001Thank you. [Music] Yes. Let's stand on [Music] I will now call to order the September 16th, 2025 regular school board meeting of the Stanwood Humano School District Board of Directors. All of our directors are present. uh Director King, Director Murray, Dr. Evans, Mr. Olson, and our two new student representatives. Um today, we're offering two opportunities for the public to speak. Comments specific to the consent agenda will be allowed prior to the vote on those items. Citizens who have submitted a request to speak during the public comment section of the agenda will be called upon to make their comments at that time, which is near the end of the meeting. I'll ask our new student representative, Patrick, to lead us in the flag salute. Please rise. [Music] >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the
002United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. You have the agenda before you for the September 16th, 2025 regular school board meeting. Are there any changes to the agenda? Is there a motion to approve the agenda for the September 16, 2025 regular school board meeting as written? >> So move by director. >> Second by director King. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed say no. That passes unanimously. All right. The board has had the opportunity to review the August 28th, 2025 special board meeting minutes. Are there any changes or correction to those minutes? Is there a motion to approve the minutes for the August 28th, 2025 special court meeting? >> Moved by Director King. >> Seconded by
003Director Murray. All those in favor say I. I. >> All those opposed say no. that passes unanimously. Um, [Music] okay. I think we have some more minutes to do, too, though. >> So, the September 2nd, 2025 regular board meeting minutes, are there any changes or correction to those minutes? Okay. Is there a motion to approve the September 2, 2025 regular board meeting minutes? >> So moved. >> Moved by Director Murray. >> Seconded by Director King. All those in favor say I. >> Any oppose say no. That passes unanimously. >> And the last one is the September 2nd, 2025 special board meeting minutes. Are there any corrections or changes to those minutes? Is there a motion? So >> by director >> Adams, second by director King. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All
004oppose say no. That passes unanimously. Okay. So I will turn it over to superintendent. >> Thank you. Men, if you can join me by the podium. Evans told me I'm standing here and you're standing there. >> That's what gets >> we have the opportunity to swear in um a new director and two new student reps tonight. So I'll have the pleasure of doing that and move forward. So, as superintendent of the Stanwood Commino School District number 401, I'll now administer the oath of office to Michael Olsen. Michael, please repeat after me. I, Michael Olsen, >> I Michael Olsson, >> thank you for raising your hand. Do so do solemnly swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution >> I will support the Constitution >> and laws of the United States >>
005the laws of the United States >> and the Constitution >> and laws >> of the state of Washington >> state of Washington >> and I will faithfully >> I will faithfully >> and impartially perform >> and discharge the duties of the office >> of the Stanwood Communal School District >> of the Stan Community School District >> board of directors District 4. >> District 4 >> For the remainder of the term >> ending in November 2027. >> According to the law >> and to the best of my ability. >> Congratulations, Director Olsen. Alexa, do you mind joining me? >> Yeah. [Music] Same place. >> Same place. Good job. [Music] >> Is there someone here cheering you on? >> All right. Hi, Mom. >> All right. As the Go ahead and raise your right hand. As the
006superintendent of the Stanwood Commando School District number 401, I'll now administrate administer the oath of office uh to Stanwood High School student representative Alexa Lei. Alexa, please repeat after me. I, Alexa, >> I, Alexa, >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support >> the Constitution and laws >> of the United States >> and the Constitution and laws >> of the state of Washington >> and the provisions >> of the charter >> and ordinances >> of Snomish County >> and that I will faithfully >> and impartially and impartially >> perform and discharge >> the duties of the office >> of student representative >> to the board of directors >> the board of directors >> of the Stanley Communo school district >> of the Stanley Commun school district >> according to the law >> and to
007the best of my ability >> congratulations to be signed but This is also um to put on your fridge. >> All right. >> Thank you. [Music] >> Great job, >> Patrick. What's that? [Music] Okay. Ready. Okay. As superintendent of the Stanway Commino School District number 401, I'll now administer administer the oath of office to Lincoln Hill High School student representative Patrick Rogers. Patrick, please repeat after me. I, Patrick, >> I, Patrick, >> do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution >> and laws of the United States >> and the Constitution >> the Constitution >> and laws of the state of Washington laws of the state of Washington >> and the provisions >> of the charter >> and ordinances >> of Snomish County of Snomish County >> and
008that I will faithfully >> and impartially perform Perform and discharge >> perform and discharge >> the duties of the office the duties of the office >> of student representative student representative >> to the board of directors >> of the Stanwood Commino school district school district >> according to the law >> and to the best of my ability to the best of my ability congratulations all All right. All right. Congratulations, board director Olen, and congratulations, Alex and Patrick. We look forward to hearing your school reports. It's now time for the superintendent report. Thank you very much. We're actually going to put our uh new student representatives right to work as they read in the donations. So, Alexa, I think you're starting off, right? >> Yeah. >> Okay, great. >> The San Kino School District received the
009following donations. $55,000 donation through the San Camino Area Foundation from private donations and a community fundraiser which was matched by San Camino Area Foundation to provide financial support for elementary schools and towns. $536.70 from the Stanland Elementary School PTO to cover the transportation cost of the June field trips to Stan Simmons Heritage Park and Snow Goose Brothers. Thank you both. Uh job well done on your first assignment. So, thank you for that. I just want to um say once again, as I always do, thank you to the donations, but specifically for this month uh from SCAF for the significant donation of $55,000 to make sure that all of our students come prepared and are able to engage in the in in classes uh equitably no matter what what um situation that they come from. So,
