001All right. Hello. No dice. I don't have any sound. Can you hear me? >> Maybe it's just low. Test test. >> Thank you for Okay. I know. >> Thank you for joining us for our schoolboard meeting tonight. We're going to go ahead and start with the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you for coming tonight. Do we have any needs for translation? It's on. Okay. Can you hear me? I don't know. It's going in and out. Sorry, technical difficulties. Is your mic working? >> Oh, yours is funky, too. Um, okay. Do we have any need for translation? >> Speak it up, sister. >> I
002I [laughter] don't know. It feels like it's like going in and out. >> You've been to enough uh of those conf. >> Just going to use my uh loud voice. >> There you go. Sorry. Do we have any need for translation tonight? >> Okay. >> No. Okay. At this time, I will accept a motion to approve tonight's agenda. >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second it. >> I have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Motion passes 40. At this time, we're going to move into our oath of office portion of the school board meeting. We have a new school board member joining us tonight, Birdie Fote. And myself and Aaron Gerber will also be taking our oath of office for our new terms. >> Come on up, Birdie.
003We'll do all of them together up here at the same time. probably on this side over here. Tommy, which side works best for uh the camera? >> Right there. This is good. Okay. So, this is an oath of office um for a schoolboard position. And uh have you all Why don't you line up just a little bit tighter right there? Perfect. Right hand. and uh we'll go through it together. I state your name. >> I Lindsay Crow >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution >> and laws of the United States >> and the laws of the United States >> and the organic and the organic act and laws >> and the organic act and laws >> of the state of Washington. and that I will faithfully and impartially >> And that
004I will faithfully and impartially >> perform and discharge >> the duties of the office of school district 147 >> the duties of the office of school district 147 >> according to law >> to the best of my ability >> congratulations >> thank you >> Lindsay Sign in. Sign in and make it official. All right. While we we take a moment to recognize and honor our new school board members, I think it's also important, and this is a chance, Ken, if you'll come up for us, for us to recognize and honor uh Ken Johnson. So, give it up for Ken. Ken has been on our school board since 2018. And when I think of the name Johnson and Oll, I think of service. uh his family. They were some of the early pioneers in starting the
005community Christmas basket program that'll be happening on the 20th, feeding hundreds of families every Christmas for decades. And Ken still continues to organize that work. Uh he continued to be active in in civic engagement and giving back to the community by serving on the school board for as long as he has. And although he's leaving our board, he's now our new city mayor. And so Ken's moving on to more work and and more support for the city. I want to thank him for all he's done for the students and staff here in Oll. and I hope that the board has some some words to share with Ken before we uh we send him on his way. So, thank you, Ken. >> Um Ken, I just want to start by saying uh how much I appreciate
006you and everything that you taught me. Um you have been a mentor to me. You you've taught me how to be the school board president. You've taught me um you know, when it's appropriate to bite my tongue, when it's appropriate to stand up. uh you've given me courage to be myself and to um own my actions and I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you uh for everything that you have done for me and for the students in our school district. So, thank you so much. >> Uh Ken was the school district president when I when I got on and like Pete said, he's contributed a lot of service to the community. I've always really appreciated your leadership. I'm looking forward to your new position as well so we can continue to
007strengthen relationships between the school and the city. >> Yeah, they leave the best. Um, [clears throat] I'm going to miss you. Thank you for everything that you've done for us, me and Aaron, as we came in at the same time. Um, thank you for everything you've done for the community. Uh, there's a lot more that you got planned, I imagine, and we're going to support you. Um, just remember that you always got a home here at the school district. So, thank you. Thank you, Ken. [applause] >> Yeah. You want to grab that mic, Ken? It's been a pleasure serving on this board. Um, it's h it was a really hard decision uh back in the spring whether to run for school board again and then I was being approached for the position of mayor. uh
008I really wanted my school board position back and it wasn't until the day before uh final day of uh time to put my name on that uh ballot and that decision. Uh but then I got to thinking about the relationships that we could work together between the city and the school district. We have a wonderful community. We have a wonderful kids and I'm just looking forward towards the working relationship that we can have together in the future. We got a lot of things we need to do in the future and I think we could do it all working together. So, I really appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thanks, Ken. We'll see you at the city council meeting. Uh before we move on, I certainly want to move on to one other important piece of recognition.
