001foreign I welcome everyone to the May 23rd regular board meeting thank you for joining us wish we had this creative attendance every board meeting we're here every Tuesday every other Tuesday sorry we will open today's meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance please join us for all thank you is should anyone wish to participate in citizen comment you may still sign up by completing a citizen comment form at the entrance entry of the building um virtual attendees have had the opportunity to sign up in advance are there any modifications to the board agenda uh yes I would move to modify the agenda to move the special presentation of Cindy Acosta award recognition to either after the consent agenda or immediately before citizen comment thank you Julie I second that motion thank you we have a motion
002by Julie to move the Cindy Acosta award recognition presentation to uh right after the consent agenda uh is there any discussion hearing none all in favor aye aye motion carries okay now we have the consent agenda in this meetings consent agenda we have the May 19th regular meeting minutes the May 15th Workshop minutes payroll and vouchers Personnel report the Surplus report contracts student field trips summer athletic programs and the 23-24 local fee schedule do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved thank you Laura I'll second have a second but from Catherine all in favor of approving the consent agenda as presented please say aye aye aye any discussion well any discussion first uh all income all in favor of approving the consent agenda I thank you motion carries okay next we
003have special presentations and I'll pass it over to Bill thank you I would like to welcome representatives from the Washington Association of school business officials and North Central Educational Service District at Paul Harrison and Brianne King to present an award to one of our staff members this evening thing board directors and superintendent Eagle my name is Brianne King executive director at Washington Association of school business officials uh every year in May we present an award for the it's called the Cindy Acosta award it is for someone that has shown great um risk management uh skills in their in their school district so I'm just going to read a little bit about it it was created um in 2006 to recognize the contribution of an outstanding risk manager in wasbo the award is named in memory
004of Cindy Acosta the Beloved risk manager from Sumner School District who passed away in 2006. Cindy's family also donated funds to endow a cash award to the annual recipient each spring the members of wasbo risk management networking group are asked to nominate someone who has provided outstanding service in the field of risk management for public schools in the state of Washington the award recipient is recognized at the wasbo annual conference held in May uh this year's uh nomination was nominated by Paul Harrison so we'll let him come up thank you board um I appreciate the work that Brian does it's the risk manager award and risk manager is a big term but Brian encompasses risk management passion and safety when it comes to working with the employees of Wenatchee school district and the students of
005the schools that that he Services um Brian as the Director of Maintenance operation the work they do often does goes unsung and I wanted to this year sing his Praises Brian does a fantastic job of making sure your buildings are operational running as efficiently as we can I know nothing's perfect but him and his crew do a fantastic job of making sure that um everything can be done to make sure that they are a safe and pleasant learning environment for everybody that comes into their buildings so I wanted to recognize Brian and his hard work that he puts in there making sure that everyone that steps onto any campus in Wenatchee school district has a safe place to be so thank you Brian for all your hard work congratulations on the award well deserved thank
006you congratulations next on the agenda we have citizen comments Kim has a list of people that have signed up to provide a citizen comment each person will be limited to three minutes she will keep you a timer to keep track of time the board's role is to receive comments and not comment or respond the speakers will be called by Kim in the order in which the forms were received okay our first public comment is Mike Ensley good evening my name is Mike Ensley our family lives here in Wenatchee we have children who have been a part of the Wenatchee school district for many years I'm here today in response to the recent call to action posted on social media channels via document titled stop the indoctrination of our children I am here to tell you
007that I am very much in favor of having a library catalog and further a school system that is inclusive to all children the existence of a book in a library about a cram that doesn't identify as a color it was assigned is not indoctrination it's simply a book that does a fantastic job of explaining the nuances of gender identity a complex yet very simple concept that so many people refuse to accept if a child walks to a library and sees a book about a kid with two dads or about a transgender girl navigating what it means to truly live her authentic self this is not about indoctrination this is about existence this is about education this is about seeing someone this is about learning to respect the people around you and yourself the existing the
008existence of these books will hopefully also Shield our kids from the ignorant and cowardly fear being taught to them by certain adults the fear I speak of is being used to try and systematically erase a community just trying to live this is nothing new Banning books is just one of the many Tools in their playbook and I encourage you all to denounce this call to action and send a strong statement to those behind it that this behavior and hatred is not tolerated in our community and in our school district I'll finish with this an inclusive school system makes every child better it makes the entire system Thrive thank you for your time next we have Summer Haze I'm not that tall um I'm here tonight to express my deep concern regarding yet another attempt to
009restrict act restrict access to books and materials in our libraries and classrooms while the right to read and access information is protected under the First Amendment I want to remind everyone about the 14th Amendment specifically the equal protection clause which guarantees equal rights to all citizens and non-citizens living in the United States I bring this up because the vast majority of the requests to ban and restrict books Target two specific identity groups lgbtqia plus and people of color these attempts to ban and restrict books written by and about marginalized groups are thinly veiled attempts to erase the validity and experiences of so many of our community members and these attempts are rooted in racism Prejudice and bias to reiterate these attempts to remove books are wholly unconstitutional because they target specific viewpoints and they infringe
010on the rights of students to receive information that is relevant to their needs and interests books can be a Lifeline especially for readers who don't see themselves reflected in the communities in which they live what message does it send to our queer trans non-binary and gender non-conforming Youth and they are here when they see adults vilifying the books that reflect their identities and lived experiences how do you think it feels to be a black teenager and have a white adults petitioning a school board to remove books about black history and culture from libraries and classrooms removing books that reflect these identities ultimately create a hostile environment that violates our students civil rights as a tax paying parent I expect that my child graduates from the Wenatchee School District with the tools and knowledge he needs
011to succeed in this world in order for him to be a global citizen it is absolutely vital that he is exposed to and challenged by perspectives viewpoints and lived experiences that are different from his own one of the most effective ways to do this is through books really already set my three minutes okay good um reading builds empathy and compassion and understanding books are the only not only reflect and validate personal identities they give us access to Worlds and lived experiences that we may not share but we can always always learn from it is up to every parent to determine what is appropriate and inappropriate for their own child to read it is absolutely unacceptable for any parent to decide what is not what is and what is not appropriate for someone else's child the
012core job of our teachers and Librarians is to determine what materials are relevant for our students learnings books that reflect different viewpoints and lived experiences are relevant books that teach us about The Human Experience even if those books make us uncomfortable are relevant please do not let loud voices of a small minority dictate what my child can and cannot read or learn it is not their decision to make okay the next two in order are Micah vacadio and then after that Stella winter Micah are you here Micah vacadio Kim I don't want to forget about our online um attendees as well I've got them both yeah he um he set up for in person so I don't know if he if you see his email in there at all Liz in the waiting room or
013anything okay then we're ready for Stella winter hello I'm Stella I'm a non-binary parent to a queer child in the Wenatchee school district and a small business owner in Wenatchee I'm here today because somehow the city of Wenatchee has allowed literal fascism to not only exist in our land of liberty and freedom but to thrive two years ago a group of unmasked protesters allowed themselves to be led to this very building after believing in misinformation and proceeded to shut down a Wenatchee school board meeting when they all refused to follow the mask mandate that group succeeded in disrupting that meeting and the board moved to zoom for safety two weeks ago two members of our community who homeschooled their children tried to access the Wenatchee High School library and other elementary schools during school hours
014to determine if the if they deemed the books in the the school libraries were appropriate for other people's children even though access is available online to the library catalogs last week swastikas were sprayed spray painted on a local synaget since synagogue last week the same person who attempted to gain access to the school libraries with no children in the school district posted misinformation in a Wenatchee Facebook group designed to engage conservative rage and lead them to disrupt another Wenatchee school board meeting by saying three books who happened to be authored by queer people of color should be pulled out of the libraries of our schools only one of those books they listed is actually in the Wenatchee High School today the Wenatchee Pride Banner was cut in half outside the apple blossom offices next to
015the courthouse according to the Trevor Project lgbtq lgbtq ia2s plus children are 40 less likely to kill themselves if they have just one accepting parent in the home just one queer kids from all over queer kids from All Families liberal and conservative are born not created I was born and raised by conservative people in a Catholic household and yet I'm still queer because I Was Born This Way not groomed and not from reading books which I didn't have access to we should not tolerate fascist censorship period no one should dictate what my child can and cannot read let alone people who don't have children in the school district what I would like the board to consider is to make sure that people who request to pull books from the school libraries actually have children in
016that school and that we have a public running list of which books have successfully been pulled from from our school shelves so every parent or Guardian can make their own determination if they want their child to have access to these books not some random person who doesn't want their or other people's children to learn empathy please continue to focus on Dei and SEL it's badly needed in our community thank you next up is Angela Prater who should be here in person and after that we have Bridget Egan remote I've got two pages of notes here but I doubt that I'm even going to get to them we started this meeting declaring liberty and justice for all we sit here in front of Science and say because you matter but I question whether or not only
017seven seconds means you only matter for seven seconds although that's a campaign that means something completely different regardless of what you believe whether you like a book or not is up to you it is up to that parent to decide whether or not they're going to read that book it's up to that parent to decide whether or not that their children are gonna is gonna read that book it Is My Decision whether or not I'm going to allow my children to read certain books by removing any book from the library because somebody doesn't like it circumvents my role as a parent and the school district does not have the right to do that we have Bridget ready to go thank you hello my name is Bridget Egan and I am a Wenatchee resident I would
