001Yeah, good evening. Uh, we're having a little bit of technical difficulties with our video stream. Uh, we'll start our meeting in just a few minutes while Director Smith gets us up and running. >> A little bit of feedback audio, too. Should we just start without video will or >> Yeah. Okay, sounds great. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Coupe Bell School District board of directors regular meeting for Thursday, August 28th, 2025. 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 standyice 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 presented.
002Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as presented. All those in favor? >> All those opposed? Motion carries. At this time, we'd like to read our district land acknowledgement statement and our district equity statement. And I would like to invite director Pereira to read our land acknowledgement statement. Kville schools are located on the ancestral lands of the 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. Cookville schools are committed to educating students, staff, and the community about this long history as we honor and acknowledge the continued presence of Swinnish Indian tribal community and all other indigenous peoples. >>
003Thank you. And I'm very excited to welcome our new student board rep, Lindy Sylvester, to the podium to read our Coupeville School 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 students deserve to be respected for who they are and acknowledged for the strengths they bring to our learning community. Thank you so much. Lindy and George will be joining us at our September meeting and we'll talk more about that during our board reports, but thanks for being here. On to consent agenda. Is there any item a board member wishes to remove from the consent agenda? >> I'd like to remove item G,
004approve conference. >> Okay. Item G will become item H under new business. Is there any other items hearing? None. I'll call for a motion. Move to approve the consent agenda with the >> second the motion. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda as amended. All those in favor. >> All those opposed? Motion carries. Moving us on to public comment. If you didn't have a chance to sign up for public comment, the sheet is on the podium. >> Uh just as a reminder that the total public comment time is 21 minutes. Each speaker has a maximum of three minutes. Public comment period is an opportunity for the board to listen to individuals on educational issues. However, the public comment period is not a time for dialogue between the board and the public.
005The board will not respond to statements, questions, or challenges made during public comment period, and there will be no back and forth dialogue. Please know that the board's silence is neutral. It is neither a signal of agreement or disagreement with the speaker's remarks. Although the board will not engage in dialogue, the board chair may ask the speaker a clarifying question or it's possible a school staff may contact the speaker to follow up on an issue later. And finally, please remember that your words have an impact and that you are legally responsible for your words. We ask that you help us model for our students what a respectful and inclusive community looks and sounds like. We do have one speaker uh signed up tonight for public comment and that's Miss Shelley Laroo. Hi there. I'm Shelley
006Laru, a Koopa Educational Support Association president, and I just left CES's very exciting back to school night. It's going very well. Just to pop down and say I wanted to thank Superintendent Leatherwood and the district bargaining team uh for a sincere collaboration, a tentative agreement with our unit and I hope to have a ratification uh next week. Just want to say thank you very much for a respectful bargain. Thank you. Moving on to reports and communication, we'll start out with our emergency preparedness plan. I'll turn it over to Superintendent Leatherwood to introduce our speakers. >> All right. We have our new uh principal at the middle school and high school, Miss Rebecca Case, and uh Dan Bard, who will be coming up and presenting tonight. um if principal McCall makes it from her uh open
007house, she'll be also. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Superintendent Leatherwood, and good evening, directors. We're excited to share a little bit about the safe schools plan for the Pville School District. All right. So, we start off with our vision, our mission, and our pillars. Uh, and safety is inherent in all that we do, and it's an incredibly important function of what we do. So, the pillars ensure excellence, empower students, promote student and staff well-being, manage resources effectively, connect with family and community. Safe school plan. So, we're going to look at the procedures that we have for our safety drills. And these are consistent with the I love you guys foundation, which is a foundation that was formed um after a school shooting. It was formed by parents of a school shooting victim. And this
008is how they um were addressing and dealing with what happened. Uh and it has become a worldwide leader in not only school safety, but safety for organizations in general. And the terms that you're going to see tonight are actually used in tens of thousands of organizations worldwide. And the I Love You guys Foundation has become the cornerstone for school safety in the United States as well as many other countries. So the terms hold, secure, and lockdown, evacuate, and shelter. Those are the terms that we use for virtually anything that happens in our schools. So we have to implement our safety plan. This is what we drill for. what we train for virtually any situation and we're going to use um a variety of those and sometimes we'll use them together. We could have a situation
009where we need to hold students in their classroom and there's a medical emergency happening in part of the school. Um maybe we need to secure and bring people inside and make sure that the outside doors are locked. Maybe we then have to evacuate the school and and leave the premises. So these are the terms that we're going to use. We're going to train they're consistent. Um most other schools in our region uh use these same terms and the ESD supports training around the I love you guys foundation and okay so school safety plan a big part of that plan what this is representing is the standard reunification method. So the the two main pieces that schools work with When we when we look at the I love you guys foundation is standard response protocol. In
010other words, what can we do in the event of an emergency? And then standard reunification method, which is if we had to evacuate, how do we safely reconnect students with their parents or an appropriate guardian that we know in our super information system is allowable to take care of that suit school safety plan. So working in conjunction with local law enforcement and this is where that consistent terminology with schools in the region makes it helps quite a bit. Uh we will be having some regular meetings that will monthly meetings actually that will include local law enforcement in support of the um school safety plans. Uh we have monthly drills that will be consistent with the standard response protocol. Those term terms that you saw on one of those earlier slides. uh we'll communicate with staff,
011students, and our um our parents also. There's some really handy information that we'll be playing on sharing with our parents on what those terms mean. And more specifically in in classrooms, you'll see like what staff should do in those events and that's what we'll train for. But also there's information sharing parents on what parents can expect or what parents need to do uh in the event of those situations. So, um we'll be working with our principal group uh and making sure that um not only we're doing our monthly drills, but we're doing consistent standard response protocol and we'll be establishing classroom evacuation routes from all of our teaching spaces. Okay. Incident response team. So, um the high school, the middle school, uh elementary school are represented. Scott will be um working on district responsibilities and
012of course our superintendent will have oversight over all of us but that is the core of our incident response team. We talked a little bit about the I love you guys foundation and the standard response protocol. So the standard trust protocol there's a lot of great documentation. In fact they just updated this about six seven months ago. Um there's a lot of really good information about what to do in the event of an emergency or a disaster. And this is the basically the the cornerstone for what we'll be working with our staff and the community regarding safety for our staff and students. So these are the posters that you'll see um standard response protocol. These are the terms that we use. You'll be seeing these posters used in classrooms. They'll be up around schools and
013we'll also be sharing information with our parents about what these mean. We will also ensure that our staff have ID badges so that we we know who our staff members are and it's easy to tell who our staff members are. And in addition, it's saw on the slide, but the because of your support, we've been able to make some really key improvements to the ingress and egress for the high school and middle school buildings and the elementary school for that matter. So, you're going to you're going to hear more about um people needing to have IDs to get in our buildings and visitors being screened with background checks. That's a system that because of your support, we're available and install over the summer and we're still working out the kinks, but in the coming weeks
014and months, we're going to get that dialed in and we're really excited about the improvements to safety that that's going to provide. So, thank you. Okay, safe school plans. So, um there's a lot of um support materials and training videos on lockdowns. Um there's a lot of workshops. Uh the the I love you guys foundation has some really good in addition to the materials that are available online. They also have some great trainers that are very easy to work with. Next slide. So this is uh the different terms that we use and there is a a parent one specific that um we will plan on making available to our parents again so that something they can put up on their fridge and if there's an event they can look at that and use it as
015a resource okay what do I do or what shouldn't I do as a parent in this situation for example if we have a lockdown which in my previous district we did last year a lot of parents wanted to go get their kids. We're not going to let them in the door if we have lock down. Our schools are locked, right? So, they need to know. And if they have access to information like this, they'll know if we're in a hold or a secure or a lockdown, they're not going to get in the doors. We're not going to put them in clos. So, having information like this accessible is good so that people know what to expect, but also in the moment, they have a document that they can refer to because when you're in that
016moment, the training and information couple months ago isn't always accessible. So having things like this is is helpful and that's why we'll also see it posted in classrooms and around our schools. Okay. So next steps uh review protocols and make sure our returning staff and new staff are familiar with our safety plans and the terminology the I love you guys foundation. um we will be implementing our drill schedule. So each month we will conduct a drill which will have either one of those actions or multiple actions depending on what the drill looks like. Uh we'll monitor and adjust the protocols and drills and training for our staff as needed um so that we continue to update and improve the entire system. That's really why we do the drills um so that we learn and and
017improve. And there's no way to know exactly what's going to happen, but the more that we do drills, the more that we train, the better off we'll be when something happens because it's not always going to look the same. It's not always going to look like. But this is an incredibly important function of a school district. And this is something very seriously. And that concludes our presentation. So I'd be happy to entertain any questions. the ID requirement for visitors. What what's an acceptable ID and how do you check it? >> So, so let me talk a little bit more through that. So, we have um a doorbell at our middle school or sorry, our elementary school and our high school. People need to press that button and then someone inside they'll show their ID, some
018sort of picture ID. Then we let them inside and if they're just coming to the office to check out a student or ask someone in the office a question. That's all that happens. If they're wanting to access our building or go into our school building from the office, then they need to use their ID and we have a device that scans it, does a background check, and if it comes up with any kids, it alerts us and then we make a determination based on what that is, whether it is okay for this person to be in our building. >> You say scans it. I mean it can take any kind of photo ID and >> well we haven't worked out all the kink so I haven't tried but for picture ID licenses uh yet I
019know that we will have some cases where we might have parents that don't have picture ID with them. So we're going to need to find some workarounds that are safe for everybody. Um, we're not uh we are conscientious that we don't want to put something in place that's going to decrease people's comfort level in coming to their school and helping with their school and ask their children. So, I I think I know where you're going with this. Um, this is not intended to be a barrier for people coming in school. This is intended for us to keep people that we don't know, that are unsafe, that have criminal backgrounds from ing our school. >> How about after school? Is it I'm just thinking there's a fair amount of student traffic in and out of the
020building after school. Is it going to be locked after school? And actually, students are pretty >> The doors are going to be locked at all times. We'll have it we'll have staff out there that the buses drop off in the morning doors open verifying people coming in and students. after school the doors will be locked and during working hours there will be someone at the front desk that can check them in. And I I think you're asking some good questions. So in the evening like we're having an event where we don't have students in the building. I don't see us using this type of a system to background check everybody coming to a school concert. That's not the the purpose. The purpose is during the school day around the school for kids making sure that
021we know that the people that are coming in to do some sort of business in our school are our safety. Is it a practice to share drills with students or do you prefer to like be for them to be surprised by that or with staff or I I just was curious what what the normal what the normal way is? >> So I I can't speak to the history of the drills in personally. I think especially at the younger grades but even at the secondary level it's important for students to know what to do in the event of a drill is important for students to be taught what to do in the event of drill. So I don't think going into a drill hold and surprising people is the the best way for people to learn
022how to act in actual. So my preference is that we pre-teach that, that we are upfront about sharing when we're going to have drills and what type of drill it's going to be. We also have people, students and staff that are anxious about these kinds of events and so is that. Thanks. >> Any other questions? Thank you so much for your time. >> Oh, wait. Did you have enough? Oh, >> I guess maybe I would just add so the elementary, you know, they utilize like a badge system for volunteers where you've had your background checks and all of those things. like what's the practice at secondary for making sure that volunteers have that have been cleared with the district office? >> It's the same. So when they um produce ID and she scans that ID
023checks their backs with their name on it and it's one that people when they see it they know it checks. >> Okay. >> So that same structure is going to be at the elementary school now. So >> what's that? the same structure at the elementary school now. So, >> yeah. Um, and this is ongoing. It's something new and it's the technology. So, we're in the process of training people how to use it. So, I think in the coming weeks we'll have it more dialed in, but it's going to take a little bit for us to get used to it and for our community. >> I think possibly your questions around the difference between the visitor and a volunteer. So visitor badges will be printed right then, but there are cases where we have regular volunteers.
