GFSD School Board Meeting 5/14/25

001six. Oh, I'm sorry. The time is now 6 PM. I'd like to welcome you all to this meeting of the Granite Falls School District. Um, board of directors. Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you, sir. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Dana. I'll hand it over to Miss Giza for our land acknowledgement. Thank you. Uh we honor the first peoples of these lands by acknowledging that the area in which we gather is within the traditional territory of the still awamish tribe of Indians. The still awamish tribe tribe still awamish people have inhabited these lands and waters since time in memorial and their descendants have remained in this territory to this

002day. The stillish people have continued to practice the traditional ways of their ancestors of fishing, hunting and gathering. The Stilogamish tribe has had these lands and cultural traditions passed on to them by their ancestors who who believe that everything has a spirit and that they are the caretakers of these lands and waters. Thank you. Um in today's meeting we have uh director DNE, director Leoo, Director Kerry, myself, Director Kane, um and our superintendent Dana Keelin. I'd like to make a motion to excuse stress adoption. I'll second. Motion has been made and seconded. All in favor? Thank you. Uh moving on to item number 3A. Uh it looks like the cert certificated staff appreciation. We just want to mention that last week was um across the state certificated staff appreciation week and many things were done

003at the building levels and we did a little something from the district level, but we sure appreciate all that they do um to lead our system and and teach our kids and it's teachers and our ESAs. So, our ESAs, of course, are our counselors and nurses and occupational therapists and SLPs and um I'm probably missing someone in there, but um a special to what they do each and every day to meet the needs of all of our kiddos and to move that needle forward. So, a special thank you to them. Thanks. Uh 3B board comments and reports. We'll start with Director Day. Um I don't have any anything important tonight. Okay. Director Leoo. Yeah. Um, so on the WIA side of the house, uh, Director Dayne also informed me to as well. Um, girls flag

004football is officially brought in by the WIAA. Um, so that could also be a fun fun fun thing to bring in. I know Superintendent Geon has been working on even potentially a golf team for us as well. So that's all a go. Um, I think Battle Creek, yes, is is going to be the golf course. So, great great location. Um, an exciting opportunity for our kids to get out there and, you know, play some golf, spend some time with each other, basically hike and swing at balls. It's fun. It's It's fun. It's why we do it throughout our life. Um, and then also, so we're part of our audit exit review today. Um, and this is quite candidly I could say it's the first year in many years where there's no exit items to be

005taken from from the audit, which for anybody that knows that means that everything is clean in order where it's supposed to be. Um, it was great. It was a nice short meeting because there wasn't there wasn't anything to really address outside of that. So, um, that's fantastic findings. Again, that's from the state auditor. Um, so that's a that's a big piece for us. I think the findings will be available to public. Yes, it'll be released. Yes. Yeah. So, those will be released here shortly, but uh yeah, just all great news all around. So, um I don't have anything for Ledge, but just real quick on the auditors that um that's only possible through the hard work of staff and um our superintendent. So, wonderful job. I think in my 12 years, I've only seen maybe

006once um early on where we had a clean audit. So, great, great, great job. Um, I do have another statement, which is um, and this is weird for me because I I always speak off the top of my head, but this was really important to me, so I wanted to write it down and make sure I got everything out um, and was able to to really kind of go through my thoughts. Um, I want to share something that I'm probably most of you guys know in this room. I've decided to not run for another four-year term. Uh over the past 12 years, I've had the privilege of helping work and guide our district to a more financially stable place, helped work to recruit dynamic and passionate teachers, and of course support the amazing educators and

007staff um that we have across our schools to the best of my ability. But honestly, I and I mean this, I think my greatest accomplishment was being part of the team that brought Dana Geese into the superintendent role. Uh, this district is good and it's going to be great because Dana is without a doubt the hardest working superintendent I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Her commitment to doing what's best for kids, even when it's hard, even when it's not the popular thing, is unmatched. Uh, she's exactly the leader we need. And Dana, of course, has my full trust and support. And I ask that everyone in the district give her the grace, understanding, and backing she deserves. She continues leading this district forward. So, just quick talk about why I what led me

008to this decision because I I certainly want to be clear and transparent. Um, I've always had a guiding principle in my life. It's your children will become who you are. So, be who you want them to be. Uh, the men I'm raising my sons to become are men who I want to care deeply about their community. I want them to stand up for those without a voice. I want them to be willing to do the work to make things better. I stepped up to serve on the board because I wanted my children to see that great communities don't just happen. They are built by people who show up, who listen, who work hard, and who care. Democracy thrives with participation. Whenever my son starts something and want to quit, I always tell them, "Finish well.

009See the commitment through to the end." And after serving three terms, 12 years, I've come to recognize that with where my career and my life are heading, I can't confidently commit to another four years. And I refuse to ask my community that I love and support to give their love and support and trust to me without knowing that I can hold up my side of commitment. And this there appears to be a lot of interest from others in our community to step up and serve on the board, which is an amazing thing. And I feel confident that will leave the district in really good hands. Um, my time on the board has brought both joy and challenge, but every moment has deepened my love for this district and the people in it, and it's been

010truly an honor to serve. Um, before I conclude, I want to be vulnerable and about a challenge that even though I try not to let it, still breaks my heart. Social media and the impact it has on all of us. Um, too often I see on social media assumptions are made about the decisions made by the board or by others in the community. Details are shared that are incorrect or partially correct but lack context. Inclusions are drawn based upon that incorrect information. Positions are hardened and everyone retreats to their corners. The cycle continues and it makes true dialogue more difficult with each round. I've always believed the local politics should represent the best of us because we live here. I live here. We raise our families here and the decisions we make affect our own

011neighbors. While I don't speak for the board, but I can assure you that everyone sits in these seats, pass a primary goal to move the district forward with care, integrity, and a shared commitment to do what's best for students. So, I ask if there's anything that you guys want to give me. I don't I'm not looking for a party. I'm not looking for a plaque. I'm not looking for any celebration at all. If you want to honor me stepping up in this role, what I ask with the deepest respect is let's show our students and children who we want them to be. Ask questions. Reach out. Seek understanding before assuming negative intent. Contact your board member directly for context and clarity. Disagreeing is okay. If you if even after you do all that, you still

012disagree. I can live with that. But what I can't live is a cycle that continues um to break apart the circle and culture of trust, grace, and constructive dialogue that I would hope that we build. So, thank you for the opportunity to serve. It's been truly an honor, and I certainly will make sure that I finish well. Thank you. Oh, thank you, Paul. Thank you for all of your work. You built this and it's pretty amazing. So, thank you. Well, um, for my comments tonight, I just wanted to say like Carl kind of alluded to, there's a lot of things going around on social media, especially the last couple days, a lot of mean and hateful things being said without context. So, I have just a little something to uh read um kind of about

013that. Um, and so here we go. On behalf of the entire board, I want to begin by reaffirming something we all care deeply about, which is our Granite Falls community, especially the children and families who attend our schools. As in some previous years, this week included the very difficult task of reducing a small number of staff positions. These decisions are painful at every level, and we recognize how much they impact our employees, their families, their colleagues, and our entire school community. There are many complexities to school budgeting, but perhaps the most impactful is enrollment. Predicting how many students will be with us in the fall and being cautious with the number of staffing contracts we commit to. If we are overstaffed, we simply do not have the funding to support all contractual obligations. We balance

014staffing to enrollment every year, and this year in particular, we have not seen the number of resignations and retirements that we typically do. Without those natural staffing changes, the need to for formal reductions becomes more likely. Next year, we are forecasting 90 to 100 fewer students than this year. This enrollment decline is being driven by several factors. One is smaller kindergarten classes due to declining birth rates following CO. the sun setting of our agreement with Lake Stevens School District through which we had sub served approximately 70 of their students at Crossroads High School and a moratorium on new housing construction to Granite Falls which has been in place for over 2 years. It was originally set to lift this May but that has now been delayed. Once the moratorum is lifted, we do expect to

015see growth in our community and in time our student enrollment. This represents nearly 1 million less in enrollment based revenue for the coming year. We want our staff and community to know that these decisions are not made lightly. We value every employee who serves Granite Falls students and we take seriously the effect these changes have on individuals and families. Our northstar remains unchanged student learning and success. Our goal is to prepare our students for choicefilled lives and that starts with our classrooms with the support of our amazing teachers and staff. Every decision we make is guided by that purpose and we remain focused on building a strong sustainable future for all learners. Thank you for your continued partnership and commitment to public education here in Granite Falls. Thank you. Welcome. Moving on uh to item

016number 4A in district reports. Uh business report prepared by Marshall Cruz. I wasn't planning on presenting. It's uh pretty much based stuff. We're on track to make our 5% fund balance. Um Peter talked about the audit which was fantastic audit. We had a lot of kudos for being one of the few districts that are navigating these troubled waters well. [Music] Um and just um there is a item further on the board agenda about a budget extension for capital projects. We applied for a large grant um to re redo our HVAC system and that'll flow through capital projects. It won't be our money. It'll be state money and we're hoping we hear from it hear about it by Friday, but I had to get it into the board packet at this time. So, that's coming up.

