001to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Then, we've got our remarks for the good of the school and public comment. Then, we'll move to the adoption of the agenda. Can I get a motion? I move that we move the New News ESD to business. Good. Good. I'll second that motion. Okay. So, it's been moved and seconded that we move the contracts from New ESD 101 from the consent agenda to the business portion of the agenda. All right. Any discussion? All those in favor, say "Aye." Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. With that amendment, I got to motion to adopt the agenda. I move to adopt the agenda. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor,
002say "Aye." Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Approval of minutes. Can I get a motion? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. I second. So, moved and seconded that we approve the minutes of previous meetings, April 22nd, 2026 and May 4th, 2026. Any discussion? All those in favor, say "Aye." Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Approval of consent agenda. I'll make a move motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Motion and second that we approve the consent agenda. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Then we move into reports and discussion and I'm up first. Okay. So, thank you for being here. Can you hear me okay with the my first time with the headset? Yep. Okay. It's good to Okay. Okay. Uh so, heard recently that there was some um public wondering about what
003we're doing with uh the transgender issues and uh and the the gender inclusive policy. And just wanted to uh use this time to address that. Um we're still poised for the lawsuit, but the other schools have dropped back and so that leaves us at a point where we are alone in that uh that arena. And so, we have not pushed forward with that. We as far as uh the actual adoption of 3211 and the uh gender inclusive policy, we have spoken to legislators. We've spoken to people on the education committee. We have uh spoken to people on in our community. We formed [clears throat] a committee a community group that included community students and teachers. And what we've decided is that we're waiting until we know the results of the rule making by OSPI, which
004they're in the results in the process of currently, before we know exactly how we're going to move forward with this process. Keep in mind that this is uh it it is a state law And we are going to make our decision on how we make our decision for our school district after we know the full ramifications of that. On a separate note, at the last study session, we discussed the EPNL levy. And when we talked about that EPNL levy, we asked the school district for information that will help us make our decision on how we're going to implement that. And we expect to have a resolution for the EPNL levy soon. And on the last note, I went to the FFA state convention this last weekend. And I got to see our students win top
00510 awards in individual and team events, chapter events. And then also one of our recent graduates was a part of running the entire event as she was retired as a state officer at this convention. And also some state degrees and some proficiencies. And it really reminded me of how and why we do what we do here as a school board. Always putting the students first. Always making sure that we bring the community in. And doing everything we can to have that education the education of the students and the teacher and the community be top. And that's That was like the way in. >> I would like to weigh in. I would like to share that I observed sixth grade class play last week. Mr. Kenny's class and uh uh Mr. Kenny's class. Mr. Kenny's class,
006yes. And it was amazing to see the students just read their classes with one voice plays. They did a really great job memorizing their lines, putting on the play, and moving from first to place. Being on schedule and then also having other students come in and supporting them watching the play. So, it was really cool really cool to see that, especially in the sixth grade class. We're we're talking a lot about high school and elementary school, but the middle school is doing some pretty cool things too. So, just wanted to share that with you. And I had a chance to attend the Riverside High School Hall Class Reunion on Saturday. And present for the board um giving them an update on what's going on in our community. And there was a gentleman there who graduated
00775 years ago. And I'm as I was presenting I was thinking to myself, man, this is what I want for our kids. So, that they come back and they are there for their 75th reunion. So, that our kids come back to our community because we've got some pretty big shoes. It was very very rewarding to be a part of that. Uh one more thing I did uh observe the high school play too. That was awesome. Yeah. It was funny scripts. Kids did a great job. Kudos to them and the play director and all the student participants. >> Are you here to discuss the budget and finance I am. I am. I am. Yeah, I'm filling in. Okay. Ready? All right. I want to let you know >> [laughter] >> She can She can She can
008jump in on anything anything I miss. So, you ready for the budget and finance report? Okay, so Lisa Saturn, our business manager, is not present tonight. So, uh she helped me pre- prepare some uh information about the budget. Uh we're doing well. You know, there's several factors that go into budgeting. Uh the goal is to have the budget to you in the June regular board meeting. That's 1 month in advance from it what it normally is. The reason that we're rec- recommending that is that it was a short legislative session this year rather than a long, which extends out further, which are you know, requires more planning. So, we feel like we can get ahead of it uh and that we have a good grasp on all of the factors that go into repres- recommending
009a budget to you. I know that some of you have gone in and met with Lisa specifically. I highly recommend that each of you do that, especially because you're still a a young novice board in a lot of ways, and uh and you do a good job of researching and studying, but school finance is super complicated. So, if you could go in and and feel free to just kind of keep learning the basics of it. Uh couple basics that I wanted to highlight, and it's redundant every pretty pretty much every month, but the number one revenue driver is enrollment. So, the state allocates a certain amount of money per student. Uh and so, our enrollment is flat, and so that's a flat is a good word in enrollment nowadays. And so, we we're budgeting flat.