010thanks to staff for that um and for the work that they do in the community as well. The next item on uh the agenda is our first school report of the year and principal Kimberly Caldwell is here to present that. >> Evan told me I had to make sure the microphone was good. Good job. >> All right. Well, first of all, I am incredibly excited to get to stand here for the first time as the Elder Bay principal. Um, I get to represent a incredible community of staff and students and families and get to share with you about the start of our year and our goals for the upcoming school year. Uh, I wanted to start with a picture. We came to school on the first day and some members of our PTA have been
011up the day before and surprised us with decorations. Um, and we welcomed our kiddos with some music and bubbles and had a great first day at El. So, wanted to be able to share that with you. All right. So, we know at the elementary level that our decisions we're making around instruction are part of that foundational early learning for our students in Sanino. Um, I wanted to put that picture in there just as I have been able to be in classrooms over the last week getting to see kids um engaged in learning, engaged with each other. Love this picture as we just think around that social aspect as we're back in school. So today I would like to share with you where our AAP goals are at in the areas of ELA math in our
012ETSS school and then share a little bit with you about the data that we are looking at and how we are looking at that data. So we spent some time as a staff uh right before school started on those couple of days really thinking about end of year data from last year as well as data we were starting to see coming in. Um and we we are still doing our beginning of the year um assessments for our kids that will also help inform us as we're moving forward. Um but I know you had a chance to look over this. So I'll just kind of pull out some highlights. Um we this year will continue to work on decoding strategies with our K2 kiddos as we know that's incredibly important to their foundational learning. 435 we
013are recognizing some areas of growth for us in the area of literary text. So we think around fiction text that our kids are engaging in and thinking about writing. Uh one of the things that we noticed from our inyear assessments uh was that idea of organization and how we can support kids across writing types in how they are organizing their writing. for math. We are recognizing that LGB has done some incredible work around the use of delta math um in thinking about that math fluency piece. We want to continue that with that. But we are also noticing um it is time for us to think about how we are supporting kids in using that knowledge and those skills um in more complex mathematical scenarios. So you will see that in our goals as well. This
014next slide shows our staff actions that we are start recommending we want to commit to when we think around uh those student goals. Um so for ELA one of the things again that Elder Bay has really had in place is a win time for math. And so that is an intervention time what I need time for kids. And we recognize that we a next step for us is to really be thinking about how we do that for ELA and provide um instructional opportunities based off of what students need within our uh new Amplify newer amplified curriculum. We recognize that there are graphic organizers that we want to commit to using consistently with kids to help with that organization of writing. For math, like I talked about, um, we are really thinking about, okay, if kids
015are working on math concepts, how can we help them put those together and use those in more complex math situations? And so, we want to explore that that concept of number talks, having kids really talk with each other and as a class around their mathematical thinking. And then one more piece for the area of math we've talked about is really uh accessing pre assessments at the beginning of our math units so that we can make sure we are using our time on the the standards that our kids really need um and and being able to take a look at post assessments too so that we really have those measures along the school year. All right. for the area of MTSS. Uh we want our students throughout the day, right, to be able to use the
016resources independently that are available for them can kind of read through those. We know right now we are kind of auditing and revising some of the current practices that are in place um so that we are using the most powerful ones when we think around uh supports of behavior as well as supports of uh instructional interventions. down at the bottom one I might highlight we are committing as a staff to uh morning meetings as you may have heard of about that in the past right in other buildings as well um but really having that first part of our day be a welcoming time for all students um and making sure that's a time kids voices are heard they're able to socialize and really see themselves in the classroom and we also have built in some
017time after lunches and recesses for kids to come in and being able to have some social emotional learning pieces connected maybe to some of the um scenarios that they are working through at their grade level. So, as as we get going on the air, like I shared, we talked quite a bit the couple of days before school started as a staff. I wanted to highlight some of the uh assessment pieces that we are using. Our Delta math assessment um amplify, we have endofear composite scores as well as scores across more specific strands. Like I shared, we are still finishing our fall screening, so there might be some changes and updates as that gets finalized. Um, one of the other pieces I wanted to highlight, we this uh, August, a little earlier maybe than in past
018years, have been able to look at not only an overall SBA score, but strand data within a score. Um, and so that's a really powerful opportunity. We sat down with that in August to be able to say, okay, what uh looking at the targets within ELA and math and being able to see maybe where there are strengths um and where there are opportunities and moving forward. Okay. So, I thought it might be powerful just to walk through one grade level and content area um to kind of show you how we have used data in the last few weeks to come up with our goals. Uh so this is an example of fourth grade ELA. Um and so we really have two uh measures we have looked at so far. When we think around inclass data,
019that's the data that's connected to our amplifier reading curriculum and then of course our SPA data we noticed in fourth grade on the inclass data. So we had 60% of our fourth graders at standard when we looked at their composite score. as we looked more at specific strands to kind of figure out okay what what next steps do we need to do um definitely a strength um with that 80% at standard and reading accuracy and then 58 at comprehension which made us ask more questions um so then thinking connected to that when we looked at our fourth grade SBA data and took a look not only at the composite score but at the at the strands within that uh some celebration So our fourth graders were at or above standard and six out of the
