001To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Matt. To start with remarks for the good of the school, and I'd like to turn it over to Jos. Thank you. Um I have a little bit of announcement. After serving on post school board for the last five years, I've decided that I'm going to step down as a board member. Um this will be my last official meeting. Um I've truly enjoyed being on this board. I feel like in the last five years, we've made so much progress and we're going to continue to make progress. Um, I want you all to know that this is a decision that's completely personal. Has nothing to do with the school district.
002When I got on the board, I had two kids in school and Mason was in middle school and Maddie was just starting high school. And I felt like as a parent, I had a different perspective coming onto the school board. At that time, we only had one other parent on the school board. And I really felt like I needed to have a voice in the school district. And now that both my kids are graduated and moving on to bigger and better things, I feel like I also need to move on. And I'm not going away. I want to still be involved. I just want to be involved in better in different ways. Not better ways, different ways. >> Oh, subtle. >> So, I'm just I'm at a time in my life where my life is
003changing into an empty neester and I just feel like it's the perfect time for me to step down. But I want to reiterate that has nothing to do with the school district. I love Riverside. I'm a proud proud member of this team and will continue to be. So that's my >> Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate all your efforts over the years to our board. Some of you may remember the u the transgender resolution from the state that we looked at last time. And I just want to give you a report on that because the board has has we've been in contact with our with our legal advice people and and we have by the way a current letter from them for anybody who wants a copy to to show what they have to say
004in terms of of our options regarding this whole thing. We are still as a board assessing what the possibilities are in terms of response and we are we have decided that we are going to put that off until we get a little bit more clarification from our from our legal team and u that's we'll let you know we'll do we'll do updates on what's going on. That's what we've come to our last just like I say I think Ken you got the letter. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean I have the I have a letter here from John Deli who works for Steven's claim and uh it's uh it's probably I would recommend taking a copy but you're probably going to need to read it first digest it a little bit. not like some of you
005may not care may not care about the legal uh opinion of a of an attorney, but that's something we have to take into consideration. So, he's pretty balanced and thoughtful about it, I think. Uh so, it's just something to consider. There are some things like, for example, we I told you we got the civil rights report from OSBI and so we're trying to navigate, you know, following state laws while at the same time matching it up with the values of our community. And that can be a tension point obviously in some cases. And so I did not I you know it was my recommendation not to call up OSBI but instead to seek legal advice because I felt like that might be a little bit better approach to do it and just see. And so,
006uh, it was helpful, but it it really it there's a lot to think because there's the we got our closing letter from the vote from OSBI on the civil rights review. And the positive is that it's it was a closing statement, which means that we move forward and we have the 2526. There's no outline penalties or or any timelines on them saying you don't have an update in policy 3211. However, John Deli, our attorney, he did say that you're not following the law right now and that there is a new house bill that went into effect in the last legislative session that adds teeth from the legislature for districts that do not follow the policy. For example, uh superintendent could be considered to be not following professional conduct. It can be disciplined. the school board
007can do recall the uh you can lose 20% of your aortionment of funding. So those are things that you have to also think about. So even if you don't do anything right now the board has to consider what if we don't do it by the time that July 26 comes around which is that new house bill that adds the team into it. So, um, and then, uh, one thing I did want to let you know because one of the questions was, you know, what is the language in policy 3211 that's any different than the current policy that we have around trans transgender students and I know one of the concerns was around training. And so, I did do a little bit of research on that. And there's a section in the procedure that says that
008you should say you must you know any of you who know policy should is must but um should include information about terminology related to gender identity and um so in our training we do uh safe schools uh modules and so some of you sitting in the room have done the safe school modules. I'd be interested I'm almost done with my safe school modules as well. However, I'd be interested as part of the study uh to get your take on those of you who have to take the same schools modules on what you think about the training because the training basically checks the box on uh the policy and on the procedure and there's nothing in there that specifically outlines I think the some of the concerns that were written in the procedure, but I could
009be wrong. So, if you see that, you know, let me know. Um, and so anyways, sorry we don't have an answer right now. Just it's going to take a little bit more processing and like we've done on other topics like some of you we've sat down and met with about bathroom usage at the middle school. We we can go, you know, we can go more informal and sit around the table, too. That is an option. You know, we're small enough to to do that if you want to. So maybe just maybe read this. It's not that use communication is confidential, but I I think it's nothing that I wouldn't be willing to put out public hear. So uh some partners on it. Thanks. Yeah. I just I just want to go back to Jos for
010just a minute. It's you have various degrees of intensity and participation in board members. You just do you know some of them you got to say are you waiting here sometimes they're gone. We have had the good fortune of people for the most part who have really been with the action. Specifically, Josyn brings her skills in in human resources to our group in a way that only a professional could do because that's what she does. And she didn't she didn't just start doing that. She actually underststudied her mother who had done that for the company that she works for. and and I I have an intimate personal history with the whole development of that particular industry and I I I don't envy her and her work because it is really sensitive work and she has
011just done a great job not only with the the company that she works for but in in taking us especially in in um our executive sessions there are times when I just say I don't know what to do with this and and it it involves a relationship with a human being and she has so much depth of insight into that. That's what we're going to miss is her her understanding of her profession. It's just really a a big loss for us and and I certainly understand her leaving. But boy, I just uh I just want you all to know that this is not an insignificant loss. This is a this is a big loss for us. So, and I I want you to know that that family issues have been in the forefront of my
012life. My brother-in-law died last week, you know. There's a blessing in dying right away. There really is, Bill. No kidding. I'm not kidding you. That to linger three weeks unconscious in the hospital with the doctors literally trying anything they can think of to get you up and moving again. That my brother-in-law, nothing worked. And finally, he he died. But I mean 89 years old and a good life probably those three weeks are tough and I can't imagine what they're like for the person who's is going through the the actual death experience. I just I just wanted to share that with you because we have had a spring of things in our family and death not being released but this was this was a long draw up. Anyway, other other happier notes. Steve, you Yes, Mr.
