001All right, good evening everyone. Welcome to the February 10th regular board meeting for the Wachi School District. We're going to start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we'll now work through the agenda board. Are there any proposed changes or modifications? Hearing none, we'll move on to the consent agenda. The items on the consent agenda were sent to the board and posted online last week. The board has had the opportunity to review the materials and ask the superintendent any questions they have about any items on the consent agenda. The consent agenda for this meeting includes the minutes for the 12726 regular meeting, vouchers and
002payroll, personnel report, surplus report, contracts, field trips, policies with non-substantive changes, and the 2526 highly capable district plan. Do have a motion to approve the consent agenda. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. It has been moved. Maria and seconded by Mark. Any discussion. All right. All in favor of adopting the consent agenda as presented say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? None. All right. Uh motion carries. Uh bright spots. Turn over to Superintendent Kolahar for the bright spots. >> Excellent. Wonderful to see so many uh students here today. We're excited. Thank you everyone for being here. Uh the bright spots uh we have each board meeting gives the school board of directors and I a chance to highlight and celebrate one or two amazing things that are happening in our
003school district. And tonight we're going to celebrate two things. So we have Valley Academy here. Mrs. Jing's here. I don't know if you're going to introduce us or do we have the students ready to go? >> They have the presentation already. >> I love it. Let's invite the students up to the podium and uh we've all had a chance to look at some of the displays here. So this is fantastic. Do we start? >> Yes. >> Hi, my name is Logan Mack. I competed for this year's future city competition for Valley Academy along with three other students from Manship, Samoa, and Emma Pirate. Future City is a national program sponsored by the engineering community to enhance sixth, seventh, and eighth grader skills by simulating a hands-on challenge with an interest in math, science, and engineering
004by presenting their vision of a future city. The program was founded in 1992 with regionals being held in the state of Washington in 2001. Some of the skills involved with problem solving, teamwork, research, and presentation skills along with practical math and science applications. Learning last fall, the team was tasked with creating a city with this year's theme of farm the table with the main goal being to eliminate food, waste, and food scraps while keeping citizens healthy and safe. First, we research the topic. This included meeting experts from fish and wildlife and a civil engineer who helped us better understand their field of expertise, how their work related to this year's topic. Next, the four of us collaborated and submitted our essay. We then built our model using recyclable materials from limited expenses. This January, our
005team travel the shoreline and competed in regionals against 44 other teams. After a whole day of judging and multiple presentations, our team placed third overall and was also honored with a perfect score for project management. We'd like to share a presentation with you, the Wachi School Board. We please welcome the Mayor Wachi Samo. Hi, I'm the city's mayor. Our city benefits Wanachi as a circular economy that utilizes food waste and provides benefits for our residents in the process. This is Emma as a resident of our city. She'll explain Wanachi's local agriculture. And this is Aurelia, the head of civil, electrical, and chemical engineering divisions. She will explain our city's unique infrastructure. This is our residential area. I live in this building. On every building, there are rooftop gardens that use companion planting and crop rotation
006to ensure healthy plants and nutrient-rich soil. To have rooftop gardens, our roofs need to be structurally sound to handle the extra weight of soil, water, and plants. There needs to be growing medium, filter membrane, drainage, waterproof membrane, support panel, thermal insulation, vapor control, and finally the roof. Under every building, there are vertical gardens. Vertical gardens are plants grown in racks with nutrient-rich water and ultraviolet lights to have the highest yield per plant. Because the vertical gardens are indoors in a controlled environment, they're not susceptible to any climate issues. Most of our rooftop gardens are connected by bridges. These bridges allow for more efficient transportation between buildings. The bridges serve as a tourist attraction, just like Venice is a city of a thousand canals. Honachi is the city of 100 bridges. I love working in the
007gardens and much of what I need is brought in by drone. These drones are electrically powered and fly on designated route for safety and to be less of a nuisance. These drones take food waste to the industrial section of our city to a sorting facility. Since our city uses drones all the times, the engineers continuously improve on their design. This is our agricultural section where fish, rabbits, chickens, and goats live. The goats will be used for milk, cheese, and milk made clothes. To make Fred out of goat milk, the milk needs to go through many acid and bases to get a Fredlike product. This thread-like product is easy to make and hypoallergenic. The chickens will lay eggs and the fish can be used for food and their gills for glue. >> The fish in the
008ponds are trout and salmon. These ponds allow easy access to the fish. Rabbit waste is a very good f fertilizer as it does not have high concentrations of nitrogen. Rabbits will be used for meat. >> Our city will have culture meat to not waste resources and energy on raising large livestock. This works by taking the muscle cells of an animal and growing them into a patty shape. >> Conveyor belts will be used to take away waste from goats, chickens, and rabbits for compost collection. There are two types of compost, anorobic and aerobic, and any biodegradable material including human waste, food waste, and the food packaging can be composted. Aerobic composting uses oxygen and produces rich soil, carbon dioxide, and heat. This method needs to be turned to ensure all materials get access to oxygen as
009shown in this example. Aerobic composting methods make rich soil for our rooftop gardens. Anorobic composting uses no oxygen and produces bio gas as an end product. Biogas is methane which can be burned to boil water that powers steam turbines that then create electricity. This is one of our methods to obtain electricity. The other method is hydroele electricity. These methods power our drones and our inductive roads that charge electric vehicles while driving as well as our buildings. Some of this electricity goes to freeze drying. RC freeze dries extra or almost expired food here. To make freeze-dried food more palatable, as people will not want to eat just dry crumbs, our city will put it through a special 3D printer that rehydrates it and layers it out to form any shape. People can order on an app
010what their food what they want their food to look like. This is another attraction of our city. I once ordered a freeze-dried strawberry that looked like a mango. Not only does our city prints freeze-dried food out of shapes, but has another printer that prints our packaging out of food waste. This works by taking the food waste and breaking it down into biop-olymers and then laying out to any form such as food containers. Then the drink drones bring all the products back into the city after charging. This forms a circular economy of food waste and food production. >> Here's a summary summary of Wanachi's way of solving food waste. The city food waste. The drones collect the city for waste which then takes it to a sorting facility that can either go to a 3D printer
