001I guess I should join the meeting. All right, everyone. Good afternoon. I'd like to call this meeting to order. If you are so inclined, please feel free to join us with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. On behalf of the board, I welcome all members of the audience to this evening's meeting. This meeting is a working session of the board to conduct the business of the district. The agenda for today's meeting has been published and the agenda items to be discussed and or voted on have been studied by the board members. I would like to introduce the people participating in this meeting. Recording secretary Peggy King, Superintendent Dr.
002Justin Irish, board member Sandy Hayes, Dr. Director Jackie McGordy, and I'm Elizabeth Sotac. I currently serve as the vice president of the board. Director Han Tran and President Amy Cast are excused from this evening's meeting. An agenda for this meeting is available online at boarddoccks.com and copies are also located on the table at the back of the boardroom. There will be an opportunity for both virtual and in-person public comments to be shared during the association and public comment portion of the meeting. Community members who are interested in viewing the meeting with closed captions are encouraged to follow the link on our website to the district's YouTube channel. The YouTube stream includes closed captioning for both regular board meetings and study sessions. Visit nsd.org and under our district, click schoolboard, then board meeting materials and videos.
003If you are here to address the board on agenda items, please sign in using the sign-in sheet on the table at the back of the room and take a number which corresponds with the line where you signed in. Our first order of business is the land acknowledgement which I will read. We take this time to acknowledge that the Northshore School District occupies the unseated coast Salish lands that have been here since time immemorial. We honor the ways of knowing and ways of being of indigenous peoples and tribal nations who are still here today and thriving in our district community. We also acknowledge that this is a working land acknowledgement that will continue to evolve as our partnership with local indigenous people's and tribal leaders expands. And next is the approval of the agenda. Would anyone
004with the board like to make any changes to the agenda today? No. All right. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Any discussion? Nope. All right. Then let's call for the vote. And that passes. Thank you. Next up is Dr. Justin Irish's superintendent report. Thank you, Vice President Sotek. Um, I've had a great opportunity to attend and participate in many activities since our last board meeting. Um, I had my first WE skills center meeting um and met uh the administrative council and learned a little bit more about WE and excited to partnership with them as we continue to um provide support for our students and skill centers and uh career pathways. I also attended with all of you the Maywood Hills ribbon cutting ceremony. Looking forward to um
005we have wooden this week uh as well. And then um had my first both High School homecoming and football game at Popkini. That was an incredible event. Um it was wonderful to see all of the community showing up downtown. Um and seeing the engagement of the students. um filled my heart full of joy to see our community and and uh even though they did not win the game um it was still a festive event. Um I um this Saturday I attended the both high school's um well robotics and both high school was represented Woodenville High School and then innovative innovation lab was there but they were not participating um in the event but they were there to support um and let me tell you seeing those kids engaged and the amount of critical thinking problem
006solving the tenacity that they have to keep coming back to try to improve um it's incredible to see their prog progress over the last year and hear their thinking over the last year. I was very honored they invited me up to be the driver. Um so I had to monitor the scores and um and the time. It was a lot of pressure for me. Uh but it was wonderful to hear and to see and to be right next to them on the on the um on the field um so to speak to to engage. I also participated this Saturday at the Diwali um celebration um and um had a wonderful evening celebrating, meeting new people, even got to dance and engage with kids out on the floor. Um definitely burned a lot of calories that
007evening. Um and also ate a lot of and consumed a lot of wonderful calories as well. Um but a wonderful event of celebration and meeting some of our um outstanding community leaders. Um and uh and then um in addition met with Senator Lovic and Director McGordy and Hayes um over the last couple weeks as well as Representative Springer and President Cast um with President Cass and Director Hayes. Um I've met with East Side Native American Education Program with Lauren Nibai. Um met her, learned a little bit more about the program and also got to participate today at Cascadia College um where she and a group of others um engage in Indigenous People's Day. I also got to dance uh today um and um honor and celebrate in solidarity um our indigenous peoples um and engage
008with that great partnership with Cascadia College. Uh attended our CTE fall kickoff um went to the Northshore Schools Foundation Build Skills for Life breakfast fundraiser and then attended the administrator government to government relationship training um in relation to our indigenous communities. Um, I've had a leadership meeting with our city managers of both, Kenmore, and Woodenville. It was wonderful to meet our new city manager of Kenmore. Um, as well as the executive director of the Northshore Parks and Recreation Service Area. I learned a lot about, um, the possibility of developing a aquatic center nearby possibly. So, um, I can see there's more to Director Hayes, you your facial expressions. Um and then um Friday we welcome the middle school student leaders from all of our middle schools as well as three other schools u from other
009districts for the AWSL or the Association of Washington student leaders event. Um and we hosted it at Timberrust Middle. um amazing to see our kids all engaged in learning about leadership, thinking about ways in which they're going to improve the climate and cultures in their school, the activities they want to create, um as well as the systems they want to develop to help promote um inclusive environments in their schools. Uh I've informally visited, as you know, my goal is every two months to get out to every school informally as well as every department informally. I have met that goal in the first two months. We're gonna I know it's a lofty goal um in a district this size, but I'm going to do everything I can to make that a reality. And so, informally, I
010have visited East Ridge and Northshore Learning Options. Um and then um as I mentioned today, I was at Cascadia College and that was an awesome event uh with our indigenous people's day celebration. So, that is that is it for my update. >> Thank you very much. That's a lot. Busy busy. Um the next part of our meeting is programs and special presentations. And so we'd like to welcome Dr. Eric Murray to come tell us about the wonderful things happening for Cascadia. >> Are we on >> there? Yeah. >> Great. Hello. Thank you for having me. It's our yearly annual state of the college event. I have learned that if you want to get Dr. Irish to attend something, you have dancing involved. I was in my office today and I was hearing the thump thump
011thump of the drums and I looked out my window down to the plaza and there he was leading the I mean we had like a hundred kids out there dancing and he was leading at the very front of the line. Um and I mentioned that because over the last month as I've gotten to know the new superintendent I have found him to be very engaged and supportive of all levels of learning including the community college and I really appreciated seeing you campus today. Also, just thinking about your report, you've done more than I've done in the last year, I think. Um, but uh perhaps there's a way we can partner with our indigenous our support of indigenous students. And I was just thinking about that today based on the event that you were at, the
