001I'm going to call our work meeting to order at 4:30 in the afternoon. Our item on the agenda is superintendent. >> Nikki, I think everybody received these in the packet >> and then I gave you another copy. >> Thank you. >> Just updated a few things in it and put a little check box. >> Great. >> Go through. Why don't you just do an overview and then we'll open up for some questions. >> Perfect. Um so two goals. Goal number one to ensure that the school district's long-term financial stability in the face of dynamic external pressures including potential fluctuations in funding, demographic shifts resulting in enrollment declines and the increasing prevalence of privatization. Um thereby safeguarding the district's capacity to consistently deliver highquality educational services and opportunities to all students. Um this has been a
002huge huge thing for us. You know how it is because you're you're married to somebody that has to do this constantly as well. But um I I literally every week am doing I'm engaged in discussions or whatever it is around budget. um uh specifically and I'm going to do in part so I try to give you guys an update in my report. I I'll either give you the revenue forecast or I'll give you where we are with things. I try to also do that in this meeting throughout the year. But um on top of that um I'm going to give you something today during my report um during a regular board meeting. Um so just some I'm going to go through this some examples and I'll I'll share. So um adapt to funding changes and
003when I check them that means it's that I've I'm doing them currently or have done them. Um obviously track potential federal funding shifts. I'm going to talk about that spec more specifically today and I I think I gave you in my report an example of what was happening. um create backup um budget plans and find ways to be more um efficient. Um I'm going to read through this and then I'm going to go back and share instead of going stopping on each one. Um advocate for fair school funding with policy makers. probably sent out no less than uh five or six letters um since the beginning of this the year until now to lawmakers um advocating for different kind of funding measures. Um and probably will be doing so again as we move forward into
004this ne next legislative session and as we see pets coming potentially um collaborate with other educational organizations and stakeholders to advocate for shared legislative priorities. I am meeting at the very least once a week with um uh fellow superintendent and um KOSA OD um those organizations. Um we have a a Friday every Friday we have a legislative actually they call it Friday forum where we're talking about all things legislation. Um I also engage in off the record meetings which um we have um those every few weeks. So that is happening all the time. Um use resources wisely. Ongoing review of the budget to find savings without hurting education quality. Use data to make smart budget decisions that pri prioritize students. Strengthen and leverage partnerships with public entities for cost savings and improve student services. maintain
005healthy savings against unexpected unexpected financial problems. So, um I'm going to just show you this. This is this is what we've done recently. So, this is something that Devon put together that talks about where we are financially. Done some comparisons of where we are with staffing versus enrollment. This is also something that we go through and we talk about, okay, when we're looking at our budget, where can we have savings? Those kinds of things. The bottom line is is that um we are we we knew coming into this school year that we were in deficit because we negotiated new contracts last year and as part of that negotiations we created a whole new salary scale and we knew before we started that process because we had visited with place with like um the previous superintendent
006of Baker and from other places who had said this is how you do it and they showed us basically to get to where we wanted. We're not there yet, but to get a good uh ways towards that, we had to bite into our as you will savings. I'm going to I'm going to use the common terminology that is a little easier to to understand. So to to make that transition because you have to shift everyone from the old salary scale to the new one, it's going to take a chunk of your savings to do that and then it'll even out over time. So we knew that was going to happen and when we had our budget meeting, we we told the budget committee we're going to be in deficit going into this next year. Now
007the good news is is we have a really healthy healthy healthy reserve. um and have been doing that in in knowing that we have some facilities work at Aken to get done and we so we've been wanting to save up but also um Devon and I are very like-minded in that we also want to be we always want to be prepared for tough times so that um we don't want to just say gosh we only have we can only s if we didn't get funding today from OD. We want to we don't want to say we've only got a month's worth of operations to go. We want to be able to operate from multiple months to get through those times. So, so that's the good news, but at the same time, we want to keep
008that healthy. So, we're going to have to bite into that to that savings a little bit. But one of the things that we sat down was >> it was me. I'm checking on my mom. Oh, sorry. >> It's the Zoom or something. >> Um, so one of the things that we really took a look at is we looked at our numbers. How many um what is our student enrollment? Um Devon ran numbers about how many how much staff that we have and have we kept pace with that um as enrollment has declined and um we haven't. We need to still reduce staff because of reduced enrollment. This is by the way as we go into our KOSA meetings and have meetings with other superintendents you hear across the board across the state. And so then