018like to take the time to thank the Wenatchee school district for providing a wide range of media and materials to our diverse student body and I want to applaud the use of my tax money that is spent to represent the whole of the community including the queer and trans community of which I am a part this is money well spent for younger folks school should be a safe space of exploration having books that reflect the thoughts ideas dreams questions and history of all people is critical for all kids to learn books about lgbtq plus athletes striving for equality or books that are Explorations and fun stories of queer and trans people including children help students learn empathy and see themselves reflected in what they learn and be accepted for who they really are school hours
019may be the very few hours a day where some kids feel that level of acceptance I grew up in a very rural area the nearest public library was 20 minutes away my school did not have a robust library and I still devoured every book I encountered I explored worlds beyond what I had ever experienced through Reading and made sense of my own complicated emotions the most trustworthy loving adults in my life taught me how to think critically ask thoughtful questions and engage with ideas that were different from my own I use those skills to find myself in books that I was forbidden to read and though I never saw myself reflected in anyone else around me I saw myself and I saw others who were different in books and it positively shaped my world of
020you in an era of restricting ideas and at a time when book bands continue to be on the rise from a very small but a very vocal minority I want to speak on behalf of the First Amendment rights of students and community members to access the materials they wish to access as school board members I'm sure you know the research that shows access to diverse books is developmentally appropriate and has psychological benefits the school district has talented competent professionals using their expertise this District also has so many young people who are already leading Us in this community we need to enable them to see themselves and others by providing lgbtq books and media thank you next up Dylan Dylan spradling and then Katie Ireland I'm a member of the queer community and I have the
021privilege of working professionally with lgbtq plus teens I Want To Praise Wenatchee school district and express my deep gratitude for their efforts and actions to provide a safe affirming School environment for all students regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity a 2022 National survey completed by the Trevor Project demonstrated that queer youth who report that their schools are accepting or affirming attempt suicide at a significantly lower rate than students who do not receive that support at the national level more lgbtq plus youth identify their school as a safe affirming environment than they do their home Wenatchee School District demonstrates its commitment to student Welfare by providing students with access to a broad diverse collection of resources and literature in the library including the passing Playbook a work of fiction centering a transgender student athlete young
022adult literature discussing lgbtq plus topic is not explicit simply because it upsets confuses or does not align with an individual's personal value system book Banning never ever goes well I hope Wenatchee School District holds firm understands of inclusion and continues to take efforts to further their allyship and work supporting lgbtq plus students this District's acts of queer allyship are literally saving children's lives thank you Katie Ireland hello my name is Katie Ireland and first I would like to take the time to thank the board for listening to all of our comments and thank the speakers here who have stepped up to support access to books for all students on all topics I really appreciate your time taking the time to listen to my comment I don't have prepared remarks but I just wanted to come
023and say that I believe in access to all books of all for all Races all genders all sexual orientation should be represented in our schools I have two boys in the district in the elementary and middle schools here and I want them to be exposed to all kinds of different ideas I want their viewpoints challenged school and books are the places for our children to learn open-mindedness to have their viewpoints challenged and to have their their experiences expanded they can't happen in a in a restricted environment the other day I was talking to my boys at dinner about the possibility of book bands and I said to them a parent who is afraid of a book is afraid of their ideas and the value of their ideas if you are secure in your ideas you
024will talk to your children about the views that they are experiencing in school and in books it really takes a lot of cowardice to want books to be banned from the schools and I would urge the district to please support and maintain access to all books thank you for your time next is Jessica shell remote then Andrew Winter hello yes I'm here go ahead Jessica thank you thank you for your time tonight I am standing in support of keeping books um for all children in our local schools so all children can learn about diversity this attack appears to specifically target lgbtqia books all children can benefit about learning from A diversity these types of books in our schools will Foster a window and to other people's experiences it teaches empathy and understanding these books inform
025and educate readers about accepting differences and reducing stereotypes don't we want children who appreciate differences for lgbtqia students these books offer acceptance show their schools are inclusive which then lets the students know they are seen heard validated accepted and loved in their school Community when lgbtqia students don't feel seen heard validated or accepted they have higher levels of anxiety stress and higher rates of suicide in recent statistics suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 24 years old lgbtqi youth are more are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers 29 of transgender youth have attempted suicide compared to seven percent of cisgender Youth and 20 of gay and lesbian Youth and 22 of bisexual youth have attempted suicide compared to seven
026percent of cisgendered Youth for these students other key factors are minority stress rejection and lack of social support affirming places physical harm and bullying and discrimination we already have long wait times for mental health care in this Valley for children and by Banning books our community is not supporting these kids you would be making it more difficult for them to learn educate themselves and find support in their school not all children have affirming and supportive parents who they can come to or even discuss their sexuality in a safe space why do we want to make their lives Harder by not allowing them to learn about the lgbtqia community I'm going to leave you with this quote if a public school were to remove every book because it contains one word deemed objectionable to some parent
027then there would be no books at all in our public libraries that's by Peter schrer thank you so much for your time foreign so I had to write it out so that I wouldn't go on too many tangents because I'm passionate about this particular subject so I'm just going to read it straight out my name is Andrew and I live here in Wenatchee I am a father to a child who's enrolled in Wenatchee School District a child that is questioning their world exploring themselves we are actively encouraging them to ask who am I what do I want how will I interact with the world our household is one of open communication and honesty we have had the difficult conversations with our child regarding gender identity and preference this also armed our child appropriately to be
028able to tell us when another child touched them inappropriately at school that kids at lunch called them slurs that their antagonist Drew pictures of burning the pride flag and showed it around saying they were burning the sin flag at lunch our child was able to tell us what was happening to describe the world and its occurrences to us because we gave our child the language necessary to do so what we are facing in this Valley right now is the Vanguard of a movement that wants children like mine to be silenced and closeted removed from public View stripped of their ability to identify themselves and of end of the language needed to express that identity under no circumstance can we allow an extremely small but vocal group of social regressives to dictate public policy for the
029rest of us they do not get to dictate what books my child can read or whether publicly funded organizations will possess those writings if they want to keep their own children in the dark to send them out into the world without the knowledge needed to face it directly that is their choice I disagree with their decision but I respect that it is Theirs to make they do not get to make that choice for me and I will resist any attempt made by such groups or individuals to impose their will on how I raise my child certainly not groups of people from out of town or whose children do not even attend the schools they are trying to control make no mistake this is an attempt to exert power over others by a small group who
030who feel their way of life is slipping away and they will stop at nothing to force us back into the boxes they believe we should stay in to stand aside to be silent to be complacent this is the same as being complicit we have a responsibility to our children and to Future generations to lay this foundation on Solid Ground I ask that the board consider carefully any request to remove material from any public school and to understand that they hold our children's Futures in their hands thank you next is Micah Vicario and then Carrie vacadio three minutes after all right all right she just found out like 10 minutes ago okay hello thank you for having me I'm a local therapist and social worker that specializes in the mental health and the well-being of lgbtqi
031children youth and adults and those that love them I have plenty to say on the subject but today I'm here to share some of the wise word wise words of some of my patients and their families local trans high school student queer representation in school libraries this is intense um I think it's really important to a lot of people especially people who are shy or in the closet because it can help build some sense of community even if you don't have one in real life if they start Banning lgbtqi books I think it would feel even more persecuted than they already do it would probably make a lot of queer people feel gross wrong Etc because we're being censored essentially it would feel discriminatory and uncomfortable as well as well as unfair since it feels
032like we barely have any representation anyway 18 year old local queer student for me as someone who was never really social and who was bullied a lot in school books were my access to the world and now I understood my place in it having had access to books in middle school and high school about both topics that I agreed with and topics that I did not allowed me to see representation of all perspectives and helped me form my own perspective and identity as an LGBT lgbtqi person reading books about queer history and queer Joy gave me a relief that there are people living like me living living fulfilling and meaningful lives and gave me a future to look forward to young queer adult prior student having Comics music and movies and books that reflect our
033experience is an essential need for every one of us whether it's dealing with trauma angst grief conflict hate we have all of us turn to Media about People Like Us dealing with these issues issues that help process learn and grow my experience being trans is no different my process of self-discovery self-acceptance and coming out was heavily helped by seeing folks works from trans people like me that depicted Journeys like mine I can't imagine what it'd be like for me to have notebooks on what it means to be trans if I was starting that journey of self-discovery in school 14 year old queer non-binary student this is good do they not understand the concept concept of free will civil rights and personal choices I don't know if they don't know this or not but we want
