001Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat up here. Hey. Heat. Heat. Despite losing the 2020 presidential election, Thank you everybody. The regular meeting is convened at 6:01 p.m. Superintendent, have there been any changes or additions to the agenda since it was published? Those in favor of approving the agenda as presented say I. The agenda is approved as presented. Thank you. Now we will move on to the meeting minutes video. The minutes from the April 23rd meeting have been distributed to the board. Are there any changes or corrections? All those in favor of approving the new as presented say I. All those opposed. Are approved. We'll now move to consent agenda. The items on the consent agenda have been provided to the board. Are there any questions or discussion? All those
002in favor of approving the consent agenda as say I. All those opposed the consent agenda will approve now to recognition. We might need another minute or two. I'm trying to get so that was a good online post a little bit more here. Once we get all set, Kevin will recognize a Buck High School state with NP. This is K News. I'm Kim in Seattle. Washington City Battle. is considering subjects to ice reports. A shift towards more stances for the council. Antifa related violence and another time which is impossible according to their authors include a proposal to recognize June as pride month and another that would transgender Mayor did not respond to Washington State Patrol says it's stepping up its presc. especially on the 520 report. Sorry. focusing on committed to advancing transformative and criminal justice.
003son was just graduated from her son just graduated from boot camp and so he was out there celebrating his graduation. I said I would take that. Yeah. Feels really awesome. I think All right. I think I'm almost Are you able to hear us? All right. It is nice. Will you continue? Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. So, it's it's my pleasure today uh to acknowledge a couple of our students here in Twater. And we have two state champs. And we have Simon here. um talk a little bit about his third place in composition and they are going to perform to you as you can see and so uh Jaden and Will are 2026 state champs. I didn't hear and maybe Mr. Mandowski if you want to say because I heard last night him talk about
004this. So in the last since Black Hills this is like number four and five state champs at Black Hills High School in percussion. Is that what you said or music? Seven state champions in music. Um, percussion. They have some some shoes to fill. I think they just got to meet um one of our alumni who just went into the Black Hills Hall of Fame Lab this in the last couple months. And so, let's cheer up against. So, I don't know who wants if you want to introduce yourself like maybe Jaden, you want to go first or Uh, hi. I'm Jaden Ramsey. Um, I'm gonna play a piece called As Venturas. Uh, just a little snippet of it. Um, and before I start, I want to thank Landowski, Mr. Mitchell, for helping me get to where
005I am. And I want to thank the board for letting us come here and perform. Be awesome. I I was told to give you a pre-warning. This is going to be pretty loud. And so, um, use your ear muffs if you need to. Um, so just be forewarned. So it won't get you too busy. tow. Well, well done. Thank you so much. Wow. Super impressive. Got a little certificate for you and one of our um our mission coins. So, thank you so much for being here. Congratulations. And you get a chance to do it again next year, too. Awesome. All right. So, uh it's Will, right? Will. All right. I'll bring Simon over here, too. We'll find the other side. You know, I played the snare drum in the old Michael T. Sims in the
006fifth grade. I sounded just like that. Didn't we all? That's what I was saying, too. All right. Well, do you want to just do a quick introduction and give us a little bit about yourself and what you're going to be playing? Um, hello. My name is Will Madison. Uh, I'll be playing a piece called WA by Taste of Tangelo. And um I don't know. I would just like to thank Keith Mitchell, our percussion instructor, and Andrew Landowski, our band director, and Jaden Ramsey, cuz he helped me a lot, too. Thank you, Jaden. Uh yeah, it same warning goes for the scrutiny loud. Are you pretty loud as well? All right. I guess hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey Black. Hey.
