School Board Meeting - November 2, 2022

001Welcome, everyone, to the Wednesday, November 2 school board meeting. Please stand 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 Van? Here. Director Howell? Here. Director Alvarez? Director Hagos? Here. Director Garcia? Here, and please note and excuse absent for Director Alvarez. Are there any calls, or changes, or additions to the board meeting agenda? I have none. All right. Then we are going to move on to agenda item 2.1, school presentations. Yes, thank you. Dr. Garcia, I'd like to call up Dr. Reinig, our chief academic officer, who is going to be introducing one of our school presentations for tonight. And thank you very

002much. Also chief microphone tester tonight. So, good evening, everyone, President Garcia, members of the board, and Superintendent Duran. Tonight, we have the opportunity to hear from some of our North Hill staff. We'll introduce in just a moment Principal Kimberly Jones and Assistant Principal Kaitlyn O'Leary. Tonight's school presentation continues our practice in Highline of providing opportunities for schools to share directly with you about their work, their community, their celebrations, and opportunities for continuous improvement. The format that we're using for tonight's presentation has been updated from what some of you might have been used to last year and in prior years. We've heard your input and your interest in creating opportunities to authentically get to know each school community. You've challenged us to think about different ways of bringing in the perspectives, voices, and experiences of our

003students, families, and staff into these presentations, and you've reminded us that each presentation should be unique, just as the school and community that it represents is unique. Tonight's presentation was crafted with that input in mind, and we will continue to adjust along the way, and look forward to your questions, feedback, and ideas of how we can further opportunities for you to deepen your knowledge of each of our amazing schools by name, strength, and need. With that, I would like to welcome North Hill Elementary Principal Kimberly Jones, and Assistant Principal Kaitlyn O'Leary. [APPLAUSE] So welcome, everyone. Thank you for allowing us to come tonight to-- sorry about that-- to share with you how North Hill is keeping the Highline promise alive. And we are actually going to start with telling you a little bit about ourselves.

004So, I actually started in the Highline School District almost 30 years ago at Des Moines Elementary and Marvista, and I loved Highline for the community, and the diversity, and the focus of the district. And I left the district, but was faced with a life challenge about a couple of years ago that allowed me to have a choice. And I chose to come back to Highline because of-- it was always a big part of my heart. I also bring with me a passion for making sure that every student has the ability to access their education. I'm a mom of a college student who is autistic, and I know the difference a school can make when they believe in your child, and can support your child and being their best self. And I moved to the Pacific

005Northwest not too long ago from the East Coast, and really sought out Highline because of the core values, which resonate with who I am and what I believe as an educator. More recently, I became a mom to a very energetic toddler. And my husband grew up in Mexico, and I speak Spanish, so we're raising our daughter to be bilingual. And it's really important to us that both of our cultures become a part of her identity. And so, I hope when she goes on to school that she feels like her entire identity and her multilingualism are really celebrated, and that's the passion and commitment that I bring with me every day to our work with our students in North Hill. So this is actually-- I've been six years at North Hill, and this is actually the

006first time I've been in front of the board, because I think it was my turn right when COVID hit. So we wanted to give you a little bit of a background about the six years of work that have gone on at North Hill, and how that impacts our priorities for this year. So when I came to North Hill, the staff identified a desire to really focus on culturally-responsive practices, and supporting our changing student needs. For the first few years, we focused as a whole staff on building trust with each other, and understanding around equitable practices. This work has been done through book studies and discussions. We built a common understanding around vocabulary, district policies, and exploring the social justice standards. Our next step is to shift our focus to the classroom, and directly working with

007students. In order to work on changing student needs, we focused on our systems of support. We began with students with Tier 3 behaviors and adult understandings of inclusive practices that support students by looking at the function of their behavior. We worked on having students be part of that discussion and that process to support their needs, collect data on their progress, and adjust our plans based on this data. Our next step was to review and recalibrate our Tier 1 social-emotional practices, which focused on a blending of our current positive behavior interventions, and our ruler curriculum. Even though we continue to hone our social emotional practices, we are shifting to reviewing and recalibrating our instructional systems at the Tier 1 and Tier 2 levels. In regards to staff, North Hill has always been a tight community, and

008one where people want to work. Staff retention at North Hill is extremely high. In fact, in my six years, I've hired one teacher. Our focus through everything we do is to have all staff understand the importance in our students succeeding, and that everyone is a leader. We bring classified and certificated staff together on a regular basis, and it is common and expected for all staff to learn from each other, and support each other. Our classified staff also have an equal voice on all of our leadership teams. We celebrate together, but we also question and push each other on a daily basis in order to effectively support our students. So as Kimberly shared, the work of the past six years has focused a lot on adult learning and practices. And we feel we now have a

009really strong foundation to start to shift that work to be more focused on elevating the role of students. As a result of that, we've identified two priorities for this school year. The first is feedback to move learning, and the second is increasing student voice and agency. And we identified these priorities because research shows us that when students are receiving regular feedback about their learning, and take an active role in leading their learning, outcomes will improve. So, our first priority, as Kaitlyn mentioned, is feedback to move learning. To give effective feedback to each other, we need to build strong relationships. Some examples of the way we build relationships at North Hill is by getting to know each other during class meetings every day, and our new heritage celebrations. Our goal is to have feedback that is

010focused on the learning that is taking place, and is done on a daily basis so that adjustments can be made. Examples of-- at North Hill are peer-to-peer feedback, adults and students using rubrics to monitor and guide their progress, and staff conferring with students about their learning goals. Research tells us that students are most engaged in their learning when they are involved in setting goals, and are able to articulate their progress along those goals. Our second priority is increasing student voice and agency. In the classroom, this looks like students conferring one-on-one with their teachers, and teachers helping students develop that-- an awareness of their strengths, and what they need to do to continue to improve their learning. And then school-wide, we have several systems and structures in place to elevate the role of students. Every morning,

011we have students lead morning announcements. And every Friday, we have students announce our weekly Jet Setter winners. This month, we launch-- or this year, we launch monthly Heritage Month celebrations, and we have all-school assemblies that are completely led by students to highlight the different groups each month. We also are in the process of launching a student advisory committee for students in grades 3, 4 and 5 to really understand the student experience and identify areas of growth. All of our teachers focus on daily classroom meetings in which they're giving students opportunities to discuss things that are happening in their classrooms, and also problem solve alongside the teacher. Last year, we launched the Reading Buddies program, and we had 105 third, fourth, and fifth grade students give up their recesses several times a week to meet and

012read with younger students. Finally, as a staff, we've really been studying restorative practices, because we believe if students have problems with another student or a staff member, their voice needs to be involved in healing that relationship and solving that problem. So we believe that if we really focus on these two priorities, the Highline promise will come alive not only for our students, but also for our staff members. And success will look like students knowing where they are on the learning continuum, and their next steps, teachers knowing students' strengths, and their areas of opportunity, and communicating that to all stakeholders, students taking an active role in the North Hill Community, and feeling connected, and staff's strengths being uplifted and valued, so that they may effectively serve our students. So we wanted to learn a little bit

013more from our students and families about the impact of our work. We asked several students, what's the best part about being a student at North Hill? [? Austin ?] [? Demps, ?] a fifth grade student, shared, "The best part about being a student at North Hill is that all the teachers are super kind. Ms. Bork was always funny and kind during book groups. She helped kids with reading, and I was one of those kids." [? Emilio ?] [? Aguilar, ?] a fourth grade student, shared, "The teachers are really helping me. Ms. Monahan is a very nice teacher, and I feel like I don't even want to leave this school." And we had several students echo that similar sentiment about having those supportive relationships with adults. We also surveyed all of our students after they participated

014in our Hispanic Heritage Month assembly, and we asked them what was the best part of the assembly. Here were some of the things they said. "I liked hearing where students came from in the assembly." "The best part of the assembly was getting to learn more about other heritages and cultures," and finally, "Knowing that so many people come from so many places on Earth." We actually wanted you to hear the voice of a family member. We posed two questions to a family that we have worked with for several years to support both of their children. The dad has been traumatized by an educational system that did not serve him well as a youth, so it's really taken a long time to build that trusting relationship. The questions we asked him were, how is the promise holding