024They will not be scanned every time and printed every time. They will have badges um and they're they're screened through our district office. >> Thank you. >> So it sounds like maybe before I start club meetings in a couple of weeks and before I start inviting guest speakers that we can have more conversation when it's settled out. >> Absolutely. >> Cool. I guess I would just add I would ask another question. So you mentioned having staff in the morning. Like what about passing periods with students going to the gym and the doors and all of that? Are you going to have a staff by the door for that? >> Yeah, we're working through those logistics now for some of our [Music] the system to get in. >> We are checking to see if we can
025time those doors to be open during passing times. We're still going to need staff that have eyes on any ingress or egress to our building to make sure that they are our students, right? But we're checking unlock those manually or we just have that. We are gonna try and consolidate which doors students are are coming in and out of during class, but we recognize that we have shop, we have gym, we have places that students need to be outside of our building. So, we're going to try to also as well. >> Sounds great. Two things that came up um several years ago um when I first came on the board, the superintendent um um asked me to serve on the emergency committee. And if you did find that that would be a value, I would
026be very interested in doing something I'm especially interested in. The other thing that I've had several parents talk to me about and I think Martin was one that first told me about it. can't remember what the name of the group was, but the fact that there are probably a pretty good group of people that would be willing to be trained volunteers to take care of your door duty and that kind of thing, dads and granddads and Lions Club members in the community. So, if you need to have a little extra help besides just the staff you have, I think they would be willing to do that, especially in light of of the risk that we're under these days. So, be glad to help out if there's a way to do that. >> It's a very
027good point. Thank you. And I know that we're very excited our students in next week and that's also going to give us an opportunity to have a better sense of where we are. We're going to need some extra help. >> Well, I keep saying we're done with questions, but then we have more questions. I think we're officially done with questions. Thank you so much for your time and thank you for your support. >> Thank you. It's great. Really important. >> All right, moving on to our administrator reports for this evening. um looking at our pillar of our strategic plan of connecting with family community. Um I'll turn it over to Superintendent Leatherwood to introduce our speakers for the evening. >> I'd like to welcome um up front director um Lincolnville and our supervisor production um
028chef um Mr. Wraer who's going to talk about our connected food program. Good evening and thank you for having us this month. Um we're just gonna chat you guys right in um we put our strategic plan your strategic plan and our strategic plan up first. Um because in the connecting program we see our role so much use it a little. >> Can you hear me now? >> You're not quite sure. >> I don't have a teacher voice. Not where I've been trained. Okay. That's better. All right. Okay. I'll stand a little bit closer. We see our role in at um as a connected food program, our role in the strategic plan and we take it really seriously. Um promoting student and staff well-being is a big part of what we do, but we see how
029we can integrate into all five pillars. Um our we like to say that our mission is to prepare every student to be for their future as eaters. kind of taking a play on words, but um but also to provide students we with that daily foundational support of nourishment to be welcomed in the cafeteria and to be ready to be their best selves and to be the best learners that they can be each day. And we recognize that that's a we have two roles. Um and that's one of our most important ones for our students on a daily basis. Now I'm going to do the I'm going to start with our we're going to start with our 2024 20 five program recap. Um last year was a big year for us in partnering with the organization
030eat real to continue to grow and improve what and how we serve our students. Um EATRE is a national organization that sets really high standards for the health and the nutrition and the sustainability of school meals. Um they support schools along the way and we have a fantastic team that's working with us. We've met their green certification level and over the course of this next year we're going to be working with them on strategies to achieve at least silver. Come back to you hopefully in a year and see where we're at. Um but they were also the ones that brought out Seattle Refined. I don't you guys if you remember that uh video that was circulated where they Seattle Refined came out and did interviews with our high school students. Um, and so that was
031a great um, opportunity for us to have a video made that be able to show off a little bit about what we do. And what I really loved about it is it also integrated the work of farm to school. Farmer Arwin, the school farm manager, had a had a great piece in there. Um, and our next uh, bullet point on the program recap here is about farm to school. Um we the our partner Kville Farm to School the nonprofit um has been providing garden based education here at Coop Schools for over 10 years. Um and with them in our partnership we now have the three stools of a farm school program. We have procurement of local food and service in the cafeteria. We have school gardens or in this and also our case we have
032the school farm and then we have food education that's happening in the classrooms, it's happening in the farm and it's happening um in the cafeteria. And it's when you have that trifecta, that's where the learning for kids and really the behavior change really comes. And so, um, working to we continue to work collaboratively with their fantastic staff, um, to further integrate, align our menus, align our test taste testings, um, and the education that we're able to provide between the farm, the classroom, and cafeteria. >> Hi, everybody. I think the impact of farm to schools work on our campuses can't be uh, can't be stressed enough. I would say it's been remarkable to see firsthand how it has positively impacted our students and the food choices they have been making. So what's big last year, what
033was huge for us was we successfully expanded our breakfast program in middle and high school campuses which for the first time not ever I believe but in a very long time of breakfast served on on both campuses at middle and high elementary school both schools last year. That was a milestone for us. uh participation on a secondary level has averaged about 50 students per day for breakfast uh while the elementary school is remaining steaded about 140 um on a daily basis. As we as we begin this year, one of our big goals is to explore with our new administrators to find new ways to engage secondary students more and more try to find new ven. Can you guys hear me? This is new. Yeah, >> this is staring at me. >> In terms of um
034operations, um >> I think I think do you need to go back the slide? Maybe you will. Yeah, sorry. >> That's okay. >> There you go. That's okay. Thanks. >> Sorry. >> It's okay. >> In terms of operations, labor efficiency has remained steady at 13.3 meals per labor hour, which is exactly where we were last year. And uh lunch participation also remains consistent, averaging just over 600 meals per day. We are committed to managing resources responsibly and last year reduced our food cost by 8 cents per meal which is bringing our average down to $143 per meal. Um in addition to that, we continue really on waste reduction which we have been uh trying to implement at the elementary school level for now. Uh, I'm always try to find new and creative ways how to
035repurpose foods. The big show on the left bottom is uh it's a it's a chicken quesadilla that's burned into a lunch the breakfast burrito. So it's those kind of examples. So they really really help us to mitigate and it's been and it's been received really great as so uh next looking ahead the connected food program has undergone exciting restructuring. We're still struggling with our dietitis so but we're working on it. Laura will step into the role as food service director where I'm confident she will continue to grow and strengthen our program. Um in as for me in my new role I'll focus on developing consistent procedures to build a program that is sustainable and less depend dependent on individuals uh and helps us to maintain the high quality that we all appreciate and and set
036us up for the future to come. Uh, and just a quick note about the restructuring. We're still the same team, right? Um, and we have new roles and we have new titles, but we've been working together. Now, this is our seventh school year. Um, and we continue to we're going to continue to work to improve. Um, and and always if anything, we push each other to keep improving and keep growing. Uh, and I'm thankful that Andreas for the leadership that he's provided and also um that he's sticking around hopefully for as long as possible. Um, and I'm excited to see as we continue to work together even with new titles and new roles um for where we're headed. Um, just looking ahead for next this actually this school year now. um the triional wellness assessment.
