001Well, good evening, everybody. Welcome, welcome to our scheduled board meeting Wednesday, March 1st. Can we 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 Howell? Here. Director Alvarez? Here. Director Hagos? Here. Director Van? Here. And to my left is Dr. Grant, our superintendent. Are there any changes or additions to our board meeting agenda this evening? I hear and see none. Move on to recognitions, first one is our Read Across America. And I have one of our directors that has that one. Thank you, President Van. Whereas the citizens of Highline Public Schools stand firmly committed to promoting
002reading as the catalyst for our students' future academic success, their preparation for America's jobs of the future, and their ability to compete in a global economy, and whereas Highline Public Schools has provided significant leadership in the area of community involvement in the education of our youth grounded in the principle that educational investment is a key to the community's well-being and long-term quality of life, and whereas National Education Association Read Across America, a national celebration of reading on March 2nd, 2023 promotes reading and adult involvement in the education of our community students, now therefore, the board and the superintendent of Highline Public Schools call on the citizens of Highline Public Schools to assure that every child is in a safe place, reading together with a caring adult on the evening of March 2nd, 2023. And being
003further resolved that the district enthusiastically endorses National Education Association's Read Across America and re-commits our community to engage in programs and activities to make America's children the best readers in the world. I'd like to invite Michael Hicklin here. Librarian at Madrona Elementary School will be here to accept this recognition. All right. The Board of Directors for pictures, please. [COMPUTER CHIME] Our next recognition is School Social Workers Week. All right. That'll be me. Give me a moment, get my page up in here. OK, whereas school social workers in Highline Public Schools and across the nation serve as vital members of the educational team, playing a central role in creating a positive school climate and partnerships between the home, school, and community to ensure student academic success, and whereas school social workers support the educational, social, and
004emotional development of all students by decreasing the impact of barriers to academic success, and whereas school social workers participate in the development of global citizens by promoting skills for a lifetime and lifelong learning, and whereas school social workers provide interventions to address challenges such as mental health, behavioral difficulties, disabilities, crisis response, poverty, bullying, abuse, grief, addiction, et cetera to enable students to achieve academic goals, and whereas school social workers provide staff development, training, and consultation to school staff and family members on topics impacting students' ability to learn, and whereas school social workers assist families in accessing resources to improve their circumstances and the readiness to learn foundation for their children, and whereas it is fitting that school social workers be recognized for the important role that they play in the lives and education of students
005and their families. Now therefore, the board and superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim that March 5th through 11th, 2023 is National School Social Worker Week in Highline and urge citizens to join us in honoring and recognizing the dedication and hard work of all school social workers. We have someone who's accepting that? Yes, like to invite Valerie Allen, our Director of Social Services up to accept this, and also a pickleball rating of 6.0. [LAUGHING] [APPLAUSE] Our next recognition is the Education Support Professionals Week. All right. Whereas education support professionals are involved in nearly every aspect of education, maintaining buildings and grounds, preparing and serving meals, keeping school facilities clean and orderly, assisting in the classroom, providing information technology services, administrative support functions, safe transportation, a secure and healthy environment, and many other specialized services,
006and whereas these dedicated individuals deserve recognition and thanks for the outstanding work they are doing in their communities and for the children enrolled in Highline Public Schools, and whereas there are 1,754 education support professionals working with and helping children enrolled in Highline Schools, and whereas education support professionals are instrumental in fulfilling the district's paramount duty to prepare all students for the future they choose, and whereas by supporting the learning environment, education support professionals are crucial partners with teachers, parents, and administrators in our public schools, now therefore, the board and superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim March 13th to 17th, 2023 as Education Support Professionals Week in Highline and urge citizens to join us in honoring and recognizing the dedication and hard work of all education support professionals. That's wonderful. We have Melanie Bowman
007here with Teamsters. But Melanie, there are so many people that have come here. Let's bring them to the microphone. Let's do a quick introduction. That would be great. [APPLAUSE] So many different roles are represented here. I think it's important for everybody to hear just their different perspectives from different departments. Thank you very, very much. So typically in the past, we've only had one or two people. And I thought it was very important. We have such amazing classified staff that work with the students. And they are instrumental in the district working and working with these students, making these amazing, creative minds grow. So I asked each and every one of these amazing people to introduce themselves to you guys so you can get to know them by name, face, and what the heck they do. Sounds
008awesome. Hi, I'm Lucas Hanson. I'm a Braillist. I work at a Choice Academy, helping to support a visually impaired student. I do Braille transcriptions and I also support her in class in geometry. We do a lot of adaptations and just make sure she has access to all the things that the mainstream students have. [APPLAUSE] My name is Anne Slater. I work here in this building in nutrition services. I'm the Department Administrative Secretary. And we're the ones who provide breakfast and lunch at no charge to all our students every day. [APPLAUSE] Hi, my name is Brenda Limerick. And I am a Family Support Specialist for ECAP Preschool at the Hilltop site. And I just love my job. [APPLAUSE] Hi, everybody. My name is Veronica Simmons. Go Parkside Panthers. I'm the Library Assistant over at Parkside. [APPLAUSE]
009Hi, I'm Michelle Larrabee. I work at Pacific Middle School as an ILC paraeducator. I just love working with kids with disabilities and feel like everybody has a handicap, some are just bigger than others. [APPLAUSE] Hi, I'm Jennifer Hirayama. I am the current Office Manager at Chinook for the next two days. And then I'm switching over to Camp Waskowitz as their Office Manager. [APPLAUSE] Hi, I'm Layne Bautista. And I work at White Center Heights Elementary in a primary IAC class with special Ed students. [APPLAUSE] Hello, my name is Caitlin Gribble. I work as a Library Assistant at Mar Vista Elementary. And I've been with Highline School District for 12 years. This is my 13th and I love working with children and inspiring them and helping their curiosity just flourish. [APPLAUASE] Hi, my name is Mani Sanga.