013Steve. >> First off, sorry to hear that. But I do want to address the fact this comes out of the um I know what a lot of teachers and staff here I don't really get to see but I do know that goes on in this just because the way the ship is steering and and you just and you are very much appreciated because what you guys do is any value and so I I I just as one as a community member thanks for what >> I appreciate >> and it wasn't a decision that to like I love what I do here. I love the schools all of them. But my personal life needs my attention and I have to take stress out where I can what my life. >> You ever thought of beating >>
014Mason? It wasn't a decision I came to lots of talks with my husband and you know just knowing I know I'm making the right decision for myself. I'm sad to see this chapter end, but I'm excited for the other ways that I can give back to the school district. And so sometimes these these decisions are based on more than one contributing factor. And I tell you what, two weeks before my brother-in-law went into the hospital, my wife went into hospital with a diagnosis of a and thyroid issues, hypothyroid issues. And she's the personal representative for his estate. she's got the the burden of all of the funeral and the estate solution issues in front of her. And so literally my my primary interest was not my brother-in-law, it was my wife. Fact that she might
015buckle under under the stress just there's a lot of contributing factors come come into play when when health issues raise their heads. employ. >> Anything else for remarks before we go to the school? >> I'd like to just mention I don't know if um if Annette or Christian want to say anything, but like the last couple days I think we had a couple great events involving our new teachers and and the union leaders and the administrators. Do you want you want to mention it or do you want me to say? No, you can say I Yeah, every year we started I think we started maybe after COVID as a way to sort of reconnect because nobody was connecting during CO at all. Um so we started having the REA admin breakfast um kind of a
016back to school kickoff thing. So we did that yesterday. Um and we just meet and it's it's really just social time. Um, and then today instead with the new teacher orientation and come and talk to the new teachers, there's only a few this year. Um, but just that we I know Ken says it all the time, but we I think would agree. We appreciate the the working relationship we have. And I think the reason all the positive things that go on in this district all the time, um I think you can trace directly back to the positive relationship between you and the staff and Ken and the staff. And um you know, as kind of representatives of the teachers, uh we appreciate that and we think that we think that we've got kind of a
017special deal going in Riverside. We really do believe that and um we think that relationship is why and so yeah, we just appreciate couple days and we're ready to get going again. >> So much so much of what we do at the board is consideration of of culture in our in our district and and quite frankly and beyond the district. Um, you guys know that I I work to get money from the Deer Park Rotary Club, which is really Deer Park Riverside Rotary Club to help out especially in the primary schools, but also also in the high schools and middle schools, too. And u the thing I had to battle was a new treasurer who was a guy who came in from five other experiences in other Rotary clubs which means he doesn't know anything
018about our club and he he comes in and he's he's I don't know anybody in Rotary that feels this way but this guy does. His attitude is we want to save a whole bunch of money. We want to get a a bank account built up with $250,000. That's not what Rotary is. Rotary is spending money. That's what we we raise money and we spend it. And it has been a struggle through the year. But I'll tell you what, the the feeling of board members having gone through the exercise of of finding out the needs, profiling the the school and finding out what where the primary needs are has been such a a good thing. And they we lost a guy a few years ago who used to say the Deer Park Rotary Club worries about
019money all the time and every year at the end of the year they had $25,000 in the bank. That's really true. So this year our our calendar year ends at the end of June. The 1 of July is the first day of our new year. And I always remember that $25,000 figure because this year we've got $43,000 in the bank. And I'll tell you what, we're going to spend a lot of that this year and we're going to really not only not only u support the programs that we've done, but we're also going to expand those pro to other programs within the school. And it's u it really has has helped to keep that club focused on spending the money. The year that I became president of that club, I went to a past uh
020a past president. Mike D. Roger was a is a guy who had the vision source over your park. And uh I said, Mike, you were you were a district or with a club the club president. What what would be your advice to me coming in? He said, "Spend every dime." I'll tell you what, this year I commit to you, we are going to spend so much more money. That's just the way it's going to go. I don't care whether anybody else county fair. >> Oh jeez. You saw the river. >> It was amazing. No. Yeah. Um, Riverside Kids took reserve species. >> Yeah, it was awesome. And one thing that I hadn't seen before and that Sunday morning all the kids get together and they play games and it was really awesome to see Miss
021Whitaker, you know, they're kind of pulling the strings and the FA officer team, they were in charge. was completely gone to the side and all the students they were the ones running and they got all these kids from Chattery from Newport Q they're all playing with them and they had them in age ranges they had just so much camaraderie and that's what it was so awesome >> uh yes we also had a barbecue fundraiser that was a with a Riverside FFA during the livestock um like it was before the livestock auction. Um so that was kind of a first thing to bring back. They used to do it years ago. Um so that was great. Uh yes, like I said, it was really good. We're already kicking off uh a lot of our fundraising. We're
022planning um some pancake breakfast feeds in early September. Um on a Saturday. Um so we're we're kicking off the year. We'll see. I think the one of the healthiest things about what you guys do there is the the engaging of the parents so involved in in the whole it's just one of the better connections I've seen [Music] There's some amazing volunteers. Absolutely. >> Thank you. Appreciate you guys. Okay. I need if there are no others. I need a motion to adopt our agenda. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. opposed. Approval of minutes from the previous meeting on July 23rd, 2025, the regular meeting. Need a motion. >> Second >> discussion. All in favor say I. >> Oppos. Okay, now we are down the superintendent report. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah,
023we need I'm sorry. Consent agenda. I need a motion that. All >> in favor say I. >> Oppos. No, Kim. Okay. Hey, I thought I'd add some visuals. mix it up a little bit tonight and so you can see it up on the screen. Um so every year we stay pretty consistent with our core pillars. Every great organization including school districts have four strong pillars mission, vision, values and goals. And so just to remind we try to a lot of districts they'll have so much paperwork and so many pages of their plan that people you know they put it on a shelf they don't really remember it. So we intentionally have tried to create a one-pager that is based on one sentence statements mainly so people can remember it and they can you know follow