015true for [? Ada ?] and [? Jeffrey ?] at North Hill, and then what else do we need to do to fulfill the promise? And here's his voice. - [INAUDIBLE] whether it be a phone call, [INAUDIBLE] my wife, [INAUDIBLE].. But also just to understand what it's like [INAUDIBLE] being as [INAUDIBLE] here as well. [INAUDIBLE] Or having more [INAUDIBLE] take care of. What we were seeing during the pandemic was [INAUDIBLE] were struggling. [INAUDIBLE] were very committed [INAUDIBLE] last year with some struggles, and behavior stuff-- all the things. Especially [INAUDIBLE] so we're not [INAUDIBLE].. So coming back here in this [INAUDIBLE],, all the things he was [INAUDIBLE] for our children, and for our educators, families [INAUDIBLE].. We knew that was going to happen. I even practiced it, and it still happened. Sorry. So we have lots of

016things to celebrate. One of the things that we would like to celebrate you'll see right here. This is our academic data. This shows you our i-Ready reading growth data from last fall to last spring. And as you can see, our students with the greatest need made the greatest growth. This next slide shows you our math growth data from last year, and again, our students furthest away from standard made the greatest growth. The second area we'd like to celebrate is the environment of support for students at North Hill. This is a snapshot of our Fall 2022 panorama data. This is a social-emotional learning survey that we administer to students in grades three to five, and the data shows that most students feel their voices matter, and their identity is affirmed at North Hill. Our last success

017that we want to celebrate is our staff. Staff stay at North Hill. We have several para-educators that are working on their teaching degree. We continue to hire staff from our community, and uplift the voice and leadership of all of our staff. In regards to community partnerships, we constantly strive to involve our community and Highline students in enriching opportunities for our North Hill students. At North Hill, we're always thinking about how we can continue to grow and improve. And our next steps are to focus on using data to guide instruction, with a specific focus on developing teachers capacity to look at data in teams and provide systemic interventions to meet the needs of all students. We continue to focus on strengthening our PLC systems and structures so that we are able to do this work together.

018Additionally, we are working on increasing family voice. Last year, we launched a series of evening community events for our families who speak Spanish, since that is the second most spoken language at our school. And this year, we have just invited to family members from the community to join our school equity team. Our goal is to eventually have a family advisory team to accompany that. Thank you for allowing us to share just a little snippet of all of our attempts at North Hill to support our students, and to continue the Highline promise. [APPLAUSE] Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll open it up. Joe, do you have any questions? Well, I did have some questions, but you answered all of them during your presentation. I just want to, thank you, Ms. Jones, for being here this

019evening, and sharing what you've done there. So I appreciate it. Director Howell? Thank you so much. This is great. I really appreciate that-- the data that you shared, and the points that you shared. The video, the parent voice, was really specific to your school. I get a sense of what North Hill is about, and I really appreciate that. And I'm super excited about your focus for this year. Both of those have very high effect size with Hattie, so those are great-- great choices. You mentioned, at the very end, about next steps using some data to guide your instruction. What sorts of data? I see that you're using i-Ready data. What other sorts of data are you using to drive instruction? A lot of data. It's data from the curriculum, so you'll have that, too-- i-Ready.

020Our new current art curriculum, there's lots of components in SchoolPace that we're using. Our panorama data we use on a continual basis. But the most important is kind of week-to-week we meet as a PLC, and so you're looking at what is happening in the classroom, and what are students working on, and how are they reacting to your instruction, and trying to guide that. So a lot of it's in that moment, because once you kind of wait till that end test, it's a little too late. Right. Thank you. Dr. Hagos? Wow. Can I just say, you really painted a picture of what North Hill looks like. And I've got to tell you, it wasn't-- it was by chance I was at the public library this past week. And at the public library, I met a family.

021And as we were talking about her kids, she had three kids with her, and she was helping them with their reading work-- and their math-- and their math homework. And she tells me she-- all three of her children attend North Hill Elementary. And I said, oh wow, well, that's great. Tell me a little bit about that. And she says, we have the opportunity to move out of this area and go into a different location for a bigger house and things like that at a great price. And they did not do that, specifically because they wanted to stay at North Hill. I was very impressed. They love your community, and I can see why. So just thank you for all the things that you've shared tonight. Aside from that, I just-- you did answer many of

022the questions that I had originally. I see that there's a lot of really good academic successes as well as a phenomenal list of community partnerships. So I am impressed with your presentation tonight. I have one question left, and along with the great results with your data, specifically for math improvements, I noticed that the kids who were furthest behind made the most growth at 81% growth. Fabulous. So my question is, when I looked at that same data sheet, I noticed that the progress for the kiddos who were at grade level or above was the very lowest. So I'm curious to know, in your next steps, when you talk about using data and how you're going to make some plans for the kids in your school, what will you do to-- or how will you use data

023to inform practices to help the kids who are performing above grade level to keep up with their instructional levels so they don't fall behind? So we know that about our data as well. And traditionally, our data has looked a little bit differently, that all students have been making more consistent growth. We feel that last year, coming back from the pandemic, the gap in our classrooms was something that our teachers had never seen before. And so their focus was so much on just trying to meet that greatest need, and trying to develop new strategies to address that breadth of learning needs. But obviously, we want to support that growth of all students. So we really feel actually that the priorities that we identified are going to be the right levers to do that as we continue

024to focus on that individual feedback, so that students can set those individual goals and continue to move forward in their learning. Thank you for your response. I appreciated you guys tonight. I will echo what everyone said. Just wow. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I really appreciate this new format that we're going with. I want to take a second to recognize the staff here. Thank you. There's a lot of places you could be on Wednesday night, but being here to support your team. Amazing. So, thank you. [APPLAUSE] Just to let you know, they didn't follow directions, because they weren't supposed to come. They're supposed to be with their families. [LAUGHS] You are-- There you go. Thank you. I think my two questions, kind of in the similar theme or vein, what are ways that we

025can continue supporting staff when it comes to just the overall well-being and wellness of staff as we kind of move past this COVID era? And the second question is kind of related to retention, but what are ways that we can-- in case there's a time when folks decide to move on, or pursue other careers, what are ways that we're building systems so that when a new person plugs in, they're getting up to speed, and they're just as ready as somebody who's been here for a couple of years? I think I'll go to the new staffing, how do we kind of mentor. I think one of the things-- and sorry to the staff that's here. When I came to North Hill, one of the things I kind of asked was, where are all my student-teachers? Because

026I was used to having student-teachers, and it just wasn't what they did at that time. And so that's been a big push of ours, with our classified and certificated staff, that it's our job to mentor. Just as much as we're working with students, we're supposed to be mentoring each other, and helping each other grow. And so, I know that when we do have new staff come in, even though it's been very minimal, they, as a team, surround that person to mentor them. And so we have a lot of student-teachers traditionally now, and so-- how the staff kind of wraps around them. But it is something that we have to remember as a building, because sometimes we assume things. And so when that one new teacher or a new staff member comes, we do have to

027be very purposeful to remember to onboard them and make sure they have the support that they need. The other question, in regards to-- did you get the other question? Will you repeat the other part-- the first part? If we gave you a magic wand to just make sure that you had what you needed to make sure your staff was feeling well, and full, and happy, and joy, what would it be? To me, I think-- and I wish I could just ask the staff right here-- we need more people in our schools. I mean, it's kind of hard, because like, we're a school that isn't considered high poverty, even though we have almost 50% with students who are struggling. So our budget is very minimal compared to other schools. And thank goodness, we're pretty creative and

