001Turn your mic down. All right. I will now call to order the February 3rd, 2026 regular schoolboard meeting of the Sak Commando School District Board of Directors. Uh today we have director Russell, director Olsen, uh and myself, Director Evans, um director Murray and director King are both absent and excused today. Uh we also have our two lovely student representatives with us and we appreciate them being here. Today we are offering two opportunities for the public to speak. comment specifically to the consent agenda. Sorry, specific to the consent agenda will be allowed prior to the vote on those items. Citizens who have submitted a request to speak either here in person or online during the [laughter] public comment section of the agenda will be called upon to make their comments at that time which is near
002the end of our meeting. Uh we will do the flag salute. Please stand. I pledge algiance 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. All right. So, you have before you the agenda for the February 3rd regular school board meeting. Are there any changes to said agenda? >> No. [clears throat] Is there a motion to approve the agenda as written? >> I'll move second. >> This [clears throat] is moved by Director Russell, seconded by Director Olsen. All those in favor of approving the agenda for the February 3rd meeting, please say I. >> I. I went ahead and abstained since I was not present. [ __ ] >> No, this agenda is sorry myself. I
003lost my place. >> No, that's okay. >> But anyway, I'm going to abstain when it comes to the >> I appreciate that. >> But no, no attention. I do vote. Yes. >> Okay. All of those opposed say nope. That passes unanimously. Next up, we have the minutes from our January 20th, 2026 regular school board meeting. Are there any changes or corrections to those minutes? >> No. >> I move to approve the January 2026 regular special board meeting minutes. Uh and I will second that. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. >> All those opposed. So that is uh an abstension from director Russell and two yays uh from the rest of us. Uh next up we have the superintendent report. Superintendent Oven, it's all you. >> Thank you very much. Um, as always,
004first on the superintendent report is donations, which Patrick and Alexa [snorts] will read in. >> $2,500 from the Stanley Commando Area Foundation to support the preschool program and kindergarten readiness. >> $657 rebate for Firefly Images in support of Senior Home Elementary School. >> $54 rebate from Firefly Images in support of Elder Bay Elementary School. $754 rebate from Firefly Images in support of Twin City Elementary School. >> $646 rebate from Fire Firefly Images in support of Up Elementary School >> for $55.60 from the Cedar Home Elementary School PTM to cover the transportation costs of the Cedar Home Elementary to Riverside. >> $224.88 88 cents in proceeds from the reindeer games, penny wars from the Stanley Middle School PTO. >> Okay, thank you so much and thank you to Scaff Firefly and our PTO's for their donation
005donations uh in the service of students. Uh next up is our Lincoln Hill Lincoln Academy Saratoga School report by Principal Auckland. All right, welcome. Can you hear me? No. Okay, button. >> Do I have to hold it the whole time? >> No, just press. >> That was going to be tricky. We can hear you now. >> Well, I am excited. Today I get to talk to you about Church Creek Campus. Um, and so it is um going to be fun. So, Church Creek campus, those of you that don't know, is a combination of we have um Lincoln Academy, which is our middle school students, that's seventh and eighth graders. Then we have um Lincoln Hill in person, and then we which is high school 9 through 12, Lincoln Hill remote. So, those are students that
006are um online, and then as well as Saratoga. So, it's a blend of our alternative learning experiences. Do I click? >> Yep. >> Okay, perfect. >> There it goes. >> There we go. All right. So with Lincoln Hill, um we pride oursel with pride, perseverance, and progress. That is, um our um statement that we talk about, everything that we do connects with um that motto. And I'm not going to read everything. I forgot to say in this today just because I know that you've seen our um AAP and I AP and I want to highlight um the things that we're working on. So um previously um in our AAP, we had our goals set for um around the Smarter Balance scores and how our students were doing. Um after talking with our leadership students and
007our students and just talking about what's something that's more attainable, we talked about um adding a goal. So this is a new goal that we've just recently added and it talks about in ELA 90% of our students are going to be passing their ELA class and then 80% of our students are um going to be passing their math class. And so that's something attainable. That's something our students can connect with as we go through um our reflections each session. They can be checking in and monitoring with how they're doing with that goal. And so those are some new goals that we added. And then with our MTSS, um, sorry, I gota talk slow with our MTSS. So just really making sure that we're building a culture of, um, acceptance and community. Um, if you don't
008know, our campus has gone through some different administrators over the last couple of years. And so this year has been really taking time to slow down, get to know the kids, get to know the staff, talk about where we're at, what do we need, what does that look like, and making sure that we're working to support each other in our common goals. And so with that, we have our building wide of school expectations and then our goal of increasing our graduation rate. So these are just some of the staff um actions that we've been working on. Specifically, some things that I wanted to highlight on this um is last week we were talking about we have it's a CER format in all content areas. And so that means claim, evidence, response. And so one of
009the things we reflected on and noticed noticed is even though staff are talking about that, not being intentional about that language. And so making sure that we're using that language in everything that we're doing so um students can once again grasp onto that and it's something that they understand. Um something else that we did in the fall is we kind of or not in the fall yeah in the fall as we structured our um classes was making sure our Lincoln Academy um we have math first thing in the morning then science and ELA. So putting that the first part of the day when the kids focuses a little bit more and then the afternoon is going to be more of those elective um classes. We also added in um a sixth period career choices um
010CTE class with the option not the option it has an added added in layer of credit retrieval with regenuity. So students can be working towards building um getting their um credits that they've missed. All right. So sources of data that are informing our work, we have, you know, our SBA scores, um our summitative assessments, formative assessments, where we our credits are with our students and how they're doing Skyward. Um and then just really that student feedback and student leadership meetings. That's been an intentional focus this year, making sure I'm connecting with our leadership class, sitting in on the meetings, going to the class, talking with the students at lunchtime and throughout the day, and just really making sure that we're all on the same page and this is our school and this is our community
