001Thanks for being here, everybody. Um, any changes to the agenda? Great. Um, uh, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as written? I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda as written. Can I get a second? Thank you, River. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Great. The agenda passes as written. Um, for a land acknowledgement, as I did previously, I'd like to borrow from the um, Vashan Heritage Museum. The Vashan School District stands on the ancestral lands of the Squash people or Swiftwater people who inhabited Vash on Mory 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 Squash were imprisoned on Fox Island during the Puet Sound Treaty Wars
002by the territorial government and later relocated onto the Puallup Reservation. We acknowledge the people of the Puallup tribe whose stewardship of and relationship with Bashan Mory Island continues today. All right. Um public comment. Um as of uh a minute ago, we didn't have anybody signed up for public comment. Is there anybody here that would like to um make a comment? Can I procedure? There was a followup to an email sent to us asking us to read it into public record. I don't I mean or present put it into public record. Um I'm just What was the time stamp on that? It's around 5:30. Unfortunately, things that don't uh it's too late for that to be um entered at this time. Um we will make note of it and add it to the board materials online.
003Um, be able to walk at my screen for some reason. Um, I think consent agenda. Great. Uh, can I get a motion, please, to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve agenda. Thank you. Second. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Great. Agenda passes as Um, moving right along. Uh, sir, superintendent report. Yeah. So, really, um, what I'd like to do tonight is we're spending the superintendent report in honor and recognition of two of our buildings, uh, Shiakwa and the high school have two important celebrations to share with the board this evening. And so, uh, tonight, Julie Kangas and Karen James have have come. Karen James probably in support of the principal Julie Kangas who's going to share a little bit about the uh uh the state recognition uh that we recently received regarding uh
004growth. And so I'm not going to steal any thunder. Um however uh please welcome uh Julie Kangas come on up and share with us the great news. All right. Yes. It is my distinct honor to be here tonight to share with you that we were recognized by the Washington State School Recognition Program for our performance during the 2023 24 school year being recognized for growth for students in special education. So that is indeed an honor. That was um Karen and my our first year here. And um but what I need to point out is it's not about me and it's not about Karen, but it's about every single person that works in Chiakwa and that we know that this is a collective effort and the efforts of all of our staff and students make the
005difference for this. And so it's um it's really it's no small honor to think about the growth that those kids have made. Um it's really a testament to the inclusive practices that we've been doing. Our district has really been focused on inclusive practices over the last several years, which means teachers in the classroom are really trying to find the barriers for student learning and dissolve those barriers in a variety of manners. And that we try to get our special education students into the classroom as much as possible. And so that takes the work of the classroom teachers, their case managers, our special education staff, their parent educators that help support them, the office staff, our social worker, our student support specialists, all of us that work together, their specialists. Um it's an amazing team that
006we have and it is definitely a team effort. the the measures that they look at for deciding that. So we were one of um we were a group of 16% of schools in the whole state of Washington that were recognized in this particular area. There are three areas that you can be recognized in for this award. It's growth, achievement, and um I was going to forget the last one. Um closing the gap. Closing the gap. And so we were recognized for growth in and they look at three measures for that. They look at ELA achievement and math achievement on the SBA. They look at this um the growth percentiles for that as well. ELA math and they look at attendance. So those three measures and we were showing growth over 10%. So that's a significant
007amount in a year. And so um one of the things that I know we've talked to the board about before is our particular focus on attendance. And that's one of the things that Karen and her team have really brought is trying to increase the attendance of all of our students. And this is one of the ways that we see the results of that. So, I'm incredibly proud. Um gets me a little tearyeyed to think about the work of our um our staff and our students. And just know that we are continuing to watch that growth and I can't wait to see what we're going to do next. So, thank you so much. Congratulations. [Applause] Really happy to I I hate to keep you on the hook, but are there any are there any questions for
008for jewelry or Karen? I just want to make sure. Absolutely. Yeah. I I thought there might I just 10% is remarkable. That's I mean I I just want to share applauding all of the staff in that effort. It's fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Uh and next up uh I we invited uh John Erikson uh to the meeting this evening to talk about the accreditation process and uh just in brief this happens every six years but again I'll let kind of Mr. Ericen take the lead on this and kind of share what the experience has been like and uh and what you accomplished. Thank you Superintendent Chihi board members student representatives community members and staff. Um, I'm holding in my hand right here a letter from the AESD, that's the Association of Educational
009Service Districts, and I'd like to read to you um some selective verbatim from this letter to highlight the um the accomplishment that we're here to mark. Um, they are pleased to inform us that Vashon Island High School has been officially approved for accreditation for a six-year period uh contingent upon a satisfactory third-year progress report expiring in the spring of 2023. Um, we received a commendation that included uh the Bashon Island Promise um 9th grade student led conferences um and the impact of our focus on educational equity. It's clear that parents vote with their feet and are bringing their students to Vashon Island High School. Uh we also received a recommendation uh that um they're expecting a report out on for the three-year review that I hope to complete um which was to continue to use
010systems such as the master schedule to provide opportunities in an equitable and inclusive way, especially in light of current budget realities. Um and we were commended for earning this accreditation status. Um, I um had only participated in an initial accreditation process when I was a high school dean of students and English teacher at Auburn Riverside High School. And that was the first time they had ever earned um the accreditation status. And I was reminded of a few things about accreditation. It's actually not a required um component of successfully running a high school in Washington state. In fact, the state board of education um to underscore that point uh doesn't keep official lists as far as I can tell um so that one could uh search and find that out. Um rather it's a process that's
011focused on uh the continual improvement that schools are all engaged in um or at least schools of our ilk are engaged in. Um, and for me, um, as the building leader, it really was just an opportunity to, as students might say, flex on, or as I like to say, humble brag about the absolutely incredible work that our teachers, um, especially are doing day in and day out in the classrooms. Um, and it doesn't stop there. the work that happens outside of class, the work that happens during planning meetings, um the um focused um energy and equity-minded thought that goes into pulling off what happens each and every day inside every single one of our classrooms um is unlike anything I've ever experienced in uh my handful of years um in in uh serving public schools.