010So, you take your spring enrollment and you basically move it forward to the fall when school starts at the very end of August and we're we're budgeting and planning for flat. Now, remember a budget is a plan, so it has to be updated. So, for example, sometimes we experience people coming in in August and registering their kids for the first time we've ever seen them. And then we have to adjust. So, if we get a huge spike in enrollment, [clears throat] we would have to adjust and look at staffing at that time. However, at this point you go with what the best information you have. So, you use like a 3-year rolling average of enrollment. You take the kindergarteners and you roll them up to first, the first grade you roll them up to second,
011the first second, and so you keep doing that. And the key is you have to have You want to really want to have more kindergarteners coming in than you had graduating seniors. Make sense, right? Because think of us as one school. 1,600 students. So, uh looking good. Those were admin assistants at each building are busting their tails trying to call families, trying to see as much as possibly knowing if they're coming back, whether they have job changes, they're really trying to get a sense of are we where we at? We have the whole the school partnership program, that fluctuates a little bit more than some of the traditional schools. And even online learning and some of the alternative learning education, we're monitoring that very closely. The principals play a major role in that. So, right
012now we are looking good at at flat enrollment. Um the second aspect that we take a look at is the legislative session and what happened from that and what bills came into play, what does the budget look like. And all you have to do is study the news and read all of the WASL information that comes out. The state budget is chaotic and it's really confusing. The We got a little bit lucky in regards that we lost uh levy equalization, which means that you're identified as a property poor district and the state kicks in some additional funds to help you. Well, we're considered a property rich district now, so we do not qualify for local effort assistance. So, when it got cut at state level, it didn't impact us because we didn't even get it
013in the first place. This would have been a few years ago where we had that cut. Um the little bit of running start cut, but we don't get as much uh revenue from that, but it's not going to drastically impact us that much. And then the third big cut was transitional kindergarten. And that's a program that is similar to the early learning programs we offer. The difference is it's a certificated teacher that that actually runs TK. So, in some districts like Nine Mile for example, they have TK, they had to make some some reductions. Because we don't have TK, we didn't have to make that reduction. We have ECEAP as our number one early learning program. That's good That's a state grant. That's looking good. Tra- Thrive by Five is our own local paid tuition
014to attend, probably the cheapest deal in town for that kind of programming. We still have that and we have our developmental preschool. So, looking good on the on Well, not looking good, but you know, hanging in there in regards to state funding. Federal funding is the other aspect that we rely on. And we did find out our Title I funding this week and we did get cut $70,000 from the Title I one We're waiting for Title II funding and title four funding. We'll give you an update on that. So, we think we can handle it. It's not good news to lose 70,000. We think we can handle it uh through altering positions, doing some um slight tightening of the belt to handle that without very proud, knock on wood, that we haven't done a reduction
015in force in the 10 years I've been here. And we really want to manage our money so well that we don't have to do a reduction in force. And so, that's a big part of it is the uh federal funding. And then, the local levy funding is the other significant part that I really appreciate you and the board doing a study session while I was presenting at the state superintendent conference with Lisa, with Sammy Jo. I think they did a really good job, from what I understand, on explaining what the options were uh and looking at obviously the discussions we've had for everybody to see on recording and in the audience is that we tried to run the bond, that failed. We tried to run the capital levy, that failed. And so, I think the
016there is a sense from the community that it's hard to um you know, ask for another. And so, we've been really zeroed in on our regular levy, our educational programs and operations levy. And I think we all agree that staying flat and replacing it um is the answer. It's just a matter of you know, do you take into consideration inflation at 3%? Do you not? And so, I know that that discussion continues. Thank you for doing that. Um staffing is going really well. Staffing makes up 80% of your district's budget, pretty much every district goes to salaries and benefits, and it's all about great teachers in front of kids, you know, great support staff, great administrators. Try to be as competitive as we can, but also be reasonable with our tax base and and our