037School districts are required by federal law to conduct wellness assessments of their policies and practices. I started that work last year. As part of that, we're going to be bringing back the wellness the districtwide wellness committee that's needed to complete that assessment. The award, you probably hear a little bit more coming up, but just wanted to make you aware of that. Um ECAT meal service. So with ECAT moving on to campus, the the elementary campus, they requested that we contract meal services to them. They operate under the child and adult care food program, which is a little bit different than what we operate on, but it's going to be the same food they do family style in their classroom. So again, it's going to be it's going to be slightly new systems that we're going
038to have to work out, but we're excited. They've been absolutely fantastic, really flexible, really excited. And so I think it's going to be a good collaboration. we just are going to be building a slightly we're going to be building a new system for the first couple weeks. Um and finally looking ahead this next year, Andreas and I both um fully understand and recognize that we have three new principles in our district uh and very much see our role as supporting them and leading their schools. And so whether that's having making food for staff meals, whether it's adapting to new schedules Yeah. or um collaborative, you know, finding creative solutions to to problems that arise. Um we feel that very much so that we're here to support you guys in these new um we're glad that
039you're all here and um we're excited for what >> when you were looking at the pillars it reminded me of the back to school presentation on UDL and how integrated education really is in the cafeteria and how that gives students yet another opportunity to to make some of those change choices and and understand like their their own power over their own education. >> It's fun to hear him use your terms eating brave you know. >> Absolutely. >> Heard that a lot. >> Courage started years ago but it is >> it has been adopted by everyone and it is one of my most favorite. >> You guys are doing a wonderful job. I know that your vision I I just love the way that you take our mission and our vision and apply it to your
040work because each of us have a role in educating our students and that looks differently from all of the people within our team. But I'm just grateful the way that you see um you see your place in this district and I'm grateful that you're staying a team and I appreciate the sacrifices that you've made along the way to to make food thrive and make our students thrive. Thank you. >> Real quick challenge challenging each other. >> That's good. >> I appreciate that. Yeah. >> Thank you. So, I'm gonna I'm gonna call up Principal MCO. Thank you for coming from your open house. And um she's also going to talk at >> Thanks for having me. I promise I didn't run here, but I'm like so out of breath. It feels like I ran here. Um
041thanks for letting me be a little late tonight. Um here to present on the pillar of connecting with family and community. Okay, so our theme for this year at Kville Elementary School is in this school we swim together. My staff is already annoyed at all the puns about swimming in ocean and fish life, but um they'll get used to it. So tonight, um as you're well aware, is our back to school night. It's 5 to 6:30. We have an amazing um PTA that sponsors Kpaw ice cream um which is always a hit. I think it was like 50 students and families deep when I left just now. Um, so it's a really fun night. Our families come, they get to meet their teachers, they drop off their school supplies. And something new this year that
042we continue to build upon, we had a resource fair at our transition night in the spring. Um, so we're now having that as a tradition for any time that we have community or family events on campus. We have over 15 community groups in our NPR cafeteria tonight from Camp Casey, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Island Transit, the Health Department, Youth Sports, Cheer, all of the above. So, it's it's a really great opportunity to make a one-stop shop for our families where they can come in, they can get a connection with our school community, but then with the broader community as well. Um, so eventually we'll have to put a cap on it because like I said at 15 we had tables all around and it was pretty full. But um, it's it's a really really fun
043night. Um, I had so many hugs and get kids just coming up excited to start school. So um, a really good way to almost end our week and our next night save the date um is our student spotlight night. So this is formally curriculum night which is part of one of our obligations for our title and lab funding. Um, however, we wanted to rebrand it a bit this year in our theme of bringing in more community and families and and making it meaningful for our families to come into our school building. Not that curriculum night wasn't meaningful, but it's also a bit mysterious of if what am I going and is it worth leaving my family and sports and dinner schedule for this kind of curriculum night event. So, we're branding it student spotlight night.
044So staff will still very much talk about our curriculum, especially with the new pilot that we're we're hoping to roll out, but the goal will be between now and November 6, there'll be a capstone project that each grade level will have um their students produce. So families will be able to come in, go into the classroom, and see real evidence of the students um work and the academic prog progress that they've made um in addition to discussing curriculum. So, brand brand new this year, um we have partnered with I Ready, our um diagnostic company that we work with. So, we have a rep that will be on site for our student spotlight night in the library with Chromebook set up so families can have access to information. You know, they receive a a sheet of
045paper a couple times a year that says, "Here's where your students at with reading or math and here's a stretch goal." I got that same letter as a parent and I'm like, "What the heck is a stretch goal? I don't know what I'm getting." So, we're hoping to really empower our families and again strengthen that community relationship with um giving them the information they need to be able to support their students. Um like I said, I I got it and didn't really even know what it meant. So, we want to make sure that if we have tools we're using to the best of our ability and giving our parents information they need to support their students learning in our classrooms, our parent teacher conferences. So, we have three days. um we have no students during
046these times um where teachers are calling in families it's optional for students to come and join their conference but traditionally you know last year I was November 1st was my first in day as interim so I kind of like showed up um as conferences were happening um but we have an amazing turnout last year was like 90% of our parents and families come so um again a really great opportunity that the way we have it planned strategically with our student spotlight night of we're going to have a lot of information with parents being informed about I already having capstone projects to talk about during these parent conferences. So, we're really just trying to be strategic with our planning and our events this year so that parents feel like it's very meaningful and worthwhile to come
047to um this is wrapping up the slide deck. So, communication with families. Um last year, Superintendent Leatherwood brought this more newsletter um that we've all embraced. So, we have that weekly that goes out from our administrative secretary, Miss Shelley, and that's just a really high level what you need to know for the week for families, our food menu, events, a quick reference guide, and then every month we send out a very comprehensive I don't know if Brian can attest to our our monthly newsletter. is extremely comprehensive that has um a principal's message, our monthly character trait award winners, um any holidays or observances that we're celebrating, upcoming events, and then we always end it with resources for families. Um other communication I've used a lot more frequently as the final site. Um we use that
048to send email, text, and voice recordings. At the end of the school year, I sent a family culture climate survey just through Google forms asked for preferred communication method and overwhelmingly parents said yes to send us text messages. So that's been a really useful tool. It's a challenge to fit 140 characters because I like to do exclamation points and add fun things, but sometimes it's just short and to the point, but it gets the information out families. Um, and then of course we have the Remind app that almost all of our classroom teachers use. And I think that's it. Any questions? >> Uh, the back to school night is phenomenal. My daughter's pretty young and she's very nervous. I mean, it's a great way to get a great job. >> Yeah, thanks. It's an awesome
049team. I They They're there running it while I can be here. So, thank you for that. >> The ice cream, >> it doesn't hurt. Yeah. No, and it's it is a hearty bowl of ice cream. They have toppings and sprinkles and syrups. So, yeah. Thank you so much. Yeah. Did you want to Oh, >> I was just gonna say I I get some more newsletters um both weekly and monthly with Is it possible for the board to get the other communication, the final site? I realize it's more probably school or student related, but it just be nice to know what parents are hearing. >> Yeah, that would probably just be a user group on final site. >> Okay. >> You'll know when we have an emergency completed. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I can get you on
050that. Yeah. >> Anything else? We just wish you a great school year. Yeah. And we're excited to see the kids again. And yeah, >> we're off to a great start. We had a great Tuesday and a great yesterday with our staff and we're just getting the ground running. >> Nice. Thank you so much. Yeah. >> All right. Our owl is still hooting. We will move on to our business manager report for the evening and turn it over to Mr. Gianelo. Here it comes. Uh this will be the school board report, finance report for August. You know, again, there's other values and pillars that this finances would probably support. Main ones are again managing resources effectively, accountability, transparency, probably the main ones that come into play here. So, here we go. This is the finances uh
051as of July 31st. Even though we're in August, uh we're just about near the end of the fiscal year, but these are through July even though we're in August. You can see here on the cash flow, we're actually trending quite well, holding the the past trend as expected. Uh July is one of the bigger months as will August be for revenues. That's when we receive the majority of state revenues. So, we are starting to see that trend, that little uptick here in July, which is a good thing. So, it looks like we're above that dotted line uh where we don't want to be. We want to be above the dotted line. We don't want to get below it. That's where you can see in the past we had to borrow from another fund to have
052cash available to pay the bills. So, next slide. Uh this is just the fund balance and and I should stop here too and note um we are just covering this uh pretty brief. The detailed information is out there on board docs. Um but now that we also went right through the enrollment information because that's pretty much been closed uh since June. So no changes there but all that information is still available on board docs. Uh so we're really just focusing on some of the key indicators as we finish up the fiscal year. And you'll see we're talking about the revenues from the state that we receive. It's the highest in July and August. So you can see that reflected in our fund balance where we have a 7.2% fund balance for July. The board policy
053is to have a minimum 6% fund balance. So again, this trend is uh looking looking good here for finishing up the fiscal year uh to being able to at least meet that% question policy staying above 6% or year. >> That's what that's what we need to decide as a group conversation. >> Yeah. and and that's something that we were thinking of bringing up to the budget committee and the next time you meet to make that decision because I it's really important for us to be able to forecast that out. >> Um I I think that's a great question. >> Well, and I mean to see that the spread is solid all the way from November on. Yeah. So just at some point if it's an annual number and average then you know we know that
054dips are okay then so >> as long as the dips aren't worked. Right. >> Right. Yeah. So, exactly. And I'll mention too, other districts have different, you know, ours, I believe, percent of budgeted expenditures is the 6%. Uh there are variances on on this, whether it's, you know, 6% of revenues or uh of actual expenditures or budgeted expenditures. So there's a lot of uh good discussion I think that could be had around that as you mentioned along with I think I mean it is a financial health indicator that we seem to gravitate toward and give a lot of weight but there are other financial health indicators that we could discuss too >> and I and I think that changing the reporting that we that we've used has helped to give some historical context so that
055we can say, "Well, actually, this is necessary or this isn't necessary or a certain amount is necessary to get us through the entire year and to navigate the the ups and downs of expenditures and revenues or enrollment changes or and so I do think that having the reporting that we've had this year that has changed and given us more context is helpful to making those decisions." >> No, I agree. Yeah, exactly. we can we have some data to go off of and uh things we can look at now that you're saying have some good discussion about we do going forward. >> Great. That's great. >> So those were some key trends that we were looking at. This is a snapshot of just expenditures now on your screen and it's expenditures and it's summarized by program.