009We've try at each board me meeting to recognize excellence in our school district. Excellence from our students and excellence from our staff. And really excited tonight to have our principal from Witas Elementary, Justin Johnson, to share a story of excellence here with us today. >> Yeah. I like pretty. >> All right. Thank you for having us tonight. Uh I'm Justin Johnson, the principal at Witas Elementary. Is this Yeah. Um tonight I got to or we get to recognize our second grade team. So from the far end here, it's uh Ashley Garza. She's been at Witas for How long? a while a while. uh Faith Bold and Katrina Montto or Katrina Porter sorry um they've also been with us for a few years and so when we were asked to each of us principles were asked
010to nominate someone or a team or a group of kids or an individual student for this recognition and this is the first team that um popped into my head and so I'm going to tell you a little bit about them and um hopefully the essence of them will you'll you'll understand when I'm by the time I'm done but this team constantly is looking for ways to improve. Um, I have to be really careful with what I uh with both myself and Mr. McPartland, our assistant principal, what we give them or what we suggest to them because if we know they're already busy, we can't give them one more thing because they will do it. They will find a time. They'll get together by the next morning. They'll tell me, "Oh, I woke up at 2
011o'clock and we I tried this and I worked on it and now what do you think of this?" And so I'm like, "Okay, we got to slow down a little bit." Right? So, they're constantly looking for ways to get better. Um, anytime we've been in their rooms for the last couple years to be honest, uh, you'll see any of three or any of the three of them up moving. Uh, the kids are energetic because they follow their lead. They have extremely high expectations for all the students in their class classes. Um, and they get the results because of it. And it's not all about the data, but it's hard to really quantify the relationships that these these three have with their students. But I think the numbers what I look at um they really show
012that for example, second grade and fluency are kind of things that go hand in hand. That's the big year to get them reading and get them reading fluently and accurately so that when they hit third grade, they're they're ready to roll. And um coming back from the whole COVID time, we were at about 30% of our kids reading fluently and accurately. Last year we were at around 40 45ish and this year um as of o October, so 6 weeks ago, they were at 57%. So they've just seen these massive uh gains. We test again in a couple days and they will be watching the spreadsheets, I'm sure, to see where where their kids are at. they they uh progress monitor every week and so they can tell us I'm sure if you asked them a
013student in their class they could tell you exactly where they're at, what they're working on and what the next step is for them. So those are the big things uh when it comes to students but in our building alone uh they're leaders not they're none of them are real vocal. They're not going to be the ones out in front being the cheerleaders and and really getting everybody rolling but they are the ones that you look to or we all look to like that's what it means to be a Witas Hawk. They're constantly, like I said earlier, looking for ways to get better. So, um, to wrap it up, like I said at the beginning, when it came time to pick a team or a group or an individual, this is the only team that I
014that I, uh, could think of to nominate because they're just so good at what they do. And I wanted to make sure that they get recognized for it because they again aren't going to be the ones out in front cheering and whatnot, but they're going to be the ones doing doing the hard work day in and day out. And, uh, they get to be out in our what do you guys call them? the >> the villas. So, they're [laughter] out in our villas and they they do what they can with what they have and and what they can do is is some really good stuff. So, um I don't know. Do you guys want to say anything? You don't have to. You don't have to. Um but we give [clears throat] them these. So, they're
015challenge coins from the district for you guys to have. And that's all we have for them. Any questions for them? We like to get a picture with all of our people that we recognize. >> I know they're the second grade team. I'm seeing we Can we get a picture? >> Perfect. >> [clears throat] >> against you. >> Yes. Yes. We're actually Yes. [applause] Thank you again, Vitus Hawks. Appreciate all of your hard work. At this time, we're gonna throw it over to our student reps and see what they have for us tonight. [sighs] Okay, there's a lot for the month of December for OHS. Okay, so starting with um wrestling. Um sorry. Okay, so wrestling did >> can you hear? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> It feels funny when you're talking into it because it
016fades in and out for your ear, but >> Okay, >> everyone [laughter] can hear it. Okay. So, we want to recognize um wrestling and basketball. They've been doing really, really good. Um our boys have been like 200 so far and we're playing them December, sorry, we're playing another team, Sage View, on December 9th, tomorrow. And then for the staff meeting on Wednesday, it's at 2:30 p.m. at the OS library. um that's where they're going to cover um a lot of well student presenters are going to be presenting um future ideas at OHS and I would like for the board to be there just so you guys can get a feel of like what the students are working on and um um it's on Wednesday December 10th at 2:30. Um HOSA is also doing a blood
017drive at OHS on Wednesday December 17th. Um, you have to be 16 and older to be able to donate blood. It's from 11:45 to 5:30. On December 6, um, OHS had a winter carnival at Wahitas. Um, well, it didn't do great, but we're we're leadership is working on doing um, another event that will help um, fundra even more. We have spirit week at OHS starting from I don't know the dates, but yeah. and then cozy field day on the 19th um which is a different schedule for us but we're that's also going to be presented on the staff meeting. Um we're also um excited well proud of our drill team. Um on Saturday they were like recognized for like being like the best out of like the small category. I think that's what it was
018called. And they got like a check of like something some amount of money. I don't know. I just thought that was cool. And it's this month is like full of community service. So I know a lot of students like me um like myself, I'm like very excited to do community service for the month of December. So yeah, that's all the OHS stuff. Great. Anybody have any questions? Okay, we're going to go into board member discussion and we'll start with Director Gerber with legislative report. So nothing major. Um this week the legislative session will start in about a month. So they are preparing for that. The legislative committees met this last week kind of discussing some of the issues that are going to come up in legislative sessions such as the CTE classes, early learning, the
019school, the SCAP funds, school construction assistance program. So nothing major right now. They are preparing we are preparing for the legislative solution to start in January. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, now we're going to discuss one of the classes that I went to at WASDA was about uh district-wide cell phone policy and that was something that as a board we kind of wanted to dive into a little bit more. Um, I know that Ferndale put on the presentation and um talked about, you know, when it comes from the district, then it carries a little more weight and it doesn't just fall in the principal of the school. uh they have somebody to fall back on and and really get district-wide support. So, we kind of wanted to talk about that as a board tonight and