017I will also just uh to build upon the audit as well. I think most of us that were in that room learned, at least myself, Bill, even Dana, uh, learned actually a rather alarming best practice that most districts, in fact, I think out of what 295 districts in the in the state, I think only two are are meeting right now. And that's cash on hand. So, right, we refer fund balance, right? And that's basically if if funding stopped for some reason, what's the cash available on hand? Uh currently with about, you know, 5% projected, it's 12 days of cash on hand that we have for the district. I want everybody to have that sink in. The school can operate for 12 days if funding for some reason was no longer coming in. The best practice

018is 60 days. Like I said, two school districts in the state have that. And so when we are continuing to, and I know Director Kerry has has driven this, he bless his heart. He brings it up to, you know, Marshall every time one of these financial reports comes up. 5% I know it that's been the number that's been driven in, but you know, we're tracking towards 5.2 and that's 12 days. That's a little bit over two. That's not even two and a half school weeks, right? That's not a lot, right? And so I I really cannot stress enough when, right, we're not trying to be complete penny pinchers or misers up here. The intent is really how can we be financially solvent, right? if you in your own home finances, I don't think anybody would

019be comfortable with only having enough money to live for 12 days, right? And this is a district that is, you know, 25 2600 plus people rely upon this district. Um, so it's just I I really want to nail that home because I was shocked hearing that the best practice is 60 days. that represents like an 18% fund balance which most districts 99% of them are nowhere near that. Um so it's just a a state of financial struggle across the entire state. Um and again you know Carl mentioned it beautifully as well too like we can disagree we can understand each other. Please reach out to us. School finance is I mentioned it I think two or three board meetings ago too, but it's like there's specific buckets where you can pay pay for certain things.

020Money just you know we are we're a we're a community. We're a house basically that are trying to make payments on things and sometimes the money is not there unless we make difficult decisions. Um and so we're more than happy I'm more than happy you know email people do at Granite Falls. um you know more than happy to sit down and chat because if there are any blind spots that we happen to have. I would love love love to hear any feedback any information maybe I can provide some additional context that may not be there for you and maybe again maybe we do have blind spots that we're not seeing but we would be more than happy to address those and work together to make sure that we're in a better place here going forward.

021So thank you. Yeah. Any other comments? Okay. Um, moving on to Hold on. 3B. Oh, wait. No, I'm sorry. No, where am I? 4B. 4B. Sorry, I closed the window on accident. Um, item number 4B, the superintendent report. All right, we'll go ahead and get started. Oh, I think I have the We just glared it. Just Oh. Oh, yep. I think we're good. It buzzed at me. That was not very odd. All right. Um, just some uh quick highlights, uh, district facilities and safety. So, huge thank you to our maintenance team, uh, Nikolai and Ian especially. Um, all outdoor lighting across the the district has been upgraded. that that is really it's bigger than we're probably letting on because it's just, you know, it the lights are better now. They're LED lights. They're brighter. They're

022more energy efficient, longer lasting, all of those things. But, um, that gives us better access and people can see when they're going out to cars and those kind of things. This time of year, it's not as big of a thing, but in the in the in the dead of winter, it really it really makes such a difference. So, thank you. Many in the district saw them out and about um on the big genie that we have that takes them up there. So, huge work. Um, secondly, something we're super excited about and um I just a huge shout out to Allison King. She came to meet with Marshall and I and just said, "Gosh, I'd really like to see if we can get an AED um on the playfields." And um as you all know, the

023the quicker if someone goes into cardiac arrest, build a special doses, let's do that's our chief. Um if we can get, you know, treatment to them and an AED right away, it just makes all the difference in the world. So Allison came to us, we said, "Yes, that would be great." And um we are now working with project 100 and we met with them at another meeting. Bottom line, it's going to be installed May 22nd. We'll have many that are in this room at that ribbon cutting ceremony. The ad looks something like that and it's it's going to be out there um just for that quick response. All of the the AD and the safe station have all been donated. Um Granite Falls Fire will be there um grilling hot dogs and we're going to

024have a little little to do if we can find a big big pair of scissors. I don't know if Marshall will be able to secure those yet, but just thank you to everybody who made that possible. That is um really exciting. And then we'll register it on Pulse Point, which um means that everybody who goes to that app, you can see where there's AEDs in the area and um we're really excited about that. It's it's a huge thing. Um lastly, we Marshall and I met with Milig. Um they came to us, I think we had a meeting with them in January and they did the walkthroughs, the inkind walkthroughs across our whole system. Um there are lots of needs. There's there's many many things um because they kind of looked in every nook and cranny.

025And then there's a lot of opportunities for some possible energy efficient moves that we can do, some immediate and long-term needs. We'll get that report to you all um and maybe have them at a study session come in front of us and kind of list out some things. um noteworthy just the energy use at each of our buildings and the fact that um Monte Cristo and Mountain Way, the way the HVAC systems work there and things are using the same amount of energy as a Granite Falls High School, which obviously is a much bigger building, has stadium lighting, all of the things. So, we have some some energy um some high energy use buildings. I almost said they're energy suckers, but that sounds terrible. But the truth is those buildings are not efficient and it's

026costing us money. So, we have some work to do, but we're really excited. They've been um a nice partner in that. So, um some next steps there. All right. I have some things in this the audit, but I think we probably we talked about that a little bit. And thank you to both of the directors who were there. Um I just want to give a huge shout out to Marshall and um Morgan who really just responded. when auditors are in in your system, you're you're you're kind of on pins and needles because they can they could ask for a number of things and they were able to provide all the things that we needed. I think the next audit will involve um federal special education, so we'll be ready for that. Um and all of

027the things from previous audits have been corrected. They're no longer an issue. Um and the district was highly commended for the fiscal stewardship and that is work over the last several years. So, thank you Marshall and your team and everybody who contributed to that. And a special shout out to Lynn um our child nutrition supervisor because that was audited this year and she did such a nice job of giving the auditors everything they needed to um to review. So thank you to everyone who helped make that happen. Um I know Carly that you mentioned this a little bit. Um just the reduction in force um that we had to engage in. And if if uh a staff member is reduced um there's always the possibility that you know we could especially the two teachers that

028were reduced this week. That was um never where we want to be as a system. We'd like to be growing as a system and we will be uh soon. Um but we do have those declining birth rates that you mentioned that suns setting agreement. Um the enrollment continues to decline a little bit. But um it was a different number on from our April 1st um student count. We have 50 almost 60 fewer students um than we did in November. So we're we continue to operate on contracts that we've agreed to. So this year it gets a little bit harder to kind of make ends meet. Again, we have a fewer resignations and retirements. Um the board did approve the the RIFF resolution um and it was 10 certificated staff, 10 classified, one administrator as of

029this week. Um we got that down to just two certificated staff members and one administrator. Um and we will be posting that AL program manager. Um reframing that a little bit. That's obviously our AL programs are going to be a lot less students. And then we'd like to look at some other options too. Um maybe a homeschool partnership down the road. um we have several people in the community who homeschool and we we want to be a good partner with them also. So there there's some other opportunities that that's some things some other districts are doing. We don't have any classified staff reductions um right now. Um there could be a few things there. Um that's kind of the next thing to look at as we continue to um assess our fiscal um projections for

