001Okay, >> awesome. So, on the next slide, the portion of our SIP goal that we've been focusing the most on is our equity and excellence and learning goal. Um, and that goal is that our student outcome goal is 80% of all of our early learning students, preschool students will meet or exceed our TS gold widely held expectations by spring in the areas of social emotional learning, literacy, and math. Um, and the reason that we've been focusing most of our energy there is because it really is a goal for all of our students. So whether they're three and returning to us next year in preschool or they're four and they're going on to kindergarten, it helps us to really focus and measure the progress of all of our students in our center. Um so some of
002the data on that next page that I wanted to show you was from our big benchmark data that we just completed our winter benchmark on. So I have for you some of our fall and winter percentage of students meeting or exceeding the widely held expectations for both points in time. So the orange is for fall and the blue there is our percentages in the winter. Um so our students are rostered just a little bit differently. So you can see both of our groups of students. So for our social emotional learning we started in the fall with 57% of our students meeting or exceeding the expectation for that point of time in the year and grew to 72%. In literacy, um, we grew from 48% to 64%. And then for math, we also grew, we doubled
003there where we started at 22% and grew to 44%. Um, and you can see our overall growth too, our students in our other category there that are non-ECAP students. Um, growing from the 27 to 36% um, the 20 to 42 for literacy and then the 7 to 24% in math. So, we were excited to see that we had some pretty good growth in each of those areas. We are still a ways from our end of the year spring goal of 80% of our students meeting those widely held expectations, but it was exciting to see that as that expectation is increasing from fall to winter, our students are also increasing and we're seeing some really good growth there. Um, math is one thing we were just chatting about today at our PLC time and our teachers
004were expressing just some disappointment. that was our first big focus area of the year that we really spent a lot of time on. So, they were hoping to see it grow even more. And I had to point out, you know, that is true. We we do want to be closer to that 80 80% by end of the year, but doubling where we were at in just one assessment period is is pretty good growth, I think. So, we're going to keep tracking and monitoring that. And on the next slide there, some of the ways that we have been working on our adult goals for monitoring our impact on student progress is through each of these areas. So we've really been focusing our circle time and our small group time on our essential outcomes. So those goals
005that we want our students when they leave the early learning center and transition into kindergarten in social emotional learning, math, and literacy, we've been really looking at those and focusing on what that looks like for students. Um the next part there is for our targeted professional development. We've been looking kind of quarterly across as a team at the our fall quarter we really focused on math. We're currently looking at literacy as a team and learning about more of our resources. And then this spring we will also focus on social emotional learning. Um another big goal and one of the ways we've been trying to improve our impact there is engaging our parents as partners in learning. and we know that if we get it right in preschool, we really set that foundation in that stage
006for the rest of their K12 career. Um, so we take that really seriously. Some of the ways that we've been working on that have been through working on increasing our communication with families, having our families focused conferences and then our quarterly family events. Um, we also have been monitoring just our progress in our classrooms through classroom walkthrough data, being able to look and see, are we seeing some of those new resources that we've been learning about together implemented in our classrooms and we've seen some good progress there. And then the last is really looking at, okay, how do we measure between our benchmark periods for some of our progress monitoring in areas for early literacy and early numeracy. So, our progress towards that, we've had some really good successes. We've been doing the work that
007we've been focusing on this year. Um we're doing the things we're saying we're doing, which has been great in our focused times of the day and our PD. Um connecting that learning that we are learning about with our family events. Um some of the challenges that we've been facing have been with our progress monitoring. um we really are looking at are we measuring the right things in between those assessment periods getting used to that process of progress monitoring more regularly and then just being able to tie that data that we are collecting to our better tie that to our instructional growth cycles and PLC's. Um another area or challenge that we're continuing to work on is just increasing that communication with families. So, we expect that we communicate quite frequently with our families, but it's
008not always as targeted as as we would hope that it would be. Um, specifically in the ways that they can support student learning at home or what we're learning about. And then increasing our attendance at our family events from quarter to quarter is another big focus for us. So, um, our next steps this year for the rest of this year are we have our literacy event coming up in it's actually in April. We just moved that date just a little bit. Um, and then as I mentioned before, for spring, we'll really be focusing on some of those social emotional learning standards. And then our TS Gold offers preschool report cards. So that's a layer that we'll be sending home with our families, but also in our transition conversations from preschool and TK to kindergarten, and
009we'll be sharing those with our kindergarten teachers as well. So, some of the celebrations that we wanted to highlight to you from the work of this first half of the year, that top left picture is one of our teachers, teacher Zammy, and she is she has in her hands the hungry thing. So, we brought to you Roly Poly earlier in the year. We're introducing Hungry Thing, our Nom Nom Monster. And so, it's just it's one of the things that we picked up um when our staff visited the University of Washington Herring Center. and they are the inclusionary preschool model that we are attempting to model after. Um, so when we visited it was very validating. There was a lot of things that we do have in place and it also was just great timing of
010some of those things that teachers loved and saw and thought were a really great next step for us to incorporate into our classroom. So teacher Zammy has the hungry thing monster there. We use it in lots of different ways. If we have um whether we're working on numbers and students might have the actual number in their hand, it'll be an open question of who has the number that you know has three dots or that kind of thing. So, they get to feed it to the hungry thing monster and it's kind of fun to watch. In this particular picture, they're working on beginning sounds, but it just is a really creative, fun, and engaging way. You can see their excitement, and sometimes they're they're pretty cute when they don't want to put the hand all the