020what our thoughts were around it. Um included in the Ferndale presentation was not just a lack of cell phone use by students, but it also included the staff and it took full buy in from literally from the top down. Like everybody in the school had to buy into this limited cell phone policy. So right now each school has their own policy, correct? And we're saying we would it would be a district policy for everyone. The same for everyone. Okay. >> Their policy looks a little bit different because they said they weren't having the issues with prek through through sixth grade the same ways that they were having issues 7 through 12. Their elementary kids, you know, most of them don't have cell phones and they're they're respect respectful about not having them out. They were
021having more issues with like an eyewatch or an Apple Watch. um or some other contraption on the wrist that kids were sometimes playing games on. So, they came up with policies for their K6 students that just made more sense for the age demographic and then a different policy for the 7 through 12. >> You have anything you want to add? >> I Yeah. So I if we put a make a policy, we want the kids to adhere to it and follow it. I'd like to also somehow I think I had a conversation with Pete. I'd like to somehow get OEA involved because I I if we're going to make the kids follow a rule or whatever it is that we put in place, I I'd also like to see that be extended to our staff,
022teachers, volunteers, everybody. Um if we're going to hold our kids to a certain standard, I want the staff as well. Uh there's for too long we've we've argued and said that hey kids are on their phones or kids are doing this and during classes well we could also sit there and say that there's been teachers EA's coaches that while they're supervising our kids or supposedly you know giving out instruction that they are also on their phone and yeah we need to make sure that everybody is on the same page and that the thing is completely fair for everybody, staff and kids. We can't sit there and expect to receive some type of thing or respect when we're not giving it ourselves. So, >> one thing they said in the presentation, oh, sorry, >> was um
023that kids recognize when when it's a do as I say, not as I do policy. And so, when they got their staff to buy in and they got the adults to buy in that like it's not just a I'm I'm going to do it too. I'm gonna match you in this and I'm gonna recognize that like I also am addicted. I also am taking time, you know, whether it's 15 seconds to check a text message or it's minutes scrolling while students are working on homework or whatever. The it took buyin from the admin, from the staff, from everybody to really make it work there. I I shared with Pete um some QR codes that I'll share with the rest of the board that Ferndale did with the media that they put out and then their
024policy that it included. And um they had student representatives come and talk about the difference it's made in the student interaction, school spirit. I mean, a whole host of things that it has changed for them both in mentally, you know, as far as being social, but also how it's affected their grades all for the better. And the students said like, you know, of course we didn't want this. We want our phones. But I have to admit it's gotten way better. Like I actually have friends that I talk to in real life now. So I Anyway, sorry. >> Oh, I was just going to ask Dr. President, what is the policy for staff right now currently? Yeah. So, it it when we get concerns at the district office about staff cell phone use, the ones that
025have come to me over the last five years have almost always been about substitute teachers. Hey, the substitute was in class today. They were on their phone the whole time. You know, teacher, you see some head nods over there from our students. Um, you know, the teacher might leave lesson plans that says that the students are going to work independently. Just make sure the classroom is managed. And for some folks that means as long as there's not any noise and they're compliant, I'm going to be on my phone. Um, I know there have been periodic concerns raised about individual employees who maybe um were using a phone at the time when they shouldn't have been, when they should have been working. And as we think about preparing our students for the world of work and
026what expectations might be outside of a regular classroom setting, if you have a job in any of the industries you work in, probably wouldn't be acceptable to be on your phone. What what I think I'm hearing from director PRA and from you director Prow is a call to go back and chat with OEA about some of these topics. I'll also include PSSE. I certainly want to talk to our principles because at McFarland and the high school, they've actually done an excellent job of managing the student reaction and the parent reaction to the the way cell phones have been implemented. So maybe there's some lessons to be learned there about what we do next and maybe get together a work group to think about it. We do currently have a cell phone a telecommunications policy. It
027was adopted in 2010 and the this conversation and prompting to review that. Um I was prompted as I read it that it mentions pagers and beepers. So probably a [laughter] time to uh re-evaluate where we're at with our policy. And um I think I get the gist of what you're communicating here. And so we'll get some folks together to to process it. >> I just want to go a little further. Like I always I guess I'm I'm always the villain, but I'm old school. There needs to be consequences. Just like there is for our students, there needs to be also for staff. As long as we get that somewhere in the verbiage there, I'll be okay. Till then, I'll fight that two thumbnail. >> Yeah. And there there are certainly um for any policy that
028we have, there's progressive discipline and things that we talk about. We have appreciated the partnership with OEA and PSSE. Uh certainly the last couple years they've been very helpful in having difficult conversations when people might violate our policy. But that would certainly be part of the procedure that we would bring to you and say, "Okay, here's what we think makes sense for us and something that we would ask the board to approve." And but I really think it's going to be important to hear from the principles because daytoday they'd be the ones enforcing that. You know, if we have a student comes forward and says, "Hey, Mr. Perez was on his phone during science class for the last three days, that that doesn't feel right." you know, it's our principles that go knock on that
029door and say what's going on. So, I really want to get them in the room to to talk about the impact that it might have. >> I had one more, Pete. I had obviously I've been absent for just a little bit and I apologize. Uh we've had some family issues, but um could we get an update on how the OS off campus on campus just to see how that's going? I'd like to keep tabs and just to see how they're they're doing or or if you know anything you could share. >> Yeah, I I I think it's it it's it'd be great to have an update from OHS maybe after we come back from uh uh the Christmas break and get them back in here in January to share what they're doing. I was over
030there on Friday at at around between the transition between first lunch and second lunch. I talked to assistant principal Tovar and to assistant principal Scott Schwarz. Um they're saying that the uh parking lot is much more um there's suitable driving happening out there. Kids aren't speeding back and forth because there's more supervision. I watched the kids exit out of the uh breezeway area there. [snorts] Took three or four minutes and kids were all out and able to to move on to McDonald's or to Elhazmine or wherever they were going for lunch. Um it was about a balance for the juniors and seniors who were returning and the sophomores and freshmen who left. So, the kids are in a rhythm of it. I'd be interested to hear from the students if they've noticed any impacts. Um,