056Again on the board docs you can get more detailed breakout of the different programs. uh within this sort of role up of regular instruction, special education all the way through support services. Uh I guess the key takeaway that jumps out here, you'll notice the this is our original budget that's still in there because our budget extension was approved in at the end of July. So you'll see we could put the revised budget numbers in for next month. Um so keep that in mind. So, uh, the expenditures plus the incumbrances, that balance column, if you follow your eyes over there, you'll see special education, program 20 and program 90, support services really are the two biggest uh, where we're projected to go over budget uh, over the original budget. Keep in mind, too, support services, that's
057transportation as well as maintenance. Um, but a lot to be seen too. Some of the projections of actual expenditures, we just did that budget revision uh to air on the safe side. Some of as we're closing out this year, I'm starting to see that, you know, we may not even go over that 188 original budget, but it was good we did the budget extension because it is pretty close. And I still have some questions about some of the encumbrances in here because when I compare the percentages to last month, there's actually some of them that are lower, >> which tells me that the incumbrances weren't done correctly >> or something is not catching up. So, not not incorrectly, but I just don't understand the incumbrances and how. So, something's still a little bit wonky. >>
058There is. And I'll tell you the the biggest fluctuation with those is going to be July to June contracts because even though the fiscal year here for you know most of our staff is September to August we haven't reenenced yet for July to June in the 25 26 year for our admin. uh yet we're dealing with the new software cumulative where theoretically those still should have two months left to be encumbering correctly. Um but I think it needs a closer look to still iron out those kinks out there. >> Okay, >> that's that's probably the the biggest Yeah, they're they're close. >> Yeah, they're close, but I think with the new software and that factor u there's still some kinks to iron out make it more accurate. So that's the expenditures by summary. Um this
059is a great slide too to came up with that communicates you know even though we're seeing that 7% fund balance for the month. What does that really mean? This is one of the higher daily average expenditure that we've seen throughout the year. But really it's, you know, if everything's stopped and we have that 7% fund balance to rely on, we really have 22 days to to operate. So it really puts in highlight back to that question we're having. Is even that policy of 6% of budgeted expenditures, whatever it may be. Is that even sufficient? Aren't the numbers always going to be similar? In other words, there's always 365 million a year. So, you can kind of say whatever the percent is if if it's this is 7.2 and give you 22 days, is that going
060to be fairly constant? So, I mean, a goal is what 30 days here. >> 30 days would be about, >> right? It's like always 30. I think last month it was 10 days. So, >> yeah. Right. Because it was a lot lower. But I'm guess what I'm saying is >> it's not like we'll ever get 6% and 30 days there. >> Oh, >> right. It's always there's a direct correlation between the percentage number of days. So, kind of going with the same question we had for we want it to be always 6% year round. is if 30 is our goals, it have to be from November 15th to January 22nd, March 5th 30 >> on those higher months. >> Yeah. I mean, it goes up and down just like the percentage. So, >> correct. >>
061I guess we're kind of I'm kind of saying, well, we need we need to accept that it's going to go up and down just like the >> correct imbalances. >> Correct. Because keep in mind with public school finances there there there are some factors that will be talked about and even next month we have a some ideas to show it a bit more too. The way the revenues come in from the state >> is not level. You know some of those graphs we presented and it will never be level unless the state changes their funding model or procedures. Uh and you also keep in mind that uh our revenues come in from September to December based on what we budget and then it's really January to August when we true up and have actual. So,
062you know, there's some consideration, too. The January to August is really our our true up period, but we're never going to get away from the spiky graph. I call it the state. >> Similar in your trend reporting, I guess when I look at that cash flow management, right? You're going to have peaks and valleys. So, you're trying to make sure that you're not you're actually spread over prior year. So that view right there we see it once a month having that comparative similar to the other charts with fund balances that gives you that next layer of are we improving are we staying consistent prior year you know spike any month that's going to cover us >> right yeah it's a good way >> the nice part is we're going to have I think director said
063this is we're because we started this data we're going to continue to have this be able to analyze that so that we can go what's going on here versus this either not right or not, you know, showing as the trend has. So >> that's very valuable. Um we did see that in a few of the trends last year and we could explain it you know because we knew what the trend was on prior years. We could say well that was due to a retirement year or that was due to a cash out because of a retirement year. So those are really important to pay attention to, but it's when we want to say, "Wait, this doesn't look quite right now. How do we adjust?" And that's that's why it's important to have that training. >>
064Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's what for for me it's given me just a lot more confidence. Like you said, having doing the this type of work monthly too, we're talking about when you analyze the trends, it gives you an idea to start asking certain questions or go see what the reason is for the the variance. Oh, there's one more slide. Always forget about the don't forget about the other small funds. We we tend to focus on general fund all the time and talk a lot about general fund. It is the biggest fund, but uh we do have other funds that we should take a look at. This gives you just a high look level look at capital projects debt service associated student body fund and transportation vehicle fund. capital projects still continue to have a pretty
065healthy and fund balance, cash balance there. But, uh, we do continue, we're seeing some of the bigger bills come in, uh, last month and this month for some of those capital projects that have been wrapped up, but now the building's just getting caught up. You'll see one later. Uh, Valdez construction, I think, just finished the softball. >> We just signed off on back stop. >> So, that's a majority of that project's done. We're just holding off on retainage to make sure they finalize what they do there. They pay that final retainage payment debt service. We did make the final payment for non-voted debt. So this and for next year projected to be pretty dormant funds, no debt, which is a good thing. So that's all set. Associated Student Body definitely some work to do here
066as the year closes out. uh got some different things to look into. I'll start talking to staff a little bit more about year end reconciliation. There's been some board questions. Uh so keep those coming too. So that'll key into looking at uh you know really reconciling. I know there's some journal entries and transfers that probably need need to be done there in that fund. Make sure we take a good look at that year end. And then transportation vehicle funds, you'll notice there is an expenditure in there. Uh we did pay that bill for that bus that we received earlier in the year. So our ending fund balance is a little lower, but coming in August, we get the depreciation payment. We'll see that go back up. Talk to Rob. We should be having a recommendation
067for bus up. >> That was actually my question. Um just trying to remember and keep track of the depreciation schedule and the bus replacement. Um, is that your payments intended for one bus or for half a bus? >> So, what you're looking at that that make sure that expenditure is for the bus that we received. But, you're talking about the revenue that we received already in just curious. >> That's for the 425. So, that'll be cash. So, you can project that for there should be enough in there for one bus. Okay. >> Going forward. It is weird because we get the depreciation payment in August which is at the very end of the year. Usually takes a little while to order and receive the bus. So >> So last year we ordered a bus in
068September um and we received it in May. Um we're paying it now. We will get a depreciation for one but we are just a reminder to the board we are two buses um on our depreciation schedule. So, we are going to be looking into that um whether it's um one larger bus or whether we are looking at a different way to be able to get caught up on depreciation um so that we have um so we get back on schedule for for our buses. But for now, we are looking at one more this year. >> I uh I live in a different world with depreciation. Um >> so they're just giving us money because an old bus is I think the bus big yellow bus based on the depreciation schedule we have we get the
069head amount to >> Yes. >> Correct. Correct. Yes. >> That is how we get our funding for um buses and transportation. >> And keep in mind too the legislation change that we're looking for next year is they are now adding vans to that on the depreciation schedule. the state legislation has passed for that to happen, but the state's still working on how exactly they're going to provide funding to depreciation for vans, but yes, that's how it works. Any other questions? That looks That's >> it. What is the practice if an ASB account is overspent? >> An ASB account is overspent. That is a great question. Um, it depends. I I would say would be the answer, but it's definitely, you know, there's a general ASB account. So, that's not the typically the general ASB account
070is not going to be overspent. It's studentled. So, it's the student's choice. Hey, >> you know, is it is an ongoing club or sport. There's the option to transfer from the general ASD account to cover that. Maybe some stipulations around it. I'd look into why, you know, why is it? Is this just something that's happening over and over again? Is it a one time thing? Is it just because we're no longer going to do that program? >> It really needs to go to the students on how they deal with that, >> right? So is the structure for ASB decision making like one ASB board that governs all of the ASB teams like or is it or is it I mean because we because we used to have like class level ASB. So how is the
071what's the decision making process looking like? >> From what I understand it's site it is sight based right first elementary school then we even have the middle school and a high school >> elementary is very different than middle and high school. Middle middle middle school does have an ASB led by students um that is um studentbased. You can have different structures. You can have um like you were discussing where you have um different classes that have um elected officers that represent or you can have a group of ASB that are the collective ASB um executives that make the decisions. Our model at the under high school have been the executives have made the decisions but they are to beed um at the at the high school. >> So but those decisions it's really clear there
072needs to be notes around decisions that are made. Those those decisions are backed by the purchase orders. Um there has to be requests made to that that that board to to have those decisions. So whenever there's something over spent that would be something that would have to back through. Um, it's typically not typical for something to be overspent because they're looking at their budget constantly because they are their expenditures in that that pocket or for that club to be at the center. >> Might be a cool workshop discussion at some point to do an ASB topic to just learn more about the governance because I mean there's there's a lot of different types of club within ASB and athletics and all. So it would just be interesting to learn. >> I think it would be
073important. >> I would I would appreciate >> our new advisors are saying yes. >> Our new ASB advisor coming on. I think it's >> and just the difference at elementary there's not that structure. It's more >> Thank you. Any other questions about budget and finance? All right, we'll jump into our superintendent report. Turn it over to superintendent. >> So, first of all, thank you. This week week has been extremely exciting and it was nice to see um most of you at this week's opening keynote. Um I hope you enjoyed Katie back as she um talked really fast and you know kept us a entertained through that. But um her message is really at the core of what we're doing in food bill. Accepting all of our students, ensuring that our students um are um able
074to come into a classroom and there's planning for them all and um the way that we deliver with choices and also um pathways are all tied to high expectations still and high rigor. So um I was excited this week to see that. Um and so Go ahead. So, looking at our strategic plan, when we look at the pillars, um I I would like to say this week has really encompassed all of them. Um I started the week with all of our new um employees to the school district. And in this boardroom, you know, we were able to um have all of our directors, our principles, um staff greeting our new employees and really wrapping our arms around them um to show that belonging not only um is about the students, but it's about the the
075people who work here and how important it is that we greet them so that they're capable of greeting um their students as they come in. Um, as we're discussing that this week, we've talked a lot about new pilots and curriculum and things we're bringing on board. And that's about managing our resources effectively. As director Gianelo talked about, our our fund balance is becoming more stable and we're looking at ways that we're actually trying to to budget in advance that we can say this is what our budget is. It's about kids at their first. And um, this week has been about that. Um, as far as connecting with families in the community, you can see with um, Principal Nicole's um, presentation that there's a lot of planning around this and just as much as it is
