Board Meeting October 28, 2025

001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the October 28th the almost Halloween uh meeting for uh the Wu School District. Uh we're going to start with those pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Yep. >> Oh, believe me, like you should have seen me when I had to have all the get all the silver off my face. We'll now work through the agenda board. Are there any proposed changes or modifications to the agenda? All right, hearing none, I will move on to the consent agenda. The items on the consent agenda were sent to the board and posted online last week. The board has had the opportunity to review the materials and ask

002the superintendent any questions they have about any items on the consent agenda. The consent agenda for this meeting includes the minutes for the 101425 regular meeting, the 102025 workshop, vouchers and payroll personnel report, surplus report, contracts, field trips, September October enrollment report. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I second that motion. >> All right. It has been moved by Julie and seconded by Martin. Any discussion? >> All right. Um, all in favor of adopting the consent agenda as presented, say I. >> I. Opposed. All right. Motion carries. So now, uh, I will send it to my docanger. Dog ganganger for bright spots. >> Sounds great, President Jackson. All right. Uh we uh slated for today our bright spots are the ASB updates

003and I was just informed by Mrs. Deero um that our ASB representative from Westside is ill today. >> Um so we won't be I don't think we'll be having a Westside uh share but we do have one school here in the house ready to take care of business. Thank you for joining us today. >> Hello everyone. My name is Lisa Steven and I am the AC president for high school. This past month was an exciting and busy one. As we celebrated our homecoming traditions, our ASB students worked incredibly hard to make sure all of our events ran safely, smoothly, and most importantly, that everyone had fun. >> Okay. Throughout October, we held one home room representative meeting, four team leader meetings, and four senate meetings to ensure all student voices were heard and that we

004stayed up to date with everything happening around our school. To increase breast cancer awareness, our spirit coordinators collected donations during our homecoming football game. We're proud we're proud to share that all funds raised will go directly to Wellness Place, a local organization that provides support to individuals and families affected by cancer. We also hosted a variety of lunch activities that helped boost school spirit and build community, including cookie decorating, cahoot games, and a cakewalk, which were all a big hit among students. Our homecoming week sport competitions were another highlight like girls flag football, boys volleyball, and co-ed soccer, which gave students a chance to form teams, get competitive, and show off their Panther pride in a fun and friendly way. Finally, our homecoming dance was a huge success with over 800 students attending. We've already

005received tons of positive feedback. Some students even said it was the best school dance they've been to. Overall, this month has truly showed what Wachi High School is all about. Community, spirit, and teamwork. I'm so proud of what we've accomplished so far, and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings. I want to take a moment to thank our ASB members, adviserss, and students who continue to make our school such an amazing place to be. Thank you for listening. Do you have a question? What was your favorite part of the homecoming activities? >> Honestly, just seeing it all come together. We started decorating about two days before, so it was a lot of hard work. And our theme was Alice in Wonderland, so it was super fun to decorate. >> Thanks

006for sharing. >> Thank you so much. [applause] >> All right, moving on to citizen comment. Uh if any member of the public would like to make a citizen comment, please sign up online 15 minutes before the meeting or complete a citizen comment form. Forms are available here at the room entrance and should be turned into the board secretary, Kim White. English and Spanish speakers will be allowed 3 minutes of comment time with additional time allowed for translation. Miss White will keep a timer that will notify you when your time expires. [clears throat] Please be aware that the board's role is to receive comments. They will not respond to questions or challenges and the board silence does not signal agreement or endorsement of the speaker's remarks. All right, >> first up is Heidi Mace. >> Good

007evening. My name is Heidi Nie and I am a parent at Lincoln Elementary. When I come to work, I am responsible for three medically fragile children. I am also responsible for three highly autistic and non-verbal children who bite, scratch and pull hair regularly. What that also entails is diaper changes, tube feedings, seizure observation and and control with rescue medications, making sure feeding pumps are at the prescribed rate and dose. In addition to this task, we are instructed to teach each child to their ability, bringing it closer to home. We're talking about our salaries. You would think that you would get paid more than what we do. In addition to our own personal responsibilities, there is no nurse at Lincoln Elementary. So, we are held to a higher standard of care for the children that are

008in our class. Patty Diaz is also held to a higher standard as she is the point person in the office to coordinate if anything happens to these children in our classroom along with her daily activities and responsibilities. This is huge. I would think that as an administration you would want to have your staff compensated appropriately for the responsibility of these children. We aren't the only ones at Lincoln that have special needs in in our special needs kids in their classroom. As others have prior to me in previous meetings. Some of us have second jobs and unfortunately you can imagine that we are tired. We do not have the daily experiences. You do not have the daily experiences that we have as parents secretaries in our classroom and school. However, if you did, you would see

009that it is tough. You would think that you would want your staff cleared and rested, not coming off of a second or potentially a third shift to make ends meet. I urge you to look further into our contract and we as union invite you to come back to the table for negotiations. THANK YOU [applause] Chris Rewald. Good evening. My name is Chris Rewald and I work here at the district office downstairs and special programs. Um many of us were here at the last board meeting um speaking our voice regarding compensation for our classification staff and we're here again tonight because classified staff here at Wachi School District still does not have an agreed upon contract for our 2526 academic year. I'm also here to represent and support my fellow classified employees. This year the classified

010staff has been holding strong during negotiations and not settling for the offer that we usually settle on. Yes, we are a large group. Classified staff are made up of secretaries, office managers, family advocates, parents, etc. We work hard and are essential for supporting school operations and student success. There are members of the cabinet actually who have been in the classified group before and know the struggles we face and the unfair compensation. There is a significant retention issue regarding payers and sped pairs primarily due to low pay. High turnover increases costs and compromises effectiveness. Everyone's life is better with better improved retention and this results in a more efficient and effective operation. We just want things to be fairer. Classified staff play vital roles in supporting student learning, well-being, and a safe environment and should be

011compensated as such. At one of our last bargaining sessions, Kelly had said that she would need to take this to the board. Well, here we all are coming before you, the board, to please talk with members of the cabinet regarding our proposal. We understand the budget crisis and have been very patient the last few years. We feel it is our time and also we had the levy pass which is in our favor. The best policy for all is to have reasonable wages that promote a good quality and stable workforce. Thank you for listening. [applause] >> [applause] >> Tara Shuttle >> Word. >> Hi. Um, I'm new to the area. I'm a substitute teacher for the school district and I am coming to you um with questions. So, I think I'm going to have to get

012some business cards. But um my issue is the fact that I started teaching in September and I don't get my [snorts] first paycheck till October 31st. So that's two months of no pay, which wow, really challenging, especially um uh being somebody who loves to teach and I know we need substitute teachers in the area, but I'm having to pick up a jobs right now and being um somebody who a a district trusts to teach when a when a parent when a teacher isn't there, it's it's very challenging. I thought that, okay, I wait two months and then I'm going to get my check for September and October, but I'm not. I'm getting only my check for September, and I'm going to have to wait another four weeks to receive my check in October. And that's

013just the way it's set up. I'm told that that's legal. Of course, it is. But I mean, how are we going to bring in more substitute teachers that we so desperately need when we're we're not getting paid in a way where we can we can live comfortably? Um, and then another thing I wanted to bring up is in addition to being a substitute teacher, I'm an event producer. I've been a program manager and event producer since 2011. I specialize in putting on afterchool programming. And so I'm reaching out. I know that I can I can um rent out spaces within the school district. And so I was talking to the assistant principal over at um uh Foothills today about renting out the cafeteria for something with the teens. And right now we have a nocomplete