010I work at Marvista Elementary School as an Office Assistant. With that, it includes door opening person, nurses, cleaning person, and everything that comes our way. But I love my job and working with kids. And I have been with the district for about 18 years now. So thank you. She also answers a lot of parent emails and questions. Fabulous. Well, come on up on the stage and we'll do a photo. It'll be great. Actually, I had some people that thought they might [INAUDIBLE].. So if we could have the educational support staff in the audience stand up [INAUDIBLE].. [APPLAUSE] Go down on the second step. That would be great. OK, if you can't see me, I can't see you. And yeah, [INAUDIBLE]. Here we go. Thank you all. [APPLAUSE] We're going to round off our recognitions with
011School Retirees Appreciation Week. All right. Whereas Highline Public Schools and the Washington State School Retirees Association recognize educators who have retired from active teaching, administration, or specialized fields of teaching or the teaching profession, and whereas Highline Public Schools and the Washington State School Retirees Association educates and assists retirees in meeting the special challenges they face after retiring in improving their general welfare, whereas the Highline Public Schools aids in the advancing education by supporting high standards of education and thereby strengthens the status of the teaching profession, and whereas Highline Public Schools promotes groups' and individuals' involvement in charitable projects and activities and maintains interest and participation in educational and community activities, and whereas Highline Public Schools supports and encourages retired educators to remain active in the education profession through volunteer activities associated with learning, now therefore,
012the board and the superintendent of Highline Public Schools do hereby proclaim March 23rd through the 26th, 2023 as the Full Retirees Appreciation Week in Highland Public Schools and urge all citizens to join in their special observance. All right. So we'd like to invite Grace Kleps and Debbie Strayer up to receive this recognition. [APPLAUSE] [INAUDIBLE] I was just notified that most of our social workers just showed up. I would love for everybody to wave and just round of applause for our social workers back there. [APPLAUSE] I'm going to do one even better. Can you please all come up? We're going to do a picture. Come on up here. [APPLAUSE] All right. I'm going to sneak in. No, you can stand but just, I need a couple of layers. Yeah, you can. I just need to see
013your face. Social worker mascot. OK. Oh, OK. Yep, I got everybody. OK, here we go. 1, 2, 3. Got it. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you all for showing up tonight for recognition. So we're going to move on to our school presentation with Glacier Middle School. Yep, I'd like to invite Jacqueline Downing, one of our Instructional Leadership Executive Directors to come to the microphone and introduce their school. Welcome. Thank you so much. Good evening, President Van, Vice President Garcia, Directors of the Board, and Superintendent Duran. My name is Jacqueline Downey. And as Dr. Duran said, I'm one of our Secondary Instructional Leadership Executive Directors. And I have the pleasure of working with and introducing Dr. Maries Huening, our Principal at Glacier Middle School. Please welcome her up. [APPLAUSE] Good evening, everybody. President and Vice President Garcia,
014Directors of the Board, and Superintendent Duran, I want to thank you for the opportunity to tell you about Glacier Middle School tonight. And I'm a tall person. I'm going to bring this up a little if I can. So we want to remind everybody of the Highline promise that we also are true to, of course. Every student in Highline Public schools is known by name, strength, and need and graduates prepared for the future they choose. And I want to tell you about how we do that at Glacier Middle School. This cute face is Desi. He's one of our students in the IAC program. And he compliments me on my earrings not every day, but often. We have two priorities, among others, that I want to talk to you about tonight. Priority number one is increasing the
015sense of belonging and safety for our students and staff. Our data points, our panorama survey results from last spring, as well, discipline data from the previous school year '21 and '22. And the second priority is improving student learning through focused professional learning structures. And as data points, we use grades from the spring of last year where 8% of students received NC's and [INAUDIBLE] data from the spring of '22, where 48% of students were three or more grade levels below in reading and 45% in math. The way we deliver on the promises for our students to be ready to learn and to be willing to take risks, to fail, and try again, they need to feel safe, seen, and heard. Our restorative, student-centered, and responsive approach has begun to make a difference. And I'm going to
016talk about this in a little bit. For our educators to be able to focus on students and their academic and social emotional growth, they need to have access to clear, consistent, and adequate structures and systems of communication, expectation, and support. The two people that you see here, that's Mr. Mantia. He's our interventionist. And I think this is Brian, one of our sixth graders. So the way we go about it is culturally responsive teaching and learning. And then I'll talk about some other things a little later. So for priority one, to increase the sense of belonging and safety for students and staff, we focus on identity-affirming content and teaching practices so that they see themselves reflected in content, curriculum, and pedagogies. We have begun this year establishing and maintaining community circle principles in all classes. Principles
017means that we lean on those principles in all content areas, not just siloed into, say, advisory and then forget math, we don't need community there. We do. We are really, really heavily investing in restorative practices when conflicts arise and to avoid conflict, especially between students. And our advisors, our advisory teachers function as advocates for the students. So they are the ones that are in the kids' corner and facilitate a lot of the supports, family connections, connections between content teachers to give them the best of what they need. Cultural response of teaching and learning for priority two, that includes instructional planning teamwork. So our IPT is currently-- we have started and analyzed student focus group interviews around what engagement looks, feels, and sounds like to students and teachers, and how can these two be married and
018speak to one another. And establishing and maintaining professional learning communities so that student work will be analyzed so that it ongoingly informs teaching and assessment. Inclusive teaching and learning. We have established community building circles and circle routines in advisory and content classes, as I mentioned before. And again, the restorative practices, which includes a lot of student mediation, mediation between adults and students when misunderstandings occur. And for our other priority, really leaning onto universal design for learning and bringing that together with guided language acquisition design for our English learners. And we have really been very strong on establishing common tier one expectations entry and exit tasks every day in every class. And we've begun, we as in the instructional leadership team, collecting data and analyzing that to see what outcomes are of those efforts, which I
