many respected endocrinologists say changes that happen often are not reversible. A psychiatrist who has presided over youth gender treatments for more than a decade in Finland says that four out of five gender-questioning

087children eventually accept their bodies if no medical interventions are carried out. What's the big rush? Why can't we wait? Can a 13-year-old buy cigarettes? Drink a beer? Drive a car? No, but we will let them take hormones, and change their life forever. The result is not worth the risks. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Good evening. Thank you for having all of the speakers tonight. My name is Ashley McClurg, pronouns are she/her. I'm a school Psychologist in Highline School District, and I would like to also voice my support to maintain four counselors at Tyee High School. It is essential that we can all support our students in the way that they deserve. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you so much. Thanks to our community members and our staff for coming and speaking tonight. That concludes our communications. Next up

088is our superintendent's updates. Yeah, I've got a couple of things. First, I'll just invite our labor partner update tonight. We have Sandy Hunt, the President of Highline Education Association. I'd like to invite her to the microphone. Thank you, and as always, I'd like to thank you for your service to our community. We know these are many, many hours dealing with a lot of challenging topics and issues, so appreciate the time and thought you put into this. I was planning to come today to really focus on, we're having a Special Education Forum. I will send you the link to sign up. It is May 9th from 6:00 to 7:30 PM on Zoom, and so it would be really great. We are having elected officials there to talk about the gains that they made, but the challenges

089we still are hoping to achieve with the legislature, and we are doing this in conjunction with Renton. So it is on Zoom, so I really do hope both the board and administrators are here. I think it's important for me, though, to veer off a little from that, to just mention it is very rare that we get 20 speakers from a school. You've seen it a few times. We saw it the last time, I think around counseling issues when elementary was going to be losing some counselors. And I know that at the time we were getting an infusion of ESSER funds, and it was considered a core use of those funds. And so those increases in counselors have been really valuable in our schools, and I think the thing that I've been persuaded by, because we

090bargained this language, and we were trying to address the needs of the counselors, is when the things I really hope you will focus this on are the transition that Tyee is going through in the next two years. And as you heard, that two-year process means they're leaving their school. They're leaving their neighborhood. That is creating a lot of extra anxiety. We're really concerned about attendance in the new site, which is going to really increase the workload of the counselors. So getting keeping the counselor ratio at the rate which they have right now during this two-year transition period is, I think, a valuable use of our time. It is cost-effective. If students are not showing up to class, and were not going to stay enrolled because of their absences, that's going to be a decrease in

091money right there. It's critical for workload of counselors. You've heard that the needs at Tyee are not necessarily found equally across all of the schools. They brought in statistics around homelessness rates, ML rates, and other factors that could be considered beyond just the raw number of students, and that this is a stopgap measure, that through not any fault of Tyee, but the boundary changes that reduce their population. We've heard, from Madrona, the same thing. Those need to be looked at, moving forward-- because Madrona also has been a school in the SeaTac service area that has been affected by their population size. Their enrollment size has been affected by the boundary changes, and so we do have a two-year window as we're rebuilding Tyee to really be looking at those boundaries, and really understanding the impact

092of the student enrollment. And I would finally say, just at the core of Highline is equity, not equality. So yes, we understand that our bargaining team brought forward this language, and tried to create bargaining teams together. The joint teams worked through this solution to the needs the counseling needs across the district, and I will own up to that as the leader of that organization. But I think given the situation that we have right now, we hope that you will take into account these factors over this two-year period. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Wonderful. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] All right, I'd like to use this time now to do a little bit of an update just where we are with the strategic plan. We have an introduction item tonight, so I thought I'd do a little preempt on there,

093and then share a little bit around some more school design work. So as you all know, we are in the midst of a strategic plan process, and we really want to emphasize that we are building upon the great work that's been going on in Highline and building upon the current strategic plan, so that has really been the emphasis. The strategic plan is building upon our promise, which we all know is to know our students by-- can't talk that fast. Building upon our promise to know every student by name, strength, and need, so they graduate prepared for the future they choose. So I've gotten out, and had the opportunity to speak in a couple not only state presentations, but national conferences. This is always highly emphasized. People know our promise, and always a reminder that this