011and what that looks like. Um so these are some awesome adjustments that we've made this year. Um so this is where our remote um started at the beginning of the year. So we've had 34 students um in remote and that's our online program. And then as you've seen that's gone up and so our projected number for um February is 76. And so that started at the beginning of the year of adding in two more sections. we kept our weight list kept building and so just trying to look at our schedule and seeing how we could add in more options really being intentional and flexible about what our students need. Um one of the things that I hear I have interviews with each of the students as they come in um is that option to be
012able to have some type of a hybrid and so having like online classes you know part of the day with also the remote option and kind of what that looks like or hybrid between Lincoln Hill and the Stanwood High School. So we can have we can bridge that connection and really um look at each student as an individual rather than trying to put them into a box that's not working for them. Meeting them where they're at at and creating um what they need. And so that's been awesome this year and it's just taken off and just trying to keep up with our capacity has been it's been fun. All right. So making connections, this is my favorite part of my job. And so um you know connections, they're key. They're essential. They're what we do.
013um my students that come, you know, to our campus, they have all sorts of different stories, all sorts of different reasons that they're here. And just making sure that we see each student as an opportunity and each situation too that comes up. They're all opportunities. They're all ways to grow and they're not um obstacles. And so just making sure my students know that right at the front. Um and so some of the things that we've done this year is um having music in the morning, saying good morning, saying goodbye, just making sure each student knows that they're valued. Um, and again that student feedback piece and just always empowering our students to get their voices to be heard, you know, in whatever way that looks like. So with that, we've pancake breakfast. Those are fun.
014Our leadership students make those for our um for our whole staff and students and we all come and have that time together at advisory. We have our progress, perseverance, and pride awards. Um, we had a fall social for the Lincoln Hill and then we just had our winter social for Lincoln Academy. One of the exciting things we're looking at hoping to do this spring is a schoolwide field trip to Mohawk and then we have some club opportunities. So things that we expect to see this year. So already this year we've got 23.5 credits earned since September through our credit retrieval opportunities. really increasing the student voice and leadership um and making sure like I was talked about earlier, we're changing we're we're making sure we're looking at each student as an individual and figuring out
015how we can best to support their needs the best we can and finding um finding ways that that looks like. Um, another fun thing is this year we have morning announcements every day and now that's a joint effort between the students and myself, but then also like the Lincoln Academy students have days that they're on the morning announcements as well as the high school kids. And so it's just a fun way to once again bring our culture together and then the Saratoga side. Um so one of the things that stands out that we're working on in Saratoga also is again that student reflection piece as well as the um student talk and those are things we can talk about both on both sides of the campus when we come together as far as what that
016looks like and um how we can better enhance that. Um one of the really awesome things that Sarah Saratoga has this year is they have a new PTO PTO president and that's been a new um fun thing for them. something um exciting that they're looking at doing as they've been doing surveys and talking with their parents in that home partnership as far as um how they can better support their students is looking toward forward to next year and they're looking at having a Friday being like a menu day and um where students can choose classes that they want to go to and so maybe they have classes all day long maybe it's just a come in for one but it's going to be based on those interests and what they want. So once again, tailoring
017what we're doing to make sure we're meeting the needs of our students. All right, questions. [laughter] >> You're done. Good job. >> I have I have a question. Um it intrigues me on the remote learning on your slide six. Um adding two sections and and have a weight list. What what do you think is part of limitations on your capacity? Is it technology? Is it staffing? Is it enrollment? You know, what are those type of things that >> Yeah. >> that drive you having to have a weight list rather than being able to satisfy demand? >> It's finding um this is staffing, right? And so each teacher that has a co a class of um of remote students, that's only they have 14 students. So that's so like let's say I have in my remote
018class, it's first period. So within first period I have my 14 slots, you know, set aside and that's where I have because I have weekly meetings with my students and so that's where I can fit it. So I can only fit 14 students period. Does that make sense? And so that's kind of where I went. So one of my classes earlier on I um collapsed and I put those kids in other places and I opened up a spot for those students and then um I kind of did the same thing in the afternoon. A teacher that was co-eing collapsed that CL well not class is no longer co-eing and then opened up a section there. So that's kind of how that works. So, it's just being able to find a spot for them. >> And
019what what are the type of things that are driving driving driving that demand? The desire for the remote learning. Is it is it um more of a one-on-one? Is it is it more of a fitting the students needs? What what are the some of the things that drive >> Yeah. >> the demand for that? >> Yeah, I think there's been a huge shift since co as far as that online, you know, you look at even the real world now and how many people are, you know, maybe working from home or that those remote options. And so, I think that kind of started this trend. Um, we have lots of different reasons why people want to do remote. Maybe they're working a job, maybe they're helping with health care, maybe they have their own medical needs