011that makes packaging from waste or it can go to freeze dry which then goes to a 3D printer that makes freeze-dried paste in palatable form or it can go to the composting both of the types. Anoric composting will power the drones with bio gas. Some of the better scraps can go to the animals and all products made from outskirts of city are delivered by drone back into the city. This forms a circular economy of food waste and food production. Not only does our city solve the food waste problem, but it does so in a way that provides benefits for our residents. >> Our city also focuses on making sure our people are healthy and happy. >> We do this by providing many outdoor indoor recreational activities. Our city also provides public services such as fire
012department, police department, hospital, bank, school, and the library. Every apartment building will be zoned as mixed use. This way, businesses will have more customers with easy local access for residents. >> Our citizens have many job opportunities such as professional, skilled labor, and unskilled labor workforce. Our city is also a good fit for people with abil uh disabilities as they are ADA compliant. Our city can have 50,000 citizens and we have room to grow. The mountains surrounding Wanachi make the place have amazing views and hikes. The rivers presides irrigation, recreation, and electricity. Because our city does not need to have vast amounts of farmland, we can let the native wildlife and plants reclaim the land. Our city solves the problem of food waste, housing, provides electricity, has clean air, fresh and healthy food, biodegradable packaging, walkable
013areas, recreational activities, local agriculture, hyperallergenic clothing, work opportunities, and is overall a great city. >> Thank you for your time, and do you have any questions? When can you guys start building it? That was amazing. Thank you. >> Um, we started building in about January. >> Go for it. >> Um, January, like December. Oh, we started building in December like during Christmas break and we just came in and first had this like uh board built-ish and then we put painted it and then we finally added the buildings. >> That's great. That's really cool. >> That is amazing. Uh congratulations on your third place finish, but I if I was a judge, I would have given you first place. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you very much. We appreciate you being here tonight. Thank you everyone
014that supported them in the journey as well. >> Fantastic. All right. Next up, we have uh we have Pioneer ASB uh supported and chaperoned by Don Wood. Thank you for being here. And uh ladies, join us at the podium, please. Thank you. Love the shirts. It is okay. Hello, my name is Alexa and I'm the ASB treasurer. >> Hi, my name is Sophia and I'm an ASB officer. >> Thank you for having us here. We attend Pioneer Middle School and would like to tell you guys about the things that have been happening. So, back in fall, we had our very first Runrock Reed fundraiser where we took three hours of the day to have some fun. Our fundraiser lasted about three weeks where we raised a total of around $11,000 for our ASB fund. In
015December, we had our annual snowball dance where we raised about $1,000. The reason it was only near a thousand is because we also had a food drive going on where if you brought five things of unperishable food items, you could enter the dance without having to pay the $10 fee. We have the Valentine's Day dance coming up this Thursday, also with the $10 fee. We'll have fun games and cool decorations such as a boogie booth. The boogie booth includes having our mascot take pictures with you. Speaking of Boogie, if you haven't met him yet, he is our school mascot. We have had him at many sports and school events where many students have loved having him there to support. He gives everyone a better experience where we have seen students students siblings be so shocked
016by a bear going around and giving high fives. Lastly, we have a social media account that spreads information about things like attendance, dance schedules, and fundraisers. Our administrators have been creating Tik Toks lately to get everyone to come to school. It must have worked because a staff has noticed an increase in attendance lately and has also been and has also posted about it. Also, with attendance, we have a home room challenge going on where the class with the best attendance wins a donut party for being there every day. That's about it for what's going on right now in our school. So, thank you for having us here. Any questions? >> I had a quick question. With the with the funds that you're raising, it's $11,000. Congratulations. That's huge. What are what are your plans as
017an ASB to utilize those dollars? Is that to stimulate more activities and more fun around Pioneer? >> Um, yeah. So coming up close like closer to the end of the year um for eighth graders we have something called a PA park and so it's where you know we go to the park or it's I think it's like the last around the last hour of the day and the eighth graders will have this competition where they'll like start at the park and move into the apple bowl and it's just a fun competition that goes around for the whole eighth grade to enjoy you know their last couple days there at the school and also with um the uh with the very last day of school where we also go to the park or to the pool
018again and you know just have three I think it's three hours of fun you for to celebrate the last day and we also plan to use it for upcoming sports or um to take I think it's six people to the ASB camp this summer. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> That's great. Thanks guys for coming out. All right, Kim says comments. All right, >> yeah, special presentation, Corey. >> Great transition here for uh parents and families to uh do what they need to do. and we will welcome up uh director of communications Diana Hagglin to share a bond community engagement update. Thanks everyone for being here. kind of maybe not. There was a few tall ones in the mix for sure. So, yeah, they are a tough act to follow. And as I was listening to
019uh the students talk about, you know, future WACH, uh how could I not think about uh a big project that we have ahead of us? And it was actually a great segue uh to talk to you tonight about bonds. So, we know that that's going to be in our future, potentially a new Wachi High School and some improvements at other buildings. So, uh I'm here tonight to walk you through kind of a bond 101. Not only is this uh important for our own learning and education about bond measures and all things bond related, but it's also really helpful for our parents and our community to know um the ins and outs of bonds and what they can expect when they do see a bond on the ballot. So, this is really educational. It's a really
020high overview pass and then we'll wrap up the end to talk a little bit about what's school district's next step in our bond pursuit uh as we move closer to November 2026. So go ahead and toss those slides up there and I would invite you to if you have questions along the way just go ahead and interrupt me. So we have a lot of information to cover and so I want to make sure that we address your questions as we move forward. and transition to the next one, please. Do I have a clicker? I do. Look at that. Oh, hold on. I have to learn how to use it, though. Big button. Bottom button. Oh, there we go. It's the bottom button, right? >> It's the top. It's the big one. Okay. All right. We'll
021figure this out. It's all good. See, you're not alone. It's okay. Hey, you're in good company. Uh, so we're going to start with a foundational question. What is a bond? Most people don't know what this is. And and to be fair, um, the majority of us really have no idea what it entails. The best way to think about a bond is it's actually like a mortgage for schools. So we most adults have a mortgage on their home. And a bond lets school district borrow money to be able to buy uh new schools or build a new schools or or do modernization and improve facilities. So instead of buying a new home, it allows us to build a new building or uh go ahead and make improvements that we need to or even buy physical property.