024it and they can and they can commit to it. So our mission just reminds us why do we even exist? Why is the board here? Why am I here? Why am I hired? Why is the staff hired? And it's only to educate our students and better our community. So everything we do is really around servant leadership. our jobs are about other people and not ourselves. And it's mainly our students, our families, and our and our community. So, um, as we move forward and try to meet our vision, uh, where are we going? We're trying to be the best rural school district in the region. And part of the reason we created that vision statement is that in small districts, you can't have deficit thinking with kids. You want to create a mindset that kids can
025achieve at great levels. they can achieve things they don't even think are are possible. You know, we have some kids that are living in poverty and they may not know how to get out of it, but the way we get them out of it is we we set our expectations really high that you can achieve academically, athletically, in the arts, uh, as a citizen. So, that's where we get that kind of what we call Riverside swagger. We're going to be the best rural district in the region. And so, we can enter that in a lot of different areas. We have metrics on how we we look at that and compare our school to different life-siz districts and different schools in the region. I'm going to go over some data in a moment. But we also
026want to know how people are feeling. You know, we basic we take perceptual surveys. We ask our parents how we're doing. We ask our staff how we're doing. We ask our students how we're doing because not only do we want to get great student outcomes, but we also want their perceptions of the school district to be really, really strong. You know, we want our families to feel like, man, this is the best school district. I wouldn't want my kid going anywhere else. We want the community to feel proud of the the school district as well. So, that's the vision. And then in order, obviously vision alone is not enough. You got to set some measurable goals that help you reach that. So, we have four four main goals as a board that you've set. Whole
027child, we're going to focus only on that tonight. Culture and climate, community, and resources. And then I think the fourth pillar is really our secret sauce. You know, it's the core values that we have. And and I've seen districts list out 10 20 values, but people never remember what they are. And so we kind of put it in one statement. The word team is pretty approachable for most people. They can pick up the best teams they've ever been on. And that's kind of what we're shooting for. And we further describe that with our three Ps. partly to use alliteration, which is a good pneummonic device for people to remember, but also, you know, imagine if every kid, every every staff member, every family, community member felt like they belonged and and into something bigger than
028themselves and were committed to help move that district, that school. What if we bonded between our parents and our staff and with our kids and actually trusted each other, cared about each other, and respected each other? And what if we believed in the mission above our own, you know, in self-interest and we were committed to getting it done. So, it really is, like you said, Bob, a culture and a movement that we we continue to chip away at. One of the things I'd like to point out is from a book called Good to Great. And there's some there's some evidence that we've got some good things going on and now we're at a point in our trajectory where we've got to talk about how do we take it to the next level. And I think
029part of it is based on this book, you know, this for us to think about is these organizations have what they call bee hacks, big hairy hibacious goals. I know it's a weird term, but uh you have big goals and uh and then they seek and confront brutal facts. You know, I don't know if you've been in on teams where people just aren't afraid are afraid to tell the truth or they're afraid to, you know, talk about tough topics. Well, it seems like here we're getting to that level where we we we're not we're less afraid to do that. For example, you as a board, you know, I challenge you that if we're our kids aren't learning at levels that we want and we're not succeeding, we need to find out what those areas are
030and you should hold us accountable to working together with you in a positive way to address those issues. You know, I'm going to point out some academic gaps that we still have that we need to focus on and then putting the right people on the bus and and putting them in the right seats. I mean, effective leadership, we've worked hard on rallying principles and really trying to get recruit and retain high quality principles because there's a lot of evidence that shows if you have that, you're going to draw and retract really good teachers and then the teachers are going to stick around if they a lot of research shows that people need bosses. They don't need jobs. And so that's been a big focus of ours. and then and then allowing the professionals like Christian
031and Annette were talking about to support them and do a really good job and and hold them positively accountable to get results. So, the other thing I wanted to point out is just this kind of this story. Um, it it reminds me a lot of working out. I mean, I'm sure many of you struggled with this as well, but we don't have to always swing for the fences. I mean, we just have to I have to tell my kids a lot. They want they want life like it's like for us in our 50s and it's like but it doesn't work that way. I mean you got to struggle in your 20s first. And so it's the same with a school district though. You're you're like sometimes we get frustrated like we're not moving enough or
032we're not getting enough increases in in results around student learning or or athletic program, you know, uh sub, you know, championships, whatever the case may be. So, we got to keep chipping away and it's slow and steady. So, instead of just that last hammer that breaks the stone and thinking, "Oh, that was it." We remind ourselves it was a hundred swings before every day that we grinded out and we just kept working at it. And so, uh, and then the other thing that's been a strength, I think, of your board leadership is that we've had a systemic approach to setting goals. Goal setting is hugely important in life and in a school. district as well. So you've had some overarching district goals and then the school goals wrap back up into the district goals and
033then there's teams within schools whether it be third grade team whether it be you know a team of counselors they set goals that directly relate back to the school goals but then relate back to the district goals. Then finally we have individual staff goals that wrap back into the team goals. So let's keep doing that in my recommendation. I did want to share. Bob gets bored with data numbers, so I don't want to overdo it a little bit. >> I don't mind them when the when the print's big enough to >> Okay. Well, every year I've been making them bigger for you, Bob. This is like 18. >> I like the Now, that's a lot of text. I'm sorry, but I just wanted to share that our whole child goals right now are u there's
034several and they're written in our student or our forward together strategic plan, but that's there's so much text in there I didn't think it was as good to share right now, but we have an on-time graduation goal of 95%. I'm pleased to announce that we're currently at 98%. So, we've we've surpassed our goal. Now, we keep chipping away to get to 100. Our the state average, not that we want to be average, but it gives you at least a benchmark that we can take a look at because that's about a million students, uh, is 73%. So, we're well above the state average. Our kindergarten readiness, which basically means that kids going into kindergarten have, uh, basic skills in six areas, you know, math, reading, um, you know, there's, uh, physical, health, there's some different things.
