Northshore School District School Board Meeting: March 24, 2025

001Good evening everyone. How are you? Thank you for joining us today. Just a little technical note before we get started. We're having a little technical issues with board docs which is our agenda software that we use. Usually we have the screen that comes down and shows you the agenda. That part isn't working. So, but we do have agendas printed on the table at the back. So, if you want to grab one, feel free to grab one. The other implication of this is when we do public comments and it's timed, usually there's a countdown timer that is shown on the screen, but we don't have that. So, Peggy has kindly offered to give some warnings, you know, so we'll still ask for the three minutes to help everyone have time to do their comment. Um, and

002she'll just give a 30- secondond warning so people can wrap up is how we'll do it. Okay? So, thank you for being flexible with us. We appreciate that. So, that being said, I'm now going to call this meeting to order. Thank you very much. If you're able to join us, please um join us in the flag salute. 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. On behalf of the school board, I welcome everyone 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 andor voted on have been

003studied by the board members. I'd like to introduce the people participating in the meeting. Recording Secretary Peggy King, Superintendent Mr. Michael Tully, board members Sandy Hayes, Han TR, Jacqueline McGordy, and Elizabeth Sotac. I am Amy Cast, and I currently serve as president of the board. An agenda for this meeting is available online at boarddoccks.com for our friends who are watching us on live stream at home. Um, and as I mentioned before, copies are available at the on the table at the back of the boardroom. There will be an opportunity for public comment 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 the district website to the district's YouTube channel. The YouTube stream

004includes closed captioning for both regular schoolboard meetings as well as our study sessions. Visit nsd.org or and under our district, click school board, then agenda meeting materials and videos. If you're here to address the board on agenda items, please sign in using the sign-in sheet at the table also at the back of the boardroom and then you please take a number that corresponds with the line that you signed in on. The first order of business is our land acknowledgement. We take this time to acknowledge that the Northshore School District occupies the unseated coalish lands that have been here since time immemorial. We honor the ways of knowing and ways of being of indigenous people and tribal nations who are still here and thriving in our district community. We also acknowledge that this is a working

005land acknowledgement that will continue to evolve as our partnership with local indigenous peoples and tribal leaders expands. Next item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda. Would anyone on the board like to make any changes to tonight's agenda? Okay, seeing no changes, is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. The approval of the agenda has been moved and seconded. Um, seeing no further discussion, I'll call for the vote. and the consent agenda passes. Thank you. Next item on our agenda is the superintendence report. Mr. Tully. Thank you, President Cass. Since the last schoolboard meeting, I have continued to be busy, of course, attending and participating in nu numerous meetings and school visits. Some examples include um I attended the school board visit to Sunrise Elementary School on Tuesday, March 11th.

006And on Wednesday, March 12th, I checked in at at the Northshore Middle School Career Day activities. On Wednesday, March 19th, I facilitated the superintendent student advisory meeting. Um, on the same day I provided a state of our schools presentation at the Northshore special education PTA meeting that was held here in the boardroom. I also provided the state of our schools presentation to at the Hindu Temple last week, Thursday, March 20th. I have conducted formal school visits at Frank Love Elementary School and Woodenville High School on Thursday, March 20th. And of course, I've also continued to conduct school level strategic action plan reviews with school principles and several of their thought partners. So over the last two weeks, I have conducted school level strategic action plan reviews at Sorenson Early Childhood Center, Morland's Elementary School, and

007Northshore Learning Options. That this concludes my remarks for this evening. Thank you, Superintendent Tully. Any questions for Superintendent? All right, thank you. We will move on to our next agenda item, which is programs and special presentations. Once a month, the school board likes to um have an agenda item we call Northshore spotlights. The idea behind this is that there are so so much great work being done by our students and on behalf of our students across Northshore. We like to make sure we set aside time to deliberately call it out. And um we've been doing this since the beginning of the school year and it's been a wonderful addition to our agenda. And then a a bit of an amazing thing happened in that we have multiple state level award winner winners amongst our staff

008that the school board would like to acknowledge today. So the um and a couple things first of all this is an an incredible honor even just to have one of these honores amongst your community. Um and every one of them that I have spoken with um were very clear in explaining that their work was actually the work of their team, of their community. It wasn't just about them. It was about their whole school building. Um, every single one of these people that I'm about to mention, um, is is really not only demonstrates the great work done by everyone in Northshore to support our students, but the fact that we have this level of of, uh, servant leadership amongst our our buildings is just mind-blowing. So, we So, like I said, there's there's four. And so,

009I'm going to start with the first one who who unfortunately wasn't able to join us tonight. he had another obligation. But we want to recognize Rick Calhoun. He is an Inglemore High School educational support professional and he won um recognition as the Washington State State Educational Support Professional of the Year this year. So, he can't be with us, but let's acknowledge him. [Applause] And so, um, do we ask people to come up one at a time as I call their name? Everybody together. Okay. So, um, we'll we'll do this. We'll feel free to come up after after I mention your name. So, we're first up. Next on my list is Kim Bummer, who we'd like to acknowledge as our wonderful Ruby Bridges kindergarten teacher, who is the 2025 state teacher of the year for Washington

010State. So, thank you, [Applause] Kim. So, then then just because Kim Yeah. You want to we doing it one at a time? We could do one at a time. Yeah. So, yes. So, dire vice president SOAC has a certificate for you on behalf of the board, Miss Boomer. So, she's gonna bring it over. [Laughter] That sounds great. That sounds great. Thank you. So then to to join Miss Boomer will be principal Kathy Davis, the principal of Ruby Bridges Elementary and the 2025 elementary principal of the year by the Association of Washington School [Applause] Principles. So Director McGertie is going to bring down an acknowledgement for Principal Davis. [Laughter] And also and also we have Miss Heidi Bush, the Northshore Middle School teacher librarian and the 2025 teacher librarian of the year by the Washington Library

011Association. [Applause] Um, so thank you. So, c can we just we're going to come down and do the picture for Carrie, but can we just say it is such an honor to work with with people professionals of this caliber um and and again the community who support the work as well. So, thank you. We will come down and we just we're bursting. So, thank you. [Applause] Okay, ready. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Yes. I mean, thank you for joining us and family members, but yes, peace out. Y'all are all hardworking professionals. I mean, we love you to join us, but we understand. We understand. So, as they're leaving, I'll just share an anecdote. um across the state when Northshore comes up they call us Marsha Marsha Marsha for those of you of the Brady. This

012did not help that at all that we have four state of the year staff members. So we will be hearing more about that and we could have we're ready. We are there for it. All right. So thank you so much. Thank you. Good night Miss Bush. Thank you. So, um, with that amazing start of our meeting and we're going to move on to association and public comments. The Northshore School District Board of Directors has set aside a period of up to 60 minutes to receive updates and comments from district association leaders and community members. As referenced in multiple policies adopted by the board, we expect all parties addressing the board to present their comments in a way that is civil and respectful. This means that whether we are school directors, district staff, students, members of

013the community, or some other guest, we must all follow the same standard of civility during schoolboard meetings. Please speak directly to the board and address matters related to district operations, policies, procedures, and agenda items under consideration by the board. Washington state law requires that the board limit its business and discussion at board meetings to only those items that were captured in the previously published agenda. What that means for us today is any public comment regarding items that are included in the agenda for tonight will be taken into consideration by the board during that portion of the meeting. Any topics brought up during public comment that are not included in the published agenda cannot by law be discussed at this meeting and so will not be addressed or receive a response during the meeting. In either

014case, depending on the nature of your topic or questions, a district employee or a board member will follow up on any comments that relate to district business. Please note that the silence during public cont comment is neutral by design. It's neither a signal of agreement nor disagreement with the speaker's remarks. And also, please note that comment should not make reference to any employee or representative of the district by name or by identifiable reference like title. If you're interested in making comments or complaints regarding a specific individual, you may use the complaint process available through the office of the superintendent. And finally, please remember that your words have impact and you, not the school district, are responsible for your words. We caution all speakers that it's possible that your statements could violate the rights of others