019will tell you about in a minute. Our community partnerships play a big role. We are in SeaTac, which makes us a little of being in an out-there place. Our students actually, when they go to high school, most of them attend Highline High School. That's their neighborhood school. They will walk there. But most of our kids right now ride the bus to us. So it's really important to us that we continue to have really strong community partnership relationships to organizations that are important and serve our students. So during Parks and Rec, I want to give them a special shout out. They show up every day, Monday through Friday after school for programming. The students get a meal and then there's fun in the gym outside, in the field, in the cafeteria. The Latino Civic Alliance is
020a very strong partner, shows up, lots of our students enrolled in their program. CHOOSE 180, we have a fantastic CHOOSE 180 counselor this year, Seth who brings kids to talk about stuff that's really hard for them where other people have tried and might and couldn't. So we're very fortunate with him. And then YETI, the organization that provides our students outdoor experiences that they might otherwise not have access to, they're phenomenal, so mentorship experience that our kids really need to have a well-rounded experience when we think about what is education. The impact of our efforts, I just want to give you some numbers to compare. So the in-school suspension incidences for the school year '21-'22, there were 140 cases spread among 104 students. That's a large group of students. And the out-of-school suspension incidences, there were
021196 spread also around 104 students. And that is a lot of kids where we respond with tier three interventions or discipline consequences. And this year, I know it's not over yet but we're approaching, it's March now. This year, we've had so far 32 incidences that we label as an ISS among 30 kids. That's a much smaller pool. So we have seen a decrease in a number of students where we need to respond with a tier three intervention or discipline consequence. So we have fewer students and that's the way it's supposed to be, right? Same with the OSS. We have fewer incidents. Now, the year isn't over. I understand that. But also again, fewer students. And we're very hopeful and actually confident that trend will continue. In terms of academic strategies and instructional strategies, so the
022strong entry tasks across the entire school is, 56% of entry tasks are content and standard-aligned. I know that's not all the way there, but it's a big step in the right direction. The same percentage of entry tasks are inclusive of all learners. 72% of those tasks are a positive start to class and 80% of them do not take more than 10 minutes, which it should be. It should not be an ongoing thing. It's an entry task, right? And then I want to share some successes that we're celebrating. I want to play a very short clip. Before winter break, our students interviewed each other about, how do you feel about Glacier this year? Do you feel safe? Do you feel welcome? Do you feel like you belong and why? And it's actually a 10-minute video. I'm
023not going to just play that, of course, although I'd love to. But I want to give you a little taste of it. So that's one thing. And the other thing that I find really remarkable is that our students' art is on display at SeaTac Airport while it's under construction. You know, when 6th, 7th, 8th graders, to have their art be displayed that publicly in an international airport, that's a pretty big deal. So I just wanted to talk about that. So here is the clip. They like respect me a lot, but I don't really talk to teachers like a lot, a lot. I talk to teachers, not really counselors and stuff. But I definitely feel like they respect me and we have that mutual respect and stuff. But like not like anything more than that. I
024feel, I feel good and I feel safe talking to them because I know they can do something to solve a problem. [SPEAKING IN SPANISH] I feel really comfortable with them because I see them as an older guardian watching over us. And how they're just treating all of us like their children, always being kind and generous to us and helping us in any problems we're dealing with. I feel like they like respect me a lot. But I don't really talk to teachers. Right. So what's our next steps? Well, continuing our work, of course. It's not that we're going to drop that and let's move, but it's a parallel effort, of course. And what we really are looking forward to doing is building and sustaining family engagement. As you know, Glacier is a really young middle school.
025It's a really large middle school. It's every year since it started, a different year. And we are really looking forward to starting sustainable efforts of engaging our families and bringing them to our school and going to where they are. And we need a creative vision and mission for Glacier Middle School. It's been on hold and it's about time. And I'm very excited about starting the process this year. Thank you for your time. [APPLAUSE] All right, directors. This is an opportunity for some questions and comments. I'm going to start to my right here, Director Garcia. Thank you. I guess the question would be, what are some lessons learned over the creation or that foundation setting? And if we gave you a magic wand to prevent it or not supported that vision, what would it have looked
026like? So I think what's really important and what we're excited about is that we're centering our student voices. We're asking kids, what do you think you need to be ready to go from here to high school? So elevating that and really showing a sincere interest in what it is that they would want out of their middle school experience. And then, can you repeat the second part? I'm sorry. If we give you a magic wand just to make whatever that happened, what would you use that magic wand for? Wow. That's hard to answer. So many choices. [LAUGHING] I really have to think about that because I think that we are making a really good effort and it's showing that we're working in systematic, productive ways together, the people in the building. I don't know that I
027need a magic wand right now. It never hurts to have a few more people on staff. And I could use more classrooms, which is wild because it's a brand new building and I feel like I'm already running out of space. But yeah, no. I think the magic wand would be like, come by, visit us, and see what we're doing. Thank you. Director Hagos? Thank you for your work and the presentation. I really do appreciate what you've shared with us tonight. I did notice that the school counseling department at Glacier has a mission and vision already set up and ready to go. So I'm kind of curious. You talked about doing some work around it for your school-wide mission and vision. What does that process entail? Just curious about that. So what we want to start
028with is, ask the students, like I just said earlier, what is the profile of a graduate from this school? I hesitate to say graduate because you don't really go anywhere when you graduate from 8th grade, right? You want to go on to high school. But what is it that you want out of your experience here that you feel prepares you for your next step so that you can be successful in high school? So that's a very important piece. And then the other piece is that I do need to also ask the family members and our staff, because all these things need to be married. They need to talk to one another. So there are protocols that I would like to use to ask large groups of people back to the future, when you look back
029to your time at Highline as a staff member, as a family, as a student, what is it that you will want to be able to say, this is what that did for me so that we can then plan for the kids that are coming what it is that we need to have ready for them so that they can be successful. And I love that our counselors actually have a vision. Because people do have ideas of what the school is about, should be about. And what is now time is that we bring to the surface, to the front, and everybody talk to each other about what that is and then find a process in which we can all agree that's what we want, yeah. I appreciate your work. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you.