009we start planning, okay, what um what are our numbers? Um if we have a retirement here, we we we actually already have some retirements and we won't replace this person, we won't replace this person. Um, and then if we have a somebody leave at this this level, um, if we need to replace them, we're going to move somebody from here to there. Um, those kinds of things. So, that's why it looks all the way it does on my notes. And we're just looking at where where we need to be in terms of cost savings um, going forward. Um, so, so that is, um, a huge part of what I'm doing, what we're doing every week. Um, more than I've ever probably done as a superintendent or done in my time, and we've always kept a
010good eye on budget, but because of what's happening at the federal level and the reflection that has on the state level, I feel like we're doing more and more of [clears throat] that. And I, like I said, I I don't want to take up all my time on this, but I'm going to share more. It'll make sense to you what is happening when I share during the regular board meeting, during my report of what about what exactly is happening. So, um, that's happening. Um, we are always looking for new funding opportunities. We, um, um, are always trying to apply for for grants. And as a matter of fact, another one just came through that we'll be applying for. um to help with with savings anytime we can um even supplant I I'd say if there's
011something that we're already doing that falls under a grant and we can put that person under a grant to do the same work which saves to our general form we try to make those kinds of moves um and um and do that um and the one thing that um I would say I' I feel like I've been really open and transparent with all of you but we I haven't put anything out to the public about it about where we're at. Um I guess with all these fun it's it's a hard thing to understand if you're in the general public about trying to explain what the what all that does, how the federal stuff works, but I do try to do it at public meetings. And um if I could if I could um and I'll
012I'm going to be thinking about ways that I can send that message out to um the community that's in a way that they'll understand. Um I'll have to think about that on how I can do that or I would happy I'm happy to welcome suggestions. Um There's just so much when it comes to budget. Um, but [clears throat] I will say just really staying on top of it. And I think that that we could talk about I read something the paytoplay and we're not doing that. I think if you hit budget stuff on things that parents can >> understand about those pieces that might help share those snippets and won't give us the overall budget, but just even some of like, yeah, >> hey, you know, >> I don't know if Middleton is, but I
013just thought Middleton's doing a paytoplay. We don't do that because of how we manage our funds. So you may see things cut a little short here, but it's because we're >> we're protecting it here or some of those or like why don't these kids get to play sports with us or some of those things that people are can see physically instead of the nitty-gritty that >> yeah it's complicated when it comes to education and so trying to explain that that to the general public is it can be can be difficult. But I will say that we um we really are trying to get there, get to this spot where, as I say, we're living within our means >> in a way that isn't um riffing people, right? Reduction in force, laying people off. We're trying
014to get there through attrition slowly, which is I think why we're a little bit behind because that takes time. We put a spending freeze in place. We put a travel freeze in pa place all of those things. And um I would say and what I'm saying is is to administrators if you need something call devon or I we'll talk through it and we'll decide if if that's something you can't live without or >> need a want. >> Yeah. >> Exactly. So, um, so and and we we actually started that last year, um, to really get ahead of things. Um, but I also will say we've been pretty spoiled for the past 15 years. We we've built back, we've added people, we've been really healthy and but that's why we're in the position we're in right
015now is that we are very healthy. I mean, I think even OD said to us, >> look at it. You got a really healthy >> I'm going to guess that you have a lot of cooperation from the reduced spending. >> Yeah. >> People because you started last April. >> Yeah. And we're we we hoped we weren't going to have to take um make bigger moves, but we we will. And but again, we're going to do it um in a really smart way and and uh a way that um you know, we're not laying people off. um cutting programs. We're not work we're not looking at going to pay to play. We're not looking at cutting athletics. I mean, we're trying to do all of these things that have the least impact on kids. >> And
016I don't think our parents could afford to pay it. >> The other thing can you ask the different superintendent how much money they have in reserve? You probably can't do that. The only sad thing is the interest rate dropped from what 4 to 4. >> It's probably not even half of what we >> is there an average. >> Yeah. Um it's probably two to three months of operating expenses >> is average. >> Uh we have more like six like seven >> reductions through attrition is a very smart practice to allow people to >> Yep. starting early anytime we um so some other things that that some other ways that we were affected and one example is like Annabelle runs the federal program so we have the title budget well one of the unexpected consequences of
