001Right. We apologize for the delay. Um but we are going to begin our meeting. Thank you so much for being here. Um I'd like to call to order the Coupe Bell School District Board of Directors regular meeting for Thursday, January 29th, 2026. Please rise and join me in the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to 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. As a reminder, this meeting will be recorded and available on the district's YouTube channel and website. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Move to adopt the agenda as is presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those
002opposed? >> Motion carries. At this time, we like to start our meeting with our district land acknowledgement and our district equity statement. And director Barera is going to start us off with our Coupeville school district land acknowledgement statement. Kville schools are located on the ancestral lands of the lower lower Scadget people. For thousands of years, Coast Salish tribes have stewarded these lands, waterways, plants, and animals. We pay respect to the elders past, present, and emerging for they hold the memories, traditions, and culture of their people across the nation. Kville schools are committed to educating students, staff, and the community about this long history. as we honor and acknowledge the continued presence of the Swenish Indian tribal community and all other indigenous peoples. >> Thank you. And student representative Sylvester is going to read our Coupeville
003School District equity statement. Kville School District is unequivocally committed to providing a safe, equitable, and inclusive working and learning community for all. Whether about race, religion, language, immigration status, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, class, ability, or a combination of these, all student all students deserve to be respected for who they are and acknowledged for the strengths they bring to our learning. >> Thank you so much. Next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Is there any item a board member wishes to remove from the consent agenda? Hearing none, I'll ask for a motion. >> I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. Moving on to
004recognitions, which is very exciting. Starting out our recognitions for Cootville Lions Club students of the quarter. I'll turn it over to Superintendent Leatherwood to introduce. >> All right. I'd like to bring up um Robin Bernardi who will introduce We have actually um we usually separate these, but we have um two different quarters that we're going to be honoring tonight. So, thank you and welcome. And do you want the students to come now? >> Are they here? >> Some of them are. So, we would love for the students to come up as well. >> Fantastic. And I did want to say that one of our students of the quarter um had a family um emergency and so George is unable to be with us tonight. >> So I was gonna say all sorts of stuff about
005him that he'll talk about which is great >> to be recognized. >> Thanks for the opportunity to uh join you this evening. We the Coupe Alliance really enjoys the partnership that we have with the school district as far as recognizing our outstanding students. So we have three of the four here this evening. put my glasses on. All 12th grade students are eligible for the award and school staff votes for the recipients. The top two students of each quarter are chosen for each are chosen for each quarter. Students are selected on the following criteria. Community service, effort, character, social relationships including leadership and willingness to help peers, scholarship, approach to learning that shows hard work, persistence, and an effort to improve, and sportsmanship, fair behavior, commitment to fair play, and ethical behavior and integrity. The recipients
006for the students of the first quarter are Tagen Caulkin. Tagen is the daughter of Jacqueline Caulkins, Seiya, and Shawn Caulkins. She's been involved in volleyball, basketball, and softball all four years. Her community and school service includes the Leo's Club, Exec Council, Captain's Club, National Honors Society, working in the school library, Race for the Reserve, as well as the Green Team, which was an environmental club. She's also been a volunteer volleyball and basketball coach. Tagans worked as a nanny, and her hobbies include club, softball, puzzles, refereeing, sports, and volunteering as a coach. Her favorite subjects are science, math, and sports med. And her plans for the future include attending a 4-year university to pursue biomed engineering and mechanical engineering. And we will be here on Friday to recognize you at the game for the senior for
007senior night. George isn't here tonight. George Spear. Um he's been involved in cross country, track, ASB, Leo's club, a library volunteer, and national honors society. He is currently the president of the Koopal High School Leo's Club and on the school board. George's community service includes uh a number of projects. He's a one busy guy including all of the Leo's Club projects, beach cleanup, food drives, and he's a member of the Coupeville School District Facilities Task Force. He's worked in the catering business and as a farm hand at the Whidby Equestrian Center and a pool attendant at Sierra Country Club. and his hobbies includes love this Dungeons and Dragons and reading. George's plans for the future are to attend a United States uh service academy or attend college through the ROC scholarship program to ultimately become
008a military officer. And those were our first our students of the first quarter. And our students of the second quarter, Noel Western and and Dalia Miller are here with us tonight. Um, Noel is the daughter of Carrie and Michael Western. She's been a member of cross country, track, captain's club, National Honor Society, Leo's Club, and ASB. Her community service includes volunteering at the elementary school, a cross-country volunteer, and Race the Reserve. She also volunteers her time at her church. Her favorite subjects are anatomy and English. Her part-time jobs include landscaping, child care, and housekeeping. and Noel plans to attend college to major in nursing with a minor in childhood development. Dalia Miller is the daughter of Timothy and Holly Miller, and she's participated in tennis, national honors society, Leo's club, and the Young Life program.
009Her community service includes being a tutor at the middle school, library assistant, concession stand volunteer, and a volunteer for cross-country meets. She's worked at the Front Street Grill and her hobbies include tennis and listening to music. Her favorite subjects are English and history. And she plans to attend law school to be the voice for those who may not be in a position to speak for themselves. Nice try. >> While you guys are getting your picture taken, we just want to express how proud of you we are and for the amazing work and service that you do in our community. and we're so grateful to honor you this evening. So, thanks for being here. And thank you to the Lions Club for your partnership at schools, for honoring our students and the amazing scholarships and opportunities
010you provide. We appreciate that so much. >> I also have the the luxury of hearing these students do their speeches for the Lions Club and I'm just blown away every time. They're they're amazing what they're doing for the community. So, thank you. >> Definitely the high point of our meeting. Yes, very well spoken. >> No. >> So, the next recognition and I think many of you are here potentially to speak on um how much we appreciate our school board. Um, as many of you know, January is schoolboard appreciation month and we have an incredible board and what I have to say is we have a very diverse board that represents our community well and they dig in um each and every day. They they push they make sure they ask great genuine questions and they
011know what's happening in our schools. It's so very important. Um and I I truly appreciate as superintendent each and every one of you. Um, I put a red bag on on your um >> in front of you from from myself, but I do know there's some other people who would like to speak. And um if you want to come up and talk, I think Do you want to start, Bill? >> Sure. Okay. >> Oh, thank you Christie. Sorry about this in a minute. Well, hello. Um, most of you know me, I think, but my name is Christy Sears, and I'm happy to be here representing the Coupeville Schools Foundation to recognize your service as school board directors. um other foundation board members present our uh our president uh Bill Evans and Cookie Baker and our
012most um newest our most recent is Deb Sherman and we're glad that she'll be joining us um a bit more regularly and she has more more time on Thursday on mornings. Um there are many reasons to thank you and we are glad to have the opportunity to do this during schoolboard appreciation time. Um thank you for stepping up to take on this leadership position. Your role is vital in fostering a strong learning community for all students and staff which is essential to the health and future of our greater community. for your thoughtful leadership in the many hours that each of you devote to studying policies, issues, and the sometimes difficult decisions facing you while always having the success, well-being, and safety of our students at the center. for being advocates for public education and the
013needs of districts and students across the state and for your strategic planning and collaboration with each other, with the superintendent, and with the community to bring the best education possible to our students. As we begin 2026, we wish you all the best. The Coupeville Schools Foundation is proud to support you, not just during this designated month of January, although it's kind of fun to have this evening special. Um, but throughout the year, we recognize and appreciate your commitment and dedication individually and as a board. So, thank you. >> Thanks, Chick. >> Oh, that is right. Chick is also a member of our he's a treasure a very important member of our foundation board and when he sits on that side of the desk I forgot that I didn't forget I just didn't say it but
014we have many dedicated uh members on our foundation board that enjoy supporting the district. Thank you. >> Thank you Christine. Is there anybody else here for Yes, >> absolutely. That's okay. We'll just >> I'm Jennifer Malfina. I'm a teacher at at the elementary um and I'm the co-president of CDA, Kfield Education Association. So, um we're just here on behalf of CA to extend our sincere gratitude to um the school board for your continued dedication and commitment to our schools and community. The time, care, and thoughtful effort you invest often behind the scenes play a vital role in creating opportunities for student success. Your willingness to make decisions with students at the center reflects a deep commitment to their growth, well-being, and future. DA has also appreciated the time and energy that our young um student
015members Lindy and George um bring to the conversation. So, thank you. We truly value each of you and the service you provide putting our students first every step of the way. So, we have a little card and um this cyclon plant. So, it likes to be watered but not from the top to bottom water. Thank you. Hello there. I'm Shelley Luru, president of CESA, and I actually spent my time preparing sweets for you instead of a statement. But I do want to say that we appreciate all the work you do. What you do is similar to being in union leadership. It's a lot of work for not as much appreciation, but we all do it because we care. And CSA recognizes that you spend the time that you do because you care about us and
016you care about our kids. So, please enjoy your treats and thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. >> We feel very spoiled and appreciate all the goodies. Um I think we're the ones that benefit from the work that you do and grateful for all of the partnerships of organizations that have come forward tonight, the unions, Lions, the foundation. There's so many more that are that make the Kville community so strong. And so we're grateful for the goodies, but also grateful for each of you. So, thanks. On to our last recognition of the evening, which is our Coupeville School District Transportation Department. >> I would like to invite all of our transportation department up. Nice try. What I what I would like to say to the board is that um this group single-handedly has um
017taking um a an event that is a town event and has incorporated our school district as part of I'm going to say the best part of the event life. So um we have the big bill right every year and um it was really important to this group that we represent and we represented well and last year they came to me and said can we do this and I'm like we need to do this this is great and um I will say last year they did an amazing job and the kids that come out and go oh my gosh they're here for us it's great but this year they took it and they took it to another Uh, and I think that the bus was a hit of a break. I think Morgan and I had
018to really be careful that kids weren't like getting under tires and things. It was just an an amazing event. And um, on behalf of um the town, we received a first place um, best decorated entry um, and this is awarded to our transportation. >> Yay. If you guys didn't see the bus, it was epic. Epic. >> Oh, now you got to step it up. Oh, no. >> Epic. Thank you guys for your work transporting our children safely and delivering candy. We appreciate it. Yeah. >> If you came for recognitions, you are welcome to leave as we get into some of the business. Um or you're welcome to stay. >> Oh yes. Well, we're getting down after that. Okay. >> If you came for that portion of recognition and then we don't have any Thank you.