020sevenformational text targets. Um but some areas of next steps we noticed as you saw in our AAP was that we have some areas to grow in um and think about narrative text. So thinking about supporting kids and finding those key details um and being able to look at the text structure. So again, just one example uh but I wanted to show you kind of how those conversations have gone as we've worked to um inter interwine the different assessments we have available to us. I have a couple slides I wanted to end with to share a little bit about um the community engagement culture and some of the goals that we have. One of the things that has really stood out to me um is a desire of the community to get parents and families in
021school and um really highlight some of the strengths of our families and have them um present with us to help celebrate kids. We are setting a goal for ourselves to really create some powerful spirit assemblies that we can involve families in. Um we have our first one coming up next week. Um, so that's that's an exciting piece I think for Elder Bay. And then I got an invite in August to um come see the work party that was in action out on our playground. Um, I was right. I showed up with nearly 20 volunteers right in August um out there as you can see helping uh update our map on our playground. And then off to the right, that's a group working on signs um for our community garden. And I don't know if you've
022anybody's had the chance to be out at Elbay to see um the incredible garden that we have in place. Um and I think it's really a testament to the community and the um involvement of our families. Um and I think that is something we want to continue to expand upon how we involve family interests um into helping us create our community. All right. So, as I come back throughout the year, I think I will be excited to share with you um our strides in these areas um when we think around closing those gaps in those areas that I've talked about. Elder Bay has a structure for data meetings in place that we are excited to continue upon. we got those up and going this last week um and have been able to really celebrate some
023of the fall screening data that is coming in for us. Um and then intertwined in that too, I think we've started some conversations just around how we can emphasize student ownership and voice um throughout our school both for their instruction as well as for our community events. Right. And I think that's a great picture to end on. um and see if there's any questions. >> Yes. >> On the next to last slide in the second item, it says um yeah, consistent win times or targeted instruction. Please explain. So what? >> Yes, absolutely. So that win time that is our target um our intervention time. So when meaning what everybody needs. Um, so I think that that is a really powerful time for us to say, hey, in our data meetings when we look at our
024math or our ELA data, um, what do we see that kids need and be able to make some choices around that around um, how we might group kids, where kids might go for a period of time during that intervention time and really meant to support any kid on getting next steps on where they're at. >> Great question. When you talk about data meetings, um, are those like grade level, so like all of your fourth grade teachers, are you clumping together like kindergarten, first grade? Like what does that sort of structure look like at Elder Bank? >> Great question. So we have it built in uh where every other week um there is time for the grade level to meet together um with myself in our MPSS interventionist. Um, one of the things I think Elder
025Bay has really used that time wisely around math and how to use Delta math. Uh, we are trying kind of rotating uh each time the grade level meets and thinking around math focus, ELA focus, uh, behavior, social, emotional learning focus. I think we will see that there's overlap between those areas. Um, but I think just helping us expand in our thinking around that. So go back to answer your question. It is grade level uh, right now. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Okay, >> thank you, Principal Caldwell, for uh taking the lead on school reports. First thing, appreciate it. Nice job. [Music] >> Next up on the superintendent report is the summer school update by uh Dr. Colin Ryan and Jennifer Allen and our teaching and learning and student support teams. Evan told me I had
026Jennifer and I are happy to be up here to talk about the progress that our kids made this summer, another what I would call successful summer. Um, and we think that that key at that period of time in the summer is part of getting to that next step. So, third grade gates going to the fourth and for high school kids be on track to graduate which is that cool picture right there. Um really believe that um graduation is a K12 effort. So third grade kids going into the fourth we're supporting the graduation track. It's all part of that same accomplishment as we see these happy seniors here. And this is the pretty identical program to what we ran last year. Elementary rising fourth graders. So kids that were third grade going into fourth taking the
027last unit of our core curriculum. And the last unit is meant to um also introduce the next year. So it's a great unit for that reason. And it's also science ecology. Really like it. It was at Twin City breakfast and lunch served high school at Stanwood um at the high school obviously and we continue to use egeneuity. It's an online platform. Kids are on the computers and we have instructional staff to support progress on the platform but also and probably more importantly to provide that content support they need and that was also purposely served that program as well. So, I have had the pleasure for two years now to be involved in the elementary program for summer school. Last year as the principal and this year in my role as student support, we invited about
028120 students, third grade across our five elementary schools and we had 35 participants this year. 6% of our students uh are identified as multil- language learners and receive MLL services throughout the school year. And 46% of our participants this summer receive special education services. I want to um provide some graphics for you to look at. One of the things that we um really focus on a lot with our uh incoming fourth graders is their oral reading fluency. Um we know that one of the strongest predictors to comprehension and vocabulary development is being able to read at a pace um in which comprehension can take place. So we start first day of summer school um doing some baseline assessments with our students. And um you can see that bar at the very top in this graph.
