001good evening welcome everyone to the February 14 Valentine's Day regular board meeting thank you for joining us um hopefully your children your school age children didn't end up with more candy than Valentine's Day cards because mine did we're going to open this meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance thank you see that should anyone wish to participate in citizen Commons you may still sign up by completing the citizen comment sheet at the entry of the room and turn it into Kim White virtual attendees had the opportunity to complete the online form before the meeting at this time are there any modifications to the agenda great hearing none we're going to go ahead and move move on to the consent agenda in today's in this consent agenda we have the minutes from the January 23rd Workshop the
002January 24th regular meeting minutes the minutes from the January 31st special meeting and the minutes from the February 7th special meeting we also have vouchers and payroll Personnel report the Surplus report contracts field trip request and the enrollment report do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda or move to approve a consent agenda second thank you the consent agenda has been moved by Julian seconded by Laura do we have any discussion hearing none all in favor of adopting the consent agenda as presented say aye aye aye thank you motion carries at this time we will move on to Citizen comments from what I understand we do have citizen comments um each person's comments shall be limited to three minutes Tim will display a timer to help the speaker keep track of the time
003the board's role is for us to receive the comments and not to comment or respond once you get your chance to address us at the podium if you could please state your name before the beginning of your comment I'll let Kim call him out in order and I believe we're going to go with our remote attendees first oh I'm sorry you want to do these first okay all right let's go with remote attendees first foreign attendee list is Jesse sagerser hello I can you guys hear me yes yes okay thank you so much um I am a teacher at Wenatchee internet Academy and I appreciate the questions that you guys were asking yesterday in your discussion about budget and I just wanted to give you a glimpse into some great things that are happening at
004Wenatchee internet Academy um if we look at our student population 61 of our students would say that they came to us because they were experiencing significant anxiety or bullying in their previous schools and as a math teacher I've been um I get to highlight some of the great things that are going on with our students in math at WIA we are seriously invested in the big six goals that wsd has chosen for our students and our students in the middle school program at WIA are getting ready for algebra this progress has been shown by over 75 percent of our students exceeding their i-Ready growth goals and over 50 percent of our students demonstrating more than a year of growth in just the first half of this year so far students who otherwise may have disengaged
005from learning due to anxiety bullying or other complicated family situations are closing gaps in math presently they're going to be ready for algebra at this pace and these students are growing and thriving at WIA and this is fantastic news so your investment in creating an alternative learning environment that is meeting the unique needs of our wsd students has added value to our district thank you so much thank you Jesse okay next we have Tina Nick pan Brown good evening and hello Max I see you up there in front I'm here to give everybody an idea about what WIA is wia's purpose has evolved it was a place that was created as our community navigated through the pandemic to a school that continues to offer safety and individualization for our students when students enroll in WIA
006teachers schedule a personal Zoom meeting this is an opportunity for families the student and the teachers to learn more about the learning path that will be created teachers ask the student and families tell us about your academic story what are some of your challenges there are many reasons families choose to enroll in WIA but five percent of our families stated medical reasons 19 of our families said it was because of bullying either by teachers or their own peers 33 percent of our families said they need the flexibility they want the personalization their kids feel safer online and they know that their students attendance will increase 42 percent of our families however say they're attending because of high levels of anxiety or social impairments this could be due to family trauma bullying or having the diagnosis
007of ADHD or Autism a typical day for a WIA student starts at 8 30 in the morning and this is the time we gather on Zoom for our SEL lesson and morning connections students transition into a block of math of instruction then into a block of ela followed by a third block of stem we offer breaks that include breakout rooms for social interactions and this whole class model ends at 12 pm students and staff then have lunch from 12 to 12 30 and their afternoon time 12 30 to 3 is individualized for our students they may meet on Zoom with a special education teacher ell support para in a small group or one-on-one with a teacher but not when they're not meeting with a teacher students aren't completing their assignments Lexia units and i-Ready lessons
008once a week the teachers provide in-person activities at Westside High School where our portable is located this is to encourage social skills and interact with music art engineering Robotics and PE which is all provided through Grant dollars we're able to provide targeted academic interventions so that students get the help they need no one falls through the cracks at WIA students complete over 80 percent of assignments and attendance is outstanding this is because our school provides rigor Family Support weekly and monthly progress reports and family Zoo meetings to adjust interventions and instruction WIA is a place where students are supported and feel safe to learn in fact in the last two months we have welcomed back students who return to the traditional setting and found that they were more comfortable with our model of learning thank
009you Dana next is Paula strozik board members thank you for the opportunity to comment tonight across the room from you is our District's promise we promise to build the foundation of diversity equity and inclusion from which each student emerges future ready I'm here tonight to proudly share with you that our school WIA fulfills that promise each and every day our District's website recognizes that our students come to us with different lived experiences starting points and needs and we believe every student has Limitless potential and deserves an education that will help them Reach their academic and career goals whatever they may be that is exactly what our school does while we were a small school our student population includes a large number of students who have not found success in our Traditional School System with the
010belonging and the connection that our teachers build with a high quality instruction that they provide that meets students where they are that involves relevant learning with an emphasis on stem our students are experiencing success that they've not been able to experience in their brick and mortar schools as you consider the difficult decisions that you need to make in the coming weeks surrounding our budget cuts I would like you to know that our school leads the way in our District's promise and meets the needs of those who are traditional system has excluded or whose unique learning and social emotional needs are not able to be met within a traditional school system like our students who struggle with anxiety or home insecurity that keep them from attending a traditional school yet they will attend virtually like a