031I will say this, the the tracking of the data and monitoring student attendance, tardies, behavior, and academics has made a difference. Um, that you don't you lose that privilege if you don't go. So, from the the administrator perspective, I think they're going to be very positive and they can share in more detail, but maybe maybe it'd be helpful to hear from from you too. I don't know if you leave for lunch or what you hear from your friends. So, I don't leave for lunch just because, you know, why am I going to spend money when there's free lunch at school? So, >> I like her food more. [laughter] >> So, um I usually just stay on campus. The problem is though, like you have to be So, I usually eat like um in the library
032because the corridor gets so full of like kids like throwing their backpacks on the table like saving it for their friends. So, by the time I get there, there's no seats. But I always go to the library. But then by the time I get there, like the doors are closed. No, Miss Miss Dun is like, "No, no, no, don't go in." But like like I don't know. I She lets me in. Just I don't know because she knows me. But [laughter] but if it was other students, I don't think she she would let them. But um I feel like that's one of the main problems. If you don't get there, like once the bell rings, you cannot enter like through the library and I would have to go to the hub to to be able
033to eat. Um I think that's just a problem I've noticed that gets kind of annoying. Um, but I did notice like some of my friends who usually like don't do as well as in school like say like, "Oh, like I have to be at school because I don't want to lose my lunch privileges." Um, I don't go out for lunch either cuz there's there's free lunch at school. But I have seen um some improvement of like kids who don't who aren't doing that good in school. they do come back to school just cuz they also say like, "Oh, I want to stay because I don't want to lose my lunch privilege also." So, yeah, >> we're going to talk a little bit later. Thank you for sharing those those experiences that you're having. Yeah, we're
034going to talk a little bit later in superintendentformational items about some of the furniture uh adjustments we're making and investment we're making there to improve the student experience. I think you two might have been part of helping design and select that stuff. So, the feed the the principles are hearing the feedback and we'll share with the board where we're moving with that, but I I'll get them here in January. >> Yeah. And same thing, Pete, just a a heads up when we do that one about them being excused for lunch and coming back. Also, [snorts] the um the sports deal where they're in the green, yellow, and red, if we could get an update on that deal because it seems like it's been working out very well. Okay, we're going to next talk about our
035annual recognition. Our voting scheduled is for December 17th at our board meeting. So that will be our next board meeting where we'll decide on board positions. And then um looks like EWSA, I don't know what that is, but it's an annual board workshop scheduled for Thursday, January 16th at 4 pm. >> Yeah. There's um Southeast Washington southeastern WASA. So we we've attended a couple of Wasa events as a as a board. They have a these are series of regional meetings across the state of Washington. This one is in Pasco I believe at the ESD. Uh I attended maybe three or four years ago with Ken. I've only been once. uh we wanted you to be aware of it especially uh new board members if we wanted to attend as a group or if there was
036an interest in in attending we wanted it to to be on your calendars and muddy so can begin to make preparations so I won't go unless uh at least one board member wants to go so if you want to reach out and set that up we'll we'll put that together but it's it's a chance to hear from WASA and sometimes WADA has a pref uh presence and they'll talk about um statewide initiatives and what's happening probably be some about the ledge conference that's about that time and what they're hearing. But you'll also get to interact with board members like at Wazda, but just from Southeast Washington. >> Well, I I can go looking at my calendar. I can make that happen. >> And I missed out on the one um earlier, so I'd like to
037make this one. If the others of you need more time, we can certainly reach out over the next few weeks to mis. Oh, I'm like, what's next, guys? Sorry. At this time, I will accept a motion to approve required approvals. I'll make a motion to approve the required approvals. I'll >> second it. >> I have a motion and a second. All in favor? I >> I. Any opposed? Motion passes 40. I'll accept a motion to approve accounts payable warrants 2. >> I'll make the motion to approve accounts payable warrants too. >> I'll second it. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes three one with one abstension. I said that wrong. 30 with one abstension. Sorry. Um, at this time I will accept a motion to approve resolution 26-002 replacement educational programs and operation
038levy. >> I'll make the motion to approve um the levy resolution. >> I'll second that motion. >> I have a motion and a second. And this I have to do a roll call for. So this feels weird, but Director Gerber, is that a yes or a no? >> Yes. >> Director Fote, >> yes. >> Director Petta, >> yes. >> Director Prrowse, yes. Motion passes 40. I I will also accept a motion to for approval for the appointment for the against the for and against committee. >> I'll make a motion to approve the for and against committee form. >> I'll second that motion. >> All in favor? >> I >> motion passes 40. I'm getting worse by the meeting. I'm sorry, guys. [gasps] Okay, now it's time for superintendentformational items. We'll give it over to uh
039Dr. Perez. >> Yeah, we were waiting to give you the feedback during the plus plus deltas, but we'll we'll save it for that. Um, regarding our conversation just a moment ago about the lunchroom experience and director Perna's call for some feedback around that, which we certainly will provide, but also the student reps sharing their experience. Uh, this is a look about uh at some of the more functional furniture we're going to purchase. um we are going to be able to add I believe it was approaching 60 to 80 seats additional with the transition to um this model. These tables are much more modern than what's in that facility right now. They're lighter for our staff to move around. And then there's also this bench seating that kind of has that and I think they called
040some of it beastro seating that has kind of that more casual feel. So we'll be able to accommodate a few more students. It'll also be in the school colors which are more appropriate and I think just have a a good feel for the the lunch experience and you two might have been part of selecting the furniture and that you want to talk about that process a little bit for the board. >> Okay. So, we decided to have Oh, is it wrong? Yeah. So, we decided to have you know like how you guys see like in the second picture like the booth style just because you know we had a kid named Elliot. I don't know if you guys know who he is, but because he's like, you know, tall, he he was worried that he
041wouldn't fit like on the tables that like you see at the bottom, like the round ones. And so, we made it like for it to fit everyone and not just, you know, like normal people. I don't know. >> You hit a soft spot for me. Thank you. [laughter] >> Um, but yeah. Um, do you want to talk a little more? Oh, yeah. So, we did get inspired by Sunnyside because when we were designing the tables, the guy, he brought a table from Sunnyside and it had like their logo on the table. So, we got inspired by that and we're like, well, let's put a Husky on our table. So, we put our Husky logo on there with the right color of red. And we did um we like the booth idea, so all the students
