001[music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Hey, Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Down. [music] Hey. Hey. >> [music] >> I don't [music] >> I would like to call the meeting to order and acknowledge that the water school district sits on the ancestor land of the MSI. Fox Island and Shah people. I thank these caretakers of the land who have lived on and continue to live on the land since time of memorial. >> Please rise as I lead us
002in the legacy. Superintendent Bogan, have there been any changes or additions to the agenda since it was published? >> No changes or additions. >> All those in favor of approving the agenda as presented, say I. >> I. >> Those opposed. >> Thank you. We will now move on to meeting minutes review. >> The minutes from the December 4th meeting have been distributed to the board. Are there any changes or corrections? >> All those in favor of approving the meeting minutes I minute. Move on to consent agenda. the items on the consent agenda provided to the board. Are there any questions or discussion? >> All those in favor of approving the consent agenda as presented say I. >> I. Those opposed. >> The consent agenda is approved as presented. >> Thank you. And we will now
003move on to recognition. Kevin. Well, it is uh a a time in January and maybe our new board is don't miss. It is board appreciation month. So, we're here to do a little appreciation and it's nothing crazy. Um, but one of the things we do have is there's some swag and so I think you maybe saw on your table if you were here, they ordered prior and so they have a little uh Tom Water School District swag that they got to choose and so you guys have had that order and so that is on the way um for not today. It's kind on its way for you guys. And so I want to express my thank you. Um, and kind of as part of that, we do have some little cookies. So, and I we
004have them for our audience of the folks that are here. So, if I can get some of my people to come help pass those out, I'll I'll hand these guys to appreciate you. I think uh if you need a napkin, let me know. >> So, sort of on behalf of They are big. Yeah. >> And there I think there's going to be enough of them. You know, I wasn't sure how many people we'd have. So, there'll be enough that you can take home maybe just some kiddos. So, on behalf of the Tom Water School community, want to thank you all for your service both to our student members and to our school board members. We know that the amount of energy and time it takes to do this work and so we do really appreciate
005all of you do a little token of our appreciation and so um not a lot of recognition but I do appreciate the work you do and that's all I have and I think I think everyone echoes my thanks to you all of you. Thank you for the >> enjoy. Yes. And to our audience enjoy a snack as you're come to a board meeting tonight. >> All right. Thank you. We will now move on to student rep reports. The question for January is regarding uh staff and student relationships. And the question is when do students feel most seen and supported by school staff? What practices or experiences make students feel disconnected and how can that be addressed? >> Who'd like to go first? >> Go ahead. >> I'm Brady from first. I just want to say
006hello. I hope you had a great Christmas and happy new year. This monthly students love being at the teachers. Many students express they enjoy being at the one in the feedback. Students value the teachers initiative and show. This approach helps students to genuine care. Another point frequently mentioned more of mutual respect and many appreciate You get really in your microphone so the people online can hear. >> Several responses recognized the teachers for giving focus and attention to students who need extra help. One challenge mentioned in the feedback involved situations where a regular teacher accident and a sub substitute filling in. Students noted that this may be difficult because of a strong connection they feel with their teachers and classrooms and simply the fact they're excited to show up. Overall, the majority of the answers reflected
007that feel supported and comfortable. In my opinion, this is the first school that feels like a home. >> Good evening everyone. I'm Gville and I'm the student rep for Black Hills. Uh in this month, an anonymous survey was issued to students and they were prompted to rate how well they felt uh seen supported by school staff. The total average rating was 2.7 out of 10. About half 56% of students answered from 7 to 10 while 44% of students submitted a grading ranging from 1 to six. The specific percentage distributions within these two rating ranges were pretty much evenly spread out. This survey suggests that about half of the students are content with their students staff relations while the other half are not. Um very few students submitted a mutually When about when asked about specific
008positive interactions that students experienced with staff, many students responded that they greatly appreciated when students when sorry, teachers displayed empathy when they weren't in the best situation. Additionally, many students said that they have several staff members who they trust and can go for help. When asked about specific negative interactions that students experienced with staff, I noticed that students said that they had mostly negative experiences in the halls even when they were in an emergency. >> All in all, many students reported that their relationship with staff were mostly positive. However, to improve these relations, it seems that it would be helpful for staff to express empathy in times of distress since students have said empathy from staff makes things safer. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> We did get written comments just from Courtney Sackman,
009the representative at Tor High School. And so I think you all have that. I just wanted so to note that that she did support certain report. She's a a basketball player, so I think her season's coming close to an end. She should be present in the next meeting. Okay, we will now move on to public comments. Before we begin, I would like to remind members of the public that if you wish to address 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 missed this opportunity, you are welcome to sign up for the next regular meeting or email your comments to the board and or superintendent. contact information is available on the district website.
