001It is with a heavy heart that we open our meeting today. Um was hoping we could take a moment of silence for our three students that were tragically taken from us. So, we'll do that at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of our beautiful students that were lost and um just wanted to express our gratitude to our staff that has stepped up and is helping our students and has shown up and and spent hours um making sure that everyone is as safe and protected and taken care of as possible at this time. So, we just wanted to thank all of them for showing up and and doing that and um letting the public know that we have a lot of counseling services available at our high school and at our schools
002around the district. Um thank you to Adams County for stepping up and CBHA for also providing services for our students and staff and anyone who needs their help. Um do we have any need for translation? No. Okay. We will um I apologize we're having some technical difficulties, so I'm on paper, so I might be a little clumsy today. Um at this time I'll accept a motion to approve today's agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda. I'll second it. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Um we're going to go ahead and give it to our student rep. Do you have a student rep report, Lilliana? Okay. So, since the last time I've been here, there's a lot that's been going on. Um just a
003few things. We have a similar mile dance um from 6:30 to 10:30. That is on May 8th. We have prom coming up. It's only open to juniors and seniors. Um it's from 8:00 8:00 Sorry, 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Um our next blood drive is on May 15th. It's for everyone, but you do need parent permission. Avid night is on Wednesday 6:00 p.m. at MMS. Um that's on May 6th. Yes. Um and then scholarship night on May 5th. I'm not sure about the time. And then I do have an invitation for you guys. So, um this um event actually started off with um Will when um we were in the same room at the NSBA conference in Georgia. And we called it or sorry, they called it oh, I'm going to college dinner, but I
004wanted to be a little bit more inclusive and do it I'm going to like like, you know, to I'm I have a pathway after high school could be trade school, workforce, whatever it is. We'd like just like to celebrate you. And it's on May 1st. So, this Friday. It's at 5:00 p.m. and I'd like for all of you guys to come. You guys do have special invitations. You need to show up the entrance just because it is ticketed is it is a ticketed event. Um and yeah. Where's it at? It's at Sorry, it's at the main gym in the high school. Great. Anything else? That's all. Okay. Um we will move on to our board member discussion at this time and start with our legislative report from Director Gerber. The only thing I wanted to
005mention for legislative report is that now the let us now that the legislative cycle is over, they're kind of moving on to looking forward to next year. And so, WASDA sent out an email to all the districts basically asking, you know, what can we focus on this year, what impact can we make, and so that's the discussion that they're starting up now that whether what we need to focus on moving forward, so we'll be looking for WASDA will be looking for input for input from boards about what we think that WASDA should be focusing on in the near future. All right, thank you. This is the next item. Okay. Um it looks like we're going to do our NSBA debrief. I was just wondering if if it's appropriate today with the circumstances and with Isabelle's
006absence if we could push that until the next meeting so that she could participate in that as well. Would that be all right with the board? Absolutely. Okay, we will move on to required approvals. Do I have a motion to approve required approvals? I'll make a motion to approve the required approvals. I'll second it. All in favor? Aye. Motion passes 5-0. Um Am I already at public comment? No. Now I have superintendent informational items. Well, we talk a lot about screen time for Is it working? What? My mic. Yeah. Yeah. I was I said we talk a lot about screen time for students, but I'm having difficulty navigating the paper, so Same. Just as guilty as the rest of them. Um Uh the uh most pressing item we want to share with you today, and
007it's it's on the future ready schools planning. We committed to you uh several meetings ago to provide consistent and frequent updates about uh the work for future facilities in the school district, and uh Dr. Meek has been leading that work. We had outstanding attendance at our and feedback after our last meeting, and so we're going to get in a regular cycle of providing updates to the board about where we're at. And then so I know there's some information that Dr. Meek is going to share with you today about a little bit about the process, but also I think build your background and vocabulary about what will be a lengthy project. So turn it over to Dr. Meek. Thank you. So in front of you you should have both a copy of this full presentation and
