001Good. Okay. Uh the time is 6 o'clock and I will call to order the what is it? April 22nd meeting of the Granite Falls School Board. All join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Okay, thank you all. Uh, okay. We'll hand it over to Thomas here for the land acknowledgement. Okay. We honor the first peoples of these lands by acknowledging that the area in which we gather is within the traditional territory of the Stilaish tribe of Indians. The Stila Guamish people have inhabited these lands and waters since time immemorial and their descendants have remained in this territory to this day. The Stila Guamish people
002have continued to practice the traditional ways their ancestors of fishing, hunting, and gathering. The Stiligamish tribe has had these lands and cultural traditions passed on to them by their ancestors who believe that everything has a spirit. They are the caretakers of these lands and waters. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. In attendance tonight, we have Director Farley, Director Beach, Director Dayne, myself, Director Leoo, and then Dr. Geon as well. I'd like to make a motion that we excuse Director Pangas tonight. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> Okay. And then we also have our student reps here, Jada, Leah, and Thomas. Thank you for joining. Uh, we'll go around as per usual, starting with the board, then we'll come back to you for comments as well, too. So, get
003prepared. Uh, Director Farley, any comments, thoughts? >> Um, last Saturday went to the bowls put on by the community coalition and it's another great opportunity to see how much the community of granite supports themselves. >> Um, lots of people and lots of great items. Bought a few things and got to share with the community. So, it was a good event. >> Great. Thank you, Director Beach. >> Um, I just had just a one quick announcement thing, which was that there's an apprenticeship fair tomorrow from 4 to 6 or 4 to 7. That's what I was trying to figure out was the ending time. 4 to 7 um at the Snow Isle Skill Center in Everett near Boeing. So, um, if [snorts] you have a student that might be interested, um, just know that that's happening
004and you already talked about the super one. So, I I think that's all I have this time. >> Okay. Thank you, Director Dane. >> Um, yeah, a couple of things. Um, I got to sit Ian on an initial health and wellness committee meeting led by Rachel Cordermanman and we had a a really good turnout of staff members there. And the the point of it is to look at our policies uh in the district policies around health and wellness and for them to um make comment recommendations and then come up with recommendations to if if needed for any changes to those policies to the board as soon as we can wrap that up. And so it just got started. It was a great start. Um really uh engaging conversations and so I appreciate that. And then
005on Monday, I I got to attend a WASDA event in Arlington with Director Gizlin and uh about you know getting developing a relationship with community and our legislatures legislators leaders um and and interacting with other directors and superintendents and it was a really good meeting. So I appreciate being able to do those things. Right. >> Okay. Then from my side, uh [clears throat] doesn't look like it right now. I feel like we had fall summer. Um it'll [laughter] it'll it'll return again. Uh but it was great. Over the weekend, I went out to uh the Kashmir Invitational. Uh so there was a bunch of people out there from from Granite uh competing out there. We also had a track meet on Thursday here. Tons of people out there. School from Alaska came down. So, um,
006that was really exciting. I did also want to mention, uh, graduations. It It's crazy. They're already coming up here in a few few short weeks, it feels like. Uh, Crossroads is 63. Remember, keep me honest on the dates. Uh, the high school is 65 and then our transition program is 610. So, um, lots of stuff coming up. And then everybody else, I think, gets out like a week later, something along those lines. for most of the audience in the room here. I think that came to visit. You unfortunately don't graduate also on the fifth, but [laughter] not too much longer. Um, okay. We'll move on to item 3B, superintendent. Oh, actually, no, scratch that. I need to jump ahead of myself. Jada, any comments from your side? >> Um, well, our sports are doing really
007well. Our tennis is another two year of not losing. So, that's amazing. And then [laughter] >> and then uh we have packed the place. So with um other sports to get more participation we give snacks out. So and then once you participate with enough then you get like a donut at the end of the year. So that's a great way to get people to start coming. So if you want to come get some donuts or chips >> and that'll be the baseball game coming up. >> Yeah. I think it's track and the softball. It's on a couple of the home games. I'm not sure what all of them, but I think they spread it out. Okay, my turn. [laughter] We have game of tiaraas. It's um a play that we're doing at our school at
008the high school. It's going to be Friday and Saturday. Friday's at 7 o'clock and then Saturdays at 6 o'clock. Heard it's really funny. Should go and support. Um we're also doing senior assassins, so we'll see how long those stay in. Hi buddy. All I have >> Okay. Um the Granite Falls Fire was out today at high school. Granite Falls High School uh gauging interest for the SC fire science program. And we have the National Honor Society induction pro um coming up next week on Tuesday at what is it? >> Six six o'clock. So there's that. Appreciate it. Yeah. Senior assassin. I know we bought our son goggles. So, [laughter] >> safety first. >> Well, it's it's apparently some portions if you wear swimming gear of some sorts, it's a safety. >> You have to have
009it on your head. >> That's why everyone had swim. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> The more you know. >> Okay. Item 3B, superintendent report presented by Dr. Gies. >> Great. David, could you could you go to the slides? Thank you. You go the next one. And one more. Perfect. There we go. All right. Um I'll elaborate just a little bit on uh some of what our student reps to the board um said. So we're excited about this um exploration of our fire at this fire science program. We have been working really closely with Granite Falls Fire. This is a CTE program, a career and technical education program. And if we have enough interest, it's also offered at at Snow, which is our skill center. But um on most given years, we only allow we only allowed
010a couple of kids to get into that program. And across the region, there was um last year was 122 students who wanted to get into the program and couldn't. So, with our new fire station and maybe a director who is, um, you know, highly involved in the fire service here in Granite Falls, um, [clears throat] and we have such a lovely partnership with them. We started talking a few months ago about this. And so, the idea is that it would be a half-day program. Kids wouldn't have to go all the way out to Everett to Snow to to engage in it. They could stay right here and attend their half day. They would get three credits, some uh, science and probably CTE and PE. Um, at the end of it, the exciting part is there's
011a need and at the end of it, they would come out with certifications to be employed as firefighters, um, EMTs, those kind of things. So, we know there's an interest in CTE. You have to have student interest and you have to have an industry need, which this is, and they don't necessarily have to go become firefighters. They could go become something else in the medical field or another service field. Um, so we're really excited about this partnership and I can't say enough about how incredible uh Granite Falls Fire has been to work with. It's very, very exciting. Um, so they [clears throat] were at the high school today. Um, they had some places where you could take a picture. They made Tony take a picture, I think the face in the thing, and gave out
012information. Um, some celebrations. um at the end of May, the last board meeting in May on May 27th, there will be our fourth quarter success and education award winners and then also our bridgeuer um awards. If you want to nominate a staff member, so that's parents, that's students, you can nominate staff members who just go above and beyond to build relationships with you and we would love to um once again recognize our staff members who win those awards. Um, last Thursday we had a Tiger Cabinet meeting and Tiger Cabinet is of course for students grades 3 through 12. We have about 63 students who gather about once a month up at Granite Falls High School and I lead them in um some leadership exercises and different thing. We've had guest speakers, we've had a number
