001All right. Good evening and welcome to the April 22nd regular board meeting for the Wachi School District. We will open the meeting with a pledge of allegiance. Hunto. All right. Uh the first item on our agenda is this evening is to a swearing in of our newly appointed board member Mark Belton. Uh we are fortunate to have the honorable Travis Brandt. Thank you. Um here with us to administer the oath of office. Thank you judge for being here. Please Mark and Judge Brandt come forward to the board table for the swearing and ceremony. So swear or that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Washington and I will faithfully and impartially perform the duties of the office of Lanche School District number 246. School board director
002director District 4 District to the best of my ability. Congratulations. Got all his lines. I definitely forgot one. happened my wedding too. All right. Excellent. Thanks, Jasper. All right. Your seat awaits. All right, full complement of board members. Um, now we're going to work through the agenda. Do we have any changes to the agenda or modifications? All right, hearing none, I will now move on to the consent agenda. The items on the consent agenda were sent to the board and posted online last week. The board was like candy. God, just distraction. this seriously. Squirrel um has had opportunity to review the materials and ask the superintendent any questions they have had about any items on the consent agenda. Consent agenda for this meeting includes minutes for the 32525 regular meeting, 32625 special meeting, 4125 regular
003meeting, and 4325 special meeting. Vouchers and payroll, personnel report, surplus report, contracts, February financial report, and the April enrollment report. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. I second that motion. All right. It has moved been has been moved by Julie and seconded by Martin. Any discussion? All right. All in favor adopting consent agenda as presented. Say I. I. I. Right. Uh motion carries. Uh no citizen comment. All right. So no citizen comment tonight. So that means Cory, you're up for special presentations. Uh, excellent. Uh, let's start with our ASB reports. Do we have uh we have Westside representation? Not yet. So we may come back to that. Okay. Do we have uh representation from Wanchi High School for an ASB report? Okay. Well,
004we will we will go ahead and move on to our special presentations. And if Gabe shows, then we'll uh we'll jump right back in there. Okay. Uh well, wonderful. Please welcome uh Alfonso Lopez to share a little bit about the winter indoor soccer opportunities that he has created uh for the Wanche School District to provide another outlet for students to engage in healthy and productive activities. And I believe he's got a slide presentation that he'll be sharing as well. And I think some of our we have some parents and maybe some participants here in the crowd. So thank you all for being here today. And Alfonso, I believe you have the clicker there at your disposal. Thank you very much. You have the power. Uh, dear Waj School District board members, um, dear Mr. Corey
005Kalahar, Dr. Corey Kalahar, and our new board member, welcome. You're joining a great team. I can testify for that. And also, dear covenant, thank you for being here and people that have come to, thank you. These uh meetings are really important and I'm honored to be here to present to you one of the activities that the Wanachi School District is doing for the community, especially for our youth. Uh I'm going to talk to you today about the youth indoor soccer. Um just to begin with uh the presentation I wanted to let you know that in my years as an educator here in the US I have seen the uh a trend in changing what the new generations are playing more and more and that is soccer. For whatever reason, maybe because the influx of Latinos
006or whatever the reason is, in schools, more and more and more kids, uh, males and females are playing soccer with that being said, um, I'm going to talk to you about the beginning of this uh, activity that we started um, pretty much two years ago. This is the beginning when I took uh this new position as u director of Hispanic uh and Latino relations. Um some staff members from the Wanach school district and myself including uh Dr. uh Cory Kalahar, we started meeting with the community because uh the issues with gangs and shootings and uh graffiti and violence and all of those things uh kept happening. So we had an opportunity to meet with the community and also uh Ismon school district. So when we met with families um one of the requests, one of
007the questions they had to school districts was what are you guys doing to prevent uh these problems to keep happening especially gangs. at that time. Um if I remember correctly, one um one you uh young person had been uh shot. Anyways, a way to respond to that obviously the Wachi school district is doing activities already. We are doing several activities, not only sports but academics, after school, several things we're doing. But I know that in the winter is when our youth, our kids, even our adults don't have a chance to do these healthy activities. Why? One of the main reasons is that we don't have facilities that meet the needs of these adults and and kids. At that point, others and myself uh we took the uh task of looking for a place where we
008could get together these uh young students, even adults, and start practicing this sport to keep occupied our kids and with something that obviously um was going to keep them away from those bad activities. We have dreamed for years, I have to have a facility like this in town. We don't have one in town like this that could meet the need of a lot of youth and adults, not only for soccer, but for other sports as well, especially in the winter. Anyways, we uh we don't have facilities. So, I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. for Corey Kalahar and then um the principal of u the high school, Eric uh Eric and um I had a chance to get one of the gems from our school from our schools to practice this sport and that
009was uh Foothills Middle School. Thankfully, uh, the Wachi School District allowed us to start a league in the winter for kids and for adults. In a partnership, the Wachi School District and also the community. Uh we took a pawn to start a new wachi indoor soccer league at Foothills having the gym on Sundays from am 800 a.m. to 1000 p.m. It was uh the entire day to meet the needs of these many many players that wanted to play. So we created this league went indoor soccer league and we created a motto. Our motto is educate yourself, stay in schools, play fair and enjoy your league. That is our motto. Many people followed our steps. And then this last winter we just ended um playing at the end of March 22 teams participated and there are
010many more but they couldn't participate because the day only has this many hours and especially Sundays because they were in the other days the gyms are busy so we took all Sunday 22 teams participated 266 players participated 22 coaches and I'm not counting the referees and other people volunteers and all of that but actively 286 people participated. Uh it's a good number. It's a good group and that was done from October to March. So there are like four months right there. Many many families attended the games every Sunday. Our Wachi school district communicated directly with them because uh members of our staff went to the games and we had a chance to talk to the parents and we talked to them about the importance of working together because we educate kids not only through academics,
011we educate kids through uh sports as well. there are there are so many things that they can learn through sports besides we keep keep them keep them busy and away from these bad activities. So we had a chance members of the Wachi school district to talk to them and I attribute u a good connection with the community to pass the levy because we talked about the levy several times and the this applies perfectly because we were we were using a facility that is supported by these monies. So people understood and people I'm sure voted for it. Anyways, I also took it on social media to communicate with parents because many many parents want to know uh about this sport. How many kids are participating? They want to see their kids in the articles. They want