012fact that we've developed a program for American Indian indigenous studies and that we did this event together today. This was a co-led event between Northshore School District and Cascadia. And if there is an opportunity there for us to grow our support for these students from the K through 14 pipeline, I think we should explore that. So we brainstorm today. I'm here to give you our state of the college report. I've kind of left the same slideshow up because we just finished 25 years and we're so proud of that fact and we are doing very strong at this point. So I've kind of kept it up there to remind us of that next pag. So, we're going to talk about successes and challenges. And in successes, our enrollment continues to grow. You can see the pattern
013there. 17%, 20%, now 12%. And we are doing great. A lot of that is in Running Start from more than 40 high schools. So, it's not just the four high schools, five high schools in your district, but a lot of high schools are valuing the Running Start education that's available at Cascadia. And so, that's great for us. We get about half of our revenue from enrollment. And so that means we're doing we're we're in a stable place. We also have this national program called guided pathways helping to determine meta majors for students at the community college level. So you can think of them like schools or discipline. There's the life science major and there's the humanities major and there's uh different seven there's the technology one things like that. Well, our state uh measures success
014in this pathways program based on students and there are eight markers of that and Cascadia is tops the 34 community colleges in three of those eight metrics. We have the highest retention rate of any community college in the state. We have the highest transfer rate and acceptance rate into the University of Washington than any other community college and we get more students from pre-ol math into college level math than any of the other community colleges. On the other five metrics, we're in the top five. And so, we're doing pretty well as a a small but mighty institution. When I pulled my staff about our successes, they pointed to a lot of the student support we're offering. We give out more than $50,000 in emergency grants to students, students who find themselves suddenly struggling, and we're
015able to turn around and offer them some financial support. We have laptops for any student on campus who needs one to check one out. We have our mentoring program which we talked about last year called Cascadia Scholars which continues to grow and our food pantry has tripled the number of students who come by and visit it and that is largely run by community support. So those are some of our successes. We know from polling students that they've really enjoyed the fact that we can now offer the bachelors of computer science on campus that we have on campus housing through the University of Washington both. We have Cascadia students there. You can't enroll for two quarters at any other community college. You can at Cascadia. That's part of what leads to our retention rate being so
016strong is students sign up for fall and winter at the same time and then they stop they sign up for spring and the following fall at the same time. So that keeps students moving towards completion. And then the other thing from polling our students, they like the non artificial intelligence in-person touch. we have a review tomorrow by some legislators about why we need our next student services building and they said everything's online right now and we're like no we believe we are so successful because we do things in person and we have students engaged in our environment. So those are some of our successes. Thank you. Challenges we are still on this quest for that last building. Again, that legislative visit tomorrow is to assess the worthiness of the building, but we are number one
017on the list and all of the wins are pointing towards are going to fund it in the supplemental budget. Thank you to the school district for last year writing a letter of support for us on that. It did help. As we all are, we're dealing with the federal landscape and changes of things. One example for us, uh, all of our funds are now being managed by the Department of Labor, not the Department of Education, our grant funding. And so they told us this and then we went to check our bank account and it was zero in department of education but when we looked at department of labor it was also zero and we didn't get our funding for more than a week reinstated into the new budget. So there are just hiccups along the way
018that we're having to to struggle with like you all are. The dwindling state economy is not going to be very favorable to any of us come um this session and the next session. So, we're focusing on that. And some community colleges are struggling. There are probably five community colleges in the state that are thinking about existence and not thriving like Cascadia is. And so, I keep that in mind and try to keep our formula for success together. A large part of that comes from the community support we get from the school districts and the cities. Our Running Start student population is up. Our international student population, also due to federal hurdles, is down. some of the students who wanted to come back just couldn't get visas because there's not enough staff to process visas at
019different embassies around the world. So, we have to keep that in mind and that's a challenge for us. I did want to highlight today a little bit about our equity and inclusion efforts at Cascadia. Seven years ago, we realized that our white students were retained, completed, transferred at a higher rate than our historically underrepresented students by more than 10 points and was very happy to see this summer that we have closed those gaps. They are now retaining, completing, and transferring at the same rates uh these two different ethnic demographics. And we believe that's because of the plans we put in place seven years ago, right before COVID started to do intrusive advising, to do mentoring, things that all students are eligible for, but it really helped even the playing field for all of our students.
020So, we're very happy about that. We continue to do the social justice high school conferences with Northshore leading the way and having several hundred students on our campus from Northshore. A lot of those students end up enrolling with us because they see the opportunity for them to be on a university and college campus. And then finally, we continue to be really successful with our foundations of equity and inclusion course. That's for employees only. And we offer that to school districts and cities if you want to send people to come to it. And the next slide gives just three or four different comments from a sustainability uh construction company called O'Brien 360. They sent their employees to our program. We held a special session just for their employees throughout all of last year. And these are
021some of the comments that they made about it. It was something that really helped their company, propel them into understanding why equity and inclusion is so important to their work. So again, I offer that to the school district if you need a resource to connect with me and we will make that available for I believe that's it. So are there any questions today? I want to say thank you to the school board uh in particular to directors Cast and McGordy for all of the long years of support. I don't think uh our relationship with the school district has been any better than this one and it's a model and I just wanted to say thank you very much. You'll be missed and I look forward to meeting your new members at some point. Thank you.
022>> Thank you very much. All right, our next exciting special presentation is from Innovation Lab High School PTSA. And I'm so excited. Me, too. Okay, this is still on. Everybody can still hear me. Okay, good. Um, well, is it technically evening almost? So, good evening or late afternoon um to both Superintendent Irish, our school board directors are here and all of my fellow Northshore community members here tonight or listening from home. My name is Rachel Fitzgerald. I am both a previous ILHS PTSA officer and a current parent volunteer. Tonight, I have the honor of speaking on behalf of Innovation Lab High School PTSA to share some exciting news. Our PTSA and our school has been awarded the National PTA School of Excellent designation. You had to clap. I warned them they should be clapping. Okay.
