Oct. 14, 2025: Sumner-Bonney Lake School Board Study Session Recording

001here tonight with sunny day. The leaves are starting to change. Tonight we get a presentation um on our strategic plan update. In accordance with district policy 03000 and 0700, district administration will update the board on progress towards the five aspirational goals in the strategic plan. >> Maybe. >> Yeah. Once the clicker says, >> hey Jeremy, is there a secret test? Here we go. We um we are excited to update you on our strategic plan and here are a few fun facts. Uh 70% of all strategic plans fail uh because they lack effective measures to monitor the plan. We have those measures and we monitor our plan regularly. They fail because uh they don't have a continuous improvement process, which we clearly do, and you'll see that. They uh fail because they don't align their efforts.

002They fail because they don't have a culture that believes in every child. And we I mean, Tom, you've seen it even when you've been in both of those schools. We >> firstand seen them. They're engaged. >> Yeah. I mean, really, each means like all means each in this district. And finally, 70% of all strategic plans fail um because school districts don't remove barriers barriers to learning and we try to do that wherever we can. So what you're going to see tonight is this strategic plan. It's a good plan. It is a solid strategic plan that's working for us. We have all the right factors in place. We have incredible people in place. And even people that aren't sitting in this table that are in the audience are also a huge part in making this plan

003work along with our teachers, our operations staff, everyone's hands go into making this work because ultimately right in the center of that bullseye are our kids and that's who we keep at the center of our work and the center of our mission. So tonight we just want to give you a basic understanding um and we want to review our progress towards our five aspirational goals. And remember, at board meetings, you get reports from the operational staff. Tonight is a chance for you to hear about progress towards the aspirational goals um that we, you know, that we'll tell you about in just a second. We'll talk about considerations, next steps, but what we're not going to do is get into each goal in depth because we do that at other study sessions or have throughout the

004um the other times that we've been together. So, tonight we just want to show you how we're doing. you're going to love it and um tell you about all the amazing things that are happening. We always start with our promise and Brian Sheer did this just on Monday when he was with our campus safety officers. Everyone in this district when we ever start a presentation, we start with our promise to know value and support all of our kids. And here are some of our brilliant, brilliant little faces uh and some of our incredible teachers just uh doing what they do best. They love kids and our kids are learning. Um and you're going to see that future ready. That's the name of our strategic plan. It was in um >> I don't know, Kelly, what

005was that like 22ish when we >> It's like we started it before COVID. We kind of paused it and we brought it back and >> it was the strategic plan that needed to launch and because it has we are um we are doing incredibly well. >> Just want to remind you about the three aspects of our plan. Um like straight like smack dab in the the middle is our student learning focus. Um, this year, Star Minds, kind hearts is like taking over. It's catching fire everywhere, and we love that. Uh, then we have instructional effectiveness, which I mean, Kelly and her team just are like unreal at. I couldn't ask for a better team. And then we have the great protectors of the district, our operational staff that make sure that our classrooms have heat

006and air conditioning uh and all the other things that they need to learn. And they um they just make sure that they keep things running for us with meals and buses and uh all those great things. Here's like something that's super exciting. So we use a metric uh from School Digger. So it's it's almost like it's like we're weighing oursel on the same scale every day and we have been for a long time. This year we are ranked 11th out of 247 districts. That's up from 17 in 2025. >> That's great. >> Wow. >> That's going in the right direction. >> Yeah. No kidding. Right. Um that's something to be super proud of because that's a lot of hard work. That means that we are right up there with the Mercer Islands and Belleviews and

007I was like I don't know Kelly knows I'm just like I saw I was like, "Hey, look at this data. We're 11th now." >> Yeah. >> You have a goal now, right? >> Oh, well, we had that goal. >> We like being 11th, but we're not going to stay there, right? >> All right. So, I'm going to start us off and sharing some data from the state level. So, if you remember seeing this presentation in the past, we start really big, we go to the state, then we kind of narrow down to our district. So, this slide comes from OSPI. So they share data out how the DIS or how the um state is doing as a whole. So when you're looking at this, if you notice kind of on the title there on the

008right hand side, it says level two or above. So the Smarter Balanced Assessment is scored out of four scores. A level one is a student who's below grade level. A level two, the state calls it foundational grade level knowledge that you see on the title as well. A three means a student is consistently scoring at grade level. And then a level four would be above grade level. So what this slide is showing is as compared to last year's smarter balanced assessment in English language arts and mathematics. You'll see the two separate lines. Compared to this past spring, how did students perform in those two years? When you see the green boxes, it shows you at a state level, those grade levels performed better than they did the previous year. And then the red would be

009that grade level performed, you know, at a lower level. So you can really tell like eighth grade math stands out to me as a state. eighth graders did a lot better. And then when I look at 10th grade ELA, that red box really stands out as well. Like what happened with 10th graders? And again, this is at the state level. That doesn't mean that our district performed the same way. This just gives you a picture at the state. So pretty minimal changes overall and that's at a level two. So this slide bumps you up to a level three. So again, this is a student performing consistently at grade level. If you notice, the numbers are larger. So what that means is that more students were performing at a level three or four level that that

010ch a lot of students moved up. You'll still notice the same two boxes are um kind of highlighted. You still see eighth grade math was the strongest across the state and then that same thing. 10th grade ELA dropped the largest at the state level. >> If you have questions ask >> don't don't save them. >> Yes, please. Please. Yes. So what the state does here is they broke it down so you could see how many students scored a level one, a level two, a level three or a level four. And again they use the language below grade level for a level one etc. So they have English language arts on the left, they have math on the right hand side. Now what I want you to notice is at the top the title says among

011all students expected to test. This is really important. That means that any student who did not test a zero gets entered into your district score. So adding in all of those zer means and then in the bubble kind of on the right hand side if you were to add up a level two three and four which the state is saying is sort of passing ELA across the state even with zeros meant that the state performed at a 70.9. For mathematics the state would have said 63.3% passed. again level two, three or four including zeros. Then the next slide is because here's what we do to OSPI. We say why are you holding us accountable for all of these zeros? We can't control it when parents are coming in and opting out. So what they did

012for the very first time ever is they tabulated the data without the zeros in there. So if you notice on this slide again, looking at that bubble, ELA went from a 70.9 to a 70.4 4 passing rate and in mathematics it went from a 63 to a 66. So again you can see clearly that zeros are indeed impacting data at the district level. So again this is all grade levels combined. Yeah. Go ahead. >> Is there any data on those the kids that aren't taking it like where they be thought to to fall? Would they be lower? Would they be is there any on that? >> Yeah. The things that we would have are internal district assessments. So, we give what are called interim assessment blocks. They're practice SBAs. So, we would have that data

013within our system that we could look at. Um, and so those are pretty pretty good predictors of how a student would perform. So, that would be our best kind of guess. >> I would say it's it's mixed. >> Okay. >> I really would I would say there's kids that you're like, oh, they would >> they would have done that's true. >> And so, I would say it's it's very mixed. >> Who else? >> Yeah. I think Yeah. else. So this is all grade levels three, four, five, six, seven, eight and 10 all combined together. So the next slide that you see, it takes each one of those grade levels and this is that same exact data just disagregated. So this slide right here is English language arts. So when you look at it, you'll see

014the grade level on the left. The next column gives you the score at that grade level of what the score would be with the zeros in it. The third column over tells you what actual students scored who took the test. And then what they show in the first kind of red column is they show you what the differences between those scores. They just subtracted the two numbers. But then on the the very far right hand column actually tells you what the percentage of students is at that grade level who did not test. So if you look at third graders overall 2.4% of third graders in our state did not test and it impacted that score by 1.8%. Then if you look at I mean look at third, fourth and fifth. There's not a lot of

015elementary students that's pretty consistent opting out of the test. But then watch the numbers as you go sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, and then what happens in 10th grade? You've got almost nine% of your kids opting out, which is impacting high school ELA scores by 7.3. So when you look at our district data, now we might not follow the same exact trend, but when you think about that, this is why high school principles go crazy when they have so many optouts. >> Yeah. Other question, sorry. Is it um is it only an opt out or is it they were absent that? any of those any of them are zeros if they don't take it at all are all zeros. Yeah. And we try to the schools try to track down kids who are absent.

