001Oh, yeah. All right. Well, thanks for being here tonight. Um, I don't know if you noticed, we had some wonderful greeters out there, and I would love for them to come forward and tell us a little bit about themselves and what's going on at the schools they attend. We have to see if you can see we got a room for everybody. So we have the wonderful Iden Thrafall with baby Weston here. We have Adriana Zeladon. We have Briana Hav. We have Mo Darling. We have Alan, Cornelio, Andreas. We should be having perhaps Salvador Arcio sneaking in as soon as he could. Um, but these are our Eli students, almost all seniors here to to greet for us. Do you want to do any does anybody want to tell us anything exciting that's going on? Yeah.
002Um, my name is Briana Haer and I attend Bonny Lake High School and Eli Hill and I'm going to be graduating this year thanks to Eli Hill and their program helped me out a whole lot and I'm very happy to be graduating and be able to say that I graduated from Eli Hill. Nice. Congrats. Yeah. Anyone else? Uh, I'm Idan Throwfall and I go to Bonnie Lake and Eli as well. And I definitely was missing a lot of credit in school and going through some stuff. And obviously being a senior with the kid, but obviously thanks to Eli, I was able to come through and be graduating in June. So thanks to Eli that's I get to be graduating. That's Well, thank you all for being here. Is it if anybody else wanted to say
003anything? Oh, get one. Salvador is with us as well. Welcome. Come on up. No, you're fine. Thanks for being here. Yeah. Uh Salvador, um Aricio is um one of our ELI students joined us this year as well. You know, part of Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Yeah. Well, congratulations to all the seniors and can't very much looking forward to uh graduation. It's sneaking up on us quick. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah. So cute. Hi. So cute. So, he's gonna have a graduation gown. Is that right? Yes. Yeah. That would be that would be fitting. Yeah. Congrats. Ah, nice. Love it. That's great. Did you find a new friend? I think you found a new friend. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here and being great greeters tonight. All right. First
004thing on the agenda tonight is approval of the agenda. recommend. The administration recommends that the board of directors approve the May 21st, 2025 board meeting agenda. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. A second. Awesome. Uh any discussion? No. Okay. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed. All right. Motion passes. All right. Okay, we've got some consent items on the agenda tonight, uh, which the administration recommends that the board of directors approve the consent agenda items for the May 21st, 2025 board meeting. Do I have, uh, a motion? So moved. All right. And a second. Awesome. Any discussion? Some wonderful donations in there tonight, which is great. Very much appreciated from all those. Uh, looks like we have Crestwood PTA, we have Liberty Ridge PTO, we have Summer Rotary, and
005they all donated, which is going to help out the district and we really appreciate it. All right, all those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed, right? Motion passes. Looks like we have a little bit of recognition tonight. Yeah. So, we have two special recognitions tonight. And it's kind of a giveaway if you look at the ducks in the room. Um, the first person we're going to start with, uh, is represented by the malard. Now, this is not the duck of Washington State. Stacy Schos, do you know what the the It is. You're right. Yeah, because this is the most common duck in Washington State. And the first person we're going to recognize tonight who has received an incredible honor is Miss Stacy Scholes, who has taught Pacific Northwest history for 25 years.
006Yeah. Uh she's joined tonight by Toby Udiger, uh her principal. And um Toby, you're going to come to the to the lectern and then I'm going to join you down there because you know we've got some stuff for you Stacy a little bit taller. So I don't even know if it matters up. All right. Well, good evening. Oh, sorry. should be online. Yeah. And I'm not sure what time it is there. All right. That's great. No worries. That's awesome. Okay. Well, good evening. It's it is my great um honor to introduce and recognize an exceptional educator, someone who embodies not just excellence in teaching uh but also the heart and soul of what it means to be a champion for students. Uh we are here to celebrate Stacy School's accomplishments for being recognized for the
007governor's award of excellence in teaching history. This award is a testament to her incredible 38-year career as a history educator. 25 of those years spent doing the miraculous work of helping eighth graders be motivated to learn Washington State history and take their very first steps towards high school graduation. Stacy has a deep passion for teaching history and is a continuous learner. A 2019 James Madison Fellow, a national honor that recognizes exceptional teachers of the US Constitution, speaks volumes about Stacy's scholarship, her her dedication to civic education, and her belief in the power of history to shape thoughtful and engaged citizens. Her extensive knowledge of social studies and history, as well as her amazing gift of storytelling, brings history to life in unforgettable ways. Whether it's the intrigue of the Pig War or the deeper complexities
008of our state's past, Stacy captivates students and staff for that matter far beyond the context of any textbook. But beyond the lessons, the maps, and the primary sources, Stacy lives out the belief that every kid needs a champion. Stacy's true magic lies beyond content. Stacy deeply cares about her students, their growth, their voice, and their success. Nowhere is this clearer than her relentless pursuit of every student earning the right to walk across the stage to get their Washington State history certificate. She holds every student to high standards while at the same time breaks class classwork into manageable steps, offers endless feedback, extends deadlines, and rallies an entire support team to ensure no student is left behind. All of this work concludes with a beautiful celebration she meticulously plans where pomp and circumstance play. students cross
009the stage, shake Stacy's hand, exchange smiles, and receive their certificate, and most importantly, see themselves as a future high school graduate. And at the heart of it all are her Friday words, which I'll save for Stacy. Um, but what is a message of care, of integrity, and of a belief, and a reflection of the champion she is for every student. Her classroom walls lined with graduation announcements from former students say it all. Stacy Schos is not just a history teacher, she's a lifecher. So, I'll bring up Lori for a few other additional words. So, Toby said it best when he described Stacy as a champion. What I would describe is that she is our promise in action. She knows every single one of her kids. And uh and if you go to her classroom, up
010on well probably many walls by now are graduation invitations because she doesn't forget them and they don't forget her. They invite her to graduations and she tells them to. Right. So impressive. She values what every student brings to her classroom regardless of background, circumstance, experience. She embraces every one of her kids and then she supports them. She does not let kids fail and she reminds them that, hey, this is your first step towards high school graduation. And they're like, you should see this. It's crazy. I mean, you've got like how many how many eighth graders do you have, Toby? 270. Okay. So, 270 are sitting in the cafeteria and all Stacy has to do. So, eighth graders. All right. 270. Yeah, that's the way to describe it, Tom. Oh, God. Right. All she has to
011do is like she just looks at them and and she says, "Quiet." And like the whole cafeteria, I mean, it's true, right? It is true. Yeah. I mean, it's amazing. It It is incredible to see. She is our promise in action every day. She doesn't want to be I mean, she doesn't want to miss a class. And I mean, and her kids don't want her gone. She's exactly what we want in classrooms. And you should have seen her the night she got this award. Super prestigious award. I mean, incredible, impressive award. She goes, so there's like 25 of us there and we're all in one little area and um she goes up and she just nails her speech. She practiced and her kids gave her feedback and I mean it was an awesome experience for
012them to see this, but she just nailed it. Standing ovation and I'm like, oh, I was like so proud and she was so nervous. I'm like, "What are you nervous for?" Yeah. So, I asked her if she would say a few words and also tell you her Friday speech that everyone, including myself, can can recite because it's just uh it's just who she is. So, Stacy, come on up. Stacy Skulls, everyone. Thank you. Um, thank you for the recognition. Um this is very special and and just delightful. Um but I I want to point out that I could not do cannot do what I do with eighth graders in particular without the support of everybody who directly or tangentially touches and works with our eighth graders. Um our paras are they there are magicians uh
