001[music and bell] [music] [bell] [music] Good evening. Welcome to the January 20th meeting of the Yakama School Board. Thanks for braving that cold air tonight and coming out to our meeting. Before we begin the proceedings, we have a few business items to take care of. First of all, we do offer Spanish interpretation services. Jorge is here tonight from Language Connection. If you need translation assistance in person, please check with Jorge for a device. Jorge, please translate that information. Gracias. >> 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 a little later in the meeting is for all other topics. In order to speak tonight, you will need to sign two forms,
002a sign-in form and the guidelines form. [clears throat] We do provide live streaming for this meeting. The link 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. Or would you take the role, please? >> Director Rice >> here. >> Vice President Beckett >> here. >> President Walker >> here. Director Shelton and Navaro Jr. are excused. >> And you will notice both Superintendent Green and Bob No, are not here. They are both out on an approved and excused absence. >> Thank you. Will you all rise for the pledge of allegiance? Begin. United States. The January character word of the month is generous. Demonstrating a willingness to give and share freely with others without expecting a
003reward. Recompens rest on the ancestral lands of the 14 Confederated tribes and bands of the Yakama nation. The people of the Yakan nation inhabited more than 12 million acres >> across Adams, Benton, Chalan, Douglas, Franklin, Grant, Kittas, Kat and Yakima counties, Adams, Ben, Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Frank, >> today we honor those names. native peoples who are tied to the land through history, legends, and culture. We thank the caretakers of this land who have lived here and continue to live here since time immemorial. Show respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase indigenous people's history and culture. It also honors the truth. As a school district, we will continue to build upon our relations with the Yakama Nation. This evening, we'd like to honor four past members of the Yakama School District
004family. Tracy Lynn Johnson was a staff member at Davis High School. Francisco Panchito Serrano Martinez was a student at Stanton High School. Guinness Christine McLaren is a former teacher in Yakama. I believe she taught around 20 years at Mcclure and had a teaching career of over 30 years. And Daniel Norman Johnson was a custodian in the district. They have all passed on and we would like to take a moment of silence to recognize their contributions to Yakama. Thank you. We also have some special recognitions this evening. First up, we have uh Director Rice would would like to introduce a couple students who won a national award. >> Good evening. The board of directors would like to congratulate the following students for completing competing in the TSA or technology student association national competition in Nashville, Tennessee.
005Their advisor is Jeff McFaden. If these students are here, um, please come up and shake our hands and then somebody will be taking pictures. Right, Kristen. We'll take your pictures up against the backdrop. The Technology Students Association mission is to inspire its student members to prepare for careers in a technologydriven economy and culture. The national the 2025 National TSA Conference in Nashville, Tennessee was held in June. The conference had an estimated two 9,000 attendees including students and advisers from 40 states and four countries. Students from Turkey, Germany, South Korea, and American Samoa participated in the competition along with students from the 40 the 52 states. In the TSA vlogging, the Yakma team placed second in the nation. Those two students come from Franklin Middle School. Peter Nelson, is Peter here? And Giovani Cino, both from
006Franklin. Let's give them a round of applause. placing second at nationals is quite quite an accomplishment. >> Next up, we have uh some special awards that are given to teachers, some mini grants, and I'd like to introduce Linda Sumner of the Yakama County School Retirees Association would like to say a few words at the podium before Ryan reads those names. honor. It's our honor to be able to provide many grants to our staff. Uh they could include teachers, principles, as well as our pair of professionals. And this year we had a budget of $12,000. Of that money, half of it went to Yakama School District teachers. So we're very proud of them. We're excited for the projects they've selected and that they're going to be working on this year. >> Thank you, Linda. And thank
007you to the uh retired teachers association. And by the way, Linda is also a former Yakama school district counselor. So, worked with her for many years. The board would like to congratulate the following teachers that were awarded many grants from the Yakim County School Retirees Association. The grants of up to $500 pay for special projects that might not be possible in the regular school building budget. I'd point out that almost all of these grants were at the $500 mark. Some were just a tiny sliver below, which tells me the budget was probably for $486 instead of the full 500. But um uh very very nice to see that and we know that uh it isn't just that it might not be possible in the regular school building budget but more often than not it just