019We don't have any public comment, right? Perfect. Okay. So, jumping into reports and communication, our student spotlight is our first um and I'll turn it over to Superintendent Leatherwood. >> All right. I'm gonna bring up um Principal Nicole and um Principal. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't have that in my notes. I'm gonna bring up who's going to actually spotlight the elementary. Thank you. Hi, I'm Deb Sherman, fifth grade teacher at Kiko Elementary School and um proud to have this young man in my home room classroom. I'm excited to introduce uh Matthew Richards. You might all remember him from last year when he came as a young author and um it's nice to have you back doing more wonderful things. Um each year our fifth graders are invited to participate in the uh VFW essay
020contest and when the invitations arrive um usually the topics are are difficult and so we usually do a little bit of background knowledge um learn some vocabulary um it it's a meaningful connection to our civics program and after that the work is entirely up to them. Um, participation is optional. Um, this year we had quite a few kids participate which was really nice. This year's topic was how I respect the American flag. Matthew chose to participate and his writing truly stood out. He was awarded the first place first place at the local level and then went on to earn the district award as well and he was honored at a VFW event. Um, I believe he got a certificate in $75. Is that correct? Yeah. Um, we're really proud of Matthew, uh, not just for
021his recognition, but for the thoughtful thoughtfulness and heart he brings to his writing. Um, he's in Young Authors again and can't wait to see what you have to share this year. So, he's going to share his essay with you. Um, I just really love what he had to say, Matthew. How I respect the American flag. The American flag seems to be a lot like any other flag to people outside of the USA. But to me and many Americans, it's more like a superhero waving its colors proudly. Whenever I look at the flag, I see freedom, and it fills me with pride. As the flag is being waved, it seems as if my life is dedicated to it. Each time I recite the the pledge of allegiance in the class uh in the classroom, it seems
022like the reason this country is full of freedom. This is because people are saying it with meaning. Whenever I hear the jets around flying around my house, even though it really annoys me, it brings me a good feeling that people are making this country a safer place. The flag represents those people who fight for our freedom. I never want the flag to be gone. The people in this country deserve a symbol. A symbol of freedom, independence, and safety. That is how I respect the American flag. >> All right, Matthew, you're not off the hook. I'm gonna have you and Miss Sherman get a picture together as well. >> And I'd like to thank his family for coming, too. You guys are so supportive. That was a fabulous essay. Great job. Yes. Way to go. >>
023All right. Thank you so much for coming. >> Thank you. Great job, >> Matthew Richards. >> I'm sorry. Cori Hamilton. I did this totally out of order tonight. Principal Bard will bring me Ari. >> Good evening. Um board, thank you. >> Sorry. >> Board appreciation. Um yes, u we brought some gifts that represented um our thank you from Coupeville High School and Kill Middle School. But uh the biggest thing I think for board appreciation is um looking at the quality of students that you've seen so far tonight. you saw uh four of our high school students and one of our u elementary school students and you're going to hear about another high school student tonight and I think that's the really the biggest recognition that you can have is the work that you're doing is
024contributing to making some awesome human beings. And I have another one that I'd like to share with you this evening. Come right up here Hamilton. Ki's a junior at Kville High School. Uh she is the class of 2027 president. She exemplifies the values and aspirations as outlined in your strategic plan. And I'm going to talk about how her leadership service and commitment to community directly support multiple pillars of the Coupeville School District. Pillar one, engage inspired and capable learners. >> Okay. Um Ki demonstrates exceptional initiative as a student leader and a learner through her daily work as the ASB uh TA. She applies real world skills in organization, communication, and project planning. Her involvement in sports both as a tennis athlete and a girls basketball team manager show her dedication to personal growth, teamwork, and
025perseverance. These experiences support the district's commitment to cultiv cultivate capable, competent learners who thrive in academic and extracurricular settings. Pillar two, safe and supportive learning environment. Ki consistently works to create positive a positive climate for students at Coupeville High School. She spends fourth period every day planning events and organizing community building activities that strengthen student connections at Kville High School. As a member of the captain's club, she engages in service that promotes a respectful, inclusive school culture. Her efforts contribute directly to maintain a safe and welcoming environment where all students feel like they belong. Pillar three, strong family and community partnerships. Through her volunteer work at Cuteville Elementary School, Ki helps bridge connections across school levels and supports younger learners. Her willingness to serve outside the high school fosters community engagement and reinforces the district's
026value of partnership. Her leadership strengthens the broader Kootville educational community and models authentic service for her peers. Pillar four, responsible stewardship of resources. Hi maximizes opportunities both in and beyond the classroom by taking on roles that benefit the entire school community. Whether supporting ASB initiatives, managing athletic responsibilities, or volunteering through the captain's club, she consistently dedicates her time and talents to improve school operations and student experiences. Her efficient and thoughtful contributions represent responsible stewardship of time, leadership, and school resources. In closing, Kari is an exceptional student whose daily actions embody the spirit of the Coupeville School District's teaching plan. Her leadership, service, and commitment to others elevate the Coupeville High School community and provide a powerful model for her classmates. We deeply appreciate her contributions to ASB and Kville High School as a whole. She
027truly is a spectacular student and she's a pretty amazing human being, too. So, please join me in congratulating Car. >> You are a fantastic human being, Ki. We're so proud of you. I'm amazed at how these students can do so many things. Great, great job, Car. Um, and we'll jump into our last our learning spotlight for tonight, which is um, we get to hear from our high school, Coupeville, Middle and High School counselors, and Superintendent Leatherwood will introduce them. >> All right, I'd like to bring up Shauna Sparrows and Lorie Atlas. There are um, counselors at the middle school and high school. They're going to talk about um, two different things. our high school and beyond plan. And they're also going to talk about our um new program called School Links that really support um
028students from the time they're in sixth grade all the way till they're graduating seniors. And uh Shauna is going to kind of talk about how we track those students and what we do along the way to make sure um our number one um goal, which is getting them across the stage, is achieved at 100%. Welcome. >> Good evening. Thank you for having us here. Um, yeah, so Lori and I just wanted to share a little bit about how we're tracking graduation requirements for our students and also how we're working to ensure that our students are on track to graduate beginning in middle school and all the way through senior year. Um, so just an overview, the things needed for graduation are 24 credits, a graduation pathway, the high school and beyond plan, and Washington State
029history. Um, so I just wanted to share this form with you all. I know it's a little bit small to see on the screen there, but um, something new this year that we're using to track graduation requirements is this credit audit form. Um, so this is a digital form that every student has and this is information pulled directly off of their transcripts in a much easier to read format hopefully for students and families. Um, so this is a blank copy of one. Um, but if it was filled out for a student, it would have a check mark next to each um, class that they've already met and each box is for half a credit. So, um, it's a really good visual that just sort of highlights what's already been met and what still needs to
030be met. It's really nice having this digitally as well because we are able to email it to parents when they ask or family members when they ask where their kids are at with credits and it's really easy to print and hand students and bring to meetings and just use it to to track credits and make sure that everybody's where they need to be. Um, also on the bottom there, there's a little section which you may not be able to read from where you're sitting. Um, that indicates the other things needed for graduation like the graduation pathway requirement. So on this blank form, it says not met. However, if it was met, we would switch that indicator there on the bottom to green and we would list how the student met their graduation pathway requirement. Same
031thing with Washington State history and the high school and beyond plan. there's little indicators down at the bottom of the form that we would um check in a way that's reflective of what the students meant. So again, just a nice clean, easy visual that we had for all of our students to track their credit. And kind of building off of that, this is a spreadsheet that is made um this is not the actual spreadsheet, but an example of one. We make them for each um class. So, what we do is those credit audit forms on the last slide are hyperl for each student on that first column there. So, it's just an easy way to click on the credit audits and just pull up any student to see what they've met or what they might
032still need. Um, and then further to the right there, we also mark if they are an AL student or a running start student just to kind of have an easy one-stop shop for tracking all of that. We also indicate if they've met Washington State history we as well as their grad pathway. So if they have met their graduation pathway, we also indicate to the right of that how they've met it. And if they haven't, we highlight what the um plan is for them to meet that. We also note if they're enrolled in credit recovery and if so, we list what credit recovery classes they're working on. So again, just a one one place to look at all of the credit requirements and to see where students are at. And the goal is to have especially
033with seniors and moving on down all of our students on track to graduate and um enrolled in credit recovery if needed. And the second thing that I was just sort of speaking about the graduation pathway requirement. We have several ways here at High School for students to meet this. Um, one of the pathways for this is a two credit sequence in CTE courses, which I think will be spoken more about later this evening. Um, the state testing, the SBA, the SAT, which we offer in fall and spring, the ASVAB, which we offer, um, we're offering four times this school year. Um, we also have many dual credit courses. So those include our AP courses like English, literature and language, um college and the high school. So that's our pre-calculus and calculus classes and run start.