011way in the mouth. They're not quite sure what's going to happen. Um, and then the other three pictures are from our fall our first fall quarterly family event. That was fun. We were able to um link it to also when Santa came and visited. So, we actually had pretty high family attendance that day. And we were able to give away um the roly pololy game to each of our families that attended and then send home with families that couldn't attend. But I think the powerful part was that our families got to see the game in action. We were able to play it with families. they got to see other examples of some of the small group centers. We've been working on early numeracy with um with their kiddos. So, it was a fun time and
012we look forward to our next event and just kind of growing that connection. Any questions? What What have you identified as the barriers to family attendance? Is it that parents are working? Is it just busy schedules? Is it siblings? Is it dinner time? I mean, do you have you've figured out what what's working and what isn't? >> Yeah, I kind of think it's it's yes, depending on on the families. It's it's depending on the time of day. We actually had a really good conversation about that this year about how do we maybe stagger the times of day that we're offering the events. We know that we won't necessarily catch everybody all of the time, but if we are intentional about when we're offering that, then hopefully we'll be able to engage more families um at
013at least one of the events. Um, another piece we've really talked about too and just in our goal setting for next year, we're already starting to think ahead about how do we really identify um how we help our help our families connect more and build that community. Um, we have three separate classrooms, but our kids get to play together frequently. Like each day they're on the playground together. So even if they have their own section of class, they're seeing all of our teachers and our teachers are very invested in their lives. So, we'd really like to have a fall event that, you know, to have some sort of a meal to welcome families in where it really is just about setting that stage of building community, letting them see neighbors that they may have and
014didn't realize were attending or to see all of the teachers that maybe aren't the classroom teacher to just start building and growing that together. Any other questions or comments for Julie? I guess I have one about the math score. So, it's truly impressive that um ECAP students doubled in terms of their score. Um I'm wondering if you have ideas about why SEAL and literacy you're it seems like students are much closer to that 80% goal than in math. >> You know, that was something that stood out to us too with that question. And um we have done some rearranging based on what our fall data told us. We were thinking we would focus on social emotional literacy in the winter, but we saw that actually that was one of our higher areas. So, we pushed
015that to our spring quarter and really wanted to focus on literacy because we saw that that was lower. You know, with math, I'm not quite sure what the the reason is, but overall, that's just the area where our kiddos came in lowest this year and we knew that we needed to start with a focus on that. So, we still are intentionally focusing on building those early numerousy skills, but um I mean it is it's great growth, but we have a long ways to go this year in it. So, we're still working hard on that piece as we layer in new things. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Thank you, Julie. Now, we have our choice school program with Haley and Boy. >> Hello. Okay. Uh I'm here tonight to
016talk about choice schools and really specifically uh around our big picture program. So our high school alternative option. So our uh SIP goals at the start of the year, there's a lot of words there uh really and truly focusing on map growth and math and achievement in maps. uh in our math uh looking at growth growing from 54 to above 60 uh in the in the percentile and then 42nd to 55th percentile in achievement in ELA. uh increasing growth. Second semester last year, we had high growth. Uh and in looking at that and recognizing the fluidity of our population, uh originally we said we wanted to get to that 80% tile of growth and then really like trying to be realistic and also not have my staff completely lo uh you know there's a fair
017amount of pressure here. Anyway, uh we did revise that to really if we can be above the 60th percentile, like we're achieving what we hope to in growth. Uh achievement wise, improving from the 55th to the 62nd percentile. That was also revised because they were above our original uh our original mark. Uh they achieved that this fall. So, uh, and then student well-being, having students attending school 80% or more. Uh, 46% of students attended 80% or more last year. Um, we would like to get that number to 70% and really focusing on those kids who are close, right? Like that, moving the 70 to 80% kids up. Uh, and then making sure 100% of our kids have an opportunity to experience a job shadow, an internship, or some sort of career connected activity. So, I
018forgot that my formatting doesn't transfer over super well. It looks really good for mine, so I'm sorry about that. Uh, our goal again in math, a growth of 60% 60th percentile or higher. Uh currently in the winter our growth was at the 64th percentile. Uh last year at this time it was in the 46th percentile uh achievement we were at 55 or is the goal and we're at 51 right now with 42nd uh in the fall. So, uh, ELA growth again, the goal there is above 60 and we were at 60. Uh, 56th percentile in the winter of last year. And our achievement goal is the 62nd percentile. Uh, we're at 57 right now with 54 was last fall. And then we're also throwing science in there because that's the other curricular class we're doing
019and there's a test for that. So, uh, we did a test in the fall. They were at 48 in the achievement percentile. They're at 56 now. And the growth percentile put us at the 54th percentile. Uh, the maps data, I did send you those because I know the links don't work here. Um, some really cool things to look at. Uh first, it's the first time that all of our um curricular areas are in the high growth, high achievement quadrant. Uh so that's pretty exciting. They they are ekking in there. Um as a school in the math, if you look at the 10th grade um math, that is really like those are algebra kids. Uh 72nd percentile of growth. So, some cool um pretty good stuff happening there and a lot of green in the achievement
020as well. So, uh hoping that that translates to uh positive SBA scores in our ELA. While the achievement stayed the same, there was a lot of growth uh from quadrant to quadrant. Um some positive color change in that. And so while the number may be about the same uh kids moving up the scale. So uh some good stuff there. In our well-being goal, uh trying to have 70% of kids attending 80% of the time. Uh we have 53% of them coming over 80% of the time. Uh 75% come more than 70%. uh and our average attendance is 77%. Uh in general, attendance is hard for our population and I think this will forever be my well-being goal. Uh and looking at our CE data, there's a lot of really positive stuff happening at our school.