015under various laws, including laws protecting privacy and laws prohibiting defamation. If you're unsure of the legal effect of your remarks, you should seek independent legal advice. In any case, we ask that you help us model for our students what a respectful and inclusive community looks and sounds like. So, first off, we start with association leaders. Are there any association leaders who would like to speak? Good evening and happy spring uh board of directors, Superintendent Tali, and the rest in the room. Uh my name is Robbie Reid and I'm the president of the Northshore Education Association. And uh to piggyback on the wonderful celebration we just had, I have to mention more about Rick. Um Rick Calhoun is the campus supervisor at Inglemore High School and um he was selected as the Washington Education Association Education

016Support Professional of the Year for the 2526 upcoming school year. Rick began his journey in education as a PAR educator. Then he moved on to becoming a behavior technician and he is lucky and I know he would say this to be married to an Inglemore High School special education teacher Cheryl Calhoun. Rick is a force to be reckoned with and a force for good in all aspects of his life. He um as a father, as a coach, as a union leader, and as a phenomenal human. Uh it has been one of my great joys to spend time and constantly learn from Rick. We share a love of Star Wars and he has impeccable timing uh when it comes to humming the Imperial March. Next part of my comments are um around the recent events. Um

017as the news comes out that the Department of Education has been ordered to be dismantled and eventually abolished, let's remember that we believe in our work as public school educators and community supporters. We will continue to put students at the center of everything we do. Fighting for the right of every student to a public school education that provides access to opportunities, resources, and the support to thrive throughout school and beyond, regardless of the neighborhood in which they live. We will not back down because every student deserves a highquality education in a safe and welcoming public school in every community in Washington and across the nation. Now more than ever, public education needs our support. We know that a strong, well-funded public education system is the foundation of a thriving society and a just economy. It

018gives every child, regardless of background, the opportunity the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed. We know that fairness, dignity, and opportunity are worth fighting for. Not just in our workplaces, but in our communities. When we invest in public education, we invest in the future workforce, in the next generation of leaders, and in a society where prosperity is shared by all, not just a privileged few. But this doesn't happen by chance. It happens when people like us stand up and stand together and demand better funding, better resources, and respect for public education, our fellow educators and our students. Here are a few upcoming opportunities to raise our voices and advocate for schools, for the schools that our children deserve. The fight for public education is a fight for the future, and we will lead the way.

019I encourage you all to attend a town hall. Um there is currently the first legislative district town hall happening right now. Um it is a virtual town hall with Senator Stanford, Representative Dur, and Representative Cloba. The 32nd legislative district town hall will be tomorrow, March 25th, and uh from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. and it will be streaming live on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Uh the other option is to attend the town hall for Senator S. Solomon and Representative Davis, which is a telephone town hall. You can go to their web pages to get more information with their the phone number and extension. And lastly, uh I invite all of you to attend a signwaving event that has been that is going to be hosted and planned by our very own Woodmore Elementary members. Um it

020will be again held on sat Saturday March 29th. They're going to be meeting up at 10:30 at the intersection of downtown both of 522 and 527 across from the park at bothand. So thank you. Thank you President Reid. Any other association leaders? Good evening everyone. My name is Tara Dron and I am VP of advocacy for the Northshore Council PTSA. And I've got some exciting news tonight to share as well and some well-deserved recognition. Um I'll start out with a huge congratulations to our 2425 statewide reflections finalists. There were Northshore had 10 amazing students that qualified at the state level and two were um advancing on to nationals. So, a big congratulations to Sarvon representing Canyon Creek in the music category and Marggoia from Timberrest who will be advancing in the literature category. We're incredibly

021proud of all of our student artists. And if anyone would like to cheer them on, there will be an awards ceremony at the Washington State PTA convention in Lynwood on May 3rd. I'll give a little bit more details about that at the end with my announcements. Um, but I'll also switch gears to some additional leadership um, news. At our March 17th general membership meeting, we officially elected, sorry, the council the PTSA council meeting, uh, we officially elected our 2526 Northshore Council PTSA officers for next year. So, a huge thank you to our nominating committee for putting together a great slate of candidates and to our incoming officers. Thank you for stepping up to serve. And um let's see, I've got a list here. So, our council officers for next year will be Grace Herado, Diana

022Christensen, Liz Wong, Abby Palasco, Ashley Russell, Bnee Brics, Stephanie Sullivan, Manogna Moraucha, Jennifer Drury, Jennifer Snyder, and Christine Rono. So, I'm very excited for everyone and everyone else that will probably be joining the board next year. And looking ahead to April, we do have a few calendar items to just note. Um the 1st, April 1st, not a joke. Uh we'll be hosting our next advocacy coalition meeting. That'll be uh online at 8:00 p.m. Everyone's welcome to join. Information is on our council blog. I'll provide that a little later, too. Uh, we also know families want to help out, but they can't always commit long-term. And we know of a one-time impactful way to contribute to district-wide safety planning because the Northshore School District is conducting a practice reunification drill on Wednesday, April 23rd in the

023afternoon. And we need more parent guardian um, and guardian volunteers. No students are involved, but cardboard cutouts will be involved. uh and we just basically need a reunification for students in a simulated emergency serial. It's short, it's simple, it's great way to just plug in and yes, it's actually really important. So, um if anyone's available and they want an easy way to support school safety, they can sign up at northshore counsel ptsa.org. Um just make sure you register ahead of time because space is limited and they need to know. Um, and then coming up, uh, actually on May 2nd through the 4th, which I kind of alluded to earlier, is the Washington State PTA Convention. It's happening right here in Lidwood, and it's a great chance for PTA leaders across the state to connect, share

024ideas, and learn from one another. So, if anyone's thinking about attending, the early bird registration is now open, and it goes through April 21st. So, you can head over to PTA.org to sign up there. And finally, we're now accepting nominations for this year's Northshore Council PTSA Recognition Awards. So, if you know someone who consistently goes above and beyond, an educator, a student leader, a community advocate, or a behind-the-scen volunteer, now's the time to give them a well-earned spotlight. We'll probably make this announcement a few times as we lead up to it. Uh we're accepting nominations for outstanding educator, outstanding advocate, outstanding service, honorary life member, outstanding student advocate, and of course the golden acorn. So we'll be honoring all of those recipients at the spring recognition event on June 4th. And we'd love everyone's help

025in lifting up the people who are make our community shine. So that's it for me tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Tara. I I I don't believe we see any other association leaders. Okay. So then we will move on to um the public comment portion of this time and the agenda. So again, normally we would have the threeminut timer um and we don't. So what how this works is I will call a number. Please come up and state your name for the record. Um and then we'll give you reminders as the time elapses. So, um, speaker number one, please. Good afternoon, board. My name is Roy Ginger. I'm uh, Lynwood. I'm transplant here. Although I was born here, uh, I'll give you a little bit of background. I was raised in German until the fifth fifth

026grade to a German mom, an Austrian dad. Uh, we moved to Texas and uh, basically in sixth grade I had to learn English and they stuck me in a Spanish class and I was ESL speaker but I didn't have ESL so I learned English pretty quick because I wanted to play with the kids. Uh, I also thought that my high school education was definitely not up to par. So I actually enrolled in night school when I found out my dad was getting a college degree in community college after his after his army. So I got my associates degree the same time I graduated from high school because I was advanced a little bit more in German school. I graduated at 17, went into college, realized it wasn't for me. I dropped out, did six years

027in the nuclear navy and uh came back as a single dad into the civilian force and I got two engineering degrees, a master's in electrical engineering, a bachelor in mechanical, moved out here to work on Boeing 767 Awax program designing radar installations and I just retired uh four years ago with a 24-year career at Packar. During that time, I also got to become an associate professor at Western Washington University where I got to teach a senior level class for uh two years. And it was a very interesting question. I always said at the end, um I did my midterms early or my my finals early so that I have a whole day to explain to them how to interview properly for a job, but I also asked them to fill out a survey and 98.5%