008there's a one-page handout. Uh Birdie and Aaron would have seen those before, but if you'd rather read a lengthy your document. Uh today we're going to just focus on one small element of this capital planning work and the reason why we're focusing on it is it's it's a critical place where the committee is right now. And so as we talk about this, I think your understanding and really feeling comfortable to to speak freely about it is going to be important. So Uh we're going to talk about the state construction assistance program. You may have heard this referred to as the state match part of it before, but it's current title is the state construction assistance program. And it's how our state uh lets local communities pass bonds and then it's how they come alongside and
009modernize aging facilities or helps uh build adequate or equitable learning spaces. It is a state generated program. Uh the word match is a little bit misleading and we always have to be careful about using that because when most people hear the word match, they think of it as a dollar-for-dollar match and it's certainly not that type of of match. But there is some good news for us locally. Good. So in the SCAP program, there are two different ways that districts can qualify for uh the program and for financial assistance. One of those is modernization, so a school has a 30-year window from the time when it's signed off by and accepted by the board. Uh and that 30-year window is either when it was newly constructed or when it was modernized uh most recently. So
010in our case, uh, that was in 1997, no, 1999 is when the the last round of projects, uh, at Othello High School concluded, which means that starting in 2029, we qualify for that 30-year modernization window. And with that particular fund, uh, it's designed to really help schools either renovate and modernize the existing facility or to build in lieu of, meaning to build a new building to replace an an aged facility. Uh, the other is for unhoused students, and so there's a a complicated math formula that basically takes a square footage amount per student, and it measures the the size of your school facility compared to your student population. And if the student population outweighs the the amount of space you have, those kids students are considered unhoused. You'll often see school districts during an unhoused
011era, and that's when portables become really popular. So, I'm happy to share with you that for Othello High School specifically, uh, we qualify in both of those elements of of SCAP money, both for modernization and for unhoused students. The majority of ours comes in the modernization pot just because of the age of that facility, uh, but we do have a a a a chunk of unhoused students as well. Questions about either of those two things that might help? Okay. Uh, once a district is deemed being eligible, uh, here's the really exciting math formula that, uh, goes together. And so, there is a a square footage of eligibility that is determined, and then there is a current, uh, cost allocation that's a state-set rate of what they're reimbursing for the cost of construction. It's not meant
012to represent the actual cost of construction, it's just a rate that they uh, kind of arbitrarily set. And that is the one factor in all of these that tends to grow or change the most over time. So, in theory, as the cost of construction increases across the state, that number is also increased. That number is also a consistent number everywhere in the state. And so, it's a set rate. And then there's a funding assistance assistance percentage that you'll get to see ours in a second. That differs district by district, and so they prioritize districts that are able to generate greater amounts in local bonds have a lower funding assistance percentage. The lowest that it goes in the state is 20%. And so, that number ranges somewhere between 20% and 100%. And then there is a
013soft fast soft cost factor that gets added in, and that's just to help offset the cost of things like architectural fees, permitting, all those other things. And it again is not It doesn't fully cover the cost of soft cost, but it does um add a factor there. And then that's total what you qualify for that SCAP eligibility. Quick question, Josh. What is the percentage at which we are funded? Uh you'll see it in just a second. >> Okay. It's coming. Uh if you look at the Othello High School campus, we've provided you a visual of kind of color coding what parts of the campus are eligible for that modernization. Uh so, it's the main building with the exception of the wrestling room and the auxiliary gym cuz they were added on later. Uh the 600
014building, the 200 building, and the 300 building, which is where the um chef school is, as well as some science classrooms over in the 200 building. So, the other two main permanent facilities, the 700 building and the 400 building, neither of those are eligible yet. Um the 700 is the most recent building renovated or built, and so it's quite a few years away, probably closer to 15 to 20 years away from being eligible. And the 400 building uh it actually had enough of a renovation more recently that keeps it out of this this cycle. So, our uh square footage is based off of all everything that's in red there. A question that I sometimes get is, does that mean if this building was modernized rather than building new, that those buildings could not be touched?