008flat out isn't there. So these are exceptionally appreciated. Um we'd like to recognize Suki Coll from Mccclure Elementary. Susan Harper from the Juvenile Detention Center. Anna Monttoayor from Franklin. Joe Rodriguez from Franklin. Nicola Hill from Robertson. Jennifer Malwitz from Robertson. Siri Kenan from special education, Jennifer Jackson from Robertson, Christine Ponteer from Knobill, Deanna Quinser from Knobill, Lorie Seven from Adams, Julie McGregor from Whitney, and Terresa Blondon from Whitney. Congratulations to all these teachers and again thank you to the Akam County School Retirees Association. Absolutely. If they are present, please stand up. Please do. It's a small group tonight, but we would still love to shake the hands. [laughter] >> Congratulations. Next on our agenda, we have updates from members of the board. Um we have uh we're a legislative session has begun and um as
009promised it is fast and furious and I don't have any [clears throat] written update tonight but I will get one to the board before the end of the week. I would just point out the article that was published in the Herald, I believe online yesterday. Um, fabulous article from, uh, Sale Times, addressing, um, enrollment, uh, statewide, nationwide. Um, I've read a lot about this over the last, you know, couple of years. This is probably one of the best, uh, most articulate pieces I' I've read in a while. our own Cooper uh was uh excuse me, Jay Cooper [laughter] was football on the rain was was quoted in it. Um and it was uh it was just it was very well done and it's it's one of those pieces that we should definitely be um reading
010and absorbing and taking into consideration. members of the board, they the reporter did a quite a lengthy phone call with me and I think she did a two-part series. So, it did impress upon her how complicated all it was and how it is unique to each system and that ours is uh hugely amount to do with birth rate and the decline that's coming in. an interesting piece of data that came out. Our our kindergarten and our peak class was um 1,244 students um in 1718 or 1617, forgive me if I forget the exact year, but our current class or next year I'm projecting 930 we're at 950. So there's 300 plus as we've talked about um less kindergarters coming in every year currently. So it was eye opening for her I think. >> Thank you.
011Anything else? Okay, moving on. Dr. Larson, I believe you will provide the superintendence update this evening. >> Yes, thank you. So, I had the pleasure and the honor to participate in the MLK Peace Walk on um Monday. Uh it was really a rewarding opportunity to become um more familiar with all of the things that we have um um to promote um positivity, equity, um putting people first, centering human dignity, um not just the walk, but the the celebration that took place at the convention center afterwards. We had students who were participating. the fact that um I'll just be really frank. When they honored our Yakama Police Department for the work that they're doing in um promoting positivity in our community, that is not something that you would see often um touted on the west side
012of the mountains where I come from. So, I mean, that was just really encouraging and the theme of reinvesting in our community, it was just inspirational. Everything about it was very inspirational and I was very pleased to um have the opportunity to take part in this first u March Martin Luther King Day celebration. my first year here. Um, a little bit more technical and not necessarily as positive, our public records report from um, Bob No, who is not here today is in your materials and just I'll read the statement on his letter is for the calendar year of 2025, the district processed 202 new requests. 11 of those were left open from the start of the year and um so it was a combined total of 213. 198 were closed by the end of 2025
013uh which left 15 that we carried over into the beginning of 2026. We've had nine um new requests for 2026 already. And with the 15 open requests at the start of the year, there was a uh there's currently a combined total of 24 for uh five of which we've closed. And so we still have 19 currently open. And then all the following graphs kind of um highlight the um rate at which we are able to address those uh requests. And we do have a very significant um I think completion rate. I've never seen a completion rate quite as high as ours, especially with the number that we get. So, I'm very proud of the work that that Bob and Monica are doing on that behalf. >> Can I ask a question? >> Um, you said
014we have 19 open. What's the length of time? Remind me the length of time if you can for um how long we have before before answering a public records request. Well, we do have to initially um report to them within five days that we have the request and this is what they can expect for the timeline and then um we try to make sure we get something to them within you know a few weeks regardless of whether that's our length of time that we have or not. we want to demonstrate progress, but depending upon the complexity of the request, um the length that it takes us to actually complete it can um get quite extensive with I think that one of the reasons why we're able to complete them as you can see on the
015um the graph up there that we actually complete quite a few in one or two or three days is because people just want information and it's not like um many of them aren't going on some sort of a fishing um >> expedition. Yeah. for all kinds of things. And um those tend to in my experience um working other places those tend to come from people who aren't from the community and most of ours come from people within the community who just want to know some things. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So um the next thing that we want to share today is we have goal number three strategic plan refresh progress update from Jamie Lee. All right. Good evening. I um had the opportunity last month to present to you on our progress towards goal
