001I would like to offer a brief land acknowledgement courtesy of the Vashan Heritage Museum. Uh the Vashan Island School District stands on the ancestral lands of squash or swiftwater people who inhabit it inhabited Vashan my island for millennia. The donation land claim act encouraged large numbers of settlers to claim land even before the medicine creek treaty of 1854 extinguished native claims to it. The Scobash were imprisoned on Fox Island during the Puet Sound Treaty Wars by the territorial government and later relocated onto the Puallup Reservation. We acknowledge the people of the Puallup tribe whose stewardship of and relationship with Vashani Island continues today. We commit to amplifying the voices of indigenous people, making space for them to tell their own story about both both past and present in our programs and schools. Thank you everyone.
002Uh at this time we have uh public comment on our meeting. I don't have anybody signed in at this time for public comment. Is there anybody here who wishes to speak? Okay. Thank you. Um at this time uh we've moved on to the consent agenda. Um uh barring any objections, I'd like to propose that the consent agenda passes as written. Do I have any objections? Any discussion? Thank you very much. The consent agenda passes as written. Uh moving right along. Uh our uh friends and generous colleagues from the Bashan Schools Foundation. We'd love to hear from you. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. Let's bring it. Um I think we want to do the check presentation first and then the PowerPoint is usually what we do. >> Sure. >> Right. >> Uh actually last >> last we'll
003have this check. >> All right. Go. >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah. >> Where can we stand where we're out of the way? >> Just address the board. That's >> perfect. >> Yeah. So we're representing Bash and Schools Foundation. I'm Alison Torville has been on the board a little over a year. Um we just wanted to share a little bit uh about our funding priorities and give some updates. Um you know Vash School Foundation's been around for a while but we've really started to hone and focus our funding priorities more recently. Enrichment and essential staff is kind of the focus of our fundraising. uh enrichment includes, you know, the programs that make school feel like very fulfilling for students and staff in arts and culture and STEM as well as supporting social emotional learning, mental health.
004Um and then through all that programming, it's uh working with community organizations uh to provide that for our students. And then essential staff, uh you know, these schools are great because of our essential staff. And so we're really just all about making sure that um they are supported. And this includes staffing like par educators, counselors, nurses. Um, so that's kind of the core program areas for funding. And here's the board. The board uh is growing really rapidly since I've started even and in the past month added four more members and we are very actively and possibly aggressively recruiting. Water tax is a dangerous place right now guys. So yeah um happy to be a part of the board and India can speak to some numbers. >> Yeah go to the next one. So we just
005wanted to highlight last year um and the year before have been really um phenomenal for the schools foundation because of the strength of this community and so just wanted to share that um our funding we raised funding in the current year for the following school year. So what we're presenting now is what we are investing in the in the schools for this current school year. So that means these were funds that we raised the prior year. So 2024 is what we're talking about. So it was really important that we shared that in 2024 we made significant gains. Um you know we raised over $220,000 in large part because of give big. There were a lot of things happening at that time. Um and we had more visibility I think as a school's foundation in the
006community. Um we were also really actively engaging um our donor base and trying to encourage folks to become sustaining monthly donors. So that was a big part of our fundraising strategy as well and actively working to um engage and target some of our incoming uh parents and families into the district. So they were a big part of our annual fundraising campaign for the 2024 school year. All right, Peter, you can take it on to the next one. So in terms of giving, um this is a reflection of what we're giving for this current school year 2526. It's about 185,000 that is going um toward our enrichment programs that Allison talked about. And you can kind of see the breakdown here for scientists in schools. This is with the nature center. Um uh fifth grade camp
007is a new investment that we're doing. We knew that that was a real um need and so that's a direct investment that we're making this for this school year. Um artisan school with um the um not nature center, sorry, BNC um and uh or VCA, excuse me, and the initiators leadership that's with Journeyman. But what I wanted to highlight is that um 65% of the giving that our community is supporting is going towards essential services. So well over half of that. So that's the academic intervention that Allison was talking about our family engagement work. We're funding a new family engagement coordinator, Richard Rivas Gutierrez. Um and then the other key data point here is that um about a third of our giving is supporting those enrichment programs that I highlighted. All right. So, here are
008what those enrichment um some of the key metrics that we wanted to highlight. So, we're supporting behavioral health, artists in schools, social emotional development, and scientists in schools. Those are kind of the four main pillars that we've prioritized with our enrichment. And so, here are some cool numbers just to highlight what that work looks like. Um in the last school year, we're in our current school year. So, we don't have those data yet, but I'll be able to present on that um this time next year. But from last year, we saw, you know, really significant counseling hours with our partners at BYFS. Um, just the number of students that they're supporting, these are like our atrisisk youth who aren't necessarily receiving compensation from u Medicaid coverage. They're in a unique bucket. And so our funding
009is able to kind of fill some of that. Um, really great uh inputs or outputs, excuse me, for our artists and schools with the center for the arts and then journeymen doing some circles and mentorship and then nature center. be reaching, you know, nearly half of all students across the three schools. Um, and you'll have access to this deck, I think, as part of your material, so you can read into it >> later. Um, and then just a few key of the essential highlights. Um, this was the first time this school year represented kind of the first time we were investing directly in those essential academic supports. And the um the ones that we wanted to highlight, this has been a partnership that we've had with our with VISD. We meet regularly both with district
010leadership and with school leadership to really understand what is the need within our campuses. And um this year it was around parent education support in math in particular at McMurray. Um we have now two dedicated home rooms at the high school to help some of our students meet some of their academic needs. um this was a a need that we felt like we could easily help fill and support. And then we also have the parent education needed support at Shakqua and as I mentioned our family engagement coordinator Richard who is who's here this year. >> All right, I'm going to turn over to Jordan. >> Hi everybody. I'm Jordan. Been on board for almost four years. Um and really just want to take a moment of gratitude for this for for this particular event. Um
011it's something that the board in the past four years that I've been there um we've been dreaming about doing event like this and it finally just came together and when I say it took you know a village it really took this whole island to really make this possible. We had a lot of dedicated people um doing the logistics behind it. But uh I think we had like 60 plus volunteers for the event. Um, some of you attended. I see some faces over there. You might even be in that photo. Um, but just a phenomenal success. Our goal was 150,000 and we raised 335,000. So, just we are still just like relishing I guess in like this community support. Um we are working um closely with the district and the building admin to come up with
012the priorities and make sure that this money goes towards um both supporting our mission but also the priorities of the district. So we appreciate that and we continue to to have those conversations but a super fun event November 2026. Um so what's ahead? Um really quickly here we've got um today our check presentation which is exciting. Um, we'll continue to have those conversations with the ISD about the funding priorities for 2627. Those conversations are happening now. We'll commit our funds in around the April May time frame. Um, we've of course got our big big campaign. Um, some of our back to school events that we support and that's really more awareness of who we are for incoming new families. Um, of course have our our big gala and then our end of year thank you
013campaign. We've really pivoted. Um the gala has become kind of our big moment of fundraising and then just ongoing community partnership, donor outreach, um recruitment. >> Yeah. So there you go. We'd love to present this check and get a photo. >> Okay, looks like a better three lenses on that one. >> Come on in. Come on in. >> There we go. >> Yeah, our student repaired. >> Text me up. Are you sure? really appreciate. >> Yeah. Before you all roll out, um I know River wanted to say something. I guess I just want to say an incredible thank you. I feel like y'all are living the commitment um to this community and to all the kids in this community and it's an incredible show of support and we're really clear that that would not happen
014without your expertise and outreach and work and um all that you're putting into it. And for me, I one of the things I say about these communities is I think it's a community that wants to invest and y'all are giving them the means to invest and you're also doing it in a targeted and impactful way. And so I just want to express incredible gratitude for the work that you are doing. >> Thank you. >> And you don't have to stay, but you are welcome to stay. >> I know it sometimes can be a little awkward. hear all about counseling. >> Um, great. We uh now would like to move on and hear from our uh counseling team, please. >> A full house. Amazing. >> You get all of us. We do not have a check,
015but Jeff has five bucks. >> Um, hello everyone. Um, we are the Bashon Island School District K12 counseling team. So, we're going to we have about 10 or so minutes of a presentation. We want to introduce ourselves, talk a little bit about our uh programming, what we do, and then um we'll have some time for questions. We're going to I'm going to give a little overview and then we're going to just give a little bit of information about what's going on at each school and a little bit of data and and then we'll open it up for questions. Um so, if you think controlling the slide, next slide. So, these are our introductions. Maybe start uh from the top and go down. Christina, you want to start? >> I'm Christina Meer. I'm the school social
016worker at Chiakqua Elementary School and I put with Lisa Radford, the student support specialist. Um she's a pair educator, but um without her, we couldn't deliver all what we do at Chiaka. So, >> um I'm Anna Waldman. I'm um one of the school counselors at McMurray. >> Hello, I'm Evette Butler. I'm one of the school counselors as well at McQuary Louisiana. >> And I'm Jeff Jones. I'm one of the school counselors at Basham High School supporting students classes 8 through eight. >> And I'm Tara Vandel and I am the other counselor at the high school. So it's nice to meet some new board members that we haven't met. Um and there's a lot of familiar faces in the room. So we'll span out to four those of you that are very familiar with our work.