013and do wonderful things. our secretaries. Hey, have you gotten your CBA done? Um, our nurse, our counselors, our custodian, our uh campus security or my administrators. It just it's it's it's a big push by everybody. Teachers, lend me students and give me give them the gift of time. Our writing specialist works miracles. It just it's I couldn't do what I do without all of the help I get. It just is is amazing. In my speech um at the awards ceremony, I said I stand in the midst of giants and I appreciate them all and I really do. So, thank you very much. Oh, I beg your pardon. Yes. when I was uh practicing with my kids, uh they said, "Where's the Friday speech?" Because I have given the Friday speech to every class I've taught
014for 38 years. Um and we don't leave until everybody hears it. So, um they they wanted me to include the Friday speech, so I added it to the end of my uh speech. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? You have three jobs. Stay safe. Have fun. Take care of people with less power than you. Make good decisions. Come back to me one piece. Thank you. So, this is Stacy's award. I'm going to pass it around so you can see it. I know. Any You want to say something? You You look like you do because who doesn't love her, right? I know. history with you specifically, right? No, I just I think you're correct. You know, you um you stand amongst giants but clearly recognized for your excellence um and you exude care
015for your students which um can't be trained. It's just who you are and you share that every day with your students which is a gift. So, thank you on behalf of the board and I'm sure you guys want to say something too, but I just I have goosebumps listening to you. So, thank you. I'm real impressed how you what how you lead your students and they follow you. That excitement that you exume to all them wants then want want to achieve a better goal too. And I'm so proud of what you've done for our students, our school district all the time you've been here. It's really impressive. Thank you very much. Yeah. I mean, I I can't even um begin to match everything that that they've said, but I think one of the the other
016pieces of what you've done is not just for your students, but for the anyone that's worked with you and around you. I think you've made them better. So, thank you so much for that. There it is. So, I had the pleasure of working with Stacy at Sar High School and gosh, it seems like just a day or two ago, right? Yeah. Um, everything we've heard is truly authentic and I saw it every day in her classroom at Sar High School. um when she chose to go down to the middle school, we talked a little bit about it and I thought it was going to be just magical because having the creativity that you bring to the classroom, your sincerity and how much you just care for each one of them um is is so huge
017with that group. And truly, I had the pleasure of spending some time up at Lakeidge uh after my retirement to step in uh for an absence. and her walls are plastered all over the place with invitations and that and I could pick out the students and the names and they go back years and years. But congratulations. This is so richly deserved. Yeah, it it's pretty impressive to see the the staff that we have in this district that put as much effort and care that I can personally attest to uh into what they do every day and and you are just so appreciated. Thank you. And we're gonna get a picture. Oh, yeah. And you have some files, too, to take pictures. Oh, yes, they are for you. Oh, okay. Yes. This is Oh, he's good.
018I know. Okay. Okay. So, the Ducks gave away the second recognition. One of our incredible uh school resource officers, Brandon Anderson. I'm gonna have Brian Shear, our director of safety and security, come on up. Brenda, did you know what was going on tonight? I caught a clue with the ducks. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, we also have Mayor Kathy Hayden and city manager Jason Sullivan and or yeah, Wilson. Sorry, that's Bonnie Lake. There's two of you. I mean, um and you were like, what are they doing here? So, yeah. And then we're like, "Yeah, maybe they're just comparing who runs a better." Yeah, we don't do that. But yeah. All right. Well, thank you, Dr. Dan and the school board. Um, as you know, our school district values our strong partnerships with Sumar PD and Bonnie
019Lake PD and the tremendous work and dedication of our school resource officers in all of our schools. Tonight, we want to take a few minutes to honor officer Brandon Anderson for his outstanding service as one of our or our Sumar PD SRO. Brandon's dedication, compassion, and positivity are significantly impacting students and staff across all of our valley schools. I mean, the guy is literally a rock star. His leadership in the development of student outreach programs like teen boxing at the YMCA and badges and barbells in our schools demonstrate his commitment to our community and most important to our students. I now would like to invite Eli Hill principal Gina Longland to share more about Officers Anderson's exceptional work with her program and how this work has impacted the lives of her students. Gina, first thank
020you so much Brian and Dr. Dent for inviting me to speak on behalf of Officer Anderson. I have been sure I get this a little shorter than Brian is. Um, I have been lucky enough to get to know Officer Anderson this last year. I knew the second I met him or the first meeting that I met him that I was working with a very unique individual, one that you come across clearly, very rarely. We were working with a student who had asked to do a report and he was taking down his report and doing his due diligence and she made a comment about consent. She said, "Well, he wanted a hug. I didn't want to give it to him." I said, "No, no, no. I got tired of it. I said, "Fine." I gave him
021the hug because I was sick of it. So, I gave him consent. And in that moment, he dropped his pen. He looked at this young lady and he goes, "No, that is not what consent looks like." And proceeded to respectfully and gracefully tell her what consent was and empowered her. She learned so much and she left there thinking, "Oh my gosh, I had no idea from that experience." I said, "You know, that was huge. That made such a big impact on this young woman." So, because, as you will learn, this man doesn't do things just partial. He goes 100% and then another additional 100% after that, he decided to make a toolkit for students. This toolkit, I do encourage you to look at it, is chocked full of information that our students really need to
022know. Right smack in the middle, and it's gorgeous, by the way, is sexual assault and harassment information. There's also drug, alcohol information and resource information. It is packed full of vital information that was created after this interaction. He came and showed it to me and I was floored. I said, 'Th that is one of the most amazing resources I've ever seen. I had two, I think, at the time. They were gone almost immediately and then I sheishly came to him and said, "I'm so sorry. I don't have anymore now. I lost them." But the kids love them and they took off with them. So, can I have maybe the the digital copy so that I can make some more because I can only imagine how expensive these are. So, being who he is, he came
023with five or six more. I'm not sure how many he brought. I have one left just so and I'm not letting this one out of my grip because the kids love this. In fact, um not only did he impact the young lady who I spoke about and just that knowledge and empowerment and her rights, but other students who have seen this have been inspired and I don't know if Miss Evans is still here. I haven't talked to you about this yet. There is a young woman who's so inspired by this that she I did give her I did give her one of the copies. That was the one that I actually said yes, you can have it. She's using it as her inspiration for her culminating senior project for her English class with Miss Evans.
024She loved this so much she wanted to create something similar to it for students based on his um his toolkit here and all the kids love it. This is all impact that he has created for our students before I even get to badges and barbells. So this was the beginning of the year. I should have known the ride that I was in store for because then come in February um thanks to uh Deputy Chief Mccertie, we were able to put together badges and barbells. And so before I continue, I'd like to call four students up. Alan Chava Salvador, um Briana, and Miko, can you please join me? Brandon's work with Badges and Barbells has been nothing short of transformational. Badges and barbells is set up to enhance physical health and growth. Uh he has uh
025in our parking lot he has put together every Thursday a little assortment of activities that kids can do and they basically work out with officer Anderson and some other officers sometimes join us. But hidden in between the kettle bell exercises and the what do you call it? Battle rope. Am I saying that right? Battle rope. The battle rope uh exercises is a deep understanding of the importance of personal connection. If you're if you're truly going to serve your community as this man has and does, you connect with them on a personal level and let kids know people know how much you care. There's no group of people I know that can sniff out if you are genuine or not about care than the students behind me and every other student at Eli Hill. They know.