042did approve of putting the booths on that little area over there. And yeah, we just all came to agreement very well about the design. We also thought about like wheelchair accessibility. So, it's not just like for us, but it's also for like the students who are on wheelchairs and like who can't like sit down on the tables. And this is going to be beneficial because in the winter time like it's going to be snowing, it's going to be cold. So, students are more inside. And this does add more room for students to be able to sit during lunch. >> Yeah, it um in the middle tables, you can also pick those up like during breakfast and they will be moved out of the way so that students don't have to like push the tables to
043get to like the breakfast line. So, yeah, that's something good. >> I have a question, Pete, just because I uh have sat on the other side of that janitorial side. How hard is it to put those tables away? And I'm not talking about the ones that fold up in the middle. I'm [snorts] talking about the booths or uh the tables with chairs. Or are those going to stay uh set? >> Yeah, I I think some of the I I believe that our administrators included the custodial staff in these conversations. I don't have the expertise around that. I would assume some of those are going to be stationary. What I do believe about these is they're much lighter than the current stuff that we have. And so those chairs are very difficult to move. When you
044once you stack two or three, you're done moving them. So, um, we're hoping there there'll be a nice balance there. But I do believe that as much as they could, there was some, um, influence and feedback from our custodial staff. Yeah. >> Yeah. That was my concern when you we were doing the tour and just looking at the chairs that we currently have and the heaviness and um, just my background, how they can be used as a weapon. And so I I I look at safety girls and want to know exactly what the weight of those chairs are and what kind of damage they might do if one was thrown or can they be easily thrown or is it going to take some effort in that? Um I I would just like to have that
045conversation. And is there only four or is there more? So I this is what I can do for me. >> I [laughter] can give the specs on those those pieces and also maybe a comparison to what we currently have and provide that information >> that we currently have are heavy. >> Yeah. I'm I'm trying to think about how long we've had that furniture at the high school and it's >> it has to be I mean I've been at a high school for almost 25 years and that furniture was there when I was there. >> It certainly held up. You wouldn't know if it was purchased yesterday or 25 years ago. I think the furniture was put in when we were in high school and the remodel went through. So, >> and I don't I'm not
046going to say how long I've been out. >> Yeah. >> Well, I hope you weren't the one who picked maroon for our color, but [laughter] >> it was on sale. So, anyway, nice job to our students for designing it and um for our principles, uh principal Kad Aerson for taking the student feedback, involving them in the process, letting them have voice and trying to solve a problem that we're having at the school. So, I think that was excellent leadership on her part to to organize and put that together. >> Pete, if I would go back to the manufacturer, if they lasted for 20 some odd years, I'd like to have that company make. >> Yeah. >> Well, when we put them on surplus, you're all welcome to buy it for your family gatherings and [laughter]
047you can take 25 home. >> All right. Uh, next item. I really excited to uh we had some really um meaningful uh recognition today for our our second grade team and oftentimes those K2 people they don't have the the sort of big scale assessments that we do in in our school district in our state and in our country but they're leading up to all this work that happens three through six and then in our middle school and seven and eight and then onto the high school. So, we've invited Justin Johnson here tonight to share some data with you. Um, and it's it's from a celebration perspective, and I um there's going to be some deep information here, and I'm looking forward to the questions and interactions with with all of you. On the next slide
048here, yeah, there we go. So, you're going to hear us talk about alignment. We've been talking about this idea of our schools, particularly our elementary schools, coming together and working together, setting themselves up for the middle school. And I think uh the transition at McFarland Middle School with Will von Brock as the principal bringing his expertise and experience from the elementary setting and how the middle school begins to be woven into these initiatives that are are are doing really well at our our elementary schools. And we're going to celebrate that with you tonight. We're going to show you um some exciting things. And the reason I think it's important to do that, if you go to the next slide, is it's really easy in in America to read these kinds of headlines that education is
049crumbling. Um test scores show schools fall further behind. The scary truth about how far behind our kids are. Both the left and the right politically are failing our kids. Half of Americans say public education is going the wrong way. Uh the news is not good. These are all headlines from the last few weeks and you see them all the time. And when you're an educator and you spend your life doing this work, it doesn't feel good to read that stuff. Uh, another reason it doesn't feel good is so much of it is just not accurate. It's just not true. Our kids are learning uh at higher levels than I think they ever have in schools in in our country. Um, despite the narrative that's out there. And we're going to share with you tonight some
050exciting work that's happening in Oll to challenge these ideas and these concepts. And I think it's especially important when you're asking communities to consider levies like you approved tonight and bonds like we'll be considering in in the next few years to invest in a system that they think is failing our children. And if this is the narrative out there, we have to provide the counternarrative to it. And we have a really cool story to tell in Oll. And so one of the things that you should also we're going to talk about Oll, but we're also going to talk about the state of Washington. And I think something else we should be proud of, we have moments when we're we're not happy with Olympia and some of the decisions they've made, whether it's about schools or
051other activities in our in our lives. But US News and World Report puts out the state uh rankings by state every year. Washington's in in the top 10. All 50 states in our nation, we're we're top 10 according to them. The other one on the right is a public schools ranking. That's uh probably the second most uh um widely accepted one. This one considers school safety and investment along with student performance. And in that ranking, Washington is fourth. So again, highly positioned. We're one of the uh most productive and I think return on investment states in our country. We do excellent work in our state and we do excellent work here in Oello and Justin's going to talk about some of that excellent work. So, I just wanted to set the context for you. Um,
052that we as educational leaders, and I include all the board members in that, have a responsibility to let our community know how well our principles and our teachers and ultimately our kids are doing every day when they come to our schools. >> Yeah. So, um, you've probably heard this this quote before. I I didn't attribute the quote to the man who said it, but without data, you're just another person with an opinion. And so, uh, really digging into the data and understanding the story that the data can tell is is incredibly important because like Pete said, um, there's a lot of opinions out there that education is failing all of our kids and this, that, and the other or on the other side of it that there's certain school districts that are just phenomenal, right?