021Uh when you see those I enjoy coming to school, it's moving in the right direction. Uh an trusted adult there, there's good stuff there. um work I'm doing is interesting. Student success is celebrated. Uh so I think kids are feeling supported. They want to come to school and there are also legitimate barriers that are still holding them back and we're helping them to work through what those are. Um and then at this point every kid has done some type of career readiness uh job shadow um field trip. We have a school store running so they're doing some work at their store. So uh so we have we have met that looking to our next uh the things we we were focused on and what we are doing. Um so our practices we were really focusing
022on uh having a year at a glance. When you are narrowing down what you say you are delivering and you are focusing on a few priority standards and you say you are doing that you have to be able to calendar it out and deliver that. Um so we are using a calendar. It's constantly being revised. Uh, and we're going to continue to get better at how that calendar is helping us plan our instruction. Uh, the thing I think that has probably been the most powerful and most influential in what we are doing is having the clear grade level aligned learning progressions. Um, we've had some amazing professional development with Nicole Dimmitch. The staff, uh, like she's pretty easy to follow, so it's not a hard sell. uh but they have really taken to uh they
023are building progressions they are in front of kids and we are using that to guide instruction and work with students. Uh I did share a couple of examples for you. Uh the DNA and RNA unit in science uh is really guiding how Lyd teaches the class. She's working on how she's interacting and having kids interact with it. Uh, but she's putting it in front of them each day with a I I can do this. This is what it means. This is uh why it's important in English. Uh Paul is a little less willing. He's not super in love with the latter. He likes the circle method. Um I don't care. He gets it and we're working on um but really, you know, each time he's introducing something, it's a layer of a circle and we're
024coming back to that and adding something new. Um, and so really like it's in front of students, they understand how this part connects to this part. Um, but it's circular. And then in math, uh, Sarah has used, um, her progressions. Originally it was kind of like this is 5.1 and this is you know having kids identify the chapter or the you know worksheet and she has started using it as an exit ticket as a note takingaking um so when they do their notes they are writing down an example of how they met that target um when I was in class recently for their studying uh for their test. They were working in partners. They had their progressions. They had sample questions and they had to put the sample questions. They had to solve them and
025put them with the progression as to like what standard is this meeting? Uh how is this showing um some fantastic learning happening? And she's like, I actually feel bad giving them a test, you know, because they had passed it. Um they were doing it. And so, uh, it's been fun to see this be a tool that they're really using and and it feels like the data is showing it's working and paying off. So, uh, along those similar lines, so I guess we are going to continue to do that. Um, we're continuing to work on it. We're continuing to refine how how we're using it. We're getting better at sharing like this is what I'm doing. Uh, this worked. this didn't um but continuing to work on that. Uh we're using our you know kind of
026that project learning real world learning uh emphasizing assessments that are aligned to those targets. Uh I thought we would probably spend more time with that. I think it's the piece another piece that they picked up from Nicole pretty quickly. Um in our PD day they joked that they have nightmares about me asking like what is it you're assessing? like what do you want to know from the kids? Uh and so um I can retire now knowing that I haunt my staff in their thoughts. Um but really the uh shift of just giving stuff to for the sake of giving things and now we're really thinking about what is it I want to see and is this required uh or is is this filling time. Uh so those were some positive things we've done. On to
027the next. So uh Wednesdays we wanted to use for intervention and enrichment time. Uh really like we know kids coming to us have some pretty significant gaps. There's a lot of research that shows if you can fill those gaps quickly, they'll make more progress faster. uh Wednesday has become a lot about missing work instead of filling gaps. Uh and there's frustration around like I'll do it Wednesday and then Wednesday comes and they don't and uh all of a sudden we you know so we're working to tighten that up. Uh really we're using I Ready uh to kind of help identify where some of those gaps are. uh using our assessments as then like let's retake that or let's give instruction around that assessment because we now know where you're struggling in this uh and developing
028kind of a system where each staff member has a chance to really address specific kids in that Wednesday time uh while the rest of their children are not running a muk. So, uh, working on figuring out our Wednesdays and then we really felt like it was important that students set goals. Um, they are setting goals. They are emailing their parents every two weeks about what they're doing. We are working to tweak that a little bit. Uh, some of the emails are fantastic. Uh, and some of them are fantastic in a different way. Um, and you know, like we've had some great like group emails with parents who are Yeah. Uh, it's been awesome. Like it really is. And it's holding them accountable. Uh, and parents are aware of what's going on. It's turned those emails
029have turned into a little bit of a task list like, oh, we're learning 6.2. What does 6.2 mean? Um, and so we have changed the template to hopefully help them understand like what is it? We're trying to ask what is it you're actually learning and will you please tell your parents that? Uh, and and how does it connect to your life? Like if we say this is essential, why is it essential? Like there's got to be something out there that it connects to. Um, so trying to better make that a reflection around the learning they're doing not just still chasing points. Uh and then mastery transcript we are trying it's a fantastic tool uh we have not used it as a tool really uh and so trying they have a progress tracker and I shared
030uh there but uh it gives students an opportunity to upload what they believe is good evidence uh of meeting our competencies and so we can see what it is they think is good. we can approve it. Uh there's a mechanism to send this home and so we can start, you know, uh sharing the next step is really to be able to start sharing this with families. Um this is what your student says is a good, you know, good piece of evidence. How do you Sometimes it is and sometimes it's a discussion. Uh but that opportunity to really start um talking with families about work and not just missing work uh is kind of the next step. So to our celebrations uh I mean all of all of this stuff I think represents a lot of
031hard work by the staff at choice schools. uh they have worked really hard to deliver meaningful learning for students. Uh it's not an easy task and this is not how teachers are trained to teach and uh there has been frustration and you know every time I walk in and say I read this book and they're like stop reading. Yeah. But it's really like uh they have done an tremendous job uh working very hard to make this happen for kids. Uh it's the first time ever that we are heading into a second semester with adjustments instead of overhauls and that feels like a like huge victory. Uh so I almost don't know what to do with my time. Um, so yeah, super fun to be in that spot finally. Uh, we had a craft fair in
032December. It was a hit. Uh, lots of people came. Very generous, uh, community made a lot of purchases. Um, students, yesterday was their last day. For the past month on Tuesdays, a group has gone up to the Forest Service in Clellum and has been building kiosks for trail heads. Um, and it has been an awesome like I have kids who had no idea they liked to work outside. I'm like, you signed up to go work outside. Uh, but the Forest Service has job opportunities for those who are 18. Um, so it's really been kind of a job interview for them and uh some really uh exciting to see them excited about some real world stuff. And then next week we are uh the Chamber of Commerce has barn quilts uh and a barn quilt trail.