016I mean they're they've got weeks of a week long makeup session. They try to do whatever they can. So it's it's it's a combination. So this is the same slide, but this one gives you just level three and fours. So same exact data. Again, you can see the numbers follow that same trend. um the no score is exactly the same when they do a level two or above versus a three or above because the same same number of kids um opting out. Okay, the next slide this is the same thing in mathematics. So this first slide is level twos and above. Again you can see the amount of the scores of students who were expected to test versus who actually tested. Math is even higher in the number of students who who didn't take the

017test. you're at 9.9. So almost 10% of 10th graders do not show up, get an opt out, skip school, are sick, whatever it happens to be, which then is impacting scores at a level two or above at 5.7. Then if I flip to the next slide, you'll still see it's a 9.9. And so level three and four students, if you're only taking those, it's only a 3.3. So it's impacting that lower score more. But still like overall when it's your school it has that has that impact. >> So they do testing all one particular day or is this aation of >> what they're doing? >> Yeah good question. So we do testing over four days. So the high school does a late start because you there's so many kids who have to test and the

018number of doctors. So what we do is two days we focus on English language arts because students do a computer adaptive test and another day they have to do what's called a performance task. So, it's these longer open-ended where they have to write. So, we do the computer adaptive test one day, the performance task another day. Math is done on the same day. And again, it has those two components, but it's not quite as, you know, mentally taxing for students. And then on the fourth day, we do a science test. And so, then after that, we just start all the makeups. And it usually happens the week before Memorial Day um somewhere in there. The district's on a common testing schedule. So both high schools are doing the same thing, same day, same kind of

019processes. >> You do a makeup test later on then >> that next week we do makeup. Yeah. Yeah. And the state gives us a 10 uh I think it's a 12-week window that we have to do our testing in. And then Kathleen, our assessment director, she coordinates with all the buildings to make sure they have everything that they need. So it's quite it's quite an involved process. >> I know that way. It's too bad so many missed it out when you're trying so hard. >> I know. I mean, it seems like it come up one way or another in the whole project. Yep. Okay. Are you ready to move to Pierce County? >> Okay, drum roll. We can actually have a drum roll right now. Get your slide. Drum roll. >> All right. Pierce County,

020ELA. This is only level three and four. So, this is consistently performing at grade level or above. We did not include level twos. We are where on this graph everyone >> number one. We are number one. So we number one behind who is behind us. Now I want to just point out that Daringer and Carbonado are only K8 districts. So if you look at that data that I just showed you and how zeros impact our 10th grade scores, those two districts do not have that 10th grade impact going into their data. So that right there is a massive celebration. And so I did include the state data on there, but you can see the rest of the schools in Pierce County. So this is massive jump, jump, jump for joy. Okay, the next slide. We're

021finally We finally be in second place. I know, right? So, the next slide. Even though we're not in first place, this is a huge accomplishment. So, we were fifth place last year, we were in fourth place. But here's what's not on that slide. Last year, the difference between first place and where we were fifth place was 11.2 point spread. So if you do a quick math up there, 64.1 minus 59.3, we are only 4.8 away from the top. So we closed a significant gap. And I also want to point out who's number one and number three up there. >> They do not have high schools giving them zeros. So if you were to give them some zeros, they'd be at they would be below us. Slam dunk. We'd be number two. So but I mean

022in ELA, we're still number one counting the zeros, but you know, hey. So anyway, so Pierce County, we it that that was a huge math gain for us. So yes, I'd love to see us at number one, but to say we're number four and to have closed that gap is a pretty significant achievement in one year's time. So yeah, so congratulations to >> everyone out there. >> So using these, it's great to see what's happening where our schools are amazing. Do we use this any place else and what we're doing or as a state we get additional funds or anything? >> I might tell everybody about this wish. >> Our schools do get banners. So if there's a certain area um it could be overall school improvement they'll get a banner for or they might

023get a banner for a su a certain subgroup that the state measures. So, we'll get those periodically. So, >> I think what you might be getting at is is we need to open a cabinet next to the sports trophy cabinet and put up some trophies for academic achievement. >> Absolutely. I mean, this starts to be broadcast out there. >> From the library rafters or such >> people and look what we're doing. >> No, great job. Tom, >> what we do get from this is the trust of our community who will pass a bond for us and let us build more schools so that we can keep this magic going. I mean, that's really I mean, that's our biggest reward. Um, because while we are incredibly high performing, we have districts around us that are struggling

024um and they're struggling in a lot of areas and we want to make sure they get the resources they need as well to serve their kids because I mean they're all of our kids, right? >> Absolutely. Um, but what this does for us is it our schools are overcrowded because people love this area and they love what we're doing in schools and they they keep moving here. So, we get all of that um just real positive reinforcement from the community. So, can I share one little story? >> Yeah. >> So, right after the data hit OSPI, so you can't see anybody else's data till it drops. And so, like right away, another one of our competitive school districts called and wanted to know what we were doing to have moved our numbers up so much.

025So >> yeah, White River, >> I mean, yeah, I it's just uh it's great to see what this team in front of you is doing and the people in this audience. I mean, in this district, it's working. This this plan works. And when we started um when we started the presentation today, we we talked about why strategic plans fail. And one of those is because it lacks alignment. Well, that's one of the hallmarks of our strategic plan is it lack it it like infuses alignment from the very very top like superintendent cabinet directors we all but if you put that you put that strategic plan in and it comes down the funnel to professional goals and the school improvement plans that are worked at in the buildings or departments with the operational goals and then

026administrators have their goals and then teachers have their goals and they work on those goals at their PLC late starts and then it all drills boils down to the student. Um, and we try to keep this as tightly aligned as possible through all of our processes and systems, routines, procedures, and when we see something that's not in alignment, we have a continuous improvement process that will try to make little changes along the way. But, um, this is a hallmark of this district and we are incredibly proud of it and work hard to make sure that this happens. So now Kelly and her team are going to show you some really fun data about our district, but there's a key that we want you to see. And you can you can take this packet apart. You

027might not need to. Um, but this is how you're going to need to read the following slides because some will be marked uh or colored in red, some will be green, and then some will have arrows that are obviously red and some will have green arrows and they each mean a different thing. Um, but we just want to make sure that you understand the key before we move on because that will help you. And you might even see some equal signs. >> Um, because things just stay the same, which we're totally fine with that, too. >> Remember, these are goals worse than turn. >> Correct. >> Yes. Oh, yes. >> And your goals are always very very >> they're very >> Well, I'm so glad you brought that up because what you're also going to

028notice is again this is a solid strategic plan. What you're going to notice is that we might have added a few years to it. Um because like we're just like that flywheel is just starting to get some momentum and we don't want to stop because there is no time limit on a strategic plan. I mean some people say it's five years, three years, seven years, whatever. But we continuously monitor this plan. So you're going to see a few extra years added on with a few more benchmarks because because it's working and we don't want to stop working this plan. I just know that you've set benchmarks in the past. Yeah. >> And when you when you then looked at the data, you didn't reach your benchmark, but you still grew 5%. Right. >> And you

029should still get a credit for that achievement. >> Well, you know, we like to >> I know I know saying it out loud because you you won't say because you're humble like that. >> Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm going to start with goal one. And these are our littles. These are the success in the early peers. So, think of our K3 kids. um that every student by the time they get to third grade will be successful. So here's your first look at the key Lori was talking about. So this first slide here um are our third graders. So last year our third graders, they've been with most of us have been with us since you know preschool K. So you're looking at our third graders this year. So you can see again the red for 2025.