020or reasons why they can't come in. So, it's all sorts of different things as well as sometimes that learning side of things. And that's kind of where that hybrid comes in. They want to have some of like the mech or the snow and those things that are like hands-on that they can do in person, but then they want to just be able to work through their online classes kind of at their own pace, how it fits, or maybe they have a job and so it's a way to balance both. So, it's just kind of the needs of our students are changing. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I don't have a question. Just a comment, Christie. Um, the life of an alternative school is to be constantly changing. >> Yeah. >> Because you're meeting the need
021needs of students as they come in the door. And so what I heard you throughout this whole process is being exactly that. So I appreciate that. And I guess I lie because I do have a question. Um, connections and key I've heard many principles and I hate to put you on the spot. Okay. in Panorama when I worked with some schools the last three years in consulting on their improvement structure they were using in Panorama questions around students sense of belonging >> are you doing that >> so those are the survey questions and we haven't formally done I mean I can see what the students answered when we did those formally a couple years ago but as far as on a regular basis no not through panorama yes through like informal student surveys but that
022would be an interesting to talk you know see if that's something I want to bring back but with panorama you can look at It's a nice way to have a a snapshot of like these are the attendance, these are my discipline, these are my grades and kind of looking at your atrisisk students that way. >> And I think you hit on the nail nail on the head which is having that that quantitative as well as having that qualitative in terms of just interacting with students and asking them questions. >> Thank you. >> Uh real quick on your slide you said you added the two new goals. So 90% of your students passing ELA and 80% passing math. What was like when you added that goal, what was your current percentage of students that were passing?
023That's a great question and that's something um I I'm working on getting to have like a concrete. And so that was just talking with my math teacher and ELA. That's another thing with um with the ever evolving um scope that we have trying to pull that data and that information as far as where we were at last year. Um it's difficult because it shows all my students in and out. So to get like a concrete number of this is exactly where we were at last year. Um we don't have that right. So but looking at where our students were now as far as going into the end of first semester and just kind of looking forward what's a realistic goal moving forward. So I don't have a concrete number but that is something that I
024am working to get especially because I didn't say I'm working on the accreditation part too. >> So then how are then how are you measuring like how are you going to show that it's 90% are passing if you can't >> because we'll be able to look at where we're at right now. I just don't know off the top of my head how many students. So I don't know right now how many students passed first semester. I can't tell you that. Right. Okay. And I tried to look at like last year's data and that was confusing because it was like a lot of students. So I need to find a way to like figure out who exactly our students were. >> Okay. That's a complicated question. >> I I worked Hill last year. I inherited it
025from another consultant. Um, one of the one of the feedback pieces teachers gave to the then principal was their frustration at the number of of failing grades from students. Um, and so I think that drove their desire to hit a metric. Um, they weren't anywhere close to 90 and 80%. >> We know they're ambitious goals for sure, but we wanted to like reach higher and see if we can. >> Okay. what like how often or like are you going to check at the end of every semester like when >> we're actually so like this Thursday our advisory lesson is and we do it throughout it's called links learning and so students actually look at where they're at with Skyward and how they're doing with their goals and then kind of reflecting on their grades and
026where they're at and so we have box sheets is what it's called where students are tracking how they're doing on their progress on their progress towards graduation and so we're doing that consistently throughout the semester I and then at the end of the semester then at the end of the year >> okay >> so a couple times throughout the year an advisory or throughout the semester I think that is it. Sorry. >> Thanks principal. Um just to add Lincoln is unique in that it has sessions. So eight sessions a year broken um each quarter in half. So every 22 to 23 days there's an actual grading period >> that that would be a good spot for um measuring that that goal and the progress towards that goal because it's new, right? you you might not
027have that if you're looking for the first semester data to be your benchmark, but but we have a good opportunity there for at session to to track that. Um and I appreciate the fact that students are looking at the data because um we know that there's the highest impact when it's owned by students. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Next up is Ruth Floyd for the December financial report. >> Good afternoon. Um let's see here. December financial report. Um December completes onethird of the fiscal year and uh enrollment annual average FTE was 4,650. That is about 15 below budget and approximately two below uh annual average FTE compared to the November annual average FTE. uh state aortionment revenues were paid at 9% which is total of 31% for the year. Uh portionment at this time
028of year uh increases as tax revenues go down. Payroll costs as a percent of budget through December are lower than this time last year. And uh non salary MSOP costs as a percent of budget are also under just under uh last year 23.4 4% of budget compared to 23.6%. Uh but I do anticipate that that will change in January due to timing of some larger expenses that we had uh that had been made this time last year, but uh will be paid in January. So things like running start, there's a little bit of a timing issue there with payments. And then uh the manager's report reflects 12.4% 4% remaining after expenditures and encumber encumbrances through December and our general fund balance uh was 7.6 million and this is a bit of an increase uh compared
029to last year. Uh however, I expect that to uh decline in uh January and actually end up being lower than the prior year January. This is our object of expenditure summary uh that shows all of the different types of objects um including salaries, benefits and material supplies and operating costs or those non- salary costs that we talk about and uh MSO again is lower than expected uh this time of year but that should um catch up in January. Uh again this is general fund budget status at 7.6 million fund balance. Uh capital projects fund is uh just under 3.8 million at the end of December. Debt service fund. You'll notice that uh we did have principal and interest payment on our bonds in December uh with a remaining fund balance of about $1 million. ASB