028do things. But the amount of staff we have at North Hill is very little compared to other buildings. And so that's why we have to have 105 students help us, because we just don't have enough staff. And that's where-- I hope I don't get myself in trouble, but I think that any staff member that isn't directly in a school, we have to question why we have that person 10 times more than we would be about putting another para-educator into a classroom, or a teacher, because those are-- that's what helps us and my staff. I mean, they work nonstop-- like all teachers, you don't get into it for the pay. But we need more people. We need help. And I have the community. I have teachers and paras waiting that I can hire. It's just the

029funding to do that. Thank you. Never feel like you can't be honest with us. Thank you. Any other questions? Amazing work, y'all. All right. That is it. Feel free to stick around, but don't feel like you have to. But you're welcome to stay. Thank you very much. [APPLAUSE] That brings us up to scheduled communication. We're going to post our border-- or scheduled communications rules I usually like to go over our norms just to remind folks these are the guidelines that, as a board, we stand by, and it's important that we all stand by this. So the first one is we ask that everyone be present. We ask that people be respectful of different opinions, easy on people, but hard on ideas. And be as concise as possible, enable all opinions to be heard, assume best

030intentions, seek to understand, and then to be understood. And if you're speaking tonight, I ask that you take a moment to please read the public testimony scheduled rules on the board. And do we have our first speaker? Tamara Vandenberg. [APPLAUSE] Hello. I'm going to talk about the election that's coming up on November 8 on the school board of voting for the new $518 million Levy that's going to be put out there. It's to rebuild Tyee High School, Evergreen High Schools, Pacific Middle School, and some of the things. We've been kind of misrepresented in this situation. And what it is-- it boils down to is we were told it was going to be 3 point-- what is it? 3.86 per 1,000, and that's been spread out through all the advertising material. But it's actually going to

031be 4.4 And that presentation has been presented in the community listening meetings with Superintendent Dr. Duran. It's been put on the slide that they presented. They said 4.4 for 2022, 3.86 for '23 and '24. And on the digital ads and the websites, it's been put at 3.86. In the voter pamphlet, it says it's going to be 3.86. They say specifically the bonds for 21 years, and it's decreased by 0.54 per 1,000, from 4.4 to 3.86. And there's a mailer that went out also, and that talked about the same thing. And it said on the very top of it, your vote is to approve, and not increase, and no taxes will be increased. That's a flyer that was put out there. So I just-- I know they're trying to be transparent. If you go into yesforhighline.org

032and you go to a little link there, you can put in your address. And that's what I did with my address. And it came out for 2022, for the school board taxes, I was paying $2,574. And for 2023, I'm paying $3,053.60, and that's just the school board portion of it. So that doesn't-- it's not going down. It's going up by $479. So that's a lot for people to pay extra on their taxes. And these are all homeowners, but the renters are going to be affected, too, because that tax increase will go directly to them also. So I don't-- it's interesting that this was changed on October 6, just about a month before the election, not in time to change all the material that was put out there. And-- where's I am at. That's a big

033modification. And I was just wondering if anybody has informed the directors? Has anybody informed the board at the listening sessions? Has that been changed at all? I went to one, but I didn't go to any of the others. And I know that this 3.86 has been put out there in telephone calls, it's been put out there in door knocking, and it's just not true. And I do not know if there's been any change to make it true. I mean, to bring it up to 4.4 at all, and that's what it is. So what we're putting out there-- the district is putting out there is not true. And it just puts everything on the parents. Are they not telling us the truth? What else are they not telling us? And it's just being transparent. And it

034puts fear-- it puts fear into my heart. Maybe I'd be glad to pass it, but I don't want to be told misinformation. And I think that's the way a lot of people feel. We don't want to be told what's not true. And-- [BEEP] There we go, guys. [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Katie Kressley? Students are really important, because that's why we're here. But tonight I'd like to address Proposition 1, the 2022 bond to replace Tyee High School, Evergreen Pacific Middle School was just brought up. And yes, I think that a long term plan, your promise to rebuild aging schools is a great idea. For safety, equity, a comfortable place to learn, to work, yes. However, is this the time? According to the report by Becca Chen on April-- on October 5 this year, just a month ago,

035regarding school enrollment numbers, Highline, as everywhere else, is seeing a significant decline in enrollment numbers. It already slid from about 18.5-- 18,500 to less than 17,000-- actually, 16,945. That's at least 1,500 less students in just a couple of years. And further reduction in enrollment is expected. So for example, why are we rebuilding Tyee, currently at 653 attendees, being built for 1,200 students? Secondly, will the new schools actually improve the academic performance of the students in these three middle schools? So let's get to Proposition 1. In September, you had three community meetings to promote the bond. In October, you had five listening sessions to promote the bond, plus you had another last night. You said, this bond is part of a long term plan developed by the Volunteer Facilities Advisory Committee. Your stated goal is to

036replace our aging schools with safe, modern facilities without raising taxes. We anticipate that property taxes will stay about the same for most homes, depending on property values. In the [INAUDIBLE] pamphlet, color mailers, color doorbelling-- or doorbelling, phone calls, ads, you promoted it would simply replace the retiring bond without changing the amount, and most homeowners would pay between $22 and $23. At a rate of 3.86 per 1,000, that was about right. My taxes would not have gone up this year. Instead, I decided to follow what you said was a transparent issue. You wanted to be transparent. So I went to yesforhighline.org, where there was a link to go to the King County assessor's site to check out what my taxes would be. My current local taxes are $1,711. If this passes, it will shoot up by

037$276 to $1,987. That's a 16% increase, and my other taxes do not do that. They all stay the same. Only the school board taxes have gone up. In fact, they've gone up from $1,100 four years ago to almost $2,000, if this actually passes. I own a modest house in SeaTac. Again, you advertise 3.86 per 1,000, a reduction from 4.40. On October 6, that bounced back to 4.40, and we didn't hear a peep. You didn't bring that up at any of the October meetings, none of the listening sessions, or even last night. We asked, and Catherine Carbone Rodgers responded-- that's the media spokesperson responded that this-- she answered, King County updated its objections-- projections for property values in October to reflect slower than expected growth in home valuation and Highline neighborhoods of 2023. This change the

038estimated tax, but not the amount for Proposition 1. I beg to differ. $276 is a lot. Regarding the bond, my observations still stand. Number one, how will this help academics? Number two, as we see of decline in enrollment, do we really need to commit 21 years to replace three aging schools right now for $518 million? Thank you. [BEEPING] [APPLAUSE] Thank you. Is Patricia Bailey here? Good evening, Highline School Board members. In order to be educators, we need to affirm we share an objective reality. Teachers who claim truth is relative destroy the very foundation of education, since teaching is based on the belief that there is something objective to be taught. For example, throughout history, we have known, and teachers have taught, there are two genders, male and female. Those who teach gender fluidity deny the

039reality of ancestry, genetics, and the biological sciences. Propaganda and propagandizing students into their own gender fantasy is not education. This is the end of education. Unfortunately, teachers are being indoctrinated with this anti-science at the university and workshop levels. Activists have children spend time and energy trying to figure out how they feel about their gender, what do they want to be called, how do others see them, are they comfortable in their body, and so on, instead of the pursuit of knowledge, reason, and productive, fulfilling endeavors. Clinical psychologist tell us the more we think about ourselves, the more unhappy anxious, hurt, and disappointed we become. This explains widespread depression in our youth. The reformers confound the English language, confusing communication to such an extent that thinking, speaking, and writing become hopelessly bewildering. I have provided the board

040with a list of pronouns-- apparently you won't be able to see them until after the meeting-- from the University of California Davis website, with 35 non-binary pronouns to be used in the service of transgender-ism. We are familiar with the standard English pronouns. For example, she reminded herself to pick up her umbrella, or he reminded himself to pick up his umbrella. However, under the tutelage of the so-called reformers, one could demand others regard him or her as ze, Z-E. This example is at the bottom of the page. And it reads, ze reminded zerself to pick up zer umbrella. If you identify as ve, on the other hand, it would be stated as ve reminded verself herself to pick up ver umbrella. Or you may identify with the pronoun co. Co reminded coself to pick up co's

