001call the order is there regular meeting on February 26 2025 caty Elementary library 5:30 and we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance and okay remarks for the good of the school yeah yeah has been very know that we have one of the best graduation rates Ena actually in the state I looked up on the website we have we exceed in a lot more than just I think I compared science and in attendance comp to the state and and there's only one category we are I think we all need to be aware that we have really a lot more graduation rate the only one that did could be a little bit of a challenge to talking about the our r people expend are higher than their or or lower than the state explanation maybe we
002need a doge do appointment I just wanted to share that because I think need to up people talk it's wonderful when we see all the kids being uh the accolades for the children who are coming in first in the state and basketball and all you all these wonderful activities and a lot of people especially in our demographic V we want to know how I think we I want thank you app if it's okay Bob I'd like to just comment on an interesting thing that we did today with our leadership so we meet every Wednesday with our principals our directors myself I facilitate that meeting and I wanted to bring up the topic of PES and we we the reason I brought it up is I you know I like you said what's going what I'm
003hearing from people and what I'm seeing in the news and so on is is and even when you go to Olympia and you talk to legislators one of the questions that comes up is or the the criticisms is we're not getting our bang for the buck okay that's a that and I'm I'm not saying I agree with that Sten I'm just trying to be real that that's what people are say some people are saying and when we ask what do you mean by that there is a big emphasis on state test and so state test scores have been for you young men out there State tests have been around the early 90s in Washington state it started with the lle changed you know went a smarter balance assessment so there is a I think it's
004something we have to talk about because we even as a staff we've talked about is SBA the the state Fest the only show in town are there other ways to show that students are growing and getting better and there are obviously even the research shows that you got to look at multiple measures of student learning to see if there's really an impact but test scores are a real part of the the concern around public education so you hear you hear things like you know we're not competing on the N that's a been the national assessment that compares our country to other countries so the e8th grade math is the is probably the one that has been talked about most in the state of Washington so the per pupil expenditure as a state combined with test
005scores is a conf a concern for some people some voters some and I'm not even saying it's associated with a bond or a levy or anything I'm just talking about associated with the district and the and the perception of the district so what I'll I'll stop with just the last little thing and that is the staff knows that we work on skill development with kids academic skill development Reading Writing social studies science we have processes in place that we try to do that great teaching we collaborate around our curriculum and our standards and and assessment and how do we improve our practice that's the best way however what I've been wondering about is the testing itself what I I hypothesize is that if you really think about State Testing and you did like a motivation
006assessment I think it's hugely l so for example student motivation around testing is not very high I mean the worst is at the high school okay uh secondly is parent motivation even though like we've done surveys with our parents of what do you think is the best way to measure student learning take testing has been one of the lowest metrics that they they value on those surveys I'm not saying that's everybody but then you've got um teacher motivation because we've been around enough and we've been doing this State Testing enough that it's I I guess I just don't know a lot of people like I am so pumped up about state testing and it's I'm just I'm so I can't wait until I sit down at that computer and I do two hours of standardizes
007it just doesn't happen that way so what we put our heads together on today was how do we create more positive energy around State pres like we know we do all the upfront stuff to prepare them and there are kids that do not aren't do not pass the state assessment based on skill where they are in skills but there I really believe that part of it is motivation you know when when the state for example the requirement was you had to pass the kid Des to graduate now used to be a requirement some of you may not remember that well the kids H hunkered down you know they knew they had to graduate from high but now there is if you don't pass the state assessment you have like five different Pathways that you can
008still reach the goal you can take different assessments you can pass different classes so I just I think we even talked about we need to talk to our students ask them how they feel about the test talk to our parents talk to our and see if there's a way because because not only is it good that those kids have those skills that's number one it's good for them to read with comprehension write with skill know the core principles of math know the core principles of science that applies to their life in the future that's most important but from a public perception it's probably more important than ever because choice is a bigger thing than ever so we have to be competitive like you're saying with if I I just argu that if you want to