030uh shows typical revenues and expenditures for this time of year and transportation vehicle fund uh fund balance is about flat. Uh you as you know uh we did receive those buses and uh we expect to pay pay for those uh in in the coming weeks. This is our budget capacity report. There's just some minor adjustments for the month at the bottom of the page. And then our food service um program recap. Uh the food service deficit is a bit higher than I would have expected for this time of year. Uh we expect that to also continue through January. Uh local revenues are reflected in the month and state and federal revenues are on a month lag due to the claiming that we do and because December had fewer uh serving days than last year this
031time. um we expect that um that deficit will increase a bit. Um the fewer serving days should be caught up you know at the end of June. However, when we move serving days uh further into the year closer to summer, we end up having fewer particip less participation at that time of year. So, it's unfortunate that we lost a couple of serving days this this year. That's all I have for you. Do you have any questions? Not this one. >> No, but I will say uh spoiler alert for the consent agenda. Uh we're getting to the end of our lovely uh financial reports from ROF. And it makes me a little bit sad. We have to we have to really embrace all of these until until the end of the year, three more months, >>
032right? Before she she flies off into the land of retirement. So, >> I I have two two things real quick with just a a note um when you talked about the FTE. We were actually up three FTE um from our on our count yesterday. So, I think that's encouraging and just worth noting. Um and then I have a prepared statement. >> Oh, you want to stay up here? >> Yes, please. [laughter] I I wanted on the record, Ruth, um to recognize you. Uh Ruth's retirement is on the agenda today. She's ded dedicated many years to public education in a number of districts around around Stanwood and has served uh this district in particular with integrity, steadiness, and and really deep I would call it institutional knowledge and over the past four years as the ED
033of business services here. Uh Ruth led through complexity. She's led through uncertainty and change and always keeping districts staff and students um at the center along with financial health and long-term stability. I I know um in discussing with other superintendents, it's not often that you get a pairing of a business director who always asks about students and staff while also looking at financial stability. So, we've made it clear over and over that the door remains open over the next 15 or 20 minutes uh to resend your retirement notice. Um but we also recognize and respect Ruth uh is ready for a new chapter uh one that allows her to spend more time with Tai and enjoy what comes next. So, thank you Ruth for your leadership, for your service, and and impact you've had on
034our district and community. and uh know that you'll continue leading through our budget adoption process uh coming at the 1 of August. So, appreciate it, Ruth. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes. One more budget cycle. [laughter and clears throat] >> Thank you. It's been a It's really is a pleasure working here and I appreciate everyone very much. Thank you. >> Dr. Colin Ryan is up next for the teaching and learning department update. Thank you. >> Thanks. Happy Colin Ryan, exact director of teaching learning, bringing you this year's teaching learning report. Literally every move we make is in direct service of our students growth and achievement. get them ready for the what happens after 12th grade. We try to put this report into three broad categories. Um multi-tered systems of support, put a couple of pieces
035underneath those with how we're collaborating at the district office level, the cabinet level, standards and engagement and data science. So, first our multi-tered systems of support work. Won't read the whole thing, but Jennifer Allen Dus Smith and I put together uh beginnings of the district annual action plan. And we're putting it up for folks to look at because we fashioned the template to look a lot like the school annual action plan. And similarly, we have goal categories, we have strategy categories, we have timelines and things like that. Um because we want to mirror what schools are doing. and we're gonna present this to get input from our school leaders at our next upcoming principal meeting. Wanted to show you a sample of that. Really proud of it. Purpose of doing that. The DEAP, that's the
036pronouncable acronym right there. Right. Yeah. So, >> a new acronym for us. >> We teach lots of [laughter] huge acronyms. So, I'm I'm grateful that one's easy to pronounce. So it's teaching and learning student support Jennifer Allen and special service Tika Smith our alignment is in service of um a districtwide implementation of multi-ter systems of support that's big broad work and the tighter the three of us are learned that's going to be better support of our schools and our students our goals would be to um still underneath that MTSS umbrella still working with our DAP um schools ability to assess their readiness for an MT to be an MTSS school. Do they have the materials they need? Do they have the team structures that they need to be able to support kids in tier one,
037in tier 2, in tier three? And that includes academic and behavioral ranges. And we're also looking to do some alignment work with our curriculum and materials, our assessments that we offer students, as well as alignment around instructional practices. Each school has um what's called a student success team. And that is a model where a teacher in a school could be working with a student that's not at a place where they're at academic standard yet or there there might be some behavior work because they're not at that behavior standard yet. So that could be brought to a team. That team is typically a school leader, could be a counselor, could be a school psych and a range of staff. They meet, they give and um they hear about the data that the teacher brings to the
038meeting, to the student success meeting, they brainstorm interventions and ideas, try it out, and then they come back and that is a progress monitoring kind of process that's very student centered. Um, another team structure in place. I would say it's in a a really strong place. Our school's building leadership teams. How do we support our building leadership teams work in that MTSS multi-tered systems of support umbrella? And we're also the three of us are looking forward to planning and facilitating professional development underneath multi-tered systems of support. Shifting now to standards and engagement. This is work we're digging into currently this year as our goal should be every student engaged, every student meeting standard. So embedded professional development, what I mean by that is this is happening during the day. This is happening during the school