014clause with the city for teen spaces, which to me is baffling because we need things to do for our kids, especially we've got three days off for parent teacher conferences. How great would it be to get an event producer in that specializes in in programming for kids to put something on, you know, in a school space, but we have a no compete clause. So, I'm needing um some contact information on who to talk to about the clause in addition to if there is a union for our substitute teachers or who I can talk to about maybe changing the way our substitute teachers get paid. Thank you, [applause] Amy Woodright. I wanted to thank you for your time this evening and allowing me to speak. These are my facts and my truths. I have been kicked,

015bitten, spit on, and cursed at, pushed to my breaking point more times than I can count on both hands. And every time I come back to work the very next day with the same level of love, respect, and compassion to the very student or at times students who had done this to me the day before. I hope that I'm the type of employee that you want to have help shape and mold our students, to teach them, and to care for them. Our only request is that you don't just see us as numbers on your spreadsheet, but listen to the words that we are so desperately trying to tell you. We are not making enough money to pay our bills. We are not making enough to take care of our families at home while we give

016everything we have to our students every day. I'm going to say the thing that so many of us are thinking but are afraid to say out loud that Eastmon and other schools in our great valley have found a way to pay their paras and fair living wage. When is it our turn? When will our district finally follow their lead? Please know that we will provide and continue to provide the highest level of care, compassion, and education to our students because we are par professionals and that is what we do. But they are our students and they are why we are here. Thank you. [applause] Carmela Solorio. Thank you so much uh for my name is Carmela Soloro and I do work for the Wachi School District for the Mckin Vento program. I am one of

017the Mckin Ventos and this is my yesterday it was my anniversary 17 years in the Wachi school district. [applause] So, last time we were here um to ask for support for a reasonable agreement on our contract and now we're back again because we had a union meeting and the board said we are not in favor of what we're getting at the moment. So, now we're back to bring it to you guys because we're needing your support. Um just by listening my to my co-workers, it makes me want to cry. [laughter] So, it's like it's very import that we listen to and that's why we're here. So we already know that um some other um classified staff already received like some teachers got their contract um bus drivers got their contract and um we just want

018to make um I probably point out for each of you guys so you guys can actually see the contract and then some other information that I think is very important in making the decision on our contract because we still don't have a contract to see you guys. And I just um made an Excel sheet and just for you guys to get a more of of a visual um graphic of what other people have um and that that they have been approved already and We just want to get an equal opportunity for our classified staff as well. And um that's pretty much what I have and we are just here to to talk about what we're expressing ourselves and what we're needing. [applause] >> All right, that's it. So, I'll turn it over to Well, this

019is the special presentation time. This is usually also the like, "All right, we're done." But thank you for all for coming and we'd love it if you stayed, but if you want, you can leave. And Corey, >> thank you. >> Presentations. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. We can offer a little moment of We can offer a moment of transition as people begin to get on with the rest of their evenings. Thanks for coming, everyone. I forgot to ask, is there any way a board member can go to the negotiation because they're going to have another meeting tomorrow? >> Tomorrow. >> Yeah. To finalize to say either they approve it or deny it and I will feel comfortable. >> Oh, it's it's uh it's your association's chance to re re uh vote on >>

020We already voted twice and the vote came up to say no. We still don't agree with that and I think it's pretty reasonable we're asking for, but I would really appreciate it if Maria can or or anyone of you guys can take a look at our contract and just kind of be part of it if it's still possible. I don't know. >> Kelly, is is it a is it a bargaining negotiation meeting tomorrow? >> No. Okay, then >> then yes, they could be part of >> a conversation. >> I will appreciate Thank you. >> Thank you. There's no meeting on >> correct. There's no meeting though tomorrow, right? Thanks everyone. >> Okay. Uh next up we have uh safety and security update. Please welcome the director of safety and security Tom Huie to share with

021us updates to safety and security that comes from Alyssa's laws and how the WH school district has accomplished these updates over the past many years. >> Thanks Tom. >> Good evening. >> Appreciate you being here. >> Am I on? Okay. Uh I wanted to talk uh start out talking about uh safety and security this evening. >> Working on it. >> Okay. working on it, but really talking about the bank. Uh there's a lot of similarities between uh a school and a bank. Uh they they both have a lot of security in place, cameras, locks, um those kinds of things. And um we have a lot of the same challenges. Uh in the early days of banks, their um safety issues were fire and it was the same way really with the schools. Um and then

022eventually with banks, they transitioned to having issues with violence. You think about uh Bonnie and Clyde, Alapone, Dillinger, those kind of things. Those were really um the shocking uh violent events of their day, much like uh school shootings are today. Um so the banks um had to figure out a way to to deal with that. They're still dealing with that today. Um and as they dealt with fire, um they updated their buildings. They started to clad the interior of buildings in marble. Um they began to build fireproof vaults. They did a lot of different things to try to mitigate the risk of fire. School districts also in the early days dealt with fire and we did a lot of things. [clears throat] We installed sprinkler systems. We installed alarms. We started doing evacuation drills. uh

023and eventually um all of those systems working together. Uh created a a much safer environment to um we don't really have uh any issues with fire in schools anymore. Today the issue is u is mass shootings and safety. Uh so just as we found the solution in many many things with fire, we'll find a similar solution to these things. And um the physical solutions are kind of what we're going to be talking about tonight. Um but there's also a whole other side of the coin with and that really goes to uh the heart of the district and that's the people who work with us here. Um, we know that those relationships and that that sense of community is the single most important thing in keeping our schools safe. So, Alyssa's Law is named for a

024student uh who was um unfortunately killed in the Marjgery Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that happened in 2018. Um and and uh After that shooting, there was a lot of emphasis on school safety and um so the 19 school district sort of rolled up their sleeves and got to work and they started out with having a board listening session um in the commons at the high school. A lot of community members came and spoke. That happened um in March. Um, and then by the summer, uh, we did a a pretty goodized upgrade to our radio system. We invested $100,000 into our radio system, and that's still giving dividend today. We've added to that over the years significantly, but that um, that work that was done back then is has made a big difference. Um, by

025February of 2019, uh, we updated the camera system at the high school. We added 50 new cameras all at once at the high school, and that put us up, um, significantly there. And then, um, by March 26 of 2019, we embarked on a $2.2 2 million upgrade to the physical security of the school districts. And that's when we added the lobby or the lobby at the high school. We added fencing around the playgrounds and around the portables. Um we added um video and um an audio system so that people could walk into the the vestibule of our schools and contact the office before they're admitted to the school. Um, we uh added four new PA systems to school and we um updated five of our fire alarm systems. Uh, Alyssa's law really addresses uh these

026five things. uh alert buttons, live video and audio feeds which are connected with law enforcement, uh remote control door access, two-way communication, and group e occupancy and safe school plans. Um they are mandating that we meet u a standard in at least one of these categories and we meet a standard in all of these categories. There's one of our alert buttons. And um so these these really uh do a lot when we push one of these buttons. Uh first of all, it plays that SRP message for a lock down. Lock down. Locks lights out of sight. And what that message does is um it gets your feet moving. it uh it's easy to understand and it it kind of takes you out of that uh denial phase and and moves you into action. And as

027the kids uh get more and more used to hearing this and we practice this, they will have grown up hearing these um same phrases used in the same way over and over again. and um and that that muscle memory will serve them. Uh it it locks all of our access control doors. We have over 150 access controlled doors. Most of our doors are locked all of the time. Uh if a door is unlocked during the day to allow um coming in and out from recess or um some some kind of change like lunchtime at the high school, then those doors operate by the access control and those doors can be immediately locked by pushing those buttons. Um, it also sends a message out to all of our district leadership, all of our principles and directors,

028and then then [clears throat] those folks can spread the message among their subordinates. Um, we do it that way. We don't send a a district-wide message because um they're they have the benefit of some time. So, if you're say the principal of Sunny Slope Elementary School and you get a message that the lockdown buttons been pushed at Pioneer, well, you you probably have some time to wait and find out what's going on before you disseminate that out. And if it's a false alarm, then we don't we don't really have to tell them anything. we don't spread that and and have more of those crying wolf situations. And then uh the SRO's are included in that messaging and um they can start responding and they can also alert rivercom. And uh our newest update is we've