015Uh it does not mean they couldn't be touched. It just means that we're not getting reimbursed for anything that we do to them. So, for example, um and you've seen one of the things the the future ready schools team is looking at is looking at kind of two different models of one if if you were to take those two existing buildings, the 400 and 700, and attempted to integrate them into a campus on the same property, what might that look like? Um either way, uh once they're renovated or if they were renovated, uh it can reset that 30-year window of when it's modernizable. Even even if it if you don't access state construction assistance dollars to do it, but um the 400 is is kind of our unique one in there because uh there are
016parts of the building that that feel like it's ready for needing modernization, uh but it's it's not there yet. So, if you go to the next slide, uh here's the answer to Lindsay's question. Um so, if you add up all but the I told you we qualify in two different pots, both the state or the unhoused students and the modernization. So, basically, we qualify for 137,000 square feet of eligibility for SCAP. Uh the current cost of allocation this year is $399 uh a square foot. Um our funding assistant percentage is 90 or 82%. That's the the question Lindsay asked. Um I'm happy to share with you uh this should give us some local a kind of appreciation for this, but I told you that number ranges between 20% and 100%. Uh we're actually 16th on
017the list in the state. So, of 295 school districts, our funding assistance percentage is number 16. So, we're towards the the top of the list. And then our soft cost is 12 and 1/2%. So, that makes our SCAP eligibility on today's dollars about $50 million. Uh uh down below that there's below we work with a group of of people that really do a lot of studying the construction side of things. And there's an anticipation that between now and 2029, which is when this project would be first eligible, that especially because of that construction cost allocation, that that could increase by about $4.7 million. So, we're going to be looking at somewhere between the 50 to 55 million dollar range of eligibility in 2029. Um So, um we're attempting to kind of keep these briefs so
018they don't go on forever, um but our our committee our team continues to meet and I really appreciate all of you that are able to participate. Um our next meeting is coming up here on May 12th. And we're kind of cycling these where you'll get one of these briefs about once a month um following those meetings. And so, the next one of those would be coming due uh at the end of May. But before I'm done, any questions about the state construction assistance that didn't get answered or Um I have a question. What What's the vibe in the meetings? Like what what's the vibe of the community? What are they saying that we need to happen? Um I think much like kind of the vibe in the community, I I think there's definitely some different
019feelings in the room. Um I I know the one feeling consistent in the room is that I think everybody's living with a little bit of sticker shock, just understanding what the cost of building a high school costs. And I should say building a high school or renovating a high school, which is they're They're expensive endeavors, whichever way you go. Um there's definitely some voices in the room I think that that see and appreciate uh very loudly that you know, our students deserve to have kind of a state-of-the-art facility and need to have something modernized and and new. And then there's another half that that probably think of a renovation as a more economical pathway to get there. And so that it feels like the better answer. Um I also tell you there's a feeling in
020the room I think of we're not to the point yet where people are kind of deadlocked in in one mode altogether. We're kind of trying to put the together the pieces and then we'll really solicit kind of what they're thinking. Um we also uh because of Bertie's hard work our most recent meeting had a lot of new voices to the table. And so I think some of those folks were a little bit cautious to just be too opinionated the first meeting they came to, which is understandable. So. I'll agree with Josh on that. I've been to the meetings and it's a Yeah, we did a new high school and like, "Oh, that's That's money." So it's that it's really between those. But uh it's a lot of uh people who are invested in the community
021and there's a lot of good work going on in them those meetings. So. One thing I wanted to ask about that we talked about in the next meeting that I think the board would be interested in. You were telling us, correct me if I'm wrong, that if we use the SCAP money to build a new high school that those buildings could no longer be used for student learning, is that right? So what happens when you vacate a facility in this case is it needs to either be taken out of the school district inventory altogether. So if we did something like sell it or reassign to a different grade level or marked as non-instructional space. Um DOHS is a good example for us. And so because the district currently still owns DOHS um we were able
022to mark it as non-instructional space right now, meaning we're not using it for instruction. But to Aaron's point, if we were to leave the existing high school facility as instructional space on the books it's going to look like we have twice as much high school space as as we really need. And so that really puts the district at risk of really years and years of eligibility. Um and so yeah, we have to uh think that through very clearly or carefully and that's one of the next things the committee is going to This was another vibe that was in the room. Is there definitely were a lot of questions about Well, if we were to vacate that, what happens with that? What what's what's the best pathway for this community to um to have that that's