010We will now move on to reports to the board. We will start with uh Wendy Bramley and her policies. >> Good evening board students. Um today I have been um back up with the previous board. They they knew this. So I just want to bring you uh new members up to speed that I've made a commitment that every year we will look at the 5000 series and bring any updates that haven't been done to make sure that we're staying up to date on any of the personnel policies. So, as we looked at uh this year's policies um and last year we got we did a big chunk of them. These were our last ones that we had not updated in that series. These all come from the WASDA model. So, we didn't um didn't differentiate
011and you know go off script from what Wazda um is recommending in any of those. Um, so I'll just go through each one. Um, and I'll, you know, if you'd like me to, um, stop at each one and take questions, I certainly will. Um, or if you'd like me to go all the way through them, I guess I'd ask, how would you like me to present them? >> You should present them one at a time and highlight the changes. I believe yours were very just a lot of words. >> It was. Yeah. So, not a lot of not a lot of big changes. So, I'll go through each one and stop and ask if you have questions. I didn't say one at a time and then do questions each one at a time and we'll
012go from there. >> All right. So, um so the first one that um I wanted to talk about was this one was the uh 5001. So, right at the beginning of that 5,000 series is the hiring of retired school employees. And um this is really just following state law at this point. It hadn't been updated in many, many years. And so um it increased hours that uh people could come back and work with us um after they've retired. Um and so we do have uh occasionally employees that come back to work for us. Often they come back though as substitutes and not are not generally meeting that criteria. Um is there anything else on that? Um it also discusses the their responsibility employees responsibility uh as well as the district's responsibility when you hire rehire
013a an employee that had worked for Washington state in the past. So any questions on that one? >> Any questions? Looks good so far. >> All right, let's go to 5011, which is sexual harassment of district staff employees uh staff prohibited. So um in this one, uh this is expanding the definition that it clarified that um that sexual harassment um would include acts of sexual violence and behavior that would create a hostile environment. So, it's really that hostile environment that was was added. Um, it also has make sure that there's uh obligations that even if there's a criminal investigation, our the school district is still also um required to investigate and not wait for the criminal investigation to happen. And then there was some specifics around Title 9, civil rights and section 504 um based
014on the discrimination. >> Not a lot of Next one is 5201 drugree schools you can be in workplace. Um it just you know extended uh what or clarified what workplace is and it is really any um anything that is work performed with a receiving a a grant. So, it would include any offsite locations as well. So, if students are on a field trip, for example, but um it's still considered um a school sponsored event. So, any drug use would be prohibited. >> There's also a requirement in there around um around staff members who may be prescribed medications that if it is something that could alter their work performance, they're obligated to notify their supervisor and human resources. >> Questions on that one? >> All right. Um the next one is on is policy 5222, job
015sharing staff members. And we've had job sharing in the past and actually at this point in time we don't have any any teaching staff that are job sharing. Um but this just uh clarifies that there would need to be a written plan in place where both parties agreed. The superintendent um authorized that job sharing arrangement and you know if if one of the uh people in that job sharing arrangement no longer wished to be part of that that other person would have to pick up the other person and become a fulltime person. >> Questions? >> Not much of a question. >> Yeah. How often have we had a drop down? >> Uh, since I've been here, there has only been uh two job sharing teams and they were previously um we're we're pretty cognizant of
016that. I mean, it's a it's at the high school and the middle school because things are based on class periods. You know, you might have a part-time teacher here and a part-time teacher there. They're not really job sharing. So job sharing really only comes into place in the elementary setting and um we typically that is just not you know we try to try to have one consistent teacher for our students not very often. >> Okay thank you and none this year. And then policy 5271 which is the known as the whistleblower the reporting of improper government action. And that one changes the um changes the language where it said shall is now will um recent regarding the responsibility to establish procedures and we do have established procedures for that already. Um and then also just
017u making sure that there's explicitly prohibits any district officer from taking any retaliatory action against >> question. No and we already have a proced it's strictly language we already have a procedure in place. So it it really is more accessible. >> All right. Any questions on that? >> Next we'll have Megan Dawson, assistant superintendent. We'll present a first reading for street policies. >> Thanks everybody. Um so I typically present the 2000 series which is instruction and the 3000 series which is students. Um so tonight I have two policies that are part of the 2000 series and um another policy that's part of students. Um I'll do the same processes Wendy. I'll just go through each one and ask you guys a few questions. Okay, so 2100 is educational opportunities for students with a parent in
018the military. And this is updated language that strengthens the district's support for children um from military families. Um the main change that you'll see on the markup version is that um families can um start the registration process before they move like once they know that they're going to be transferred or they have a pending transfer. Um and we uh can accept them or we will accept them and then within 14 days of arrival date um that's when they show proof of residency in our district. prematurely or unnecessary. >> And um I wanted to thank the families who came to our um military family night Monday. Um January 12th. Um it was a great conversation. We asked them like what else can we do as a district to improve your experience in in Tom Water and
019Anette um Walker is the liaison from JBL and she also came and kind of talked about all of her services and how we can better connect and that that statement um that update um they said community is update your policy that updated. >> So how was the turnout? I know there was 20 signed up. >> Yeah, I think there were about 20. >> All right. >> Yeah. And a lot of students came too and students spoke about their experiences and what we could do to make it better. So it was a really great community event. >> You guys have any questions on 2100? >> Okay. Um 2420 is an update on grading and reporting. Um, it aligns with Washington state requirements that took effect in July 2025, which strengthens expectations for transparency in student progress
020reporting and reinforces families rights to timely, meaningful information about academic performance. Um, it just clarifies uh that we provide periodic progress reporting. Uh, we maintain our grading practices that accur accurately reflect student learning aligned to state standards. Um, updating our policy ensures that we have full compliance with these revised legal requirements and just improves our communication >> overall. And then policy 3226 um is interviews and interrogations of students on school premises. Um and that is um protecting the integrity of the learning environment, upholding students legal rights and ensure that any necessary interviews on school grounds occur only under clearly defined legally compliant circumstances. Uh while the district maintains strong partnerships with law enforcement, DCYF and public health agencies, uh these interviews can significantly disrupt instruction and create stress for students. Therefore, they should occur off