034So those are all opportunities for students to earn um both high school and college credit. We also have a dual credit exam which is the AP exam. So students that get a cut score on that earn um college credit and also meet their graduation pathway. So each student has to have a high school and beyond plan to graduate from high school in the state of Washington. Um this year Kville school district has joined school links and it's a pilot year for the state of Washington. So everybody is just kind of trying it out this year. We have implemented school links into advisory. So at least every other week students are having a day where they work on school links during advisory. So they have 20 dedicated minutes to where they're logging in and working in
035school links. What they do in school links is they do stuff like career assessments, personality assessments, all kinds of inventories that lead them to choose which pathway they want to go for their high school and beyond plan. If a student is wanting to go to college, then they're going to choose probably the SAT pathway or they could even choose the CTE pathway. If they're wanting to go to a trade school, then they're they will more than likely choose that CTE pathway. If they're wanting to join the military right out of high school, they would probably choose the ASVAB. So, they're going to choose that. They're going to start with those career inventory assessments in the sixth grade. they will have their high school and beyond plan finished by the time they're in the eighth grade.
036Now, that doesn't mean that they're locked into that and they have to keep that the whole way. That's why they do it continuously throughout their high school career. They can change their path if they so choose to. um if they've chosen to do it via the SAT and they get all the way to their senior year and they haven't made it, that's where we're going to kind of readjust and then we're going to maybe look at the ASVAB and do another pathway for them so they're not locked into it. It gives them plenty of time to feel things out. Um they start in the sixth grade, it's completed advisory and that's it. Um they do start um they do have to have their Washington state history passed. They start that in the seventh grade. So
037if for some reason it is not p passed in the seventh grade or taken in the seventh grade, they can either take it in the eighth grade or do credit recovery for it once they get into high school. >> But that's not a grade on their transcript, right? It's just a >> not a grade on their transcript. Correct. Yes. Um, and they can take it through Red Comet and get a grade, but it does not have to be a grade. It doesn't even have to be the full course. It can just be it can be met by meeting certain standards. >> And if students move here that don't have that, they have they have to have it >> unless they move in the 11th and 12th grade. There is a waiver if they move in
038the 11th and 12th grade. >> It is good information for them. Um I think is that the last slide? >> Yeah. >> So um again, we're just trying to make sure that they're all prepared and ready for graduation. Um they will have that high school and beyond plan in the eighth grade. Um we're going to be meeting with all eighth grade families to make sure they know what to expect in high school because it is such a jump and it is serious. Once they get to high school, they have to, you know, you have 24 chances to get 24 credits. So there there's no failing and if you do, then you have to do credit recovery. So we want to make sure they understand how critical it is to be here every day and be
039passing those classes every day. >> And we were excited to share with you all too sort of the behind the scenes um look at how all of those graduation requirements are tracked because it's a lot of data. That's a lot of information. Um, so we just wanted to kind of highlight those forms, the spreadsheet, all of that behind the scenes thing so that you all can be in the know that how we're tracking that and um that we're paying very close attention to all the details. The that is critical work. you know, it it affects students in their college years or in their future depending on how we do with credit tracking in high school. And so, I appreciate you both coming and sharing tonight. Um, it it is really important and it and it
040it's great to equip our students with that knowledge early so that they are prepared for their future. And um it was great to do our walk through and learn more about school lings and about just the career education that sometimes you just don't know what's available. And so it's so nice to have a program that exposes you to more than just what you know, which is great. So thank you. >> And it makes it easy to track colleges and to know what colleges require. And you can also do your financial aid through school link. So, it's like a one-stop shop for high school students, for all students. They can really get everything in there. And the parents also log in and can see all of that as well. So, yeah. >> Speaking of parents, is
041there a way do the parents have to reach out to you to get access to those credit audits or is there a way to eventually plug that into Skyward or, you know, have where parents can access it through their accounts? >> Yeah, good question. So right now sort of the protocol is whenever a parent or family member emails me about their student or calls me about their student I always will respond or send a follow-up email with credit audit just attached and usually like the OSPI one page or on grad pathways sort of always >> sends that and put that information out there. Definitely in the future as we learn more about school links and really harness its full potential that can exist in school. >> Cool. Yeah, that would be great. >> In the
042future too, students will be filling out their credit audit form. Um, >> but for now, this is where Yeah, that's great. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> I had one just about the high school and beyond plan. They can be it can be completed by the end of April. >> Yes, sir. So if if everything goes on track, they're okay. That mean it's done. >> Yes, sir. >> Right. >> But if they take the SAT and not the ASVAB like they had planned to do, is that I mean does that has have to be corrected or is it >> is in there? >> Yeah. >> And they'll be doing it throughout their whole their whole high school career whether we keep advisory in future years. There will still be a way for them to do
043that. will still there will still be a time whether that is home room advisory we'll still build in time because it is something that they do need to keep up with check in with see what's changed every every student changes from year to year >> um everybody wants to be a doctor when they're in elementary school and then you know then a vet and you know it changes so >> well it sounds like your work in school links is a good um good method of doing that so appreciate you working that in there >> yes I've worked with several platforms over the years for um for graduation and this as many bumps as we have had with it with it being the pilot year is my favorite so far. It is the most user friendly
044for both student family or all three student and staff members. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> What you reported to us reflects some real improvements and I just want to recognize that and thank you for the work that you're doing. Um, also I'm really delighted you're going to be having a parent parent meeting with eighth grade parents. Yes. And I'm just gonna ask Dan, maybe you could let the board members who might want to attend that know. I'd love to sit in on that since I have >> Yeah, that'll be um principal case. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Wrong school. >> So, would you maybe consider inviting any of us that want to come? I'd love to go. Thank you. I also just want to add someone who's had that credit form given to me has made
045my life so much easier because it's just a digital form that I can go back to and I know what classes I need to sign up for at the college. So, it's just >> made my life so much easier. So, thank you. >> Thank you both for being here and sharing. Yeah. And for your work. Appreciate it. All right, jumping into administrator reports for this evening. Uh we're gonna Thank you. We're going to start with our uh administrator report from Mr. Bard and Principal Bard uh around career and tech ed. We did have the opportunity to hear more about this at our workshop. So, thanks for coming to both meetings. Yes, thank you again. Um, good evening board and thank you for allowing us a little bit of time to share some information on CTE.
046And I do, uh, appreciate that you guys were able to go through this during a work study session. So, this is a refresher. So, I will go a little bit more quickly. We also did include a memo in your packet that outlined this information. Um, so first of all, career and technical education uh, update. So, what's the mission of CTE? to prepare students for high quality or for high skill. I better put my glasses on. High demand careers. Um, connect classroom learning to real world experiences and support pathways that lead to college, career, and industry credentials. And you're well aware of the Coupeville School District pillar that they are an important role in our CTE program. So, CTE matters. Uh local industries need skilled workers and growing opportunities in construction, healthcare, agriculture, aquaculture, uh and
047mechanics. Students gain career ready skills um and hands-on opportunities and opportunities to meet those graduation requirements, some of those graduation requirements and pathways that you just heard about. Okay. Currently the this is the list of approved CTE courses that we have in Kville. Okay. And these this is the list of the current pathways that we have in Kville. And currently we have four teachers that are teaching in the CTE realm. um Lingan Kelly, Jessica Hillier, Katchcha Wolford and Elizabeth Borcowski. New pathways that we're working on is principles of biomedical science and human body system. So you'll be hearing more about that shortly. And new courses we're working on the principles of biomedical science, medical innovations, human body systems, and coding. We're still looking at ways that we can infuse AI across CTE, but um specifically
048in our technology courses, but really it's all of them. And program priorities, uh we had our fall advisory meeting. The Perkins grant uh was completed and submitted. They sent it back. We have a few things that we're adjusting and we're going to resubmit that. Um we're making sure that the Vcodes and SIP codes um and Vcodes and SIP codes are codes connected with classes and teachers to make sure that um for specific types of classes that teachers have specific types of background. CTE is a little bit different than um a a regular pathway u for teachers is to go to college student teach and teach. uh our CTE teachers um the regular pathway for most CTE teachers is to have industry experience. So they're not coming from college uh but they're coming from industry and
049they're bringing that skill set and that experience into the classroom. Um so anyway, I got off track there and I was going to be brief. Financial literacy grant that's been completed that will provide a little over $5,000 for us to do some financial literacy work. Um we had a team that met a couple weeks ago and we have a plan and um you'll probably be hearing a little bit more about that before the end of the year. Uh we are in the process of starting to update our four-year plan. Um and we're looking at refining our dual credit and in industry credential opportunities. There's there's some opportunity for us to expand what we're doing there. Um review and work to expand CTE offerings and pathways relying on student voice. What are students interested in? um
050we took polls and we're trying to coordinate or or um coalesce our CTE offerings and future planning around what our students are are most interested in. Uh and then ensuring that the state required paperwork is completed. Okay. um next steps. Um and and I know we already covered this um but we do have some work to do in the next couple months just looking at the u future frameworks and and again cleaning up uh not only the Perkins grant but also some other information in the state system. Okay. So collaboration um between industry and the Coupeville School District continues to be a priority. Updating those pathways um continuing to expand and work with our advisory committee uh of which Morgan you're a member. Do we have another member on our advisory committee? I know Shannon.