011student has overcome a speech impediment who Now talks openly daily in class like siblings who experience acute anxiety and attendance issues who now attend every single day and enjoy weekly on-site activities like a student who was a non-reader who now volunteers to read in class like students who disrupted their brick and mortar classes daily with behavior outbursts now engage actively as learned students like students with IEPs who are experiencing success with grade level material families and families engage and they partner with us and they report their children children who have failed in Traditional School are finally experiencing success diversity equity and inclusion is embraced at the Wenatchee internet Academy thank you for your continued investment toward This Promise thank you Paula okay we're to the in-person group now Kina Taylor now we need it to
012be on yeah oh it's on okay hi everyone thank you for your time tonight uh my name is Kina Taylor I am here I'm Max Myers mom he is an attendee of WIA and I honestly couldn't have said it any better than the last two remote attendees but what I can say from personal experience is that we did not have success in the brick and mortar schools and having an IEP uh not met by the district was a very frustrating experience as a family and we are having ultimate success right now in WIA and Max is blossomed with his social interactions with students and he is grade level or Beyond where he started the the school in WIA um he was a little lagging because we had such a hard time in the district schools
013and now he is above and beyond where he is supposed to be grade level wise so the success it shows in the numbers but more than anything it's really showing in our home life and we again did not have that success in person in the district so I just urge you to please take this into consideration thank you thank you okay next Denton Meyer good evening my name is Denton Meyer thank you to the school board and cabinet for preparing what we have to say um I'm Max Meyer's father and um also with what was said earlier by everyone so far WIA has um been amazing it's the only thing that has worked um the frustrations of having an IP IEP not being met having principles play games with suspensions so that they wait till
014a certain time where child has to sit in their office so that they can basically double the amount of suspensions um doing doing a suspension um against an IEP where um you're basically like it would be like someone surprising someone in a wheelchair and stepping in front of them and then that wheel running over their foot and then that person in the wheelchair is suspended because they ran over the foot when it is nothing it's that type of situation so um but WIA um through the remote learning and the amazing staff and the opportunities for the in-person has allowed Max to grow and we really appreciate that um please board take a look at all of the class costs I listened yesterday and I um what I can say is I think that there is
015more costs um offset with needing para support um the opportunity for Grants um to help with WIA um and I would just love it if more of a deeper dive into the total would would happen thank you very much thank you Denton now we have Max Meyer my name is Max Meyer and I am an attendant of WIA um the last two schools I have gone to just didn't work out for me but WIA is the only school that really did work for me and the teach my teacher Miss Brown is really amazing and I just really really like it that's all [Music] thank you Max we love hearing from students so thank you for telling us your story uh next we have Lori weismore hello Lori weismore um congratulations Max we are all rooting
016for you good job um I watched the uh Workshop yesterday and I just wanted to clarify a couple of things um regarding the classified Staffing ftes that were presented on the slide um we've had great communication with Bill through this process of what it all means and the implications of it all but I want you to be aware that that the it was 336 ftes on there for classified staff and I just want you to know that those are not bodies those are ftes and when we calculate out the hours I'm not sure if the board was aware of all of that but it takes about um 0.55 uh FTE for a six hour period so a person who is a parent will work six hours a day they're only counted about as half of
017an FTE so when we're looking at 11 or 13 ftes for reduction in on those slides it could be significantly more bodies than positions just so that you guys were aware of that um I also wanted to mention about the fiscal responsibility this eight to nine million dollar problem did not just happen overnight um and there is a community opinion out there that Wenatchee School District needs to manage their money better um the board approved all of the hiring that happened the administration certificated classified despite the continued reports of the enrollment declining the hiring continued this was not our mistake yet here we are terminating positions and to touch base on WIA WIA is operating and has been operating at a loss I am very encouraged by the story of Max that's just awesome however
018330 thousand dollars is very significant there's no no guarantee to increase our enrollment in that program and terminating other employee positions to try and sustain something that is bleeding that's not a Band-Aid that would be fiscally irresponsible so I don't envy the position that you are in it's tough but we're counting on you to make the right decision thank you thank you Lori next is Jake quilter good evening Jake Welter I have been an employee of the district for over half my life uh more than 23 years and in that time I've seen four superintendents numerous see a financial officers administrators and this is the first time in my tenure and I've been in Union representation for 22 of the 23 years I've been here and working with admin first time there's been complete transparency
019I feel and what's going on which is encouraging to me because we have a perception among the community and among staff that that things are poorly run so this is encouraging uh so that's my my one hat as an employee and I appreciate the transparency because it involves all of us we all become owners of part of that process it encourages our participation great ideas and not just frustration and anger so second hat let me change that off and parent hat I have six children I have three currently enrolled one in elementary one in middle school and one in high school and next year I'll have another Elementary student starting I appreciate very much your advocation for your your son because I have seen it all the levels in the middle school elementary my son
020has a 504 because we opted not to do an IEP he has anxiety he has ADHD he has reactive attachment disorder he has a drug effect Syndrome from before we adopted him so I have been through a lot of what you've been through however he has been able to be successful in mainstream with supports that are in place by the district it doesn't work for all so I do truly appreciate your position but I also see there are things like Valley Academy which was initially set to have that independent and help parents and students at that that level as well but I've also been through four different Staffing reductions in my tenure and they've all come because of fiscal irresponsibility and there are numerous children who would benefit from those teachers we could have a
021classroom of 30 versus a classroom of three not to exclude but maybe to search out maybe other alternatives to enhance the Valley Academy or something else to give an alternative but again with Lori I agree it would be fiscally irresponsible at this point to carry on a program that was introduced as a help meet during covid and it doesn't mean it has to go away forever it may be Revisited again through grant funding like you said or other find more fiscal viable options in the future but at present you have a very hard decision to make School Board because all students we also owe it to those students in mainstream to meet their needs the same as the goals that were shared and thank you thank you Jake Monica Christensen thank you for the opportunity
022to be here tonight um I'm Monica Christensen I'm the Wenatchee Education Association president and really I'm just speaking directly to the board and to let you know how much I have appreciated the communication transparency between super superintendent Eagle the cabinet and our bargaining unit leaders the presidents um we have been invited to be part of this budgeting information process starting in November we've had bi-weekly meetings sometimes more we've been kept in the loop we've been well informed we've been educated on the budget and potential remedies we were asked to provide our input we've been asked to um give feedback we've asked hard questions we had an opportunity to last last week to request another meeting with the cabinet and superintendent eagle and rcfo Sean because we truly wanted a budget tutorial so that we as