041umbrella. Or maybe one identifies as en, E-N. En reminded enself to pick up en's umbrella. If your pronoun is yo, it would read yo reminded yoself to pick up yo's umbrella. There's endless variations you can employ by mixing, and matching, and adding your own pronouns. This is not a script from The Onion, but a real-life descent into idiocracy, and it's being implemented around the country-- hopefully not in Highline schools. If the purpose of these enemies of education is to confuse and disable children, they are well on their way. We must stand for objective truth, and not buy into these lies. We want our children to be rightly educated and successful in fulfilling their unique purposes in life. Children need to be helped to accept what they cannot change-- their chromosomes-- and appreciate that they are

042all fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 1:39. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] Is [? Brenda ?] [INAUDIBLE] here? Hello again, School Board. I'm here again to talk about how schools are changing. I talked last week-- or two weeks ago-- only for two minutes, and so I feel like I wanted to make sure that my message was actually heard. I talked a lot about how, as educators, our job is changing, and we're being asked to do more. I want to start by giving a little personal story, because I am a product of Highline Public Schools. I went to Gregory Heights Elementary. I went to Sylvester Middle School, and I went to-- I graduated from Highline High School. In that time, I was homeless. I experienced abuse. I experienced a lot of trauma. And not until I got to middle

043school did I have one teacher that spent time to actually get to know me by my name, my strength, and my need. It took me that long to believe that the school system cared about me. Why? Because I walked through the halls of a school, Sylvester, that was falling apart. It was decrepit. We had school books at Highline that were literally as old as I was, because my parent's names were written in them. That is what I went to school with. So yeah, we need to rebuild these schools, because students will show up if they feel like we care about them. We're not showing them that we care about them if we let them exist in schools that don't have air conditioning or heat, or have tiles that are falling down, or rat turds in

044the corners. We need to rebuild our schools. I tell you the story because I teach social-emotional learning, I teach social justice, I teach about race and identity in my class, because those are things that are important, and they're the things that I needed when I was growing up. I didn't have a family member that could teach me these things, because she was too busy trying to work three jobs to take care of us. She tried. She was a great mom, but she had a lot of trauma, too, and no one taught us how to handle that. So in my classroom, we spend a lot of time talking about how to best support each other and ourselves in that work. So when I come to you and say, yes, my job is getting bigger, it's not

045that I don't want to do that job. I do. I care so deeply about all of my students, and their identities, and whether or not they want to be called he, she, ze, I don't care. If that's what makes you happy, if that's what you need to feel validated, I will gladly do it, because I know you might be going home to someone that doesn't do that. And I've heard my students talk about how they don't want to exist anymore because of people that treat them that way. So keep that in mind. I work hard every day because I love what I do, but I need the help. North Hill said it perfectly. We need more bodies. We need more people to help. We need qualified paras that enjoy being there, and see the value

046of being there. But if they're not getting the pay, and the benefits that they need, they stop showing up, and then my job gets harder because problems happen everywhere, and I can't be everywhere. One of the other things that I would really love for us to really think about is the training that we get for our staff. We need more support when it comes to trauma-informed practices. I've experienced it so I can give more support to myself and my colleagues, but there's a lot of people that haven't experienced the types of things that I have, and don't know how to address it. I'm currently teaching seven grade levels in my classroom-- kindergarten up to sixth grade. I can't differentiate at that level. I need more training, and a better tool kit to access it. Please

047think about these things. And if you have any questions, contact me. [BEEP] [APPLAUSE] Do we have an Alex Myrick? Dr. Duran, President Garcia, members of the board I'd like to start by thanking the board members for their volunteer service to try to make education better in this district. It's been many, many years since I've had occasion to address the Highline Board, so I'll take a moment to reintroduce myself. I've been a mental health professional for over 30 years. I've been a Child Protective Services social worker, a University of Washington clinical affiliate faculty member, a clinical supervisor for multiple non-profit human service organizations, a licensed independent clinical social worker, and a substitute teacher for pre-K through 12th grade, and guest lecturer at the college and graduate school level. I'm also a student of history. It seems

048that, periodically, our society loses its mind, including the educational and medical establishments. I don't know how many of you have read about what happened in the early part of the 20th century, we had a eugenics movement. And the powers that be in education, and the medical field decided that the gene pool was at risk. And if we didn't sterilize large numbers of people who didn't come up to the mark, the whole race was at risk. Compulsory sterilization laws were adopted in over 30 states. Over 60,000 people were sterilized. This continued for decades. Before the eugenics movement ended, the pre-frontal lobotomy came along. It was invented by a neurologist in 1935, who earned a Nobel Prize for the procedure in 1949. If you're thinking scalpel, forget it. The early lobotomies were done with an ice pick,

049through the eye socket, to sever nerves from the frontal lobe-- between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain. It was-- later the ice pick was later replaced with a spatula to do the same thing. This did reduce agitation in certain agitated, or even violent and delusional patients. However, the side effects were passivity, decreased initiative, poor concentration, and greatly decreased emotional response to life. About 50,000 people suffered this procedure in the United States alone. Now, we are in a transgender and transsexual fad. Please do not misunderstand me. I have studied and worked with the American Psychiatric Association's current and five previous editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. I know gender dysphoria is real. Those suffering from gender dysphoria deserve to be treated with compassion and dignity. When I had patients

050with anorexia nervosa, some of them wanted to have liposuction. These are girls and women who are gaunt, emaciated, you can see their ribs, and they think they're fat. OK? No responsible practitioner would perform liposuction, as they correctly identified this as a psychiatric disorder, and not a physical one. We should do the same with gender dysphoria. It used to be extremely rare. Children and teens, as you know, are obsessed with popularity. Thanks to intersectionality, schools have a totem, or a pecking order. A child can move from the bottom to the top overnight by declaring themselves trans-- Thank you, Mr. Myrick. I believe another member of the audience has appropriately signed in, and has offered to cede her time to me. Can we reset the clock? Is the person here? Yes. Who's the person? What's your name?

051Yes, we're going to have the next speaker go, and then we can use your time after that. So this is [? Elizabeth ?] [? Cook. ?] Here. [APPLAUSE] We've got to be consistent with how we interpret the rules. So we're going to go with this pecking order. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My concern is regarding the new mathematics curriculum at Mount Rainier High School. Can you hear me? OK. Let's see. Sharon, can you please pause the timer? OK, thank you. My concern is regarding the new mathematics curriculum at Mount Rainier High School. It very recently came to my attention that the math curriculum has been changed at Mount Rainier High School. All incoming ninth graders are now required to take an Algebra 1/Geometry class, regardless of whether they have taken Algebra 1

052before. In short, some students are required to repeat the Algebra 1 course. There are no options to test out of this requirement, and no in-person classes offered as an alternative. As a parent of two children at this school, I was not informed by the middle school or the school that is fairly significant change was occurring. I was not offered any forum to discuss concerns. There was no communication around this. Instead, my son, now two months into the quarter, asked if he could take a harder math class, because his is too easy. My son took Algebra 1 in eighth grade and received an A. Not only did he do well in the class, he also tested above grade level on the math SBA last spring. There appears to be no reason to require him to repeat

053this class. I am certain that he is not the only student in this situation. It is also extremely concerning that the administration is requiring students to repeat a class that they have already taken and passed without any testing of that student, I would like to state this another way, since it is important that the board understand that all incoming ninth graders at Mount Rainier are being required to take an Algebra 1/Geometry class, regardless of whether they have already taken Algebra 1, and regardless of their grade or SBA score. I do not know of any other educational institution where a student successfully passes a class, successfully passes all tests, but is required to repeat the class. This does not occur elsewhere, and should not be occurring in our school district. My request is that Mount Rainier

054High School and all schools in the district be required to demonstrate the need of a student to repeat any class that they have already repeated or completed with a passing grade. I also request that this be done through documented testing of the same student, and not through anecdotal evidence, or test scores of other students. The student being held back should be tested, and parents should be informed. I repeat, the student-- excuse me. This is a very upsetting situation for me. The district should be required to document the need for a student to repeat core educational material through testing of that student. Colleges and universities do not compel a student to repeat a class they have already passed. The Highline School District should be held to the same standards. Students should not be required to repeat