013of activities, but this one was a little bit focused on kids recognizing what leadership skills they have and what they would like to hone in on. and kids made vision boards and did did a lot of really cool things. One thing that they did was they gave advice to their kindergarten self and we will be taking that over to kindergarten roundup. Um, and some of the kids, you know, they they they talked through some of it, but they're like, there are so many things we know now as a seventh grader or as a a freshman that I didn't know then. So, that's one of the the components that was one of the stations that they worked on. In May, our stu our Tiger Cabinet um students will be meeting with legislators. Um we are in
014we have invited um our 39th district representatives and then also Senator Wagner, but we also went big and invited our um you know, our federal legislators. So, we've invited uh Senator Murray's office, Senator Canwell's office, um representatives, and then Governor Ferguson to come. The worst they can say is no, [laughter and snorts] right? And so we want to make sure we put Granite Falls on the map. And the really cool thing is our students then would have we'll have small groups and they'll move through. Um I've told the story before, but last year it was it was incredible to see our kids asking our legislators questions about the things they've supported. And we had I think it was a fifth or sixth grader who said yeah to to Senator Wagner like that's great but what
015have you done for kids? And I loved that. Right. It kind of put him on the spot and he was like okay that's a great question. you know, they've also met with our school board and those kind of things. The idea is to amplify student voice to sit with our kids and find out what's working, what's not, and how can we better serve them um in our schools. So, we had tiger cabinet and it was great. Next slide, David. Coming up, um we are launching a facilities committee and an athletic fields committee. This is uh these are two committees that are um you know to talk about the levy funds that'll that will be coming in. So, thank you to um directors Dne and Farley. They're going to be spending a significant amount of time
016in these committees. Um we are so grateful to our community for passing our levies, our EPO, so kind of our operating levy and then the levy around our athletic fields and improvements and those kind of things and technology. So, those committees there was um lots of communication out and people signed up. Each committee has about 25 people from the community that want to be on that because the the truth is these fields and these upgrades and those kind of things will outlive well maybe not our Monte Cristo kids but they'll outlive many of us in these rooms. So it's really important that we're doing what the community wants and we're we're spending that money in spaces that are going to serve the community. Um let's [laughter] see um operations and planning of course uh looking
017at our CTE programs continually. We um had some audit information last year around CTE programs. So, we're going to continue to improve those. And then um we're talking we had a study session before this board meeting to talk about bridging that financing ahead of the levy collection, which won't come until uh spring of 2027. And then um Director Dayne talked a little bit about um us attending the Lasta um regional conference on Monday. Next slide. Thank you. Um, I'm going to, um, turn this over to Executive Director Corderman. We have our SSAs. Um, it's funded by the county, sponsored by the county, and our SSAs are across our district, and they do incredible work with our students and families, and the county annually, um, reviews that work. And I wanted to turn it over to
018Rachel so she could tell us a little bit about that. >> Uh, so this work really wouldn't be possible without our SSAs. Uh so at the elementary Kathy Burnernhard who I've learned a lot from uh is pretty amazing. Uh Jillian Olsen who supports at the high school and here at Crossroads and then Grace Raldi um who supports at the middle school. Uh so this is something that's paid for by a grant through Snomish County. Um so we partner with them in lots of different ways. Uh so we had the opportunity to participate in an audit which went very very smoothly. uh probably the smoothest audit process I've been a part of. Uh the report was included in your packet. It's pretty darn lengthy. Um but it's just pages and pages of lots of really positives
019about our team. Uh so some of uh the things around compliance, we met all the requirements um that we needed to meet as part of that contract. Uh goals were met really with effective case management. We couldn't do it without the three um young ladies that I mentioned um uh earlier. uh strengths, uh proactive, uh empathetic, uh well communicating, uh so anytime something comes up, I'm in the loop. I can always speak to it sometimes before I even get that call um from our families or maybe a building. Uh consistent documentation. They switch to a new documentation system called Apricot. Um it is pretty extensive. Um but again, uh they're making sure that we're in compliance um across the board every month. Um we did have a little minor fix that um we're working on
020and it's a really easy fix around some of our non-disclosure forms and making sure that we're bringing them up for the current year. And then just overall um it was a positive review um and the district um partnership was really the strength and um it's been wonderful working with the county and we hope to continue this program for years. >> Thank [clears throat] you. Great. Next slide. Um a couple of upcoming events. Um, I know that our uh reps to the board, our reps to the board talked a little bit about the game of Tiara. Those are the dates. Um, it is Friday and Saturday at Granite Falls High School uh performing arts center. There's a fourth grade music concert at Monte Cresto. So, it will be at the building. So, um, welcome to attend
021that. And then Crossroads High School prom Friday evening at the Graange. Board members, if you're interested in chefroning, you too can attend a prom. >> [clears throat] >> So, um, next slide. I think yes, we are moving on to Principal Losi. We have some special guests in the crowd. I'm super excited about that. And thank you students, families, and staff for being here. And I'll turn it over to Maria. >> Thank you. We also have a neon dance on Friday night. >> Oh, that is good to know. >> Which I've been invited and encouraged to wear neon, too. But >> you look at I'll be going, but I don't think the neon >> I think she should. [laughter] Well, thank you for letting us attend tonight. We're super excited um to share with you some
022of the work that we've been doing this year at our school around literacy and how awesome that has been. So, we're really focused um this year on writing at our school through professional development and engaging our community. So, why writing? Um we always start with data first and looking at the just a snapshot of the SBA or smarter balanced assessment data. Um it really was quite disturbing to us that when we looked at the three domains of writing opinion writing, narrative writing andformational writing, there are four points possible just to be just in assessing the structure of the writing. And 91% of our students across the school only scored one point in structure for opinion writing. 58% only scored one point in narrative writing and informational writing 75% only scored one point in structure. And
023for us, for me, that's lowhanging fruit, right? And the other areas that they're um evaluated in is uh conventions and spelling, punctuation, all of that. And that's worth two points. And then elaboration and detail. that's also worth four points. But the teachers um we worked together on leadership team and as a whole staff and we really felt like if we really focus on structure this year, writing structure and how to improve our writing instruction [clears throat] um this will be an easy win for us to lift those scores achievement scores up and then next year to really focus on elaboration and detail. So other research shows that when you focus on writing reading improvement actually uh reading achievement actually improves because as students write their reading to write course they're doing that research they're reading