039day. And what does that actually look like? And I'll talk about that in just a second with our sequence of professional development. Basically, like as an example, next week we're planning collaborative opportunity for us to get together to work with school leaders and they're building leadership teams on engagement because we believe that for students to reach standard grade level being engaged in their learning is a critical component of it. So, we're going to learn, we're going to collaborate, we're going to build some opportunities for school leaders. They're building leadership team teams to talk with each other. So, between schools, they get a chance to hear what other schools are doing. And the school's team and principal will have time to plan their own professional development at their school at a future what's called PDW, professional
040development. I wouldn't say, but it's a staff meeting. So it rolls out, we host a district-wide opportunity. We meet with teams and leaders and that goes into each school. So it's a schoolwide implementation. We use an anchor text to support this learning. That's an image of the book teaching students to drive their learning along with the text and things from that. We're going to have three rounds to hear from our student panels because we really believe if we're talking about engagement, we need student voice, not just to be an add-on, but a key part of the plan. Student voice should inform our plans. We're in our fourth year of data science. So, who's there? It depends on the sequence. So um I'll talk about that in a second. But district office leaders we meet with
041for the first round beginning of the year we meet with school principal. As we develop we have three summits a year. Each round we add people to the group. So a principal could bring a building leadership team or um someone that's helping you work could be teacher or sometimes principles will bring their own BLT. It just depends on the school. But whatever the case we go to the school we meet. Why do we do it? because we should be talking about data a lot. Data should be part of the fabric of what we're doing. It's going to inform our MTSS implementation and it just makes more sense that we're talking about data. There's data literacy across our schools. So like I said again acronyms beginning of the year BY middle of the year and end
042of the year BI and those all look different because of the data that we have to that node when we come to a data summit or the school leaders so they don't need to take time with this. We will preload any benchmark data or if there's panorama data that's relevant we'll load that with the leaders because then they can load up what they're doing at their school, what actions they're taking, the progress they're making with their annual action plans. So, we'll do the data uploads. School leaders can take some initiative and if they're doing, let's pretend like they're doing some analysis of student work and they have data related to that. The the slide decks are co-built. This doesn't represent all of the data that's that could be a part of the data summit. These
043are examples. Um, I have to read this one because this is one of the acronyms I have to slow down on, but it's Washington kindergarten inventory of developing um, skills. We all know it better as walk kids. So, you see the two bars, quantitative data and the qualitative process. So, I'll talk about qualitative in just a second, but we get data um, with multiple subtests. In this case, you're looking at an example of math readiness. And how that data lays out is by years old. So a kind and this is happening at the beginning of year. So this is entry level how they're coming to our kindergarten teachers. So they can look baseline where a student is at coming into our district whether it's three years old, they have done to two years old or
044getting toward that green where we want them to be at 5 years old. But to add to the quantitative data, kindergarten teachers meet with families to get story and context that might explain the data. And it's a cool process. And I bet if you ask a kindergarten teacher, they would say the same thing. And that it takes time and effort, but well worth it. So this is a sample of panorama. It's kind of a fun data point because we believe that when kids are at school, we have better attendance. We're going to have enhanced achievement learning. To that point, we're seeing um a decrease in the percentage of students missing 10 to 20% of school days. We wanted to keep seeing a decrease in that number. We want we want it even higher. We want
045all kids to be at school every day, but we'd like to see the uptick. Devil's dynamic indicators, basic early literacy skills. I only have that one memorized because I've said it multiple several times, but right now we're at a point where we can load this data up for a future data summit for our elementary schools. Looking at the beginning of the year data, comparing that with middle of the year data. We cue in on celebrations, what do we notice, opportunities, and then we talk about it because we'll bring the data. We look at the data a lot at the district office and then at the data some of the school staff can add lots of context and explanation and add that story that goes along with the number and at the high school level. Principal
046Aquan mentioned it, but we're at this point of year where our building principles are starting to intervene and look at high school seniors that are off track creditwise and coming up with a model to connect with those students student by student. And I would say almost in a causal fashion last year because of the work that happened at specifically at Stanwood High School because of the work principal Washington did with his team the graduation rate went up nearly 3% points which is significant. So those are the a couple samples of data points that we could use. Those are the three chord that worked that I wanted to cover and that was a lot. So I'll say thank you and pause for questions. So for me um being a branding board member even though I've interacted
047with the district over the years I think one of the things for me to to learn to be careful on is is looking at straight data. Yeah. you know, somebody gives us a report or something, but there's context behind that in, you know, they're kids, they're they're students, there are real people behind numbers. So, I I appreciate the effort to to do more of a dive into on that context. I think for me, um, personally, that would be one of the elements that I'd like to see for us in our understanding and our oversight is is what the context of what those numbers mean. So when we see a number like you know graduation rates or something like that is there is there a program or resource or something that we need to apply towards