094is about the future that our students choose. Not necessarily the one that I choose, or ones that others may think is best for them, but the ones that they choose. Next slide, thank you. And you all know, throughout this process we've spent a lot of time listening to our community, listening to our students, and a really big focal point for me has been to listen to our students. Over 50% of the focus groups are really keyed in on student voice because I really wanted to understand how has the promise been true for our students, and how has it not being true for our students? We've spent time on analyzing that information. We've been sharing that information out, and we really identified four priority areas, and really deeply appreciative to the community, and our students, and

095all the work that went in the information we received on a strategic plan. A big shout out has to go to our advisory groups. We did something really unique this time with this strategic plan process, and we invited a very large group of stakeholders to come in from educators and school leaders to really give us input on where we are with our strategic plan. They took all that information we gathered from the focus groups, from the thought exchange, community meetings. They had to really wrestle through that, and really, we set the context up for them to really think about, what is it that we can be doing moving forward to make our strategic plan come alive through strategies and ideas, and really futuristic thinking for what we can do to be able to support our

096students? Out of this work, really, four big areas have emerged. This idea of culture belonging, student learning, bilingual, bi-literate, and future-ready. The important thing with the advisory groups is that each meeting, we had four different meetings. They were broken by elementary, middle school, and high school, but they spent each meeting focused on one of those areas, and really just talking through about what could be possible. I'm really grateful to our cabinet members for all the work they did to support that process, also. So we are now in the process of analyzing the feedback from the advisory groups, and the ideas that they're thinking about, and we're going to be bringing that group together in May to really share the learnings, and talk about next steps. And we are planning to do some work where we

097can actually get out to schools and share some of this information, also, so really big shout out to our advisory groups for the time, effort, and energy they spend on this work. So from the listening tour to the advisory groups, we really have landed on these four goals, and board members, you have all seen this, and they really have been refined. We really appreciate all the feedback you have given to us, but our first one is really around culture belonging. A culture where all are welcomed, valued, and safe, which is something I believe is something very important for everything that we do, and I'm sure that's true for every one of our students. And as you all know, the previous strategic plan had a really strong emphasis that the foundation of our strategic plan has

098been equity, and this will continue in our strategic plan, as this plan is our equity plan because it really comes down to how we choose to enact our values. The next big area is innovative learning, and we have gone back and forth a lot of different ways to have this, but we really have come down to the language around academic experiences that engage, empower, and challenge every student. I really think that's a powerful way to really think about the experiences that we want our students to have on a daily basis, both within our schools, and another type of environments where our students are learning. The next one, bilingual and bi-literate, is one that I think is probably had some of the largest discussion, a lot of interest, a lot of passion and energy, and it

099remains one of the main areas that we will focus on. The language within here has changed, and considerably, and it reads now as multi-culture skills that enables students to live, work, and communicate across cultures. I'm going to go to the next slide because this is one when I first saw, I had to really think about this for a while, and think, what does it really mean to be multicultural? And I went back to my college days when we had multicultural education, and everything they were trying to teach us to avoid around having celebrations only focused on food, but this definition comes from some different resources on the internet. And so I really think it resonated for me because it addresses so many things, and please, I'm going to indulging myself and just read this because

100I think it is striking in terms of the different pieces that are here, but "multicultural refers to the coexistence and interaction of different culture groups or individuals within a society or community. It involves a recognition and respect for the diversity of customs, beliefs, languages values and traditions of different cultures, as well as the promotion of inclusion and understanding among them. A multicultural society and environment is one that recognizes and celebrates the differences among its members, while also promoting equality and social cohesion." So that really has just struck me because I think that not only applies to the work that we want to see in our classrooms, and our schools, and our district, but I think it also what we want to see in our larger society, also. So it's not finalized language for this piece,

101but I think it's just a really good starting point for us to think about how we define multicultural. The next one is future-ready, and students explore possibilities, and develop mindsets that prepare them for a changing future, and really appreciate the language shifting here, especially this notion around changing future. Recently, a number of us attended a conference that really focused on the interaction and use of artificial intelligence, which we know is showing up in many different ways, not only in the education space, but in the business space. And so we're going to be having to wrestle with how that really does impact our environments, and how it impacts our teaching and learning. What are the things that we can learn from it? How can we use it to help us? But I really have this fundamental