024mentor text they're learning how text is structured um and writing their own text. So all those reading scores should also come up as well and teachers are sharing with me already the results of spring I ready tests and we're looking very hopeful. Um it's also a missing piece in the curriculum. It is nationally I will say um that most ELA curriculums are very strong in the reading piece and writing is kind of an activity that's thrown in very sporadically along the way. So what have we done? Um we have been working on implementing researchbased writing practices grounded in the writing process, a workshop model and of course our common core state standards. Making sure that we are engaging our students in instruction that is aligned with rigorous expectations. We've been focusing on clear learning targets
025and success criteria so our kids know exactly what strategy they're learning in the writing process and what it'll look like if they hit the target. Student engagement, giving our students um opportunities to think as writers and use their writing voice um and be interested in the work that they're doing. and also the learning theory of gradual release. So teachers are modeling writing, doing shared writing with their kids and then coaching their kids during the independent writing time conferring and then coupled with that has been the ongoing professional learning. [clears throat] So on early release Wednesdays and all staff meetings, uh we focus on learning on adult learning because I can send out in Tuesday updates all the nuts and bolts communication, but that time in the room together to work collaboratively as adult learners is
026so valuable. So I try to use every minute we have together to learn. So, um, we've been focusing this year on how to structure a writing unit that is aligned with our CKLU, CKLA reading units. So, for example, will you give an example, Miss Cook, of a unit in fourth or fifth grade for reading and how that got coupled with a writing unit this year? Uh, well, I'm a little twisted this year since I'm doing a new since I'm doing fifth grade curriculum this year. So, it's new to me this year since I'm used to fourth grade curriculum. But, um, I'm gonna put Aaliyah on the spot. Um, Aaliyah, what was your favorite unit that we've done so far? >> And we'll get some writing examples. >> The Renaissance. >> Ah, the Renaissance. Okay. So,
027fifth grade we um read about the Renaissance. Very interesting that you picked that. maybe because one we just did right first on our brain. Um and so yes, we uh took some of the learning from the workshops that we've been doing and we took our Renaissance unit which is informational writing and we tweaked the assignment a little bit and gave them a little bit more choice and say student say in what they were doing with their Renaissance unit to have a little bit more ownership in their writing. And we really developed our informational writing skills and went thoroughly over ourformational writing skills. Right. >> Great. [laughter] >> So students really focused on how how to structure an essay. They got to analyze mentor text to start with >> um and look at what writers offormational
028text do, right? And then teacher models those lessons from um you know a hook sentence to an introductory paragraph. what those body paragraphs consist of, transition words, and then the concluding paragraph. And we use a lot of visuals for our students. And the the theory is that they're internalizing that structure so that then when they get to a standardized test and they have a prompt to write anformational piece of text, they've got that structure already in their mind ready to go and they can read the two texts that they're asked to read and create a draft very easily. Um, my leadership work has been focusing around modeling lessons in classrooms. I was a literacy consultant for the University of Washington Center for Ed Leadership before I became a principal. So, it's really my wheelhouse. I'm
029passionate about literacy and my teachers have been so gracious and lovely and invited me in and let me model model in their rooms. We've been meeting and planning with grade level teams. I've been observing in classrooms and engaging in coaching conversations with teachers. And then one day we um our fourth grade teachers actually invited helped me out by inviting a lot of kids to stay after early release and they came in. I think we had 28 kids. We had a full class. >> 28 kids came into the library and I modeled a writing lesson in front of all staff. Clark, you were part of that lesson, right? Can I have a speech? [laughter] >> You're going to [laughter] be awesome. That's why we invited. >> Are you ready? >> But the real reason we wanted
030to share tonight is some of the celebratory things that have been happening with kids. And I wanted you to hear teacher voice and kid voice tonight. So um in February February we had a the first annual family dinner and literacy night. So we invited families to come. We did not say like a c has to bring a main dish. We just said bring anything you want to share. And it I always get panicky right before I think, "Oh, there's not going to be any more food." And there always is more food than you could ever imagine and it always works out. Um, and so that was awesome. We had a potluck dinner and then teachers volunteered and came in and they set up different literacy stations around our gym and a cafeteria and families and
031kids got to travel to all those stations. We also had a book exchange. So, we had a long table in the hallway covered with books and we said, "Bring a book, take a book." But really, it ended up just being take as many books as you want because we had so many books donated. It was great. Many of our students don't have a lot of books in um in the home. And this is some pictures from Family Literacy Night as you can see. >> And Megan, you've been at our school for a while. Would you just speak to family literacy a little bit? I've been at Monte Cristo for five years now and we've done a handful of events and this one was by far the most outspoken and you know the kids were there
032and they were all talking and interacting with each other and it was a really great burnout for parents and kids and the best thing about it is the next day when they're like I saw you at literacy night I'm like you see me every day guys [laughter] outside of the school. You know, it's really great to see be able to see the kids interacting with teachers and staff outside of school because then that's really when you're seeing their best self um outside of school, too. Yeah. >> Building great community that night and and kids getting to interact. And my teachers did an awesome job on all the stations. Kids just loved it and families did as well. That's what authentic family engagement looks like, right? Where they're interacting with um their school. Families are interacting
033with their school. And the next day we had another event. This one wasn't any fun, was it guys? >> No. Dave O'Hara came and he presented he read his book um Quigley Quigley of Lopez I think it's Lopez >> Quigley Lopez uh booster club purchased a signed copy of the book for every classroom and students learned all about the writing work from Dave and it was so much fun. So students, will you come up? Come on up. Come stand up here with me. Right there. Okay. You want to go first? Okay. Share what the board want to say about the writing this year. >> I'm script. I'm kind of nervous. >> It's going to be great. [clears throat] >> Back when I feel like I'm so much. Um, back when liter literacy night happened, I
034went to it as my first school event and it was great. I even donated books without picking it. I w I just wanted to give them to the kids who like to read. I did a Madland spooath where I [snorts] could think of funny words and put them into a story that was with you and Mrs. Jones. [laughter] >> And we were so impressed. We've been fighting over him getting his next turn ever since. [laughter] [snorts] >> It was a fun experience and I loved it. But there's more. On another note, [laughter] on another note, when the author came to our school, Dave O'Hare, but the author came to our school at the end of the assembly, I told him about my book of the my book I'm writing. >> Wow, that's a word that
035even though I wrote it [laughter] sounds good to me. >> What did Dave say? and he said he liked the idea. I have always wanted to be an author and it was meaningful to have an author say they liked an idea that I came up with. Uh now before I say the last little part, I would like uh to say that my book is going pretty good so far. Okay, >> seven pages so far. >> All right, >> thanks Clark. >> Thank you for your time and attention. I would like to thank Miss Raser for helping me with the ideas I'm talking about tonight. >> Good job. Thank you, Clark. Hi. Um, this is Mabel. Who's your teacher, Michael? >> Miss Benedict. That's right. >> Love her [laughter] to the class sometimes. >> All right.