023in the center of our community. And so And then And there's varying opinions everything from we should sell it to turn it to a community center to keeping the high school there to getting a big plow and knocking it all over. I mean there there's a variety of opinions, but Did you say reclassifying? So if we made it to where it an elementary school or something? >> Yeah. So there is a process that districts can go through. So if you were to say we're going to make it an elementary school just hypothetically, um that square footage then would get moved into that category cuz the the state construction the unhoused portion of it is classified by grade bands. So elementary, middle school, high school. So if you were to make it a middle school or
024make it an elementary, it would come out of the 9-12 inventory, but it would be added to the other ones. So technically you can make that the new junior high and make the junior high into an elementary school? You could uh technically. Um that doesn't mean the space is uh meets those program requirements, but just from a square footage perspective, you could you could reassign that square footage to something else. Yeah, you mean like sinks and height-wise and Yeah. Like early learning for example has specific that requirements about where restrooms are, how tall the sinks are, all those kind of things that When you say reclassifying, could we turn it into kind of like a CB tech type deal? Would that be a possibility? Um that's a loaded question. Uh, only because CB Tech is
025skill centers are a whole separate fund of state funding all together. Um, if we were to turn it into a like a vocational school uh, period, uh, it would continue to be 9-12 instructional space. Um, skill centers are all um, hosted by districts, but they're really state funded projects. And so, the state funded the the construction of CB Tech in Main Moses Lake. So, um it would probably involve some sort of proposal to get them to to take it over, if you will. Um, but I I don't know that that's been done as most skill centers are new construction. So. Something else we discussed as an option that applies to your question like we were talking about, you know, maybe the preschool moves there, maybe the district office moves there, maybe food services. Um, and
026this is all just hypotheticals, but that would meet the requirements because it wouldn't be used for 9-12 um, uh, student instruction anymore. Yeah. And you could also the the beauty of that campus right now is that because there are those different buildings, you could decide to kind of part it out for different reasons. And so, you could say, "Oh, we're going to take the 300 building and turn it into two e-cap classrooms or something like that and and do separate things with each of them. Probably the the one building there that's maybe beyond the end of its life is the 600 building. Um probably not a lot that you could convert that to other than grass >> maybe storage or grass or yeah. So. Um, one thing that maybe you could do a little research
027on, Josh, to help with your committee is I believe it was in 2007 the district ran a bond for a new high school. It was for $30 million. So, in 20 years you can see how much the cost of of construction has gone up. Waiting that's only going to increase. And saying like, oh, maybe let's wait, you know, 10 or 20 years and the price will come down is unrealistic. So, it'll take a $200 million high school and turn it into a $400 million high school if not more. Um, so I know that that feels like a lot of money cuz it is a lot of money. But, in 2007, the community thought $30 million was too much money for a new high school. And now here we are at a $200 million price tag.
028So, just something that you could remind the committee of that like every every year that we wait and don't put this as a priority, it gets more and more and more expensive. Yeah. Not only does it get more expensive, but on that formula that you saw the the state reimbursement the the cost per dollar, that gap has grown over time, too. The state funding isn't keeping up with the cost of actual construction. So, so we put ourself at it even more risk of it getting more expensive. I think just maybe a two or three things I would add. One is the vibe I feel in the room is a level of excitement. But, not the other piece that I feel is not around one particular solution just yet. I think there are some opinions, but
029people who want more information like Dr. Meek indicated. But, the board and the community, you know, 50, 60, 70 years ago who decided on the current site and the design, they did a good job. They picked a good spot for it. And and so, it's a viable option. The this board and preparing with that new land across from um from Walmart there, that's a really good option. And so, I think it's nice to be able to in that position to have two viable options and then um have the community help us decide which way we should go. So. Yeah. And I should say there's also an emerging theme of maybe a third option and then is um to maybe you know, this is not a surprise. Don't give me that look. Um is to look
030at are there existing facilities on the current campus that could be kind of a bridge for us to hold on to for a while in between. So, for example, to save cost of of a of a large construction project, do we do things like keep using the existing football field and stadium and and not rebuild one yet until it becomes um So, you're saying like build a new high school but keeps but use some of our sports facilities to help keep down the cost? And there's a couple of things >> I'm sure 200 million includes a new football stadium, baseball fields, like etc. etc. etc. There's ways to dial that down a little bit. Or or could we Do you have what that new high school or 200 million would come with? Yeah, we actually
031asked our you know, that the people that did that estimate, we asked them to get a little bit more detail into there so that we could see that cuz then it would kind of help us to maybe look at that and say, you know, hey, you might be able to save X amount if we just said, hey, now it's not the time for us to do these yet. So. Here's a I'll go ahead and let I was going to say, also shout maybe you could report where people can go on the website to kind of keep up on the meetings and what they're that's showing and what not to would be helpful for the community to know that they can go to the website and there's a certain link, I believe, that people can go