026They know the genuine care from one that's just I'm just here to get a paycheck. When it comes to Officer Anderson, he has created a community in our badges and barbells of all students joining him because of that care and that deep understanding of connection. So, the students behind me, I'm going to go one by one. Uh, Briana, I Briana, when she went out there, I was like, Bree's going out there. What What's she going to do? This girl is all heart every single time and she's running the courses and she's doing the things and it's just absolutely amazing. I'm thrilled watching her and she's so connected and deeply set in hanging out with uh Officer Anderson every Thursday and this is by the way during lunch. Then there is Salvador. I call him Chava
027or we call him Chava who who made the grand entrance today. He has joined us recently and he has a really unique relationship with Officer Anderson. They have a a past uh relationship here and there and the connection, the trust and the respect that not only Chava has been shown but he shows in return to officer Anderson speaks volumes. It's amazing. And he one day I know that I'm going to see Chavez on Thursday, right? I know I'm going to see you on a Thursday. I can always count on that. And then there's Alan. Uh, Alan Ellen's kind of the poster child for why we do the badges and barbells for the impact that Officer Anderson has had. Um, Ellen went from uh beginning this process and this relationship with Officer Anderson by actually creating
028it. They sat down together and they mapped out what would badges and barbells look like. They created it together. Um Allan pitched it to every single class in the AM session and the PM session. They put everything together and now and it's flourishing now. Allan is even I hope I'm not putting words in your mouth. Also a part of the Friday, what's it called? The teen night at the YMCA for boxing. The the boxing with police. I don't know. Just badges and boxing. Badges and boxing at the YMCA. and he's been a huge part of that. Not only that, last night uh Allen's story was shared by Officer Anderson and McCertie at an event and he even got a potential job offering from it. Yes, huge success. We're so excited and so proud. And then
029Mo. Now, I will say I'm closing with Mo. Mo was my biggest surprise. Mo, would you mind stepping up with me? Mo has battled a lot of health issues over the years. She came to us at Eli Hill due to those health issues. And so when she went out to work out with Officer Anderson in badges and barbells, I thought, "What in the heck is going on?" And what has happened since then is amazing. Her mom requests videos. Please take some videos and send them to me because it's so exciting to watch. But for the rest, I will let Mo speak for herself. Uh good evening uh Sar Bonnie Lake School Board. My name is Mo Darling and I happen to be one of your many students at Sumar and Eli. And because of that,
030I was given this opportunity today to greet one of the most upstanding officers I have ever met. Officer Anderson has a drive for commitment and to keep on pushing even when you're tired and left beat. I'm one of the many students who struggles to maintain their health, whether it be my diet or my physical health. Anderson has, since the moment I've met him, made me want to improve myself for the better. Anderson has given me the resolve to do better and be better. So, with a round of applause, I would like to introduce you to Officer Anderson. I mean, right. So, I would also like to say, Officer Anderson, as I close, we see your commitment to all of us. Every student, it truly does not matter their background, their identification, their gender. It doesn't
031matter. You are committed to every single student at Eli Hill and in our community. We feel your compassionate understanding. This is very important. while also being held accountable. Thank you for that. And we are deeply impacted by the level of genuine care that you show our entire community in the valley. Thank you on behalf of Eli Hill. Thank you. Hold on one second. We're getting a picture. But we have a couple things for you. So, some of you might have seen Brandon on the cover of our like our first edition of Scoop. Um, and Gina's not joking. Like, these are little these are our littles at the Early Learning Center. And Brandon's like right in the middle of them uh reading a book. So, Brandon, we want you to have this copy framed. And then
032we have a nice certificate for you. Yeah. Thank you so much for everything. Yeah. anything. No, I thank you, Dr. Dent. Thank you, school board, um, Mayor Jason Wilson, our city administrator. I just I'm truly grateful. I'm truly blessed and trul truly honored and really humbled by all this really. Um, I honestly wasn't expecting any of this and then there were certain clues, right, that popped up and I'm like, okay, what's going on here? But no, it's just it's such an honor to get to do what I get to do and connect with such seriously amazing kids from all walks of life, you know, uh to come in and just be able to meet them where they're at. And uh I've learned so much and you know I see the I truly see you know
033our future generation you know and it's so bright and um everybody's got such a unique story to tell and that story is so powerful and um learning each of those stories is just you know a truly a blessing and um but yeah I just I thank everybody and I huge thanks to my wife honestly my family back there like without her support, I would have nothing. So, if there's a any round of applause, I'd like to give it to my wife amazing wife. So, thank you so much for just, you know, I I feel spoiled that I get to do what I get to do every day. So, thank you. Oh, I thought you kind of messed it up last year. Right. You want to do something? drive away. Do you have No, you cannot.
034Nice job. Wow. What uh what a great opportunity to honor some wonderful people in our community. Next on the agenda is our superintendent comments. Did you have anything? I think I think did you did all you needed? Yeah, I'm good. That was that was really good. All right, board member comments. Anybody want to go first or start with Bill or No. Okay, go the other direction. Well, there's been a lot going on this past month and I've seen numerous ones out there also along with me. Uh, a couple that really stand out last couple weeks are went to robotics exhibition last weekend, last Sunday. They had a um auction and they had a demonstration and I was really impressed with all those students on their own talked about what they've been doing, how they build
035those robots and what they do from scratch and the termit they go to. And when I walked away from the auction, I won a great Bon Lake High School uh quilt took home. It was beautiful. So proud to get that there. my bid on that. And we also had the Mai steel and teal steel and teals event last weekend. That was remarkable amount of people there with crafts for sale. I mean this parking lot full of some cars out there and it was well put together event. I really had a great time and my legs were tired when I got home. all that. And last night as Shelby were also at the Rotary um celebration scholastic um students, top ones from both schools. I was really impressed by all those students there, where they're going,
036what they've done, and how they've worked hard to get where they are today. So that was first time I've seen that and was very impressive. So awesome. JB, what um I will uh ditto Tom. There was a lot that went on in the last um month and um I will that I'm going to highlight just a couple of the things that um I did um one of the things that we were lucky enough to do is um and it's one of my favorite things. It's when we get to go on site visits. So we get to um we get to go and see the teaching in action. and we get to go see the work that's being done right there um in person. And this was a really um special visit that we did where
037we were able to watch our community-based um students work in in the skill center. They went uh they work uh at Delano's and um a couple of things that I learned about the program that I didn't really realize. So each time you do that, you really kind of immerse yourself in it a little bit more and learn learn more about it. And uh one of the things that I realized after spending that time is how comprehensive it is. Um this is not just about kind of providing work experience or or um exposure for kids. It's it's a full program where um the these uh these interns as they're called um there's a social emotional component, life skills. Um it's really about teaching um our our students transitioning them from students to um independent living and