055classes that they have already successfully passed. The second issue I would like to raise is that the new mathematics curriculum is not in line with math courses in other districts. The incoming ninth graders are required to take a year-long combined Algebra 1/Geometry class, and the sophomores are required to take a year-long combined Geometry/Algebra 2 class. If a student needs to change schools between freshman and sophomore years, they will not have completed Geometry, and then they will be behind their peers at the new school. For core subjects, I would strongly request that the administrators at Highline stay in alignment with other district schools so that our students remain competitive and at grade at grade level in core subjects, even if they need to change schools Thank you very much for your time. [APPLAUSE] All right, now

056we have [? Elizabeth ?] [? Cook-- ?] oh, [? Katie ?] [? Radley ?] Yeah, he can go up. We all like to think of our schools as egalitarian, and all students being treated equally. However, students create their own pecking order. A lot of this is due to intersectionality. And a child can move from the very bottom of the order to the top overnight, simply by declaring themselves to be transgender. This is irresistible to many young children. Consider the distribution of this order and the clustering. Some regions have little or no increase in referrals for gender treatment. Others have a 4,000% increase in 10 years. Middle schools with no case of gender dysphoria in recent memory suddenly have 10 cases. What are the odds? Guess what? They're all friends in the same peer group. They

057all came out after binging on the same internet site. Social transition is not healthy, but it can be reversed. Puberty blockers are a different matter entirely. They are not approved by the FDA for transgender use-- [COUGHS] excuse me. They are used what's known as off-label. The approved use is for precocious puberty. If you have a four or five-year-old girl who suddenly starts developing breasts, it may be appropriate for her to be prescribed Puberty blockers are sold as a pause button which can be reversed. This is not the case. Puberty blockers inhibit bone growth, decreased bone density, and prevent normal brain maturation. They cause cardiac complications, and prevent development of sperm in boys, and eggs in girls. In contrast, of all kids who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria, 80% to 95% will identify with their biological

058biologic by the end of adolescence if they undergo no intervention. There's a large group in the trans population that take cross-sex hormones, but never undergo surgery. However, are you aware of the percentage of those on puberty blockers that go on to cross-sex hormones? It's 98%. I would urge the board to reverse this course, and return to sanity. We've all received lots of pleas for new, modern schools. I've voted to increase my taxes more times than I can count, and to improve education. But the real safety comes from a postmodern curricula, and social engineering. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] James Payne. Good evening, School Board. James Payne with two at North Hill Elementary. OK, last meeting, you had a fifth grade teacher speak to you about her overbearing workload. It was an enlightening speech, likely indicative of most

059Highline teachers' attitudes, as engendered by your mandatory equity symposiums. She willingly confessed that she flies a political flag in her elementary classroom, openly supports an admittedly racist organization, and proudly teaches true history, which is code for history that likely falls outside the district's approved curriculum. While this teacher's repugnant and illegal classroom activism should be the subject of your discipline, she did have a single, good point, that you're asking teachers to do more than their mandate, and the quality of education provided by the district is suffering. One need only look at the plummeting enrollment and the standardized testing outcomes for the district to validate that argument, with only 30% of your students at or above the standard. The district can't do it all. The district cannot provide equity, because the district is not God. To believe

060otherwise is hubris, and it's time to come down to Earth with realistic and attainable goals. And this means focusing like a laser beam on practical education, and eliminating leftist political indoctrination, much like how your teacher wastes her valuable instruction time on SEL, and instruction on race and identity, IRI. Often what sounds or looks good is not necessarily good, and it takes true wisdom and discernment to know the difference. For example, let's talk about the Highline promise. It's essentially the vision of the district, meant to be aspirational. It says every student in Highline is known by name, strength, and need, and graduates with the future they choose. OK. Let's set aside the fact that it sounds suspiciously like what Karl Marx said when describing his philosophy, quote, "From each according to his ability, to each according

061to his need," unquote. Now, this sounds good, but Marx's ideology has had murderous outcomes, costing the lives of more than 100 million humans since his time. Again, what sounds or looks good is not automatically good. And objectively speaking, the Highline promise seems to be a broken promise. Highline knows everyone's name to put on a report card, but knowing every child's strength is irrelevant. Highline is not an employer trying to maximize efficiency by utilizing their people's strengths. The fact that a child is skilled at a thing does not ensure that they'll meet the minimum standards of a graduation, which is the most important thing. Indeed, Highline cannot even ensure that every student graduates without dramatically lowering educational standards, let alone with all the skills necessary for a future of their choosing. No government can do that.

062What you can do, however, is to provide the best educational opportunities equally-- not equitably-- and let the students and families choose the best combination of opportunities to get their education that they desire. You've been bamboozled by the staff into believing that you can achieve the unachievable. That is, providing equal outcomes to all kids. In your forthcoming rewrite of the strategic plan, I do hope that you have the wisdom to better discern your limitations, and focus on what you can control. Start by junking your toxic IRI curriculum, and all leftist political advocacy, which despite lofty aspirations, never works as intended. Thank you. And your public record section is still broken, by the way. [APPLAUSE] [BEEPING] Thank you. [? Anne-Marie ?] [INAUDIBLE]? Good evening, Highline School Board and Dr. Duran. I just wanted to read an article

063put out by The Epoch Times, and it has to do with decades of student progress wiped out, national math and reading scores at historic lows. It says, "National math test scores in fourth and eighth grades showed the biggest drop since a national testing program began in 1990, and the reading level for the same grades reverted to a level from three decades ago. Eighth grade math performance has dropped eight points since 2019, and about a third of the students in both grades can't read at the minimum required level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, parenthetically NAEP, report. NAEP, also known as the Nation's Report Card, is the only national and continuing assessment program administered by the National Center for Education Statistics-- of the Department of Education. The Nation's Report card is the gold standard

064for measuring student academic achievements. The results, released on October 24, were based on test administered in the spring. Peggy Carr, the NCES commissioner who presented the math and reading test results, said the eight-point decline in eighth grade math was troubling and significant. According to her, a two and three-point drop is considered significant at the national level. She began her presentation with context of the testing results. The pandemic reduced in-person learning, and increased mental health needs of students. She said she would have to talk to reading experts to find out why students' reading performance lost 30 years of progress. 'We are talking about a really serious erosion of childrens' capacities to read and count, and the next generation of the workforce.' Beverly Perdue, former governor of North Carolina, and Chair of the National Assessment Governing Board,

065which sets policies and achievement levels for the Nation's Report Card, said during a media event at the National Press Club in Washington on October 2." So this becomes a global economic issue for America. "US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called the results appalling and unacceptable. This is a moment of truth for education, he told reporters in a pre-release briefing on October 21. In a statement, Perdue said students learning gaps pre-dated, but were exacerbated by, the pandemic. Dr. [? Vicky ?] [? Elgar, ?] a policy advisor for the Heartland Institute, agreed. We should be careful not to make COVID school closures the whole story. School closures made an already bad situation worse. Alarming proportions of students still not proficient in the core subjects of math and reading,' she told The Epoch Times. 'We are also seeing the

066continuing pattern of lower proficiency rates among eighth graders compared to fourth graders. We would expect to see children's subject level mastery improving the longer they're in school, but we're still seeing the opposite trend instead.'" So I looked at Washington State, because there was nothing specific to Highline School District. And looking at fourth grade math, the national-- just the lowest level, the average is 235. And Highline's at 235. In 2019-- this is 2022-- in 2019, they were 240, and the National level was 240. So they really just hit the national average on that. In eighth grade, the 2022 national-- thank you. [APPLAUSE] All right, that now concludes scheduled communications. We're going to have our superintendent update up next. Thank you, Director Garcia. I'm going to start first by inviting Melanie Bowman, the business agent for Teamsters