034if we want to read a book we will teens are very resourceful when you are drawn to something that sings to you you search what makes why make it harder for us why make us look at other less safe places no one is forcing you or your children to read these books why are you trying to limit us indoctrinate much I don't think they knew what indoctrinate means um 16 year old Christian this isn't about protecting us from sexual content this is blatant homophobia and transphobia your moral Panic is restricting readers us from books about us by us we need to survive we need you to focus on Mental Health gun violence domestic violence and unsafe homes queer young adult prior student to ban and censor books and media from one group of the entire
035Community is to remove them from social life having books in the library about my group allows us to know we belong having books in the library about us lets us know our community and loves and acceptance and that's how we show our community we love and accept them do it I'm Kari young queer young adult prior student having queer content help helps to stop hate helps people grow up realize that it's okay to be different it doesn't make you bad I used to think I was broken for how I felt I sometimes wonder how much pain I would have avoided had I grown up knowing there was nothing wrong with me knowing that what I feel is normal stop and take a good look at the message you send to students when you ban a
036book you tell them that if that person in the book is like them they're bad queer adult prior student Banning books about queer people tells me I don't exist I'm worthless I don't matter to anyone nobody wants to know I exist trans man lawyer and father doing everything we can to ensure our youth survive and thrive is essential part of that is having libraries with Rich and diverse collections libraries must be places where everyone can explore examine various points of view and may otherwise be unavailable in private for lgbtq youth libraries are a safe haven where they can find both factual information and personal representation knowing you're not alone in the world may be the only thing that can make living in a hustle environment bearable local Mother of 16 year old trans boy my
037child having access to books with lgbtq plus representation in their school library has been essential to a basic sense of belonging and acceptance it can be difficult and isolating to navigate feeling marked as different and being misunderstood by mainstream Society if these books were banned it would feel like my child their well-being and their experience of the world didn't matter to the school or Society additionally it's important for non-lgbtq plus kids to see queer lives normalized in literature normalizing my what might otherwise be perceived as other can help prevent negative stereotypes exclusion and bullying Behavior the Banning of books about lgbtq people is yet another example of how certain people feel they have the authority to invalidate the existence of specific members of our society my child is happy talented and engaged we see him
038and accept him for who he is not what someone else has labeled him as by attempting to remove these stories from our libraries and shielding our children from being exposed to this art and literature further places My Child In Harm's Way the lgbtq community that I see every day is full of Music laughter art and kindness if books from this community are banned then we are effectively sending the message that you are not allowed to be who you are this is especially dangerous when we are talking about children who need positive role models to look up to people who can accept them and encourage them to be great the best way to raise thoughtful productive members of society is to expose them to varying points of view so let them experience people who are different
039than themselves and to appreciate many different points of view don't spend time Banning books put your energy into reading about and understanding people who live in your community with you and be careful who you hate because it could be someone you love next we have Savannah Fisher then Ruth Traxler hello my name is Savannah Fisher I am a music teacher in the Wenatchee school district and I am here today to share some information regarding our students ability to access lgbtq materials um there has been a political uproar across the nation regarding censorship and Erasure of lgbtq access to education Medical Care and More it saddens me to see that this has reached our value even though we are seated within a state and a district that has spoken out in support of our lgbtq students
040and community members Wenatchee School District's promise is to build a foundation of diversity equity and inclusion from which each student emerges future ready within our big six Future Ready outcomes number two states that students belong and are connected numbers oh sorry that's number two number six states that students are involved in real world relevant learning access to lgbtq materials within the public schools directly impacts um an lgbtq identifying students ability to belong as well as non-lgbtq identifying students ability to help a student belong and feel connected restricting access to books or materials due to lgbtq themes goes against the First Amendment and goes against Washington State Legislature which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation including gender expression or identity Not only would it be against the law for Wenatchee School District to restrict
041or remove these materials um but it would directly impact the mental health of lgbtq students Studies have shown that lgbtq youth who found their school to be lgbtq affirming reported lower rates of attempting suicide 73 of lgbtq Youth have reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety and 58 symptoms of depression we need to support and protect all of our students thank you oh it's not it's me good evening I am Ruth Traxler a parent of a kindergartner and second grader at Washington Elementary thank you board for the opportunity to comment tonight I'm here tonight to show support for our school libraries I would like to see our Public Schools continue to offer materials on the diverse experiences that represent the wide range of experiences of kids in our community we have two young boys who are well
042represented in the majority of books they read not everyone has that privilege many kids experiences because of disability race ethnicity religion or gender identity are vastly underrepresented for these kids when they do find a character or a story that they identify with it validates their personal experiences histories and their very existence it helps them to feel belonging and acceptance which we know are critically important when we look at the increasing rates in depression and suicide risk in teams today I think it's important to note that when kids are reading or viewing something that doesn't align with their personal experiences or family belief system that it doesn't mean that they're then going to participate in or even approve of it but kids may be more comfortable learning about a topic from someone else's experiences in a
043book or a movie a lack of information in the school doesn't prevent any perspective or behavior but only limits their understanding of the world that's already happening around them it's our job as parents to protect our children but protection doesn't mean Sheltering and it doesn't mean censorship protecting our kids means respecting their stories and showing respect from their Community including in their schools it means allowing them to act it means allowing them access to information and providing the opportunity to engage in thoughtful conversation in discourse in school and at home kids do not feel safe when books about them and their experiences are specifically targeted for removal I want my kids to have an expansive and compassionate view of the world exposure to ideas and experiences that are on our own makes us think more
044critically about what shapes our own ideas and choices I hope the school district will continue to uphold the diversity represented in our students as a priority in both policy and practice thank you next we have Leonidas Perry then Kathleen Maguire hi um I'm Leo Perry my pronouns are he him and I am an lgbtq plus youth residing in the Wenatchee Valley um thank you for your time by the way it is scary to think about the adults that want to ban books about my existence I was frightened when I found out about the anti-lgbtq social media posts about books and I cannot grasp the ignorance that comes with Banning those books I exist outside of books I have a job I go to school I go to the mall and I have fun with my
045friends my existence as a queer person is not explicit it's not inappropriate or sexual or any of the things that people suggest about queer books I'm just living my life and I don't need statistics because I know that lgbtq youth are happier and healthier when adults in schools are supporting of them I know I'm happier now four years into my transition than I ever had been as a child growing up I didn't have any language or even knowledge about transgender people prior to my coming out and lgbtq plus media had made me realize I am transgender I am certain I would not be alive if I didn't transition queer books save queer kids they don't make straight kids gay Kathleen Maguire good evening my name is Kathleen McGuire I'm a mom of two children in
046the district and um I would like to say thank you to the board and thank you to everyone here who is um here to listen uh tonight to different viewpoints um like I said I'm a mom of two children but I firmly believe there's no such thing as other people's children um someone previously took all the lovely points I was going to say about how um the values of diversity Equity inclusion are specifically stated in uh the big six and I would just like to encourage the board to take those into consideration I know there's a lot of work put into those being put on a banner behind you and I would love to encourage you to live those values and to listen to the voices in this room and from the people who are
047affected uh directly by these issues so thank you very much next we have TJ Farrell then Claudia Sanderson hello my name is TJ Farrell I'm a resident of Wenatchee thank you for this opportunity I'd like to Echo a point that Dylan brought up which is that those who try to ban books never end up on the right side of History never end up as the heroes uh it's it's not the right thing to do it is in fact a form of discrimination it's discrimination against the author who wrote it it's discrimination against the target audience for it in this case young adults this is this is the book I believe that is in question when I saw this come through on social media I bought it I read it it's very tame nobody's going to
048get steamy same-sex uh descriptions in this book and if every trans kid had the supports up spoilers if every trans kid had the support system that the main character in this book has we wouldn't be having this discussion because this child is very lucky in this book this work of fiction um speaking of discrimination whether you fall on the side of believing that people in the queer Community are born that way or nurtured into that way trained to be that way you don't have the right to discriminate either way if they're born that way you don't have the right to discriminate against them any more than you do against a child who has brown skin or crossed eyes or a cleft palate that's that is in our constitution if you believe that they are raised
049to be queer and it's a choice you still don't have the right to discriminate against them any more than you do against a child who chooses to be Christian or Muslim or vegan or dye their hair rainbow colors foreign so I am pleased that somebody in the community have turned out in support of not taking this book out of the library if if in fact it is the book that we're all talking about um I work in the theater I have a number of queer friends um from all ends of the spectrum and they are beautiful people and they are afraid to show their true colors so many times they are afraid to be their authentic selves and I believe that more books like this would allow them the conflict to feel the confidence that
050what they bring to this world is a value and that nobody has the right to expect them to act otherwise or to pass this is not actually a passing Playbook it doesn't have rules about how you can pass if you're queer and I don't know how many people have read it but it's it's a cute little book um so anything that we can do to allow these children to feel that they have value that they have worth that they have something to contribute to their community we need to take those opportunities at every chance that we get thank you well I have to say that I am just blown away by all the other supportive messages and so thankful that people have the beautiful language that they do I knew that was going to happen