029um we call it their cold timing. So what um skill set do they start with do they come in with? And then you can see um the timing that we take across the four weeks of summer school with the bottom one being our last um day of summer school. And I'm proud to say that we had a 100% increase to our students oral reading fluency this year. um moving from 55 words per minute average to 115. Um this is some information for you on our uh breakfast and lunch participation. So uh Twin City Elementary has hosted our summer feeding program um for the last three summers. Um and you can see that um across the years we've had an increase in both breakfast and lunch participation uh and serving uh more than 900 more meals
030um on average that we did in previous years. So that's been a great resource and um also just a great offering to our students who are in the building for those weeks during summer school. I want to take a moment to um shout out our community partners. Um we have partnered the last two summers with the Stam Camino Arts Advocacy Commission. Um they have provided us artists and residents as well as bringing their mobile arts center to our um catch the wave summer school showcase celebration that we do at the end each year. Um this picture is Gayen Bane who is a retired uh Stamino school district teacher and she has um continued to come back in the role of artist and residents and supporting our students um for the last two summers. In addition
031to that, we have partnership with the YMCA here in Stonewood. Um, and we have been able to offer our students swimming opportunities um throughout summer school as well as um some physical education. The um staff at the Y have been wonderful in uh creating some active opportunities for our students so that it doesn't um feel like just a lot of learning but there's lots of um fun and activities activeness through uh this is a few quotes that I want to share from students perspectives. Um, the first one is, "It was really fun and I didn't even mind going to school in the summer." Um, the second one is, "I love all the science activities we did, but the owl pellets were a bit gross." So, that the unit that the students study in um, summer
032school is on ecology and we talk a lot about the, you know, cycles of um, animals and predators and all the things. And we started doing owl pellet dissection last summer and they get to go home with all the little bits and skeletons of mice. Um the last one is probably the one that lands, you know, closest to my heart and that is I feel like a good reader now. And if we have one um goal with our summer offerings for students is that we are preparing them to feel more ready and more self- assured as they enter the next grade level. While we didn't hear similar quotes from the high school kids about not minding going to school in the summer, what starts to happen at the high school, that's really pretty neat to
033watch. Kids go at their own pace. They start to get credits and if they finish their credit goal, they're done and they can have two or three weeks of what's left in August. So, and they're on track. they they accomplished their goal. So that starts to warm up different pace of high school. We had 191 high school students attend 251 credits earned and then we had seven additional um I guess in the summer school which what you would call super seniors. So we have rising seniors, juniors that are going to be seniors next year and kids that graduated doing summer school. Proud proud of those kids. And for the last 7 years, we have between 150 and 200 kids. The summer was interesting because we kept the same um language around attendance. And to add
034to it, Cory Gungeon and the admin staff were pretty robust about um attendance and the important importance to come. Yes, it's an online platform, but when you see kids um students progress way a way more accelerated rate when they come and they work with staff, they're able to achieve credits more. So, we have some next steps to address that, but that's what that dip in the meals is for 2025. So, for the high school, a big chunk, it took quite a bit of time. The first day was distributing technology. Um, it didn't take the whole day, but the tech team was awesome. We had all that front loaded, so those computers were ready to go. Kids could just enroll on the computers and start earning credit. And we um in the elementary we kept our
035enrichment activities. Um, if you think that's important and you can tell kids are going to the pool, they're excited to partake. And then um what we're starting to notice and really appreciate, we're getting returning cadres of teaching staff. So when they show up, it saves so much time because a bulk of the high school staff and elementary staff, they're ready to go. Um and we appreciate them returning and they enjoy it. And um we're going to continue to be robust um with hiring folks that are internal that apply whether it's classified instructional staff or teaching staff because that's the time we want people that's supported and that gives what they need during the summer. Anything you want to add elementary um considerations for next summer. I kind of mentioned it, but we're going to be
036a little more clear with our attendance language at the high school. It's um I'm I'm not sure why that happened or whatever it happened, but we're going to cross more teas to make sure kids understand that you have to be here. It's an online program and you can work on it at home and we need you to come for your half days. And we have a a timeline worked out where we're going to invite students in March, extend those in June when we get SPA scores. And we've talked about different scenarios about how to increase our elementary numbers. I mean, robust communication efforts went out, but we'll look at how we add more. Um, we've even talked potentially about looking at second grade. Do we add second grade? And then um mentioned before just clear
037and more firm attendance school questions. >> So you you said that you had like over 100 or so students that were invited to participate at the elementary level. Um, and I see that you have considerations for 2026 in regarding uh incre increasing participation. What barriers do you feel are um keeping students from participating and how do you think you're going to address those? I think um August is a prime time for families to do things together and take vacations and we offer summer school um the three weeks prior to the school year starting in the elementary level. So I think just being mindful of that. Um we don't ever want to take away from the chances of you know students and families doing things together but it's a five day a week for 3 week
038um commitment and 15 days is a lot of um prime summer to you know commit to being home and not um someplace else. One of the things that we've considered is maybe shortening the school day as far as the time frame. Um, one of the other things that we've talked about is maybe we look at a 4 day a week model instead of a five day a week model. Um, maybe encouraging the uh, participation in those four days and then giving some three-day weekends. See if that might change. Um, one of the things that we're going to do is a debrief with our staff and our families that have participated. We have data now for the last three school years. Um and just kind of asking some of those questions of you know what what