053But do we really know are they really, or are we just going off what we heard, right? And so it's really really important to have the information to make our own decisions from and um making sure that those the data that we have is accurate. So again, we can make our own decisions based on that and then know if we are going the right direction, if we're not and if we're not, what are we going to do about it? Right? So with that said, um I hate to bring notes, but I wanted to make sure I explain this correctly. So um this project started a couple years ago for myself. Um, and Pete was asking some questions. And so the the state used to put out the OSPI report card used to put out a
054filter um that you could go on and say, um, show me the schools that only have 50% ELLL or only have 50% low income. And it would show you those. How did they do? Now, rank them for me. Um, show me only the schools that have K6 students. And you could do all that on the website. Um, that went away, right? But now the state just sends out a data sheet or a it's a spreadsheet that has all the schools information on it. And I'm not joking to you when I say it's over 700,000 lines long. Right? So it's a lot of information because it says Wita's third grade girls. Here's how they did. Wait third grade boys. Here's how they did. Wait third grade ELLL girls. Here's how they did for every school in
055the state. Right? So there's to try to look at this sheet is um can get kind of uh overwhelming. So trying to take all that information and pair it down to what do we actually need? What do we need? And so um took that paired it way down. But it's it's important to talk about creating uh a fair comparison between schools because as you know our our schools here in in Oll uh might look a little different than the schools in Belleview, might look at it a little different than the schools in in downtown Seattle, might look a little different than the schools down in Tri Cities. And so, how do you truly compare schools um without just looking at the one score, the one score for ELA, the one score for math? It's important
056that we look at that. That's how many kids actually were proficient, but is that truly telling us the the giving us the whole picture of um of that school. So, dug in a little deeper and said, what can we do? What are some statistical analysis? um what are some formulas we can use to actually find out which schools are performing above expectations and vice versa below expectations and so imagine a chart um there's over a thousand elementary schools in the state of Washington and right now we're just going to talk about elementary so the chart has all thousand plus elementary schools as a dot on it each dot has three different um has three different values how the school actually did when you take their ELLL and math and average it. So, it's their their
057academic index. How did the school do? How many ELLL students? What percentage are there? And what percentage of low income? So, each dot has three different values attached to it. So, then you ask yourself, um, okay, so you have all these schools plotted on a chart, but what can I what what can it tell me? What could we say is typical for a school to score? So, here's where we're really lucky that we have technology these days. So, you can uh create a formula in Google Sheets that will you can give it all 10,000 schools what they actually scored when all 10,000 schools what their ELLL population is and what their lowincome population is and the machine does its magic. It does all the the sorting behind the scenes to try to um create a
058formula to make all the schools fall on the the um trend line. Okay, so you might be saying, great, what does that mean? So, here is that chart. Here's 10,00 schools charted and the computer creates a trend line. Over here is the impact index. This is the percent of students that are ELLL and lowincome together, the average of those. So, how impacted is your student body? You'll notice that the higher the impact of the student body, the lower the test scores traditionally are. down here is the average of your ELA and math. So, the lower impact has higher achievement scores, right? We probably could have you probably could have guessed that before I even said it. But the big thing here is the computer creates a trend line. This is what a typical the typical
059if everybody was average, what would what would happen? Okay. >> So, so before we leave that, I have a question for the board. >> It's called the trend line. What does the what does the trend what's the trend what is it saying about if you have um a high number of ELLL or lowinccome students in your school district? >> You have lower academic proficiency. >> That's what the trend says just based on the data that the state puts out, right? That that's what you um could predict. Justin talked about that predicted value. So that's exactly it. What's the trend? Well, it it trends this way. >> Yep. So take the schools out. These are actually the 10,00 schools plotted. Take them out. Here's what the trend line looks like. That's just the trend line. So
060that's what the computer uses to say a typical school with 50% impact would be about whatever that would be like 30%ish, right? But remember each dot has three values. What it actually scored the ELLL population and the lowincome population. So to manipulate each dot, you're not just moving one piece of data, you're moving multiple pieces. So it's not as easy as just move everybody to the line and call it good. That's what your expectation is. So the sheets can help or Google Sheets can help us run um and find coefficients which are values that we can multiply times your ELLL population times your lowincome population and tell us what should that school be performing. Right? So it behind the scenes runs over and over and over again till it finds um as little error as
061possible with each school to give us those numbers to say okay now input these for each school and this will give you a predicted what the school should perform based on their demographics and the statewide trend what the state has actually produced with a thousand schools. It's like creating a recipe. A little bit of this, a little bit of this to get it as even as you possibly can. So again, this is what it would look like if we create that formula and give every school a new value. Not what they actually scored, but what they should score using this new value. Right? So somewhere in here are four elementaryaries in the state of or in this in Oello school district. We would be in here somewhere. It's very close to the average, right? So
062you can say here's what is predicted from each school. If you have very low impact, you should be very high in academic achievement because that's what is shown in our state. That's what the average is. And so we create that formula and get a new value for each student. Am I explaining that close enough? >> Yeah. So, um I'll use another example for the board. When I think about early learning in our in our community, if you live in a a community where 70% of the kindergarteners come in ready for kinder and then in third grade 70% are reading at grade level. How much change is that? >> It's none at all. Right? you would you would have predicted that by third grade those kids are going to be reading on grade level and they
063would that's what you would predict in Oll when you say well 30% of our kids are ready for kinder when they arrive but 60 are ready uh at grade level in third grade reading it's a 30-point gain right but someone on the outside might write a headline that says this school district had 70% of kids at standard and beatll by 10% never acknowledging the hard work of the teachers and the students and the princip principles who went from 30 to 60 and and and and honoring and recognizing the group that started at 70 and finished at 70. That's what that's what these lines and these ways to look at the data to provide that counternarrative why they're so important. >> Why did the state take away that >> when I when I called and asked
