001Good evening. Welcome to the February 17th meeting of the Yaka School Board uh Chinese New Year of the Horse today. So, we'll celebrate that, I guess. Um before we begin, I'd like to have Jorge come up. We offer Spanish interpretation services with language connection. If you need translation assistance in person, please check with Jorge for a device. And Jorge, please translate that. Gracias. >> Thank you. If you wish to make a public comment this evening, there are two options available for you. The first option is for commenting on agenda items only. And the second option which comes toward the end of the meeting is for all other topics. In order to speak tonight, you need to sign two forms, the sign-in form and the guidelines form. We do provide live streaming for this meeting. The
002link can be found on our web page under board of directors. If you are interested in watching past meetings, you may find them on our web pages YSD YouTube channel. >> Bar, would you call the role, please? >> Director Shelton >> here. >> Director Navaro Jr. >> here. >> Director Rice >> here. >> President Walker >> here. >> And Vice President Beckett is excused. >> I'd also like to note that Dr. Green continues to be out on an approved and excused absence. >> Thank you. Please rise and join me in the flight salute. >> Ready to begin. >> I aliance 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. And February's character word of the month
003is persistent. Demonstrating determination and continued effort to achieve goals despite challenges. Today, the schools of the Yakma School District rest on the ancestral lands of 14 Confederated tribes and bands of the Yakama nation. The people of the Yakan nation inhabited more than 12 million acres. Kittasat and Yak counties. >> Today we honor those native peoples who are tied to the land through history, legends, and culture. We acknowledge our descendants who live in the world today. >> We thank the caretakers of this land who have lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial. An acknowledgement is a simple powerful way to show respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase indigenous people's history and culture. It also honors the church. >> As a school district, we will continue to build
004upon our relations with the Yakama Nation. Thank you students. This evening, it's our pleasure to recognize some of the accomplishments of our students. It's always fun to do that. Uh when I read your name or when your names are read by our board members, would you please come and kind of circle by and we'd shake your hand and then go stand in front of the wall over here and we'll take a group picture afterwards. And if your parents would like to take an individual picture afterwards, we'd like to do that as well. So, Director uh Shelton will begin. The board of directors would like to congratulate the following YVTech students for their induction into the National Technical Honor Society. The National Technical Honor Society is an educational nonprofit that exists to honor, recognize, and empower
005students and teachers in career and technical education. From AC Davis High School, Camila Dear Rosa, premedical assistant. Gloria Dwarte, culinary arts. Leslie Campos, business administration. Leslie Mora, nursing. Evelyn Lopez Pñena, business administration. Great job. >> Great job. And from Eisenhower High School, we have a little bit of a list here. Ariana Rosales, Teacher Academy. Ava Engelman, Eagleman. Congratulations. >> We will be hiring you, Samir. >> Ezekiel Marquez, premedical assistant. Juvenile Vald Valdeinos, nursing. Kenley Davis, dental assisting. >> Congratulations. >> Cena Bonitz, dental assisting too. Haime Ortiz Morio, law enforcement. Congratulations. Hier Mida, machining and industrial mechanics. Hovani Cisneros, machining and industrial mechanics. Renee Ibana Sanchez, law enforcement and Mupali Pasicha, business administration. And from Stanton Academy, Carla Diaz Escarena, business administration. Congratulations. Did I pronounce your name correctly? Okay. That's all. >> That's all. >>
006Okay. After the group picture, any any relative or parent or friend that wants to take a an individual photo, you can come up and do we'll take a little short break. People do that. Okay. Next up in our recognition portion of the program tonight, uh, Director Navaro will be introducing parent groups from most of our schools have at least one either booster group or PTO or PTA group. So, Director Navaro. >> Yes. Thank you, President Walker. It's my honor to on behalf of the board to recognize our the parents of the Akamo school district. We know they play a vital important role in the success of all our all our students and our families. So in honor of the of National PTA founders day, excuse me, the Akimal School District Board of Directors wishes to
007express gratitude acknowledging the significant role of that PTA booster clubs and other parent groups play locally. Thank you. regionally and nationally. Your efforts have been instrumental in advancing parent involvement and advocating for the well-being of all children and families. Thank you very much. So, we're going to go ahead and start with the PTO groups from Adams, PTA president, Israel Moreno, Thomas Romero, Barge Lincoln, PTA president Macy Moore, Discovery Early Learning, PTA president Justin Dunke, Dunkcock >> Kak. Thank you. There he is. Why don't you come come forward so we can recognize you? Gilbert PTA president. >> Thank you. >> Fore Hoover PTA president. if you don't mind staying up here in the front so we can uh Yes. want to get a photograph there, a picture. Heather Gonzalez, M McC Mccclure, PTA president. Megan McCormack,
008Knobill, PTA president. Tracy Anderson, Ridge View, PTA president. Michael K. Roosevelt, PTA president, Maritza Madreal Wilson Middle School, PTA president. Uh, next we have the booster clubs. Candace Hooks, Davis, parent booster president. All right. Les Henderson, Davis boys basketball booster president. Jennifer Hall, Davis volleyball booster president. Marilyn James T. Eas Davis girls basketball booster president. Jeremy Rodriguez, Davis football booster president. Kelly Hall, Davis Fast pitch booster president. Raquel Cortez, Davis Choir booster president. Cheyenne Ammerman, Davis drama booster president. Anna Mendoza, Davis Band, booster president. Nicole Hopkins, Eisenhower Track and Field Cross Country Booster President. Christian Gums, Eisenhower Choir Booster President. Norah Lopez, Eisenhower Boys and Girls Soccer Booster President Alyssa Skyles, Eisenhower drama booster president. Johnny Snyder, Eisenhower football booster president. Julie Ross, Eisenhower football booster president. Michelle Rhodess, Eisenhower band booster president. April Atkinson,