023Uh this is a proud moment for our entire school community and I want to take a few minutes to explain what this award means, how it is earned, and why I believe it reflects the dedication, collaboration, and spirit of our students, staff, and families. So what exactly is the National PTA School of Excellence Award? Well, the School of Excellence program is a recognition and improvative improvement initiative by National PTA. Its purpose is to support and celebrate strong partnerships that enrich educational experiences and promote student well-being between PTAs or in our case a PTSA families and schools. More specifically, the program provides a framework for identifying and implementing best practices in family engagement rooted in the national standards for family school partnerships. It encourages schools and PTAs to create more inclusive, welcoming environments where all families
024feel empowered to contribute. It offers step-by-step tools, training, and feedback to help PTAs set goals, measure progress, and improve over time. and it gives recognition to PTAs and schools that successfully complete the required steps. This designation doesn't just celebrate past work. It affirms that a PTA and school have committed themselves to ongoing improvement to connecting families, school, and student success. So, what is the process for being designated? To become a national PTA school of excellence, ILHS PTSA completed a series of steps. Step one was our enrollment and orientation. We committed to the program and intended online classes to help prepare us for the work ahead. In step two was our gathering community feedback. We surveyed our community and provided listening sessions to better understand perceptions, needs, strengths, and areas for growth. Our survey questions were
025guided by national PTA six standards of family school partnership. Those six standards are welcoming all families, communicating effectively, supporting students success, speaking up for every child, sharing power, and collaborating with the community. Something I think Northshore kind of all believes in already, right? Um, I'm extra proud to share that we receive feedback not only from families and school staff, but also the students, which speaks volumes to the culture and collaboration of belonging that is a key part of Innovation Lab High School. Step three required building an excellence action plan, which allowed us to set goals, implement strategies, and address the feedback that we received. Step four had us measuring progress and reflecting through an end of the year survey which again we saw participation from our entire community. In fact, I think the students may
026have received more feedback than we did from families which I loved. Um we collected follow-up feedback, evaluated how things changed and provided all that information to national PTA about the programs that we offered and a summary of the impact that we made. And then step five is actually why we are here today to celebrate and present our school of excellence achievement. What exactly did we do to earn this? And what does that mean for LHS? Like many great PTAs begin, we started by forming a committee. Our school of excellence committee was made up of three ver parent volunteers, myself, Liz Long, and Angela Lerette. And then our principal, Tiffany Rodriguez, and our counselor, John Conn. The SOE committee and the PTSA board then collaborated with the school to provide a variety of programs and services
027throughout the year. And I just want to highlight a few of them for you guys. Um, we hosted a schooly information night where we had both te a teacher and a student presenting to families on how best to utilize the technology to support their students success. We held several family meetups to socialize and build community. So like coffees and donuts before school, but we did it throughout the year. It was real fun. Um, we helped promote growth of our school through shared power when we provided volunteers, parents, students, and alumni at prospective new family events that were both in person and online throughout the year to help answer questions about ILHS from different perspectives. We also collaborated on our communication provide by by providing information about school and ASB programs and PTSA's newsletter and website
028and by having our PTSA resources and events shared in our school's bird call which is shown to the students and their newsletter that goes out to families. Um the largest program that we created and offered last year was our junior jump start event. As the name suggests, this program was aimed at our junior students and their families. The event offered a chance for 11th graders to get a jump start on the all-important senior year ahead. They were able to ask questions, go over resources, and take a look at a senior timeline. We had nearly half of our junior class attend this event, and we provided all of the resources and handouts online, so even those who couldn't attend in person could access them. And in fact, if Liz could come and help me for a
029second, I have a copy of our packet that we handed out. It's called From Nest to Next, a Raven's Guide to Senior Graduation and Beyond. And I just wanted to share it. You guys can keep it and take a look at it. Um, not only does this packet give access to the ILHS college handbook, but also includes a timeline to guide students whether they plan to attend college, join the military, or enter the workforce. The guide doesn't just stop there. The S SOE committee also met with current seniors, alumni, and their families to provide an all-encompassing senior FAQ as well as our Ravens for seniors on all paths to graduation and beyond. So, through all these different efforts, I truly feel that our school and our PTSA have strengthened trust and connection among families, staff,
030and students. Our goal is to continue to provide all of these programs that I mentioned year after year so we can continue to grow and strengthen the ILHS community by allowing families to feel more welcomed, have more voices to be heard, and so that the school and the PTSA can better align in supporting student success. I would also like to say that this designation is not just a certificate or a really cool banner, but it does come with a really cool banner. You guys will get to see it in a minute. But it's also a signal to everyone, current families, prospective families, staff, volunteers, community partners, that our school is committed to continuous listening, growth, and engagement. It gives us momentum, credibility, and a clear framework for further work. We are proud of what we
031have accomplished, but we view this as a stepping stone, not an end point. The School of Excellence designation inspires us to keep going to deepen engagement, expand our reach, include more voices, and build a momentum in the years ahead. Um, before I pass the mic over to Principal Rodriguez, I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone who helped us achieve our National PTA School of Excellent designation. to our students for sharing their expertise, participating in events, helping um host or give feedback, and being at the heart of the work that we do. To our teachers, administrators, and staff for partnering with our PTSA, opening doors, helping us coordinate, listening to family input, and serving as co-creators. to our families and community members for responding to surveys, attending meetings, giving feedback, volunteering, and believing
032in the value of PTA partnership. And to the PTSA board and my school of excellence committee team members for all of the countless volunteer hours behind the scenes to coordinate surveys, communications, events, analyze feedback, take action steps, and follow through. And lastly, to our school board superintendent and district leadership throughout the entire Northshore School District for supporting Innovation Lab High School and our unique approach to learning. Your support helps amplify our work. And as you look to the future of NSD's strategic plan, I invite each of you to consider how we can spread the spirit of partnership across all schools and PTAs so that together we can ensure that every Northshore School District family feels welcome, empowered, and invested in our shared goals, which is student success, well-being, and belonging. So, thank you to everyone
033who came out tonight to join us in celebrating and recognizing this effort with us. We're very excited to be sharing it with all of you. And with that, I will pass it over to Principal Tiffany Rodriguez. I have the very cool banner here. Uh, but before I do that, I just wanted to say thank you to our school board and Superintendent Irish. I'm thrilled to join our amazing PTSA to celebrate this honor. Um, I want to express my gratitude to our amazing Raven PTSA. There you go. This was their idea, their vision, and their hard work that made this happen. And I want to thank them for their dedication to our school and their willingness to be so actively involved in making our school so great. This recognition is a testament to ILHS's commitment to
034community. We believe that community and connection are the foundation for success for each of our students and for our school as a whole. There is interdependence between our students, staff, and families, and we work together to create the flourishing community that we are and that we are so proud of. It's truly such a joy to get to be a part of this community, and I am so grateful. For those of you who aren't familiar with Innovation Love High School, I'm just going to take a quick moment to share about us. We are a forwardinking, empowering student- centered school where every student is seen, valued, and heard through project-based learning, leadership opportunities, college in the high school, project lead the way, and internships. Our students take ownership of their learning and develop essential future ready skills.