030Director Howell. Thank you. First of all, thank you so much. I am going to take you up and come by for a visit because I realized, I've never been to your campus. I know. We're out in SeaTac. I know. I'm coming. Good. For reals, you'll get an email tomorrow. OK. Thank you so much. You really spoke my language, talking about GLAD and UDL and restorative practices and community circles being used across curriculum. I agree with you. You're on the path. You'll get there. You're centering student voices. That's paramount. You said that you're starting to do some focus groups. And I know you're in the middle of this. But what are some of the trends or what are you hearing from students? I heard from the video some really great things that teachers listen to us,
031they're kind, they're generous. But what are some of the things that you're hearing that are making you think, oh, we should plan for that? So the focus groups-- thank you for your question. The focus groups that we started doing are really focusing on-- oh, my God. I have no words right now. We're focusing, we're so focused, on student engagement. So it was interesting. So we used, actually, a random number generator to pick any kid. We didn't want to go biased into it like, oh, this is a highly engaged student. We should ask them. At first, we were going to try that. So we really try to be as unbiased as we can in choosing who tells us what they believe is an engaged classroom. And what they say, there's a big social aspect. I have
032friends in this class. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them and learning with them. And I know that there's someone, if I have a question, I can ask and not feel stupid. They also enjoy when teachers really dig what they teach. So the enthusiasm and the passion that an adult has for what they teach and who they teach, that always transports. We know that. So that is something they said that really helps them to engage and focus, even if it's hard or something they don't particularly like. You can try to excel at something even if you are not in love with it. That is something they said. And let's see, what other things? Oh, they like to have fun. And a 6th grader has a hard time teasing out what exactly that is, right?
033But it's the feeling safe to make mistakes and having someone who is invested and interested, that they can tell, oh, you really care about math. That's important to you. So I think I should pay attention to that, too because you're so excited about it. There must be something in there that can get me excited about it, too. That's what we're noticing. Thank you. Director Alvarez. So thank you again. Kudos and ditto everyone's excitement about you elevating the youth voice. And especially, I'd love to hear our students with a different language to really be and focus and uplifted so they continue to embrace their culture and their language. I love that you're centering everything around our students and engaging our families. And actually, so I'm going to beat Director Howell, because a couple of days ago,
034I met a mom. And she introduced herself. And she said she's from Glacier. And she's like, we're having student-parent conferences next week or coming soon. And she's like, you need to come. I want you to see my school. So I'm like, oh, it's OK. And then I knew you were coming today. So hopefully I'll connect with you tomorrow as well and see if I can stop by. But I'd love to come visit your school. I haven't been there either, so I'd love to come. But thank you for all that you're doing. And I know it feels like starting from scratch again, starting from scratch. But I think some of the challenges are great opportunities. And I think you're taking full advantage of those opportunities. So thank you again for being creative and looking to the
035future, what's best for our students and community. Thank you very much. Thanks. Thank you very much. I have a couple of questions, or one question and one comment. Thank you so much for being here and presenting. One thing that really resonated when you're talking about delivering on the promise was for our students to be willing to take risks, to fail, and to try again. That is huge. I don't know how many times I failed and to get back up and do it over and over again and to succeed. So thank you for really bringing that to the forefront of our students. It's OK to fail. It's just, how do we support them, get them back up, and going again. In regards to your discipline data, what practices are you using to reduce the out-of-school suspension,
036in-school suspension. Because the trend line is going to be a reduction of more than 60% from previous years. So we'd love to know what practices you're using. Thank you for doing the math there, Director Van, because I was like, it's dumb but I haven't quite done the math. That's a great number. I'll take it. Thank you. But all joking aside about that, no, we're really delighted about it. We're humbled by it. And I want to say that everything starts with a conversation. We take an increased stands to what makes the kids tick and what it is that might cause conflict between them and really try to-- it goes back to what Miss Alvarez just said about elevating the student voice. It's not just, what do you want from here, but it's also guys, what's going
037on? Help me understand this, right? And what I've always found, and I'm very fortunate that I have a team at my school, my assistant principals in particular, Ms. Marquita Smith and Ms. Crystal Goodwin, who are invested in taking kids seriously and asking them, hey, help me understand this. And then approaching it that way. So we're curious about them. And then we try to give them tools to figure out, how can you solve this problem that you perceive that started on social media, without assuming that what you read or heard from someone who wasn't even there is what happened. Basically becoming a critical consumer of such rumors. And then there's a lot of conversations, setting up meetings. When we have to suspend a student out of school, they always come back with a re-entry conference. But
038between them, the administrator, and the family, we always talk about, what are the steps that you the student can control in order to not get into the situation again. Yeah, I mean, those are some things. And the inquiry, the investigation, really trying to understand where they come from. And then staying in conversation with them, that's really important, checking in with them. Hey, how's it going? I know a couple of days ago was a little tough. And knowing the kids, the name, strength, and need. Like understanding even as an admin, when I'm removed from the classroom and the students, that I understand this kid over here, I've known them now since September. I know that there is something going on at home right now. I should check in with them. And then the last thing is
039that we are trying to systematically respond to that. So for example, our staff has access to a request for support form which is great. It's not a referral. It's a request for support because it's the classroom teacher who interacts with the student much more frequently and more lengthy in time than we do. But that teacher is requesting support from us rather than outsourcing to an administrator deal with that. And we've created the same kind of system for students. So the kids can actually anonymously request support from an adult if they are unsure how to deal with a rumor that they hear, she said, she said, she said thing. So before it can blow up, they can send an email from the Google Classroom that's posted, the link is posted in every classroom. They can just
040click on that, they can submit, hey, I need help. Is it urgent this period? Can it wait until after this class period or until tomorrow? So we give them the choice and the options to engage with us adults in multiple ways. Now, they're not taking us up on that like mad, right? They're teenagers. Want to remember, 6th, 7th, 8th graders, they're like, I'm going to support. Nope, I need a request for support form. But they have options like that. And I think that helps, being systematic like that. Thank you very much. Yeah, I think that's great. Maries, is there anyone from your staff here tonight that you'd like to introduce or anybody that's come with you tonight you'd like to introduce? Well, Tessa Coatske was here earlier because she's our fantastic, super awesome social worker.