036So, so share with us how have you grown as a writer this year? I remember back in like November, whatever the first beginning of the year, um the only type of writing I remember we were doing was spelling. Um I remember in like December or somewhere around that time actually no in January after break our teacher introduced us to the opinion writing. I honestly hated opinion writing. hated having to do the research. Um, but I definitely grown from using transitions, especially learned how to use better transitions. But I've always liked writing fiction and narrative. So when Miss Bandit told us that we were going to do historical fiction next, I got I was really happy. [laughter] >> So what was your topic for opinion writing? Uh my uh choice that I picked was therapy dogs.
037I am a dog fan myself. I love dogs way too much. [laughter] >> And what was what did you try to convince your reader of >> um that therapy dogs should be in schools [clears throat] for kids support and >> are you listening? [laughter] I am all ears. >> We're kids at work and I haven't thought about it thanks to my trusty computer. As much as I can't trust it to work half the time. >> Okay. Well, thank you. >> How fun was a writer this year? >> A lot. Tell us about it. So, in the beginning of the year, I sucked at writing. I'm not gonna lie. I was really good at reading. And then, uh, when it got to the opinion, I was because I couldn't find the things I was looking for.
038And then Miss Benedict helped me with that and [clears throat] basically helped me understand that um what what good >> um the um >> you got this. >> She helped you understand. He helped me understand that um not everything's as complicated as my mind wants to make everything. [laughter] >> So are you are you confident about the structure of an essay? No. >> Yeah. >> Were you confident about the structure of an essay? before. >> No, I I I I if if my old teacher would have gave me a pen and paper and said write, I would be like, >> "No, no, I can't." [laughter] That's awesome. >> Thank you very much. >> And this is right, Mrs. Cook is your teacher. Are you in fourth or fifth in her room? in fourth grade. I
039got to come in and watch your class write a couple times, right? >> Yeah. >> How have you grown as a writer this year? >> I mean, pretty good. At the start of the school year, my writing wasn't that great, but I I've got better. >> Oh, okay. Do you want to share something? >> Um, sure. >> She took some notes on both the author visit and then on your class. And so, >> cuz you got to be in the class that I taught in the library. So, you want to share about those experiences? >> Okay. the rest >> about about those two experiences. Whatever you took notes on to support you. >> I thought the where he came in and read the book was pretty cool. He gave us like tips on how to
040become an author and got to ask so many questions and he answered a lot. Um he showed us that you can become a writer at any time in your life and he just gave us a lot of tips on how you can >> which is one of our class like best about the authoriz author read his work. >> Oh yeah the real author got to read it. >> He got to Yeah. The real author came in with his book and got to read it to us. Yeah. >> Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Big difference, right? >> Yeah. And it didn't hurt that quickly there too. [clears throat] Huh. How about family literacy night? >> I wasn't here. >> Oh, I mean, how about the lesson in the library? >> Um, it was pretty cool. We got
041to make our own story. And what we liked about the class is we liked hearing you read the mentor text, give an example of how to write the narrative. Then we got to write our own. We liked being able to use our imagination and reading story. We also liked being given the structure of what to do, then given the creative choice to use our imagination. >> That's awesome. Fourth graders this year are learning how to write a vignette and part of their mentor text is a house on mango mango street by Sandre Saros but our kids are putting together multiple small stories under the theme of what you want to achieve in your life right and that's part of CKLA and but we teachers have restructured that so that the writing unit is cohesive >>
042I'm super excited fourth graders >> can you tell can you tell us all who Quigley was is still is [laughter] [laughter] >> well he's the dog. Um and basically the story was about him and how every day he would like come say how he would come back and he did and then >> quickly got sick. >> Oh yeah. and he had to go up to the >> and then he was really happy to see uh the offer there for him and he like to him kisses and stuff [laughter] >> and so he learned that that um true friendship is when you can trust someone and their word and and Dave kept telling um Quigley got sick when she was just a puppy, >> but he kept telling her when he would put her in the
043kennel every night uh always come back at night and I'll always come back. And then when we had to go to the vet and spend the night, >> He came back and he told her, "See, I told you I'd come back." >> Awesome. >> That was fun. >> Thank you. So, was that Mabel? Was it Mabel? >> Was that your best day ever? Cuz there's a dog at your school. Jacob, >> what do you want to say about your experiences as a writer this year? >> Um, I was like really bad at writing when we started. Like I didn't know how to like do the um paragraphs or anything, but then Miss Benedict started teaching it with like the lessons and stuff and I got like really a lot better like how to use the
044transitions and all that. [clears throat] >> So, what did you write about for your essay? Your opinion essay? Um, the one that we were like all had to do the same thing was about like chocolate milk, but the one I chose was about like why like furry shouldn't be in school. >> Why furry should not be allowed in school. Okay. And I understand one of your classmates wrote the opposing opinion that fries should be allowed in school. I can't wait. I've been invited to their uh author celebration day. So, I'll be able to go in and hear their essays. So, did you do lots of good research on that? >> Yeah. >> Okay. I can't wait to hear it. >> Did Can you tell us what you wrote about chocolate milk? >> I'm curious. [laughter]
045>> Was it about like why chocolate milk should or shouldn't be allowed in schools? >> Interesting. What'd you find out? >> I found out that it has like a lot more calories and sugar than normal milk. >> It does. But it's delicious. [laughter] >> Unless it's zero sugar and no fat, then [laughter] it's not delicious. Sugar's gone. >> Taste of deliciousness. >> It's only good with sugar. >> Anything's good with sugar. [laughter] >> Miss Rert, Miss Cook, and Miss um Benedict, will you come on up and just talk really briefly? I want to give you a chance >> to share about um your professional experience this year. >> Um well, hello. I'm Miss Rer. I teach first grade. Um there's a lot of different things that I could highlight, but I'll just kind of go