017spending plan. And so we feel great about where we're at. We had a as a interesting trend here, and I don't want to talk too much, but I do want to educate, too. Interesting trend, so we had a fifth grade opening because of the K-5, which I don't want people to forget how awesome that is, right? And so K-5 at Chattaroy, K-5 at Riverside Elementary. So because of that, we have a fifth grade opening, and we had over 60 candidates. For a fifth grade opening at Riverside Elementary. And that's not always been the trend. Uh and so that we should be able to find somebody who's really great in that in that pool, and I know they're working on it. So we're also uh working on hiring the principal position at Riverside High School. We're
018screening candidates. We had 14 uh 15 applications for the high school principal, which in this world we're in right now is actually a really good competitive number. So we're in that process trying to schedule finalists and trying to get to the interviews. Uh those are really the two roster spots that we're trying to fill uh getting ready for next year. Uh classified staff is usually a little later in the game, but we're looking pretty good, but we do have a couple of retirements, and we'll give you an an update on that a little bit later. Uh let's see. Oh, and lastly, facilities is really the big challenge for us, right? And so as we as we tried measures and we weren't successful, we don't give up on other creative and innovative ways of addressing the
019issues that we have. So super proud of Sammy Jo Griggs, Lisa, our business manager, Joe Gannon, our director of maintenance. We are up to almost a million dollars in grants that we've acquired this school year. and the the most updated the two latest grants are the Washington FFA Foundation grant for a 12 passenger van for FFA. That's a $40,000 grant. We're working with the the FFA parents and staff on trying to find a good purchase. Um I will say that the success you mentioned Matt in FFA, that whole child development classroom, academics learning outside the classroom, extension of classroom wouldn't happen without great parents and kids and the booster connection and all the support. I just keep looking back to when I got here, I remember, you know, I would think Alicia was probably the
020loudest one who was so in the community, but it was awesome. But people were hungry for FFA and we didn't have it. Hadn't had it in a while and so we're rebuilding that program back up. I was at convention as well on Friday. Was able to see all the stuff Matt was talking about. It's just amazing. And so I think we had 34 kids at state. And we had our middle schoolers and high schoolers and so anyways, back to the grants. What do you want to talk about like the the boosters though? Yeah. That is it is it is so awesome to like go into the financials and seeing that you know, it's a it's a huge bill for the FFA convention and then seeing that you know, that the boosters kicks in and covers
021the big portion of that. And just you know, like the the basketball game that we're going to talk about in a little bit and see the boosters club covering a big [clears throat] portion of that. It's really cool to see the the boosters helping out so much. Yeah. Yeah, side by side, shared leadership, community engagement, absolutely. So we've got the grant for the vehicle and then the big one that we just got was the Department of Commerce grant. And it is a uh basically an incentive for meeting the the new requirements for clean buildings act. And so, we did the indoor air quality study, which we had gotten about a $113,000 grant for. And then we after getting an email that we didn't get it, we got an email the next day, "Oops, sorry about
022that, you got it." So, it's $147,000 for that grant. And what's great about it, I mean that's super helpful, because it the HVAC system, you know, we're trying to chip away at. And we've got the 600,000 for the chiller. And that's we're still working on, you know, that process, and that's not going to be done by August, but it's going to be done by the next year. And then we've got that 150,000 basically uh indoor air quality grant. And what's great about that is it's going to make us eligible for further Department of Commerce grants that could be in the millions. And so, I just want to make sure you know, the public knows that we're you know, there there you hear things like, "Well, they didn't pass it, it must be fine, everybody's at
023school still." And there's a good question to that. At the same time, they have no they have no idea what's going on behind the scenes, and we got to communicate it out on little things that we're trying to do to chip away. And I I'm proud of our staff and our community for helping us with that, and we'll keep working on it. So, um and then we've got several uh I think another good question that comes up as part of good financial planning is that you got to save your money. And so, yeah, you want to be competitive with with your staff, but at the same time, you've got to save money in your general fund so that you can chip away at facilities. So, we have approximately $300,000 worth of summer projects that were