023union leaders could understand fully the budget we have not had transparency that is for lack of a better word so clear in years I don't know if we ever have and we keep talking we as I'm really speaking for Jay Gloria and myself how much we have appreciated that transparency from superintendent eagle and the cabinet we are walking away from this process um it's an icky process we knew coming into this year this was not going to be pleasant and it would have been made much more unpleasant without that transparency we did not feel that this has been adversarial in any way and it could have been made to feel that way so this is just a thank you to bill the cabinet and this collaborative process that we've had and we really hope that
024we continue this process moving forward with our new superintendent thank you Monica and I believe that's it that's it for tonight great thank you to all our commenters thank you for joining us next on our agenda we have a couple items for discussion we will start out with policies first read thank you I am going to go through these one by one because I think that's the easiest way to keep uh in order with with discussions that might come out of these we have a first read for policy 2411. this is an updated policy that reflects the changes from House Bill 1686 in regards to high school equivalency certificate the changes include replacing the term certificate of educational competence with high school equivalency certificate and the policy was also updated to better reflect some current
025regulations that are in the wax it clarifies the application and decision process for determining whether an individual has a warranted reason for leaving the regular high school program and taking the equivalency test and also includes the eligibility requirements for taking the high school equivalency test and at the end of each of my little spiels there I'm going to ask the policy committee if they have anything to add there no I do not any discussion of that okay great I will go to 3421 which is child abuse and neglect this policy is an update that continues to clarify the mandatory reporting requirements for suspected child abuse that all staff in the school district are under and we provide training to our staff on that uh annually and and our new staff coming into the system and
026so it's it's just an update with a few language modifications on the definitions of child abuse and neglect any ads committing again no all right uh great I'm gonna go on then to 3230 which is a revised policy that really clarifies and reorganizes some language around searches of students and student privacy and the reorganization of the language moved some of the more procedural aspects of searches into the the procedure versus uh being into the policy and that's an important distinction because if you have the procedure language included in the policy and the procedure changes which is not necessarily something the board approves then you could be in conflict with the policy um the only thing I would say there is I think that is a good thing to do this is a complicated area with
027a lot of external influence from law and regulations outside the school district and I think it is better to write the detail in procedures rather than attempt to write too much and call it the law and the policy where we may miss something out or we may actually write something that is not quite flexible enough so I think putting everything in procedures is a good move the rest of this is recognizes uh just keeping ourselves up to date with the externalities yeah I was just gonna say my only question had been uh regarding the the sort of itemized issues that were removed but it makes sense now to move them to the procedure so I'm glad that we're doing that I completely agree it makes sense to keep the policy more Broad and the procedure
028more flexible and able to adapt thank you uh I'm going to move on to policy 5004 on infection control program uh the language in this policy regarding the covid-19 vaccine requirement for staff was removed and added language to the policy affirming that the district will follow lawful regulations pertaining to infectious diseases is now a part of the policy any ads from the committee right and we have uh a couple more here policy 5410 which is based on House Bill 1617 which added Juneteenth as a legal School holiday um effective July of 2022 and we've now updated our calendars to reflect that as well briefly um the student calendar has that been adjusted I know it's um it's a snow day I think it's listed at the snow makeup day um so if that were the
029case hopefully we don't we haven't had any right um but just just put it on the radar okay it's listed as a snow makeup day right good point Kelly did you get that one okay thank you uh any other questions on that one all right uh policy 1112 on director orientation we just updated the links that are referenced for materials and added a few things organizational chart and that policy is about orientation of new members to the board of directors and and uh it provides a quick itemized list of things that we think our board of directors need to know coming into the role I think I would make a comment that that is a housekeeping change to become more modern using links rather than producing fat binders and it was part of uh you
030could say the board self-assessment processes we realized we wanted to do some housekeeping on our own procedures to make them effective and efficient and I think it was a good work done by our um policy honcho thank you Kim agreed that's right uh policy 1310 uh on a policy adoption manuals and admin procedures uh some updated language was added to reflect the role of the policy committee any added discussion from the committee discussion from the board uh yes so I do understand um that some years ago we moved to having a policy committee which has been very effective in our schedule of keeping our policies up to date and we are much more uh on top of those policy revisions than we had been in the past which is great um it's the board's understanding
031is that we we approve policies but we do not approve procedures because the staff are the implementers of and developers of the procedures nonetheless I think um it has been common practice for the procedures to be delivered to the board along with the policy so that the board can review them ask questions about the implementation not necessarily to approve or disapprove but to give feedback and also to gain understanding about how the policies will be implemented and I'd like to see a change to this policy so that the procedures are still delivered to the board in the packet um not going to change the policy committee's rule whatsoever but I think it's important that as we are implementing policies that all five of us or whoever is sitting in these five seats can see how
032this will roll out in implementation and for that reason I'd like the policy revised to say that the procedures will come to the board not for approval but for review um I two of us discussed this on the policy committee because there are two of us there and I'm very happy to have this be a wider board decision uh this is also part of what we were reaching for two areas one is to uh not overburden the amount of review and the other one is in some areas um to bring us into tighter compliance and more timely um compliance with everything so there's a difference between policies that require approval procedures that are revised by the administration and require communication uh and I think quite often the procedures are revised and then we get to
033read them in a bundle and so we do get to see all of them but not necessarily well not in the instant that the revision is made so uh the the discussion and I'll speak for myself on the policy committee was we felt that um we had several safety nets underneath this if if uh and I do this quite frequently if a policy has changed and I think the procedure may be important I ask for information on the procedure so that can be done it's not as good as being given the procedure um then if all the procedures come uh on a much more rigorous basis than spreading it out to the whole board uh to the policy committee um then causing committee members can be responsible for red flagging or letting the board know