028said high school did not prepare them for college, which I still find kind of sad. I also traveled for three years at Packer around the country teaching technicians. That was enjoyment of my career. But let me give you some facts. Engineers deal with facts. We spend $18,748 per pupil. In Germany, same place where I went to school. I just went back from a trip. They spend $8,700 in primary, $11,000 in secondary, and they go to school 195 days and 210 respectively. Their outcome is far higher. If you go and take a look at our outcome and the amount of money we put in, there's a number you can say, but where typically they say we average with the latest OECD about 16th out of 81 nations. When you look in the money and our outcome,

029we are 81st out of 81. We spend the most and we have some of the least outcome in the entire world. You need to reflect as educators. Maybe we shouldn't look too much within ourselves of how we're performing. And maybe for the amount of money especially that the superintendent can uh earn go over to Europe, go over to Asia where the top five earners come, but see what they do there correctly. Like vocationally at Packar, we're always looking for technicians. I have a packard technician that makes a quart million dollars a year and yet we don't have a pipeline for vocational people to apply the skills that they desire that they're not getting out of high school. Your your three minutes better than we currently do with the money we're putting in is fine, I

030think. Thank you. Speaker number two. Good evening. I'm I'm Joanna Lul Forker and I'm a teacher at Secondary Academy for Success. Um I'm here tonight to bring to your attention an error in payroll that occurred for supplemental contracts at the beginning of the 2024 and 2025 school year. Four SAS teachers were notified by our principal right before mid- winter break that we had been overpaid for our supplemental contracts for extracurricular activities. Our principal told us that we would be expected to repay the district and would be contacted to make arrangements. Without contact, we noted that the loss of income from that February check. Moreover, we were not offered a revised or corrected contract. To be clear, at the beginning of the year, we were offered a contract. We each signed the contract and we were

031paid according to the contract. After negotiations with the union and the district, we were told that we must repay by December 2025. While each of our circumstances and the amounts of repayment differs, we are all expected to pay by December 2025. The week our principal called us into his office, I had just paid for graduate school. Had I known that this was coming, I certainly would not have made this financial decision. My repayment amount is $7,000. This may seem significant in terms of the overall budget, but for a single mom and with a mortgage, this is two and a half months of my yearly income. So, not only am I going to receive less income per month starting in February, but now I have to repay $7,000 by December. How am I expected to survive?

032This was not my error. And yet I have no flexibility in repayment, no acknowledgement of the hardship this will be to me or to my family. I would like to be considered as a human being and not as a number. I ask you to consider our circumstances and give us an additional year for repayment. Thank you. Speaker number three. Thank you for opportunity for public comment. My name is Nancy Callahan. I live in Bathau. I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother of four. I'm a retired elementary teacher for 35 years. Um, this past Friday, I attended a statewide Zoom meeting that focused on other schools and on our school and school boards in general. A key speaker was Representative Jim Walsh, the Washington State Chairman. He encouraged reading the RCW28A 320.015, which is entitled School Boards

033of Directors Powers. And it states, quote, "The board of directors may exercise broad discretionary powers to determine and adopt policy not in conflict with other law that provide for the development and implementation of programs activities that the board determines will one promote education. Number one will promote education. This broad discretionary powers I am here to support and encourage this board to embrace. Many times school boards believe the OSPI and the WASDA have the final say and the greater authority than school boards do. That is a misconception. OSPI can make recommendations. However, they cannot mandate policy or withhold funds. Also, WADA is in a similar position to make recommendations not mandate policy. So, this distinguished board of directors have the authority. I support and encourage you to promote education, the three Rs, civics, etc., not indoctrination

034found in such questionable programs of DEI, CRT, SEAL. I think you all know the acronyms. Our state constitution, article 9, section 4, prohibits sectarian control or influence, which these programs are. I will leave it at that. and I appreciate any response. It may not be relevant. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number four. Thank you board. My name is Tony, teacher at SAS. I'm speaking on the proposed budget cuts to deans throughout the district, particularly the dean at SAS. SAS is the square peg school in the Northshore School District. Our students typically have endured trauma-filled lives, have high ACES scores, struggle with mental health, don't function well in a typical academic environment, and are usually on a path towards dropping out when they arrive. Miraculously, nearly all students that come to SAS get back on the

035path towards graduation and a productive life. A dean at SAS is a major contributor to this success and the role goes well beyond the typical uh dean's description board. I encourage you to relook at the metrics you're using defining the role of a dean at SAS. For example, SAS is the only school in the district without an additional administrative role. The dean fills this role when our administrator is out of the building. If this position is cut, our principles and teachers will have to absorb all the responsibilities the SAS dean currently handles, which includes supporting students in crisis, addressing behavioral issues, ensuring a safe and inclusive environment, calling students daily to get them up and to school, arranging transportation beyond the district transportation to get them to SAS, uh provides counseling when a student is

036in crisis, including mental health challenges. The current dean is trained in suicide pre- is a suicide prevention specialist. Uh interacts with parents on a daily basis on all types of issues as well. The dean operates as the eyes and ears of the building providing campus safety and security. We don't have an SRO or an assistant principal. This is why student headcountbased staffing cannot be applied as a one-sizefitsall when it comes to fulfilling our district's mission. Again, I ask you to relook at the metrics you're using as you make your decision concerning cutting district deans, particularly the dean at SAS. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker five. Hi, I'm Cheryl. I am the uh English and librarian at SAS. I'm sorry, Cheryl. Can you give your last name for the record? Rockman. Thank you. It's changed. It's

037weird. Um before I begin, I would like to first point out that we are a very small school, but we are mighty. Over twothirds of our staff is represented here tonight. So even though there's not a lot of people over there, it is the majority of our staff. I'm here tonight to argue uh to urge you to maintain funding for our dean. Our dean is essential to the stability, safety, and success of our students. SAS is an expensive program and we recognize the difficult budget choices you face. We are grateful for your commitment to ensure pathways to graduation that go beyond just our traditional avenues. However, cutting the SAS deem position undermines that commitment and disproportionately harms some of our most vulnerable students. Our district mission states that we are quote committed to creating a

038safe, caring, and inclusive environment so that all students, families, and staff feel welcomed, valued, and supported. Our dean is that support at SAS. The our dean functions as the person who calls home, who is a a a steady presence in crisis, and who advocates to ensure that students get the mental health care they need. They are also a problem solver who helps students overcome barriers, whether that means providing food, clothing, or words of encouragement. The district also affirms that the safety and security of our students, staff, visitors, and buildings is of the utmost importance. Removing our dean directly contradicts this value. At SAS, safety is not just about locked doors and security cameras. It's about relationships. Our students do not always come to us with trust in the system. They've often been unsuccessful at our

039traditional schools. But we the staff at SAF SAS provide that trust and our dean is an integral part in that. Without our dean, we lose a crucial lifeline and our students lose an advocate who fights for their success every single day. Funding decisions based solely on student headcounts fail to account for the reality of alternative education. Our our students require more individualized support, more intervention, and more advocacy than those in traditional schools. If we are serious about equity, we cannot apply a one-sizefits-all funding model to a program designed specifically for students who need something different. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The time is always right to do what is right." Keeping this position is the right thing to do for our entire Northshore family. I urge you to reconsider the cuts and uphold

040the district's promise to equity, inclusion, and safety and keep the dean at SAS. Thank you. Speaker number six. Hi, my name is Anne Davidson. I'm a teacher at Leota Middle School and I'm here to address um an issue with math progression in our district that we've been talking about for years and I just wanted to share a few things with you. Um least of which is to invite you all to my classroom. I've had a lot of cabinet members come through on their learning walks and I would love to see some of you there also. I care deeply about my students. We do um everything we can to get them prepared for their very best in math, wherever that is. We meet them where they are. We encourage them. They show growth. We're good at

041what we do. And our concern is uh we do not have an opportunity any longer to allow them to choose to take eighth grade math if that's where they feel like they going to have their best opportunity. Our district seems to have adopted an algebra for all in eighth grade mentality. And I wanted to share something from Liz Paer who is the national director of content for curriculum associates. The I Ready folks um that says shortchanging middle school math concepts will have ramifications in later years that are difficult to see unless we look at the data. Lately, states and school districts have been publish pushing to mandate uh eighth grade algebra for all students. However, this is a short-sighted decision requiring short-changing middle school grade level math courses. Longitudinal studies show that inappropriately accelerating students