012So, I'm incredibly proud uh to report about this. And the letter concludes that um our students, staff, and community members, and school team are to be commended for earning this accreditation status. Your local ESD will be in contact to schedule a presentation of a plaque suitable for display to acknowledge our accreditation status. We look forward to hearing of your continued success. And I'm irreverently continuing to hold it upside down. So, there it is. This uh um uh there's if you if you've been into the Vashron Island High School main office, you've probably walked by this lots of times and never even noticed it's there. And uh because of the work uh that um our staff have done and that's been daylighted through this process, we're going to get to change the date on this and
013continue to humble brag all the day long. Thank you. Thanks, John. Congratulations. [Applause] um kind of maybe in a moment, but could I ask invite Julie and Karen and John back up here in the board so we can take a board picture tonight and then put this on our Facebook post and our parent square. Can we get our Yes. When I say the board, I mean, Congratulations to you two. Tall people in the back. Ready? [Laughter] [Music] Three. Oh, yeah. Where's the plaque? Wait, everybody, there's a plaque. Okay, there we go. Okay. One, two, three. Good. Good. Good. All right. Thank you. Um, next, uh, is part of the, you know, every year we have a a meeting where we honor our retirees for the year and we invite principles and the retirees here to
014kind of share the celebration and the achievements over the years and let the people speak on behalf of know them best. And so, uh, as retirees this year, you can see we have Dev Branson, Kent Chapela, Nan Hammet, Ronnie Bush. I will say uh Kent Chucka says he's maybe not retiring because he might be, you know, he he he's around a lot, you know, so he he loves the kids over over at Lynx and and we love him hanging out with those kids and and teach them. If you haven't been part of his class, I'm just going to speak off handle right now, but he teaches classes and he's the kind of teacher who you you you're doing observation and all of a sudden you find that you've been there for 40 minutes because you
015just love what he has to say. and you love the connections that he's making between history and uh and the real world. So, um uh you know, Deb Franson looks like she's not in attendance tonight. Uh but I'll be inviting uh John and Heather Ericson up to maybe say a few words about uh Deb uh but al and maybe Kent, but also Nan Hammet is here this evening and we'll be honoring her uh her retirement. And Tanya Bush actually just submitted her retirement this year. I believe we made the invite, but maybe things uh came to conflict when she wasn't able to be here this evening. So, um but let's go ahead and invite uh John up maybe first to maybe speak a little bit about Deb and then we'll invite uh Heather and back
016up and Nan to speak a little about Kent and all right. Hey everybody, it's me again. Depp Ransen is the heart and soul of Vashron Island High School. Since 1998, she's been the face of our building, greeting students, families, and teachers day in and day out as she performs with gusto, apparent ease, um, and true heart the multifarious duties and responsibilities of a high school registar. Um, in my short time at Bashan Island High School, um, I've had the absolute joy of being able to bask in her grandmotherly, um, advice and true care um, during uh, good times and especially during challenging times. um like a true colleague and friend. She always rises to the occasion with an encouraging word, not just for me, but for everybody in our community. She has her finger on
017the pulse. Um and uh I um was so incredibly happy to hear about her uh robust retirement plans that include moving to the uh Tri Cities uh to be closer to her um grandchildren who she is always regailing me with photos of uh for whatever happened over the weekend. Um and they have a really really nice plan so that they could be close to family. It's sort of like um Deb's new house. This is where her grandchildren live um with and then um the grandchildren on the sorry the grandparents on the other side. So everyone gets along famously and they are already moved into their new place. And we sure are going to miss Deb. depths. Um, you know, no matter, um, no matter where you're at in in schools, um, as much as it's
018true that there's, um, typically, if you're lucky, um, always a really talented and equally dedicated, um, person that will fill the role after you've left. Um, your your spirit leaves a mark that's indelible. And that's how I feel about death. So, um I'm sure she would be horrified if she were here right now. She She is the limelight and she But someone's got to scream it from the mountain tops and that's what I'm here to do. [Applause] Go ahead and step up here and uh if you or Heather want to say a few words about Ken, come on. And then we'll invite Anna. Everybody, please welcome not my not my wife, not my sister. It's also not her twin, which was really confusing to me for a long time. That's Yeah, that's that's a good
019one. Yeah, today was the first time I created a document and I had to sign Heather Ericson and John Ericson on the same. Okay. Well, anyway. Well, um I didn't really prepare anything for Kent because Kent is going to remain with us in a different capacity, which is great. Um so Kent will be leaving his teaching position, but he'll be coming back as a as a contract tutor to join us. And um so he'll be around and he his um his history seminar is fabulous and he has a little cubby that's cubicle area that was right behind my desk for years. And uh I would just listen to him tutor the students there and I would learn. so much and he always he's he'd have soundtracks and movie clips and I would you know it
020was just incredible. He's an incredible resource for us. Okay, Kent, um uh the the depth of the way that Mr. Chebacca approaches instruction I think is noteworthy and something that um ought to be mentioned and bears mentioning. Um the last time I had the pleasure of being in this classroom, he was um exposing students uh to um a very important part of history. And he uh that was happening through a partnership with the Washington State Holocaust Museum. And they have a traveling um uh trunk of artifacts and items from that period of time. Um and it's not just books and literature uh but uh shoes and um stars of David and um uh I was able to bear witness and watch as students many of uh them for the first time uh really encountered uh
021these tangible and these physical um items and asked the most uh indepth and thoughtful questions as they began to peel back the layers of their understanding. And so, uh, those moments, um, uh, happen over and over and over again, um, across all of our classrooms, but especially, um, in the spaces that that Kent facilitates. And so really happy to hear that it will be the last that we hear of, um, of of of him. I just will add one thing. Um, being in alternative learning, our students don't always have an opportunity to be in a classroom setting with other students. And so Kent brings that opportunity for our students and his um seminar is always very well attended. So it's it's a nice time when students can actually come together as a group in the
022in our buildings. So I just want to have that. I'm glad that will continue. Absolutely. Want to invite? Ma'am, would you like to come up? I thought I got to sit here. Well, well, speaking of student link, um will the uh will will anyone who's earned a uh doors of opportunity recognition please raise their hand? Okay, I'm going to start so you don't steal all Come on down. Come on down. Yay. Okay, man. Okay, this is I'm so proud to acknowledge Nan Hammet. After 26 years with the Vash Island School District, Nan Hammet is retiring. Nan has been a cornerstone of the links alternative learning programs beginning with family link in 1999 and continuing with student student link for a total of 20 years. As one of the program's earliest and most dedicated educators, Nan