048towards moving that number in whatever direction we want to move it into. I think there was the other ones too. It's we use one in example of strategic foundational early learning early learning excuse [clears throat] me those are kids that are coming into our system with whatever background they have previously in mathematics language and and things like that and evaluating that process. Some of those are I assume were demographics. Some of those are you know home life. All those type of things affect what some of those numbers might be and those might be specific to a region. They may not be they may be over the whole you know spectrum of of what schools are. So that's [snorts] I guess it's more of a commentary than a question but that's that's for me that's how
049I you know weigh through all this is trying to sort all this is is how do I interpret this and and help give you guys the resources that you need to do accomplish the goals that we as a board want to achieve. No, I appreciate the observation, Dr. Russell. And I would say what you just named for this set of data. It kind of speaks to what I would call the dynamics and wonder of teaching kindergarten. Being a kindergarten teacher is pretty dynamic. And you're right. Um, we have to remember we do a pretty good job of this. I think I think we do a really good job of it. But your point about looking at numbers, what this data doesn't tell and what we can talk about in those data summits. So you look
050at students that are in that are assessing into that red area. We don't want to ever put students in categories. We use student first language. It's not we're not saying yellow, blue, green level students. We're seeing students that assessed into this level. And it doesn't show growth that they might have made, but they're still in that range. It doesn't really tease out that story because they probably did make growth, but they're not quite there yet. So it's an important piece to to pause on and remember that the qualitative piece of the story is a very important part of having that data composite. That's that's actually very helpful to me because yeah, I think maybe my min assumption looking at a chart like that is mentally assigning students within those ranges. And that's not really the
051intent of showing the data. It's more to break it down and to to find out where you're at. So I I appreciate that. That's a that's a good observation for me to understand too is when I look at a chart like that is I'm not looking at a red yellow green students. Um [clears throat and snorts] there's a lot more context >> a lot more context and we don't want to ever say that these are designations or anything like that because that's just this is a place where students are going to be we want this fluid and we want lots of movement >> and great things to celebrate. So sometimes the data can tell that story but where the data summit conversation can come in is you get the between but what's really happening to
052support students in that growth. So I appreciate your similar question. >> Is it safe to assume that when you're doing these data summits you're not looking you're not just looking at these same charts you're looking at like disagregated data and all of that other stuff as well. >> A wide range. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> So I'm curious for the dibbles. Is this for all grades measured? Do you have dibbles? >> K5. Okay. So if I had a fifth grader in a low grade level and since dibbles is really just funical awareness, fluency and phonics, I'm a fifth grader there. What concern do I have as a classroom teacher? >> That's a great question. So by the time students get to I want to say fourth grade, they're taking three subtests, two in oral reading
053fluency and DIP was in the last few years added what's called the maze test and it's a comprehension test. So that was added to the suite to give um and the kids start taking the maze test in the second grade. So, you do get a range. For starters, if you have a [snorts] um fifth or fourth grade student that has some scores that are questionable on that comprehension test, you might have some fluency data because there could be that connection. There likely is that connection. So, it's a great question because I don't know if the MA has been around for more than fiveish years. I think it's fairly new to the suite, the Dibble suite. It is. Um, and then I'm looking at your um, Watkins data and certainly we know that two points of
054data is is not a trend yet, but there's a significant change in in the readiness of fourth graders, fifth graders between 2024 and 2025. Is that a function of just the randomness of a cohort of students or is there collaboration between our early learning staff and principles with area preschools to help support them with the knowledge of what it means to be a kindergarten early learner. >> It's a good next step data wise for us to get a grip on that that connection between um so this is just randomness. it it's not completely random but we don't have enough data to say that we have a through line data wise so that's a good next step for us and I know there is effort for school leaders to collaborate with our early we collaborate with
055our early learning providers um but I think there's opportunity to grow that strengthen that appreciate the question and the point >> thank you >> thanks Dr. Brian, appreciate it. >> That ends the superintendent report. >> All right. Thank you very much everybody. Uh we will now move on to the consent agenda. Anyone in attendance may speak to the items on the consent agenda and only those items contained in the consent agenda. Are there any members of the board that wish to pull any items from the consent agenda for discussion? No. All right. Are there any people in attendance that wish to speak to any of the items on the consent agenda? No. All right. Um, seeing that, is there a motion to approve agenda items consent agenda items 1 through 12? Still 12. 12. >>
056So move second. >> All right. That has been moved by Director Olsen and seconded by Director Russell. All those in favor of approving consent agenda items 1 through 12 say I. I. Opposed. That passes unanimously. Next up we have public comment. Uh citizens wishing to address the board are asked to submit online requests using the public comment link or email uh to our lovely Stacy uh 2 hours before the board meeting start time. For those attending the meeting in person, request forms are available in the boardroom for submission before the meeting starts. We always keep those at the back table back there. Uh and they should be handed to our recording secretary for distribution or I'm sorry uh for u public comment. Citizens who wish to provide documents to the board members will hand them
057all to our recording secretary for distribution. After the meeting, uh I will call you up uh for your in order of your uh requests. Uh you will state your name. You'll be given three minutes to speak. There is a timer. once it hits yellow. Uh so you get three minutes. Once it hits yellow, that means you have one minute left. Red means your time is up. Uh we have two requests for public comments today. Um, just as a matter of order, because this is a board's business meeting, the board is providing an opportunity to the public to comment, but the board does not create discussion on those comments within the meeting as they excuse me. Uh, as they are not on our agenda, uh, comments will be followed up on after the meeting if it