012to see actually uh they want to watch the games. So, I created my own Facebook uh page that is Wachi Football News. Now, if you are curious and want to check it out, you're going to see that now thousands of people are uh coming to this page to see what is happening. And this is my venue. This is my means to communicate with the community and with people not only about sports, but also about what is happening in the Wachi school district. Mr. Burn has been there and he he can testify what he saw. actually he wanted to play soccer. I challenged him but uh he said later anyways um that is the way I'm keep communicating with the community through this uh Facebook page and I keep writing articles I keep uh I keep
013the community informed of what is happening. So what is next after we tested this uh activity that includes a lot of kids and a lot of adults? Um what is next is we are going to promote um this sport and we are going to promote education through the sport. We are going to promote the Wachi school district working with the community as we are doing. So next Sunday we are going to be participating in the kids parade for the very first time with this Wachi kids indoor soccer league. So uh I'm excited. The reason, the main reason is that I'm doing something that I really like and it's connecting the Wach school district with the community with something that uh I believe most of us value. All of us probably value because it has a
014lot of value uh working with kids this kids this way. With that, I invited also a couple of coaches that took upon a teams and they came to testify if they liked it or they didn't. And they are coaches and they brought a couple kids. Uh the kids can tell us if they like it or not. If they don't, we can cancel it. But I'd like to invite um Mr. Cody Jones and also uh Mr. Jason Gonzalez to come to the mic and just share briefly because we don't have that much time uh their their experiences. Please come. Mr. Jason Gonzalez. Hello everybody. Thank you for having us here tonight. I just want to say thank you to the Wachi School District for um allowing Alonso to go forward with this. This is an amazing
015for these these boys. Um I've been in soccer and winter is one of the seasons where they work all summer. Three weeks, four weeks with them not doing nothing just kills all that. And the kids look forward to it. They're I mean me as a soccer team this season going in I seen a big difference big difference in these boys. and uh you know it's the the future stars of the youth. We got to keep them moving, motivated and thank you so much. Thank you. Go ahead. Um I'd also like to thank you for the time in the in the gym because I I'd like to liken it to like uh during summer vacation after everybody comes back from summer vacation, they're so sluggish. Um they worked really really hard all winter long. Um, and
016this gave them a perfect opportunity to keep their skills up, uh, get a lot of exercise in, and they would have not had that otherwise. It would have been a lot more video games and stuff that we really don't want them doing. But, um, I really appreciate and thank you for letting us have this opportunity. Well, thank you to both of them, but like I said, we have many other coaches as well that stepped up and they said, "We're going to." But um also the kids, they are obviously the present and the future of this nation and to educate them through sports is another way to make sure that they are going to be citizens that are wellprepared to serve. So, I'd like to invite uh Levi just to tell us if you like this
017sport because I'm about to say no more if uh you don't like it. Do you like this sport? Yeah. Why do you like it? It's just fun. It's gotten my interests. Yeah. Are you planning to continue playing? Yeah. With which team? Your Dutch team. Mhm. Will he allow you to play with another team? Yeah. Yeah. He's a good dad. So, thank you very much, Levi. And obviously Parker took the time as well. So, please come Parker and just let us know if you like the sport. If you like it, why? Yes, I like this sport. Yeah. Why? And I like it because it's just fun. It's fun. It just is in my interest. You're good. You are the new uh the next Messi, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much. Uh uh with that
018I'm just telling you that um we are touching lives uh youth and adults because also adults are participating in this uh tournament. So again, I want to thank from the bottom of my heart to all the ones that have made possible to use the Wachi School District facilities and we will continue. You'll hear us more because now we're going outside with uh the league. Um I want to thank you and if you have questions, I don't know if uh I there is time for that or comments. Yeah, we have time. Yeah, I just want to say thank you. This is a great example of how um you know the school district reached out to the community, the community um came with the solution and it was executed um very nicely. Uh so congratulations Mr. Lopez,
019congratulations to our coaches. Um everybody, this situation is where everybody wins. Um and I I'm I'm sure you invested a lot of time into this project. Um and I just thank you. Thank you very much for your nice comments. I just want to take a moment uh to thank our uh coaches and the uh players for coming today. Um and I really want to give a shout out to Alfonso. Um Alfonso has a lot of this is a skeleton crew. Um it's Alfonso, it's his family, it's his friends and uh it has grown. And so one of the things that we need to work on is what does the sustainability of the program look like? Um and how do we support that? Because literally Alfonso is there. He sets up, he takes down, he organizes.
020Um he's the custodial. He's also the announcer through all the games as well. And then he um he does all the promotional activities as well. So we need to make sure that we're supporting Alfonso in this work and continuing to have it be sustainable. So thank you for sharing uh tonight, my friend. Thank you, Dr. No questions. So, thank you very much. I love it. Excellent. So, up next in our special uh programs, um as you know, we have begun our project at Wanchi Valley Technical Skills Center. Um, and we have contracted with the Cloloch group for our project management. And, uh, two representatives of our team are here tonight. So, we have Matt and Kayla from Clash Group. Um, and they're here to share an update on where we are with the project. Um,
021and thank you both for being here. Yeah. Thank you. All right. And we should have a slide deck up shortly. And Matt, you should have the clicker right there. All righty. Yeah. So, while that's getting pulled up, um, we would like to introduce ourselves. So, my name is Matt Piano. This is Caleb Van Lee. Um, we're both project managers with Flash Group, um, an owners rep firm that provides cr management services. Um, so yeah, we're gonna like like Dr. Kalahar said we're going to talk to the the Wanachi Valley Technical Skills Center modernization project. Um yeah, first and foremost, just thank you, right? We are incredibly excited um to be a part of this project. So, thank you to the board, the youth community. Um we're thrilled to be working with the team kind of
022led by Dr. Kalahar and and Pete. Um it's going to be a great journey and and we're excited about that process, but also kind of the end product uh that will come with it. So without further wait here. Okay. So yeah, here's the agenda for our our slide deck tonight. Um so Kayla will kind of kick us off discussing uh progressive design build 101 and the benefits as they pertain to this project. Um we'll also kind of briefly highlight the uh the project review committee, kind of the steps we went through to get there and and be approved in that process. Um, I will kind of take it over and walk through project scope, project goals and benefits and the uh the schedule and then kind of give it back to Kayla to wrap up
023with the uh with the budget and summary. So, excellent. I hate to interrupt um but Liz, we'll probably we need them to be a little bit closer to the microphone. Yeah, we have uh this is uh recorded for YouTube and it's on Zoom right now. So, our audience might have trouble hearing. So, not to steal your thunder, you're doing good. Thank you. We could hear. Yes, we could definitely hear. Yes. And one quick point, please ask questions as we go. We do have a slide deck at the end for for questions, but if anything comes up, just ask as we go. Yes, absolutely. Like Brett said, my name is Kayla Van Lee, uh project manager with Clash Group, and we are super excited to be here um and present to you for our first time.
