Yakima School District Board Meeting October 21st, 2025

001[Music] Good evening everyone. We'll call the October 21st meeting of the Akam school board to order. We have Spanish language interpretation services available this evening with Jorge from Language Connection. If you need translation assistance in person, please check with Jorge for a device. Jorge, if you would please translate this for us. Thank you so much. If you wish to make public comment this evening, there are two options available. The first option is for commenting on agenda items only. The second option which comes towards the end of the evening is for all other topics. In order to speak tonight, you'll need to sign two forms. The sign-in form and the guidelines form which are both located by the door in the back. We do provide live streaming for this meeting and the link can be found

002on our web page under the board of directors tab or by going directly to the ysd7.org board board meetings section of the website. Barb, would you please take the role for us this evening? >> Director Walker >> here. >> Director Navaro Jr. >> here. >> Director Rice >> here. President Beckett >> here. >> Um, Vice President Vea is not here. >> We will watch for her. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thank you, Park. >> Please join me in the pledge of allegiance to see. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The character word for the month is empathetic. Cultivating the ability to understand and share the feelings and perspectives of others.

003Today, the schools of the Yaka School District rest on the ancestral lands of the 14 Confederated tribes and bands of the Yakama nation. [Music] The people of the Yakan nation inhabited more than 12 million acres. Kitasat and Yakama 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 [Music] and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase indigenous people's history and culture. It also honors the truth. [Music] As a school district, we will continue to build upon our relations with the Yakama Nation. >> Thank

004you, Barb. To begin the meeting this evening, we have four different reports to the board. The first one is on 1000.1.0, zero, the global end statement for goal number one. Um, I'd like to introduce Hector Mendes, our executive director of teaching learning, and Lucas Jagger, principal of DELC. There are 28 slides in the board presentation. If anyone would like to see the entire slide deck, you can log into board docs and see those. I understand that Hector has fewer slides for us this evening, but I'll turn it over to you gentlemen for the presentation. >> Well, thank you. Uh good evening uh President Beckett, members of the board, uh president or president Dr. Green, members of the cabinet, uh Doc, uh listen to me, uh principal Lucas, uh Jag Green here and I are are

005here to present on on goal one, the early years, which is a strong foundation. And so, as uh was just mentioned, you have all the uh slides, a lot of data, but we'll only be presenting about six of them today. And so we thank you for this opportunity. I'll wait for the slide deck to come on. Thank you. So one thing I'm going to start off by saying is the global ends goal number one. Just to read verbatim, all students will acquire the social emotional skills, academic curiosity, and cognitive development in PK3 literacy and numeracy necessary to prepare them for success. Another way to say that interpretation, all student means all students. That's something we have in the Yakma school district. All student means all students, no exceptions. So, social emotional skills and cognitive development

006are assessed using the required W kids, the TS Gold assessment that includes the six domains that we test on which is cognitive, language, literacy, math, physical and social emotional learning. determination. When we look at determination for the global ends goal one, we are continuing to make progress around those uh the goals. All right. Um you're going to see a lot of progress as we just talked about. We're making progress as we go through these next set of slides. And one thing I just want to highlight, do we have any of our preschool staff here tonight? No. Uh I just want to say everything that you see is a direct result of the amazing educators that we have. Their dedication, their tireless effort. Um and extra talk about all students means all. Uh I think I

007want to just mention that's outside the normal context. I think that we think about it with you know usually we talking about students on IEP think language thing, but we're talking about all students in the city of Yakimal. like we are talking about our kids at Discovery, but we're also talking about the kids that have educators that are in their private uh preschools and center based and homebased. We're talking about all those um uh students. I mentioned that because we are engaging in more partnerships with those groups and this is a group effort uh better together someone with Unos I think I'm saying that right. Um so I just want to highlight on that as well. Uh but as you see up there in the kindergarten readiness scores that just came out by the way

008um we are showing a 4.1 increase in our students who are coming into kindergarten kindergarten ready according to OSPI u and it breaks it up into six different categories there six different areas cognitive language literacy math physical and you'll see that we made growth in every area except for um and you know we take that as a win five out of six and it's very minimal Um, going backward on SEO, make sure I highlight everything. >> Could we, um, for our viewing audience, identify what all these acronyms are for our viewing audience, could we identify the acronyms like SEAL? >> Oh, thank you. I was trying to think what acronym I use. Sorry. I'm My background in the world is special education. Everything is acronym. uh social emotional learning. Um you know what I talked

009about a little bit about our partnership. So just wanted to touch base on some of that. The things we are doing to see this increase is we have started a P3 collaboration. So preschool to third grade collaboration where we are meeting monthly with our community partners. Uh I think right now we're in about 20 partners. there's over a hundred that we're trying to get in contact with and meet with and really just talking about what are the struggles we're seeing, what are the successes, how can we work together to increase those numbers there. Um, out of that we came up with a couple workshops last year. So, we brought in a speaker that worked on uh or shared about SDL, social emotional learning to the broader group and then we broke up into uh breakout