051so I just had to narrow in on something we my husband and I couldn't wrap our heads around uh but before I get to that I did want to say thank you to the school board for taking on this role in Care Community you are doing something I absolutely could not at this moment in time and I really appreciate all of your services um and I also have enjoyed some of the discussions um other agenda points brought forward and the revamping of the voting system so I appreciate that thank you guys and best of luck to everybody supporting your representing your communities in the fall um so I'm new to speaking at the board meeting um and I'm a little confused as to why this is the thing tonight I know it's not on the
052agenda it's social media and I'm glad to see everybody come out for it I apologize that this is what's happening and I am so happy that everybody is here doing this um uh so I'll try to be brief too um but I want to say that I heavily support schools education libraries being inclusive and reflective of our community in its entirety um I want books with gay topics books with disabled heroines books with narratives about different cultures communities books about World War One horses baseball every I want it all I want it in the library um my husband and I we just kept talking about them we don't understand how anybody can support Banning queer books with queer themes because if you get to insist that the entire world look like you and be reflective
053of your personal experiences and mirror your realities why don't I get that right so if that's what you get to do can't I do that too and so in that case I don't like baseball I can make a really good argument about how baseball is objectively the worst sport and I'm actually not kidding it is it is the worst sport I have one minute um but I still want that book to be there for those that want it and unfortunately the topic of banning Game books is so much more serious and less trivial than that it's deeply important for our classrooms Educational Systems to reflect our community as a whole and include our lgbtqia plus students and everybody did such a good job of EX explaining that tonight I don't need to do it again
054people can speak from experience because they did beautifully um you and you know this is true so what I really wanted to say is that removing or discussing removing queer people from public spaces does not protect a single person's religious freedom and it damages our entire town so if I could press the board to consider what supports or safeties we already have in place about expression inclusion freedom and how that looks in response to Grassroots movements I would appreciate that uh Spencer erkenbrock and then Claire Oatley okay is Claire here Claire Oatley okay yep Claire Odie um well I would like to respectfully disagree that baseball is the worst sport because I love baseball um but anyway um I'm here just as a concerned Community member I don't actually have kids in the district um
055but I'm a taxpayer and I hope to raise kids in this district one day um I'll keep it short because everyone has spoken so beautifully um just wanted to say that all kids deserve to see themselves represented in books not some kids all kids and the Wenatchee School District promised this in their latest strategic plan and I thought this was so beautifully stated quote we promise to create a school district where students feel free to bring their whole selves including their race language ability gender orientation and lived experience diversity strengthens us and we commit to reflecting our students diversity and our staff classrooms and curriculum um I just love that and I really don't think we can say that any better than that so I just wanted to encourage the school board to keep that
056in mind keep that commitment in mind as you listen to the comments tonight thank you so much for your time Miranda skaliski and Rachel love I'm not as tall as everybody so bear with me hi everybody I am speaking on behalf of a parent that could not be here tonight and they have a child currently in the Wenatchee School District her name is Rachel Cho the Beast will make off with your children he'll come after them in the night we're not safe till his head is mounted on my wall I say kill the Beast we have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves if they were mutants of another planet these two quotes sound awful alike one is from Beauty and the Beast the other is from
057a life representative in the State of Florida Webster Barnaby from everything I have read on anti-lgbq rhetoric the only thing I have found in common is the fear of the unknown the misunderstanding that echo of the chamber I recognize and I and they're saying it it must be true and the constant reassurance from videos and leaders filled with misinformation and sometimes downright lies when I go to positive lgbtq sites and sites to support lgbtq youth all I found was cries for acceptance wishing people understood that this isn't a phase they have a right to be who they are where they want to be safe everywhere the Trevor Project founded two decades ago has a mission to end suicide among lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer and questioning people their vision is a world where all lgbtq
058young people seed them seed a bright future for themselves they recently did a survey on wanting to or strongly considering suicide among lgbtq youth roughly half of transgender and non-binary young people found their school to be a gender affirming and those who did report lower rates of attempting suicide nearly two in two to three and three lgdbq young people said that hearing about potential state or local laws Banning people from discussing lgdbq people at school made their mental health worse keep in mind that these rates are giving high or getting higher among our low among our Global majority these are they also report that in that if in an lgbtq youth has just one adult who is supportive they are 40 looks like less likely to attempt to commit suicide I'm going to I am
059repeating that because that has been expressed earlier in public comment the Trevor project.org and their Facebook page I could go on on how many sites mention this from NPR to Forbes to the American Bar Association proving that recognizing their queer Community is not only the most basic form of acceptance but truly learning about the community and affirming their existence is better for their mental health and their health overall and the health of this nation hi my name is Rachel love I am a graduate of the Wenatchee School District as are my parents and their parents were orders here before them um I had two children that have graduated from the school district here and I now have a four-year-old attending the school district um for me I'm a lesbian I've been married 16 years now
060um I didn't have the resources here like there was no books there was no one to talk to like and I am the statistic that these people talk about because I spent the majority of my life wanting to die and I didn't have even a language no one taught me that and when I saw this it was shocking to me because we have lived outside of the school district and we came back that's how good the school district is I have children that are not white and um I just have felt they have been so affirmed here and so supported and I Rave about the school district and I am begging you to let my child that remains feel and be represented and this happens by books and I just wonder how my life would
061have been different sometimes if I had access to that um and I think the last thing I want to say is that I think it's important to remember that books are education not indoctrination that's not how that happens so lots of thank you we have Genia Latin remote and then Denise sorum time Gina is that fine okay um so I have just two questions that were opposed to me um what does it mean to have books in the library that reflect who your child is how would it feel if these books were banned as a parent in a Christian home we found ourselves abruptly faced with a son who was hurting himself and planning on ending his life all of his pain was kept in secret from us for fear of our judgment he loved
062us so much that his fear of disappointing us was held in higher regard than his own life we're a close family and we spend all of our off time together how did this happen what did we do and why didn't we know how much pain and suffering our child was going through in the end we realized that we annoyingly created a home that did not include expression a feeling that may deviate from ours we raised him to follow us and our family to be a boy and the person we had planned for him to be without actually expressing that to him in words the fact is that all children want their parents acceptance no matter what they want us to love them and care for them even when they fight against us our child was
063able to research who he really was and what he was feeling how do you not have the option to find information that aligned with his thoughts and feelings I'm not sure that we would still have our child with us today I think that he would have acted sooner and committed suicide one second I'm sorry the reality is not all children have access to the internet and even if they do it is more than likely monitored in some way by an authority figure children in crisis need to have options and to find information that help them in way in any way possible this includes the lgbtqi plus library books our children do not need information to be hidden from them or made unattainable if a child is searching there is a need in their life public
064schools are a safe place for our children to learn and be lifted up by Educators in some cases school is our only safe place children who are competent in their gender or sexuality will not be changed by reading a story or by reading information printed by medical or scientific research they will become educated public schools are institutions for education education should be attainable for all here's a quote from the Department of education's mission statement the first line it is their mission to promote student achievement and preparation for Global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access Banning lgbtq plus iBooks is denying my child equal access and in the end could have cost her her life I don't know what the future holds but right now I do know that my future is including
065my child and my child has anything she needs at her fingertips public schools are a place to prepare our children for the future our future includes lgbtq plus population just as it includes every other person in this world regardless of sex race and gender I'm Gina Lettin sorry I'm a Christian a wife and a mom thank you hi everyone my name is Denise sorum um thank you school board for your time and listening to all of these comments and let me just take a moment to say wow I'm really proud of our community today uh I hope I think all of you are feeling the same it's really heartening um I have three kids in the district uh and have been an active member of ptas and have served the school district in many ways
066over the years here and I just like others have said wanted to remind everybody about how we started this meeting and how every school board meeting and in fact every day at most of our schools in the district has started with the Pledge of Allegiance and my favorite five words in that Pledge of Allegiance are the last five with liberty and justice for all or all that is something that we tell our kids that we recite with pride and it is a Creed that we need to walk uh I think we'll all agree that one of the most treasured freedoms that we have and Liberties in this country is that of the freedom of speech and expression the moms for Liberty Group which is behind the vast majority of these book bands that are scourging
067the country right now um has the right to express their beliefs absolutely they have freedom of speech they have a freedom to believe what they want to believe what they do not have though is the right to impose their beliefs on the rest of us our Constitution and its progress towards protecting the rights of every American over the past Century is what makes America great let us not go backwards here in Wenatchee one note that hasn't been brought up today is I think we will see that these book ban requests our censorship and they will be federally deemed as illegal currently there is a lawsuit in the State of Florida there's a mother who's a PTA member who is suing the escambiba county school district and School Board because they succumb to the book ban
068requests in their community and the lawsuit states that they violated the First Amendment rights of the students authors and Publishers by removing books based on ideological objections to their contents or disagreements with their messages or themes per the lawsuit the district also violated the equal protection clause which people have brought up tonight of the Constitution because the books being singled out for possible removal are disproportionately books by non-white and or lgbtq authors or which express topics related to race or lgbtq identity this is discrimination however based on tonight's uh comments and the beautifully written strategic plan and big six on the wall I have every faith that this community will not come to that and we will have a confidence that this school board will act in good faith for those documents and if you