007Hey. Black. Hello. Heat. Heat. I was I feel like people have a lot of different options. But they still keep coming to us. One night started Nice job. Do you would like to describe why these two step of like what makes you stay champ? Um most all schools are in categories um based on the size of your school. So you may have single A double A quad A and you compete in that category at the state at solo ensemble it's not like that it's every man for himself and these truly these individuals are truly the best in the state of this time. So, well, that's hard to answer because they're all doing it, right? Um, it's their passion really. You know, they're they're wanting to hear um, you know, themselves, the sounds, you know, all
008the all the nuances of all the sounds that we've heard. That becomes a very big motivator. Um, solos that they played um are very complicated solos and they are playing exactly everything that's on the page um which is quite impressive. Um it's these solos are really designed for um obviously they're playing them well but really they're they're standard literature for like a junior senior recital um if they're confident. So um what makes them stand out? It's the hard work. It's the passion. It's the love for what they're doing and and just being the people. Simon, are you hearing Simon? Okay. Can you pass that to Simon on on behalf of the board? Thank you so much. Thank you guys for being here tonight. One more hand round of applause for the guys. Thank you so
009much. Congratulations. I will let you guys pack up. We're going to do we have one other award um as you guys are doing that and I can you you're not going to bother me. We'll because I want to recognize our students and then and maybe our board will want us to spend a moment to to recognize them and we we will be loud enough that you can do your thing. Um, so we have three uh of our board student reps. Um, this is their last meeting and so Tril and Courtney um are are here today and we don't have Cooper. Um, I didn't see Cooper in today. So, we'll make sure we get u we have a little bit of your picture that we took at the beginning of the year. A little bit of
010a snack for you. Um, I think we'll treat and that was courtesy of Becky and she takes care of that. Uh we also have and I'll just show you this when you graduate. So Cooper is the only current graduating um student rep, but we do have multiple students graduating who have served as student boarders. And so quite a few of our students across the district will be getting um these motor school district school board medals. They were at graduation and so Cooper will get his and these guys when they graduate will get theirs. And so that's not happening quite yet. Um so I think both of them are juniors, correct, Courtney? So, um, so I'll hand out and then I'll, uh, if the board would like to make any comments to students as they are
011leaving us today. And so I'll hand I I just don't appreciate your dedication and thoroughess. when you come with a report, you come with a report to write those things out, to have them ready for us, and to really convey what it is that you're trying to convey. I think that your message has been well received, certainly by us, the things that you want to say. So, proud of you, looking forward to getting more than just a medal when you graduate. So, thanks for being a part of it. Thank you. We're going to miss you. talking about you guys. So, thank you. Thank you both. That was really fast. Really, you've been here for a couple years and it's great that you been a great participant. You've been many many app for sure. Thank you
012for your work here. Absolutely. The the reports were great. Very thorough, very detailed. Definitely did your homework. So, thank you both. Appreciate Yeah, kind of a broken record here, but thank you for all the reporting and being here. I think one of the things people fail to realize sometimes is they might just have a small role up here, but they're sitting up here for two hours, three hours sometimes. Um, just taking in all of this um, which can be a lot sometimes. So, thanks for sticking it out with us. Um, thanks for providing some awesome reports. Um, I think it's always Sometimes it's not what we anticipate. So um thank you very much for everything. Appreciate it and good luck to you both and I I am Melissa Beard tonight. So she is making her
013to step in comments. Appreciate the work they put in represent to represent their classmates. Always insightful. She knows that I'll read exactly what's written on that. Hi Becky and Melissa. Multiple hats today. Thank you both. All right. Well, they're not done quite yet. So, we're going to move on to student reports. And the question for May is, what's something students wish adults at the school for the district level better understood about being a student today? What would change if that understanding shaped school decision? You want to go first? Hello. Yep. In an anonymous survey, black students shared a little bit about what they communicated to staff about their student experience. The survey inquired about what the respondents wish the school and district staff understood about them and what new/improved policies they want to see implemented
014in each school. There was an extremely clear pattern from this survey. students felt like multiple classes all assigning major work at the same time. Specifically, at the end of semesters and breaks and uh right before breaks, these students said that it would be extremely helpful if students coordinated with each other when deciding when to assign important. An idea that stood out to me was uh every major department such as math, science, English, etc., which each have a unique week pre-planned out ahead of time for finals. This makes it so that students would be able to spend more time on their important assignments, therefore allowing them to truly show their mastery on their subject instead of being rushed through important work. Additionally, students also said that there's just not enough time in the day. Between school,
015homework, sports, jobs, and other responsibilities, students find themselves over. Many expressed that schools could help mitigate this issue by assigning meaningful work rather than tedious filler assignments. Specifically, they would like to see more assignments that provide the most amount of learning in a reasonable amount of time. Tagging on to my previous points, students would also like to see more flexibility and understanding with staff. It was stated many times that inflexible due dates make learning in the classroom difficult. Students would like to see more classroom policies that make due dates personalized to students rather than following a strict syllabus. As one student put it, if this policy was implemented, this would allow students to be more well-rounded people rather than well-rounded students. Moving on to school environmental concerns, students expressed that it would be helpful if