030It's showing that although we didn't meet our standard, our benchmark that we had for 2025, the green arrow is showing that we are still trending upward in our schools. Um, and we were really close to that benchmark there. And then on the right, we've broken it down by our schools. So again, I'll let you kind of look at that for a second, but you're going to see um for 2425. Again, look for the reds. The greens meaning that school hit that benchmark data. And then the green arrows mean they increased trending upward. And you'll see a couple equals there. So like Melon um met the benchmark stayed the same as the year before. >> Look at Emerald Hills. >> Yeah. >> Holy smokes. >> Yeah. I mean, and that's the thing. It's like you can

031find so many little celebrations in all of this. Um, and I know me coming into this new role, um, Steve and I have already started like they are analyzing this data like crazy within their buildings. In fact, Friday is the day where they're really looking at these schools and they're like that funnel, you know, they're really digging into, okay, so Maple Lawn, 76% of them now fourth graders, you know, who are they that we really need to hone in on? um and providing more supports to those subgroup goals. >> Look at Holly Heights. I mean, that's a big jump and then to get to 90. >> Yeah, that's awesome. >> So, >> Victor Falls did a good job, too. I see that too. >> Where'd you go, Adam? Nice job. >> Yeah. >> So, again,

032just some really great u exciting news here. >> And then third grade. Sticking with third grade then. This is math. And this is super exciting. our elementary team. Um, not only did we trend upward again, but we hit that benchmark and look at all those green arrows with our schools. And so I did want to tell you like we I maybe you've heard, but we did focus really hard in on math last year um with our new Eureka Squared curriculum and um doing some lesson studies with um teacher groups and we're continuing that work through this year as well. But this is a huge celebration for our third grade. Um, and honestly our K3. Like we celebrate our teachers in kindergarten, first and second who were a huge part of this as well. It's not

033just they get to third grade and then they they we need the foundational supports too in those early years. >> Benchmark. >> Yes, >> I mean I we're going to hit that 80. >> We are hitting it. So, like to piggyback on on Tom's question, how are the school like how are the schools celebrating this with their teachers and their students and everybody? >> Yeah. Well, in in my role right now, I can only speak to my one school, but I can't wait to see the celebrations that happen, but um through our SIP, our school improvement plan, we actually have monitoring points along the way. And one of them is the endofear review. And so, we did that in June. we we put up all the data and we just celebrate like crazy. Um and

034then they come back in the fall and they revisit and do a comprehensive needs assessment where then okay now where do we go? We we can always have room for growth. So now they're making new goals, new building goals, new subgroup goals and then the teachers are working on their own student growth goals based off of the data as well. So celebration definitely happens um in every building too. It's great. Yeah. Um, DAP's thrill. >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yes. >> Since we have a couple moon members, could you touch on maybe some of the challenges daffodil has >> of the school because I mean they have worked so hard on this for now years. >> Oh, she I can say a couple things. So, um, Daffodil is our highest um, free reduced lunch rate

035school. So, they're a high poverty school. So, they qualify for title. Um, huge ML population. And so just those two things combined just create a lot of different needs um and different supports for that building. So yeah, a jump like that is incredible. Like it's >> what's the ML population? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Multilingual learners. So they have a lot of Hispanic Latino um community at their school. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I'll just add that of their multilingual learner population, they have many more newcomers to the other schools. So I would say that the kids that are coming in really um come in with very minimal English uh skills. So they're doing a lot of work uh to meet these goals. >> Probably adapting in a lot more ways than just language too. >> I

036think that their ELA scores going or even you know hugely impressive, right? like the jump there was >> something working because there's some major jumps on these slides. >> Yeah. So that's kind of the next you know so we are noticing that definitely across the board ELA math performance we are trending upward which is that's what we want to see. Um we do have varied progress between our schools for various reasons. We recognize that. Um we work really hard in the elementary to um do some really early intensive interventions which we call win time. What do I need time? So everyone is getting an extra 45 minute block of time that's strategic to what they need. Um, and we continue to do great work with our PLC's, which is where they, like Lori said, that's

037where they're really analyzing data all the time and really catching like who is not getting, you know, who's not showing proficiency and then what are we going to do um to make sure they they get those foundational skills before you move on to the next unit. Um, so what's next for us? Obviously, we're doing great work with it. We want to continue to focus in on um what we know is working well, providing targeted supports um for those gaps that we do see um and really looking at like our high-erforming schools and continue to partner together like you know what are you doing? What is happening that's making this very effective for you? Um I get to now see that side of things. you know, working with all 10 buildings now is really incredible. And

038to be able to see that there are definite peers um out there that can be supporting each other. Um we have a very strong elementary admin team that um when we meet with them, they're doing a lot of collaborative work and a lot of data analysis together. Um with our SIPs as well, we're like our next one, we're having peer editing happen. They're going to bring a goal and they're going to get advice from their peers and share what that's what's really going well. So, and then we'll just keep monitoring those assessments that we do have that really prepare them for the state test. We've got that in place as well. >> There we go. Moving on to goal two. Um, as you know, uh, goal two focuses on, um, our nurtured, engaged, and empowered

039students. um where every student will attend school regularly in a supportive and challenging learning environment where they're empowered to exercise an active voice in young growth. And big picture what we focus on in this particular goal is um really attending regularly um because if kids aren't in school, they're not learning. And so we need them in school so that they are learning and so that we're seeing the success, right? Um so attendance is one of those foundational areas um we want um to really work on and um we're seeing um good things happening in our buildings as well that supportive learning environment fact I'm just going to move it right here um our our top table here uh is uh the very first line is attendance but then the next three lines have to do

040with getting at that supportive learning environment. So, as a reminder, um, uh, our goal is that 95% of students will attend school daily, and we've seen, um, some slight increases with, um, elementary and middle school. We've stayed the same with high school. Um, but we have been working a ton, um, on our tier 2 efforts and really understanding what are those barriers to, um, uh, attendance concerns. And so, working with families, building those relationships um, to really understand what are those concerns. So there's um the information for attendance, but what's exciting is then the next three lines. Um if you'll remember, we're talking about students feeling safe at school. Um and uh we know that um uh feeling safe at school can be influenced by not only in school factors, but outside of school factors

041and that's important for us to recognize. And this is why we um also want to measure then those protective factors that include um uh that students know one adult um that they know that there's someone at school who knows and cares for them as well as there's an adult that they've identified that they can talk to if they've got a problem. And if you'll notice um students are reporting um um greater um support. Um, and in fact, I would remind you, I believe it was our February visit to Bonnie Lake Elementary, um, where we got to see that in the action, um, where we got to go out and talk with kids about, um, what does it mean to be super super safe, >> um, and, um, I know JB, you and I were were,