041And I don't think anybody's here because I am a first-year principal. And sometimes I forget to tell my people that I'm doing things like this. And I apologize. [LAUGHING] Awesome. Well, thank you for your leadership and thank you for your presentation. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Thank you again for the presentation. Moving on, we're going to be moving to our scheduled communications. Adriana is going to be posting our board norms and our testimony rules up here in a few seconds. I'm going to be calling each community member up here to speak. So come on up. First up is Nicole Grant. Hello. Good evening, Highline Schools Directors my name is Nicole Grant. And I'm a Highline mom. I just want to start by saying congratulations to the classified staff and the social
042workers and their unions on your honors tonight. That's super cool. My child, my 16-year-old is a student at Aviation High School and has had a really good experience with the academics and the wraparound services. And we love this district. I'm before you tonight because I heard that the district is considering using a community workforce agreement on some upcoming major construction projects, especially the Tyee High School. And I wanted to say as a parent and as a community member that I think that's a great idea. I am an electrician. And I've actually done construction on a lot of schools. And one of the reasons that I've been able to flourish as a woman in this industry is because of community workforce agreements. The truth is that really only 2% of construction workers in our country are
043women. And policies like community workforce agreements that have a strong emphasis on community make it easier for us to succeed in these jobs. And you know, I just look at my kid at Aviation and his friends and I see all the girls that are trying to make it in Aviation, which is also a non-traditional field for women and girls. And it just makes me think, like what kind of policies can make it easier for women and girls to be successful at Highline. And I think community workforce agreements are one of those policies. Thanks. Thank you very much. Next up, Maren Costa. Hi, Maren Costa. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to take two minutes of your time tonight. I'm also a Highline mom. My son has been at Gregory Heights, Seahurst, Glacier, and he's now
044at Maritime. And I wanted to just start by saying thank you to Highline Schools because he's on an IEP and he is probably one of your toughest kids. He actually had to bounce out of Highline for awhile to go to the CLIP Program, which is a residential program at Western State Hospital. So he was really giving you all a run for the money and then went away and then came back and is now getting reintegrated back in. And the support has been amazing. And so I really, really appreciate that. And I just also want to put in a vote for the community work workforce agreement. And maybe someday, kids with IEPs will also find jobs. But that is the hope, is that he's at Maritime. And the whole thing is that we want to get
045him out and looking at people doing the actual jobs. And I would love to see him go to the worksite of any school project and see a whole bunch of different types of people. And hopefully someday, some people that are like him. But I would love to at least start with what the community workforce agreement tries to make happen. And I would ask that we get it approved and implemented as soon as possible. Thanks. Thank you very much. Deborah Lip. I'm not tall. Hi, I'm Deborah Lip, a school bus driver for Highline. And hello, everybody. It's good to see everybody. I'm trying to start with love and kindness because I agree with you 100%. And I'm sorry I didn't come up there and see the pictures of your kids. I wanted to do that last
046time. Mine's the health clinics. I know Joe Van mentioned that they're in our schools. And I found a teen clinic one on our bus, which is our health clinics. And you know, Glacier principal, everybody talks about including your family. Why in mental health is it all confidential? I had 11-year-old niece that they started giving stuff to and wanting to change her. Her voice changed. My brother, she called me. Mike, why has she got a deep voice? I don't know. They won't tell me anything at school. Counselors would not talk to him. They came down here. I talked to her for three hours. I got more out of her than a counselor for a year that had been working with her. Because I'm family, I love her, and she listened, and I listened for three hours.