038adults. And so it's about social emotional life skills, work skills, both the soft skills that we need to learn, being on time, being respectful to our co-workers, as well as technical skills, how to get the job done. Um they spent a lot of time also learning what um the interns really would like to do. Are they social? Do they want to work and interact front and front facing with customers? Or maybe they're more someone who wants to be in the back of the house and and work on projects um and and then exposing them to as many different um scenarios as possible to really solidify what they might like or or not like. I was also um learned that it's not just about the students because transitioning happens for the parents as well. So the
039there's a program that they put on called Third Thursdays which um is really for the parents because a lot of the resources change a lot of the support services change for our students when they go from students to adults. And so this is helping those parents to navigate that system as well. Uh which I thought was um incredibly beneficial and and uh something that I had didn't know we did. Um they were at Delano's. Uh one of the things that really struck me about the work they were doing at Delano's was how meaningful it was. Um I think that the supervisor there must have said multiple times how much they appreciated the work that was done because it allowed their employees to to work on other things and to get things done more quickly. So
040um and how important it was. So, one of the jobs that they were doing was l um labeling um many of the the custom bags of coffee that would be going out and um and you could see how serious all of our interns took it. So, quality of work, making sure things were straight, the um quantity of work that they were the output that they were doing. There was lots of friendly competition going on. Um it was really great to see and I could probably keep going on but I think one of the things that um a couple of things that um stuck out with to me as well is that um it's really the importance of our partnership within our community. So, we can't do this without our community's partnership. And I think it's
041a theme that you hear continuously through um throughout uh a lot of our comments, and you heard it tonight um already with the steel and the teal and steel. That's community coming together to support the ASB of a high school. This is community providing an opportunity for um for these students to work. Um the other thing that completely struck me is the uh the effort the the time committed the effort. I mean there is supervision, there is transportation. This is a big undertaking. And in fact one of the supervisors said she goes you know I'm driving around and I see places that I think might be good places for you know my students to work and she stops and goes and asks. So I mean this is you know as she's driving along I can
042just p picture her driving going good spot and turning around. So yeah, you know, so that constantly thinking about it, not just between, you know, school hours, but um throughout throughout life. So I'm was really impressed. Okay, that's enough about that. Um, one of the other things that I did that, um, I think I just want to encourage people to do, so um, May was mental health awareness month and so our school put on, um, and offered some different, um, some different opportunities to learn about some of the things that um, might be impacting our students mental health. And one of them was a free streaming of screenagers. So I um, I did that. I watched that for an hour. Um, and I just encourage people, there are so many free resources that the school
043is offering different things. Um, they're offering uh another in-person behavior bridges workshop on the 28th at Victor Falls from 5:30 to 7:00. Take advantage of these things. Um, I don't have young children anymore, but I watched that and I thought this is a really difficult thing that parents are facing. And how great to to be able to watch and see how maybe learn just one or two little pearls that will help you have a conversation with your student or identify something that's going on with your student and it's free. So that would be something I would encourage you. And then the last thing that I'll talk about, though there was more, is um I was lucky enough to um go into um and and participate in the safety advisory council um meeting that was held
044last week. And I could go and I think um this is a really this was a really wonderful opportunity for me to kind of sit and learn a again about what our school district is doing to keep our students and our staff safe. And Brian Shear led that and it was an excellent um evening where we had breakout sessions. Um and again I think what I took away was how holistic um our district looks at at everything that we really do and safety was one of them. So our breakouts were everything from um we sat and Robin and and David Cuts gave us um a presentation for example on the technology safety. So, our cyber security, how our our students um parents can monitor their students with their Chromebooks. Um how we are going to
045be looking at have trees grown too high to be blocking cameras that that we no longer have, you know, those cameras that were put in to give us some visibility and safety that are now blocked by a tree that's grown. So, we're looking at everything from the inside, the outside. Um, the other thing that was great, I mean, I can go on, but we talked about our emergency response. And in the fall and September, Brian talked to us about getting backpacks into all of our classrooms for emergency situations. And it was great to hear that that's been completed. And um, I heard some people say they never wanted to see another backpack as long as they live. But uh, but it's great to see that those things that were planned have also come through. And
046I just want to shout out to Officer Anderson because he also provided um a whole session and he was one of the standouts um in that session and I think um you couldn't walk away um not knowing how much he cared about all of the students that he's interacting with and the difference that he's making in their lives and how fortunate we are to have him involved in our district. Um, one of the things and I've written it down and I've taken it with me that he said um, from the very beginning is that he leads with compassion and accountability. And I think he um, what we've heard tonight um, does that every day um, with our students and we're very very lucky to have that. So that's all I have for today. Erin, do
047you want to go next? Sure. Um, I'll just keep mine. you did a really nice job of overview of painting the picture that May is quite fast and furious around here. There's a lot going on. Um and so I think uh I'll just come from a place of appreciation um that these things don't just happen. Um I know staff appreciation, teacher appreciation was um this month and behind every student um event that we go to um in the evenings there are administrators and teachers um right there with them late into the evening championing them all day long and then into the night. And so just appreciate um all the people who champion our kids in this district every day. It's something pretty special. Um, I think that when you look at the calendar for the
048board, um, after you get a few years under your belt, things become, um, fairly routine. You know, you know, May there's showcases, um, June there's, um, graduations, and you can anticipate some of these things that, um, could very well be ordinary. And I've said it many times before, um, that really, um, we find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Um, and I think not to single you out, but is it Mo? Mo, I just want to thank you. You took kind of an ordinary um, potentially ordinary um, recognition and with your story and your bravery. It's not easy to talk to a room of people. You took it to another level of extraordinary. And I just want to thank you for your gift of your words because it helps us understand on a deeper level the
049impact of another human being um, in our district. And so thank you for that. Um but there are just examples of that constantly um of taking the ordinary and rising to the extraordinary and I'm just grateful that I get to witness it. So thank you June. I will go first. You guys have exhausted everything. Um, you know, I've I've always looked at June as we're now down to like the 50 meters of the marathon. And Aaron kind of hit on it. I just wanted to thank I mean students, you're doing a ton right now. Some of you are playing catchup, some of you are ahead, but it's still tons of pressure on you. Staff, I know how exhausted you guys are right now, but you're here at the events. You're, you know, helping the kids.