076at the elementary, our middle and high school, they had orientation today. They they've um, been welcoming um, everybody and I'm super excited about the students and us empowering students at the middle school for our web program. Um, we were talking at the foundation this morning at the retreat about the kids picking up the phone and calling other students and saying, "Please come join us on Friday." And how scary that can be for an eighth grade leader, but we are empowering them to do that and to have conversations with other students. And for some of them, that was the first time. Um, so that was very exciting. Um, as we're ensuring excellent instruction, that's what the keynote was about and what our workshop was about on Tuesday. Um we're talking about um taking our instruction to
077another level. Really planning for um our students to enter a classroom and there be um what I call access points for every student who walks through the door. Um we met with a family today and um every person who left the room today um had tears in their eyes because that student who in past years may have been um received of you need to probably not go into this classroom because you you might not be able to be successful too. We're going to ensure you're successful and this is how we're doing it. And the family left in tears, you know, that that to them is lifechanging. And so I I was encouraged by that. Um just promoting student and staff well-being. Um Mr. Bard and um Miss Kay's this week took their staff to the
078theater, Fox Theater, and they had team building um stations with their staff and just the feedback around this is new and this has never been done and this was really cool. It's it's welcoming, but it also is around promoting that staff and student well-being. Um um we talked about this visual around our um strategic plan and this is part of what you'll hear from my goals later um is around you know that the supports in that water is is everything we do as a community um and fiscally to support the students and up in those mountains are our students. They're we're empowering them. We have two um new um board reps that will be on next month I'm very excited about. We're promoting staff and student well-being. So, everybody is there and present to be
079able to support that. And then we're ensuring excellent instruction. So, very exciting to start the new year with those things. Um, as we um enter this year, we're talking about hope rising and um last year I introduced hope and how hope is something that um can be taught. It's not a wish. It's not a a thought or a feeling. it actually can be taught. And um this year we're elevating that to Hope Rising. And in our staff day um those of you who were able to attend or if you've heard from that staff day, our keynote was inspirational. Now um going over to our bus drivers this morning and talking to them, they were they saw themselves in that keynote. They said, you know, we are the first degree. we are the last to see
080our our um students and um we appreciate it and where's that book and each one of them got a copy of their book and and they're excited to read it because they understand that their contribution to this this district is going to make a difference for our kids as they come to school. Um the lunch that the foundation provided um I had several staff members come up after that lunch and say um thank the foundation for their contribution. This was the best lunch we've ever had for welcome back, but it also shows how much this community supports the work we're doing and how much they care for us. um the workshops that we had um that afternoon, which I know you weren't able to attend, but really dug into the work that we're going to
081be doing all year long. And um really helps to support um the high standards and um providing pathways for our students, but also providing our teachers with the how and and the why. And so we're excited for that. um going on to our site days, I was able to go to our different sites and see our welcome back. And it was um it brought me to tears because I started my day at the middle in high school and up on the screen was collective teacher efficacy and um collective teacher efficacy. If we um if we have collective teacher efficacy, we know from Hadtie's research that is the number one indicator um for student success and we can grow students almost or nearly four years within a year if we truly have it. Um and um
082that was being talked about. We talked about how that leads to self-efficacy within kids. And then I marched over to to elementary school and the first slide that comes up is collective teacher advocacy. And I was like, did they talk? No, they hadn't even talked about it. But that's the alignment that our administrators are coming with. They really truly um believe in the work and I'm super excited to see that happen. Um along with with the multi-tered system of supports um uh principal Nicole had her teams digging into tiered supports and how behavior and social emotional tie to academic success and how culture systems and learning really truly supports our students to be the best they can. That's all the work we're doing. And then ultimately I put on their belonging. whether it's a staff
083member, a student, um we all need to feel like we belong and and that's what the work is at share around hopeing. So finally um the last part on that is student support um our school improvement plans. I heard from all of the um principles in their welcome back talking about how our student our school improvement plan and our data is going to tie to all of this which is super exciting to hear because our staff are actually hearing from day one. We're looking at data. We're looking at what what it says and we're drive we're having that drive our decisions at each school. And so we're going to continue with training and coaching. Um we're very excited to come to a tenative agreement with our um teachers um unit um to bring on the
084Dan framework. So we're moving from Marzano to the Danosen framework and we're going to be training that for all of our new teachers this year. anyone who's on the comprehensive evaluation, we'll be coaching them on that and then next year we'll be moving all staff to the framework. But this whole year will be a learning um year with the framework itself. And then um we also have the opportunity as a leadership team, as an administrative team to meet weekly and continue our leadership development as we go. We're very excited. So, as we move forward and we're we're looking at Hope Rising, knowing that we're putting our students first. That's number one. We if you were there and you heard the the keynote, it's around uh educational equity. Equity does not mean equal. We have to
085provide our students with their needs and meet their needs at rigorous high levels. Um providing that student support and then also planning for their future. looking at what are the needs of their future and ensuring that we're we're aligning with those using data. Any questions? We are super excited. I had a great time going to um back to school session and I think even in the work you know at the board level I I clung to the idea of like firm goals and flexible pathways and and what are those firm goals and you know I think at our level like we are working with different types of resources to accomplish our goals. You know what sort of financial resources do we have? What type of people do we have? What type of facilities do we
086have? All of these things have to contribute to are we preparing students for their future by providing them with a strong educational foundation. And it was great to like, you know, different. >> She was funny. >> Uh I do have um you mentioned the web program starting tomorrow. Uh well, the sixth graders and meet the eighth graders tomorrow. Big deal. Uh Ariana did come to our foundation retreat this morning and since we had plundered the start of this and uh very enthusiastic presentation about it, everybody was excited and she ended up inviting us in the morning to stop by and I thought I'm assuming that that invitation would also extend to the board. She I think the biggest thing is going to happen about oh 10 after 84 the kick off. Yeah, it's the opening
087assembly. If you can be there about 10 after 8, it would be wonderful. We would we would love to see it come by. Thank you directly. >> It's funny. I remember being in upper elementary and hearing from other parents that had students that had gone on to secondary and saying, "There's nothing. you just drop off your sixth grader on the first day of school and >> you know there. So I love I love the transitions. They're so important. >> Little growing people. >> I also noticed on your slide that you had something about the facility task force. Did I skip over that? Go back director Smith. Sorry about that. >> You mentioned it. It was just >> I do want to mention that a little bit more though. So thank you. um the planning for
088the future, which was the last piece there. Um we're going to be putting together a district um facility task force um and really look at um centering that on the needs of our district and what our facilities um facility needs are. And so I'll be um working to reach out to community members, parents, staff, um students, Lindy, and you know, just ensuring that we have a really diverse group um to begin looking at what are our future needs. And we want to be looking at what are our future, you know, 10, 20, 30 years down the road so that we can really have a plan for our future in Coupeville. And so I'll be reaching out to um people during the month of September. We'll start our first task force in October. But um if
089all of you have ideas or thoughts around that or if anyone listening at home or in the audience have um ideas around who would be good for that, please um email me and make sure that >> I just want to say thank you. I know you've been working hard. We've had humongous grants that uh you've been writing. he and Bren have been writing this summer. Uh we've had three contracts open for bargaining. Um we're really trying to work on aligning our budget, you know, with strategic plan. Um and that's just scratching the surface of the of your summer. And so now we're about to get into the school year. So I just wanted to take an opportunity to say thank you. Um it's a lot. So thank welcome to Kville and bond planning on top
090of that. So wow. Okay. We need to dial it down, don't we? But I just appreciate your work. >> There's a lot of enthusiasm across the board. Thank you for that. >> All right. Any other questions? Okay, move on to board members report and we'll start down at the end with Director Sherman. >> Yeah, unfortunately I missed the events earlier this week. Can't miss the event tomorrow. Um but uh we'll make more of those. did through some gentle nudging make the friend the BB dinner which was great. >> I didn't gentle nudge you did I >> ended up being great. Uh we got to enjoy some of there which uh coming on the board and being in the community for a long time. Heard a lot about food program. Um not always great feedback but
091seeing what they're putting together here and um just kind of the dynamics of how that program works and expecting the school is uh is pretty phenomenal. Um and just happy to see that. So outside of that, I don't have much of an update. I did have somebody mention the pile the other day in a positive light saying it looked clean and uh they took some of the brush out of there. So whoever did that um they wanted me to send thank you. >> Our grounds keeper. >> Yeah. So they they did call it out and they thanked me for it for some reason. So, >> well, they're they're going to see Weed Mountain continue to evolve over the next few months and and we should have some resolution through the company that that worked on
092the tennis court. So, yeah. Um, and thank uh Mr. Bernac for for >> Well, I hope your response was, "You're welcome." Thanks. He also has been scraping all of the weeds off of all the curbs. I just want to hug him. So, thank you. Thank you so much, Director Merwine. >> Uh, well, let's see. As far as actual legislation, not too much going on right now. Legislators are kind of catching their breath. Um, I would, however, for the uh WASA, the our general assembly is September 20th, totally virtual. Uh, that's where all the proposals that have been proposed for uh the policy will be voted on. Did did you get the email that had the handbook which has all those policies in it? I think you did. If you didn't, you should have an email
093from if not I can email you. The the deal is every proposal and there aren't that many this year is uh comes with a recommendation from the legislative committee to either support it or don't support I guess what I would ask you to do is uh take a moment and take more than a moment but look through it and if you see one that you object you know you think I'm not too sure about their recommendation let me know it's something that we should as a board would have to decide what we want to do about because what it is we I will be attending that September 20th meeting virtually as our representative um we as a board get a vote every board gets a vote it's not a matter member. So, I would need
094to know if there's any I won't tell you. I won't tell you. I've looked at it and tell you what I think about all the recommendations. So, I don't want to bias you, but um if there are any that you think we should we should talk about it. It looked fairly uh >> agreeable. >> I don't know if Andy Pamy's right, but it look Yeah, fairly agreeable this year of the >> not too aggressive. >> I didn't see any last year. There were maybe a few that were mildly controversial. I didn't really see any particular that would be your >> I did want to add on to director Merwine's um comment just on the legislation. We did have US representative um Rick Larson come out and as a response to his connecting with Director Maroine
095and myself um he did write a letter on our behalf um to um provide a support for the grant that we're writing and so we have high hopes. we we did have a little bit of a glitch in the grant and I reached out to his office and they're also um doing additional support and contacting to ensure that our needs are met for Kville. So, we're very appreciative of that as well. Let's see. We've got budget committee is planning to meet and sort of discuss as we go into this new school year. um touching back to our purpose and terms that were established last year, making sure that those are still something that is beneficial for our district and and seeing how we are meeting those goals. So, that'll be good. Hopefully, coming up soon.