042um, partnered up together and just going into the classroom and kids could define it and they could talk about their behaviors um, that lead to having a super super safe um, school. And that's just one example of the work that our schools are doing. um that really is um then resulting in kids um feeling safer but also knowing I've got an adult that I can go to. I've got an adult who knows me and what my needs are. So that's really exciting as well. >> Nice work. Those are some big jobs in those just in those three areas. And attendance is a tough one. >> Yeah. >> But >> it is. Yeah. >> Even in those those next three down there. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> They're tough ones because they're so >> opaque sometimes. be

043so broad from what would make a student answer that question in a more affirmative way. So to see those big jumps is is amazing. >> It is amazing. >> Yeah. Thank you. All right. So um so here's what we notice. Big picture attendance is steadily improving though high school legs. Um student perception of safety is improving. Um we saw that and and then that adult student connection they're strong and they're continuing to grow. Um and we're seeing the evidence of that. Um so what's next? We are continuing to address chronic absenteeism through school-based attendance teams, especially in the high school. Um, I will tell you this postcoid era is just an interesting beast. Um, but really trying to understand, um, you know, what are those barriers to it to attendance? What are what's getting in

044the way of kids showing up? Um, and in in many ways, it's it's getting back to foundational needs. Um, and so, um, schools building relationships with families to really understand what is the barrier to good attendance. We want to expand climate and safety initiatives such as positive greetings at the door. Um uh strengthening mentorships and advisory systems. I know Josh is um working on a mentorship system um for our high school kids. That's so exciting. Um and then using student voice survey data to guide next steps because um if there's something going on that we need to know about, we need to know from the kids um and so um so that we can address it. So that's what we noticed and that's what's next. >> Josh, how many kids we have in that mentor

045program right now? So, uh, currently I, uh, I don't know right now, but last year there was over 200, uh, students part of that mental program. Um, yeah, and it's grown significantly from the year before that. >> So, it's it's been amazing. uh changed a lot of our students lives and that the peer part of it is probably more effective than the adult >> adults telling them what to >> I think Antonio Mmore is uh the person um who who who comes here to both high schools um and through his entre entrepreneurship u program letting students think outside of the box as well and just being their creative self uh has really helped um students feel like they are part of something and so and he used the data to show that as well. So

046it's been >> that makes a big difference in the kids you see that go to school they're part of what's going on. Yeah. Speaking of not just being there. >> Yes. was >> I'd say too this is even more impressive when you think about seeing this increase and kind of feeling safe and and feeling supported in kind of a a more global environment where that is not general feeling. So you're you're going against the trend, you know, their trend is against what we're feel what a lot of people are feeling just in general. So I think that makes it aggressive. So good job. Hey, you ready for older kids? >> Little kids are something. >> So, goal three. So, goal three, um Steve and I both are part of this. Um so, I'm going to

047talk about fifth graders and then Steve can talk about our eighth graders. So, again, you're going to see the same slides. Um this first slide is showing our fifth graders um ELA. Um and you can see that again, we didn't quite hit our district benchmark, but look at how close we are. And again, the trending is what we're super excited about. What we're doing is working >> Right direction. And then again, look at all those green arrows when you break it down by schools. >> Well, you were you had to reset your goal because you were already so >> that crossed out one was the original, right? And then you recasted for >> And you know, buildings do that as well when they're monitoring their goals along the way. you hit the winter time and

048you see your benchmark data come in and you definitely readjust your goals based off of and I it's it's really great to see when they want to even pop it up higher. So again, just some really great celebrations here >> elementary. >> Wow, it's impressive. >> And then here's math. Um so again, a little bit lower scores in math. Um, we know that this is going to continue to be a focus for this cohort, especially as we hit them, you know, onto the middle school and that collaborative K12 work is going to be important. Um, but again, trending up, um, 66%, not quite there. Um, and then on the right, there's one that I wanted to just point out for you. If you look at Liberty Ridge, um, you'll see that, um, not only is

049the arrow down, but it's a very small percentage of students that met Standard. We had one classroom, we have three classrooms up there and we had one classroom that we had to invalidate their scores. There's um you know certain protocols and rules that we follow with testing and if there's one thing off then the entire class has to be invalidated. So without that that score would not be um as low as it is. And we continue to review and retrain our teachers when it comes to test taking time as well um with students. So, I just want to make sure I pointed that out. >> How do you do these tests? They have certain time the day and they do this and they they hand them out the kids and all that. >> Yeah. >>

050All that. Lots of different rules. >> Lots of different rules. >> Can you maybe touch on just for some some of the newer members like what would be things some examples of what would validate a classroom? >> I'll let Kelly jump in on this. So, um, students, so say they're taking the math test and they have a piece of paper in front of them that maybe has math formulas on it or maybe it has a multiplication table or they get out an electronic device such as their phone or they open up a Chromebook. So, the state is very strict around what the testing environment needs to look like. And so whenever we believe we might have a testing irregularity, our district assessment um our director will talk with the you know the testing people at

051OSPI and let us know whether or not we invalidate. So in this case we had that irregularity. They said yes we would invalidate. So what happens is every one of those students count as a zero and that's why you see that as a 36. So, it not only impacts the student score, it impacts our district score, which our math would have maybe have been even higher. But here's what we were able to do that was super amazing. Our director was able to so this the student test scores are automatically or their tests are automatically scored. So, she was able to capture their score before it got switched to a zero. So we were able to use some data to then move forward to the next set of teachers in case that would be helpful. So

052we did a little bit of you know how might that student have scored. So it's really unfortunate when that happens. Um it doesn't happen very often. Sometimes if we invalidate it might just be one student somewhere but in this case unfortunately it was like the entire class. >> Where's the observer? Who's that from? Where they who are they from? The observers or what's going on in Polish? is at the OSPI, right? >> So, how did we know? Oh, how do we know >> observative? >> No, no, no, no. So, what happened in So, what happened at a school is sometimes um so we have an assessment coordinator at each building. So, the assessment coordinator is responsible for making sure that teachers are trained. They might walk into a classroom and notice all of a sudden,

053why are there papers out on student desks or why is this happening? Which then causes us to have to investigate. Yeah. >> Teach them to just realize something along the way and go, "Oh my gosh." And then they self-report and then we have to look into it and realize, "Yep, that's going to be about." So, it's, you know, it's can be >> I think the whole process. >> It could simply be one student forgot the rules and got done with their test or pulled out their phone to >> then that's it. Like it just takes a teacher science and they have Yeah. material out that been out there from first day of school actually years >> and a teacher in collecting things and looks up everywhere. >> So had to self-report. >> Yes. You can't

054have any like anchor charts on your wall related to make sure you may have you know how to find an area of a triangle posters up on your wall. You can't have anything. And so teachers will either take stuff down, cover things up, but there's a lot that goes that goes into it. And so >> that's good. >> Yeah. Sometimes we just teachers miss certain things. >> You're used to being there for see you there. >> Yeah. >> All right, let's move on to the middle school. And JB, I'm going to come back to your question. You were asking earlier about like um how are the buildings celebrating? And I want to just say um when I think about the middle school, and I know it's true at the elementary um principles and teachers are

055watching these results just as soon as they can. When the preliminary results are coming out, they're on it. So way back in June and then through August, they've been keeping an eye on this. And so when the results are kind of finalized, uh the celebrations do definitely begin. And the middle schools continued uh really the trend that Ellie was talking about right now, we're looking at 8th grade ELA and as you can see on the left, um you know, the overall score did not meet the benchmark that we had set. However, it was a significant improvement uh from the year uh prior. looking at each of the middle schools uh individually, you can see each middle school made great gains. Um I think what's very exciting, you look at Lacage, uh Lacage continued, you know,