017Um so just a few things. Um this is kind of a wordy defining characteristic of a comprehensive school counseling program. Um all of you have a copy of this so you can you're welcome to read this but this just kind of gives an overview of what the um American school counseling association says a school counseling program should be. What I actually want to highlight is this tiny little graphic in the uh in the bottom because this is really where we live as school counselors. So there's this, if you can't see it, it says social, emotional, academic, college, and career. And this kind of inner um woven section in the middle is really where we do all of our work. And um we all know that social emotional uh wherever students are at really impacts their
018academics and where they're going next and vice versa. So they're all intertwined. So our work is always kind of walking that line of you know finding our place in any given moment with wherever a student is at any gi given moment. Um we have some unique um you know aspects to being on a small island with limited resources. So um you know sometimes we live way over here a lot in the social emotional realm with our students. Um but really we're always trying to to tie all of those together. Um we have I calculated today not counting um any some of some of us have been teachers administrators have done private um therapy all those things not even counting those years we have over 80 years of experience um among this team. So we are
019a um we all have extensive backgrounds in counseling and developmental theory and trauma informed work and prevention and intervention and we really what our job is to take all that we know um and look at what our system needs and then build our program around that. So one of the nice things about um a counseling program is there is really no program so to speak. So we just kind of take what we know, what we bring to the table, and we look at what our system needs, and then we get to build our program around that. So it's kind of always changing, but there's definitely some foundational things. So if you want to go to the next slide. Um, as we build our program, we're really aiming to make sure that all of these um,
020uh, five aspects are included, that we're reaching every student, that our program is comprehensive in scope, and really the focus should always be on prevention. Um, we of course are always responding to things that are going on in students lives. So, it's it's not the reality to always live in the prevention world, but um, obviously we're trying to kind of work backwards and starting at the elementary level. um doing a lot of really focused prevention work so that we're um doing as much prevention as we can and then being able to respond uh when that is not enough. Um obviously we're always keeping developmental in nature. We have our K12 team here. We meet as a PLC group um every month and have lots of interactions in between so that we're kind of coordinating programming
021as much as possible. Um and then finally just that we're an integral part of the daily educational program. So, we're in classrooms and we're doing groups and we're out and about at lunch and we're in assemblies and you know just getting to know students in lots of different ways and lots of different places. Um we also our whole program is really um based on the what what the acronym MTSS so multi-tered systems of support. Again the graphic is kind of tiny but you all have a copy of it. So again, the bulk of our work should be at tier one, which is really accessing all students to um give services that are accessible by all students, a little bit less in that secondary. We're having specialized groups. We're going to talk a little bit more
022about those on the individual slides. of what's going on at these different tiered levels. And then the very top is, you know, some of our kids that um have higher needs, uh whether that's special education or mental health crisis or things like that where we're really giving a high level of service but um to a fewer fewer number of students. All right, so that is kind of the big picture and then what we do. This is like more the nitty-gritty as I mentioned before supporting the social emotional academic and career development of all students and the American school counseling association follows these kind of four domains. So our services are falling under counseling curriculum which I mentioned earlier there kind of is no curriculum. Um so it's not like the state hands us things we
023get you know sort of the backbone and we build programs from there. There are some, especially at elementary school, there are some curriculums that are used, but a lot of what we're doing is taking stuff that's out there and again catering it to what our students need at any given time. Uh the responsive services I also touched on that is more um you know, mental health crisis, skill building, um connecting students to services, um alcohol, tobacco, and other drug referrals and things like that. um uh just making sure kids are connected and involved and that we know who they are and what they need. Um individual planning looks different at every level. So again, we'll kind of address that on the individual um on the school slides, but that can be anything from one-on-one counseling
024to, you know, providing referrals or doing um post high school, you know, having post high school conversations with our high schoolers, things like that. Um and then system support. Um, as I mentioned earlier, because we're a small district, we kind of jump in in lots of different ways to do system support. So again, that could look different in each building, but that's things like facilitating our tier 2 or tier three um support groups, uh doing things like master scheduling or testing or, you know, recess and lunch duty and all all sorts of things that, you know, in all honesty, the American School Counseling Association is like counselors should not be doing that. But we all know that we are a small district and we play lots of roles here in the with the good of
025the order in mind. You know, it's kind of our job to walk that line of providing system support but also knowing um you know what where our energy should really be focused. All right. So with that, we're going to kind of give some a little snippets of what's going on at different different levels. >> Yeah, there's so much that we can say. This is just a snippet. You know, the system support piece is, you know, for one example of that for me is that I'm the person running this um the student success team meetings at Chitaka. So, we need, you know, trying to determine which students need to move from uh assess their tier 2 supports. Are they getting what they need in their groups and otherwise or do we need to consider special education
026approach for them? So, I'm the one running that team. So that's the type of system support is another example that I don't have up here. Um prevention again of course skill building is our main focus. Um that tier one support at Chiakqua the social emotional lessons. We support the teachers in delivering the second step lessons. Um Lisa and I deliver directly the bullying prevention lessons and the safety lessons just to have a presence in the classroom and also to ensure those really important lessons about safety about um helping teach kids the assertiveness skills for recognizing um their autonomy and when they can say no and how to um ask for help. And all of those things are really clearly taught at the foundational levels. We um we talk about K through um 12, but it's
027really prek through 12 because I pop into the to Annie's four class and spend time there, spend time in the threes, but you that's a little more loose. Um but um just want to mention that as well. So we do skill building, social emotional groups very much focused on skill building. Um I sometimes have um supportive groups for maybe kids are adopted or those sort of things, but the majority of our groups are are skill building like um executive functioning skills, emotional regulation skills, um learning behavior skills. We're really trying to lay the groundwork so our students have those life skills they need to be learners and to um be able to um own their emotions, know their emotions are okay, but also um maintain a level of control so they don't do things they
028regret. Um we do individual interventions and support plans. Some of those um most of us, all of us are the 504 coordinators for our building. Um so that is a huge job in addition to um the direct service we provide students of um ensuring that students who are at that tier three level of meeting those individual plans are um getting the right level of support that they qualify and re-qualify for those plans as needed. um check in and check out programs happen at the elementary and the middle school level too. And um to some kids meet their regular um touchstone of helping them build their skills around their goals and and really help them build their skills and then hopefully graduate and if they don't then we look at what what whether they need a
029longer term plan. know um school refusal plans. Um anxiety is a huge challenge for a lot of our students and and sometimes it leads to school refusal and and we work with families on that. Um we have a DESA universal social emotional screener. Um every um K through five student is screened by their teaching stat. It's it's not done by the students but that is aligned with the Washington state social emotional learning standards. Um those standards are referenced in one of our links later in the slides and um those standards you know we say we don't have a curriculum provided we do use um um curriculum that is that is vetted and um and um has castle usually castle approved curriculum like second step but the standards are guidance that we use to to consider
030what our students should be learning and where what the benchmarks are at each level. Just like there's math standards, there's also social emotional learning standards. So, we lean on those and then castle which is um a big organization for social emotional learning. There's low national standards for that. Um just a quick glimpse and that does not include resource um allocation. I'm a school social worker that um but when I say 166 students um that I've had or families that I've had contact with this year that is um that is some of those are resources but most of it is counseling support with students or um other types of connection and support. Um that's um some of them once some of them every day. It depends on the student and what tier of support they're needing.
031Um we have there's 75 students right now that we're providing resources to at um re channeling PTO funds, channeling um other resources from the community to families in our schools. 158 students um are have in the fall and are currently being served in groups and other individual supports. Um and we'll make that um and then skill development. We identified which areas the kids um that are falling in the need area. The teachers fill out a more comprehensive assessment that tells us which of those talle social emotional skills that also align with the benchmarks the kids need to work on the most so that we can gear our tier 2 and tier one interventions to help bring all the kids up in those areas and that make that 14 as of today. So inside this screen
032is done in September through February. I highlighted that not because it's an enormous number compared to the middle high school and middle school, but because I want to help folks remember that it is um it is something that comes up in the elementary school as well. Um and it can be serious. I have several students that I'm following right now that that we are monitoring pretty closely. So, um that's probably a tuck longer than I was supposed to, but um that's just a glimpse of what's going on at the elementary school. >> Okay. Thanks. Thanks, Christina. >> And I'll kick off um McMurray and as um Tara mentioned and Christina mentioned, we do have frameworks that we work underneath as we're doing our work. Um and OSPI spells out for us what are the social
033emotional benchmarks skills that need to be hit at different levels um for all of our students. And at McMurray, how we've really tackled that is cross referencing what happens in a home room. And a home room is something that every student has throughout the school year. Ideally, they're following with that same teacher for three years. And we're plugging in um what our social emotional curriculum just second step or sorry, I used to do that character strong, but we're also plugging in our equity inclusion work. We're plugging in our student life conferencing work. Um and this year um at recognition of like our staff coming together seeing that our students are really needing explicit executive functioning skill building. So, plugging that into our home room lessons um and seeing where where can we cover and develop
034our students proactively their social emotional skill development so that they can be their best and really fully engage in academics and where are we missing that but it might be covered in our healthy living curriculum. So, we really cross reference, make sure we're covering, but um we try to pull out and not over cover, making sure that we're just doing enough, but not too much and leaving a lot of extra time at that executive functioning skill building that really we saw was essential this year. So, our home room is what we consider our tier one service. It's available to everyone. Every single student has home room. every student has healthy living and everyone has access equal access to that social emotional development that's really essential for their academic success. Um and so at McMurray we're
035really all about skill building. We're all about um uh prevention and knowing like how we can prevent but also early intervention. So home um home room is our tier one trying to meet most kids needs. Um, we also know that students in middle school perhaps the most important thing for their success even before the academics is do they feel connected? Do they see feel seen? Are they feeling like they're a part of our community in some way? And that is essential. Our students don't feel that. It is really hard for them to feel like they can be brave and engaged with their learning as well. And so we really intentionally are thinking all the time. How do we have our students engaged not only in the classroom but outside of the classroom actively our community
036offers amazing opportunities um not accessible to everybody and it's really without it's outside of the school. So we want our kids to be engaged in our school community also outside of the classroom. So we have um over 16 clubs and activities plus our sports. Um Anna will talk about the number of our students that participate. It's pretty impressive. Um, and the research shows the more that students are actively engaged in those things, the more they're going to be actively engaged right then, but also long term in their academic progress and learning. So, we're really excited about that. Um, we also see that it's a tier one thing. It's open to everybody. It's equitable. It's accessible to everybody. But we also see it as a tier 2 intervention. The moment we're seeing a student struggling, withdrawing,
037not engaging, our big first question is how are are they connected? Do they feel like they're a part of our community and how can we get them tied into something that we have here for them available? And so that's Ann and I and the teachers kind of identifying who are those students and then like let's get them plugged in so they feel like they're part of our community and maybe they don't feel successful academically but they sure can handle a dog or they sure can join that game club or they sure can um and then you really see that ripple effect happening and and it really supports this like inclusive fun joyful learning environment too. So, we're really excited about those things. Open to everybody. Um, but we also use it as a tier 2
038intervention. Um, in our school, we have tier one supports and then we also use um some system supports. So, we have grade level meetings with um every grade level team of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders once a month. During those meetings, we're really looking at um individual students that need some extra supports either academically and socially, emotionally, but then we're also talking about what are tier one systems or strategies or approaches that perhaps the grade level is going to say like, hey, let's approach. What have we addressed so far, Tim? There's been some like shared grade level commitments like >> you're putting me on the spot right now. >> You're my team. Come on. um like we like wow we're really having an issue with like attendance classroom kids showing up to in class or