030next year. Teaching and learning. Emily, good evening. Um just a couple of updates. Um we're in the thick of it with end of the year evaluations. Um those conferences are underway across the district. So huge thank you to our certificated staff and our classified staff. We're working through those in our building principles. We are starting to get back our SBA scores which um that they're starting to trickle in and we're taking a look at that growth. Special thank you to Dan Scholard and our technology team. and we've been working together all year conducting an inventory of our digital platforms and resources um to look for any places of redundancy um and any potential cost savings. Um got great news just a couple uh weeks ago from um OSPI that our OSSI grant for open doors

031has been awarded which is great. We still await any news about the crossroad side of that conversation. uh on May 28th uh if all goes well uh we will be bringing an adoption recommendation to you around the 612 ELA adoption and uh we'll talk through that with you when that comes. Um and then we are approximately 3/4 of the way through our SBA and W fast science testing and I just want to give a huge shout out to our building principles and our building testing coordinators. is is a heavy lift. Um and um the coordinators and the building principles do that hard work. And then of course to our teaching staff who deliver uh tests and proctor tests and all the people that do one-on-one scribing and all of those services. It is a heavy

032lift every year and just want to send a great big thank you to all of you. Thank you. Thank you. Beautiful. Um some upcoming district and community events. This is not an inclusive list. Please uh make sure you you know follow our website and and the school websites and those kind of things. We do have tomorrow night, night of the arts, uh, Grand Falls High School Commons, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. to try to catch the first part of this and then I, Emily and I are both heading to a housing hope um, fundraiser that we committed to long before we knew that the night of the arts. It's just Thursday night. Um, and then the AD safe station um, board meeting on the 28th. Uh, bridgeuer and success and education awards are going to be

033at that um, at that board meeting and that again is at Gran Falls High School Performing Arts Center. our graduation events. Those are just a few of them. There's many other things happening as well. And then the graduation ceremonies that we have coming up and it's just the culmination of so many years of hard work for all of our kids and um and all of our staff too. So looking forward to celebrating our graduates. I'll also add uh Monte Cristo has their choir concert tomorrow night as well. So um there's a third and a fourth fifth uh choir concert tomorrow evening. So, what time does that start, Director Leoo? Uh, 6. I think it's 6. I'd have to double check, but um but yeah, definitely there will be cuz there's two different two different groups.

034The three, four, four, five. Um, but yeah, so uh I believe so. I think so. I have to double check. I apologize. I wasn't in my calendar. No, no, but that that'll be fun. If you want to see some some little ones belt their heart out, I believe one of the songs is I'm Still Standing by El John. No, it's not. Yes. Instead, I'll be eating some bad Mediterranean chicken. I'm not kidding. It's been that for like the last three years, I think. Right, Emily? All right. Um, moving on. Our next um item um that I know we're going to do in a minute, the the CT management review. But before we get to that, um I wanted to say that we have our WASA awards coming up. And um I don't I know that

035JBJ is going to kill me for doing this. So, if he starts shooting me daggers, then you know, we're just going to deal with it. It's fine. We're honoring our community partner um the library and the amazing work they do to partner with us and bring collections in. So, a huge thank you to them. But I thought that tonight I would read um the speech that is going to be read at the Wasa Awards to honor JBJ who has been selected for this award. Um he is amazing as you all know. Um and I want to just talk about him for a second. All right, here we go. Um this will be on Friday. We'll be recognizing him. Today, we'd like to recognize someone who truly embodies the heart, hands, and hope of education in

036the Granite Falls School District. Mr. Josh Vance, or as he's known around town, JBJ, or as our students affectionately call him, Mr. JBJ. JBJ is the kind of educator whose impact is immediate and lasting. He splits his time between Granite Falls Middle School and Granite Falls High School, and no matter where he is, students flock to his classes. He is that teacher, the one that kids remember years later, the one that they request, the one whose classroom becomes a second home. Last summer when we asked him to revive a long dorm at manufacturing construction program at the high school, he didn't flinch. The shop space had been unused for three years and left in complete disarray by various one-off projects. It was clut cluttered, neglected, and hardly a place of learning. But in true JBJ

037fashion, he saw potential, and he got to work. He scrubbed, sorted, repaired, reimagined, and rebuilt. It was like extreme extreme makeover shop edition. And by fall, that space had become what is what it was always meant to be, a vibrant, hands-on learning environment where students create, build, and take pride in their work. What's happening in his classroom every single day is nothing short of magic. But JBJ's impact doesn't stop at the shop doors. Drive into Granite Falls during any season, and you'll likely be greeted by a community display built in partnership with his middle school students. From frightening falls at Halloween to Gravy Falls at Thanksgiving to Granite Fala La. Yes. So, you have to read that on Friday during I gave the a heads up that they would have to read that during the

038holidays and Granite falling in love in February. These displays are clever, joyful, and beloved by everyone, especially visitors heading toward the Mount Loop. He's a constant presence at community events, always building something that adds beauty, pride, or fun to the occasion. When we launched our bridge builder staff awards, JBJ created and engraved wooden bridges in an incredible hand painted backdrop for photos. And somehow every time we say, "It's really me, so I'm going to own this." Hey JBJ, I have an idea. Do you think you could pull it off? His answer is always yes. Yes for students. Yes for staff. Yes for community. Yes because he believes in what's possible and helps others believe it too. Today or Friday, um it's our honor to present the Wasa Award to Josh Van Jensen. An extraordinary educator,

039a generous teammate, and a true builder in every sense of the word. Congratulations JVJ. You make Granite Falls and all of us proud. Okay, I turn back over to you. Gravy Falls is my favorite. Um, so coming up next is item number 4C, which is uh the CT management review presented by Josh Venson. Yes, I do. I was told you would advance my slides. Before JBJ starts, a huge thank you to him and Candace Ward, our assistant principal at the middle school. they have done so much work this this year in CT to really um unearthed some things and figure things out and get things together. I don't I just don't think that we could have done the management review and got as much information um as we as we have been able to. So,

040thank you for your countless hours and working on this and working with staff because everybody wants to do what's right. Everybody wants to serve kids. We just need to do it in the ways that the funds and the and the program is intended. And so JBJ is going to synthesize kind of the findings and the recommendations from from WASA and then we'll make that happen. Thank you. Well, Dana stole my introduction. Um I'm JBJ. Uh I teach middle school and high school at Focus Construction and manufacturing technology. Uh I'm currently wrapping up my master's degree and my CT administrator certification through Eastern Washington University. Uh, as of tonight, I have 37 and 3/4 days left uh until my 2-year program is completed. Uh, but who's counting? Um, I am desperately waiting to get my life

041back. Uh, the facilitation of the WASA review and the presentation tonight and some of the planning that we're doing uh related to this is my capstone project. So, it's kind of summarizing all the stuff that I've been working on the last couple years. Um, and that's what we're presenting. So, presenting tonight. Uh before we dive in, I I do want to clarify we're sharing findings and recommendations of an outside third party. Uh the findings that are being shared tonight are not my opinions. They're not Candace's opinions. They're not Dana's opinions. Uh they are the findings of a very uh experienced and very capable group of people that look at and provide usable feedback for growth uh and change within CTE departments. Uh and they've done this all across the state um in a number of

042different areas, number of sizes of districts. Um, as as we continue to work towards stabilizing and improving CTE, I would encourage everyone here tonight to give each of these findings and recommendations uh serious consideration. Um, even the ones that are more challenging. As we get started, if you have questions, uh, feel free to ask uh, at any time. We also have a little bit of time at the end for questions. Uh, first slide here. Uh, just real quick introduction. Um, do I D, you move up for next? Okay, thanks. I've seen how the clicker works. I don't want to I don't want to deal with it. Um, so the Washington Association of School Administrators was invited to conduct uh this management review of CTE. We kind of started talking about this in early 2024 at

043the start of the school year is when we kind of began this conversation. The purpose of it was to evaluate the effectiveness and structure of staffing enrollment uh and compliance within CTE. Uh this really started in earnest on March of 2025 uh with the final report delivered at the end of April. Um this was prep prepared by the Wasa consultants uh Jake Cuper and Richard Flet. Jake is a assistant superintendent in Yakama for finance and Richard is a CT director in Proser. So lots of on the ground experience with this. uh the overview of the process, the documents that they reviewed that we were providing them and uh the staff and people that we interviewed is on page six and seven of your report. Uh next slide. The purpose of the review was to assess