016bathroom safety were increased, vaping and drug use were decreased, and bullying and social issues were addressed. gater country. Overall, students are hoping that staff take into consideration that their student lives outside of school are very dynamic and therefore assigning workload should come should be done with care. Also, students would like to see ongoing issues like drug use and bullying address. Thank you. Good evening. I'm here tonight on behalf of the student body at Cumberland High School to share student feedback about their experiences at school and what they wish adults understood about being a student. Today, students expressed that they wish adults understood that life outside of school plays a major role in their ability to keep academically. Many shared that they are balancing at school along with sports, jobs, extracurricular activities, and family responsibilities. Along
017with these commitments, students described feeling limited on time and energy to complete school work outside of the classroom. Some also shared that their personal home lives can be difficult, which adds additional stress to their daily routines. A major theme throughout student responses was stress and exhausting. Many students described feeling overwhelmed by workloads, early start times, and the pressure to perform well across multiple classes at once. Several responses also reflected feeling of burnout and low motivation with students explaining they often struggle to stay engaged when they are mentally and physically tight. Students also highlight the importance of mental health and overall overall well-being. Some responses respected concerns about lack of motivation, depression, and relying on distractions when feeling overwhelmed. Students emphasize that these challenges are not always present in the classroom, but they still significantly impact
018focus and performance. Another consistent theme was the complexity of student relationships in school environment. Students shared that they wish that it was understood how bullying works today and how often the peers in more subtle forms rather than always being direct or obvious. Others stated that peer conflict and negative interactions can significantly affect how safe and comfortable students feel at school. Students expressed a desire for greater understanding and flexibility on adults in the building. Many shared that students learn in all different ways and at different places. Some expressed frustration when they struggled with work growth, understanding content and deadlines that are not fully acknowledged or taken seriously. Many students express that they would benefit from more engaging or flexible learning opportunities that allow for different learning styles and better connection to material. If these experiences and
019more fully understood decision making, students could improve more balanced and supportive. Students shared like stronger communic communication and responsiveness from staff could improve relationships and create a more positive school environment. Increased flexibility was a common topic on would help them perform better academically while also improving their overall wellbeing. Across all responses, they repeat a message that students care about their education and want to succeed. They are also navigating a wide range of pressures both inside and outside of school. Students are asking for greater understanding, more support in their learning environment by recognizing the full reality of their daily lives. Thank you, Courtney. Can you send these ones here? send them to myself. All right. Thank you. We will down to public comment. Before we begin, I would like to remind the members of the public
020that you would wish to have addressed the board during public comment portion of this meeting. You would have needed to fill out the public comment form available on the district website by 9:00 a.m. today. If you miss this opportunity, you are welcome to sign up for the next regular board meeting or email your comments to the board and the superintendent contact information on the website. Kevin, did you receive any submissions? There are no submissions for public comments tonight. Thank you. We will now move on reports to the board. Uh looks like me is up first. Assistant superintendent would conduct the first reading for policy 3241 student discipline. We have you for about five minutes. You can go ahead. Thank you. Good evening. Um so this 3241 is student discipline and re uh revised policy 3241
021to ensure alignment with state requirements. Um their revisions were more streamlined. um focusing on aligning the policy language directly with state rules while removing content that was not explicitly required and this required or this resulted in a more concise policy and procedure that meets the legal expectations without unnecessary additions. Um so because uh these were revisions uh we will be hopefully updating our policy and then training staff. So there is a training scheduled in August um adjusting our discipline practices to ensure compliance and these changes emphasize student safety, proportionality and clarity in distinguishing between a behavioral response and a disciplinary action. So my recommendation is that we um adopt the policy 3241 at our next board meeting. Uh this is a critical Oh yes. Um it's part of the critical package. Um it's a policy
022we've had before. Um and it is the exact several questions. Good job. And that was less than five minutes. Yeah. I also wanted to say I'm not as exciting as the drummers. Yeah. Okay. Next up is Claire Aer, director of financial services. She will provide financial services update for about five minutes. Hey, good evening. So, this is our financial for Okay, so for general fund, we have a $9.5 million fund balance. Um, remember that does um that does not include the loan. So that is our our budget tax reports not include the loan. So we received all of our our payments in April. Um so 10.9 million. Um I did look and last year we received another 1.2 million in May. So we should meet um our our budget for um for collecting all of
023our revenues. We have an additional 1.1 left in budget to So we'll see that in a minute. Capital projects.5 million fund balance projects revenue as well in our for our levies and um the different projects that they can debt service. our $8 million in fund balance the year a little bit from our fund balance of 7.9 and April ASB they're still collecting lots of money they have over a million dollars still so um they'll spend a lot in spring but they're still raising it too so hard and then our TV um you can receive buses this this month and questions for me. When is the budget going to surpass the transportation? I don't know. It surprises me every time I pull it. All right, let's work on spending that. All right, any more questions? I