024Um, so I want to start off um with giving you guys a little bit of background of the contract model and what we've been doing over the uh last couple of months. So, oh, that's okay. Okay. So um there's several different contract models you can go through when you start a construction project. Um and there the traditional method is called design bid build. Um but after we have met with the team, walked the site, understood the scope of the project, um we settled on the best method um as progressive design build. Uh this is kind of a hot model right now. It's it's happening all over the place. So um may be familiar to some um but I just wanted to go through what big picture what that model is uh and how it's going
025to benefit um for us for this project. So uh this progressive design build allows for a collaborative selection process. Um so we are in the middle of that process right now. We've sent out a request for qualifications to get interest from contractors and design teams in the in the area and um it starts with evaluating their qualifications. So we don't talk about cost of project, anything like that. It's looking at what their skill set is as a firm, what experience they've had in different projects, where they're located. There's a whole set of criteria for evaluation. So that's where it starts with. Um it allows the it also allows flexibility um with the design and integration of the project. Um we know the goals of what we want to try to accomplish and we will be
026able to work with the the team that we select to narrow those down, prioritize them and ultimately maximize the benefit um and get as much as we can for the value that we have. Uh it also has a reduced procurement r risk. Um it is not a it it's it's a very desirable method for contractors and designers. People are interested. They love working in progressive design builds. So that helps boost that interest which gives us more options um and makes it more competitive. and we're seeing that. Uh Matt's going to go through general timeline, but I'll do a spoiler alert here. Um since we're in our request for qualifications, we had a pre-bid walk last week. Last week, and there was a huge turnout of contractors and design teams. Um Damon, our colleague, he led
027that walk. and he said, "Looking at the tally sheet, there's over 30 companies on there." That doesn't mean 30 separate parties we have to evaluate. Um because contractors and designers pair up um but still if you I mean that we could have as much as 15 proposers that we're going to be evaluating which is which is an awesome thing. So we're excited about that interest and that's uh definitely a positive for the group. Um and then the last item on there cost and contract finalization. Um so we we start the evaluation by looking at qualifications and then we start working on design and finalizing cost. So that comes um as opposed to other methods. You may get a proposal with the cost. That's it. You're evaluating all that at once. No back and forth, no
028collaboration. Um but this progressive design build method allows for that collaboration. So that uh final price or guaranteed maximum price will come later um in the process. So um this dives further into benefits. Um and I I touched a little bit on that collaboration and scope. It really does allow us to hone in on the scope, evaluate kind of the like musthaves, like need to have, nice to haves, um, and and go through that with, um, the school district. It also brings in the contractor early in the process so that they're involved in discussions on phasing on I mean you have a active campus so what's the safety when they go through these projects they can look at all of that and help provide that input and really own that that process um early collaboration
029what I I've spoke about um we we can do target value design and also work through what we call value engineering where we can, you know, parse out different it like scope, understand pricing, decide if that's something that it would be a benefit or if there's ways we can brainstorm and save cost to bring those down. So, that's a collaborative effort. Um, the contractor does constructibility reviews, which is important. Um so that they're as the design is progressing, they're looking at the building, understanding existing conditions, um making sure that what's being designed, they can actually go build and it's not going to, you know, they're not going to run into huge roadblocks. Um and then there's a risk management aspect. Again, with that collaboration, identifying our risks and being able to hone in on that
030and mitigate as much as possible. There's an element with progressive design build that ex helps you expedite the schedule. Um they can work with the design team to do smaller design packages or rollouts in phases so they can start one portion before the design's finished on another scope of work. Um and that's that will really help with this project on the different areas that we're touching. Um uh and it gets them working and building faster. Um the alternative is you design the entire thing which takes a lot longer and then they start construction on everything which may end up having to be a phase construction approach anyway. um cost control. Um that's you know further dives into that um collaboration of value engineering understanding procurement um having the contractor and designer on early help they
031can identify if there's any procurement issues in the market. they can help identify those and provide guidance on if they need to start, you know, making decisions to do early procurement and that will ultimately help um kind of expedite the schedule scope maximization. Um I it's it goes back to the um prioritization list that we'll come up with and really um looking at the areas um that we need to focus on and then how how can we bring in the most of that scope um through that design process and then streamline management is a huge benefit. um traditional methods and also um GCCM is another method. The contractor has one contract with you guys and then the designer has a separate contract and you're like the middleman and in this approach the contractor and the
032designer they come together in a joint venture and they are work together. So we don't have to be that middleman they you know work uh collaborative collaboratively as a team. That was kind of a lot about the background of progressive design build. I'm happy to answer any questions if you guys have them or you can wait till the end as well. Um the next slide uh I'll talk to is what we've gone through our our efforts the last few months. So Clash Group came on I believe in January and we dove right into understanding um doing walks, understanding scope and we had to if we chose to go with progressive design build we needed to go through a process um to get approval through the state and it's called the project review committee or the
033PRC. So, this is an entity um it's based out of Olympia and they evaluate projects and give you permission to do an alternative contract method. Um so some things so there's an effort to pull together a pretty lengthy application. Um so we work collaboratively with the school district and um that was submitted in February and then there's a presentation and an interview kind of question portion a month later that happened in March. Um so in that process they so the project review committee they review all of those applications. They do have rotating they have um different groups that evaluate different projects. It is also open to the public so anybody can tune in to that meeting. Uh it's completely held virtually. Um and we there's two application types you can do for the project review
034committee. We did the first one which is applying for approval to use progressive design build specifically for this project. Um so that's what we submitted on. Um they primarily evaluate they're looking at experience. Um they want to make sure that you guys understand what progressive design build is and that us on as an owners rep also have experience and know what progressive design build is so that when we go into this contract model we all know what to expect and um and it goes smoothly and it's not a surprise. Um it the other thing that they um look at is just like the readiness. Um they want to hear from us on you know what's been going into what what's the thought behind this project on the scope on the budget on everything on just
035like prepping um education um for the school district on knowing what they're getting into. Um so that's what they're kind of looking at overall. And then public transparent like I said it is open to the public so publics can they can contest it. They can provide support. Um when we presented in March we had several contractors actually voice comments at the end of our presentation um with uh major support for the project and for going progressive design bill. So that was great to hear. Um, and then lastly, we got approved and we're moving forward and it was a unanimous approval from the the PRC. So, that got us into our next step, which is now outreach for our design builder. Okay, I'm going to hand it off to Matt to talk about the uh project
036scope and schedule. Kayla. Um, yeah, this is the, uh, the fun part, right? So, just kind of quick highlight. Um, so for building A, right, just a highlight of of current conditions and then, uh, the proposed scope. So, uh, as you know, if there's any students in the in the room, you know, building A is the the oldest building on the campus. Um, there are some unfinished areas and, uh, some of the outdated classroom infrastructure um, doesn't exactly align with with industry standards. Um, so really for the for the building scope, you know, it's aligning kind of with that 10-year capital plan for for phases 3A, 3B, and four. Um, can kind of see some of the uh, you know, the numbers there as far as the the modernization effort and the square foot expansion.