034if or asking for advice now that isn't the same as every board member seeing it all the time and so I would be happy for board members Laura you've expressed your opinion um to say how much they want to read this how quickly and how extensively um you the board will see them but not necessarily necessarily quite so promptly I was fully on board with this as well I'm happy to let anybody see as many procedures as they want it was just kind of what we opted to do in the policy committee was to add that proceed have our executive assistant to all six of us um add that in as we received policies just as a something for us to look at but it's certainly open to everybody I mean if that you want
035that on a regular basis to be sent to you the same as the policies on because I mean that's more information for us to read doesn't doesn't hurt anything so I was completely on board with it but for before Martin and I we definitely wanted to see those procedures and so that's why we requested that to come when we got our policy committee packet so but there's no reason everybody can't get it how would it be opposed to receiving them as well I just think of policy procedures that um but obviously our policies tie into the procedures and so if we're oftentimes they make reference to them to have them and have a look at them um I think is beneficial to the board but there's also procedures that are controversial or have a difference
036of opinion um in the community this uh parents so I'm having those pass through the board it's beneficial in my opinion yeah I I am on board I think we should probably see some of the procedures as well uh just to make sure if there are any questions or concerns we have about the implementation we're either prepared for them or just have an idea um you know like tonight having the procedure in front of me would have shown me that these things have been moved to the procedure versus completely axed out of the policy so easy explanation but uh just would have been probably helpful to see although I agree it makes for more reading I think having sounded out the board and it sounds like the majority or consensus of the board is that
037they would like timely information on all of the procedures and what we'd have to do is ask our executive assistant and Kim to work out a mechanism to do that efficiently um you know and that actually that would mean we go back to the black print on not the green print on this particular 1310 when it gets presented to the board and then we would have to work out a mechanism of doing it conveniently for everybody that's I'm just guessing that's what the board is saying okay if I could just make an additional request um in the cover sheet of the policy meet um that are presented there used to be a column for that had new updated essential optional can we add that column back thank you great I think we've got our direction
038for that from the board thank you next for discussion is the voter threshold per passage of school no yes yes sorry voter threshold for passage of school bonds so I'm going to take the the lead on this one here for for a moment um we received a letter from Senator Brad Hawkins and he is seeking feedback on lowering voter threshold for the passage of school bonds Senator Hawkins believes there may be efforts during this legislative session to lower the voter threshold for bonds currently School levies require 50 percent approval and bonds require a 60 approval of the voters and Senator Hawkins supports the simple majority threshold of 50 percent for Levy proposals he does not support that same threshold for school Bonds in the letter Senator Hawkins stated his opinion that Bond votes can significantly
039alter property taxes in communities and as such warrant some sort of higher threshold and while he indicated he would not support a simple majority for passage of school bond proposals he is interested in hearing the board's thoughts on the matter and in addition the board's opinion on a potential compromise threshold of 55 percent approval um he has further requested it if the board considers this issue which we are about to that the board communicate back to him in writing no later than March 10th describing the district's position so I wanted to open that up for discussion great thank you um thank you that was a good summary of the letter and the situation and I felt like it was important that this letter would be before the board for discussion so that we could respond
040timely should we choose to do so and also because I don't know what any of the rest of you think about this topic and the only place we have to explore that is is here so I'm gonna kick that off I am glad that he supports the simple majority on levies that makes absolute sense to me um as he pointed out in his letter the duration of bond funding and financing is much much longer in duration so we can have a two or a four year Levy we can have a 30-year Bond and that's a huge commitment you know for the taxpayers it's always disappointing when you go out for a bond and you lose it by a percentage or two under 60 um and been on many of those Bond communities and it costs
041a lot of money to to go to go back out but you know communication with the district is with the community is super important transparency is important I personally uh would support um a compromise of 55 because I think thresholds should be higher um 60 percent um maybe is a little too high so that's where I am I too agree with um Senator Brad Hawkins that because it does have a more significant impact on our taxpayers um a simple majority may not be the right answer but I uh like Laura mentioned we our district has lost a couple bonds because of um that one or just a handful of boats um I also agree that a 55 threshold is a really good compromise and I would be willing to support the proposal I also support
042the the compromise proposal um I agree that we are taxed to death in some cases so it is tough to to support anything that could impose more taxes on anyone but I just don't see the reality of regardless of how much work we put into marketing and and communicating reaching the the 60 threshold in our facilities just need major improvements that um I mean the more time I spent at the high school it's just it's so apparent that they need so much work and I don't know how else to do it so um you know I think there's it's a meet in the middle because there is so much work that goes into every one of those Bond campaigns and to Lose It by just that one or two percent is frustrating it's not fair
043for the students and families you know at the same time it's hard to shoulder the burden on our community with more taxes but but I do agree that a split split the baby approach and 55 threshold for a bond proposal is is reasonable to me and stands a better a better chance of getting the facilities what they need but um having more Community requiring more Community buy-in so I'll go next then um I want to kind of go from Context a little bit I think Senator Hawkins talks about a higher hurdle uh forcing Bond requests to be in his words reasonable and I so I think that is a good position a a logical position and Justified um you know when you look at education you can simply talk about the learning the instruction the
044curriculum but none of that works very well without um adequate physical environment the facilities and the tools and also the human environment as well um the the way we can nurture and and create an um a human environment in the schools that works so we're talking about the physical and structural environment with bonds uh and I think it's really uh essential and I would agree with uh that sixty percent is a higher than necessarily necessary percentage I would see 55 as a minimum I think it does need to be something that forces us to think plan and be hard-nosed about what we do so I hold the descending opinion I agree with with um Brad Hawkins that you as he States here in his letter um they're difficult at 60 but the standard is achievable