024know that's not your fault here. All right. Thank you. We'll now move on to action items. First up on action items. Oh, a little bit more slides. I am sorry. That's okay. So, this is our May enrollment. Um I found an error on the one I submitted. So, I wanted to update it. So, the ones you guys have seen on on board docs was um was a little bit different. The um April A number was 193 which really skewed our um our K12 numbers and so I wanted to make sure that you saw that we were right um our K12 between April and May we only went down one FTE. So um you know that the the difference between April and May overall of 6473 and 6454 are basically fluctuations between the new market um
025and a little in our state. Any questions? questions but you know I think you we noted at the last meeting when we were looking at these enrollment numbers that you know ordinarily you know over the last few years we've seen that drop off between February to the end of the year and we seem to be holding steady in walnut which is just a really good really good shift I think in in our long-term trend so there you I like reporting. It's good. Now I'm done. Thank you. Thank you. Now, here she comes. Now, we will move on. Sorry, that's okay. No worries. Danielle, and it says 15 minutes. We're not going to take 15 minutes, right? 15 minutes, just for the record. You have, right? So just just to review over the I'm gonna kind
026of speak to K through five science and just give you a really brief overview of that and then I'm going to turn it over to Danielle to talk about six through eight and we will ask for a board action when we're finished. So just as a reminder about K through five science. Uh, I just have a quick reminder for you that over the last year, the K through5 elementary review committee has been reviewing instructional materials and did participate this year in a district-wide pilot in all of our elementary K through5 classrooms across the district. Uh, as we reviewed in the instructional materials process, you have the supporting documentation that's in your packets as well. that included a committee that was engaged in that review process, teacher implementation feedback, the standards alignment, the family and community
027reviews and evaluation of those materials. In that process, we found those materials have increased the consistency and the usage. And I'm happy to report and as of today, I just looked before I came in here, teachers across our elementary schools have taught a total of 3,861 full science lessons this year and 609 mini lessons using mystery science materials. If you break that out across all of our 122 K through5 classrooms, that equates to approximately 37 science lessons per classroom if we distributed it evenly across all of the classrooms, which is demonstrated a huge strong implementation and consistent use throughout our district. We weren't necessarily reaching science in all the classrooms in the past few years. So, it's great to see that uh increase in science instruction. In addition, we were able to develop a crosswalk
028that directly connects mystery science units to the newly adopted magnetic literacy ELA materials. So, we have now built out that crosswalk and connection which will create meaningful opportunities for that integration with literacy and science. So for us at the elementary level based on the results of the pilot process, teacher feedback, family and community reviews, and our IMC review process in the board materials, our instructional materials committee is requesting board action to approve mystery science as our new K through5 science instructional materials. So before I hand you off to Daniel, I want to see if you have any questions for us about K. Okay, turn over to Daniel. Over the last year, our six through eight science teachers reviewed the um the instructional materials and participated in a review on thought districtwide. That's eight of our
029six of our eight teachers getting involved in the pilot in the classrooms. Um as outlined in the instructional materials process and supporting documentation included in the board packet, the community engaged a process that included teacher implementation feedback, standards alignment, family review opportunities and evaluation of instructional programs. Through this process, the teachers found that um open sedensive for teachers. They were inconsistent in lesson length and depth and often repetitive. The team opted to remain with the current curriculum resource amplified. has a better resource. We're just asking action questions. No, just thank you for your presentation at the last board meeting where we had an opportunity to interact with this a lot more. Um it was really enlightening and just want to express some appreciation for the way that we've been engaging in this curriculum um review
030um with teachers and been so great to have folks who participated in these reviews and pilots come and talk to us. So, thank you for your leadership. Any other questions, comments, do this all in one. Well, is there a motion? only is it only one item on our It is. So I would suggest making a motion to pass the K8 science to consent. I move to adopt the K8 science curriculum as presented. Second. All those in favor of approving the K science curriculum as present say I. I. Good day. I expect All right. Well, Megan's back. Second reading. A few policies. Yep. I'm not going to read. So, go ahead and jump right into them because we've seen them before. Thanks everybody. Um so this is um policy 21108 is learning assistance program. Um and
031that's the one where they um the was to model policy took out the COVID related language. It's part of the critical package. Um then the next two are about drones. We had a 2040 policy about drones and it wasn't a was to model policy. Um we weren't sure of its origin. Um it and so and there was no model policy. Um we are asking that all language about drones is part of policy 4500 um which um is not a policy we've had in the past. It is a was a model policy and it looks like they presented it in August 2018. Um so do I do you read the questions now or do I say what I recommend? Give us your recommendation and then we're going to open it up for Great. I recommend that
032the board adopts uh 21108, which is the uh learning assistance program, that the board discontinues policy 2040, and that the board adopts policy 4500. Any questions or comments for the motion? A motion that we Pass 20 21108 discontin 2040 approve 4500. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor of approving policy 218 as presented. Continuing policy 2040 and approving policy 4500 as presented. Say I. I. All those opposed. Policy 21. Thank you. Policy 21108 approval and the 2040 discontinued policy 4500 is approved as we will now move on to our third action item for tonight which is the county regional planning council. Mel will be presenting. Mel got about five minutes for this. Great to see you in Thank you. So about 10 years ago, I had a duty assigned to me by then