016three. So, it feels very appropriate now that I get to present to you on where we are with the refresh for um the revision on goal three. And I could not be successful in leading this team or committee without all of the people that participate. And so I'm very lucky to co-lead with Dr. Lucero, but also with um three very fine instructional specialists who are actually the glue that holds the committee together. And they are sitting right here in this this row and that's Molly Byer, Altha Thrush, and Erica Vesta. and um they're the real brains behind the operation. We're also lucky enough to have participants um from a very that offer a very diverse perspective. We have principles, instructional coaches, teachers, community members, parents, and students. And I also would like to acknowledge that
017one of our students, Parker Miller, is here in the back and as well as principal at Roosevelt Elementary, Cass Miller. And so they have really committed a lot of time to this committee and been very thoughtful in the process. Additional representation from our community is we have representation from McDonald's of Yaka, from Washington State Department of Transportation, from the Yakama Libraries, from and from Pacific Northwest University. So we are we're proud that we have very diverse perspectives. The current goal states that um all students will be empowered to own their education, meet or exceed standards, be critical and creative thinkers, seek solutions, and be advocates for racial and social justice. It comes with two community commitments that measure progress towards that goal. Those community commitments are focused on our summitive smarter balanced assessment for the
018for grades four, seven, and 10. And then additionally, the state science assessment for grades 5, 8, and 11. The team has met um five different times. The first one being the large kickoff. We have one more meeting to go and throughout each month. Our very very first meeting is a a small um smaller committee, not the whole group, was October 1st. And we had only scheduled an hour and quickly found we needed actually more like an hour and a half to really begin to dig in. So after that the meetings uh took place for over an hour and a half in this room and dinner was included to entice them to keep coming back. Um but through that process we actually had to do some digging into what is the current district plan. Uh what
019did our data look like? So really thinking about that comprehensive needs assessment. We moved to looking at other strategic plans from districts around us to see uh what people might be including in their strategic plans that um made sense to the team or did not make sense to the team. We reviewed current um district promises or initiatives. We really thought that we should focus on including the work that YSD is currently doing. The team spent some time digging in and providing feedback on the current strategic plan and then again reviewing um data and the reflections on the data. And then the last two meetings have really been focused on creating and drafting the goal, the commitments, the four pillars and refining that process. We have one more meeting to go in February and we believe
020we will um be able to finish on February 4th. So some things in the plan that we have focused on is really adjusting the goal language to include measurable actions versus that that summitative uh assessment at the end. And really the team feedback they saw the need to focus on all grade levels in the community commitments not just the tested grade levels on smarter balance. They also thought that within that we should think about what are the foundational skills that our elementary students are um showing growth and achievement in and then how can we measure that in an ongoing way with formative assessment so we're not waiting for that that final summit of assessment and then knowing that the district has adopted um a really long range plan for the PLC processes dual language and
021our inclusionary practices we wanted to make sure those were evident in the pillars which are really the building blocks to leading to successful growth in our goals. So everything I just said also kind of leads into similar strengths. We as a team have some pretty strong community engagement. So those voices are coming to the table. We're enhancing growth measures in align to our achievement measures. So, we're still um looking at SBA data as well and then thinking about subgroups and how are they represented in the goal specific to our multi- lingual learners and students with disabilities and then again including that PLC and dual language and inclusion language with strengths. We have been presented with some opportunities and that is really to ensure consistent alignment with the measurement language because you can get kind of