023has played a pivotal role in its growth and success. For the last seven years, Nan has supported Student Link as our IEP case manager, continually looking for new ways to support our students. Two years ago, she started a link learning lab that supports our many of our IEP students um on our own campus, which is a big deal for some of our students. that just aren't ready to go to go over to the to the high school building. Also, two years ago, Nan was honored with a Doors of Opportunity Award, which she used um her proceeds to establish a professional development library, now housed in the VHS staff room, and it's an enduring gift for for the whole learning community. Thank you. I've been grateful to work alongside Nan and I'm also grateful that we
024live near each other. So, I'll continue to run into her and I know that she'll always be um a resource and willing to answer any questions or problems that that arise at link. And also, she was such a great support in my transition into this role, always rooting me on, and I'm just so grateful. Thank you so much. I just need to add I promised briefly that um there are um there are few people um that I would consider uh the kind of close confidant, mentor, friend, teacher, and chum that I would you Nan Nan and I practically share a wall um back in the in the in the corridors of Vashron Island High School. And um I'm just so deeply grateful for all the gifts that you've shared so freely um during not just
025the time that I've known you but throughout your entire career. And I know it won't be the last time that we get to work together. So happy happy to say that it will um keep my tears at bay for now. So so proud of you and so happy and proud to call you um my colleague. Thank you. Anything you want to say? Oh my god. I know. I didn't plan that. And you you don't have to understand all the history. Well, I just really want to thank every everyone. I mean, it is pretty remarkable when Heather and I were just She wanted to kind of understand the history and so I was like looking back at dates because I couldn't really remember all the specifics and to be in the district in so many different
026roles over a period of 26 years is really pretty amazing. And what an incredible opportunity. and Martha, you've been in the district for quite an extended period of time. And so, you get to see the evolution of these programs. You know, Family Link and Student Link were tiny when I started. We were stuffed in the same room with a divider. I was in a hallway meeting with students. So, um, to see how it's grown and changed and expanded so much that we really did need somebody overseeing the IEPs and advocating for the kids with special needs in our program. And then to be over at the high school, which I never really imagined being because I always identified as an alternative person, but to really see how much the high school has grown and expanded,
027Jenny, with supporting our kids in such a variety of ways that the kids don't always have to feel like an outsider. So, it's really been a blessing. I just really want to thank everyone and I look forward to staying connected in whatever way it is. Thank you so much. We have one more person. I didn't get a chance to invite Stephanie here this evening later in Thank you. Um many of you may not know Tanya um but uh she's one of the people who uh quietly and with great diligence um care and elbow grease um helps make our school um a place uh where our children can come and safely learn. Uh she's positive, she's selfless, she's an incredibly hard worker, and um as someone who often finds myself uh wandering about school after most
028people have left, um you you start to get to know um our custodial staff and uh she has the best sense of humor. She's got wonderful plans for her retirement. She's incredibly welltraveled and has uh stories um as long as you have time to listen to them about the amazing and wonderful adventures um that she's taken um over the the the course of of her her life thus far. And I know that travel is going to be a big focus for her as she looks forward to the next chapter um of her time. Um, and so we're incredibly indebted indebted um to Tanya for everything that she has brought and um I'm incredibly proud and happy to be able to recognize uh the gifts that she's given us um with all that elbow grease, all
029that stick tuitiveness and all that great communication too because um the things that happen after school um are what get our building ready for the next day. and uh just uh even even more so than those plaques, those things can go unnoticed. And um so once again, I'm proud to scream that here from the mountain top um of our board meeting that um that she deserves our gratitude and um every recognition. Thank you, Quickly before we get to the student part of this section and some other exciting news. Uh uh if you didn't know this, graduation is just around the corner. Uh senior breakfast will be tomorrow morning. Senior stroll will be tomorrow at 11:00 where we get to uh high-five all the seniors and their regalia as they walk down uh with Mr. Ericson
030and everybody else leading them. It's a fun it's one of the best moments. Uh so uh hopefully if you if you're around you can you can be a part of that part of that high-fiving process. Then they make their loop around. They go to middle school as well. Um, and then parents can't help themselves, but also line and and take lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures. And I'll be one of those parents. Um, then we graduation. Uh, we have the senior parade happening at 12:00 and and then graduation kicks off at 6. Uh, kids will be getting there five. Thank you, Jenny. I I'm in the I'm in the old days. Um, six o'clock. Graduation kicks off at 5. That's right. because the kids have to be there early. And then uh
031uh board members, if you're able to to be there, we'd love to have you there. Um we see you up front. Uh and uh and then Juniper will be joining me on stage. I believe uh Martha, you said you'll be attending the Lynx graduation tomorrow evening. Um and and I would like to be at the Lynx. It's one of the best graduation events ever. Uh I have family coming in and I I know that I probably won't be able to pull away, but it is a wonderful event. How many graduates do we have? 16 16 we'll celebrate 16 uh students and their families uh you know in the auditorium at BHS it is uh in the theater yeah exactly so the theater at at VHS at the time sweet 16 um you know the kids
032go off to grad night and then they come back to the O space at 3:30 that's what they that's what they tell us uh then we'll be picking up our kids at 3:30 y and no kids are allowed to drive right so it's All it's all family or parents picking them up at 3:30 from the Ospace on a Sunday morning. Uh and then if you're at the shortcut at your house, if you're at the m house, that'll be me. Uh and then we'll have brunch and then we'll a lot of family will leave. Um it's one of the the largest events on the island. In fact, I Danny Rock used to say it's the largest event on the island in terms of the number of people on the island at once. And if it's any
033um uh testament uh here at Thriftway today, I took some time away today to try to prepare for family coming in. Um there are no more potato chips on the shelves, people buying, you know, snacks and everything for the all the families that are coming in. It's a big deal and it's a wonderful uh you know, wonderful thing that happens. It's magical each and every time. Um seeing families with their with their kids and their graduates, it just doesn't get any better than this. And so, um, it is what we're all about. Um, interestingly enough, it's it's a K, you know, it's preK12 effort. Um, and we we do like to point that out. Um, and then, uh, after that, uh, believe it or not, we we still have, uh, six more days of school.