056that three-year trend of uh you know, kind of being out or above the benchmark, but uh also made a 13% gain. So, um, you know, definitely not to, uh, put any shade on the other two middle schools because they did a great job as well, but just, uh, um, overall fantastic. And moving on to our mathematics. Um and um again continuing kind of the trend that you saw with the elementarymentaries our mathematics scores continued to be lower than uh we had hoped but again the growth overall you can see um we didn't meet the benchmark but it was uh just about a 12% uh growth overall and then when you look at each of the individual schools um you know great results from the schools I point to Mountain View Mountain View you >> swallowed

057that 32% in 23 24 and and I can tell you they dove after that and uh so kudos to you know really the teachers and the administrators across all three schools um you know all the efforts that they made this last year uh with the new curriculum and and everything just great improvement really is good pardon me it's a great improvement >> yeah really is. So, kind of in summary, some things that we notice, um, you know, you can see the scores in EOA are strengthening fifth and eighth. Um, math is a challenge. Um, and, uh, but but we're definitely working to address that. Uh, growth is uneven across uh, schools. Um, middle school performance is uh, definitely showing some recovery after some prior dips. So, what's next? uh we're going to continue to prioritize

058uh that math achievement and uh we've got some targeted strategies and supports. Um we really believe that this year we're going to be able to replicate um this is and speaking for middle school for a moment. This is year two of a new curriculum. Year two of um embed job embedded professional development for the middle schools for elementary. Um >> Yeah. Year two of lesson studies and out their efforts to improve um I said about the math instruction in the middle schools. Um and then just you know monitor the use of the IABS, the practice exams. Um, and really what's exciting is those last two bullets, those are both being expanded into our high schools as well. So, very cool. >> All right, Josh. All right. Um, I get the privilege of sharing what our

059team has done with gold work um and and elimination of disparities and student access and success. But uh specifically what I'll be focusing on is uh the is regarding discipline. And so that's the piece that I'll be um talking about and then I'll pass it over to Kelly. She'll talk about uh students um accessing uh rigorous coursework. So um before we get into uh the data just kind of want to remind all of us uh what our goal is. So by 2026, discipline data will show no disproportionality in suspension and expulsion in incident rates across all student groups. So uh what that basically means what disproportionality means is when the rate of students um suspended or expelled is compared to other subgroups and if it's greater than one uh then those are areas that we

060might need to look into. And so um and I also want to point out that when we're looking at this and how this is calculated, it's calculated by the number of incidents, not the number of students. Uh number of incidents. Um so with that being said, let's take a look at uh our race and ethnicity subgroup. So for example, when we look at the American Indian and Alaskan Native, um obviously our goal is to have a risk ratio of one. And what you can see is on the 2025 column we see that uh the risk ratio is 1.5. So one would say um al American uh Indian Alaskan natives are 1.5 times likelier to get um suspended or expelled um uh than other uh subgroups. So that's how we would u use that data to

061kind of explain what it means. Um and then as you can uh tell it's same uh same uh subgroup. Uh it it's down right. Uh we have Asian uh point4 and then you have African-American or black uh it's 1 83 Hispanic Latino 0.88 88 native Hawaiian Scrimer 53 um multi-racial 1.33 and YC at.99 and what I also want to say is that when we have small population the risk ratio will be heavily influenced so um so for example uh for the Asian uh for the American Indian uh Alaskan native there were 11 incidents right uh from a population of 74 students. So when you calculate that right the risk ratio is obviously going to be a little bit higher >> if since it's bite incident could there potentially be a student that is really problematic

062that creates >> a lot of this >> correct yes and uh right now um the data that we're uh looking so we have that information with our uh pro uh groups by programs um and we're still looking into uh by the subgroups. And so, but when we look at and this is where I'm going to move on to uh >> oh, back up a second. >> Yeah. >> But how are you addressing this with schools? You're seeing us pop up and tracking it. >> So, what are we doing to solve the problem? >> Yes. Um >> or is that coming up? >> It's coming up. Okay. And uh >> Okay. What are we doing about it? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it is coming up and there's different ways that uh we are addressing this.

063Um, but I do want to show you uh the other uh data to kind of give you um an understanding of where um buildings are focusing their efforts on in addressing uh those top. >> Yeah, there you go. Exactly. >> All right. So, with that being said, now we look at student groups by programs and when you look at this, right, we have special education, right? and the 2025 result you have 2.79 um uh uh percent uh disproportionality right or risk ratio. So one would say you know um students who are in special education are almost three times likely to get suspended or expelled right uh look at multilingual population that is down um students uh who are free and reduced lunch or low income uh that's 3.51 uh risk ratio uh and then our

064homeless population or McKinto students you see that at 3.76. So what we do know when we compare uh our subgroups uh by race and ethnicity um we see that it it's still an issue right with um it's still something that we have to address but the immediate attention that we have in buildings is okay we got to talk about our students who are in McKini Pentto or homeless our lowincome students and our students in special education what does that data then actually look like per building um So really quick, so in special education, this uh goes back to what JB was talking about. Um there were uh 347 incidents from uh students in special education. Um and that is measured by a population of 1,585 students. All right. Um now uh of that 347 incidents,

065127 students exhibited those uh behaviors. So, uh, of those 347 incidents, there's 127, uh, students with special education that contribute to those incidents. Um, another one, for example, is our free and reduced lunch. There are 735 incidents of a population of 4,092 free lunch students. Um but 284 of uh that population of um free and reduced lunch students created that 735 um incidents >> and if I can interject that's an interesting group because we're not allowed to know the names of those kids um because that's protected information that's private information. So really what we rely on and I know I'm I hopefully I'm not stealing your thunder but this is where our tiered systems are so important that we know research says those tiered systems are so important they are going to work and so

066um so even though we may not be able to know who those low-inccome kids are we know the behaviors. Yeah. >> Right. So, so how are we really supporting kids at tier one, tier two or tier three? >> Yeah. >> No, it's perfectly routine me too. So, uh with that being said, right, going back to uh what Tom was talking about. Okay. So, like how what are buildings actually doing to address this and it's a multi-prong approach and one of the approaches is we actually need to go back to understand like it always comes down to relationships, right? Um and so students that exhibit uh behaviors where they tend to get expelled, what we are, what we learn from them is that they don't have relationships with an adult within their building. They don't feel

067safe. They don't you know um so um four years ago we implemented u restorative practices and so we are in our uh fourth year of implementation of restorative practices. And what it basically does is basically um allow students to really dig deep into understanding why they did what they did and how do they make it, right? And we seen it and I think I believe L and the communication scene did a story on this and at Victor Falls Elementary where it starts with a community server first, right? We want to start at the universal level of of how we address situations. Um and by doing that we say okay students need to understand how to talk to one another. Then what is the best practice on how students can practice talking to one another? community

068service, right? And so once they have that foundational piece, then when students as they get older and there's uh conflict, we uh principles and um um campus safety officers, even our SRO's and teachers can connect one-on-one with the students and be like, "Okay, what happened? What were you thinking at that time? Uh how do you feel now?" Right? What can we do to make this right? Right? getting that cognitive like understanding of thinking about what that metacognition thinking about what uh you're thinking and so um that's that's one approach but then another approach is where we have this amazing MTSS team or multi-tered system of support is um where our each building has their uh tier 2 teams where they'll look at okay here is the discipline data oh we see that so and so