037But, you know, like the big thing I want to talk to is the the new classroom development that that we're going for here as far as uh, fire science and culinary. you know, really the the intent that we're going to work collaboratively with the progressive design build team is uh building kind of a state-of-the-art um learning environment for for students and for the staff. Right. The the goal here is to to build and and impact current but also future generations of students at the at the tech center. Um we're going to be working on a fire science apparatus bay and then really in an effort to improve some of the kind of the overall building flow um kind of like the vestibule area and then the the the lobby entrance um doing some work with
038the conference center and the uh and the student lounge. Um so really just a big effort um to modernize the space and you know focus on what what the current need is for students and then how we can kind of provide a a beneficial solution for that. um falling within the scope outlined here. So, here's just kind of a a quick highle uh proposed floor plan. Um but, you know, really as as Kayla kind of spoke to, a big part of like the progressive design build approach is to collaboratively work with the the design team, the the um the contractor team and and kind of make uh the constructibility effort match the budget, match the scope, and match the design capability. All right. So jump jumping over to uh to to building B here. Um
039same format. Uh so current conditions, right? It's a it's a repurposed warehouse. Um so there's inherent challenges there as far as how it um impacts students and staff. Um mezzanine does remain unfinished. So really trying to, you know, for the school district's purpose, for the community, for the for the students, maximize space utilization, right? That's that's crucial. Um, and then we're going to provide kind of some additional access, ADA, HVAC, and and fire and improve some some fire safety deficiencies. So, a big part of our our effort there is um completes construction of the the primary stairs and the elevator. Um, on the elevator side, the you know, the building foundation does have an elevator pit, which is a big benefit, right? A lot less work on that on that front and a lot less
040cost. Um, so we'll work kind of in conjunction with the uh the PDB team to to get that going. And then mezzanine development. Um, I mean, we were up there. It's it's an awesome space, right? There's a lot of potential. Um, and we want to bring that to life and we want to get students involved on that on that front. And then uh some additional parking to kind of um support, you know, future um future medical occupations, dental occupations, AL labs, so kind of future uh I guess tech center courses. Um, once again, kind of a a highle proposed floor plan. You know, as we work through some of the high level design, these will get a little bit better, a little more granular, but we just wanted to give you guys an idea of
041uh of what to expect. Okay. So, kind of briefly hit on it a little bit, but um yeah, the benefits and the goals of the project, right? Um we are it's really a two-part effort. what we want to modernize the spaces um that are outdated, kind of addressing any immediate health and safety concerns and uh creating a suitable education space for current students, but we also want to expand and modernize and create this like state-of-the-art learning hub, right, to attract future students, you know, and really take advantage of these these types of programs because I think we could probably all agree, I mean, in today's day and age, these are very important, right? And they impact the community for for generations to come. Um, and then yeah, just some some future growth and and you
042know, a lot of this was we we kind of took from that 10-year capital plan, but accommodating additional students by by 2031. Um, and aligning infrastructure and program expansion uh with enrollment growth and and workforce needs. Um, so kind of taking a look and and really working with with Dr. Kalahar and Pete on gauging the the market and really put an emphasis on making the um space compatible with with future expansion. um if there's an opportunity for that. Okay. So, um we're going to get a little bit of the schedule here. So, this is kind of a high level, but really just the next 90 days, if you will. Um so, Kayla kind of hit on a lot of it as far as progressive design build and and the procurement process. Um so, as as
043Kayla mentioned, right now we are the RFQ is has been advertised. So, so thank you to Diana and and your comm communications team for for helping us out with that. Um, but we did just have that non-mandatory pre-proposal conference. Um, great attendance. I mean, standing room only. So, we're we're really excited. And, uh, as the individual who's been, um, sending out the RFQS, a lot of emails. So, um, that's a good thing. And and we like competition and that will really that makes the job go. You know, you're going to get the best PDB team for this project, which is just it makes scope, budget, it makes everything better. So, we're really excited about that. Um, so statement of qualifications will be due May 5th. Um, so at that point, we will get with Dr.
044Kalahar, Pete, and kind of the selection committee. They will go through a a grading process on these. Um, we will shortlist no less than two, no more than four firms. So, it'll probably be um difficult to get down to those numbers, but that kind of creates the best case as we move into the interview phase and then the uh RFP phase, which will have um these PDB teams submitting formal proposals on the project as well. Um interviews are just a great opportunity for the selection committee um to get that kind of like face toface um time with the PDB team, kind of talk through high level programming and and get a good feel um for that inperson environment. Um the RFPs will be submitted in early June um shortly after the RFPs are due. We
045do um go through the grading process with the selection committee and then there's a public fee opening. So like Kayla mentioned like cost is is probably the lowest factor in this. So we've we've got the pretty much the the format written up. They'll come they'll provide their their fee in an envelope. We'll open it. we'll put it into the spreadsheet and that's kind of how we'll have guidance going forward. After that point, um we'll move to kind of some of those initial contract negotiations and and the intent here is to have a contract over to to Dr. Kalahar and and the rest of the team um in early to mid June so that for their review and then get it over to the board for approval by June 24th. All right. Um we'll now move
046into more of like kind of the design and construction which is a a tentative approach. Um once again a big part of PDB is bringing in those teams having those collaborative conversations and working through that. Um so after the contract approval in in late June we would move into a validation phase essentially with the PDB team. Um and then kind of starting right around August September is when we would go to early phase package design. So that'll push us into December. At that point, we will initiate some of our early kind of permitting um which will be subsequently followed by like some of that early phase construction side. So like Kayla mentioned, PDB is great because you can do concurrent design and construction, which is great for schedule acceleration and like phasing accommodations, right? and
047we'll work actively with the with with Pete um with the district as a whole to make sure that we are phasing um appropriately to ensure uh students are are uninterrupted, students and staff are uninterrupted. Um we'll push that'll pretty much take us through that whole permitting design and construction phase till towards the end of the year in in 2026 um with pushing into to kind of punch list move in late uh December of 2026 and and maybe even a little bit into uh early 2027. But um yeah, that's just a pretty much high level of the schedule. But the acceleration that comes with a progressive design build is great and uh we're definitely going to leverage it in this project. All right, I will now turn it back over to Kayla to kind of talk
048through some budget and finish up. Okay, so this is very summary level um because we are very early in the process um and it's going to end up getting broken down into more and more detail, but essentially the budget for the project is just over 14 million um for both hard and soft costs. And the it in a progressive design build hard cost is things uh that's going to include your design build contractor which is support services their general conditions. They'll have some contingency and their fee and that the design is part of that. Um in traditional um contracting methods or GCCM the design is actually fees is moved down to soft cost. So that's that's a difference here with progressive design build is that that's up in the hard cost category. Um and that's
049a little over right now we have that at a little over or I guess 10.6 million um for that. And then for soft costs that's things like furniture, fixtures, equipment to support those spaces. It's consultant fees, um, like special inspectors, um, construction management, and then owner contingency, um, and other professional services, sales tax, things like that. Um, and that's 3.5 million. So that gets you to your total 14.1 million for the the overall project. Um, and I think that is it that we have for you guys today. And um, like I said, like the schedule, the timeline, it's we it's pretty basic in that especially in that design and construction, that one bar is going to turn into a lot of bars here as the months go by. So, but at least tells you kind
050of our general uh goal for getting this work complete. So, any questions? I I just have a question. What kind of due diligence or um I guess scoping are you requiring of the designers before they actually finalize a design? Because where I see this process and it may be less risk because it's a existing building, but where I've seen this process go a little bit ary is the designers get so excited to design the building that they haven't done the locates yet and things and then when they go out to actually do the the construction, they find out their design needs to be modified or improved. So it what are the So they don't want to change the design, of course. They want you to move the lines. Yeah. Well, that that's a great question
051and that actually that is a huge risk in traditional um methods and still with design build, but there is with the progressive design build model because the contractor and the designer working together, they're going to be doing some of that those locates that research into asbuilts, the contractors doing constructibility reviews to make sure what that designer where they're headed, they can actually build that because they're working collaborative together um as a joint venture. Sure. So, um, that's a that's a big big benefit of going with this progressive design build. Uh, I have a question, but I'll begin with a comment. I'm really pleased to see progressive design build being used over the years to see that style of thinking, dynamic, interactive, and using skills and knowledge um to reduce risk and increase opportunity. That's great.