035At ILHS, passion and curiosity drive learning and crew ensures that every student thrives. We invite students and families who are interested in learning more about this choice high school option in Northshore to check out our website and come to one of our upcoming information nights. Uh we can't wait to welcome you to our learning community. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share. And I have the banner here if we want to take some photos. This would be a good chance to do that. All right, let's come on up, take some pictures. I would invite you all down to take some pictures as well. I don't know how the photo ops work, but we know we want some photos. >> Okay, picture. We get to hide some Director Hayes. >> Director Hayes is hiding
036in the back. You're doing it. Come on. There we go. That's crazy. All right. Thank you very much. That was very exciting. And um congratulations to Innovation Lab High School PTSA and students and community and staff who all worked really hard to make your school a wonderful place. Um next up is associated association and public comments and we do not have any public comments today. So just association. Yeah. So, we will just call on any association representatives who'd like to come up. Oh, perfect. Thank you. I might as well get all the PTA stuff all at once. Um, I'm Diana Christensen. I'm first VP for Northshore Council PTSA. Um, and a founding member of Innovation Lab High School, PTSA. Um, tonight I'm here for Northshore Council. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to
037Northshore School District for their outstanding support of our recent schoolboard candidate forum. Thanks to the district's communication outreach, we received a record number of community submitted questions, ensuring that the voices of students, families, staff, and residents were all well represented. We are especially grateful for the district's help in connecting us with Ryan White at Element 7 whose team provided essential technological support and connected us with the videographer Jay Limac I think or soak. Their generosity made the event possible. For the video recording of the forum or other election information, you can go to the Northshore Council PTSA website at northshoreconil ptsa.org. Um, additionally coming up, we have a leader meet up this week for our PTA leaders, which is an opportunity for our PTA volunteers to meet with other Northshore PTA leaders and share ideas,
038and that's led by our VPs of elementary and secondary support. We also have our Washington State Legislative Assembly coming up this weekend, October 18th and 19th. Every PTA needs the skill set, network, and knowledge base to effectively engage with local, state, and federal decision makers. This legislative assembly will include a training camp with opportunities for hands-on practice and interactive learning to prepare us to speak up for kids. This year will also include voting on legislative principles, a legislative issue, and resolutions. And then the last thing I wanted to mention is that on October 23rd, we have our presidents and principles lunchon. This important event allows our PTA presidents to connect in a meaningful way with their school principles. We look forward to hosting NSD admin, schoolboard directors, and all those principles and PTA leaders um
039for engaging event. Thank you. >> Thank you, Diana. So I just have to point out I'm also a charter member of Innovation Lab PTA and >> all members too. >> I am I am I did it. >> Are there any other Oh, thank you. >> Yeah, you can be members of as many PTAs as you want. So all right well um happy Indigenous People's Day. I'm Renee Heisinga. Tonight I am here in my um capacity as NA na executive board um member representing specialist which means I represent library PE music and counselors. I had intended to come with information from our counselors tonight. They've decided they want to organize themselves and come speak to themselves. So I get to spread library joy again today because when you ask librarians for information of what's going on,
040you get lots and lots of response. So tonight I'm focusing on community connections and partnerships that um promote how we are growing readers K12 in Northshore. So um one of the things I want to report is that some of the resources from the Northshore School District go to um pay for Gail online resources and in 24 2024 2025 our secondary schools were the top users in the state of Gail resources. In fact, in um Inglemore High School alone accessed those resources 18,543 times and is fourth in the state. So those kids are reading to learn. It's awesome. Um as far as book um circulations, so far this school year, we have circulated 125 329 books to our students. Um almost 94,000 of those were elementary. So those little ones are taking those books home. Um,
041and as far as community connections, Amy Malden at Kenyon Park Middle School hosted Hispanic History Month events in the library during lunch. Members of the community came and shared with their students and brought treats and activities. Chris Brush at Kenmore Elementary is partnering with a local independent bookstore and hosting authors for his third through fifth graders. The first one was an amazing success. The author came in and talked about how she didn't see herself as a writer when she was younger. and his teachers report that after the presentation they have kids that don't feel that didn't feel they were writers that are writing and her books are flying off the shelves. So even if you don't have money to provide we have um bookstores and other organizations that help bring those authors to us. Um
042Jenny Alamman at Arrowhead celebrated Peter H. Reynolds book the dot with all her students. I have photos I can email you if you'd like to see. Um I had you a lot of information about open library before school where kids are coming in in that that morning time to check out books and to participate in activities. At Maywood Hills we hosted an autumn moon festival planned by high school students who are members of the red envelope collective and they're promoting Asian culture in our schools and that was very well um attended by our community. And then I wanted to end with a student connection letter that came to me from a school library employee and I'm going to try to get through it without crying. Um this is one of our um library texts, so
043not an endorsed librarian, but she said, "Because of my dad's job, my family moved 10 times by the time I turned 17. On top of multiple elementary schools and middle schools in and outside the US, I went to three different high schools. And while I was continually the new kid and having no clue who I was in the hall, I found peace in the library. Libraries are libraries no matter where you are. And I knew who I was there. I started as a library tech in 2015. I'd been here a couple of years when one September, I began to notice a student who visited every morning. This particular kid would walk in with great determination and speed right past the circ desk where I was, his eyes on the floor, and head directly back to