069and so these group of students got like three referrals this week. Okay, let's try and connect with them. What can we do uh to connect with them? And so then the team will come up with a plan on how to connect with students. What are their needs? And then um they will see through that plan for six weeks collect data and then uh after that six weeks come back together. Okay, has the student improved? Okay, if they have, okay, let's continue doing what we need to do. Um, and see if they can meet the goal of, you know, uh, being safe in the classroom, you know, uh, if not, then they moving up to the tier three team where it's more intensive, uh, work. Um, so >> some of the challenges come from at home,

070too. >> Yes. >> You know, trying to balance it out without causing problem at home. Yes. That'd be very delicate, I would think. >> Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of intersectionalities in which our students, you know, come from like different backgrounds, different economics and >> well handle things. >> Yeah, >> it's a challenge for the student school too. >> Yeah, most definitely. Um but the biggest thing that I want to talk about uh really is uh with our SIP plan, our school improvement plan, each building um when they look at their data, especially this uh Friday, what they're going to look at is okay, we see a spike in students um between students in special educ in our special education program and we realize that there are six students who are needing a little bit

071more support. Okay. So in that school improvement plan they will work as a building to figure out okay what are the types of supports that those students need and then they'll go through that process that six week process maybe nineweek process to kind of figure out okay we'll implement this plan monitor it did we implement the plan with fidelity we did okay then how what are the what's the outcome of the students so it's really cool seeing how um how buildings are really uh utilizing uh the system and um really it it's thanks to you know the team that we have but you know Sherry, David, Sarah you know and just working with all the building principles. So yeah, sorry I keep talking. >> Yes, of course. >> This year we've had just a great

072opportunity in partnering with instructional services on city planning. And so we really had the opportunity before the school year started to be at the principal retreat and look at our special education data for discipline. And they our teams were really digging into the root cause behind their data because if we don't know the root cause then we're just trying interventions without you know any thought. And so that was really part of their planning before the school year even took place with their special education population. And so we're building on that work as we build our step plans and it's been a really great collaboration this year so that uh they see the through line between academics and discipline. >> Yes. So, um, so what we notice, right, uh, we notice that there's disproportionalities, especially within,

073uh, the black and African-American, um, student population. We know for special education, low income students, our homeless student population. Uh, on a positive note, we know that our Hispanic Latino student uh, population, their disproportionality decrease. Uh, what's next? Expand student centered discipline practices and restorative approaches. uh broaden access to tutoring, mentoring, mentoring and SEAL supports and continued support by individual student need and modern progress in tier 2 and tier three teams. Can I just add one more celebration? One more celebration is that uh we applied for a grant for the homeless um student uh grant and we received some money that would help our homeless students with tutoring uh work and everything. So that is in the works and planning the process and hoping that we can as well pay for someone to help even

074more uh support um our students especially our students uh in the homeless student population. >> Sounds awesome. >> Great. Yeah. >> I'll just say I appreciate that when it comes to this data I think historically it's been very easy in this country to just explain it away. say, "Well, it's because there's a lesser number of those students or we had an increase in that population and in taking away taking away the ego about it and and or whatever the right word is and actually saying, "Okay, we accept that there's a problem and we're going to figure it out instead of just using data to to dismiss it." So, I really appreciate that you're digging in and um and congrats on some of the improvements and I know you'll continue to work on the other ones.

075>> It's working. >> Yeah, it's great. And and I think that you know what you're talking about is is all I I just love that we focus on right and we're paying attention to and we're looking at it at different levels. One of the questions that I have was how are the teachers feeling with when it comes to discipline and on the programs that you're talking about addressing it? Are they feeling supported in their ability to to manage discipline situations uh to get additional resources if necessary? That kind of thing. are they part of some of these like you know groups when the building gets together and just curious. >> Yeah. Uh this is what I'll say in in the past um we've had when when implementing restorative practices um the data that we got

076uh from a year ago showed that teachers overwhelmingly were doing it across. Now, it didn't say, you know, whether um uh they enjoyed it or anything like that, right? But what they did realize was that what they did find was that a lot of their students actually participated more when they did their um uh community circles in the morning. And what they're seeing is that when they do their community circles or morning meeting, we realize that those students who uh particularly never really were part of or would like volunteer to do work, they were speaking up as the year goes by. So they've been seeing improvements and so um I'm actually interested in that in knowing that question as well in terms of um the support uh you know how are teachers feeling or any

077staff in general feeling about um dis uh support within this uh area. I guess >> it's a great question too especially as it relates to what we do with pulse >> because that's our language. >> Thank you. >> Can I back us up? >> Yep. >> Okay. So also part of goal four is um the number of students who are enrolled in an advanced class or specialized program. So when you look at this data, it doesn't matter if a student takes one like an international baloria class, advanced placement, Spanish 3 or whether they take five of them. They're only counted one time. So we started the goal back in 2023. We had a benchmark that 1983 students would be taking at least one advanced class or in in an advanced program. And then in 2024

078we sort of beat the entire benchmark of 10%. So we're like wait a second what did we do? So then in 2024 25 at the end of that what we did is we took our course catalog and worked with our CTE director and we redid which classes which programs we were counting. So we established a new benchmark and that's what you see down there just to make it even more confusing for everyone of 2033. Then we took that one and kind of just increased it by what number we we had already beaten it. And so this year we came out at 2,80 students. And so it's just we may have have our academic acceleration policy. I mean kids are just challenging themselves taking classes. So I'm not sure what to say about this one because

079even when we redo the data, they're still even more than next year. So this is just it's a huge celebration that kids are they're willing to take that you know that next, you know, more challenging class in line or try you know try something more, you know, just more a different challenging program. So yeah, this is a huge celebration. So I don't we need to do something different to make it a little more. >> There you go. >> All right. >> Yeah. So let's let's bring this round graduate. >> So uh everybody knows in our plan we've got a goal of 98% of the senior class will graduate on time. And I'm happy to report uh while we didn't meet the benchmark we had set uh we did have the highest percent of graduates uh

080in our district at 93.4% was an increase obviously over the year before but um just a really impressive number. Um so amidst that you know excitement uh make no mistake we're still recognizing that 6.6% 6% of our students did not graduate. And so I think that that just continues to be, you know, a reminder we're not there yet. Um but um and our work is not done. We'll get more students as, you know, fifth year cohort of kids, you know, do end up graduating and uh earning their diploma. Um I think this whole this brings kind of everything to a wrap because this is truly an elementary through high school um effort. But I I just want to say like um the work that our high school counselors uh that Kathleen up in assessment and

081our administrators do, it is literally year round. They were working over the summer to help some kids make sure that they got what they needed to be part of the graduating class of 2025. They went into the school year. Um, it's actually pretty fascinating stuff, but the the collaboration between the counselors and Kathleen, making sure kids are in the right classes and have a chance of getting what they need. Six, you know, six credits every single year over four years to get 24 is a very tight plan. Um, but they do they uh they're doing it now. We'll do it some more at the semester change. And I guarantee you if you came calling or in uh April, May, June, there's a flurry of activity to help make sure kids are getting across that stage

082as well. So it's just it just never ends. So uh but yeah, 93.4% great number for the district. >> Wasn't that long ago we were in the 70s. So this is insanely huge jump. >> Yeah, they're down to they're down to >> Yes. each student down to just saying this student, this student, this student can really address those >> individual needs. >> It's that's really amazing. >> Are you making changes to what you're doing to help achieve that goal that you think where your business students helps you graduate or just working with them? >> Yeah, I I mean, yeah, I would say so. You know, it's like there definitely are ideas and then efforts being made and everything. I I will tell you it is just it's hard. I mean like we're trying to dip

