001you that maybe have never been to a board meeting before, um we appreciate you being here. I do want to make a brief note that um if you are here to make public comment, you don't have to stay for the whole meeting. I don't want anyone to worry that if you came to make a public comment, especially if you're a young person and you're you've been told it's not acceptable to walk out in the middle of the action, it is completely acceptable to walk out of the action uh when you are done with your portion. Um, at this time I'd like to uh call this meeting to order and ask for an approval of the agenda as >> Oh, we're back. Oh, I thought I did that. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> It's all right.
002>> We're fine. Scratch all that. We're going to do a land acknowledgement. Uh, tonight I'm actually going to offer one um a slightly different source. I found it to be uh helpful. Uh we honor the indigenous Squbash people and acknowledge the fact that Vashan and Mory Islands are within the area where the Squash have built homes, buried their relatives, told stories, celebrated, fought battles, made art and medicine, and lived in unity with the natural world since time and memorial. These lands on which we now live and learn are the traditional lands of Scobash and remain a vital part of their cultural sovereignty to the present day. Uh thank you very much. Um before we get into public comment, I just every once in a while like to kind of um refresh uh a little kind
003of public preamble about making comment at public meeting. Schoolboard meetings are business meetings which are held in public. They are not meetings with the public. In order to permit fair and orderly expression of comment, the board has provided this time and I'm sorry I have this thing in my mouth. I have a little bit of a scratchy throat. uh to hear appropriate comments from anyone attending the meeting. However, the school board does not respond to questions during the course of the business meeting. The board values and welcome civil, respectful statements and clear, concise communications that inform its deliberations. The board uses the public comment period as an opportunity to listen to citizen concerns, but not to debate issues or enter into a question and answer session. No person addressing the board should initiate charges or
004complaints about individual board members or employees or students of the district. Such charges or complaints should be presented directly to the superintendent. If a charge or complaint is about the superintendent, please send your concern in writing to the board or request an inerson meeting or phone call to which we are always open. Um you will see a public uh timer appear on the screen. Everyone is allotted three minutes. We do have two periods for public comment. one at the beginning of the meeting and a second one at the end of the meeting. Um it is acceptable to give more than one public comment once at the beginning and once at the end if you like. And as I said again if after your public comment um you are not required to sit for the duration
005of the meeting if that is not u what is in the cards for you today. Uh with all of that being said, we have an opportunity for public comment. At this point I only have three people that have signed in to make public comment. Um, if someone is here and had intended to do so and did not check the box, we're happy to amend this list. Um, at this time, and I want to really apologize about um, pronouncing people's names. I believe the name here is Matteo. >> Matteo, please come uh to the stand and address your comments to the board. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Matteo Villa Vasencio and I'm here on behalf of myself, Cashasqua, Pearson Gunther, and all other students and families affected by the by the district policy number
006regarding the participation of the Running Start program. The policy states the students at uh of Vashan Island High School who do not have a Vashan address must transfer to their home district if they wish to participate in the running start program. The policy which was written in 2018 and the reasoning for this policy is severely outdated. In 2018 when the policy was made, the only available option was to go fully in person at a college. However, now there are multiple other options including hybrid which is what Cash who cannot be here today is going to do in full time online and um in person at the college which is what I will be doing through Running Start. Um so there were two reasons cited to us why we as off island uh residents cannot go
007cannot do running start through the Vashan school district. One of them being that this uh the school district does not receive funding for our um for our attendance which is false. Stu uh students doing Running Start through this school district can and do receive funding, although it is only 7% of what they would normally do if a student was enrolled full-time at Bashan High School. That is a pretty drastic drop. However, it is still funding and we were told that the school district does not receive funding, which has been shown to be false. um the the school district is actively losing money by sending us away when they can still get 7% of the funding from the state as opposed to zero if they send us away and they lose our funding because we do
008not attend their school. The second reason that was cited to us was that this is extra work from the counselors and that the counselors have to do extra work uncompensated which is also untrue because of that 7% funding that they receive from the state that can be allocated to those counselors fairly and justly for the extra work that they do. And we have talked to the counselors. We have asked them what it looks like and I myself have signed the paperwork for running start and it does not really seem to be a ton of extra work more reading in signatures and some processing and communication but again it does not really seem to be like extra uncompensated work and the reason why we care about this is me and Cashria have been going to and
009Pearson Gunther have been going to the school district for six for five years since sixth grade and we are being forced to defer to our home school district after we have built all of our social lives and clubs and connections here. Me and Kashria co-founded a philosophy discussion club at our high school. And the reason Cashria cannot be here today and would be giving this speech in my place is because he is at state for FBLA which is a program through our high school and is actively supporting and engaging with it and he cannot be here today to give this speech but we ask that this be uh readjusted or changed completely. Thank you. Thank you so much for um next on my list for this evening, um Erin Simmons. >> Good evening, Superintendent Mocha,
010Chair Roby, and members of the school board. For the record, my name is Aaron Simmons. I am mother to four VISD students who range between third grade up to sophomore year. I'm just one of many many parents who support the belltobell away for the day cell phone policy that has been in place at McMurray and urge your support to enact this policy at all three schools. A small undercurrent of people feel that this policy is too much for high school students. So that's the argument on which I will focus my testimony. Argument students will not comply. So we shouldn't try to put this policy into place. It's okay for K through eight, but high schoolers should be treated differently. Rebuttal. We have speed limits on the roads, even though some people still speed. Overall, the
011speed limit does keep the majority of people safe, safer than if we didn't have speed limits. There are pros to cell phones. They're a tool for connection, social connection, sharing information. They allow parents and children to communicate, and there's a place for that. But we must place greater importance for what school is intended to be, a place for academics and social and emotional development. I'm asking you, Superintendent Mocha, and members of the board, to please help implement an away for the day bell-to-bell policy in our district. You may or may not support this policy yourself on an individual level, but I want to appeal to you as a parent. It's time we are honest with ourselves about the many detriments caused by cell phones in school. And then we need to choose to take action.
012Even if it's hard, it isn't that often that we are in a position to make a real difference. You can affect change that will help every student coming through the ranks on Bashon. give our high school students, our whole district, a school experience that allows them to take a deep breath as they walk in the door, set aside their phones and the social media and learn, grow, and care for each other. That recording in the restroom that was not caring for each other. We can march with picket signs. We can contact legislators. We can advocate for all the change that we want to see in the world, but let's start at home. Let's come together as a community and be honest about the judgment caused by cell phones in school and let's do something about
013it together. Please support a bell tobell away for the day policy for all three schools. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, and our last person signed up for public comment. I believe it is it Megan >> call. Sorry. Sorry. >> Thank you so much for this opportunity to weigh in. I'm also here to talk about the cell phone policy at Bashant High School. My name is Megan. I have an eighth grader at McMurray. right now. 15 years ago, we worried whether kids would have enough access to technology so they could be ready for their future careers and not fall behind. We worried about not enough tech in the hands of kids. Today, as a society, we're out of our depth in a media addiction crisis so severe that many kids find in-person conversations
014anxietyprovoking, can't read a book cover to cover, can't simply stare out the window for 10 straight minutes. Many are online virtually every minute of the day and deep into the night, too. We couldn't have imagined such a scenario 15 years ago and we haven't even begun to address it. We know from research that social media, YouTube and video games are habit forming. That kids and adults struggle to get off these things even when they want to and try to. We know millions of teens are already addicted to internet pornography and online gambling. We know from a recent lawsuit that Meta and YouTube knowingly and fully intentionally aim to addict minors to their products. This is the environment and context in which we make a decision about whether students should have access to their phones in
015school. And a phone in a backpack equals access. When scientists told us smoking was harmful, we banned it on school campuses. When the obesity crisis gained national attention, schools reevaluated the health of their school lunches. When a piece of playground equipment is found to be unsafe. When multiple children are significantly hurt using it, it is removed from school programs. In light of research proving harms of the most popular tech products and apps, schools can and should take responsibility to ban these things on campus, too. Especially when it costs almost nothing in either dollars or time. In the case of phones, it's no burden at all to ban access to them, just as McMurray has. Going seven hours a day, Monday through Friday, phone free could be a lifeline for kids otherwise immersed almost constantly in
016unhealthy apps and video games. School districts go to tremendous trouble and expense to put filters and safety mechanisms in place on school devices. Why do they do this? They know there's unsafe material online. Knowing this and then letting students bring their unfiltered smartphones to school makes no sense and undermines their own intention to protect students from certain websites. As a parent, I lose my opportunity to curtail unhealthy internet access when schools allow phones. I chose not to give my eighth grader a smartphone. He has a dumb phone. Yet, that parenting decision evaporates when he can watch x-rated material on his classmates's phone during breaks and lunch. School policies shouldn't undermine parent decisions around internet safety. Non-consensual photography is enough of a reason to ban phones already. How can anyone relax in a bathroom or classroom
017after the incident that just took place, knowing it could happen again at any moment? Who wants to go to school knowing they could be secretly photographed or recorded? This is not a learning environment. This is an anxietyprovoking place to go every day. Get phones out of the hands of kids so they can relax, concentrate, make friends, stay safe, and get an education. Lastly, we are a commuting family. We've had no issues with the Midm Mary's fantastic policy. They turn their phones into their last period class of the day and simply pick them up on their way out the door and it's worked fabulously for us. >> Thank you very much. >> Um, is there anyone else here that would like to make public comment at this time? Okay. Uh, thank you all for being here.