050You're helping the planning. You're doing all those things. Lori and her staff and and parents, this is a weird time having done both sides as the educator and the parent because you're excited, but you're also nervous because there's every day there's the possibility that something could come up and everybody just supporting the kids right now is just so fast fascinating and it's exciting right now. But um thank you everyone because I know right now we could all use many days of extra rest and it just doesn't happen until June 17th. Sorry, not that they knew ahead of time. So, thank you all so much. Awesome. Lots of lots of great things going on. I'll give a shout out to the staff and the students who put on the cultural event uh up at Bonnie Lake
051High School. Uh I think we set a new record for attendance. How many? About 700. about 700 attendees which was a new record for us and lots of great performers, great food, great booths and and always something to learn. So I I very much appreciate everybody that helped put that on. All right, so that brings us to audience comments. Do we have any audience comments tonight? There are no audience comments this evening. Okay, awesome. All right, no David speech tonight. Yep. All right, so next is uh business matters. We have a presentation on our capital projects bond update. Director of capital projects Marina and development and construction manager of Falcon and Fern Matt will present the bond update to the board of directors. You can leave the baby. There we go. Give a moment for
052people to escape a little bit. Okay, Dr. Dent School Board, thank you for the opportunity to provide one of the first of uh many good board updates on our Sumar Bonnie Lake Builds 2024 bond program. Um, we tried to structure this in something that, you know, gives you something to anticipate, you know, same type of information, same formats. So, you'll see this format as we go forward. And I'm going to let Matt start. First thing we're going to do, tell them about the lo. Oh, the logo. Yes. Um, that was a process. Are you doing it? Okay. It's It's slow. Just um, it was process. We worked with um a company and L and her team, great team, a lot of great ideas and I'm glad we got there and we're having some fun with
053it. So, more to follow with that. I don't have the animation in the presentation. I will have to work on my tech skills to figure that out. But, okay. So, agenda. Okay. Thank you. Um, so this is Matt Matty G. No introduction needed. Um, we have a third member of our team that's not here tonight, John Botman. Um, and we will include him as appropriate going forward. So, first project updates. Members of the board, how are you? Good to see you again. Feel like I'm let down after all the amazing people I'm following here, but that's okay. All right. Uh, we're going to dive right into it. I'm going to go fast and furious. So, the Summoner High School master plan phase one's done. Obviously, right now we're in the middle of design for phase
054two, which is the yellow box on the left. We've finished the EDSPEC process mostly. So, you'll be seeing uh you know, requests for you to accept the EDSspec later on in the summer. Um, but yeah, the Whoa. Slow down. Oh, yeah. I guess I'm jumping ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry. Sorry. So, we did a you might have seen some equipment out there. We were just digging up the soil to make sure it was exact same as the soil that was under the uh phase one building so that we can do the exact same structural. It's basically we're just, you know, bringing the band back together and doing the same type of construction, the same look. Phase two is going to feel very much like phase one. It's just
055going to be mostly all classrooms. Uh today, we're going to approve the architect contract. Um, we're going to keep doing schematic design, which is sort of like drawing the rooms and all the stuff in it, but not getting into the super granular detail of all the systems that support it. That'll sort of run through the summer. We'll get a um an estimate together with you. And uh you know, we've re reviewed the four plans. They're actually pretty similar to what we had in the master plan. We did a pretty good job. Um here they are here. So, uh, geez, how do I present this? I'll come over here and awkwardly stand next to each other. If you don't, well, but if you don't, the Yes. Yeah, there's one. Don't know. So, phase one is over
056here. Sorry for the people listening on the right. So, there's going to be a connected three-story corridor. So, all three levels of phase one will connect to phase two. So you don't have to go up or downstairs to get over to your classes on the west building. You come in, you turn left on the first floor. There's a couple of general ed classrooms. A very um well-laid out in my opinion child development area that's got the child development classroom here with an ability to observe down into um the infant and toddler rooms. And then the infant toddler rooms are directly connected to a little playground outside with its own storage. It's got its own entry vestibule and like very convenient parent drop off. Going right, there's CAD labs and computer labs. And then you head
057into a very generouslysized robotics lab, which kills me a little bit, but I support robotics and we're going to give them all that space. And into the core plus area that's got um you know, your aviation maintenance, your racks, and all your machines and presses and all that. on on the left side here. These two are the a science buildings, horiculture and animal sciences with the greenhouse and the animal structure off to the to the left there with access directly out there. So really well well laid out really uh intuitive design. Next next slide. Second floor is mostly oh sorry go back one sorry in the middle here I forgot there's a really nice double DLC classroom with one DLC classroom across the hall. We really wanted to make this on the first floor so
058it's easiest for the students with um disabilities. They've got a a life skills area, kitchen, a bathroom, and it's it's going to be a huge upgrade compared to what they have now. So, I'm that's part of the project I'm really excited about. Next next floor, please. All classrooms. There's some special ed and general classrooms. And then up on the top right is a culinary arts kitchen, like commercial kitchen. And the district's going to be able to up their game on the commercial kitchen space and culinary arts big time with that with that. Uh next floor and then the third floor is all classrooms, but the classrooms will look and feel a lot like the phase one classrooms. Basically the same inside. Okay. Bonnie Lake High School expansion. Um we are also in the design phase.
059We just kind of kicked off the SD phase officially and the EDS specs are with us in draft form. We need to review it and get that to you for approval as well. What's that? Doing that today. Next slide. Oh, sorry. The contract's going to get approved today. Um schematic design will continue through August and we'll get an estimate on that. You're going to This is a repeated thing, so I'll keep going. And then the intersection um roundabout at the intersection is also kicked off and that's kind of just in the infancy of its design process. And the floor plan concept has been completed and reviewed with you know Toby and Lori and everybody. Next slide. So it doesn't look angled like it did in the bond because we were able to get a more
060efficient design with more classrooms than by doing it this way. Okay. So on the first floor, um if you can imagine when you're going to Bike High School, there's that like road that goes to the left down the hill and around that's going to be a direct drop off for the DLC. So those buses will be able to get right to the DLC areas. And when I saw I mean the Tony does a great job running that school, but the facilities for the DLC, I think it it's going to be so much better for them. Like what those teachers do is heartwarming. like I don't I don't know how they do it every day. So, we wanted to make sure they got something really nice there on the first floor. In the back of that
061is going to be service now for Yes. Oh, sorry. Developmental learning. So, kids with disabilities basically. I don't know if I'm saying that right or using the right language, but kids who need extra help. Um, when we built the new pack, the stage behind the curtain in the common sort of uh it's used, but it's not optimal. So, we needed to find a new home for JOTC. And that's like the perfect spot for them. Plenty of room to do their JOTC stuff, plenty of storage for their uniforms and all that. So, we're actually going to tear down the building down below that stage and build it back up. So, when you roll up to Buck High School, you kind of see this low sloping roof and then that little tiny entrance. That's all going to
062be the new entrance. So, it's going to be a huge improvement. And then um on this where it says leadership on the top right that uh is currently um student services, no counseling. And so we're going to move counseling up to where like admin is right now and turn that into leadership which is great because it's right off the commons. It's like a good synergy. Second floor, which is where you walk in from the parking lot. Not that the sort of teal color is is that teal? I don't know. I'm I'm not I'm done with colors, but that greenish light green seafoam. Um, that's going to be the admin and the vestibule. Nice, nice, generous vestibule to give the school the front front that they've needed. That white outline actually is like the overhang so
063kids have a place to hang out out of the rain. Um, and then to your left is going to be a bunch of classrooms and science classrooms. And then your admin is the orange behind that. And over the JRTC is like student services. And then we're going to reconfigure the existing student services to to make sure all the functions are there and easy to access, close to admin. Uh Toby likes this flow. Everyone likes this flow. So it works out. And then on the third floor, it's just it's all classrooms. So we promised 10 to 12 classrooms in the bond. I think we're going to have more like significantly more like maybe 18 19 classrooms for the budget that was in the bond. Now, it might shift a little bit once we get our estimates
064back, but it's definitely going to be more. So, that's a huge relief to Toby and the community because we know we have enough room for everybody. That school will not be overburdened anymore. Next slide. I kind of went over this, but we're going to redo the existing DLC classrooms and turn them into regular classrooms. We're also going to expand robotics, so it's got some equity with what's going to be the summer high school robotics. Give them more space. Um, next slide. We kind of already talked about this, but I don't want to get into more detail. You guys got it. Next slide. Next slide. This is kind of the form when you're looking aerial view down at the school. This is really not how the building's going to look. This is showing the colors as
065they relate to each others programmatically. Just it's an exercise we did to make sure everything that's near each other plays well together with each other. So, the TAN classrooms are stacked. The Brown Science classrooms are stacked. DLC's on the ground floor together. You get the idea. Next slide. All right. Am I going too fast? No. To New Middle School in Hale. I love this site. I've been there multiple times. It's gorgeous. It's like being in a woodland adventure. Um, right now we're still finishing up the EDSPEC process. They have not started drawing the building because they're What's it next slide? Sorry. I know. I already know. I'm sorry. We're going to wrap that up in June. Um, but they haven't started drawing yet. They'll start drawing after they finish the edspec because it's a brand
066new school and we want to make sure we get the program nailed down with how many classrooms we need to meet this, you know, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade programming needs and all that stuff. Um, we're it's a blank slate, you know, no culture, no nothing. Like we got to build everything from from nothing. We did our geotech expo exploration. It's great soil out there. I was personally there witnessing it. It's great soil. Um, you already approved the architect contract and then we're going to be doing schematic design through September. Next slide, please. All right. So, we're also kicking off the Daffodil Valley Elementary um, field improvements. Pick the designer, working on the contract, developing concepts. Um, and then Don Eisman Elementary improvements. We paired them together because they're pretty similar. Pick the designer, working
067on the contract, concepts are being prepared. Those are going to be great field and parking improvement projects for the district. Looking forward to that. Fairly easy jobs. Targeting next year to do those. Oh, and then um Liberty Ridge, Crestwood, and Tahal Heights Elementary expansion. We're going to really kick off in June. You're doing this, right? Maybe you'll do a better job. You did a great job. You did a great job. Next slide. Thank you. Um, okay. So, this slide did not format the way I wanted to. Sorry about that. I'll see if I can get overcome the technological hurdles, but wanted to give you a peak behind the curtain of how we plan our budget. You know, in the bond, you see one big number. We that wasn't it didn't come out of a vacuum.