069look around the room tonight we got your back on that Roxanne Tucker and then Beth Salinger both I believe are remote hello I'm Roxanne Tucker I'm a proud PTA member and Elementary School mom and Middle School mom and um I just want to Echo what everyone else has said really some beautiful points made I'd also wanted to point out statistically that um trans and queer children are over represented in foster care I'm a proud foster parent and they're underrepresented in literature and media so if we can balance that out and keep what we do have that would make it so much easier for them and give them the acceptance they need and that's all thank you do we have Beth Salinger Beth can you hear us oh can you hear me now we can't okay
070hi my name is Beth I am a mom to two boys here in the Wenatchee School District here are my thoughts for the school board to consider what the region controversy of wanting to ban lgbtqia plus books let me clarify that I believe any book regardless of content should not be banned from public schools the act of banning books is a direct violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution which guarantees the freedom of speech and expression it is an attempt to censor ideas and limit the diversity of opinions and perspectives so that students are exposed to this is particularly concerning in public schools where students should be encouraged to think critically inform their own opinions as Justin or Justice William J Brennan Jr once said if there was a Bedrock principle underlying
071the First Amendment it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because Society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable Fanning books based on their content is a violation of this principle furthermore Banning these specific books can have dire consequences for lgbtqi plus children it is important to remember that these children have the right to sue themselves represented in the books that they read spending these books sends a message that their experiences and identities are not valid this can lead to feelings of isolation and shame which can contribute to mental health issues and even suicide it is important to note that these books are not indoctrinating children who have different views at home such books simply provide representation and visibility for a marginalized group of people the notion that these books
072are indoctrinating children is rooted in fear and misinformation these books are not trying to convert anyone or a force or force a certain belief system they're simply telling stories about people who exist in the world it is important to recognize that this exposure to diverse perspectives is crucial for personal growth and understanding in conclusion Banning books is a form of intellectual oppression it limits access to information and ideas which are essential for personal growth and development it also perpetuates ignorance and intolerance as students are denied the opportunity to learn about different cultures experiences and World Views ultimately Banning books is dangerous in a misguided process that undermines the principle of democracy and freedom of thought I hope the board disregards any comments made for advocating the practice of banning any books in our school district
073thank you Brooke page I'm a teacher um my name is Brooke page and I am a Community member I'm a parent of two successfully graduated Wenatchee School District students and I am a teacher I've taught pre-k through college in my many years of education I've not only been an educator I came to education late in life um and I'm here to support access to all books as a an educator and a parent um one of the things that's important to know about public schools as you guys all know is it's public it's for everybody we accept everybody we take everybody we care for everybody we teach everybody and everyone should be feel accepted in our schools and see themselves in our literature sorry I'm used to talking in front of kids um one of the
074things I think and so many people have said it more eloquently than I am going to but uh in this country we have freedom of speech we have freedom of religion and we have a freedom of expression um if you well um I just think about the parents or people who disagree with having a variety of literature that that um shows the diversity of our schools and our country and I think to myself you know when I had my student my kids in school or anytime even now that they're adults and I disagree with something I talk to them about it everybody has a right to disagree in this country that's one of the things that is a bonus about democracy I've lived in other countries that don't you don't have that freedom um so
075you know if you don't agree talk to your child you can have a conversation about that but that doesn't mean that I believe the same thing or anybody else believes you know there's other people that believe the same thing so as other people have said go ahead and disagree nobody's going to agree and if we all get rid of every book that we all somebody disagrees about will end up with no books um I also just like to say uh you know public schools for everybody and should represent everybody and if you don't like it there are options you can homeschool you can send your child to private school and you can have them on the Internet and those are all options in this Valley so um there are options take advantage of them but
076please don't ban books for everyone else who wants a variety of of cultures diversity people we all you know people who accept that so anyway thank you yeah I think um Grinnell rennell holdy and Carol Co hi my name is Ronelle holvey I thank you for letting us be able to voice our opinions here um I wasn't going to speak tonight but I just want to say that my daughter got a chance to listen to a book that represented two of her friends um that has two mothers and at the end she said mom that is like my best friend I saw that for the first time in a book and that was my moment that I realized that it is so important that everyone be represented um I have a daughter in the school
077district and this is very important I also have a trans um nephew and doesn't have the support in another state and um it's hard it's hard so I hope that uh you guys do um allow books for all children and keep to your big six and um thank you for everything you do and I think that's it unless I missed someone or if Carol Koh was here and wanted to speak yes Maria you would like to speak oh sure we'll give you three minutes hi I'm Sandra Lancaster and I'm a librarian at uh Pioneer Middle School um I wasn't going to speak today I'm just here to support you and all of us all of my middle school librarians are here to support you and I just I had to say that because of budget
078cuts we have been cut and we don't have a secondary I'm the only I'm going to be the only last last girl standing and I just hope that um maybe we might make sure that we bring Library Librarians back for our strong Library program we are the people out there that are fighting for uh diversity and that are that sometimes the safe place that your kids need is the library and um I'm thank you I'm very I know it's been tough for Budget things I haven't spoken about it but after hearing all this I'm like well what are we gonna do how is this going to happen um at the high school they aren't you going to have a library librarian at all and I I thank you so much for um you know I
079asked for more pair of support so we could keep our doors open and and the district has supported that at the middle school level and I'm I'm thankful I really am but I'm so sad too I'm so sad because I'm busy man I'm working hard and I'm doing a lot a Pioneer and my colleagues are doing a lot of Foothills and they're doing a lot at Orchard um you know they're advisors for the Hope Squad they're advisors for the equity club and I don't know I can't do all that as one person and so I'm just here to ask that we support our Librarians and our libraries because it's so important and I just felt like you guys needed to hear it and thank you thank you thank you for everyone that has taken the
080time to speak to the board thank you for making my job easy and not have to interrupt um our speakers um so after and now we're going to move on to um the second part of our special presentations bill well I'm going to give an update on the budget and you're all welcome to stay for that it's going to be pretty exciting and this may be the most uh people I've had for a budget update all year so you are welcome to stay and we'll also give a second while we're queuing this up for those of you that uh are ready to go Liz Can you can you cue uh up the slide day am I am I running the slides or have you got it's not and you go back one slide I it's
081not working for me okay I may just have to cue you uh in on that Liz foreign everybody's time and as as people are making their way out that uh don't want to hear this exciting budget update I will uh go ahead and get started here as we move into this update on our budget reduction efforts you're going to see a quick reminder of how our budget works that is how we get revenue and how we spend the dollars that come in as well as an update on legislative impacts and where I think we currently stand in terms of reduction efforts along with some future considerations I'd like to start with just a quick reminder that our budget includes five separate self-balancing accounts and each account is designed for carrying out specific purposes therefore each
082of these distinct funds has its own Revenue sources its own Associated expenditures and is really a separate balance the five accounts you see here are the general fund the capital projects fund The Debt Service fund the transportation fund and the associated student body funder the ASB and for those in the public who wish to learn more about the specific purposes for each of these funds I would refer you to the budget section of our website where you can find several documents and videos that provide additional details on each of these and when I talk tonight about reductions I'm going to really be talking about the general fund general fund is our largest uh budget category and it's what most people think of when you think of a District's budget it comprises about 92 percent of
083our entire budget and the funds are used for financing the normal everyday operations of the district such as salaries for staff and benefits for staff supplies and materials like library books contracted services and travel and the other four funds are much smaller in Target specific purposes so tonight in this reductions update I'm really talking about general fund dollars and Liz if you wanna there we go thank you school districts are funded by a combination of state federal and local dollars our largest source of Revenue which is about 69 percent comes from the state in two areas general purpose funds which we sometimes call apportionment and state special purpose funds which we sometimes refer to as categorical funds the state general purpose funds are for the operation of the basic education programs in the schools and
084the state's special purpose funds are used to provide additional support for programs such as special education highly capable programs bilingual programs and our learning Assistance programs about another 21 of our revenues come in from federal sources These funds are very restricted and can only be used for specifically designed or designated programs are federal dollar support our migrant and bilingual programs our Title One programs and they provide additional special education supports as well as support for our free and reduced lunch programs most of the remaining 10 of our revenues comes in from local sources such as Levy taxes and the local Levy funds are the least restrictive of all our funding sources and they are essential to funding uh the additional supports that we provide to ensure a well-rounded education for our students our current Levy
085does expire in 2025 and we will be going out to the public for a renewal so our Revenue dollars from both the state and federal government are driven largely by our enrollment so here are some current enrollment numbers compared to our budgeted numbers these are current as of the month of May we are up about 57 students compared to our budgeted numbers but even that 57 still represents that we're down 70 overall from last year so we are still projecting a declining enrollment situation as we head into next year these numbers do not include running start and Open Door students we usually don't include those numbers because the college and the open doors programs get the majority of the dollars for the students that they serve the dollars follow the students with their program we