024chipping away as well within our savings account to try to address some of these facilities issues that we have and we will continue to tighten the belt, try to do a good job, be good stewards of taxpayer dollars to address facilities while we're at the same time, you know, trying to manage our general fund together and and having a good fund balance is an important part of that strategy and because the districts who are getting that are getting in trouble are the ones that are not doing the one-to-five-year planning of oh, we should have tightened the belt there or we should have dealt with staffing through attrition there and then next thing you know, labor costs are too expensive, you don't have the savings cuz if you rely on your savings to pay labor costs
025I mean, any of you who know it's not going to, right? Tim, you know that in your world. I mean, it's not going to work. And so, trying to do a good job of that as much as we can. So, that was a long budget report but are there any questions or Sammy Jo, are there anything I'm missing with grants or other information? Budget report. >> You did great. >> Yeah, did okay? Yep. Questions? Comments? Clarifications? I think that's in line with what we were expecting and hoping to hear from you. Okay. And uh we'll have more discussions at the next study session about the the levy. That's all I would add. But yeah. Thank you for your diligent work. You're welcome. [clears throat] Okay. So, that will move to the superintendent report. All right,
026let's go right into it. So, uh couple things, I'll try to keep this a little shorter. So, study session, next study session. So, my understanding is you'd like to zero in on the levy a little bit more, talk about that. And then, is it possible to have a little bit of time to talk about strategic planning, especially around teaching and learning? The continuous improvement of teaching and learning. On that agenda? Yes. Okay. Uh so, speaking of the continuous improvement of teaching and learning, uh really appreciate your role in the systems approach at doing that. So, examples are goal one of our strategic plan, whole child development, studying that, putting that in our board calendar, making it part of our monitoring of how kids, the student outcomes are going in our strategic plan. Secondly, really appreciate
027having non-negotiable student learning goals outlined that are smart goals, measurable, so that we could be clear with our staff on exactly what we're shooting for. Having presented at the state superintendent conference about improving [clears throat] mathematics statewide, 20 superintendents in the room, it's clear which districts are are doing great around improving outcomes, which ones don't have systems in place. And I think we're a good model of having systems in place. We have been We've only scratched the surface of where we're going to take it. And so, you play a huge role in that. So, as we develop the board calendar for next year, we're going to work really hard at what are those What are those touch points that we monitor our student learning goals? And how do we involve the staff? How do we
028involve the administration? What role do you play being up to speed on that? The second area is being in the schools with the teachers and the staff during PLC time on Wednesdays. And then, another big one I want to invite you to and I know it's tough in your work cuz you all work. Next Wednesday, we have our last district guiding coalition. That's our principals, our directors, myself. And we also have our teacher leaders. And those are subject level leaders at the secondary level, grade level leaders at the elementary level. Huge meeting because we're going to be looking at our perceptual survey data that we sent out to our our staff and our students and our families. It's called the educational effectiveness survey. We're going to be breaking it down with our staff so that
029we co-create the plan going into next year. We're going to crosswalk that with our SBA results. So, we're already getting our smarter balanced state testing. We're already getting our state testing results in ELA, literacy, uh math, and science. We have a lot of our kids tested already. You wouldn't believe how much testing we do. We do a lot of testing. It's not the greatest thing necessarily always testing, but it is an important part of it. So, we're going to be because we're building that culture of learning and and being, you know, uh focused on kids, SBA is an important measure. It's not the only show in town. You have to look at multiple measures to see if kids are achieving. So, we have our measures of academic progress assessment spring also that we'll be diving
030into. But what's cool is you take that perception survey with your academic outcomes and between those, you can really come up with some theories on where we take it to the next level. Cuz that's that's how people feel, perceptions. Perceptions are important. And they don't get as much like love in the data world as the hard academic measures. But how are staff feeling? How are teachers feeling about the process, systems we have in place? A lot of you I'd invite you to be part of that. And if you can't be part of that, then I think it needs to be part of our planning and our work, you know, pretty soon before we go into the school year because, um, you know, summer around here's pretty quiet. And that'll help us hit the ground running.