044the corner of the non-fiction section. After several months, I looked up and there he was, standing at a 90° angle to the circ desk, his eyes on the carpet 2 feet in front of him. I asked if I could help. You don't have any books on Japanese architecture, was the reply. I checked Destiny, which is our catalog. He was correct. So, I said, "You're right, but both does. Would you like me to ask them to send them over?" Still staring at the carpet. You can do that? Yes, we can do that. Thus started a four-year relationship requ with him requesting the most eclectic selection of books ever. It was so fun to see what we could find. Fast forward to the Tuesday before Thanksgiving break his senior year. Headed to class, he stopped, looked me
045in the eye, we'd made good progress, and asked if we'd be open on Wednesday. That Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I told him yes, we'd be here. He turned to leave, stopped, turned back, and said, "I just want to thank you for all you do." And this is why I love and work in libraries. Much like him, I was a kid who needed the library. Working in one today allows me to pay it forward, thanking all the libraries and library staff who help me. It is an honor and a joy. Thank you, Northshore, for supporting our libraries. [Applause] Thank you so much. And my kids loved the author coming to >> Yes, I have a kid at Chemmore and she loved it and she wants to get all those books and she's very excited about them. So,
046it was a great success. Um, thank you so much. This ends our public comment portion of the board meeting and if you are so inclined, you may leave. You don't have to stay, but if you'd like to, we have a very exciting consent agenda and action items and performance reviews and policy reviews. If you if you really want to get your governmental experience in, we can I'll give I'll give people a couple minutes to decide. Thank you everyone for coming tonight and thank you to those of you who are staying to enjoy the fun. Thank you. All right. So, next up is the adoption of the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. any discussion today? >> Yeah. Um I don't think we need to pull it. I think
047we can just do a quick word smithing. But the revised superintendent parameter 4 and for reasons that of course are happening. My diligent says, "Oops, the page you're looking for isn't here." >> Oh, yeah. And the internet's uh >> it's a little long. We're going to have to do this for memory, which is a little dangerous. But um and I >> I want to explain why I'm being such a pill about this. Um this is the addition of the language of meeting minutes being provided to >> board. >> Um >> when we have an amazing board, it looks like we will continue to have an amazing board, but that's not a guarantee. And when you don't have an amazing board and there are people out there making decisions and recommendations to the board, there can
048be board members that get suspicious and then we'll start attending the meetings or conspiracy theory what's happening in those meetings. And so my intent around asking for making sure that the board is receiving meeting minutes of our key task force is that we can support and protect the system from things going off the rails. And so >> back now. >> Yay. That's helpful. >> It it it's started to be back. I might have lied >> just long enough. So, I really want to make sure that the words meeting minutes are in the parameter. >> Okay. >> And they are. Well, >> there's a red line version. Yeah. >> Yes. So, yes, that was not what they were when we got it last Friday. And now that I can actually see it, there they are. So,
049that I just wanted to >> Beautiful. >> Yes. >> Thank you for that. >> And thank you for explaining the the reason why we're adding that so that I understand better. since I haven't had to be a part of a board that doesn't function well. So, um, perfect. All right. Is there any other discussion? >> No. Okay. >> Well, I just want one more thing. >> Congratulate Oh god, it's taking forever. There was somebody that did something cool in the outofstate field trips. There's um Oh, Carnegie Hall. We have a a school Sky View, I believe, middle school going to perform at Carnegie Hall. Love it. I'm >> loving having him do this from memory. >> This is really exciting. Yeah, it's it's uh >> I'm I'm done. I'm not going to try to >>
050All right. >> What else is out there? >> So, no more discussion. No. All right. Call for a vote, but maybe it's a voice vote. We'll see how it goes. >> You are. I got some thinking. Okay, now I've got two things sinking. Oh, there we go. >> There it is. >> Yeah. >> Nope. It just the whole screen went blank. >> Oh, I got I Okay, >> did you refresh your browser? >> I did. Now the whole thing's rebooting. >> Mine Mine is doing something, too. But so we can Okay. All right. Okay. We'll do voice. Oh, yeah. There it goes. Uh restart. Um all in favor say I. >> I. And there is no one left to >> vote for anything else. So it passes >> unanimously. >> Thank you. Great. There's no
051nos there. And now I don't have my agenda. Um, all right. So, next up is the action items. So, first is the approval of purchase over $1 million uh, US foods for the 2526 school year. Dr. Irish, >> thank you. This expenditure is for the food and paper supplies for the district's food and nutrition services department from US Foods for the 2025 20226 school year and we recommend your approval of this purchase. All right. Is there Okay. Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. Second. Right. Is there any discussion? Nope. Feeling good about this. I feel good about food, too. All right. >> See us >> and Oh, I haven't voted. Okay. So, >> are we ready to do a voice vote >> or maybe we can try? I might have to get
052back into the meeting. >> I I still just have a blank screen. Yeah, I think I think let maybe we could we'll do a voice vote. All right. All in favor say I. >> I. Anyone opposed? Nope. Motion passes unanimously. >> You're doing great. >> Thank you. All right. The second action item is the approval for purchase over $1 million Children's Institute for Learning Differences. Uh Dr. Irish. >> Yeah. This expenditure is for special education services for multiple students and out of district placement based on the individual IEP needs. We recommend your approval of this purchase. >> Is there a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? Um I did a little learning about this um school and it's located down in Reton and so students who need the
053extra support that the school provides are transported down there so that they can get all of their behavioral and social emotional needs met there which is a really great program and um we are lucky to have something so close to us. Um, all right. So, I'll call for a vote. Voice. Voice vote. Okay. So, all in favor say I. >> I. Anyone opposed? No. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. Action item number three is resolution number 910, approval of purchase and sale agreement for the Shulty property at Morland's Elementary. >> This item is the purchase of the Shulty property at 1520784th Avenue Northeast adjacent to Morland's Elementary School. We first introduced this to the board as anformational item on September 23rd. We recommend your approval of the resolution number 910. Is there a