033They are wanting to do DIY paint your own quilt square. And so uh Mr. Milton's English class has been developing prototypes and we're going to pitch to the chamber a prototype and the packaging and the display uh with the goal that we will make them for the chamber and they will put them out in the community. Uh so and each quilt has a story and a family history and so some really cool uh realworld English. Uh and then finally, we've been doing students of the month this year based on our PBIS bucks. Um so we've had bold, unstoppable, and creative students. Uh it's been super cool to do uh something positive phone calls home to parents like, "Your kid was picked as student of the month." And I've had parents cry. Uh are you the
034right person? Like are you sure you're talking about my child? Um every one of the kids has said like, "I'm putting this on my fridge." uh you know so it's been really uh cool and some of the stories that are coming from classrooms about how students are doing these things is pretty it's been fun to get to share so questions well obviously you're since you're not overhauling this you've made tremendous progress and Troy told us about the presentation you've been invited to to teach so that's you know obviously speaks to your success and I think that some of the the reason that the students are their attendance is going up is because they want to come to school. So because we know that they've got a lot of fortitude. If they want to do something,
035they'll do it. They'll they'll work through obstacles to get to school if they really want to be there. So that's the key to to everything. So well done. >> Thank you. Uh I I just want to say having taught at a choice school in a in a past life, I'm they're both near and dear to my heart and I am keenly keenly familiar with many of the challenges you alluded to. Uh and I just want to say this is really really impressive. I I went to the craft fair. >> Yeah. Um, >> I was I was impressed by how many students were clearly engaged with it and having a really good time. So, uh, >> Yeah. Nice work. >> It was a really like the buildup to it was like that like that feeling I
036have hoped we would have, right, where it's like total chaos in the best way possible cuz they all knew what they were doing and what they were supposed to be doing and it was like, uh, yeah. Awesome. And >> Haley, you mentioned that you think attendance is just going to stay as one of a sip your SIP goals forever. I'm wondering if you can say a little bit about what you feel like um the choice school like what you have control over what like what what your next steps might be to address that. >> Yeah. >> Uh I think I mean the addition of Mrs. Wayman as our social worker has been incredibly helpful. Uh you know there are things like transportation um get just getting to the bus. Uh the you know with a
037late start some of them don't want to ride the bus and then they're not riding the bus and then they don't get there in another way. Uh they depend on friends. Um Mrs. Wayman has been helpful in mediating some of the family things that sometimes come up. uh things related to resources. Um so I think continuing to leverage some of you know helping families find resources uh and not just around transportation um child care and personal care and health you know health issues and being the only person who can help a parent. Um, so yeah, some of those continuing to continuing to identify uh and we are I think building better relationships with students and the emails home. I think we're building better relationships with families. I think we know more about what certain families
038need from us. Um, not all. Uh, and you know, there's a trust factor. Um, kids who wouldn't tell us things a year ago now do. Uh so building you know continuing to build a safe environment where they are willing to to seek some help but it's not always easy to ask for help um from anybody. So yeah, any other questions or comment? >> I just wanted to say every time you've given a presentation, I get super excited because I know like wow that is happening in our school and I'm always looking for ways to kind of apply what you're doing into the high school. I think it's super fun and it gets the kids really engaged. But also like if there's anything like the student reps can ever do, I would love to talk to
039the students and get to know what they're doing in their classrooms. For sure. >> You are welcome anytime. And I know that they would love to talk to you. Like they um and that's been a cool shift. Like they're proud of what they're doing. Uh they're proud of, you know, being at our school and like I they would love to share. So, uh, you might want to set a time frame so that you have a chance to leave. >> Yeah, I would love to go. That would be super fun. Thank you. >> I also just wanted to comment. I noticed in your in your data here a couple of things that you were perhaps too modest to uh point out um in the uh the student responses on the survey. uh zero% responded negative like
040the lowest on the student success is celebrated in this school which means they all acknowledge that you're celebrating success and um also zero gave the lowest response on my teachers expect all students to succeed no matter who they are. Um, >> so that that tells me that your students think highly of your teachers as well. >> Yeah. >> Cool. >> Thank you so much, Haley. >> Thank you both for presenting. Nice job. >> So, that takes us to the superintendent's update. >> All right, let's get set up here. We got a few things. I did animate it so I could pretend I made a good presentation. So, um, first thing, uh, starting off with something very, very positive. Our levy was certified on, uh, last Friday, uh, K by Kittitas County. Uh, we're very, very
041grateful for our community support. Uh, the levy passed with just over 55% uh, approval, uh, which is a nice number for us. Uh Cindy and I and Lesie sort of worked on a thank you letter and that will be going out in our newsletter uh to parents at the end of this week and it also has been sent uh onto the daily record with the hope that they will uh publish that for our entire community. But we're very grateful for the support. Uh overall uh the state had a 96% pass rate uh on EPO levies and so uh unfortunately our our friends from Kittas came up just a little bit short but I think that they will will probably get to that that finish line here. Uh very very close uh election for them and
042in their capital one pushed over in the last uh day. So that that's good. Um so it it also positive across the state for uh capital levies which can be obviously for construction type projects or repairs or things but also for tech uh ours is a capital tech levy uh ourselves and so uh a lot of positive for that. The bonds were a little bit more challenging. they not we did not reach 50% of the bonds that were out there u passing. But as I've been paying attention, many uh of those districts are already planning working with their boards uh in looking at um running them again in April. But overall pretty uh solid uh election season throughout the state of Washington. Uh we are extremely grateful to our community uh that supported us um
043and very very grateful. We'll do our best uh to make sure uh that we continue to stay on a on a positive arc, meet the needs, use that money to meet the needs in our strategic plan. All right, so now let's go to the negative parts. Uh and I don't know if Catherine's reporting later, but I will jump to the doom and gloom before she gets an opportunity. So, uh the short session is scheduled to end uh of our legislature 60-day session um is scheduled to conclude on on March 12th. Uh we are not at this point really receiving any good news for education. Uh I guess the only real positive is that nothing is done till they actually negotiate the budget. Uh so even though the proposals that came out last weekend were not
044great, uh we hold hope, there are still we're still putting a lot of pressure on them to understand uh that our system cannot really handle cuts. But right now that's what it looks like that there will be some cuts to the system. Uh the three main targets are levy equalization, transition to kindergarten program, and the bus depreciation schedule, transportation. So uh only one of those really has a significant impact on us. We're not eligible for levy equalization. uh but our neighbors uh in eastern Washington whether it's ESD 105 neighbors down the Akama Valley or uh north of us in ESD 171 Manache Chalan area uh there's a lot of districts that rely on a levy equalization uh there have been some crazy proposals this year this particular bill did not make it out there will
045likely be cut to levy equalization but there was a bill that was going to stairstep uh it was going to cut the amount of levy equalization but raise the bar for what you had to do as a local community to be eligible for levy equalization. Um and so that that's really got a lot of my colleagues uh through the Yakim Valley quite upset. Um and so it it clearly goes against the mclary decision. So we're set up for some strange things as it as it comes to that. So, but levy equalization is is an issue we're monitoring in solidarity with our neighbors uh since it doesn't necessarily impact us. Transition to kindergarten, however, that was was drastic. Uh the proposals that came out, uh the house, I think the governor was about $19 million cuts.