018Um uh at this time uh we move on to the consent agenda. Unless there are any objections, I would like to approve the consent agenda as written. Are there any objections? Fantastic. The consent agenda passes as written. Uh we'll move on to the reports section of uh the evening. Uh Miss Kovatch, is that you? Thank you. >> Hi everybody. Hi. I I hate that I have my back. >> Um I'm Sabrina Kovage, the lucky assistant principal and CTE director at Vashan Island High School. And I'm here today uh with my CTE director hat on to give you the annual report about the state of CTE at Vashan Island High School. Um, so an overview. These bullets really just kind of um describe what I'm going to be talking about. It's not necessarily one category at
019a time. Some of them overlap. Um, but I really wanted to take the time to describe what CTE is, how um, we are um, overviewed or sort of managed from the state level and the program benefits and really how wonderful um, CTE is and um, it's for our students, for our district, for our bottom line, and for um, kids' futures. So, it really is um I've learned so much getting to be the CTE director here. So, CTE stands for career and technical education and it's a structured sequence of courses. Um and they integrate academic knowledge, technical skills, and industry relevant experience. And the main thing that distinguishes CTE from general core classes is they do answer the question, why does this matter? I think a lot of kids ask that question in their different classes
020and teachers are able to answer that question regardless of the content area that they're teaching. But it also answers what can I do with this? Because really CTE is all about preparing kids for after high school. So it's all about relevant experience that gives you employable skills. Um it connects to more than just jobs. A lot of times people think about CTE as vocational technical and they say CTE versus academic, right? Or CTE versus collegebound. And it's not. That's really an incorrect characterization. Um, a lot of our CTE classes, you'll see later like AP stats. A lot of kids who are taking AP stats are going to four-year colleges. AP stats is a CTE class, right? Kids that are really excited about jewelry are also heading off to college as well. Um, but they don't
021have to go off to a four-year college. They can go to a two-year college and get a technical degree. They can um enter into apprenticeship programs either while they're still in high school or right after high school. And with some um CTE programs, our ours not so much because we don't have a full pathway where you graduate with um what is called an IRC, an industry recognized certificate to go directly into the workforce. We're a little bit too small for that. Um, but a lot of larger CTE programs across the state, kids are finishing up their CTE programs at high school and going and getting jobs that pay 60 70 $80,000 depending depending on what they're studying. Um, there's two types of programs. So, there's the exploratory programs and there's the preparatory programs, the prep
022programs. Exploratory really is like all the middle school CTE classes are exploratory, right? They're just introducing kids to a field or a content area. And um the courses are structured in a way that's hopefully helping them think about like what if I did do this in the future? What would it look like? Like what if I did become really good at this or um possessed all this knowledge? What would this set me up for in the future? Then there's the prep programs that give you sort of those harder skills and are getting you ready to be employable or go into a a technical or a vocational program. Some of our classes at um VHS are exploratory and some of our classes are prep programs or prepare preparatory. Such a hard word to say. Um um
023yeah, so that's those are the two different types of programs. You can only have exploratory programs in middle school. There's no such thing as a prep program in middle school. And you can't have the preps until you get to high school. So, OSPI oversees CTE pretty um pretty well. Um you have to get your program approved. There's all kinds of extra paperwork and um approval and meetings and crossing the tees and dotting the eyes that goes into overseeing a CTE program. Um one of the things is every single class has to have a framework. And if you imagine like a syllabus on steroids, that's kind of what a framework is like. It's multiple pages long. It covers all the standards. teachers have to think about the different types of assessments that they're going to give
024the different types of leadership opportunities and it's very specific and those frameworks need to be updated every few years. So that's something extra that we have to do in CTE. Um we also have industry standards alignment. So, for example, in our jewelry class, um, Miss Dunigan has to show how what she's doing in the jewelry class aligns with what kids would do in fields that they are being prepared for. And that has to be proven and shown. And then, um, everything is coded also in CTE. So, each course has its own particular code that falls under a more general umbrella of like what um, content area or field that would be in. Um and then every teacher is also coded. They get a Vcode. So the Vcodes are given to teachers. They have to show
025that they are endorsed in that particular area or for our teachers that are are not trained teachers but come from industry. Um they have to have at least 6,000 hours of experience in order to be able to come into a school and teach that particular subject area. There's also federal funding that is a big part of CTE. It's called Perkins funding. Bashon Island School District does not do Perkins. In the past, um it's been determined by CTE director after CTE director that it's not um the juice isn't worth the squeeze. So it takes a lot of work and paperwork and hours and hours to do all your Perkins stuff and to submit it to the state. And for us our size, we would probably end up getting maybe around 8 to$10,000 a year. However, I
026do think this is important to note with some of the newer um platforms that have integrated AI, it is much easier to um do your student outcome tracking, to track your dollars, to put all the data and reporting together in order to complete the Perkins. So I think if those kind of products or platforms improve enough, it could be worth it for a small district like ours to go for those per dollars in the future. >> Um and then a couple other things that they're um overseeing at OSPI is the the credentials. So this is the part of the state where like they're reaching into education but they're also reaching into labor and industries and some of those data streams and how those are shared. Um and then the labor market alignment is also a
027really big part of it. So with any course proposal or if we're looking at you know do we want to start a program or do we want to sunset a program or how valuable is this program we pro we have to look at the labor market data. So, I'm going to show you some of the labor market data um that is relevant to the courses that we've got at BHS. Um lots of benefits for students. CTE provides a lot of benefits for students and for districts, like I said. So, the graduation rate of kids who take at least one CTE class is higher than in general. That 95% graduation rate versus the 86% national average is for kids who take at least three CTE courses. Um, also 12% higher earnings 8 years after graduation typically
028if you're taking more CTE classes because I think the idea is that you maybe you decide sooner what you want to do or you know you just you don't spend as much time like oh maybe I'll do this or maybe I'll do that. And so it's just a a more concentrated quicker pathway into the field of your choice. Um, kids that also do CTE, especially kids that go to vocational schools, are not really acrewing a lot of student debt like a kind of the traditional student who goes to a four-year program. Um, lots of real world learning and lots of professional problem solving skills. uh one every CTE conference I've been to, there's always been a session from someone from labor and industries who comes and tells us about just all this different data about
029how great CTE is and how Washington state needs that workforce. Um, and he often talks about the difference between kids who go to CTE and the types of skills that they have like problem solving, collaboration, communication skills, showing up on time, how they do a lot better in the workforce versus kids who haven't taken those CTE classes and have learned those um kind of those employability skills. Um, it's good for the community. you can have a local comm like a local pipeline. Um you've got graduates that are already are having more than uh the high school diploma credential. Um and they're making economic contributions to their community as well. It's also good for equity. So it reaches diverse learners. Um and you know these classes sort of give you immediate economic value as a worker.
030Um, and also for equity for kids who are low income and maybe they're not thinking about going to college because it's cost prohibitive, they can get credentials at school and either save some money by taking those dual credit classes that are either going to give you like AP credit or college credit or give you a credential before you even go to college and maybe allow you to get like a better job during college. And um yeah. Okay. So there's you can skip that one. I'm not going to go into that one. Um there's a lot of different career clusters. And so this is the examples of the these are the different career clusters as organized by Washington State. And then these are the programs that we have here at um Bashan High School. And it's
031actually pretty impressive that we have 18 active programs um spanning 10 clusters. And that is those are really great numbers for a district of our size and it really reflects a deliberate strategy on our part. I think that the assistant principles before me going back I don't know how long who have been the CTE directors and Jen Co who I'm going to talk about now and later and how wonderful and valuable she is and she needs to be cherished. um the the strategy to make as many of our classes as we can CTE credentialed even if we don't have like let's say an automotive pathway where you're just taking automotive not just but you're taking you know all those classes to let's say have a certificate to be a car mechanic we don't have those
032but we still have lots of different kinds of classes and um it's just been really smart strategywise I think for us to to do Yeah. So, we have um this is just a basically it's the same list just organized differently, but these are all of the courses at VHS. Um and business and marketing is one of our biggest kind of clusters at the at the high school. And um one really exciting thing that happened that Matteo just mentioned, he said that about FBA because Cash is isn't here. He's at the FBLA field trip. So FBALA is Future Business Leaders of America. It's a CTSO. It's a um it's a student like leadership organization. And a big part of CTE is having CTSOs. We haven't had one before this year. And so that's actually something to
033brag about in terms of our CTE program is like we finally have one CTSO and hopefully we'll be able to have more in the future. And then this is um the program areas at McMurray. So smaller. Um but one thing that is really exciting about CTE in McMurray is that I I think it was Greg Dr. Allison's idea. I'm not sure whose idea it was, but to take the science program at seventh and eighth grade and turn all of the science classes into CTE classes. So every middle schooler is taking at least one CTE course. Um this is the just an overview of last year's active enrollment. And one thing that might be a little misleading here is it says um program enrollments at Bashon High School. It says 852. Obviously we don't have 852
034children at high school and 457 at McMurray, but that's the enrollment. So if Henry's enrolled in AP stats and jewelry, he counts twice. And then this is just looking at the enrollment over time. So it's it has stayed pretty stable. Um make a note here. Um it's we've generated uh we're up 17% of CTE class enrollment from 2021. And even though the raw total number is down, um it's structural. It's not because we have less interest. It's because some courses have been funds setted. Is that right? Um and so it shows up in the data as this drop. Um but it's it's it's not because we've had a drop in in interest. It's because we've stopped offering some courses, which I think is an um this year I've thought about that more than before. Uh
035you know, sometimes we're like, okay, we're not going to run that course anymore. But I think with CTE the calculus has to be a little more careful and and these are our top programs. So this one again a little bit misleading. So this is sustainable design 246 but all of the middle schoolers have to take science. So it shows up as our largest program. Um and then family health as well is required for the nth graders. So you know it shows up as a big big program. Um, but woodworking, you know, there's a lot of interest. Metal and jewelry arts, tons of interest. Production arts, independent living is a middle school class. Um, and then natural resources is actually our AP environmental science class, which flip-flops every other year. And then our photography class is
036pretty popular, too. um some noteworthy kind of pieces of data is marine biologies enrollment is declining and that's not structural. It seems to be an interest uh thing. So I think that that needs some attention as to why. Um, I don't know if it's scheduling, if student interest has shifted, um, if maybe we're not collaborating enough with the counselors or if we haven't created the right promotional materials because one of the another thing about CTE courses is we really encourage all the teachers to create promotional materials to go along with their classes like videos or, you know, brochures or posters or whatever to get kids to sign up. Um, our tech foundations classes are small and it does seem like that's somewhere where that could grow. And then computer programming um, alternates with data science
037every other year. And I do wonder if we could try to have both of them in one year and have and maintain the same amount of interest. Um, this just kind of shows what happens between the middle school and the high school. So, we've got, you know, kids who take it in the middle school and the interest grows once they get to high school. Health pretty much stays the same because it's a required class. But this right here is a huge drop. And if we were doing Perkins and sending all this data to the state, we would have to explain this to them. So the reason it looks like this is because this is all the science classes at the middle school which fall under the STEM category. But we only have one STEM class,
038one STEM CTE class at the high school and that's guitar building. So that's also a possible area of growth is to to like bolster that STEM pathway. Um and then >> sorry is is um stats not considered doesn't go >> it's not it's not a STEM class. No >> sorry that's okay. >> Um we've got some changes. So we're going to talk about maritime. Heather's going to talk about maritime a little bit too but it's our first ever off island skill center partnership. So, we have had kids go to skill centers in the past, but this one is different because our superintendent actually has a seat on the governing board and we have guaranteed seats that they're holding for our district. Um, so this is the first time ever we've had this kind of partnership
039with the skill center. And I really have been thinking about it as oh my gosh, our campus all of a sudden just got so much bigger and cooler and now we can offer these amazing classes. Um, so this year we've got um data science happening, won't happen next year. Computer science will happen next year. We have residential carpentry happening this year, but it won't happen next year. So just the flip-flop. And then also our AP environmental science is one year on, one year off. Um, so we've uh we don't we don't have it this year, but we will have it next year. Do you want to talk about Maritime a little bit? >> Sure. Sure I will. Um Maritime, it's a new skill center. It's in Tacoma. It's close by and we are close by
040and so we were invited to be a part of the eight or 10 schools that um that are starting this thing. It's just it's brand new starting in the fall. Um they're still working out the bugs and that's how it goes. But um it's um it's a CTE program. It's broken down into four different pathways. That's like four different specialties of what these kids are can get involved with in. One is maritime manufacturing or boat building and design. Um there's a logistics pathway for um transportation systems. There's a technology pathway for computer and sustainability. There's just many different um I went to the open house and there were many speakers that just talked about, you know, you go to a you drive through a city, you look at the port, it's all kinds of activity,
041but nobody really knows what jobs those are. I mean, not really in detail. And so, they're just going into teaching teaching students that there are jobs, livable wage jobs that are available to young people. So, it's it's very exciting. Um it's exciting for um um my student link I uh student link because CTE is a graduation pathway and for some students that just aren't meant to uh pass the state testing. This is another way to graduate and have a direction. One of the great really things is that it's free. So it's a public skill center. Um it's half day. So it's three classes at the skill center and then you you have to be enrolled in your home district for half the day. So it's three and three. So split FTE split time. Um the
042thing that that touches link is that because we're on Bashon, I mean this PE students that are in Tacoma can go someplace in the morning, someplace in the afternoon and they can get there. When you're on Bashon, there's a little bit more of a logistical issue. So that's why that's where link comes into the play is that link is um you know the students work on their own so they don't have to we don't take attendance they can still take their core subjects their their math and their uh English history and all those things they can do that on their own independently and still get those those uh credits and let's see I think that's what I wanted to say so so anybody that I think we have a handful of students that are interested
043and are applying to the skill center for next year. Those students are going to need to be enrolled studently in order to make that happen. Um I'm not sure exactly how that will work, how the counselor they'll talk to their counselors and then they'll talk to me or then they'll apply. I'm just that's still to be worked out, but um we're ready and excited to to do that. >> As far as we know, we've had four four kids apply and gotten into Maritime 253 for next year. So they'll start in the fall. >> Yeah. Just to clarify, we have 8 to 11 guaranteed seats. We don't pay >> and if our seats are not used, they redistribute them. >> Yeah. >> But we have the guaranteed opportunity for our students of that number of seats.