064um the person that did it moved away or like doesn't work for OSPI anymore. So, it's they didn't find anybody to replace that. So, it just never happened. That was their explanation to me. So it was somebody with SPI that did all the work that put it on there and then they no longer work for SPI so it doesn't happen anymore. >> So it I called them and they said it was Donald Trump but that's just what the person [laughter] said. >> He does all the work. >> I just it just fathoms how OSPI just gave up on the deal. I mean it's what it sounds like. >> I don't know if I'd say those exact words but they they don't produce that information anymore. Yeah. So I don't want to throw I don't want
065to >> I know you don't want to throw anybody under but it's good information for >> I mean >> any way to get >> a letter. >> So let me continue. Let me continue [laughter] because you'll probably like what's coming. >> No one cares about letter. >> So each school now has two numbers. They have an expected score and they have their actual score. Right? So to find out who's outperforming you're going to find the difference of those two scores. If your actual score is higher than your predicted score, you're outperforming expectations, right? If it's lower, you're underperforming expectations. So, we take those two scores for each school, wit, haywatha, ludicans, and scutin. And we said, how did they actually perform? Take away their or minus their ex expectation and what was it positive or
066negative. So, here's what we found. So, here's our four schools. The residual is what you want to look at. That is the difference between expected and actual. So let's just take Hwatha for example here. You see their ELLL and their low income. That formula that we created through looking at all the data expects Haywata to be at about 22% academic. If they were a typical Washington state school, they'd be at about 22%. What were they at? About 32. So they outperformed their expectation by 10%. Ludaka about seven. Scutney about 9 and Witas about 22. So all four of our schools in elementary outperformed what we expected or what was expected based on this formula that was that was created. Right. >> So I have a question. >> Yes. >> So the two schools that had
067um a lower percentage can we expect that there is a lower or higher um income of children families in? >> So you can see each low income for each school. We're pretty similar. All four elementaryaries have about the same lowinccome percent and about the same English language learner or multilingual learner percent. We're pretty darn close. Okay. >> Yep. But there is variance in this which causes variance in the expectation, >> right? Okay. So, we don't want to say these are rock solid like this is the number to look at because it it the actual performance does matter. How many kids we actually had per at standard does matter. So you don't want to just throw that number out and say we're only going to look at this number. But this number tells us a big
068story like can really tell us a story about how our schools are doing. All right. Do you want to talk about this one? >> Yeah. So you're going to see some quadrants coming up here in just a moment and they're going to be uh Justin's going to talk to you about where our particular schools fall. But um when I described a lucky school, think about 70% coming in at standard, 70% leaving at standard, right? You got high results, but you really don't know why. The kids just showed up and and they did okay, right? Um a leading school might have 70% of kids coming in at standard and then 95 leave at standard. They're they have high results and a high understanding of what it took to get that next group of 25 students to
069standard. And then if you have if your kids are not doing well and you're not making any effort and you have no idea what what what's happening in your school, that's the losing zone. We we want to live in learning or leading. Sometimes it feels good to be lucky and and that's what might catch a headline, but you want to be leading and learning because then you know what to do next when you get that next group of students or when they move on to the next grade level. And so Justin's going to talk about some of the quadrants and where where our schools are going to end up. So we would hope that our schools fall above this line first of all and you can see the schools based on their school colors the
070this axis is the prediction. How far above prediction did they did they end or how far below? So any of these schools above here outperformed their prediction. They outperformed what was expected of them. You'll notice that all four of our schools are in that category which is where we want to be. This right here is the state average for academic performance which is at about 47.7 and we're moving towards that. So once we get over this line we would be actually outperforming the state and outperforming what's expected of our schools which which we're moving towards. Right? So this is where we want to live and I think the key is to really recognize that all four of our schools are above that line which is pretty cool. You'll see even hear more in a second.
071Keep going. Yeah. Yeah. I think this can feel like heavy and data driven and academic. The way that it plays out in our region, I think is really exciting and so um our teachers and our kids and our family should be really proud of what you're going to see next. >> Okay. So, this is >> and the board as well. >> This is all 10,00 based on the difference between their expectation and um how they actually did. All right. So, we have regional peers, right? There's 51 elementary schools in Grant, Adams, and Franklin County. Here in a second, you're actually going to see the names, but there's 51 schools within our within our region. All right. Each one of them has a uh residual score. And when I say residual, that's the difference between the
072expectation and the um how they actually did the difference between those two. So, you want to be positive. You want to be outperforming your expectations. So of the 51 about 25 about half almost exactly half outperformed the expectations and about half underperformed which is statistically right on. Okay. Where would you want our schools to be? >> The top top >> the top. >> There's our four schools. Four of the top six elementary schools in our region are here in Oll. Right. So that's pretty pretty darn cool. Um, I got I geeked out over the weekend. I was fixing this and I I triple checked my formula because I'm like, I got to make sure this is right before we take it in front of the board and I did have one mistake. And so I
073fixed it and I'm like, oh crap, is it going to change the story? And it actually rose us even farther to the top than I thought. And so I was texting Pet, I'm like, "You got to let me know when you're available to look at this because that was pretty cool, I thought." Um, and again, this is all the the 51 schools in our region. So um just to end it off statewise uh Wahitas is eighth out of the 1042. Haywatha is 124. Scutney is 157 and Ludakaga's 220. Visually what that looks like is if this was all the schools were in the top quadrant for all schools in the state of elementary schools for the state of Washington in outperforming expectations. This is number one all the way down to over 10,000. So, um,