039they're trying to they're leaving class what's going to be our shared agreement on how we keep kids engaged in the classroom setting. So those kinds of things come out of our our monthly grade level meetings as well as who are students that we need to do some more intensive supports with. Um and uh we also have student support meetings bi-weekly in um with a smaller group of us as well as some community collaborative um bi-weekly support meetings with our neighbor care team to make sure that we're identifying and serving students who need higher levels of support. So um those are larger kind of system supports that we're involved in, but we spent a lot of our time also more at the individual student level. Um, in middle school, like I said, that early kind of
040prevention intervention is really essential. If you can remember yourself as a middle schooler, it's messy. Not always, and it doesn't have to be dramatic, but you know, we need to get in there early and really be noticing what do our kids need. And so, we spent a lot of time with students individually, with parents, um, doing some support and coaching, helping to access resources with our teachers when we see something not going well. and kind of collaboratively figuring out how we can help kids to engage. So, that's a big part of our time. It's really important. Um, and we consider that our tier 2 level support where it's smaller students that need need more intensive services. Um, but like Christina said, we also have some students who need really high levels of individual support, whether
041that's crisis or um significant behavioral challenges that we need to really tackle in a compassionate, kind, skill building way. Um we spend quite a bit of our time there as well as the bigger um scaffolding in our building. Um and lastly um we have really strong partnerships and we rely on our community partners like Dove and Orbit and Ursa and BFS and Neighborare to really expand the possibilities for our students to have enrichment but also support um and we're collaborating and participating all the time. So, this is kind of a brief overview of what we do, but it's just important to know that so much of the work that we do is really under the radar. You're not going to necessarily see it. Um, but it's really embedded in like the whole school functioning. So,
042in this awesome world, >> Hannah, do you want to talk about Yeah. So, a little data stuff. Um, as we were preparing, we were really talking about how it is sometimes hard to have data about counseling because of the nature of the work is confidential and sometimes hard to quantify or just like um those soft skills that are a little harder to um yeah to quantify. But um we do have some data that we do want to share with you. A lot of it's about our responsive like how we're responding to students. Um we collect a lot of data from the expert screener. Are you all familiar with ESPert the So it stands for screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment? Um, and so we it's a a screening tool that King County that we
043do in the middle and high school from King County. Um, and it's a universal screener. We give it to all students um at the middle and high school. Um, and it it's a questionnaire that they take in their health classes, and it um asks them all kinds of questions about mental health, about substance use, about life at home, academic success, social isolation, anything that might be a risk factor that you or a parent would want to know about, a teacher or parent to know about. Um, and then our practice is we screen all of our students. It's a universal tool. And then we also do an individual, excuse me, an individual check-in with each student regardless of how they answered the questionnaire. So, even our students who are responding, "Life is great. I'm I'm all
044good." We do an individual check-in with them. Um it's it's just part of our practice to connect with each student. It sometimes those students still we unearth something that's really important that we needed to know about that student. Um and it gives us a chance as counselors to really have like um just eyes on each each student. Um it's also really fun because then we get to chat with all these really sweet kids and get to know them. Um the um then there's the side of the kids that are not doing super well. Um and there's some data there. Um uh and and what's so important about Espert that I I think uh every year we discover is that you know a lot of the students that are struggling that might be in these red
045yellow flags um are are really known to us already like um we've already been working closely with them and their families. Um, but every year the expert does unear students that that were not known to us. Um, that really look like totally fine on the outside and then they take this questionnaire and we're like, "Oh, wow. Okay, yeah, like let's you're needing something." Um, and that is just super valuable. Um and uh it allows us to then do either a brief intervention. So that might look like a short um you know maybe three or four meetings to do some problem solving or some goal setting something that's like that could be addressed in the school setting. Um so we all do that with our with a brief intervention or a referral to treatment if it's
046like oh this is probably an issue that is going to need longer term support and so we're going to get you connected. We're going to probably talk to your parents. We're going to get you connected with a counselor. um or if it's like an academic issue, we're going to like look at what what are your academic long-term academic needs. Um so yeah, that's our that's so that's where the data is coming from. This year so far, we've screened 238 of our McMurray students. That is all of our sixth graders and half about half of our seventh and eighth graders. So these numbers are actually a little lower than what they will be when we're done with all of our students because it's about half of our student we tend to see some of these symptoms
047be a bit higher in seventh and eighth grade than sixth grade. Um so about 27% of our students had a yellow flag which that is usually something like a um maybe they're experiencing some bullying or they are feeling isolated socially. about 13% of our students um are presenting with a red flag which is a more concerning um report like either um thoughts of suicide or significant symptoms of depression. 9% of our students are reporting um self harm behavior in the last year. 7% are reporting suicidal ideiation. Um and then uh we we have about 27% who are screening for um some symptoms of depression or and 31% are treating some symptoms of uh anxiety. Um so obviously there's there's a lot there. There's a lot for us to respond to and um we have a
048fabulous collaboration with Neighborare that allows us to really do this lovely warm handoff to services. like when a student is identified as needing services, we are in the same portable as our therapist and we just can like walk someone right over and be like, "Here's Delen. Delen's amazing." And really get kids connected super easily. We're very lucky to have that collaboration. Um and then also as kind of gives us data and information about what's going well with our students, which is always nice to see. Um, and so just a couple things we added here were um 97% of our students report that at school there's this an adult that really cares about me and 99 say at school there's an adult who listens to me. We felt like that was just really important to highlight
049again some of that like hard to measure stuff that we're doing all of us and all of our staff and teachers are doing such a great job of um helping kids feel connected and seen at our school. And then as I mentioned, we really are pushing our kids to stay connected to our community through sports and activities. So we have this year um 330 students are registered for sports. Um although some of those could be double, right? People that do more than one sport. Um and 288 students are signed up for one of our many clubs or after school activities. >> That's it. Give it to the VHS crew. Uh thank you for the opportunity for us to be able to showcase uh what we do at the high school as well. And um on
050our slide deck, I'm just going to highlight uh back to that pyramid that Terara showed with the tier one, two, and three. So I'll start with a check yourself screener and Anna gave us a great background of that. So thank you. >> But uh both Tara and I just uh really enjoyed the implementation of that. Um the first year was a learning curve for us, but we're now just like we've got to do this every single year. So, we have completed uh the uh the check yourself screener with all of our ninth graders. Um there might be still a few absent ones, but um we got most of them and um this year about 47 47 of the 129 did flag either yellow or red. Um, and so we worked together with the neighbor care
051folks and we um took the students that uh did flag for yellow or red and met with them one-on-one and spent time going over the the results of the screener uh with them and a really great opportunity to get to know them a little bit more as well because like Anna said the students goals are listed there and so it's a really easy natural conversation starter and it really takes down the anxiety with the students. First you tell them you're not in trouble and then second you're going over stuff about themselves and they of course really like that. So it's great very very um easy easy way to to enter a conversation with students. We did have um 28 of our students were referred to services and um I was playing with my phone here
052to keep up the reasons for why students wouldn't have been referred and that varies from the student already has services. They're already connected. They might have had an issue in the past that has already been um something that's been confirmed and taken care of. Um like some students will tell us, "Oh, I was bullied two years ago." And we'll ask, "Well, how did that work out? Was that resolved?" um if the student's not in immediate crisis or danger and then um if the student didn't did not understand the question. We do get that occasion like they answer the question it was like oh I thought they were talking about vitamins not drugs. Okay. >> So >> and trust me we dig a little bit to make sure they're also not like trying to be like
053oh no I didn't say that. >> Right. Right. Um, so, um, one of the things that that didn't pop up on the screen was, uh, or on the slide deck that I added a little bit late was that, um, much like Ann reported the middle school, uh, we had 76% of our students, our nth graders report that they do have an adult as at school whom they can reach out to ask for help. And while we think that's a really decent number for students that are coming into a brand new high school with all new staff, Tara and I were talking about like, wait, we've got the data. we can find those other 24% of the students. We know their names and we can go out and see, hey, how's that looking now? Because we
054did the the esper starting late October through December with makeups in early January. So, it's really really solid data for us to see how kids are doing and if you know what role we can play with with supporting them with having a trusted adult. The other number I had on there was um 83% of students said that they felt safe at school. Um, and then the other 17 felt indicated they felt sometimes they felt safe at school. So again, decent numbers, but also we always want to strive for 100% and a good opportunity for us to find those students that are not feeling safe and have follow-up questions if they weren't already students that were flagged as red or yellow. Um, so that we can check them out, see how they're doing. So that would
055be a tier one intervention. The tier 2 intervention I want to highlight is the home room intervention. So, within the last six or seven uh weeks before the end of the first semester, our ninth grade team of teachers worked really hard to come up with some names of students that were highly at risk of failing one or more classes. And as we know, the statistics say if a student fails a class in nth grade, the chances of graduating and graduating on time would go down very very significantly. So, we worked together with one of our uh social studies teachers, Matt Tilden, took the names from the ninth grade team and then Tara and I um basically met with each of the students that we thought would be good candidates based on those referrals. We contacted
056parents. I don't think we had any stu any students or parents and said, "No, I don't want to do it." So, we did get 13 students that were in there. Um and after five weeks of intense home room work, four days a week uh with Mr. Tilden. Um we are happy to say that 10 out of those 13 did indeed pass all of their core subjects. So we're really pleased with that. Again, we're striving for 100% but glad that was um reason for a tier two. And then a tier three I'd like to highlight is our SST team. Um we work together with our administrator weekly. We meet with our administrators, counselors, our school psychologist. And then when there are opportunities where uh students and parents have signed releases of information, we can bring in
057mental health counselors from neighbor care or from Bashon youth and youth and family services that help support students. Um we also have our family liaison uh Nidia and Richard that they can attend if we have a release of information. Sometimes we have a special ed uh special education uh teacher. Um and then we do have a new addition of our student assistance uh uh person professional and um she is a prevention intervention specialist. So we can pull those people into conversations for our top need kids um and have really a lot more brains in the room to help problem solve and to refer if we need to or to really sync up the the school plans that we have with the plans that the provider might be might be having um as well. So, it's
058really a great opportunity uh for us as a system to really look at the whole child um and not just strictly focus on the academics. Okay. Um we did have just for another uh data point um up to this point we've had uh 45 students that the student support team and those are 45 individual students that we brought up at that SST team meeting for some type of intervention. And I would say a good chunk of those I didn't do the math on it. good chunk of those are repeat names that were coming up repeatedly because we just want to keep our eyes on these students and keep at it in terms of finding out um some some solutions um for the students that are struggling. Next slide, please. Oops. That might be >> Oh,
059that one was supposed to not >> Oh, there we go. >> There you go. >> Hidden. >> Never mind. Um, and then one thing that's uh districtwide that's coming up for grades 7 through 12 that we're super excited about. It's a new opportunity from the state uh OSPI uh the counseling uh team at OSPI has worked really hard to secure funding for a program called school links to be implemented in all public middle and high schools and it's called the high school and beyond plan. uh the school links is the port the the the platform in which we will be using to help students with the overarching questions who am I what can I become and how do I become that and so there's a series of of activities that will be involved in rolling
060out starting next year in grades 7 through 12. First of all, we got to get the students in uh uh signed up in the program for sure. Um but then there will be a series of things like checking their learning styles, checking to see what career interests they might have, um checking to see uh what their goals might be, giving them opportunities to explore college and career options. And the nice thing is it's not something where they students in seventh grade have to know exactly what they want to do. This is something that is a an organic plan. It develops over the those course of those six years so that um students are able to uh adjust their their goals along the way, adjust their interests. Um we're very excited about it. Parents and guardians
061will have their own access to the plan so they they'll be able to see what their students are working on and ask questions too about you know, hey, what are you learning about careers and all that good stuff? Um, it's going to have a whole bunch of stuff for the high school level that would include but not not limited to the college planning and application process, the financial aid, FAFSA completion, um, community service is going to be uh, contained in that. So, a lot of different really great stuff. Um, uh, we are forming a team with uh, Ann and Evette and the administrators from the high school and the middle school. Um, and probably some other folks to get this launch going. Um and we'll start to get uh some training uh hopefully next month.