102belief that this is really going to shift our world over the next few years faster than anything that we've seen previously, so this is one we're going to have to really think about how we're ensuring we're helping our students be prepared for this future that is going to be changing even more rapidly than what I've experienced. Next slide just puts these all together, and again, I just have to thank our Family Action Committee for all the work that they did. Because when we first showed these four areas, they really narrated a story that if our students feel like they belong, and there's this culture that supports them to help develop as an individual, it will increase their learning. It will increase their ability to be bilingual and bi-literate, and it will prepare them for the

103future that we know is changing at a rapid pace. So again, thankful to our families who have really brought a level of wisdom to help us think about this as a story. We also will continue to explore this work with Profile to Graduate. As you all know, this comes out of our work that we've been doing with street data, and thinking about what is it that we want every one of our students to graduate with. We ran this first by our students who are part of our Superintendent Leadership Team, and these are some of the emerging ideas and thoughts that they came forward with. So we will continue to work with them, and work with this in the future, as this will really be one of the centerpieces for some of our strategic plan work.

104But when you think of these items that are up here, I definitely think it starts to really help us think about-- it doesn't matter what school a student graduates from, or how they exit our school, but these are the things that we want them to be able to have underneath their belts, in their minds, so that they can really be prepared, again, for that future that we know is changing rapidly. I also just want to emphasize, again, that on this piece with the budget, that we took this piece out here, I think, for the slide. But I also just want to make sure that we are thinking about that we are going to be facing some significant budget shortfalls, and I think if you think about the region here locally, if you read the "Seattle

105Times" on any one of the days, different districts are having different issues and challenges. And so we have to be thinking about how we're going to be addressing those challenges, so we'll be having some conversations with the board about some of the potential reductions that we're going to have to make. We're not immune to the lower enrollment shifts, and demographic shifts in terms of where people have chosen to live. So we will definitely have to think about how we are going to be aligning our budgets to the new strategic plan because it really needs to be our guidepost to help us make budgetary decisions. So our next step, strategic plan. Obviously, we're here tonight with introduction to the goals to the board. We can definitely talk more about that when we get there, happy to

106take questions about that. We are bringing our Strategic Plan Advisory Group together just to really look at the feedback that they provided, and pulled all together, and really looking forward to that because over the last four meetings, we were all in three different groups, and we're going to come back together. We also will be talking about how we roll this out to our school communities, so that school staffs can hear a lot about this work. We are hopeful that we may be able to do this year, but we definitely know will be launching it in the Fall, for sure. Action on the goals is June 7th, and then, of course, we know where our next big step is really thinking about the strategies and metrics that we need to be having underneath our strategic plan.

107So we are anticipating this to be a three-year strategic plan, and I know one of the things that I'm really excited about is also thinking about once we do identify our measures, and how we will be defining success, both for our students, and our schools, then really thinking about how we progress monitor that here at the board level, the cabinet level, and on a school level, so we are ensuring that what we say we're doing is actually being done. And we know the strengths that are happening then, and also the opportunities for us to improve. I also just want to take a moment just to share the exciting news that started today, and this is some of the work around secondary school redesign. This definitely ties into the work of our strategic plan. We want

108to launch this with our secondary school leaders today. We have a second session tomorrow, but I'm excited about this because it's one of the things I talked about in my interview process, if you remember. And one of the reasons why you hired me, come in the role to really think about, what could we do differently to really support our students? I've always had this belief that our secondary schools are really based off of an old system, and our schools, we know today, were not always designed for every student. And so the opportunity for us to rethink about what our school experiences can be for our students, I think, is exciting. And so we engage in this work, and started thinking about what are the conditions for innovation that really need to be in place, and