046to to the biggest ones, biggest takeaways. Um one example is just picking a unit geology. Last year teaching this versus this year teaching this with the structure we've been using studying a mentor text for that first week having it. Clar can attest to that. That big poster we have at the beginning the front of the room. What's all on that poster? What is that poster on the front of the room that has all the words? um a math mentor text. >> Mentor text. He can't use the word. Okay. Mentor text, right? So that they have >> ending but I forgot this. Okay. [laughter] >> Um so they're studying that they see the mentor text before they even start writing and that's not something that the curriculum tells you to do that we follow. So just
047right there from the beginning I feel like that has been so much more helpful. and then following the structure along that's making sure it's still CKLA aligned has really helped the kids come a long way in their writing and I think that that's really great work that we're doing [laughter] here. Um as for the author visit I'm so glad that Clark got to come and share his experience because all year he has been sharing or every time he finishes assignment it's miss rather can I work on my next story or can I go and can I write my my story and he is very passionate about it. So being able to have an author come and and share their work with the kids and then I kind of I was there when he talked to
048the author. All the kids were going to pet the dog, but he had his eyes on the author and he kind of gave his little elevator pitch about his story and I [laughter] just saw how happy he was after after getting that positive feedback from the author and I just thought, "Wow, this is some really meaningful work that we're doing here." And I thought that was really cool. Um and then uh literacy night was so much fun. Um Mrs. Cook and myself, we did a booth and when I had shared with the kids >> [clears throat] >> um about literacy night, I was going to take it as a win if maybe one or two kids showed up. I was if one or two kids were interested and showed up in my book, that would
049have been a win. I had like almost half my class show up and I thought that that was really cool and they all um really enjoyed themselves. So lot of you got to show up your art sc. [laughter] So, a lot of great work that we're doing here. So, I wanted to share a great Okay, I'm I'm going to boost um our principal up and just say that we owe actually a lot to her for our deep dive into writing because some of us have been with our district for a while. And while writing's always been there, we haven't even touched the surface honestly previously to this year. I feel like this is our first year of a real deep dive into looking at how the structure of writing works to get our kids more
050involved in writing instead of just touching the surface. Um there are two things that we're most of us are doing in our classrooms now thanks to principal oce introduce the quick write. So every day my kids take sometimes run out of time. So every day my kids have a three minute quick write about a subject and it's it's their writing. It can be private or they can share but it's all about their writing getting it out every day. And then also we are doing on top of that we are doing writer's notebooks which is really cool. We've never done that before and it's been so helpful even for teachers. I feel the writer's notebooks have been amazing. And so that's been really cool for the kids to have a notebook that they can put our
051notes in. They can put examples down and it's that little guide that we've just been using throughout the year. And I'm actually excited. This is my first year doing writer's notebooks and I'm going to do so much more next year. It's like a trial and error year of like, no, I really like that, but no, that didn't work very well. So, I'm excited to develop more of that. And that is all thanks to our principal. Those ideas I did not use before, but now I'm very happy that we do and I'm looking to develop more. So that is all thanks to our wonderful principal bringing that to us. So >> thank you. >> We also have a lot of fourth grade kids that are talking about bringing their writers notebooks with them to fifth grade.
052So I think that'd be really cool to review the concepts, have the examples. >> And I'm Mrs. Benedict. I teach fifth grade. Three of these lovely kids were mine and I love them all to death. But [laughter] I will be on well actually four because one is just observing. Um and I actually um kind of like the kids when we got a new principal and I'm like and she's going we're going to do writing. I'm like [sighs] [laughter] I was like really honestly because I've taught for more years than I would like to admit and I've never felt like I was actually teaching writing. I felt like I was assigning writing and it would be, you know, just whatever random thing I found off TPT and I'd shove it at the kids and then we'd
053move on. and she brought in writer's workshop and we've done a lot of research and how to how to and I did a writer's workshop when I was in high school and I wrote nothing the entire semester so he didn't know what he was doing either. But Maria is really good at it and she's been helping us learn. She's g us a lot of constructive feedback that we've been able to apply to the classrooms. And I feel like although I had I always have a couple of kids that are like I love to write this year I feel like I have more kids than ever that you know at first when we started the writing lessons you had the kids had the same reaction I did and now they're like all right let's go you
054know and they realized especially when we all did one and then we all got to choose our own and they got to have that they all learned the structure first >> of what goes in the opinion essay and then they got to apply that to their own choice and that really um got them excited because it wasn't just write this one little thing and move on. It was something they actually loved and they were excited about. It's so much that like Jacob was like, "When is Miss Losi coming? I want Miss Liy here for my presentation." [laughter] >> Yeah. So, I told them this morning, it's like on the calendar. Monday morning, 10:00 a.m., Jacob and Alana are going out at head to head to. But it's been wonderful. I feel like now I actually
055teach writing. And I feel like the kids are going to be so much more prepared this year for SBA because I never felt like writing was something I was good at teaching or that the kids were really It was just nebulous. There was there was no like concrete to it. It's very abstract and now I feel like it's much more concrete. It's much more understandable for me to how to teach it and understandable for them to be able to produce their writing and express themselves. >> Any questions that you'd like to ask our kids or teachers? Do you have an observation, Jax, for not wanting to know an opinion? You have very strong opinions about doing an opinion paper. [laughter] >> Yeah, she's great at that. They really are. >> So, no, that was great.