034Well, Junth, we'll have Junth uh, the following day. That'll be a holiday on the Thursday, but we'll still come back for Friday. And then Monday and Tuesday, the 24th being the last day of school will be a half day. It is where we do our end of year lunchon with the staff. Uh all of you are welcome to come and then we also that's where we celebrate the doors of opportunity winner. Um and so that's a that's that's a fun day. I I can share more kind of the times on that. Uh PTO um uh actually VSSF presents that that award. We'll be recognizing uh years of service awards also at that end of year staff uh staff meeting. the the uh the kitchen folks uh cater a great uh end of year staff lunchon.
035It's amazing. And so uh you know, Sierra and Eileen and the and the folks over there, Jen, have their have their menu already set and ready to go. Um but we'll we'll wave goodbye to kids, you know, on that Tuesday. Um it is more of a when we have snow days or you know kind of weather days they are a little bit light you know more lightly attended but nonetheless um we still play the songs at the end of the day um you know and you know the ones I'm probably talking about so but the you know all the teachers here McMurray they go out on the on the on the curb and and wave goodbye to the kids do they do that high school too do we wave goodbye to the children, you know,
036I haven't been there, so I don't want I don't want to speak. So, but but here's the middle school and the uh because they don't drive. That's probably they have to go home on those buses. The staff typically go out and wave goodbye to the kids and we hope the kids don't do things, you know, uh in the windows. They they haven't yet so far. Exactly. um you know and then and then uh you know the the staff go to their year-end parties and celebrations with you know at at their kind of respective places and it's it's it's a wonderful moment. Um it's this big exhale that you you wonder kind of like how you did it you know kind of when you get to the end it's like oh my gosh I can't believe
037all that just happened and then believe it or not it all starts up again in August. Um but right uh but that's when you know people seniors and and you know you look forward to the to the next events uh and and a wonderful new year too. But um but we're going to spend every moment we can you know in in honor of our graduates this year and the and the staff that have brought them to that to that moment uh in both places whether it's AL or whether it's you know um in the stadium or both because if you don't know this our league students a lot of them will walk with our you know with our grads as well with our students in the building. So that's kind of it for events and
038um and I just want to, you know, share a big appreciation for our leadership team that came in tonight. You know, Julie and Karen, I know they took off a little bit early and John, appreciate you, you know, stepping in some places where you probably didn't know you were going to I was going to ask you to step in tonight. So I appreciate you. And Heather, thank you so much. Nan, we're going to miss you, but I understand you're going to be around. Yeah. I'll see you in the neighborhood as well. That's right. That's right. Well, for a little while. All right. Thank you very much. Did you have anything on the national uh or news update happened during that during this section? It's later. No, I thought it was in superintendent report. My bad.
039Sorry. Carry on. Sorry. No, we'll kick it off later. Great. Thanks. I see it. There it is. We'll turn it over to our student board representatives. So, as many of you know, I'm Hazel. Um, as senior's last day today, very bittersweet. They did the paper throw and then count all these tears were shed. Um there's going to be a field day on the 23rd, which is the first time in my time here that we've done that, which I'm really excited about. I'm trying to get people to come. They're like, "No, it's cool." I'm like, "Come on. It's going to be it's going to be fun. Trust." And then um our track season ended. A few of them went to state. Um, both my friends Emily and Lena Poose, which you might remember from she won
040state wrestling. She placed a bunch at it's kind of she's meddled up, but yeah. Um, my friends Colton Savvy, they placed fourth in tennis for state, which is really awesome. Um, our soccer team, which I'm on, we made it pretty far. uh who had a really unfortunate loss to a bicycle kick uh in the third round which was really crazy to see. Um sadly the powder puff game got cancelled. Um and uh today was really sad to see like all the senior friends leave, you know. Um but I think they're pretty excited to get out of there, too. Um I'm excited for the last day of school. I have a disc golf battle with my uh friends at the skate park. And then we got our new board member. I'm Henry Hughes. Uh I'm a
041sophomore and yeah, I'm the new member here and I'm excited to see like you know meet people and like be part of this for the next two years. Yeah. Welcome. Good to have you. Thanks. Nice job. So, you know, we put out an application to all the students at the high school, uh, except for the seniors, obviously. And, uh, we had, uh, 10 applicants, you know, put their names forward to be the next, uh, student, uh, board representative and they were asked questions about what kind of change they wanted to see. Um, you know, kind of what perspective they could bring. And then out of 10 applicants, we invited three to interview with the current, uh, student board representatives. and Cory Murphy was there as well and two of our student advisory board representatives deir
042and cali you would not believe how hard that word is for me des who assisted our our our other board reps here in selecting uh Henry to join us and so all three candidates were amazing candidates and it was a very difficult choice and in the end Henry your name you know rose to the And so partly what what what stood out to me about your interview was when you started speaking about your experience with debate and your willingness and ability and eagerness to actually hear both sides of the equation and then how to connect that with if you're going to make change, you actually need both sides to make the change. It can't just happen with one side or the other. And so, um, when you spoke about, you know, kind of helping make
043the kind of change that you would like to see in in our district, that really, um, you know, meant something to me. So, um, I will say that, uh, again, all all the other two candidates were great and we're going to encourage those. They were two freshmen and so we're going to encourage them to continue with the student advisory board next year. Um, and then Henry, you'll get to join Hazel and Oscar with us at WADA. be invited to that along with some other events, you know, during the year with the legislative session, etc. So, we're looking forward to having you on board. Yeah, sounds good. Okay, I need to know what is field day at a high school level. What are you going to do? Potato sack races. Really? They're keeping that under wraps.