044And if some of the other partner districts because Tacoma did it like we're one of the partner districts, but there's Clubber Park and F and some other I can't remember the names of any of the other ones right now, but they also have guaranteed seats depending on their numbers. So if they don't use up all their seats, but we have more kids interested, then we would get their seats, >> right? >> Yeah. And this opportunity is typical across the state. And being an island community, which I I dealt with this in my past district, same kind of thing where the logistics are difficult >> um because of the ferry issue. Um it can be done. It just depends on how we can organize transportation and things like that. So, it is a really exciting opportunity
045for kids to to go and learn >> a trade from beginning to end and it get launched into the workforce in something that they're very interested in. >> Yeah. >> They also can do this and still go off to a four-year school or the Coast Guard or whatever it is that is of interest to them. >> Yeah. Yeah. The Tacoma School District is arranging for kids to get picked up from the ferry on the other side. So, they're also including that. Um, so we have to get our kids to the ferry, but two of the four that are going have already told me that they're going to drive themselves to the ferry. So, that's >> is it limited to juniors and seniors, >> but they did accept sophomores this year because it's their inaugural year
046and they're trying to fill it up and you know, so so I a couple of our kids are going to be sophomores next year. >> Yeah. And there's dual credit options for some of these things as well. so that students don't have to forego their credits here. They can earn them in a dual credit way. So again, it's it's just launching, but it's not unusual. There are lots of examples across the state of skill centers and cooperative agreements. And >> you know, the idea of picking them up from the other side, it's a Tacoma bus. They walk on the ferry, they get off the other side, the bus picks them up, takes them right to the skill center, and then drops them back off of the ferry. So once again, all those cooperative agreements are
047part of this consortium. >> Yeah. It's a beautiful new campus. Beautiful. >> It's brand new. >> Brand new. >> I mean, yeah. >> Yeah. Really nice. >> Um Yeah. So Seattle public schools ended its partnership with the Maritime Academy in Ballard and um they it was low completion rates, which I thought was kind of interesting. Not low interest, but low completion rates. Um, so there's all of there's high demand for these workers and Seattle just gave up their program. So this is, I think, positioning us even better to have this partnership. Um, one of the things, you know, with marine biology, with the enrollment going lower, I I think um that's a place where if we can at least maintain it at this, we could connect that to maritime and maybe increase um interest in
048that course. Um, and then woodworking as well because they're learning how to work with tools and doing a lot of the math required for building and and things like that. Um and also because of the island like maritime is not some you know weird thing that no one's ever heard of. It's part of our daily lives. So um this is some of the King County labor market data for maritime career pathways. So marine this is all this data is King County. So um the average wage for a marine engineer is $17,000 and there's about 60 openings a year in the in the county of King. Um, and then there it shows you what you need and um, also some of the other careers that kids could go into if they chose one of the maritime
049253 pathways. So, I also just wanted to show you some of the labor market data from the pathways that we offer. So, this is for computer programming. Um, again, this is all just King County data showing you the average salary of, let's say, a computer systems analyst. um how many annual openings there are a year and what the growth predicted growth rate is for that uh field and the employment. So offering data science and computer science in the same year and trying to maintain and grow that program is getting our kids ready for these really great jobs. This is arts and media. So we've got art classes, photography, video production, jewelry. they all fall under that umbrella. Um there's really good jobs if you are focusing on the arts. AV technicians, PR specialists, art directors,
050all of those have really nice um average salaries and they're all growing. This is for science career pathways. So engineers, um forensic science, we do offer a forensics class. It's really hilarious when they do their um October pumpkin unit and she goes around and like kills the pumpkins in all of these different ways and they're splattered about and then the kids have to go and like did it fall from a height? Was it hit with a hammer? And they have to kind of figure out how the pumpkin died. Um but you know these are good skills that they're learning and able to apply. Um and then the construction career pathways as well. Um you know some of those jobs are very well paid. Looks like the demand for carpenters might be going um down a
051little bit but the growth rate I mean the growth rates aren't great but those are good jobs. and on this island in comparison to let's say other parts of King County, those those jobs are still available and very needed. >> So I just put together a list of like looking ahead what I think the strategic priority should be. So the first one that I put on there was build on the maritime 253 foundation. This is an exciting opportunity. We want to sustain it and to build it and to grow it. So, we need to track how satisfied kids are, what the attendance patterns are. Um the the sustainability of the commute. Um we need to build the recruitment story. So, those four kids that go next year, we want to talk to them and hear
052from them and see what their experiences are like and hopefully they can share with others. Um it's something we can feature at McMuri. Um, and then you can, you know, cross reference it with marine biology and woodworking. And that would be, you know, I think an important thing as we're thinking about growing the program. Um, close the STEM pipeline. So, you saw the graph, right, for all the science kids and then we have guitar building. We can close we can we can grow STEM and there's different there's low effort to high effort. So we can end the alternating rotation that I've mentioned a couple times. The only thing about this is that it's the same person that teaches both of these classes. So either he would have to, you know, that be scheduled so that
053he could teach both of those classes and then that would kind of move some other things around in the math department, but it's maybe it's possible. Um add environmental science. Um expand pre-engineering to the high school. we don't really have a course that meets those requirements. Um, and then refresh the the marine bio. So, those are some some ways to close that state. >> I don't want to put you on the spot, but environmental science, I thought we had that, but it's in every other year. >> Okay. >> So, >> and then we really need to address some gender gaps. So, um, the woodworking course has the most egregious gender gap, >> 86% male, >> and this is >> middle school and >> high school. Uh, last year and this last year I went to
054the women and trades conference. I'm going to go again on a field trip and that's one way that we can, you know, just kind of start selling that program a little bit more. There are things we can do. Um, and then video production, computer programming, and pre-engineering are all majority male programs. So, we need to think about how are we going to how are we going to change that over time. Um, we have to consider CTE and the bond levy planning. We need flexible and dedicated spaces. Um, new and modern facilities attract teachers coming from industry. I think more than attract teachers coming from teacher prep programs. I'm going to mention jewelry again. That jewelry studio that we have at VHS, one of the things that we want CTE teachers to do is have guest
055teachers from industry who can talk about things. And um the last two or three guest teachers in jewelry have been like, "Wow, this is a worldclass studio. It there's everything here. anyone would be lucky to work in such a space. So that's really important to consider as we're thinking about our capital improvements. Um and then I want you to cherish and protect the program. So u make sure all CTE related decisions include the CTE director. Sometimes it's easy to leave the CTE director out. Please don't do that. Um and to make sure that CTE bunnies are for CTE only. So we get enhanced funding. I'm going to talk a little bit about that. Um, sometimes it is a uh tempting to maybe take some of money out of the CTE pot and see if you
056can spend it somewhere else, but that should not happen. Um, and also Jen Poe, she is the CTE specialist. Um, I could not do my job without her and she's going to be critical for continuing the program. Um, so I just want to make sure that I'm putting this on her. Um, and then just keep the CTE program running strong. So, CTE, in addition to all the the other wonderful things that I've talked about, um, we got a lot more funding for CTE than we do for other classes. So, for every um for every let's see I think the funding that would hire one teacher for 25 students is one teacher for 18 students for CTE courses. At skill centers, it's less. The ratio is even less. So, as a district, if we didn't have
057the classes that we have coded as CTE, we would be getting between 175 and 225,000 less dollars from the state. So, it is a very important that we keep this program going strong. Um, and that just shows you a little bit more about the ratio and the rate and the difference um funding per student. Um and then just one of the things some of the things that we spend our money on. So a lot of it is smaller class sizes, the equipment. Last year I bought a fridge and a dishwasher for McMurray. I bought all kinds of like science things that the science teachers needed and wanted. Um we buy the metals for jewelry. We have to buy the wood for carpentry. We have to go to the grocery store for the foods program. So,
058there is a lot of additional um expenses. Um we also have to keep the tech current, right? So, we just hired an amazing new video and photo teacher and he comes from industry and he's so professional and he knows so much. I'm very excited that he's with us. Um, and one of the things that he was super excited about when he got here, he was like, "Oh, you have decent cameras now. I can really teach what I want to teach because I have the right equipment." So, this is just kind of a summary. I think that's pretty much it. Do you guys have question? I'm sorry if I talk too long. Um, do you have any questions, >> Henry? Um I think like mentioned like how like mar biology is going down. I think part
059of it is like I guess in the media and like I guess like among kids like climate change has kind of gone down like a as like a big issue. I remember like I think myology came like from like I think at least my old school like really big during like the climate change era like 2020 it's like really news I think it's kind of been like less than news recently that could I mean I think it has to do with that like I mean I used to like super into that and like when climate change was a big issue I mean it still is but like publicly at least now it's like less of like a in the public eye. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I think that's for sure part of it. I think
060it doesn't have to do with like the class. I don't think it's more just like people's interest >> the field itself >> and just like you had to feel itself kind of Yeah. I mean >> I appreciate you sharing that. >> I never would have thought of that. >> Yeah. >> Really that's a super interesting way to tie it in and maybe it needs a little >> PR blow up. Exactly. >> Biology. Yeah. career. >> Yeah. I mean, I was actually going to build off that because I I think of when I got here, marine biology was the signature program and um I had the gift of when my son was in first grade, they partnered with the high school and did these amaz you know that were out at the beaches and the Bashan
061Nature Center and so it also was infused in that and then I know several graduates who've gone on >> to build in that program and so I guess looking at it as what seemed like a real signature program >> and I'm curious is what you know why you think there might be time because we are like just like the mayor we are poised to to build off of that and we have this incredible ecosystem to work with. >> I'm not sure. I mean it is um it's something we need to figure out. I don't know if we need to survey students or or what, you know, but definitely I'll talk to the teacher and um think about what what could we do to address that. But we still have the partnership with the Bashan Nature
062Center. They do graduate or they when they go through the program, they get their beach naturalist certificate. So that is one industry recognized credential that they get from taking >> partner with the elementary school because I'm just thinking that's a pipeline. So the kids were the elementary were exposed to and working with >> I don't I can't recall them talking about any elementary school collaboration in the last >> there was a partnership in sixth grade but >> well thank you very much >> and Heather did you have anything else you wanted to add about the maritime 2.3 or is that oh thanks for we did we also worked with the nature center and family link last here. So, we'll come back and do that again next year. >> Thank you. Uh, great. Uh, Henry, as
063the loan representative, we'd love to hear from you. Discussion of the selection of student board representatives on the list. >> Yeah. Okay. So, actually, I'll start with kind of going over like what the students were here and spoke about a bit ago. Um, I was informed of that issue like yesterday and I just want to know like it's like I I like looked into it fully, but like I mean from my perspective it seems like something you guys just look into and like understand I don't know like it definitely is a thing like I know like those kids that commute and I want to run a star like they're like big parts of the community and like they it would be great if they could like stay here and still running star. I'm not sure