010groups. We had a kindergarten teacher. We had a specialist from ESD. Again on that theme of social emotional learning. Um and then also through that group and through the University of Washington's fellowship program that our elementary principles did last year, we really learned about the value of preschool to kindergarten transition and really having a lot of conversations about how can we improve that. A lot of principles really dove into that. Um we had more tours happening. and we had just greater conversation and I think those things are going to continue to see those numbers improve and we're going to get better at it as well. >> That's correct. >> All right. So, uh this is we break up those numbers that we talked about earlier, the kindergarten readiness into u ethnicity and gender. Uh again,

011you're going to see lots of improvement. Both female and male showed growth. We had um a great improvement in with our Hispanic Latino of any rate two any Hispanic Latino of any races. Uh that jumped up five almost 5 and a half% but again you're going to see improvement in every group except for our white uh students did drop a little bit. Again, minimal drop. We're still seeing improvement overall. And I'm sure you're like, "Oh my gosh, our two or more races, they just improved dramatically." Kind of. uh there was only I think it was 14 students in the 23 24 numbers and 10 in the 2425. So it's a small end size which accounts for a few more students did better than the previous year. So it looks like a huge shell. Uh and

012then by program. So we're looking at multil- language learners, lowincome homeless students with disabilities. Um again improvement in almost every group. The only group that didn't show improvement was non-l low income. And I just want to highlight that because everything else or I'm pointing that out and calling out because everything else did improve. We are seeing improvement in almost in every other area. Um you know we look at our students with disabilities they doubled. Uh again I think that is part of the work of inclusion at uh discovery supporting our community sites. We're going out. We're not trying to take their kids, but we're trying to support them where they are and build the capacity of those uh educators out there as well. So again, just lots of improvement across the board from all our

013educators, our students because of the work of our educators. Um and then last year or maybe it was two years ago, you guys asked to see a trend line of where our growth is at. We have seen this trend and still trying to figure out why it happens where we go up and then down then up and then down then up and then down but overall the trend line is going up. Um so the red at the top that is Washington state numbers and then the blue at the bottom that is our numbers. We are currently at the smallest gap that we've had in the last second smallest gap that we've had in the last seven years. Um there's a 22 and a half% gap between us and Washington right now as far as kindergarten

014readiness. Um the smallest gap that we had was in 22 23 and that was a 20% gap. So again we're we're heading the right direction and we're closing that gap as we make that progress. And then this goes back to one of our earlier slides. Um again just showing you know the amazing work that's happening that we're getting five out of those six areas are showing growth and you can see the percentage of growth in each area up there on the right side. And I believe that concludes this first presentation. Oh, also if we can go back one chapter, last time I was up here, you guys also asked about how many students we were talking about. And so this is all the end size of all the different breakdowns that they have in there.

015All students, gender, ethnicity, the different programs. So if you want to have an idea of how many students we're talking about, that is up there. Any questions? Any questions from the board? >> Um, do you see Let me start over again. How much of a an increase or decrease have you seen in the number of students coming in um from around the community >> um for to discovery. >> So uh our ECAP numbers are going to always stay the same because we only have 108 slots. So that's going to be the same every year. Um, I don't feel like I've seen necessarily I was actually just looking at some numbers tonight. Um, I don't feel like we've had a major increase or decrease. I think we've been pretty steady. Um, yeah, I don't think I

016have really any evidence to draw on either way. I can get back to you on that and give you some real numbers. I'm just wondering if there are parents out there who would like to have their kids attend Discovery Lab and either don't know about Discovery Lab or are cautious about sending their kids, their littlest ones out. Um, how would they how do they know? I mean, do do you advertise? Do you do outreach through um child care centers? How would how would parents go about knowing that there the discovery learning the early learning center exists first of all and that if they're interested how how they would get their child entered. >> Yeah, absolutely. So there's a couple different avenues. So for our ECAP slots, um we do have three family support specialists and

017part of their job is to go out and recruit and let people know. Um so we have it as simple as we have the banner that, you know, says enroll your students in ECAP with we're going to put a QR code on that here pretty soon. Um but they're going out to um family engagement events at all the elementary schools. So as families come in, they're there letting them know. We have done dozer days for the last couple years and that's been a big advertisement for us. Um just trying to find those type of situation where places where people bring their families. Um you know trunk or treat season is going to be here in ne next week. So we're at OI OIC and a couple of the other ones advertising. Um so that's one