044uh the current effectiveness of our CTE programs, determining student utilization of CTE course offerings and graduation pathways, evaluating building district and community support for CTE and comparing RCT programs to similarly sized districts in Washington. So kind of looking at some comparisons. Uh next slide. First area of focus and findings uh was our CTE leadership and structure. Uh the findings in this first area were with frequent turnover in the director role. Uh this created inconsistency in direction and compliance for our program as a whole. Uh inevitably there's gaps in um leadership transition. Um anytime we see transition we see things get dropped. uh when that happens again and again and again over the course of seven years you get five or six people running that program uh there's drops um and so many of the concerns

045that are found within this report uh can be solved by having consistent and qualified leadership overseeing the program so that was a main area of finding uh the recommendations for this were to hire a part-time CT director with direct experience uh encouraging membership in the Washington Association of Career and Technical Administrators um and that the director should collaborate regularly with the business office. So, finding and recommendations, that's what the next few slides are. Um, any questions on this stuff? No. Okay. Next slide. Staffing and enrollment and budget. Uh, the findings here were that uh our CTE enrollment has declined year-over-year uh leading to an approximate $700,000 loss of revenue uh just within the CTE department between the middle school and the high school. Uh this means that our current staffing may exceed enrollment driven funding

046uh within CTE. Um review data indicates that CTE is underenrolled and overstaffed. Um so our recommendations here uh for this point is that we would align staffing to enrollment and student interest data uh to make sure that the courses that we're offering um are relevant to students and relevant to local uh needs. as a CTE program. Uh it's recommended that the district staff within the resources of CTE program funds so that we are matching uh our staffing with our enrollment. Uh and then using advisory committees to review workforce data and approve course offerings. So that's looking at our future planning and our future processes associated with what we offer and how we offer it to students. Any questions? Okay. I just don't want to ask and then somebody's like I actually have a question. Yeah,

047we didn't give you a chance. Uh slide number uh next slide here uh graduation pathways and course approval. The findings in this section were that 70% of our students are using a CT graduation pathway. So we have a lot of uh use of CTE as a means for students to graduate um and make it through their time in high school. Uh they also found that some past courses have lacked OSPI approval. So we've been running courses in a couple places that uh did not have the appropriate approval uh which is of course a significant issue for us uh and one that has been uh corrected and will continue to stay corrected moving forward. Recommendations here were that uh course development and approval is overseen by the CTE director and that all CTE courses are OSPI

048approved. Uh the recommendation here is that we would also follow our OSPI approval calendar which is uh April 15th and October 15th. uh which is when we have to have courses submitted for next year. So that that date just passed. So when we're looking for 2526 uh we've already submitted those courses that we are looking to run uh in the fall. If we want to add something else if we're all of a sudden we say oh we actually do want to add a course we can still submit it. They may get to it. Uh but the likelihood is you're not going to be able to run that till second semester. So it's it's a mechanism that prevents us from just kind of making things up quickly. It should show intentionality and development in um these

049courses. Um the last one there is uh reinstating the construction manufacturing program uh based on student interest, skills gap data and community support which as we have discussed has is moving uh in the right direction uh is moving um in the way that we have wanted it to move for uh several years. Any questions on that? I have questions, but I'll wait until you get through to make sure that you don't answer my question. Oh, that's good. Okay. Um, that works as well. Uh, number six, certification and compliance. Uh, the findings were that we had a high number of conditional certifications on conditionals being renewed uh multiple times. uh there's been a historical practice in the district of uh multiple renewals on conditionals uh which is not best practice uh when you look at uh

050CTE practices and and what is determined to be the right way to do things uh that is not a best practice for conditionals. Uh we need to be working as quickly as possible to get teachers off conditionals. uh that is a really significant uh measure of the strength of a program is how quickly and how many teachers we have moving from conditionals into initial certifications. Recommendations here are requiring uh timely progress towards full certification. Uh we're not just leaving people on a conditional. Uh we want to monitor and limit time on conditional. uh the certification limit there. Uh page five has some details about that, but uh it's initially a two-year um conditional through OSPI and then you can renew it if certain criteria are met and followed as we do that. Uh we want

051to align our SIP codes and vcodes. If you if you don't know what a SIP code is, uh it's stands for classification of instructional programs. It's how we classify our courses. uh that we would say a culinary class has a zip code that's different than a con instruction class and it just says what it is. Uh those pair up with vocational codes or vcodes which determine what a teacher can and cannot teach. So I have a vcode in construction and manufacturing technology. I can teach courses paired with that Vcode in that zip code. I cannot teach a culinary course. Um no matter how good I think I am at culinary, I can't teach a culinary course. I don't have a a Vcode for it. Now, if there's a woodworking culinary course, um you you have

052to line these up. And so, uh using conditionals is necessary for CTE programs. Um very necessary for CTE programs, but the structure and intent of the conditional must be maintained. Uh these are a vital tool for us to bring teachers into or bring people into teaching from industry. It allows us to recruit people from industry specific jobs to find someone and say, "Come and teach." It gives us some time where we can get them certified um get them the right training and a support classroom instruction techniques um so that they can be an effective teacher with that really strong industry base. Um allowing a teacher to be conditionally certified without a full assurance that they are going to be able to get that initial certification is not best practice. Uh that is a disservice to

053um everybody involved. Uh we we happened in my program at central. There were teachers that were going through that program that they get to the end of it. They pay all the money for the central program. They apply to OSPI. OSPI says you don't have the hours. You should have checked this before and no certification. So it we really have to make sure that we are using that in the correct way. It's a it's a tool to be used. Uh and since I am a big fan of tools, uh the illusion there is that you can use tools incorrectly. Uh that doesn't mean it's a bad tool. It means it's just not being used in the way it should be used. Um, that was not my joke. I actually had one at the beginning. [Music]

054Thank you. Incredible. That's my middle school. Uh, next one here. Uh, community support and advisory committees. Uh, the report found that we have strong community support for our CTE programs. Um, and we have advisory committees that are, uh, engaged and knowledgeable in what we are doing. Uh the recommendation here is that we maintain regular meetings and expand our advisory committees uh using advisory committees for input for curriculum equipment uh and facilities planning. Um and then increasing involvement of advisory planning in the future. We've done a lot of work in this area. Uh this this was a significant area of growth for us this year uh in in improving advisories. We have a lot of work to do on advisories. Uh but advisories are essential to what we do. Uh they are essential to how a

055CTE program should operate and they are an essential marker of a highquality CTE program. That means that we have industry people who know this stuff uh that are currently in industry that are advising us of the work that we are doing and where to make changes and current trends. Um you I think about my manufacturing and construction advisory. Got a really great group of uh local trades people. uh one of them uh Greg Mackey who uh has been a vital support for me um serves on my advisory committee. He's got a student in the district. Uh him and this group of local church people uh are giving us direction and advice and support. They come and help clean out the shop. They come and help uh do dump runs for us. They are advising us

056on what we are doing and how we are doing it. uh they're a first line of support for us in making sure that what I'm teaching lines up with what is actually happening in industry right now. Um and that that is a vital support. It makes it so we're not uh just doing our own thing. Um so we've done a lot of work and we will continue to do more work on this because it is is one of the most important things we can do uh to make sure that our CT programs are healthy and moving in the right direction. Next slide here our peer district comparisons um CTE program spending. So, our percent of BEA uh is about 7% which is pretty close to the state average. That means we're kind of trending in

057in the way most districts are when it comes to how much CTE we are offering in comparison to our other programs. Uh but the problem here is our FTE and our course enrollment are lagging behind. That means uh that we have declining CTE enrollment equals decreased revenue uh and minimal financial carryover year-over-year. Uh declining, this is a direct quote from page 13. It says declining enrollment is directly tied to underenrolled classes. Underenrolled classes do not produce enough revenue to necessitate they continue to be offered. Um this decrease in revenue um means that we don't have carryover which means that it is very hard for us to long-term plan for our programs. It's very hard for us to long-term plan and say we want to spend more money on the healthcare pathway because it's a growing