064like how the funding works and like exactly like how it could affect it and if they're like actually correct about the numbers but just like from my point of view it's just a very big issue could definitely be >> addressed thanks for weighing in on that. >> Yeah. And then so yeah I sent you all um the final draft actually you can go over the um policy part because the policy we're doing we're just keeping that the procedure. So this is just kind of like a this is just a rework of like what we already had. It's kind of just like putting it in like newer like phrasing and like wording. Um the main thing is actually just like the appointment um document selection. >> Oh, sorry. >> Yeah, we were a little late on
065getting it to you. Sorry, Peter. >> So, yes, our current timeline, I'm going to send out the um the process starting May 1st and the first stuff there. Actually, I think this is kind of like eligibility if you want um it to just be um sophomores, juniors, and seniors to get a role. And we weren't like I think we're trying to avoid like having a hard line like GPA like we used to have and kind of just like using our like best judgment where it's like is this person like just in general academic stand it's like good enough for what we think. I mean it's like it's just hard to like commit to a hard life because like there are kids who like you know do great in the role but don't like have a
066great GPA. It's just how it is. >> So yeah. I also break like a a one-year term. So you have to like run again and like be voted again after each year just to make sure like um you know people are they rotate out if they are doing a job. Um but you know they're encouraged to run again of course. Um so yeah the first part of the process um we'll send out like a form we used to have where it's just like a quick thing that all students get. if they can just type in like why role etc. And then now we're also adding in where this thing where teachers will like kind of um like recommend certain kids and it's just like them pulling aside being like you should like you should do
067this and you be good at this because you know not all students are going to see this email kind of hidden in their inbox maybe and we just we don't teachers have like a good like eye for students who get this kind of stuff. Um so then after that we have a interview um team with one board director, one administrator, one teacher, um the current student representatives, one person from like ASB and the superintendent and they will that group will interview all of the applicants maybe like 15 minutes around there and kind of narrow it down. Uh, I guess it depends like the number that you are announcing depends on how many you get in the first place and how many spots are open in position. So, it could vary. I I don't have an
068exact number for that for that reason. Um, but once you narrow it down, then we'll have like a schoolwide vote just and this is not like going to eliminate anyone. I just kind of just see like it's just kind of a resource points for the final appointment from the board just as like a data point where it's like you know if this kid looks good on paper like using no votes from like students maybe it seems like a less good option because like like I like students have their own views of other students of course you can't trust that fully but it's an important thing to know. Um and then yeah so after that the final students will come in and maybe do one more like presentation on what I should do to enroll and
069we'll have the board make the final decision and they'll have a discussion publicly and >> just I'm just going to join in with you Henry when we talked about the whole student vote >> it's important that students have relationships with their peers which is part of that right so that they can really represent their peer group as opposed to it's you know they're just not popular. It's the idea of can you do do you have relationships so you can be like our current student reps where they can gather input from their peers. So >> right and then the um rest is kind of just like they can seize policy on that if you know someone can't be in the role just have the next person face them. Um and then also have an angle view
070to kind of like evaluate how they've been doing. Um yeah we're starting that next week. We're sending out a a call and we're also gonna make a video um for the Instagram just like to get the word out educate kids on that. >> And yeah, that's how >> I think this is so exciting. I feel the level of ownership that y'all have taken on this is um really remarkable and the the thoughtfulness about this process and how this could maybe be an exciting leadership opportunity for someone and maybe not sort of from the usual suspects. I think you know adding teacher voice not making it require a certain GPA I really applaud that. Um I just think it's remarkable. Does anybody have any questions for Henry about this? Henry, I want to just ask there
071will be a concerted effort to reach out to student link as well. >> Yes, that's actually in the um guidelines. Okay. >> It's like a thing where just like make sure it's a part of it just to make sure like we get students who have like a connection to that or I don't know just like make sure they make sure that like they are involved with student link in some way instead of just like having to be like a separate part of the whole system. Um, I have a question like how many? Three, two, three, four, five, three. >> As the final number of reps. >> Uhhuh. >> Yeah. Three is the number we'll have. >> Well, Henry is staying on right next year. >> And then we're going to pick how many more? >>
072Two more, >> right? >> To replace Oscar and Hazel who are graduates. >> Um, you know, the board can choose to do two. You can choose however you want it to be. It's really up to the board. Um, but it's been three for some time. >> Yeah, I think most schools do two or three. >> Sorry. Is there anything in here about like, let's say the two candidates who rise to the top are both incoming seniors and then all three of you would leave. Is there anything in here about making sure that we have some sort of staggered representation where at least someone in the cohort so we don't lose all institutional >> memor like training like >> that's actually that's good. The other thing that you can do is um is make I know
073that you guys are saying a one-year term and make it run again, but you may want to think about it being a two-year and then having, for example, next year it could be Henry and one other and then you get by the end of next year a third person. so that you're cycling through because you're going to end up having to teach whoever the other two are because your two leaders are leaving. >> Right. So, do you really want to have two more people or do you want to go with one, teach them the ropes and then get a a second person to replace you? It's just so just a different way of doing it. I don't know. >> Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense. That sounds better. Maybe just having like even like
074having like one sophomore one senior but then it's it's just make the process like that we it's it's hard to say for sure. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> The only other concern I and this is a very this you can dismiss this at will is that sometimes folks who are inclined towards a leadership opportunity are also as evidenced by our current three busy with other things. And so we do want to make sure like I don't know how you can weigh that in your consideration, but if someone is also on ASB and plays 17 sports, their likelihood of the way that they can show up in the way that we kind of need them to um is not to ding your companions for not being here tonight, but it does happen a lot, right? Because they're
075super busy. I think part of that is like um like the like rules on like attendance. So it's like if you you have to attend meetings as like a baseline to be in the role like you don't attend like certain percent and you're out and then beyond that it's like I mean now like I'm trying to attend all the work sessions I can like the bond plan and stuff. It's like that's not required, but it should be like at least in like the like before you decide you're going to do the role for sure, it should be cleared like if you want to do a good job, you probably should like be doing more than just the baseline meetings. And maybe you haven't been acquired, right? It's like you're required to go to like certain
076work sessions and stuff like that. >> Is this um this is just my ignorance of how the district's done it. Are you counting these hours towards your community service? No, >> I mean I I maybe I could, but I I wasn't I don't think so. >> But could that be an incentive for a student who's doing has to do community service as part of their graduation requirement? >> Um because all that extra that you're doing and to commend Henry. I mean he is coming to bonds. He's coming to the work sessions coming to the board meeting. He's doing extra work uh in school for this process. So I don't know I don't know what principles would think of that or >> I think you should absolutely >> yeah I think that's >> so you know
077and the board could sign off on that say it's it's community service hour so that's an incentive is what I'm trying to say to your point of how come you know getting someone to commit to this it serves a purpose to the board and the district but it also you get, you know, service time. >> Um, I am also wondering if it would be appropriate to save a seat for a minority. >> It's possible. >> No, I mean >> I mean I'm just I'm just thinking if it's appropriate or maybe out the outreach, >> right? It's like in the guidelines it says student link. I'm not sure what it says currently like you should like make sure like you know connect like maybe non- English speaking students but I think that should be harder to
078say it's like making sure that all like groups that usually are in New York miss are like good in the process just like reach out. >> Yeah. >> Any other questions for this? >> Did you have anything else in your report that you wanted to offer? >> Um >> anything that's not about the >> That's it. I mean >> not that this wasn't enough. No, I I think we're sending out like a form just on like thoughts on like the phone policy being implemented. Not any not just like a what are your thoughts on this and just like a broad thing and I just read all them and like get kind of like a viewoint like what kids think and I've already talk to my friends and like hear their takes and of course like
079the instinct is like no like don't make phones don't have phones. I'm like like act unbiased like do you actually think it'd be like a good thing not negative but not positive for like the school and like talk about that that more kind of sort of like this thing where it's like it's more just like although they seem like a good tool like overall you know like they just cause too much harm like too much risk involved with having a device in like a school environment. It just seems kind of obvious like once you really blow it down, it's like look the studies. It's like it's like a weapon like why would you have that in schools? >> So yeah, >> and you're going to have conversation on that as a board in a little
080bit. So save your thoughts. >> Um uh at this time going to move on to uh national policy updates. Dr. >> So a couple of updates. Federal money um that we get comes through the Department of Education at this point. it goes to the states and the states distribute it. There's a whole lot of talk at the federal level of shifting that responsibility for that funding and the funding distribution to the Department of Labor and they've it's it's kind of like whatever else is going on at the government level at the federal level. Um it's not happening at this point. They've delayed that. So, it'll still be through the Department of Ed except the Department of Ed is gutted. And so, there's talk about when are we going to get the money, how are we
081going to get the money. Um, of course, once the state gets the money, it gets distributed. But there is a question again about whether or not that federal funding will be delayed even though it's been um allocated. So, that's one thing. The other is there was a decision at the federal level foot versus luglo uh school committee. It was a federal case where parents alleged that a student or that a school policy of non-disclosure of gender identity violated their rights as parents under the 14th amendment. Federal judge dismissed the lawsuit lawsuit finding that the school policy had not usurped the parents right to make medical and mental health treatment decisions for their child. The first circuit court of appeals affirmed that and on April 20th, Monday of this week, the Supreme Court left the first
082circuit decision in place. >> Wow. >> Uh it's notable for being a fully litigated decision with a different outcome than the Mirabelli versus Bonita. Mirabelli case is still being litigated in California courts. We've probably heard about that. U it's unclear what that means in terms of uh Washington state the California case because it's the same circuit but the federal that was uh really notable because no one expected that the Supreme Court would uphold the decision. That's what I have on national level. >> Outstanding. Thanks for ending on a positive note for once on that front. Uh uh board legislative reporter do you have anything for us? Not much. And at the last meeting there was an update closed the legislative session. Um and so updating on that. The one piece I did think is there's