096Um, we did meet with each of our student representatives and hopefully they're feeling very oriented and full of information um before they come in and join us as advisory voting members starting next month. And I just wanted to say that the retreat was wonderful. It's always such a great opportunity to be able to reflect on the past school year, look forward to the next school year, and the board self assessment is an increasingly useful tool. I think I love seeing the way that we can um see the progress that we're making in so many domains of actually becoming the kind of team that's going to serve our district. And so that's really and then my last comment was just that um strong work on all of the bargaining. Thank you to all unions. The ability
097of our staff to come together with employees and bargain collectively so that their representatives are representing their needs and that we are all aware the best way to get those needs met to make this a good workplace. It's just an important part of what our public employees, you know, deserve. And so, we came through that process and start this school year with that done. >> Also, I'd like to wish you a happy yesterday birthday. >> I have to wish you a happy tomorrow day >> and director Gianelo, happy birthday today. >> That's amazing. >> That is actually really cool. That's fun. >> What about happy birthday >> and my husband and then tomorrow is my son birthday. >> That's fun. Well, thank you so much. Um, director Connor. >> Well, what she said about our
098finance committee. Um, I'm excited. We we are going to regroup with um four of us, she and I and superintendent and Brian and kind of look at what the history of information we now have, the trend analysis that we have and take a look to see what is it we want to hear about at the board meetings, bring that back to the board and see what you're wanting is being met or if there's other ways to go about that. Um, I think it's going to be a a different kind of a time when we do have reference points that we can use and do some good measurement. Um, so anyway, we'll be getting on to that here shortly. And I just want to comment also on the the retreat that we had. I um I'm
099excited about the pro planning that we heard from our superintendent and about Hope Rising and the first day sitting and listening to what was going on. It's just so exciting to me that we're focusing on how we teach, not just what we teach. And that's going to make it be better. And I'm just I just can hardly wait for this year. Um I I think lots of people are excited about it. And they'll be more excited as they realize how much more effective they can be by by using these these tools and methods to improve what we have kids learn. And it's really a good time. I'm excited about it for food schools. Um I just wanted to make a few comments about the retreat. Obviously um we had two guest presenters aside from our
100own conversation and that was from Winnaha group which is working on uh with superintendent Leatherwood to put together a facilities task force and talk about um potential bond plans for the future of our district um potentially new elementary school. But a lot of that conversation will fall to the facility task force. Um we also had a presentation from Piper Sandler who we did approve a sort of agreement uh to work with them on bond underwriting and they went through a great presentation about um upcoming levies that we have. Um and we will need to be looking at a levy um which pays for many of the things in our district. Um and we'll be working those details out, but that will be coming up before a bond proposal would be coming up. Um and so
101those were two great presentations. Thanks for organizing that. Um we also talked about our super our superintendent evaluation standards uh for this coming year and what we're planning to focus on. Um after some reflection we decided to keep two of the standards the same that we focused on last year. So we decided to keep focusing on standard one which is surrounding mission vision and core values. We also are going to keep focusing on standard three which is around curriculum instruction and assessment. And then we decided to change the last standard for the super superintendent evaluation process to switch to standard five which is professional capacity of school personnel. Um and that does align with some of the changes of evaluation um and looking at just how we're teaching and student growth goals. So, um that
102was what we have agreed on and then um we will be looking at the goals tonight and approving superintendent goals that align with these different standards. We also talked about our goals and the standards that we're going to be focusing on as a school board. Spent some time in self-reflection. Um and we'll kind of get into those a little bit when we approve board goals and new business. Um, thank you to Director Pereira for organizing our student board rep training. Um, we're excited to bring them on and we will be explaining about the advisory voting process and a little bit what that looks like as our student board reps join us and give advisory votes to our motions. Um, we are excited about student voice and something that matters to us and we value. So,
103we're looking forward to having them in the fold. Um policy. We did not really do much this summer as I mentioned. It was just busy. It was just busy. So, as the school year starts, we will get a policy committee meeting um on the books. It looks to me from an email that I got that they're going to be changing the the language around policies. So, it's not going to be essential policies anymore. They have different terminology. So, as we get into our next policy meeting, we'll go through go through some of those changes and then we'll bring that to the next workshop uh for everyone to hear about. And um when we do approve our board calendar, just wanted to note that we talked about changing our workshop meetings. Um so those will no
104longer be the week prior to the board meeting, but two weeks prior to the board meeting. And part of that conversation is just allowing time for any of that discussion and any of the changes that might need to come onto the agenda to happen. Um, and so just as a note that'll be on our board calendar, but just for people to make note of. I think uh I also wanted to mention that I was invited to speak on a panel about school uh school budget and finance that's going to happen on September 20th and I was invited invited by the legal women voters um to speak on this panel and I will be speaking to other legal women voters members and I think there will be some press and um Clyde Shavers representative Clyde Shavers
105will also be attending. So, I'm planning to meet to make sure I have my, you know, information correct. So, just wanted to uh let you know that was happening. Okay, that's my board report. We don't have any correspondence this month. Am I correct? Okay, there is no old business since we don't have any policy adoptions during the summer, but we'll jump into new business. And first item on new business is approval of the 202526 uh board board goals. And as I mentioned, after spending a bit of time in self-reflection during the retreat, we decided to keep two of our goals the same as last year, which focus on setting goals and expectations for student success within our strategic plan and also focusing on measuring and assessing academic progress. Um, we did introduce two new goals
106for this year. One that focus on focuses on working with the superintendent to create conditions for student and staff success including curriculum, technology and facilities. And a second that focuses on how we engage and communicate with our community um to work proactively to disseminate information and to gather diverse inputs um on issues that are being considered. So we kept two the same, two new ones. And there's any comments or emotion? Uh, I would move to approve the board goals for 202526. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the board goals for 2526 school year. Is there any discussion? >> Thank you so much for working on this. I think you really captured what we were talking about and I think that four four goals pulled from all of the superintendent standards will
107help focus us. Um, and I think that these are all topics that I'm excited to see this year. >> Cam, just really helpful to have the retreat and have the opportunity to talk about superintendent goals and the board goals and make sure that we're integrated our expectations and that was well worth. >> Yeah. And I would say that you know just like the superintendent operates on standards, the school board also has standards that we get from our professional organization and we have five where you have eight I think. Um and so we also want to connect our work with the standards that align with board governance. Okay. Any more discussion? Typically in the future, you will hear us ask for an advisory vote to our students right about now and then we will ask a
108question. So hearing a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? Motion carries. I'm practicing also. So thanks. jumping into our next item of new business which is approval of the 2526 superintendent goals. You want to speak to those? >> Sure. >> Okay. So, um as director White um discussed um we are looking at um two of the same goals um or I'm looking at that we're really coordinating with the this um board to ensure that our goals align. Um standard one around mission, vision, and core values. We really want to um begin transforming and leading a comprehensive datadriven review and refine it refinement of our district strategic plan. Um we want to embed key performance indicators in our strategic plan so that we have um data measures tied
109to the strategic plan. Right now we have the pillars and we have um our our beliefs but those key indicators are missing from that plan. So the work this year will be really to develop that and it it directly aligns with the board goals as well. Um in standard three we're looking at developing and um implementing or I'm looking at this I keep saying we because ours align so well but implementing that comprehensive um learning framework and ensuring that we have um guaranteed viable curriculum that our our curriculum um our our staff has that in front of them. they can unpack the standards and and like you heard on Tuesday, go from there to plan instruction for all kids. And um this is going to be a an integral part to be able to align
110to our strategic plan. And so I'm really excited about standard three, but also the the piece of ensuring that our our teachers and staff have the high quality professional development and coaching to go alongside that. Um and then the last um standard that we discussed was professional capacity of stu school personnel and looking at um establishing and implementing a comprehensive research-based um professional development and evaluation system. Moving from Marzano to down Danielson is going to be a a huge undertaking for our staff because we are going to be looking at that framework. Um I um especially like the Danielson framework because she has updated it and she's ensured that there's the equity and inclusion piece of it which ties directly to universal design for learning. And so as we start unpacking that this year with
111staff and um training our all of our new staff this year, by next year we'll have a 100% of our staff on board with that framework, which truly the state looks at it as that's the coaching piece of um what we do um to tie to the state a criteria which is the evaluation system. A lot of people get confused and say we evaluate on Danielson and we we really use Danielson as a way to coach and support and help teachers um so that they're the best they can for our students. Yes, it ties to the state 8, but there is a different set of criteria that that ties to and we call it a crosswalk. So, we're excited to to work with that, but that's um why we chose standard five and um you'll
112see all of that with the data come alive this year, which is great. Yeah, I think that part of the discussion that we had during retreat was, you know, it was important to keep some of the same standards and some of the same goals because last year we sort of built some foundational, you know, practices to be able to take further steps with the goals and so we weren't ready to, you know, abandon that. I feel like last year we got this data dashboard and so now we can actually say how can we make improvements and set some measurable goals around those improvements with the data that we're starting to gather. And so it was important to keep some of those goals and to continue to step forward and um in building upon what we
113have. So thank you. >> I'm excited every time I hear data driven and measurable goals. I can't wait until we start reporting to our community. We have this many features that were trained at this and this is what improved the student learning math scores went up like this or whatever. I mean, we haven't had that opportunity to share that with our community or to focus on it enough. And I think it's important that our staff are going to be able to see what they are able to do and improve student learning and that our community is able to see what they are able to do. It's going to be a great time. >> Well, and the biggest benefit is to our kids. I mean, yeah, we want to prepare them for their future by providing
114them that strong educational foundation. So, we just measure. >> Yeah, we want to continue to grow that. >> Perfect. >> Is there a motion? >> I'll move to approve the uh 202526 superintendent goals enthusiastically. I'll second. >> It's been moved and seconded to enthusiastically approve the 202526 superintendent goals. Is there any discussion? At this time, I would be asking for an advisory vote from our student reps. Once we have that, we'll be calling the question. All those in favor? >> I I >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. >> And if you don't mind a little more enthusiasm, you go, girl. >> Can't wait. Can't wait. >> All right. Next item on new business is approval of the 2025 through 2026 board calendars. As I mentioned, board meetings will remain on the last Thursday of
115each month, but the board workshops will not will take place two weeks prior to the board meeting instead of one as they currently are. I move to approve both the board meetings calendar and the board walkthrough schedule for 202526. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the 2025 through 2026 board calendar and walkthrough schedule. Is there any discussion? Advisory vote from our student reps. All those in favor? I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. >> All right. And then item D on new business is approval of the Coupeville Education Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. This is a two-year agreement from September 1st, 2025 through August 31st, 2027. Um, as you'll see in Board Docs, this is not a full version of the contract, but rather the agreed upon changes to the contract