083down into the middle school and have them come into the m into the high school starting the way that they need to start and and we can sit here and we talk about it or whatever. It's still it's easier to talk about than it is to make sure it's happening for the right students that in four years are going to be the ones that truly are at risk of not graduating. But yeah, we are I would say middle through high school. We're definitely looking to make sure >> everyone's different. Yes. >> Yep. And then what happens in high school is different. It has different effects on students as well. So, yep. I think Tom, some things that are important to know. Can you get down to those last 6%. You literally have you're not talking

084about let's implement this and that'll affect 100 students. You're saying what does that one student need? What does that one student need? They're the literally the last 6% of these individual students. Yeah. >> So like today, >> right? >> Yeah. So today, for instance, we had a referral for a student into the Grad Alliance um program. The student is coming to us from another school district. They're they are technically an 11th grader. They have 2.5 credits. So we get kids like that all the time. And then in a system like we always talk about time and credits. And sometimes when we when we get students there is no way physically possible ever that we in that short amount of time that we can intervene for a student to earn you know 21.5 credits whatever it's

085needed. So that's pretty frequent. We get seniors who a student who's classified as a senior every single year in that category and we try to do whatever we can. But I will tell you what is so this is a four-year grad on time. So, anybody who's on the email chain, when we have students who finish partway into a fifth year, Kathleen is sending out this email to everybody, congratulations, Bunny Lake High School, you have a new graduate, the student's names on there, and everybody is just adding to the email chain going, that's so exciting. And, you know, and just a huge congrats. So I think sometimes when I look at the slide, sometimes a student won't finish in four, but we have a heck of a lot more who persevere, who go on to a

086fifth year. And if it takes them four and a half years or five years and they get that diploma, that's what really matters. And so and and I think Steve might have said that like that that that's our four-year, but our fiveyear is even higher. And that's what it's about. It's it's keeping to keep supporting those students all along the way. And then our students who are in the who continue on beyond 12th grade, our students who are in the community- based transition program or the DBT program, they do not count as graduates. They they go against our grad rate. >> And so even though we purposely keep them and then Kathleen, like if we want to know, it varies from year to year how many of those students are in the quote unquote senior

087class. And so she'll tell still if we ask her, she'll tell us, well that impacted your grad rate by 1%. It's it's not it's generally it's not much higher than that but it does >> have to this number it is very well >> so should be recognized as >> this the state should just not do that we we are purposely keeping those students because it's in their best interest to prepare them for the future so it's it's just kind of a bummer that they have legal right >> exactly they shift the thinking of away from they're continuing their high school to this is their post high school >> and that way they could be graduated in this next phase is how to get them a job. >> Yeah. >> The other thing to mention just

088for your benefit is >> from when I started on the board to today, the shift that I've seen that is a kudos to the the group is that when they really first started with this goal of 100% graduation, they were chasing kids at the end. And now instead of chasing them at the end, they're chasing them in middle school and elementary to to prevent that having to be chased. >> That's what I'm saying. There's a huge >> Yeah. >> Pushment through the very end is not solving a problem. >> It makes their job that hugely difficult if you're waiting till 12th grade to chase it. But from from that long not that long ago or that long ago, however you want to look at it, >> I've seen the shift. And now that they're doing

089that at the elementary and middle school, I'm super excited that they're able to do that. >> So I think we got excited about just talking about the results. My apologies to everybody. Uh so I think uh we've discussed a few of the noticings and uh one thing I just point out that last bullet in the first section. Uh we do have increasing numbers of students that are attending Running Start and our Pierce County Skill Center which is exciting to see. Uh, so we're going to continue to expand CTE, internships, uh, post-secary partnerships, uh, strengthen the ninth grade on track supports, and I want to do a little call out. I'm excited that you're going to Eli Hill this year because one of the big things is what Eli provides, uh, for our students to get

090them graduating on time or even like Hillary described, maybe, you know, in that fifth year cohort or something and then increase the supports for our underserved students. So, um, we've still got some work to do to make sure we are truly reaching all of our students. >> Amazing. >> Any other questions that they didn't get out already? >> You know, I don't have a question, but uh, this is one of those where I get cheap because of having beds at the other end. um everything that we talked about all the targets and goals and things those are the things that are going to get kids to graduate. So from when we start in kindergarten and all the way up, you know, um the kids have come not only academically prepared but are prepared to challenge

091themselves, prepared to um take on some of the challenges, the things that Fairly, you know, folks do over there for the homeless and stuff, but there aren't very many kids that are going to reach graduation and stick with if they don't feel that they're part of the organization, they don't feel like they have a voice in the organization and if they don't feel like they're cared for. >> And uh it was fun recently I had the opportunities at dinners to meet with different people. We talked about somehow it got out that I did what I did in a former life and I'd always have at least once a night some usually dad or or gentleman who was always asking well was a high school principal blah blah blah and it was interesting because Kim pointed

092out third or fourth night that I always started off with well here's what happens in elementary district here's what happens in middle school here's what happens in high school here's how we all work together to do those things. And um first and foremost is we want the kids to feel that they are wanted. They want that people want them there. And uh every night I had at least one of the parents say, "I've never heard that in our district." And these are people from throughout the country. >> So it was really it was really great. I had to send Lori a picture because to me it kind of tied up as we were having those discussions. Kim and I were walking by a store. I forget what it was. And a big poster in the

093window. They had a posters in every window. It was great. But the one was kindness of sex. >> And it made me think about, you know, what was it that I enjoyed most as a high school principal for 20ome years? And honestly, it was watching the adults and kids be kind to each other and really establishing, I think, an environment where people wanted to be there, but it didn't happen. And I think that's what our district is. People want to be in our district. There's not a lot that had to say I haven't. And I think if we ever get that 100% that that's when we're going to get 100% at graduation because in my opinion most kids that don't graduate on time there's family problems that they are quite frankly doing superhuman things to

094have family there's drug and alcohol problems which is issues in our country and there's some that just have for whatever reason don't feel like I belong and and I think those things are huge. Well, I was going to say the same thing. Like you've got students that are very smart, doing a great job. The problem is their family. Something going on in the family outside that like parents want drugs. So that could really cause decrease not being able to graduate and make sure we're addressing those issues too. They have to know about. Good point. Yeah, the students have to write an essay when they um want to go to Eli and it's the stories are pretty heartbreaking at times and so it is fantastic when students go there and they find a you know it's

095their place, it's their people and yeah, I mean it it just speaks to that. So Steve and I sit on that committee and so it's it's it's pretty incredible what we do as as a school system. It's it's it's that right there. If you just need a pick me up one day is just to look at that and see how a student's life can be changed um just by being in an environment around people who care and to get away from some of that chaos that they've experienced in life. So it's pretty special that their graduation. >> So thanks for being the big elephants >> and letting us do this work. >> Totally. Well, JB actually did wear >> that would have been offensive. >> Now, I'm kind of proud. >> Well, any other questions

096for our presenters? >> The only thing I I kind of want to go both ways. um with special education I I mean I know it's you have a certain number of kids that makes it disproportional when you look at the quote but the other is and I don't know where the time and the possibility is but a lot of that is um how would I say this you have kids with unique needs and unless every adult in that building and quite frankly every student that interacts that child knows how to do that. The triggers are just amazing out there. So I I don't know the I mean I've spent 40 some years now trying to figure out the answer to that. I don't know. Well, one of the things that we talked about going into

097this is just, you know, when you look at a kid who's having behaviors, one of the first things you think about is does this kid likely have a disability that's impacting them? And so, like sometimes you see an inflation of that number because, you know, the discipline causes us to make a referral. And so, that's that's one thing that's difficult within that data piece. Um the other thing is is it's really the fidelity plan and uh we can have the best written plan. We haven't taught people how to do that and model how to do it, the plan will fail. Um and so that's that's part of the intentional work that I know our special education department is doing, but also we're doing it with general education students with behavioral behavioral things that are popping