009Eisenhower dance booster president. Tessa Doan Eisenhower boys basketball president. And last but not least, Heather Quiznell, bowling booster president. Mr. President, thank you so much. At the end of this section are our students and parent who are welcome to stay if you wish and endure the complete business meeting or you're if you have homework or kids to spend time with feel free to go after this. And thanks again to all our students for their good work and for our parents that put in countless volunteer hours to support our students in their activities. Okay, continuing on with our agenda, we have first Mr. Art Rodriguez, director of transportation, will be providing us with the transportation report. >> Thank you, Jake. >> Well, good evening. Um, want to thank uh, President Walker, the board, and Deputy Superintendent
010Larson for the opportunity to come out and speak about transportation this year. It feels like I was here a year ago and it went by so fast that uh, I seems like it was last month, but it wasn't. So, I'm glad to be back. Glad to share how uh, the transportation department's doing this year. So, a quick operational snapshot of how we're doing this year. Uh, currently we are still operating under two bells. Um, I kind of explained that last year I was here. We have our elementary bell and we have our secondary bells. And so, uh, we started the year with like 61 routes and um, due to some due to our availability of drivers, we had a shortage and we still have continue to have a shortage this year. Again, we've whittleled that
011down to 57 routes. Um, we currently have 66 drivers right now and we but we've due to certain happenings this year, we've have quite a few on leave. So, we're really running around 57 drivers right now uh any given day. So, we're always on the verge of being short and we are short some days when it's really uh demand is uh when there's quite a few call-ins or issues with coverage. So, that is our current snapshot and that's where we're at as far as just straight numbers. 57 routes, 66 drivers. Um, and we're currently operating under that two bell system still. Student counts are up a few percentage points. Uh, we were up 3% almost 3% in the fall and even with the shortage of drivers and shrinking of routes, we were able to get
012to 3% almost. And then we are wintertime always drops every year. It drops um something happens. I'm not sure if what happens as far as but every consistently every year we drop in the winter by uh whether kids decide to get rides or other other forms of getting to school. Um we dropped to we still increased over last year by two almost 2% but still it still decreased from uh the fall numbers. Last year I came out and talked about if uh we're always trying to run oper be operationally efficient how we do things and one of our big uh uh standouts last year was our charter our charter improvements from the year before. So up there in 2023 we had 88 charters and last year we ended up with five. A huge swing. Right
013now we are trending at 61 due to due to the lack of drivers that we have and uh we're looking at last year we stayed about $250,000. We're like right now trying to save at $100,000 on the cost overall to all programs with throughout the district. Those are not easy calls to make on charter, but we also don't want to disrupt the events that have been planned out throughout the year at any given day. So it's we we it's a it's a a decision we I make at in the moment as we are looking at uh availability of our drivers and what we can cover and what we can't cover. So moving to the future you know we are working on increasing our driver availability. Uh our training program is is going through uh recruiting
014actively. Uh we currently have a class of two to three uh three drivers actually and we will have another class starting soon. It does take a long time to train a driver. It could take up to two months to train a driver that has no CDL. So there's a lot of investment and time into uh training drivers. Um and also the fact of that is that we're working on our four bell system model. And the reason why we're doing that is to help with that driver availability, also to help with managing our facilities, you know, providing uh having more buses available and equipment. Um, and just trying to to keep our drivers working sustainable hours. And then of course just trying to keep it financially solvent for the district. We had a huge impact last
015year. This year we take a step a small step back but we think with the new bell system possibly out there we will be able to recoup that cost next year and and uh succeed in our our succeed in our financial uh responsibility as running efficient as we can. So part of that four bell system is to uh provide better service besides being efficient. We want to eliminate transfer routes uh for elementary students. We want to provide uh more direct school busing. So a bus will service a specific school versus servicing four or five schools or three schools. And so uh we'll be able to uh provide a shorter ride for students but also increase our our impact on uh the district boundary area by producing calling more students to school. Um, we want to
016look to uh to generate more more student more student counts and increase our counts by increasing that area and and still making impacts in the transit zones, which I explained last year does reduce uh reduce some of our funding that we lost to uh the statewide um city transit grant that they got that doesn't it doesn't reimburse us for how many kids ride the city transit system. In in closing, I like to just say that, you know, um this year has been a year of growth in uh as far as planning for next year. We've already pretty much finished our model. We have about 10% of more work to do to get us to that point and we're looking forward to the future. Um if you have any questions, I'm here to answer them for
017you. Have any questions from the board? >> I have a couple. Um are you explained to us last year about the four four bell system and the two bell system. Could you um refresh our memory on that? >> Yes. So we currently have two bells and so we operate currently we operate 57 buses in our two bell model. So every bell there's 57 buses operating and so those those buses serve as the secondary level first in the morning. It's high school and middle school. Then it transitions to elementary and those 57 buses go into the elementary bells to start uh to start the morning off. uh with the four bell system we are going to we are going to stratify that and have uh middle school have their own bell time and then a while
018later we'll have a high school have their own bell time and then we'll have elementary have two bells. We hope to have that cut down to uh 25 to 30 routes 30 buses operating at one time. So you can see how that that gap that gap uh helps us to be more efficient. one helps us to uh to not have as much impact from being a short on drivers. Currently in that 66 model that we have right now, we have, you know, we're funded for 68 bus drivers, but we only have 66 and we still struggle to cover 57 routes. So I'm I'm interpreting what you're saying as there will be different start times. >> Yes. for high schools, for middle schools, and somehow we're going to split up the elementarymentaries so that some will