062One of those events come about that. But really great opportunity. We think it's going to help students learn a lot better um and learn more about themselves, be reflective, and then see what is the connection between what I'm learning in school, which is what I really want to. >> All right, that is all from us. I think we or we're fine. But uh but if we have time or if people want to ask questions, we are happy to answer any questions, any follow-up questions. Yeah. >> Like data for like across grades or like the um like the survey questionnaire about like your questions like that because I feel like it can change a lot from like sixth grade or fifth sixth grade to 8th grade >> and like 9th to 12th. I feel like that's
063an important understanding. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It's a great question. pull it out by grade level as well and look at that. And you know, obviously there's a real difference between a sixth grader at the beginning of the year versus a eighth grader, you know, mid or towards the end of the year. And we definitely see, you know, higher levels of anxiety, depression, um, you know, into 8th grade. Our goal is to notice those who might be already struggling in sixth grade and get in there early. Like, let's build some protective factors and supports. um but we can we pull it out and we are doing you know a grade level chunk at a time. So we're really comparing students to students and we get a feel for like within that who's really needing the
064most supports and we are really mindful about kind of directing resources and interesting if you look at just the difference in the data between the middle school and the high school that it gets better at high school. Um so it does kind of verify what we all know that middle school is really hard. Um, but also so far we've only done the check yourself survey with our ninth graders at the high school. So at some point we may um add in like an 11th grade check-in because I totally agree with you. It would be really interesting to see what changes and what direction it goes as you know students just move into a different phase of their lives. >> I have a question. I'm confused about the high school and beyond because that's been a
065requirement for years. >> So the um I know the school links and the software for it. But >> yeah, >> what have we been doing? >> Yeah, that's a it's a great example of when I said earlier there is no curriculum. Every high school in the state has just been on their own to you know do I mean there's certain elements that they've always had laid out. the 13th year plan has been there for years. >> Correct. Um but like how you do it and where it's implemented has always been up to >> into the individual school. So, we've been doing different things at the grade level like I don't you guys can speak to the middle school, but we um integrate it into um classroom lessons like when we're going into the 9th, 10th,
06611th, 12th, for example, when we're talking about course planning for the following year, we have students do a transcript review and then we um connect them to for a while our district was using my school data, which was a honestly a pretty terrible platform that was not very userfriendly. friendly, but it did have some links in it for kids to take career surveys and stuff. So, we've been integrating it into classroom lessons. >> Honestly, over the years, we've collected the data in lots of different ways. When I first started at the high school, we had folders for every kid, like paper folders. Then, we started doing Google Drive folders where they could collect their stuff. And then as seniors, a lot of it's integrated into like the scholarship notebook and senior level classes like senior
067English, post high school prep, those kinds of things. So, it's been a mishmash, which is why we're so excited to actually have a a user-friendly platform that is the same across the state because that's been another issue when students come to us from other districts. We're like, do they have a high school and beyond plan? Where is it? What was it? And you know, same thing happens when people are leaving our district and they're like, well, where's what do they have for their high school and beyond plan? And we're trying to pull together all the various things we have. So, I think the the bottom line was OSPI really heard the message that schools need help with this because it's this requirement. It's been around for a long time, but we've never had a platform
068or good guidance on like the progression. >> First, I I just want to say thank you. Um, I certainly know when I was teaching, I leaned very heavily on the counselors for many things that I I just don't have the expertise for. I know my age is showing here, but I wanted to know back in the day, as you're talking about, Tara, we did that kind of planning primarily at the junior and senior level, and we did oldfashioned things like field trips to the uh various campuses um to meet kids interests. Are they doing anything like that anymore or is it all online? Uh, you know, how much information do the kids get directly about what the community colleges are doing? How how do you do it now? Yeah. >> In an age that is
069got a lot more digital. >> It's a little bit of both. We still take kids to the college fair. You want to speak to that? >> Yeah. I can say we um for some of the activities done with the juniors uh we've had seniors that have come in and talked to the juniors about okay how did you decide on where you wanted to go or what you wanted to do. We always make an effort to try and have a diverse representation so that people don't just think four-year college is the only pathway. Um we take students to juniors we offer to take the kids to the uh national college fair in Seattle every fall. Um, we figured out how to save cost so that it's free and we just ride the uh King County water
070taxi um right over uh across the pond and uh and that kids have access to over 200 different uh two and four-year colleges nationwide and international schools. Um and then uh Miss Co takes our students uh to the national for the to the Seattle trade fair um in the springtime each year and has an opport students there have an opportunity to see what apprenticeships look like, get hands-on with uh different types of trades. Um and so those activities, yes, we do those. Yep. And then when there are other events like uh occasionally a virtual college tour will come up or the spring college fair will come up that we're not taking students to, we make sure to let uh student or parents and students know about that through parent square. >> One other question sort
071of practical. Um how much uh training do the do the teachers get for what they should be delivering in the home room? um do are any of the PD days I mean how do how do you disseminate that so that you get follow through in the home >> our um we use character strong um which is a curriculum that it's really um pretty welldeveloped and it's um it's kind of plugandplay like they teachers get a a slide deck that come that they can use they get a little mini like video of like just kind of prepping for the lesson like they can watch a video of like here's what you're going to do and here's what it looks like in practice and so they can really kind of do it on their own. We print
072the handouts for them and kind of prep them for it. Um and then we do we kind of do similar themes each year. So I think our teachers develop like kind of how they present this topic of bias, let's say, um using the slide deck. Thank you. At the elementary school, we um I for example um drop into the classrooms. I take turns like there's four um first grade classrooms. I I would I go I take turns going into the classroom and co-eing lessons with the teachers. It's a way to to just make sure that they're feeling comfortable with it. But it is the second step committee the committee for children's secondstep lessons are digital. They're very user friendly. Um there's a lot of online trainings that teachers can watch as well as other um
073other aspects of it. So it's um there's the curriculum is um is very user friendly in that way. Um but we also all I think provide direct support to our teachers to make sure they feel comfortable with with what they're teaching and and support and assist with that. So, and some of the lessons I do myself at the elementary level, the bullying prevention and safety lessons, and the teachers co kind of they're there with me teaching it, but I'm the one leading that. >> At McMurray, we use our PLC leads team quite a bit to kind of talk through like what we're what we're providing and gathering feedback. You know, how's it going? And really received a lot of staff feedback about, wow, there's some topics that we're feeling not prepared or comfortable with. And
074then that's where that cross referencing with our healthy living teachers um came in with Carrie Gren specifically and like well okay well these topics that are in character strong actually are really already covered over here too through unit lessons and and healthy living might be a more appropriate place to to deliver that. Um and so let's take those out and let's reduce the number of character strong lessons. That was a call from the teachers with more focus on the student led conferencing and executive functioning. And so we're we're trying to always kind of have conversations and review and it looks it's really looked different every year based on we feel like our our teaching team needs to be a part of the conversation about how this goes. Um, and what we do know is that
075when you're choosing some kind of social emotional curriculum or lesson, um, we want to try to have it as, you know, equitably presented as possible and you really need to have best practice curriculum to do that. So, we are limited in what we choose because we want a curriculum that will be as easy as possible for a a teacher to to plug in. So like a second step or character strong. Those are curriculums that are considered to be less cumbersome for a teacher to implement. And we like I said we we cut down on some topics that teachers were really saying wow this is this is hard as a general education teacher outside of my scope and sequence or skill background or comfort level in teaching and where can we make sure it's still covered
076because we need to cover that. That's our skill building for all students. but actually the healthy living teacher can really um hone in on that a little bit more in in a classroom setting where they have them every single day and talk about it as part of unit. Um so that's how we've navigated it. >> Thank you. >> Um is like the high school and beyond plan going to um like replace the post high school prep class or is it going to like kind of like incorporate what we've been learning in post high school prep to like all the grades? >> Yeah, that's a great question. I don't think it's going to replace the post high school prep class because there is a pretty specific focus for the post high school prep on four-year college,
077you know, prep. So, I'm sure there will be some we're still even trying to figure out how like where are we going to do it in home room? Are we going to integrate it into different classrooms? We're still with some of those some of the things that are new as part of the high school and beyond plan. We're still figuring out where to implement, but I'm guessing that there will be a number of things that take place in that in that class. The only downside is of course that not everyone takes post high school prep. So we have to figure out where some of those lessons go. >> Yeah. >> River. >> Um I had a couple questions and one thank you for how comprehensive this is fantastic. Um, one of my questions I want
078to back up and Anna may be the person to answer because she's too presented on it, but you know, which is I'm curious how our stats are aligning with national statistics and also how they're aligning in terms of previous years and and by that I mean um she was presenting statistics in terms of self harm and suicidal ideiation. Are we seeing, you know, significant increases? Is it about steady for where it has been? And how is that aligning nationally? And I don't know if that question belongs with Anna, which is fine, or someone else. >> We could probably I don't know. I don't know the answer to that in terms of how we compare nationally right now. I'm sure we could get that from um the expert folks and I think that's a great question
079for us to pursue. The uh also the healthy youth was this year. So when we see that we'll get more of a big picture. >> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And they do and the healthy youth survey we use at um 10th and we did it at 10th and 12th now. I can't even remember. But that's what we use with our upper grades and then we do the check yourself with the ninth grader. They do get it slightly different things but it they do give us really good data about how we compare nationally. I mean I would say anecdotally our data seems to be pretty steady. that that's what I would say right now. We did see as you can imagine we saw a spike in mental health issues during COVID and in those couple years after
080COVID um and I was actually when we were preparing I came across our presentation from during that time. Um so that was a a spike in things but since then I feel like it has kind of leveled out again and remains kind of pretty steady just anecdotally I would say. >> Yeah. to >> um one of my questions looking at this. One of the things that was mentioned were the partnerships and I I do I think we have some amazing resources on island and incredible partners. Um it's very grateful. I'm curious though for the partnerships that are doing work in the area of mental mental health. Um some of those partnerships seem pretty significant and I guess I'm wondering about vetting. So for our counselors, you know, there's certain background checks and criteria, etc. And
081I'm wondering in terms of some of the partnerships groups that are in our schools, do those same background checks take place and the same vetting. Our neighbor care partners are hired through King County. Um, and so they have to go through, you know, a King County process and a very long onloading process. It takes when we lose one it takes a long time for them to return because the onloading is very >> I'm thinking more like groups being run because I know you refer to individual partners where someone has all of that has the criteria either masters of social worker in counseling or all of that but the people kind of coming in running some of the groups >> we don't have a lot of people that come in and run groups I mean it's