058area. We're going to have to put some investment in here when we have nothing to carry over. And so these are these are things that are very important for us moving forward. Um the recommendation here is investigating these causes, redesigning offerings around high interest areas and high demand and high skill programs. Next slide. Uh this is about high interest areas and credit options. Uh the findings here were that health science and construction were identified as uh pretty significant student interests. uh when they talked to the counselors at the high school. Uh this was a consistent area that we're seeing coming up again and again uh as top choices healthcare and um construction uh recommendations here. These are just some techniques that we are going to continue to explore and utilize more fully uh to increase

059uh our enrollment in CTE exploring crossredit opportunities. So looking at CT dual credit college in the high school the example that they provide there is that financial uh fitness could articulate with a central Washington course that could provide five college credits. Uh these cross credit and dual credit opportunities can increase CTE enrollment which can help us uh strengthen our programs as we move forward. Okay, next one. Key takeaways here if we look at kind of the whole thing here. Uh we want to prioritize the development of a clear district-wide vision and plan for CTE. Um when a student steps through the door their first day of kindergarten uh from the moment they walk across the stage at their graduation, uh we need to have a thought and a plan for how we expose uh career

060technical elements to them every step of the way. Not just middle school where we get the money, not just high school where it really starts to get real, uh but second graders and third graders. Uh we've been working with Stacy Simmons at the elementary school. Uh we were providing and giving uh them opportunities to use uh some tools and they were getting to kind of do some hands-on stuff around construction, right? So the second grade version of construction um which when she told me about this, it felt very similar to a middle school and high school version of um us of uh kids hands on and working. Uh so trying to support and develop that district-wide plan for CT. It's not just middle school. It's not just high school. Um connecting middle school exposure to

061high school pathways and post-secary options. We've been talking about that for a number of years. Uh we've been working on that. Making sure that a course they take in middle school leads them to something, not that they this is what motivated a lot of the stuff with construction. We're sending kids up, get them excited about working in the shop and there's no shop to work in. So making sure that we have those pathways uh articulated across all of our schools. Um the next one is communicating vision clearly to staff, students and families. This is an area where uh as we've had so much transition in the leadership role uh it's just meant that um we don't have a vision to communicate um besides trying to keep the wheels from falling off in. So we want

062to have a good clear vision to communicate using that as a foundation for planning, recruitment and student engagement. Uh next slide. This is some uh next step planning uh spring of 2025 uh hiring a part-time CTE director or coordinator. Uh submitting OSPI course approvals by April 15th and October 15th. Um as we're moving through that analyze staffing and enrollment alignment and then convening our advisory committees for 2526 planning. Another quote there from the report, the advisory committee structure is an essential link between community and schools that must be continually utilized. So we are going to lean uh as heavy into that as we can uh because it is a essential aspect of what we do and how we do it. Next slide. Uh launching and expanding high interest and high demand courses and pathways. Again

063health science has has come up again and again both from a student interest and also a skills gap perspective in Somish County. This is an area that um they are looking and saying we need more people in this profession. And that needs to be what drives our expansion of our CTE programs. Uh monitoring certification progress for all CTE staff, expanding those articulated and dual credit options. Uh and then regular reporting on enrollment and budget health. Next slide. Our conclusion here uh is this review affirms a strong potential to revitalize uh CTE within the school district. Key ingredients here would be stable leadership, strong community partnerships, attention to compliance, student centered and skills gap-based course offerings, and then a commitment to career readiness and opportunity for all uh GFSD students. When we were sitting with the

064reviewers and we're halfway through and uh kind of asked them like how's this going? Like what do you how bad is it? They're like we've seen way worse. Um so it was encouraging. Uh so that confirms that that we we have the things in place and we have the opportunity to revitalize uh and strengthen CTE within our district. Questions? Yeah. Uh so you you called it out there at the end there. So strong interest uh for construction but then also health science. Do we have like when I'm looking since there are 16 different career clusters within CTE um is it like is is the strong interest from like a state perspect or a county perspective where they're saying we need more or from students and families and then is there like is it like 10%

065of the students and they're they're pretty well spread out throughout the different clusters of where they want to go is like 50% of students want to do construction health science the the general and and I can we can get a little more deep on those numbers. Um we generally base this off what's called skills gap data which is provided to us on the county level uh through the ESD so the employment security department uh and they give us like this every year and it shows you know occupation groups that are in most need of people and right now construction uh the top ones are construction business and financial operations which we have um we have a lot of business and and uh financial CTE courses we have we have a lot of those insulence in

066inst installation and maintenance, sales, healthcare, production, education, training, computer and mathematical occupations, architecture. So, it starts, it gets, you know, bigger and smaller. Um, so that's that's a primary driver of it because it needs to be local. Um, we're not looking to try to create skills gap jobs for uh the eastern half of the United States. Like we're trying to really focus it here because that's where advisory are numbers on enrollment. I don't have offhand. No, and that's fine. I mean it it also helps guide the students towards like hey this is a career opportunity that has or will potentially have a lot of openings. Um the other question that I had is so within like the 16 clusters um right so obviously offering what students are most likely to want to enroll in as

067well or what's what's the largest need out there. What's sort of the the break even to make it economically feasible to offer courses? Cuz like as I look through like it'd be great to offer all 16, right? But like is it that we need at least 30 students enrolled within each cluster sort of or having an interest for health science or agricultural, you know, food and natural resources like what does that kind of look like and how do we best evaluate that? Yeah, I think there's there's obviously numbers, there's financial drivers uh for what a class should run. We could say this is financially viable. Um we also would look at you know student interest is not sometimes student interest cannot always be the exact driver of a job offering or of a CTE course.

068So there there can be some um areas there we'd want to back it up with advisory. Uh so our advisory committees are helping support that. Um then I think a lot of it's vision casting for what our CTE programs are going to do. We can't do everything. We can't do we're a small district. We can't do good CTE in every path in every cluster. Um so we kind of have to focus where our local needs are student interest. It's it's kind of it feels a little bit like a secret sauce like trying to get like how do we manage this? It's some of it's based on who we have um and skills available in the teaching area. So what we can and can't teach. Um, and then looking at what options we have to expand

069programs. I don't know if you want to add anything to that. No, I mean, and just in addition with us in this area, the big thing is is with getting construction off the ground for next year, which we have focused on with our grant writing, with everything to be able to do because we don't have the carryover. We have to be very strategic. I feel that grants are out there. This year, there was a lot of grants for construction, so I was able to write them all that direction. Um, next year the goal is from going from this is looking at healthcare, which was something that I looked at at the beginning of the year and JPJ and I talked about it because it is a high demand need in our area. It's something that

070advisories are stating, but it's something that we're um funneling our kids off. They're going to Ever Community College, but they're not ready for UDub's nursing program. So to keep them in house and be able to help them um gain more skills, we do have qualified staff that could um branch us into that next healthcare. And our kids could leave here with certifications like um a CNA, so you know, a nurs's assistant with jobs that they can do while they're nursing. So that's kind of how we have to look at it where the where the grants are and then that until we can get more solvent that we can get that carryover. So a CT fund balance if that's what you want. Yeah. No, that makes sense. And because I mean ideally, right, ideally we would

071like to, you know, I guess I was looking around like how many of these could we could we offer without one like one or two falling grossly off and and you know it just it it not working out and then it hindering other programs as well. And um no, I think health science definitely I mean I've been part of the senior exit interviews for the past several years and I have several people each year that come through and are like you can tell they have a real passion for healthcare but they just don't know where to go with it. And so something like that would really be helpful to you know introduce these skills in high school. So then even if it's going to, you know, ever community college or something, right, at least there's

072there's that background, right? If they if you know, Snow is too daunting of a task for them to, you know, try to go through that path, you know, we can offer that here as well. So I think that's great. I have some questions, too. Um, great presentation. Really appreciate it. Um, I I I have some questions and I I guess I I don't know why, but I feel like I need to preface this the questions here to to make anyone feel negative or shine anyone a negative light. I just I I guess I'm scratching my head a little bit as I'm looking at some of the data. Um because I guess I'm not really sure where the train went off the track, right? because um I I remember very vividly um talking to the community