019have one start time and some will have another. >> Yes. Stagger start. >> Okay. Has that been communicated to families yet? >> Not yet. We're in planning stages. >> Okay. So, >> we're almost finalized with the bell times. uh potential bell times Martha. So we're close. >> Then we're also working on the routing which underpins it all. So that's what we want to make sure as we look at the time gaps between the bells how they how it can be routed. And really the goal as Art said eloquently is have fewer drivers drive a longer time during the day. So you you elongate and generally increase their pay because they're working more time. But also as you said he had 66 but on any given day how many do we have out? We have about
020uh anywhere from 10 to 15. >> So that goes down from 57 drivers to 47 drivers to serve 66 routes, right? Sorry. >> 576. Yep. >> So we have even So the goal is um as you tier up the system is to utilize fewer drivers, have them drive longer, and then the tradeoff of course is a change in start stop times. It is not a large or significant change in start and stop times when it comes to minutes. Um, and I think we'll be very close uh to sharing those out publicly. We do have some groups to run them through to poke holes and prod and see what the unintended circumstances are, but um they my goal operationally was to have them out in public for the for viewing in sometime in the middle to
021late March. >> Okay. This would also eliminate some of those transfers, right? Right now, we currently have six uh seven buses that do transfer at Davis High School for elementary. It would eliminate them all. >> Good. So, I won't we won't see kids standing in the cold in the dark down by the soccer field. Right. >> Correct. >> Good. Um the other question I have, and you may not have the answer to this tonight because um I'm kind of springing it on you. What is the average mileage for all of our buses for an entire year? The for the year >> for the year. Um, >> so how many we have 57 routes and >> each route is so many miles and so then you can figure up those miles and say our buses drive
022x amount of miles in total every year. We do do that calculation every year on stars report. I did not bring that with me today. So, I didn't have that in my presentation, but I think the year last year I had the numbers in there as how many miles we had uh transporting and how many miles we have extracurricular, but I can get that to you by tomorrow. >> That would be great. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Will the new uh configuration in in the four bell system, will that help with the the rapid increase again in having to use charters? And I'm assuming a lot of those have to do with athletic. So in a way the increase of charters means our teams are doing really well. They're traveling more. But but again
023to go we went from 88 to five and then to 61 again this year. So that's a huge increase again. >> So is that going to help with that issue? >> It's going to help. Yes. >> Okay. >> And of course this year is not over yet. So we may go well above that in terms of number of >> No it's not that that um yes it will make a huge impact again on that. >> Okay any other questions or comments from that I >> I do have a question. So on in my pre presentation there is a slide titled transportation data and it lists 77 buses. So I'm just wondering I'm just curious about uh what the difference between these two types of buses. one is there's 38 of it's HDX. >> Yep. Those
024are >> and the 39 C-2s. >> So if you So the C-2s are typically our special ed buses and the HDXs are our huge transit buses. So the big we call it the big bus and then the small buses. So >> yeah, the C2s are are uh they're um our special ed buses and ECAP. >> Okay. And and how many of those are are electric? Currently we have three electric and the whole out of the 77 only three are >> Yep. Okay. Have and I'm just would be curious are you is the district doing any or collecting any data in terms of uh the benefits of having a electric bus in terms of the cost benefits maintenance uh that kind of data or information. I would just be curious to to see to see that.
025If you don't have it now that's fine but >> Yep. I don't have at the moment but I can get that for you. Yes, there is there is some difference in that like right now I can just say speak that it is it is currently less expensive to run electric at the moment based on the cost of electricity versus the cost of diesel. Um we are getting also three more buses electric in the next month and we'll be able to get more data then for us. >> Raymond, currently we're utilizing the state grants for any electric buses. So, one one positive and Art and I actually talked about this today was um a new electric bus is what 375 almost 400,000. Regular diesel is running what two almost 200 >> almost two. So, there's still
026a big cost differential. Now, what the state did though is um you buy an electric bus for a state grant and then they provide you the transportation depreciation funds on the electric bus uh on the on the transportation side which does give you more revenue to buy different types of buses. Um and so we're working through that. So there is some advantage at least to use grant money to then recede your transportation funding. So that's one angle we're looking at. Um, but currently the district any electric bus will be 100% grant funded along with the infrastructure to charge it. >> Now, in terms of maintenance, I didn't see it. I saw a list of like three mechanics. Is there like a special technician that works on electric buses or are the mechanics crossrained in that
027area or how do they how are they maintained? They are cross there are cross trainining going on at the moment. So, uh, electric buses are still pretty new throughout the state. So there's not a lot of classes to take yet and most of them are under warranty at at this current time. So there's a lot of uh vendor dealership support with that. But they also offer annually classes to help with that issue. The other great impact we're waiting for is the diesel buses that we do run, which is I would say 95% of our fleet diesel is has a huge up a huge equipment cost, maintenance cost to keep them running. Um the uh deaf diesel uh cleaning system that helps the exhaust to make it cleaner when it as it burns is very over
028time gets to be expensive. The parts are you know uh not cheap and they to maintain but we have to maintain them because we got to transport. So we're looking at that that also the gaining in maintenance cost to save us some money. But with long-term in terms of electric, electric buses in cold winters need to be stored inside, don't they? They cannot be left outside or the batteries deplete. Is that correct? >> We have not had a long cold winter with the three buses we've had so far. >> Thankfully, um so um I think last year was a lot colder than this year. So last year we did keep them inside, but this year we have not. We we keep one we keep one in in charging in the in the garage and the