082like journeyman and sister circles um >> yeah really when we referring student, you know, we consider a continuum of mental health care. We're providing a lot of um assessment and um and um crisis intervention and those sort of things at one end of the scale and skills at the other end of the scale. >> To River's question, if if they're in our schools, they get volunteer background checks, >> right? >> They can't be in our schools without face level. So the organizations that are coming into our buildings are considered partnerships for it school district which means that there's a a level of professional expectation about what those people are coming in with. >> Overall say you know we we have um Dove that comes in quite a bit into our school and does different levels
083of things. We have a weekly circle. They come in and do our GSA. Um I'm you know Ann and I are actually sitting in those as well. We're not facilitating them, but we're sitting in there with them. Um, and we collaborate and talk with them. Um, those are considered um like more like a club. Like they're not delivering mental health supports. It's available. >> Right. Exactly. So, it's a different level of support versus a neighbor care therapist who's working, you know, intensely with mental health needs. >> Go ahead. >> My last question is talking the high back to the high school and beyond. Um I'm just wondering how much because you mentioned a lot about the classroom work that's happening to help students think about and prepare for um and be reflective about I'm wondering
084how many one-on-one meetings h is there a requirement that each student starting in their sophomore year junior year has a one-on-one meeting for doing that planning or is it all group and collectively >> it would be it would be done we don't know again what how it's going to be delivered but but I would guess uh probably through our home rooms. So since every student would have access and then we do have to figure out how to support students that are falling behind with those uh types of might need one-on-one support or followup um with with the activities. And right now we don't I mean there we don't have a requirement that they have to meet with us. But we do have a a variety of ways to gather that data like when we're doing
085surveys after a classroom visit or like our senior exit when we do a senior survey let's say in the spring which we do every year to see what people's plans are and then and then there's always a question about like I'm not really sure I need to I still need to talk to someone. And we do things like that at different grade levels too just to kind of get a finger on the pulse of what's happening with students and but the even though you know compared to um like when I worked in Seattle our case loads are small it's still it's a lot of kids and a lot of plans so the best way to deliver those services is in classrooms and then out of that a lot of times we were just in classrooms
086this week we were in junior classes and a number of juniors have now stopped by and been like you know can I make an appointment can I talk to you So then they they we give a information to everyone and then students self- select when they need, you know, more. >> And then we have also students that were juniors that were not in the classroom that particular day. So we're calling them in and giving them the same information. So they're caught up, so to speak. >> But it's not a matter of pra sorry to jump in. It's not a matter of practice like at the at McMurray, one of you said that at the Espert you individually check in with every student. That's not a matter of practice at the high school that every that
087there's some one-on-one something that happens with every kid. >> Not not something that we track. Yeah. >> Just like just like >> you don't meet one-on-one with your counseling students every year. >> What do you mean? >> Not in a systematic way where I go through my entire >> or whatever and you have I'm talking about high school. You don't meet one-on-one with all of your students every year. >> What about the quiet, shy student who is afraid of counselors? Is there a way that you >> Yeah, I mean again I think the Espert is a one of the things I mean we love that tool and those are the kids that we do we do pull in all of our ninth graders and that is a good way for us to I mean you
088know we've all been doing this a really long time. So when you're in the in the classroom and you you see who who's asking all the questions and who's self- selecting to come talk to you and you you know we could pay attention and be like that kid has never come in. They've never asked a question when we're there. You know, we're we're definitely watching and observing that stuff. Our our staff are also really great at, you know, I mean, we get emails on a daily basis saying something is up with this kid, like they don't even know what it is, but they're like their their head's been down or they're they just seem off to, you know, things like that. So, there's a lot of different people with eyes on. So, information comes to
089us in lots of different ways. I don't think you can underestimate just the the network of adult caring adults at the school that are that are keeping an eye out for the kids. I mean, I don't meet with every of the 451 students. It's just not a feasible >> but you're not you're not doing college counseling and after high school counseling. That's why the question came up. >> I understand. I understand that but it's just I think that it's a fair um reference point and just in terms of making sure >> and in terms of the model you know the ask a model would say that the the best way to be the most efficient is to you know do these classroom work and you know communicating with all students and then you meet with
090the students who do need more um one-on-one you know or in small groups or >> and offer a post post high school prep class for students so they get really intensive classroom instruction instruction on that or a study skills class where students get instructed on that. >> So, how do we help the kids that don't want to go to a four-year college? I mean, how do you how do you identify those kids and guide them? Because most people by the time they hit the end of high school know of about 10 jobs that they could even fathom. That's just the reality. We know what our parents do. We know maybe what our grandparents did if they didn't do the same job. We know our teachers, but that's not the reality. For most kids, they know
091about 10 jobs. So, how are we? Because there's a lot of talk about the same kids coming up, and those are important kids. Don't get me wrong, those are very, very important. I understand that. But there's also these outliers that just have no directions. They're coming out of high school not ready for what's next. And how are we how are we working to meet that need? Because like the middle schoolers do our meeting with everybody. The elementary school it's on. You guys have the most important, right? Because they are almost adults at this point. >> I know that's you're not an adult. Don't tell your mom. >> Yeah. I think you know um uh what we're excited about with this this new roll out is that there are going to be really clear like everybody
092at different points will be doing these you know interest inventories and within that then is links to what are the resources so Washington state currently has like a interest kind of inventory piece and then you click on it this is digital as well and it links you to here's all the jobs that are related to that did you know and if you click on this here's the education within Washington state and surely this is going to have to be connected to it that way too. So this is going to to me it's like really having intentional conversations with every single student with the system that is being used across the state is considered. They're telling us this is what you will do which means it's going to be the best practice to help kids to
093explore and this is the first time we're getting like that really clear um kind of system of support to do that. So >> and built-in tools and that kind of stuff. But to to get back to your point too um I know both Mr. Jones and I are really um have been all along very passionate that like when I got hired here, you know, the focus on Vashon is very for four-year college focused. Um and so we have a strong belief in making sure that kids know what all of the options are. So whenever we're in classrooms doing post high school planning stuff, we're talking about, you know, we try not to even I'm always conscious of even like saying, "Well, you could go to a four-year school or a two-year school." And it's almost
094like you're going in order of what's important and I'm very conscious of how we even frame what we're talking about in terms of post high school options. So, um, yes, I think that still kids leave without a plan. Um, or or they think they have a plan, but then it maybe doesn't go like they thought it was going. But we do really try to present, you know, all of the options for life after high school. that I mean if anything I feel like we're trying to get kids to look at other options besides four-year colleges. Not that that's a bad choice, but you know everybody's everybody now is in this place of looking at like the the costbenefit analysis and you know kids coming to talk to us about Running Star because they need to
095save some money and they want to get their four-year degrees or whatever. So, we're we're always trying to keep an eye on what all the options are and getting information out to students so that they're not either just defaulting like, well, I guess I'm supposed to do this or I guess I'll apply to four-year college because I don't know what else to do or um so we are we are trying to address that and we are hopeful that there will also be some new maybe and and more embedded tools in the high school and beyond plan that's coming. And and a side uh hope is that um all of our staff that works with students that with these activities will also be able to speak to other options as well because it's natural for for
096folks including us that have four year degrees to default to well that's what I did you know and so we're hoping that we can show that to the whole staff that there are other options as well and our CTE dire our CTE teachers for example if they can play a role in helping us support um you know trade options uh and sharing sharing that information with our staff could be really good opportunities for us. >> If you come across something that really is like hey here's an opportunity let us know. We're combing the OSPI you know newsletters that come to us and there example there was one that came and said like for middle school like we're Anna and I were like what can we do that's like skilled trade and we've been like emailing
097with this woman and finally get her to respond and she's like no it's just four-year university. We're like, "Okay, that's great." And we want to be able to open it up beyond to take some of our students to this opportunity. And so, if you come across something, let us know. We're reading every single newsletter that comes from OSPI to figure out what can we help to expose our kids to. And we're having those conversations with kids in middle school all the time. What's your interest? What's your passion? What's your skills? What's your joy? And what careers are out there? Have you thought about these things? We pull up, you know, I have a student right now. We were pulling up Clover Park and like, "Let's look at Clover Park. Look, this is the requirements. You
098think you're not a college kid, but guess what? Here's the entry and this is a pathway and this is the money earnings that would be a lot different than, you know, so we're we are having those conversations, especially with more of our struggling students in middle school, but that we aren't coming across a lot of resources specifically to take students out and experience specifically for middle school. I think more for high school, but not for middle school. >> I have a question. Um, I heard that some kids pay to create a portfolio to bring to colleges because every time it's more competitive and now is there any plan to support students without those resources to create something so they can apply into colleges? Like is there anything that you know or I don't know. It's
099part of why the post high school prep class was developed because a lot of families on the island will pay private college counselors and um that that definitely has been more of a trend and that is part of what started the post high school prep class so that our students had access on a daily basis to support and where they could work on their college applications and work on scholarships. Are are either Did either of you take it? >> No, it's good. >> Yeah. Do you want to you want to talk to it at all? Talk about it. >> Good. I forget if Mr. Butler, does he get like professional like training? Like do we like do do we like pay for his >> Yeah, he's gone to some conferences to prepare for that. He
100also I mean honestly he does a ton of work to prep for that class because he did kind of I don't even remember how it was assigned to him or if he chose to teach it. I don't remember because it's been around for a while, but maybe you can speak to that a bit. Um, but he puts a he has put a ton of time and effort into learning his stuff to teach that class. And then this year he came to like a a college conference with us at the beginning of the year. And um but yeah, that was that was actually why that class was born so that we had an equitable opportunity for our kids. >> Did you take that your junior year? >> I took it this year. Like a lot of
101what we were doing is uh he gave us like a lot of time to write our essays. He had it required that we like wrote three separate essays. we could pick the prompts from Common App or like specific essays for schools that we wanted to apply to. Um, and at the end of the year, he kind of um had us do like researching like like housing options, like you pick a school, what what like how would you apply for housing and stuff like that or just like research jobs after after like after college. I like I I myself I wanted to see what it would be like to be like a McDonald's worker. So I researched what >> But did you develop a portfolio about yourself? >> Yeah. Yep. Yep. >> And then you work