009build trust with people you have result that's one of the things that help right it's not the only thing but anyways I I didn't mean to digress right I really thought I thought it was timely to you brought that up and it brings up positives but it brings up areas that we need that we can I mean there's a oh go ahead yeah Lisa go ahead so it's interesting because uh now it's like I look at this all the time and try to figure out why the per people is different so a school district like Deer Park has 2700 kids about 600 of home school they don't have the same poverty rates as us and they also have additional infrastructure or different additional um businesses so they take our entire budget that pure p p
010pupil they take our entire expenditures for the year and divide it straight by the number of kids we get um that can mean right we get some additional funding um that we spend on the children through title and lap um for our poverty rate so we may have more revenues to spend from Grants and such on kids and then we also we're full of C so we're fully um what that means is each kid in each student in the school district gets free breakfast a Munch so that also increases our expenditures and then you divide it by the per pupil and so if you look at a school district like I encourage everyone to check out like 9 M which is more of a similar poverty rate has and more of a similar size about
0111500 kids um not as much they have more businesses but not as many as their park and they're um right around where we are like 16,000 P so there are some interesting nuances but I think that's an important part of the story that people have to understand and it's our responsibility to educate them I appreciate you bringing it up thank you other remarks oh yeah yes um okay so before you go to um approval calendar about um so the the 2026 27 calendar has kindergarten starting on a Friday after two full days of conferences for 22 to 24 kids for kindergarten classroom and the walk hits reimburses three days so we take two but we're wondering why we have three that year with higher kindergarten class sizes I think three conference days gives a chance
012for the fam to come in and really get te 40 minutes for a conference when you're sending your baby off to school seems like a more reasonable number than 20 um also our kindergarten teachers are exhausted just it feels like a cattle getting kids in getting families in and then taking them out so um there's a few things I showed you I have the 2025 calendar and then the 2026 calendar the next one um a few Circle things and then the next page is the bill the um the house bill and I marked with an orange tab that they have three days of a waiver you can fill out I'm sure you do the two days every year um that they'll go up to three days um I just want to know that that aity
013would really like to look at and then the next packet is the w kids packet itself and the first page it talks about the family connection and really for kindergarten I believe that the family connections are huge we're trying to build from a bottom up what their education is going to look like from K 12 and if it starts off positive and the parents come in and they love their school and they love their teacher the parents are positive the kids are positive which creates a huge positive growing aspect throughout the whole school you know your whole K12 experience but if they come in and they're ushered in and they're ushered out and they didn't get their questions answered and they're like why did I take a whole day work for this um just makes
014I don't know I just feel like if we could slow down a little bit not start kindergarten on a Friday which they're going to come in on Friday they're going to cry it's a huge transition and then they're going to have a three-day weekend and they're going to come back on Tuesday and they're going to cry again and we're just kind of starting this really bad start for them and their parents I don't know so we really like before you approve that 202 look that doation what's for best for and what's best for our kind kids um and this really doesn't affect anybody but kind it's just one day that we ass days on the waals to come in look at their kindergarten teachers check out their classroom feel comfortable the parents would feel more
015comfortable and it would give us all a check them and I don't know I I just feel like when we send our babies especially the kids that have never been to preschool or any other thing they church that is my hope you will consider you have a question well I I would say that like as a facilitator of the calendar Comm non voting member I experienced it this year and we and I've been involved the last couple years and it was a mixed mixed topic there was one that people were presenting close s so I think that it's a good point and my only recommendation is you probably you can't you probably need to pay because you would want to get you would want to talk with RS and you probably want to get to
016talk before you just I think we have time W out so it's not a bad idea I'm totally I just it's not really this year it's the next year that's that super awkward Friday yeah I would app yeah thank [Music] you I I think it was if I remember correctly it was it was mainly down to just getting them another day of school another day of getting into the school there was I remember there were question Friday I mean Friday a rough day so I do remember that discussion and and what's also kind of hard to know is how many kindergarten sections you have because we you have your year this year and then you have your Trend we're hoping that we'll get back to our normal number and our normal class SI that we've
017had in the past but it doesn't really it does regardless Friday I get your point so I just I'm not comforable a non voting member really representing people Ved on it than just saying I had a little kindergarten start from my house because living with this and I'm I'm on your it's your grandpa just about cancel we're just really passionate about Kindergarten now well we want to keep Travis from yeah Fridays are tough when I met kindergarten I met other remarks schol yes I know that theond is something that's on the table we've had a huge increase we all had a huge increase in the money 20192 toally understand I want to know are you putting money inside even without your bond is there Mone Remar because spoiler systems don't just you know things so