022So to buy land to build new schools. Um we get that money up front and we're able to do that building and that construction uh through the use of property taxes. So how bonds work, they are uh voterapproved initiatives. So, the district sells bonds to investors and investors get paid back with interest over time, usually between 10 to 25 years depending on uh a school district structured bond. And who pays for those bonds are our local taxpayers that are here in the WACI school district. Um they pay a property tax amount that is set by the district um depending on our project and they pay a rate that is uh per $1,000 of assessed property value. And a key point that I want to start out with about bonds is that bond money can only
023be paid uh can be used for building facilities and constructing new schools or doing that modernization. We can't use it to give ourselves raises. We can't use it to pay salaries or even of our operations. Uh we can only use it for construction and modernization of schools. So there's laws around that that are very tight uh and very regulated. >> Can you change that amount over the time? You said 10 to 25 years. Can that will that bond rate change or is it like fixed at the start? >> So, it can be fixed. However, Wanche School District refinanced our bond from 2014 to lock in a lower interest rate, which actually saved taxpayers a significant amount of money uh over time. So, it it could go down, but the the numbers actually locked in. The
024bond amount is a lockedin total, but the rate in which you pay could fluctuate depending on assessed value. And we'll get into that a little bit more here in a sec. All right, next slide, please. I'm gonna have you just click it because I don't think that's working for me. So, why do we need school bonds? This is a question a lot of people ask. Why? Why does a school district need to ask taxpayers for money to fund school construction? Well, the short answer is Washington state's funding formula does not pay for school construction or modernization. The state funds what we call basic education, and that doesn't cover everything we actually need. What the state does cover is teacher salaries at a very basic level. This does not include insurance or benefits. Uh transportation as
025well as uh a formula for materials, supplies and operation costs. Um that's what the state does cover. What the state does not cover is most major construction, the renovation of schools, new schools, technology upgrades, safety improvements, athletics, extracurriculars, and operational costs. So, those costs are funded through uh levies and through bonds. The bottom line is is that 71% of Washington state schools funding comes from local bonds and levies and those are all things that have to be approved by voters. So those are local dollars that go back into our schools. Next slide please. So what's the difference between bonds and levies? We know people get really confused in this space. Um they're they are confusing. The best way to think about the difference between the two is a easy rhyme. Bonds are for building and
026leveies are for learning. That's the simplest way to think about it. Bonds again the purpose of those are for construction of facilities and modernization. They last between 10 and 25 years. So the duration is much longer to pass. They require a 60% supermajority. So 60% of voters have to say yes in order to pass a bond. and examples of again what a bond funds new schools renovations and land purchases. In contrast, levies fund learning. And thanks to our voters, a year ago today, uh our voters renewed our 4-year EPO levy and that helps fund our operational costs. So those are our day-to-day operations costs. It helps fund things like textbooks, additional staffing above and beyond what the state funds, athletics, extracurriculars. It helps pay for uh a variety of things in terms of equipment and
027supplies that our staff need to ensure that school happens every single day. Um these are shorter period uh things. They're four years, usually up to four years. Our district runs on a four-year levy cycle. So we have to go out to voters every four years and ask for that to be renewed. They also require a a smaller amount of voters turnout to say yes. So they require a simple majority of 50%. So versus again the bond 60% supermajority and examples I already shared they help pay for staffing above and beyond with the state funds they pay for programs technology and maintenance costs. So that's the difference between bonds and levies but both are voter approved. So what can bond money be used for? Again we've kind of covered this a little bit but to get
028a little more granular the state is very specific on what we can use those bond dollars for. are so heavily regulated, they can only be spent on capital projects. So again, new construction, building new schools, adding classrooms, uh putting in gyms, improving educational facilities, modernization is upgrading old facilities, improving things like HVAC systems, roofing, plumbing, electrical, any of those infrastructure systems. Land acquisition, if we were to need to purchase land, you can use uh bond funds for that. improving safety and security systems. Um, safer drop off zones. We've done this through a bond before at uh Mission View Elementary 24 or 2014 uh bond helped improve that drop off uh and parking lot system seismic upgrades and ADA compliance. Also, we can use bond dollars to fund furniture and equipment that is needed for uh
029new buildings or remodeled buildings. So to add in additional um desks and any other uh furniture and equipment that would be necessary. Again, what is not allowed and I I can't underscore this enough. Teacher salary, staff salaries, supplies, daily operations, and administrative costs. Next slide, please. So, how does the voting process work? So, I want to walk you through kind of the steps that get to uh the bond on the ballot before somebody receives it in the mail. So, it goes through several steps. The first step being the district needs to spend time planning and really thinking through what are their needs. Um districts need to look at what their facility needs are in terms of repair, improvements, upgrades. Uh are they seeing enrollment increases and need to build a new building. So the district
030planning phase really goes through and looks at the data and identifies what those needs are uh before it puts together that bond ask of a community. Um once that planning is all done and a proposal is prepared, that actually goes to the state for approval, they do have to get approval from um the state superintendent in order for us to continue on the um process of putting the bond on the ballot. The ballot is then or the bond is then placed on the ballot during a special or a general election and then voters are asked to vote on that measure. And for school districts, only the people that live in our district boundary would vote on our levies and our bonds uh when those are up for election. And so we'd be looking at that
03160% supermajority for bonds and the 40% uh validation rule also comes into play, which I'm going to talk about here in a little bit. But there's two hoops that are required for uh bonds in order to pass, not just the 60% supermajority. And so I I I remember you said it's property taxes, but you don't have to be a home owner to be voting. Is that right? >> Correct. Any registered voter in our district boundary has the ability to vote on a bond or a levy. Doesn't matter if they're a property owner and pay property taxes. If you live in our boundary and are a registered voter, uh you have the right to vote in our elections. >> Yes. And it does it matter if they're within city or county? >> Doesn't matter as long
032as you're in our district boundary. You can live in the city of Wanachi or out in the county. So, great question. So, uh elections are held only a couple times during the year either in February, which is the special election we're in right now. Again, today is election day for some districts in uh our state. April is the fourth Tuesday. You can also go out during the August primary or during the November general election. So, there only certain times in which school districts can place a bond on the ballot or a levy on the ballot. And again, we answered the bottom question there, which is who votes. And that is anybody that lives in our district boundary who is a registered voter in the city or county, they are eligible to vote. And you do