102on your scholarship notebook and he gives you also time to work on uh scholarships. Uh for like the last three weeks we had the opportunity to apply to scholarships which was good. He's individually reading and editing and giving feedback to each student in the classroom. >> Anyways, uh my class there's 20 and then there's another class with probably >> there's two sections this year. I think we had 56 or 60 total. Um we we started with one class and then it has quickly grown. Um and then again that's another thing that like Mr. Jones and I are paying attention to who's not in the class. And so we were holding sessions in the library for students who either couldn't get the class or couldn't fit it into their schedule. So we hold sessions in the
103library to kind of do some similar things. Obviously it's not as intensive as a daily class but we we host that for the kids who you know need some support and you know have questions and need some time to work on things and so we do that during home room. >> My son took the class as well this year. He's a senior. So, my mom hat on. Very useful for a neurodyiverse student >> um who maybe need a little bit more guidance to get things done and and make college a possibility. >> Jeff is a commuter, so I just excused him so he could get back. Yeah, we've we've been here a while. >> Henry, let's just you're going to be our last question. >> I feel like the key here is like all these
104things the kids do to prep for college are like voluntary. like they're choosing to do a class. They're choosing to like to go talk to you guys. If there isn't a precedent, I mean, I didn't talk to my counselor till I was like late in sophomore year. If there's a precedent for that, like why would a kid like feel comfortable going to like your counselor for help with college? >> I don't that's that's question to have. I don't know. I think it's >> it's a great question and another reason that I really like that we've started I think your class we were not doing the check yourself survey with our ninth graders. Both Mr. Jones and I are like that is where we meet with every single kid to go over the results and there
105are students that we don't know yet. So again, my take has always been that like when a student is a ninth grader, there's lots of kind of, you know, non-threatening ways to get to know them and spend time with them so that you can start developing that relationship. >> So every every kid in nth grade gets a meeting or is this ones that are flagged? >> No, every single kid. We start with the kids who are who flag because they're usually something urgent. But then throughout the year, we work through every every ninth grader. >> Okay. >> As you're talking to students with that check yourself, it um it also talks about like risk factors but protective factors and you can pretty quickly go through the conversation figure out who doesn't have like a a
106significant support system. What is the family system there? And that that does as we're making choices about resources and access and extra supports like we're definitely I'm sure you are too when you recognize wow this is a family who maybe doesn't have as um big of a support system around them like this student's going to need some more support on that. So that it that does come out through the questionnaire that that's how we use it too to kind of know who wow okay we didn't know that this student they're presenting amazing but actually they're being raised by an ant and there is nobody else on island and you know like okay you're going to get a little bit more of my time because you're going to need that. >> Thank you all for I'm
107sure you have not allotted this much time so I really appreciate the time and the care and um Yeah, really appreciate you all coming in. >> Thank you for your time for what you do. >> Okay. >> Uh Henry Oscar. >> All right. >> It's your time. >> Um I want to start with uh saying like how interesting it like great an opportunity it was meeting with the um legislators in Olympia. Hazel and I went down with River and Dr. Mocha. Um, and it was good to see that they're on the same page about the unfunded mandates and uh, MSOX. Um, unfortunately, we have not met with uh, our student groups yet. We're still trying to figure that out. And um, I'm hoping that we can like like get a meeting with uh, Mr. Erikson
108to uh next week um and talk more about like like what he thinks of meeting regularly with the group of students um to talk about the stuff that we we that you guys have recommended for us. >> Like the big issue was like it's hard to get like as like students to get other students to like go to your meetings. I think we need to have like an email from like a actual like staff member like it feels more like important because like it's hard to keep a group like going and of course like they know the kids like would be a good I think we had a group that was chosen by Mr. Ericen for this one game and it was really great to have like a good mix of kids and he was
109like and of course they go because emails from Mr. Eric not from like two kids they don't really know. >> Yeah. >> Um but yeah and then we got your guys' feedback about I think like >> put it all together and sent it to >> Yeah. And so we looked at that and we looked at actually we look at um some of the old like actually the current policies for student reps that are in the um in board docs and I notic like last when I was elected like they weren't even they didn't use the stuff we have in there like there's a survey or some questions that were there like we didn't use last year and it felt kind of outdated. >> Mhm. So we kind of like use gear in that to like
110do some drafts of like just new policies for election or election appointing of um student reps. So one of them is about one of them is like guidelines for student reps themselves and one is >> and one is the like process of like choosing them. So >> we kind of incorporated the like the the teachers. So, okay. So, first you have kids apply for the role and have teachers like, you know, say like, "Oh, these kids look good." Maybe have them be interviewed and they'll be interviewed by like a by um a small group. The selection committee is like on the bottom of the page starts there. So you have like a kind of diverse group of people from the school top interview. Then once they get that kind of whittle down to a small
111group, then there's a schoolwide vote. So you get like the top like two or three people and then after that the final vote is from the board themselves that kind of incorporates like all the important people in the school. Like I think it's currently it was just like some kids apply. He had like 15 kids apply on Google form and then they met with the currency reps and dependent and then they just like interview and then um Slade chose one of us is me and I think that like I mean it it works it doesn't work let's face it it's not a good process. So we Yeah. So we kind of have started to look at that and adjust that. And I'm not sure like currently >> tell the truth. Did you use AI to
112help you? >> Yes. >> All right. >> I'm so proud of you. >> That's awesome. >> But I think I mean Yeah. Like we use your Yeah, we used your information. You've been talking about it for like a long time. Yeah. >> Also like we we're kind of looking at the um guidelines. I know uh Hazel and I last year during the WAZA conference uh Dr. Ringshi wanted us to update it because he noticed himself that I don't know they're kind of outdated. Um and we kind of did but I don't know how far we got with it. So um here one of these papers is uh just guidelines for like I mean we it's kind of similar to like what we already had. It was like language updated like kind of fit >> through
113the help of AI as well. >> Yes. >> Well done. Yes. This is so This is really impressive, y'all. Like this the work that you put into this and the thoughtful consideration of the feedback that we gave you. Um this is very exciting. Thank you for >> Yeah, we're really hoping to like use what you guys because you guys had some questions which are always great for us to bring to these meetings and once we get started with these meetings, I think it's going to um move a lot more smoothly too. I think like once in like writing like in stone, it'll also help like future years like once we're gone even like it'll set like a precedent. Of course, we can't like expect to like perfect it by the end of this year, but
114it's a good start. >> Yeah, cuz we're going to have to elect uh Yeah, I think election starts like I think last year started like pretty soon now. So I think we try I'm not sure it's feasible to like implement this like process this year but >> we're gonna have to implement something right not >> like a version of this maybe could it's a bit like a bit long currently >> but I think with our current time frame we start now it's >> it's possibly better. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Any questions? >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, one of the things I just I want to say I mean really appreciate this and to me one of the things that I've noticed and I'm grateful for and I think
115our last conversation in terms of mental health services at the schools this is illustrative of which is um I really see a significant shift in the sense that y'all are instead of just getting what I felt like last year we got a student report um and then it was kind of quiet that you're providing that critical engagement and the questions and perspectives. So, for example, mental health, you're in those classes or the, you know, high school and beyond, you're there. Um, and so I see yourself not positioning just y'all, but in the future positioning students to have an impact. >> Yeah. >> Going forward, which I think is essential. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. >> More thing is like I think we're going to I'm not sure if like I think we're going to do
116a survey just an idea I had right now is we're going to do a survey um about the counselors kind of like a report on like if like people feel like they like forgetting the helping for college and like future high school prep. >> I think be good. I think it'd be good. I think like we've been kind of talking to you guys about this for a while. Like just the issue of like there not being any like required meetings is kind of like a big gap in like our the school's like process of putting kids into world. So yeah. Oh, and and speaking of um just like election dates, when do we um decide like when we're to elect uh new boards? >> Well, that's that's a great question. >> Is it in the
117current policies? >> Is it in the current policy? >> Yeah. I wonder if there should be some uh requirement that they attend a meeting. Well, I I that >> it's certainly up to the board. What what I've seen done is an application process that usually occurs in March and then the screening in April and then you come to the last >> board me meeting right and there's a transition so you have time. Um it's an interesting structure that you have here is that you know kids can get nominated or self select >> they apply then you have a selection committee. Tell me more about the advisory vote. Would that be on the full slate or whoever the selection committee says we want to move these five students forward or what what was your thinking? >>
118I wasn't fully sure. I think like it's important to have like some form of like student wide vote because like >> I mean it's hard to like get a sense for like which students people like. Of course, like it can be like a popular contest, >> which it is for kind of which is for AP, but we're trying to like avoid that. I mean, it's like >> I think we that with like the fact that you have to apply or be appointed to even be on that list of like people to vote for whereas like ASB, it's like anyone can just >> like do a simple like start running for ASB. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> So then maybe that committee >> and plus the committee like wills it down like wheels away like just
119apply, right? I mean, we could make it uh like we could randomly select students to be on the committee. That's >> No, I'm thinking the question I have is actually have a committee of people that evaluate your applicants, >> right? >> You're going to what's not there is you know the field will be narrowed to say three finalists will do something like that >> numbers will be like will be put in the actual like boards. >> Okay. Once we I mean I'm not sure if we can like set up like a work session. >> Sure. >> Maybe like an official one like not just like a meeting at lunch. That's time. >> Yeah. How like how we really want to >> be good. >> Y maybe we can do a board subcommittee >> and that
120we do. you know, because you don't have a work session now until you have one in March, but it's sort of full and then you don't have one in April and that would be too late anyway. Maybe a board subcommittee. >> Yeah, maybe just like when one of our uh extend like one of our lunch meetings or something like that. >> Yeah, you can you tell us what works for you. You've got a much more >> sure you know. >> Yeah. I do want to point out I don't think you should send out surveys at this time asking people how they feel about >> I just want to make sure that we're not a >> good idea in the future though >> lying in wait and it it might open the door to uh um
121people feeling either uh attacked underappreciated >> yeah I mentioned like >> just want to like talking to like people we know just like personally just like asking them how they feel about it not not like a squad email just like more of a small Yeah, I also I mean I can't do that. I I don't have power with any of you. So, >> all right, great. Um, anything else from the two of you this evening? Not that not that wasn't enough. >> I think that's it for >> Yeah, that's it for now. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Oh, yeah. Let us know what you guys Yeah. any changes like I can I can send it to you as a legal version. >> Thank you. Great. >> Yeah. >> Um Dr. Mocha, national
122policy updates. >> Uh there was one uh issue that came up the state of Washington versus the US Department of Education. Um this was based on the abrupt cancellation of youth mental health services that were established by Congress. There was a coalition of 15 states that sued the administration back in December. There was a temporary injunction that was upheld and then it was brought to the court of appeals who also upheld it. And so that uh money will remain in place until the appeals process is finished. So that's all I had on national policy updates. >> Okay, great. Uh River, uh legislative updates from you. Um, so we're entering the home stretch. We're in week seven of a short legislative session, so it ends at end of next week. Um, the we just passed the