044Mr. Eric looks like he knows that secret. Well, we were we were discussing it yesterday at our staff. Bouncy house though. I heard there was house. No bouncy house. We don't have a bouncy house, but potato sack races actually are on the docket. So, yes. What? Oscar. Tug of war. Tug of war. The spoon with the egg. The egg. Are you going to boil the egg first or are we going to get covered? Eggs are expensive these days without budget. No, you can come play at my house. I have a question. This may be part of it. Um, right away what you shared in terms of both sides. Um, so I'm looking forward to being here. Um it just occurred to me or do we have a space for student representatives that is connected to
045student link or those students part it just and I was saying in terms of it would be great to have representation from student link and and maybe they are part of those applicants. I don't know if they are or if there's outreach to student link um to students at Student Link to apply for the position or have a spot for representation. I think it's sent out to like all like members of like the high school. Um, and is it I'm pretty sure like if you're connected to the high school student link is connected to the high school, right? Um, so I'm sure they get the email and I they're welcome to join. We have members on the student board. We don't. But thanks for bringing it up and we will make sure to send them
046an email on connect with student link and I think even that's good for next year. So when we leave we'll extend that to student link. Thank you. I'll put that in mind to do. All right, then. Um, so this is a a new one for me in this position. We're going to open this up for our 202526 budget hearing. I'm going to reavble the meeting. Yeah, just call the hearing to order. I'm going to call the hearing to order and it's 6:45 on June 12th and this is the budget hearing which is now open. At this time, I'd like to know if anyone has any public comment about the budget. Hearing no comments voiced, I'm going to close the budget hearing meeting at 6:45 on June 12th. Great. Uh, great. Let's move on to the
047decision portion of our meeting. Uh, let's adopt a budget perhaps, uh, the 202526 budget adoption, resolution 822 for a second read. Dr. Mashi, uh, Cassie and Amy, please. So, uh, Cassie presented the budget workbook last, uh, last, uh, board meeting, uh, that contained resolution 822. And absolutely, we're open to any more conversation and discussion. And if there is no more conversation or discussion, uh, I and Cassio and Amy would be recommending that the board adopt uh, resolution 822. Sorry, I'm on a roll of questions today. Um, is the only change I was trying to cross reference the documents from the last board meeting with the first read. Is the only change in here the insertion of the four-year budget plan summary? Okay. I love you all and it feels like I've known you forever, but
048you still have not fixed the first page where I have only been here since December of 2024. Oh, okay. Well, the good news we don't vote on the workbook. you on the budget public record. Thank you last year. We will amend the budget workbook. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you for reminding me of that. Any other comments at this time, thoughts? Great. His deep appreciation for everyone that had their hands on this and worked diligently to get us to this point. Um I would uh do we have a student advisory vote on the budget? Yes, we do. We do. So, I'd like to start with the student advisory vote. Um, students, a motion. Let's have a motion to approve the budget. Can I have a motion, please? I have a motion to approve the budget. Thank
049you. Can I have a second, please? Second. Great. Um, students, at this time, I would like to ask for your vote on approving the budget. All those in favor? I I I. Any opposed? Any discussion? Great. Thank you. Uh board members, all those in favor? I I Any opposed? Any discussion? Excellent. 202526 budget uh is approved. Thank you very much. Um wonderful. Moving on to instructional materials. Dr. Spencer, please. Well, I don't have anything else to add really, but I just once again want to thank staff and students and parents and community members who got involved in the process. Um, and it's a lot of work and we're looking forward to um making the this final so we can plan it and moving forward. Just out of curiosity sort of what's what's next? So this
050happens and you take a deep breath and are glad to be well is next on the horizon. Does this this seems to continually the work will continue. Um we have so for the high school they'll continue their um implementing biology next year. So, they'll be piloting chemistry next year and we're hoping to pilot some units at the elementary level and uh we have at least one teacher already from the elementary signed up to go to training this summer. Um we have training lined up in the fall for the middle school staff that's been on the books for a little while. They they picked the dates that they wanted to do that. So, yeah, it's a lot of just training and followup and making sure that we have the right equipment. So, next will be let's
051make sure we have the lab equipment to get the year started um and that we have all the proper supplies in place. So, it's Peter and I will get busy working on orders and um checking the enrollment counts so that we have the right numbers of things. So, yeah, lot lots of fun stuff going on and then just some curriculum alignment work and looking at priority standards and all of that. Thank you. Um, so do we have the student advisory bill on this one as well? Okay, great. Can I get a motion to approve uh the instructional materials uh as presented? I approve I I make a motion to approve the instructional materials as presented. Can I get a second, please? Second. Students, uh, can I um ask for uh all those in favor? I
052I any any opposed? Any discussion? Thank you. All those in favor of approving the instructional materials as presented. I I Any opposed? Lovely. Thank you very much. That passes. Um so next up um we are uh we had a sort of operational or procedural error uh when we originally um uh talked about our search room. So, we just need to make a motion at this time to approve hiring Hazard Young Atia and Associates as our superintendent search firm. Um, can I get a motion to approve the hire? Motion to approve the hire. I get a second. I second the motion. Thank you. Students, it's not typical. It's not typical. We're going to keep um all those in favor I. Any opposed? Wonderful. Any discussion? Great. Uh we have approved the hiring of H High Associates.
053Thank you very much. Next up, um hiring uh Dr. Josephine Joe Mocha. Um at this time, we are also going to uh per policy 1400, um uh suspend um a first and second reading. Um the uh policy reads that when the issue has been discussed or when delaying a decision would have an adverse impact on the district and because of the time-sensitive nature of bringing Dr. Mocha on for this interim position starting July 1. Um so first we have to vote on suspending 1400. We're just going to suspend it. It's because it's an advance. Wild. Yeah. Because because we've noticed it and the board's aware of it. We don't have to. Great. So um and would I like to consult the students on this one? Not typical. Not typical. I have a question. Yes, Oscar.
054Does um Dr. Josephine, does she um can she like reapply even after the first? Outstanding question. She is more than welcome to do so. It is our understanding at this time that that is not something she plans to do. She is effectively um uh pushing out her retirement which has been long planned for by one year. Um, so she is she'll be done with her post at South Whidby on at the end of June and jump right in here on July 1 and uh have another year of service this time on Bashan. Um, and so it is our understanding at this time that she's not inclined to apply for the job full time. Something could change. She could fall in love with us. Yeah, we're pretty pretty sweet. I agree. Thank you for the question.