046Uh the house was like $19.5 million proposed cuts and the senate was 38 million. So, somewhere between 19 and 38 million is what they're starting their budget negotiations with. The the hard part for us is we have absolutely no idea how that will impact us right now. There are no rules or proposals for it. The legislature is only concerned with the money. They're going to come up with a budget and then they're going to tell OSPI how to go ahead and solve the problem. So, uh it it's going to have uh as the session comes closer to an end and we get word that leaks out usually it leaks out uh sort of where they're going with that. That's it's a lot of angst for school districts. It it really is. And so um we
047will just monitor it. Have absolutely no idea at this point in time how they are going to decide. Is it going to be across the board dividing it up by FTE and just cutting that or are they going to take other considerations in in in how they do the money? We really don't know. Um so that that's a challenge for us moving forward. uh the bus depreciation schedule. They want to lengthen how long the bus depreciation schedule goes so you they don't have to buy as many new buses what it comes down to. Our transportation department is on solid financial ground at this point in time. Our our co-op with Damon helps us. Uh so I am not sure over time this would be an issue for everybody but it's not uh the most immediate
048compressing concern probably to us but we'll have to see how that works out and what that shows. there's it's there is a world where they pass a new type of depreciation schedule that could impact all of us very quickly. So, uh but anyway, that's what we're moniing. There are other things and and as I explained to one staff member today who asked me some really good questions. Uh I said we are also considering areas where they know inflation has outpaced what they give us and they're not doing anything about it. So, that is a cut. uh then M MOC is the be best example of that maintenance supply and operating costs. So as our as inflation continues to go through the economy as our utility costs continue to go up our fuel costs continue to
049go up our material and supply budgets continue to cost us more money um for them just to maintain the status quo for hems that's actually a cut for us because we have to take that money from another program. uh we we built in money, you know, the levy handles a lot of that and and we would like to get away from that with full MOC funding, but that that's that's the other area where they're sort of sort of getting us. There will be a few trade-offs in there. There'll be a few areas where they say we're increasing things, but we're also expecting um a net that we're not going to be um gaining any traction with our our funding. And so that's just going to kind of be the way it is. Of course, remember
050this is the second year of a bienium. So, this is a supplemental budget. So, next year will be the 90-day session and they'll set the next uh budget for the bienium. And so, we're really just gearing up. We're honestly going really hard at the notion that we're opposing everything that is an unfunded mandate. Uh don't know how well that's going to work because there are some ideas out there that are a little bit wonky, but uh but we're still maintaining that and and we're working on that. So, it's not a lot of positive news, but uh we are uh monitoring the situation and as soon as we get guidance from OSPI, we'll know, you know, as soon as the budget comes out, we know how much is cut from TK. Uh and then we hope
051that OSPI is working on that right now what their proposals for those the formula is going to be. So, we'll keep everybody apprised of that as we go. Uh next slide, please, Leslie. Yeah, a couple uh fun things here. Last week, just so you know, the work that we've done in the strategic plan uh with our community last year and with you this year, uh last Thursday, Jen and I were asked to share the strategic planning process at our ESD 105 monthly WASA meeting. That's the Washington Association of School Administrators. That's the central office association. So, we meet every month with with superintendent and um and like genet assistant soups too as well oftentimes. And so uh Ellensburg, Grand View, Golden Woo all shared our stories. We had recently developed strategic plans. Uh we really
052went through our process uh you know with kind of just shared with what 171 is did for us. Didn't spend a ton of time on that because 105 is developing their own model now and so that's the the B business. They were starting trying to drum up some business. But, uh, we just talked about that, but we really focused on it from the lens of how it went for us in terms of implementation and being a district that had one but really hadn't had it come alive. Um, and I I shared a quote from Meline as I often do about this. At one point last year, she said, "Shouldn't we be talking about the strategic plan?" Like, yes, we should. And we we just we we didn't have one that was alive. So, we talked
053about uh nesting all the things we've done. and Jen went over, you know, our district learning improvement plan, how that nests with the strategic plan to our school improvement plans, uh, portrait of a graduate. So, we went through that process with them. So, that was it was good. It was wellreceived. We got a lot of positive feedback from it. Um, and and it was just good to hear from other districts as well uh about the the the strategies that they to undertook as part of that process and then how they are are doing their implementation of it. I think we're in a a really good spot with how we have uh ended up digging into really embedding it into the SIPs to help us get that understanding of things and then we can talk about
054the broader picture because it relates to what's actually going on in the buildings as we go. So, uh that was that was positive. Uh then the next one please last little click. Uh this is just there's not much information. I don't expect Jen to give you a long thing on this. I'll just have her talk about the aspiring leaders cohort through ESD 105 in the University of Washington cell program uh that Jen's been involved with for two years. Uh we're actually hosting some uh learning walks tomorrow with them in our district. So that's that's good. We haven't done a lot of that in the past and so uh looking forward to that. So I'll just Jen can give you just a quick overview. >> Yeah. for so this aspiring leaders academy um it has three
055main goals. The first one is to develop school leaders ability to understand the current state in their system. Um and then to develop what what it means to develop an ideal state like what is it on if we were to be a perfect system. Um a second goal is cultivate school leaders in their observation skills and analysis in classrooms. So really thinking about when we go into a classroom and we're looking for things, what should we be looking for and how do we use that to provide feedback which is their third goal. Um develop school leaders ability to provide actionable feedback to teachers. Um so we have we meet a few times throughout the year for full day like learning with the team. Um and then we have done learning walks in two other districts.