042actually has the opposite effect of encouraging them to continue with math. While some students might be ready for this acceleration, most middle school students would be better served by staying the course of grade level math. Acceleration to Algebra 1 and eighth grade is best reserved for those who are ready for the following reasons. Common Core standards are rigorous and they're intended to prepare students for algebra. They were never intended to be compressed. However, that's what we're doing to prepare kids for algebra in 8th grade. And when I see the growth that my students make every year when they come in sometimes two and three grade levels behind and how proud they are of themselves, I don't want to see that progress taken away from them because they're forced to take algebra in eighth grade. Uh

043there are some best practices for appropriate course placement that Liz Paer recommends. Um those are AP courses in high school. We offer several of those. They want to see they want to see um high school doubling up options as opposed to the burden being placed at middle school for acceleration. Um that there are several things that she recommends. I would be happy to share with you. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Speaker number seven. My name is Ryan Adams. Uh, and I have a deal with my students that if I bring up anything from when I was going to school or even teaching 10 to 15 years ago, I have to talk like a really old man and say like, "Back in my day, I used to walk to school uphill both ways in

044the snow with no shoes and we liked it." Um, and this is the way I feel about uh what's going on in Nora right now. like we had uh a team of teachers and administrators and schoolboard members that would collaborate and get together and talk. If I send an email to the school board, I would get somebody that would want to I I got offers like, "Let's go to coffee and talk about it." Um I had schoolboard members come like, "Can I come to your classroom after school one day this week and let's sit down and talk?" Uh, I have this unique thing that I don't I don't have a problem speaking truth to power and and I tell the truth and I think it's one of the reasons why our previous governor Jay Eninsley

045when he was elected I was on his educational transition team is I had no problem speaking that truth. This is what teachers need. And in that realm when I ready was brought in, I raised a fuss and I said you you want a computer program to do interventions and who knows the kids better than the teachers in the classroom? I know what they're struggling with. And I had examples of like if I had a kid try to show me what the number 17 is on this and I had this little thing with beads on it and they're like if a kid went 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 and one kid went 5 10 15 17 that's the same answer for both of them

046but one might need an intervention but that computer program won't notice that. That's a big deal. Teachers know our students. And I said, "Fine. If we're going to adopt this, if we're going to spend money on this, we can't use this to place students. It's a standardized thing. It's going to overidentify our students on the margins as struggling learners. It's going to it's going to identify them as struggling more than they actually are because it's a standardized thing. And we have decades of research that prove that. But two years into I Ready, we started using those scores to advance kids." Well, then who didn't get advanced? the marginalized students. So now we're using that our marginalized students are not advanced as our reasoning to push them forward. It's a problem we created. We created it

047by using I Ready in the wrong way. The makers of I Ready said, "Do not use this system to place students." And that's what we did. We created a problem and now we're trying to backfill the wrong way. And I would love to sit down with any of you and talk about it. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number [Applause] eight. My name is Robert Morgan. Uh I also work at SAS board of dire board of directors. I'm a math teacher at SAS. I'm here tonight to speak to you on behalf of both parts both of those parts of my job as a math teacher and as a part of the SAS community. I sympathize with your position that you are here making tough decisions in a time of crisis. What I implore you to do

048at this time is straightforward. Really look at what this district does well and make sure your decisions facilitate and continue that work rather than get in its way. Spotlight it. At SAS, I often work with MA students who struggle with math, students who are far from educational justice. One thing I ask them at the start of every year is, "When was the last time you liked math class? The last time you felt successful or empowered in math class?" I almost always then hear about elementary school. So many of our students have been down for a long time. When I don't hear about elementary school, there's another class that comes up and it's math 8 at Leota. A district in pursuit of educational justice would be asking these teachers what's going on in their class, not

049trying to close that program in pursuit of a slogan. Algebra 1 for all eighth graders is just that. It's a slogan. I'm also here to speak to you about SAS. I'm a member of a small staff that is often already stretched too thin. I said it simply when I said I'm a math teacher, but everyone on the staff carries extra jobs, wears extra hats, has extra titles. We have to. There just aren't very many of us. Amongst a busy staff, our dean is amongst the busiest. It's a student body that requires a dean of students. Um, one thing we cannot do is fill in for her. Understand that cutting the SAS does not eliminate the need for our dean. It does not magically improve the living conditions of our students. It would just mean that

050our dean's tireless work would be subdivided amongst the rest of us. And that is more than we can bear. It will burn us out. Um SAS is something that this district does very well. Don't burn us out. Um our dean is not a line item. It's structural. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number nine. Good evening board. My name is Shelley McLaren and I am a pre-alggebra 2 teacher at Northshore Middle School. I'd like to discuss some research done by the hiker group um.org or report.org on failures in states that have pushed algebra for all in 8th grade. In 2006, Minnesota state law required all eighth graders as of 2010 to take algebra to encourage STEM careers. While there were some short-term benefits to this, which was a small increase from 1.25% to 1.76% of students

051taking calculus in high school, at the same time, the state dropped from uh second to eighth in the country in eighth grade test scores. In 2008, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommended against algebra for all for eighth graders, stating that exposing students to coursework before they were ready led to frustration, failure, and a negative attitudes towards math and learning. In California, their experiment had lasted only two years. When they tried this in 2015, test scores lowered and they reversed their decision. As of 2021, there's 24% of students taking algebra in 8th grade across the United States. Some of the students are ready for the rigor of algebra. However, studies show that more students are not developmentally ready for the abstract con concepts of algebra. And with our continued looming deficits from COVID, this

052study is likely very inaccurate. Now I know my students struggle with the most basic of concepts including simple computation, fractions, multiplication, shape recognition. Let alone the challenges of equations, unknowns, variables, and the concepts of even pre-alggebra that I teach. We continue to rush our content. We've condensed three years of our core focused curriculum into two. and we are pushing our students all while they're struggling with social emotional issues and the challenges of adolescence in our era. So many come into my class feeling defeated. They say they're stupid and they have so many barriers. Of my 97 6th through 8th grade pre-alggebra students, I just sent 43 emails home to families concerned about their algebra readiness. Many of them are already eighth graders. They have all struggled through middle school math. We need to slow down.

053We need to do what's right for our kids and to trust the educators who teach our students and to understand their struggles and know what's right for them, not allow others outside of our classrooms to push an agenda that time and time again has proven to not only be ineffective but harmful for our students. Please do what's right for Northshore in the math trajectory. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for joining us tonight. We really do appreciate the effort and time and and heartfelt sentiments that you bring to the boardroom. Um again, we know y'all are very busy professionals. We're going to continue with the rest of the board meeting. You're welcome to sit and keep us company. It's, you know, we we might have an easement or two to talk about, but um

054feel free if if you'd like to get on with your evening. So, thank you. So, we'll move on board with the rest of the agenda. The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve? So, moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any questions or discussion on the consent agenda? All right. See none, we'll call for the vote and the consent agenda passes. Thank you very much. Next up under action items is the school board meeting schedule for 20252 2026 school year. Um do you mind introducing Superintendent Tully? Thank you, President Cash. Certainly. Uh attached to the school board meeting agenda for your review and approval is the regular meeting schedule for the school board for the 2526 school year. We recommend that the school board approve the regular

055meeting schedule for the board for the 2526 school year. Thank you, Superintendent Tull Tully. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. All right. The action item has been moved and seconded. Any questions or discussion? Yes. September 22nd, Rashana begins at sundown that night. We missed it with our screening. Yeah. Okay. So then given that um do we want to table this action item until we can study study the calendar a little further? Yeah, that'd be great. Okay. So, um, would Director Tren like to withdraw the motion to approve? I'd like to withdraw the motion to approve. Okay. So, then we will table this agenda item and, uh, and double check that date, September 22nd. But, it begins at sundown that night and then goo Google calendar can't handle that many religious holidays start