021campus whenever possible. Uh this policy just establishes consistent collaborative procedures for the limited situations in which on-site interviews are warranted such as school initiated inquiries, uh child abuse investigations or serious criminal matters uh while ensuring that students and families are afforded all rights under state and federal law. >> Right. Sorry, I forgot to say at the beginning that we have policy 2100. Um so there it's just we'll now have it the military um students prepare in the military and we also didn't have policy >> I noticed that also this is the only one that we did in the house and it references another one. So I'm trying to figure out why This is >> um per 2100 or 3226 >> for 3226. It references 4310 relationship with law enforcement other government agencies. I couldn't find
022that. >> Thank you. We will also need to be adding that one. >> My question is question. Why are we doing this now? Um it was in the um July issue 2025 of these are all the updates and when I read the updates I realized that we didn't even have the original. >> It's not that WASDA made a new policy. It's that they were revising their old policy and Tom Water just didn't have >> the old Tom Water didn't have the old policy either. >> Okay. I guess the reason I'm asking is because this one seems to be more political than any other ones. I'm trying to figure out >> um it's classified as >> important based on >> Yes. United States where was there any data provided in do we have any history on
023these or are we just taking my question is what data was used to determine there was an issue with that seems to be what this is interruption in I interview outside. So, are we >> um I I typically look at the the WASA quarterly publication and then they they just go through what they've updated based off of um state law or legal cases. >> This does have a ton of state law involved in federal law as well. It seems I'm trying to figure out why we why we need it. I guess we do the better outcome. So we can talk more about it. Tell me where next. >> Sure. This is the first reading and they generally get feedback from the board. This will be done. We don't say anything. Then they'll bring it back
024for a second reading at some point, not necessarily the next meeting. The first meeting may give more feedback where they need to do more work or gather, you know, if it takes more time for it to bring back, but generally speaking, they come back for a second meeting and the second meeting is when it is brought up for approval. Um, >> generally they are approved. You could again give them more feedback. They can come back and bring it again for they would still come back into the second meeting. Well, there is no third or fourth. Okay, hope clear up. >> Yeah, I just want to ask a question and Megan, thank you. Um, so up to this point, Tar School District did not have such a policy, which means that if uh child protective services
025or someone else wished to interview a child at school, there wouldn't be any guidance. any particular guidance to our staff on how they should handle that threat? >> Um, so even if a school district doesn't hasn't adopted a board, we still follow state law and guidance from our attorney. So we would have still followed this policy in the past even though we didn't have it. >> Okay. So the the policy is is putting guidance that we have previously implemented into >> policy. >> We do have we do have a policy that's law enforcement um 3125 >> as law enforcement visitations. And so again, that's less >> I think it's doesn't fully cover. It's under under students. Um and there is a procedure I think with that as well. So there's child custody, law enforcement. Um
026so we do have a little bit of that. Um that's currently in in policy. This one's a little bit more specific about coming specifically to interview students on campus. And so again, this is our law enforcement presentation doesn't necessarily call that out as specific because it does talk about interrogations. Any interrogations and our searches shall be conducted in the presence of a bullying administrator unless the administrator says presence is not allowed by the law enforcement officer or RCW. The board expects that a reason by parents of any student subject to civil proceedings on school campus. So there's a tiny bit that scanning 38125. I think the system makes it clear. The other piece that um the new board members might not know is that um the board adopts the policy and then um we typically
027take the laws to model procedure and like make sure everybody's trained on it and then we post that on and so it typically there's a policy posted and then right after that is a procedure >> and there is a was model procedure for this um I think in the past we've had some but we didn't have any overlapping policies kind of like saying is this um replacing another policy like like the ones we talked about earlier like 43 plan is this replacing it or is this just to >> um I Look up to see what the dates of the wash policy are for 3125 and 4310. >> We have done that before though. Correct. >> Yes. >> For 3226. >> Um it was updated in July 2025 >> and then they usually update like every
028four to eight years. >> Was it created in July 2025? >> Oh no, it was created in uh 1998. looking at this 2013. It was kind of looks like it may be first. a lot of the procedures because >> any other questions for tonight, but I want to caveat that to encourage board members to reach out and have discussions if needed uh with me and Kevin on this one if you need to or any other ones. Is there more information? I guess specifically we've had some conversation. Is there more information that you want us to come back with on race policy? >> I think it would be helpful to me to understand um in terms of our current procedure or guidance that we give to to our staff on how they would handle a situation
029where there was a request to interrogate. Um how is how does this different from any current guidance that we currently offer? I would say the same. >> So during during kind of we'll bring it back second grade and you can we'll come back with additional information. You can make a decision whether you want to adopt at that time or additional information. >> We'll come back with a little bit more information. >> Keep in mind we have a work session >> in February. We need Kevin and I can talk about that. So Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next will be Ben Ric, assistant superintendent and Cara Hacker, director of financial services. They will provide financial services update for us. Go ahead. All right. Good evening. >> So, seeing we're going to take a look
030at our um our January enrollment. We've we actually were scheduled to look at December, but um we've gotten January pretty much counted and done before we needed to turn in our uh information to the board. So, I decided to um update you on the January as up to date as possible. Um, so basically I'm recording for both December and January tonight. Just as a reminder that the um the top graph there is our 12 um enrollments. It does include our AL numbers, but um does not include our running. So you can see our um K12 at the moment is is leveling out. Um it's just it's stayed about um dropped about three from December. Um, but that's, you know, that's a good sign. That's a good sign. It's over. So, um, are there any questions
031about where we're at with that? There's really not much to report other than go up or down. >> So, looking at our financials, this is November. I know that seems like a long time ago, but um that's how we get our reports from the county. We really can't can't get too much further ahead here. So on Nove in November um for our uh any fund balance for general fund, we're at 1.7 million. Um you can see we received quite a bit more of our taxes after the October um collection. So almost So that was still actually the beginning of December this afternoon. So that's a good sign. >> This is for our capital projects and again received a number of 266,000 in taxes um and million debt service. Um really there's not a lot of