029rest are outside. The other two are outside but we'll have six here in the next month. We'll have six total and all and five of them will be outside at all times. >> Okay. >> Just one more question in terms of I know a lot of newer vehicles have the vast computer systems right that operate everything. So, is there a lot of like systems or software updates or problems with that are involved? >> Um, not really necessarily problems. It's just a matter of learning a new tool. We I call them tools, diagnostic tools that we need to use. Um, as far as problems, no, there are some just evolving like uh I would say our three buses are first generation electric buses. So, you know, they came out and now the the next street we
030get are our second generation. So, we'll see there'll probably be a growth from the first uh first wave of buses that we have to the second as far as quality and and and technology. So, um it's exciting to work on them. It's exciting to see them run. Um and uh I look forward to the next generation coming out. >> Raymond, we do plan on monitoring because we had a conversation today. It's not always it's not even the cold, it's the heat, too. So, a lot of news on and I just to be honest operationally I'm I have mixed feelings about electrical buses just and their operational effectiveness. We do have a small footprint here though which is advantageous. It's not like we have a huge geographical area to cover. So, that's helpful. Bart and I
031just had this conversation today about monitoring them when it gets hot towards the end of the school year. And then of course because the AC will just if you haven't seen stories when they when you put on the air conditioning when it's hot the same thing happens as cold. It it drains the battery pretty pretty quickly. Thank you so much. That was very informative. >> Thank you. >> Next up, we have uh Jamie Lee, executive director of teaching and learning, and we have an update on instruction. All right. Good evening, board members, cabinet. Tonight, I'm excited to share our district's comprehensive approach to strengthening teaching and learning across all Yakama schools. This presentation highlights the intentional work we've been doing to strengthen our assessment systems, data literacy, and instructional practices. In order to build instructional
032coherence, we have focused on assessment design and data response systems. In late spring, early summer, we brought together teams of teachers to collaboratively create common endofunit math assessments. Those are aligned to all of our guaranteed standards. Having common data from these assessments across our system allows educators at all levels to engage in deep analysis, action planning, and instructional practice sharing. Additionally, we've implemented structures where principles review assessment data with cabinet members. Together, they analyze the common end of unit assessment data and share targeted action steps based on what the data reveals about student learning. By doing this, we have opened the door for principal teams in cabinet to engage in colleial conversations that create opportunities for meaningful dialogue about student learning and allow them to focus on the critical question, are our students learning and
033how do we know? Principles are then able to recreate the inquiry process in their buildings, facilitating their professional learning teams and creating action plans that translate the data insights into instructional impact. Another an additional opportunity for colleial conversation and dialogue has been through our principal cohorts. We have monthly dedicated time and structures for principles to collaborate with each other. This cross school collaboration breaks down silos and allows our instructional leaders to problem solve together, to learn from each other, and to share effective practices. This cohort is informing our entire system, creating consistency across the district. This diagram before you represents the continuous instructional cycle that's now happening in classrooms and buildings across our district. It's a cyclical process that keeps instruction tightly aligned to standards while remaining responsive to student needs. I would like to
034draw your attention to the box that's titled, and I've highlighted it up there, analyzing formative assessment results to provide interventions and extensions. This component of our instructional cycle has always been present in our schools, but this year, we are focusing here systematically across our entire district. We're ensuring that every teacher has the tools, time, and support to analyze the common end of unit assessments and respond with targeted interventions for students who either need additional support or students who might need extensions if they're ready to go deeper. This focused attention on the end of unit assessment data is helping us to move from isolated pockets of excellence to districtwide consistency in how we monitor student learning and adjust instruction in real time. We're committed to providing high-quality instruction that is engaging, equitable, and effective for all
035students. The framework before you that I'm about to speak to gives us the ability to systematically respond to our data by drilling down to the instructional level. Rather than promoting isolated instructional strategies, this framework establishes five interconnected core practices that are aligned to our teacher evaluation framework and that work together to support intentional planning, professional collaboration, and ultimately improve instructional delivery. When we're analyzing data and we see gaps, this allows us to identify at the instructional level and examine specific teaching practices that will close those gaps. We have selected five, but tonight I will focus in on one and that being questioning and discussion techniques. The practice of questioning and discussion techniques includes teachers asking and presenting students with open-ended higher level questions that allow genuine discussions, allowing students to think critically and offering multiple
036perspectives. Students have the opportunity to reason, reflect on learning, and justify their thinking, thus engaging all students in the discussion and allowing students to participate and ask questions of one another. You might be wondering what strategies do teachers use to engage students in this process. So what within our instructional practices there are select strategies that align to them. One strategy that supports the practice of questioning and discussion technique techniques is the think pair share strategy. This strategy gives every student time to process a question individually first. Then with a partner they can discuss their thinking and then share either their partner's thinking or their own thinking aloud in a group. This ensures that students are active participants rather than passive passively engaging with the content or just waiting for another student to answer the question.