052So, that's sales pitch. Um but it's much more than a construction project and I have an interest in education structures and buildings is that it's what's inside the walls and what goes on flows education techniques education technology that's could influence the way you design the structure. And um so my question is it's often not all construction firms have that knowledge in house. In fact, very few do. Mhm. Um, and very often people there are specialist consultants who can advise and join the team. Where are you looking in terms of bringing in education technology into the progressive design build team? Oh, that's a good question. I don't know. Um, I mean, it's something that we've we've talked about and it's something that we can work collaboratively with the design builder to see if there's specific subjects
053that we need to bring in a subject matter kind of expert on. Uh, I think it's a lot of it's going to part of the decision on on doing that. It's going to um be based off of the, you know, the architect that's selected. They may have a wealth of knowledge in that specific category, maybe they don't. and part of the uh qualifications kind of evaluation is something that we can definitely pay attention to and look into when we're evaluating these proposals. That's a great point. Thanks. Mine is not nearly as intelligent as that. Is that is that timeline for uh buildings A and B the December 26th? Yes. Okay. Thanks. And and like we're kind of saying be things are going to happen in phases. So, if it's A before B or B before
054A, not sure yet, but um Yep. Yep. Any other thoughts or comments? I have a question and might not be a question. Um I'm I'm with Tucker here. Um I like the floor plan. Um and uh and I'm I'm glad to see, you know, obviously there's always contingency of projects. Is there should there be any concerns with the tariffs? Um, I think that there's always concerns because it's it's a I mean I feel like it changes every day at this point in time, but um I think that's we we hold when you start with this contract model, you hold a pretty decent amount of contingency aside and then as time goes on where we understand design, we understand existing conditions, we understand the market, we can start looking at that contingency and reducing it down
055as as a risk. So, um it's that's at the top of everybody's mind. I think one one quick note on on that like long lead procurement is is kind of discussed early on in in the in the process here and you can identify, you know, electrical, mechanical things that would potentially be impacted a little bit more and try and negotiate price locks with vendors. So just really that earlier um collaboration, you can start developing those much earlier in the process, right? And start getting things on order. That way you're reducing some exposure to that impact. Not that it won't happen, but you're just going to reduce the exposure. So thanks. Excellent. I think it's a great time um to remind um not only our board but also our community that the funding for this project
056is a grant fund um from the state of Washington that was uh decided upon in the 2024 legislative session. So, just as we talk about budget reduction and the work that we've done in the Wanche School District to manage enrollment decline, um I do want to remind folks that this 14ome odd million um came from the state and it was part of the work that Pete and the Tech Center has have been working on for their 10-year planning process and that grant approval um couldn't have come at a better time when we think about the finances of our state and where we are in the 2025 legislative session. So, just want to remind everybody that that that is there and we are very grateful for those dollars to be able to implement uh for the
057tech center and for our students. I also want to thank the two of you for coming into town tonight for this presentation and for I know Matt's going back tonight. Kayla, I don't know if you are as well, but thank you for your time. Um, safe travels. Um, one thing that we've really appreciated with this partnership so far is the the the intense collaboration that has come from this work. um not only getting us to where we are now with the progressive design build but from the beginning and it's just been very great. So we appreciate your professionalism, your collaboration um and your guidance through these process because for some of us um going in front of the PRC was a very new experience. Um now that it's over it was enjoyable. Um but uh
058there's a lot of things that we were discussing and talking about that um I've learned along the way and so we just appreciate your guidance. So thank you both very much. Yeah, thank you. We're super excited and there there's a lot to be excited about. Can't wait to give some more updates in the future. Beautiful. Thank you. I wanted to pop back on our agenda, too. And it looks like Mrs. Dero has left, so we're probably not going to have a presentation from uh Westside at that point. Um so, yes, everyone's like, "This is a great time to if you wanted to transition, this is your transition." So, thank you all very much. Um, we have some core pack members that we want to wave to. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Appreciate you all
059being here. Uh, this is great. Okay. Bye, Paloma. Okay. All right. Thanks everyone. You guys time to move from the front row to the back. Okay, this is good. Okay, I see Harrison. Right on. Hanging in there. Appreciate you being here, buddy. Okay. Can't hide just by going to the front. It just feels different though, doesn't it, Shel? It's just Yeah. Oh gosh. All right. Well, we will uh move on to our uh next presentation and our uh our final uh special presentation for the night. Uh so this is on our transitions program and uh Liz will pull up that slide. Oh, I got to get the the clicker. Hang on. Right, we will get started. Uh, I just want to thank the school board of directors uh for the time this evening. Um, tonight
060I'm going to share with you some information about the Wanchi School District Transitions Program, which is an incredibly inspirational program, uh, that is growing and has very unique needs that we're going to talk about this evening. Um, just to kind of kick it off, um, the WH school district transition program overview or Wanche Valley Community Transitions, I believe, is what Beth likes to call it. So, thank you. Um, is our community-based transition program in Wanche School District for students with disabilities. It serves students aged 18 to 22 in the Wu Valley and that age range has recently been increased which we'll talk about a little bit more. Um participants join the program to be active, to be engaged and to be prepared community members. Um this is an optional continuation of the educational programming for
061our students on individual education plans or IEPs um who have already served four years served. That sounds like a sentence who who already have had a chance to experience four years of a high school experience. Um and uh each student's IEP team must recommend the continued services for that student. Uh we also focus on um the program focuses on students developing transitional skills for success in the workplace and at home. And the next the next video I know Bethanne is very excited about this. Uh, isn't it fun to see yourself on on video? Um, so the next three and a half minute video will help us get a better idea of the program holistically. Oopsie. If I go forward. Okay. Thanks, Liz. Wachi Valley Community Transitions is a program in the Wachi School District. All
062of our students are 18 to 21 years old and they have completed four years of high school. They have chosen to come back to school uh to focus on vocational training, community access and mobility, community connections, functional daily living skills, and self- advocacy. Our program is very dependent on our community partnerships. We focus on vocational training with our students. So students are placed in jobs in throughout our community that they are interested in and our community partners provide work for our students so that they can learn how to become good employees and be a vital part of our community. We have a couple of students who currently work at Central Washington Hospital and they have job coaches that assist them while they're at work. And our job coaches go with students throughout their shift and