051Um and then expansion opportunities and working to strengthen those dual credit options and student leadership opportunities. looking for additional community partnerships. Uh and again working on those frameworks, the programs documentation and uh prepping for our spring advisory meeting. Can I answer any questions? Uh this was a little bit selfish. I actually participate on the CTE advisory committee in Oak Harbor. Um, and I'm very aware of how difficult it is to actually identify and bring in those industry experts to the general committee and to help inform those skills that are needed in our local community. How do you reach out? Do you go through teachers? Do you go through parents, community members? Like, how do you go about making sure that we have representation from jobs that our students might want to be doing? Yeah, that's
052a really good question and I have to answer it as someone who's new to this community and new to my position. Um, we have really good people here. The people on the board that are part of the committee and our teachers um they provided names, they reached out to people. Um, so they really came together and um added some really good people into our um CT advisory committee and they gave some other names that we're following up on for our spring meeting. So, we're hoping to continue to expand, but to answer your question, it's really because we have good people in Kville and they stepped up. >> Other questions? >> Again, thanks for sharing with us at our workshop because we did ask you a lot of lot of questions. Um, so appreciate that. Yeah,
053thank you for the work. CTE is a really important part of high school and preparing students for future whatever their future they desire. So, um, we value it and want to see it grow and thrive and so thank you for the work. >> You're very welcome. Thank you for the work that you do. Thank you. >> All right. Um, the next item on administrator reports is our transportation report. And Mr. Wallace isn't feeling the best this evening. So the report is included in board docs but um we'll talk to him and probably invite him back for a different a different evening to present to the court >> unless someone wants to present >> any anyone. >> Okay. >> All right. number one. >> All right, we'll wait for Mr. Wallace. >> All right, and our
054next item on the agenda is our business manager report for the evening. And we'll welcome you, Mr. Pullman. Thank you for being here. >> Yeah, thank you. And uh good evening. So, we're going to start with enrollment reporting and this is as of January. We'll first look at where we are and then talk a little bit about where we're going in the future. So if you look at this, you see that enrollment is broken down in multiple facets. There's basic education, our CTE program, um alternative learning programs, open doors, transition, special education. And what you notice is that most of those enrollment numbers are less than what we had budgeted for the current year. And as you probably know or should know, enrollment is tied directly to funding for school districts. So with fewer kids,
055you get fewer dollars. So if you want to go to the next one, well, we can look at that. And this is a by grade, by month, and it gives you a breakdown of where our students are in this district starting with kindergarten through 12th grade. And you can see the biggest difference is really in our basic education program. Um much lower than it has been in prior years. And if we go to the next one, we quickly look at the grade levels. And what I see when I look at this is that if you look at kindergarten, first and second grade, those levels are much lower than what you're seeing in third, fifth, sixth, probably the prior, you know, seventh, 8th, 9th, 12th grade. So it starts creating this pattern of what we're seeing
056enrollment is. And there's and the importance that we keep talking about enrollment is it's tied directly to funding. And as you will see in January, we have our January aortionment already received from OSBI. But from September through December, we are funded on our budgeted enrollment number, which is that higher number. In January, they reassess based on actual enrollment and create your actual funding, which they then continue to refine through the month of June as your enrollment is reported. So what you'll see in January we look at aortionment is that it's approximately 1,00 or1 million56,000 less than our December aortionment stated that the district would have received had we had the number of students that we budgeted for which we don't. So, it's one of those things that we'll have to try to make adjustments for.
057Um, and also use as information as we go through the budgeting process for the coming year. Because the reality is with that much difference, you're probably going to be using fund balance to offset it because we're so far into a school year with contracts in place. There's not a lot a school district can do to make adjustments on that side of it. So, we're going to start the budget process this month. and I've already started to do work on it for the next fiscal year which is 2627. And the first thing we do in the enrollment process is to try to analyze where are we, where have we been, figure out where we're going. And hopefully and in theory, um there's modeling you can do by using that historical information to come up with next
058year's projected number. And there's lots of methods. The first is you roll them over. If you have 100 kids in kindergarten, you expect 100 kids in first grade. And as we'll see that is not a very useful model. Um the most useful is the cohort survival method. And that's basically how many kindergarten students did you have this year or last year that went into first grade. So if you had a hundred last year in kindergarten you have 90. This year in first grade you know you have a 0.9 cohort survival for that particular group. And you can do that by grade multi-year. You can average it. you can do it where you wait this year more than last year and the year before. There's a lot of different methods. So, we'll look at some of
059those next. So, we start looking at this cohort survival and if you the one in white is our current senior class. You see there's about 45 and a half FTE which is full-time equivalent. That's a student that goes all day in the senior class. As juniors, they were about 51. sophomores, they were about 66. So you can see that progression, that change over time for each of those grades. And what you will notice is one of the things is there is always a change between the sophomore and the junior year. The number goes down in every single year. You go back 20 years and it look the same. Well, that's running start. So we can identify that there's going to be 15 20 kids depending upon the class size that move to Running Start. Running
060start funds colleges. it doesn't fund the school district. So that is not funding that we actually receive. So that's important to understand that even though we have 30 kids in running start, it's not generating revenue that we spend here at the district level. Next, so we look at those numbers and then we start looking at patterns and you can see that sophomore to junior change happens every single year, differing degrees and it has to do with the size of the class. Um there's also a transition between seventh and eighth grade here that occurs and you normally would see as we look for anomalies that the kindergarten to first grade, first grade to second grade, second grade to third grade, those normally grow in this district except for this year. So it's something we need to
061think about as we start looking at these numbers next. And what's more important than the actual number is the percentage because that can be applied to different sized classes. But again, you see those same things. Seventh and eighth grade, there's those drops. 13.4% this year, 10th to 11th, 28.2. So a quarter of the kids between their sophomore and junior year go off to running start. At least they did this year. But then you also start getting those anomalies like that kindergarten to first grade transition, almost a 12% reduction. and it had always been a positive increase over previous years. So again, the information we start looking at as we try to anticipate what enrollment looks like next. Enrollment can also be broken down into different facets. So this is basic education. This is basically your
062classrooms excluding your CTE program. So you can start seeing a pattern here. If I look at the pattern for the KO school district, I see a larger number then decline for a few years, bumps up to a larger number, declines. A larger number declines. Don't know what that means, but it starts looking at those patterns. The other thing I look at is I see the last four years. I see a decline in the basic education program. Here we go to the next screen though, you will see that in the last three years is actually an increase. So it was the CTE program was larger. So even though there's fewer kids in basic ed, the CTE program bumped that up. So it looked like the district was growing maybe more than it possibly was. But then
063you see that large drop in the current year and that's through the January number which will be redefined through the end of June to get an actual number, but it's still going to be somewhere near where we are today. Um substantially below last year and below the budgeted number. Next. So this is a sample because it's really important we look at second semester. There's always a change at that point. Sometimes CTE programs grow sometime a variety of things but we'll take the last five years and actually I go farther back than that but we'll use last five years history to try to project the right side of the screen. If you roll them over you can see the number we get there. Um if we do a projection based on what's happening this year, that's
064the most conservative number we see. It goes to 841 approximately. Um and then you can do an average. You can do a weighted cohort where you say, okay, this year is twice as important as what happened a year ago or you know, you can do that several different ways, but it starts giving you numbers and what you really see is there's the difference is between the high and the low is about 45 FTE. Um, so again, it's a half a million dollars in funding potentially. So that's what we'll talk about as a school board is where do we fall on this? Um, I'll give you a heads up considering where you are today and where I always have come in. I will push for the most conservative enrollment number for funding purposes. It's a lot
065easier to make adjustments in September if you have more kids but not if you have less because you are locked into your salaries for certificate and staff on May 15th of this year. So again that's always been my preference is to be more conservative on the enrollment because that's the funding mechanism. Um and the reality is it doesn't change a lot of other things other than just the funding. So, we'll come back every month for the next few months um and update this based upon where we are with that. I also want to look at June. Uh the budget is due in July. So, I'll look at it one more time in June and look at that comparison because I know when I looked at June of last year and compared it to September, only
066about a 20 FTE difference. Much different than the 53 you see for our average. So, something happened in the late spring last year that dropped those numbers down. So, it's we'll look at this for the next several months and the five month process as we go through the budget process. Yes. And if you have questions, feel free to stop me. Otherwise, I'll just roll on with this. Here's your financial report as of the end of December. >> Ask an enrollment question before get out of that then. >> I'm not a question. Just just going to make a request something. This is fabulous the way we've got this information and I really appreciate it. I think it'd be helpful for us to have and it may be trends and it may just be information but have
067also charts on running start and transfers in and out of the district because that affects enrollment sometimes and program changes we might make might make a difference for students leaving or coming into the district. It may or may not have any impact but I just think it'd be useful to take a look at it. >> Sure. >> Um thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. I track running start anyways. Um I usually don't put it on there because running start we get like 5% indirect off it so it doesn't make difference but yes happy to do that. So we're a third of the way through the school year. School year starts September 1 and goes through August 31 um which is our fiscal year which is different than the calendar year and also the school year as
068far as the educational piece. And as far as revenue you'll see we're about 31% which is a little less than a third and there's a reason for that. and our expenditures are about 33 and a half. So it from a very high level look, we're kind of where we thought we would be at this time. Next, Will, if you look at the revenue, you'll see that it's traditionally in that 31% range approximately. And the reason it's a little bit behind the year is federal grants. We pay the expenditure in December, we claim the money in January. So you're always a month behind. And this year they're we're four months behind. So, our first federal claim is January. There'll be $25,000 coming in January for the those four months. Um, but even with that, you know,