032Not a lot going on this time of year in our debt services, but we are holding a 13.2 million balance >> and also another half a million in taxes. >> And then our ESB has a few fund balance right now of a million. Um over the last few months they have been fundraising and also spending so >> and then our transportation vehicle and we did um two of our our new buses and those invest in. So we do have other buses on on order and still have a balance of 1.4 because we received our addition or 1.4 we received our additional depreciation payment this fall. So that's a nice healthy fund balance and has plans to spend it too. So that's good. >> Are there any questions for me? >> Questions? Um, I have a
033question in ASB funds. I know this earlier, but we talked about we talked about maybe using the uh funds a little bit more to cover some of the expense. Um, are we doing that? I mean, a million dollars. I know you said it was fluctu. >> No. And that's why I mentioned it because we are we are using that more. We've um rejusted some of those bills that would um have been paid for by the general fund are going to be paid for by the SP um event worker um participation, that kind of thing is being paid out of um ASP. Now, it just hasn't really caught up. The bills haven't really caught up with the fund balance. We're still receiving more revenue at that point than we did um in expenses. So you will
034see that fluctuate in um December and especially in January. >> So So is it safe to say that we're they're using more, but I guess they're raising more, too. >> They're fundraising a little bit more. I mean, it's I don't think that that's that's the reason. And I think that they they have plans. They know that um that we're changing the way that that they will collect participation. is not going to jump up on the KSP. So, I think they're preparing for that a little bit. Um, but you know, it'll be interesting to see how it how it plays out over the next few months, but you will see a drop in or an increase in expense. >> Thank you. sitting on the side. >> Okay. for part two. Um board members, I'd like to
035walk you through uh the preliminary budget development timeline for the 2026 27 budget. >> Um and for some of you, this will be a little different because last year at this time, if you remember, we were um in the midst of running two reduced educational program resolutions and that through the months of January and February. Um where we sit now, although we still certainly have um steep decline. There are no plans to run to run a reduced educational program resolution this year and so this budget timeline will look a little bit more um traditional I guess you will um >> sorry what what is that you're referencing? >> Sure. Sorry about that. So I forgot but yep um so last year um was the first year of our multi-year fiscal recovery plan and um was
036pretty heavily publicized. We had made some pretty significant budget choices last year, which unfortunately meant um the reduction of quite a few positions in your school district. under state law. Uh if you intend to do that, uh if you think that you may need to run a reduction in force or the law requires you to run something called a reduced educational program resolution, something the board passes to acknowledge that they recognize the need to make this change and it authorizes the superintendent staff to go ahead and take those steps. Um we actually ended up not actually running through it last year and we were able to achieve all non-renewing provisional staff but we still go through that step in January because you don't exactly know what will be required and not be required and so
037it's a preservation of option step and we ran two of them last year um because the board sort of gave the superintendent very clear guidance about they wanted the to concentrate first on positions and programs purchased from the classroom. Um the first resolution was all central office all support services and then the second resolution was based. So that's a lengthy explanation. Last year this process really like you know was we were in the middle of it >> like in January and this is really the first time I was taking the board about the process this year and this is more typical >> more of a typical >> I'm glad I'm here now and not last. >> Yeah. Well, >> yep. No comment there. Um so um yeah Um, so let's start with the, you know,
038I've been through a number of budget cycles. This is meant to be more typical, more traditional in terms of the way that um, school districts and boards work through a budget. Um, what is customary for me, the only thing that's sort of an added dimension to this is that we're committed to continuing the budget advisory committee. So, um, last year we engaged with group of community members, labor leaders. There was some staff um was a group of about 15 20 maybe roughly um to sort of share um where we were in our budget process, what our priorities were, what did they think the values and priorities of the community were and to create some sort of mechanism of transparency that wasn't just a board meeting, you know, create some dialogue and secretary for labor leaders
039to ask candid questions about, you know, the numbers and you know that's that's good. That's an opportunity to do that. Um but I think we met three times last year uh and it went well. So we decided that um although it's a ton of work, it also is part of commitment to transparency in the process. So we're going to keep doing that. Um and so that part is something that I guess is an added dimension. But this is fairly traditional in the sense that it's built around three work sessions. Um, one is typically about midway maybe two quarters of the way through leg legislator cycle because the legislature is our single largest uh revenue source. You know, I think we're close to 80% of our money comes from the legislature. So, if they start coming
040out with budgets that say we're going to do this cut and that cut, you know, that's very material information for us. And so we will as a February board will share what we have at that time um about you know both what we're seeing publicly and what we're hearing behind the scenes about what school districts might be able to expect in the way of reductions if any. Um the April meeting um tends to be um by then the legislature has adjourned. Typically OSPI has informed us of what we can expect in the way of revenue. Um and so we spend more time in April on the enrollment revenue side of the equation and then by May we have pretty much you know in teaming with our HR colleagues um and present a more cohesive um
041kind of staffing portrayal which which fills out the expenditure side of the budget. And then um traditionally in this district, I guess since I've been here, this is kind of the way I like to do it. I don't like doing a public hearing on the day you're going to adopt the budget. It seems sort of inauthentic to me. So we've historically done two budget hearings. One before you leave for the summer, which is the dream board, >> where we lay out this is pretty much what the budget is going to look like here. Um and then give people their opportunity to weigh in. And then we do a second one on the uh proposed adoption date there which is you know every year it's somewhere around August 26th just before school starts. So, um, this
042is this is more of what I'm accustomed to in a normal year. And when I say normal, um, you know, you're going to get a more robust briefing on February 12th, two days after our collection, where we'll go into this in more depth, but um, you know, our two biggest risk factors right now are enrollment declines and the legislation. Um, and those are two things that we watch weekly, monthly, and um those are sort of dictating the options that we're looking at right now as we start to prepare. So >> happy to deal with any questions you have or >> any questions for today. >> Okay. Again you reach out to Ben or Megan or Wendy or any of these items. We'll now move on to action items. Dina Alli, director of secondary education, will