039made it enticing, what made you participate. Um we have contact information with families who declined and um you know just asking some questions around what what was the barrier for you. So, um, we have some time throughout this school year to gather some data and hopefully put together a program that will, you know, continue to, um, invite students in for that opportunity for learning. And when I think about, you know, 35 students this year doubling their ability to, um, have oral reading uh, fluency rates, I feel like we changed 35 students lives. And so, you know, those were kids who benefited from our program and that's why we continue to offer this and have this be an option for our students. >> When did we send out the invites? Sorry. When did we send out
040the invites for summer school? This year because I see this says invite students in March. When did we do it? >> We um did not do our first round of invitations until probably late April, 1 of May. And then we did a second round of invitations. We we cross referenced data together um and did a second round of invitations after we received the spring SBA scores for our third graders. And I think for some families that was probably too late. They had already committed to plans for the summer. >> I was just wondering if we'd be even thinking about if August is is prime vacation time. What about the idea of potentially looking at like taking a break at like a little like week break off once school at the end of the school year
041and then going into to a program for a couple of weeks and then you still have a problem at that time. >> Good thinking good suggestions of those invited. What were the criteria for choosing who would be invited and also what saying is the school of the population was invited. >> So we target students who um were below level on our MClass data. So using our um Amplify assessments and then when we looked at um SBA data, we targeted invitations to students that were a level two or a level one. Um so any student who is just kind of on the cusp or below um that benchmark performance that we want them to leave third grade with. And I think we sent a total of about 120 um invitations to students and families. And we
042have in third grade >> over 300 students. So about we then we would have um invited about 13 so about 35%. >> Yeah question. >> Go ahead. >> I was going to say it's 368. >> Is that um I went to summer school myself though I was not grew. It was I was academic and that was good to do. In fact I accidentally graduated because of that. Uh anyway though, I was just wondering about especially for things like in the high school shops that may be limited in capacity uh if if that could be offered to whoever rather than just those having a hard time. No, it's a good input. It's a credit retrieval program, but that doesn't mean we can't consider credit acceleration opportunities in a different range. So, we're going to have a
043debrief with high school folks as well to talk about those piece. That's a good suggestion. I >> I'll also add to that that um at the high school level, students involved in in current technical education have an opportunity through their CTSOs or career and technical student organizations to extend their learning beyond the school year and beyond the school day in which uh we have um many many students to do in both FFA, agriculture, mechanics and and you know sports medicine programs like that. and director King. In high school, we work with um counselors and they track freshman, sophomores, juniors, seniors that need credit. They have a spreadsheet and they send out a blanket invitation parents. So, it's pretty clean. We've had the same number of kids each year, pretty much 190 each. So, we'll probably
044keep that same process. So just to clarify, if we sent out 120 invitations, if all 120 accepted, we would have made room for all 120 of them and that would have been a win, right? >> Okay. >> Huge win. >> Yeah. I mean, like everybody wants everybody to accept, but just to clarify, we would have made room for them. And then uh the second question that I have is you said that there were seven seniors that graduated uh that got credits. Do those count as four-year graduates or does that roll to a five-year graduate? >> Any students that graduate before August 31st count in their cohort? So, there would be a four-year four-year graduate assuming that they were in their fourth years of high school. >> Thank you both for the report and for your
045work around extending our school year for our students in the district. >> The final item on the superintendent report tonight is the enrollment report. Um you see before you the September 2025 enrollment report um reflecting 4,651 FTE or full-time equivalent students. This is an increase of two students from last year's annual average full-time equivalent. Um however it's currently down 14 from budgeted uh enrollment of 4,665 excluding TK running start and open doors. In prior years if prior years are an indication um enrollment will increase in October and then de decrease again by the end of the year. That's a typical trend that we see across public schools in Washington. Um the decrease from budget uh is attributed to kindergarten being significantly below particularly in two of our elementary schools u by about 53 um when
046last checked. That's offset somewhat by uh fourth grade and by high school. So um although we've had a a lag in enrollment, we actually collapsed two class two kindergarten classes at two elementary schools. We um have seen a bubble come through and some additional students come a couple of our grade bands. That puts us um at an increase of two over last year's annual annual average. >> Which two are >> El Bay and Cedar Home? I've um done some investigation as to as to why other districts um in the in the tri county area actually saw the lag last year. Um so that might be reflective of what we're seeing this year. Um but the the um consolidation of the two elementary schools is something we're still missing. >> Speaking with some help from with
047some school district directors from outside of our area. They've seen similar numbers which I thought was interesting and south. >> Thank you. One of the questions I thought might be asked was around homeschool um this uh that comes up sometimes this time of year about how many students are um and families are engaging in homeschool. When I when I say homeschool, I'm not I'm referring to Saratoga School, our parent partnership. Um, as of 9:00 this morning, um, in our district, we had 286 students that are engaged in um, homeschool. And that is the laws in the state of Washington doesn't require that students designate homeschool status till the age of eight. So, it doesn't count the homeschool that could have been coming into kindergarten. So, that's not reflected in that, but was something that was
048investigated. The other question I had was, is that an increase from last year? And the answer is um no. In fact, it's um typical of the number of students engaged in homeschool in our community um uh over the last few years. There's no more questions. That is the end of the superintendent report. >> Thank you, Superintendent Overel. We'll now move on to the consent agenda. Anyone in attendance may speak to the items contained in the consent agenda and only those items contained in the consent agenda at this time. This is not the portion of the meeting for open open public comment on items outside of the consent agenda. Open public comment is coming up soon. Are there any board directors who wish to pull any item from the consent agenda for discussion? Are there any