069it's right in the ballpark um of where we've been. And you'll see that the dollar amounts are different from year to year. Um, but the percentages are very similar. And that has to do with the budget. Next, when we look at um expenditures, MTOS are your supplies, material supplies, and cost. So, it supplies services, those type things. Um, it says it's about 89 a.5%. I'm going to readjust that because that includes $450,000 of capacity. That really is not an expenditure unless we get the revenue. If we take that out of there, we're over 100% encumbered with Mox and encumbrances basically means we haven't spent the money, but we have a purchase order sitting there that we know we're going to spend it most likely unless they cancel it. Um the payroll with incumbrances were about
07091%. We're in a good position as far as where that's at. Um we the things that don't show up in payrolls that's not encumbered are the sick leave when somebody's out and bring in a substitute. All those things happen throughout the year, but you cannot encumber because you can't anticipate what that's going to be. So that's why you want that leeway. And 9% is probably fine to get through the year payroll-wise. Um, so that puts us at about 91% of the budget. It leaves approximately 1.2 million unaccounted for at this time, but again, you have leave and all those things. And the spring is probably the highest amount of leave that districts end up spending money on. People get tired by the time we get to March. March is a long month, right? So, you'll
071you'll see those numbers go up. Is that 450,000 also encumbered in like the revenues or I guess it's really just part of the total. So that percentage meter of revenues, >> it's in both of those. And I'm thinking I might just pull them out. Change that number. >> Yes, please. >> Sure. I would love >> it would make more sense to me. >> That number just really to me. Yeah. Shouldn't count it either way if we're not gonna have it. So >> Exactly. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Sure. And again, even though the expenditures are a half a million dollars more than last year, you can see the percentages are fairly similar to um two years prior to last year. So, it's in that ballpark as far as the u the one thing
072I did notice that there was an extremely high um supply service cost in September, which I haven't had time to go back and figure out why it was there. I don't know if there's a carryover from the previous year or but there was a very large cost September that skews this picture. >> Brian said that our util it was aility that we paid at the beginning of the year that normally we wouldn't pay >> like in August we would do break it up over payment but we had enough money in the fund balance so he paid it all at once. >> Well sometimes what happens with PSSE is the district will not get a bill in September and all of a sudden they get October that has August and September combined. >> Yeah. And you
073would see that in December of this year, it was for several months and not just for one month. So that's where you see those those differences that are substantial like that. >> Um fund balance fund balance is uh about $1.47 million at this month. Um I fully anticipate that we're not going to follow the exact same pattern that we've seen in the past because of that adjustment to aortionment. Um, you know, I know in January alone the aortionment amount went down 417,000 from what it would have been had they used the December numbers. So there'll be a drop there and then over time my expectation is it district will end up with a 1.2 1.3 million fund balance rather than a 1.9 million. So there will be that adjustment that made still a healthy fund
074balance but as we talk about fund balance you want to go next one will um what is a 1.2 $2 million fund balance do for you? Well, daily the average daily expenditures so far this year about $54,000. That equates to about 23 days of expenditures. So, not even quite one month of fund balance. Um, your total expenditures are averaging, you know, about 1.66 million per month. So, that's about 8.38% of your budget. Um, payroll alone is 6.72%. So we talk about the need for fund balance and what's an appropriate fund balance. That's something to think about is how much protection do you want. What happens if OSBI runs and it happens in June. They have a June 30th ending of the year and sometimes they will move that June payment to July for it's a
075day or two but you still have payroll on June 30th. Can you make payroll? Do you have enough money to do that without borrowing funds from another fund? So, it's something to think about as you think about what is an appropriate fund balance for a school district. >> A month of payroll or 30 days of expenditures just sort of feels like very basic floor, >> right? And now you're at 6% or you're, you know, so do you think that maybe it's a six, seven and a half or 8% or whatever it might be? Yeah. One of the conversations that we've had too is you know what about like a rolling average percent when it varies so much based on revenue or something like that. Yeah. Have you seen people do that? >> Yeah, you can.
076There's lots of different ways you can do it. >> Um and if you look at you look at this flow, you see that January and February are the two lowest months that a school district has. And it's just the way that they're funded. Um, OSPI does not give you 112th of their funding every month. It's from 5% to 13% depending on the month. So, you have these fluctuations. Um, the good thing when I look at this is that almost everything you have is cash. You have $10,500 in inventory. Otherwise, it's all cash. So, it isn't like you have receivables and things inflating your fund balance. It's all sitting there. I'm very grateful that we ended the year where we did so that we can navigate this loss of enrollment this year and not be in
077a full panic. >> Yeah. And that's one of the major reg reasons for a fund balance is that you are trying to predict a year in advance what your enrollment's going to be and it's a really difficult thing especially in the last few years. >> There are a lot more choices for public education than there was five years ago. So um this is your balance sheet. It basically just gives you your assets and your liability. Assets of your cash less your warrants outstanding and taxes receivable which is also a liability. So if you look at that you'll see that basically as I mentioned you have $10,500 in inventory. Everything else is cash um to cover that. So great position to be in. The other way we can look at it is what's go ahead is
078what's your revenue and your expenditure by program. You know where do your funds come from? You have local funds that are taxes levy based. You have local funds that are created in the district in the buildings. You have your state revenue that's general aortment. You use it for anything. You have those that are um special program. So it's lap funding or special education has to be spent in those purposes and you actually get audited on whether you spend it in those purposes and if you don't you either have a recovery or a carryover situation. Then you have your federal dollars um few in general but most of it is specific also. So if you get a grant you know federal grant has to be spent in that way. Uh those are the ones that are
079most heavily audited. um we have to do a seifa schedule of of events that we provide to SAO and they look at all that. It also has time and effort and a lot of other things tied to it. So, you know, with some of your DoD and things coming in, you're going to have a lot of paperwork that has to be followed up on those. So, just a heads up. And then just a high level breakdown, regular instruction referred to as basic education, special education, your vocational programs, all your grant programs. it comes out to the same fund balance, just a different way of looking at it. You'll see that revenue is not encumbered. We don't know what we're going to receive. Um, but expenditures are. So, those are the things that we have a
080purchase order for. We know that there's an expenditure coming. Where's waiting to receive the goods or the service or whatever it is? >> Dan, when you do the incumbences for um these or these programs, um, most of it salary and benefits, obviously, >> a lot of it. Yes. Um, do you encumber what I would call incidental uh like subobjects like leave or class size reduction or are those encumbered? >> They're not encumbered. So that's why when I say you have 1.2 million left, you got all those things to cover >> someday and it won't be obviously while you're probably still here. I just want to acknowledge that I would love to see us do some FTE um acknowledgement here both for um here's the total FTEES we had budgeted and this is what we have
081on staff but also for those in incidental subobjects like lead replacement and so that we have a sense in the year if we're getting clobbered or not and and if we're going to need to plan for it just something to work towards because in some ways it would almost make sense to encumber that here >> um especially if we're going over but I don't know that history but we have almost every year and have to pay extra on lead replacement and things like that beyond what we budgeted. >> Yeah, I I can have that for you next month. >> I don't know that you need to. I just want to say I think if there's a little Yeah, we're going to look at in the budget process anyways. >> You know, we have to analyze
082what it is we're doing today, you know, and I always budget leave cost by here's sick leave, here's vacation leave, here's personal leave buyout, here's, you know, sickly buyout at retirement. >> There's a whole group of those, >> right? And yes, you can look at previous year and say we spend 500,000 here, 200,000 here. So that will be done and I can come back with that for you. It may not be me that gives it to you, but somebody here can do that. How liquid you want back to balance sheet. How liquid are the investment accounts we have with the county? >> Uh, we have to give them two days notice. >> Is there a cap on how much we can have in there? >> No, we could have as much as we want in
083there. Ideally, I try to keep as much as we can in there because, you know, currently the interest rates aren't bad. >> Yeah. >> Used to be a quarter of a percent didn't give you anything, but now if you're 3% and you got a million dollars sitting there, you're getting a better return, right? >> So, I always try to invest as much as possible for as long as possible. >> So, is there opportunity with cash balance we have to do that >> more aggressive with it? >> Almost everything is invested. >> Is it? >> Yeah. Right. I pulled out 200,000 a couple days ago. Otherwise, the other there's an $800,000 and it's been a million for the last six months. So, >> yeah, it's almost all invested. >> Okay, perfect. So, um, there are four
084other funds which, you know, we don't seem to talk about very often, but just so, you know, the capital projects fund has almost $3.3 million in there, um, used for capital building costs and levy uh, technology type related things. The debt service fund, you don't have any debt. Yay, poop bill, but there is a little bit of money left over in there that will stay in there until you have a bond or something else, then it rolls into that. Um the ASB associated student body has about $196,000 in there. You can see that they have raised about 65,000 spent 55 and again that is a fund that is generated by students and managed by students. Um the district is just a custodian of that fund. They actually don't have control over. And then the transportation
085vehicle fund which is used for the purchase of yellow school buses got 225,000. um you only have one revenue stream that comes in from that. That's reimbursement for school buses that comes in August. So there's one check for whatever um you might have on a schedule still and I don't haven't seen that. So at all how much that is. >> Yeah. So um Director Wallace was going to talk a little bit about that tonight. We do have a um a quote for a bus um and we'll be looking at working with um Dan on how we proceed. So you'll probably see something up next >> and it takes six to eight months to get a bus. >> Yeah, we won't get that. >> Unless it's electric, then it takes longer. >> Yeah. Um, so any
086questions? And just for those that are interested, there is supplemental just one just there is supplemental reports at the end of this lots of them that breaks this information down in different ways. So it looks at like object code, how much is your salary versus your benefits, your supplies, your services. Um just a variety of ways of looking at the same information. Um no need to go into it unless you had a question but um if you like data you can go online it's available and it's it's there >> and for some reason it's coming up skewed online but ours in front of us the reports are the PDF. So the the ones in board docs are not >> I failed to introduce you um as our in interim business manager. we drug you out
087of retirement and we appreciate your help and your support uh during this time of transition for us and thank you for attending our retreat and just starting to prepare us for budget planning and for just working closely with Shannon um during the past few months. So, thank you so much for your work and is there any questions? >> We're just fortunate for your experience that you're here. Thank you. >> We're actually glad that the weather's bad. because we're we know that if it was sunny, you'd be out want to be out fishing on your boat and so we're glad that the weather's bad so we can have you. >> I'm happy to be here. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. >> Any questions? Okay, jump on to superintendent report. Turn it over to Superintendent Leatherwood.