116and then that will get put into a full contract. So, if you want to see the full contract, you have to get that off of the school district website and then look at the changes that are posted in Port Docs to see the whole uh document. Um, as mentioned when we approved Superintendent Leatherwood's contract, I feel it important to share with our community the financial side of this collective bargaining agreement. Um, while there were a variety of changes made to the contract, the pay changes are as follows. So, for staff who are still moving up on the negotiated pay scale, they'll receive a 3% increase as they step up to the next placement. And then they'll also receive the Washington state implicit price deflator which for the 2526 year is an additional 2.6%. Correct? >>
1172 2.5 is that is that decided the IPD? Okay. 2.5. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Um if staff were at the top of the pay scale, they'll receive the 2.5 pay increase only. This is a two-year agreement and for the following year, uh, certificated staff will receive an additional percent on top of what was mentioned for this year. Obviously, we are a publicly funded institution. Um, our resources are limited, which can make bargaining tough sometimes. Um, and I don't look at bargaining as a win or a loss for the union or for the the district, but about making sure that our kids win. They're the ones we're here for. Um, and we remain committed to working alongside our staff toward our goal of preparing our students for their future through providing a strong educational foundation. >>
118I'll move to approve the Kville Education Association Collective Bargaining Agreement as presented. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the Kville Education Association collective bargaining agreement for September 1st, 2025 through August 31st, 2027. Is there any discussion? >> Oh, just like I said earlier, the fact that we have unions and that we can have this process is really important. And I also just really want to thank you along with the union leaders for a lot of hard work over this summer. All right. All those in favor? >> I I >> All those opposed? Motion carries. >> I didn't hear >> yet. Thank you for keeping me on my toes. Director Merwin. All right, moving on to um our next collective bargaining agreement, which is item E, approval of General Teamsters Local Union number
119231, collective bargaining agreement. This is also a two-year agreement, September 1st, 2025 through August 31st, 2027. Um, as mentioned above, I do think it's important to um share with our community the financial side of these agreements. And so the pay changes in the Teamsters contract reflect a 2.5% pay increase during the 2025 through 2026 school year for all but step one members for the 2627 school year. A new wage scale has been designed to include a freeze on step one uh with new wage rates for steps two through six. Um members will step up on the wage scale as outlined in the agreement and receive no less than the implicit price deflator for the 26 27 year as an increase. Okay. Again thank you and uh we look forward to working together with our team
120towards our goal of preparing students for their future. I move to approve the General Teamsters Local Union number 231 collective bargaining agreement. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the General Teamsters Local Union number 231 collective bargaining agreement as presented. Is there any discussion? I guess I just wanted to note that um something I saw throughout the document was updating and clarification and almost modernizing of the language and it feels like it's probably really easy to just roll over year to year and so seeing those changes reflect just so much work that must have gone into that conversation >> there. It was a great conversation and a collaboration and partnership to update language that some of the language was from possibly the 90s and and really making sure it was relevant to
121our practices today. So, it was it was great. I will ask for our student board member input at the next meeting, but for now, I'll call the question. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. All right. Next is the approval of resolution 2025-09, which is National Hispanic Latino Heritage Month. >> I'd like to bring forward the honorary. I'm going to call her the honorary because she is she has done a lot of work in several areas. She's our um social worker, Ariana Gardener, and she's going to read this resolution. Okay, thank you. So, yes, I have the honor of working with many of our Hispanic and Latino families. I also have the honor of reading this tonight. Whereas, National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed annually
122from September 15th through October 15th to celebrate the history, heritage, traditions, and countless contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Mexico, Spain, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. And whereas Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th, the date significant for marking the independence anniversaries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, while Mexico and Chile also celebrate their independence days on September 16th and September 18th, respectively. And whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month was originally established in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week by President Lyndon Johnson and later expanded to a full month in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan to provide sufficient time to honor the rich cultural heritage and significant contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans. And whereas Hispanic and Latino Americans have made invaluable contributions to the prosperity, strength, and culture of the
123United States in fields including education, science, technology, government, arts, business, military service, and community leadership. And whereas Killil School District serves approximately 950 students across central Whippy Island, including the historic community of Coupeville with Hispanic Latino students compromising 16% of our student body representing a vital and valued part of our school community. And whereas the district recognizes that students thrive when their cultures, languages, and histories are seen, valued, and celebrated. and that creating inclusive learning environments benefits all students and strengths strengthens our educational community. And whereas Hispanic Heritage Month provides an opportunity to share the historical contributions of Hispanic Americans who have significantly impacted education, including pioneers such as Roberto Alvarez, whose groundbound breaking case, Roberto Alvarez versus Lemon Grove School District, was the first successful school disegregation case in American history. And whereas we
124honor Hispanic Americans who have served our communities and nation as civil rights trailblazers, including Caesar Chavez at Dolores Vera, and countless educators, leader leaders, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and advocates who have shaped our past and continue continue to inspire future generations. And whereas the district values the principle of femalismo emphasis on family and respects the strong family bonds, community connections, artwork, resilience, and resourcefulness that characterize Hispanic Hispanic and Latino culture and enrich our American society. And whereas Killil School District is committed to promoting educational excellence for all students while fostering an inclusive environment that celebrates diversity, cultural heritage, and the unique perspectives that each student brings to our learning community. And whereas the district recognizes the importance of providing educational opportunities that prepare all students for success in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world. And whereas
125celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month aligns with our mission to create learning environment environments where every student feels connected, supported, and empowered to achieve their full potential. And now therefore, be it resolved that the Killil School District board of directors join joins communities throughout the United States in recognizing and celebrating September 15th through October 15th as National Hispanic Latino Heritage Month. And be it further resolved that the district encourages all schools, staff, students, and families to participate in activities and educational opportunities that honor the rich culture, heritage, traditions, and ongoing contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to our community and nation. And be it further resolved that the district reaffirms its commitment to providing inclusive, culturally responsive education that values and celebrates the diversity of all students and families in our school community. And to be it
126further resolved that the district will continue to work collaboratively with families, staff, and community partners to create educational environments where students of all backgrounds can thrive academically, socially, and culturally. And be it for the result that copies of this resolution will be distributed to all district schools, posted on the district website, and shared with the local community organizations to promote awareness and celebration of National Hispanic Latino Heritage Month. Thank you. Thank you, Ariana. >> I'll move to approve resolution 202509 for National Hispanic Heritage Month. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve resolution 20250, National Hispanic Latino Heritage Month. There any discussion? I was very happy that the resolution explained why started on September 15th. I'm glad to know that. I also love to know that 16% of our students uh apply here
127and um again I think about my own children and their interactions with children in school and how important it is to have diversity and how um how meaningful it is to our community. We had a native speaker come to the museum and she was like, "I don't want my food all the same color. you know, I want it to be different and this is what we want for for where we live and serve and so I appreciate that. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? >> I All those opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Moving on to item G, which is approval of the curriculum pilot for Coupeville Elementary School. um looking at amplify CKLA and I'll turn it over to Superintendent Leatherwood to induce our introduce our people. >> Sure. We
128talked a little bit at our retreat about the importance of this pilot. Um we formally had Journeys um which was published in 2010 and um it has since gone out of print. And so, um, principal Nicole is going to discuss the pilot, um, why they arrived at this pilot and kind of moving forward, what their plans are at the elementary school. >> Hello again. Um, this is pretty detailed, maybe a little bit wordy, but I wasn't sure exactly what all information you wanted. So, I'll go over um what I have to present, and this really just falls under all of the categories, but specifically um ensuring excellent instruction for our students. Thank you. So in summary, the mouthful of CKLA stands for core knowledge language arts. So we're proposing a K through5 pilot for CKLA
129through Amplify ELA curriculum for this school year. Um the decision addresses a critical gap in our current literacy and instruction and it aligns with our district's strategic commitment to ensuring excellent instruction for our students. Um, as Superintendent Leatherwin Leatherwood just alluded to, there was challenges with the existing curriculum. And again, I will pretty soon not be able to use this as an excuse anymore, but coming in November, it was kind of like starting hitting the ground running. Where are deficits? Where are our strengths? Where do we need to improve um instruction at the elementary school? And one of the things that was pretty loud and clear was that our Journeys curriculum um was ranking really poorly on ed reports. that had failed in a couple different areas. Um, it was significantly outdated and lacked current
130research researchbased practices and what I heard loud and clear from our teachers is that it did not in their opinion adequate adequately prepare our students for the SBA state testing. So, they were having um to find themselves supplementing instruction for students when we have a curriculum that we shouldn't really need to have to be supplementing for them to be able to um succeed on the state test. Um so again it was lacking in alignment with the curriculum and the state standards. Um and there was limited resources um that provided us opportunities to differentiate instruction for our struggling readers. So even though we had this journey's curriculum, our teachers were still having to pull a ton of supplemental resources to be able to provide the instruction that our students deserve. So our process um again pretty
131fast and furious from November to now. Um, but we had an instructional team largely driven through our building leadership team. So, there's one rep from each grade level and a lot of our decision-m started in that committee and then spread out their grade levels. Um, they did research on multiple ELA curricula which was a new process for a lot of them to dive into ED reports. Um, and at first I think it was a little bit of intimidating and then it was oh this is really cool. We can see what's available to us and how it's ranking um state standards and feasibility for us. So the the two that rose to the top were CKLA and Wonders. Um there were additional evidence-based programs that we looked into, but those are two that rose to the
132top. Um the selection criteria we looked at was how well it aligned to our our standards. Um researchbased literacy instruction, did it have support for diverse learners? Um how well would it be integrated into our already existing professional development? and really the cost effectiveness and how feasible it will be to implement in such a short time frame. So through uh wonders and CQLA CLA rose to the top. So why why them? We tried to use as many researchbased decision factors as possible. Um you may have heard or remember um Patty Kimmel, special services director, talking about Orton Gillingham. So we proudly have seven staff members at the elementary school getting trained in Orton Gillingham which is a supplemental um curriculum that will is really designated to help with our students struggling in reading specifically dyslexia.