067Local 763, to come to the microphone, and to give us an update. This is a change in some of our practices that we've done before, but we're having different labor partners come to the board meetings and address the board. So thank you for being here, Melanie, and welcome. Hello, school board, and Superintendent Dr.-- Superintendent Dr. Ivan. Most of you guys know me already. So I am the business agent for classified staff from Teamsters 763. I worked for Highline School District for approximately seven years as a para-educator, and also as an office assistant. My mom was a para-educator in Tukwila School District for 25 years. So I smell the laminate, and I guess fond memories of being at the school before and after school all the time. So I am one of three business agents from

068Teamsters 763 who support Highline School District classified staff. Classified staff spend more time with our students than a lot of the other staff in the district, whether it be custodians-- a custodian's smiling face in the lunchroom, a safety or security officer's kind words of encouragement, the office staff saying the first positive word to a student for the day, a bus driver welcoming each and every student on their bus, keeping them safe to where they to where they need to go. The staff at [INAUDIBLE] busting their tails, getting things done that have to be done to keep our district running smoothly. Our groundskeepers, keeping our schools looking amazing. And our kitchen staff, who see almost each and every one of our students every single day. This is an amazing group of people, the Highline School District,

069and the Highline School District is very, very lucky to have such a dedicated, loyal, and caring staff. My colleagues and I had the opportunity to meet with Superintendent Duran-- Dr. Duran-- and introduce ourselves. I think he got the gist of how much we care about classified stuff at that meeting. I also have weekly meetings with human resources, and I appreciate those very, very much. I'm able to discuss, resolve, and possibly even avoid situations with-- very, very appreciated. Thank you. The classified staff want what is best for our students and our schools. Our members want to learn, they want to grow and be stronger in their knowledge and their skills to provide our students and their coworkers. Your employees want the district that other districts look up to regarding the classified stuff, and how much everyone

070would love to come to work, and feels appreciated every day. I know, with the continued collaboration with the district and Teamsters 763, we are headed in that direction-- in the right direction. Once again, the district is incredibly fortunate to have the classified staff that they have. We want to see a new wave of classified stuff coming into the school district with the passion and the vigor of who we have now. We want to keep them, attract them, and retain them. And I appreciate the work that we're going to be doing in the future to do that. But thank you so much. I appreciate you guys. [APPLAUSE] Thank you, Melanie, for taking some time to be with us this evening. Appreciate it. I'd also-- now we'd like to call our Chief Communications Officer Catherine Carbone Rodgers

071up to the microphone, and our chief financial officer Becca Chen, just to give some more information about the bond tonight-- both addressing the tax issue, and also the enrollment at the secondary. Thank you, Dr. Duran, President Garcia, members of the Board. I do welcome the opportunity to clarify some of the misunderstanding about the tax rate of the bond, and how it's calculated. And we are aware that there is some misunderstanding, as Ms. Kressley and Ms. Vandenberg pointed out. So I'm thankful for the opportunity. As they pointed out, King County did update their projections for property values in early October, and that reflected their belief that property values were going to grow at a much slower rate in our area of South King County. That did change the tax rate of our bond, but not the

072bond amount. And we updated the website, and our presentation shortly after that. We did-- unfortunately, the voters pamphlet, though, was already printed, and there was nothing we could do about that. We did not do a press release at that time because we-- it fundamentally doesn't change the tax impact, and we didn't want to put out information that might further confuse folks. But I have, again, added more detail to our website. I've done some posts on Facebook and Nextdoor where there's been some discussion of this, and there is a local blog that has a couple of articles that question the district's transparency around this, and points out that the difference in the tax rates. I've attempted to contact them multiple times to see if we could get a clarification, and I sent in some copy as

073well. But it has not been published, and I have not been contacted back. I do want to just reiterate that the change in the tax rate doesn't affect the amount homeowners will pay for the bond, because voters approve an amount, not a tax rate. The tax rate is simply an estimate of what it will take to generate the amount that's approved by voters. So if property values rise, the tax rate has to go down, has to decrease in proportion, in order for the equation to work out to the approved amount. The district does not keep collecting more and more money as property rates rise-- or property values rise. I know that, as was pointed out, some folks have gone to the county's tax calculator, and they're coming up with an increase. Unfortunately, the tax calculator

074does not account for all of the factors that come into play with what affects your tax bill. For instance, we have the ability to influence the amount we collect from taxpayers by how we stage the selling of the bonds. We don't sell them all at once. And so, you can sell them in smaller portions, and spread the cost out over time. And in addition, we can lower the cost to taxpayers by refinancing bonds. And we've done that multiple times over the past few years. And in fact, since 2015, we've saved $10 million on our overall bonds. So again, our goal is always to keep taxes stable as much as possible, and the amount that homeowners are going to pay for the new bond is close to what they're paying now because we have bonds and

075levies that are coming off the rolls, as this slide illustrates. While we can't promise that every homeowner is going to pay exactly the same as they are paying now, we do anticipate that homeowners will pay approximately the same in 2022 for Highline School taxes as-- they'll pay as much in 2023 as they're now paying in 2022, approximately. I do want to point out, too, that the fliers-- the mailers that were referenced today, those are not from Highline School District. Those are from the Yes for Highline Political Action Committee. They're independent of the district. And while we would not-- we aren't stating no tax increase, those exact words, because we can't guarantee that there's not going to be some difference. But that is a political campaign, and they do what they do. So again, I think--

076I just want to hand it over to [? Becca ?] to give some further insight on the timing, and how the bonds are structured. Thank you, Catherine, and good evening directors, and good evening President Garcia, and Dr. Duran. I want to really emphasize that the timing of this bond is also really important to think about. As an accountant, I always think about time and money. And so when we think about this bond, and the timing of which it went into market, it was a really good time. As you all are aware, interest rates have been rising. We were able to sell this bond at a really good time, when interest rates were still relatively low. That means that we were able to refinance an old bond, and that saved us over-- a little over $2.7

077million. So the timing of this bond is equally important in which we were able to sell into the market, and which is why we are able to-- we were thinking about what is a good time to come to the voters with this packet, and that was a good time to do it, when interest rates were still low, before everything started to rise. I also want to emphasize that enrollment-- that it is true or moment has been down, but in our high school, it actually has been going up. We've seen a lot of our students coming back. And the increase in numbers of students from-- let me give you a quick numbers here. In 2019 to 2020, it was 5,285. In 2020 to 2021, it was 5,421. In '21 to '22, it was 5,792. So there

078has been a marked number of student increase year after year, and think about it. It was during COVID times, when our school numbers were still at that level. So when we are thinking about bonds, and when we think about our schools, and what's needed for our community, and the timing in which we brought it in, this was the right time to do it. Thank you. Yes, thank you both. [APPLAUSE] Gail, I have one more item that I'd like to share. I was very excited this last Saturday. We launched our Superintendent Student Leadership Team. We had a retreat. We had 20 students who showed up on a Saturday, and spent four hours with us, which I think is just pretty impressive when you think about student dedication and time on a Saturday. This is an opportunity

079for us to be able to develop and empower our students through a leadership perspective, and I was just really grateful for them to be here. I'm really grateful to our Family and Community Engagement Team who were present to really help our students understand how does public education work. Our students were learning around what is the role of legislators, what is the role of the school board, who are our school board, what areas do they represent, what is a superintendent do, and what does the staff do. Those are all important things for our students to know, because the students start thinking about advocating for changes and things that they want to see. It's important for them to know is it a law that they need to address, is-- if it's something that needs to be addressed

080with legislators. Is it something with policy, which you should be working with the board. If it's something that's operational, they'll be working with staff and superintendents. So really excited for them to have that opportunity. One thing that was really impressive with our group is that we had a representative from every one of our schools. And we're going to continue to do a little bit more recruitment, and really grateful that they spent the time here with us. One thing that-- a few things that really struck me was we asked the students about the promise, because the promise is something that we do describe as our vision for the school district. It is designed to be aspirational. It is really designed to not just focus on the condition of now, but really the potential of the future.