029added flashing uh lights at the bus ramps so that the buses know, the bus drivers know to check that light as they're pulling into the ramp. If the law lights flashing, then they will just move on and they won't uh unload kids at that school. Uh an LOU established um audio or video feed with um Rivercom in 2023. We had to overcome quite a few technical issues um because we have a very secure system here, computer system here and so does Rivercom and to be able to uh get that hooked up was really quite a feat. It took it took a lot of doing to get that done but we finally have made it and um and they have access to all of our camera systems as well as our doors. Um, we don't collect

030any audio at our at our schools. Um, we have the ability to on some of our cameras, but we don't turn it on. Um, and there is no connection with RiverCom as far as audio goes. We do have however uh a great PA system in all of our classrooms and we could call into every room in the school and there's a speaker in the center of the room. Uh I'm not sure if there's one in here. They look they look like these. Um but anyway, they uh they have a Oh, that's it. There's one right there. Thank you. um they have a microphone in there so when we call into the room we can hear what's going on and the teacher doesn't have to do anything. They can just speak back to us and and

031we can have a little conversation about what's going on in that room. We can also overhear anything that's going on there. Uh we're working on also getting that um so Rivercom can do the same thing to call into those rooms. We haven't quite got there yet. again, technical difficulties. Uh oh, and then we have the health and safety sensors, and they, you know, do a lot of things. Um, and one of the things they do is, um, give us alarms for gunshot and aggression. I used this picture because uh, up in the side over there inside that circle, you'll see that there's some monitors up on the wall. And those are actually the monitors that uh Rivercom could use to um to look at the videos from our our district. Right now they uh are

032looking at [clears throat] um video feed from the city and from the Schlank County PUB. They get a lot of different video feeds in there. Uh they also have um access to our our access control doors. Uh, so they have a a map system like there and it has these little icons on there and they can they can click and unlock a door. So if uh a police officer is uh needs to get into the school, well if they're one educ, but uh another police officer, I guess, or an ambulance or a fireman, uh they can call Rivercom and request that that they unlock that door and they can unlock the door. They can also unlock the door and leave it standing open for an amount of time uh if they wish to. Um, and

033they can also uh unlock a door ahead of an emergency. So, let's say they've there's an ambulance that's responding to the southeast door of the high school. Um, before that ambulance even arrives, they can go in and unlock that door for a few minutes so that as they're arriving, there's no delay. They can get right into the school. >> Tom, I'm assuming that's just the main buildings, not like the portables. I know we have portables a lot of schools. So I'm assuming those are a more traditional door system. >> Yes. Uh the doors on portables have to be uh because of fire code have to be just like the doors on the exterior of the the [clears throat] school building itself. So they're all crash bar doors. >> Okay. >> Um but we don't have

034uh access control on any of those doors. So because they're inside of the fencing, >> right, >> uh we consider them within our secure envelope. >> Got it. Thanks. >> Uh we have uh live interactive two-way communication. Um I mentioned our large investment in radios. We have hundreds of radios. We have a very large radio system. We have three different repeaters. Um not counting the repeaters for transportation. And um we we have a number of different channels that are all FCC licensed. So they're not like in the public domain or just ours. Um so uh I think if you've spent any time at Wachi High School, you've probably seen staff and and heard them on the radio. They have a lot of them there. And then uh we comply with uh group E occupancy. So,

035group E occupancy is referencing the state uh code and mostly what what they're talking about here is fire code. Um state state uh building code was actually established in 1975. Um when actually high school started construction in 1971. Um so when that was constructed it probably uh complied with county or city code. Um the um I don't I don't really know. Um there was international building code during that time. Uh but it was a lot more of a kind of a mishmash back then. And um so today we have this uh state code that everyone follows. Um we have a safe schools plan. Uh it had a large update in 2022 and I mean a large update. Uh and uh that's also when we started with the uh standard response protocol which was probably the

036largest advance in school safety uh in around here. Uh so uh let's talk about the high school. So, so this is referring to fire systems, uh, sprinklers and alarms and stuff. In the in the early '7s, that was really the the sum of, uh, school safety. Um the school safety was involved back then with um protests around uh the Vietnam war, concerns about that and also uh racial integration uh busing that was happening and resistance to that. Those are really the safety issues for schools at that time. Um also during that time there was uh it was very much invoked to have what's called the open classroom construction open classroom concept and when high school was built uh with an open classroom design uh it was uh the idea behind it was to have sort

037of collegial large spaces where different classes would be taught in one big open space. So, a lot of those um hallways that you go down now, if you go into the English wing or the social studies wing, there's a bunch of center classrooms that kind of go those hallways kind of go into a U. Well, originally that was one great big room and all of those other rooms had movable walls so that they could open that up and make it one big teaching space. The problem with the open concept classrooms were that they were they ended up just being noisy and distracting and they really didn't work. Uh so like like Wanchachi High School um we uh most districts started to remodel those spaces extensively and Wanchachi High School's no exception to that. Um the

038the issue with uh those kinds of remodeling is that you start to fight the architecture. So, a lot of your um your systems uh start to become more complex. Uh and that's true of the HVAC system and the plumbing and the electrical and also just the the flow of people within the school. um you sort of start changing those those spaces and um the amount of people in a certain area of the school comes in excess of the design. So you get bathrooms that were uh you know are overly crowded. You get hallways that are maybe pinch points that are overly crowded. All of those kind of things really affect safety. Um but uh also the systems that we use at the high school are also impacted by that. We pretty much are in a

039constant state of repair and updating on our systems. Uh when high school's so large that we have three separate uh burglar alarm systems there and each one of those is divided into two partitions. So those really amounts to six separate systems for our intrusion of burglary alarms. Uh to set all of those alarms or to un undo all those alarms, you have to walk over a quarter mile through that school. Um the same is true of our um access control, which we've just added to the you know relatively recently. It still um operates on three separate systems. No, I'm sorry, five separate systems. Um which we will be re uniting into one system, we're hoping very soon. Um it still is able to be managed. It still works that way. But the complexity of having

040these different systems, anytime you add complexity to something, then you can also count on on there being some issues. And uh then uh we have a very old fire system at the high school. Um and so um we we're kind of we're kind of fighting with that system a little bit. Um it's It's very it's very very expensive system. Um it's licensed to a company called Pepco and it cost us a lot of money for them to come in and do repairs for us. Um which we you know we do uh we're going to be making some improvements to those systems um so that they're so that they're getting along a little bit better and they're a little more compatible. Uh and then I guess the other uh issue with the high school is the

041number of just the sheer volume of it and the number of exterior doors. Uh you mentioned the portables. We have eight portables at the high school. Uh couple of hundred kids at any given time out there in those portables. Um, we have one in the in our in our emergency responses. We have really have one where we exit the building. We say it's going to be safer for us to leave than to stay here. And then the rest of all of our responses, we're using the building as shelter from whatever uh safety issue we're we're dealing with. And so when you have classrooms that are outside of that main building, it it adds a layer of complexity to that response. Uh at the high school, they change classes every 58 minutes. So now now how

042do we deal with that? Are we able to get the issue resolved before we have to before kids have to come out of that portable and maybe be exposed? Um and then other kids going back to those. So, do you bring them all into the building and and now where do you put them? And as the as the situation progresses, uh it's less than ideal. And uh it's a little bit more difficult at the um high school because of of their position and the fact that you have to walk quite a ways outside. Um a lot of the other schools that have portables, it's It's just outside the door. It's really not that bad. Uh and then there's the 111 exterior doors on the high school. Uh every one of those doors uh is a