073about the steam building at the middle school and talking about all the CTE that we were going to be able to do and all of this stuff and um and without a doubt everything that's been said is true. We've had a lot of turnover in in leadership and CTE and stuff like that. Um, but I guess I don't get just asking so I could understand how how how are CTE classes related to CTE pathways set up and and because I guess what I'm what I'm struggling to understand is is how like if a CTE class is proposed, right, and you have three students sign up for it, edible husbandry, right? There's something along those lines, right? And you have three people sign up for it. Clearly that class can't sustain itself financially. So I would

074imagine that somewhere in the program they're like, "Yeah, I'm sorry. We can't do that." So how do we have a how do we have a situation where we have classes that are underenrolled um basically not funding themselves but are allowed to kind of move forward. Great question. Do you want to tackle it or we we've talked about this too. Yeah. It's the hard part is is that um we have been going on uh some of it is teacher desire or what to teach and or what staffing we have. So um and then students not having that interest in those classes anymore. So then we get less and less students. We also have salaries increased significantly. So that's where our balance we have to raise the number of students in a class to be able to

075match the salary. So what um the ultimate number for CT used to be 17. Now we're saying 25 is what um Washington CT says fourth class. Um we're needing like close to third to be able to fund those raised salary. So it's just kind of this weird um thing. The big thing is is just not having the the staff that can teach some of the areas. And so that's what we're looking at. Or that we had um some with certain kids going to certain programs in different schools, we lose CT numbers, right? So Snow is gained a lot more kids because we didn't offer what they wanted. So bringing that back home and um starting to look at the structured pathways will we think in time increase those numbers and grow our CTE and which

076will then trickle down to the middle school because then we can um we can start to build those up so that you know that healthc care maybe they're just terminology lifting in middle school. instruction was already have that and starting to make it stronger pathways so that kids can see which high school and beyond the same from seven to 12. So got it. Okay. So I guess in layman's terms so the change with or the the desired change with having a CTE director in that regard is working with the advisory team. They're they're going to help develop pathways and classes aligned with that. They will get the interest so that it's funded itself. Is that so what they're what they're recommending is somebody that is somebody Yes. But what they're also recommending is somebody that

077part of their day is assigned to CT so they have the time. Right now I work two jobs, right? So I'm at work. I'm usually the only car in the parking lot at 7 o'clock because I'm doing CT middle school parking lot, but I'm doing CT. So, what they're recommending is having somebody that could have that time in their day to make those community connections to make that. Not a lot of community members pick up the phone at 6:00 and 7 o'clock at night, right? So, it's a lot of trying to back play and trying to do both jobs efficiently. What they're thinking is that's how we're going to grow it is growing more of those community connections, getting the kids interest, showing them what's out there. JBJ has done amazing job this year with

078getting construction connections and getting those people to come in um and express to the kids what's available jobwise, which then drives our programs. Got it. And I would I would add too you you need somebody you need someone attending the ship. Um the course corrections to CTE should not be happening. We should not just look one day and say oh no we have an entire program that is underenrolled with nobody in it. we should be making those decisions year over year where we look at these um skills gaps and we look and we say, "Oh, if if next year construction is the second biggest line instead of the first, we need to start considering that, hey, maybe 2 years down the road we might not have the ability to run a full construction program. So,

079we should be making those adjustments every year." That hasn't been happening. So the last four or five years stuff has just kind of been status quo going in the same direction. Um and we we need that maintenance of it to make sure that we are adjusting a little bit here and there adding reducing classes changing stuff in line with student interest skills gap so that we don't end up in a spot where we would look and say this entire program uh is underenrolled and we can't get kids that want to take it. I'm not with such high uh with such high interest in a CTE track right 70%. Do we do like even at least just like an annual survey to students even if it's just like a sheet that has these 16 different just

080to be like hey like label them label your top three you know that you like just it it would help us and it could be like halfway through the year or you know like few months before your April April 15th deadline um just to make sure that like are we at least like hey you know you know the numbers don't exactly match up but hey we're on the right track by continuing to offer construction like some of these kids in this one will probably still select construction. Um but something along those lines could be we we need to do a better job of that. I know at Crossroads I know at the high school um they do that as part of high school and beyond. So they will they'll talk about those things and I

081know that that has been a conversation that has been had uh about increasing that but we should be taking into account student voice in this. That was our big qual with this report overall when we we got it back. we're like, "Oh, there's not a lot of student voice in this." And and that is a that's a big miss for this type of review that we don't have more of that and is something that moving forward will be a priority to ensure that students is driving. But that that is a good Yeah. I mean, just the last thing that we want is to invest, you know, bringing in a excellent health science, you know, CTE leader and investing in all this materials and stuff and expecting it to come back from funding and everything. and

082three students want to take it, but it's like but it's the highest. It's what most people are looking for and the students are like I don't care. I don't want it. That's I mean that that is the challenge is trying to find what we can provide that hits the skills gap that students are interested in that we have a teacher to do it that wants to teach it and you know all that stuff combined together very difficult. Yeah. And then the uh uh the the last thing that I had too was so recommending you know part-time CTE director is the recommendation for part-time be just because of the size of the district like would we eventually see the need for a full-time CTE director or is it just like we would always we would ideally

083have somebody I'll throw somebody like yourself that is a CTE instructor but also plays role you know on top as a CTE part-time director as well like would that be the long-term I don't know if I'm the one to comment on Dana. We have had in the past a full time. We have I'm just wondering if system um I would say systems are like size maybe even a little bit bigger is somebody part-time and it's often somebody who's in a role of teaching part day and then a couple of periods dedicated to being okay the oversight and then probably like you know a siphon for all the extra things. There's a lot of night things and those kind of things. So that's what I've seen. I mean, if you look at some of the districts

084around us, and they clearly said that when when we talked to them, this is gosh, for your system, you don't need a whole person, but you do need someone who can who can spend that time and build those relationships and and all those things. And and the CT experience like has has lived the dream, right? Like get what it means to do to do this work. Okay. Yeah. I just didn't know if it was if that was a short-term solution or if that's like ideally we would fi, you know, the person that would have that role would be here. Yes. We don't want six directors in seven years, right? Um, we want somebody that's going to be here for the long haul and they will just continually hold a part-time role for that unless it

085became burdensome and then maybe years down the road we could evaluate it full time. I've seen I mean I think like that 6,000 FTE 7,000 is where it starts to be kind of that 1.0. When I was in Canvas, we were right around that 75 and it really was a whole person and we dedicated that but with that extreme focus. JV, could you talk a little bit about I can't remember if it said it in the in the report or if it was just something kind of shared with us. 70% of our graduates on a CTE pathway. Um is that is that consistent? Is that is that higher than most districts are are our size or you know how does how does that play out in comparison? the one I don't think they put it

086in the report but I remember as we discussed it that that is a high utilization of uh CT as a graduation pathway comparative to local districts um so it's definitely higher than what we have seen in other um similarly sized um districts and so kids could choose a CT pathway and also be SBA passers or it could be somewhat in lie of or how does that work like talk to the board about that well the using it as a graduation pathway um the OSPI guidelines for that it's two courses um sequential not necessarily sequential that leads to a industry recognized credential leads to a um what was the other one canvas it's IR IRC two courses um in the same kind of pathway of um content area so that that will allow the student to

087use that as a graduation pathway. Um, beyond that, yeah, so they just have to they take the two courses. So, let's give this example. JBJ's got construction one, construction 2011, and they get OSHA tensor. So, it's a certification they can take to leave. So, it's just that's the big part that makes it um that I think that's the reason why we've had a really um high uh rate of CTD uh pathway completers because it's two courses back to back and we want to keep those but we also want to also encourage the other pathway right whether it's SBA or ASVAB or different ways um we had uh the largest portion of our graduation um pathways um between the two schools was at crossroads. So now when we but we were creating some pathways. So um

088we were having some local pathways. So now that we're going to just use our um actual one of the 16 graduation pathways um we'll have a little bit more fidelity that they're graduating with industry recognized credentials that actually can take them to a job. Okay. And then Dana, is there is there a bifurcation at some point where students have to make a choice of I'm going to go down the CADR path, right? The college academic uh distribution requirements path. I had to double check make sure that I got that right. So the CADR path uh for four-year universities and stuff like that. So, is there a choice that a student has to make of like I can either go the CTE route or I can go the CADR route or is a student able to