045if Bond requests are reasonable and if Communications are good and he States the it cites the example of of getting a bond passed during a recession in Eastmont um nobody feels more strongly about the high school getting modernizing or even coming up to to date because I have a child at the high school and we're very very involved in in the high school and uh but you know a bond at 60 is achievable I mean it's been you know and I think that um with the transparency that we've kind of developed uh through bill that um people have spoken about I think that it it is possible so uh again I I have the one to send an opinion but uh because as Julie noted we are taxed to death particularly here and um it
046really affects um everyone and it's it is a it's painful so great thank you any further discussion um just wondering where that leaves us yeah um I was going to say the next uh is how well is how we look at a drafted letter assuming remember so we don't have a consensus um on writing the letters support um so at this time if Brad Hawkinson or Brad Hawkins stayed in his letter the more aboard vote um and I think since we don't have a consensus on this um would anybody like to move to take a vote on this I'll move to approve drafting a letter on behalf of the board to Brad Hawkins uh in support of a 55 voter threshold for bonds I will second that so we have a motion on the floor
047um do we have any further discussion I do yeah no I just want to respond to that comment you you are correct Catherine it is possible to pass a bond um at 60 and um given the right circumstances that has happened in the past many many times um it it is incumbent upon the board to be responsible about how it introduced Bond measures so that the tax rate you know we very often have waited to to put a bond measure on the ballot um to time it when another Bond measure was coming off so that we have essentially had a static tax rate over time for the most part and when we even if we reduce the um the percentage to 55 that doesn't remove the responsibility from the board to put out responsible bonds
048and to manage the ask you know of the voters in a in a reasonable manner this graph letter would be crafted by our superintendent okay okay great good so we have a motion on the floor to draft a letter of support for a 55 threshold all in favor please say aye aye all not a favor say nay thank you motion carries yeah next on the object that we have action items and this is for the property purchase proposal thank you I have a slide to show the board just so we kind of uh get a look at the property in question and while that is coming up I will say that during the uh regular board meeting in September on September 8th of 2020 a representative from Chelan County Public Works shared information with the
049board regarding potential use of some District property that is adjacent to Mission view Elementary's campus and it um Liz if you want to go to the next slide that is difficult to see but Mission view is on there kind of in the middle of that picture and the red arrow I put on there is pointing to the Triangular wedge of property that they are discussing uh which at this time we weed whack and clean garbage out of and uh plow the sidewalk for uh but a request was made in 2020 to access the property to determine if the property would meet the city's needs for a future water treatment project and after completing their due diligence the county has deemed this is a feasible site to construct a water quality facility with with the idea
050of managing some of the storm water runoff so the county is interested in purchase of this piece of land for that project and they would like to move forward with an appraisal and then a potential acquisition and I am seeking the board's Direction in next steps with the county regarding an appraisal and potential acquisition of this property so I'd like to open up for some discussion on that I so we did look at this some time ago as you mentioned and the district has no use for this property it's across the street from the school it's not suitable for parking or any other purpose it's not suitable for playground or so there's no reason I'm actually grateful that the county is interested in coming and taking it off our hands because not only will it
051put a few Capital dollars into our account but it sounds like it will save us some m o money that could be used elsewhere and I would agree with that and that also I think is the uh what was discussed last time the only other thing I would do and I it would come Downstream is when you have a storm Basin like that uh depending on how it's designed engineering how deep it is how long water will sit in it you may have a safety hazard and so it's very important to design that especially near an elementary school with adequate fencing controls and make sure that you can't have any accidents and um so I would bring that up with the county it comes later in the stage it might affect the cost of their
052construction I imagine actually they know exactly what to do to be safe but we want to make sure as a school district that we have a very safe stormwater Pond and I may be wrong it may be a drainage Pond that does not have any acid I don't know but if it's one that carries enough water which then we do to get into we want to make sure it's safe yeah I have no objection to uh proceeding with this proposal it sounds like it is doing us a considerable favor I'm I can't tell the Topography of it it must not be all that flat because otherwise I'm sure it would have been an unlawful campground at this point so we might as well save ourselves some additional landlord-tenant problems I agree completely then I'll take
053those Capital funds for sure yep actually I would add it's not a totally a non-valuable property we mustn't talk too much about that well yeah so my question is it has a beautiful view a daylight basement home would look lovely there it's a it's proximity to the water yes um so I'm assuming the county will be paying for the appraisal um I the word facility kind of threw me off so then I looked at the map and I looked at the markers and it doesn't seem like there's going to be any structures that are going to be unsightly to the community or the houses around their um from what I understood looking at the key in this black and white chop it yeah it sounds like it's just um like it's manhole strains um and
054I in that Martin brings up a really good point let's make sure um if we do have children that happen to cross that busy street um hopefully we don't but that are um that is a secure site to keep um to any any danger from there um any well do we have a motion to allow the county to move forward with an appraisal of the property and move to direct the superintendent to enter into negotiations with the county regarding the sale of the property as presented I would move that motion as you stated it in words and I'll second it thank you we have a motion by Martin and second by Catherine any further discussion all in favor of allowing the county to move forward with an appraisal of the property and move us move
055to direct the superintendent to enter into negotiations with the county regarding the sale of the property please say aye okay motion carries next we have the superintendent report well here's my Valentine's Day Report so I want to start uh by thanking everyone who took the time during our citizens comment section of the agenda this evening uh the budget scenarios presented to the board on February 13th in the discussion around those scenarios is available on our website in video format and the slide presentation including the actual amounts that are associated with each of the scenarios is also available in the board packet for that February 13th workshop and I want to encourage interested members of our community and staff to view those details if they haven't yet as I mentioned during the workshop yesterday presentations on
056budget involve a lot of numbers and tables and behind those numbers and tables are people and so uh you know thank you to those who shared this evening this is hard work for us moving forward I would like to also share that um I was involved in a joint community meeting with parents from both the Eastmont and Wenatchee School District around gang prevention we continue our work with esmont because the the gang issue is a community issue and not a Wenatchee or East Wenatchee issue at the meeting parents had an opportunity to engage in discussions with a former gang member who was able to come out of the Gang Lifestyle and now works to support youth in moving away from gang involvement and as a result of that meeting we will be reaching out in