063help them learn how to perform the tasks at industry standards. So the way every employee at the hospital is expected to do the work, our students are expected to do that same level of work. So, our job coaches work with our students, but they also work with the other employees there so that those employees can learn how to make accommodations and help the student workers become more independent on their work sites. Once the hospital feels our students are able to work independently, our program job coaches will start to fade away from them and the support will transfer from our job coaches to those natural supports in the work setting. Students in our program not only focus on vocational training, we also want to make sure that our students are comfortable navigating the community by themselves
064or to the greatest independence that they can. So part of our time in program or part of their time in program students will participate in community access training. Uh that is where we take students into the community and they learn the link system. They learn how to navigate safely in the streets. They learn how to shop independently and participate in community activities that they choose so that they can build social awareness and learn how to do things that will bring joy to them when they're outside of school. One of the things that we like to work on with students is helping them become connected to community agencies that we have in the valley who will provide supports to students once they leave our school system. So we connect with agencies like the Developmental Disability Administration
065or DDA. We also connect with Division of Vocational Rehabilitation or DVR. We also have students work with or learn about the local vocational agencies so that when they are ready to leave the public school system, they can have informed decisionmaking on which vocational agencies they would like to work with to support their work when they uh move away from our job coaches. Uh we also try and help students through the community mobility training that we do. We try and help them uh learn how to get involved with things in the community that they can do to um have that work and social life balance because life isn't always just about work. So, we want our students to understand that and be able to fill their days with things that make them happy. Excellent and well
066said. It's hard to compress the entire program into three and a half minutes, but since we had to, that was perfect. And um from what I understand the the video was um was created and uh designed uh Seth did this work and he's in the transitions program and through the cinematography class. Okay. So much right there um is is wonderful. So um as you can all see the program hosts just a variety of positive outcomes for students that not only relate directly to workforce development but also career connected learning. Um and it also connects our students to the important uh community resources um and agencies that you described uh Bethanne in that video. All the all the acronyms of support that are part of our community. So very important uh there. Okay. Thank you. There
067it was. All right. Um and so the some of the concerns with the current program location. Um the program's current location is in the portables at Westside High School. Um it is a temporary uh placement and it truly cannot accommodate the growing number of staff and students in that program. Uh in addition, our students are requiring some increased bathroom space and ADA accessibility uh which cannot be met in the current location without incurring some excessive expenses to do that. uh and the need for the additional bathroom space um and accommodations reduces the area for instruction um that would be available for students. So, as we're growing in student and staff and we're decreasing in class size, it uh it it doesn't fit the need. Um there's only a finite amount of space here and it
068would be significantly impacted with the renovations that would be needed. Uh the use of the portables also presents challenges with new construction. just in general, remodeling of portables can happen. Um, but they just take a lot after continuous change. And the the portables were not new to Westside when they were put there in 2013. Um, and during the 2013 uh school year uh to I think the time that uh our transitions program moved in there, we had an early learning center that were was housed there, threeclassroom early learning center. So there's been lots of movement and remodeling in that. Um the other thing that we want to mention is that the the transitions program has moved a bit uh in in its lifetime as well from the Wanche High School uh to the transitions house
069across the street uh to the tech center um and now at Westside as well. So there's been there's been some movement uh and uh and a little bit on why the program has grown. Well, and the program is growing because of the opportunities that we just shared in that in the video there. But there's been some increases in enrollment naturally as well. Uh and uh the creation of the highquality career development opportunities and the partnerships for students motivates families and IEP teams to choose this direction for their students as well. And as I mentioned earlier in the presentation, some of the changes in the age requirements have also um led to us being able to to have students uh stay in the program additionally from not not just up to when they turn 21, but
070now when they uh they're able to remain until they turn 22. And now they're able to stay for that entire school year of when they are 22. So this is a this is a great uh great opportunity for our students. Um, and correct me if I'm wrong, we had seven additional students because of that uh uh the the age change. So there it is. Uh we also anticipate additional growth in future years as IEP teams increasingly choose this program for their students. Um and so with all of that said, the district feels that our transition program needs a more permanent home where they can settle in. um and a home such as potentially the west wing of uh Columbia Elementary as we've been talking about. Uh we know that there is a need um and
071we uh we can see the writing on the wall and uh it really feels like uh this is the right opportunity to do what's best for our students. Um, and so as we talk about Colombia, um, and the thoughtful consideration of the space that's there at Columbia Elementary, the district has been and is committed to determining how best to utilize that former Columbia Elementary School building to not only expand programs, but also to serve the Wanche School District students in general. Uh and I'll share the original slide that uh we shared with the board in August of uh 2024 and then also in January of 2024 about what we've committed to. Uh we've also committed to taking this school year to study the internal needs um of our programming to prioritize the Wanche School District
072students, families, and areas of growth. Uh we needed that time to really survey the needs of our system and where growth could be possible. Um, in early March it was decided to relocate Valley Academy uh to Colombia. Shelley, thanks for being here. Um, and they'll occupy roughly twothirds of the classrooms um classroom space, maybe a little bit more, and then most of the common spaces as well, but that West Wing remains available for occupancy uh with the six additional classrooms that we have there. And this is the slide that I shared back in August um and again in January. We really wanted to make sure from the Wanche School District perspective that we were maintaining Colombia facility for Wanche school district programming and to use the building to grow enrollment as we are working through
073managing enrollment decline. Uh make sure we provide a space for indoor gym and facility use in the district as we know that those spaces are at a premium. Uh the facility will also continue to be a community asset inside and out. We will continue to keep it wellmaintained. uh the building will not be abandoned or boarded up. It will not be sold and Colombia's history will not be forgotten. So, those are the things that we're committed to as a district um in carrying on the spaces and uh the student programs that will be there. And there's a lot on this slide and uh Diana, thank you for organizing in a way that um makes sense because we did have two slides and then we're like, okay, let's do one slide. We'll make it more compact.