086have been on a decline in enrollment and this uh is an overview of the trend that we've seen and with the a few exceptions we've been on a decline since about 2015-16 and again we are expecting a continued decline in enrollment moving into next year I have another look at that um this shows a comparison with uh our enrollment over time and our staffing levels over time and over the past three years our staffing levels have increased some of that was purposeful here staff levels were increased in part as a result of our expansion of the Career and Technical education programs which is directly related to our big six outcome number six the real world relevant learning experiences but it was also part of an effort to keep class sizes lower coming out of the
087pandemic in addition staff increases were made in efforts to provide increasing support for the social emotional and behavioral needs of our students um and our reduction efforts really represent a path um to return Staffing levels to what can be supported by our enrollment moving forward as we began this process we developed a set of guiding principles these principles can now be used from year to year and they do provide a framework to ensure that we allocate dollars in line with the priorities set forth in the district's strategic plan the priorities uh or excuse me the principles here were developed with input from administrators our Union leadership and our board budget committee and as a board you've seen this information on a number of occasions but I continue to put it forward as something that can
088live on past my uh Twilight in the role as superintendent as we're looking at additional reductions moving forward when we began the reduction process we were still unsure about several legislative impacts and now the session is completed and we have a better picture of how some of these items will influence next year's budget for example we know that the ipd or the inflation inflationary price deflator has been set at 3.7 percent for next year and there are some other impacts that I'd like to talk about we we currently receive what are called regionalization dollars from the state uh those dollars will be fading out over the next two years they were under discussion for elimination in this session of the with the lawmakers uh but it it was decided they would phase those out uh
089over the next two years for us it's been about three percent uh and this phase out will decrease that amount by 1.5 percent each year for the next two years the net result being a a decrease in revenue of about nine hundred thousand in addition we also received local effort assistance dollars which are part of the state's Levy Equalization program the amount we receive is highly dependent on assessed property values in our County as well as our enrollment and and due to a large increase in assessed values in our area combined with a decline in enrollment we were projected to lose about 1.4 million dollars in revenue from the local effort assistance funds during the 2023 calendar year um the state recognized that's a big impact across uh um many districts and in order to
090mitigate the impact of that change they have re responded with a one-time payment to offset uh this uh decrease so we will receive a one-time payment of about 516 000 to offset the 1 million uh that was expected in loss and we will receive that payment it's a calendar year thing so we'll receive that payment this month the legislatures also did increase the special education funding cap we were watching that closely the cap was at 13.5 percent and we were very close to that cap the lawmakers increased the cap to 15 percent which will result in the district receiving a bit more special education funding per student that we serve in that program moving forward and lastly uh the transitional kindergarten was actually replaced with transition to kindergarten by the lawmakers and this is one
091area we're still a little bit Unsure how it's going to play out in the system ospi has been directed by lawmakers to create rules for implementing ttk and this is still a bit of an unknown for us as we wait for ospi to respond to that directive with rules and that there could be implications for funding of transitional transition to kindergarten moving forward so in the midst of all this and and looking at reductions over the next year we are taking a very conservative approach to budgeting in terms of our enrollment projections and our Revenue projections for next year and we started this reduction work in February with the board choosing a particular scenario they wanted us to go after this slide shows the scenario that was selected by the board earlier this year and
092it represents a phased approach to budget reductions it was an attempt to spread the impact over at least a two-year period as we worked to cut over eight million dollars in the next two years for next year we had a target of about 4.6 million in reductions and we've been working to ensure we we reached that Target on the next slide in a moment here I will show you where I tend to think we are in regards to reaching that Target uh note in red the 2.8 million the board provided in general fund dollars to help us manage this spaced approach um and you see it in red and you see it in the 24-25 budget and the board's willingness to allocate those dollars kept us from doing all these reductions in a single year
093and will be part of the reductions that come out in the 24-25 budget process so the next slide shows where I think we are projecting to land with reductions this year in this work we have increased our efficiencies by centralizing some supports versus housing them at a building level and that will allow us to continue to provide some targeted instructional social emotional and behavioral supports to buildings but in a more streamlined fashion and in addition we refined some of our contractual agreements and identified some supports or Services we think we can provide in-house or provide in a less expensive ways that resulted in greater savings than projected in our contractual reductions by about 40 000 dollars and there are still things settling in the system as we continue to look carefully at open positions and
094evaluate whether we can fill those internally with current staff or perhaps not fill them at all there will be impacts throughout the system next year as a result of the reductions class sizes will increase and and they will get closer to contractual limits District choice will also be impacted as we'll be watching class sizes more closely whether or not we can accept Choice students from outside our boundaries the reductions have also impacted many staff members across our system we we reduced about 39 basic Ed FTE funded um staff units during this process but more than that we're impacted due to shifts and assignments that arose from some of the reductions so they were there were significant impacts in this work you can see uh in the bottom line estimate there that we think we will
095be able to do more than our targeted amount uh I am seeing about 4.8 million dollars playing out in the system right now we had targeted 4.6 if we can in fact Reach This 4.8 Mark that will help with the reductions that will need to be made in in the future the more we can do this year the easier it's going to be next year as we continue um to need to make reductions as part of this presentation I wanted to bring up again some things that I think are on the docket for for future consideration as we're in a transition period here in the next month or so um with with um board and and superintendent um so I wanted to come back to a few things that I think still need to be
096on the radar we spent quite a bit of time in April at the board meeting discussing options for when the district might go out for their next epno Levy and during that presentation I shared some pros and cons regarding what I see as the most likely options which were run a levy election in November of 2024 or run the levy election in February of 2025 and I think it's important to for backwards planning purposes keep those things on the radar so I brought it back as part of this discussion because a successful Levy will be vital to continuing many of our programs and services as we move forward with phased reductions over the next few years uh Sean Fitzgerald our Chief Financial Officer and I have been working closely with our m o staff to
097prioritize some of our facility needs across the district and and get some of those things into our budget plan over the next few years in the interval between where we are now and our next Bond initiative that will be important we want to be good stewards of our resources and take care of some of those priorities that we may be able to address and as part of the pre-bond work we have put in place a process to complete an updated survey and study of our facilities as well that is set to begin this summer and Liz if you want to go to the next slide I want to give a little update on that as so as we head into the summer um we are set to start an updated facilities survey and study we
098received Grant dollars from ospi to conduct the survey and secure the Turner Townsend and Harry group to do that work the process takes up to six months but we think the board will have an updated report by January of 2024 in the meantime it will be important to put together a facilities committee next fall and and start to bring them up to speed on leftover issues from the last Bond initiative and prepare them to have the information in hand in January when this report comes out from the survey and study so they can begin crafting a bond proposal that meets our needs and Falls within the expectations of what the community will support um as always I want to finish this presentation with information that can be accessed at the community level or for our
099staff um we have put a lot of effort into um signaling where we're at with the budget and helping people understand the different buckets and the processes that we've gone through and those things continue to to be built uh on our website we are going to be looking at trying to distill some of that information down to a one-pager for people who just want a high overhead view of our budget process and and hope to have that available in the future thank you Bill okay now next we're going to uh bill will present his superintendent transition um support well I will say a little bit and then I'm going to turn this over to Dr kalahar so as we near the end of the year Dr kalahar and I will begin the transition process as
100he prepares to step into the superintendent's role and I want to say I'm excited for the district and I'm excited for Dr kalahar and his cabinet team I look forward to supporting a successful transition Dr kalahar has already taken over the student advisory Council he's also been part of the work this year that we've done with the budget reduction efforts and the Strategic plan initiative and and much more so tonight we have the opportunity to hear about Dr kalahar's transition plan and I just want to invite him up to to share good luck it wasn't working for me excellent well good evening and thank you to the school board of directors for this time this evening I'm excited to share with you the details of my transition plan and hopefully we can get that up
101there and I can do some clicking along so you can follow hopefully you should have a copy of it in front of you as well okay beautiful um so the first the first slide in there talks about just the fact that there is no time to waste when it comes to the educational outcomes for our students uh in the Wenatchee school district and kind of shows an idea let's see if I can get this thing to oh hold on too far okay here it is yeah there's no time to waste when it comes to the educational outcomes of our students in the Wenatchee school district and so this is uh kind of an outline of what I'll be talking you through this this evening and the first part of that is what's happening right now
102is finishing strong and then moving into the first six months then of my superintendency so the first part in the Finish strong section yellow I can get this okay the first part in the finished strong section is really what's happening right now and that is uh for me to focus on finishing my responsibilities as assistant director of learning and teaching while also balancing a transition as well because we have a unique opportunity with with Bill here in the district with me myself in the district as well we can collaborate as much as possible and have been doing that most of this year but we're just increasing that time with collaboration with uh Bill himself and then of course our school board I've also been started uh starting uh to plan listening and learning phase which