123House of Origin floor cut off. So, in other words, we're not going to see new bills introduced at this point. So, we kind of know what is there and what's happening. Um, it's left about 40 bills still on the bill watch. Um, for us, for us, there are kind of five bills that are more active in our tracking. Um, there's a little bit of optimism. I'm so scared to say that, but a little bit of an opt optimism about the sales tax exemption bill. >> Keep fingers crossed there. >> Oscar and Henry told them that they needed to >> Yeah. >> knock it off. And I mean I I want to say students to anyone um really calling representatives and sending and showing up and helping them prioritize that is really critical. So community members,
124students um please in this home stretch um that would be significant. There are four others. Um, one tied to isolation and restraint, one about educational performance funding and operations review, one about school district financial management. Um, and then another about efficiencies and program changes in public ed. Um, those are the primary ones. Right now, we're facing significant rising costs. Um, they're projecting about 1.8 to$2.3 billion deficit. um in revenue decline in terms of uh we're we have we have a funky tax system. So our sales tax revenue is down. People aren't in this economy spending as much as well as capital gains collections are down. Um and there's some other things that are anticipating tapping into rainy day funds. Couple of other pieces. Um we are looking at possible cuts in terms of local efforts
125assistance running start and transitions into kindergarten. So those are ones that are slated. the piece um that could give a positive in terms of revenue which they're looking at projected 3.5 or 3.7 billion in revenue would be the millionaire's tax which um I have to say it feels like the first time that is felt like it is getting really significant traction um and will be really critical to the outcome of some of the other bills. Um, but it is the home stretch. It is final. They know exactly what they're dealing with now. So again, I think the advocacy is really critical in terms of letters and calls and our student advocates were phenomenal there. Thank you. >> Thank you, River. >> Uh, Cassie. >> Okay. Uh, please the monthly budget report. >> Let's start with
126December. Um, so December is our fourth operating month. Um you can see that we have um higher expenditures than revenues um by a little bit there. Um our fund balance in general fund was less this month compared to the prior year to date. Revenue is still based on budgeted AFTTE as well as our local um revenue collections. Um and we are continuing with our salary transfer every month um from capital projects. Um expenditures are a little bit less than the normalized projection of 33%. So that's good news. um but they are higher than uh this time a year ago. Um capital projects we're seeing just a little bit higher revenue um higher expenditures because we are doing a direct charge and because we are doing that inter fund reimbursement of salaries to our general fund
127debt service is performing as expected. Um ASB has a little bit higher revenue lower expenditures and uh our transportation vehicle fund is performing as expected as well. Scrolling down we'll see enrollment is holding pretty steady. Um, not a lot of movement between November and December. Um, keep going. Uh, I think that I missed a page that consolidates the budget uh, status report. So, I'll make sure that that gets included. Um, but really um, nothing there to mention. Um, I covered that in our bullet points for each fund. Um, so if you scroll down to the consular report, um, we do have a few reconciliation items, but none of them are significant. And when we talk about January, you'll see that some of them have resolved. So um unless you have questions specific about December, we
128can move on and talk about January. Okay. Um so the one thing to note for January um which is the fifth operating month of the fiscal year is that now our revenue is based on our actual numbers. So that's one thing that's a little bit different. Um um looking at our revenues, we're at 37.9% and expenditures are at 40.55%. Um in fund balance, uh it little bit of a swap. We have more this month compared to the prior year to date. Um a little bit lower revenues and higher expenditures compared to January of last year. Um again mentioning that it's based on actual AFT um as well as the other common items that we see coming in for revenue each month. um we are less than the normalized projection which is still a really good
129trend. So uh lower than that 42% um still a little bit higher than what we were at this um time last year. Um capital projects is holding steady everything is the same. Same thing with debt service um ASP and transportation vehicle fund not a lot to report. Um in enrollment we saw um a little bit of an uptick. So you can see the line is just a tiny bit up. So, we'll be paying attention to that. Um, and then in this month, it looks like I remembered to include the all fun report. So, um, if you want to kind of see the bullet items, um, you can scroll through that sheet. And then going down to look at our reconciliation to the county treasur. Um, there's still a little bit that we need to look
130for in general fund, but it's a pretty small amount. Um, not concerned about that on my end. Capital projects looks good. So there was a little bit of a recon item in December which cleared up. So that's just a little bit of timing issue with the county. Um looking at debt service, everything is going well there. Um we did pay off the QC gap so that is gone and uh we were able to get that all cleared out. So everything is looking good in debt service. Um the same reconciliation items are hanging out in ASB. So, um, part of that is some ongoing work that we're doing with the warrants of King County. We're not quite sure, um, what's happening with that. So, I'm going to be doing some work with them to try and
131figure that out. So, hopefully when I present next time, that will be all cleared. And nothing of concern in transportation vehicle fund. Any questions for January? Okay. Now, we're gonna talk a little bit about budget development. Um, >> and we're both going to jump in on this one. So, >> yeah. Um, so the one thing that we always want to remember when we're doing this work is um our national promise. And so, we just always keep ourselves grounded in this when we're going through the work, just that it always brings us back to why we're doing this in the first place. Um we'll talk a little bit about um as a reminder our projected enrollment. So again we're seeing a decline. We're projecting our revenue at 1313 um for FTE. So just as a reminder
132that's what's driving the revenue number that we're going to see on the next slide. So using that um our projected revenue is about 28.6 million. Um and it's just really important that we use that revenue wisely. um we need to make sure that we're working to align our actual um you know aligning to the actual needs of the district and using it as efficiently and as effectively as possible. And then when we're looking at expenditures for what we know today um we have to make sure that we are matching the expenditures to the revenue while also maintaining our fund balance. So we have our minimum fund balance policy. We're always looking at that number uh to make sure that we have enough to meet that policy. Um but as of today, we are looking at
133probably a decrease of around a million dollars that we need to do to make sure that we're matching those expenditures with the revenues. Um and um >> I'll let Joe jump in here. >> Well, yeah. Part part of what what we're working on um and things that we anticipate. So the enrollment's still fluid, right? There is some discussion around more kindergarteners than we currently have in our budget. That's good news. We also know that this year we overestimated. That's not good. So we're we're being very conservative and we will come in with what we believe to be the closest number to real. Uh in addition, we got word yesterday that our insurance premium goes up by 18%. We also know based on what we have heard from the legislature that they're going to potentially increase
134our MOCS maybe by 2%. Right? So you can see what we're what we're up against. Um so along those lines, we have been working um as an administrative team um to really align the essentials first. What do we really need um in terms of administrative staff? How do we align teachers so that they're really teaching in their certification area and that we're covering the basics? and our student reps said it the best when we were traveling together that let's continue to do what we're doing and do it well as opposed to getting bigger or expanding into other things. Let's try and just focus on what we do and do it as as well as we can. So I say all of that because there is a delta between our anticipated revenue and our anticipated expenses.
135All of our contracts are basically settled. So, we know what that move forward number is. Um, our revenue is still a question and so we can't really give you a here's our budget overage or under. You know, we can't do that yet because we don't know our revenue. What we do know is that our expenditures have to decrease and we have to be as effective and as efficient as possible and that will likely have an impact on our staffing because we have fewer students. So we will be aligning our student needs with our staffing level. So, if you go to the next slide that you have, Cassie, is that the Nope, back up. There it is. Begin with an administrative restructure and reduction. That is our first level, right? What can we do administratively to
136get a little bit tighter? You may have noticed on your agenda this evening, you had someone in the room who has reduced their FTE for next year. uh in anticipation of retiring um at the end of the year. So we are going to uh work on succession planning with Stephanie uh around her planned um retirement. So those are the kinds of things that you know we're working on in terms of first first steps. So I wanted to put that out there to you tonight so that you got a sense of what we're working on. It's not, you know, gloom and doom and dire and but it is going to be challenging and we have to really make sure that we have teachers assigned where they need to be based on their certification. Uh that every
137member of our staff is a an essential member of our staff. So that's what the admin team is working on. As we get into March, we'll start working at very, you know, going to the buildings and talking with staff about what we're seeing and, you know, the potential next steps. Um, in April, is it April? The work session we're planning around budget might be May. It's early May because have more information by then, but we're putting on your agenda a budget work session for that May I think it's May 14th. >> May 13th May 14th. >> Yeah. Whatever that Thursday is of that second. So that is where we are at this time. It's a continuing work in progress. But that gives you also um sort of the the prelude to the next item on
138your agenda, which is the discussion of um the reduction in force um resolution. Is it all right if I move to that? Yes. >> Thank you. >> Um so we're looking at that resolution hoping to not have to use it, but at the same time that may be our reality. Just to be really clear, folks who are provisional that we may not be utilizing in the future are not actually a riff or a reduction in force. But there may be costs for a reduction in force if this is really an example. It is not about a particular thing. But if you have um the need for a teacher who is certified in a particular area, you don't have a person who's certified in that way, you may have to access someone who has a different
139certification in order to get what you need. It's unlikely to happen, but what I don't want to do is mislead you and make you think we can do this without potentially having a reduction in force. So, I know you've done this before. It's something that in my experience of the last 20 years, this is my 20th year, has something the board that I work with approved every year and we didn't use it every year, but it was something that they were they put in place. So, if the superintendent needed to take that action, they could because you have to notify staff. There are certain steps that you would have to take in order to have a reduction in staff. So, I wanted to be able to talk about it tonight and then we will put
140it on your agenda for the next business meeting for your consideration. So, any questions that you might have or discussion you want to have? >> I mean, I think last last cycle we were really adamant for a variety of reasons that we were um we were unwilling to do this. Um uh we understand and have been monitoring information that comes from Olympia about the historic you know uh birth rate decline and enrollment decline and have to be honest about um you know the students we'll have not the students we wish for and budget accordingly. um no one takes any pleasure or joy in a thing like this and it also feels like it is um the appropriate and responsible thing to do. Any other thoughts or comments? >> Great. Um moving on to uh new
141policy under consideration 6895 pesticide notification posting and record keeping. So, our policy guru had to exit this evening as you as you know. Um, this is a policy uh that as and Peter's the hero. I know you saw the list of all of your policies and their last approval and what's required and this is one that um frankly is just not in your policy book. It should be and that's why it's on your agenda for this evening. It simply indicates what we already do, which is if we're going to apply a pesticide, we provide the appropriate notice for that. Um, so fairly simple time comments. >> Great. Moving on. >> Uh, new policy 605, capitalization threshold for leases. >> So, um, this came up during the audit. Um, currently the policy has a a percentage
142listed and the auditors don't like to see something that they consider a moving target. So um I am proposing that we um update to $50,000 and this has to do with um our subscriptionbased um technology. We don't have any currently that we're doing over multiple years. So uh I'm trying to keep it that way just because it's a lot cleaner for us to do. Um, but I do think that uh based on the comments from the auditor that we should have a a very set amount and so 50,000 is very close to what I saw in other policies that are out there. Um, I did see some others that are still on a percentage and so I would expect that districts will be asked to update those as they go through the audit as well.