074but really looking at how what are the benefits to uh us having this conversation and two main themes came out of that and one of those is addressing the space needs for growing programming and then reducing cost. Um so the new location offers ample space to accommodate future expansion with six classrooms. Um the central location is great for accessing employment opportunities, getting to the tech center, um getting to the transition house. Um, and we really feel like uh moving uh the transition program uh shows the value of the programming um and our students by providing a more permanent location uh for those students as well. I'm excited about this part too. It allows teachers and staff to be in one location. We know the importance of collaboration in education and we've invested a great deal
075of resources into the PLC process. So having both of our teachers in one space, uh it will allow our teachers to uh a chance to really work together, collaborate, and provide the education that our students need. Um Cy, can I jump in really quick? So where are they right now? So you're saying they're in one location. Presumably, they're in multiple locations. They're not all at Yeah, we have them uh we have them at Westside and the transition house. And it's more of a that's it's more of when you're there, you're there. Okay. Um, so the students that are at Westside right now are there most of their uh programming unless they're out in the community, right? Um, but when but that is their home base and then the transitions program that's their home base as
076well too. So our teachers are in two separate locations right now. So thank you for that clarification. I should have shared that. Um but that's the opportunity that we have with this is to have them collaborative uh collaborating in one space and we know that there'll be lots of time where our students will be out in the field and also at the transition house but they'll come back and that will be home base for everyone. We're excited about that. Um we also hope to strengthen community and business partnerships through um employment opportunities for youth with disabilities and there uh we can free up some uh portable space at Westside High School for additional programming there. Uh the other benefit is uh reducing costs and so eliminating the expensesh I don't know if I should say
077eliminating but um lessening the expenses associated with increasing ADA bathroom space. Um we would still need to increase ADA accessibility at Colombia a little bit but not to the degree that would be necessary at the Westside portables. it would be roughly about a fifth of the cost of what it would be um for us to move the program into Colombia as opposed to Westside High School. So, that's something that is important for us to know and understand. We also feel like that we could be avoiding potential costs of bringing in a community partner um as we have talked about in the past, whether it's contracts or lease agreements or cost sharing complexities that happen when you bring in a partner. Um, we would do this um and and we'll uh do this if we uh
078continue to entertain the idea of opening it up for proposals. Um, but we would incur costs with staff time, legal fees, and collaboration necessary to create a mutually beneficial location with a a system that is not something other than the Wanche School District program. Okay. um community district proposal requests. In the event that the Wache School District um a Wache School District program was not selected to occupy the West Wing of Columbia, the district had considered accepting proposals to lease that space out to the community. Uh relocating the transition program uh would allow us to proceed with moving that program staff and students to a more permanent location uh that we feel more appropriately supports their unique needs while continuing to engage with the community. Uh however, in doing so, we want to acknowledge that
079we would be unable to accept at least proposals from the community um if that were to happen. Okay. And then sharing the building, uh when we talk about that, we have two programs under one roof. Um the west wing would be used by the transition program. There's a separate entrance and a separate parking lot that would be used um uh for that programming. I I haven't I haven't been by there to count spots because uh our transition program also comes with a fair share of vehicles as well. So, we want to make sure that we have enough space uh as well. There are secure doors at the end of the hallway uh that'll be closed to create a separation between the two programs. We do feel that um uh that we are working to create
080a functional uh and separate spaces for each of these programs under one roof. Um and then ultimately it will be exciting to see how these two programs um and the facility will complement one another and uh and grow to u maybe engage um in a deeper way in the future. Uh the district uh can definitely maintain a secure campus for uh for both programs. And then I just want to share kind of my personal thoughts. Uh when we and I want to thank the board for allowing the Wii school district to take the time to be thoughtful about what we do with Columbia Elementary School because I think that it has added value um uh to to Valley Academy and and hopefully it will add a great deal of value to our transitions program. But
081as we were looking at the proposal process and we're thinking, okay, we might have proposals from community groups and we know we have some antanche school district programs that could be interested in this as well. I actually had a conversation with Janice about this in the fall and I thought, wow, let be thinking about this. This could be a great opportunity. Um, and then as we got more kind of solidified in this idea that we were doing going to do the the community proposals, um, I was still encouraging it and uh, and thinking, okay, we could have a proposal from the transitions program. We might have a CTE proposal because Jake thinks about everything and always has a great idea and then we could have these community uh, proposals as well. Um, and so that
082was where my thinking was until I heard about the increase in numbers, the growth, and more importantly the needs of the students that were coming into the program. And so it really helped kind of shape my thinking as well because I think at first I was like, well, no, we have to we have to do the community proposals. And and anyway, I think my my thinking that has changed was we're in the business of the Wanche School District students and we need to make sure that we're maintaining um and uh looking out for the needs of of of all of our students. The plan is for to bring this conversation back to the board um on May 13th for discussion and potential action. Um, but I would uh answer any questions, concerns, or maybe celebrations
083that uh any of the board members might have or if I need to bring back some more information after I do some research as well. Can you remind us what kind of funding we get um for the transitions program so that because I assume growth of the program would be good for the district. I will um Thank you. I'm still I'm still hot. Okay. Um, we do get funding for all of our students. Um, as they as the changes were happening from 21 to 22, there was a year where we got funding until they turned 22. And then literally it was kind of like, you know, we we we need to we need to do something different at that point. And now that legislation has changed, so we get funding throughout that the year of
084their that they turn 22. I will I will tell um the board that this is it's an expensive program. Um, and we have a lot of uh we have a lot of para educators that are involved in that, but it's necessary for the work, but we are we are funded at uh at at a good ratio. And we're excited about maybe some potential caps being removed um in the legislation for special education funding. So, that's always a good thing. Sean, what else can I what else should I say there? Did that help answer you your question? Okay. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate that. My question was um we talked about having four years of high school before they can enter the program. Is that anywhere or is this like known students that the district has you
085know it seems like that having relationship with these students is important to understand you know who's coming through what needs they're going to have. So if you have someone coming in at 18 and being like did four years of school I really should in the transition program is that an option right? Um, I don't think it's an option as we currently exist in the model that we're currently using. There are other programs that do um that do have a more holistic approach and do accept students from other places. Eastmont does have a transitions program. I know that um Cascade and Kashmir would love to help some of their students come down here or go over there, but that is not currently how how our model works. Thank you. To me, it makes sense that um
086I I I'm aware that the transition program has been in hunt for a new place for the last couple years. I'm very well aware. Um, so to me it makes complete sense why what I guess I'm I'm not sure why we would if there's a need for our students in the district um why why not um why would we um give the community an opportunity not not that that's a bad thing um but our students we're here are we're here to serve our students and there's a need Um, and I get it. There's there's a cost involved. Um, it is an expensive program to run. Um, but to me, it's just it just makes a lot of sense to keep it keep the facility to serve our students. Um, I would hate I know there
087is a lot of interest in Colombia for the community aspect of it. Um, but again, I I'm I fully understand what what your your personal opinion and I I I agree completely. Yeah. I mean, to me, it makes sense kind of like moving them. We moved them to Westside, which was one of our facilities. So, if there's a need and that's not suitable, it makes sense they'd get first shot at one of our facilities versus bringing somebody else in and and then making improvements that we need to make anyway to these other facilities. So, intuitively, it makes it makes sense. Um, it would be nice to know just additionally some of the cost comparisons between the improvements there and the improvements here because I mean if we can keep them there and make it a
088usable space and still get a lease income. I mean, and that's not our our main reason for it, but just putting that out there so the community understands that this just makes sense to move our, you know, we don't want to keep moving everything around to all of our buildings. Um but but using our building for our essentially our program makes sense. Um the only other question concern I had is with the amount of improvements. They sound pretty small to Colombia, but at some point do we get worried about losing, you know, compliance with building permits, codes, and things that we we currently maybe don't have to worry about because it's an older building and grandfathered in. But once we hit a certain improvement threshold, now we're everything's got to be built to newest, highest
089code standards. Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Thank you both. I I really appreciate uh your comments there. And um I'll address the dollars and cents first. Um, from uh from a rough estimate standpoint, uh the needs that would the needs and the costs that would be associated with the uh the portables at Westside is about $25,000. And then um for us to address the same needs at Columbia Elementary is about five 5,000 and those are keeping up with current uh standards and codes right now, which which is great. Um so not only is it a more permanent location, but it's value added with the the costs that are associated with that u from what I understand. And I also just want to share that um Maria, you summarized it very well. And what I just
090want to make sure is um I'm just very aware and uniquely um understanding that I really want to make sure that the Wanche School District does what it says it's going to do. And in this case, um we told the community that we were going to go out for proposals and we prepared that. And I just want to the our community to recognize that we have a need for our students and it is it is the best um place for them to go. Otherwise, we would still be continuing with that plan. So, thank you. Um I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yeah. No, and and I totally I totally agree. I mean, I I we've chatted about people calling me about what's going to happen with the space, how do they get access to it, etc.