043present the district's 2526 highly capable report. >> Go ahead, when you're ready. >> Thank you. First, I'd like to acknowledge that a lot of the work that you're going to hear in this report is due to my colleague Misty Hinkle, the director of elementary education, who couldn't be here this evening. In your packet, you have the form that is submitted to OSPI about our highly capable program for the 2526 school year. And I just like to tell you a little bit more about what that form actually means in practice. Clearwater School District provides highly capable services for students in grades K through five using a cluster model where identified students are intentionally placed together within a general education classroom, allowing teachers to provide differentiated instruction while maintaining inclusive learning environments. Within cluster classrooms, teachers use
044strategies such as flexible grouping, curriculum compacting, enrichment, and extension, particularly in English language arts and math. Instruction is designed to provide appropriate challenge while supporting students social emotional development. Comewater uses a universal screening process to identify students for highly capable services. All students are screened in second grade and again in fifth grade for consideration for placement. And in addition, students in alternate grade levels are screened through a referral process if there is a reason to believe they need may need advanced services. This school year is also a transition year in our highly capable program. This is the final year of our self-contained, highly capable classroom at Michael Key. Simmons Elementary, which currently serves a combined group of fourth and fifth grade students. Beginning next school year, students who are currently in fourth grade in that
045self-contained class, will transition to a cluster model classroom for fifth grade, ensuring the continuity of services within the district's K5 model. In addition, Plum Water School District provides advant advanced math services for some fifth grade students through middle school math placement. These students attend math at the middle school for first period and then are transported back to their elementary school following that class. At the middle school and high school levels, students continue to be supported through access to advanced and accelerated coursework, allowing them to rem remain appropriately challenged as they progress through the system. Currently, we're serving a total of 291 students in highly capable services across grades K through 12. They're delivered primarily through in-class differentiation supported by professional learning and collaboration for teachers and at the district level, student learning staff oversee the
046identification process, instructional guidance, and compliance with OSPI requirements. Finally, this year we have convened a highly capable task force made up of educators, families, and students. The group is examining current practices and gathering input to help inform the future vision for highly capable services beyond the 2526 school year. In summary, TM letter's current approach emphasizes equitable identification, inclusive service delivery, and appropriate instructional challenge across grad spans while intentionally planning for program evolution. So, our ask tonight is that while this form was submitted to OSPI to let them know what we would be doing this year, it does require board approval for final submission for the year. So, we would ask that you approve the plan. Thank you. Questions? questions. >> Thank you. >> I will now entertain a motion for action. I I move that
047we approve the plan. >> I'll second that. >> Thank you, Julie. Thank you. >> Is there any discussion? >> My only question, Kevin, is are we going to see this every year from now? Is that the plan? >> I do believe this is required. >> Okay, that's good because there's some more of these out there that are supposed to be reviewed annually. That's okay. >> Absolutely. Okay. >> All those in favor of approving the 256 highly capable report say I opposed. The 2526 highly capable report is approved as presented. >> Next is Whitney Brownley again, executive director of human resources, and she will present a second reading of policy 5010, non-discrimination and >> good evening. So, I'd like to present uh policy 5010. And I know that a couple of you weren't here when it
048was first presented in the first reading. So, please um ask as many questions as you would like. Um I, you know, since we did cover it previously, I want to make sure since this is being I'm asking for approval of 50 um to be adopted with the updated changes. I want to make sure that everybody feels comfortable in this policy. Um there were quite a few changes. This was a WASDA um it's a was a required policy and there were quite a few changes in in this policy. Um you'll notice that um their protected status um has added um has added more extensively um their expanded their definition to include presence of sensory mental disability neurode divergence in their in their category of non non-discrimination. So that oh and also to say immigration or citizenship
049status was also on the expanded list. Um and then also in the in the policy it also added um language for how preferential treatment for applicants that the new clause restricts that for any institution to predominantly um look at sex, race, color or national origin and um example and then they do go into they listed in this new um update they list examples in there and so there's seven examples and then they took out the other discriminate and discrimination examples. So they haven't updated those. >> And then the there was some definition they defined harassment now is severe and old the old definition severe, persistent, pervasive. But the they added clarification now that it's heavy, annoyances, isolated instant incidents unless extremely serious will not rise to the level of discriminatory harassment. And so it um
050really just more clearly defined what that level of discriminatory harassment like. >> Also employments of the old version for employment with persons with disabilities um that it included accommodations, reasonable accommodations, but now it clarifies what those steps go with hardships is by adding um the listing the criteria the the district size financial resources and operations. So when we are hiring a person who might have a disability um those things will be taken into account. Um and then in non-discrimination for military service it wasn't actually broken out in the past. That's an added court. That's an added category on its own. >> And then under affirmative action it more explicitly lays out sexual discrimination in the new version around the the old version required compliance with the with the W that now has been updated. Um
051so it now adds annual publication of complaint procedure notice. Um so that specifically um talking about annual notices again adds another notice that um we have to make the board aware of. And then um the last one is that there is a compliance officer um that's responsible for investigating and resolving all complaints. um before that there was just designated compliance officer but now they that person actually has to investigate and resolve those. >> And then um there was lastly some um expanding of the the words around retaliation to now include districts can intimidate, threaten, force, discriminate against individuals seeking to enforce their rights. And it clarifies um the discipline or retaliation around around anybody um securing their votes. >> That was a lot big policy to review >> and all as I said in the
052very beginning it all follows Washington state updated laws >> questions for he agents about first and second reading. >> Yeah. >> How much of this was during the first reading because it's there's a lot of red in here. >> How much of it was red >> between the first and second reading? How much of this changed? >> Oh, nothing. It's the same. It's the exact same. >> This is what was read the first. >> Yes. Correct. Correct. So, I bring the original um what I'm asking um to have updated and I'm bringing it back. It's just that you didn't have the opportunity to have questions the first time around. So I just really want to make sure if there's any questions. >> Okay. >> And I think when we do give you feedback or we