055It's a great question. Was that actually what you were queuing up? You're like, "So, she's not a me." Um, excellent question, and I always appreciate when you ask questions. Um, so at this time, I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the contract for interim superintendent Josephine Mocha. Can I get a motion to approve? I motion to approve the contract for Dr. Mocha. Can I get a second, please? Second. Thank you. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Outstanding. Let's sign that contract. Um and uh finally um a resolution 824. Uh we need to designate a new board secretary which will be in fact Dr. Mocha and um her role as superintendent. She will fulfill that job. So we need to um can I get a motion to approve resolution again suspending a second
056read or first second read? Um, a motion to approve 8:24 to uh appoint Dr. Mocha, board secretary for the Bashion Island School Board. I move to approve resolution 824. Thank you. Can I have a second? Thank you, River. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Fantastic. All right. Um, just want to make note that it's 653. Once again, crushing our time management here. Uh I'd like to uh invite John Stanton to come uh talk about policy 2022 uh for a first read. Okay. So, um this document that you have in your packet is um my suggested changes to document or sorry, uh policy 2022, which is sort of a a a first document that sort of describes what the duty of the superintendent and the folks that he designates uh in terms of um creating
057these sort of online and digital life of the school. It's not so much about um the education in the classroom part, though it does touch on that, but it's sort of um sort of an empowering document in a sense. It's also um sort of a uh thermometer, if that's the right term, of where the culture is at any given moment. So, the last time that we looked at this talk was 2017, which is pre- pandemic, which is pre onetoone. So, it's been a while and we do this periodically probably a lot of school districts every 3 or four years you sort of look at these documents and see if they're still relevant and if they're not you try to bring them into the moment and then they start to move into irrelevancy again pretty rapidly.
058But anyway, so um I guess I wanted to say a few things about this and then take your questions. Um I want to I put a couple things in here. Um, and I first I should say that this is really based on the WASTA model policies. So there's uh organization in the state of Washington that um creates uh template policies for school districts and that's often times where we start when we're going to go and uh change something or look for reference or something. So it's not completely come out of nowhere. So this is the first time that any of our technology documents have uh even said the word artificial intelligence. And it doesn't say a lot about it. It just merely sort of references the fact that this isn't a new technology. It exists.
059And what it does is it lays the groundwork for something that's going to come later, which is our actual implementation of how we're going to use AI in the school district. Right? So whether or not you guys are encountering it uh in your classrooms or not, I I suspect it's um kind of in the early stages and probably your different teachers have different approaches and some are more or less comfortable with that. So this is the first step and acknowledging that this is another a new part of the world and we're going to start u thinking about that next. Um the other thing that I want to say is uh we've kind of cleaned this uh 2017 document up. So, we took some language out uh because we thought it was just sort of reiterating
060uh what was already being said in another par another paragraph and maybe not saying it in a really obvious way. So, we sort of changed the bullet points and we're just going we're doing this, we're doing this, we're doing this. So, hopefully it's an easier document to read than it used to be. Uh, and then finally, um, if you look under the section internet safety, you'll see that, um, there's a little more language there about how we're what we're concerned about right now. So, right now, we think a lot about data protection. We're thinking about how to keep student data safe and staff data safe. Um, and that's kind of that's new language. So, that's a big part of what we do at the district these days. We're also concerned about your privacy. So, every
061time that we um enter into agreement with a curriculum um that's, you know, inevitably getting online, we're asking them how they're using your data. Uh how will they promise to destroy your data when we direct them to do so? Um and we're putting a bunch of legal parameters around what's acceptable use for that data. And so, that's a new thing that wouldn't have been in the 2017. Just weren't thinking about, you know, student data protection uh agreements back then. Um, and you'll also note that there's new language about um trying to uh address concerns raised by students and staff. So, the original document is is not really clear that part of what we do is respond to the concerns that are coming from students and staff members. So, one of the things I did very
062early this year is I met with a group of teachers in high school who were concerned about the way our content filter was working. And the question for us was, is this content filter uh really representing the values in our school district or are we actually getting some byproduct from maybe more conservative school districts in this country or maybe out of this country? And so are we really having the um does this really represent the kind of thing we want to do? And so I try to address that. I try to discuss how our content filter does what it does um and try to be responsive and informative to it. So that's that's kind of what that would be the example of what that language is saying. And um I think that the the two
063things I want to say about the final section two final two sections filtering and supervision is to expanded the idea of what it means to be using uh a device in our district. So uh we used to you know sort of prior around 2017 we probably had more uh computer labs and we probably had uh less computers in students hands. uh and less types of computers and probably uh we did have a guest network but maybe it was not as uh not as important as it is now. And so this is just a attempt to say that everything that touches technology this this 2022 is meant to uh meant to pertain to and then finally I want to point out this last sentence uh in under supervision. So due to filtering supervision and data protection
064procedures. Users should understand that there is no expectation of privacy while using district electronic resources. And I think that's just kind of important to surface that part of what we do when we filter you is we have tools that are monitoring, right? And in a day and age when we should be concerned and aware of monitoring, I think it's important that we be really transparent and be out in front of everybody and say that in this environment we we have the ability to to monitor and folks need to know that. So that's really all I got for you, but I'm happy to take some questions if you have. um like it's like here it says like um inappropriate uses of AI like what would some of those like I think um what I would say
065to uh is that that's going to have to be figured out. Yeah. So there are a bunch of policies um that we don't that I didn't start working on and it probably is going to be in conjunction with um teachers and folks reading curriculum and probably students too that are going to try to come to terms with what is appropriate use and put some guide rails in for uh students and teachers. And John, would that be next year then that you'd start working on it? What's the time frame for that? Uh I don't think I'm going to venture a time frame. Okay. Right now, I think it it sort of depends on where the focus is in the next year. We're going to be doing a lot of things. We're going to be changing student