091Um but I'm I mean, I Beth has been at the college. We've tried at the college to look for a space. So, I'm well aware that this has been an ongoing issue for the last couple years. I also had the honor of working here when it was at the house and to see how much it's grown. Um, it's it's a great service for for for our community um for our parents. I have one more question. Um, so are we going to is Westside going to be able to expand into those portables? I mean, is that freeing up space at their building that they're going to be able to utilize as well? I I don't I don't want to speak to to the programming um growth um because I have not talked specifically with Mrs. Dero.
092However, they have used those buildings in the past, especially on Mondays when they uh do some um some different academic programming. Um they have I can't Monday Funday is it? Music is what's out there. Okay. But they do they do um because Westside isn't able to offer as many elective opportunities as Winry High School, they use Monday's different schedule to offer um more elective opportunities. So I know they were they were coming out into the portable there. Um Westside can always utilize the space. Um I don't know if it will um if we have not asked uh about growth specifically, but they'll definitely use the space. Yep. Thank you. Um, I think uh it's a very reasonable position to take and I'm putting it that way. Um, I appreciate the fact because it is something
093um somewhat of a change in plan, new opportunity that it's being done in a two-step process with time to pause and consider and to have um additional input. And I I'm appreciate that that technique. Okay. Well, thank you so much for the time and I appreciate the opportunity and we'll uh we have an interesting we have three weeks before the next board meeting which is always interesting. Um and uh so we'll we'll be back on uh May 13th and uh do a quick summary and then have some discussion and potential action on that. So appreciate that. Um next up, let me move over to some notes. Here is a superintendent report. It's been a fun week. No, get out of here. You're right. I'm going to stop talking for a little bit. This is great.
094Take a break. How about some water? Okay. All right. So, the ne the real next thing on our agenda um is the election of a new board vice president to fill the unexpired term of Marina Scaliski uh who resigned from the board in March. Do I hear any nominations for vice president of the Wachi School District board to serve the remainder of the term through December 2025? Yes, I have a nomination. I nominate Maria Anigas to assume the position that is currently vacant of vice president. Okay, Maria has been nominated. Are there any other nominations? All right, hearing none, we're going to do a roll call vote for Maria to serve as a vice president of the Wachi School District Board until December 2025. Martin, you can start. I Okay, Maria. I. All right. Uh,
095Mark I. All right, Julie. Hi. And I also vote I. So, um, I guess we only had to do three, but we did all [Laughter] five. The other So, Marian, you guys have uh received the majority of votes and therefore we'll assume the office of vice president of the board. Congratulations. And now, superintendent, back into it. Okay. Thank you, Maria. All right. Excellent. Uh just reminding uh everyone that we'll be hosting community forum uh for our athletic director on Thursday at 7 o'clock in the Wanche uh high school new commons. Uh the community forum will be following three separate interviews for each of the candidates. Uh Wanche school district staff, parents, community, uh students, and they'll be our school board members, Julia and Maria will be representing. So, thank you. Uh we look forward to
096seeing our new uh seeing our community uh get to hear from uh potentially our new well one of them will be our new athletic director. So we're excited about that. Uh also today Diane and I had the distinct pleasure of uh hanging out uh at Wanche High School and participating in the AVID sophomore interviews which was a great process. Um, we were supposed to take on the persona of local retail stores interviewing our AVID students uh for a sales associate position. Um, we had 11 questions to choose from and about 10 minutes with each student and it was fantastic. The students were dressed to impress. They had practiced their interview skills. They gave us uh resumeumés and uh uh recommendations u or Yeah. Yeah. Uh folks that would God, why am I just I can't
097spit it out. Yeah. They had they had letters of recommendation as well too. So it was it was great. Wonderful hour for us to spend. Um we also had a big day of excitement at Mission View Elementary. The Wanche Big Horns and Samaritans Feet Shoe Distribution Program were on site to literally give every single student a new pair of shoes. So there were 500 pairs of shoes laid out on a table and they were each size to each individual student at uh Mission View Elementary. And uh it was great. So Jeff Jagger was literally it was like he was hosting a WWF event. He was he called every single student's name with gusto and I don't I mean he probably is not talking at all tonight and he's just he's got a throat lozenge and
098he's going to be taking care of himself but the students funneled through this high- five tunnel of uh big horn uh players and uh cheerleaders and it was super fun and just to see the the kindergarteners run through that I mean those big horn players are tall um and uh and then They uh each there was adult paired up with each individual student because they'd come down by classroom and grade level and uh so I was able to help a couple of students try on their new pair of shoes and we fit them and their old shoes would go on a little string backpack with their name on it that they'd be able to take home. It was just really great. So um and then they would head over to have their Mission View t-shirt
099signed by the Big Horn players. So that was kind of a big deal. So super fun day at Mission View. Um let's see. um cell phone focus group. We have a 10 member cell phone focus group that we're working with. Um we're learning together. They're offering a great deal of valuable feedback to the district as we look at a a way that we can better align our to our cell phone policy and limit unnecessary distractions in the classroom. Uh we had our second meeting last me last week where a representative uh from the Yonder Pouch uh company came and shared how their tools and programs support increased engagement and lessening of social interaction. Um we have a third meeting that's coming up next Wednesday. Um so just letting the community and the board uh know
100about that. I also want to just thank you and welcome uh school board director Mark Belton. Thank you for being with us today um and joining us. We're thrilled to have your expertise and uh and thank you for your volunteerism. All right, and that's it for the superintendent report. All right, board communication. Um I'm gonna start this side so Mark, you get it last. So Maria, nothing. Okay, it's coming fast. Oh, all right. Martin, you're usually good for something. Well, yeah. I I want to welcome my new friend here, Mark. Welcome to the table. That's great. Uh, no, I have nothing except I do have one promotion that Consumer Jungle Financial Literacy Program with Yaset is on at Westside tomorrow in the afternoon and that will be great. A great program. Thursday. Yeah, Thursday. Not
101not Wednesday. Yeah, Wednesday is me doing the victim of interviews at at Abid. Right. They're interviewing you. Yeah, I'm just saying as Cory does. Yeah, AVID, as you know, is such an amazing program of academic and character leadership and skills in survival. So, yeah, but no, I the uh I think it's really exciting that Westside has their financial literacy consumer jungle program and that's going to be great. Mark, you're up. I just wanted to say thank you for having me today and I'm excited to see all the great things that Wanche School District can do. Right. Yeah, I'm welcome officially. I'm glad we have a full compliment of board members now and congratulations to our new VP, Maria. And other than that, I think that's it. So, meeting adjourned.