083a whole bill passage overview affecting education. So I talked about the primary one affecting us um at the last board meeting. Um, and I was going to ask if I can put a link to the bill passage thing in in the agenda or somewhere like that. And if it's too late to do that, that's fine. But a link so that people who are interested in looking at a more comprehensive overview >> of decisions affecting us. >> Is that it? That's it. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, Cassie, monthly budget report, please. >> Okay. Hi everybody. We are going to talk about uh our seventh operating month for 2526. Um you can see that we have our revenue and expenditure percentages there. Um one thing to note um I'm going to go a little bit further down
084the page, but we are trending just the tiniest bit over the normalized projection for expenditures. Um so I I think that's a pretty good sign for this coming year. But um I'm also paying really close attention to those things as we get through these final few months. Um revenue will also be something I keep a close eye on as you know that some of our um lower portion are coming up. So cash flow is always on my mind and so it's something that I'll be updating probably more frequently as we go through the school year. Um there are two reconciliation items that we have um this month. One in general fund and one ASB but they're small amounts. So I expect that those will reconcile um by the next time we chat about April. Um
085we are still having a little bit higher fund balance um this year than we did last year. Um again our March um revenue includes basic portion that's based on actual AAF FTE and then local revenue that we take in as well as our capital project fund reimbursement. Um everything looks good in all of the other funds really there's there's not much um different happening in March than what's happening in February for the current fiscal year. I don't know if anybody has questions, but um you can kind of scroll through and look at things. Nothing groundbreaking to report. Any questions for Cassie about this budget report? All right. Uh moving on. I'm not sure who's uh going to own this next section, the budget planning up update. I'll turn >> both of us. Actually, there are
086variety of us that'll chime in on the on the budget. I'm going to just start and uh give a big thank you to Cassie and the administrative team because we have worked hours and hours on making sure that we are nailing this down. We're going to go through um the budget update as to where we are and then we'll talk about the staffing pieces. I know that's on folks's mind. So Cassie, you go ahead and we'll we'll all support you and chime in and be >> your wings. So uh I like to put the bash on promise in because that is where we always uh center our work on. So we are here in service of students and so when things get a little bit challenging that's what we always go back to and so
087I just put this in here as a reminder that that's why we do this work. Um we are um again projected enrollment of 1313 aft. That has not changed from when we presented them earlier in the year. Um, one thing I do kind of want to note is that if we think about how we budgeted this year and how we're budgeting to next year, our current budget is at 1358, but our current average is 1330. So, we knew that we were coming in a little bit lower. Um, so then if we look at 1358 to 1313, you're going to see that decline, which is I think about what is that 45 or something. Um, you'll kind of see like we over projected this year. And so this is really just >> the key there is
088not only did we over project the staff to that projection. >> So you have to remember that because folks are having a little bit of a difficult time, right? Because we have more staff currently than we need next year. So, um, again, this is what will go into all of your documents that will be presented when we, um, send our budget off to be reviewed by the ESD as well as OSPI. So, looking at revenue, um, I want to say that this is what we know as of today. There are still a few things that could change um, a little bit, but we do have to kind of hit that point where we say this is what we're building our budget off of. So, um, as of when this was created for this meeting, our
089revenue is projected at about $29.5 million. That was based on our projected enrollment of 1313. Um, I did use the F203 tool that OSPI provides. They did make a few updates to that and so I made sure that, um, I reenter just to confirm that everything was still looking the same and there were really no large changes there. Um, and again, we need to use our our revenue wisely. And so, our goal um through this whole process has been to align our budget with the actual needs of the district. And so, by doing that, we're going to use this revenue efficiently and effectively. That simple statement has what's taken us months as a team to really look at our teaching staff, their certification areas, align our teaching staff to the course selections that students have
090made, for example, at the high school to the class sizes we have contractually that we want to maintain at the elementary school to the middle school electives that we offer. So that everything is really align to the actual students we anticipate and the class size not the maximums we're building to that average class size of 28 for example at um middle school and high school 30 is the max. Um elementary school has certain class size limits. uh we still are in flux on our kindergarten registration numbers so we don't know yet and we won't know but the 1313 is a total that we are very confident with I say that now it could be different in September but that's where we're that's where we landed so all of this that one sentence it doesn't represent
091to me all of the work that we've done together to to get to that place where It's based on actual needs. So this is a different year in that this is not a year that we are doing a reduction in force. It is a year where we we are aligning the staff we need to the students we have and that will mean that there will be fewer teaching staff next year than there is this year because we have fewer students than we had predicted and that we will have next year. So will you please then take a moment to explain for those folks here and watching on TV or wherever they're watching um you just said there will not be a reduction in force and then you also said later on in that same sentence
092there will be a reduction of staff. So a reduction in force means that we are eliminating continuing contracts that teachers have. We do have provisional staff. Provisional staff are not guaranteed a continuing position. They are real people who work in our district who we care about, but reducing by provisional staff is not a technical reduction in force. It's a different thing. So, I'm actually what I'm telling you is I've not actually invoked the RIFF resolution that the board provided in case we needed it. We are not using that for this. We have alerted our provisional staff that not all of them may have a position or a position they have this year or maybe they'll have a position that is part-time or be offered a part-time position. Um so the net result is about two
093positions less. So, on to our expenditures. >> This one is a little >> It still didn't Yeah. Here we go. >> So, this slide's a tiny bit scarier. Um, and I just want to kind of piggyback on what Dr. Mocha has said. We've really been working um on this budget since mid December and we've put in um days and days of work and there's still more to come. And so um this is really reflective of like I said really months of hard work by a lot of people. Um but here with our expenditures we are projected right now to be a little bit over $30 million. Um you can see that there is a delta between our expenditures and our projected revenue. Um that is a little bit concerning. Um however I just want to
094call out a few things that are costing us a lot of money that we just really don't have a choice to pay for. So um our risk pool which is Our insurance is going up 18%. Our water is going up 10% >> and 18% on how many $100,000? So, it's a lot of money. >> It hurts a little bit to say, but we're we're well over the half million dollar mark at this point. Um we made our um half payment in April and the AP went up like crazy and I almost had a heart attack. But um yes, we're over um $500,000 mark with that one. So, water's going up by 10%. Um you know, Sound Energy somewhere 15 and 20% and that one is a little bit weird because there's a big increase that
095happens kind of in January and then there might be another one that happens later on and so it's going through multiple different fiscal years and so it's a little bit harder to track that actual increase. Um sewer is going up by 12%. So these are all things that we need to pay and then we have other things that we need to make sure that are taken care of like garbage and recycling where they might not have a giant percentage increase but we do see that there's a pretty big increase year. And so I looked at all of that data and did a lot of analysis on it to determine kind of what those costs are. Um transportation is also a really big cost for us as well. And so we are trying to do some
096work to get our routes reduced. But um our contract is not super flexible and so um we're doing some work on that too. But that's one of the other pieces that's really hard for us to trim um easily. So it looks like as of right now we're probably going to to spend about $575,000 out of our fund balance. So, I'm keeping a close eye on that as well. This is what we know as of today. Um there's still a little bit of work to do to get everything balanced. So, I hope that that number will be a little bit less. Um I still have some work to do on looking at our actual tax collection rate to see if we might be getting some additional revenue that way. I'm hopeful, but I did try to
097be conservative with what those estimates are until we see the April numbers come in. Um there was, I guess, a pretty kind of people actually paying taxes throughout and so we're just starting to see that update happen and more people are kind of back on track. Um we're just also really grateful to the Fashion Schools Foundation because they are generously um prepared to give us a pretty big chunk of money that we can count as revenue and so that will go towards some of our very high priorities. >> Yeah. And I just I want to call that out a little bit because it's a big amount of money that our community raised um to the schools foundation. So, the foundation uh has committed to us $370,000 in support of the district's priorities. So, we really
098do appreciate that. That's a huge amount. Um and it's not only helping to fund um well, I'll tell you what it's helping to fund. So, uh they're also going to um we we didn't even talk about this because they anticipate meeting the need, but we lost the expert funing. um that we used to pay 0.2 of our uh one of our middle school counselors and we really don't want to reduce our middle school counseling support and so we talked to the foundation and they are putting a huge effort behind the give big this year to support that position in full. So, we fully anticipate there's going to be um uh a full-time two full-time counselors will continue at the middle school. Um so, last year they contributed 185,000 and this year it's 370,000. So this
099year's funding or I should say next year's funding um is for services that directly impacts students and families and um tier 2 ELA reading and math support. They're continuing that with us. Um so we really appreciate that. We have an innovative position. we are implementing uh a new ELA curriculum and they we went to them to talk about uh an ELA teacher on special assignment to help support that curriculum implementation and support teachers doing that work so that they have somebody with them and that'll be three days a week and the other two days a week of that full-time position will be to support um students directly and Um, I don't want to take the thunder away from the elementary school, but we're really excited about the opportunity that's going to be able to provide
100for students and getting them outside. Uh, family engagement coordinator, they're going to continue to fund that position. Um, enrichment programs in art, science, and social emotional learning. Um, and the recurring annual family link grant of 25,000. So they um they're really that's huge and the school's foundation represents those of us who helped contribute to that. So just wanted to take that moment and thank them for all of that work that they have done and what it brings to the students of that shop. Yeah. So really just the the highlight here is that we will need to spend from our unassigned fund balance. So we will have enough to meet our minimum fund balance policy based on where we are right now. That's super important. So that will always be a priority. Um but once we
101spend that fund balance and if we don't grow it this year then we don't have that money anymore. So it's just important to remember that it will start to dwindle down. So, we'll have to be even more thoughtful, but also just continue the same process that we've started this year to ensure that we are um just really working on financial stability for the district. >> Cassie, can I ask a question? I'm not sure if you or Amy or Joe would answer this. the um the risk pool bill. >> Is that have anything to do with us and or is it just a school district of our size and enrollment and it's a pool. So the pool represents the consortium of districts and we pay our portion based on our size. it. Our claims, as much
102as there are some claims that we're operating with, they're not so unusual because there is the potential if your claims are so unusual that they assess a district more. We are not in that situation. Great. >> Um, but the cost of insurance went up 58% last year and 15% the year before. And that happened in the district I was in and all the districts across the state who are in this risk pool. So um >> and it's close to 200 districts that are in the pool. >> And it has a whole lot to do with what the payouts have become for egregious issues especially around sexual assault and molestation. that is the biggest payout across the state and they're in the millions of dollars which is a huge uptick in what those payouts were in