057a joint effort with Eastmont to find out more about that program and how we might be able to build capacity for such a program in our community congratulations to the girls bowling team on their fourth place State finish uh as someone who was humbly given the opportunity to bowl with uh some of the the girls bowling team uh they do a fantastic job and it was great to see that State uh finish also uh in the athletic realm uh our former swim and dive coach James elwin will be included excuse me inducted into the Washington inner Scholastic aquatic coaches Hall of Fame Mr Elman passed away in June of 2020 after a courageous battle with cancer he was a teacher at Wenatchee high school for 20 years and I had the privilege of working with
058him during that time frame a wonderful individual that induction ceremony will take place at the 4A State swimming finals on February 18th in King County at the Aquatic Center in Federal Way so looking forward to [Music] um that opportunity to to have one of our former coaches inducted uh the ultimate murder mystery board game is coming to the Wenatchee High School stage at clue the theater performance will open in March and this the show will be happening on March 10th 11th 16th 17th and 18th and the tickets are on sale now I'd like to invite the board and the community to join in for that murder mystery and Eric Anderson I and I had the opportunity over the weekend to attend the Apple Blossom royalty selection pageant at the Numerica Performing Arts Center and I
059just want to say I was so impressed with the top 10 candidates from both sides of the river it was a wonderful evening it culminated in the announcement of the 2023 Royal Court and so I want to congratulate princess Dylan schmitten princess Natalie Pearson and our Queen Scarlet cron I'm looking forward to Spring and the associated Apple Blossom activities and last but certainly not least for me close to my heart as a former math teacher the middle school students from our area participated in a math is cool competition recently and our own Davey Gately a seventh grader from Pioneer won the individual title in the pre-algebra division Foothills sixth grade and eighth grade teams also placed first in their division and the seventh grade team placed second in their division so congratulations to all of
060those mathletes and that is my Valentine's Day Report thank you Bill next we're out to boards board communication he wants to start anybody I'll go first then um I like to sometimes talk about parts of the school district that are not that visible but really uh need honor and deserve honor uh the first one was a total accident uh we talk about partnership in the Strategic plan I was a community organization partner with some uh activity at Mission View and I was trading off some paperwork and by accident walked into the bi-weekly family Advocate meeting to do that and you know I think of the family advocates in one way you can say that the glue that hold everything together in the elementary and middle schools they're also the connections uh and then I would
061roll in the graduation specialist to do the similar work in the high school it's a formidable group of people um and I just wanted to say that I I watched them meeting each of them talked about a success and a challenge I don't want to say anything more than that that you do achieve things and you face challenges and um you know families students schools it was a privilege to be with that group and I really want to highlight everything that they do uh that is not necessarily under a spotlight uh the other one's a little different um I'm really pleased with the way CTE has broadened and deepened and extended into more you know Future Ready types education and learning and also how they've gone backwards into the middle school so that people plan
062and do things earlier I made a visit to the Junior ROTC um and that was deliberate this is a totally new program so to go at the beginning of the year and then go halfway through the year and see that the empty storage room is now full of gear and equipment and uniforms and everything else um and I want to stress that the leader of the staff leader without Colonel Atkins is we don't want special treatment we're just the same as no more important than any other CTE program but the difference is that they are brand new and anytime we invest and we invested heavily in this new program then in that first year we need to make sure that we get out the word people under standard and everything like that so I think
063that's really important they also like the rest of CDE you're trying to go back and and show what they can do in the middle schools uh it's very much a real world educational experience um oh on the fun side I got to embarrass myself on a flight simulator but um it is aeronautical I thought I was going to sit in on something else but this I thought it was rather interesting the cadets there were being taught how to take really good notes and dominate a subject it's kind of like Avid in a way I thought so I just wanted to remind everybody that we do have this new program this year is a growth year as they develop and they're not alone in CTE I just want to let everybody know about that good work
064done in that area and thank the people who do it and wish well the cadets and students well foreign sorry it took me a second to click into this but prior to our last board meeting I I meant to mention that I did go to the winter stem camp at the YMCA at Tina Nick Van Brown's invitation I got to see Max there um and I observed um a very very very uh energetic Lesson by um I think it's Bob Bauer on um the the salmon that was and also uh Tracy galb doing a lesson on origami and um Japanese language and which he tied into learning about words associated with the outdoors and then got to see them all having some free time outside um they showed me their cabins and you know doing
065fun little winter things and Tina I can't say enough about Tina's enthusiasm her hard work and dedication uh for that program it wouldn't be anything if it wasn't for her and the kids were all there having a really great time she had a ton of parent volunteers staying in the cabins and supervising the kiddos and um just I'm I've always appreciated experiential Ed and got student action so that was great I don't have much but I just wanted to say that I again I really truly appreciate all the hard work that is going into this budgeting process hearing the the transparency that's occurring um I don't envy the decision I'm not looking forward in any way shape or form the decisions that we have to make but knowing how much work and collaboration um time
066and attention that is going into it makes me feel more comfortable and confident that we will make the decisions that are in the best interest of his as everyone is possible so it is very positive to hear the work that is going on and I hope that this is one small step of the transparency that we can provide in other areas um as as we roll out the Strategic plan and other other things but I I just I really do applaud the the the work that's going into it and and the support from families and and everyone in the community and I'm going to continue with that and saying again and thanking you again Bill and in how you've led us through this I was fortunate enough to tag along uh with Bill whether he
067wanted me there or not to a Lions Club meeting uh where he gave a presentation he's taking this so far as to meet with different clubs in the community to explain what's going on to in order to to in pursuit of things like bonds later on to keep them aware of what's going on you know and what how we're trying to remedy the mistake and and I just can't say enough about how great that presentation was and I know you're scheduled for more with other groups in the in the community and I think that's really um really really positive and it was a fantastic presentation and I know that the club enjoyed um hearing that and feeling like they were really well informed on what's Happening so again thank you you're doing a remarkable job