033not have to own property. You can rent. Um you can live elsewhere, live with family. Uh as long as you're registered to vote in Chalan County and uh have gone through that process, you can register to vote in our district boundary for our ballot measures. So, let's unpack the 60% supermajority rule. Washington is only one of 11 states in the country that requires more than a simple majority to pass bonds. And a simple majority is 50%. Um, just to compare bonds to other things that we vote on, in order to be the governor, you only have to achieve 50%. A simple majority. And to pass a school bond, you need 60% actually plus one is a supermajority. And then even if you've reached that 60% supermajority, you have to achieve a 40% validation. What that
034means is 40% of the voter turnout compared to the last general election has to turn out for your uh particular election period. And it has happened where school districts have passed their bond with over 60% and not validated just recently. So um there are two very large hurdles that school districts have to uh compete with or complete in order to successfully pass the bond. Now, one thing that is being floated in the state legislature and has um been in and out of conversations over the last several years, but is much more active this year through some advocacy efforts is uh there is a coalition that has formed to uh apply pressure to bring down that uh supermajority to a simple majority for bonds. So, to take it from 60 to 50% and eliminate the 40%
035validation for school districts. This isn't a simple task. It does require a changing of the state constitution. So, it would require a vote of the people. It probably would not be in our timeline in terms of our bond as we're looking at November of 2026. Uh that's potentially when it could be on the ballot if it makes it out of the legislature uh for the people to vote on. So, it could actually be on the ballot with our bond simultaneously. So, um, the timing is unclear if that were to happen, but those conversations are happening because of the significance, um, for school districts to be able to pass these and how difficult it is. The reason why the 60% exists though is because it is a substantial amount of time you're asking a community to
036fund a project. So, it's a higher bar because of that um the the price tags, but also the timeline in which you're asking people to commit to making those payments between, you know, 10 to to 30 years depending on, you know, the size of your bond. So, there's good reason why it's there, that there are conversations happening uh right now uh in Olympia and elsewhere in our state to hopefully drive that down and u make that bar a lot more achievable because there is money that is invested by a school district to um be on the ballot. It's not free. So, it's about 20 to $30,000 to actually be on the ballot uh and have your your particular initiative on there. So, it's a substantial investment for districts not only to be on the ballot,
037but also the the outreach and the education that we need to do uh with our community as well. So, how property taxes fund bonds. When a district passes uh a bond, the district sells those bonds to investors and then repays them using property tax revenue. how that property tax is calculated. Property owners pay a set amount per $1,000 of assessed property value. So, an example I have up here on the screen is a home that's valued at $400,000. And let's say the bond rate is a $1.50 per $1,000. Their annual payment, this particular property owner would be looking at a $600 payment for that bond in that example. The good news is is that when property values rise, the rate per $1,000 decreases and once approved, the total bond amount is locked in. So, if
038we're going out for a $295 million bond, we we're locking in that amount. But the rate in which somebody pays fluctuates and can decrease based on assessed value. One thing that's going to play into uh our particular bond that's of note is there's $3 billion. I think I got that right. $3 billion of construction that is happening in our district out in Malaga. The data centers, um, Microsoft being put in and Helion, that is going to help us in terms of assessed value. They're going to eat up a larger slice of that pie, which is ultimately going to drive down the rate in which you and I pay uh when it comes to that future bond. Now, we don't know when that's going to happen. We do know that's in the future. So, um, but
039that is something that is good news for us as we look towards the future of having a bond on the books that it will ultimately assist taxpayers with driving down that rate once those tax um once those uh server farms kind of come online and are on the tax rules. >> So, a data center would also be paying because their value their properties has value as well. So, they'd be paying property taxes and again that's spread out across everyone. >> Correct. Yeah. If you think about it as just a pie and we all have a slice, they take a larger slice of that pie. Uh which makes sure that you know each one of us this we're paying a smaller amount and they're paying a larger amount of that. So those are things that are
040ultimately going to help us and things that we've seen in other communities benefit them such as you know Quincy I know East Wanachi's uh seeing some benefit from that as well. So that is in our future but we're not exactly sure of the timing of that as those buildings are are currently under construction. Is there any way to like buy a bond as an individual like not just you know as an investor and then retire it? Is that like a thing that we're, you know, is there a way to promote that in some ways? Like, hey, we can make this bond smaller, >> you know? I don't know the answer to that. >> Sorry, that was just a thing in my head. >> No look pass over here to Sean Fitzgerald, our CFO. I don't
041know. Do you know the answer to that? >> The no look. >> Yeah, not this time. We need to do some research on that, Tucker. But I I appreciate creatively. Yes, absolutely. Well, and and you know, this is a big deal. This is important to taxpayers. They want to know what is the tax implication of anything we're asking them, right? Um, no one wants higher taxes. We all know that. But, uh, a couple things that play into bonds overall that are really important to know is, um, credit ratings matter just like you and your own FICO score. School districts also have a credit rating that we need to maintain. So, making sure that, you know, we're paying things on time and we are we are good stewards of dollars um means that we get a
042better credit rating and we can qualify for lower rates just like you would as a consumer. So, that's really important for people to know. And the district over the last couple years has made some moves to make sure that we are maintaining a high credit rating. Uh again, we were able to lock in a lower interest rate and refinance our 2014 bonds um because we maintained such a high credit rating and that just that that uh really is a credit to um our maintaining our fiscal balance and being good responsible stewards again of taxpayer dollars there. So that benefits us and ultimately taxpayers in the end when we can maintain a good credit rating. Um Washington state also guarantees our bonds. So that's of a a good thing uh as an investor if you're looking
043at bonds. So they are fully backed by the state of Washington. That also helps us achieve a better interest rate. And then another thing that is important to know and we talked about this with the levy, but for any uh property tax that's out there. There is assistance for people who are disabled or who are senior citizens. they may qualify for different property tax assistance or the ability to uh lock in a deferral or an exemption. So, those are things that they can check with Chalan County to see if they qualify and encourage anybody who's over the age of 65 uh a veteran or disabled to see if they would qualify for that. Right, next slide. Thank you. State matching funds stretch your dollars. Now, I know I just said the state gives us no
044money for construction, but what they do give us when a bond passes, and only when a bond passes, is matching dollars. They have a program that's called the school construction assistance program. And what that does is it allows um the state to give us a little bit of funding to help um match square footage we have that that qualifies. So square footage that's over 30 years uh tends to qualify for that scap funding. Um to give you an example, uh our project at Wanache High School, we have $79 million in state matching dollars that that building is eligible for. But again, only if it passes will we be eligible for that. That's 21% of the total bond that we're looking at right now. So So that's a little chunk to get started with. uh and