089still graduate on a CTE path while still obtaining all the CADR requirements? So, and and please jump in here and Robin if you have some information on that. So high school and beyond plant right kind of guides that work and that's what we talk about and have you know setting that up but but you also don't want to pigeon hole a kid right and and I think that I think if I think globally about Granite Falls and knowing that that 70% I think you said that was that was high is um kind of some hopes and dreams for kids that they might not even know exists out there right and and so never never saying gosh it's only going to be this when maybe they could right so Candace trending this is the this is

090what I've worked on really hard this and making sure that all of our courses are crossredited with state equivalencies if possible, which means that um they could take a science class and it be um actually labeled biology on their transcripts, which keeps them on track in the college route, but they're need to do the CT pathway. We have several of them that are a math, a science, and English. And so that gives them the availability to do both. And so, um, right now, uh, all our, um, courses at the high school, um, except for one, are crossredited with either Everett Community College or through, um, the Pacific Northwest, um, consortium, which allows them credit through um, admins and different schools around the area, which then they can take those um, transcripts and take those to

091a four-year college and already start college. My own personal child did start Western with 15 credits of CT. So, it gives them that opportunity to do both. Okay. No. And I just think about that because of the uh the guaranteed admissions uh program as well too. And just thinking of students being able to say like, hey, I'm really interested in healthcare, health science. I want to go down the CTE path, but I still want to be qualified, you know, for this guaranteed admissions program and I want to go to Western or I want to go to, you know, wherever. That would that, you know, and it kind of just opens up keeps keeps those doors open because, you know, a student I mean, we've all been young before, right? Your mind changes from time to

092time and you may really want to be a nurse or a doctor when you're a junior and then by the time you're a senior, you're like, actually, I kind of like architecture and I really don't want to be really don't want to be pigeonhold there. So, uh, yeah, just sort of as long as, again, it's the, you know, I I see this with kids. I struggled with this when I was going through high school as well, too, which is like, you know, you get into the last the worst case scenario is you get into your senior year, second semester, and you realize, oh, this is actually the path I want to take, and there's no way for me to get to that, right? It's too late. And so, it's setting our students up for success

093as early as possible with as much flexibility through their high school career as possible. And the good thing is they're starting to move some of that high school and beyond down into eighth grade. So they're they're as eighth graders are they're starting to think about this stuff and if we can give them good examples and good options of what their pathways are and what things can lead to what. The good thing about CTE courses is there it can be a pretty wide cast of a net. When you say, "Hey, you're going to go into construction and take construction courses." It's it's more than just swinging a hammer, right? we can get them really headed in a great direction for them to make that informed decision when they do get to the next stage. And that

094I think is a vision for CTE and what we do when we equip kids. Um there's a lot to that that we can do better and there's a lot to that that we can really flesh out to say we're providing good opportunities for kids to make informed decisions. Um here's a bunch of different things you can try and those those funnels get smaller. They they start really wide, get kids to try stuff out, and then we're slowly uh progressively through a sequence of courses getting them into a fit that is really good for whatever that next step is. Well, couple other questions to be able um again just trying to understand. So, um who makes the the final the final decision on classes that are taught or what CTE classes are going to be taught

095and how they align with pathways? just for for example I just love saying the animal husbandry let's say animal husbandry right uh the teacher really wants to teach it um who makes the call of yes let's offer that or no that there's a dead end at the middle school that doesn't align with pathways or who makes that is it the CTE director is principal is it the superintendent who makes that call that's a great question because that's kind of something that we're figuring out this year you know I mean that's that is the work of the day Yeah, because I don't I don't know how it's happened in the past, but I think that's why we have some of the starts the stops and starts that we have. So, right now in working with our

096right now, of course, we had a little bit of reductions that happened to be in CT. So, that's what our secondary administrators are coming together and master schedules and what does this look like and then with the experts in the room, the CT experts in the room of yes, that's a pathway and that still works and and and we can do it. So, and your question is an excellent one because that's what has to be formalized in our system because I won't speak about what's happened in the past, but it maybe has been a harder like how are we going to do this or felt like we were pivoting a lot and there was a lot of pathways and as you saw in the report many of them weren't OSPI approved or we didn't have

097all of our ducks in a row. So, it's formalizing that, developing here's the pathways we're going to do and then every year analyzing what is what are the skills gaps in in Snowomish County and how do we do that and do we have the right staff on hand to do that. So, staying with my board and the board handles policy. So, is that an area where we need to create a policy that defines what that looks like or how do you how is that done in other districts? It backed Go ahead. It's backed up though, right? I mean, that's I can speak to that. So, what usually is is the CT director works really closely with the director of teaching and learning and the principles and it's kind of the CT director should be the

098face for looking at the the big picture of what is needed in our area. Then they talk with the principles about the desire and what the kids. So going back to um what Peter said was look what's their what's their evaluating every year and then they bring it to the director of teaching and learning and the superintendent. So they surely did make some very hard decisions to bring down some of the stuff. I brought to um uh Dana and Emily what would what would be um classes that we were having now consistent pathways which is what we didn't have. We needed to have some alignment and then we sat at the table and then brought it to the principles because ultimately at the end of the day we have to make sure we're compliant with

099OSPI and we we were compliant in quite a few areas. So, it's kind of this whole group effort that the CT director should be the one holding that info information and managing it to um and there is RCW and administrative code that kind of guide some of this stuff as well. Um that kind of puts some standards in place for how it should work. Um and that that is stuff that we really do need to improve on our collaboration in that so that it's not it's not a single person's decision. Um it is a group decision driven by advisories driven by a number of different things. Uh do we still have pathway dead ends? Um, one of the things I heard a couple years ago was that like there would be a student maybe at

100the middle school or something super interested in one of the pathways that they high school was dead in wasn't offered or it wasn't those types of things. Is that something that we're still struggling with we do not have that anymore after this year that is the hard that is the hard work that we have been working on. I could not have done this without JBJ this whole year but that is what we have done. We have made it so we have four solid pathways in the district and um they all lead to making sure that we have completers and that there are classes for middle school to high school. Got it. Okay. Um last question just as I was looking at the numbers um one of the things that jumped out to me uh was

101that uh Stanwood uh Stanwood every single kid is um actually more than their complete enrollment is a CTE student and over 100%. How do they do that and why aren't we doing that? I could answer that and um it is because they put programs in um place of the middle school that makes it so that every kid takes it. So I'm coming from a a small district that this would be a great idea going forward and it is something that we've talked about that every seventh year took digital media. It's a class where they learn to type. They learn to just do all the basics, resumeumés. They learn how to put emails out, do all of that stuff. Um, what it allowed is it build the high school beyond plan for starting seventh grade because

102they knew it was coming out. That is a way to get it so that every student has that CTE. So, it is bringing those courses that meet STEM for middle school that could also do that. Um, right now we're just trying to write the ship with the members, but big picture plan, that is one of the things we've talked about is bringing some of the courses in that could give kids at a younger age a taste of CT that gives them opportunities to see what's available later on. Got it. Um, last question just um, so I guess how are we handling and as we're setting this up, I absolutely support having a part-time CT director. I'm I'm I'm actually I mean we probably should have it now. Um so 100% support but how are we

103handling the financial side of it and and specifically I don't necessarily mean you know paying for that person. I mean um it like in you know let's say we have a pathway that works really well um we've decided but you know when you get to buildings that are older like crossroads for example right that you know is maybe using hot plates and you know like how are we going to handle upgrading structures so that um these pathways are available to all of our students even our crossroad students. It's a great question. Every time you say that makes me so happy. It is it's a really good question because it's it's actually I mean it's something that we should probably like I don't know take Robin out to dinner and be like they're so sorry that

104you have how to cook on hot plates. Um because that's also not the industry right there's no restaurant that's that I know of that's cooking on so that doesn't make any sense and you know the elephant in the room is that you know crossroads and has had a lot of pathways and that's really hard to navigate. you can we're a small system. We can only do so many. And I think that they spoke to this in the um when you talked with the the reviewers, I think they talked about because we we specifically said, gosh, an AL environment, do they have all of is this typical? And talk to me about what they kind of what kind of feedback they gave. I think it's actually in the report. Uh it talks about a couple places.