018I want to know the things that are being done in case doesn't quite honest are going up I'm paying more taxes now P which I'm fine with but I want to make sure that you're being responsible on I mean what's happening I mean you have you have a list that says these are the things that need to be taken care of and you check them off and money inside because I have to live in a budget and my home everybody else here has to in a budget at their home the school district I want to do a remodel in my house I have to plan I have to stay I realized that there's going to be a project that me can't taken care of that way but a lot of them cany my husband's on
019the school board that was really Rocky time I mean we have gate person every month at the district at the um School Board making sure that the school wasn't taken over by the and not only did they get that Bond paid off it wasn't being paid on for 20 years they ended up getting blots done to the school and building a fund balance of young adults so I just want to know are you all planning things like that yeah I mean I I can I can tell you that yes absolutely I think it's a valid point I I'm saving out of the general fund in addition to trying to find Al so like today on the phone with mckin street trying to figure out a gr application that's happening next to me around indoor air
020quality where if you fill out the first one you get like 40 cents per square foot and if you win that one you're eligible for a second one which can be heating and cooling systems um you just got a grant for like ovens for example which is another facilities issue so I think it's a valid point I were so far behind in some areas that I think it's a little difficult to do only a lot a lot oferty there's a lot of there's also a lot of have and ifting people to get out I hav brought that up to a year ago October and I asked people might get out of you remember what the respons do but even if one person gets out of their that's wrong I mean I know it's for the
021kids a lot there's a lot of people that have been out this generations for Longs of time sky and they Havey so I just hope that when you're I hope it is for but it's also for and that needs to be and there there isn't a decision on the bond okay I mean right now that's why I think you know the board sent out a message that come to the board meetings come to the facility advisory committee meetings um you need to get the voice of not everybody agrees exactly with what you're saying but there's also a lot of people that have that same conern so I think we we need to do a better job of engaging the community all parts of theun whether you're in schools or not in schools whether you have
022kids in schools or not and try to figure out how do we support the kids and also take care of our citizens our residents it's a a pickle it's a little bit of a challenge it's not black and white and you know what I'm saying I mean because it's like like even last year when we were where like when there was a discussion about the bond some people said well we would be willing to do it if it was smaller we would maybe afford it if it was less money or you know so it kind of depends on who you're talking to I mean are you saying that you would never be able to run anything other than running what's in our operating budget no I'm not saying that at all country schol like have
023areally bills P the cost of insurance I roed out here of our home property tax way higher but what my income isn't any higher and so and and we're fine but there's a lot they not and they don't know how to say that and so I guess I'm kind of being Underdog and they had a great time and they got a good education very happy with that and I think that every child have that I also think that they should have but I also think get this ly need so that you don't have to you need to be a know you might to be aons and make sure you're not going over out there are a lot of like I said there's also a lot of have and that is wrong it just and that
024was and and I know that a lot of you understand why and when my husband wrote a letter on how L funded did we get wasti anti it's not at the bottom he said understand how know they want school they can't necessarily and that's very honest very open I'm I'm with this I I think that um we can have to talk more with more people about this because yet you know you had it didn't meet the 60% Mark but there was 50% of people interested 50% were not and so how do you get people back together to talk about it because what even the the big staff survey that we did last week it really did a good job of pointing out the problem problem is we have facility the problem is the money how
025do you resolve those and it's so it's tough and the only way you can is do talking talking problem solving together and absolutely you got to think about people's money right now and I you know in my position I got to think out the future too and we do have we do want to have a quality and part of that is having at least solid facility I mean there's a we're not we're not making up some weird strategies where people run other measures beyond their General oppos and maybe that was part of the you know maybe that's one of the challenges you know something something but I do agree that that there's absolutely different opinions about how much what's affordable I think you bring up a lot of really good points and I I plaud