103is kind of the next phase but if I can get on top of it sooner then I would rather do that so Kim white and I met today to begin scheduling some of the conversations that I'd like to have with some of our building administrators before they leave for the summer and then also be working with the big six data and working on goals for next year along the lines with the Strategic plan and the equity program review okay and then when July hits and I officially assume the role of the superintendent want to dive into some Community meetings with key leaders from local agencies businesses and service clubs throughout the valley adding hopefully during those conversations I'll be adding to the list of folks who want to engage on our facilities committee as bill
104was just talking about for future Bond campaigns and then I want to solidify my personal superintendent goals and accountability rubrics for measure for measures along with those goals I also want to work closely with our CFO and our finance team and solidif help solidify the budget for next year as we've been doing that throughout the school year hope helping to lead the work of our administrative advance and our opening day for the Wenatchee School District in August and the engage section in September and October some of the key things that I'll be doing is beginning regular and routine one-on-one meetings and walk-throughs with leadership team both instructional and operational hopefully begin that time organizing meetings with our facility committee as Bill had mentioned earlier work with our learning and teaching team to guide leadership meetings
105and work on leveraging our own understanding and application around our promise statement and and year three of our PLC at work and then continue the work the bill has done around sharing our strategic plan in the community as well and then the leading section in November December encapsulates much of what was also shared in the engage section but also will uh change just a little bit the facilities teamwork and the levy considerations for 2024 and 25 will happen uh we'll be preparing to share those survey and study results that bill was talking about on our um on our lands and properties that will hopefully get those results to the board in January finalize the closing of our 2223 budget and begin planning and solidifying the options for Budget reductions for 24 and 25. um or
10623 and 24. sorry about that and then the lead phase will also continue on into the future there so that kind of just defines that first six months some of the challenges that we'll be looking at to capitalize on during the first year and not that the Strategic plan is a challenge this is a wonderful Challenge and a wonderful opportunity but I think uh keeping it on the Forefront and using it as an opportunity to improve what we do is an area to prioritize and focus on for year two of the Strategic plan and as we know and Bill shared just a few minutes ago the budget is going to be a focus and a topic of conversation dissection and ultimately reduction as well the bond in Levy is also a topic that we want
107to keep heavily in Focus uh we're about a year and a half away from potentially asking our community to pass another Levy we need to be prepared and ready to help support uh support our community with our needs and we also want to set ourselves up for a facilities team to help guide and support the next Bond and then when it comes to inclusive practices working with our special education department to help align the vision to the Strategic plan but also to put in place realistic expectations for our Special Education team which in turn helps our general education staff as well the transition plan commitments to listen and learn to work on our goals of the Strategic plan in year two prioritize culturally responsive practices collaborate with the school board of directors and educational partners
108remain diligent and focused in our revenue streams and Foster that positive relationship and connection between students staff and Families and then these are some of the transition plan structures that I plan to leverage for a successful 23-24 school year monthly School visits with building leaders one-on-one meetings with Department Labor leaders and cabinet members summer board of directors cabinets and administrator workshops regular board leadership meetings bi-monthly administrative meetings consistent meetings with key Community leaders and then stakeholder listening and learning meetings throughout the throughout the first six months there and that's a high overhead pass of the transition plan and if you have any questions or comments I would be happy to take those on if you have any you're going to be busy super busy yes thanks Laura and thank you for your time everyone we
109appreciate it this evening it's been a bit a long evening so I appreciate the time awesome thank you thank you Corey I just want to um just a couple comments on my personal comments I um both with Bill and uh Corey um I happen to have the cool version of the transition there it is there it is what was presented to us um during the interview process and it continues to align with the presentation um bill has kind of been um he's you know he took this role about less than a year ago um and um with a lot of unknown challenges he committed to the district and you know with this budget presentation he has just done amazing work in the transparency the communication not only budget but just his work for the school
110district in general um it's been super challenging not only for the board but just Administration our staff but the way uh bill has just you know communicated to the district to the community I'm confident that the transition to our new superintendent will go smoothly um thank you for presenting your your transition plan and um you know being seen true it absolutely thank you appreciate the time everyone all right now we have um discussion on our first read policies okay we got a few on the DACA tonight here so I'm going to give an overview and then I'll ask the policy committee folks if they have any ads uh we have 4210 which is an update on a policy we looked at earlier on regulation of uh dangerous weapons on school premises and after receiving feedback
111around the exceptions section in their model policy wasda made some revisions to clarify some limited circumstances in which a person with a concealed weapons permit may carry a weapon on school property outside of a school building and the example is when picking up or dropping off students so the clarifications that they provided with this updated version align with House Bill 1630 which is actually now incorporated into RCW as well we also have policy 501 with the small change that has a big impact this policy is on the hiring of retired School Employees again this was a policy we looked at earlier this year what was made Corrections in a few of the wording uh in certain places it stated One calendar year when it was supposed to State One calendar month that's a small change
112with a big impact and those spots have all been updated as well policy 4060 which is on distribution of information is an update that relates to Opportunities available to students and families through non-profit Community organizations and other governmental entities as districts we want to help communicate opportunities to students and families we currently use an uh something called Peach jar as a method for posting Community Information um but ask with accepting advertising school districts need to be aware that in facilitating Communications with some organizations other organizations could claim the district has opened its Forum so the policy revisions here suggested by wasda protect the district from inadvertently creating an open public forum by adding some language that reserves the district's right to cease providing any any information that impedes or detracts from the district's educational purpose
113or program the next two are somewhat related 52 54 which is on staff expression and 5252 which is on staff participation in political activities and we actually as a district had a prior policy that combined these two into one and they are now kind of separated out as a result of wasda coming out with a model policy that dealt just with staff expression so 5254 the purpose of that policy is to support districts in safeguarding their schools from disruption based on employee speech and to provide staff with notice regarding staff speech that falls outside policy expectations again the district had previously worked with our legal counsel on this policy but we had combined our staff expression policy with participation in political activities what you see here is uh we have separated those now policy 5252
114is now just the language on participation in political activities that was in the past combined with both with the other policy and the last one up for first read tonight is uh 61-11 it is a revised policy to remove some outdated language that was associated with tuition for kindergarten uh it better uh tracks the laws that are cited in the legal references to that policy additions or comments from policy committee I don't have any additions uh waiting to see if any comments or questions I just on the distribution of information policy it says that we can make the information available about the programs provided they do not interfere with the educational process would it make more sense to say something like educational process programs or Services it just I don't I mean it's a minor
115thing but it just sounds kind of funny we can make an ad like that in regards to policy um go first one uh 4210 thank you for seeking clarification from Mazda however I am concerned about uh it says persons who have a concealed weapon permit issued pursuant the RCW and are picking up or dropping off students at school that can mean outside a building inside a building good point of clarification I believe that this is specifically outside the school building for for drop-offs okay yeah that's what I believe too okay and I think the wording quite carefully tracked the legal situation to um so where where the school district does not have the ability to regulate then that does not get regulated which would be outside the school buildings although it's school property District property
116it would be District property because it is this uh drop off is what they mentioned I guess the reason it's alarming to me to have it in a policy that this is okay we are uh an R uh weapons free zone and the outside of our Properties Inc our district properties outside of our buildings is considered District property um so that that that is the concern of mine and also if board meetings are happening outside of school district property that again is a concern for me um for the safety of board members with respect to board meetings outside school board property when we discuss that the issue uh is we should not do that we can prevent placing board meetings at risk yeah I do agree with that um and I think that the issue
117with it concealed carry and having it having it we spoke about it in terms of if you have a concealed carry license and you carry a weapon in your vehicle and you're picking up your child you know that we cannot legally restrict that we can't tell parents you may not carry your your weapon in your car if they have concealed carry license and so picking up kids you know you there's no way you can restrict that I understand that however not everyone has a concealed weapon in their vehicle now we're opening up the door for somebody that's caring if it's a concealed weapon I think the policy says those who are permitted to right if they're permitted then you could you we cannot control them having a weapon a concealed carry weapon on them when
118they're picking up or dropping off so how do we differentiate a a gun-free zone on school property you really can't I don't think legally can control that I mean that's not our all right yeah I don't I don't if someone on their job is carrying a weapon this allows that person to freely come and pick up their children without having to go through an intensive process of destroying their weapon and that on a daily basis is not a practical solution um people who are um in possession of Concealed Carry Permits have been through some process to approve that I I think in reality is probably already happening people are who after those permits are picking up their children in spite of the fact that we don't have a policy in place to regulate that somebody
119who's going to come and threaten the school board is probably going to threaten the school board in spite of whatever this rule is in place but it does give us leverage in the event that we do have an adverse situation and the person does not have the proper permit in place then it gives us you know the opportunity to prosecute them it's not going to I don't I don't that's my personal opinion I'm not a lawyer so don't put that over here but um I'm not opposed to allowing somebody to keep a concealed weapon if it's permitted in their vehicle when they pick up their children that seems reasonable to me I realize I I didn't have any notes because when I went over it and I could be wrong we can verify this I