045a great match from what I understand uh from experts, not me, is that's one of the largest amounts they have ever seen in SCAP dollars that a school district's been eligible for. So that's pretty crazy to see that that amount there. But again, that just shows we're coming to the table with some dollars already. So again, it's based on square footage. So, as the high school has become older and older, you know, more and more square footage has become eligible for that compared to when we uh ran the bond in 2018. Um, again, this only applies to new construction and modernization. We don't get these dollars otherwise. Uh, but the the catch is is that again, they're only covering a portion of the cost and not not the whole thing. The state does not fund
046construction. >> And isn't it also matching dollars? So, it's like you have to spend 79 to get 79. >> Yes. Yeah. We couldn't go out for a bond that was less than 79 and get money back. Doesn't work that way. Yeah. And uh $79 million is a a hefty chunk of change. And just to put that into perspective, um $79 million would only cover the cost of HVAC replacement at Wachi High School. um if we were to break that project down into different aspects, but it's a great thing and we're already starting with that amount, you know, available to us uh for the construction of that new building. Next slide. Thanks. So, why does this matter to Wachi residents? I gave this presentation, so I kicked the tires on it a little bit um for
047the Chamber of Commerce uh leadership group and was able to share with them, first of all, again, what's a bond? We don't know what that is. Uh and also why does it matter and why should you care? Um if you're a community member, a parent, property owner, business owner. Um but schools, when we have strong schools, that means uh a strong community, a strong economy, provides a workforce pipeline. We know this to be true. When our students are coming out and they're future ready and they're able to enter the workforce, um that only benefits our community and our businesses. Our property values increase when we have strong schools. Uh and it attracts more people that want to come here and set up shop here or be a professional. Uh they want to bring their families
048when we have strong schools both in and out. And then it also accompanies uh economic development. So again, when people are looking to relocate their business here, they're looking at our schools. Not only they're looking at the academics, but they're looking at the physical plant uh of those buildings and the facilities that we have to offer. Moreover, construction creates jobs. And this has been an important part for us as we've looked at capital projects, uh the one right now at the tech center and others where we really want to make sure if we can that we're engaging local contractors and um people here in our community to work on these projects. So again, it creates jobs and people's voice matters. Uh as a community member, it's important that you understand bonds and levies because they
049they affect you as an individual. Um but they also affect your uh your business and your bottom line. So important for them to know uh and make informed decisions. And so that's why it why it matters. You should be an informed consumer, an informed taxpayer knowing where your dollars go. So just in summary, a few key takeaways. Bonds are for building. Can't say it enough. They're long-term loans. They're like a mortgage for construction of facilities and not daily operations. The 60% hurdle is real plus 40% validation. And again, even if a bond fails with a super majority or a bond, excuse me, a bond may even fail with that supermajority and not validate and still fail. Uh so there's two hoops that we have to jump through. And then property taxes fund that repayment. Um,
050and rates are per $1,000 of assessed value. So that's how somebody can calculate what their payment would be. And once approved, a bond amount is locked in. So that total amount is locked in. That's not going to change. And then school quality affects our community. And we just talked about that. We know the impact that school has on workforce. We're one of the largest employers here in our community. um but also how it affects the way people perceive our community, our property values uh and our community as being an investment of choice by uh other folks that are looking to come and um build their businesses here such as Microsoft and and others. So those are important key takeaways. So I was going to say now that we have time to discuss um school bonds
051if you have any other questions about that before we jump into what's next. >> Tucker. Okay, so two questions. if we go under budget. So we go out for 295 295 million and we do our all the elementary school HVAC and we build the new high school and we're like we only spent $280 million. What happens with that $15 million? Does it can we use for other projects or is then like it goes back to taxpayers or >> Yeah, that's a great question and that's a real life scenario that happened in 2014. So, the bond that was passed, our most recent one that built Washington or rebuilt Washington uh and modernized Lincoln as well as a variety of other projects such as the Mission View uh parking lot and the Apple Bowl bleachers. That bond
052uh we actually came in under about $3 million under um cost. So, that $3 million the board was able to take action and um authorize that that dollar amount to be spent in other ways around the district to make safety improvements. So fencing, security vestibules. So those dollars were actually reinvested in other capital projects that were still bond, you know, approved expenses. Um, but we were able to use those dollars elsewhere in the district because our costs came in $3 million under what we had expected, which is a great problem to have and hopefully something that we would be looking uh for in the future. So to answer your question, no, those dollars don't go directly back to taxpayers. they don't get a refund or we don't, you know, lessen the the total bond amount,
053but we're able to reallocate those dollars within the district to make other necessary improvements. Um, we probably a few more. >> Yeah, we'll say and I know talking to Brian Brocky, we have plenty of things to spend that on. >> We do. There's there's a long list of things that still need to be addressed. Yes. >> All right. So, what about the other side? If we go we we have a $295 million bond and we go over is then like who's on the hook for that? I'm assuming that's on the district or >> so. One thing that is we will have in place is a kind of a a bond budget committee that will be monitoring these things very closely and we'll be tracking these expenses so that we don't find ourselves in that situation.
054Now, if it was a choice that the the board decided we wanted to do this and we had the funds to to go over and cover that amount, then yes, but that bond amount is locked in. So, there's no additional dollars that are coming from taxpayers just because we went over. So, it's incumbent upon us to be very tight with our accounting and we will have a a supervisory like a council that will be monitoring those expenses and that's part of our relationship with you know our contractors and making sure that we're managing those dollars very very closely. So, absolutely and they're being used the way that they're intended to be used for accountability but also for transparency for our local taxpayers. >> Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, >> to that to that point, um I
055is there incentives for coming in under budget or under timelines um that there could be cost savings? >> I don't know. goes back to safety. >> Yeah, I think it's just we we were able to finish the project under budget and we got the product that we wanted and then we're able to reallocate those. But I don't think there's any incentives from the state. So, we get like matching dollars or anything like that if we come in under >> I think Maria's question would be could we build in incentives in like our design build agreement? Correct. to push towards savings. >> You know, that's absolutely something I think when we got into the um into the process where we're we're looking at the design phase and how we go about that that we could absolutely
056talk about with uh in the contracting phase. Yeah. No, that's great. >> I think any way that we can look at ways to be efficient and uh incentivized, we we absolutely want to to make those dollars stretch further. I just wanted to underline something that I heard you say uh which is uh talking about people understanding um homeowners understanding how this positively affects their home value. And I was trying to figure out a way to make an analogy in my own head that made that easier for me to tell other people. And um I was thinking it's almost uh our schools are almost like that big store that a mall puts in at the end of the building that draws everyone in. >> And without that big store, we can see what malls look like.