103the past. Um so so one of the things that um we also wanted to talk with you about tonight is what the process that we are going through. We don't expect that we're going to refine this budget before it comes to you. Um, and so our question is about we originally had planned May 14th as a workshop around the budget. I don't know that we need to do that and I think the board has other business that that May 14th date may allow you to workshop around. Of course, if you want to see, we will show you the budget again. We'll do the public hearing. You have to adopt the budget. What I don't know is whether or not you need a work session around the budget to dive deeper into it. Um, or if
104you're satisfied with the work we've been doing and the documents that you have. >> Do you want comment at this point or >> Yeah, I mean, you again, it's not a decision because the board chair and the superintendent meet on a weekly basis and decide the bud the uh >> decide the budget. >> No, we decide the >> red we decide the board's agenda. So this is really a comment about do you feel like you need more so that you're informing the board chair and the superintendent of you know I'd like another session on this or something like that just so we know because our intention was to present the budget to you in June and then have you vote on it before the end of June. So what you're asking is do we need
105a do you need a work session we need a work session on the budget? Personally I'm just going to voice what I think. I have greatly appreciated transparency um the accountability and the fact that the explanations that have come uh because of Cassie and and the whole staff here. I don't think I would advise we've got many other policies and other issues to deal with um that I feel less informed about and less comfortable with. Um so I would say personally I my feeling is no. I mean, okay, the other thing you need to know is that we're migrating to Q and that migration makes us go dark early July and we need to get all of our budget data into the system prior to that, prior to ending school in June. So, we're on
106a timeliness issue in that way as well. Sir, sorry. What you're proposing then is that we see the budget finalized that first meeting in June and then the second we we pass. >> Well, hopefully >> I that you vote on it, second meeting. Yes. >> And it's it's really the board's call. We can bring it back to you May 28th and present it or I'm saying 28th. It's the the business meeting in May. I may have the date wrong, but we bring it back to you the the business meeting in May and talk through it again. If you want more detail, we can do that then. I would like to not have you use your work session for it. I would like to I'm happy to have Cassie present it, you know, in May and
107then again in June and then you do your public hearing. However you feel it it would be beneficial to you. I think personally the work session's not necessary ultimately. It sounds like we've done a lot of work to shift things in the right direction there, but I think if we get it in May at the end of May, so we can at least see it and the community can have time to digest it, especially as we're going through all these changes. >> Okay. >> So that's the budget book in that process. So see, so May 20th, so let's gear for that. >> Is that enough, Cassie? Sorry, I >> is that enough time? Uh, I think it will be okay. Um, I had already like I've already started putting stuff into the system and my
108goal is to start our F195 in early May. So, um, if I run into a really big roadblock, I will certainly let you all know. But I think that that's a reasonable timeline to get it done. >> Yeah, if there are things that are unknown to us or unknown to you at this time that become roadblocks, please speak up. But yeah, I I concur with Jess about the timeline. kind of want to make sure the community has enough time to digest. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> And when things come up that were really unexpected, um the first place that I'm walking over to is um to Dr. Moch's office and I'm sending her a chat that she needs to go find me. So, we're continuing with that really transparent and um you know, visible process that
109everybody really is aware of what's happening. >> I just would want to chime in and echo what you said about the increased transparency and accountability. His has been phenomenal and the process all along um feels solid and grounded and really grateful for that. Um and I would also agree I I don't need the work session but I would like to see it in May in terms of >> that makes perfect sense. So, we'll get that whole document to you so you can look through it um obviously prior to the May 28th board meeting. Then you can digest it and ask questions about it and then once again hopefully um by the end of June we can have the board vote on the budget. >> Folks to move on. >> Great. Uh moving on to the
110discussion portion of the evening. Uh we're going to discuss uh policy 3245 students and telecommunication devices. Um of note just to point out this uh policy has a date on it of February 17th, 2011, which should be the information age in which we live. Might as well have been 1911. Um, I for one uh had really hoped to hear back from Mercer Island, who's one of the neighboring districts that did successfully enact a cell phone ban. Uh, strangely, so these policies, as most of you all know, 3245 in every district would have the same general theme. >> Um, very few updated or helpful policies out there. and Worester Island has no policy 3245 and yet they have a district-wide ban. So, um I will try again to reach out. I have contact on the board.
111I if I can't reach her, I'll find somebody else to talk to us um about their experience and also just their policy and how they got there. We have a lot of good stuff online that they have uh published about their experience to date. Um you know, at least from the adults, teachers and parents, overwhelmingly positive. Uh it was interesting they did not have the same kind of um hard data from the CE survey from students at least not that was published in um some of their more public facing documents. Um I would love to hear from my colleagues on the board. Should we just do it by order? >> Sure. Okay. Um it is absolutely obvious that we need to revisit this. Um I feel very strongly that all members of the uh school
112community need to have a vigorous discussion and input into it in order to make any policy first viable um in terms of uh and transparent. Um, so I'm I would like to take some time to for instance let our student reps do a survey and they're they are very sophisticated. I mean a high school student is as sophisticated as any adult in building a survey that could that could uh get to some of the pros and cons from the student point of view. I'd like to hear what our staff has to say um about that as well. I have my own personal view on the matter, but as a board member um I don't even want to speak to that at this point um because um I feel like it is our job to uh
113hear from the community. I greatly appreciate all of you who have written in and come and spoken. Um, so I want this to be a deliberative process and it is high time to have one. Um, and I really in we've been talking about this in the district and amongst ourselves well before this meeting. Um, so I'm really glad that this process is going to begin. just in case it's repetitive. So, we'll say something in Spanish. >> Jess, did you want to start? >> I just think that um a good board is slow to change policy and that's to listen to the community. And I think that we need to hear more from what the community is saying. The ones that have spoken up are speaking up really highly. But I also remember when um as
114it started in the middle school, there are always a few outliers that have strong opinions as well. And we want to make sure that we take the time to consider their points of view too as we go forward. But more importantly, as I've always said, it comes down to the students. What do the students need and what do the students want and how do they feel about it as well? And that's going to be probably a little controversial, right? You guys grew up with phones attached to your hands. They didn't while I was in high school. Um, I had the big car phones though, but I mean we had cell phones in high school. She was laughing because she's like, "Yeah, we don't have cell phones in high school." But I remember we had to
115have them put away. They if the teacher heard them, they were gone. They went to the principal's office. You could collect them out the door. Um, so I can understand why it's such a bigger thing right now because they do so much more. And I'm so glad that I didn't grow up in an era where everything could be recorded in 5 seconds. Um, and I'm sorry that you have to, but also I get it. So that's where I am. We need to hear more from our community and really give everybody the chance to speak up either way. >> Um, I I would concur in terms of listening to the community. Um, listening to students, listening to parents, listening to to guardians, listening to educators, and listening to the staff. And I think that that does
116need to take place. Um, I also will couple with that, I know that there's a process that needs to happen there. Um, but I do I do care that we put into place a process that allows that to happen through the end of this year so that we can look to next year for a policy. And I say that because I also um I feel very strong the research about cell phones in terms of the mental health and learning implications as well as the potential dangers and risk are well documented and established. And um two days ago it came out that Washington state is only one of five states without a statewide cell phone policy. And just this past legislative session, Washington legislators punted the decision back to the districts. Washington state received an F
117for its policy um on student cell phone use. Um and currently legislators are asking the state superintendent's office to recommend best practices for restricting cell phone use to the legislature by December of 2027 with the idea of implementing by December 2028. Um and you know even uh our our um state superintendent's office came back with a statement feeling that that's that's not adequate, right? That's a significant amount of time in our kids' lives. Um and to me looking at the research I do want to listen um but part of what we're filtering is also the research and the expertise. And to me we're charged with doing that research. Um and right right now the research this is out of the UDub is saying 25% of school days are on cell phones on average for students
118when they have them with them. Um and that without a bell to bell policy restrictions slide. So I understand there exceptions in the bell-to-bell policies that there particulars of that that we need to look at such as um someone in with a health issue right or an employment issue that there are particulars there to talk about um but it affects attention spans classroom management distraction. Um there's research that just the sole presence of a cell phone reduces cognitive capacity, lowers scores, increases cheating, increases cyber bel bullying. Um it's radically um connected to increases in depression and anxiety, lower self-esteem, um comparing to each other, reduction in physical activity, social isolation. Um and that actually having a strong policy improves attendance. Um I also think it's striking is that just this p past month, Meta and
119Google were found negligent in regard to the harms of social media. Um and so they're finally being held accountable for fueling a youth mental health epidemic. Um and the fact is that they're they're being these are I mean to me the major corporations that are being held accountable by our courts for having addictive for designing things in an addictive way um is is compelling and looking at what's gone on that is critical. I do want to listen to our students and I am a a huge advocate of student voice and at the same time and I will implicate myself. I have a cell phone right here that this is something that is a an addictive element. And so if one has that and if one is getting their dopamine hits or their their I think
120it's incumbent upon us to look at the research in tandem with that feedback because um because the fe because the research is is compelling. Um and I just a couple of last things which is I wanted to note that actually some of the writings that have come out um this past week looking at Washington state and it's great etc that McMurray was highlighted and some of the um writing and for uh for being a a model program in terms of cell phone use and so wanted to thank you for that and the leadership there. Um, it's being explored at the federal level, but I don't know what they'll have. Um, couple last things. 58% of countries have a national ban on cell phones in schools. 58% of countries. Um, and an entire ban and or
121an entire town banning um, and Chris Rail is saying we're behind um, at the time we're studying has passed and there's some concerns there other pieces. I know we need to have those discussions like I said about the particulars but I also I really I feel a strong responsibility for our students to act as well. Um yeah, I mean uh everything that you said I have a strong opinion and um based on research and evidence is not anymore because I am a granola mom uh and you read what is happening in you know in your teens higher risk of depression anxiety loneliness self harm rates increased body image issues social comparison, social pressure, sleep deprivation like um 53% of leaders in the schools um affirm how it damages the day in their students um let's
122see I have many papers here um researchers as Dimmitri Kristakis is I'm sorry not the pronunciation but um he found that average 1.5 hours in the school ch students are in their phones in the school when they have it close to them in their pockets and you know available uh like you say they form habits. So uh an addict which unfortunately are our students they are going to say many of them are going to say don't take it away but we are the adults we are the responsible one who need to make this decision. Um it is important to hear their voices but it's also important to read the research by scientists by neurologists neurologists people who have been spending their lives in profession to do this work and we should not take it lightly.