074a lot to be really, really proud of in our schools and, uh, I'm excited because we've learned a ton in the last few years and we know how we can get even closer to that top, all four of us. So, any questions, comments, concerns? >> Thanks for taking the time to put all that together. Yeah, I'm sure it was a lot of work. >> Um, I'm blown away. I think that's incredible. Like, that makes me smile so big. Way to go. >> And also, I have never felt stupider than while you were talking. [laughter] What? Like trying to put together in my brain all of the things you were flying through. Like I don't know. I can't even begin to figure out how you figured out how to do this, but it's incredible. Thank you
075so much. >> Yeah. >> Also, can I screenshot that because I have siblings who live in Moses Lake that I have to rub this into. [laughter] You should have access to it. So, >> if I can if I can. >> Thank you for geeking out. >> Yeah, but that's all I'm going to say. [laughter] I just This actually makes it really good to to see that our schools are are going in the right direction. there for a little while it felt like it wasn't and it seems like the more they put on you guys the more you guys rise to the occasion and we're thankful and so super happy, super proud. >> Thank you. The only thing I will add is a great first night for me because I mean as a new director I
076want nothing more than student success >> and to see this is a really special night. Thank you. >> I think it's important too to think all the way back to the beginning when Pete showed. So Washington's already at the top or not at the top but very close to the top in the in the entire country and then you think of the elementary schools within our state. we're towards the top of those. So, what does that say? You know, we can make some predictions. We couldn't exactly say that that puts us towards the top, but you can make some inferences based on that information. That's that's really cool. It's really cool. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think I just uh as you think about the complexity of putting this kind of work together and and maybe
077um simplify it from like a realtor's perspective or um someone said to me the the doctors and the police officers and the schools are always better in the next town over, right? That we always think that about us. And so I think it's so important that um when we do reflect on our own work and we hear those narratives about failing schools in our country that we don't contribute to that because that doesn't happen without a lot of hard work by a lot of people including our kids and our families and our teachers every single day because to to come in in kindergarten um when did you know English when you came into kinder? No. So, a kid who comes in not knowing any English, um, tell me your schedule this this trimester at the
078high school. >> My schedule? Okay. So, I'll tell you my past, but I don't remember my current ones. >> Okay. So, I had um ch school, um, big bang English leadership, EW leadership, and then um what was my other one? Oh, pre-cal or something like that. >> Okay. So again, a student coming into a community not knowing English, trying to get to grade level by third grade so that she can take calculus in high school. She can take college level um uh courses in the high school to develop this next nest egg of college credits. Has anyone in your college gone in your family gone to college? >> No. >> So she can be the she can see herself at a university and she could graduate and contribute to our economy and our community. That's
079what public schools in America are about. And we don't tell that story enough. We don't. And and so when we saw the data come out the way that it did, it was super exciting. So I hope you hear Justin's passion. And for our principles, I think it's the first time of them seeing it in this format. And I hope they're nodding and go back and share with their staffs. And I think it's also important when you think about this from an investment perspective. When we share information about our levy, about what it pays for, we also share the return on investment that that our community is getting. Um compared to your your brother in Moses Lake. And if you have any questions, like there was a lot of information thrown at you. If there's other
080specific questions about it or you want to talk more about it or the formulas, I'm more than happy to if people ask because um that's some pretty big claims that we just made. I and I'm fully aware um that people might say, "What what are you talking about?" But we can we can talk about how we did it and how we understand um what those numbers mean. And then um the next part is now what are we going to do about it to to try to keep moving. So, thank you. >> I may need some talking points. >> I was going to say for dummies, please. [laughter] >> That's right. [laughter] >> I don't want to leave out Will because he he was at Iowa. He had something to do with it. So, >> shout
081out. Nice to see you in a >> McFaren shirt there, bud. We're expecting numbers like that, don't >> Yeah, the middle school's next. Just kidding. >> There's actually um we intended specifically in my conversations with Justin to make this a a um K6 presentation, [snorts] but he's already done some initial work around the middle school that's almost as exciting. So maybe at another point we'll be able to come back and and share that a little bit. >> That's great. >> Is that everything, Dr. Perez? Okay, we will move on to public comment. Do we have any public comment tonight? No. Okay. Upcoming events. We have our next board meeting on December 17th at 12:00 p.m. And then on December 22nd through January 2nd, that will be our winter break. We also have a board Christmas
082party. Aaron, can you remind me of the date? >> Next Monday. >> Yeah. >> Next Monday. At what time? >> I think we said 6:30. I'll let you know. >> Okay. Next Monday, 6:30. Um, now we'll move on to the board self assessment of the meeting. [clears throat] >> Welcome, director vote to your first meeting. Happy to have you. >> Very happy to have you. um appreciate the recognition from Wahitas for doing great work with their second grade team and um then also the presentation tonight from Justin for all of our elementary schools was outstanding. Uh, not to piggy back off of, thank you, Justin, because it's been one of those ones that had a lot of information and you dummy it down and made it to where we understood it a little better and
083I greatly appreciate that. Very sad to see Ken leave. Hope he does great things in his new role. >> Agreed. It was nice to hear that the um sports in wrestling and basketball and drill team are all getting good recognition to start off the season and thank you for the invite to the um upcoming meeting. >> Um I want to give thanks to Dr. Perez for giving that explanation or that perspective because I didn't think about it that way. And I'm very grateful to be, you know, like a part of this district. And I'm very grateful for Miss Miridge and Mr. Mirich. I'm very grateful that you showed me like made me make like write the definitions of these big words and fill up your whole wall at in your classroom because now I know
084like a lot of words and thanks to you I mean big English >> and I speak I think for the board that we're very appreciative of you coming on um you shined you guys have both shined but uh it's amazing to see where you've come from when you first started and it uh it must have not been easy. So, thank you for all the hard work that you put in. >> I think just one on the on the Delta side, we apologize for the audio issues. I think we we've had some folks from out of the district in trying to service them and prepare them, just tweaking them just a little bit. So, I apologize for that, but we'll make sure it's it's corrected um next time we meet. Great. Okay. At this time, the
085board will recess into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss the sale or lease of land. No action will be taken following the executive session. This meeting is