057not naming names, but um and so I think it's something most people aren't looking that far down the road, but that is something I think we can really try to drive home that >> it's putting in the work now and they're going to see that come back to them with strong schools. So, thank you for that. >> Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, anchor tenants is what those are called. >> I have a question for you, Miss Hacklin. um who is in charge of I mean I'm sure that's part of the committee's decision to know who which contractors to pick um and how are we prioritizing local resources versus maybe cheaper outside >> you want to talk about the process >> yeah absolutely so um it's that's a great question because we have a lot of uh control
058over that work and so when we start the project what we'll do um I assume when we go out for a bond. It'll be a a GCCM project. It won't be a progressive design build project or a um a lowest bid project, but we will start the request for qualifications like we have in the past. And then um just like we we did with our architects um we'll have hopefully nine or 10 uh companies that want to work with us. And then we'll go through we kind of do a um basically a review of the submissions first and foremost. And then we do an interview process and then sometimes we'll go out and visit sites uh and see what the quality of the work is and we check references and then um usually we pick
059one of those uh design contractors and the same will work um for the construction contractors as well. And in the questions we get to prepare the questions. We get to prepare um what we like them to show us in the interview process. And so we get to talk to them about um local uh contractors and working with local folks. And that's been uh a strong piece of our process both with the softball field and with the WH Valley Technical Skills Center. So we get to dive in a lot of that and work through it. So it's good. Yeah, it's it's a good process. And >> also with the GCCM, we don't have to go with the lowest bid. >> Correct. >> So that so going through that uh construction process uh prevents us from having
060to choose the lowest bid. um we have a little more flexibility and choice in that that maybe we want to choose a a different um contractor based on you know their proposal or what they're going to bring to the table. Yeah, great question. Awesome. So, as you know um we are eyeing November 2026 to ask our WACHI school district voting community to pass a bond that will do two things. one replace an aging W that high school that one of my colleagues lovingly says was built in 1972 and uh also replaces HVAC at seven school sites across uh the district. So it's a what we call a chicken in every pot model. Not only do uh we replace an aging comprehensive high school that as Tucker explained to our staff uh last week really does
061touch um all of us in some way, shape or form. Many of our students are going to end up there, but we have a connection to that building. And we know we we have HVAC systems that work in seven of these buildings to varying degrees. uh but it's time to replace those and make sure that they are energy efficient and they're working properly when we need them and we have high temperatures or low temperatures or uh wildfire smoke here in the 21st century which is a whole new HVAC issue that we we are up against. So the bond really does those two things um and that's what voters will will be seeing on the ballot in November 2026. Next slide please. So I want to talk to you about the next phases. So um where
062where are we now and where are we going with this? So we have gone through the district planning phase as you know our long-range facilities planning team spent 15 months or actually more than that uh digging into the data looking at our enrollment looking at our facilities needs uh where where improvements needed to be made where things needed to be replaced and really spent a lot of time studying that before they made their recommendation to the board for what uh will ultimately be on the bond. Um, but we spent a lot of time there figuring out what are our needs, not our wants. What do we need? And putting together that bond proposal. Um, we also are going to be going into a planning phase with an architect. So, the next phase is all about
063community engagement. So, we know what our needs are, but now we need to get input from stakeholders. And uh the next phase is really going to be about how we go about collecting that input and using that to develop what will ultimately be the next WACHI high school for the next 50 years we hope. So um up here on the screen kind of the middle lime green phase uh there's two pieces of this community engagement process. The first thing that we did was uh to hire an architect firm to help us with this. These folks are professionals not only in designing schools but also helping school districts uh tease out that feedback from a variety of different uh parts of our community and really use that to uh guide and feed that design process. So
064it truly is the school that the community built, not the school district saying, "Well, this is what we think we should have." Um, so we were able to engage with, I think we had 30 or 40 individuals show up to Wanache High School, tour that building into the guts of that thing, not just the front, uh, but into some spaces that the public doesn't get to see. Uh, and from that, we received nine proposals from firms that said, "Yeah, I want to take a shot at that, and I'm I'm interested in your project." Which is a lot. We were able to then narrow that down to five. We interviewed those five. they came here and they were able to walk us through how they would assist us through that process and through the design phase.
065Uh we ultimately selected one firm Integris who we met with today and really started mapping out uh what this community engagement phase is going to look like. So starting right now, actually next week, um we'll begin the first part of that and it's what they call ed specs. So, this is where they're going to be going in and talking with specifically at Wanachi High School, a group of educators to get uh input not only on the number, but the size and the location of different parts of that building from classroom to library to office to, you know, the gym and the auditorium, but all the pieces. And they're going to be working uh in partnership with Teter Crocker uh whom we worked with in the pre-bond phase uh to facilitate our facilities committee. So, they're
066experts in the edspec process, but they're they're going to be teasing out that feedback from educators uh on what it is that they need. What do what does a CTE classroom need to look like and be to be a welding lab? What do we need in art? What do we need in band? What do we need in a standard classroom? So, they're really going to spend a lot of time doing that. They're also going to be working with students. So, they're going to be engaging students in this process. Um, and a great example of kind of how EDS specs can benefit the design process is there was a school district who was going through this phase and one piece of the equation for them much like WACI high school is is that their school was
067used 24 hours a day by the community. So just like Wachi High School is and it was really important to them that they be able to have that their library which was a community hub close to the front and also in a space that they could secure from the rest of the building the instructional spaces so that that could remain open to the public um during you know public hours. So those are pieces that could come out of this phase of where where CTE classes get. We saw an example of another school district who said, "We want our students to see what CTE looks like. We don't want it hidden behind walls. We want to have glass that students can see inside and see what those students are doing. Not only is it great advertising
068for CTE, but it just shows students that there are multiple pathways for them. And that comes out of that edspecs process. So there's uh some of that. not just about we need a 1,200 square foot classroom. It's much more than that. So, they're going to be spending, I believe, three days at Wachi High School going through this process with the staff. >> Is part of that process um places that they might be able to reuse like the pool or like the gym, like just some of those things that that maybe we can lower that bill just by using some of the spaces that are newer in the building. >> Absolutely. Yes, we know that there are some questions. Um, we have questions about some of those spaces that we know are expensive but are in
069decent shape. Uh, such as our gymnasiums, the auditorium, and then also our favorite word, natiatorum, the pool. Uh, um, are those things that we are they in the right spots? You know, how could we work around them? Um, do we want to just modernize those or do we want to do a complete rebuild? So, yes, there will be input from staff on those as well. And this is also where building flow comes in because we know that's a big problem at Wachi High School is the flow of the building and students being able to go from, you know, one part of the building to the other uh is challenging. And so that's where edspecs also comes in is educators have the opportunity to talk about flow and student movement and usage of space. So how
070does the commons get used? Um you know, how is that used in a multi-purpose way? So it allows them to dream a little bit about what you know their ideal school space would be but also from a real grounding themselves in some reality too of this needs to be really functional and you know it doesn't need to be fancy but this needs to be really functional and work well for today but again the students of tomorrow because I'm sure back in 1972 when they were building Wachi High School they might have been thinking of the same thing but this this gives us a chance to sort of think through that. what do we what does a modern um school building look like that's heavily utilized by community but also um is flexible and adaptable for
071you know students of the future. So that's going to be happening here real quick next week I think. So they're jumping right in >> and sorry I see it says students input up there as well. Are they part of that? >> Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. So they will be engaging students in a variety of different ways whether it's you know going into an individual class maybe we have an engineering class where they want to get some specific feedback or others uh and they're working with the high school administration to identify those opportunities but absolutely students are part of this equation. Um we don't build these schools for adults we build them for students and so um you know students need to have that input too on the functional use of some of those spaces too.