053want you guys highlight them, I believe in the second reading. >> Correct. This word in there it's highlighted. So it calls it out. >> Correct. And we did not have any suggestions at that time. >> We kind of explained that. >> Are we voting on that tonight? >> We are voting on um it is up for action. >> Okay. So my question would be what does this add to us compared to how we've been navigating these issues before? >> Right? It now adds the it follows the legal language. So previously um it we did not have language for neurode divergence um for immigrant or citizen status homelessness. Those were not protected classes, but those are now protected classes in Washington state. And so we have to follow that. >> I do have a question. Are
054we done updating this one or we still have them in the queue? >> Everything is in the 5,000 series would be done after this one. >> Oh, I meant on this particular policy because I know >> for title N to come through. And is this the last? >> Yes, this. So, Title N just reverted back to the the policy 3205 um is is around um Title N specifically and we had not actually updated the the version that um reverted back. Yes. So, we were we're fine around the title N on policy. Yeah. >> This is one of those policies if you look at the legal references that there's a lot a lot of that cross reference this. And so this is one of them that gets changed pretty frequently just because of every time any
055of those RCOs change, lo and behold, there's a word changes in this. So this is one that you see it seems annually updates in the recent future. >> Yeah, it says the last October 24. >> Yes, I presented it before. Yes, just in time for the legislature last year to add add expand definitions. So, we're just keeping up with those definitions. Any other questions for >> a motion? Make a motion to approve. >> Motion and a second. Is there any further discussion amongst the book? >> I would just ask are there any of these things that we're not doing now? >> And are are there anything that we're doing that is in violation of this? Not aware of I think kind of what Robies are earlier states. Um you're going to follow state law no
056matter what anyway. So it kind of seems silly that is out of date. You just randomly have to hold on to follow it anyway even if you don't update it. >> I would disagree with that. I believe it's important for the district's policy to follow and be compliance with state law. that doesn't seem to me. >> I I would agree on the in the fact that it's, you know, we we train our employees to look at policy and public policy. It's it's really clear. Um it's much easier to go to a a policy than it is to search out a whack or you know, it's just it's clear what our district expects. And we go through a lot of this training um of these policies on a daily basis. as far as the question. I
057was asking questions not much. >> Well, it will be um our training for this next year will be expanded to have these definitions included in because we're required to on non-discrimination to um review that with their staff annually. but I'm not disagreeing on the actual proposal we're talking about right now. Um, >> I know we're going through it over time. We're correcting all these things. Um, how many for example, how many laws have that suggested that we don't have >> Oh gosh, not I wouldn't say hundreds, but there are quite a few that um, you know, every not every policy needs to be adopted, right? I I do agree some things aren't necessarily state law that we'll recommend. Um I think, you know, the ones that are critical are ones that have direct implications um
058for us as a school district around, you know, legal definitely around non-discrimination is, you know, clearly something we have to um to manage as a district. And and so that's why critical. There's many though that you know they they just recommend you know all over but I haven't spent I'm trying to think in the 5000 series specifically for I would be strictly tasting taking a guess if I said you know maybe there's an additional you know 30 or 40 beyond what you maybe not nearly that many but there are quite a few certain don't have that the recently changed the classification of policies too. So that made so there there's critical critical important and discretionary. So that is ultimately what we're we're basing this on. So then you said so we're so we we start
059with critical and we start with critical policies but those automatically come to you and then we go to important and those are obviously important and we're putting up those and saying yes those need to come to the board. This board since my arrival for the most part if it is in the discretionary we have not brought us forward. Um so the only time now we're starting to bring policies forward that we didn't see is either they've somehow changed classification and so now they're all listed in important or critical and they weren't right previously. So you're seeing some of that they're coming up in audits and looking special ed. So they're coming up in audits. They're in those categories and they're coming to you. Um and so those are some of that process that we're dealing
060with but for the most part we are staying in the critical and important range and again there's there's rationale and again probably we can get if we don't have a policy ultimately what we're going to is an attorney to get you know ultimately paying some money. So there's attorneys that write these and then help guide us in decision making. If we don't have the policy adopted to this is important, we don't adopt it because there's state law. It's essentially we end up contacting an attorney and pay for that guidance that we could have just had a policy says, oh, this is clear clear in in the law versus getting an attorney to guide us on this. So, we do some of that anyway when it's when incidents come. But that's sort of the process that
061we've gone through. So, we'll still kind of continue that unless different direction from the board. We can come back and do more of an analysis. We would some time to do kind of a model policy. There's a a fee that you can pay. You can cave WASDA to do a full analysis of our policy. They can give that to you. We could take some time to look at that and kind of come up with like which ones don't we have if you'd like to see that in the future. Um it take us a little bit of time to do, but we could we could put that together without too much trouble. >> All right, I'm going to move back to our discussion on the motion. Prior heard we vote in favor of this adopting this
062policy. Um I think it's important to send a message that you know we support our state's non-discrimination laws and the board and we want to provide that protection to >> I believe it's well we have to example we still have to adopt the policy that's part of the law as well too. Chinese motion. >> Oh, I'm sorry. All those Yeah, we're read discussion. All those in favor of approving policy on discrimination action say I. >> I. That was critical. >> Thank you. And now move on to the super. >> Thank you. Um, as as we've talked to before, I tried to bring in our strategic plan. We've been some examples that have occurring out through our community. And so this month we're proud to highlight a example of creativity, collaboration, community connection. So this is
063Tom Water Middle School. And so for the second consecutive year, students in the advanced art CTE class that were selected by the Olympia Arts Alliance to design a storefront installation in downtown Olympia. So guided by this year's theme, Savor students, I hope I said that right. Students created an immersive art experience entitled Nostalgia Land. So the the display features ceramic ceramic lantern sculptures, handdrawn Polaroid style clouds, customuilt shelves and scenery and the painted sunset backdrop all designed, constructed and installed by students. This project is a clear demonstration of our portrait of graduate in action. Students applied their creative and technical skills, work collaboratively through each phase and engage in meaningful real world connection to the broader community. The installations located at Goldberg at the Goldberg building fourth in Capitol will remain on display through mid-March.