054motion to approve resolution number 910? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? I believe this was the uh final puzzle piece. >> Yes. >> To the properties surrounding Morlands that we needed. So that's really great. Um does anyone else have anything to discuss about this? No. Shall we be calling for a voice voice vote again? All in favor say I. >> I. All who oppose say nay. All right. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Number four is the capital facilities plan revision. So, following the board's June 23rd, 2025 adoption of the district's 2025 capital facilities plan, district administration learned of a uh scrivener's error in the student generation rate that resulted in incorrect notation of impact fees in two categories. This correction requires the board to readt the CFP. The error is most clearly shown in
055the document on page 28. We recommend your approval of this revision. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? >> So my Okay. So moved. >> Second. Is there any discussion? >> I'm just delighted we got to use the word scrivener. >> Oh, but different word. >> I just had one. If I remember correctly, and I'm sorry I can't call it up. Um the the biggest change that was in there was um associated with Snomish County, let's just say, and and Leotaa presumably because it's in Snomish County. Is that >> I believe so. Is that correct, Tree? So she's a she's giving a sort of >> We will let the expert speak on this. Almost all of our jurisdictions um do impact fees a little bit differently. So we mixed the Snomish County and the
056um Woodenville city of Woodenville's generation rates. >> Thank you. Thanks for that. All right. Any other discussion? No. We're going to do voice again. Well, I'm not logged in, so Oh, voice. Okay. All right. Time for the vote. All in favor say I. >> I. All who oppose say nay. The motion passes unanimously. Thank you for that. Next, we will be doing the performance review. This is the monitoring report for superintendent parameter 8 instructional programs. Remind me what the order of operations is for performance reviews because it's different, right? We discuss first. >> Dr. Irish presents. >> Oh, Dr. Irish presents. Thank you. >> So, presenting for your approval this evening is the monitoring report for superintendent parameter 8 instructional programs. I certify that the information contained in this report is true as of October
05713th, 2025. I also do hereby certify that with the information evidence provided within this report that I am in compliance with the requirements set forth within this parameter. >> Thank you very much. Now we discuss first who would like to discuss. It's hard when you can't see it. >> I finally think >> No, yours works. >> Mine works. Yeah. Um >> yeah I mean there's a lot here. This obviously is uh one our one of our biggest if not the biggest parameter and instructional programs is core to our work. So there is a ton of information here and so much of it um amazing and work to be proud of. Um I really want to do a couple of shoutouts. uh one to uh Dana Chunaman and the work in our CTE program um the
058not only the huge increase and it was unfortunate that the data we saw started in 21. It had gone back to before we did the seven period day you'd see a huge jump. Um and that was part of why we brought in the seven period day was for kids to have access to these programs. So just the the robustness but also the intentionality of those programs providing students skills for the workforce. Um I just read an article recently that seven out of eight CTE programs in this country are meaningless. They're like word food safety handling permits and Microsoft Word uh certification. And when we look at what we provide, we're eight out of eight. Every one of our programs is providing kids with real world skills and workplace skills. So, I really um want to
059just put a spotlight on that because that is phenomenal. The other one, and again, I I'll be the old person in the room back in my day. So, the reason that we have um a focus on the ninth graders on track for graduation, entering their 10th grade year, when we um one, it's it's a huge indicator. We have learned that waiting until they're in their senior year to focus on that, it's too late. And so, kids that are on track at the end of their ninth grade year, it changes the percentage or graduation rate tremendously. When we transitioned from junior highs to middle schools, we were number one in the state for nth graders on track to graduation. And so that was right about the time we were writing this parameter and we um wanted
060to make sure that we stayed number one in the state and we continued to be one of the highest nth graders on track for graduation. So, I just want to thank and again um Heather Miller leading that work. Um really want to thank everyone in the system and making sure that um our kids are are ready to go by the time they hit 10th grade. Okay. Well, um first thank you for the report. As Director Hay says, this this is huge. I mean, there's so much packed into this. Um, I think it's kind of another one of those parameters that you haven't really had time it three months to fail or succeed, you know, um, based on, you know, how much time you've been here. Um what you have done though very clearly is dive
061head first into learning and reviewing and assessing the programs that are in place and mapping out where they need perhaps some change and you know supporting programs as they go forward now that we're in in the school year. Um, you've also very clearly reached out to students and staff and families to get the input needed to see how the curriculum is is working and and what's what's working and what's not um for for different people. Um, and like Director Hayes, this this always just leaves me so excited. I mean, for all of the work that's that's being done, professional development and and learning opportunities for our students. um and all focused on how we can best and better serve all of our students um across demographics, learning level learning levels, sorry um and topics, you
062know, there's different between CTE and and science and math and you know everything is is um represented in there. Um, and you know, for me, just another reason to be proud of of Northshore and where we are and and what we have to look forward to. Um, in particular, the description of the novel refresh in secondary in particular, it just I mean I mean it's not exactly new news, but it's it's just so great every time I'm reminded about it. and also the work that's described in here about math >> um you know pre-alggebra topics the tutoring you know all of this emphasis on getting our kids up to speed and and giving them what they need for for math success um one item I did have a question about um see 1G um if