105We we've had this conversation um with a number of other CT directors in uh the area and other sized districts that are both bigger and well resourced than us and these smaller districts that um you know the challenge of ALE and CT and how you combine them together and uh the challenge is is that the ALE model doesn't mesh well with CT program standards. So the state standards for what OSPI says CT program should be. Um it's hard to mesh that well with O with an AL model. Um and the biggest reason for that is usually the funding model that is present or not present when you try to run a CTE program in an AL model. You don't get that CTE enhanced funding when you run it as an AL. Um, CTE requires enhanced

106funding for us to do the stuff that we do. For me to build uh planter boxes with my kids in the high school shop, I need extra money that is not BEA money. I need I need enhanced funding. And if I don't have that, then I am disadvantaged in what I am doing. Uh, so CT thrives on that advanced or that enhanced funding. Um, AOE doesn't allow that ability for us to claim that enhanced funding. And so that's a detriment to the school. to detriment to the teachers and ultimately it's a detriment to the kids that they don't get that same experience because they haven't been able to run that enhanced type of program. So that's that's the big challenge when we talk to other districts. Um most ALS are very focused. There is one

107right business or something that could be run that doesn't require as much materials and resources. Um that that's the challenge in in most cases. Is it potentially also just like a logistical solution in terms of like busing, right? Like students that want to partake in culinary, we know that culinary is always fourth period, you know, over at the high school and that is just a course that because then maybe I'm simplifying it too much, but then that increases the enrollment over there, strengthens that program. these students get that exact same experience that the high school students are getting. We just have to figure out the logistics of actually like busing and I don't think you can recreate everything at a at a smaller smaller school that you're it's not of high school, right? And the

108focus and and to your point that the just the sheer equipment think about you think about hot plates, right? Or weapons or those kind of things. So you can't craft, you can't create everything and defining yourself as an alien. And it is the reason that sometimes I won't use the term al anymore, a choice school. Um why they go 5 days a week, you get the full funding and then you can run a couple of things and being four days a week. That's kind of the that's kind of the kicker, right? And and the reason that you can't get the CTE funding is is you have to go those five days a week and they need the hours, all of the pieces. So many school districts have the benefit of having their their alternative program

109or their choice program or whatever in some proximity to the high school so you can take a couple classes or those kind of things. We're a little bit across town which makes it much more difficult. Yeah, it does. But I mean, you know, luckily it's it's still a small enough district where, you know, it is it's a 5minute bus ride over there versus, you know, where it's not there's not one choice school with three high schools and, you know, they're 20 minutes away from each other. So it could be something that so long as there's no like uh there's no details I'm missing around like well because they're you know a crossroad student like those credits would be difficult to I don't know if that's just like some that's part of it and shoring up

110what we have right that's part of the work that's been done is just a couple pathways and making it simpler right um so I I uh thank you for that that explanation I guess my my concern concern is is that we don't know, right? We don't know where a student uh their destination is going to be. So, let's say they get super fired up about um a pathway or something in middle school and they choice to crossroads and now that's not offered there, right? That's not necessarily fair to that student. We aren't doing them a lot of favors. Um, so, um, also I think while we absolutely should allocate some money for a, uh, part-time CTE director, I think the reality is is that we all need to be okay and allocate money to make

111the buildings that we have conducive to the pathways that we think and and obviously we can't make that decision or solve that here, but it's going to cost money, right? and and if we just invest in a CTE director, I we're only halfway there, right? And we're going to be robbing some students of uh the full realization of whatever it is that they're passionate about, right? And so, um I guess I just want to make sure that doesn't get lost in the sauce. A good CT director is going to give us money. A good CT director is going to be advocating, finding, tracking down grants, finding community partners. I will just say that. Yeah, we had when it was in a previous system, we had a CT audit. I think it was at a national

112federal like it was it was just kind of a big deal. And I'll never forget in the interview process. Um the person that was doing the audit was said, you know, um the beautiful thing about CTE is the research is so clear on on students with disabilities and students who are unhoused um the success they have in CTE. And I I that's always resonated with me like we need to keep them in spaces like a comprehensive high school where you're really have really really are able to do the rich CTE work and and offer those things because um she said you know like for for our students who are unhoused and like homework is difficult or access to Wi-Fi is difficult like that hands-on stuff that they could be doing in a manufacturing shop or

113or whatever not an opal kitchen right like it matters it might be their only exposure to something like that and that they want to go long term. Um, and so it's always and the students with disabilities as well that, you know, reading might be difficult or all of those other pieces that hands-on CTE rich experience might show them a pathway in a way a way to graduation in a way there's something after life after high school and those post-secary things that we want for our kids. And so I think that that's something we need to think about is what can we do? How can we grow it? How can we make it bigger in those those components because we are losing a number of kids to snow aisle and how we gain some of those

114kids back keeping them here keeping our FTE here so that we don't have the reductions so that we're doing doing our things right here in last thing I promise so I guess um actually I don't promise uh what again keeping things at the board at the policy level I I think it's safe to assume that we're all very passionate about this for a number of reasons like what where are we missing if a policy standpoint where we as a board can create policies to support this. So 20 years from now when we're all off of here that this program is still vibrated and supported. And you don't have to answer that now. But I guess that that that's one of the things that also I'd like to kind of know because I think that's that's

115that's where we're effective is that well I think we invested in in a review, right? and paying attention to the recommendations because there's nothing worse than you can do besides not having a review, but then having a review and then going, "Yeah, okay, thanks for your input and we're not going to do it. I think everything in there is doable and and we have the resources right here to to do that and and the people quite frankly, right, to do that as well." So, I think it's adhering to that and then some some follow-ups like wrap back around, you know, have we wrapped in a in a year, can we wrap back around to this was review and go, "Wow, these recommendations, we've just ticked off seven of them and we're still working on these

116past on these other piles, too." That's something that the board could ask for. Like, I'd like a follow-up report or I'm thinking about the the WASA report for special education. What's the wraparound on that, you know, and how are we doing? Yes, we're doing better. We absolutely are. But we want to celebrate those successes, too. You know, it's sometimes we call out the issues and things at board meetings, but it's there's also a time for us to say, "We had some really good success here, too." Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you for standing. All right. Moving to item 5, items from the floor. Okay. Um, item 6, a new business, uh, resolution 24-2506. That wrong, I don't care. Capital projects budget extension. Um, this is just to give our capital projects

117fund enough capacity. Should we get the grant to do uh the significant HVAC upgrades? We put in for a $4.5 million grant. Um, for districts our size, um, there's $22 million available for districts under 3,000 students that can demonstrate need based on, um, antiquated and inefficient systems. Um, and we we we did some significant partnerships with um, Honeywell to get some pretty detailed reports out to OSPI about what our needs are. And we're very hopeful to hear about that this week, but we needed to have build in the capacity to capital projects that if we get the revenue, we can spend it. Right. Okay. Make a motion that we approve resolution 2425-06, capital projects budget extension. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. All in favor? Moving on to item number seven, unfinished business uh

118is uh 7A, excuse me. Second reading to amend policy 3142 admission of non-immigrant J-1 and F-1 exchange students uh the foreign exchange student policy. Yeah. So um we're limiting this to two I believe he said right? Yes I believe so. I think it actually wasn't a percent of district pop of our district population. Yeah I think so. And then is that the one thing I forgot to ask during the first reading does that is that two at the high school and tooth crossroads or is it two total? I think that's why it's a percent. Can we look at that board policy? Thank you Dan. I can policy the one that's on the board agenda. Oh yeah. Sorry. Hold on a second. I don't think it's in the policy. Maybe it's the procedure. No, it's policy

119manual section 3000 is what it says here. Yeah, but it doesn't list out it doesn't list out. Yes. Um it says 1% of total student population under um the procedure. Okay. I don't typically read procedures, so I guess that's why I didn't see it. It says the district may consider the council on standards for international education travel suggestion that schools work toward a goal of 1% of the total student population being comprised of exchange students. Got it. Um well that answers that question. So it's it's a cumulative thing. I don't have any comments. Okay. Any more discussion? No. I'll make a motion that we approve the second reading to amend policy 3142 admission of non-immigrant J1 and F1 exchange students the foreign exchange students second motion has been made a second all in favor I

120okay that moves us on to the consent agenda it doesn't look like there is any additions is there any discussion okay so it passes with unanimous consent and the time is now 7:30 on the dot Amazing.