017having a new contract and having um a great contract with our teachers union or our our classified um is that we were able to pay for the cap cap. So, cover the cap on insurance. So, there's no out of pocket for that. Well, a consequence of that was more people opted into insurance because there was no out of pocket, which there was just enough, for example, in her title budget that opted in that it blew her title budget. So, but because Annabelle is always watching that, she came in and said, "Let's go through this." We had our meeting and said, "All right, what's happening here?" So, we were able to move um some people out of her budget and move them into some open positions that we had. One was from the title budget into
018an ELD opening at our middle school and moving another newer IIA into like a special ed opening that we had. So, making some smart moves like that. um and and really having the the conversation, do we really need um should we rehire this position or not? Do we really need it? Um or or leaving it open for a while. Now, with special ed, it's a little tricky because we have to have this maintenance of effort and maintain the same level of of support for students and things like that. But um we're constantly having those questions and and looking through and analyzing these kinds of things. So so yeah um so the bottom line is we are still we still have a deficit going in. We knew that. Um we're still trying to make that up
019through other moves of the district. Um that's due to loss of enrollment through because of our negotiated contract. Um we are over staffed and we are working on um going down with ir retrition of staff. Um we have a hiring and spending increase in place only hiring if we have to. Um, however, we are healthy and have a good savings, but we are still working to live upon our means now with a a loss of enrollment. All right. >> Can I ask you about that now or do it later? What what is the enrollment like? >> Uh, we are like 25,58 >> kindergarten. >> So, I'm going to share that with you if you wait. I actually have a a handout for you too during the regular board. And I like to do it then
020because there's more people there and they can hear it and I think that's important. So, right. Okay. Goal number two is ensure all students can read proficiently by the end of third grade. Um, this is not happening like a three-year goal, but um, so I'd heard that some of you had gone to May Roberts and got to observe some of the cool stuff that happens there. And so you could kind of see some of the really specifics of the reading groups and everything else. So, so these are the key objectives. These are the things that are happening right now. Um, so we have obviously a really intense focus on K3 reading. We prioritize we do lots of training. We we support um specifically kindergarten through third grade, but really a big a lot of emphasis
021especially on K1. Um so we do targeted foundations of reading training for all K3 teachers and instructional assistants. Um Barb Steinberg who is renowned was here and I think the name I think it was last week Annabelle was here. One of the comments that she made is she go went around and she does she'll model lessons and she went to the three schools and she told Christie that and she goes all over the United States and she said that um she has never seen such well-trained classified staff in delivering instruction she has had in this district and that's just really uh because we put so much effort into supporting not only they're there are teachers of small groups right they're teachers too so we put a lot of effort into that um we have how
022many days of training do we have for the IAS throughout the year we have them come on some Fridays >> four or five >> we we changed that probably what four or five years ago where we really put a lot more training into our IAS specifically on how they're delivering instruction instruction even not just not just instruction but also managing students whether it's PBIS or or other things. So that's exciting. Um we have a literacy coordinator and instructional coaches um at every building and um they've completed over 70 demo lessons in the past year modeling our new reading intervention programs and strategies. um every K5 uh grade student receives 45 minutes of reading intervention at their instructional level. So even if a student isn't behind, we also have an opportunity for students to challenge to
023challenge students through SIPs um and they can be challenged to above grade level um and accelerate through that. Um [clears throat] we regularly assess um all K3 students to identify those at risk for reading difficulties immediately. Um all instructional coaches have been trained to screen and identify students showing signs of dyslexia as early as kindergarten. And then a double dose of intervention program supports these students. Um specifically we provide immediate and targeted interventions. We offer intensive evidence-based support to struggling readers in the early grades. Um we also offer accelerated above grade level interventions as I mentioned before. Um and then something new is we collaborate with Eastern Oregon University and they have a reading clinic and um through this grant they're providing after school reading supports for grades K through two um or they will