064A showcase of our students talent and impact of our career and technical education experience in middle school. So ready to go with Tong Water Middle. >> Um I want to also kind of part of our strategic spotlight. I'm proud to recognize Adeline Stanley a student at Black Hills High School for earning second place in a national student television network competition. Her video entitled um her video entry based on the prompt choose kindness it costs nothing was judged by an esteemed panel of 18 industry professionals including MA award winning producers and representatives from Netflix CBS Fox and a whole host of others through the guidance of Mr. Hoke CTE video production program. Adeline demonstrated innovation, empathy, and resilience, key attributes of our portrait of a graduate. Her achievement reflects not only technical skill, but also the
065courage to communicate powerfully on a national stage. Congratulations, Adeline. And I thought you might want to see her video. >> When you fill somebody else's bucket, >> you fill your own as well. Sometimes kindness doesn't have to be about going the extra mile, like watering a plant for someone or making someone a cup of tea. Filling up someone's bucket is a good analogy as to how we can make two people happy throughout their day. So, go try it out sometime. Make someone happy. Give them a compliment. It takes no effort, but it takes a lot of effort to have a bad attitude. >> Nice short and sweet. Congratulations, Meline. >> So, this week we celebrated and honored Dr. Martin Luther King um from MLK day. It's an important opportunity for our schools to reflect on
066Dr. King's enduring call for justice, equity, and service to others. The 2026 theme, Mission Impossible 2, building community using a nation in nonviolent way, reminds us that education plays a critical role in strengthening communities and teaching students how to resolve differences with empathy, respect, and understanding. As educators, we honor Dr. legacy by creating learning environments where every student feels valued and prepared to contri contribute positively to a diverse and democratic society. >> In 2026, WADA WAZA was waza. So you get all your acronyms in this one. Um this is like this. The school association administrators, school business officers, and school directors, legislative conference provided an important opportunity for us to prepare for the legislative session, which began on January 12th at a time of significant statewide funding challenges for education. The conference emphasized the urgency
067of unified advocacy around key issues. Nothing new for you to hear, including full funding of basic education of MSI, material supplies, and operating costs, exempting school district services from the sales tax of the new law that passed last year, and preventing new or continued unfunded mandates until existing basic education needs are met. The participants including myself um Melissa Beard also um was part of that engaged in mainstaying presentations from our education finance experts, association leaders, students and state legislators as well as targeted breakout sessions designed to strengthen advocacy skills and understanding of the legislative landscape. And the highlight of the conference was a musical performance by the Tumblr water high school the notables under the direction of Rachel Wendowski who performed at the general session dinner and represented a district with exceptional talent and professionalism.
068I wish I had a video of that one. She would they were amazing. Um got a big round of applause for their performance. So appreciate them being there. We've had a busy month for sharing information about the upcoming replacement of our capital levy that will be on the February 10th special election ballot. You might have received your ballot in the mail today. Last week we held the second virtual information session and on January 15th from 4:00 to 5:00 pm um oh that was that you held on January 15th and have been sharing information to school staff, parent groups, booster clubs throughout the community. In addition, the district created anformational video. I'd like to share that with you if you'd like to see that. >> You have a hand chance. >> The exciting thing about this
069safety, capital, and technology levy is that literally every one of us will benefit in some way. Our capital levy really is everything else that our people use. It is the warm, safe, and dry. It's new roofs. It is boilers. It is again things that we expect to work and look nice, but you don't necessarily see. And then there are other things that are significant upgrades. New playground equipment, upgrades to our sports facilities, and we put a new turf on. Digital safety is a really big priority in this level. And one of the reasons why is we've just learned how important technology has become for the education of our kids. We feel like we need to give the students the technology that they'll be required to use in the workplace, but also we want to make
070sure that their experience in that technology is safe. We have three elementary schools that don't have a lunchroom and don't have a multi-purpose. The buildings that have a multi-purpose space are able to schedule in a way that's more intentional and strategic. >> We build our entire schedule around our lunch. So, if we were to have multi-purpose room. We could be eating our breakfast in the multi-purpose room. We could have our specialist time extended by 5 minutes to have more time in PE and our other specialists cuz their schedule also mirrors our PE schedule. We know that a happy tummy is a better listener in the classroom, better behaved in the classroom. >> If I were going to highlight another project in this levy, it would probably be the player. We would expect that pretty every
071school site would experience both a refresh of their playroom and equipment, but also the installation of what they call play canopies. >> Having more space that was covered would allow us to have kids outside getting fresh air, allow teachers to have their appropriate breaks. There is a lot of wear and tear and that is an area that it is really not up to standard. One of the things that we hear from our community members is about our pickup and drop off areas. That's obviously um you know a decent amount of traffic that needs to be routed appropriately and there needs to be a sufficient amount of land and road to be able to make sure that that line doesn't snake out and back up traffic for a mile. This levy includes that as several of
072the main projects. There's nothing parents dislike more than parking lot. We have put into this levy a plan to gradually phase out uh any lot that we have that we rely on have a levy that's currently gravel to pave and drain. A capital levy is developed by an advisory committee and they look at all of our facilities and all of our needs and develop projects that benefit are at all of our schools and all of our facilities. We have a current capital levy. It's a four-year levy and this is a renewal of that for six years. We are trying to maintain the same level of support and tax level for our community and taxpayers. And so yeah, this is a renewal of the current capital levy. So if we have quality schools, people will want
073to live here and they will want to work here. One of the important features of this capital levy is make sure that we focus on safety, security, safe environments for all of our students and faculty and staff. of all the messages that we are going to do projects that make a big impact for our students, for for our teachers, for this community. And we'll be good stewards of those resources. So, just want to thank Ben and Liz for their participation in that and uh yeah, and I think Lori helped coordinate that to get that video done. I think it's been shared on social media and out and about. So, lots of information about the levy in the last few few weeks and a big push here, you know, to the election in February 10th. Last