088>> All right. I combined my report because our um December board meeting was uh shortened because of weather. We actually brought in a generator and tried to light it light up here just to get our bills paid that month. But the reports were put into this month and I just combined both of them. Um, one of the things that we wanted to do today was to ensure that we brought back um and reported out what we learned from WASDA. So the first um slide I have for um everyone is really around um what do we see at WADA? Um, my lens at WASDA was really looking at how we could first I I think in the the history of Kville um bring our student board reps to a conference and have them engage in a
089conference and learn in a meaningful way. And so every opportunity that we had to go to student um uh sessions um we we did and it was really neat because um I got to spend time with George and and get to know them very well. And the very first session was my former district and one of their board reps was a former student of mine and it was really neat to connect with them. It helps them coordinate, helps them um network which is great. Um part of that also was um going to CTE um uh breakout sessions and I went to a district that's similar size to us and their CT offerings um are like trifold. like there's so many offerings and the way that they're taking frameworks and they're adjusting it to the students
090pathways and what they want to do um has really been nice. They also have opportunities um for some of the dual credit where they're doing online dual credit which has been really nice for them to capture because they're more isol isolated than we are. they're on a peninsula um down by um the ocean and um I know we're on an island and we can be we actually have a little bit more offerings in in the area. So that was a really nice connection for our team and I put many of our um current teachers in connection with that. Um we we got to hear from the 2025 principal of the year Kathy Davis and I was just really impressed with her presentation. I have to say that um as a principal, a former principal myself,
091getting to um start an elementary school from the ground up and being able to be in every decision in that elementary was really neat to hear from her. Um belonging was the key. And so, how do you walk into Ruby Bridges Elementary and everywhere you look, you feel like you belong there? Every student is in some way represented of that school. um students of um that had many disabilities all the way to diverse learners and and highly capable learners. Um she did a keynote speech that was unbelievable about her trajectory and just what they're doing there at Ruby Bridges and I was highly impressed. So that was great and I really enjoyed the conference and I know all of you will be sharing that with also and the next one is just highlighting and our
092bus drivers left but this is what it looked like. This is our our green oak. And yes, I I made my husband wear a onesie and he will never do that again. But for Rogers, >> but um I will tell you it was just a neat experience. Um principal was there as well as Elf on the Shelf and just the amount of kids running out giving us hug just excited that Pville school district was represented was amazing. And I also want to thank Shelu for being there as well. It was a fun day. Very, very fun day. And um and then also President uh White was there and her wolf uh hat and I appreciated that as well. So you can see up at the top there on the right hand side that that was
093our entire transportation along with others who joined. So it it's a neat experience and I just next year so we'll have to wing again. So BAM is back in Cville. Um and we are in our first week of having band um and we're very excited um to tonight consent agenda hired a band teacher who has experience and um has a connection to our and um we the purpose of a midyear hire um it is a non-ontinuing position. So we'll be posting again that the purpose of that around improvement. We want to ensure how many students are we going to have so that when we start looking at enrollment we can predict that we will have enough in a classroom to be able to say yes we we have this much of a band teacher. Whereas
094if we try to recruit after classes begin in in August it's really difficult to once um they walk through the door. And so we're trying to recruit now. We're trying to see and gauge what band will be um for the future and then um we'll plan for that in our budget cycle this year as well. Um also levy ballots went out um to residents. Um my encouragement is to ensure that everyone votes. Um I'm not going to tell people how to vote, but we just want to remind people to vote. um our enrollment projections. Um we already went over that, but that was part of my my uh report tonight as well. And you know, this is the time of year when we start um our budget process. And this is when we start looking
095at our projections and then um start we'll be starting to build our budget for next year. Um and then finally, there's two um big pieces that are coming together. we went out for our few a few weeks ago. Um I appreciate Dan's support and looking at the rubric that helps to select which um company that we're going to be going for um for a project manager for the $10 million um grant through the Department of Defense. Um we're in negotiations right now with that person and then we probably will have on the next board meeting who we've selected for that process. um the process because um uh the government was shut down for three months. We're a little bit behind the process for what our original timeline was, but we're hoping to get caught back
096up. So, we're not having to do budget adjustments as well. Um as Dan mentioned, um just Department of Defense grants and federal grants in themselves are a lot of paperwork. Um, part of the requirement is that um, I'm the only one that can do those adjustments and write in there. Yes, people can give me information, but I I ultimately have to do the reports and all of the budgeting pieces in the system at this point. So, we just want to make sure that we're on top of it. They're quarterly reports. I submitted our first quarterly report in December and it was successful. There wasn't much to say because we're not in in yet. One of the big things that we're waiting on, we cannot start um any construction until we have a NEA report from
097NASHBY. Um they were out here. I met with them in late November and um we are waiting any day for the letter that will sign us off saying we can proceed. So as soon as we do that, then we can proceed with actual construction. Um just a few things um beyond um just Panorama. We ended up um this was part of my December report that we had um surveyed all of our students um around their social emotional learning, school climate and um other indicators. We will be doing a family engagement and staff survey at the end of the year. That's a panorama survey and then every year at the end of the year thereafter for those but students themselves we survey a few times a year to kind of see where where they're gauging. Um
098I know that out of the different indicators the one indicator that all the schools are really looking at is engagement and how are we engaging students so that they feel like they belong and they want to come to school. So, a lot of factors around attendance. Um, what are those key um leverage moves that we can make as educators to just get our kids into school? And so, our principles are are fast at work working with their teams to ensure they're setting goals on that. Um, and then finally, the last piece is um more I have one more. I do have one more on yours. Um I have um uh we we began as the district to um change frameworks. So back in 2010 um in the state of Washington there's legislation that came out
099that said that you would every district will choose one of three frameworks. Um those frameworks will guide teachers on improvement that will ultimately um determine their evaluation. Now the evaluation is separate from the framework but there's one of three. Back in 2010, the Cookville School District chose Marzano and Marz Marzano's framework was designed as teach high leverage teaching strategies. He didn't necessarily design that for a framework, but that was one that was chosen. Um, Danielson, same thing. Back in 2010, the Danielson framework was chosen as um one of the three. Same thing. She did not design a framework for that to become a a teaching evaluation tool. And then there's one out of um uh Udub, sorry this phase but no not out of WSU but UDub that um developed a teaching framework which is
100called by cell and so state or the the districts around the state chose the framework chose uh Marzano but what we found over time is some of those frameworks have needed to be adjusted. Um when we think back to 2010 to now um inclusion um equity, those are big pieces that we need to include um in how kids have access to um core instruction, how they have access to the classroom in general. And um one of the frameworks that's most recently updated and updated well is the Danielson framework. So, long story short, we are shifting to the Danielson framework and in state legislation, anytime a district does, anyone um shifting those must get six hours of training. We launched our six hours of training yesterday with the middle school and high school. It went really
101well. They received two of their six hours and then we'll be um meeting with the elementary school on VRWs in a couple weeks to launch their first session. Um, we did the sessions separately so that we ensured that people could make it up. If they could not eat one Wednesday, they could the other. Um, I'm doing all the training with all of the staff and all of our administrators are participating in the training so that in the future we have a way to continue the training for years to come. And that's all I have. Do you have questions? >> I just appreciate being able to do that for you. Thank you very much. Yes, I think it sounds like it's saved our district a lot of hassle. So glad to have >> resident expert. >>
102Thank you so much. Sure. >> All right. Uh board member reports and we'll start down at the end with you, director. >> Are we ready? >> Yes, please. >> Can't pass on this one. Um so yeah the a conference for me was a lot different this year. Last year was obviously a learning experience as it continues to be a learning experience. I think the one thing that I reflecting on the most is uh just trying to find opportunities to be more closely connected with smaller districts. Content is very geared towards larger districts which is fine. Um, and I think the one I point out the most was the Cheney bond levy work that they did, which is a really interesting presentation. There's a lot of valuable insights in there, but there's a resourcing level they