058is appropriate. When it is your turn to comment, as I already said, uh, state your name uh, for the record and you have the three minutes. Our first commenter is Sheila Kramer. My name is Sheila Kramer. I'm from Camino Island. I've been asked to read this for a teacher. Dear Camino board of directors, teachers, staff, and community members, this is part one. I am a teacher who would like to address the topic of language as it relates to developing policies and procedures regarding student discipline policy 3241. The board of directors has begun to develop language in which quote policy and procedure be implemented in a manner manner that supports a positive school climate, maximizes instruction time, and increases equitable educational opportunities." unquote. The stated purpose promotes a safe and supportive learning environment for all students
059and developing policies and procedures with input from staff, students, and parents. Student discipline is a critical piece of education. It encompasses all aspects of learning and is directly related to safety, social, emotional health, and the acade academic potential of all students. It is vital that this language is developed with participation of teachers, staff, and community. At the time when students are failing and many freshmen are not on track to graduate, all shared holders need to be aware of the situation. According to current language, the district will develop review policies and procedures with such participation. Are they being developed and re reviewed with participation of teachers, students, and parents? Hopefully, school board members are speaking to their constituents regarding this policy language. Language surrounding student discipline must include the rights, safety, and needs of the students
060and the teachers who are expected to implement it. When developing language, the board and administrators need to consider and include the language agreed upon in the collective bargaining agreement contract. How the CBA aligns with the policy language being proposed proposed is the key to a mode of operation in which we are literally all on the same page. I have seen and heard of many instances in which contract language is not supported. The CVA states, quote, "Every teacher has a right to a safe working environment and to expect that all students will adhere to the district and school rules." unquote. Contradictions between RCWs, WAC's, and CBA can cause insurmountable problems. If there are in any inconsistencies, they need to be considered and addressed. District teachers need to play a role in developing language from our student
061discipline policies and procedures. Otherwise, we have people making decisions about what is happening in classrooms and who are far removed. All right, our next commentator is Charlene White. Again, you have three minutes. State your name. Yellow means 1 minute left. Red means time is up. >> Hi, I'm Charlene White and I live on Commo. I'm reading the second part of the letter to the board of directors, teachers, staff, and community members. Efforts towards developing language become meaningless and merely performative if we do not include insights from the teachers responsible for what happens in the trenches. Teachers know that words and language mean nothing if not supported by action. Language needs to include accountability and clear consequences in the classrooms. Otherwise, we create a culture in which learning is greatly compromised. Consequences by definition are actions.
062Without consequences and and consistency, there is chaos and confusion. Regardless of the many positive aspects of the education that SCSD provides, we need to acknowledge the problems exist here. We are aware of the positives through letters, newspapers, board meetings, and social media media, but we don't really talk about the problems. Problems don't get solved unless we name them. Making concerted efforts to address problems openly and transparently is the only way to continue to get support and promote our levies passing. While our ABCs ABC committees bring aware a measure of awareness, we need ad to address discipline. Student discipline is at the core of most of the issues in our district including academics. Concerned citizens of social media group posted a survey that came out last year. While this survey can only give us snapshots, it
063provides does provide consistent examples of legitimate problems and concerns surrounding safety and discipline. These things are certainly affecting the learning environment academically, socially, and emotionally. Of course, there is not a one-sizefitsall answer, but adopted language needs to allow for classroom procedures that provide us as much clarity and consistency as possible. Language must result in actions that are firm and fair to all students. Students are aware of inconsistencies that are not firm and fair. And there is much evidence of this. We want the language in our policies and and procedures to empower students in a way that promotes good citizenship and respect towards all. Accountability and consistency are not complete without follow through. When it comes to developing clear language, follow through is walking the talk. Students need to be accountable. Language needs to be clear
064and consistent. And administrators need to follow through. We all need to know and understand how laws are changing, why they are changing, and how this is affecting language. It's critical that we develop these policies and procedures with input from teacher staff at all levels of education. Thank you for considering sincerely an SCSD teacher. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We will now move on to our school board discussion. Uh we have one item on our topics for school board discussion today. It is a first reading of revised board policy 5404 family medical and maternity leave. Um any thoughts, questions, concerns on >> As I understand it, it looks like we are just making maybe Christine can answer this real quick. Looks We're just making some changes to numbers
065in the in the document. >> Yes, that's correct. The state law has changed related to the um family medical maternity part. So, the numbers have changed. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> Do we have a consensus to move that to a second reading? >> Yes. Yes. >> Excellente. All right. That is that. Uh, now we have our student representative reports on school business. Who's going first? >> All right. [clears throat] One of our main goals this year is to strengthen student talk by creating more opportunities for students to share ideas, explain their thinking, and work together. I have some examples of how we some examples of how we've implemented this into our classrooms include in our marine biology class where students works together to model environmental resource management by foraging for food and using