068It came out of estimates that included um contingencies, sales tax, construction costs, soft costs. So then from those numbers, we build a more detailed budget that breaks it down into all the different components from construction, architects and engineers, permitting, FFN, all all the possible things. And then we also take and build cons contingencies throughout. I think the board's familiar with construction contingencies. That's commonly where our change orders will come from. We plan for unanticipated or changes that are better for the district to make during construction. And so that's that project construction contingency. But we also build contingencies for support costs. Sometimes with permitting and testing, sometimes there's things that you have are required to do that you wouldn't necessarily think you would have to on that site to begin with. We want to be prepared
069for all of those things. And then we have a program contingency that is like an overall contingency because we're very cognizant of things like the economy and tariffs and all the things that everyone worries about. So in each of our projects, this is how we've structured our budget. And we will come back each month and walk through these projects and let you know cost to date, if we've touched any p um contingency, what percentage of the project has been spent out. Um, so this is kind of like the little primer for what this slide is all about. So, Summoner High School master plan, this is just for the west building and we have a separate budget that we'll bring later into the project for the east building, the remaining portions of the project. Next slide.
070And here we have for the Bonnie Lake High School expansion and intersection. We've combined these into one project to report on because they're very related. Um, and so the numbers that were in the bond for the expansion and the intersection are combined for this. And you can see that we've spent about $16,000 to date. That's invoices related to EDSP specs. Next slide. Um, new middle school at Tahale. Again, same kind of structure. construction contingencies, support costs, program costs, um, and very minimal spending to date again on EDS specs. Next slide. These next two slides, we haven't spent anything yet. We haven't signed anybody up. Um, we're working on those um, procurements to complete those, but this includes the project budget that includes all the contingencies and then those individual contingencies throughout the project. Next slide.
071And the same for Donald Eisman, which includes the parking lot costs as well. It's why it's higher than daffodil. Any questions about any of that? Because that was a lot of information really fast. All right. No questions. Wow. That means you did a thorough job. Thank you so much for the opportunity. That was amazing. It's exciting to see. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's uh it's really cool to see things kicking off and and everything getting going. It's just it's going to be exciting. It's going to be exciting. All right. So, that brings us to some of our action items for tonight where we get to do some business. So, the first one on the agenda is resolution number 152425, uh BC Incorporated architecture agreement. The administration recommends that Sar Bonnie Lake School District number 320 school
072board approve resolution number 15/20 24-25 BC BC Incorporated architecture agreement authorizing the superintendent to execute the BC incorporated architecture agreement for the Bonnie Lake High School expans. expansion project. Erin, you always made this look so easy all these years. All right. Do I have a motion? So moved. Okay. Second. I'll second. Any discussion? It's exciting stuff to be voting on. All those in favor say I. I. All those opposed. All right. Motion passes. All right. Next, next thing on our action items, uh, administration recommends the board approve the BC Incorporated architect agreement for the Bonnie Lake High School expansion project. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Again, exciting stuff we get to vote on. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Right. Motion passes. All right.
073I'm going to try to say this name without without messing it up. All right. So, the administration recommends the Summit Bonnie Lake School District number 320. School board approve resolution number 162425. Hutable Hudible. Hudible and Aramis. Oh, wow. All right. architecture agreement authorizing the superintendent to execute the owner architect agreement to engage Hutabal and Orimus architecture and providing architectural services for the Center High School phase 2 edition project. Do I have a motion? So moved. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? I will say as I was previewing the agenda, I was like don't have to say that one tonight. You're all welcome to say it too if you want. again. Exciting stuff to be able to vote on. So, all those in favor say I. I. I. All those
074opposed. All right. Motion passes. All right. I get to say it again. The administration recommends the board approve the Huddleball and Armis architect agreement for the Summer High School phase 2 edition project. Do I have a motion? So moved. Thank you. A second. Second. Thank you. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. All those opposed? Right. Motion passes. All right. Brings us to our next presentation. So, the chief finance and district operations officer, Brian, will present a budget and fiscal update to the board. Welcome, Brian. Welcome. Need to get all set up here. President Lewis, Vice President Gaines, Superintendent, Dr. Dent, all distinguished members of the board. It's my pleasure to um talk about a budget update and a fiscal update for this time. Am I loud enough? I can
075speak louder. Okay. Um, we're going to quickly go over a legislative session update, current financial reality, and the bond sale update. And some people ask, why is it so important we talk about the state legislature? The why behind that? We get over 75% of our funds from the state. It is the state's biggest expenditure K12 funding. Um they also set most of the rules we live by in the school district and they set the rules for the local levy which is another 20% of our money. So over 96% of our money is controlled by the state in some sense. Highle overview of the state legislature and what they've done this year. Um going to cover these areas. I'll just go on the next slide. The state just passed a $77.9 billion budget for the next
076two years. Their biggest expenditure is K12 education. A little bit about what they did. They introduced over 2,000 bills. They passed over 400. Many of those have fiscal implications. The biggest one, Senate bill, can't remember the number, but the budget bill was over,300 pages. And I've looked at it, but I've not read it from front to cover. I'm not going to. I use, you know, control find and search the important sections for me and OSPI and some other people give updates on the, you know, impacts to school districts and what we should be focused on. But at a high level, the state keeps spending more money in education, but the percentage of the state funds that goes to education has been going down in the last, you know, five to six years that we're looking
077at here. If they were still spending 51% of the state money on K12 education, schools would have about $7 billion more than they currently have. So, it's not like they're not giving us more money. But if it's if we're the number one priority, why is the percentage of state funding going down? Just a question to contemplate. Again, I'm not going to go over all the bills. I'm just going to do the highlights that affect us. So, I'm not going to go over the, you know, student bill of rights and all those bills. I'm going to focus on the financial ones. Um, they did change special education funding and there's a lot of components to what they changed. The highlights are they remove the cap. So, you'll hear in the public they're fully funding education. Well,
078removing the cap doesn't really fully fund education and it does nothing for us because we were under 16% of our students being special education. And so all that cap did was that the districts were capped out for being funded for 16% of their students. Now those districts can be funded for all their special education students at a number that's probably not adequate to cover the expenses, but at least they get funds for all the students. What is helping us is um there were I'm not going to go into the comp complexities of the actual formula, but there's a multiplier to a number that's in the formulas to determine how much we get per special education students. And there were two tiers of special education students. And they looked at tiers by how what percentage of
079their day they spent in special education. One of those tiers multiplied the base factor by 1.12% and the others got multiplied by 1.06%. Now both tiers are going to be multiplied by 1.16%. So if you just do the math what that does that gives you about 3 and a.5% more to one class of students and about 6% more to other classrooms. Look at our numbers we're going to get about 5% more money. But let's back up. How much more are we spending year-over-year in special education? Last year we spent about 15% more than the previous year. The year before we spent about 16% more than the previous year. So it's not keeping up with our cost. And next month when I do the budget I'll go into some of the more specifics on that. But