133So a shining factor for our staff from CKLA is that um it integrates seamlessly with the OG training that's already being provided. Um so that was a big selling point. It supports structured literacy approach essential for our readers that are struggling. Um it provides systematic phonics instruction aligned with our professional development investments. Um another kind of bonus point for us was South Woodby has this um curriculum adopted and so we not only have colleagues in a neighboring district that speak very highly of it. We have parents that are employees of our district whose children go to South Labby and they have a parent perspective of it and spoke very highly of it as well. Um so the strengths very very strong ed reports for quality and alignment. Um it's a comprehensive scope and sequence. There's
134built-in assessments and progress monitoring tools which really align to what we spoke to earlier about our MTSS framework and making sure that we're having that tier one tier 2 support. Um and then just a rich content knowledge foundation. So our implement implementation framework. Um, sorry it was a long night last night and I find myself just fumbling over words. Um, so our pilot structure is a little bit unique because typically you don't pilot at a whole entire building, but because of all the reasons I just mentioned, we're looking at K5 because if we were just to choose a grade level, a group of teachers, the rest of the teachers would still be in the same boat that we were last year struggling supplementing. So um, again, it's unique for us for this year, but we
135are looking at a pilot structure of K5. Um it would be for the full academic year, the entire scope and sequence of all of the units um with ongoing professional development and coaching. Um we have a PD implementation guide map planned out with the CKLA amplify reps already. So it is an all yearlong ongoing PD for our staff with this curriculum. Throughout our pilot year, um our team at the elementary school will continue to strengthen bless you and collect student achievement data, gather feedback from teachers. We started um peer observations last year. We will continue with peer observations which will only be strengthened with having curriculum alignment um both vertical and horizontal. Um we're going to continue to monitor that alignment with state standards. We we're able to make a pretty strong claim that we
136didn't feel journeys um fit the bill, but we want to make sure that CKLA also does at the end of the year when we do our state testing. Um we'll have a documentation of our implementation successes and challenges to learn from and like I just mentioned assess that SBA preparedness at the end of the year. So our decision timeline is that ongoing data collection and monitoring. Um, our goal would be at the end of the year a formal presentation to our IMC, our instructional materials committee. And then the final decision of course is board approval based on the IMC recommendation. So after we collect all of that, we're not saying this is a full mill deal. We're going to go to CKLA regardless, but we're going to take the entire year to learn from it,
137collect data, and work through our IMC. Our expected outcomes um really all around students. So this will improve foundational literacy skills, better preparation for state um assessments, increase engagement through content instruction. So part of an an adoption process for curriculum is we're looking at the material that we're providing to students. Is this relatable to them? Is there an equity element? Do they see themselves represented in the books that we're giving them and the stories that we're telling them? Um, and so far what we've seen and learned from CKLA is that it is very diverse and very rich in experiences that our students we feel can relate to. Um, and that enhanced support for struggling readers in alignment with that OG was was a really big benefit. Um, for our staff, it aligns with our current
138professional development of UDL and MTSS focus. Um, it provides access to high quality instructional materials. Um, from what we've seen in the sample packs that the rep has sent us, it's it's it's really great quality. Um, a collaborative learning communities with neighboring districts. So, there's already been talks of partnering with some teachers in South Whitby, learning from from them and sharing ideas and ultimately a clear scope and sequence for instruction. We started that at the end of last year. We had our very first um vertical alignment PLC where our second grade team met with third grade team, fourth grade team met with fifth grade team. Um, and that's only going to be strengthened when we have a comprehensive or cohesive curriculum because last year fourth grade team did something with fifth grade had to supplement
139so much that they just really didn't align and they weren't building upon one another as best as they could. Our next steps is here board approval for our pilot implementation which um is essentially the purchase of it. The Coupeville Elementary building budget is funding almost half of it and then the district would um have to make up the other half. We would have professional development like I mentioned for all K5 teachers throughout the entire year. Um material procurement and classroom setup. So that's working with Director Smith making sure that we have a rollover and students are logged in to Clever and they have rosters and everything set up. Um just a baseline data collection before implementation. We started that work yesterday um making sure that we have last year's scores from our students um to
140set us up for success um already ongoing monitoring throughout the school year and then ultimately a pretty little package with a bow on it of a comprehensive evaluation for the INC. Oh, in closing, okay, this is just kind of like I don't know. Um, in closing, the administration recommends approval of the CKLA amplify ELA curriculum pilot for K5, recognizing this as a strategic investment in our students literacy development and alignment with our district's commitment to provide an educational foundation that allows every student to reach their potential. This pilot will provide the data and experience necessary to make an informed long-term curriculum adoption decision that best serves our pupil, students, and community. And I just wanted to clarify because we did discuss this at our retreat a little bit. We don't typically put a pilot toward,
141you know, to for board approval, but because in this instance, one, we had um outdated curriculum that we would not have been able to um renew because it's no longer in print um and needing that um in all grade levels. That's why we we felt that it'd be um important for the board to make the decision around the pilot so that we could move forward. And then second, just a clarification piece. When we look at ed reports, ed reports is based off um the former edition. Um typically when a curriculum like this goes um and and um updates its materials, which it is currently in the 2025 um series, they'll do another ed report. So we'll be seeing that later this year. it typically even better aligns um to ed report. So it's already all
142in green. Um one of the things that I um liked about this when I looked at it was it has a clear understanding of how to teach kids to read. So when we look at phenemic awareness, phonics, looking at multi-elabic um decoding, it it uses the science of reading which we know is best practice and aligns that for all of our learners and not just some of our learners, which ties directly to um our our goal this year, which is um ensuring that all of our students and our our teachers are prepared um to ensure we're providing instruction for everybody. So, um, just a few things on on Principal Mccle's piece and it this fall the INC committee meets. We'll be looking at um this throughout the year to ensure that it's not just an
143end of the year, but throughout the year progress towards >> Yeah. And thank you for adding that important detail of not only was journeys outdated, it was it was ended there. We couldn't even renew it or buy more. They had discontinued it. So that was the the big driving factor is even if we wanted to save money or time and order more journeys, we could. >> This is one of those projects that I can hardly wait to hear the end result. So >> it's going to be good. It's going to be >> very exciting. >> You talked about um you talked about like what you're using for that baseline measurement. I heard SBA. Is there something else that you're using? >> Yeah, our Dibble scores for our lower elementary, our SBA. Uh we've also it's
144still in the in the early stages but the end of the school year I went into the home room data dashboard and pulled reports that aligns with students um attendance academics and discipline. So yesterday each grade level received the PLC binder which included a students of concern list that was curated from home room um their applicable assessments whether it was Dibbles or SBA or I Ready >> and I Ready. Yeah, exactly. which you saw at the end of uh was that June's report of our IE data and SBA data. >> Okay. And then like when you're putting plans together for a pilot, like what team are you using within your school to do that? >> This time through our building leadership team. >> Okay. >> We would love for an instructional leadership team to be
145curated. >> Um I had many moments in the last month where I thought principal. I guess I wish there was just one more of me. So I I had proposed it to the staff yesterday. You know, we have our building leadership team committee. We have our discipline team committee. The staff consensus at the end of year culture climate survey was we're all in favor of an instructional leadership team. We just need the capacity to get that off the ground because it's we want to do something. We want to make sure that we're doing it well and not just throwing a bunch of people in clear direction. >> Thanks. I think you know we've I would say for us we've not done a core curriculum pilot yet. So the practice around board approval is new. It's
146something that we've discussed. Um >> and I think would potentially be good to look at in policy so that there's some clarity around it with the practice. I think >> like typically pilots are not a board approval. do the pilots. The IMC committee um they present the recommendation to the INC committee. The IMC committee makes the recommendation to the board for approval. This is unique because it's a larger cost and it's it's I'm going to call it more of a it is a pilot, but you know there's a higher risk because we're doing it like director Marwine talked about we're doing it schoolwide. So it's a it's a larger investment. Yeah. >> For sure. Thank you for your work in the proposal. I mean, these are the things that we're talking about as far as
147resources and where we're putting our money to make sure that our teachers have the resources that they need to do their work. And so, this is a big part of that. >> Any other questions? Thank you so much. Thank you. Call for a motion. >> I move that we approve the curriculum pilot of Amplify CKLA for Google. say that's what did you say at the end? >> Oh, thank you. Okay. Thank you. >> Motion. >> Uh, it's been moved and seconded to approve the Amplify CKLA curriculum pilot for Coupe Elementary School. Any discussion? >> I did have another just small follow-up question. Um, the one-year pilot, it's going to come with any non-consumables, I assume. So, do you have an idea off the top of your head what the renewal cost is going to look
148like? If it'll be lower than that for a year going forward. >> That's a great question. I'm not sure. Any other discussion? We'll take advisory votes from our student reps at this time. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? Motion carries. And we have one item that's been moved off of consent agenda to new business and that's item H uh of nonREP contracts. And Director Connor, you since you moved that off, do you want to speak to that? >> Sure. Um the item for action was on the agenda, but we didn't have any contacts on our packet. So I'd prefer to do that after I've seen what they look like. >> Perhaps we could just roll that over to our next meeting or something. >> Yep. Move
149to table it. >> That works. Totally. Let me get that motion out right now. >> Let's do it. And >> I'll move to table the um um approval of the nonrep contracts and until our next meeting. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to table the approval of the non-rep contracts to the next meeting. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. All right. And that's the end of new business. We are officially adjourned. Board members stay for signing of papers. And the rest of you have a wonderful evening.