056So we get to be here tomorrow. Um, and this year, Wapto, Mount Adams, and Highland are the other districts taking part in it. So, they will be here tomorrow. We are doing it at the high school. Um, and yeah, we'll get to walk through classrooms with them. We have some student voice groups happening afterwards. I think we have about eight students that are coming. So, it's not meant to be super robust. It's just meant to um teach the people that are there what this pro process should look and feel like and to reflect on it. Uh so yes, the we'll get to host three other districts as they're on this learning journey with us and it's going to be a good day of classroom visits and uh hearing from students and that's another major part
057of uh the instructional leadership academy is just not only how to embed student voice into your ideal state. So making sure that that's part of what's driving our ideal state, but also that it's important when we look at what's our current state that that's part of uh gathering information on that as well. >> Any questions on our on the report? >> I have a quick question. So there was so WADA had wanted to also have a discussion after the pause on policy on pol on flexibility on policies when districts couldn't afford to be within the policy's compliance because of budget constraints. Are we in any of that kind of a situation or have you has there been any discussion about that or is that just sitting out there as an item that they keep bringing
058up? We're not in any, you know, we don't have any issues around that, but I do think it's just sort of sitting out there. I'm not hearing, >> okay, >> much of that. I mean, there there's a lot there was a lot of discussion around changing the law to force policy change around fund balance and those types of things. Um, th those all died uh actually relatively quickly. And of course, Prescott was being made an example of and Prescott passed our levy and now they're a district again. So, >> they do. >> Yeah. So, there there's not going to be any disillusion of Prescott. So, there's a lot of things there. And I I think one of the the things that's hard uh the legislature doesn't quite understand, you know, they definitely don't understand funding
059for schools. Uh so they don't understand that you know just tweaking laws and as WA writes the policy um that there is really a big difference between larger districts and smaller districts. There's a each of us has our own story. There is a huge difference between why uh Mary'sville has been in binding conditions for a long time and how Prescott got into binding conditions. Two completely different stories. And so, um, forcing certain laws and percentages and things, people started to realize, okay, that means something very different for each district. So, I think we're taking a step back and hopefully taking a more thoughtful approach. Uh, I also think the bill that was going to require you to take a bunch of financial literacy training as board members has also died. So I think everybody's kind
060of looking stepping back going okay realizing the districts that are in trouble all have their own story how they got there and that just you know adjusting something so WADA can write a certain policy that the legislature wants is actually not going to achieve what they want. So I think but I don't know for sure but I think we're just taking a step back as far as I can tell because I really haven't heard anything recently. >> Okay. Troy, could you talk a little bit about why the main at least proposed targets are levy equalization, TK and bust appreciation? Like why did they focus on those things? I'm I'm specifically interested in TK if it's written into the constitution that the priority of the state budget is K through 12. It seems like TK would
061be that's what supports K through 12 education >> mount duty. uh and they're they're they're not really taking that. Uh of course in their mind they are, but uh for the rest of us we're not seeing that. Uh I think TK's in the in the headlights because TK was not actually a real program until two years ago. Uh it was a loophole. It was uh and so they believe when it comes down to budget cuts, they have to make tough calls and the majority of them honestly in our legislature are not there with education as their primary purpose. So they want to protect the their interests that they got elected to protect. Uh I I and the the fact that TK is relatively new and that they feel like the initial so under pressure now
062they feel like the initial number they had to fund was one that was just sort of artificially created by so many districts jumping on when it was a loophole. The second part of it uh is that um we have some parallel systems going on. And so the ECAP program that which we utilize in our preschool uh is is funded through uh Department of Children, Youth and Families, DCYF. And so uh I think they they made some cuts to ECAP last year as part of the budget. So I think that they're looking at okay, we cut our early learning a little bit last year and so this year's through ECAP. So this year we're going to further limit TK. Uh it's really hard to get a straight answer from them, but I think that that's money
063that is uh they feel hasn't been around as long, so it's easier to get rid of. That's my guess. Um so that's a real challenge. Uh TK is is uh you know is a program we were really looking forward to uh you know continuing to work through because it provides a nice complement uh for what we're doing. So they're really in the end they were very unhappy. The TK law was several years in the making. Lots of controversy about it. Lots of behind the scenes uh political maneuvering about what it was actually going to be. So, there is a real it's just part of a real rebalance as they look at state spending and and what is the state going to fund. uh levy equalization is uh is a different challenge and it's a way
064that they uh it just goes against everything the Supreme Court said in the mccclary decision, but they really want local taxpayers to fund more. And so um in some of our districts that are property uh uh poor uh you know the the the rate just they can't pass it high enough. And so there was a proposal that there was going to be stairstepped up and this one actually would impact us down the road. It was going to be stairstepped over a decade to where in order to be eligible for levy equalization you had to pass a levy at $3. Right now the limit is 250 and most you know we we have a decent rate because we have to uh in ours and many of our neighboring districts can't achieve that level. And so, um,
065I I it's easier to say they're doing that than to make a cut that directly impacts a classroom and but it does those cuts will directly impact classrooms. But, uh, it's just their way of kind of going around that topic and it's a real challenge for us. They don't like being reminded that paramount duty is is is written right there in the constitution. Um so they are throwing a lot of things back of well we've been you know injected all this money into the system over the last 10 years and and results haven't changed and so um there's also then discussions about how that money's been injected what's what you know there's there's been a lot of uh ambiguity and just a lot of things over the years that have sort of ebbed and flowed.