072How do they want to utilize spaces? So absolutely they're they're going to be a big part of that uh in getting their input. So that's kind of the ed specs phase. Uh in addition to that, so we're going to have a lengthy community engagement process and this is going to include a variety of different opportunities for uh our architects and the district. So we're doing this together um to engage with the public. Now, whether this is through popup uh events where we have a booth at Apple Blossom or elsewhere, uh and we're starting to map these things out, we need to go where the community is and not expect them to just come to us. So, it's going to be a combination of things where we're out in community collecting input. Uh, examples of what
073that might look like would be, uh, let's say we're we're in the park and there's a a popup booth there with, you know, big boards with examples of different architecture features in modern schools in our state or the projects that the architects have done and asking people to put stickers on the ones that they like, what are the things they don't like, and so different hands-on engagement and opportunities for people to provide feedback on those aspects. Um, other things will be tours to get people in the building, behind the scenes, seeing it with their own eyes, uh, and engaging in different ways, uh, about how the building could potentially be, uh, placed on the site because there's multiple ways we could do that. We know that the high school is going to stay as is
074and students will continue learning in that while the new build is happening somewhere on the property. But that's another aspect of engagement. um engaging the neighbors in the community around Wan that High School is going to be another important aspect. So multi-dimensional, multi-layered and this will last through June. So we are just like I said we just met today to really talk kind of conceptually about some of the things we want to do and we're going to be sitting down identifying those opportunities so that we can plug in uh and get connected. So, this is allowing the community, uh, parents, really anybody that's interested in the project to come in and be able to provide input in a variety of different ways. Um, meeting people where they're at, but also, you know, getting people into
075the building because we know there's there's a lot of interest in people seeing it with their own eyes. They want to make sure they can they understand the need and what we're asking. Um, so that's going to be a heavy part of our work again leading up into to June. Then we're able to take all that information and over the summer transform that into what will ultimately be our bond campaign materials. The district campaign materials are factual. So what we will share is um nothing that is emotional emotionally charged. It really is just the facts of here's what the new building could look like. Uh here are all the uh aspects of that building and ways that we would be addressing the issues in the current building. So, but it they will work with us
076to develop a lot of those materials, which is very helpful. Um, but it will all be based on the community input that we receive through this lengthy process. So, uh, we'll we will start out the school year in August. That's really where the campaign will kick off all the way till, uh, November when it's election day. So, you can kind of see how this is all going to lay out. Uh, again, we're eyeballing that November 3rd, uh, general election day. and the folks that are going to vote are the ones that are here in our school district boundary um and that who uh get out to vote. That's another challenge that we have and another dimension of this that's not up there is one of the most important things about passing any ballot measure is
077a get out the vote campaign. Uh and that is something that the district can do is to remind people uh how to vote, the importance of voting and remind them of the deadline to vote. um we can assist them with getting access to voter registration, whether that be online or paper applications. Um but getting people to vote is so critical. And one thing that I I really want to point out is the people that don't vote are our parents, believe it or not. And for something like this, it is so critical that our parent population come out. Only about 20% actually turn their ballots in. The highest population of people that vote in any election, school district or not, are people over the age of 65 that may or may not have kids in school.
078So, it's going to be really important for us as a school community to help educate each other and make sure that we're reminding people to vote, uh, get registered to vote if you're not, and then make sure you vote on election day regardless of what that election is. >> And I heard it's like our parents. I was like, "My parents vote all the time." Otherwise, you meant the students parents are not voting. Our parents >> are voting plenty. >> Yes. Yeah. Our our parents in WACI school district with kids in our district. >> If your kids are in the district, you should be voting. >> Yeah. Okay. And you know, for our particular bond, Wachi High School, we talked about that being a comprehensive school, but seven school sites will be impacted and the learning
079environment will be improved, you know, through that that HVAC replacement. So at every level in our system, our our families, our parents, our students uh would be impacted uh by the passage of this and subsequent improvements um to their facilities. >> So yeah, for building >> just a quick comment um I thought Integris sounded familiar, so I looked them up and so um their their work is at the college um with our last two projects. >> Yeah. Uh and that was uh something important to us was somebody that knew our community. Uh and they they definitely shined when it come to came to uh coming in and knowing uh different aspects of our community and demographics of our community and ways that they could plug in uh already. So that makes uh it that much
080easier. We're not having to educate them on where to go and how to plug in. They are already coming in with a a depth of knowledge uh and experience. Yes. Working in higher education with Wachi Valley College. Yeah, it was a tough decision. So, they all were incredible and would uh work well with us, but we feel really good about this decision, but we're excited to um to take this out to the community because there's so much interest in this and a lot of people wanting to provide input and so we're going to be providing some avenues for them to go ahead and be able to do that. So, which will ultimately be what we put in front of voters in November. All right, there are no further questions. That's it for me. I'll hand
081the mic over. >> Awesome. Thank you so much, Diana. Appreciate it. >> You don't get to leave though after it's presenting like everyone else. >> Sorry. Okay. >> So, moving on to discussion. We're doing a first read of policies. Um, I don't actually have the policies. Let's do it. I'll talk us through them. Yep. We have three policies uh in our policy committee of uh Mark and Maria. So uh and you also saw that we had uh some on the consent agenda as well, but the first one is policy 3241. Um and this policy is our student discipline policy. And honestly, it's the policy really is a direct reflection of the most recent updates to the state disciplinary rules and regulations. We have taken WA's interpretation of those rules from OSPI and adopted them as
082our policy. Uh we did not have a lot of discussion uh on them as a as a board committee, but we did uh push those through. Yeah. Any other comments? Okay. Moving right along. Uh policy uh 5000. Uh this was one that we had uh the policy committee with uh Maria and Julie looked at originally and we had some uh massages to uh some of the the community aspects of it. There was a community bullet at the end um that felt like we were removing the community from some of our interview processes and so we made sure to add that back in because we want the community as part of that conversation. But this policy really outlines uh the creation of staff positions as well as recruitment and selection of the most highly effective and
083trained staff. And uh when we uh did some uh rewarding and added the policy back in or the community back into the policy, then Mark and Maria uh were able to uh approve that and move it forward. >> Yeah. And just to to highlight um this policy um designates the delegates the superintendent um or his designate to take care of staffing. >> Yes, it sure does. >> All right. Uh the last one is one that we've talked about multiple times uh 6022 uh which is the minimum fund balance. The policy is not overly robust. It is a great explanation of what the fund balance is and the importance of that. And uh and we did have one version um and we asked to revise there was two versions that we could choose from and we