035But but I'm really pumped about this one because not only are we significantly above the state average, but we're also 50 points higher than when we started in 2016. So the early learning program that you put a lot of investment and time in, I think it's really paying off, but it's also the parents. The parents are working hard and we're reaching some challenging families and situations as well. Some of the kids are not exposed to any books or reading or anything like that. might be the first time when they come into our early learning center. So, the fact that we're at 73%, we should be pretty proud. The county average is about 50. Um, attendance, attendance has been a bear since CO and so it's we used to be at 95% before COVID on a
036regular basis because if you don't go to school, you can't learn. And so, it it uh we've slowly kind of chipped away, but we're currently at 86%. Our goal is to get back to that 95% that we were at. The state average is about 73%. Dual credit has been a big growth area for us. So in 2016, we had about 15% of our kids getting dual credit, which means you're getting college credit at the same time you're getting high school credit. And uh and so that could be career and technical ed, so it could be trades. It could also be four-year university credits, AP, college and high school. But we're at 60% of our students right now receive dual credits. We haven't gotten last year's numbers yet. I think it'll be above 60 and the
037state average is slightly above us. Uh the FAFSA completion rate which is just one metric but what I like about that is a lot of times postsecary education and training is a difficult thing for our kids because of money. And so we want to be able to open up doors of opportunity for kids to get PEL grants to get uh work study. But remember it's not just for four-year universities for community college system. It's for trade programs. There's several of our kids that like I didn't have a clue that if I filled out the FAFSA, I could go into a welding program and I could actually get money that pays for the the training program and it doesn't have to be on my parents or on me. So, we set a goal of 70 70%.
038I just looked at it today and we're we're the highest in the county. We're at 64%. Uh the state average is 47 and just out of interest, Deer Park is 38%. Yeah, just just want to point that out. Um, and then I wanted to kind of highlight the percentage of ninth graders on track. This one I'm really excited about because usually if ninth graders are on track means they don't fail any classes, they will graduate on time and it's usually the most struggling year for kids. And so we are we have a goal of 95 and we're currently at 94 and the state average is 71. So I just wanted to highlight that I think the systems and the culture we're creating is starting to get some results. Um and I wanted to get to
039another area which is more academic. So this is an area that's a little bit challenging to think about but and it's a lot of information. So let me make it simple. So state testing there's different opinions from people about state testing. We don't want to have just one metric. You have to have multiple metrics to see if kids are learning. But state assessment is a big deal. And right now some of the narrative around public schools is we're not getting our bang for our buck. You know, the cost per pupil is going up, cost to taxpayers is going up. Where where is it that we're seeing increased growth? Well, they often look at state assessment results. So, it is important and we need to continue to continue to grow in that area. So, we've made
040progress, but we're not where we need to be. So, 75% is our goal and we are at 52.3% in ELA. Now, this is across the board. Every grade 3 through 8 and 10. So, I'd have to break it down by school to let you know how each school is doing. But the state average is about 50. So, we we're slightly above the state average on ELA, reading, writing, communication. But one thing I want to highlight is that there is a thing called foundational knowledge and skill and above. And that means that they're at grade level. And one of the key goals is every kid needs to make needs to re reach grade level. You know, if you're in second grade, you should be at second grade at the end of the year. If you're at
041third grade, you should be reading at third grade at the end of the year. So, 79% of our kids in ELA are at that grade level. They're just not at proficiency on the state assessment. Okay. In math, we're currently at 46% state average of 40 and 76%. are at grade level with the foundation knowledge and above. The state average is 63. So we're 13 percentage points above the state when it comes to foundational knowledge. And then with science, we're at 43% on the state test, but we're also at 71% on grade level foundational knowledge and the state average is 62. So, I wanted to point that out only because I think we have evidence that what we're trying to do and what our teachers are doing and what our principles are doing and our professional
042support staff seems to be making some progress. And so, it makes you wonder, you know, like the the it makes you wonder this statement right here. Maybe I didn't put it on there. I thought I put a visual on it that said keep the main thing the main thing. And so that that's what I want to kind of highlight on today is uh but before I jump into that though I want you to know that I think we have to do a good job of being really transparent with our community do a better job of communicating how we're doing around academics. So, this is a quick little visual. Way too small to see on the screen, but these are things we're going to be sending out, putting on our website just to make sure parents
043know in this world of choice where a lot of people are choosing schools, we need to celebrate some of the the progress that we're making around academics with them, but then they can when they're shopping schools, they can decide, you know, is it someplace I want my my kid to be? So, um, one of the things I'm really excited about about the the growth is that I I came from two affluent, you know, more affluent school district. So, I was need a lot of years. And, uh, and I, nothing against me because I love me. That's where my kids went to school. But I sometimes thought our kids arrived on third base and then we drove them in with a single. And uh, and not again, nothing, it takes a lot of hard work. But
044what I think of often think about Riverside that is an awesome challenge. Some of our kids land on first base when we get them and we hit him home with a triple. So, I mean, I know it's a little bit of a different way to look at it, but uh but I I think we got to keep it going. We're not where we need to be. We still have academic gaps with special education. We still have academic gaps with uh lowincome students and that could be a focus area for us, but feeling pretty good. The other thing I wanted to share with you is we measure uh how people are feeling about the district. So we send out climate surveys with our parents, our students and our staff. And not all the surveys uh measure
045the board, but there is one that we do with our staff. And this is an example of certificated staff. Um I don't have the data yet from the classified staff, but I'll share that with you. But I wanted to share some some progress and congratulate you on some of the results in our from our latest survey with our staff. So you could see the questions. I don't need to read them to you, but you'll notice that on a scale of one to four, these are lighter scales. So one means I totally disagree. Four means I totally agree. And so what do what are the what do they feel about you? You know what I mean? and they I they we ask questions about the superintendent, the maintenance department, the IT, the principles, things like that.