066spoons and toothpicks, discussing how resource availability impacts population growth. I participate from the toothpicks more efficient. In algebra, students collaborated during a whiteboard graphing activity using conversation and teamwork to solve problems and deepen their understanding. in history. Lincoln Academy students participated in a structured debate on the topic of the red coats versus men and women to analyze the strengths and advantages of both sides of the American Revolution. Another one of our goals is to reflect on student progress and where we are at in regards to our individual goals which we will discuss in advis. Um, this Thursday we will begin our sweet notes fundraiser where Valentine's Day themed cards featuring student submitted arts may be purchased for $1 and sent to any student or staff member. All proceeds go towards our ASV fund. This Friday,
067we will celebrate our attendance awards for second quarter with beer clothes for students with five or less absences during the quarter. Leadership is hoping to plan an all school field trip to Mohawk to go community which would be funded by and pretty recently Last month, Lincoln Academy had their winter social which is rescheduled for December. Students participated in building gingerbread houses, having pizza, and a gift exchange game. >> Thank you. >> Okay, concluding from the last meeting, the first semester has officially came to an end and students were working hard finalizing their grades and I just want to appreciate all the teachers who are like flexible and very helpful with that because I know a lot of students procrastinate. So, it's just [clears throat] nice and teachers are flexible and help us. Um, as for
068February, our ASB has planned a blue Friday this Friday in honor of the Super Bowl this weekend. So, Friday morning, we have a little ASB committee that is going to be handing out Italian sodas and blue and green be necklaces to our students. And then next week, we have our singing Valentine that students can purchase. I believe it's under $5 and you can choose a song in our band and choir go throughout the classes and just sing to those students and you can literally gift it to a student. It's really cute and I like it because it gets kind of old school in the fall. And then we are working on promoting our dance more. It is February 12th. Um and we had a dance committee that finished spirit days and planning the decor. So
069we have everything ordered and ready. And we also have an optional inner high for our ASB and leadership students. I'm not exactly sure how many are attending yet. It is still getting worked on. And then we have mock interviews at the end of this month, which is where students can get like a one-on-one interview and kind of get like the idea of what like a job interview would look like. And we even have it this year where um we've got people who like [snorts] do those kind of jobs that they're interested in. so they can kind of get an idea of what like interviewing for that job would look like. And then we have elections starting next month for our executive. The elections will be held on March 6 and then um like promoting and
070all that will start at the end of this month and then class elections will be till the end of March. and our current executive team along with our adviserss are working on modernizing our ASB constitution because it's 3 years old so it's time for it to get like remade and we we're also just working on making sure the class feels more studentled so we can really get those like student voices and ideas and we are preparing to finalize all dates for the sec the second semester and that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, all right. Next up, we have our board director reports on business conducted. Uh, director Russell, did you have anything? >> I did attend uh the BASA, which is the legislative arm of the director's association and um learned a lot
071of things about our current session and encourage everybody to to go online and look at the type of bills that are in present. Um, some of them will affect us dramatically. Um, some of us probably not so much. I know one of the calls by all the school districts across the state is to to try encourage no more unfunded mandates. Um, that's not a reflection that these mandates are bad. Um, some of them have got some really good sound thinking behind them, but when they pass them without any funds to implement them, it puts tremendous amount of stress on school boards. So, we've articulated that and that's being articulated in Olympia and it's um is something that I wholeheartedly advocate for. So, >> oh, and one last plug is um tickets go on sale for
072MMA Mia next Friday. Um you can purchase them online. >> Thank you. um for no business report other than um a few years ago was another district Christy Hart to hire Christy Auckland there and the building uh went in a different direction and at the time we lost out. However, I'm really glad that she stayed here and she's in the role she's in now. >> Yeah. Thank you. Uh I had my first um meeting with WIAA yesterday. It was uh enlightening um [laughter] to say the least. Um looks like this year they have um 35 proposed amendments the WIA rules and regulations um that they're trying to get passed through which is a record number of uh amendments. Um, apparently they spent like seven and a half hours going through them before they uh sent
073them out for publishing, which feels alarming because I have to go through those same 35 [laughter] amenities and 7 and 1 half hours feels like a long time. Um, so uh that is uh we'll we'll be reviewing those later in February and then there is a vote on those in March. So more information to come on there. Um, and then I would just say I'm really excited. You know, we've really focused a lot on our new buildings and bringing people to our community. And I love we're hosting districts for girls wrestling. We've got all of these things like u the one of the guys from WIA was saying they're having their regional meeting here in August. Like I just really appreciate that we're letting our community and people are coming into our our buildings. So,
074thank you for for the work on that. That's right. >> Um I'm looking forward to mock interview day to maybe interview some potential teachers. So I'm looking forward to that. And those that are uh opting to engage in it as well as uh Mama Mia that's that's coming up as well. I I would be remiss not to say vote vote vote. Please make sure um you're engaging in the vote, whatever way you decide to, but um we want to make sure that uh the voices of our community are heard and please vote and remind those people that are in your neighborhood to do the same because sometimes those ballots just sit on the counters and so we don't want that to happen. So >> you already paid for them, just mail them in. >> Yes,
075that's a good >> Thank you. Uh with that, we are going to recess to a closed executive session. going to change it. We're going to recess until 2:15 to review the performance of a district employee. Yes. >> Well, we don't need Mike back. >> Nope. >> It's not 215. [laughter] >> Sorry. >> [snorts] >> All right, it is now 2:15. Uh we will uh reconvene from our executive session and I will adjourn our regular school board meeting.