063you have that regarding the summer programs and before and after school programs like tutoring Um just wondering if that if all students really have access to that if there's a cost barrier. I mean I know logistics is is a different thing particularly in the summer. Um and and you know I I can take this a response offline for that. It might might take some work. Um but you know think about students who are making up for missed credits um math tutoring. thinking that those who are most in need of these programs might also be the ones who are least able to access them. Um so something to think about. Thank you. It was a great report. Thank you. And I'll add to that. um you know, areas where I tend to enjoy a a 14-page
064report. Um because I do, right, it's short. Um the thing I really appreciate about this is the depth and breadth and all of the hard work that went into creating this report because I know it's a lot and I know the things that are being done for students in our district are a lot. um areas that you know I'm experiencing the benefits of what's happening here firsthand with my kids which is really exciting. um you know, seeing the benefits of having my kids access the new reading curriculum and how that's being implemented and how I Ready is being used to help guide their learning and give them support where it's needed and looking at how MTSS is being implemented in elementary school classrooms. Um and how kids are getting what they need when they need
065it, where they need it, which is really important. Um, as everyone knows, I have a soft place in my heart for special education and early childhood special education. So, um, it's really exciting to see all of the things that are being done to support our youngest learners and our learners with disabilities and who need extra support. Um, as well as all of the things that are being done to support our students mental health and their social emotional learning in the schools. um and how that's being implemented across the district in such a thorough way. And you know, the list goes on and on and on, but um it's it's almost overwhelming to look at all the things that are happening. Um but they're they're all fantastic and I really applaud everyone who is working so
066hard to help our students um achieve greatness. So, thank you for that. Any other discussion? No. So, now >> can I just add one thing? Yes, please. >> I just want to add that um I'm 3 months into this, but I want to recognize the incredible team behind this work. Um they have their fingerprints all over this. I am blessed to work with a very talented, highly skilled group of leaders. And not only are our leaders highly skilled and um amazing at what they do and the teamwork that they um lean into each and every day, when I walk out into schools and I see our school leaders and the work that they're doing every day and our staff working with kids every day, I am continually impressed at the caliber of um work that's
067being done across our schools um and across our departments. Um, so it's an honor um to see this work uh to be here and to and to work alongside them as they represent this work. And so kudos to the team. >> Thank you for that. All right. So now I get to talk about options, right? That's the right the right order. So now that we've discussed it, now we get to talk about our options for what we want to do with this very thorough report. Um, we can find the superintendent is in compliance with the parameter. Um, we can find that he is making adequate progress towards the compliance with the parameter or find that he is not in compliance with the parameter. Is there a motion? I move that we find uh Superintendent Irish
068in compliance with parameter P8. Is there a second? There we go. >> Thank you. Um so now we can call for the vote. Thank you. And we get to vote on Yep, we are. And then now we are going to take a quick pause and fill out our paperwork. And then when we're all done, we'll move on to our next little bit of fun. All right. Is everybody ready? Okay. Next, we get to do the policy review of parameter 8. Um, and going to make sure um, do I have to do anything other than say is there anything? Okay. Is there anything that anyone wants to discuss about this? We think it looks good. It's very thorough. It's covered all the things. Okay. All right. So, that's good. We don't have to do anything. Nope.
069Okay. Perfect. And next are our information items. And the first one is the capital project status report. >> Thank you, Vice President Sotac. A report is attached for your review reflecting the current status of the 8 2022 growth projects. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion other than it's pretty? always one of our our favorite documents to review. So, thank you. >> Anything? Director Hayes, you good? >> I'm good. >> Okay. Um, the second information item is project acceptance under $1 million. Dr. Irish, >> attached for your review are two projects under 1 million that were completed during this reporting period. They consist of flooring improvements at Frank Love Elementary and moving services for the modernization of Maywood Hills Elementary. Any discussion? Pretty straightforward. Yeah. Okay. Next is a new thing that I haven't done
070before. So, here we go. Um, it's the first reading of resolution number 911. Education Programs and Operations Levy. >> Yes, thank you. Attached for your review is the first reading of resolution number 911. Education Programs and Operations Levy. The district's levy and bond planning steering committee has worked within the agreed upon parameters to develop recommendations for measures to be presented to the voters in February 2026. These measures were developed subsequent to the September 23rd board study session. The draft resolution and voter propositions are provided for the board's review. We will be bringing this item for your approval at the October 27th meeting. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion about this? >> Yeah. Um so just a reminder of how this works that big topics like this have a first and a second reading. So
071we have an opportunity to review and reflect. Um however these in particular we've reflected a lot over the last couple months. So um just to reduce the blood pressure it is highly highly unlikely that anything is going to change at this point. So I just want to thank everyone involved. Um this was a herculean task for all three of these measures and we had so many people participate in bringing forward very thoughtful um measures and um yeah just a reminder that this is a renewal of an existing EPO levy um and that we have an increase in what we will be able to ask from our community thanks to our state legislature that will allow ow us to just keep moving forward. Not a lot of new exciting things as a result, but we will
072be able to maintain. So really nothing to add other than just thank you so much. >> I agree completely. Um and and you know we as director Hayes said we will we will see this again u at our next board meeting so we can anything comes up between now and then we can we can address. >> Yeah I I think it's been said and um I agree that there has been a many hours of reflection on this previously so I'm feeling pretty good when I read it. It looks all very familiar. Um okay so moving on to the next one is the first reading of resolution number 912 general obligation bonds which is an exciting name. >> Yes. So attached for your review is a first reading of resolation resolution number 912 general obligations bonds.