043potential um problem to the the secure envelope of that school. Anytime you have that many doors, one of them might be open. >> So So that's always and and will continue to be an issue there. Uh it's just um that that building was built at a different age and we're doing the best with what we have there. But um it's it's very complex to keep a building that size and with those all of those challenges doing exactly what we want it to be. So I thank you for your time. if you have any questions. >> I don't have any questions, but I think um you know, one of my um one [snorts] of my biggest things is keeping our students and staff safe. Um and you know the the everything you just mentioned about the

044high school um you know goes to um support why we need to modernize or have a new high school um you know with safety at the forefront. And I like how you sold that the high school was built in the 1900s. [laughter] >> You guys picked up on that. Well, I think that the good news here is that uh we made a big investment in physical safety um following Marjgery Stoneman Douglas. And this law that is just being enacted is really a result of of of that event. And so there are a lot of districts that are are just now um starting to make improvements that we've had in place for years. So that was a big commitment by the school board and the school district at that time and it's put us in very

045goodstead today. >> Well, and I know we took a little bit of um a little bit of heat like saying, "Oh, our our playgrounds now look like prison yards with the fencing around it." And the thought of parents have to be or visitors being busted into every building. Um, and as a parent knowing that these safety measures are in place as a community member, um, you know, I get it, >> but at the same time, our priority is to keep our kids safe. So, thank you for the work you guys have done. >> Well, I think that goes back to, uh, you know, the analogy that I made with the bank. The bank gets their bread and butter by welcoming people inside and being a a place where people feel safe and we want that

046same thing with our students. It's very important to their education that they feel safe. If you don't feel safe, you cannot learn. And so it is crucial that that um the students feel safe in the building and that really really that the community feels safe there too. So we want to be a welcoming place. We want to be a place that feels comfortable and safe. Um, but we also need to have some of these systems in place. >> I also just want to thank you for thank you for your presentation and for for continuing to highlight safety at our schools even through the budget crisises that we've been going through that we haven't slowed down in our effort to make our buildings more more safe. And and I just I remember making some of these

047changes as a as a parent on the parent side and I was worried about how unapproachable the building might feel if I had to buzz in every time to see my student and and what other families might feel feel like that. Um but as you get used to it, it actually becomes more comforting to to know that somebody knows I'm here. Half the time they they know already they buzz my kid to come to the class anyway because they see me standing outside the door. So, it's as you get used to it, I mean, no one likes change, but as you get used to it, you realize this is necessary for them. You know, I I didn't feel uncomfortable and now I would feel uncomfortable showing up to unlock doors. So, it's just it's good

048to see these improvements and that we're continuing to keep up and make them even better and keep our kids safe. >> Thank you. >> Thanks so much. the same brain by the end of this [laughter] little too far. >> Tom, thank you very much. I appreciate the uh the updates on Alyssa's Law and happy that the school district is as far as along as we are. Next up, we have executive director of business and finance, Sean Fitzgerald, who I like to say the man, the myth, the legend, uh will be sharing, he'll be sharing with us the 2025 uh enrollment report from Wayne School District. Um as we listen, we will be paying uh attention to this report as there are many indicators of the state of enrollment decline uh that have ramifications for the

049school district both short-term and long term. Thanks for being here, Sean. Thank you, Cy. Sean, would it be better if it was here as opposed to behind you? I know the board has access to view it on their computers. >> I hope so. >> Oh, we can't get it there. >> Okay. >> Do you want to turn the podium around, Sean? >> I'm just kidding. [laughter] Perfect. Thank you, President Jackson, members of the board. Dr. Gallard, uh it's good to hear be here tonight uh to present an update on our enrollment, provide some enrollment analysis and updated forecasting models. Uh so um a lot of familiar background slides um but just a general overview of background funding. Um so our uh enrollment is uh determined by our annual average FTE or AAFT. And so those

050are the numbers uh that drive our funding from state aortionment which makes up about 75% of our overall uh school district revenues. Uh so from September through December, our um enrollment uh funding is based on our budgeted amounts uh which I prepare and present to the board uh during the summer and then in January uh OSPI adjusts those numbers to our actual enrollment. Um and so how ABFT is determined is we have our monthly FTE or student full-time equivalent. Um and then as each month uh comes along we take the average. So for example once we have September we use that as our count and then October comes along and we take the average of those two and so on and so forth throughout the end of the school year. Um so historically September is

051our lowest count of the year. Uh running start is not operating. It doesn't start until October. And a lot of times too um students aren we haven't really fully captured. They haven't really shown up in that first week of school in September. However, um by October, we see a lot of those students have entered the district. So, historically, October is our [snorts] highest monthly count. So, uh again, students have fully shown up. Uh running start has begun and um you know, throughout the remainder of the school year, uh we have our highest count in October and then gradually over the course uh between October and June, uh we an overall kind of general decline um over the period of the school year. Uh our focus really is on tonight is really on our TK through

052uh grade 12 numbers. Um although I will be talking and discussing running start and open doors, we generally focus on TK through 12 because those numbers stay within the district and then our running start and open doors. Uh although we are fully funded um for those programs uh they are pass through dollars. So um you know we get our monthly portionment for running start dollars and then we turn around and pay the invoice uh from Wachi Valley College uh for those students attending Running Start there. So enrollment trends and analysis. Another familiar slide is over the last couple years we've been identifying and following through uh with some of the six uh overall enrollment trends we've been seeing um both historically and actually occurring within the district right now. Uh so our first one is

053birth rates in kindergarten. Uh we see a general correlation between births in uh the district area and our incoming kindergarten classes. So higher birth rates correlate to higher kindergarten classes and vice versa. Uh a second enrollment trend we see is also the at our first grade from the transition from kindergarten to first grade. Uh so what we're seeing there is though although we have maybe smaller kindergarten classes we see a lot of students who come into the district at first grade. Uh and we see over time that that is a recurrent trend in our data. Uh third bullet point is transition from the elementary to the middle school level. So from our fifth to sixth grade, uh we're seeing an overall general decline year after year and there we're kind of focusing on the impact

054of penance prep, our charter school in the area and also kind of options with increasing private school options as well. Uh but the greatest impact is really coming from Prep. And then we see that trend reverse um at the ninth grade level. So uh from 8th grade to 9th grade, we're an increase in enrollment year after year. We're seeing a lot of students um either returning from Pinnacles Prep or we're getting a lot of students coming in from the private school. So again, there are not a lot of high school alternatives in the area. Uh so students are coming in at the ninth grade level. Uh our fifth uh point is uh the impact of running start. Um so our students have the options to enroll in the colleg's running start program. beginning their junior

055year. Uh so our junior and senior years uh we see students attending courses over at the college and so we consistently see the impact uh from 10th to 11th grade we generally see a decline in our enrollment at that level as students are enrolling in college programs. And then our sixth and final trend um that we've seen is graduating classes are larger than incoming classes. So this ties back to our first point with the lower birth rates and we see as lower birth rates move through the system they are replacing the larger classes that are exiting our system. So we have this overall long-term impact of enrollment decline uh just because incoming classes are not making up what is actually exiting the system. [snorts] All right. So to jump in with birth rates and kindergarten.