068I also was able to attend uh I got to manage or Chaperone a room for the solo and Ensemble competition for the band uh on the fourth so two Saturdays ago and from eight in the morning until five at night I got to listen to uh these kids these brave souls like your son Max who were willing to stand up and speak and and uh put their efforts out there on display for not only whoever is sitting in the room but a judge that is gonna talk to them afterwards and tell them how they did oh so the judge that I was in the room with was from another area of the state and she said I just wish she was saying throughout the day I just wish there was that the people who make
069decisions could observe this and I thought I don't what's that okay I'm observing and she said it again and I thought I said well why why do you why do you think that that the people who make decisions in school districts should be watching this she said because it's just it's so important what they're doing this should this is something that could be um in every class where the the student has to practice and learn and and gain the um confidence to stand up and present what what they're doing and what they're learning and show that they've learned it and um I I ended up telling her I I might be involved in a few of those decisions you know she did she had no idea that I was on the school board but she
070felt so so strongly about that she expressed it throughout the day and I could not have agreed with her more it was just um really exciting to see these kids step up and some of them didn't do as well as they wanted and really it took all of their everything in them to get up and do that and they but every one of them made it through and even might not have felt so great in the end but they made it through and it was just so impressive to me we have quite a quite a few uh kids that received um exemplary scores but several that are going on to State uh so that's that's really exciting and it was a fantastic uh day of getting to see that the Jazz Workshop is coming up
071and they are needing parents this is primarily in in the Middle Schools they're needing volunteers for that that week-long activity and and those shows that will happen so keep that in mind but uh that was that meeting watching you share with the public what's happening and again your transparency that people appreciate so much and then that that full day of Saturday watching watching our students who are amazing and also then Martin and I attended the um uh the student advisory committee meeting which is really great too and again I have to say how wonderful a superintendent Eagle is because he presented issues problems situations to the students and said all right you know how what do you suggest for this and how do you how do you how do you feel about this what do
072you see and how how would you uh you want us to move forward with this and it's great to get their perspective um I I wish that it was a bigger group honestly I wish we had a bigger range of students that were involved but I think it's it it speaks volumes that um you're taking the time to to hear their voice that's very important so thank you Catherine uh just briefly uh it's been it's been three weeks since we last had our regular board meeting um I know the four of us were at the uh District right pack meeting at the high school um that was wonderful to see one of the comments that I heard at the meeting was we've never seen so many district office staff cabinet and principals come to the
073pack meetings so people did notice um and I looked around and I'm like yeah that's true I think the whole cabinet team was there I saw principles from all grade levels so thank you for showing up to and representing um that evening there was also unified basketball that was my first game I'd been to and that was fabulous to watch it was um the support from the community from the students from the it just it was just a very awesome event and I plan to go to more and then lastly on this topic is I got to go to the radio station with Mr Lopez last Wednesday to talk about the superintendent search and also the role of the board and again um you know I encourage our listeners uh it is a biling somewhat
074bilingual program it's on what's the dial station uh-huh all right I'll get back to you on that um but it's at seven o'clock in the morning um and he he just does a really good a really good job um just talks about the announcements of the district what's happening um and I like I said call me up anytime I'd be happy to be a guest um and next I want to provide an update on the superintendent surge again it's been three weeks since our last regular board meeting uh although feels like we've been living and sleeping here um so since the last board meeting on regular board meeting on January 24th um the board meeting met on January 31st during to have a special meeting during an executive session the Consultants joined the board Dr
075louder and Dr baleras we had the opportunity to discuss the applicants of six superintendent candidates that were brought forward by Mike Pearson and Jacobson on February 7th the board took action to interview four semi finalist candidates those interviews were conducted on February 8th and February 9th and then on the evening of February 9th during the special meeting the board unanimously voted to move forward for uh to move forward as finalists for superintendent Dr Corey kalahar Dr Nicholas Wade and Tavis Peterson next the finalist for superintendent will be visiting the school district on Tuesday February 21st Thursday February 23rd and Monday February 22nd each candidate has been assigned a date you can find all this information on our on the district website under this under it's actually um a tiki a header on the homepage of
076the district website uh during their visits they will be meeting with different stakeholder groups inside the district as well as outside the district they will be getting some building tours on the dates mentioned above we invite the public to meet each candidate during the moderated public forum those will be at 5 30 at Wenatchee High School in the Commons and we really hope we get a good turnout because this is an opportunity for the community to really not only meet the candidates but also be able to provide feedback on each individual's strengths and weaknesses the board will get to see the feedback and I'll go into a little bit more on that at this time the board will not be attending those public forums there will be interpreting services available during all the forums that
077same evening that the the candidates visit the district um the board will meet we'll have dinner with the candidate and their spouse if they choose to and then that Will Follow by a board interview the feedback from the community forums and the other meetings that the candidates will engage in will that data will become available to the board on the Friday of February 23rd on the morning of on the morning of February 28th sorry uh the board will review the review the feedback and then we will hold a special meeting on March 1st at 3 pm at that meeting there may be possible action I would like to thank everyone that applied to serve on the stakeholder interview committee from what I've heard we had a great turnout those elected to participate will be notified
078by tomorrow by five o'clock and I thank the committee in advance for their time and commitment to serve on this very important committee I think in general that wraps up the kind of summary of Where what we've done and how we're going to move forward do we have any any questions or discussion yes please thank you for that great report um so the board has um interviewed the the finalists as you previously stated and then we have a dinner planned with each of them and their spouses and another interview um the community Forum meetings that are occurring at the high school I think that it is important for the board not only to interview the candidates well we've interviewed them all on Zoom prior and we're going to meet with them face to face and