066So, uh, I think they're taking what they think are things that are easy for them cuz they don't have to explain it. Then the districts and OSPI has to explain the ramifications of it. That's that's my guess. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments for Troy? >> Okay, that takes us to the enrollment report. >> All right. Uh, enrollment, if you have any questions, let me know. Just pretty standard, we're staying pretty solid throughout the year. we haven't had a lot of dips uh and you know and so we're actually very comfortable with our enrollment at port at this at this point in time. It's been pretty stable this year. So if you let me know if you have any questions, comments all right the financial update. So tonight I'll be going over the
067um financial status of the district for January 2026. All funds are on track for fifth month. Um there was a discrepancy between Kittas County and the general fund trial balance and it was just avoiding of a check timing of it. Um we voted it in our system and they haven't they voided it in February when we voided it in January. So that's why that's there. Um all the other funds did not have any discrepancies. Journal fund we are now 5 months into the fiscal year. The general fund revenue comes in at 38.58%. and expenditures coming in at 38.03%. The fund balance is sitting at 9.7 million or 15.08%. For the month of January, the district spent a total of 4.7 million, which is made up of 83% on salaries and benefits, 3% on supplies. Um
068some of the expenses that make up that 3% is 48,000 for um our nutrition program from various vendors, 22,000 to A1 petroleum for fuel and 14,000 to HD supply for monthly custodial supplies. 12% on professional services. Um 22,000 to Parent Square, 4,700 for ASL services, 15,000 to Waste Management for garbage services, 13,000 to Wasda for annual dues, 98,000 to ESD 105 for services, 139,000 to the city of Ellensburg for utilities, and 99,000 to various contractors for SLP, OT, and ASL services for the month. The district spent about $832 on travel and about 94,000 on capital V10 um passenger van that we just purchased. Capital project fund governor came in at 41.99% and 07% um in expenditures. $1,200 um of that that 07% was actually a $1,200 um bill for our study and survey prepared by
069ALSC architects um to help us determine our square footage in all our buildings. And then debt service fund revenue came in at 42.54% and 76.34% in expenditures. Um the district paid the principal interest in December and we have one more interest payment in June. And then the ASB fund, the revenue came in at 34.42% and expenditures came in at 22.38%. Some of the expenditures for January was 6,000 to ESN sports for softball uniforms, golf shirts, basketball, breakaway goals, and softballs. 1,300 for competition registration for Washington State TSA and Washington State the Society. And then 1300 to Yakma Pepsi. the private purpose fund. The fund balance is sitting at 35,000. There were no expenditures in January. And the transportation vehicle fund, the revenue for this fund came in at 1.51% which is interest. And there were
070no expenditures in January. And that's what I have for the financial update. Are there any questions? I have a question about the fund balance chart that's on page 11. Um it looks like both in terms of actual dollars and in terms of the percentage of um the fund balance has been generally going up or has for the last couple of years gone up and I'm I'm just wondering what should we make of that? Um so I mean there's obviously variation across the year but we seem to be generally higher in terms of the fund balance than we have been like this time last year. So, um, yeah. What what as a board should we think about that? >> Um, I think we're just, you know, really budgeting the best that we can and and keeping
071I'm trying to really when we're budgeting that we're keeping it um as real as we can, right? And so, we're watching that and we're watching those expenditures and watching that revenue. Um this year that fund balance has kind of has gone up too because we budget enrollment lower than what actually came in which we're very happy about. So, we we whenever we're doing when I when I'm looking at the budget and the enrollment, I budget really conservative for enrollment. And we really thought as we were looking at um kindergarten classes this year um as we were preparing and and doing the budget, we thought we would have a lot lower classes, but we actually came in higher than what we expected in kindergarten. and some of the other classes too. We've had a lot, you
072know, other students moving in into other grades too and fifth and and even into the high school that that you don't always see that, you know. So, um, just watching that, um, we've really been I think we've been really more efficient on what we're spending our money on and looking at Randy has done a great job with his um, maintenance group and stuff and looking at what we're purchasing in supplies and just really watching those kind of things. So, I think we just for me that's what I'm seeing as far as that's concerned. Yeah. >> Is part of that cautiousness or conservativeness like we're just building in if inflation continues to, you know, skyrocket or an HVAC system all of a sudden dies? >> Yes. Yes. And we haven't, that's a very good question because
073we in the past few years we really concentrated on new buildings, you know, and new schools and not necessarily the replacement of HVAC systems and as our schools are getting older like the high school in Valley View and our district office and stuff. So, um, now we're trying to concentrate more on that and and you do want to have that cushion in there. You really do. Um, and and like Troy said, unfunded mandates and they keep coming out. You know, we don't know exactly what the sales tax um, laws now that we have to collect that more on more services and more and what that's going to really look like for us. And so, we're really because they're still trying to figure that out too themselves. The legislature is still trying to figure that out
074with us. But, you know, what does that mean and what does that look like for us? And so, you do really want to have that cushion. You just never know. Um, for me, I feel like having a good fund balance. Um, you just never know if you're going to get a lawsuit that's not going to be covered completely. You want to make sure that you can keep going, that your schools can keep going. And so, you just want to make sure that you have that. So, that's what we to me that's what we've been doing. and we're really trying to be um pretty efficient and clear on that and making sure that the school can keep going and not >> I just remember soon after I joined the school board we we put into place
075that 8% was our goal and we seem to be considerably above that for the fund balance. So any other questions or comments for Kim? This takes us into the draft 40-year capital plan and Randy. >> Yep. So, I'll give you a quick overview and then Ry's here to answer any questions that you have. So, um this is a complicated document. Uh Randy did a great job uh along with uh Angie uh Garrett Gordon of organizing this. Um it's a requirement that you approve uh our our draft plan along the lines. uh and they did a nice job of laying out, you know, the the different funds that we use for this. So the gray, you know, is our general fund transfer. So we make a transfer from the general fund every year to our capital
076projects fund and those are uh for essentially for projects that are going on within that year. And then we have uh the blue for bonds and uh scap projects and then capital levy which is our tech levy right now and then uh TVF is the transportation vehicle fund uh with there. So, uh this is a is a draft. As we do it, we are able to um adjust it as needs arise. Some things come on. It's also a wish list and it's so it's a that's why there's so many things on it. Uh and we've projected out a number of years as we're required to. Um that's Ry's best projection in the committee uh that met to do it. Uh Randy provided a lot of guidance and so we're we're kind of just trying to