024be sorry in January and um and we'll be able to employ our own certified teachers for that after school. Um we monitor progress very closely. We track students in their reading interventions. Um, coaches meet with teachers and instructional assistants every six weeks for reading intervention review meetings. Um, those students that are aren't responding to interventions after two rounds are placed into a problem solving progress and progress monitoring their progress monitored closely. Um, strengthen early literacy foundations. We invest in early childhood literacy. Um we um host um PDX reading. We we hosted Barb Steinberg last week and she demonstrated lessons, provided on-site training, observed intervention groups, those kinds of things. Um, I mean some of these are are a little bit redundant, but one thing um that is going to happen is I talked to Christie
025today and we're going to um she's going to present to you guys in January and we'll have midyear data so she can share where we're at, where we started and where we're at. So we put that on the the board meeting. Then um some little things like building wide schedules are developed so that each grade level team um is placed into pods and the pods have their own intervention time during the school day. Um we have dual language literacy kits that are handed out to kindergarten families at our meet the teacher night. Um and that's provided by our our EOU reading clinic. and then um build upon early successes in later grades. While the early grades are the priority, continued explicit teaching of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and study skills in all subjects still happens in
026later grades. And of course, um K12 coaches meet um with the literacy coordinator at least once a month to develop and implement coaching plans. And those plans include not only just coaching them like for new staff but but experienced staff also. It might just mean looking through their lesson plans and making sure that they have all the needed components for those lesson plans to be have that well-rounded teaching and those kinds of things. Um and then things like uh cultivating a love of reading. Each month one student at every classroom is awarded most improved reader. We have family literacy nights going on. Um and then of course we want to continue to improve writing skills. So we had a kind of [clears throat] a revamp of step up to writing training um this year and
027then it was also offered at the countywide PD day and um provide opportunities for authentic writing. All teachers have a subscription to group which is an online writing AI tool that provides feedback to students which is really cool. and um lots of PD, lots of check-ins, lots of monitoring. Um lots going on. >> So it sounds like you can track every student. >> Yes, absolutely. So questions for me. I know that was a lot in a little bit of that amount of time. about uh six minutes before our next meeting, but uh take a >> minute break between >> um question. So I mean these both sound great like obviously I think the financial standpoint is super important and the reading as well as you know I mean we have young kids in this school.
028>> Um you know one thing that like we hear a lot being on the board and that came up a lot during like campaigns and things was like transparency in the district. Is there any way maybe to include something maybe like a third goal or something that would kind of address that and your involvement in the community just as a way to kind of like show what you're doing so that when we get questioned about that like we have actionable steps or something that we're easily able to say like here's her plan here's what she's doing she hears you so you well so these were goals that were set and approved by the board but I certainly could when we go in to set my next set of goals yeah for sure Yeah, >> this
029>> Oh, see I didn't know that. Yeah, I thought that's why we were doing Sorry. >> This is my checkin. >> Okay, just check that part out. But we we'll do a check in and then January or February we'll do the evaluation come back >> and then new ones >> new. >> So I'll goals around next April. Okay. >> And then that'll be for the following year. So these goals are for this year. >> So yeah. So because I sat in the agenda meeting >> because I was like set up that we >> so yeah we don't do eval we do evaluation like February is the new Yeah. Even though we're even though the school year isn't done yet. It's a very odd because I had to ask that in agenda meeting. I was like
030I don't understand. >> Okay. >> So it's January February 26 because my evaluation is usually in the very beginning. When does it have to be completed? By >> uh by the February I by no later than the >> you you need to have it approved by March 15. >> We need to get it finished. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So yeah, so like anything after February would count for >> I know. I was like that makes no sense to me to jump in like you make them like in July when you're new. >> So we talked about that because I was like I don't understand and it was really about >> well it's about her contract because like if and teachers contracts too because they have the same because if you weren't going to renew their
031contract then you would >> you would need to know that by that point. >> Yeah because I was like I don't under this is not making sense to me at all. prior years on the board. The [clears throat] board wouldn't allow the superintendent to give brief. >> Oh, okay. >> And I specifically asked for that. I think >> we agreed to >> but it's better to do it during >> January. the last year. So it's >> you don't know heard of them until my report. >> Can we let the families in that specifically say what the pro is like on that goal and then again after that we'll do we'll do new ones >> okay >> in April for the following. >> Okay. >> Yeah. It's weird if you get elected in July. >> Normal
032July halfway through. >> That makes that makes sense. >> Yeah. >> All right. We have to adjourn this and then restart. >> Okay. It's okay.