084took the version that had a little bit more of an explanation of what the minimum fund balance is, the importance of that for districts and uh and why we were um moving that. And so the big change is a move from five to 6% on this policy. We felt uh so as you'll see the first version the our prior version of this policy was just a one sentence. We felt we it needed a little bit more substance um to better guide um our community uh our district as to what those funds are intended for. So that's where we kind of spent quite a bit of time on this policy and um asked for these revisions which was had um provided and we decided to go with this version. Great. Thank you, Corey. Thank you, policy
085committee. Um, that moves us to our action for the night, which is the 2026 2027 student calendar. Do I have a motion to approve the 2026 2027 student calendar as it was presented? >> Okay, here we go. I move to approve the 2026 2027 school calendar as presented. Yes. second. >> All right. Has moved very well by Caroline and seconded by Mark. Um any discussion? >> Yeah, I think this um just to highlight for parents uh that this takes a little bit of there's a little bit of a change here in regards to a mid winter break. Um I know that big breaks or uh the spread of PD days has been uh it's been a little bit challenging for parents um with child care um that need child care and the accommodations. So, thank
086you for um you know for for sending the the the options to our staff. Um and this is ultimately what was selected and um just kind of want to put it out there for our parents. >> Yeah. Well, thank you for that reminder, Maria. I think like you said, it's important to know that there's going to be a little bit of a change and so be aware. Um all right. All in favor of approving this resolution say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? No. Motion carries. All right. Uh, superintendent report. >> Excellent. Well, it's been uh a fun couple of weeks since our last uh board meeting. I was able to go to the unified basketball game against Eastmon and I was thrilled with uh just the the sheer amount of community members that were
087there. It was super fun. We had uh the cheer squads from both Eastmon and Winanti were there. The band was there. The student section was full. It was just a great night. Uh and just a celebration uh of our students and our community. So it was wonderful. We also had a very well attended migrant family night on January 29th. Uh we heard from Hunter McClody uh the student threat assessment coordinator from the ESD and she had a presentation. I liked the title of the presentation. It was worrisome behaviors. And so, uh, we covered social media, we covered, uh, drugs, uh, and we covered some gang activity as well through that night. She did a really good job of leading us through that presentation. And then, uh, last Wednesday we had our accelerated pathways night, uh,
088which was also a fantastic program. And I was thrilled to see the presence that Central Washington University brought uh, to Wanchi High School. Uh we had opened up with president uh Jim Walpart was there um along with central Washington University admissions team and the financial aid team and they all presented. It was great. Um the analogy was we want uh students to move to post-secary education just like they do from middle school to high school. It was very well done. And then the second half of the presentation when an high school came in and uh and shared all of the wonderful things about uh the accelerated pathways program. Um, one thing I do want to share is that uh, President Jim Walpart uh, shared that out of all of the 160 schools that he works
089with in the state of Washington, when high school has the most comprehensive and robust uh, college pathway of any of them. So, it was very exciting to hear him say that and our and our and he was pointing to the parents take advantage of these opportunities. It was it was just really great uh to hear that and um just his passion uh around college in the high school is is kind of infectious. So um and then last Friday we had our midyear rally and we saw some of our board members that were able to make it. So we were really excited about that. We had uh the junior ROC was with us. We had the jazz vocal ensemble, the golden apple percussion uh team who later went on to win at Spokane uh which was
090fantastic. The Westside teachers sung a song about yonder pouches. We had athletic director BJ Coun talking about we are Wanche. We gave away gem awards. We had our first ever hardworking hero award. Um and then we were able to share some great bond information and uh we heard from uh from President Tucker Jackson as well. Um and we also heard from our yes committee. So it was a wonderful hour. Uh just think pep assembly for teachers and that's what it really felt like. Cheerleaders and school mascots and donuts from New America and it was wonderful. So with that um I will close. So thank you. >> Thank you Caroline. You want to start? >> Sure. Were there donuts left, Miss Kim? >> Wow. >> Look at that. Stress for nothing. Okay. Um I I was
091able to actually participate in the district this week. Um I went to the midyear rally for what I could. Um, super fun, super great to see all my old colleagues from Pioneer and get to catch up with people and, you know, I was the coffee guard, so you know, it wasn't ready yet. Had to disappoint everybody. Um, and then I also I met with Mr. uh, Young at Sunny Slope Elementary yesterday. Um, and it was wonderful. It's my first school site visit. He was very welcoming. He gave me a tour. Um, bunch of the kids were like waving. All the teachers were wearing their matching Sunny Slope uh sweatshirts. I It was awesome. And I'd never been in Sunny Slope before, so it was great to kind of see how they work and and get
092to talk to Principal Young about what he kind of was hoping for um from the district. And then also we connected that I was his son Cooper's teacher like six years ago. So that was fun to hear. He's in college now. It makes me feel old. Um well, okay. And then uh ledge rep stuff. Um I've been attending weekly Zoom sessions on just the updates and stuff that's happening. So I feel like I understand Sean so much more now. Um which is great. Um and yeah, so I'm just keeping up with those. And then some of the social media court cases that are happening from different states about the dangers of social media and the addictiveness for young kids. And so I'm keeping up on that because it's important for our teens to get off
093socials and interact with each other. >> Mark, you want to try and follow that? >> As I'm like madly looking up information. Uh yes, because I want to make sure I had the day right. Uh so as already mentioned, I attended the major rally was uh super exciting. I don't know if my wife thought so, but I was so pumped I had to stop at her work and tell her about all the cool things that we saw that day. She was like, "Oh, okay. Okay, thank you." So, but um so I hope everyone else was as excited was as I was awesome to see the kids uh the Westside uh little number really took it away. So did the rock hero appearance. I told you I'd get to see you >> in perform. Uh, and
094then just a reminder that this week is the Janice France talent show at the high school. It's the 29th. $8 for uh, tickets at the door and the doors open at 5:30. >> Thank you, Maria. >> Well, I got nothing other than I'll be judging the Janice France show tomorrow. >> So, I think it's I don't know, my eighth, sixth annual. I don't know. >> I did it last year. It's hard. Like there's some really talented people in this district. It's And I was like, "Wait, I can't just give everyone 10." They're like, "No." >> Oh, shoot. >> Is Apple Blossom this weekend as well, the pageant? So, yeah, I guess we have that going out too for all the Wachi and East Wanachi young ladies who are getting brave and being on stage. So,
095congrats to the top 10. >> Um, I was just going to say I will I will echo what everyone else said about the midyear rally. It was great. Um, Cory's performance was was really good. Um but there were a lot of really intelligent people and the students are again very impressive. Um and thank you to all the staff who made it made it out and were good participants and and a and audience members and uh I think that's it. So me a journ All right.