077do our best to schedule out the fiscal year 2526 this year. Uh those projects are ones that uh the committee has has you know decided on and and we're put putting into action uh and working through those. Uh thankfully uh we received and and got to let you know we received the grants uh for $600,000 to the boilers at Valley View. So that's not all coming out of that uh fund because we don't actually uh you know be real difficult for us to pay for the whole thing. It would cost cost take away some other things and so it's a balancing act. Uh so as we go through you know you might see things 3 4 5 6 10 years down the road. Uh those are all things that we would like to do and
078that's what we're just sort of for planning purposes right now. But uh the the next two years are much more you know sort of set in stone in what we're doing. And so they did a great job. It's a really complicated process and so they came up with a a really good uh document and we have a committee made up of community members and people that work for the district that sort of prioritize this that Randy led us through and uh created those those types of priority lists. So you've had a little bit of a chance to uh look at it and Randy can give you his uh quick perspective and then any questions that you have, please fire away at him and he'll be able to answer them. So yeah, I think Trey did
079explaining everything in there. So yes, we were very thankful that we did get that 600,000. Uh we' gotten turned down for a couple other grants and but uh this is also giving us the opportunity to upgrade that building for the future. So we're putting in a different type of boiler system that we can take into the future. So, it's not just going to go in there for a few years and if we decide to remodel the building or whatever in the near future, that can carry over into that. So, uh I I think that's going to be real beneficial to us. Plus, it'll also help uh with a little more energy savings and put some more money back into that fund balance. So, >> any questions for Randy? I guess I have one about the
080sound system. I heard something about they're trying to fund raise for that sound system. >> So, yeah. So, talking with Mike McCloskey, um over the, you know, they they've been trying to upgrade a lot of that equipment since it was remodeled because they didn't get everything they wanted when the building was remodeled. Um but they have a a pretty good group of uh people that support them and uh they do really good with some fundraising. um for next year. We did we did try to put some money in there for them to upgrade the sound system and some more lights. Um you know, is that they're aging. We've had to rebuild one of the processors uh this last year and didn't have to buy one. Thankfully, we found somebody that could repair it. Um but
081it it does need to be, you know, some of it needs to be replaced. Um, but he is talking with his group and seeing about what they can do for fundraising. And they think that they can come up with quite a bit to maybe add to this or if we don't need it all, then we'd have more to put back into other projects. Okay. If there's no more questions or comments, this is an action item, so we need to vote to approve it. Could I hear a motion? I move we approve the 40-year capital plan. >> I second. >> Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? The 40-year capital P plan is approved. Thank you. This takes us to resolution 14.02.26. the general fund and ASB fund, impressed uh bank accounts,
082impressed cash, and change funds. This is a resolution that we're just really just updating. It's a resolution we already have in place, but we noticed that there are some change funds that we were not using anymore, especially in food services that um it's either online that people have to pay or they have a check or they have exact change. So, we don't have cash boxes anymore um with the food services. So, we took those off. Um the other change in everything else is the same except the other change is the um ASB um Impress bank account. We're find it used to be 3,000 and now it's six. And the reason for that is that um as things got a little more, you know, with inflation and more expensive um and more kids going um going
083to state and needing meal money and that kind of thing that the 3,000 just was running out pretty quick um and not being able to be replenished um as quickly as we needed. So, we went ahead and increased that. So, we just have to um you know, go ahead and change this. And this is something the auditors look at every year, too, to make sure we have it in place. Could I hear a motion to to approve resolution 14.02.26? I move we approve resolution 14.0226 as presented. >> I second. >> Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Right. Resolution 14.02.26 passes. That takes us into policy and we have a second reading of policy 6217, the electronic funds transfer. >> Yeah. So Kim introduced this in January. Um we haven't made any
084changes. If you have any questions about it was just allow us to do the electronic funds transfer. So she can answer any any that you might have that are lingering. >> Could I hear a motion? I move we approve policy 6217 electronic funds transfer. >> I second. >> Any discussion or questions for Kim? Okay. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Policy 6217 is approved. That takes us to policy 6605, student safety, walking, biking, and riding buses. >> Yeah, we went over this first reading uh on this update, policy update. We have this policy in place, but the the uh there were some changes in the laws and so they the we just deemed the the changes in the policy to be significant enough that we wanted to do a first and second reading. uh
085we're already uh working through it and and you know sometimes the policy lags behind when they pass the law, but Carol's Carol's on it. Uh so any any questions, please let me know. >> Could I hear a motion on policy 6605? >> I move we approve policy 6605, student safety, walking and biking and riding buses. >> I second. >> Any discussion? You're just so efficient tonight. >> Scary. >> All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Policy 6605 has been approved. Our legislative report. We've already kind of had a legislative report. But >> so there's one little tiny bit of sunshine. I looked at Troy. I was like, "Yeah, I got nothing. There's nothing else in it." But the um what's it called? The is the Economic Revenue Projection Council. Yeah. has discovered that we're actually
086one we have $1.8 billion more than they projected in November, which in the overall what $75 billion operating budget. That's not very much, but it's $1.8 billion we didn't know we had. So that's my >> and I would say that's why we were so disappointed when the proposals came out because that was education felt like okay now they don't have to cut us. So that was yeah that was tough. I don't have much of a board chair report. I will just say that unfortunately I cannot physically be here for either of the March meetings, but I hope to attend both by Zoom, but Mike has agreed to run them on my behalf. Um, yeah, I think that's it for my board chair report. Not very interesting. That takes us to public comment. Leslie, do we
087have anybody signed up for public comment? Or I guess I haven't invited them to sign up yet. Okay. So, there's no one in person. Um, we invite anyone who would like to make a comment to the board um to add their names to the document on Zoom in the chat. Each person will have an up to three minutes to speak. The board will listen carefully to what you say, but cannot respond immediately without deliberation. Um, so we'll give people maybe like 20 seconds just to decide online. Okay. So, we'll close public comment takes us to new business. Any new business people would like to add to upcoming agendas? >> Did we talk about listening sessions at the last study session? >> No, we're planning to do that at the next study session because we wanted
088you to be here. >> It's on. Okay. Perfect. Right. That's >> Anything else for new business? Okay. meeting closing executive session tonight. >> Great. Okay. Clarification and next steps, right? Board calendar. >> Just a reminder that we're off next month. So, our next meeting is next week and then again the third Wednesday. >> And you sent out a doodle poll about the spring work day. >> Uh >> oh, somebody's getting shamed. >> Um, okay. So make sure we look for that. Um and then signing of official documents I take it. Yes. Okay. That moves us into adjournment. Thank you everybody.