056Uh so we can see here on the graph uh birth rates. Um we have our top line county birth rates and the bottom line is our district birth rates. So everything that's occurring in the district area. So it's like 6. If we go to 2014, we have 634 births in the district area, 935 in the county. So of those 935 births in the county, we have 634 occurring in the school district area. And so we can see here just based on the data, the district birth rates are peaking in 2014, county birth rates are peaking in 2015. And overall uh starting whether 2014, 2015, there's a general overall decline of birth rates throughout the data. We have some peaks there in 2019. Um kind of the birth rates um spike up in U before we

057have a large decline in 2020 about 71 births in the district area. So in 2020 it's high those bullet points are highlighted green. So when we're projecting our in incoming kindergarten classes we use um basically birth year plus five. Uh so a student born in 2020 is likely to be in our 2025 2026 kindergarten class. So we can see here and I'll have more additional details on next couple of slides but that impact of the decline of 71 bursts is going to have an impact on our incoming current year incoming kindergarten class. And so we can see over the next couple years, although it's not as dramatic as decline as we've experienced in the last year, we know birth rates are going to [snorts] continue to decline for the next couple years after that. And

058then we have our most most recent birth rate data in 2024. We see an increase of over 50 births uh between 2023 and 2024. Um so again, that's more promising. It's great to see that we've kind of bottomed out and we're hoping that would be a continuing trend uh for the foreseeable future. Uh but our 2024 data, that's our most recent up-to-date data uh that we have at this time from the Department of Health. So, if we go to this next slide, then we can see really the correlation between the birth rates and our incoming kindergarten classes. And so as you can see here, we're in the 25 26 school year. And because of that decline in the birth rates um of 71 births in 2019, we're seeing about 54 less students in our current

059incoming our current kindergarten class. So right now we have roughly about 380 FTE. Uh that includes both our basic ed and our our alternative learning at Valley. Uh so right now this is our kindergarten class um to date um at least going back in the last 10 years or so as much as the data shows. Um and our expectation with continuing declining birth rates for the next couple years, our expectation is um that's going to continue to decline about an additional 15 to 20 FTE uh before we see a rebound at 2029 30 with the increased birth rates from 2024. Moving on, another area of focus, not only birth rates we're looking at, but also capture rates in the area. And one of the things is we're kind of going back and looking at historically

060of the births that are occurring in the district area, how many are coming in into our incoming kindergarten classes. And so both for the current year and the 2425 school year, uh we're roughly about 76%. So we can see that's been declining. Um develop it's been some fluctuations. I mean 202021 was 70% but we can attribute that uh to co and the pandemic lockdowns. Uh but coming out of the once the lockdowns were lifted we did see about capture rates above 80%. However now we're kind of operating at 76%. And so from the I've kind of forecasted out over the next four years kind of keeping just you know being in our realm of conservative projections uh operating under the assumption that we would keep with the 76% capture rate. Um some of the discussions

061um we've had about lower capture rates not only in these board meetings we've had here but also in the budget committees and our restructuring committees and kind of brainstorming some some of the ideas for why this is occurring and some of the feedback we've been getting a lot is just the u options available for parents in their kindergarten uh options in the area uh So to summarize again the low birth rates decrease of 71 births uh from 2019 to 2020 has resulted about 54 less kindergarteners attending the area in our district. We also have a lower capture rate of about 76%. and we're unlikely to see an increase uh in our kindergarten classes until 202930. And we're kind of operating under the cons um based on our current projections operating under continuing uh projection of

062sub400 uh FTE kindergarten classes for the foreseeable future. And again, as I get into the future slides, just addressing the long-term impact as again incoming kindergarten class, smaller incoming kindergarten classes are replacing our larger graduating classes. And as that moves through the system, that's going to have an overall long-term impact on enrollment decline and enrollment um you know, enrollment stability as we'll get into further detail in future slides. Before I move on to Second point, any questions on birth rates? I mean, I hate to say just can we look at Douglas County just since they're across the river, you know, is that is that a is there a way that we can kind of just see as the larger area, you know, it feels like we're growing and I know that we're getting a lot

063of like an older crowd in Wanachi and there's kind of some younger people across the river at some point. Um, and just being aware of are there more kids in the area that we could potentially um draw in with available programming or or other opportunities? Just, you know, that'd be a nice a nice thing to just keep an eye on. Certainly. >> Yeah. So, moving on to kindergarten to first grade. Um, so we can see our data uh with the exception of 2020 21. Um we've had consistent growth um and an increase between kindergarten and first grade. So a lot of people a lot of students that are not entering in at kindergarten level are coming into the district at the first grade level. And we can likely attribute the um anomaly in 202021 again

064to co uh but we can see an overall trend of increasing uh enrollment between kindergarten and first grade. And then comparison of capture rates. We again we can see kindergarten comparison about 76% of those bursts were capturing at the kindergarten and that generally increases up to about 3 to 4% uh when we're looking at our first grader data. So we can see here uh for 25 26 an increase 3% um you know again 22 23 was less than 3% again coming out of the co lockdowns probably explains the anomaly in that data as we've seen probably increase um at least a 3% uh increase in capture rate between those grade levels elementary and to middle school. Uh as discussed earlier, we're seeing impact uh mostly pinnacles prep but also expand to private school options in

065the area. And so we can see starting out again 2020 2122 a lot of that could be explained again co downs. Um but we know that pinnacles opened in 202122 school year and gradually expanded grade levels um year after year and so we can see 22 23 and beyond uh 47 30 20 uh this year we see a decline of about 36. Uh so again just those other options in the area um that uh students are take students and parents are taking advantage of that are being offered in the valley. And then we would see the reverse uh as we go from 8th to 9th grade. So again, middle to high school. Uh we're seeing an um increase in returning students, especially the last couple of years. Uh again, high school has a lot of

066options, a lot of programs and opportunities uh that are not offered elsewhere in the in the valley and students and parents are taking advantage of that. And then again, running start in high school. Uh, so last year we saw a record high uh running start enrollment. I think if I pull up my October numbers, it probably be around 350 FTE last year at this time. Um, and it finished around 33 334 for the average for the entire year. Uh, so right now we're starting at U the decrease. So we lost about 127 students. Right now I think there's about 270 enrolled in October our October running start count. Uh so to see about a big uh large decrease in running start enrollment suggests that students are staying within the area or within the district I

067mean and again also be uh attributed to proportionality. Again we had a very large uh 10th to 11th grade class last year. slightly smaller class this year, but overall we're seeing um you know again that drop it was about 127 difference last year in that cohort. Here it's only about 87 uh and much slower um kind of more return to historical numbers and generally the October count. So we're looking at about 270 running start. It generally declines over the remainder of the school year. Although February with the start of the second semester generally sees a spike, the overall average uh tends to decrease, not increase. Uh so we'll be paying close attention to those numbers. And again, we're looking at um you know, the work that's been done at the high school level with the

068accelerated pathways and the college credit that has been offered in the high school. Uh we're kind of as a positive factor for this. Then we're looking at graduating classes versus incoming classes. Again, there's always been um a negative change going back to 2015 16. Uh but we can see in the last couple of years again some of those gaps have biden into the triple digits. Um you know 24 25 class moving through. Uh however, um I think 25 26 and beyond, we're going to see that kind of gap uh widen again as small we're seeing historically small kindergarten classes move through our venture into our system and then continue to move through you know those kindergarters over the next 13 years. So here we have a comparison of enrollment versus current versus prior year and

069what we can see here things that just jump out. So again if we go down to the bottom total K through 12 we're looking at overall right now decrease of 86 FTP compared to prior year. Um when you take in the total enrollment you add in running star open doors uh it's about 154 but again less students that that bottom line data is a little bit misleading. Less students at Running Start. Uh, you know, there's a correlation to more students in the in the top line. So, they're they're staying within the district there. So, they're being counted in their 11th and 12th grade levels as opposed to the running start amount. Um, again, we can see the impact at the kindergarten um lower birth rates decrease of 54. And then as we kind of go

070through the grade levels, we can see decline second and third, you know, and then, you know, consistent decline at the middle school level. Again, what we're seeing there again is larger classes moving through the system are being replaced. Um, they're, you know, the next in line is a smaller class. So, as they move through, um, our expectation is, you know, that trend is going to continue. And then again, as we can see here, like 24 25 just the comparison at the third and the fourth grade level you know we see an increase of 21 students at the fourth grade level but again our current fourth graders that's our largest elementary class above 500 FTE and what's following right behind them uh much lower now the third graders that are following suit are at 471 uh