056the night before. So, it's got it listed as Tuesday, but it starts at Sunday the sundown the night before. Okay. All right. Thank you, Director Hayes. We'll look into that. Okay. So, then that action item is tabled and it'll come back at a future meeting. Thank you. So, we will continue with our agenda. The next step is a performance review. Um if you all remember this the first performance review is for monitor and report for goal three growth for every student elimination of outcome and opportunity gaps. Um we were um not able to finish the study session um at the originally scheduled time a month ago and so now we have caught up with the power outage but I'll let you introduce superintendent. All right. Thank you President Cass. So, uh, this was the, as

057I mentioned earlier, this was the third of fiveu district strategic plan goal monitoring reports for this school year. And as I've also pointed out, this is, of course, um, the third year of the refresh district 5-year strategic plan that runs from 2022 through 2027. The board participated in a study session on Monday, February 24th and then again on Monday, March 9th where the goal three monitoring report information was presented and discussed. I would like to thank our chief academic officer Dr. Oadia Dunham and our director of research and evaluation Dr. Craig Foster and our school board liaison in this particular goal uh director Han Tran for facilitating the compiling of the contents of this monitoring report. I would also like to thank executive director AMD Butler, Dr. Melissa Riley, Dr. David Wellington, and director Rick

058Fel for assisting in presenting the goal three information and answering questions during those study sessions. So here I hereby present the monitoring report for district strategic plan goal three in accordance with the monitoring schedule it sets forth in board policy and I certify that the information contained in the report is true as of today Monday March 24th 2025. We are happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Thank you Superintendent Tully. So now at this point per our policies we open up um discussion on the goal report to um the board. Um we you know it we did have most of the discussion a month ago with the last board meeting study session. We were able to catch up on the discipline aspect of this report. So if we need to converse a little

059bit more to refresh memories, of course we no conversing on my part except to to reiterate um the appreciation of the time put into goal three. It's very data heavy um and also for the board for their attention to the goal as well. Thank you director Tran. Any other comments or questions? Well, I would agree with that. Just to to extend my thanks again to everyone involved. This is a very thorough and you know, in our discussions um with staff, it was clear that a whole lot of of time and effort and heart went into reviewing that data and um assessing uh the condition of the of the district with respect to goal three. Um I think as as okay Marsha Marsha again as in many things I believe Northshore is doing much better than

060many of our our um sister districts if you will but like them all we also still have a long way to go with respect to closing opportunity gaps. Um the discipline gap has always bothered me. It continues to bother me, but there's clearly progress being made and I was so impressed with um the measures that have been put in place to address that. Um and just, you know, we're clearly focused on making sure the effort and the resources are going where they are most needed to continue making progress. So, I really appreciate it. Thank you, Director McCordney. Um, I'm actually reminded now that we're talking about it, uh, the parallels between sort of some of the things we talked about tonight at our study session and and how those intersect with, um, some of the

061the discipline issues um, in kids who are furthest from accessing education in the way that they need to be. Um, and I just appreciate the thoroughess with which that has been presented to us because it it is all kind of weaving together at this point. Um, and there are clear places where, you know, kids aren't performing the way that statistically we would expect them to um, given a perfect circumstances. Um and I think it's important to be mindful of the kids who are not meeting you know the expectations academically are going to be the kids who are also most at risk for attendance issues and you know how all of that is interwoven. Um, so it's particularly I'm thinking about kids whose um personal lives are um of interest nationally and and how those kids

062are affected and not coming to school and therefore I'm wondering if some of these numbers are going to potentially even be less good um after this year um which it has nothing to do with the monitoring monitoring ing report, but I'm seeing where there's going to maybe potentially be some dips in kids getting the education that they need um in a difficult way. Yeah, thank you for President Sotac. I had to do a quick refresh of the slide deck before I could talk a month. That's way too much time. Um but there's so much uh work that's happened in the last year and it's evident the the um narrative of test scores going down around the country. That's not what is happening here in Northshore. Our scores are went up over the last year and

063that it anytime them going up is good. them going up when the rest of the country is going down really speaks volumes to the intentionality and the work that's being done. Um, and yes, there gaps, but our low end of the gap is higher than the high end of most districts. And so it is um a cause for gratitude uh for the the amount of effort that is put in to make sure our students are successful. Um same with the the discipline data. I was sharing with someone the total number of suspensions in our district of 22,000 students and that's the number that they will have in an elementary school in a year. Oh. So context matters. Yes, it's um not perfect, but again the um work that has been done over the last 1015

064years to really make sure kids are staying in school, that they're accessing the curriculum and that behavior modification is more important than exclusion. um it it's paying off and so there is a lot to be proud of in this and I just want to thank everyone for all the hard work that's put in. Thank you. Um I apologize this is going to be a little long but and I know we have another monitoring report but bear with me here. So I have a story I tell because this is my metaphor. So my oldest child played lacrosse and was a goalie and he loved the sport. He ended up playing club sports all through college. He it it was his thing. And so one year we splurged. We did the travel team. And so here he

065is his first time out. He was just learning how to use contacts. And it was a whole middle school thing. But he was struggling and the coach was standing on the sideline yelling at him to, you know, you got to say, you got to make that safe. You got to make that. And not coaching him, but just telling him the yeah, no, no kidding thing of what he needed to do. and it just frustrated him more. And so that is the for me like my little metaphor of what not to do. And so what I'm saying that's not what we have now. So the idea of when you think about all the curriculum supports we have in the district now, all the technology supports we have in the district now, all the social emotional supports

066for students we have in the district now. It's really it's we're not just telling telling folks whether it be around discipline data or or or academic outcomes for students or whatever that you just got to you just no it's like the the supports are there and it's just lovely. Um, I do I would love folks to think about though, you know, referencing how not only students but but part of the Northshore family in general, adults in the system too are members of of of demographic groups being targeted nationally. Um, we have this continuing financial strain going on, um, which we just don't have a magic wand for. We're working on it. We're working our tail off as a board trying to find that magic wand and we will find it but we don't have it

067yet. So, but I'm I'm just I would love people to think about stamina stamina just emotional stamina physical actual stamina because I don't think it's going to get simpler anytime soon. And I think we're gonna we're gonna have to think about how to draw from a well to um try to maintain what we've been able to do here through a lot of people's hard work and clever ingenuity and big heartfelt effort. So that would just be I told you it was going to be a little long. Um that would just be my thought. It's been on my mind a lot since January. How can how can we support each other? um because it the waves are probably just going to get bumpier as we go here throughout the school year. So that's my thought. But

068thank you to everyone. It was it's really inspiring. It's really such an honor um to be just part of the conversations and how people can can work and and work with what we have at our disposal to try to make things better for kids and you know a little bit every day. So that's my thought. Anything else from the board? No. One more thing. Yeah. Um, the new reading curriculum is working and that is cause for celebration despite all of the yucky things happening in the world. Our reading curriculum is working and it's really nice and clear that it works, which is exciting. Um, and I didn't want to leave that out because that's fantastic news in a sea of other things that's going to help hopefully give these little kids who are teaching to

069read access to um truthful information about the world and the people that they live with. And then the additional supports at fourth and fifth grade math, right? And all that, right? So another thing that's really we're seeing impacts, right? So that's why the the report is this thick at this point. It's pretty thick. So any any other thoughts? Okay. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Um so per our policy um the board can entertain a motion for um reviewing and responding to this monitoring report on goal three goal growth for every student elimination of outcome and opportunity gaps. Um the first option is to find the superintendent has reasonably interpreted the provisions um and the district is making reasonable progress towards achieving the desired results. The second option is to find that the superintendent has failed

070to provide evidence of reasonable organizational progress. And the third option is to find the superintendent um that the information provided is insufficient for the board to decide whether or not progress has been made. So, I would entertain a motion at this time. I would like to move that the board find that Superintendent Tully has reasonably interpreted the provisions of goal three policy and that the district is making reasonable progress toward achieving the desired results called for in the policy. Is there a second? I second that. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? No. All right, seeing none, we'll call for the vote and take a minute to fill out our response documents. And that motion has passed. Again, we're going to take a minute to fill out our documents. I don't think it's