081But surprisingly, a lot of our students have not heard about the promise, and so we have some more work to do to ensure that they understand what the promise is, and understand what our work is, to really fulfill and support them in the best way possible. I also really appreciated some of the time that the students had just to do some team building and connection, because we were able to just understand just the different background experiences. And after the meeting, I just was really reflecting around just how diverse our community is, and just how grateful it is. Because I think the more perspectives we have, the more we're able to learn. I also just want to share that we talked to the students around, what are some things that they would be thinking about? What

082are some of the issues or challenges that they really fear, or some of the big things that they're dealing with right now? And there's a few things that really stood out that I really want to share with the board and our community. One is the area around mental health. I think from the pandemic, we know there's been some concerns around students, from a social-emotional perspective, how students are doing for mental health. And many of our students really called that out, and really want more support. I was really impressed with our students, because they were already starting to think that, is there ways for them to start engaging with elementary students? And that's our school students thinking about that. So I really appreciate that spirit of community service and giving back, and thinking about how they

083can help engage in conversations with students. We also had some of our students still talk about some racism and different acts that happen within schools, and just how that has made them feel, and ideas for what they can do to try to change that. So obviously, again, it shows that we still have work to do to ensure that every student feels like they belong, and are part of something-- part of their school community. There was also some concerns and issues around support for our LGBTQ+ students, and how they identify themselves, ensuring that they're supported, and feel like they belong. So again, our students are telling us that more student-- more support is needed, and we need to be able to think about different ways that we can help guide them, and help them in all

084the work that they're trying to do. There were a couple of concerns around sports, and some of our choice programs, and things that we can think about-- we can do better. And then finally, I think-- and one of the groups, I really appreciated what one of the students started talking about. Because what they were kind of resonating with ideas and do. But they would basically create workshops to inform parents to create unity in schools, a sense of belonging, and continue to see this, and improve our relationships. So our students are asking us, as adults, to work in a sense of unity, to really think about how we're building cultures, so that students are-- feel a sense of belonging in the schools, and also think about how we continue to build relationships, knowing that everybody brings

085a different perspective, and it's important for us to hear those perspectives, and to build upon them. And finally, students left feeling excited, inspired, hopeful, informed, optimistic, joy, happy, and honored to be part of the group. And I really look forward to working with this group this year to see what we can learn, and in order to create more impact within our schools. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That brings up our school board reports up next. Legislative report, I'll just mention briefly that we had our [? WSSDA ?] regional meeting last year. So thank you, everyone who was able to attend. Joe, you missed out. It was hosted at PSSC, Puget Sound Skill Center, and our students were amazing. So PSSC staff, thank you for coming in on a Wednesday night, serving us an amazing

086deal. And it's a bragging point, because we got to host a whole bunch of other school boards at our amazing school, and just talk about what we're doing, get to network a little bit, but also talk about our legislative priorities. And I just wanted to give folks a heads-up, we were able to gather some of that data that was requested of us. So you should have seen it in an email, but there's going to be an emphasis around special education funding at the legislation this session. So if that's something you're passionate about, this is probably the year you want to reach out to your legislator and let them know. Other than that-- oh, and I wanted to give a shout out to Sharon. You made that night possible. So thank you, thank you, thank you,

087thank you. And that concludes my board report, and my legislative report. I'll hand it off to Director Hagos. We've had a lot of really important things that were brought up today, and I had a fabulous report ready for you all. I think I'm going to save some of the things that I wanted to say for the next meeting. I did want to say one really important thing that I saw happen yesterday-- occurred yesterday. Dr. Duran, I really got to see why-- I'm now realizing how excited I am that you are here with us, and how truly dedicated you are to our students. There was a kiddo who is a part of the Challenge Program at the Des Moines Elementary School, and has a lot of really cool strengths, and is able to do a lot

088of really good things. However, when she was called up to read our promise, she was very shy, incredibly embarrassed, and did not have the courage to get up and say the words, but she can definitely read. And so, I don't know when you did it, I don't know how you did it, but you encouraged and inspired her to come up to the front, and she made her way there before the end of the night. And that is something she's still talking about today. He can reach our students, you guys. And I just-- I was in awe on the things that you were able to do. So that's just a quick report for me, but I think I'll save the rest of the things I have to say for next time. Director Howell? I have nothing

089to report. Director Van? Just one thing. I just want to thank Dr. Duran for inviting me to your superintendent's student leadership meeting on Saturday. I was inspired by 20-plus students being there on a Saturday in the morning, alive and just eager to share what they had to share. So greatly appreciate that opportunity. Also, the listening sessions that are happening, they're currently happen-- one last night, and then another one tomorrow, virtually. I just want to implore the community that these listening sessions should never, ever end. If there is ever a need, please contact us, contact the board. We would be more than happy to have a coffee, sit down, and discuss any concerns that you may have out there. So that's it for me. Thank you. That concludes director reports. We are now on to agenda

090item 6, consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda. I second. All right. Motion and second by Director Hagos. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? All right, motion passes. We are now on to action item 8.1. Are there any questions for staff? None? Is there a motion? I move that the Highline School Board approve the grant from the Department of Health. I'll second. Roll call, please. Director Hagos? Aye. Director Howell? Yea. Director Van? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. This motion passes four to none. Perfect. All right, we are an agenda item 8.2. Any questions for staff? No? All right, I'll entertain a motion. I move that the Highline School Board approve entering in covenant to retain improvements, and

091restrict use with King County resolution number 16-22, which allows the district to fulfill King County's requirement to construct across and near internal parcel boundary lines as part of the new Evergreen High School Replacement Project. I second that motion. Roll call, please. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Howell? Yea. Director Van? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. This motion passes four to none. Perfect, thank you. We're now on agenda item 8.3. Any questions for staff? None. I'll entertain the motion. I move that the school board approve acceptance of the '22-'23 State Transitional Bilingual Program Grant funds. I second. Roll call, please. Director Van? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Howell? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. This motion passes four to none. Thank you. We are now on agenda item 8.4, motion to approve? Any questions for staff? Not a question, but a

092quick statement for [? Tyshawn. ?] [? Tyshawn, ?] I appreciate you clarifying some questions around how many units-- that's [? for a thousand ?] iPads-- and giving us the numbers behind that. So, appreciate that. Thank you. I'll entertain a motion. I move that the Highline School Board approve the purchase of Apple iPads for pre-K, K, first grade, and special education students in the amount of $416,122.95. I second that motion. Roll call, please. Director Howell? Yea. Director Van? Yea. Director Hagos? Yea. Director Garcia? Yea. This motion passes four to none. Thank you. We're now on to introduction items. 10.1 and 10.2 are similar in nature, and I know that Scott has zoomed, in case there's something urgent. But are there any questions for Scott? I have not so much a question, but a comment here for

093all the directors. When you read into this bar report, if you can look at pages seven for, I believe, Tyee and page nine for Evergreen, it really just shows the commitment by a lot of our staff, and our community members, and our-- just everybody that supports our schools. It takes a lot of people, and energy, and research to understand what it takes to put a school together-- a brand new school. So if you guys could read that, that would be greatly appreciated. And reach out to those teammates. Other than that, thank you. When I'm done with all the other 358 pages. Yeah. Ditto. You know, I did a broader question but it seems like we're going through our strategic plan like revisit, or check-in. And a lot of this is actually structured around-- some of

094the schools have structured their alignment around this. So just, what kind of flexibility is there for it to change after we've approved it if we've changed our strategic vision a bit? You know what I mean? I think, you know, as we think about the strategic plan goals, I think, in many ways, the goals may stay the same, but I think about how we measure may change. So I think that the work will still continue. So I don't think there'll be too much adjustment we'll need to make. Thank you. All right, Scott, you are good. You don't have to do anything today. All right, so 10.1 and 10.2. No questions or comments. We're on 10.3, the new motion to approve resolution number 1722, purchase and sale agreement for a strip of land in the Camp Waskowitz