033Superintendent Bash. I was the district representative on the third regional planning comm about at the time. I found out a lot and it's a very interesting group of individuals who are passionate about coordinating projects between jurisdictions and working together. Um it's a small time commitment. Every month there's a meeting from Cleveland on the first Friday plus whatever committees the representative wants to pick up and it basically ensures that projects are coordinated between jurisdictions. I like to think of it as making sure a four lane divided highway doesn't turn into a country road because it changes from Olympia. So projects are coordinated across jurisdated city transit, bike trails, a lot of things. And they also make sure that monies that are awarded to the state and the federal government and then also then flow down to
034various regions are awarded equitably and coordinated together so that one jurisdiction doesn't get all the money every time. So it's a very it's a very good group. I think one of the most important things is knowing who your counterparts are and jurisdictions in the area. support the project state college the other school districts county Olympia Dakota everybody's there at the table it's a very good council and coordinates with regional council Washington what's before you here is a memo um recommends appointing a new district representative since your current one is retiring. Any questions? Any questions from now? The other school districts, are they represented by capital projects people too? Are they generally or is it There's three districts on on the council right now. North is represented by their assistant superintendent of operation and is represented
035by a board member and we are represented by I'll just comment a little I learned a lot about this committee in the last year we met Veronica and I played baseball together learned quite a bit and then a few of the numbers I know too did a good job describing what they do and they get different in this area where we talk about growth too, right? A lot about transportation. This is a very this is a very appreciate the work on it for sure. Any other questions or comments to Mel? So there we do need to appoint someone if you've read any of the options I hope memo we can appoint the board member or similar mel if you will. That is the action I believe that we're looking for here today. I think we
036do want to name one. We're not going to he's not going to turn to grand. I don't think so. He has some plans. I think he might have himself. I think we do need to name And I think our recommendation is that you also name kind of a permanent alternate either way. And it's like if you name um district staff um you know is the replacement we have Alec who's been hired in that role if you point him maybe you opponent replacement either by position or to a board member or even vice versa so we are recommending that we kind of have a backup that's made in this as well I think that makes sense thank you for bringing that up is there any discussion amongst the board here on thoughts on to do. I
037have a question for Mel. Um the replacement for you, would it be a lot for him to take this on at this juncture or maybe open it for a while to kind of get a lowown for it or I don't know enough about this to I don't think it would be too much. Like I said, it's a very small time commitment depending if you then you want to join or volunteer for that time. Yeah, I I think just say a little bit about it seems to me that you know kind of in order to participate there's a certain amount of technical expertise you know here about the needs of the district the ways in which urban planning for example might impact our facilities or um our our district. So I just seems to me that
038there's a there's a fair bit of te in order to really engage there's a fair bit of technical I was just wondering if you could talk a little bit about uh how your technical expertise and your role has contributed to your ability to participate. you know, I'm construction manager and architect and also planner light and I do update the capital facilities district every year and that requires a deep dive into the growth management and comparing what we're doing to our neighboring districts and also CRPC has a wealth of knowledge about population projections that sort of thing all kinds of down to district level as far as whatever whatot with growth. It's a It's a lot to wrap around. Would you recommend that we have your replacement take on this role? It sounds to me like
039I think I think it makes sense that we've had that. historically. So, yes, you do. And I see that another district. Okay, that's what I was asking. Okay. I move that we make a motion. We may need a second. I have a motion on the floor here. sitting next to me. Director Beard says, "I I move that we appoint the new director of capital projects and facilities, Tom Benn. I want to make sure we have the comments first." Okay. Make a motion. Is there a motion? I'm gonna I'm gonna if there was a motion, I would have stopped that finish comment. And if that if that's the motion, then we'll need two motions if we want to apply. We could probably do one. So, no, I do my question is that we it's right on
040the homepage of the regional planning council. It says that a public agency governed by council comprised of elected and appointed officials. So, um I feel that there should be a board member on this. Other organizations do feel Um and that's what it said we can do we can appoint to do it from my understand as long as you have the backup funding as well. Yep. And so I my thoughts would be uh since we're in a transition with Mel and Alex coming on, I get this isn't a huge lift, but I think we're looking um the board has expressed all board members have expressed interest in partnering and reaching out to other organizations. I feel this is probably a pretty good opportunity for um this board to to do that and it might even work,
041you know, maybe even here in the short term as we're looking to maybe expand some partnerships in some areas. Um now I'm not talking to you necessarily the board here as well. Um so this would be a good opportunity in my mind to put a board member in here and the obvious choice would be like a backup for sure. I just wanted to get that out there and make sure everyone understood what this council does. There are really questions or comments question if you wanted to modify her. ask a question I guess first I think can go audition if we had two people who would both go to the meeting not not required no but one one should go to the meeting there have been times they've had a problem especially they both came actually
042can attend the want to modify. Um, she I move that we appoint the new director of capital projects and facilities. Second. All those in favor of the discuss. So what she's saying is Alec and then we're going to have another vote on the That's not what she's saying. She's saying she want Alec. But if we pass this or we could do it all the way. We can't do it all in one. She wants to motion to say to appoint. So her motion is to appoint Alec and then myself is the alter. Is there a second second discussion on that? Can I just say I you know again it kind of comes down to I think that the work being asked you know that and the what the work of the the the commission having that