022broad and so we wanted to be able to make sure that the language can be measured and measured in a timely manner. Also making sure that things were clear. So what is the relationship between the pillars and the community commitments and how is that presented? And then our community and parents really wanted simple goal language they could also understand. Any questions? >> Any questions from the board? >> Is your group going to be able to develop some measurements for um how to measure how to how to know when we get where we get. So we are trying to um include current things that we currently have in place. So uh we talk about measuring foundational skills using dibbles or lecturer data and so we're encompassing that connected to the foundational skills progress. Uh we currently
023have common end of unit assessments for math and the future planning is to have those for ELA, SLA and science as well. And so really incorporating in the goal language how we can do that to measure our standards and then um there there is still some growth within smarter balance assessment. So we were really thoughtful in planning along the way how do we know where we're going to be at the end before we get to the end which includes all those ongoing formative measures. >> Thank you Jamie. Um I think that's one of the areas that when we developed this the last time we weren't really strong in developing identifying the measures and um we as a board as smart as we are don't know all the ways to create those measurements and we struggled
024with that a little bit. Um, [clears throat] so thank you for for helping us out with that. >> Thank you. It can be a little tricky because you want to be able to measure along the way, but you also want to have a measurement that's valid and reliable and and will give you the data you're looking for. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? I just like to thank you and your entire team for the work that you're doing on this. Having participated in the original strategic plan development, I know the amount of hours and effort it takes and conversations and I know it's hard work. So, appreciate it deeply. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jamie. And thank you for your team and that they came tonight. So, thank you very much for your
025work. So, I'm going to invite Andy Gonzalez up. He has two topics to share with us, and they both pertain to AI. So, it's the hottest thing on the market and in the in the community right now, AI. What can it do for us? Andy, >> good evening. Um this is the AI portion, the Andyformational portion of of this uh presentation and I'm here um to present that uh last week uh we added policy 4305 to our 4,000 series of policies. Uh, this policy establishes district-wide expectations for ethical, respons, responsible, and transparent use of AI in our uh, TNL areas and operational areas. 4305 provides guidance on the instructional, operational, and student use of AI while maintaining essential safeguards related to data privacy, academic integrity, transparency, and the required human oversight in various areas where
026it is used. The policy applies to all students, all staff, all contractors, all volunteers, all district devices, and all district systems. Um the policy aligns with everything we've been doing in the district with AI. It just kind of codifies it. And what's important is that it aligns with the trainings that have been happening through the instructional technology instructional support sections and the questions and answers that we field in technology and give guidance in in our uh emails at the beginning of the year, end of year. And it's important to note as I stated in the email that everyone received that AI is advancing so quickly that it is predictable that we will be um creating reviews and iterating around this policy for a while to come. Any questions for you? Okay. Thank you. Just a
027comment for the board. uh 4,000 policy series do not require vote approved, but I would encourage the board members, those that are here tonight and and our others to read through that policy because I get questions sometimes from community members about what's happening with AIAN. So, it's a big topic nationally and locally. So, it's important to be aware. >> Thanks again. And >> I I do have one question if I may. Um, with most of our 1000 series, we have a schedule review or whatnot. With the speed of light with which things are changing within AI, what do you think is a practical review cycle or schedule for this policy? >> I think we're going to review it initially a couple of times in any given year based upon legal changes and tool changes in
028the space. um uses in various departments and operational instructional spaces. So I do think this will be a policy unlike our fur policy that's been in place since 1973 that will go under review over and over and over and over again. Okay, cool. We plan to be agile in this space, I guess, is the best way I would say it. Andy, do you foresee I haven't seen anything on this yet, but do you foresee that the legislature is going to dabble in this a little bit and make it a requirement that boards will have to um either become more familiar with AI or um at a at a base minimum require boards to approve the AI policies because right now that is we only review the zeros and the 1000s and all the rest are
029reviewed by staff and approved by the superintendent. Do you anticipate that? And there are some policies scattered throughout that whole lump of policies that we have that where the legislature or OSPI have required that those policies be reviewed and approved by the board. >> I think um it's predictable that there'll be discussions in that space. And matter of fact, one of the things I'm going to present next is centered in that. It's really the committee work that's happening to help focus um that information and to drive policy around it. I do think um uh like most things uh it will be left in the kind of educational freedom space to be applied as needed with guard rails around data privacy and integrity of use and those kind of things. It's advancing so quickly that I