103have that's much different than we have here. Um, I think, you know, from your perspective and the district's perspective thus far, I think some of the pieces that they've shown have have come out with the videos we've been doing and a lot more of the work we've been doing to inform the community. So, uh, that was really good. I I like the focus this year on just general financial health. I think one of the ones that Nancy and I went to was probably one of the most depressing starts to a presentation I've ever been in before, but um it was really good information and it helped kind of set the context for this financial planning and and how districts are dealing with situations that um they're uh encountering here. I think the last thing the
104small the small school forum and that's kind of where everything wrapped up for us was really good and kind of really good to hear from a group that's advocating for smaller schools as a legislature as a legis legislative level. Um I was happy to hear what they were what they were doing what they've been able to accomplish and the work they've been done to actually stay together as a as a group for for legislature. So uh it was a good time this year. Continue to learn a lot about everything. um appreciate uh the district's willingness to let us go. >> Well, uh I there is a requirement uh for all uh school directors in their first two years to complete two long sessions about uh uh discrimination, equity, education. And so I did I did
105mine uh this time which limited what else I could do but uh they were very very interesting. Um I grew up in the 50s in Mississippi so I I have some acquaintance with discrimination but uh it was good to review that discrimination is not always uh blatant. can be subtle and it needs to be looked for and you know you have to be observant to find it and then what do you do about it. So, um, you know, hearing about opportunity gaps and other, uh, things about that ended up being, um, a valuable thing, and I hope that, uh, I'll be able to make sure that we're we're doing a good job of, which I think I think we do, but but we're always alert for, uh, seeing places where we may not be promoting
106as much equity as we we think we are. So that was the bulk of u my report. I don't know if I want to throw in my leg report a little bit here, but uh just to diverse uh >> there's like a hundred education bills in there and they run from requiring uh high school to teach a student how to sign their name in cursive. Um, which I hadn't thought about it, but yeah, that that's kind of I just did my levy ballot and it says write on there and do not print or you have to sign it on there. So, if you you don't know how to write in cursive, you it's probably good. I don't know. So, I guess students don't write checks anymore. So, I you know, shows where I am. Grew
107up in the 50s that go back to that statement. Um, so they go from there to there. You know, money is a terrible thing uh that the legislature is dealing with. There is one bill particular that sounds like maybe it might have a chance, but it would be to increase M socks for us. It would be $100,000. Don't know if anybody's real optimistic about that to uh to other bills. I'm kind of waiting to see what kind of winnows out here. It's a short session. Dan may have may or may not keep up with this. There's one where it I think as I read the bill it would require districts our size to keep it 8% balance and then there would be a ton of it looked like to me a ton of reporting requirements.
108I'm not sure what we have to report now but it looked like it's going to add on a bunch of monthly reporting farms that so hopefully you know it won't happen but so we're we're still waiting to see we're hoping that nothing bad comes out. Okay. Um, my Wazda, I sort of just chose sessions based on vibes. I went to things that interested me. But when I looked back, I found that there's a theme and that theme was different ways that we as a district and that we as a school board can better prepare our students for the future that they see for themselves. >> Right. Whoa. Right. Mission and vision. Um, some of the things that I attended were the same one about CTE and electives, breadth of electives, a tiny tiny little school
109district in Ocean Beach that has, you know, so many opportunities and more than half their students are in band classes. I all all of the engagement was there. Um, I loved the sessions that talked about the portrait of a graduate, which I know is part of our future strategic planning process because that helps us in what we're doing as a district to make sure that when they get through the door um that they've got all of those skills and competencies to be excellent and well prepared high school graduates for whatever they're doing next, which also went to um a session about postsecary and ways that we can look at the statistics that are actually available publicly and think about, you know, how we can gauge whether we're properly preparing our students. And the fact that
110there is a they called it a 9060 problem that 90% of students think that some kind of credential is going to be important for them in their future, whether that's a trade credential or a degree. But only about 60% get it. and they were showing ways that we can highlight the hurdles that students have and help them to overcome it in high school so that when they're five years out they don't find themselves held up by something that we could have helped them with. So yeah, overall um student voice and just a lot of encouragement about what we can do at the board level and the impact that we can have just by supporting our district and the amazing staff and the things that they're doing so well. Yeah, I just wanted to to add
111on to that the mariachi band that was part of that was Ocean Beach. They were half, you know, half of their over half their students went. They had all these different offerings and one was a mariachi that they played for us. >> Well, I was kind of on one track at the WASDA conference and that was finance and budgeting and reporting. And uh the good part was I mean I've done this in my life but um most of the workshops that I went to were focusing on how you could interact with state available and reporting information and ESB available information not having to reinvent things but to kind of be able to do comparison and contrasting worked with things that existed and there was samples of school districts and what they were doing and what
112reports they were using and people from the state and the SDS there was really helpful. Um, but as I say, I was I was pretty focused. The thing that I especially appreciated just on a a secondary level was being able to interact with our student um board members. Um, they just they were like sponges. They were just picking up stuff and then spewing it out to us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I learned this and I learned that. It was just great. I hope that you felt it was as worthwhile as it felt like like that. And then I just had to comment on something that you just said that is this is nothing but good but about cursive. You know, I I have worked in an environment where I was processing incoming high school students to
113be checkers or courtesy clerks at the grocery store. Most kids come in and they try to fill out their paperwork. They do not know how to hold a pen or write. They got their hands all around a pencil and then they're trying to decide, well, do I print it or how do I do it? I said, how do you normally write your name? Well, I don't really have a normal. And I thought, you know, I think that's something we might want to take on with kids in some kind of a life skills class. I got two pieces about that. One is how to write and the other is um keyboarding. The end. >> Well, you see those kids all mound trying to write. It's awful. >> I just wanted to take this opportunity to say
114thank you to each of you for schoolboard appreciation month. It's great listening to your reports because I do think that that shows a lot about our our team. You know, we all went to the same place and we all take our own pockets of information away from something like that. And so I just appreciate working with each of you and the differences that we bring together and our collaborative disagreements and agreements. So thank you. Um I at I think at was the conference I just kind of was motivated to take a deeper dive into governance and the governance role and you know you've already heard some of the things that I took away from conference because I've already kind of brought them back to you in different ways. Um, and so just like that governance
115role and just trying to use meaningful planning to to measure the work that we want to accomplish or really the work that our community wants to accomplish when we developed our strategic plan. And so we attended a great session um with Bonnie Sumar Bonnie Lake and um they utilized their calendar just to make their reporting more meaningful but also to sort of help measure some of those strategic goals. And so I we both really like that we've been working on adjusting the calendar that we use um and still working on that and planning for next year. So I I we just grabbed that and ran with it. Um and then also I attended another one with um Northshore and Northshore has a really interesting governance model. They are all about goals. They actually put all
116of their um they actually put all of their strategic plan into their policy. So all of their zero series policies are basically goal and strategic based and all of their reporting is tied to all of that. That's really it's interesting. Um, but they went went through the new WASDA superintendent evaluation tool which there was a lot of pieces of that that I think would be beneficial. And so I shared just about the tool with you at retreat. obviously you weren't there but um we'll go through it more but that it's very much goal focused and I think um we're always willing to talk about our superintendent evaluation and how we can grow that and so there was just great things that I think even in small doses we could adopt to just make the evaluation
117process more meaningful >> and normally I'm there but I got the flu >> I know you are so thick um so those are two really great ones for me Um, we had a lot of walkthroughs. We actually had two walkthroughs this month, but saw several departments within our walkthroughs. So, principal principal Bard shared conversations happening at the high school making strides on their school improvement goals um with a focus on reading and math and student belonging. Um, we heard from the high school counselor, Miss Barrow. Thank you. and from the registar Miss Mayo and the hard work they're doing to audit transcripts and help students plan for high school and beyond plan um organize scholarships, social and emotional support to students and ensuring that they're on track to graduation. Um our tech department, thank you.