046So, you can kind of see that you should be proud that over the time and it's like chipping away at that rock at that stone, but you've seen a lot of progress from 2017 to 2025 around how the the staff is feeling. Uh so, you see those three questions and then the last three questions right there. So this is essentially an internal survey from >> Yep. Yeah. Just an internal survey with the staff. >> And you said you'll have to for us. >> Yep. And we we send out the results on the entire survey. There's like 37 items. But I wanted to share it with you just because it directly related to you. I mean, it's not obviously it's just one measure and but I I don't know. I I do think that there's something
047to say about um well, like we've always talked about, your customers will not love your company unless your employees love your company. And so, there are ambassadors. They're the ones talking to our kids. They're the one that are talking to our parents. Um and you know, I've seen that in some other districts. It doesn't bode well for a district if you have your staff hating the board or hating the superintendent or the principles or whatever, right? I mean, it just doesn't work. Um, they'll leave. They'll sabotage whatever the case may be. And I'm not saying we're perfect. We still have a lot of work to do. But there's some strengths that we can build on for sure. Um, oh yeah, I put it on the wrong maintenance. Keep the main. So, no, I did. There
048was a reason I put it there. I just wanted to to challenge us to um not add we don't have to always add new initiatives and and uh we want to be innovative, right? But there are some things that that work pretty well in schools. And my my advice is just keep chipping away at is just keep getting better at a couple of things. So one of those and this is going to sound education so I'm sorry to the audience. There's a term called the professional learning community and it's in the research around what works to improve student learning. But it's it's basically um teaching is too hard to do it alone. And so when we do it together and we really surround the kids and this applies to parents as well, we just get
049better results. So as an example, there's kind of three main ideas. There's always a focus on student learning. So it's not just, oh, I taught it, he didn't get it. You know, it's his fault as a student. you know, it's more like, wait a minute, we're relentless. I want all our kids to learn this skill because if you don't learn this skill, you're not going to be ready for the next class or or your future. So, we're going to get in we're going to get in your grill and we're just going to keep keep hammering and and involve your parents. And so, it's a focus on learning, student and adult learning. It's a collaborative team culture. So, it's not just uh these are my kids. It's like, hey, hey, I'm a fifth grade teacher, but
050we're going to work together on all hundred five fifth grade kids together. like that way if they switch classrooms like these are all our things you know I'm not just a chat you're at res we come together we work together we're a team we're going to get after it we're going to help each other get better and then the results orientation we don't just do it to build relationships we do it to give kids a good education and and it's all about them and their learning the other the other one is these four questions kind of guide when we do team we get zeroed in on what exactly we want to learn. So what are the standards around math? What are the standards around reading? What are the standards around social studies? What are the
051standards? In other words, what are those skills that they need to go on to the next class? What are the skills they need to go from middle school to high school? What about when they go out to adulthood? You know, we even teach how to build community, you know, intentionally and because they're going to need to be leaders in their community in the future. So we kind of name them and and uh we narrow down those standards too because all the standards from the state you right now you got to be 22 years old for us to cover all. So we have to narrow it down to something that's more manageable that we can go deeper in. And then how do we assess that they're actually learning it and what do we do about it
052if they're not? Do we just keep moving them forward or do we have interventions? Do we have extensions for kids who already know it? Uh that type of thing. Sounds education. I'm sorry, but what can the board do? Well, I think I think the reason I brought it up today is because we're getting ready to go into the 2526 school year. I would say that um if you could support it, the PLC process and what that means is put it in your planning of your board meetings. you know, yes, you do policy, yes, you do procedure, but your main job, in my opinion, my main job is students and their learning. So, if you if the if people if you make it a priority and you put time and energy into it and you say,
053"Hey, even at board meetings, we want to see what's happening around student learning." and you say, "Ken, I need you to bring information and and bring the principles in and bring teachers in and have them share what what is going on around student learning." Sometimes it can be everything but student learning that we're focusing on and that can be around the arts and athletics and and activities because they're learning a ton in those in addition to the classroom. and then continue to support, you know, upgraded instructional materials because they do get outdated and we need to update them and provide teachers with the resources that they need. Continue to support professional learning. So, our, you know, it's iron sharpening iron. We're constantly improving our crafts and our expertise, but that takes some time like support
054the Wednesday professional learning community time. We went away from the late starts because of the impact it had on our community, but we still have that built in on Wednesday mornings and then spend time in our schools to find out how it works. I mean, you I've taught you this PLC process a number of times, but you would never know it until you go in. Don't be afraid to ask a first grade team if you can join them on a Wednesday morning, learn what they're doing. Don't be afraid. They would totally be cool with that. come in, watch him teach, you know, meet with the principles like we've done before, spend time around student learning, and then invite the staff to share their work at board meetings as well. Probably the highest performing districts are