143>> Thank you for that. Um, great. Um, moving into the decision portion of the evening, we have quite a number of uh items here on the docket. Starting with accepting the certified results of the February 10th special election. Congratulations to the district for a monumental 77% approval rating. That's amazing. Um, many many about 80% of the um EPNO levies passed across the state, but other than districts with maybe 14 or 15 voters where 14 said yes and two said no, you by far have, if not the highest, one of the very highest percentage of yes voters on this particular levy. So, >> thank you to the voters and everybody that put in time uh sign waving and supporting it in all ways. Um, I'd like to ask for a motion to accept the certified results
144of the special election. I'd like to make a motion to accept the certified results of the special election. Can I get a second, please? I second. >> Is there any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> I need um advisory votes on any of these from our >> You should get great. Thanks. >> Sorry. >> How many voted? How many people voted? >> Dr. question. >> So, how many people voted? Thank you for the question. Let me find it. >> 42% of the eligible voters. >> So, there were 3,16 yes votes and 893 no votes. >> My first uh vote. >> Yeah. >> All right. Congratulations. We hope you voted the right way. >> Any vote is the right vote. Just exercise your right to vote. Okay. >> Uh moving on. Approval
145of the uh 2026 2027 instructional calendar. Um can I get a motion to approve? >> I move to approve our 2026 2027 calendar. >> Great. Can I get a second, please? >> I second. And know a lot of parents that are excited to see that come out. I know um students uh >> is there any discussion? Yes. Uh Dr. Mocha is going to uh just address this briefly. >> Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that we remember that this is an instructional calendar, right? It's when students get instruction, not when we all take vacation. Uh it's actually a negotiated process. Um and the collective bargaining agreement with teachers calls out the parameters that um that we start after Labor Day unless of course doing that would cause us to go into the third week
146of June. Um winter break is two full weeks. Mid winter break in February is President's Week and spring break sometime in April. So I gave them five potential versions of a calendar and they selected this one. And I'll be honest with you, I tried to um move February break, make it smaller. Um and it was a no-go. So, so here you have a calendar. Um it uh it starts well before Labor Day, so people need to be prepared for that. So, when we put this out to the community, um we want to make sure that they know that the first day for students is the 31st of August and that staff will be in that prior week. And um the rest of it is right along with the calendar and we uh anticipate our last
147day, the 17th. It may be sooner than that, but the 17th is is our last day that we anticipate. Um hopefully we won't have snow days to make up. We have a planned 180day calendar. We also put in that um recommendation to you that you approve to get two waiver days. So that's why I say to you it could be that we end before the 17th, but we don't know. Like this year we haven't used an emergency. So we'll see see if we get there. So that's I just wanted to fill you in on the process. >> So at this time I'd like to ask for your vote, your student advisory vote uh to approve the 2627 instructional calendar. >> I've been approved. >> Thank you. Uh all those in favor? Any opposed? >> Thank
148you. The instructional calendar is approved. Uh moving on. uh the uh memorandum of understanding between King County Office of Emergency Management and Bash Island School District. I'd like uh to call for um motion to approve. >> I motion to approve the memorandum. >> Yeah. Theou and I second the motion. >> Great. Students, I'd like an advisory vote from you, please. Do are you in favor of approving this memorandum of understanding? So, just as a a reminder, this memorandum of understanding, we discussed it last meeting and it's with uh King County and in the event of an emergency, it creates an agreement between the district and other agencies that we share we can share um resources should that be necessary without worrying that it's ours or theirs or >> That's great. Yeah. >> Two thumbs up.
149Outstanding. Uh all those in favor >> I any oppose? Fantastic. That's approved. Moving on. Uh update policy uh 1111 oath of office. Can I get a motion to approve, please? Is it my turn? I move to um approve uh policy 111 oath of office. >> Thank you. Can I get a second, please? >> I second. >> Thank you. Uh students uh what say you? >> I say I or yes. >> Whichever appeals for both I'll accept them both. >> Thank you. All those in favor. >> Any opposed? >> Thank you. The policy passes. Uh policy 1220 board officers and duties of board members. Can I get a motion to approve, please? I move to approve policy 1220 board officers and duties of board members. >> Thank you very much. Can I get a second, please?
150>> I second. >> Thank you. Uh students, would you like to weigh in on board duties, board officers and duties of board members? What say you? >> Yes. >> Thank you. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Thank you. 1220 passes. Uh, policy 1310, adoption, manuals and administrative procedures. Can I get a motion to approve, please? >> I motion to approve policy 1310. >> Thank you. Can I get a second, please? >> I second the uh motion to approve uh policy 1310. >> Thank you very much. Students, uh, what say you policy 1310, adoption, manuals, and administrative procedures? I >> thank you. All those in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Thank you very much. Uh policy 21108, learning assistance program. Can I get a motion to approve, please? >> I move to approve 21108 learning
151assistant program. Thank you. Can I uh get a second, please? >> I second. >> Thank you. Uh students, what say you? Uh policy 21108. >> I Yes. >> Thank you. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Motion passes. Thank you. Or the policy passes. Uh 5011, sexual harassment of district staff prohibited. Can I get a motion to approve, please? >> I move to approve 501 sexual harassment on district staff prohibited. >> Thank you. Can I get a second, please? >> I'll second it. >> Thank you. Uh student representative, what say you? >> I. >> Thank you. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Thank you. 5011 passes. And last but not least, policy 6220, bid or request for proposal requirements. Can I get a motion to approve, please? >> I motion
152to approve policy 6220 bid a request for proposal requirements. >> Thank you very much. I second the motion to approve 6220. >> Great. Student representatives, uh, what say you to policy 6220? >> I. >> Thank you. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Thank you very much, everybody. Okay, that's policy 6220 passes. Uh, thank you for running through those so efficiently, everyone. Uh, we are now at the opportunity for a second uh, public comment. Is there anybody here that would like to be heard tonight? All right, then. Thank you very much. Uh, closing items. Uh, Dr. Mocha, superintendent report. >> Uh, very quickly, Monday, February 23rd, we had our last facilities meeting around the 10-year uh, plan. and you will hear about uh everything that was uh gleaned from those 40 representatives at
153your board workshop on March 12th. Um there'll be a recommendation at that meeting as to next steps. Uh March 6, the reminder, family feast and student staff basketball game at the high school. If you haven't gotten your tickets, make sure you get online and get your tickets for the family feast. March 12th, you will have a meeting here at uh 4:30 for the data summit with uh administrators followed by that facilities workshop. And March 13th, we're doing an all staff training day. And um Stephanie and the admin team are working on what that day will involve for teachers. And yes, Oscar, what is your question? >> Are you playing basketball? I was thinking the same thing. >> Am I playing? Yeah, you got to play. >> Surely you chess. I am a great defender. If
154I have to dribble or shoot, it's a laughing stock. But I can defend. >> That's good. >> I'm good. >> You're playing though. >> All right. You call me in, Oscar. I'll be there. >> Amazing. All right. >> Are you playing? >> I'm playing. >> Are you playing? >> Oh, it's seniors. It's seniors, right? Right. >> I read once. It was quite excellent. >> I'm going to be oneon-one with you. >> All right. >> I'm ready. >> Um Okay. And the last thing is we are working very hard to migrate to Q from Skyward. It's something we have to do that we have been working on uh all year and uh it'll happen this July. So that's it for me. I don't want to continue talking tonight. >> Okay. >> Uh now is an opportunity
155for board directors to make any remarks that they so choose. Does anybody like to be heard? I just want to update um you with we received some amendments from the Washington in the scholastic activities association. There's some amendments and nothing for this year but for the little bit that I started reading about this amendment is that the fees for um activities are going to go up 10%. But that's for 2728. So, we still have time. Uh, and I'll keep you updating little bit more. I just haven't had uh enough time to read through it, but I'm going to have to vote in March 17. So, I'll read your information. >> Thank you, Dr. Evans. Um, the only thing I wanted to say, and I'll I'll tread lightly here, is that I wanted to um appreciate
156the students uh who exercise their first amendment rights. Um, I happen to be in town the day of the walk out. I neither endorse nor as in my capacity as a schoolboard director people uh leaving the school but it was um as a fervent belong believer in democracy um and the young people being heard it was a remarkable witness. Um I also really appreciated the message from the district um that made very clear people taking responsibility for choices that they make. Um I just um we remain in um unprecedented. >> I don't there's no that what word is lost all meaning and value to me. So I don't really know. It's got to be another word. But um the student voice um and the clarity um of supporting our neighbors um and classmates was um
157uh honestly it was it was breathtaking and I really appreciate um appreciate those students. Um, we didn't make any commitments I think tonight any of us that we need to carry forward. Thank you everybody. It's been a long night. Uh, it's 8:06 and I during this meeting. >> Thank you. Welcome. >> Thank you Junifer. I just want to remind you I will not be here on March. I'm sorry to miss.