056I was curious with the the metrics that you had showed up there, 91%, 53, and 75%. Um, is there what's the timeline to then see like an an update on like how that's progressing? >> Yeah, students will be taking that data. I pulled off of the Washington's um portal, the Washington assessment um, but comprehensive assessment program. >> Yes, you win the prize tonight. [laughter] So many acronyms in education. I pulled that data straight off of um WCAP in that they disagregate our smarter balanced assessment the standardized tests by the strands and the three strands are conventions structure elaboration and detail. So our kids will be taking the test in May and the results now thanks to the miracles of technology will be up very quickly. Okay. before the end of the year, I'll be able
057to go on and see how how we did. I'm already hearing from teachers that right now we're taking the I Ready reading assessment, which is a predictor of how students will do in SBA. And so they're taking it now so teachers will know, okay, where where are the gaps we need to fill in between now and the SBA? And uh teachers are are like coming by my office, stopping me in the hall. are like, "Oh my gosh, I think there's a kid in here that went from fourth to seventh grade in reading." >> That was me. [laughter] >> I do have to ask you, what is the what is the general topic of the book you're writing? >> Dragons. >> Okay. >> I like dragons. So, >> what's not [clears throat] to love about dragons,
058right? >> They're fantastic. like dragon hunters. >> Okay. Well, I look forward to reading it. >> Dragons coexist. >> All right. And then after, can we get a group photo of everyone from MCE? >> Really? >> Could we do that right now? Yeah, we can do it right now. >> Let's do it. >> If all of the students from Monte Crystal could come up and board, too, that would be great. [clears throat] Little tight in here, but we'll >> take [laughter] >> And I also can't believe I went from fourth to seventh grade. >> I can't believe it either. You guys want to back all the way up to here? That way we can make sure we get in here with you. [laughter] like you can deal with each other. >> Right in the middle.
059[snorts] >> Okay. Ready? Look at me now. Oh, hold on one second. Ready? [laughter] [snorts] >> Ready. Two. Three. One more. One. Two. Three. Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> And we have to SMILE LIKE NOTHING. THANK YOU ALL. [clears throat] >> OKAY, that's all updated. >> Okay, [snorts] writers change the world. >> There we go. And I will now turn it over to executive director Moore for a teaching and learning update. [clears throat] >> [snorts] >> so much. [cough] Thank you. [laughter] >> Sorry, Lily. like, "Hey, [laughter] >> follow." >> Yeah, I can't. >> Yeah, it's okay. >> I'm Well, I got new glasses. >> My first pair of glasses ever. And I can now read that. So, I don't actually change my computer to It's a real thing. >> It's a real thing. Uh
060lovely to see you. Um that was lovely >> for the first time ever. [laughter] >> I'm I'm so proud of our kids and thank you that >> um this is the way of the future. So I hope that you you hear that from our kiddos and from the it it's not groundbreaking work. It's work that we need to do. Um and it's really really valuable and you can hear it from the kids and you can hear from our teachers that there's real value. And the research talks about the impact of of writing on reading, but also the impact of writing on on math. We've got some work to do. So, thank you for doing that. Um, just a really quick six bullets here. Um, huge thank you to Grant Falls High School yesterday. Um, I
061don't I think that you probably know that we do regular visits with our schools. Our district leadership team uh went there yesterday and uh conducted a about two and a half hours of a school visit. And those school visits are very intentionally designed uh around um really understanding what the projects are at the school, what we're working on at the school, their school improvement plan, our goals, and then walking through classrooms. And so we had uh a number a number of different uh classrooms we saw yesterday, something like 15 or 12 or something classrooms. It was really it was really wonderful to see and thank you to Granite Falls High School, the teachers, staff, and Mr. Pike and Mr. B. Um we uh have one more uh for Crossroads and ELC that's coming in May
062and we're excited to see that. Um just a quick assessment update. Uh we are finishing our wellness screener as you're aware. We do a student wellness screener three times [clears throat] in the year and that is this week. Um and we are almost there. Um we are doing a participation rates every day and we're getting there. So um this is super important information for us. Um, it gives us really two two real ways to to [clears throat] to think about this data. The first is if if if we have a kiddo who says, "I feel [snorts] alone at school. I feel sad. I don't have any friends. There's not an adult we can talk to." We can wrap around that student today and uh, [clears throat] you know, contact the family, contact the student, put
063some supports into place to wrap around that kiddo. And then as a school building, we can use that data to really determine what are our next moves in terms of goal three in our school improvement, which is really around belonging. Um, super important to remember that an attendance goal on your school approved plan is not about attendance. It's about relationship. It's about um do I want to come to school? Do I feel like there's an adult who will see me and hear me? Um, and so this is the work that we do. So we use that data in a variety of ways in terms of school funding. Um we have just submitted phase two of our program review. Um so we are awaiting response. We'll have final determinations uh in May and then a final
064round of submission for June 2nd. And super excited and we didn't plan it this way having Principal Loi here in the room, but Maria called me about a month ago and she said, uh we really want to grow our fifth grade band and uh we don't have enough instruments. What can you do for me? And as a as a district leader, that question is always a kind of a how much money do you have? And so um I uh we had a conversation and uh we were able to put together a little bit of funding out of a title four fund which is specifically designed for well-rounded education. So it pays for uh for things that would uh enhance or implement the school day. And this is one of this is a perfect expenditure. So
065as of right now, we have received uh instruments that are um right now being inventoried and given a serial number and they will be used uh for fifth graders at um Monte Crystal Elementary as a really wonderful on-ramp uh for when they really join for real for real uh in the sixth grade at Granite Falls Middle School. So thank you to Maria for um you know bringing that work forward and um we're excited to have those in the hands of our kids. want to just add a a a good number piece and that was when um Brooke Rundle, our music teacher, came to me and said, "Oh, I want to tell you about this band thing that I do every year and you know um we've got we do it after school two days a
066week and let's learn get to try on an instrument. They learn the beginning of reading music and it's really good. It's really cool." And I said, "How many kids?" And she said, "Well," I said, "Where do they get the instruments?" And she said, "Well, we have a couple that we borrow from the high school and you know, but we tell kids that family or we tell kids only if you really, really can't afford an instrument." I said, "Well, how many kids are signed up?" 24. We have 63 kids participating in band. So, pretty exciting. And I left school tonight and they were un they all got here Friday and they were unpacking and uh creating inventory >> and they were trying them out today. [laughter] >> And just so you know there are two [clears
067throat] two separate rotations. So one that there's a group A of fifth graders and a group B of fifth graders because as you can imagine having 63 band students that are fifth grade just starting to play an instrument don't know what to do with the mouthpiece. don't know how to put the instrument together can be a little bit of a handful. So, um, so great job. >> We probably don't know, but you as a music teacher probably have an idea of, >> let me just take my word for it. 63 fifth graders with band instruments dot dot dot. So, [snorts] very exciting. >> Is that 40% of the student population? >> Say again. >> Is that 40 40% of the student population that >> of that class? >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Pretty cold. Yeah.