055the ones that like they know the board is monitoring and setting goals around that side of that thing. So, okay. So, are there clarifying questions or you know what resonates with you? >> No question. Last year I brought up uh with the PLC's >> the getting the elementary teams together like at least once a year like all first grade so we're all on the same page >> and I I've sat in on some hill seats I highly recommend it if you haven't done it it's pretty amazing stuff that they talk about I did it at the high school and when I was on I happened to take tour on uh sit in on one and it was pretty great. It's pretty neat to see, you know, and and when you think about your kids in
056school, like when my kids were in elementary school, I didn't think about that all the teachers are employees and they all have to work together and they have to build a team. In my work, we do it every day, but I never really thought about a school as an like an employment situation. the teachers, you know, just like your kid your kids see you at the store and they don't realize you don't live at the school, you know, but to see the teams work together and collaborate and, you know, they're they're celebrate wins and work through losses and learn together. I think it's super valuable and I really would like to see too that you know the high school and the middle school they're all there but the two elementary schools I really believe that
057they would all benefit from being on the same page. >> Yeah. And >> what what we could use from you is just being able to say that and you know talk when you talk to people reinforce that and then they know that you are on top of it and you know what it is because it's kind of an educational thing and you're not educators and so to be able to to be able to know it at least knowing that know it enough to know the basics and then go in and observe it means a lot to them. But there's also a positive peer pressure that happens with that like it's when the boss is watching you know like like people do get motivated like I gotta pick it up you know I mean I gotta
058I gotta get I gota I gotta get after it you know what I mean but in a positive way so monitoring and and I like to be challenged you know I'm I'm going in my 10th year and so I'm not I'm not going to coast I promise so we challenge each other >> to get better and take it to the next you know, like like we have an athletic kickoff thing next week on Thursday and we're going to talk about three guiding principles about a peak athletic performance. And what we need to do across all of our athletic programs just like we do in mathematics is we need to say, okay, what are those things that are crosscutting principles across every every athletic program? And so, yeah, the coaches have autonomy to coach the way
059they want to coach, but when you share athletes, you need to you need to have some consistency around training principles, around nutrition, around uh you know, what what does it look like at different parts of the season, around training, things like sleep and uh and and hydration. And those are things that we haven't been as as intentional as we need to be, but we need the parents help because when they're at home or they're in the off season and we may not be with them at that time, you know, and that can benefit all of the kids, all of the programs, they can learn how to live healthy lifestyles. And uh so anyways, that that would be an example. But if you're there and you're serving and you're talking with everybody, they realize, wow, they
060know what's going on. They're into it. They're energized about it. they're involved. So yeah, be another example. >> Yeah, you talk about the whole issue of culture. It's easy to miss the fact that one of the biggest cultural changes we've seen in just the last two meetings and that is you guys because we don't get crowds like this. I mean, we we welcome you guys to we want you to be here. We want your input and it really it's really encouraging to us to have you here with us. >> Two meetings in a row. That's really amazing. But it really it really helps because we get a we get a view from your standpoint on things that you might not be in touch with at all. So the other thing is I pay really a
061lot of attention to kids over at the rail and there's been a mark change that I see in the students that are working over there. Usually you're dealing with with juniors sometimes but the the belief that they can go further in their education has really has really transitioned to where they believe more in their future than than I found in the beginning stages of of being with it used to be what are you going to do? Well, you know, my boyfriend's got a job and I'm not doing anything. So, get married and that now I I don't hear that. What I hear is a lot of cost a lot of money for college. So, I'm trying to save money here working my parents are doing their their part too to try to get get into
062the community college. my my and I've already gotten some courses that were college credits when I was in my first few years of school and I keep building on that. That's that's really a different deal. I used to run into a lot of kids who didn't think they were really college material. So I don't see that as much towards the future. Steve had a question back. >> Oh yeah. He had said something that just he had said you know we don't see crowds like this at a school. school board sat there and thought why we're starting to see that our school board because I know I'm working with the team and everything's going really well. Things are pretty quiet. Things been pretty smooth and there's some concern and some alarm in the community. People start