037Another powerful strategy that is aligned to questioning and discussion is the 102 principle where after 10 minutes of teaching teachers pause and provide two two minutes for students to process what they have learned, discuss or apply. This could be with discussing with a partner. Maybe they're drawing a picture or responding in writing. These techniques increase student engagement, deepen comprehension, and give teachers real time formative data in the moment about student understanding. By focusing on the core instructional practices, we're ensuring that our response to the data goes beyond what we teach to how we teach, creating more equitable opportunities for all students to engage in rigorous learning. In your slide deck, there's a link to the full document that outlines all five core practices and the aligned strategies. So, as we look ahead using what we've
038learned from math, we're continuing to expand and refine our instructional response system with a particular focus moving to supporting student growth in literacy across all grade levels. What makes this work different is that we're building capacity at every level of our system. We've achieved a fundamental shift in how we approach instruction across our district district. Moving away from the traditional model where teachers work in isolation making instructional decisions independently to a collaborative approach where d teachers and their leaders are making data informed decisions making culture that's decision-making culture that expands our entire system from cabinet to principles to our teachers. The work that I shared tonight represents the dedication and professionalism of our entire instructional team. Our focus on guaranteed standards, collaborative planning, common assessments, and responsive intervention ensures that every student has access to
039a guaranteed and viable curriculum and receives highquality instruction. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have. >> Any questions from the board or comments? I just have a comment. I I really like hearing the approach going from a passive more to a active more meaningful engagement with the content. Right. So that that was to me that was great to hear and that questioning the the content is for me is a powerful tool to to uh understand right understand the content and to learn from that and then the reflection part as well. So I just want to commend you for that uh for including that piece in the active meaningful engagement with the text is I think it's a good an awesome strategy or technique. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions
040or comments? Okay. I do have first of all I like to I'm continually excited about the professional learning communities and the establishment of collaborative work with teachers in in examining student data and and examining formative data not just once a year state assessments. Are we beginning to see in some of our formative data the results of that work? And I know we were interrupted with CO, but we we're well enough past that now that we should be begin to be seeing some formative data that's showing improvement in our students performance because when we look at our summitative data over the last two years, we've really plateaued. It's really been a source of frustration for I think several members of the board to to kind of see that. So I want to I want to know
041where we are with with formative. Are we starting to see the efforts that we're doing, which we applaud, starting to show up in student performance? What I can share is that we are certainly seeing um some strong results where we have some solid systems around the data analysis piece using our um school identified data analysis form. So in recently our our principles we had a couple of principles share their specific techniques and what the power is that we're able to respond quickly to the data. So you mentioned our summitive data at that point the students have moved on and so we are also um looking at star data. Jamie didn't mention too much of that today but we are using multiple data points to be able to track student progress and that growth. So, I'm
042I'm going to be a little contentious. So, you told us what you're doing in terms of gathering data, but we really haven't seen results yet. So, I'm looking forward to results at some point after this effort. So, thanks again. I 50 years ago when I was training at the University of Washington in special education, we were doing direct and daily measurement with special ed students and daily goals and daily assessment to monitor progress. And it's odd to me that it's taken 50 years for us to begin to do that with all of our students. And I really think that daily a teacher should know daily where their kid is, where their kids are. So, and I know they're working hard. I I get out and I look and I watch and they're working really hard
043and really intentionally. So, I applaud our our teachers efforts and our principal's efforts, but still there's that little bit that says why aren't we making more progress? And so, I'm a little nervous about that. So, thank you so much. I appreciate what you're doing. >> Thank you. M um I think you bring up a great a good qu a great question to I think the board needs to discuss that academic progress right what so for me it's like how much of of the the success that we want to see how much is can we attribute to what we just heard today right is it can it be other variables that were poverty uh I mean busing we heard from busing today is it busing they have to go across town uh the the the four
044the four whatever bus or the four bail schedule now is a two bail versus our schedule and we're going to see today. So I'm just wondering that's always been my question. How do we nail down that success? What what can we attribute the success or increase to the leadership the I mean curriculum busing the schedule the schedule is another another issue for me is because we change a schedule in order to increase academic performance are we seeing that so you you bring up a good very good question that I think we should probably spend some time discussing right so >> yeah I think it's something where it's our respons responsibility to continually be looking and >> seeing are we are we getting where we want to be. >> Yeah. >> It's kind of like we
045talk about transportation but it's the classroom where the rubber hits the road. >> So >> our equity policy is another could be another variable. I know we heard equitable practices today. I mean what does that mean? How do how is it being implemented? How do we measure whether or not it's it's helping us to to increase those scores? So those are all questions that I I've had and continue to have and and will continue to ask about in the future. >> I'm just not sure it's one thing. >> Oh no. I mean obviously you know there's so many fact we we're aware of that. We know that attendance is an issue in this district and everywhere. It's c it's nationwide. You know I read articles of going on around the country. Attendance is an issue
046and that's not just us. That's parents. We need our parents to get their kids to school, you know, and support them being in school. We need bus drivers. We don't need 10 bus drivers absent every day. That bothers me to hear that statistic. It bothers me to hear teacher absences. And yet, I know that their jobs are stressful and stress affects our health. So, I mean, it's all those things mixed in together, but ultimately we need to suck it up and start taking better care of our kids. I really think we do. So, that's I'll get off my soap box, but thanks again. You just sparked a lot of you sparked some passion in me today. So, thank you. >> That's just what we need as Norm Walker wound up. Yeah. Okay. That leads us