071so we can just see the as the cohorts move through uh how that is factoring in as the smaller classes Then we have a comparison of our enrollment between current and prior year. Um you can see up top like a massive decrease uh Lincoln elementary of 72 students. And so but to explain that data we have to realize that Lincoln took on a lot of students from Columbia last year. It took on an extra uh fifth grade band. Um and so those students have moved on to middle school. Um so we can that can attribute the large decrease at Lincoln. Uh but we can also see some of our successes again increases at Mansion High School uh increase of 37 students again students returning uh to the district at the 9th grade level. We also

072see an increase of 77 FTE at Valley Academy. Uh so moving Valley Academy into its new location and expanding uh uh expanding into 9th and 10th grade. We're seeing the benefits there. Um, so students that would normally got to uh chosen other options or stayed at home school uh have opted to enroll in Valley Academy. >> Sean, do we have any uh classes at the elementary level that are still in overload? I know that was kind of a concern um going from that transition uh from Columbia to the six just the six elementary schools. Do you know if we have any Um, currently >> not I don't have that information. >> Right. We we can get that. We do have some classrooms in overload. Um, but we can get you the specifics maybe by Friday.

073>> Okay. Thanks. >> Absolutely. And then again kind of a summary. This our great band comparison. Just kind of a summary of all kind of the previous data. You can really see the enrollment trend data jump out. So again you can see the increase uh from kindergarten uh to first grade. So prior year 435. So current year those first graders are now 461. So we're seeing an increase of 25. Uh then you see the impact of charter private schools from 5th to sixth grade um with the decrease of 36. Then we get to 8th to 9th grade the increase of 52. And then we see that impact from 10th to 11th grade the decrease of about 87 or so. showing that impact of running start. So forecasting before I move on any questions on the

074enrollment trends so far? Can you make that look better? [laughter] Um so kind of updated the forecasting numbers from the numbers I presented both in June and August during the budget presentations. Uh but some things we're seeing is again at the kindergarten level we're seeing those low capture and low birth rates uh keeping our kindergarten classes below 400 for the foreseeable future. So in even with the increased birth rates uh for 29 202930 we're still projecting to be under 400 uh with the data and forecasting methodology we have right now. And then other things we're tracking also highlighted in green is really paying attention to all of our 500 plus classes. So, as I mentioned earlier, our fourth graders um for 25 26 are our largest elementary class. So, they got one more year in

075our elementary class uh next year. And then if we follow our enrollment trends and analysis, we're going to see a decrease of that uh as they hit the middle school level and we see again the impact of alternative education choices in the area. Um and then again, another thing we're looking through is you know, seventh and 12th grade, a lot of these 500 plus classes, our larger classes are going to be leaving the system. And again, it goes back to that long-term impact of these 500 plus classes are going to be moving out of our system, whether they start in 11th grade, the impact of running start or eventually graduate. And our expectation is that if we follow just this trending uh modeling uh that we're our 500 plus classes uh will probably um disappear

076by 20 28 29 and based on taking into account the next five years we're looking at this overall enrollment decline uh just over the next five years and following just the trends we have and the methodology we're using. I mean we're looking at over a decline of about 880 students over the next five years including this current school year. Here's breaking down the data and seeing where the impact is at the elementary, middle, and high school level. Uh so if we're tracking over the next five years, uh we're looking at a decline of about almost 440 FTE at the elementary level. So that's TK through fifth grade. And then about roughly 140 at the high school level, so grades 6 through 8. And then finally uh over 300 FT uh at the high school level

077uh grades 9 through 12. Uh so here's kind of a putting everything into perspective both historical and then the next five years. Uh so you can see our enrollment peak in and we're currently at the 25 26 u uh school year there. So we've seen about roughly a 1200 1200 FTE decrease since our peak enrollment uh in 2016 and then projecting out uh the next five years uh for next four years excuse me because we have the birth rate data available and using that as a basis uh we're projecting continue >> this this might also not be a question for you maybe it's for you Corey but like um I know that we're as talk about bond and a new high school, the student population of like we are unable to to build a a

078building larger than our student population. Do you know when that calculation kicks in knowing that we're looking at a small, you know, declining enrollment, but we talk about a there's a bottom of the J hopefully like based on the the birth rates of the one of those previous things. So, you know, you don't want to like build for the bottom, >> correct? But I don't know when you know what is what year do we have to to take that number as we look at the kind of the build capacity. >> Yeah, that's a great question and one that we want to make sure that we dive into and what we want to keep in mind is that we're building uh with the bond we're building a new high school for the next 50 years. um

079and make sure that we can't predict exactly what's going to happen over those those years, but make sure that we have a building that is big enough for uh the student capacity that we have now over the next few um years or decade that we can really project out, but also what's going to happen, you know, when we think of 2075, um which is a long ways away and hard to predict, but we want to make sure that we're in that spot. So, um I'll work with David from Turner Townsen to see when that when that time actually is that we here's our population. Here's what we're going to go out to build. Few question. Thanks. Um so taking this data and actually it's good segway from what Tucker's question is um you know if

080we're projecting our data how far can we go because we have our birth rates unless we usual kind of our basis for our methodology because we can build our kindergarten classes on that. But if we wanted to build out some models and go further about asking ourselves, okay, if we have increased birth rates in 2029 30 um but also we have smaller classes replacing our incoming uh our graduating classes. How is that going to affect and how is that going to move impact our long-term forecasting um as those smaller numbers move through our system and in place our larger graduate classes. Um so following our kind of current methodology and projecting it out we've kind of built out a kind of 15-year trend just using our current modeling. So assuming you know so we have

081our current uh enrollment for 25 26 and we've built out to 2930 using our birth rate data. We have um if we were to assume that we had just stable uh 400 FTE kindergarten classes uh year after year. We're not bothering about birth rates. We're not bothering about capture rates. It's just we're assuming in this modeling that we have stable 400 FT of our kindergarten class. What would be the impact as that moves through our system and where we would see um enrollment that can't cease and might see a turnaround in an increase in enrollment. So just based on this model we would be looking at a consistent overall enrollment decline until about the 2007 203738 school year. based on those assumptions. And Sean, that's a it's a stark and staggering uh line there that

082we see. But I think the importance for us to to think about is um what what this means overall to our school district and as we look at the way that we have been moving through uh budget uh budget reductions. We've had um we've taken it kind of yearbyear on on what we need to do. We need to more holistically because if you look at us continuing to do two and a half million a year, three and a half million dollars a year in uh you know budget reductions, we're we're not we're not going to be able to keep up with the pace of that enrollment decline in our fund balance. And so we want to make sure that we have that um idea uh in front of us. And we'll be coming back in

083the next uh couple months and we talk about specific budget reduction conversations for the school district. be very important for us to highlight this information um as we have it. The nice thing is that um we we do we see some hope at some point but we have to get to that spot where our system is adjusted to what the new normal could potentially be. So thanks Sean. >> Well and I would add and figure out ways that we can make that the bottom of that Jay not quite so to so deep. >> Exactly. >> None of those is set. But if we do follow our current trends, this is a very plausible scenario uh district planning. So in light of this and looking at our enrollment trends, what actions or uh discussions are taking

084place at the district level and some of the things in the last couple years that we've done. So first of all, again, taking advantage and expanding our TK program. Um again, that came in I believe right after one classroom and then we did two years ago we expanded from or last year we expanded from three to four classrooms. So now we have about uh 58 students currently enrolled in our TK program. Um and that but the unfortunate part of TK is although there is a demand uh for TK and that students that go through the TK program uh you see the benefits of the program uh the legislature has capped uh our enrollment at our 23 24 level. So the maximum number of students we could have in there is 59. Um then one of