030think they'd get over their skis if they did anything before all this committee work was done. >> Thank you. real quick and usually the tip off for us is the district shall or the board shall I mean legislators are very good at providing well not very good occasionally they're good at letting us know who should create and then adhere to the policy but that's the tip off that I always look for as you know the board shall which means it's in your jurisdiction at least for adoption and creation then because as the district shall then policy governance can do its its work but we'll be looking as we always do after every sess every session I'm also happy to report along the same vein that the district has been selected to participate in phase one,
031this is a long name of the Washington K12 innovation with AI community of practice grant. This grant recognizes our district's uh student centered AI innovation uh in innovation particularly when it comes to working with data. Um the district uh application focused on how AI enabled tools can support staff in synthesizing dense data surfacing meaningful patterns and identifying inconsistencies that warrant professional review all while increasing efficiency while doing this. Um participation in ph one in phase one allows the district to collaborate with other Washington state school districts OSPI and subject matter experts to best define practices AI integration policy alignment and instructional use cases along with operational applications as well. This work directly informs future guidance uh professional learning and potential pilot initiatives while ensuring continued compliance with privacy, security and ethical standards. Go Yakim. Um
032phase one runs uh it starts the kickoff is uh February 56. So that weekend of uh or that uh Thursday, Friday, I'm sorry. And then it continues forward through the work. I don't know that I know the end date, but I do know that it concludes and then rolls into phase two, which we hope to be a part of. >> Out of curiosity, how many districts in the state are involved? Great. >> I don't have that number. Um I just know that we were excited to be able to apply and then even happier that we were selected. >> Well, it's nice to be out in front. Uh it's I think it's going to be good work and I think it lends to what uh Martha was uh indicating that or director Rice sorry um that
033um uh this will start informing forward how the district starts operating these spaces um and OSPI as well. Any other questions or comments for Andy? Thank you so much Dr. Larson. Is there anything more to the superintendent update? >> That concludes the superintendent's update. >> Thank you and all your assistance. Next up, we have highlights for community engagement. Having that document is in your board documents. There number of cultural options coming up at various schools, number of math nights and instructional nights for parents, and of course the usual array of athletic events. Is there anything that you need to highlight? Moving on, we have our monthly financial update. Mr. Cooper, good evening everybody. Um, so often when I'm preparing these um I'm reviewing these presentations, I looked for a theme. So this theme of those
034of you who are watched a team, you remember how Hannibal, he's my favorite character, said he loves it when a plan comes together. So what you're going to see tonight is what happens when a plan comes together. Um so things of importance and why I said that is um December 1st the district paid off. We had a a syncing fund and sometimes when you do municipal debt or bonds, you set money syncing fund is a fancy way of saying that you set money aside annually to be able to service the debt. So the district had what was called a uh a term bond which means a lot of principles owed at the very end of the bond. So we just paid that syncing fund off um which is good for the business office. It requires
035a lot of extra work each year to buy and sell and trade securities to match everything up. And so um to the taxpayers and voters that debt has been fully retired and was paid off in December. Part one of the plan. Part two of the plan is um and we'll get there when we get to the cash flow is the district has paid off its tax anticipation note and now no longer owes any third party any cash for our liquidity needs. So we took uh upon the tax anticipation note in lie of an aortionment advance which had caused some districts even worse cash flows and so thank you for entrusting myself and staff to execute that financing. It was rather unique. It was one of the largest ever done in the state of Washington. um
036we were able to fully invest those proceeds most of the time if not all of the time and so the net interest cost taxpayers about 165,000 for liquidity shity during very volatile time so thank you for that on to the numbers um as you can see enrollment continues to decline um that article that director Becket touched upon in the times um on a statewide look um but you can see that we also continue to continue to drop slowly and steadily in our enrollment year over year. There are some bright spots which I'll get to. As I noted last meeting, um these numbers and averages will continue to improve to the better and closer to projection. Um as you can see, AL or our alternative learning experience. Director Rice was going to correct me before I