098up too. So I I would love a world where kids didn't need to get a IEP because of discipline, but um they end up, you know, thriving because we intervene early. >> Uh just to add to that as well, one of the things with uh uh one of our behavior specialists, Dr. Summer Brook Crook, uh one of the things that she talked about because she's so invested into uh restorative practices, she like why aren't we doing this systematically with our students? And one of the things that she's has implemented within the program is okay if a student has a be uh a behavioral plan. What should be in there is restorative practices which will uh then she has to then train teachers okay how do you address a student who exhibits these behaviors through a

099restorative practice lens. And so it's really trying to systematize those best practices. Uh and so those are some of the cool things that we get to do with a lot of our uh partners uh other groups. So yeah, >> it's amazing to put positive things into a systemic system. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> You all did a great job. >> Best team of the world right there. >> I didn't know we were doing all this such detail. Learn every day what we're doing here. It's awesome. >> Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, that brings us to board discussion. If topics of discussion, this is our chance to speak as a group. And is there anything that anybody wants to talk about? >> I have a couple. >> Go for it. >> Sorry. >> Um,

100okay. I have well one and and this is probably where we hear Brian and and part of this is because I wasn't well I think it's come up since but I wasn't here at the last board meeting when we went over safety plan and I had an opportunity um and I can't be mad at myself because I can't remember Stacy uh >> Skoss thank you um I talked to Stacy Skos just on a her chance and one of the things that she brought up to me I haven't either I want to I want to really ask that um if we have any second floor classrooms or buildings that there are ladders available at each one of those um and something to break this. So she was very passionate about that and I thought I would

101bring that up. >> Yeah. Thank you. We are um we've been in discussions for the last couple years about how to bring the district up to compliance with um you're talking about evacuation tools. >> Yeah. off our stairwell. It's over. Elevators aren't working. Um, and yeah, we've got plan B. I actually just met with all the Fed directors uh yesterday. >> Um, because we have some new crew up there. Jane's a new director here right now, but >> we had a meeting and u we're we're actually collecting bids right now different companies to make sure that we have the right tools in place. And it's more than just, you know, getting them off the floor the elevator. It's it's really part of our evacuation plan. If we >> were in lock down, >> we are

102in a lower window. >> We got to make sure that we get people out safely. And that extends to uh folks with disabilities, could be myself in a wheelchair because I busted my lower half or I'm on crutches. So, it really could extend to a lot of different folks. It can be it could be our staff. We have staff that struggle um on stairwells. They have to use an elevator every day because they're not able to get up and down. >> So um yeah, I appreciate that question. >> Yeah. So you I mean >> there's other tools, not just lads. Yeah, that was just what she was very very passionate about the second floor and and people being able to get out of a second floor for some reason there was some kind of a

103fire or a you know something else. >> So what we're looking at is evacuation chairs, evacuation mattresses, there's slings, there's different ways to do it. We want to make sure we select a tool that's safe >> and accommodates to different body types. >> Yeah, >> that's another consideration. We have littles Right. And then we have others that are there's all fairs and adults and such. So yeah, we are kind of >> I just told her I'd bring it up. >> Yeah. I >> think I know who to talk to. So So that was one. Um the other thing I thought maybe we could talk about um just while we're here is I know Lor's brought it up before, but on 13th is World Kindness Day and I think we're going to be going maybe that

104day to go see the Early Learning Center. >> Yeah. So, I don't know if there's some that's something we should talk about or we want to think about that more in that time or sorry, >> it's a pretty fun place. >> Well, this would be we don't have another study session before that day. >> You have a boarding meeting. >> Board me, but study session. >> Well, we've got some homecoming dump truck parades. Um, I don't have any specific ideas. So, I'm just bringing it up as something if we want to talk about it or we want to because we're going to be at the early learning center. Do we want to try to focus on doing something there or do we think we want to do something broader or do you all >> do

105a few small things in the district? But we we already talked about those already myself. Well, if there's something we want to do as a board, I would encourage us to do it in conjunction with something that's already planned for those of us that that have to take time to be during the day events. All of us that are retirees, but um it would be great to incorporate that to maybe into a visit or something we could do something for kindness. that we were to do it at during their inter during their center visit. Is there anything that anybody can think of off the top of their head or >> I apologize. I'm kind of at a far. >> Oh, it's 2 a.m. >> Welcome to my home. Aquil, nightquil, whatever I've been taking lately.

106>> Uh I was hoping maybe I know it's makes it tight, but I was hoping to have a little time to think about. >> Yeah. >> How about I do this? I can also connect with Martina to see if they have anything going on in the building that you could either connect with or >> add to or >> Yeah, they've got some really cool things going on with kindness. So, we could even show you that. We could have I mean, she's got her little be. Yeah, >> we can bring that out and show you some as well. >> Yep. I didn't notice that day. That's so perfect. I know it's awesome. Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean, I wasn't I expected a full plan from you though disappointed. Actually, I'm telling this this is >> Did

107you bring your your kindness of sexy sign? >> Well, moment I'm just kind of Yeah, >> that that and found out. So, my wife has to have a procedure. She has a higher and we've just been going along with oh nothing. Came out with this much that we're now reading through to find out what you have to do. She has to stay in the hospital. are going. Oh, this is going to be so fun for how many weeks. >> So, I'm kind of spinning on that one, too. >> But, uh, I will be by next Tuesday. Something in mind. >> Okay. >> Yeah, that was just >> No, it's a good time to bring it up. I appreciate that. >> J, have your elephant out there ready? >> We have 12 of them. >> I

108know. >> It's enough for everyone. We might we might >> you have to walk the bridge in them though. >> That would be a sight too. >> I was so excited. I heard somebody just said and oh it's down hospital where she had her pre and somebody said the bridge is fixed and my first thought was the bridge right now. >> Yeah, the bridge. >> But look at fall days crossing the bridge. >> She said it was 30° when she walked across it this morning. Getting dark. >> I know. Dark and cold. >> Not cool. >> Well, I'm working towards getting my knee replaced. >> So, the doctor next week had a game plan shooting for December, but they told me that's pretty tight. >> Okay. >> So, we can do So, I might miss

109some things. Yeah. You might come in on the Zoom. >> Knees. >> Gosh. Yeah. >> Any other topics that we want to talk about tonight? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Thank you. Those are good ones. Thanks for bringing us up. >> I do have to say though, it was fun sharing what we've what what you folks Yeah. what you guys are doing and and the results of that and um within that group there were some teachers and or former teachers. And um it was interesting because not one of them said that it was viewed in their opinion to their district that from kindergarten to high school we're all in this together. We're all trying to get to that same spot that didn't exist. And uh the other was um blessings for all of us is uh

110three of the three of those were teachers had gone through numerous superintendent in the last few years and I was able to talk about what having the consistency and uh the looking at these plans. I mean, I I know from working with Lori that from first day she well before she took over to now, it's been just a consistent persistent march forward and and that's how you made progress because u that was their main complaint for us. They're in district where it was let's try this this year, let's try this. Well, that didn't work. So, let's go to this. >> And having that consistent march forward, it's just huge. >> You try not to chase the shiny vein. That's right. The course you can only go to so many workshops. >> Good work. >> All

111right. >> Thank you guys very much. That was >> very sir. Yeah, because she's asked me that before, too. And she knows the answer. >> So, I feel like I need It doesn't.