080it's not even keeping up with our built-in rise of education cost. More special education students increased co cost across the board. They gave us some more money for Msocks. So, um there's an inflationary factor they have to kind of do by law. They get to set that inflation factor. But if you look at the additional money above the inflation factor, it's $35 per student. That's about 2 and a.5% or 2.2% more. The inflation factor using is 2.5%. So 4.7% more. Just as a reminder, some cost utilities have been up in the sing low double digits in recent years. Insurance costs have been up above 20% year-over-year. So, that's not in general keeping up with most of those costs either. Um, they've changed the rule though, and this is a positive. they're gonna force themselves to
081use the implicit uh IDP implicit price deflator which is the number that they have been using in recent years in the prototypical model for the salary portion of the model. Just a couple years ago when the salary went up by 3.5% the Mox part went up by 1.9%. So now at least those are going to be in line but they put some new rules. We have to report the expenditures in multiple new categories. Um, like I said, they don't give us money for the levy. They do give local effort assistance money, but they also change the rules around that. Uh, currently the lo local districts are limited to one of two things. It's a lesser of the two things. Either $2.50 per thousand of assessed value, a kind of cap based on the assessed value
082of the local property, or $2,500 per student. That number is adjusted annually for inflation. Sumar Mine Lake school district about four years ago was underneath the dollar per assessed value cap. We're now underneath the dollar per student cap. But I can't predict what next year's property values are going to be. I have an idea on student growth. I have an idea on property growth, too. But what I'm trying to say here is I'm not sure which cap we're going to be underneath next year. But they did raise the per student cap by $500. They probably rose it enough that we're next year going to be underneath the um the assessed value cap. Um but we will be able to take advantage theoretically of some of that $500 but not all of it. And then each
083additional year they're going to raise about 3.33%. This does increase the disparity disparity again between districts in the state. the richer districts will continue to get more and the poor property value districts um will continue not collect as much. So on a per student basis between districts, you'll see a gap across the state widening. And then local effort assistance is increased for those really property poor districts. They're going to get $150 more. Remember districts get $500 more per student if you can pass the levy and have higher assess values. If you have lower properties, you'll get more. Any questions? I I should slow down and take questions during the presentation comments. last year is about $ three and a half million dollars and it had had been about four million year before. It does vary
084in that range. Depends on what things they change. Um, one of the changes I wasn't going to really talk about, but to the special education funding, they're changing how we report expenditures. So currently we can report expenditures from the levy, but now as they change the law and the configuration, there's a a percentage you have to move from your basic ed allocation into special ed. They're standardizing that for districts, but they're going to make you report all your expenditures for special ed first from the special ed revenue, which is revenue code 4121, and then from the allocation that comes from your general aortionment, and then from your general aortionment itself, which is supposed to be for basic education, so that you don't report any bean from your levy. So, they can say they're fully paying
085for it. But by default, you're going to have to remove some of your expenses from basic education into your levy to cover that. Okay, sorry. Um, for this year only, we're getting a one-time payment as the state closes their um, two-year bianual budget every year. They look at their revenues and expenditures and they figured out this time they have a little bit more money they want to put in education. So, what they're doing is they're giving $50 per pupil to every district across the state. for us that's about $500,000. This is unrestricted money. We can use it on anything and it's for this year only. So, it's not an ongoing thing. That's the highlevel update of what the state's doing fiscally for us. Any questions there? Okay. Now, our current fiscal reality right now, we're
086spending a little bit more money than we're bringing in. And I might sometimes say deficit, that's just you're spending more than you're receiving. Surplus you're receiving more than you're spending. Revenue is how much money you get. Expenditures is how much money you spend. Just to keep it really um clear so everybody understands. So we have to make some small adjustments so we don't continue down that path for the long term. But we're in a really healthy financial position. for the people here here back in 1718 the district had to make some very quick severe adjustments that we don't want to do in the future and that's kind of why I want to bring this up now so we're thinking about it at that point the fund balance was under 4%. For context one month of
087payroll is about 8%. So just you don't even have a month of payroll much less the other expenses you have in the month. Of course payroll is your biggest expense. Last year we ended with a fund balance of just over 21%. So we are at 4% in 1718. Now we're at 21%. You see that line actually did drop. We ran a structural surplus last year. So, the only reason that dropped was because we moved money to the capital projects fund for land purchase for the new middle school that was just talked about. That bar would have continued to go up, but at a slower rate because we were kind of um starting to close the gap on having excess revenue every year. So my highlight now or what I'm trying to bring up is we're
088deficit spending halfway through the year for the first time since 1718. But it's not severe and we're in a much better financial position. So we don't have to make those severe adjustments, but we have to make small adjustments to get our revenues and expenditures in line. And just for the high level note, most of our money comes from the state and local t local levy. We get about three and a half% from the federal and other from school districts and some private entity donations. And our expenditures for the first six months were 93 million. So there's a gap there of about 1.4 million. This highlights what has happened over the last eight years. The last time we were deficit spending at the six-month period was in 1718. That's also the last time that we deficit
089spent for the whole year. Every year since then, we had a surplus at 6 months, meaning we we collected more money at six months than we spent in the first six months. And every year we ended the same way. Now, if you look at the top of those bars, the difference between the the green bar and the purple, it was biggest in the 1920 school year. Every year since then, it's been shrinking a little bit, but still significantly positive, which allows us to grow the fund balance. But this year, for the first time since 1718, at the sixmonth period, you can see the expenditures, the red bar, are more than the um the expenditures are more than the revenue, the blue bar. And why is that? It's pretty simple. It's same as your household budget
090or household expenses, but the revenue growth has been smaller than expenditure growth. The first two columns show that in actual dollars for each of the last four full fiscal years, and the last line is for the first six months of this year. You can see this year our revenue has grown by 6%, but our expenditures over that same time period from the first six months of last year have grown by over 10%. So, we're going to have to the positive is every year up there revenue is growing. Expenditures were just growing faster in the last four years. We're going to have to get those in alignment, but it's not a severe change we have to make. Our two biggest source of revenues by far are the um aortionment from the state and then the local
091tax levy. And you can see those have grown every year in recent years. Our big three expenditures are salaries and benefits for employees and those have grown faster in general. Although you see in 232 24 they're almost even. Expenditures actually grew a tiny bit less but they're really close. But overall expenditures grew more. That was partly because of all the increased cost for utilities and insurance and things like that in that year. So, our current fiscal reality right now, we're spending a little bit more than we're taking in and we need to make some small adjustments to keep strong fiscally for our student health and the district health of the district and the students in the long run. Any questions here? Okay. On a p a really positive note, the bond update, we um went