047into members of the board updates. Do we have any updates for members of the board? None today. Moving on. Superintendent's update. Dr. Arson. So, I do want to say that I had the pleasure of spending Valentine's Day morning with my husband at the Washington Music Educators Association um conference listening to the Davis Percussion Ensemble um playing for a whole host of people from around the state who were there as educators and they also had I'm sure a number of family members in the audience. But it was a wonderful experience. I mean, I had not heard a percussion ensemble before and it was fantastic. And so I just want to brag on um these young people who um are learning and applying skills under the direction of their um uh conductor, instructor, and now I've lost
048his name, Samuel Howard. Um, and it was just a wonderful experience. So, if you haven't had an opportunity to hear them before and you hear of an event coming up, I would encourage you to attend. And at this point, I'll turn it over to exciting PRR reports to Bob. No, >> thank you. I think I missed the last board meeting where we presented some update on this. So just kind of recapping for the year of 2024 we processed about 136 requests. Last year the total turned out to be 202. Uh this year year to date we have 34. So it looks like we're going to keep going that upward trajectory. Looks like a the trend line is going to keep going that way. U hopefully it'll plateau at some point. We won't just have infinite
049number of public records requests. But, uh, we're still process pro processing them within the mostly within 60 days, mostly in the 5-day window and, uh, keeping on top of it to keep the district in compliance. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anything else in the superintendent's update? Okay. Thank you. Next up, we have highlights for community engagement. The document is in your board docs. Are there is there anything in there you want to highlight, Kristen? Yes, there's a few things that I had mentioned last week that we would need to talk about this week. Um, on your document, you have a variety of district events and school events. There are a few district events that I need to bring to your attention. The first um starts our art walk series with Hoover Elementary School and Garfield
050Elementary School. And this first one is at Hoover and it's on February 18th from 5:30 to 7:00. And this is open to our community. These art walks are not just an opportunity to see beautiful student art, but are also an opportunity for a community to review these two buildings that are on bond proposal. So, they will be open to the community um for tour and uh viewing of the student art. There will be more in March and more in April. >> Kirsten, did you give us a time? >> 5:30 to 7. Thank you. >> It's in the document. Yeah. The next one that I wanted just to bring to your attention tonight is the student senate meeting which was scheduled for February 25th that has pivoted to an away field trip at the invitation of
051representative Dufo in Olympia. The student senate will be traveling to Olympia on February 25th and spending the day um with a schedule of our uh 14th and 15th district legislators. So, it was uh kind of hard work and getting feedback from our family and students as to whether we could pull that off, but it looks like we can. Any students who elect not to go will still have their half-day school day and then be be released onto their regular schedule. >> Can we expect a report from those students back to the board on their experience? >> I would love to facilitate that for you. >> Thank you. And lastly, I'd like to invite my colleague Rose George up to the podium with me who can talk about our IPC meeting. Thank you. Um Tom Shashu.
052Um good evening. My English name is Rose George Whitefoot and I am a citizen Yakama nation and I am the Yakama school district tribal sovereignty and native achievement TOSA. Um so I just like to also take a moment and welcome you to the homelands of Yakama Nation. Um I'm just happy to be here uh this evening. I just want to share about our IPC or Indian parent committee meeting which will be at Wednesday, February 25th. from 5:30 to 6:30 at Franklin Middle School. Um, so that's what I'd like to share. Qualinu, thank you. >> Thanks for the invitation and thank you for being here. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Next up, Mr. Cooper, the monthly financial update. Jamie. Jamie. >> Sorry, Jake. >> Good evening everybody. Thank you. Um before I begin the presentation, a
053little fun fact for you all. Um the 202425 statewide financial data has been compiled. Um which allows yours truly to go through and determine uh the rank order of administrative overhead across the entire state. So some good news. We are now 280th out of 295 districts in overhead spending as a percentage of operating budget at 10.19%. That puts us in the bottom 5% of all districts in the entire state of Washington overhead spending. So I thought I would share that with you. Additionally, the statewide average during the same fiscal year was 12.03%. To put it in perspective. So the only districts if you look at the rank order that are any lower, one of them being my prior district if you see a trend on overhead. Um, so we are in very good company and
054I want to let you know that our budget tightening and scrutiny on administrative overhead continues and puts us in the bottom 5% of all districts in the entire state. So I thought that provide a little factoid for you before I begin. Any questions on that? All right. What kind of what do we There we go. Uh January of interest uh you'll see cash flow is trending above projection. And that is after we've repaid the TAN in full, the tax anticipation note. So there's now no longer any outstanding uh notes to any third party obligators, which is good. Um I just did the reconciliation January aortionment. It is right in line with budget if not slightly better. Um there will be a little bit of headwind as we enter the year. So we did notice um
055not in this report but the next one between January and February we lost 100 students in enrollment. We're investigating why and who and where, but that is a kind of an anomaly in our data. Additionally, as we get to the cash flow, I will speak a little more about uh what will drag it down closer to projection. So, uh as you can see, our enrollment uh continues to drop even throughout the year. So, we October enrollment was um the peak at 148 just under 84 839 and then we're now down to 14781. So, which is not uncommon. we do lose students throughout the school year. Um but again with our continued enrollment declines, we do not like to see mid-year um losses. So um but we are uh have a few bright spots. AL is
056um continuing to grow as we'll get to that, but our enrollment as we've seen many graphs is on the downhill. Uh speaking of that, there's the budget to actual um in various forms. We're still I was still overprotected slightly at secondary. However, we did have as I've talked about additional gains in ALE, CTE, and special education. So, that's what made our overall budget picture come together. So, we were down in general ed enrollment below projection, but I was very conservative on CTE and special ed numbers, which allowed us to come in line um with actual. So, um I'm very pleased with how the revenue numbers came out. There's the cash flow. Cash is king. um no matter what. Um so liquidity is the biggest problem facing school districts across the state of Washington. It is