068>> Yeah. >> Never never known of ban to comprise 40% of any student population. So that's >> and they're coming after school and >> but outside of school hours parents are driving them and >> high school bus. >> Really quickly on title four funds um there is some specificity around that and it um it does fit the model. You'll remember that title four funds used to be they were the they were the funds from the tobacco settlement from many many years ago and those monies sat there and at first they were for smoking um like in tobacco you know education and those kind of things they have grown the regulations around that so it can we we know that when kids are involved in after school and before school activities and and those kind of
069things that it it fors those those things. So it's it's great that it the language around it has changed and we have some more flexibility. And then we had some matching funds which I'm sure you're going to talk about. >> We invested about $5,000 and um a special thank you to our community coalition who they were able to also um um contribute to the to the um the effort. So super proud of this work. You know, I'm I'm a longtime musician and a longtime fan of this work and and we we talk a lot about research, but re research says that the kiddos that play music are going to be more successful in the rest of their content because they're learning a new language. They're engaging in really cognitively disciplined content. >> So, uh it's
070very very exciting and um you know, more to come on that. So, uh, my final two things. Um, huge shout out, uh, to the elementary advisory team. This, this is a team of elementary teachers. There's a representative. There's two representatives from each grade level. And, uh, they came together actually in this room last night. Um, we we transitioned it after they were done, but there were charts across the wall. They've been working on pacing guides. Super important and and super important for our students that that we have a common and aligned experience for our learners. You've heard me talk about the the arc of instruction and um our elementary advisory team is rocking it. Um they will complete that in in May and then we will have a a calendar of instruction for elementary for
071ELA and math and then next year's work. It takes time, takes collaboration, it takes processing like Cassandra, Miss Benedict is part of that work. Um but it is a lovely team of people who come together and they're they are just diving in and doing the work. Next work uh for us will also be to to look at updating and um and doing some adjustments to our elementary report card comments. They're a little bit dated. It's always important to look at those uh often. And then uh finally, a shout out to our Crossroads teachers. Um a group came together just a few weeks back. Um they have done some work around our HMH um math curriculum. Um they weren't able to use the HMH into math that was adopted a few years ago before my time.
072uh because students were struggling to get to um to access it. And so we were able to uh using OSSI funds that are specific to Crossroads um put together um a package for them of um HMH math 180 which is interventional curriculum and those teachers came together to learn how to do it. So now at Crossroads High School we are using uh HMH into literature in 11th grade. We're using HMH read 180 which is the reading intervention curriculum and we're using HMH math 180 and it very much is very much designed for the learners as they're coming to us. So we take their um their assessment data and then we match the curriculum directly to them. So super shout out to those teachers who came together. It was a full day of instruction on how
073to use that curriculum and uh super important for us moving forward so that we can um help our students get to where they need to be. Any questions for me? Thank you so much. >> Thank you, >> Director Cruz. >> I'm just a quick reminder that the full business report is in the board packet for you guys to review kind of outside the board meeting. Um, we're trying this new thing this year where we just put a couple slides in the report to kind of summarize the business report and hoping to give a quick overview and then if you anybody wants a deeper dive, it's in the board packet. Um, so first slide I have up is enrollment. Um, we've been seeing a steady kind of decline at the high school level all year long,
074which we need to do a deep dive into and see where those students are going. Everybody else is holding steady or increasing. And um as of April 1st, our average is 21.88 and we are not counting work site learning yet. So once we add work site learning in, we'll be over 2200 and we'll be better than budget, but still want to find out kind of what's going on at the high school with um that slow decline in enrollment throughout the year. Um and the big thing is, you know, we have kindergarten roundup coming up. We're really monitoring kindergarten. Our demographics report says one of these days you're going to get a really big kindergarten class coming through and it's going to start a trend of really big kindergarten class classes. It was supposed to be
075this year, didn't happen this year. Um we're kind of mentally ready for it if it happens and we'll pivot if it does, but you know, we're budgeting based on normal numbers for kindergarten. But any one of these years could start a trend of really big kindergarten classes. um and our you know our demographics study that has us getting to about 3,000 students in five or six years. It's dependent on those big kindergarten classes. So that's why it's really important that we monitor that. [snorts] Um like to include a slide that has just kind of a snapshot of where we are right now with all our funds. Um our general fund is uh positive 291. It is that's $1.2 2 million better than it was last year, which is fantastic. It's a little below budget. Um
076got some headwinds with inflation and funding and um student needs and things like that. So, it's we're probably going to end around 6% which we had kind of the deep dive forecast that in last board report. Um all of our other funds are doing great. Um, we did get a new bus in in in March. So, our transportation fund is going to be kind of going down a little bit, but that's what we want to do. We want to buy buses with our money or else uh or else that money gets less. [snorts] Um, so I think snapshot of where we are right now looks really good. >> Marcia, can you talk about Sorry, can you talk about the ASB funds? Um, they've spent some significant dollars, right? >> Um, ASB funds is actually up
077uh from where we thought it would be. The current balance is $389,000. That, you know, that pays for all the ASB stuff. Like student fees go into that and then ticket fees go into that, but that pays for um referees and uh bus trips and stuff like that for student activities. Um we have more students participating in things. We have a much bigger budget in ASB than we ever have. We have much more money coming in and out of ASB due to due primarily to student participation and families coming out to supporting events, paying for tickets to events, giving us more money to spend on those student activities. >> Thank you. >> Um and then just kind of wanted to give a heads up what's coming. Um we're in the middle of our big federal