043expertise at the table to engage in these discussions the really the deep knowledge um the technical knowledge of the department or the the the district's uh facilities and needs um To me, it seems invaluable to be able to, you know, participate in these meetings and um so I I think it makes sense to have a director of facilities. It's something that's worked for us up till now uh very well and think it would be uh good to continue uh to do that um going forward. And I think it makes sense to have an alternate from the board who will be tracking and following uh briefed um by our staff uh to be a part of that. discussion question to make clear they have one vote on this committee right doesn't know what it says voting
044so so that would be Alex but the alter uh the alternative person is allowed to be a part of the conversation during the meeting and take part in the meeting no they wouldn't be a member of the elements So the alternate would only come into play if they were half. Yes. Okay. Thank you. So that's nice. I thought it looks like the motion on the table here is to have Alex and then a board member vote. Can you give us an example? give you an example of what would be voted on. Most of it is pri is accepting the the prioritization of projects by a committee is basically what it is. So the committee just like you know the school board the committee does the real work coming to the council generally aval of the
045work that it's not just when the vote is taken. It's not the first time you see the list down. So, so what so I'm asking what your concern is is is the concern them committing to funding or uh my whole overall concern is that it's around elected or appointing officials when it does come down to the vote. So that's what I you're giving I'm not saying a bad thing but you're giving the power of the vote of the board to this putting a board member as the backup isn't a bad idea, but it's a role that's going to do balance very carefully. I appreciate I'm gonna keep sorry keep my discussion going here. I appreciate Melissa's motion to include me. I'm a little I'm worried about the how the motion is, but I'm also worried
046I'm not I don't necessarily think maybe I'm the right person. I think there may be a better person available. Um that I'm just not sure. So I I wanted to get that out there, but the motion is on the table. If it gets a truth, I will absolutely support Did you want to suggest somebody else's field? I think Ty I think Ty would probably be a pretty good um fit for this. I know. I I think I would be a good fit for this, too. I I know what this council does. I'm I'm kind of one that kind of brought this to the attention of getting around and about. I know the people. I know the players. I know what they do. I don't necessarily have to be involved. So I think I probably might
047be the better. I am the president as well taking on other things. I'll do it of course, but I think I might be a better fit either for the actual position or the we're going to do another ask if that's something that's of interest to you and that you're wanting to do. So, you have the ability to Yeah, I'd have to learn a little bit more about it. Um, I appreciate uh explaining it and kind of the the big picture. Um, I'd be interested in stepping up and taking on the role. Uh that's certainly fine. I'd like to sponge as much off now within the next couple weeks uh next week. Uh uh maybe. But um yeah, I'd be willing to do it for people. And this is something that interests me working with the
048local jurisdiction. Did you put one in there? Do we still open? So I move to amen to Casey and Tai. So I think as so I think he maintains that Alec as the the primary person and and Tai as the Okay. The only concern with this again is the vote and then but I really want to get a board member involved. So this isn't my preferred option. I'm okay with this tie as long as reports back to the board. I know Mel brings stuff back to us. I don't think it's states necessarily came from the council or necessarily but it's usually in the facility capital project or so I want to make sure that the board is involved in any other comments or discussion does the motion still need a second probably would need a
049second to to make the change. Correct. Yes. So I I second motion second. So all those in favor of appointing Alec is the primary and secondary say I. I say I. All those opponist. Yeah, we don't want you anymore. See some anxious students here tonight. Are we here just because you're interested in the meeting? Absolutely. That's the perfect answer. Usually I depend on director beard to call this out because we get them every spring of the year. So thank you for attending. All right. We will now move on to the superintendent reports. Kevin. All right. I'll try to be brief. Um I know I'm holding to multiple from our students from 4 day weekend. So um so let's start with one of the new things we have. We've been doing strategic spotlights as part of
050my report throughout the year that really just kind of continue to keep our strategic spotlight, our strategic plan in in your purview. And so this week I wanted to share um there's a video series that's been created. And so this is the second video in a new series highlighting things that are happening across our schools. And so this spotlight features our portrait of grad graduate attribute curious and creative innovator. Um, the video highlights our Tumb Water Middle School science teacher, Tony Harris, in his robotics class, exploring some new ideas, designing innovative solutions, and bringing their creative to life through hands-on learning and collaboration. I do want to thank Black Hills video production team for helping capture these inspiring moments. So, you get to see a little video if you haven't seen this. Hi, I'm Megan
051Dawson, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in Tom Water School District. Today we're celebrating one of the defining qualities at the heart of our strategic plans, portrait evergraduate, the curious and creative innovator. Across the Tomwater School District, our teachers more than instruct. They create spaces where curiosity is welcomed, creativity is nurtured, and every student is empowered to think boldly. The real magic lies in how we design the learning experience, presenting students with rich, open-ended challenges that have no single right answer, only endless possibilities. Throughout this approach, students build something far greater than knowledge. They build perseverance, teamwork, communication skills, and engineering thinking. They learn to ask better questions, to explore uncharted solutions, and to see failure not as a setback, but as a stepping stone. Every obstacle becomes an invitation to think differently, to adapt,