109really excited about this idea around thinking about if we can create extraordinary, equitable learning experiences and outcomes for every one of our students, what would that look like? And we know there are many models out there. We already have a lot of innovation within our school district here with our choice schools. We know there's a lot of innovations being done within our schools, but this is an opportunity to really think even bigger and broader than that. So excited for this possibility to think about what we can do in this space, and just to name a little bit around what this may look like in 2023, in our meeting today we talked about, this is definitely a multiyear process. We're partnering with a consulting group called Transcend that has a really strong and long history of

110doing a lot of work around school design, but they're really here to help gauge and understand the interest, the readiness, and the capacity of the district to really start to do this work. And making a connection to some of the work that we did in our advisory groups, one of our members of the secondary level said, is we are thinking about these ideas, and thinking about some possibilities. It's going to cost money. And really, my response to them, which I think is obviously more that we need to talk about, is that what we're doing right now cost money. It's a matter of thinking about what could we do differently, and how do we reuse the people, time, and money box that we have right now. So this is going to be basically thinking about both

111results goals process, relationship goals, but one of the things that I really appreciated about Transcend is that one of the things that they really emphasize is that any type of school redesign work has to be a community-based process. And so they emphasize that today, so that's definitely a piece that would be in place. We have to think about these conditions that they have, and what we will be doing to really be building upon those conditions, and thinking about how we can show their employees because we can redesign schools, but if we don't have the right conditions in place, they won't last. They won't stick. And then we also have talked about just how we can think about how we can pilot some of this work, so really looking for some of the ongoing conversations we're

112going to have here. I know our school leaders were pretty excited today. It's obviously going to be a lot of time, effort, and energy. We have to talk with teachers, educators, within our schools, and then think about what are the things that we can do to start bringing people together to think differently. And again, emphasizing this is a multiyear process, and it's not something we're going to be able to figure out in one meeting, but it's really going to take the time for people to understand what is possible, learn from it some of the other models that are out there, and then build upon the work. So excited for kicking it off today, and look forward to our next meeting we have tomorrow with the rest of our secondary schools. That's all I have right

113now. Thank you, Dr. Duran. Appreciate that. Next up is our School Board Reports. First up is our Legislative Report. As you may know, legislature adjourned, as expected, on April 23rd, the governor will be calling a special session in May, but there won't be any K-12 bills in place, so we'll have to wait. We've been led to believe that the session will be focused on special Ed funding, and while there were a number of special Ed-related bills, we anticipated receiving only about $4 million in additional funding, far below what is needed to constitute full funding. But more on a positive note, fees for college in the school courses. This is where students receive college credit for taking courses at their high school, will now be fully funded by the state, so that will be great for

114our students. In addition to that, we also received special Kappa allocation for restroom improvements for the Sylvester Athletic Facilities. I know on our consent agenda coming up we're going to be approving the appeals, so that'd be a great addition. So other than that, that is it for our legislative reports. Moving to our Director's Reports, let's start with Director Garcia. Nothing to report at this time. Thank you, Director Garcia. Director Hagos? I can report a few things. There was a Gold Star Breakfast, the Highline Schools Foundation Gold Star. The fundraising breakfast was a big success. So they brought in about $110,000. It was raised to support students, teachers, and families across Highline, so that was exciting to see. Scholar-athletes, May 23rd, our 12th Annual Scholar-Athlete Coach and Community Recognition event is coming up. It's on Tuesday,

115May 23rd. In this event, we're going to celebrate students not only for their athletic achievements, but also their academic success, and their leadership, so that's exciting to see. We will also honor our coaches and special community members who support our students, and I encourage anyone interested in supporting these scholarships to make a contribution to Highline Schools Foundation on their website. So the other quick report I have is I do sit on and support the Adult Wellness Committee. As a board director, I'm delighted to serve on the Adult Wellness Committee. I am in the coming months, we will be sharing links to these resources in Highline Insider and on our website to make them easier for staff to access. That's about it for me. Thank you, Director Hagos. Director Alvarez? Thank you, Director Van. Just wanted