123I want to apologize for taking so long to to have this conversation. This should have happened before because it could have have helped students in our district to not have this horrible incident. Uh so I hope that we can quickly move into this uh policy review and decide. >> So one thing I did want to say is that um also did I cut you off? >> No no I'm done. >> Um is that this was already on our radar. Dr. Moj and I have talked about this before. I've had some excellent counsel in effect from people in this room. >> Um that unfortunately the uh incident at the high school was perhaps a catalyst to be having this discussion now, but it was for sure percolating in the background. And as a person who tends
124to have very emotional responses to things, you know, my my first response is not surprising to anyone. just put them in a can and burn them. I myself have a terrible relationship to my own phone, so I don't exempt myself from any of this. Um, and to sort of take a phrase from the disability community, nothing about us without us. And to make decisions that will that will absolutely affect students, their day-to-day learning flow, and the flow of their communication with people outside of the building. um and and the asking our staff to implement this. Hopefully, we've had some lessons learned and the the sort of bravery whether by choice or or necessity of the McMurray staff to have the opportunity to learn from them. Obviously, there's going to be a lot of overlap and
125also we now have this opportunity where we've had a lot of kids come through McMurray who sort of understand now some expectations. Are there kids who are skirting those rules? I don't doubt it. And also I think overwhelmingly what we're hearing at least from student in my house and my relationships with educators in this community is that it was a it's a worthwhile endeavor and we have to endeavor to get it right. Getting it right means doing some pretty deep listening. >> Um uh any anything that you wanted to >> uh I should add something in Spanish very quickly. Um, I just want to read why the states are banning phones and I'm going to say in Spanish. Um, it's based on investig And strict Cyber particip. beneficial. This is something that I find very
126interesting in English because the the students who have have who are having better um uh benefits out of these are the the vulnerable the students most vulnerable with uh problems, academic problems and social emotional problems. So they are the most benefit from these bands. So attendance is better. So, um, our move forward on this is, um, really about bringing others along with whatever it is that the board decides because we've got students for whom the barn door was opened years ago. We now have to change their behavior. We have families who allow them to come to school with said cell phones >> who have to change their behavior. Um the policy that you have in place was violated and we dealt with that violation and that as Junifer said is not the issue here. The
127issue here is you're revisiting a policy about the electronic devices that have been rampant. And lest we not forget that we all went one to one on our technology and praised the fact that kids had cell phones so that they could do their schoolwork during co and now we also are recognizing the impact of those dopamine hits and cell phones in schools. So now you're asking us rightly so to reverse that trend by making a rule implementing the rule and thinking that that's enough. And someone mentioned it tonight like, "Yeah, we have red lights. People run red lights. We give them tickets or they speed or whatever it is, but we have to culturally shift what's been happening. And part of that idea of getting a forum together, getting people in the same room, getting
128conversations to start is so that we're not in an echo chamber, right? We have to talk about these things. Help people shift culture. Understand that it is an issue of enforcement. >> We already have enforcement at the high school, right? You're not supposed to have it out. If you have it out, you're caught. Things like that. But they still come to school with them. >> And so, yeah, can we work toward what they're doing at McMurray? I don't think Greg just said on Friday, no more cell phones Monday. I think there was a process that went into that that created a sustainable change that's still challenging on a daily basis. So again, all I'm here to advocate for is a process to shift that culture if that's you know if if the board believes that
129we should be listening to folks and and working on a cultural shift because it will not happen just because you make the rule. There's got to be a reason behind it. There's got to be students that understand that. Teachers that are, you know, going to buy into enforcing it. Right? Again, and I'm going to make a really simplistic, not to belittle what what's very impactful. This is not about cell phones. It's about culture ch, right? It used to be that you could not chew gum in school. And some teachers didn't care. Ch young and other teachers cared a lot. So we have to get everybody on the same page on cell phones, right? If we do this, then everybody's doing this and there has to be that commitment. If some people do it and some
130people don't, you have to especially because it already exists. It's not like, you know, you can just take the vending machine out of the building that sells the monster grapes. We did that, right? That happened. >> In many districts, they had vending machines that sold those products because they're very popular and they bring in a lot of revenue. And then it became again snacks in school, the whole change in food for students and doing the right thing for food for students. All I'm advocating for is that we we do this in a way that can be sustainable because if we just change the policy, then what you've essentially done is said, "Here's your policy. Enforce it." And I had an experience two weeks ago where we talked about a policy that's been on the books
131for years about smart snacks. And some of you may know this, some of you may know this, right? And I said, well, it's been the policy. I'll just remind people that the policy is there and we should be implementing smart snacks and people shouldn't be bringing cupcakes to school because that's what your policy says. You know what happened? We got a huge backlash because I was naive enough to think that the rules there and it's been there for years. So all the rule I don't want this to be that. So we have to do this in a way that ushers in sustainable change. >> So I hope that makes sense to you. Can I let me chime in with that which is one I'm in 100% agreement with you and and part of it to
132me is with something like this because of the degree to which it permeates the culture that I think that there should be regardless of what passes or when it passes that there should be an educational component that extends beyond that that we're having those conversations um in the schools and in the community. So I see that as extending beyond even a decision. Um but when you're talking about getting this input, I guess what I'm wondering is um ways you have best seen that take place in part, right? So to hear from our teachers and our educators during the school day that's challenging for them, right? So I guess I'm wondering what you would recommend as a process. Um, first of all, there I don't have a uh magic process. It's about getting people together and
133creating opportunities for those conversations. It's also about recognizing that districts have life cycles and right now we're in a very busy difficult life cycle part of the life cycle. So we've got all of the central admin working on budget and trying to figure out staffing and working toward next year. We've got principles dealing with all the end ofear activities that happen. Um, and we want a policy shift that's going to require all of us to be on hand to implement it and hold us our feet to the fire, right? Even if it's in September. So, in my experience, it's let's hold a community forum and have people talk about it, right? And gives them the opportunity to talk about it. Maybe everybody that comes in is going to say, "Ban the cell phones." Okay. And
134how are you going to help us do that? That is key. How are you going to help us ban cell phones? Because as families, if you want us to ban cell phones, keep them at home. That's an easy way to ban cell phones at school. Don't send them. Again, kids already have burner phones. They already have phones that they put in the McMurray bag and they carry the real one in their pocket. We know that we catch them. So there it takes sorry it takes a village. We've got to bring the village together to say this is a priority and if it's a priority for this village then you need to help too. >> That is >> what I'm trying to get at. Make it a rule that there's no cell phones in schools. >>
135That's okay. I'll spend we'll spend all of our time. >> I I totally agree and I also know that we have seen over the last 20 years many c things that were assumed culturally the norm that are no longer the norm or even considered as the norm. >> Um drinking and driving, smoking, all of that stuff. But and we can we can do this as a community. Um >> we all know what the research is and it is our job as school board members to help figure out a way to um make this happen in a procedural way that includes the people who matter which is everyone here. In my earlier conversation with you where I asked you about the budget and budget workshop, I did that with this in mind that if you want
136to have opportunity for a work session that involves your community, >> you have a date on the books and we could by 14 help facilitate that um conversation so that at least your you know, being proactive about it. We can get information out to teachers about it. We can talk with um get our students to do their survey that they're talking about because you'd be surprised, and maybe you're not surprised, our student board reps, they have a response to AI, they have a response to phones, and it may surprise you to hear like just leave them at home, ban them. But if you don't ban them for everybody, then I'm carrying mine too, right? They didn't say it that way, but essentially that's, you know, and we went through co we gave every kid a
137Chromebook, right? If you think that the cell phone is the only way they're communicating with each other, it is not. So then we start to talk about screen time, right? It used to be I'm old enough to know that I was in school without phones and we passed notes. Oh yeah. Right. It's way different now, right? But kids communicate with one another and they figure out ways. So, do we take away their Chromebooks? >> I mean, it's conversation, >> right? I mean, we also know that our students should start school later at the secondary level and we haven't been able to do that either. So maybe this one we can do >> but not without a process. So that would be my suggestion is that we schedule that May 14th date and make some plans
138around how we want to engage with our community and where we might have that meeting. >> I would second that. >> Yeah. Yeah. I would third that. >> Can we just go ahead and say that's what we'll do on the 14th? >> Yeah. Fantastic. >> Great. Uh lovely. Uh thanks everybody. Hey, thanks everybody who showed up here tonight. Um, uh, decision section of the meeting. Uh, we're going to start with policy 2161, special education and related services. Um, I did not memorize the thing that you said earlier because so I may get this wrong. My my recommendation at this time is that this subject needs further discussion and consideration and I would like to postpone a decision on this matter. >> I would like to make a motion to postpone um a decision on this
139matter. >> I think I second. Thank you. >> All those in favor of postponing the discussion of 2161 I. >> Any opposed? >> I abstain. Okay. >> Can I say one piece? >> Yeah, of course. Which is I guess what I would want the public to know is that the um that asking for this this time it is not that we're taking it off the table. It is more um because of the research and actually questions that were raised and concerns that people have brought that have asked us to go back and and look again. So I just want to thank >> the community for input and um different aspects that uh help us to see this through through a different lens. So thank you. >> We we haven't had the time to really study