079do a little socializing but I feel like it's important for the board to see how the candidates interact with the community we've done that in previous hirings we've stood in the back of the room just observed not participated I'd like the board to consider adjusting the format so that the board members should they so desire to come and sit in the back of the room or stand in the back of the room the community forum meetings that we would uh be allowed if you will to do that um and I'd like the board to I offer that for consideration I absolutely agree agree I absolutely would like to be there I'm not even sure where where it came about that we as you said are allowed or not allowed but I I think it's very
080important I'd definitely like to be there I for some reason when we started this process I thought there these Community meetings would be recorded or some thing and not that not that I'm aware of okay because I thought we would have the ability because it does seem important to see how they interact or have the ability to see if we wanted to how they interacted so I was hoping that there'd be some type of online not not online to participate but online to view if we wanted to so I would I guess like the opportunity to stand in then if that's not going to be available I think that just because um the these Community forums will be held off-site we don't have the technology capacities to do the same type of thing that we
081do here um it's something we could check with technology to see if they can possibly record it but we don't have the live streaming capabilities there um but it is something that we could check into for possibly recording and having it available at a later date the the um I recall as discussing this briefly with Dr Steve Lauder in regards to you know normally the board doesn't attend the public forums if that's a direction we're going to take now we would have to do a public meeting because we're all going to be conducting board business if we have more than two board members attend uh and so I think it would be only fair that if one request we obviously you know give the option to others so we're not so we can't I feel
082like we can't just have to to it would be a disadvantage for the board members that would not be able to attend if we don't have an open public meeting I I would fully expect that the board members would not um gather together you know that we would observe separately and individually and if it's necessary legally to um declare that as a public meeting I don't have a problem with that but it would be my expectation of all of us that we stay separate and don't discuss um the candidates in that forum we attended the PAC meeting all and stayed apart I think that worked very well I think we can manage that again yeah my concern is board business um so any discussion would be considered board business right so if you're engaging with
083a parent about candidate or the process now it becomes a meeting um so regardless I think we would it's only a meeting if it's the three of us engage in in the discussion of board business so individual board members can discuss with a parent at the meeting we just can't discuss three three or more of us together right correct so I believe there are Consultants recommended that we do not participate in the group meetings so that we do not influence the content of those meetings in any way that's what I remember um so I actually could probably be pushed like left left or right on this but I do think that that is really really important and when you have a forum and a board member enters in it or sits in a table it
084it takes it out of being neutral and independent and I think they're right that way whether we could be flies on the wall which is I imagine is totally possible and whether that would be helpful whether we'd really learn uh very much from that I mean I think if individual board members thought that was possible then we would want to make sure that this was a totally Level Playing Field in every way and that what we were doing was observing interaction and not influencing a forum yeah I agree with that as well and that's why I thought for some reason these were going to be recorded if not streamed so that we weren't a new sort of the expectation was we wouldn't necessarily be there but for some reason I had the impression that we
085would still get to see the candidate engaging with the community through some recorded potentially recorded process so I may have misunderstood that because you know yeah I'm on the fence about whether it is appropriate that we go because that could change the dynamic of the meeting but at the same time I think it's critically important that we see how this individual engages with others in the community I'm all up for recording you know the timeline is so short having the time to wait for the meeting to end to attend the dinner and then go back and watch and there's a difference you know watching somebody from afar in person as opposed to you know you can see the dynamic of the whole room we've done it before maybe that was with the hiring of the
086um high school principals in the past and I truly but also so the last round of superintendent hiring actually I recall us being at the high school Commons and standing in the back of the room there really wasn't a lot of interaction I certainly made it a point not to influence anybody's opinion um during the meeting um do we have the capability I mean I get I I honestly I'd rather watch it from the comfort of my home um but at the same time um I mean do we have the capabilities at the high school to live stream it because I have been asked that question is it going to be live stream because I teach you know in the evening um specifically to west side west side staff member is there an option for
087it to be live stream I guess um in talking with Ron Brown um it would be tough but possibly doable so it would be a stretch but if that's what the board wants then I think he could he could look into that capability I would still like to express my I would definitely like to be in the room I don't have to talk to anybody I can be in the back of the room they don't even have to see me but I would like to be in the room as Laura says there's a difference in watching the watching them interact and and uh I think it's really really important I think uh if a significant number I was going to say plurality but I'm not even sure that if we have people you know who
088uh ambivalent and a couple who strongly feel that they want to observe then I think we should probably go there and I think without um having any decisions we can work out that the staff can work out a mechanism for us to do that what we would have to do is commit that we were basically invisible not participating um if it was possible it's going to be in the comments is that right I'm trying to remember yeah so I mean we have filmed events at the high school on the stage I don't know about the streaming after that but um so I even though I'm sitting on the fence and would be happy not happy but I would accept either way um I think good judgment can be made with us not participating but I
089think if a significant number the board feels that it's important for their judgment to see firsthand then uh we should do it but ask for a mechanism that keeps us uh pretty much ideally behind a one-way mirror watching is the way I would look at it it's not practical but basically we need to be disciplined about this yeah I I completely agree I don't support the idea of it it was a you know it was it's I don't believe it's common practice uh it was not the recommendation of the search firm that um that the board doesn't attend um but I also think that if it's going to be open to the board members then to in all fairness we should probably it's kind of come on come all right because we want to make
090sure that we're all getting the opportunity to view them in this um in this in this format um but yeah we're going to be very we have to be very strategic as to our presence there okay so Kim can you just look into the logistics um whether you need to do a special meeting or extend perfect um and then Kim is also uh working on the details about the dinner which will be held at the Residence Inn that will also be a special meeting um so two special meetings in a day it'll be one meeting one executive session at the Residence Inn with the dinner um starting with the dinner and then ending with the interview okay thank you okay perfect um and um yeah any further discussion anything to add perfect okay so it
091is 7 25 at this time this meeting is adjourned