071ever been so quiet in here that I could hear the ticking of the clock in the back. I've been sitting here going, "We are very focused." Ticking coming from All right. So, we're going to go ahead and move on to the next monitoring report, which is the monitoring report for goal two, responsible, resilient, empathetic learners. Would you like to introduce Superintendent Tully? Certainly. Thank you, President Cass. So, as I mentioned earlier this evening, this is the fourth of five district strategic plan goal monitor reports for this school year. the board members uh participated in the study session earlier tonight where go to monitor report was presented and discussed. So I just would like to take this opportunity to thank again chief academic officer Dr. Oadai Dunham um and Dr. Craig Foster for working with our

072school board liaison uh director McGordy for facilitating the compiling of the contents of the monitor report and thank you to executive director Dr. Ava Thomas, Dr. Melissa Riley, and Dr. David Wellington for assisting in presenting the goal to information and answering questions. So, as always, I hereby present the monitoring report for the strategic plan goal two in accordance with the monitoring schedule set forth in board policy. And I certify that the information contained in the report is true as of today, Monday, March 24th, 2025. We are happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Thank you, Superintendent Tully. All right, on to goal two, which yeah, we just had a great conversation about. Um, any questions or discussion from the board? I think this means that we've said it all, but um again, just

073thank you to um Superintendent Tally and and the entire staff. You you guys did a great presentation of a very thick data packed report and you know like like go three there are you know clearly things where we we still have you know work to be done but overall it gave the impression that a lot of what's being done has been really good for our students and they are feeling it. So really appreciate the uh the report and the effort and the lovely detailed description of of the mechanisms that have been put in place to continue progress. Thank you, Director McCordi. I second what Director McCordi said. Um, but also I'd like to or and I'd like to add that um I appreciate the um information and detail about the students who are really needing

074a specialized approach to things like attendance and um being able to get the education they need when they need it, where they need it to be successful. and um being able to have such a um a good conversation around what is hard for the district to do based on a lot of things. Um but and you know why we're doing what we're doing and thinking about things like school size and you know how to meet the needs of every student where they're at. um because it's complex when you have 22,000 kids you have to meet the needs of um and so I I appreciate all the detail in the report that gave us a lot of information about meeting the needs of those students. Thank you, Vice President Sotch. Um I I'll just say recognizing

075that responsible, resilient, empathetic is a those are hard adjectives to create data around. And so I um just want to compliment that it the presentation the data that we focused on um was objective and yet dealt with these more subjective adjectives in a very nice way. So they it it felt like it it threaded the needle there um of providing information that was reflective of what was being asked of the goal in a way that wasn't like well it feels like we're doing a good job. you know, they seem to be nice kids. Um so, um thank you that and and the uh it was nice to see the attendance trending back up again. Um we had a long period of time where we had very high attendance rates. And so, yeah, there's a lot

076of cultural reasons why that's changed in the last few years, but it was nice to see that heading back up. And I know that is due to a lot of hard work um by our principles particularly our high school principles have put a lot of thought um in around addressing that. So thank you director. I was going to add a thanks and I agree with all the um comments that were made by the board members so far. The students when we tour the schools always rave about the clubs and it's part of it's their favorite part of the day and it's so important for mental health and for them to be coming back to the schools. It gives them an even more uh you know encouraging reason to come back aside from the academics um

077cuz sometimes the academics aren't that enticing. So really thankful that we're looking into ways to keep and expand clubs options and keep engaging there. Thank you, Director Tran. and um all that you know I um I just the notes that I made while reading the report and I am I I would love to explore the extra questions and when you read the detailed report and you like the questions about AI like it's really it's just fun it's um it's it's really uh great work um access I had to point out the access to advocates data really that was a highlight for me, especially as you see again, students with identities that are getting targeted nationally um do not feel the same level of belonging. I feel like that increased um access to advocates will will

078help those students um who really need some stability from us right now. And I just I'm just going to um wrap this up because I'm a yes and um but I I want to acknowledge the fact that a lot of this work is done by our deans and assistant principles and um again this is this is why the board is working so hard on our financial situation because we know we know um a lot of people are are doing this work including the deans and assistant principles. Um, and we absolutely agree with the the positive impact they make for kids every day. So, I just wanted to call that out while we're while we're discussing this important work. So, any other questions or input? All right. So, you don't need me to read the three

079options again, do you? Okay. Would anyone I will entertain a motion um for the response to this monitoring report. Uh based on the information provided, I move that the board finds the superintendent has reasonably interpreted the provisions of goal two and the district is making reasonable progress toward achieving the desired results called in the policy. Thank you, Director Tran. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. I will call for the vote. There we go. Okay. And again, we'll take a minute to fill out our reports. And the motion passes. Thank you. All right. Looks like we're done with our moni our response documents. So, we'll go ahead and continue um with the agenda. So next up is our first information item which is a building condition assessment asset preservation program

080report. Superintendent Tully. Thank you. President Cass. So, Washington state law requires that school buildings that receive school construction assistance program funding or SCAP funding and were accepted as complete by the school board after December 31st, 1993 that they be included in a required asset preservation program. As required by the asset preservation program, an annual re building condition assessment is performed over a 30-year lifespan of the building and results are reported to the board at a public meeting. So, seven schools have buildings included in the required asset preservation program annual report. All buildings included in the required report met or exceeded their expected building condition assessment. um for the 2425 school year. So, a summary of the report is attached to the school board meeting agenda for your review. Thank you, Superintendent Tully. Any questions or

081discussion? Uh I learned a lot of new things reading this. Um and I, you know, I realize that buildings age. you know, having to think about putting a new roof on my house is awful. Um, but, uh, I'm just really excited that we're working hard to maintain buildings to the best of our ability. Um, and in doing so, saving our taxpayers, thank you taxpayers, saving them money or pushing out larger things that need to happen by doing a good job keeping our buildings up and running for kids to be in. Thank you, Vice President Sotek. Um, first, thank you. Um it's um kind of handy to have this report now since we're about to start looking into whether or not we need a bond cycle and what that will entail. And I absolutely loved seeing

082the all the 100% on the fire suppression and fire protection. That was really great. I do have a couple questions though. Um, so for each um, school that's being inspected, is it all the buildings at a school at once or just some of them? It looked to me like it was all of the buildings? Well, I'm gonna have to rely on our exec director to come um D Ralph to come up and answer that question, but my understanding there were um not necessarily all the buildings, but seven schools had at least one building, but okay, what? That's correct. It's only buildings that were um funded through the SCAP program. So, for example, if we were doing Inglemore this year, it would only be the concert hall, not the rest of the um school. But of

083course, uncouple yourself different. That makes absolute sense. You might want to wait. Um so, it some of the the aspects of different buildings had the low score of the 30%. And I'm assuming that it was a little subjective. It was either good, fair, or poor. And that was the corresponding score that was attached to it. Is that the uh So there's a pretty solid criteria that OSPI puts out that we analyze our buildings. And you'll notice that this year's is done by a consultant, right? Generally, um our yearly updates we do inhouse, but because we were doing the facility condition assessment in preparation for bond discussions, we had them do this part of it as well. So this really is a score. So it indicates that that we have systems that need to be worked

084on and that's part of that bond process of where things are in those building improvement projects that we do. Okay. And with respect to having the consultant this year versus a district um staff doing it previous years for a while, is there any concern that there was a little bit of a drop in the overall scores when the consultant was doing it or is it I'm assuming they have a little bit different way of going about it. Yeah, everyone who evaluates does things a tiny bit differently, but there are general norms and expectations. Um, and uh, we had staff, both the capital project staff and our maintenance staff that accompanied our consultants to explain kind of the ins and outs of the buildings that um, they might not be so evident just by a surface