066information systems. Oh, yeah. We're going to have an interum. We're going to have a search. Um if there's if there's if there's energy and uh capacity to start that discussion, I would love to have it. If it needs to wait until we have the next uh person and we've gone through our big transition with information, then maybe we should wait and do it more thoughtfully. Um so you know like the like the Wi-Fi at the school districts correctly. So, so um so you like does that like block certain things like on our phone like or um so like you're saying like if I was on the guest network and I was browsing something could would we be blocking stuff? Yes. Um, how about if you're not because when I even when I'm not connected, I
067like my cell cellular like network. It like doesn't really connect to my phone and it kind of like forces me uh to like use the Wi-Fi as like my only option. Like is there is it like what's what's behind that? Is that like the school or No, we're not. So, we don't do anything with cellular signals at all. And in fact, that would be a big no no. The SEC would not like that. Um, so yes, uh, we don't we don't mess with cellular signals at all. You just happen to live on an island. Yeah. With building that's like a fair day cage. So it's hard to sometimes signal. Got a point. Um kind of building off what Oscar said with it blocking it blocks chat GBT on my phone and on the Chromebook. Once
068we go into more of like the guide girls and stuff, will we unblock that so that students because I find that like I'm like studying for a math test and that's like how I generate my math problems, but then I can't do that at school or I have to like use just cellular, right? I mean, that's my expectation is that we would make decisions like that. So like it's something we're going to have to acknowledge AI is like is what we're going to you're going to live with for the next generation, you know, and it's going to do stuff we can't even imagine right now, right? And so yeah, that has to be described and then it has to be permitted and then, you know, people are going to have to come to terms with
069questions like, well, you know, can you still have a can you have a can you have a homework assignment that says give me, you know, three pages on The Great Gatsby, or like is that just completely out the window? you know like do we you know so all those things are kind of future for you to write that's when they will happen yeah so is AI then block chat GBT is blocked so chat GPT is is blocked for students um but not simply because it's AI um what reason we block chat GPT is they don't uh they don't have an agree they won't sign an agreement with us that says they won't take the input that students put in there and use it to start chain training their language models. Oh, I see. And so,
070uh, so, for example, what we don't want the students or staff doing is like putting a bunch of, you know, um, sensitive information that could be identifying and then use it to train something that we have no control over. We can't go to NSA ex blow all that data away. That's our student body. So to the extent that we use AI, we do have some tools that use it, those those companies have all signed data agreements and say they are not training their models on our students uh interactions. Brisk would be an example of that. It's um it's a it's a so way it's probably not so much at high school but at the middle school one of the ways that this particular tool is used is when a teacher is presenting a lesson. Let's
071say that they are in a classroom and they have some folks who are reading at a lower level and they have some folks that are reading in an upper level. Uh they could produce the same uh lesson at sort of presented with vocabulary that be appropriate for that learner. Right. It is cool. Um, and that's like another thing that's going to be, I think, super amazing coming down the line is imagine if you were an ML student and you could have your lesson delivered to you in the language you understood best, you know, while you're acquiring your next language like really seamlessly, right? Or you could have a tutor that's an AI tutor uh that could could so you could have oneonone tutor. So there's I think there's real potential out there, but we're not
072there yet. Yeah, it'd be pretty cool. A couple a couple of questions. The when you drew attention to the last line in the supervision section, um was that part of model language recommended by WASDA or is that your own um kind of new the due to filtering supervision the assumption that you're so that's new language that's not in the WASDA wild policy. Um but it does sort of relate indirectly to policies we already have in place. So we have the expectation of privacy policies. They tend to be more about physical things. So if a if someone at a principal at a high school decided that they needed to go to someone's locker, there's a there's a way that they can do that and it's been put, you know, approved by the board. So this is
073an attempt to to sort of explicitly say there is another sphere that is not physical here. It is a digital sphere and and we we go there too. And my follow-up question is that I'm so um for context the policies all almost not all many of them also come with a procedure. Policies are the domain of the school board. Procedures are the domain of the superintendent and their leadership team. So there is a 2022P meaning procedure document that still is an artifact from 2017. And I'm wondering um when we can look forward to seeing that because it's that's much more um detailed. In any Yeah. And I'm curious that that I I would love to um while it's not our job to approve or not, I would really love to see that language as soon
074as that's updated if you wouldn't mind. For sure. That's what we're working on right now. Outstanding. That's the document that we were about this week. Okay. Yeah. And so that will have much more detail about it and then you know the the next level from that is a sort of departmental procedure, right? So, you know, which people don't typically care about, but that that would be sort of keying off first this 2022 2022P and then suddenly it's like into how did you make a policy? Yeah. um all of the changes. I really appreciate the the one thing I um chief with is just actually the opening paragraph that sentence that got that you struck. I just look at it in terms of contextualizing the document about um technology. it it has the word safe in
075there at the outset um and proficient and and by having the tech component in there to me it holds the document and I um I know you all said you took it from WASDA but I guess I'm wondering why strike that. So if we struck something usually it's because I felt like it was being said in a different way or it was being said twice. Um but the purpose of bringing this to the board is for you all to look at it and if you feel strongly that you know this that's the sentence that makes this document make sense to me then you know then you should say not that we won't strike that river you'll effectively see the same thing on page two yeah I noticed that it's just more that this is the
076opening paragraph that contextualizes the whole and I think in terms of parents the biggest one of the biggest concerns I hear is about safety right and and so for me it just says at the out outset that when we're talking about students being globally aware etc that we're acknowledging that technology is a key component in in achieving all this. So I did see the reputation. I just I liked that it at the outset it set the stage. Anyone else? Any comments or questions for John this time? Thank you so much. Okay. Um Now is national policy updates. My apologies again from earlier. So uh the the most significant thing that stood out to me I didn't get to see Rick Doll's uh webinar but I did I've been keen into some potential reductions of federal
077funds. Um again these are kind of being pointed to as whatifs. Uh but the essentially the state and what raked all the O's the office of super public instruction has provided us is a heat map of all the districts and there's a table that follows that of you know kind of where our federal funding lies which is title one special education um primarily and then what would happen if the kind of you know in 2627 we saw these these kinds of reductions. are still not anticipated for next year, but they are projecting out and so um business officers and superintendents have been receiving this information and trying to kind of wonder what what that how that's going to show up in their in their budget planning or not. Um and so again, you know, we