057the most common phone call I get from superintendents or other CFOs around the state. How do I manage my cash, particularly the cash flow? And liquidity is different than fund balance. It's the amount you need throughout the year to pay the bills. So I often focus you on the trough. So the trough is the line between our tax collections. And you can see right now the trough is sitting at about 14 million. that will drop a couple million dollars um partly because of the hundred students we lost and additionally the way our federal grant is structured particularly in IDEIDA. Um we are required because we are have certain sanctions from the federal government on certain student groups to set aside money each year out of IDEIDA. Um we solve that set aside by adding uh
058behavior para into each building. the that allocation the only way to comply with the requirement would be to actually cut funding and then carve out the paras to solve the problem. Uh we added the paras on top. So IDA is approximately a million million and a half over budget purposely. Um so we we have frontf funded that and we will continue to that million dollars will draw down over the year as it continues on. So we will see that moderate but we are in much more solid cash position than we were 12 18 24 months ago. As you can see uh general fund revenue budget to actual um as you can see the teal bar is the actual and the budgets. Um so our revenue is below budget as well but also our expenditures. So
059in that case um if you look at the run between expenditure and revenue we're about two and a half or three million to the good. Um which is a great place to be this time of year. However, as I told you we will have some headwinds to to slow us down. but in much better place than we were last fiscal year. Um here's the expenditure side. The teal bar is the actuals and you see the the dark black bar the budget. So um most months we are at running at or slightly below the budgetary amounts which gives you a good picture um of how we're operating monthtomonth. My goal is to be boring as possible in the numbers when it comes to monthtomonth um consistent. We're running 19 20 million of payroll on the average
060with accounts payable on top. And so you can see our our total monthly expenditures as they go through. Um so very steady on the payroll side currently. But again, uh as I talk about at the end of the presentation, the real wild card will be my friends down in Olympia. Uh MSOC material supplies and operating costs. And if you're really old like me, they were called nerks, non-employee related costs. Martha might remember that. um love our acronyms in K12. Um harder to trend because um your M socks generally you you can drive them up or down depending if you have large curriculum adoption and the timing of purchases but they are moving along at or uh below budget uh on on a monthly basis. Okay, questions. Now, um I will say from the legislative standpoint,
061the biggest wild card for us as we sit here today is levy equalization or LEA as it's commonly known. Um the current LEA funding has would have us have an uptick of about $3 million in levy equalization funding. The governor, however, in his preliminary budget cut that in half. Um so it' be a million five versus three. Th that those variables are that variable in particular is the one that keeps me up at night and I talk to cabinet about when they ask about what the plans are for the spring and are we going to reduce staff and so that the major drivers uh for staffing in our budgetary situation will be some decisions made in Olympia and we should know shortly um as the chambers release their budgets but levy equalization is outside of
062basic ed technically under statute and can be reduced I believe last time I looked for the banium it's five six00 million uh in LEA. So it is a big chunk of money. Um the other items that are outside of basic that could be reduced are national boards um both uh H highob and traditional they run a couple hundred million a bianium and then the lid days learning improvement days um though there's three of those. The state has reduced and added those throughout my career down to zero up to four down to zero to two. um they could produce those as well um because they're I think last I checked 50 50 million a piece for the day statewide. So um I did talk to some legislative colleagues. They do believe they need to cut out
063of K12 depending upon what happens in the revenue side. I heard it ranges from 500 million to a larger rounder number with more zeros. So, um, that that makes me have an she's a very reliable legislator when it comes to understanding what's happening with the budget. So, that makes me a little bit nervous about what could be on the table, particularly for levy equalization. So, that's what I know from Olympia. Um, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have tonight. And then Martha, I don't know if you have anything to add about what's happening down. >> I don't right at the moment. Thank you. >> Any questions for Jake? >> Thank you very much. I do have one question on the on the Mox. >> Yes. Yes. For February, the budget, it's budgeted much
064higher than normal. Is there a big expense that comes in February that I you probably told us last time, but I forgot what it is. >> Let me see. It's kind of equivalent to the um February 23 24 budget, but it's much higher than last year's budget for MSOC. And then sometimes when you see a big chunk of that, it's the timing of the running start payments out outbound because they can be a, you know, there's a million million dollars that flows out. So sometimes it's the timing of the running start payment as as one example of why those M socks can swing that large. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Jake. Okay, next up we have comments from the public on agenda items. Do we have anybody signed up to comment? >> Okay. >> Not
065at this time. Okay. Moving on to the consent agenda. Consent agenda. Um, on the consent agenda are the normal things. Approval of minutes, notification of approval of warrants for January, approval of personnel actions, budget status report for January, and one that isn't typically in consent agenda, but crops up maybe once a year or once every couple years. Um, so if you hadn't had a chance to read through it or your board docs wasn't working when it was um, coming through, just a quick explanation. Um there are certain amount of uncollected u things that people have owed the district. Usually they're in small amounts but they add up to a significant amount but the cost of recouping those things would cost more than writing them off. And we've done this in the past before. So just
066you're not familiar with that. >> Generally once a year we would bring you the uh write- offs either for traditional receivables or in this case I believe there's um restitution as part of the write-off. So, it's uh it's a mixture and it is not uncommon. We have tried to collect this debt for several years and um we're unable to do so. Y So, do you want to separate that out or do you need more explanation? >> I'm fine. >> Fine with that. Fine with that. Okay. Okay. Do I hear a motion? >> I move that the board accept the consent agenda as presented. I will second. >> It's been moved and seconded to accept the consent agenda. All in favor say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Next up, we have approval of
067the instructional calendar for 2627. Dr. Larson. >> Thank you. So on February 2nd, we brought forward or I brought forward along with Dr. Lucero uh concept of approving a calendar with a modified early release schedule. We are still working with our YA partners in terms of coming and uh gathering a shared understanding of what a different early release schedule would look like. However, we do know it's important for our families and for our staff to know what dates school will take place. So, tonight we're bringing before you a um proposal for approval that would approve the dates of school with the idea that in the near future we would come back and um confirm what we would like the early release schedule to be for the coming year. >> Thank you. That said, have you