031When was that again? Can you tell me the date? >> That's next Wednesday, 3:15 to 4:45. It'd be great cuz it's our last one of the year if you can make it. And it would be just symbolically nice when the board is there supporting teaching and learning. And then, uh, lastly, Matt and I are going to the board regional meeting this Thursday at Lewis and Clark High School. And what that is for you new folks is periodically, there are meetings where boards from the region can get together and talk about, you know, how to be an effective board member, what are some of the trends that are going on in education. So, we'll be representing you Thursday night, uh, in the Spokane directors area. I think I'm signed up to go to that as well.
032Okay, that'd be great if you could. So, okay, good. Uh, and then Ram Fest. We're talking about having a booth. So, are y'all going to Ram Fest? You able to make Ram Fest? >> I will be there. Okay, so Ram Fest, okay. Last thing, I just said that like twice, but, uh, graduation and promotion. You've already let Kaylee know if you're going to graduations and promotions, okay. Awesome, that's it. Any questions, comments, concerns? Clarifications? Mhm. >> It's a lot of general. Thank you and Yeah, you are welcome. Thank you. With that, we will move into business. A, second final reading 4130 title one part A, parent and family engagement. I need a motion. >> [clears throat] >> Um, make a motion to adopt the second and final reading of the 4130 title one part A,
033parent and family engagement. Second. Move and second it that we approve the second and final reading of the 4130 title one part A, parent and [clears throat] family engagement. Any discussion? There, you you are you you are one second. Go ahead, Wes. I was going to say I reviewed this >> [clears throat] >> today before and I noticed three things that I called out on the last reading haven't been corrected yet and then on the document that I pulled up >> Okay. So, I don't know if who I need to Do I need to give the key Do you want to start from thinking on that or No, no, no, no, no. No, that's okay. Um, Heather, that's the plan at the bottom, correct? It's the the heading is school board based parents and family
034engagement policy. So, it's the first sentence there and then the typo in that in that paragraph. Okay, we did not make that change. Okay. Is there a timeline on this policy in regards to the title one budget? >> There is not. Caitlyn and I talked about the typo, so I'm wondering if she just pulled the wrong document when she put together this packet. So, um, but Kim and I will follow up with her on that because we did Well, I was like, "So, where did he see the typos?" Thanks, Les. So, we'll have to bring him back. Sorry about that. There is no cost on the policy. I mean, Matt, you know, called me up today. I was answering a question. We can do a better job of kind of thinking about and making sure
035I report out on costs related to policies. And, you know, whether it's an unfunded mandate or if it's, you know, where it's going to be coming from. So, this one does not have an additional cost. All right. So, we'll have to table that one until next month. Is there a motion to table this? I'll make a motion to table this uh policy >> [clears throat] >> 4130 title one part A parent family engagement. Second. It's been moved and seconded that we table second and final reading 4130 title one part A parent family engagement until the next regular school board meeting regarding the typos being fixed. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next, moving to the item that was removed on the agenda. The first one will be the new
036ESD 101 cooperative summary agreement 2026 through 2027. I'll make a motion. I move to accept the new ESD 101 cooperative summary agreement 2026-2027. I second it. It's been moved and seconded that we approve the new ESD 101 cooperative summary agreement 2026-2027. Any discussion? I do want to, you know, just again as you're getting used to some of these annual reports that come out. So, ESD, or I heard that, educational service district, represents 59 school districts in our region. The majority of the 295 school districts in the state of Washington are small. And that and so ESDs provide a lot of support for smaller districts. And so, this is an annual document that comes forward. The costs are broken down. Basically, you see in your packet that there's um library databases that are part of that