052and to innovate. And that spirit comes to life every day in classrooms just like this one. Join us now as we step inside Mr. Paris's robotics class at Twater Middle School, where students are doing exactly that, collaborating, problem solving, creating, and discovering what it truly means to be a curious and creative innovator. So, right now in robotics class, my students are doing their turning challenges. Some are finishing up. They're moving straight because it takes them a little bit longer. But most we're learning how to turn, different types of turns, whether it's a sharp turn, a wide turn, and then after that, we got to go ahead and move into programming using sensors, which opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for them. So, I see curiosity show for my students when they're program. Uh
053there's a lot of different options for them to use. And so, they'll they'll try out one, see what happens, and that's not quite what I wanted it to do, and try a different program. When a the robot doesn't work the way students expected, we have to look at our so they'll usually look at the hardware first. Did a cable come unplug? That happened a couple times today actually. Other times it might be a software issue and so they need to look at their program really wrestle with that like because the bot is only going to do what they tell it to do. Bots are not creative at all unlike our students. So they're going to have to wrestle through that and that's part of engineering. Engineering is all about iterations and trying new things over
054and over and over until you get the best result you can in the time limitations we have. Students get to be creative when they design and program their robots um by their builds. Usually it's using Lego kits and my kids are mostly familiar with those. And so they as soon as they build their first bot they automatically start making adjustments to their bots whether I want them to or not. And so from there they learn, oh these pieces stick together like this, then when we come to the actual challenges where they get to build their own um bot to complete a challenge, like the dragster races for example, they've already learned what pieces kind of go together in the best ways. I try to give the kids flexibility in how they meet the challenges. So
055the kids often learn how to do something before I even know how to do it because they're there's a lot more of them, number one, but number two, they're just enthusiastic about it. The skills that students are developing that will help them beyond this classroom are really the 21st century skills. For mostly students, they're not going to program robots for their careers. However, they will need to know how to collaborate with other students, how to be creative, um how to, you know, have grit and not give up on when something's challenging. And really, those are the things we're working on. How to use creativity to overcome the problems that they're having. uh iterative uh tackling of problems. Those kind of things are really what I'm trying to help the students with. Something that they could
056take into any job. Thank you for spending time learning more about the great work happening in our classrooms. And a special thank you to our very talented Black Hills High School video production team for creating this video. How much did you like watching that? You seem to really enjoy that. Yeah. You thought you were done seeing Dr. Dawson, but there she is again. All right. Well, congratulations to them. They did a great job and we've done a series of those and so um appreciate that. Um I want to recognize Henry Shepard. He's a student at Tonewater High School. He completed phase one of the Washington Aerospace Scholar program. Um and he has done a good enough job in that to earn um a selection to attend the immersive the Washington aerospace scholar summer residency. And
057so that's a group of students from across Washington. Um they attend the summer residency where students collaborate in teams to design a human mission to Mars. um the participants work alongside professional engineers, scientists, university students, educators, engaging in hands-on engineering challenges and learn directly from aerospace professionals. So, congratulations to Henry. Kind of right around theme of some STEM learning happening across our district. I do um want to recognize uh May 4 through the 8th was our district celebrated staff appreciation week. There's really no time to better time to pause and reflect on the extraordinary people who make this district what it is. Every day our staff show up for students with dedication, creativity, and heart. Their commitment doesn't stop at the classroom books door. And it doesn't stop at the end of the day. A
058huge thank you and appreciation for all of our home water staff. You are what makes this district special. Today, I also want to recognize a group. I also want to recognize a group of teachers whose commitment to their own professional growth extends long after the bell rings. Some of our teachers have chosen to pursue national board certification. It's one of the most rigorous and respected credentials in the teaching profession. I want to be clear, this is entire voluntary. Um, no one asked them to do it. It demands hundreds of hours of reflection, documentation, and professional work on top of everything else they already do. They do it because they are committed to their craft and to their students. This staff appreciation month, I am proud to say that our district is home to 36 nationally
059board certified teachers representing every single one of our schools. Black Hills High School has two two of these folks. Black Lake Elementary 3, Bush Middle School 7, Cascadia High School 1, East Olympia 2, Little Rock Elementary 2, Peter G 1, Michael T2, New Market High School 1, Tom Elementary 3, Tom High School 7, and Tom Miss 4. This year, I also want to give special recognition to two of our educators. I'm joining me in congratulating Gabby Jones from Black Lake Elementary who earned her National Board Certification for the first time this year, and Emma K. Sheffy from Tomwater High School who has renewed her National Board Certification. It's a reflection of her sustaining commitment to excellence year after the year. Um to Gabby and Kate and all 36 of our national board certified teachers and
060really to every single member of our staff. Thank you this month and every month. We see you. We appreciate you and our students are better for everything you give. This last month um two motor schools have earned statewide recognition for their work to improve student outcomes. George Bush Middle School and Tumblr High School have both been recognized through Washington School recognition program for the 2425 school year. The recognition awarded by the Washington State Board of Education in partnership with OSPI, the Office of Superintendent Public Instruction, and the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee honors schools demonstrating exceptional progress in key performance areas. This year, only 16% of schools statewide received this distinction. Both George Bush Middle School and Twater High School were recognized for student growth among one or two one or more racial