037finish my sentence. So um that was just about little over a hundred or more above projection. our open doors which is a um state um funded program for our students looking to um finish off their schooling and get a diploma, GED or requisite credits. Um that is slightly uh below projection then running start is within one. We're still 270 in change um below total projection. However, as I said, we'll continue to moderate and grow towards that number. And then additionally we have had uh seen some significant upticks in CTE um which will not be reflected in the base number but that means our enhanced funding is greater than budgeted. Um cash flow cash is king. So this is after the tax anticipation note was paid out um as I uh often tell you to look
038at the trough. So the trough is that period between tax collections in a school year's fiscal cycle. Um that trough before, if you notice from the last few years, was down in that $4 million range. We have drugged that trough up to about 10 million and cash for December, even with the repayment of the tax anticipation note, is about 2 million above projection. Um which should allow us to come very close to in line with total cash projections at year end even with enrollment being slightly below projection. um revenue budget versus actual teal bar is actual and the uh black bar adjacent to it is the budgeted amount. So in some cases we are slightly below revenue but you have to look at revenue and expenditure as a package because in months that we are
039less in revenue we are often less in expenditure. So you're going to be looking at the total runout. uh we are still positive in that regard, meaning our expenditures are less than our lower revenue amounts, which means we're still on a positive trajectory. So to that end, you can see on the expenditure side, um actuals are in teal again and black bar would be the budgeted amount. So except for the month of November, we have been running slightly below uh budgeted amounts um which puts us in line with our projected revenue. M socks which are more volatile your material supplies and operating cost again we have been trending slightly below budgeted amounts um as our support departments continue to tighten down and do things with frugality and then of course some of our large curricular
040purchases have been postponed with budgetary issues. Um the other thing that is often volatile in the December, January, February, March, the cold months will be the heating heating bills. As we enter these cold snaps, um we can burn a lot of electricity and gas to keep the place warm. And appears that is it. So apologies for the Hannibal uh a team reference at the beginning of the PowerPoint deck, but again, I do take some satisfaction when a plan does come together. So if there are any questions, I'd be happy to entertain them. Any questions or comments? Thanks, Jay. >> Thank you. >> Very positive report. Next up, it's time for comments from the public. Is there anyone with comment on agenda items? >> Not at this time. >> Moving on. Okay, we'd like to welcome
041Jake back to the podium to talk about the approval of purchase of 2,150 laptops and computers. >> Yes, thank you for calling me back on. This is very important because uh there is a timing on this and Indie is here but I believe um so this is part of our uh annual replacement cycle for our laptops both for student and staff. Um additionally my illustrious IT staff tells me that um getting pricing locked in this week saves us 3540 grand. So um we have a little time pressure here. Um but again um this is part of our normal annual replacement cycle but it is of opportune time for adoption. If you have any questions I am here to answer them as well as Andy. >> Any questions for J? Okay. Do I hear a motion?
042I move that the board approve the purchase of 2,100 M laptops and computers which aligns to the district replacement schedule. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve this purchase. Um any other questions or comments? All in favor say I. I. All opposed. Okay. Motion passes. And then my I skipped over a part of the agenda inadvertently and that's the consent agenda. So with your consent, we will address that now. The consent agenda this evening includes the approval of minutes at prior meeting, notification of approval of warrants for December, approval of personnel actions, and budget status report for December. Is there anything that you would like removed from the consent agenda for discussion? Okay. Do I hear a motion? >> I move that the board approve the consent agenda as submitted. >> Second.
043It's been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda. All in favor say I. >> I. We now we have now arrived at the second opportunity. >> We have now arrived at the second opportunity for comments from the public. Are there any commenters this evening? Not at this time. Okay. >> We will now move to policy governance. There are two items. Um 100.3.8 cost of governance. 100.3.9 the process for addressing board member violations. Those policies are documents are in your board docs. This is the first reading. those I do believe we will get a um monkey survey monkey term escape my mind survey monkey uh within the week and if you does anyone have any suggestions or changes in those policy monkey since we or without an attorney this evening. I'm assuming we do not
044have executive session. Is there anything else for the good of the order? Thank you so much for being here this evening. Have a good rest of your evening and see you at the next meeting. Meeting adjourned.