047She got healed, delivered, whatever you want to say. Because they're going through puberty, parents need to know what's going on. You can't give them birth control and then they get cancer. Really? Are you going to pay the bills? Are you going to pay the bills when they have STDs? Because that's huge. Who's going to pay the bills for all this? You don't want to tell us parents, nothing's going on? Really? It's not OK. Families should be involved every step of the way. You heard the principal. Thank you. Next up, Stephanie Hogan. Hello. These are some of the teachers from Mount Rainier that are supporting my message to you. Hello, I'm Stephanie Hogan. I've been an educator at Mount Rainier since 2008. I'm speaking today about the lack of heritage Spanish classes in our building. Over
048the course of 15 years, the Spanish teachers at Mount Rainier built an academically robust heritage Spanish language program with six full sections, but it was cut in the 2022-23 school year. We know that multi-language learners benefit from strengthening their heritage language skills because it supports their English language learning. As the former chair of the multi-language department, I watched my Spanish-speaking students, who are also inherited Spanish, build community, confidence, pride, and academic identity in addition to language skills. Well, my experience is mostly with ML newcomers. Heritage Spanish is just as valuable for our Spanish-speaking American-born students and students that have arrived when they were here as children. Heritage Spanish allows students to learn Spanish at an advanced level. And the fact that we are able to provide this opportunity and are choosing to not two is
049concerning. Cutting this program is a step backwards in our district's move towards anti-racist education. This decision does not meet the district goal of students being bilingual and biliterate and the district vision of educational equity and justice. I wonder how this decision was made. Was the equity tool used? Were the students and families included in the decision? I wonder if this decision to cut the program would have been different if the population it affected was not a traditionally marginalized population with language barriers and without the time or knowledge to navigate the public school system. How can we justify removing this valuable learning opportunity from our students furthest from education justice? Thank you. Joe Lip. I guess I could go several different directions. The magic wand you're looking for is called prayer. If we can get back
050to a Christian worldview, we could solve a lot of problems. You say every student known by name, strength, and need. I was outside Pacific Elementary waiting to drop off my grandson and there were two young boys, probably 5th graders, in a knockdown, drag-out fight. The one boy got knocked down twice. So I got out of my truck and went and broke up the fight. And as I was doing so, two teachers got out of their car, smiled and waved at me, and walked right into the school. I watched a video the other day of a boy junior, in high school, probably 6' 2", 225 beat a teacher unconscious because she took his video game controller away from him, which he shouldn't have had at school in the first place while the other teacher stood by
051and said, oh, don't hurt her, don't hurt her while she was kicking her in the head. It's on video. Watch it on the video. You can know their names, you can know their strengths. But unless your social workers are going to their homes, door-to-door, and talking to their parents, you'll never going to know their needs. Watched five young kids the other day at the school bus stop, 15 years and younger, vaping. I think the age is 21 for tobacco products. So should those kids be riding the bus? Should there be rules in place if you're going to be smoking pot or tobacco if you can ride the bus? Thank you very much. Katie Kressley. Good evening, directors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Katie Kressley. And I participated in the
052thought exchange, both in the fall and also in the past month regarding the strategic plan that's coming up that you guys are deciding on. First, I would like to make a comment about the goals. The goals are interesting. You've got four new goals. I noticed that one of them is student learning. Now, this is a school district. So I'm hoping that maybe you can consider a swap in verbiage. You have student learning with academics as a subtext. So I'm hoping that maybe you'll reconsider and call it student academics and have learning as the subtext, along with the other experiences. That's just a thought. The second thing is that, as mentioned before, we do have medical clinics, at least three of the four high schools. And those are including, if I'm not mistaken, for the students'
053mental health, gender, sexual health, birth control, things like that. And again, parents may or may not be aware of what's happening with the students. And it is up to the students. And so as a parent, if I was a parent, I would be concerned about that. Third thing is that the thought exchange privacy policy is very interesting. At best, it's contradictory because I know that you as directors really want to make informed choice based upon what the people of the community and the student, the staffing and everything is bringing to you. I was confused because first it says, be aware that your comments could be recognized and you may experience embarrassment or negative consequences based on your comments. Second it says, the moderator can remove comments for any reason they choose, rude, hurtful, or in
054quote, in the best interest of the leader or other participants, unquote. Are you getting the information you need? Which also explains why my comment in the fall was removed, because it wasn't rude and hurtful, it just didn't go along with what was acceptable. Finally, it pleads for participants to be completely candid. And I hope that the staffing can feel safe with that. Thank you. Patricia Bailey. Good evening. Some Highline policies and procedures are destructive to education. Policy ten seeks to indoctrinate children to believing this is a racist country, pitting children against each other, causing more racism. We will never eradicate racism any more than we will eradicate lying, murder, or stealing. But we need to possess the intelligence to appreciate the widespread embrace of all ethnicities in our institutions and elected offices across our nation,
055for example, our school board. Policy ten poisons children's relationships and dispirits students of color regarding their ability to succeed in this country. Another destructive policy is 3211. It indoctrinates children, contrary to reason and science, to believe they can change their sex which was determined at their conception. This leads children into obsessive thinking about sex and prevents high academic achievement. 3211 also requires teachers to withhold students' mental health information from parents, destroying the parent-teacher partnership. It gives students the idea that there are certain things they can or should keep from their parents, thus undermining that relationship, too. This is known as grooming behavior. By allowing boys into girls' bathrooms and locker rooms, this policy also denies girls adequate protection from voyeurism and indecent exposure. This is all going on in a district where only 33% of
056the students met language arts standards and only 22%, math standards. These academic outcomes condemn children to a lifetime of poverty and unfulfilled potential. Highline needs to defund deceptive programs and perhaps hire tutors to get students where they need to go. Thank you. Alex Myrick. Good evening, directors and Dr. Duran. When I was just graduated from college, I went to South Korea as a Peace Corps volunteer, working with tuberculosis and leprosy patients. I stayed for four years and had many memorable experiences. What weighed on me the most, however, were the conditions in North Korea. I have a few friends who are defectors from North Korea. Two of them are sisters, Esther and Grace Jo. Their father was killed by the regime. And I am honored to be called by them [SPEAKING IN KOREAN],, which translates as
057our American father. During the famine of the '90s, they had no rice or real food for over a year and survived by eating grass and tree bark. Their two younger brothers starved to death. The question I pose to you this evening is, how concerned should we be about any similarities between North Korea and the United States? A fellow defector of Esther and Grace is Yeonmi Park. Her second book is being published this month. She escaped to China, where she was sold for $200 as a sex slave. She eventually crossed the Gobi Desert to Mongolia and eventually to the US. She enrolled in and graduated from Columbia University. She had the eerie experience of being exposed to the academic preoccupation with white supremacy, victim mentality, and identity politics, and realizing that the US was closely following
058the direction of the North Korean regime she had fled. Incredibly, the proponents of critical race theory, with the acquiescence of their local kindred spirits, pushing IRI noted that as an Asian, her skin tone was adjacent to that of white people and classified her as an oppressor. This is almost too perverse for a healthy mind to grasp, an actual 21st century survivor of literal slavery is reclassified as an oppressor because her skin color is not dark enough. Please ask yourselves, how much further down this path are you willing to be led? Thank you very much. Next up, Ben Folgers. Oh, there's the timer, OK. Excuse me. Good evening, board. I came here today to address the retention report that was most recently published a couple of days ago. As a teacher at Mount Rainier High School,
059I wanted to give my thoughts on why that retention report is kind of terrible. Frankly, upon seeing that 17.4% turnover throughout the whole district, it was really disappointing but it was not at all surprising. I had been warning my administration and labor management, excuse me, since January of 2022 that there would be huge staff turnover. And part of that is because of the state of our buildings and workload and variety of things. First off, teachers are being asked to do things that are far beyond their scope and their sequence and far beyond our contracted workday. Because Mount Rainier does not have any kind of system-wide policy around discipline, as an example, every time a student is late, we're expected to call home, have that student stay after or come in during lunch. And sometimes, I
060have 15 to 20 students late every single day, sometimes 10 to 15 minutes. And that brings me far beyond the scope of my workday to hold them back, to call home, all to have to repeat the same things. And so I ask that the school board comes up with something that's system-wide that's implemented in schools, but that's also pairing together a restorative piece. Because it seems right now that we go from zero discipline whatsoever to exclusion, which is also not acceptable. Again, these are all things that have been brought forward to our administration. But I think we just need help. And I'd like to give my 3 seconds to Brandice Tranholt, who's after me, if I can. Thank you. Brandice Tranholt? OK, my name is Brandice Tranholt. I am currently a teacher at McMicken Heights.