085the things we always pay close attention to with our legislators is that there are some in Olympia that are just not a fan of TK and so one of the things was we always have to pay attention uh come January what is the mood of Olympia uh when it comes to funding TK program. Uh another thing action that I've discussed earlier is again the valley expansion uh moving the valley academy program into former Columbia elementary and expanding to 9th and 10th grade. Uh and we've seen the benefits of there with an increase of 77 students compared to prior year. Um and then again uh the high school accelerated pathways I touched on earlier uh seeing the impact of students um uh staying within the district and obtaining college credit and those opportunities within the district

086and not at the running start at the college level. >> And then can I can I jump in real quick? Go ahead. >> My understanding, Valley, we still have open classrooms there. >> Is that right? >> There is one classroom that currently has curriculum and then we have the two portables as well. >> So there's potential for expansion there if there's interest. >> Exactly. >> Thanks. >> Room for growth. Yes. >> Um annual planning. So again, when we're looking at our capture rates, it's like we see those lower decreasing capture rates at the kindergarten level, but then we see that jump year at the first first grade. So, what is the district offering at the first grade level that we're not offering at kindergartens? Is it is there something that uh the opportunities at the

087kindergarten level is something we're not providing? Is it a matter of convenience? Um, you know, it's like, hey, I just prefer this kindergarten program and then I'll get my kids into first grade. Again, that's something we can look into because we do see that consistent uh jump year after year at that level. And then also again our long-term planning um going back to Tucker what you mentioned again there's room for continued growth and valley and other areas where we can continue to expand and take advantage of opportunity within the district. Uh so we have taken steps in the last couple years. We've seen positive impact um across uh multiple levels across the district and we're continuing to look at those um this year. >> And is that is the restructuring committee starting up again? I

088mean that's part of the long-term planning. >> Yeah, they started last night at their first meeting yesterday and we actually we went over this uh this document. they had a little preview before um we were able to show it tonight, but uh had some great conversations and um we'll have uh future conversations about what are some possibilities and I think the goal in and this was the goal last year too, but how do you look at um budget reduction in two different ways? one reducing uh the budget where you have uh places to do so, but also just like we did uh for this year um working on ways that there are expansion opportunities in the Wanche Valley and people are excited about such as Valley um and then the accelerated pathways opportunities. How can

089we be flexible in our system and really create a program for today's students um that attracts people um from other places? And so what we'll be working on this year is not only the budget reduction piece, but what are what are our nuggets uh for growth next year? What's our value for next year in a larger capacity? So we'll be coming back with more of those ideas and that planning u in the future. Thank you. Any other questions? I do actually Sean and I realized that going through this that I didn't do my homework in terms of going backwards and looking at previous information. Um the one thing I wanted to say is as you build up more years uh the nature of the historical information and the projections is one that looks reliable and

090I'm pleased to see it and it inspires a certain amount of trust. Um, and I guess my specific question is, am I right or wrong in thinking that there's one more birth here in this set of data than you had in August? >> Um, I was able to add this 2024 in the August presentation. >> Oh, you did get it in at the last. >> Yes. I would say the difference between the August data and our updated data um one not only we have the October our actual enrollment but also um adjusting the capture rates uh my assumptions um I think it was operating under again kind of more of a historical assumption around 79 to 80% but unfortunately um the uh current capture rate reflected more recent memory of 76% Uh so um you'll

091see if you look back at the prior data a decrease at the kindergarten levels of those projections >> right yeah so I mean you are working with a rolling projection and I've got a couple of questions as to how that gets refreshed. >> Sure. >> I'm going to make a comment. It's really uh important I think to hear that uh the district needs to look not one year ahead but several years ahead and that's very challenging to do but it's very necessary and the more signaling and warning that we can do that so that it can be done well is really important. Um but other questions as to how this rolls because my one question is uh if it's slightly different from August to October as they you expect them to be different as you

092renew them. Now we were going to do regular demographic study renewals. When do we get the next demographic from Davis? Um so they reached out they've already started working. Um and so their expectation is kind of a similar timeline to last year. their RSC is coming um hoping to come back on site and present uh either in February or March. Okay. No, that's great. And that really I'm going to sort of re answer my own questions a little bit. Um I'm expecting that there's no substantial change between I can't remember the number of the report that we set for the four-year projection to Olympia, but that there but there is they're constantly reviewing. You talk about the capture rate which I think is a step forward in um precision and accuracy. Uh we do have

093demographic data coming in. Uh so this will be a continual process. In the short term, uh it's really important that you have a good system and uh the district is alert. And then on top of that, uh in the short term, keep monitoring it and making sure we're on top of it because it will get changed two or three times a year and should. But then we've got to look several years ahead in reality. Uh and I just wanted to say that I think that looks to be what I think are hearing as to how their position is, how to tackle the problem. And I think it makes sense. >> Absolutely. Thank you, >> Sean. Do we do you is anyone at the district or statewide talked about like some frustration at the uh in

094Olympia with the TK program in general? Like it seems like this has been a really great program or we're seeing some success from those students certainly at least as role models in kindergarten classes. Are are we is anyone tracking information that we can, you know, start to to build a case for why these students are so important? >> I can I mean, I know it's just I mean, I can personally speak just following the discussions and the updates I get. Um, I don't want similarly blanking on his name, but he provides an excellent weekly update about the importance of TK and um he's with WASA. He's kind of the overall lobbyist for WASA and um you know, he is a big advocate for the TK program. Um but I think yeah, when we're discussing politics

095in Olympia, some legislatores that favor uh different pre kindergarten models like ECAP um over TK. And another concern is um you know the state and I'm you know I'm not speaking with any sorts of information um but when we're looking at um you know again January Olympia signaled another budget shortfall >> you know and one of the concerns is one of the I pay attention to is just the language that they're putting in the bills. Um and one of the things is um in order for Olympia in order for the state to comply with the mccleary decision um you know they are they've been charged by the Washington Supreme Court in order to fill their fulfill their constitutional duties is uh basic education to fully fund basic education. So anything that falls outside of that

096realm um is not basic education and they can take a look at it. One of the things the legislature has done the last couple years is make sure that transitional kindergarten uh does not fall under the basic education umbrella. Uh so anytime I see that it's like oh you're not part of the basic education umbrella. kind of like I kind of circled that as a program uh that they might take a um closer look at when they're crafting their future budgets. That was a good point uh Tucker because after our TK presentation we talked about um making sure that we are looking at that longitudinal data for those uh for those students as well because we know that they've gotten that um that extra year in public education that helps prepare them so well. And

097I looked it up and it was steel for >> wasa this weekend whatever it's great >> thank you >> thanks so much [laughter] >> okay moving right along here in the agenda as Tucker and I are having too much fun um uh we move on to discussion we have a policy that that we tabled at our last board meeting on October 14th because the version in the packet was not the updated version that the policy committee worked on and approved. And uh so we were able to put that into uh this week's uh board packet. So you've been able to take a look at that. I hope that this version um feels like it's it accurately reflects and portrays uh what the wishes of the board are even in the absence of policy 1825. Um

098Yeah. Any thoughts or comments to share? >> Okay. Well, we'll move that one on to second read um at our November 12th board meeting and uh move into some action. President Tucker, President Jackson. >> Oh man, it's the worst. You should try these. >> I got like I had to fit the persona in there. Just too much magnification. >> It's tough to fit these Yeah, I'm Yeah, I'm not blind enough for those. >> Sorry. So, back to focusing on this board meeting. Um, >> do we have We talked about the LCAP and the OSSI stuff uh with um Tim last meeting. Are you guys I would say do we have a motion to approve these plans as they were the plan? I will second that motion. >> All right. Moved by Julia, seconded by Barton.