085look at things or a quick um, analysis. So, we really gave them a lot of information before they went out to the sites and then sent them with u somebody to give them more detailed descriptions while they're on site. Okay. And last one. Is is there anything about any of the scores for individual components that triggers a requirement to act near-term or immediately on repairs to bring it above poor? Not that I know of. Okay. But might but I just really tracking it. I mean they consider a 30-year building like the life cycle of a building. Obviously we have buildings that are much older than the life cycle of the building. So as you head towards that 30 year we expect to see kind of a decrease in scores. That's helpful because I I particularly

086was looking at the Canyon Park scores which may be what you were looking at too when the last construction year was 1999. So, we are getting close to that 30-year, aren't we? Okay. Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. This goes to your roof replacement at your house. And this is a report that the capital bond planning task force will take into account when they make the their put together their recommendations for us. They actually get the fullblown big report. This is a small synopsis. Theirs includes every building for the district as opposed to just the ones that are covered by just our 100. But they certainly have these as well. Well, and the the point is for our edification that when they make this recommendation, they've been looking at this um report and it helps to

087drive their recommendations. Very much so. Thank you. Any other questions on this report? Great. All right. Yeah, very important indeed. Okay. So, then we'll move on to the promised easement report. This is a signed utility easement for Wooden Elementary. Superintendent Tully. Yes. So, this construction document that's attached to the school board meeting agenda for your review was signed during this reporting period under the guidelines of our administrative procedures. So the notice of construction easement and agreements for wooden elementary school expansion project was submitted to the board back in August 28th of 2023. So thank you superintendent Tony. Any questions? Conduit for electric stuff. Yeah. All right. Great. All right. We're going to keep going. Last information item which is a project acceptance report for under million dollars. Superintendent Tully. Thank you, President Cass. There were

088three projects under a million dollars completed in this reporting cycle. Uh these projects included upgrades to the HVAC system at Both High School, the replacement of the fire alarm panel and sensors throughout the school at Frank Love Elementary School, and the installation of fencing at Shelton View Elementary School. Thank you. Any questions? I believe that fencing was uh came from a request from the parent and community at Shelton View. That that's a security measure that Yes. Yes. is in response to concerns raised by some of our families. Yes. Thank you, Director Hayes. All right. Anything else? Nope. All right. So, we'll continue on. So up is our new um standing discussion item on superintendent search. So we'll just do a quick update um just keep everyone up to speed. So um again like we discussed

089executive director Campbell and our great communications team have created a um flyer about the position that is going to be distributed by our search firm with our study session discussion around salary. It's going to be ready to go tomorrow morning, which means the job will be getting ready to post tomorrow and will be open through April 20th. Okay. So, also um going on right now too is there is the community survey open to anyone to help create the superintendent profile. The idea being now we're taking community input about what qualities the community, the board um and all sorts of of community groups would like to see in the next superintendent. So as applications come in, that's the criteria that applications are compared against. So that's what's going on tomorrow and Wednesday. There are some specific,

090you know, employee groups, some community groups, you know, city partners. Um there's a total of 11 um groups that are getting um getting uh some facilitation by our search firm both mostly virtual but a couple in person as well. So that's happening. Um and then the only other thing I wanted to bring up to the board is that we do have two um meetings to schedule for us. So, April 14th is when we'll get together to get ready to approve that superintendent profile to take all the community input and um but Peggy has set out a meeting um you know kind of query to folks to see availability and then the other one for your calendars to check as well and follow up with Peggy. We don't have to do it right now unless we

091want to. But April 30th is the first um executive session meeting for the board cuz that'll be 10 days after the posting closes and that'll be our first time to talk about actual applications come in. So that's that's an important one as well. And I'm told both of them are supposed to be 2 hours each. So to help with the windows in your calendar, but we'll just have to get those booked. And that's what we have going on. Did we want to put the April 30th date on the website? We can. It's not again it's an executive session, but we can absolutely let folks know that's the first time we're going to the board will have access to applications. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we can absolutely do that just for transparency sake. And also too,

092um, I'm sorry, I have too many folders today, but this I believe it's kind of officially a draft, this schedule from Ryan Associates that came into our inbox, but I think we're at the point now where it's going to move out of draft as soon as we get confirm that April 14th and April 30th date. And then this will give us something really solid to compare the website to as well. I thought so. I thought if not it doesn't look you don't think so huh? All right. Thank you. We will get that. Well, once we get the 14th and 30th dates then yes we will get that to you and I'm happy to we we can look at it tonight. There's nothing on there. Hopefully that's going to be a surprise to you. Any other

093information that would be helpful? Okay. All right. Here we go. Here we go. So, we're going to keep moving. any new business items to discuss under board reports and I don't know if this is a real um u business item but um just to get people thinking about uh another type of advocacy um journey if you will in April uh sometime uh we haven't really decided about whether to go back to Olympia or not or whether anybody would have any time to spend with us um at that point, but um thinking about how to go about getting in their faces one more time before final decisions are made if if even just by Zoom or something. I thought I heard that it was recommended that we were our time was better spent sending emails. So

094that was when we had split up. So, as a follow-up to that, um, we had time while we were waiting for Representative Goodman with Cliff, the wonderful lobbyist, and we posed this question to him, what he would suggest for April, and he said, "April, most everyone is on the floor processing the bills, but they can be very bored and checking their email all the time." So, it might be good to think about email communications. That would be helpful because they won't they won't have much time for meetings in person, but you might have their attention on their screen. That was his suggestion. Yeah, like I said, they're not going to have a whole lot of time to spend on much of anything. Um, especially if every school district goes down there trying to get in

095their faces. So, I know it might be cathartic for us, which has some value. Which has some value, but we'll think about how to be effective. We'll think about how to be most effective. Any other new business items? Yeah, I had a question around the DA2 meeting and if anyone else was planning on attending. So there we got an email from WASDA today. There DA2 is so large within Wazda. It's broken into two meetings. So the one we got the notice on is the southern one. Renton. Yeah. Renton. There is also going to be one at the end of April in Belleview. Okay. And and I believe for those of you that are available on Monday, March 31st, which is when the one in Ron is, you already have a commitment, Peggy is saying, "Yes,

096you do." That's right. Yes, that's right. That's right. We have the Yes, we have a hearing as a board and then Yeah. And then the at our reception, but the end of April is when um the one in Belleview is the one in Belleview. Yes, we do. It is April 29th. Okay. So, maybe we'll try to find information about that. I don't see anything on my board calendar for the for that evening. No. Yep. It's clear so far. Okay, great. I Peggy for your information. I'm already registered for that one, so you don't have to register me. Okay, great. Peggy will help us get registered. Good. But great question. Thank you, Director Tran. Anything else? New business. All right, board member reports. And we're going to start with Director McGordy. Okay, let me find my

097notes. Um, combining a couple of things here. Uh, so Tuesday, March 11th, I attended the school visit to Sunrise with everybody and had a fabulous time interacting with our students there. Um, I've also been attending uh the regular ledge rep and in session webinars through WASDA to assist in our advocacy. Um March 13th, I participated in a Zoom meet the Zoom meeting with Ray and Associates as we work work through this process. Um Saturday, March 15th, I attended the 45th LD town hall in Kirkland to hear and ask about their commitment to supporting the Senate bills uh for special education and MSOC without further cuts. Um, I won't say that I got an a absolute answer to that, but but we got some good input from them. They they actually did a a really great

098job. They were all very engaged with a pretty large crowd and very well spoken. So, um, one can hope. Um, Tuesday, March 18th, I sat in on a Snomish County Council panel discussion on childc care uh which included uh representatives from the Snowomish County Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, and Head Start. And this was held because the council had proposed an ordinance to expand basically expand access to child care in unincorporated Snowish County, which is their purview. Um, that ordinance did pass. Um, I think it's and director Milberg can correct me if if you if you know, but I think it's basically policy to allow further sites to open in unincorporated Snowomage County as opposed to funding new sites or adding adding otherwise. Um along with uh coordinating with our amazing intrepid PTSA advocacy vice