063showing up to understand what's going on. What is leading those? You know, where is our leadership? What is their strength? That's >> one of the things I just want to address that because one of the things that we I think are sensitive to as a board is not appearing to the public to be stupid. It's really easy to do that as a board. I think Spokane's done. I think the whole thing of the Spokane school board saying um we'll decide who gets to talk at the meetings and we'll decide how much time you get to talk. I think that's really bad really bad footing in your relationship to the to the public. I think I think there's going to be room for everybody to to have input because it's the only way you're going to
064learn and how how you can address in a more realistic way what's going on. But in a lot of a lot of the districts set up all these rules about how you can act in front of the school. find that it's valuable to hear people what we learn really gives us more quite frankly more wisdom. So that's that's kind of where we sit. >> Well, that's what I understand. We want to make sure that we're using the quorum and respect in these meetings. You know, there's that's another thing. It's really easy to get in the newspaper. All you got to do is have a a really dissatisfied public at your school board meetings. and we we just don't see that there's any benefit to that to the to the kids or to the to the
065development of of the district. I feel like there's a lot of things here that we still need to to get a lot lot better at, but we really we really don't want to appear stupid to the public as a whole, but especially to our stakeholders, which are our parents and the people who who have been in this school district for years. We want to be doing smart things. I feel like sometimes unfairly or has things put on them within the district that we all side in from the state level. >> That's that's very true. you know, I mean, we're in April, we HD 1296 come down the line. There's been a lot of things that have been happening at the state level as well as our current federal administration and that interaction. And I feel
066like those are some pretty tur waters to navigate for you as a board and as a district. I really feel like as we look forward in this district about bonds now just kind of getting it back to infrastructure of the district that having transparency with our district doesn't matter what we stand on as long as we stand we may completely in our opinion of it as long as we stand as that to not just go with whatever direction it wins. I think we I'm speaking for myself, not for the community. But it would sure put me understand where we stand on some of these fundamental decisions that are being made at a state and federal level that are directly affecting our kids at a very local level. >> Yeah. state stuff is really I think
067a challenge for for the school boards. What we try to do, we talk about creating a culture. We really want to create a culture that'll sustain and and develop a healthier district. Um I just think sometimes that there's a lot of moves to to over manage at the level of the state just a lot of things that that go on and you really wonder why they have to get done deeply involved in it. Um I I wonder why we I understand that you guys as administration as a district state funding is a very big piece of this puzzle to provide our education and public schools for our kids and based on a lot of legislature that's coming out. There's that state funding can be withheld, federal funding can be withheld and it directly affects our
068kids, the future, the culture. And that's where as leadership, we talk about culture in the district. That culture starts with our leaders. You know, the one of the best thing that happened to the north end of of Spokane and the south end of Stevens County was what Kell Falls did a couple years ago where they basically told the state they weren't going to do anything uh that the state was mandating and uh Ensley wrote him a letter saying, "Well, we respect your your decision and we just want you to know that 230,000 I was going to say we're not going to send and to have that hit the public waves was really a good thing because you it really addresses what you're talking about. There are repercussions. What you've got to do is find ways
069to comply and sometimes minimally comply. That's that's really we find ourselves with a lot of that decision. But I don't want to I don't want to be in the paper as being the school board that got all of their funding raised for the year because we need that. There was there was a guy up in Calville who who raised his hand in 81. He said, "Well, just how much money would it would it be?" And when they said 230 million, he acted like he was going to write the check. But he sat down and got a little quiet just so yeah, there's there's just a lot going on at the state level and the federal level, too. I'm kind of glad to see the the dissolving of of so much emphasis on the state test.
070Don't you feel that way? And that we districts were really playing to the test in a lot of cases. >> I mean, it's a it's a I think balanced assessment is what works. You know, you got classroom based assessment, you have state assessment, you've got interum assessment, you know, it's I don't know if it if there's zero value to it, but you know, I think when it was originally I remember when it was originally brought in with No Child Left Behind, I think the intent was reaching all kids and then measuring that all kids were going to >> achieve, you know, and so I think the intent was good. I think the execution of the policies around it that talk and it ends up being like teaching to the test and uh cheating all that
071stuff have gone around in our country but I don't know I mean there's some benefit I it is where it is school right now and so I think we try to have a good attitude about it because if you blow it off and you tell the kids it means nothing they will not take it seriously and then thank you I don't have to take the okay zero on the test and then our test scores of 10%. And then people are like, "You guys ain't getting results." So, it's like a vicious cycle when it comes to the state assessments. It's some of those numbers that you were putting up there today as far as grade level and where we were at as a district versus where we at the state as a direct result of that.