092through a ratings process from Moody's investor services to rate our bonds, which you have to do when you're going to sell new bonds, especially the value we have um for all the projects we have going on. We maintained our AA3 rating. What's significant about that? Most districts in the state of Washington who have had bond rating recently have actually been downgraded because the general fiscal health of districts in the state of Washington and the state as a whole is not being looked at by the rating agencies is very positive right now. We were able to buck that trend and hold it. We actually got something called a positive outlook on those bonds which has kind of been unheard of in Washington here. Also, um I don't know another district that's gotten this in the past
093couple of years. And what that does, it's an automatic review of our condition in the next 12 to 18 months with them saying they will, there's not a promise, but likely upgrade us as long as we can hold our fiscal position against the trends of all the other districts and maintain a 15% fund balance. What does that mean in real dollar terms? Every tick on the rating scale from like a AA3 to AA2, that's about five basis points on lending cost. So, when you're talking about taking out a loan like we are when the bonds for $732 million over the next five to six years, that's hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest savings per year and millions over the life of the bonds. Um, so that is a real reason to keep our fund
094balance high to keep a healthy financial position and make the small adjustments we now for the future. And a really positive note, we sold the bonds. They closed on May 13th. um $175 million and the overall borrowing cost is 4.42%. That's it. I'll take questions. Any questions? Oh, well, I think this is really a good visual, a good Sounds like everything is being monitored closely. Um it's good news that our fund balance is much higher than it was in in 17. Um, and I think that the district and the financial department has done a great job of putting us in a position to uh have a higher fund balance and be able to mitigate when inflation, utility costs, everything's going up and the state's not fully funding us. Uh, it allows us to be in
095a better position that that we're going to come out of this in a really good way. So, appreciate all the hard work that Thank you. Andy's doing on that. It certainly helps. There's a whole team and there's a whole district and I had a predecessor who did a great job. So just trying to continue that. Yeah, definitely. Thank you. It's a lot of hard work, especially knowing all the details of every place you have to report numbers and it's just that's why I'm glad you're the accountant and Well, thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. question. Bill, you got it. You got it. Gosh, guys, I hate the mics to begin with. On the slide with the MOC, you mentioned about the reporting. I'm going to guess the state is bestowing upon us
096extra funds so that we can do all this reporting along with everything else we do. No, it's another unfunded mandate. Oh, but I guess you could say it's built into the $3527 per student. And then the other one I had was the onetime payment. I'm I know this is probably discussion for you and Lori more than just you, but I'm assuming that's going to be similar like with the Esser. I know districts got themselves in trouble with staff that one time only money for staff. I'm assuming we're not going to go down that path. No. And to be more specific, this is just going to help cover the deficit that's already happening this year. So, it won't be quite as big by about $500,000. Okay. So, yeah, we've already spent the money is what I'm
097saying. Well played. Great. Questions? Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. uh information only in your packets. Uh there is the uh budget status report. And our next item on the agenda for action is some instructional materials adoption. So number one we have uh in accordance with policy 2020 course design selection adoption of instructional materials. The following resources have been reviewed and approved by the district curriculum and instructional materials committee. Uh the first one is purposeful people. Um Sher Simpson, director of the whole child, uh submitted a recommendation for the following instructional materials to be used for elementary K through5 SEAL curriculum for adoption. Uh first reading for this item was included on the April 16th, 2025 board agenda. The administration recommends the board adopt the following instructional materials for elementary K- through5 curriculum
098and those materials are titled purposeful people and other details in your packet there. Um do I have a motion? So moved. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Any discussion? All right. All those in favor say I. I. I. I. All those opposed. All right. Motion passes. All right. Next on our action items are policy matters. Board policies in accordance with policy 1310. Adoption and amendment of policies and bylaws. The following policies have been included for second reading and adoption. The district administration recommends the board adopt the following district policies in accordance with policy 1310 adoption amendment of policies and bylaws. The first one is policy 2029 animals as part of the instructional program and 2029 F1 animals as part of the instructional program request form. Do I have a motion? So move a
099second. I'll second. All right. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. I all those opposed. All right. Motion passes. Does this actually do I mean is it the procedure then we also have to vote on that right? No that's part of it. Okay. Yeah. All right. So all right. Next on the agenda is information only safety advisory committee presentation. Director of safety and security Brian Sher has provided an update on the safety advisory council's work. Thank you. And maintenance and operations department update. Uh, director David Cuts has provided a department update to the board of directors. Thank you for that. Appreciate the work and effort. And that brings us to board discussion. Are there any items for discussion tonight? I actually have one and it is from our study session. Uh, previously,
100Bill, you had brought up um the idea of exploring uh trying a different day of the week for our study sessions and board meetings. And um after giving that some thought, I wanted to discuss that some more. I'd actually propose that we um switch from Wednesdays to Tuesdays. I'm wondering what everybody's thoughts were on that. Are there any thoughts? Does it really make a difference to any board members? Um I know that we've can discuss that with the administration. Um Dr. Dent, if you had any thoughts or anything you wanted to share, anybody? Well, I know um my impression the old old days of implications for your staff and I wanted to ask you u anything. No, we're good. I mean, it's just a day earlier for us. Yeah, but the sooner you make this
101decision, the better because things are already getting on. I mean, Kelly probably has hives right now because we already have dates on the calendar for next year. Um but we'll change them and I mean, but the sooner you make the decision, the better. That's all. Kelly should be used to my changing things just on a whim. Yeah. Well, I think too I've I've heard when I've talked to people out in the community that we have done it on Wednesdays for so long and there are certain community members that have something on Wednesdays and they would like they've expressed the need for maybe trying a different day of the week so we can have, you know, more people involved and more people being able to come to the meetings. And so I think it would be
102a good idea to to change things up a little and go with a different day for a little I mentioned last time I thought it was a good idea in the beginning of the week get things out out of the way taken care of so then we can roll forward rest so we can get all done. Yeah, I think definitely some sometimes for everyone putting in the middle of the week can be uh can be prohibitive to that what you're talking about. So yeah, that's uh that's all I wanted to bring up for discussion unless there's any other topics. No. Okay. Okay. So, what we're what we'll need to do is change our policy and uh Abigail and I have already talked about this and then we'll bring that to you in June and um
103we'll make it effective. I'm thinking September if you if that's okay with you. Okay. So, we'll make it effective September. We'll take it to the policy committee and then we'll be good. Okay. We definitely want to give you enough time to make the proper adjustments. So, anything else? All right. No, I think I just one quick comment. Um we had um our uh board operating principles in the agenda tonight and I just want to thank the board too um for spending time on those. I think sometimes it can seem a little um I don't know boring I guess um to go through those. But I do value that time to talk about how um we conduct ourselves and um is I think it's just a good reminder um yearly to look at those principles and
104discuss them. I know we made some changes which I think is good for continuous improvement and so I just value the time that we spent on that and um just wanted to mention that. Awesome. No, I appreciate that. That's definitely good to bring attention to. All right, seeing as no other discussion, that brings us to our announcement of our next regular board meeting. Board meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, June 18th, 2025. Will begin at 6 PM in the central office boardroom. We are adjourned.