099Any discussion? >> I do want to add a comment because I think it's important that we did this in two steps. Um, and I looked at my notes from last time. I said it's really important that the board be well informed and have commitment behind it. And I think there were some substantially encouraging changes and improvements in compared to the previous generation of plans. Uh it's an ongoing job. Um but I thought I did not have anything that I learned since last presentation except that I did have the time to think about it and uh I think it's important to do that and to stress that this is serious. This is a real commitment and that's it. >> And I and I appreciate Tim coming out and and giving the presentation, asking answering questions. I

100think it was like Martin you said it was really important information. Um all right. So all in favor of approving the um resolution. >> Say I. >> I. >> All right. Motion carries. And now we do the second read on policies uh 5 uh 5260 and 111. Uh do I have a motion to approve these the second read of these policies? >> I'll move to approve uh policies number 5260 and 1111 um for approval. >> Second. >> All right, that's a move by Maria and seconded by Julie. Any discussion? All in favor approve their resolution say I. >> I m say I. >> And motion carries. And that takes us to superender report. >> Excellent. Just want to take a moment. There is some confusion as citizen comment was uh was leaving. Just to clarify

101that um our board members cannot participate in negotiations. We know that. Um but are able to hear citizen comment in the appropriate space here at the board meeting. Um, and we're also able to take uh information through email. So, I just want to clarify that there was a lot of moving parts happening there and so I'm trying to talk to Kelly over a crowd moving and there Yes. So, just want to clarify that. So, thank you for that. Um, just want to share we heard a little bit about homecoming earlier today. Um, the last home football game of the year was last Friday. Due to smoke, it was only the second game we were able to play in the Apple Bowl this year, unfortunately. Um, but it had everything. So, if you were there, you

102saw senior night, you saw the cheerleaders, you saw the epolettes, you saw the color guard, we had middle school students that were shadowing the Golden Apple band, which was super fun. Um, and then, of course, we had the homecoming uh royalty is there. The scoreboard wasn't exactly maybe what you wanted to see, but it was it was a great evening. So, that was that was excellent. Um, I'll let uh Martin share potentially a little bit about uh what we saw today, but I just have to mention that we saw a uh the first uh graduation held in uh juvenile detention court today. Um we had a student that was in the juvenile detention center program over the course of the last two years that earned 20 additional credits to graduate from Westside High School. And

103Mark and I were invited to uh to see that this afternoon. That was pretty darn special. Um, also, uh, we have conferences this week. So, today was the last day of school for this week, uh, which is wild. Um, but we're thrilled to host parent teacher conferences over the next few days and invite our families into the schools to work collaboratively with our educators. We've strategically placed conferences to be far enough into the school year that we feel like we're past kind of the honeymoon phase. We're able to see some patterns in student achievement and behavior prior to them becoming habits. um that are more challenging to break. So, this is one of our also one of our strongest tools uh for open communication with our families and to support students academically, socially, and emotionally.

104Uh we also know that before our next board meeting, we have stuff the bus food drive. So, our school resource officers will be at Wanchi Walmart with one of our yellow school buses on November 7th from 10 to 2 in the annual Stuff the Bus food drive. And the drive collects non-p perishable foods for Operation Turkey Drop uh an event that prepares holiday food boxes for distribution uh to district families in need. Um so we thank our SRO's uh Fuller and who is one of the coordinators um and he also coordinates a shop with a cop event as well with our elementary schools in December. And I think I think that's it. Thank you very much. All right, Martin, he already teed you up, so I'll let I'll let you start. >> No, Corey, I

105wasn't going to say anything about this afternoon, but I'm going to add something because I think, as you say, it was a historic event. Um, and uh what the things that made it most special were the effort, dedication, and turnaround of the student who graduated. Very, very impressive. Uh, but then I want to talk about the support network that was run. Somebody, and it wasn't any of us, said to me, "You won't see this kind of network around a juvenile detention center very often." So, I think we should give some kudos to the community here because uh you were in a courtroom, you still had full security around you, very evident. Uh you were in a detention center. Um but other than so you had westside teachers, westside counselors, uh the teacher who has for

106many years taught the students in u juvenile detention center and I've been able to see what it looks like and how active it is. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um so you had that and then from uh then I think the staff themselves were there in force and very very supportive as you know that Maria. Um, but then let's talk about else. There were two staff from the NCW library service and they run an outreach library program of education and and there and they were obviously quite emotional about it. Uh, you had cafe there, you had chaplain there. I'm not quite sure what renovation is, but it was another kind of recovery organization rejuvenation. >> Yeah. And so you saw probably 15 support people for this event in that one room. Um and yes, Cy, it was

107worth making some noise by the [laughter] >> And then I've got another one quickly. Um I was at Foothills Avid Night. Uh it was super impressive. And what I was going to do about this, this was their little handout as you went around. Um, and halfway through I said, I've got to write down the first words that come to my brain when I look at these Abbott presentations. And this is just stream of consciousness. I wrote on confidence, initiative, fluency, purposeful, prepared, teamwork, career aware, and then a little one that was very interesting. Sometimes you got to see two groups of AVID students and there'd be about five of them, seven of them maybe doing the same presentation one after the other. Each one was different and unique. They were and oh I forgot I

108was told that their avid teacher had been absent through uh for unfortunately for a while and a lot of this they've done by themselves. So that was a really impressive presentation of AV AVID in the middle school, the extension of those kind of skills, lifetime skills into the middle school and obviously in the AVID program in the high school. Oh, and they had high school mentors in there helping them. >> Fantastic. >> Thanks, Martin. You want to take over? >> Sure. >> Hot mic already. >> Thank you, Martin. Um I don't have much other than um if you guys recall last year Miranda um served on the legislative committee and um there was a push well not Miranda specifically but there was a push from um WASA to was to um present a bill about

109um super simple majority for bond school bonds. Um, was pushing that once again and um, just kind of want to put it on your guys' radar. Um, you can send uh, Corey, Kim, and I an email if whether this is something you want to support individually or as a school board if we have um, consensus. Um, as for our audience, um, currently bonds are supermajority, which means 60%. Is it 60% plus one or 60%? Um, simple majority would bring it down to 50% plus one. Sorry. >> Okay. Um, I got to get the one there. Um, so anyways, um, you know, the current state of the state is that bonds are really not passing um, under that super majority percentage. So, just put it on on the radar. Um, and hopefully we can all agree

110that um, you know, there's a huge need to push this. >> Thanks for Julia. >> I don't have much, but I just want to say thank you for accommodating my schedule the last couple meetings as I followed my senior athlete around the district for her last couple soccer games. Um, there is one more, the Apple Bowl tomorrow night. It'll be the senior night, so they're playing East if anyone's looking for anything to do. Um, and I just again want to appreciate work that our athletic and activities department has done this this fall to make sure games were able to be played. Um sort of the benefit of the smoke I think for the soccer kids because we played each school twice. We were able to flip some of our home and away games. So now

111they've finished the season mostly at home. Um, it's too bad it didn't work out quite as well for football, but at least at least um they did what they could to get all the games in and and I'm super impressed with the new ad hitting the ground running and and even announcing some games on her on her own and just really really going above and beyond for the students and family. So, it's been a very successful I think call and so hope to see you all tomorrow. >> Thank you. Uh I was also at the game on Friday and I will say uh there was a lot of cheer despite the rain. It was a pretty pretty miserable weather and a tough tough game. Uh but like the student support like Cory said to all

112the programs that participated um I had a middle school band person who was appreciated having the opportunity to be on the field with the band and have like you know kind of that mentor experience. So, I think it was a real positive experience aside from the score, but but yeah, happy uh past homecoming for everyone and soccer game tomorrow. And with that, Hey. Hey. Hey.