061or ethnic student groups. This recognition highlights schools making measurable progress in accelerating student learning and investing opportunity gaps. Important indicators and strong instructional practices, intentional support systems, and a deep commitment to student success. Please join me in congratulating the student, staff, and leadership teams both at this middle school and high school for this outstanding accomplishment. On May 13th, New Market Skill Center hosted our scholarship awards ceremonies for the class of 2026. This event celebrates the outstanding achievement by our students with scholarships sponsored by the Tom Water Education Foundation and the Tom Water Rotary area chamber of commerce is also a sponsor and their president Ryan Reynolds MC the event. The event began with a message from Tom Water Mayor Lea Dohof and was attended by schoolboard members, district staff, parents and of course many of
062our graduates. Uh we know how much we value our community partners and the investment that they make in our schools, students, and families. We appreciate your generosity, commitment to help create organizations and opportunities that make a lasting difference in the lives of our students. Between the two organizations, they awarded 17 scholarships to 30 different graduates from our high schools. I also want to thank uh the Tomwater Education Foundation for their continued support of the Tom Water School District. Last Friday they held a sky's the limit gayla gala gala say gala to help fund these student scholarships support classrooms and enrichment grants and the principles originally fund. So these these are three great reasons to support the tumbler education foundation and their efforts and so lots of positive things going on in the district this um
063this this week and we're looking forward to graduation in the next little time here. So that is all I have for tonight. Thank you Kevin. We'll now move on to board member reports. Please keep in mind that each person is approximately minutes to speak. Volunteer to go first. I'll go first. Um yeah, I just want to say how awesome it was to have the concert the beginning of the of the meeting today. Um, I welcome that many times, seeing kids that are I love seeing the kids in our district be successful and to reach the highest level uh, state champions of all classifications like they were saying. I didn't know it worked that way, but that makes it even more impressive. So, um, just hats off to the young men that were here. Um, that
064was really cool. Uh, I can appreciate how much work and hard work and effort and passion they have in that to be able to do the best. Um, so very cool. Um, other than that, that's all I have. So, please I want to say thank you to the student representatives your last meeting and we're sure glad to have you. Thanks again to Mel. Maybe this is your last presentation before you. Yeah, but thanks for everything. Thanks for the way you've served our kids, served our community. And again, thanks for the great presentation and especially the video of you. It's fantastic. How many views did I have with that video? Two views. Did Melissa? No comments from Okay, great. Um, yeah, I wanted to just uh highlight some things that I had an opportunity to participate
065in over the last month or so. Um, it was really amazing. I had an opportunity to um participate in Tom the Tom Hopes Coalition. um convening on the why of belonging. Um which was a really great opportunity to um come together with other uh teachers and educators um in our district um and community members from our district to talk about um how we can center in uh a community of belonging for all of our students um in our community. And so that was just it was a really inspirational convening. And as we're looking at the book, um, All Means All, um, I think it's it's a really nice the the presenter did a really really great job. Um, and I'd like to talk more about how we might be able to bring um some of
066what he was talking about in terms of belonging alongside uh the the books that um that the uh the district will be reading. Um I also had a great time at the Tonguewater Education Foundation uh gala uh raising money for those scholarships that we were talking about before. So um had had a really great time um at that event. Um also this week had an opportunity to uh be a part of our audit exit conference which I have never done before. That was a new one by me but it was great to get like a great audit report. So, thank you to Kira and for our team who uh went through that audit together. It was it was just really um it was it was a much shorter meeting than I expected. It was you
067guys are okay. Um and finally um I had the opportunity to attend closing night of Little Shop of Horrors. I want to give a shout out to Mason who I see here who was the dentist and you gave him an amazing performance. you you looked like you were having the time of your life in that. So it was really great and just really want to you know uh congratulate all the kids who are part of that really great performance. They work really really hard. So thank you. Is that really great having the time in his life as the dentist? Good point Gala Gala. Thank you. Good point. get that clarified. Uh yeah, just wanted to uh thank you Google again. I really appreciate Courtney and Cooper as well too. Courtney to take off a little
068bit early. Thank you students for doing your yearly obligations. Hopefully you picked a good one. You got lucky tonight. Very very well done. Um Miss Mass, thank you so much. Appreciate it. our last time in the meeting. So, definitely going to miss talking for a couple weeks. So, um I got a chance to get out and see some school the last couple weeks. Kevin and I bounced around a little bit. We saw some really cool stuff. Um I just want to, you know, I give the guy a hard time all the time and I'm always riding this building, but Kevin does a pretty good job. Um I just saw him today Kids spilled munch all over the front of himself, t-shirt on. He jumps right in, fills out helping him get a new shirt from
069the audience. Um um hangs out picking up garbage at Hill, you know. Uh so he does he's very engaging and then and then what he I think what got him this job a few years ago was just seeing him engage the kids and we were in the life skill group and just watching Kevin engage all the students. Um I How many districts have special needs students or life skill students that know the superintendent when he walks in from the room? That's pretty cool to me. Um I like to go and see we're just going to get high and ask who you are and say Kevin, oh that's something. Um so our students really know our superintendent. So I just wanted to call that out. Good job. Um, and that's it. That's all I ask. Thank
070you. All right. With no further business coming before the board, the regular meeting is adjourned at 7:22 p.m. You're