061This is my ninth year. And I would also like to address the survey that came out, or the report that came out about staff turnover. I was very sad to see as well that the two biggest categories of staff that are leaving our district are our certificated staff and our classified staff. Both of those are on a high increase. And our building leadership is plateauing. That shows me that there is a huge dissatisfaction with the people that are carrying out, I think, the hardest of the work, the ones that are kind of in the trenches. And they're the ones that are having the hardest time doing this. I also would like to talk about the added things that we are being asked to do as teachers. I am covering, and I've talked about this before,
062so many subjects. And I'm trying to integrate and I'm trying hard to use the resources. But more often than not, the resources that we're being given versus the things that we're being asked to do are not necessarily melding well. We're being asked to like make our own rubrics, which we did a few years back with Lucy. But now we have all new curriculum. So again, we have to remake all of this, which takes our time and energy. The other thing is that-- and that's just for teachers. Our classified staff, when it talks about our SpEd category, that is also a really troubling situation. I know staff members that are in special ed that have been harmed, that have been screamed at, that have been-- lots of trauma-related things. And the great thing about them is
063they would never complain, but it's weighing on them. We're going to see a lot more turnover if we are not paying our paras more and giving them the benefits that they need and taking stuff off of our teachers plates. Thank you so much. Thank you. Anne Marie Carey. Good evening, directors. Very little information was provided on the HealthPoint website about the clinics and clinic services. I'd like to learn more about the cost, scope, and objectives of the HealthPoint clinics at the campuses at Evergreen, Highline, and Tyee high schools. Here are some areas of importance that would be helpful to address on the website, and in addition, schedule listing sessions for the constituents of the Highline district. Number one, are parent guardians informed of services for their child? If not, is a student given an option
064to sign a waiver to grant permission? Two, are parent guardians able to attend appointments? Three, are students being referred to clinic services? If so, when, how, and by who are students being referred to the clinic services? Number four, if referred, who is trained to refer and what are their specialties? What symptoms and/or behaviors would lead to a referral? And are those symptoms and/or behavior publicly listed? Number five, if a student is led or by choice seeks care, what mental health, medical, and/or dental history is being utilized by the staff at HealthPoint? Number six, how are students who may have additional learning struggles scheduled? Will they miss important learning time, potentially requiring extra help? Seven, when will information be provided in other language other than English and sometimes Spanish? Number eight, what are the clinic's success
065metrics? Number nine, how is this budgeted? Number 10, are there any per-student budget impacts to the curriculum? While it sounds like a convenient option to serve the students and families of Highline, there are still some unresolved questions in order for parents to be informed. Board directors, please provide further information on HealthPoint clinics. Thank you. And that concludes our scheduled communications. Moving on up to our superintendent's update. Yeah, just got a couple. One, I just want to thank everybody for the participation and the thought exchanges that we've had here open. Until recently, we've been able to get a lot of good information around our four proposed strategic plan goals. And we are able to think about now how that's going to align with the initiatives that we have and how we can do some future planning.