116to report the National Board Certificated Teachers, 13 highlighted educators became certified by the National Board of Professional Standards this year, and 32 renew their certification. Highline now has 198 National Board certified educators. That's 18% of all teachers in our district. That's amazing. We will recognize our board certified teachers on May 11th at 5:00 here in the boardroom. Everyone is invited to join us, and just snippet, and then I'll hand it over to Director Van, Sylvester Middle School student, Abby Spillers, appeared on New Day, Northwest, on King 5 on Monday. Abby performed a violin solo to promote the upcoming "Key to Change Solo String Festival," and President Van has more info on that. Well, thank you so much. If you don't know, we have two seniors from Tyee High School that will be performing at Benaroya

117Hall this coming Saturday as part of the "Key to Change Solo Spring Festival." The "Key to Change" is a nonprofit violin and viola string studio that serves middle and high school students in South King County. So our two students that will be performing are Lin Terero, and Elena Kang. They will be competing. Please give them a shout out. [APPLAUSE] They will be competing for prizes including cash, college scholarships, instruments, and tuition-free summer program admissions. So good luck to our students for that. Yes. I also just want to shout out to our staff, Sarah Marie Ortiz. I had an opportunity to participate with Director Alvarez at our [INAUDIBLE] convening of the School. Directors and tribal leaders up in Anacortes just last Friday. We sat with our other board directors across the state, and learned about our

118relationships with our tribal leaders, and it was an awesome learning experience. The only experience I did not like was the 2 and 1/2, 3 hours drive home from Anacortes on a Friday afternoon, but it was awesome. And I look forward to having the conversations with the other board directors, and seeing what else we can do. And with that, that concludes the Director's Reports. And the consent agenda, can I please have a motion to approve the Consent Agenda? I make a motion we approve our Consent Agenda. My second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Did we get a second? I did not hear the second. Yes. Oh, I'm so sorry. All right. No items removed from the Consent Agenda. We're going to move on to our action items. 8.1, motion to increase Graduation Alliance alternative Learning Experience

119program. Any questions or comments from the board? I do have a question, though, as staff come on up. Yes, we invite Riley Todd, our Assistant Director of Alternative Programming to the microphone to take the question. Good evening, everyone. My name is Riley Todd. I'm the Assistant Director of Alternative Education programs. This is my Q&A school board debut, so if I'm a little nervous and excited, both would be true. Palms are a little sweaty, but I'm happy to help you answer questions about this program. Yeah, thank you so much. This is an increase of $300,000 to the PO. I know our last board meeting we had community members, as well as myself, just curious in regards to the success, but also, how is this money being funded through the district? Is it the success, but also

120the money portion? Why the $300,000 extra? Yeah, I can answer that. Graduation Alliance is an old time partner. We've been in partnership with them since 2011. The ALE program that you're speaking of has been around since 2015. A little bit of context-- Graduation Alliance is what we call, this [INAUDIBLE] program is a tier two program. A lot of folks refer to that casually as a pre re-engagement program. They offer a highly customizable, individualized, self-paced, asynchronous online learning experience. Students that will access this program have significant barriers in attending in-person school, and also attending synchronous online school. And the time in which they need this type of learning experience may not align with enrollment cycles of certain schools, they may not be eligible for some of the other programs that are online. There's been 188 students

121this program has served since 2015. As far as outcomes, we know that 78% of those students successfully returned to their home high school when that online experience is no longer needed. Either did complete graduation requirements with the program, or currently enrolled, making sufficient progress to graduate from high school. As far as the pass through explanation, the important thing to remember is that this is a cost-neutral item. Graduation Alliance does not receive an allocation from our annual budget as our Highline grant programs do. They are reimbursed on a per pupil basis, monthly or quarterly, from the state for that enrollment, and we're the intermediary for that. I appreciate that. Thank you. With that said, any directors have any questions? Not specific to this, but to the broader partnership that we have with our Open Door programs,

122I've just noticed when it comes to graduation season, they may not have the same type of support because they're not in-house like we are. So I just wanted to elevate that observation that it'd be cool once these students are able to graduate, that they're able to celebrate and enjoy it the same way our students-- because they are our students in a lot of ways, right? So I just wanted to elevate that observation or concern. I got ideas. Do share. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. With that, I make a motion that Highline School Board approve the increase of $300,000 to the purchase order for the Graduation Alliance ALE program. I'll need a second. I'll second. Roll call, please. Dr. Hagos? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Van. Yea. This motion passes 4