120believe that the policy is written to comply with the balance of the law and I didn't actually have any notes because I'd gone to the previous policy and I believe that was correct but I think we can I I do not guarantee that oh has this been cross-referenced with the regulations of dangerous weapons on school premises it yes um and I believe what Martin is saying with it uh the alignment with the the legal piece is the house bill 1630 and the RCW in reference is 9.41.280 which um is now in the house bill is incorporated now into that RCW okay I I for I would like more time to review this because I'm just glancing over the um policy 4210 regulation of dangerous weapons on school premises and initially the first thing that pops
121to here is um the district superintendent will post science providing notice of the restrictions of possession dangerous weapons at any facility being used for official meeting of the board any facility that's related to facility a meeting facility of the board not necessarily the the schools themselves rights but this if I understand this right any any meeting of the any facility whether that facility is within the district or outside of the district is that how you guys were interpreted I don't think we'd have control over that I don't think I think it's where the facilities exclusively used for for school business or board business so if hypothetically we went to the um Center to have a public meeting we would be off our own property and that is a different situation that's why I mean when
122I looked at that I also would had a concern but I felt it was a situation that was preventable and I and I believe I trusted the model policy to be correct in terms of the balance of what's legally um permissible okay I don't know I I personally would like more time to review this and cross-reference it with the other policies I think that's reasonable we can do that and I would just ask a question if um we come back and find that in fact the questions are all documented carefully legally um do you want to go back to First reading yeah yeah I'll I'll communicate um to bill um in regard okay the next couple of days to review I don't want to hold it up great and we do have another policy committee
123meeting before the end of the year so any other questions or comments okay all right now we're moving on to our superintendent report well I want to start with something I had on my docket for last time and then for one reason or another I skipped over in my notes but the Wenatchee high school high tones are state champions uh they were selected as number one in the state for Women's small Ensemble this year so congratulations to them uh we recently hosted our elementary track meet at whs and Dr kalahar and I were both at the Finish Line running the stop clocks uh with about six other people it was a wonderful event and it's great to see the Future track stars of the Wenatchee school district and the support from the coaches the principals
124The District staff and the parents and Guardians a special congratulations to Amy speaks from Orchard Middle School who organized that event this year she did a great job wanted to note that yesterday we hosted a professional Learning Community team leader training session with Janelle Keating Hamley she's a consultant from solution tree she assisted with the learning session which focused on building the understanding of the key processes and resources to equip our leaders for facilitating our continued work with professional learning communities moving into next year a special mention from me last Saturday evening our new Junior ROTC program hosted its first dining out awards ceremony and it was the the first time I had been to an event like that the event was largely planned and facilitated by our Cadets and it included Awards and a
125drill down competition at the end uh it was a fabulous event enrollment in this program for next year has doubled and I am looking forward to seeing how that program continues to grow moving forward last week was also the culminating learning experience for the salmon life cycle that our third graders have been learning about all year and as you may know third graders learn about salmon and they raise them in tanks in the classroom and and last week was their opportunity to release this salmon they've been raising into the Columbia River they did that with the help of Partners from Cascade Columbia Fisheries a group and the Yakima Nation the students got to name their fish before sending them off and they learned about predators and and some human impacts that the salmon May encounter
126on their Journey to the ocean yeah uh the district's Transportation team and one of our yellow school buses participated in the touch of truck on the Wenatchee Valley College campus which continues to be a great Community engagement event and a way to showcase the pride we have and our duty to deliver students to and from school safely every day so we were proud to be a part of that and in closing I just want to thank everyone who took the time to attend tonight's meeting either in person or online and also thank those who shared comments with the board this evening the district policy and procedure that outlines our process for selecting acquiring evaluating and maintaining the library collection as well as an informal and formal process for requesting reconsideration of materials are all available
127on our website all this information as well as links to the library catalogs in each School are available by searching for libraries under our learning and teaching Department so that is my report thank you thank you Bill do we have any board communication well I just want to say how much I enjoyed the Junior ROTC uh banquet that was a it was a real honor for me because I happen to know our uh our renowned retired General who was the speaker also a graduate of uh Wenatchee School District born and raised in South Wenatchee it was fantastic and I uh huge kudos to Colonel Akins and and his team and those kids they are remarkable they are uh doing something that makes them Stand Out wearing a uniform in school every day sometimes doesn't make
128you the coolest but they're they were willing to do that throughout the whole year because they were proud of what they were doing and it really showed at that event and I was uh I was thrilled to have attended it just a congratulations to our women's track team that won league and districts and I think what we're sending 18 Athletes to State and then I think four of the boys so good job Jack that's all great thank you any further communication oh I do and it's been a long night um but I want to talk about something that's a little bit different um and um it's something we need to think about in the future we're not ready to act on it so it's about so-called artificial intelligence in the context of graduation which we're
129coming up to in the context of strategic planning where we want to look at a distant Horizon and the context of Readiness for Life After High School because this is something that is going to have a big impact on all our students in the future most of what I'm going to say I wrote a memo on it in August 2021 after going to an NCW Tech Alliance and ncesd seminar I can see some heads nodding what kind of woke me up I'd forgotten I even wrote that um but what nobody's appreciated uh I think since then is the velocity and power of what has happened with this phenomenon and I decided about a month ago it was time to look at it again and literally you can't get through a day without another news article
130on it right now I'm just a kind of curious Observer and what I'm saying could be wrong but I do want to do some illustrations of the kind of situations and circumstances that our students are going to be forced to navigate uh this is about information versus misinformation and it's about wondering whether AI will be a tool like a nice Genie or when it's a scary threat like a nasty Genie or we let Pandora out of the box um AI is not really intelligence and I want to distinguish it it's a hype word that's very useful for advertising I call it machine learning on steroids because it feeds itself with data by looking backwards and that data library is growing exponentially and what's changed is it includes behavior and audio visual observations as well as
131outcomes and that's giving birth to generative AI which is an ability to mimic and pretend as you go future at lunch I even read that somebody had put sense into an algorithm in mathematical terms one way of looking at it is to say you're going from correlation to simulation from making things then in the simulated world is the result reliable and probable based on a prediction or is it unreliable speculative storytelling um there's a quote from Rodney Brooks of MIT that says it differently do not mistake performance which is AI from competence which may or may not be there AI is a tool it's great it doesn't get bored or tired it's very fast and generally it's more accurate than human beings undefined tasks and you can see applications in medicine or in loading containers
132but in both of those smart AI stops when it hasn't seen it before and it doesn't know what to do and it calls in a human this is an area of what you would call Beneficial symbiosis between humans and AI it's a tool that can make everybody more powerful we use it intelligently it's going to change the workplace probably but it's not super scary that way ethics maybe is and should be a bit scary um because AI doesn't have any whatever ethical rules have been written for AI have been written by humans and remember that each and every one of us is biased and no matter how many of us get together and try to put together a package it will be incomplete and I'm not going to get into regulation and safety or cheating
133and plagiarism uh but I'm just going to use one analogy when we got in a similar situation with genetic modeling and cloning human beings we stopped it as an as a world all our differences and we're not doing that right now with AI it's a different animal but it's this is this is the uncertainty that I think education needs to start thinking about um there and even in supposedly neutral processes it'll be humans who write the objectives set up the assumptions and the rules that means that every system will be aligned and skewed in some way so how is the human being going to see where the Distortion is and how to manage themselves through that distortion I just want to lighthearted one people talk about artistic creativity it's an embroidered story I'll ask us
134a question in 1818 Mary Shelley got bored being sidelined by her chauvinistic future husband and his friends and invented Frankenstein do you think AI could have done this probably not There's Hope for in place for humans and there were some pretty rude comments on AI generated music after the Oscars that um illustrates that or uh David versus Goliath example after deepmind became the Undisputed go Champion a group of humans decided they could not win head-to-head but they could search for gaps and weaknesses and omissions and they won at least once propaganda this is what I just read recently and it's I think it's very insightful as to the problems and issues that some people have faced today a journalist writes one article it could be for print radio or t or video but it's one
135article it's the same for all audiences now we can each go to our favorite media and get into our um amplif own amplifier and see different worlds but one article is one article this is describing a situation hypothetically where IAI knows the person using the article and what their prejudices and addictions are and then you take that one article and tweak it to exploit that particular person's weaknesses and preferences and think of the power of propaganda not just in journalism but in other areas when you can do that conclusion there aren't any solutions analogy I am very pleased that this school district introduced financial literacy that was a way of helping our students survive and defend themselves after they graduate I think in some way the education system needs to think about Ai and what's
136happening with that and come up with the same after graduation so that graduates are able to distinguish information from misinformation helpful tools from exploitive manipulation and go on to find places and careers that are good for them because that's very likely to change sorry for making you listen but I think this is something that no conclusions but we need to be starting to think about thank you Martin um just for clarification purposes our board packet was actually missing the first page of that policy the weapons which is I believe is part of my confusion but I would still like to take some time to cross-reference um any other board business great if we have no further business this meeting is adjourned