068all had an opportunity to look through that calendar? Okay. There is um kind of recommended language for the motion that um it's on the action item in your board docs. If you want to refer to that, that would be good language for whoever would like to move to support this action. I move that the board of directors approve the 2026 to 2027 school instructional calendar dates as presented with the understanding that the proposed early release schedule for the two 2026 to 27 school year will be brought forward for board consideration at a subsequent meeting. Do >> I hear a second? I will second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the uh instructional calendar for 2627. All in favor say I. >> What's there discussion? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like to? >>
069Sure. I I just want to go back to the point you made earlier in our meeting about academic achievement. So, I know that several year this has probably been what three years now since we changed the calendar. Three or four years. So I guess my question is and it's you know when we made the change we had or had asked about you know what's the the research behind the changes and so forth but now the question is what is it is it doing what we intended it to do is it so we said that we wanted to address the summer learning loss right is that are we is this calendar addressing that or are are less kids coming in with that starting at, you know, starting behind every year. Are they needing less remediation? And
070the big the big um President Walker question is are is how is that contributing to increasing academic achievement? So those are all questions that we had when we we change we went to a new calendar. So I will um >> change that we instituted was I think two years ago. We approve a calendar every year but um at that time we push the start time back a little bit. So I mean moved it earlier in the year. So it's now something mid mid to late August as opposed to to late August to September. >> Yeah. >> And I don't know that we made much of a change to the end of school date because there's holidays in there that we've had to skirt around a little bit. Um, but my recollection is that that's the
071only those are the only changes that we made. >> So, we wanted to close make the summer shorter, right? That saying, >> well, that was that was the idea. >> Yeah. Which would >> which is something I've been pushing for, but there are other factors that are affecting our ability to make those changes. >> No, I No, I understand that. But I mean, I'm I guess I'm asking about the changes we made to the calendar in terms of are they accomplishing what we intended because we we wanted to make the summer shorter to address the summer learning loss. Is that happening? And so we wanted to change the calendar because the summer learning loss would contribute to academic or contributes to the academic achievement or the low test scores whatever. So I just wondering if
072the changes for the last two three years have and and it's or how it's doing that or if if it's we know that with our test scores that we as mentioned by our president that that they plateaued. So, I'm just kind of another variable to examine and just to to wonder about how it contributes to if it's working or not. So, I and I realize that there's other like the teachers union and so forth have a say in that as well and they they would have to be contribute to the conversation about making any changes. >> Yeah, I don't this particular calendar doesn't really address that. This is real similar to the previous calendars. The big difference is eliminating the half day in Wednesday and moving that to Mondays and then that teacher prep time
073and collaboration time will all be on Mondays. So the benefit is the benefit for kids and parents is that their week is more consistent. It's it's beneficial to parents because it's that half day Wednesday once a month is now Wednesdays will all be full days. So it's a little less confusing to follow. still provides for the teacher collaboration and teacher planning time, but it really doesn't address going earlier in the year, later in the summer. To also address that comment, I think in our last meeting, we did we did get a report on the plans and proposals for this coming summer school, which has a lot of incentives to get more kids that are struggling to summer school. Hopefully, that will work. Because as it stands now, it's it's completely voluntary, >> right? >> We
074issue the invitation to families and say, you know, this is this is going to be fun. Your kids are going to love it. Um some families take advantage of that. Others choose not to. Um and there's really no way that we can force that. >> I have some thoughts about that, but that's not for this meeting or this issue. But >> yes, >> but I think there might be some ways in the future we might be able to provide some leverage to kids that aren't succeeding. But that's another whole topic. Anyway, did that answer your question? >> Yes. I apologize. I missed the last discussion on the calendar. So, I just had a few. >> Okay. So, that said, the motion's on the floor and it's been seconded. Is there any further discussion or comment
075on the calendar? Okay. Now, we'll go. All in favor say I. >> I. All opposed. Motion passes. Okay. We have now arrived at our second opportunity for comments from the public. Are there any takers? One. Is it on? Hi, my name is Steve McKenna. I'm a retired educator from the Yakama School District, former YA president and uh a taxpayer in the Yakama School District for over 40 years. So, um, anyway, um, I'm glad to see that we're making some financial progress. That's a good thing. Um, and that, um, hopefully this progress will, um, result in a year without riff at the end of the year since we've had three riffs in two years. Um, I think we've gotten past our financial calamity now. So, and that's all paid off. So um those are good things.
076Um I would say that some of your discussion earlier is kind of interesting about um some of the formative monitoring in the classrooms. Um monitoring a special ed classroom with um you know 6 to 10 12 students and two or three aids is a lot different than um managing a form of assessment for 150 students in five different periods that you would have during the day. And I would think those things would have to look a lot different um both at the secondary level and um both middle school and high school because just a massive number of students in your course and trying to do those kind of assessments daily and keeping in records. Um that's a lot different. um job wouldn't take a lot more time. So anyway, um I'm the other thing I
077I'm concerned about financially is that I just saw that uh some surrounding districts, several passed their levies. Um West Valley I know passed their levy and they did fail their bond and um I would say that that's going to be a tall order in the spring uh to convince people. I mean, nobody likes paying taxes, but they like to make sure that their taxes, if they do pay, are paid, are going for things that are uh things that they want. And so, it'll be interesting to see how the district uh approaches that. Thank you. >> Thank you. We do have a need for executive session this evening for about 10 minutes to discuss a personnel issue. >> I move that the board adjourn to executive session for the purpose of what >> dealing with personnel
078>> personnel issues. um and for 10 minutes. Are we going to meet in the professional library? >> Second. >> Okay. >> Moved and seconded to go to executive session. All in favor? >> I >> All opposed.