078are about 4.4% 4% uh you know of our funding comes from federal dollars and um you know there again it's these are all suppositions still so it's it is difficult to do any kind of real you know kind of hardcore uh you know staking the ground planning. Um so that that's kind of my takeaway is that you know the kind of that the the conversation has changed from these will never be cut to we don't know now. So, that's kind of my my big takeaway is that we we moved into that's not ever going to happen to we don't know. And then there I think they're doing their best to try to provide a not maybe a worse I don't want to say worst case scenario, but they're trying to provide a scenario so that
079districts can have an idea and have the data in front of them. I think we've always had that data. It's just a matter of um really kind of uh applying it. But if you go to uh Peter, if you want to go to statewide resources and there's a federal funding heat map there link the middle where it says federal funding. There you go. And if you keep going down, it takes a while for it to load. It usually pops in there after some time. back up. Mine says it's working. So, yeah, it's a blind line as well. There you go. So, and that will kind of show you uh you know, a little bit, you know, kind of where the the districts that are most uh impacted. The redder you get, the more impacted you
080are. And then if you click the computer scroll just a little bit, you click the uh has a scroll up go up. There you go. There's a there's an Excel link. And I'm not going to ask you to try to navigate an Excel sheet. Uh essentially if if the board hasn't already, you can you can find our district and then you can find um you know kind of where our our funds are and how much they are. So um so uh essentially that's kind of um you know our understanding right now. We we are not um moving away again from our projected uh budget uh scenario right now. Obviously we we've adopted that. Um, we're in a position as as I think Cassie and Justin have stated all along that we're going to, you know,
081look at enrollment when it comes in, look at our staffing when it comes in, um, look at a portionment when it, you know, really comes in. Um and then if we need to restate you know our budget um you know then we can do that uh once we get the kind of year end done you know they would be looking at that probably in November or December if there's any kind of right sizing uh the budget to the current reality and so um we think we're in a good position now again the board has approved a fund balance above and beyond what we normally had so we do have some you know ability to turn dials uh if necessary Um but essentially that's for me that was the word on the street uh if you
082were to say from the from the federal funds. There really hasn't been any um you know new language if you go to the other tracking document Peter that tracker federal announcements. I didn't notice anything past um you know any any current um you know uh entries into this the last you kind of since April. So did you happen to see the Tuesday? I did I did attend um the briefing and um I encourage people um to go to the OSPI website and look at the um news releases which um included a recent one. I'll just kind of pull out this one paragraph from the most recent one. While keeping key programs largely intact, such as Title One Support for High Poverty Districts and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, the president dramatically reduced
083or completely eliminated several other programs that serve marginalized student populations and support students in their learning and educational success. It is no secret that school privatization efforts start with the elimination of supports for historically underserved students. The president's actions and now his proposed budget reinforce this effort. And then it goes on a little bit. Additionally, school meals funding provided through the US Department of Agriculture appears to be reduced if this budget were be to be adopted as is the amount of essential funding that would be pulled from Washington school districts totals to over 100 million per school year. Um I I know that in the past and um often we talk about sort of the um the small amount of money that we get from the feds and how in many ways we are largely
084protected. Um it's not it's not nothing but we are largely protected. Um but I I I do think it's worth naming that our positionality and our privilege though we may not feel the extreme cuts that other um parts of the state that you saw in red will feel. It doesn't mean that those things don't affect us. that when we graduate our students that they will be going off into a world where perhaps their peers did not receive the education that they also deserve. They did not receive the school meals that they also deserve in order to be fully fed in order to learn appropriately. that we cannot for one moment believe that just because certain things will not directly affect us that we are not all going to be affected in our humanity and our
085availability to deliver services to students to which they are constitutionally and morally um deserving of. And so I I really urge people to keep an eye on these news releases as they come through. Um, I don't know what I don't know what it means long term, but I just want to make sure that we never for a minute forget that our privilege does not shield us from the way that this is going to affect us and and quite honestly our humanity. Um, that this is um I understand they are scrambling to try and hire back some people from the Department of Education. Um but um this um this is an abomination, this budget proposal and um please keep an eye on OSPI website. Okay. Um Okay. And with that, um a second opportunity for public
086comment. Um is there anybody here that would like to make public comment at this time? Okay, thank you. Um, uh, director remarks or director remarks. Anyone want to say anything tonight? Thank you for coming. I have something to say. I just wanted to say happy pride. After my just unleashing, we do want to take a moment to acknowledge that June is Pride Month. And on this island, in this district, in our buildings, that we celebrate uh youth and adults and families that look different in all sorts of configurations and and ways of loving and ways of being. And um I am looking forward to, as many of you know, the Pull for Pride Pride Deadlift competition. If anybody wants to come out to Capitol Hill on Saturday and or next Saturday, um there's just a
087lot of joyful events all over the Seattle area, Tacoma, White Center, um to celebrate love and to remind ourselves of our own humanity in the midst of some pretty trying times. So, happy Pride everyone. I think you had something to say. I just want to say in um celebration of the graduates this weekend, I hope everybody has a very safe an enjoyable weekend and congratulations to those with final kids graduating and all of the graduates and the rest of you. I am sorry there are still [Laughter] Yeah. um from graduates and I just actually wanted to book then and and kick back take us back to the start of the meeting in terms of what Julie and Karen brought to the table and what John brought to the table that that 10% growth to me
088is is just phenomenal in a in a year. Um and also the accreditation and all the work that goes into that it's immense. And so just my gratitude to the leadership and to the staff and my educators may not be my pleasure but I want to end with um just welcome again join the team. Um we can't wait to see you kind of next year's evolution of our student uh voice being part of this meeting. So, congratulations and thanks for sharing the the recommend. Um, I don't know that there were any explicit commitments made tonight. Yeah, we got to change the budget. Oh my gosh. Once again, it's done. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Um, and with that, I'm going to call this meeting to uh an end at 7:21. Good night.