037contract. There's a Discovery Education, which are some root resources for teaching and learning. There's a technology service cooperative. So, like when we had the cybersecurity issue a couple years ago, you ESD comes in and helps you resolve that. And um and so, it breaks it down. And then, the increase in is based on inflation from last year. And then, I'll just go ahead and jump to the tech services summary agreement, which is next on the agenda, as well. Same thing. So, our technology department gets direct support from ESD 101. Therefore, we sign a contract annually that allows for that. And that contract has increased by inflation. I hear with both of those contracts, the amount of money that we're spending, if those were items that we were trying to do for ourself as a district
038and keep those in house and not contract with ESD 101, the cost of that would be probably >> [clears throat] >> probably higher. So, we'd have to have Yes. Hire somebody that would not full-time position to be able to sell Yes. And then also since they're helping the entire region and the seven counties of East Washington then that would mean that they are well in tune with what the other school districts are doing in the area, what's working, what's not, and just be a lot more collaborative and making sure that we are on the forefront of whatever the topic is that they're helping us with. That's correct? Yes. Yeah. My my or monthly meetings to coordinate across the region with the ESD. Business managers meet, superintendents meet. Um special education meets, technology meets. Coordinates with
039those districts. Uh small really coordinates with each other. Spokane is kind of its own thing. Mead and CV are kind of its own thing. But all the other districts uh collaborate a lot on that. And that's helpful cuz yeah, we got to hire a full staff, not really just Can I ask one other question? When I was reading through it here, looking at this uh does it say flat rate for each district? Yes. So the districts But it's Yeah, it's based on the FTE, based on your enrollment. So if your enrollment goes up, the cost is going to go up. And if your enrollment goes down, the cost is going to go down. I was wondering. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, that clarifies it. That's the tiers. Yes. Yeah, makes sense. And then you're looking at our
040enrollment and it's from the beginning of the year or Is that correct? It's an average that we submit in the spring and it's kind of our projected budget. It's not perfect, but that's the best we can do. Any further discussion? All those in favor of approving the ESD 101 cooperative service agreement 2026-2027 say aye. Aye. Aye. host. Motion carries. New ESC 101 technology services summary agreement 2026-27. I make a motion for new ESC 101 technology service summary agreement 2026-2027. I have a second. You heard the second that we approve the new ESC 101 technology services summary agreement 2026-27. All those for any discussion? >> [clears throat] >> All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Moving to resolutions 52601 WIAAA delegating authority. I need a motion. I got a motion for WIAAA delegating
041authority. Second. You heard the second that we approve the 52601 WIAAA delegating authority. Any discussion? It's an annual resolution that we do to be part of WIAAA, which is the Austin Interscholastic Activities Association. And [clears throat] sports. There's no rules There's no alternative to that. You know that. We can't be independent. Right. And so if we're independent, then like what the contract says, then we're we're in charge of setting our own policy and we're in charge of finding our own refs. We're in charge of scheduling everything. Yeah. Yeah, I mean think about every league you've seen like college. Mhm. [clears throat] You know, it used to be the 12, but Um All right. Then C double A for the for college? Yeah. Okay. Pretty much. All right. Any further discussion? All those in favor say
042aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. That will move into executive session. We will have a 5-minute recess at that time. In the executive session, we'll discuss negotiations and personnel. Uh during the negotiations, I will not be a part of that discussion because of conflict of interest. All right, 30 minutes total executive session. Okay. All right.