118We had um Will has been working to upgrade security systems at school buildings, working with building leadership to ensure appropriate levels of technology for each grade level, um monitoring technology needs, and then of course planning for the future and what that looks like in our district. We had a walkthrough with special services. Um and during that time, we discussed case loads and special education at middle school and high school. Uh we learned about paid internship opportunities for students which was awesome in our transition program. Um and we discussed future needs for curriculum engagement and support. And I just wanted to thank all of the directors and staff that led us through our walkthroughs. Um there's really amazing work happening within our district and I'm just so grateful that um the way that our staff impact
119and support our students and it's always encouraging to see. I also have prepared a very long summary for you. So, we met um in January and did Superintendent Leatherwood's midyear evaluation and um I wanted to take some time to share about that. So conducting an evaluation is one of the schoolboard's most significant oversight responsibilities and the evaluation really creates that framework to evaluate the work that's done on behalf of students and provide an opportunity to build alignment as a board and superintendent team. And you know the evaluation process is improves communication and collaboration and it models leadership for the broader community. And so we we are constantly refining and working on that process. But um I just wanted to share what we discussed. So we did the midyear evaluation during an executive session on January
12015th. Um during this meeting we spent time discussing the three superintendent goals that we established for the 25 to 26 school year. and Superintendent Leatherwood presented leadership actions and evidence that are moving the district toward accomplishing um the goals as well as key initiatives that are foundational steps towards progress of the goals. So the first goal, which aligns with standard one of the superintendent evaluation framework, is focused on leading a comprehensive data-driven review and refinement of the district's strategic plan to um ensure all key indicators, systems, and practices are explicitly aligned with and measurably advancing student learning and achievement outcomes for all students while building sustainable commitment and accountability structures across stakeholder groups. Our strategic plan document was really built as a five-year document and it was intended for review in 2027. So knowing that
121this goal wasn't going to be accomplished in one year, but that really Superintendent Leatherwood's actions and initiatives are intended to prepare our community, our leadership, and our staff for a review of our strategic plan in 2027. So, it's really preparing us, getting that data ready um and and working towards um a more comprehensive review. She remains focused on continuing to align the work of the district on the five strategic pillars that you've heard so much about through this meeting and many of the meetings if you've attended um including um alignment with budgeting, facility management, policies, levy, professional development, teacher evaluation systems, union collaboration, community education, stakeholder communication, and board and district alignment. So, some of the evidence that we discussed during this midyear check-in included the establishment of the facility task force and comm community
122many community levy presentations um professional development for administrators, collaborative meetings with our local unions and regular communication to the board and via newsletters and boards. She is constantly working to introduce data measurement systems and universal screeners and those will provide a critical baseline for measurable strategic goal setting in the future. The current strategic plan doesn't have that clear baseline of data um which has been sort of a hurdle in setting those smarty or smart goals and it kind of impedes some progress. But by bringing these pieces back, we've done a really great job um to get past this and set us up for success in future strategic planning. And evidence of this work includes implementation of ready dashboard. >> Uh I apologize for interrupting. Uh, my wife has had a bad >> fall. Oh, sorry.
123Ch. Um the evidence of this work include the implementation of I reading data dashboard and panorama software packages for academic assessment and social emotional skills um assessments. So the second goal which is in alignment with standard B of the WA superintendent um evaluation framework really focuses on development and implementation of comprehensive learning frameworks that establish rigorous curriculum priority standards and high quality instruction as the district's foundational systems ensuring all policy practices and resources and organizational culture devoted to maximizing student learning outcomes for every We all said that's a hefty goal. But again, you're saying the initiatives um include curriculum alignment, training for district leadership, building a focus on student outcomes and effective use of data, teacher evaluation systems, professional development for all staff, data collection system, data literacy and curriculum audits. Um, evidence of this
124work included in the enhancement of MTSS structures across all buildings, professional development for school principles, implementation of two new academic learning software packages, as well as data management tools, training and implementation, what you've heard about tonight, of the data framework for teacher evaluation and support for the universal design lower initiative that really aligns well with the framework. again public report at board meeting um with our district and community also serve as evidence of your emphasis on high expectations for student learning. And the last goal which is goal three and that aligns to a standard five um of the superintendent eal framework that's focused on establishing and implementing a comprehensive researchbased professional development evaluation system that directly correlates that growth which with measurable student learning outcomes through systematic implementation modeling and capacity building. Again, Superintendent Otherworth
125continues to work toward that alignment of board, district, and school goals to direct the impact achievement. Um, if you've attended at any of our meetings, you've seen that within our school procurement plans within our district goals within those strategic um planers. You continue to bring our our district in alignment with best practices through a new eval system, those nested goals at all levels within the district, professional development, student interventions and leadership development training and curriculum adoptions. And I know we didn't say it, but you know, you took the American framework training yourself so that you could deliver that to our schools. Um and that's evident of your work to to really build that culture here within our district. Um and the collaborative process to bring this on board. Um restoring the evaluation cycle and providing
126training to the principles is also tied to this work. Um the expectation and implementation of actional actionable goals at every level from classroom student growth goals all the way to the building student plan to district and superintendent goals is evidence towards this standard as in the alignment of professional development and the districtwide universal design for learning initiative. I know this is a lot, sorry, but um we continue to be grateful for the work that Superintendent Leatherwood continues to do in the district. Again, this is a mid-year check in um but it is for the benefit of Google students. The evidence and the initiatives that you provide continue um to show substantial progress toward the completion of the goals and you continue to focus on providing increased opportunities for our students while supporting academic growth. And
127we remain committed as a whole team to building an effective collaboration evaluation system. The superintendent evaluation is not like teachers or staff or principles. It is vetted and you know you have to make it meaningful. So you're committed to doing that providing clarity but also flexibility. Our hope is to continue to strengthen this process to support long-term growth and student achievement. Um, and although we remain committed on those three goals and alignment of those frameworks, we recognize that the work of a superintendent involves far more than what we've discussed. Um, and we continue to recognize and appreciate appreciate your efforts outside of goals critical operations and leadership within the district. So, we continue to be impressed with the progress you've made at this m check and the goals evaluation framework. Okay, that was my very
128long board report. Now, our student board reports, our solo >> just me. Yeah. So, at the WASDA conference, me and George mainly focused on what we could do as student reps to kind of connect more with the students and help get our opinions across to our fellow board members. So I specifically want to highlight the um Wazda student network that had a dinner at the conference. So we got maybe there were around 100 plus student reps there and just getting to hear all their experiences and their opinions and ways that they are interacting with their students in their district was just really insightful especially as it's our first year kind of and we don't really have predecessors to go off of. So getting that information and learning what we can work on and how to
129interact with our students, whether that's just setting up a booth at lunch or doing talking at an assembly or just being there in the hallways spreading the work. Anything we can do as students to help collect ideas and yeah get that. So it was super insightful. I'm really glad we went and got that opportunity to go. So, I know George got a lot of numbers, new numbers. So, >> yeah, >> he was talking to anyone and everyone. I was a little shy. I shouldn't have been a shy, but >> didn't he? >> He did run for advocacy, >> so get it ran for it. He >> stood up in front of all those people and I was so proud of him. I'll be represented. So did you. Very well. Thank you. anything about other share
130>> been pretty shut in with classes. So, >> thank you. It was a joy to have welcome there and to hear your excitement and yeah appreciate working with you. >> All right, there's no correspondence this evening and there is also no holding So we're jumping right into new business and as principal for our mentioned there's a memorandum to approve for new business which is in alignment with our policy and also with the process of submitting new courses in yes or whatever that acronym is um that needs board approval. So that memorandum has been attached any questions or coaching I appreciated that you in your board member report talked about some of the walkthroughs and workshops we've had but we don't speak about them here and this is all dealt with very nicely appreciate that I
131I'd like to move to approve the career and technical education plan of proposed pathways proposed >> second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the career and tech technical education plan pathways. There any discussion? >> I recognize that this a lot of this is just giving authority to things that we might want to bring on board according to our students interests and needs later on. So I really look forward to seeing how that might unfold. Hearing one more discussion like to take advisory vote from our student. All those in favor in favor. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. And next item on the agenda is approving the extension of the superintendent contract um as written in her contract. Then the vote for that happens this month. and then the actual contract approval would happen. So
132you'll see that this evening and year >> I would move to extend Shannon Leatherwood's contract to run from July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2029. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded to move to extend Shannon letter of the contract around from July 1st, 2025th to June 30th, 2029. Any discussion? >> Thank you for your statements. >> I just might mention that her original contract was a three-year contract to add in another year on a three. >> Yes. Hearing no further discussion, I'm taking advisory vote from our student board. >> It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? >> I motion carries. >> And third item on new business is adoption of resolution 2026. Our very first resolution 01 recognizing February 2026 as black with three. >> Is there any motion? >> Well, sometimes
133that we had a reading, but >> I would move to recognize February 2026 as Black History Month. >> Second. Again seconded to adopt resolution 20261 recognizing February as a black history month for any discussion. I would just like to know that this is the 100th year of um recognizing Black History Month and I think that it's awesome and and I um I continue to find value and again recognizing the strength that our diverse population brings to our team. And so I appreciate approvement and adopting these resolutions on our learning community. >> I love the text of the resolution, the educational aspects of the actionable aspects. >> Hearing no further discussion, I'll take an vote from our student. >> It's been seconded. All those in favor? I all those opposed motion car and again thank you
134for joining us and for all of the prison work that district and for being here.