032to and kind of see how this is evolving. I had a question of are we if this was a deal in your little estimate, was it going up or out? Two-story? Oh. Uh cuz it cuz costs Yeah. Everything in school construction, keep in mind that at the front end when it's just an estimate, they just they base everything on a square foot. And so, when that's it doesn't differentiate between the two, that comes out in design. But often what happens is once you get into design, you can start to make some of those cost-saving efforts to say like, "Hey, we want to go up instead of spreading out the entire facility." Um and that's that really came out a lot in discussion around if the ultimate solution at the end was to renovate or to
033replace it on the existing site where it's at is that that might be a good scenario to pick another part of the campus and start building and keep school going until you can kind of swap them out. I mean, that's a common model is to you know, maybe take the baseball, softball, our baseball, um football practice area, all that land outside of the gym and turn that into a a building and then when it's done, move over and then demolish the rest. But those are um all design things that that come out later. Uh we also at some point are going to have to cross that bridge of having a conversation about what's the right size because that that estimate um is based on a set amount of of students like a a 1,600 student
034high school. And with what we know is happening with enrollment now, that might not be the right number for us. It might be 1,500 is a more appropriate number or 1,400 or 1,700. So, that was just a a starting place for for putting a dollar amount on it. I think one other thing to remember as I look around the room, um if we're the board decides that in in a couple years we're ready to run this and it's we're fortunate enough to pass it and start to build it, um Liliana will be about 55 years old at the next time Othello High School is ready to do something. So, it's really something you got to get right. And we also have to put something out there that the community will support and and help us
035get the work done that we need to get done. So, it's funny you say that. I'm not going to say my age, but we were there when it was getting remodeled. I mean, 1998, well, I remember our hallways were plastic and go around this way and go out that door and God, I'm old. Yeah. Um but yeah, big deal. Yeah. Sharon Shudy likes to tell the committee that um you know, she she went to that high school, too, in a in a day long before you did at Othello and um and people today really talk about we're probably talking more of like a 100-year decision of like where this what what that answer is. And so, it's um it's a big decision, but I think that's partially why we're taking it one step at a
036time and not rushing into it. Um not to mention the voter approval that's required to ultimately do it at the end. And so, we have to build that with time as well. I do think that that's important, maybe something to find out of when our high school is actually built. Cuz I haven't found somebody that's like a old-timer in Othello that didn't go to that high school. Um so, yeah, they they, you know, guessed it's got to be close to getting close to 100 years old. So, make sure that your decision is worthy of the next 100 years. Do they still have the senior pictures of the in the Some of them. Yeah, some of them up, yes. Okay. Yeah, that process I remember when I was there, my mother was there. So, but I'm
037sure my picture's now gone. We have We have some We have some in storage. Director Muno's wanted it in order for the minute that she was born in 1998. Sorry. I'd say something inappropriate. Thank you. Thank you so much, Josh. Appreciate all of the effort that you and your committee have put in. Dr. Perez, do you have anything else for >> it for today. Thank you. Okay. We have some policies to review, so if you'll please review those before our next board meeting before we approve those. Um, do we have any public comment? No public comment. Um, we'll move on to upcoming events. We have on May 1st senior night. Senior signing night. What does that mean? That was the event that Oh, that's the the the dinner at 5:00 p.m. that we got invited
038to? Okay. And then we have on May 5th OHS scholarship night at 6:00 p.m. And also that week on May 6th is OHS Avid night. Um, are there we need to Do we need a head count, Marty, to find out if we're going to have a quorum? I can confirm for all the end of those. Okay. Um then we'll have our regular scheduled board meeting on May 11th. May 12th is a future ready schools team meeting that Josh was just debriefing us about if any of us would like to go to that. May 18th is our site visit at Wahitas. May 26th is another regular scheduled board meeting. June 5th is OHS graduation and June 9th is Ludacauga dual night. So that's what we have on our upcoming events. >> We also got to put
039it's my favorite time of the year cuz we get to teacher appreciation is next week. All week next week we have teacher appreciation. And Marty, will you get us a schedule of what schools we go to? Perfect. Um, now we'll move on to the board self-assessment of the meeting. I want to thank Liliana for the personal invite for May 1st. Appreciate that. >> Appreciate the update Josh on our facilities discussion. I know that's important to everybody, so thank you for that. I want to say thank you to the the community um CBHA Adams County all the administrators and everybody at the schools uh for coming together um during this time and keep those three kids in our in our prayers and their families. Do we have anything else? Okay. At this time the board will
040recess into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss the performance of a public employee. No action will be taken at executive