095area. Any questions? I have none. Got you. All right, and 10.4, motion to approve the annual Perkins Grant for CTE. Any questions? All right. That concludes introduction items. Please follow up with staff offline, if there's anything that comes up. And we are now on to unscheduled communications. And same rules apply as last time. I'm going to have staff put up our communications rules while we're waiting. A reminder, I'll just do our norms. But I ask everyone to be present, be respectful of different opinions, easy on people, hard and ideas. Be as concise as possible, enable all opinions to be heard, assume best intentions, seek to understand, and then be understood. And I believe we have Deborah Lipp. Thank you, everybody, being here. I was going to show you a bathroom. Scott's on the phone. You

096should see our bathroom for the employees-- at the school bus yard, that is. How old, [? Jovan, ?] maybe you know? 60 years old? When Susan's high heels got stuck in it about, I don't know-- she was here 10 years. We got some indoor-outdoor carpet that had been 60 years old. That happened about a month later, so we put lipstick on a pig. This morning, we go in where a hundred bus drivers work and others, and we had no toilet paper. I saw the lady the night before, and too many people all come back at 6:00. We come in this morning, no toilet paper. These bathrooms are mold-- disgusting. We have had many, many incidents. Scott was our boss for a while. Disgusting. We've had [? Gordy ?] come over, take pictures, saying, oh, we're

097going to get you this. It's on the ballot. Do you guys see it? It's on our bond. Building L is supposed to get a building. You see that anywhere on the bond? A month ago, Scott told me it's on there. I didn't see it anywhere. We'd been told that for three bonds, five bonds-- I don't know, I've been there 18 years. Same thing. But if you really love Black children and all children, maybe we need to quit aborting our children, and quit passing that in our state. You'd have 60 million more children. Really silent, really quiet, because we all know it's truth. If we love children so much, why? Anybody tell me anybody? That man said, we are absolutely insane. We used to lock everybody up. Now they go live all over wherever they want

098to go. That's what we've created. It's really sad. [BEEPING] [APPLAUSE] Thank you. And unfortunately, [INAUDIBLE],, we don't allow folks to double dip, so you cannot speak again. I apologize. Good try, though. Next speaker we have [? Kalamar ?] [? Avila ?] [? Pettit, ?] and I apologize if I butchered the name. My name is [? Kalamar ?] [? Avila ?] [? Pettit, ?] I am a Highline School District alumni, and I have three children in the district. I came here to talk about an incident that I raised last night at the listening session, and then followed up with Director Hagos and Dr. Duran. I think that, as I'm listening to all of our public testimony, what I'm hearing is there's fear, and what I'm hearing also is that there's a concern for harm. I'm voting

099yes on Proposition 1, because I think that our aging buildings are causing harm to our students. I know students that are friends of my children who suffer from asthma, and are triggered by mold. I students that have to miss school because of feces of rodents. They can't learn if they're not in these schools, and they're being harmed. I'm happy to pay any tax increase for the safety of our children. The reason why I'm here tonight is that one of my children incurred a violent attack at the school, and we do not have a disciplinary action in place. And so I'm here to ask the board to review and determine when Highline Public schools can put together a district discipline task force to review our disciplinary policies across the district. This is something that's regulated within

100the Washington State Board of Education, and I'm requesting it as a concerned parent. And I hope that, Dr. Duran, through your listening sessions, as you recapped earlier, you've heard other instances where psychological safety has been compromised, students are being targeted towards how they identify, through racism-- all kinds of different factors that are unique to that individual. [BEEPING] Thank you. [INAUDIBLE] [? Melzar? ?] Hi. I had a question, actually, for the bond people when they were standing up here. And what I'd like to know is, why do we have elections for bonds? Oftentimes they're voted down, and then they're put up again in a special election, and another special election, and any number of special elections until it's shoved down everybody's throats. I understand that buildings need to be maintained. I know that they need upkeep,

101and sometimes things do need to be torn down and rebuilt. But it was also brought up tonight that the schools are being built at sizes that are more than double what the occupancy-- current occupancy would be. Why is that? That's an awful lot of money. So to be transparent, if you just said to the voters, you know, well, we either have to make you vote on it because it's law, but we're going to shove it down your throat until you pass it. Well, no one's going to like that, but that's what the truth is. So you either need to just take the money, or tell people what's so. And what so is you're ramming stuff down their throat, and they're actually not getting a chance to vote. So Carrie, just wondering if you really tune

102out as much as it appears when parents and concerned citizens speak-- whether you agree with them or not? Please don't direct-- I'm supposed to address the Board, am I not? Yeah, but I believe that's personally-directed, and-- OK, there is at least one, and sometimes two people here who seem to tune out regularly when parents and concerned citizens talk. And I believe that those are the people they should be listening to. And if you're tired of hearing from the same people, well, maybe you need to take their comments to heart and do something about the issues. [BEEPING] Thank you. [APPLAUSE] All right. Next up, we have Martin Barrett. Thank you. I am Martin Barrett with Gem of the Sound, and our desire as a local newspaper is to work well with the school district, and communicate

103all the good things. I think you have seen our sports, and so forth, and some of the wonderful things that are happening. And we also have had some articles about this bond that have gone up. And so, I think we were referenced earlier in this time. We're not a blog. We're actually a newspaper. But I want to read something to you that came to me yesterday. And my response-- because I want to clarify something. I'm assuming there's a miscommunication in here somewhere. This is from Catherine. This came in yesterday at 7:02 PM to me. "Mr. Barrett, I read a couple of posts on Gem of the Sound regarding Highline bond that suggest a lack of transparency on the school district's part. I do not wish to start an argument with the posters, but in the

104interest of transparency, I would like the opportunity to correct some misunderstandings about the way the bond tax is calculated, which would you give me an opportunity to post. Thank you." Very good, respectful email. That was at 7:02. At 8:03 I responded, yes, please send me your thoughts. I have not heard anything. It was represented in this that it was reached out to me, or whoever this other person might have been a couple of days ago has not gotten back, and that maybe it's someone else who has received two emails or two messages trying to update. It wasn't me, and it wasn't Gem of the Sound. So again, we want to work with the school district. We want this place to be a better place. I think you've seen it many of the things. But we

105will, as we understand it, speak truth, if we believe that. So if we are wrong on this, I reach out to-- I know, Catherine, you sent me that. We would love to see it, and put it up. So, thank you. Thank you. Can I respond? [APPLAUSE] I just want to call on Mr. Barrett, thank you for commenting, and I'll definitely be in touch. And I'd love to talk with you afterwards, because I'd love to have the opportunity to be able to post on your newspaper on a regular basis. So, thank you. Bye. Thank you. Next up, we have Sandy Hunt. Greetings, Board. Thank you, as always, for your dedication and fortitude as you work to improve the lives of our children and our community. I know all of us take that to heart and have

106that in common as we come together. I think our community is unique in that we have five separate communities with-- all the way from White Center down to Des Moines, and across over to SeaTac. And I think it is important for us to come together, listen to each other, but also to share factual information about what's actually going on in schools. So I do talk to my teachers-- I'm the President of the Highline Education Association-- on a regular basis. That they do not have heat in their rooms is something they share with me. That they do not-- that there are infestations of rodents is something they share with me. That the sewage backs up into their classes is something they have shared with me. These are things that are of no fault of the district,

107and that they get in there and try to fix them, but these buildings were built about the time I was born. And maybe from my gray hair, you might know that is in the 1950s or-- so we do need to replace these buildings, including the maintenance-- the Transportation Department's headquarters. It's something I've been calling out when I go around. The Sylvester Track is another facility that will be a real benefit to the Burien community. And if we can get something called a community workforce agreement, where the money that is paid to the laborers actually stays in the community, because the laborers who are working on these projects live in Burien and the district, that would be great, too. Thank you. All right. [APPLAUSE] That now concludes our unscheduled communications. Is there a motion to adjourn?

108I make the motion that we adjourn. I second that motion. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All right. Thank you, everybody. --are adjourned.