026you for being here I mean seriously instead of just doing it on social media think it's great we need to have more of those kind I mean we're doing all the talking anybody else yeah else I just like to say that the the issues I have are completely different issues my issu is with the state of Washington because I don't think the state of Washington knows how to fund schools and I think the courts have continuously pointed that out over the years I think that the expectation of 60% to uh to pass a bond what that what that message is to me is we don't want you passing bonds at the state level and all you got to do is look at the bonds that have been have been uh Flo and you'll find that
027most of them don't pass and the reason they don't pass is because they fund them with property taxes so that's my feeling that that's my my issue is with our state legislation and I agree with you and you know that it's also State legis right now our tax property tax oh yeah I know and so yeah so that that's something that needs to be you know I can't make a lot of changes but yeah no it's yeah the language what can we just like to Bas Bas at a basic level just a different I well this what I us I know that the that the state is mandated to fund public education and I don't feel they're doing I don't feel that they've set up anything that that the majority of of districts can win
028and I think it's because it's un anybody else have anything to I just I graduated from here a long time ago I'm my great grandpar in9 so I st to you I got a wonderful education and I went on back here I live but there are very few the chair the desk that I have is a desk that was one of my desks when I was we take good care of what we have the desk that my children use we clean them up and we do things we we use Rula that's very um expensive but we take good care of it um we we need it we use it and we're trained on it and giving the children so you're seeing you Mo around you see the best um we've shined it all like and
029and we make it beautiful for our children because we want them to help self and I came back to this District just for that reason I got my second master's degree and my administ proval to come back here to say you can be anything you want to be what you want and I'm going help you get there and that's what these two so I agree with you I still pay tax but I want to be clear that ick however kind [Music] ofes all you want but reality is most people right especially now honestly feel like if everybody voted I don't everybody most AR voting probably they don't even know about it I talk to people I see a lot of people I talk a lot of people also to not I do think that things
030need to Beed absolutely but I know that you're get a lot more money from the and I know that that's for the learning also maret I just want to make also looking at oh you know what and your so that you're not to more money that's that's where I I just want really you don't have I mean got Havey that's just to also instead of just going to The NeverEnding World taking things into consideration everybody there's a lot of there's not that's I want to make sure that you know that it's depressing when you can't follow through and provide what you need to provide for the responsibility that we have and I got really down about that and so what I did was I started working with David and some of the other features in
031the district and the question that I asked was what is it that you're not doing program wise you would do if you had the and what I've done is I've gone to the de Park Rotary Club and here are the issue here are the program and we have we have $15,000 program would not have happened so I am really on the same page with you on a lot of this stuff because I feel responsible for for making it work and and that's what we're constantly looking at is you know creativity you know where you're actually saying okay there's a problem what am I doing to create a solution to that problem that's that's just the approach I'm taking where where are the opportunities to locally be able to fund L of things like clubs that
032say they're philanthropic the thing you run into is a lot of them think they're just Banks they do fundraising and they don't do anything with it but we're we're doing something with it because we're pushing the issue with those so that's just just wanted to tell you that because that's been going on for about three or four months one thing that I would say is that when it comes to need to beun cross and that's one thing that that I know that we tried to invite learn more about theud learn more about what what we're dealing with and when we we make those calls hey come help us figure out what we're doing come talk to us about you both a lot of aot appreciate that but we need we need more voice we need
033know what what the community and and part of that is maybe we learn that okay here's here's a gap in the between and something where we can work but also when we as elected offici when we hear things from our that's where we need to do work and push those those thoughts or you know see how we can make it all work what we can do and so we need those continued voices continued thoughts and proactively and positively working together for the solution of what should we afford what can we afford how can we make this work that's what we and you appreciate that you know I see you Contin noding and I'm hoping that means that you're listening to what I'm saying you're taking and that's something where where when we're U when we
034are asking for voices again asking for that that cooperation I do appreciate that other remarks I'd like to speak on behalf of just chaday if that's okay be great thank you um really and a great conversation and it's I'm really going to bring this back just here uh appreciate you guys being here tonight obviously we love hosting and I think it's great that that you guys go from different sites because you get different perspectives and a lot of what penny I agree with you we have a lot of great things happening here we have a lot of great scores that we should we should say hey we need to plot ourselves every once in a while we work really hard these teachers work really hard