049people in attendance who wish to speak to any of these consent agenda items 1 through eight? If so, please raise your hand in person or online. Okay. Seeing no raise hands. Is there a motion to approve consent agendas items 1 through eight? >> Moved by Director Evans. >> Seconded by Director King. All in favor of approving consent agendas items one through eight say I. I. >> Any opposed say no. >> That passes unanimously. We have no old business to discuss. Citizens wishing to address the board are asked to submit online requests using the public comment link on our website or by email 2 hours prior to the board meeting start time. For those attending the meeting in person, request forms are available in the boardroom for submission prior to the meeting start time. Citizens who
050wish to provide documents to board directors will hand them to our recording secretary for distribution after the meeting. The board president will call upon individuals who have requested to speak during the public comment section of the agenda. Individuals will state their name for the record and will be allowed three minutes to speak. We have three speakers today request for public comment. To be respectful of our speakers, please refrain from responding to the comments of the speakers. As a matter of order, because this is the board business meeting, the board is providing an opportunity for the public to comment. However, the board does not create discussion on those comments within the meeting as they are not part of the agenda. Comments will be followed up on after the meeting if that is appropriate. When it's your
051turn to comment, please make state your name for the record. You have three minutes to speak. There's a timer on the screen. The yellow light means you have one minute left and the red light means that your time to address the board is up. Our first speaker this evening is Kelsey Ross. >> Do I have to turn it on? >> It's already on. Okay. >> Hello. My name is Kelsey Ross. I am a concerned mother of three at Unsolved Elementary. Last October, a Saga was put in motion when the board executive session ordered an investigation into her principal. At the time, I was not familiar with the newest allegations, but was unsurprised due to what I had learned months before about the degradation of that school in this first year's principal. I had known about
052the safety concerns of for students and staff alike and the lack of staff support and spiraling student behavior. The school had become a free-for-all for our students and a nightmare for the teachers in Paris that care for our children. I believe that the board made the moral call to take immediate action, but unfortunately, it was one that would be easily twisted by the friends and allies of this principal. I watched the narrative pivot several times and end up completely hijacked to remove the blame from the shoulders of the responsible [Music] to suit the desires of one of the loudest voices in the community due to the selfishness of some to use this as an opportunity to go after the board for their politics. We ended up somewhere that completely distracted from solving the very real
053problems at that school. I questioned the validity of the investigation that determined the allegations were unfounded, knowing some of exactly what is still going on at that school, understanding that information was withheld from the report and that individuals with relevant and pertinent pertinent experiences to the investigation were willfully excluded. Having seen the district response to the grievance by the teacher that the blame was shifted upon, I think they may know the truth as well. I ask that the staff in the school come forward and share the truth of what is going on behind closed doors. I know you have been muzzled by fear of retaliation, alienation, one-sided media reporting, failures of union and building rumps, as well as those in the community that have sold and been sold a false narrative. To the parents who
054have experiences that cooperate, please bring your your reports to the district and do not let them brush you aside. To the district administrators, please make it possible for your staff to feel supported and safe in coming forward without fear of losing their jobs or being subjected to the retaliatory war path of those who wish to silence. And to the board, if the time comes for you to take action on these issues, work exactly by the book so that you are effective and no longer used as a diversion to ignore what is going on in that school. I have been bullied, threatened, and harassed by individuals in this room for knowing what I know. I just want to say that caring for the safety of our children in a positive work environment for our educators is
055as a-political and bipartisan as it gets. But it's time for the truth to come out and finally deal with what is going on in that school so parents like myself can feel good about sending our kids to class again. I just want to say that I have three kids in that school. They all need extra help and I in their IEP I haven't so that principal cannot speak to my kids and when the time comes I can't wait for them to be out of there. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is well I don't know if she turned this on. >> Good evening. My name is Raquel Herrera Mendulsa. I'm here because our district's homeschool declaration form is currently asking for families for more information than state law requires. The only information a
056parent is legally obligated to provide is the child's name, age, and whether instruction will be provided by the parent or a certified person. Anything beyond that is optional. The problem is on the district's form, it is not made clear that this additional information is optional. That puts families in a difficult position and some may feel pressured into giving up private information unnecessarily. While others may avoid filling out the form at all out of concern which could lead to wrongful trcency accusations. By continuing to use a non-compliant form, the district exposes itself to legal challenges since it is not following following state statute. It also risks damaging trust with local families. And this is not just a technical issue. It's also about protecting the rights of parents and keeping the district in compliance with state law.
057I respectfully re requesting that the district immediately revise the form to make optional fields clearly optional and ensure it reflects only the law what the law requires. I would also like to say I am a homeschool advocate. I have been homeschooling for I think this is my eighth year and I've always used a particular form that I always tell people to use and when I sent my daughter in yesterday to turn it in she was asked to put her grade levels and that and that made me upset and so I went inside and I found the form that the district um has for parents to use which is absolutely fine. But some of these things are technically and should be stated that they're optional. I did email Mr. Ryan yesterday, but I felt it was
058necessary to come in here and speak for all homeschoolers, not myself. Um, and if needed, I can help work with you guys to do that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Tracy Ael. [Music] Good evening. I'm happy to see you. I'm so excited for you two being on here. This is such an exciting time. You can put it on your resume. Okay. I'm Tracy Ael and I live on Camino Island and um I've lived there for 32 years. my children, my grandchildren, all go to school here. I'm so excited, Mr. O'Neal, that you are in. You are a local guy, and that's what our community, we don't need to be uh farming out our positions. And for you to come in here, you've grown up here, your parents, you have a history.