099presidents um I then attended the advocacy day in Olympia on this past Thursday. Uh we met with almost every one of our legislators. Apparently one um had other things to do. Um but you largely it at least half of them were with staff from the legislators which is reasonable. They're all working on on finance and budget and so forth. Um and several of us took cookies too to just uh in solidarity and to help them through these budget activities. Um Senate bills 5263 which is on um special education and 5192 which is MSOC uh was heard in appropriations last week but as far as I've been able to tell they have not been scheduled for executive session yet which is how they would get out of appropriations and really unsure anything happened with the amount

100of the budget that was in there. So, we're keeping fingers crossed that it doesn't get cut any further than it than it did um before it got out of the Senate. Um so, we will hope. And then the operating budgets for Senate and uh the House both dropped today and um they corresponded with our experience with the Senate and the House and we'll have to do an an assessment of that uh going forward. Saturday, March 22nd, I attended a town hall by Representative Hip Donnagy from the 44th LD in Mil Creek uh with Director Hayes. Um and we got to see really effective advocacy by our own teacher of the year, Miss Bummer. Um and but in this one as well as in the 40 45th there really there was really heartfelt uh well-informed question

101and testimony by all of the the people who were there. So, it was really great to see that level of engagement and it, you know, hopefully bodess well for somebody actually listening. Um, I also, um, just on Saturday had a chance to stop by North Creek High School to see what was going on with the Washington, uh, Indian Association. I believe it's called a mea festival that was being held there. And it was it was an all day affair. And just the short time I got to go there was just really fabulous. So very colorful. There was were dance troops performing dances up in the front through the entire thing and all this wonderful food and um um clothing and jewelry and so forth. But the best part, um, there was a poster at the

102entrance and actually as I was going out where I met a couple of North Creek High School juniors who have started a foundation to promote awareness and student engagement around Alzheimer's and epilepsy and multiple neuropathies in general, but I just our students just never cease to amaze me. So that was all that was for me. Thank you, Director Tran. All right, it's going to be very similar, so I'll try and make this quick. So, on Monday, March 10th, I attended the study session alongside all the school board members here on the 2026 bond and levy planning, the enrollment projections, and wrapping up goal three. Um, on Tuesday, March 11th, we visited Sunrise Elementary. It sounded like you missed that on yours. Is Is that why you reacted? Oh, okay. Okay, never mind. Yeah. Um, so

103Sunrise Elementary visit um wonderful job. Uh, always fun to hear directly from the students. We had some very vocal um I think there were fourth and fifth graders um expressing the need for um more greeting time in the morning um which I thought was very appropriate um and ties into goal two. Um Thursday, March 13th, um we all of us were on the board and were on the superintendent search firm planning um meeting. And then um as a Northshore Council PTSA liaison for the board, uh March 17th, uh that was a Monday, I attended their general meeting and I shared the superintendent search timeline and some of the next milestones. had some wonderful questions out of that meeting that I brought to the planning meeting. Um and then on uh March, Wednesday, March 19th, um

104that was a superintendent student advisory board. There's great feedback regarding mobile device policy. um and also had my one-on-one with Superintendent Tully that day and attended um the state of our schools with um our sped uh PTSA and suck. Um and then on Tuesday, March 11th, I attended the Northshore Council PTSA Advocacy Coalition meeting as our liaison. I think that wraps everything up on my end. Thank you, Director Hayes. Okay, I also attended um Sunrise and thank you to Principal Megan Lince. She's just doing such an amazing job there. Um it was lovely to see the calm and the work getting done and kids are learning and um that that was a it was a great visit. Really well done and and love the the thoughtfulness about reaching every student there. Um, and then I

105attended career day at Northshore Middle School. Um, and thanks to the staff and and all of our administrators that came. I think there's some thought around that's going to be one of the pillars is career exploration for middle schoolers. And so thoughts around maybe taking it to all of the middle schools and what that could look like. So, um, yeah, it just was great. And again, thanks to Damon Shunaman for presenting and sharing with our students about all the great programs. It is one of the few times where they're paying attention. I know they get told a lot in classrooms, but they it doesn't always sink in. So, that was a great opportunity for that. And then, um Erin Jones was the keynote speaker. So, um thank you to the Northshore Schools Foundation. They helped

106provide the funding so that they were able to bring her in. Speaking of the Northshore Schools Foundation, I attended their uh monthly meeting. Um also updated them on the superintendent search and they volunteered to help as they did in the last round on the day of the visits and they're very excited to assist in driving people around and spouse. So I'm just letting you know there Peggy that they are all in on doing that work. So, um, and then a reminder that their gala is this Saturday. So, if you haven't bought your tickets yet, please do. It is an equitable access gala now. So, um, well, looking forward to that event. Um, I also attended the audit entrance conference. The highlight of the week. Um, they're they're back. Feels like it's later this year, but

107anyway. Um and then uh attended the dual language committee meeting um and that lovely job by executive director Butler and running that for the first time did a great job. Um again just good great conversations and how that that work and what's best for kids. Um, and then I did testify on um, as previously mentioned at the House Appropriations Committee on the Senate Mox and Special Ed. Um, and I did point out to them that um, the work that our deans and assistant principles are doing is exactly the work that they want us to be doing. And so they need to fund these bills so that we're not laying them off to continue that work. Um, I also talked about him. Socks are like a roof and a tire and if you don't keep them

108paid for then things go bad. Um, and then also went back then very next day to Olympia, met with our legislators and their staff and um felt like it was um I left uh positive in that nobody rolled their eyes or acted irritated. They seemed very pleased and when we asked what should we be doing, they said exactly what we're doing. So that felt good that they appreciated the advocacy that we are doing. Uh and then last Friday I attended the East Side Native American Education Program silent auction along with executive director David Wellington and executive director Ava Thomas. I have to find out did you win anything in the auction? Yes, you did. Okay, we'll talk later. Um it's a a love it was a lovely program. They had performances by students and then

109great food and um it was really good. And certainly as um we'll just say title six isn't one of the titles that they're talking about preserving the funding for that. we're going to need to be mindful um about if that goes away and how we continue to support our students with that program because it really the the pride that they took and who they are. Um there was a moment where one of the students served one of the elders, made sure that he had food, and then he talked about that that's part of this program is teaching respect for your elders and um those common courtesies. And so it was it was just lovely. And then I wrapped it up with the 44th town hall. Um I do want to shout out Representative Donna. she

110has intentionally put herself on the education committee and um I think of the nine was well representative Burke but really um is going to be a strong advocate for us and so was one of the few that I've heard say I will stand up and caucus and work for this. So, thank you, Director Hayes. Vice President Sotek, I will keep mine brief as I look at the time. Um, on March 10th, obviously, the Bond and Levy study session, which is very full of information that I now know more about. Um, and also the continuation of the previous study session with the power stuff. Um, the Sunrise board visit on the 11th uh brought back loving memories of my elementary school days when we had salmon in our school and I got to go and like

111tap on the little glass and look at the salmon. Um, and you know, it's always nice to see Principal Lens again and really see what she's pulling together on her own that that school. um and then attended the superintendent search meeting with Ryan Associates on the 13th. On the 19th, attended the um superintendent student advisory panel um and it reminded me that high schoolers take a while to warm up. And so about 45 minutes in, they started really going um and finally were warming up and willing to talk. And um we're a lot more active in the conversation. And I just high schoolers are like that. And so like when it's getting time to go, everybody's like pumped up and ready to talk. Um and then uh today before our board meeting attended the study

112session for goal two and that's it. Thanks Vice President Sotac. And so very again very similar I just had a couple coordination meetings with Dr. Chestnut and Rain Associates just to kind of keep the process going but also was at the um wonderful visit to Sunrise Elementary on March 11th. also at the special meeting with Ray and Associates. It's on March 13th and our um I think I think impactful and helpful visit to Olympia on on March I was saying May, I meant March. March 20th. Um I'm so glad we were able to go down. So, and just one point of business, how many people are going to the foundation gala on Saturday? Do we need a Oh, that's fine. We have a quorum. Okay. All right. So, anything else before we adjourn?