072>> Yeah. So, >> so the public school system in the state of Washington system >> based on the correct >> say that one more time Steve >> so I mean we're you know at the state they were averaging somewhere in the 40% >> as a state >> being at great level >> yeah on the proficiency part of the assessment yeah the foundational skills are higher but on the proficiency So yeah, it depends on what you know, some people put a ton of time in the state assessments and it's on, you know, it's on greatschools.org when you're going to find a house and so it it behooves us to do well on state assessments. The other thing that we really appreciate is the the sensitivity and willingness to pass the the levies that we need to
073to stay functional as a district because that does not have to happen. Well, I'll tell you what. I spent about 10 years working with Mary Walker school district in development of of their high school youth for Rotary. And when you see a district that with two levies in a row fail, man, that is just a death blow to that district. I saw a deal on Facebook today where they're communicating to the parents what the costs of extracurricular activities are going to be out of their pockets because I appreciate the fact that we seem to be able to pass those stay with our cost of doing physics. It's really important. Any other comments or thoughts? >> I actually have a thought. Um just going back to what you were saying about the test scores. We as
074a as a school school district and as teachers work really hard this year to convey to our kids that the state test means something that is important. And I think that a lot of times parents, teachers, schools, the community at large has said that the test is important but haven't really proven it to kids because in their mind a lot of times I think it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't um >> it's not for grade. >> It doesn't go for a grade. It doesn't mean that they're going to pass or not pass. They don't get their test scores back. And so getting kids to and families to understand the importance of it and then living that is just as important as looking at those numbers. So I think that our scores were higher this year
075because we intentionally spent the time impressing upon our kids and our families how important it was. And I don't know if that's happening everywhere across the state. I just feel like I am not in thank you for everything you do just trying to have smoking dialogue and I just feel like state because of some of the things like you just said that they put upon you can't show the test score can't see who took this test just number here it is there's no sense of accountability or achievement for them to 60. >> Imagine there's things put in place at a state level that says, "Oh, you can't single that one student out when we're doing this test because >> we don't want to leave somebody behind, >> right?" >> And I feel for you and
076I'm not trying to combat what you're doing, you're doing as a district and educators. and just frustrated with the system level and I see it directly influencing how you can do your job and how you can do your job but you guys can do your job and I don't see the route out I don't see the route out there some of the stuff that that I really value is seeing things like Kenny Nelson you guys know Ken Ken is a graduate of Riverside High School. And if you ever want to bring up that subject to Dave Howard, he will talk for a long time about that. But Kenny has he worked as a mechanic over Protection Plus in Deer Park as by far their best employee and then left and started his own uh business
077as agile. So, and business and I'm telling you that guy is my secret weapon. I couldn't fix anything. I couldn't change spark pl I couldn't do anything. But Kenny does it all for me and he is absolutely tremendous guy. Just uh really doing a great job charging fair prices, doing a great business. I see that on the vocational end. And then I see Thomas Baldwin who just graduated from Notre Dame and is an AROTC guy now and he's down in New Mexico working on top secret development of high-speed supersonic engines for airplanes. I look at those guys and I went to I went to uh Thomas's sister's graduation party and saw a bunch of Thomas's friends from his class and all of those guys are involved in really really tremendous things after they graduated college
078and have really found their their footing in the professional world. That's the stuff that really encourages me when I see that kind of excellence. It's just we want to bring kids higher and higher in terms of what they can expect out of their lives and what they can accomplish. Those are two guys I wake up in the morning. I think about both of them just tremendous came out of this school. Um I I just want to you were talking about the frustration and I agree. Um but I want you to know from the teachers perspective when we're in the four walls. My commitment to those 25 kids is that they'll be able to write a conclusion. They'll be able to say what an inference is. They'll be able to, you know, whatever multiply. I don't
079know if they'll show on the test. I have no idea if they will that they eat breakfast that day or if they you know whatever, but they will know how to do it. And um Thomas Baldwin is a great example, but I have another example. I have a student that I saw at a graduation party two years ago. He never passed the state test, not once. He didn't even get close. They know he owns his own construction business now and he's contributing to society and he is doing well and he learned what he needed to know at Riverside. I don't know if he ever passed a test, but but he ha he has what he needs and he's doing a good job. And so, um, there are thing I mean, you guys have more control
080over things and more direct line with the state, but when we're inside the four walls of our classroom, um, we've got those kids in front of us and we will teach those kids and it doesn't matter what one test score says. We do get test scores back. Oh, like I see the test scores of every single kid and I know which ones passed this or didn't pass that or passed this section but didn't pass that section and I will go back and the seventh grade teachers will go back and they'll gather those kids up and say, "Okay, we'll we'll work on this because we still have four or five or six or however many more years before they graduate and we'll get it. We don't get it in third grade, we'll work on it again
081in fourth. If we don't get in fourth grade, we'll work on it again in fifth." Um, and we'll get it. So, um, so I understand your frustration and I feel it feel it a lot in January, February. Um, but it's not as hopeless inside the buildings as sometimes it seems because of sports or whatever because we're they're walking in in the morning. And I tell my kids, I tell my kids every year, I told every group of kids I ever have. You will be better walking out of this room than you were when you walked in. That's my it doesn't matter if you have breakfast or slept very well or broke on the view or whatever. And so that's kind of how how we look at it. And I think we can say I feel
082like we can say as teachers that we are very successful at that whether they get a one or a two or a three. I agree. >> I called I called Steve Harmon uh a couple years ago. He was at the time the manager of the Maril H office in downtown Spokan. And Steve, I asked him, I said, "How'd you get into this?" Because I I actually had him as a student when he had passed his securities exam. I worked with him at Merrill and I was a specialist there and helped him get acclimated to the business and he said well they asked me to be to be the manager of the office and um I told him no over and over again and then finally they called me up and they said hey listen this
083is the district for me we're in Belleview and we like you we we're going to meet you in uh SeaTac airport And uh we want you to have in mind a number want you to have a number in mind that it would take for you to take over the management of the Maril Lynch operation in Spokane. And he said, "Bob, I want to tell you, my wife and I decided that we're going to we decided on the number. I wrote it down on a piece of paper and when I got over to CEC, I gave it to the guy and it was three times higher than what I thought they would ever agree to." and he looked at it and said, "Okay, so when can you start?" He's a graduate of Riverside School District. And
084just I mean, I love those stories. They're just such such great successes. Ken, do we have anything more we need to do? >> Yeah, there is. >> Oh, I see we do. Yeah, we got So, Riverside High School, Riverside Middle School list, right? Any questions on that? >> Yeah, I don't have the high school. >> Oh, sorry. Um, there are no major changes. I don't know that there were >> the high school had one change that went up $5. The middle school, they're all on there. Sorry. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Need a motion. Second. [Music] >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> Oppos. I want to tell you just on the back end of the Steve Harman story. Steve served in that position for over 20 years. And prior to him
085taking the job, the three seasoned professionals who took over the job, none of them lasted a year. So, you got a kid from Riverside who obviously did a great job. Okay, I need a motion to return. >> So, folks, we got thanks for coming in. Really appreciate