059And so, I just want to say congratulations to you and thank you for doing that. Thank you. >> And to you, Mr. Olsen, thank you for stepping in. Are you ready? >> You bet. >> Are you ready for this? >> Because it's pretty chaotic at some time, right? And the reason I'm here is because I do run the Republican Women's Club and my ladies have come in here and I I'm just shocked. I'm shocked at the behavior. I'm shocked at the behavior of the board members. I'm shocked that when my uh volunteer actually said, "Hey, something's going on." That she was my gosh, she was lied about. She was smeared about. our actual school board candidate. Regardless of what you think of her, her goal was education, academics. Okay, we have a problem. We still
060have the same problem that we had a year ago. And that is that principle. Okay, you cannot commit these things. And I got the letter that you somebody hid the letter that would have actually brought everything out in the open. Okay. For whatever purpose. I don't know. I actually think it was political, but here we are. Okay. So, I think you really need to look into that. And then another, you know, unfortunately I hear a lot of stuff, but I hear that you're transgendering a child without the parents knowledge. That is against the federal law. President Trump came in here and said that. Now, we have the feds already looking into OSBI. This this school has already been reported National Education Association and they have also been reported to OSBI. So I don't want us
061to lose our funding. Okay. I want to go according to federal laws. We have a WASDA meeting. >> Is anybody going? >> Thank you. Moving on to topics scheduled for school board discussion. We have the first reading of revised board policy 6000 program planning budget preparation adoption and implementation. Is there any questions or discussions on that first reading of board policy 6000? Do we have consensus to move that on to a second reading? we have consensus to move that on to a second reading. The second one is for discussion is the WASA the Washington State School Directors Association General Assembly coming up on the 20th here. Um and you all receive the U General Assembly handbook, the final one there. Uh we'll open that up for any discussions and All right, that will be on
062Saturday. So, if you have any last minute thoughts or whatever, let me know before that day. >> Should we be talking about who's going to represent the board? We should probably have some consensus. Well, the credentials are sent to the board chair and sometimes we delegate that to our legislative rep, which we do not have at this time. That see that position. So, >> but I don't believe our policy state specifically that it's the ledge rep or the board chair's role necessarily. So, it's usually in consensus. So, I I'm just saying I don't have a problem with you all being that person, but I think it should be an open conversation just to make sure that we're all in agreement um in regards to you representing us on on and the desires of this board.
063Okay, that comes from Wstead. But um do we have consensus for the board chair to cast our one vote for the proposed items at the laws of the general assembly? So I guess my question is regardless of who goes so historically when the our person goes to the law of general assembly um there is a a it's where they send out a thing that says like what are your priorities rank these they send them to the stats uh to see where they land on a lot of those things um similarly to how they do for like legislative day for um like the actual legislature for Washington state. Are we doing like is that what this is supposed to be where we're supposed to be saying where we agree or disagree? Like last year we went
064through these sort of like suggestion by suggestion and said do we agree do we disagree with these things? Like are we doing that so that the person who goes to represent us represents the board as a whole or like what is the process? Well, we had asked that if you differ with the WASA recommendations that you would have notified our reporting secretary prior to the meeting today. >> He asked that you prepared to discuss them during the board discussion portion of today's meeting. there are any laws depositions on the proposal with which you would disagree is what the email says. Correct. So is that like legitimately is that what we're doing now? If there's anything that we disagree with or discuss comments or concerns on any of the proposals at now would be the time
065to discuss them. >> I just want to make it clear if are we talking about the proposals which are each of the the items that they're going to be voting on. Are we talking about the was the board committee recommendations and whether or not we agree with those? >> Yeah, I that was unclear. >> I just that's what I want I would like clarity on because I'm happy to go with the recommendations of WASA and the committee recommendations. Um, I've read through the the general assembly book and I've read the the language as to why they came up with the recommendations that they did. And I'm happy to give you the authority to vote as these are listed out on whether or not these do not pass or pass um for Saturday. >> Okay. In
066the past we have sent that spreadsheet around not only to the board directors but to a lot of staff and everything else. This is actually um the school directors association and we would go with the um consensus of the board of directors. We like input from staff community and other areas but basically it comes down to a consensus of the board of directors. So, just to clarify, um, if we're saying we agree with the recommendation from WASDA or if there's anything we don't agree with from the recommendations from WAZDA, uh, I am with Director Murray. I believe she's also saying that like I agree with the recommendations from WAZA. So like I if if that is the consensus that we're looking for that we agree with WZA's recommendations then similarly I'm okay with whomever goes
067and votes as a board with the consensus that that we're going to agree with the recommendations. That would be my position on these particular items. Other comments Wilson, >> I read through those as well and I agree with both of you that um the board's recommendations should parallel that of the recommendations of the Boston Committee. Pass, do not pass. >> Thank you. Other comments or questions? Okay, moving on to our student representative reports on school business for the first time. Who would like to go first? Um, we've been doing a number of activities at High School. Uh, we had our open house on September 9th. We have pretty decent attendance. Um, we our ASB elections are to take place this Thursday, September 18th. Our spirit week is to take place next week from September 22nd