078state um annual audit and uh it's going well. They've wrapped up all their field work. We're anticipating an exit exit conference maybe the second week of May. We'll get an invite out to everybody um seeing who wants to attend that. Trying to make it in person, but they're also trying to wrap up everybody's everybody's uh conferences [snorts] sometime in that two week period. Um they're going to roll the AL audit results that we have. They're going to roll it into those results to make it one comprehensive um audit results. We'll get those results at that time as well. Um stay tuned to next board meeting where we talk we'll have the resolution for the um the bridge loan for our levy money and then um Milig's been out couple weeks ago they were here for
079three days uh doing major inventorying of our HVAC and lighting structures here. They're going to be back uh next week um continuing their deep dive and then they will build a report of u needs and costs and projected savings if we implement the costs uh the projects to the board for prioritization. Um and then uh we're targeting we always do early July for a budget study session and July 22nd for the budget adoption. Um and then uh gonna have lots of summer projects this year. We're going to have to work around some bigger projects going on in the district. So, we haven't decided what we think we can tackle as a internal team yet. Waiting to hear what we're going to try and do with um with Millig and with the health center and all
080those things. Um taking up a lot of space and time. That's it. >> And just another like for everybody watching that the the schoolbased health center is not part of levy dollars or district funds. is completely funded out of um you know >> it's a grant >> something from it is it's from the governor's budget so I think that is really important and it will provide again medical dental and mental health services for our students free of cost but it is no cost to the district >> and the ongoing services are no cost to the district as well >> correct >> and then lastly our upcoming events um and I know Thomas mentioned this the honor society induction um April 28th at the high school pack. Uh kindergarten roundup. Um anyone who could attend that,
081it's the cutest thing ever. Um and so if you want to attend, there's a there's a two-hour window there. And then the two athletic the athletic field and the capital projects levy committees that are um meeting and there's there's the two dates there, but they're also the first Tuesday of the month and the second Tuesday of the month and they'll be ongoing meetings. Uh we want to be as transparent as possible on all the levy work and all the dollars being spent and um continue to communicate that out to our community so everybody knows what's happening. And then you know spring sports are fun because you never know when they're going to happen. So um instead of saying it's rare for a basketball game to get cancelled, but it is not rare for a softball
082game to get cancelceled. So just check out your school the high school's website and those kind of things to see when things are are happening. And um because rain can be can be a thing, right? And um we have two tles players sitting here, so they have to be flexible. So spring sports and then all you get your games in and your matches in, but we never know when they're going to occur. So >> especially Monday, none of our team thought we had a game Monday. >> See, we're like, [clears throat] um >> yeah, yeah, you have to be ready to play. I remember packing my uniform several days and it kept raining and you're like, one of these days we're going to get this game in, you know? So all right, that's it. All
083right. Any questions, comments? No. Okay. Uh item four, items from the floor. We have none. Okay. Uh five, unfinished business. We have none. Uh six, a new business, reduced educational support resolution. Any discussion on this? This is primarily driven by the fact that our what do we co-op with Lake Stevens is officially done at the end of this year. So, uh crossroads will have >> reduced that >> yeah reduced reduced students there. So, any comments, questions, discussion? >> No, I think it's prudent to make sure that our budget stays balanced that we prepare for this and we always seem to make adjustments. Uh well, at least since I've been on the board that uh we're not overextending on um staffing for students that aren't here. >> Yeah. >> Is there any possibility of attrition? >>
084Of course. >> Allowing those people to maintain employment? >> Yes. Um always. Um so just to be financially prudent, um I would say the majority of districts in the area are doing a reduction of force. ours happens to be classified only. Um I'm sure you've seen the news that other districts are um you know it is it is 6 million in Mount Vernon and it's you know and so I am I'm very grateful that we are only having to do a classified reduction and it really is due to um the sun sets of that agreement with Lake Stevens um and it allows us some flexibility but yes there are generally positions available but if we don't meet certain um deadlines uh on the calendar then we we have to do RIF resolutions by a certain
085date. So, we want to make sure we do that. And then, of course, if there's positions that they are qualified for and can apply for them, >> and we don't know all of the attrition that's going to happen yet. So, >> historically, we we do this every year and it's very rare that we're have to take action, >> use all of them. Yeah. >> So, um we have to be prepared. >> Okay. If no other discussion, I'd like to make a motion that we uh approve the reduced educational support resolution. >> Second. >> Motion's been made and seconded. All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. And then uh cons item seven, consent agenda. Any discussion within the consent agenda? >> Just that we updated the attachments. >> Yeah. >> Um I don't see the minutes,
086but so I are there minutes. There are in the um in your meetings in the in the minute. I don't attach the minutes to the consent agenda. >> So, do we approve the minutes in the consent agenda if they're not? >> Have you gone into the last meeting and looked at the minutes that are in there? They're just not published to the public. >> So, the meetings, we're approving the minutes from the last meeting here, but they're just not in here. there in the previous meeting. >> So I guess to be honest then no I didn't go to the last meeting. >> We can move it. We can add them there. >> I just right there either way. Um >> I'm just trying to stop copy >> all it all it says is approval of
087the minutes for March 11th. So I I may be looking in the wrong spot. Why don't I just >> Am I assuming that you all have filmed the minutes somewhere else? >> No, I'll start a new process. We can add it to um the Go >> for the next one. >> Okay. >> But I'm I'm for real looking at it and I don't >> So, should we remove [snorts] the item? >> I'm looking on the 11th. you can just tell me where they are and I'll look at them right now and then >> easier on a laptop because then you go into um let me >> I'm looking at the agenda for the last one is it not there >> on the I don't know what your computer screen looks like but >> just like
088that >> and then edit minutes >> and then the minutes are in there and they're just not published to the >> we'll just add them to this >> and we can make it part of the consent agenda attach attached Okay. >> Yeah. >> Gotcha. >> Okay. >> I see it. I found it. >> Okay. Okay. But we going forward we can do that. >> All right. So, any action required from consent agenda right now? Just leave it. >> Okay. >> If no discussion for consent agenda, then the consent agenda passes with unanimous consent. The time is 7:14 and that adjourns this meeting of the Granite Falls School Board. >> Thank you. Good job. >> Can we agree that Clark is hilarious? >> Oh my god. >> [laughter]