123to 0. Thank you. 8.2 is approval of McKinstry contract for a remodeling of Southern Heights. Any questions or comments? Here in C9? Have a motion, please. I move that the Highline School Board approve the Mackenzie contract for remodeling of Southern Heights. Contract approval will be through the OMNIA Interlocal Contract, which allows the district, upon receipt of all submittal requirements, to issue a purchase order with McKinsey under the OMNIA contract in the amount of $1,935,295, plus Washington State sales tax of $195,465 for the total of $2,130,760. I'll second that. Thank you. Roll call, please. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Van? Yes. This motion passes 4 to 0. Thank you. 8.3, this is to approve the central admin building south roof replacement, as the contract with Garland GBS Incorporated. Can I please

124have a motion? We're on 8.3, yes? OK. I move out the Highline School Board approve the central administration building South roof replacements contract with Garland/DBS Inc. Contract approval will be through the OMNIA State Contract, which allows the district, upon receipt of all submitted requirements, to issue a purchase order with Garland DBA incorporated as under the OMNIA contract in the amount of $1,140,249, plus Washington State sales tax of $115,165.15, for a total of $1,255,414.15. I'll second that. Thank you. Roll call, please. Dr. Garcia? Yea. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 4 to 0. Thank you. 8.4, this is the approval of Evergreen High School Replacement Project, with Associated Science for Construction Phase Geotechnical Engineering Services. Any questions or comments? There are none. Can I have a motion, please. I move

125that the Highline School Board approve the contract for Associated Earth Sciences Inc. for Construction Phase Geotechnical Engineering Services at Evergreen High School. I'll need a second, please. I'll second that. Thank you. Roll call. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Alvarez? Yea. Roger Hagos? Yea. I'm sorry. Was that a Yea? Yea. OK, Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 4 to 0. Thank you. Just a little tidbit, for those that can join us, May 19th, Evergreen, groundbreaking, so be there. That'd be awesome. 8.5., this is to approve the Evergreen Replacement Project, Approving the Builder's Risk Insurance. Any questions or comments? I hear none. I think I'll do a quick comment. I know that the Brown and Brown Incorporated Agency, they pride themselves on their ability to couple national strength with a personalized service, and they have services in Washington

126State, and their team includes a Risk Manager who holds a Master's in Education Degree, and I really appreciated that they are incorporating folks with an education background. This person also has other certifications and degrees, but that one, it was particularly interesting to me, and I appreciated that they incorporated someone from an education background into their program, so just a quick comment. Where did you find that from? I read things. Oh, OK. [LAUGHTER] That's awesome. That is awesome. Ba-zing, OK. Next. [LAUGHTER] It's getting hot. Can I have a motion, please? I move that the school board approve the Evergreen High School Replacement Project Voters Risk Insurance Proposal for $1,793,378.33. I'll second that. Roll call, please? Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 4 to 0. Thank you, and

127that concludes our action items. 9.1, our action item was moved to our next board meeting. Moving on to our intro, to read these into the record here, if there's any questions. 10.1, this is motion for the adoption of the '23, '26 strategic plan goals that Dr. Durand was showing us earlier. Any questions or comments? There are none. 10.2, this is motion to amend existing contract with Maxim Health Care Staffing Services to increase the contract amount. Any questions or comments? There are none. 10.3, this is motion to approve the non-match endorsements and limited certifications for the '22, '23 school year. Any questions or comments? None? OK, and then 10.4, motion to approve revision and renaming board policy 9,000. Questions or comments? Hear and see none. All right, that concludes our intro items. With that said, any

128items added to the Consent Agenda? Well, I'm just going to say no because we normally don't push anything across unless we have a full board. Absolutely. I was going to remind you of that, when I heard you ask, I was going to say, I also read. It's hot in here. [LAUGHTER] Let's give Director Van a-- you're doing awesome. [LAUGHTER] Can I please have a motion for adjournment? I motion that we adjourn. Second? I will wait a little bit. I want to bask in this moment for a second before I second that. Let me see Joe get redder, and redder, a little bit. Whew. [LAUGHTER] I will second that now. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. Thank you, everybody.