074couple things. Um, I'm proud to share that Black Hills High School has been selected as the recipient of the Washington Officials Association Sportsmanship Award for the 2025 football season. So, this honor presented in partnership with the Washington Intercolctic Activities Association and the South Sound Football Football Officials Association recognizes exemplary sportsmanship demonstrated by players, coaches, and fans. And so as part of the award, two student athletes from Black Hills, Maximus Whiteall and Elijah Simpson, were selected to receive $1,000 scholarships to support their postsecary education. These scholarships are funded through the generous contributions from local officials, and donors committed to giving back to schools that demonstrate integity, integrity, respect, and character in athletics. The award and scholarships were presented to the Black Hills High School football team during halftime of the home basketball game last Thursday. So,
075congratulations to the Dr. BS um for demonstrating your sportsmanship. >> And last couple things, I'd like to just invite all of you. I think I sent you an email today about Battle for Billy. That's on Friday, January 30th, so a week from tomorrow, High School, Black Hills High School. They meet at Black Hills High School this year, um for the rivalry basketball games. Um one game starts at 5:30. I'm not sure who goes first, um, our girls or boys, but one's at 5:30, one follows at 7. Battle for Billy is intentionally aligned with our strategic plan, particularly our focus on belonging, student voice, and a positive school culture. The event highlights how students, athletes, coaches, and fans demonstrate respect, sport, sportsmanship, and pride in their school, community um, skills and dispositions we certainly want our
076graduates to carry well beyond high school. So, we'll have some judges. You've been invited to do that. So, I think we have a couple board members. I'll find out if there's anybody else tonight if you want to do that. Um, they'll be present present to recognize the school community that best exemplifies these values throughout the evening. Um, regardless of the final score, the event reinforces that how we show up for one another matters just as much as the outcome of the year. So, look forward a great night that reflects the best of our students, our schools, and the values outlined in our strategic plan. And I don't have this a slide for this, but I got an email. Our unified basketball game um impact the gym. So, our unified basketball is um special education and
077cooperation special education students and um our general education students coming together. They play um basketball games. Lots of fun. Um Thursday, January 29th. So, we have um Battle for Billy on Friday night. Thursday night is packed to gym for unified basketball. that is at Tumblr High School 6 PM. Um if you haven't been to that, it is a lot of fun. Um music, usually there's an announcer. They give some good nicknames. Um you never know what will happen with those. A couple years ago, uh dance party broke out, I think at halftime with one of them. Um so it was we captured that on video. It was pretty awesome. So lots of fun, lots of laughs. Um lots of good times. Lots of good cheering. almost there's a good warm-up I think for battle stability
078because they definitely demonstrate their good sportsmanship with that. So, if you can attend both or either of those, um, well worth your time. >> That is all. >> All right. Thank you, Kevin. Now, move on to comments. Keep in mind that each board member has approximately two to three minutes to speak. Robers, >> I watched the uh the capital presentation. I just want to I thought it was great who you had share and the information you had share the preemptive answers to questions that you gave that they hadn't asked yet. I learned a lot. So, go set this up pretty well. Yeah, I'll keep it brief. I've been a little bit sick, man. Um, so thanks for all the presentations today. Um, well done as always. Um, one thing I will comment is uh I
079experienced as some of you know that the owner dance team, they're pretty good. They're kind of like here state championship, championships. Um my younger my young daughters in their little youth program youth program goes to some of their high school competitions and kind of does exhibition performances or something competition. Those girls are just insanely good is impressive. Um they're like, you know, I think a varsity youth program into it. Um and to spend the whole day in the gym all day. Uh yeah, I just there's so much work that goes into it and uh I never really knew until I I went to one of those, but it's impressive. So just kind of a shout out to the to the dance team and the dance program. coach um legend I guess so to speak. So
080just really cool um very so um other than that I went to the um the basketball game watch the girls and boys um two great games uh lots of really good sportsmanship and checked in with The administrators at that game, they said there was relatively no issues at all, which is great to hear. Both games were super competitive. Went into overtime and the boys had one or two games. So, love to see the competition and all the um well, I just wanted to thank our student reps um for your presentations earlier. I feel like I learn a lot every time you guys come and kind of tell us what your kind of investigation and your uh as you kind of uh talk with other people and that was just really helpful. I want to thank
081you for for being here and for doing that. Um I feel like I'm learning so much about the schools in the district um for your presence here. So I want to thank you so much for that. Um, also, um, just want to highlight the last two, uh, board meetings where we had an opportunity to hear from all of the schools about their strategic plans and how they're going to implement this. It was really exciting and I really enjoyed it and I know I've commented about this before, but um, I really appreciate the work that went into that as well. And um, just wanted to say like Ken and Ben, you were looking sharp in the video. Great job there. very excited for this, Bevy. It's so important for for our community. So, thank you for
082the work you're doing on my >> Thank you to our presenters. That was a great job. Uh, everyone was very prepared. Great questions. Wendy, thank you for following through those policies. That's appreciate it for sure. Been wanting to see that for a year, too. So, that's great. Um, the other thing I want to talk about was I want to acknowledge Jay Mason who was the police chief for the city of Tom Water. Um, more so for his contribution to the SRO program. He he was over that and was a tremendous ally for that program and tremendous advocate for the city for that program. So, it's sad to see him not in that capacity anymore. However, there's some better opportunities out there for him. I have no doubt he's a great person. He's incredibly gracious and
083I know he's not going anywhere. So, it's not goodbye, but we are going to miss them within the school district. So, thanks to J. >> And I like the basketball games as well too. That was fun to see. Um I'm looking forward to going to I think it's next week already. So, can't wait to see it. And especially the unified Okay. >> The regular meeting is recess >> at 7:22 p.m. entering into executive session to discuss personnel performance evaluation qualification for employment 40.30.1101G. The executive session is expected to last 30 minutes and no action will be taken. the regular meeting will reconvene only to adjourn and don't wait for us to come back after it'll be very boring. >> Thank you. [music] >> [music]