140this um uh given the input and we really care. >> Yeah. In particular because she's here. I want to thank um one of our constituents who has brought spent a lot of time and energy making sure that this thing did not sort of just uh pass without notice. So I appreciate that. I'm going to go ahead and um suggest for the following policy 2255 alternative learning experience programs that we likewise postpone that after a little more consideration and um and research. Um would someone like to propose that we postpone the decision on 2255? >> Go ahead. Go ahead. I propose that we postpone a decision. Thank you. Can I get a second, please? >> I second. Thank you. Uh all those in favor of postponing 2255 I. >> Any opposed? >> I again abstain. >>
141That's just fine. Thank you. Um great. Moving on. Uh policy 2414 community service. >> Can I get a motion to approve 2414, please? >> I would like to um make a motion to approve 2414, please. >> Thank you. Uh can I get a second, please? >> I second one. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion at this time? Great. All those in favor of 2414 say I. >> Any opposed say nay. Thank you. 2414 passes. Uh 2415 performance performancebased pathway for high school graduation. Can I get a motion to approve, please? I move to approve um 2415. >> Thank you. Uh can I get a second, please? >> Second. Thank you, River. Uh, any discussion at this time? All those in favor of passing 2415, performance-based pathway for high school graduation, say I. >> Any
142opposed? Say nay. >> Thank you. That passes unanimously. Uh, policy 5401, sick leave. Can I get a motion to approve, please? Motion to approve sick leave 541. >> Thank you. Can I get a second, please? >> A second. >> Thank you, uh, Jessica. And all those in favor of approving 5401 say I. >> Any uh when opposed say nay. >> Thank you. That uh passes. And lastly 5404 family medical and maternity leave. Can I get a motion to approve, please? >> I'd like to make a motion to approve family and medical leave. >> Thank you. Uh can I get a second, please? >> I'll second it. >> Really stole her glory there. That's all right. Next time we'll get you. Uh, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? Say n. Thank
143you. The policy passes. >> Um, at this time we have a second opportunity for public comment. Is there anyone here that would like to make public comment? >> Uh, I do. You want me to say something? Do I stand? >> Sorry. This is Courtney Kane. >> Uh, you have three minutes. A timer will appear on the screen. Please address your comments to the board. support. Hello. Um, my name is Courtney King. I have a current eighth grader who will be a ninth grader next year. I'm here to express some support for an away the day program that extends into the high school. Um, I think it's important. I think we as as parents and educators need to make the decisions that are best for our kids. Um, I've seen the benefit of it. Um, and
144McMurray, I know it's not perfect, but it's great. My child has a phone. I work off island. I communicate with her about logistics. She has a phone, but we make important family choices that we put them away in that evening. Um, I go to work, we have meetings where people will say phones away for the meeting because they know how distracting they are. Um, I think it's both a distraction, all the reasons you guys gave um, you know, for impacting mental health and the dopamine thing, but really it's just a distraction and I think we conduct ourselves in a way that is very different when we think we might be on film. And if kids are filming, which is so much a part of how they use phones now, um I think it changes the
145school experience in a really negative way and it inhibits the way kids are able to express themselves and be in a safe place. So incident aside, um I'm grateful that, you know, we're having a conversation and I'm sorry that I wasn't more engaged um earlier. I appreciate the idea of having student input and community input. Um, everyone I've talked to, including my child and her friends, is like, "Yeah, we don't want to get off our phones, but it's such a good idea." So, I would hesitate to waste too much time in moving forward with potential plans and how to implement, gathering opinions because people are always going to have opinions, but I think the research is clear and I think public and student opinion. Um, Henry, I appreciate what you said earlier. I was not
146here, but I was listening in my car. Um, I think students agree that it's probably a good thing too. So, just here to express that. Thank you all for having me and let me know how I can help. As a parent, I understand that there are a lot of logistics that you all face in implementing it. So, if there's community support in helping do that, um, let us know. I think there are a lot of people that would help you. So, >> I know we'll find you. >> Thank you. Uh, and Erin Smith, did you have another comment? Thank you, Erin Simmons. Again, um I just wanted to say uh my earlier comments were prepared, but I had actually prepared two versions and one was to be more directed to the student board members. Um
147I know your two fellows because of my daughter in sports, but I didn't know you personally. So, I gave my remarks more to the board, but they were aimed towards the student reps knowing that your leadership is very important. And then the comments that you made of talking to your friends so far and no, nobody wants to go up their phone. But then upon deeper reflection, being able, you know, to admit, and I'm not holding myself up as a, you know, I struggle with my phone, too. I took Facebook and Instagram off my phone like January, and I'm really proud of myself, and it's been a good improvement for me. So, I just wanted to share that. But Henry, thank you for being here for your engagement. And we do need you and your student
148board members and the the cabinet, the ASV um to lead to lead this. So, just wanted to offer that and thank you for the work session that will be scheduled and yeah, we'll we'll do our best to support you and make it a community effort. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Anyone else at this time for public comment? >> I just want to say thank you. >> Thanks. Um uh in our closing item section, superintendent report spoken enough, but I will bring you up to date on uh let's see actually have notes here. Um we're continuing to meet with the bond planning committee. Those meetings happen on Mondays. Uh we have one coming up this Monday and we welcome participation because it really is about how do we want to move forward
149with our our buildings and um takes input takes community input. There are lots of people at the table but more are always welcome. I think everything else we've spoken about tonight was really everything that was on my list to make sure you were updated on. So, I don't have anything else to add other than we're moving very quickly into May and all of those end of year activities and wow, it's been a really busy time and so um it's only going to get busier and I appreciate all the work that the board does on a regular basis. >> Uh I'm sorry on Monday at what time? >> 5 Well, actually 4:30 we're doing a tour of McMurray. >> Okay. And then the meeting's at 5:30 and it goes till 7:30. The meeting after that is
150May 18th. That's a Monday as well. There's a tour at the high school and of the link programs at 4:30 and then the meeting follows at 5:30 and then the last one in this session is June 1st and we'll tour and then at 4:30 and then followed by 5:30. And the idea is that folks can see their schools in person, hear from the principles about what works and what the shortcomings are so that it's a more informed bond committee. >> Thank you. >> And all of that, by the way, is on our website under bonds and less. >> Uh at this time, opportunity for board directors uh to make any remarks. Anyone have anything they want to contribute? >> I think we said a lot. Um just just a small which is I do really
151want to thank um the community for um not only showing up the ways in which individuals have shown up and there's been a lot um that has been taking place in the district over the past several weeks and I can feel an incredible commitment in our community to to our schools which which is really amazing. And I also, you know, as Trina per mentioned, you know, you can hear about something and have a very strong and understandable reaction. But part of what I also want to say is that with a lot of things that have been unfolding, the curiosity with which people have shown up um and the openness and the ways in terms of I guess the tenor of engagement when I could see that being different, I've really I really greatly appreciated and
152respected. Um, and I think I just wanted to add one last piece about as we move into this May 14th discussion, which is that my background is is working in film and working with image in image production. And oddly, watching what was happening to my students made me step back from something I loved because it no longer became an intentional image production, right? it became so pervasive and it became people living a mediated experience, right? Rather than constructing these things in the same way and that um that my students I mean a huge number of their films were interrogating the role of these devices and social media in their lives and what it was doing. But I just also want to say as an educator what it did to community to have or not have
153that that when I used to show up at my classroom door students aside from the first day or two they'd be talking to each other and there was a community already built by the time you walked into a classroom and that changed right so it became a thing where I would then show up to a classroom and every person was like this and so building community in the classroom which is a huge part of being able to engage rigorously um and critically in a classroom is to have that foundation of community that began to break down and I have heard amazing things about what's happening at McMurray this year in in terms of fostering community and belonging and and hearing that from middle school students. And so I I just want to say that I
154I applaud the community for the way we've already this commu conversation is already unfolding and I look forward to more of it and that I really hope that it becomes a basis not only for how we go about this but what we decide but a basis for building an even stronger community in our schools. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Um, I want to thank staff and Joe and Peter for this long long day. Um, your presentation amazing. Thank you so much. Um, same with Cassie. She's gone, but um, uh, thank you so much for the long day. Um, and I also want to thank the community for speaking out and emailing us and being on top of this. And I encourage you to do this in any other issue that you may think of because
155this is the only way that we can move forward with a process with your with your input is not just the five of us here. We are meeting here but it's we are representing you. Um and I wouldn't like to stop to stop only the cell phone use. I mean I think there's critical things that we need to look into like the use of technology for learning um you know the the the use of the the screens and also based on research not just on our own opinions and um yeah thank you and thank you to in to my family because at home they're waiting for Uh, I don't believe we made any explicit commitments other than agreeing unanimously to do a work session on the 14th. Um, I would like to look into if
156it's legal or illegal to have a seat for minority group. >> Yeah. Great. Um, I think that's it. It's uh 8:17. Thanks again everybody that was listening at home or came uh whether you spoke or not. We appreciate your voices. Good night.