073The district's levy and bond planning steering committee has worked within the agreed upon parameters to develop recommendations for measures to be presented to the voters in February 2026. These measures were developed subsequent to the September 23rd board study session. The draft resolution and voter propositions are provided for the board's review. We will be bringing this item for your approval at the October 27th meeting. >> Any discussion? >> Um again, thank you to everyone involved with this. There's some really good work that will be happening with the support of our community. um number of schools continuation of the work done at Leota and Inglemore seismic uh work at a number of our schools because that four-letter word was referenced earlier in the meeting and there was confusion four years ago I want to be very clear
074there is no pool in the bond just that was a bit of so we want to make that very clear it is all focused on schools playground grounds and fields. >> Yes. And seismic retrofits. Lots and lots of those. Um, yes. All of which will be spelled out as we have discussed ad nauseium over the last several months. Um, I just also wanted to point out, again, thanks to everyone who was involved in getting this put together. And I I think this is this is a compromise between everything that we would all like and everything that perhaps should be done, but we only have so much that, you know, anyone can, you know, one get done in in four years before we we revisit this again. Um, but I think it was a really good
075compromise in making sure that most of our buildings are safe as we move forward to the next round. >> Thank you. That's very very true. Um, okay. Any further discussion? No. All right. Next is our last but not least, first reading of resolution number 913, the technology levy. So attached for your review is the first reading of resolution number 913, technology levy. The district's levy and bond planning committee has worked within the agreed upon parameters to develop recommendations for measures to pres be be presented to the voters in February 2026. These measures were developed subsequent to the September 23rd board study session. The draft resolution and voter propositions are provided for the board's review. We will be bringing this item for your approval at the October 27th meeting. would you like to discuss? >> Again,
076thank you so much to all of the community staff members. Um, this definitely is a uh rapidly changing landscape of this and so having the support of our community so that we can adapt quickly as it changes um is what we need to do. NS Levi is also going to support um a lot of the ways that technology is touching our curriculums um by being able to keep the curriculums that are no longer in textbooks but are online or in other ways um being able to keep those relevant and up to date for our students. Um and that is all for that I believe. Um, next is new business. I think that's our next thing, right? Yep, it is. Anyone have anything new and exciting? Well, I have a new business item and I think
077it's really more an information request. It's not anything that we an action item or anything we need to vote on, but um there was this announcement made yesterday that Microsoft is going to provide AI to all public schools and and I recognize that that just happened and we're all starting to wrap our head around what that means, but um if we could get an update of the um thought process that has already gone gone into the work of making sure students are safe and and prepared to use AI in our district. I think it would help kind of reassure the community that we aren't just providing free cigarettes to kids that it's that we're putting some safety parameters around it. just a kind of what what we're thinking um and the work the intentional work
078that's happening before we just give them access to a highly addictive uh source. Thank you. That is a great question. Um yeah, and it's very new. So there you go. Um, next we have board member reports and director McGordy, you are first. There we go. Since we last met, I've had the opportunity, as uh Superintendent Irish mentioned, to meet with Representatives Dur and Springer and Senator Love as part of our regular annual meeting with our legislators um to discuss the district in the upcoming legislative session. Um all of which meetings, uh I think were very useful, if not necessarily encouraging, regarding the potential for funding from the state. Um I believe our legislators are on board with us. they understand the issues and we did manage to do some brainstorming um around what we can
079do to help them help us moving forward and not go back into a deficit. Um, Friday, September 26th, I also attended the Maywood Hills ribbon cutting. And I must say, I just love the new approach to um, sort of coordinating these with school festivity uh, and events uh, so that more families can attend and more families would, you know, it's not just one extra thing to to see our ribbon cutting. Um, oh, and I was so impressed that our student guides, uh, the fifth graders that took us around, they were so knowledgeable and proud, uh, in particular about the green construction aspects of of their school. Um, so I I can't wait for for more of the same. Um, Friday the uh, October 3rd, I attended the Skills for Life um, breakfast put on by
080the Northshore Schools Foundation. Um, which is was just absolutely inspiring. Um, between our staff and our students, they did us so proud. Um speaking about the programs, their accomplishments, I think the entire room was just really really impressed um with the depth of offering as has been said and the very clear success of our students even even those who have graduated already came back and and spoke to it. Um all right, I have uh somewhere in the last couple weeks submitted the list of top 10 WASDA positions for the board and that will be combined into the the final average number of positions. Um, and I've been steadily discussing and meeting and editing our legislative priorities um, document hoping that that will be finalized soon um, so that I can get that sent off to
081our legislators also so that they know what um, what's coming at them in January. That's me, Director Hayes. >> Thank you. Um, as mentioned, I also attended the meetings with Representative Dur and Senator Loveik. We are so blessed in Northshore that we have um nine uh state legislators that represent us that support public education. Maybe not as much as we would like, but they are supporters and um willing to listen and engage and and we are very appreciative. Uh I have started my PTA meeting attending. So I've attended several of those and um just an opportunity to listen to what's on the mind of parents and uh attended the Maywood Hills ribbon cutting. Again, thank you to all um Principal Ha for uh a great event and our communications department and love seeing the kids
082get such great joy out of the work. So thanks to our community again. attended the Telagana event up at North Creek High School um along along with superintendent Irish. It's a event um with our community from the southern part of India. It was a just a beautiful well attended event and we are grateful for the partnership and the willing yeah got to meet some students who were very excited about the whole thing. Um, we have started a quarterly check-in with the foundation NSD and so as the liaison to the foundation met and just kind of hearing where they're at and the work how we continue to stay in alignment with the work they're doing and the work we're doing. Um, attended the truth and reconciliation event at Lake Washington High School. It was put on
083by the East Side Native American Education Group and that was very interesting and I have continued my meetings with board members around the state and just got back yesterday from a Pacific region meeting. Um it was the states in the Pacific part of the country. Um so met with schoolboard members from around the west coast essentially. Uh just a great reminder uh how much we have in common. everyone um struggling with enrollment decline, not enough funding. Um and so lots of lots of similarities of what we're working on together. >> Thank you, Director Hayes. And my report is very short because I was out of town. So, um on October 2nd, I attended the CTE fall event and it was very exciting. My kids were very interested in ASL and they wanted to know what
084people were doing and it's like they're talking. Um so that was really fun for my kids to enjoy that along with their um bribery Legos that they got to play with during the meeting. Um uh and it's really exciting to see all of the um people who are working to help um with CTE education for our kids and um like director Hayes said earlier meaningful CTE education for our kids that's leading to employment after high school which is really really important especially right now. Um, and that is all for my report. And because there's nobody here, because there's only three of us, then that means I'm going to go ahead