068to September 26th. Our pancake breakfast is scheduled to take place on September 25th. Our first student council rep representative meeting is scheduled to take place on September 23rd. Our fall social is scheduled to take place on an undetermined date in October. >> Thank you for the question. Okay. So, um we've been in school for like 3 weeks now and I think the first week went really well for Sam High School and we just had our first assembly last Friday which was pretty successful except for some behavior but we're working on getting that corrected and I think the football games have been really smooth too especially the last game which was away. Students did a good job looking up after themselves which I think is good. And then we have spirit week day is going on
069next week and homecoming is next Saturday and we have the homecoming parade next Thursday as well. And I think the new phone rule that was installed is going pretty good too. I've like seen students be more engaged and I've like read the last few emails about how students have been more engaged since. So just wanted to thank you and welcome. We look forward to many more reports from you. We will move on to board director's reports on business conducted. Starting with director Dennis. >> Um yeah, I mean the first month of school is always a little bit hectic. Kind of getting back into the swing of things. Um I was unable to go to a lot of the open houses this year. I did go to the joint seedback community or the facilities committee seedback
070budget committee meeting that we had last week. Um it was uh a really great sort of experience. It was a small group but I think it was super engaged and um came with a lot of knowledge and insight onto some of the things that we needed maybe some community involvement in. So I I genuinely appreciated that. Um, it is a new year. So, if you're interested in joining one of our ABC committees, either facilities, budget, or academics, please sign up now because we've only had a few meetings and there's still plenty of work to be done. So, please come on down and and join it out. Um, to your point about the football games, my favorite thing is at the end of the football games, seeing the students cleaning up the stands. I wish that
071there wasn't so much trash in the stands for them to clean up, but I do love seeing them taking pride and ownership in our facilities and making sure they are clean and not leaving that for staff. So, I genuinely appreciate um just the overall hard work that our students do in that. Thank you, >> Director Murray. >> Um I also am going to plug our ABCs. a lot of interesting information comes out and so please really think about being part of it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make last weeks um because I was out of town but um I do normally attend them regularly and really appreciate everyone who comes and engages because we don't know what we don't know if you guys are not coming to us and talking to us. So, um besides
072that, I'm just excited for the new school year. Um, welcome to Director Olsen and it feels um I feel whole up here for once. Um, there it's been kind of um we've been missing our students and we've had a an open seat up here and I am just excited for a new year and new opportunities to engage with everyone as well as um do really good work for our students. So, um, thank you. >> Thank you, Director. Director Holson, your first comments. >> I'll be brief. Um, >> thank you for the opportunity to push the button. >> Thank you for the opportunity to be here. >> Okay, start over. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. I appreciate this support that programs give me. I thank Stacy for keeping me updated with things. I've
073really enjoyed actually reading the um reports that principles send to their staff each Friday. Um it's given me a good understanding of what's happening in each building. Of course, from my perspective on arts with the holistic perspective, a systemic approach um especially around academics. Um look forward to being part of that work that the ABC committee the A for sure. Um just pleased to be here. Took a lot of notes tonight and I'm going to keep doing that. Thank you. Director King, >> I attended the capital facilities advisory committee meeting and very very impressed with what was presented by superintendent and the staff was a lot of effort went into that and also some of things from prior um analysis of you know focus on our needs for our capital facilities. um not just not
074new ones right now, but keeping the old one about everything we have going. That's a really important thing and and the staff has identified a long list of critical projects for each school. So hopefully we can get to to cover that. Um and then also um I in my role of vice president I re review payables and and looking at them in detail and and I was in a large community college for years as a department head etc largest in the country and I'm very for it so I was involved with that kind of thing there on the other side but I'm extremely impressed with how our system is working it's so well organized Everything is done so thoroughly. The invoices have receipts attached to them with signatures and and so it takes a lot
075of staff time to do that. So, it's very important that I attended a a meeting right after I got on board about stuff schoolwork people should do. And the one thing I there was actually two big points the guy made. one of which was pay a lot of attention to the finances and is being done extremely well. >> Thank you Dr. King and welcome to our new additions to the board. It's nice to have a pull forward again here and I want to thank the staff and everyone for the input on the levy. Our work is just beginning on that. So that will continue for several months now. And I, as always, I will give the final word to Superintendent Roman now. >> Thank you, Director Shriber. Uh, I'll have to call out our student
076representatives. You did a fine job, as nervous as it is, you know, as you can get to to sit up here in front of a bunch of adults. Um, thank you for representing your schools and and and I'm going to say your schools, but all of the schools in the district. Um, it it takes a lot of time and you've you've you have a solid start, so we appreciate it. Um and welcome to Director Olsen. Appreciate you being here as well. Reflect what has been said already before that it um it's great to have everyone up here with uh you know dialogue and feedback about the things that are happening in the district. So thank you for that. I I'll also say thank you for the community that's out here um on what is undoubtedly
077the the last warmest night of the year. Uh so thanks for thanks for being here um to to give feedback to us as uh not only the board of directors but but also as a school system. And I'll also um give a pitch that I'm going to tomorrow morning I'll be with the um the uh commerce alliance in Scanwood presenting what we call the state of the schools and uh that will soon transition into levy information meetings. But if you are part of a community organization that would like to have us um present the state of our schools or have information on uh the um what what sounds to be the upcoming levy, we are happy to to come do that. Um so please reach out and um we would like I said be happy
078to do that. So thank you. >> All right. Thank you all. And there being no further business, the September 16th, 2025 regular board meeting is here.