066Some of our next steps will be including having some additional workgroups of both our educators and school leaders, weighing into those four goals, and giving us ideas and suggestions around how we can continue the work that's been going on here in Highline, and what else we can do to add on to that. So really looking forward for the ongoing work we're doing with the strategic plan process. And the information around the exchange will be shared with the community and families by the end of next week. Also, I just want to make it clear, as I know it's come up a couple of different times and it's come up even with some of the items that we have on our agenda, around some of our upcoming work projects. But we are in the process of exploring
067very closely the community workforce agreements. As a matter of fact, we are working with King County right now. They have a priority work grant program grant that we are applying for. And we're taking all the steps necessary to complete that process, which gives us funding up to half a million dollars to offset the cost for community workforce agreements. So we look forward to learning more about that and hopefully receiving some funding from King County to support this work. That's all I have. Thank you very much. Dr. Duran? School board reports, legislative reports. February 27th, there was a huge meeting with all of our board directors on the hill. We had over 300 bills that we were speaking to our senators and our representatives. So one of the things that I would hope is that we
068can advocate more for our special education funding and transportation. So pull out your phones, text your representatives, give them a call, reach out to them as well as our community. If you guys can please support and advocate for our students in our community, that would be greatly appreciated. And we're going to move to our personal director's report. I'm going to start with Director Garcia. Nothing to report at this time. Thank you. Director Hagos? Yes, so I'll start off with sharing a Mount Rainier High School junior, Corinne, I believe you pronounce the last name, is it Lindeman, brought home a gold medal, winning for a state dive championship at the King County Aquatic Center. Let's go, Rams. Way to go. It was also-- it's really nice because I've been fortunate to just be present when our
069city leaders have been engaging with some of our students in Highline. I got to see two things this week that were really exciting to watch. One thing was that our SeaTac city council member Peter Kwan, I believe is how you pronounce his last name, position number three, he spoke with a group of Cub Scouts in Des Moines, in the Des Moines pact and he talked about his work. And he gave an update on current efforts that impacted the lives of these kiddos. A lot of it revolved around city parks, but still, it was wonderful to see. And he opened a Q&A period where some of the Highline Public School kiddos that were present in the Cub Scouts group had asked some really tough questions. I also got to witness a presentation that some Pacific Middle
070School students gave. They gave the presentation on the project to the mayor of Des Moines and city council members. And it's just really nice to see the city leaders engaging with and encouraging our youth. And it comes on the helm of what is now considered National Civics Learning Week, which will be coming up next week. So it's just been nice to see these things happening and occurring around our community. Thank you very much. Director Howell? Thank you. So first, between our four comprehensive high schools, a total of 12 scholar athletes participated in state championships for swim, wrestling, and gymnastics. And we are very proud of our student athletes. Excellent. Also, today I attended North Hill's student-led Black History Month assembly. And it was so phenomenal. Catherine and I were both there snapping pictures. I captured
071a video at one point of students leading the student body in a civil rights song called Turn Me Round that was really cool. And students such as Austin, Amiri, Malia, and Sara all shared about why it's important to them to share their Black histories and their family's history. The assembly was entirely student-run. It was so phenomenal. I got chills multiple times. I told Kimberly, please invite me to these. And she said they do different student-led assemblies every month. So if you're looking for something to make you see the greatness of our students, go to North Hill. That's it. Thank you, Director Howell. Dr. Alvarez. So way to represent. Superintendent Dr. Ivan Duran presented at the American Association of School Administrators Conference, along with Executive Director of Assistance Improvements for Student Success, Dr. Rebecca Kabe and
072our very own former Highline superintendent, Dr. Suzanne Enfield. They shared a Highlines use of holistic, strength-based data to support cross-departmental collaborations and transformation. Their presentation was packed with standing room only. And I got to see a few pictures of the room. And I follow them on social media, so way to represent, Dr. Duran. So thank you. That's all for me. Thank you very much. And for me, I know it's a little bit late, but February 10th was our 100 Days of Kindergarten. So what was really great to see on Twitter was McMicken Heights and their kindergarteners and what they were tweeting photos of, celebrating 100-day hats and doing counting activities with 100 Fruit Loops and things like that. So if you get an opportunity, please go check out the pictures. They're really fun to look
073at. And that concludes our directors reports. For six, in regards to our consent agenda, can I please have a motion to approve our consent agenda? I make a motion we approve our consent agenda. I need a second. I second. All in favor? Aye? Aye. Any opposed? There's none opposed. Thank you. All right. Action items, 8.1. This is to approve resolution 16-23, renewal of Highland big picture State Board of Education waivers. Any questions or comments? I hear none. Can I have a motion, please? I move that the Highline School Board approve resolution number 16-23 in support of a Highline's big pictures waiver from credit-based graduation requirements. I'll need a second. I second that. Roll call, please? Director Hagos? Yea. Director Howell? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 5-0. Thank
074you. 8.2, this is to approve the new pre-apprenticeship program payment. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, may I please have a motion? I move that the Highline School Board approves a new payment to support the career and access advancement efforts of youth. Am I reading the right one, especially women and BIPOC. Can I have a second? I second. Roll call, please. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Howell? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 5-0. Thank you very much. 8.3, this is to approve the amendment of existing contract with New Directions Solutions. Any questions or comments? Hearing and seeing none, can I please have a motion? I move that the Highline School Board approve the contract amount increase of $320,000 with New Direction Solutions LLC DBA Procare Therapy, which increases the
075total contract amount from $110,000 to $430,000. I'll second that. Thank you. Roll call, please? Dr. Garcia? Yea. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Howell? Yea. Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 5-0. Thank you. Action item 8.4 is to approve resolution 12-23, Tyee High School Replacement Project. Any questions or comments? Hearing and seeing none, can I please have a motion? I move that the Highline School Board adopt resolution number 12-23, Tyee High School Replacement Project will not create racial imbalance. I'll need a second. I second. Roll call, please. Director Howell? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 5-0. Thank you. And the last action item is 8.5. And this one is for the Evergreen, the resolution 13-23, Evergreen High School Replacement Project. Questions or comments? Hearing
076and seeing none, please get a motion? I move that the Highline School Board would adopt resolution number 13-23, Evergreen High School Replacement Project will not create a racial imbalance. Second, please. I second. Roll call. Director Alvarez? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Howell? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. Director Van? Yea. This motion passes 5-0. Thank you very much. And that concludes our action items. We have no intro action items. We're going to move on down to our intro 10.1. This motion to approve project and construction management services for Tyee High School Replacement Project with CBRE and HEERY. Any questions or comments from our directors? I hear and see none. 10.2, this is to approve project and construction management service for Pacific Middle School Replacement Project with Veneer Construction Management. Questions or comments? Nobody's jumping up and down,
077so we're good. 10.3, motion for approval of program management services with Veneer Construction Management, Inc. Questions or comments? And seeing none. And that concludes our intro items. Any items that you would like to add to our next consent agenda? Maybe not add to the consent agenda, but just requiring or requesting, please take a look at the draft agenda for next week's board retreat. And so please take a look and provide feedback that we can-- I mean, for those of us who have received it. Thank you so much, Director Alvarez. I appreciate that. With that said, can I please have a motion for adjournment? I make a motion we adjourn. I second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? I think we're good. Thank you, everybody.