018way specifically for ECAP. But we also are sharing about our developmental uh preschool as well. And then otherwise like again those partnerships with those community sites so preschools homebased centerbased um they also a lot of times double as daycarees and so they're very well aware of us and so they're recommending kids. Um we and we are very much and I mean this in the most positive way not trying to take their kids and so if they are referring students to us our first goal is how can we serve the student in your site. We want kids staying in their community with their friends, with their families, their neighbors. And so that's goal number one. And then if they need to, yeah, bringing them to us. I think we're always looking for more ways to let

019the community know about us. Uh there was that study, I don't know how many years ago now, that by the Gates Foundation, I think it was, that um showed how many spots in Yakma are lacking as far as just basic preschool slots. And so there are a lot of families out there not accessing preschool. and we got to find them and we got to make sure that they know that they're welcome here, that they belong here. Uh, also going to highlight Casey Mitchell. I'm sure his he's back there behind the accordion wall, but his office does child find, uh, you know, things. So, they're also out there advertising, uh, just our responsibility to find individuals with disability, evaluate them, and get them the services they need. Does that help? >> It does. Thank you. Um,

020I'm assuming that you don't have a waiting list yet. We have a waiting list for ECAP. >> Okay. >> Um there's no such thing as a waiting list for a developmental. If they qualify, we take them. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> I'd like to add one thing. One thing that's unique about our ECAP at Discovery is that we also have dual and non non-dual classrooms, which that really feeds into our kinder as well, right? Because that's when we start in kinder, right? And that usually that's what we talk about in dual and non-dual and kindergarten. We actually have three classrooms at Discovery. That's important for our families to know as well because I know it's a very popular uh classroom to be in right now. These are dual classrooms. >> Thank you. >>

021Yeah. And also um want to add, so you asked about the waiting list. We do have a waiting list and we always try to have five kids that are ready to go. So we've done all the paperwork, all the enrollment, we have everything. Um so if a student does leave our ECAP classrooms, we can get somebody in the next day if possible. We also work with the other ECAP providers in the greater Yakma area so they have openings. We're letting these families know so that way they're not just waiting for us and they're at home, but they can get in somewhere. U because we'd rather them be somewhere than nowhere. >> Thank you very much. >> I just want to say thank you for adding the extra slides. I know that I tongue and cheek

022talk about the number of slides, but I do appreciate it. um especially knowing as as you mentioned um some of the the numbers of the groups being analyzed are so small that they could throw those percentages off and make kind of make things look interesting. Um but I do I appreciate that b based on our past conversations. This is one of the most interesting to me because it is so indicative of what is coming down the line for our district. It's also frustrating because it's it's the group that we have the least truly the least amount of influence over uh at this point in their educational journey. But it is it is really interesting to look at. I would love to do a a deeper dive at some point maybe at a retreat in the

023future on why the non-lowinccome line is such a significant decline versus the rest which are all such relatively significant increases. I think that's very intriguing. um and would be interesting to see um if there's a segment of the community that's being missed in some way, shape or form. But um really do appreciate the the report. Um I don't want to cut off questions if there's anything else from board or from Dr. Green. Okay. Thank you both very much for the report this evening. Appreciate it. >> Before I come back up here again, I'm going to brown nose a little bit. Um, so I have purchased for each one of you a uh magnet, a discovery magnet, and I'd really like for you to put it on your fridge or wherever you go to get, you

024know, beverages and snacks. Then every time you go there to think about our littlest learners in Yakama, uh, the work that we're doing, the great teachers, SLPs, parapros, Sykes, OT, secretaries, cooks, custodians, everybody involved, and just how truly special they are. Lucas, I'm in sales. This is not brown-nosing. This is shameless propaganda and it is well thought out and well accepted. So, we appreciate it very much. Our second report to the board this evening is regarding 1000.1.0 our global end statement goal number four. Dr. Lucero, our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning will report for us. Welcome. >> Thank you. Good evening um President Beckett, members of the board, and our our cabinet members. Um so thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on goal four bilingual biliterate by graduation. You will find

025on slides 5 through 10 um that are hidden in in the presentation that everybody will see tonight the specific um data points and details and I will be highlighting some of those areas of opportunities and um highlights at the at the end that reflect what is in the data. So the goal uh states that all students will have the opportunity to become culturally competent, academically successful, and prepared for the global job market in two or more languages. Our interpretation states that all student means all, no exceptions. Becoming culturally competent, academically successful, and prepared for the global job market in two or more languages is measured through implementation of the elementary dual language program. And I'd also like to include preschool there. Enrollment and success in world language courses in middle school and attainment of the

026seal of biiteracy prior to high school graduation. And this goal is assessed using district level data on program access, course enrollments, course grades, and the stamp assessment for the syllabi literacy. Currently, um based on the data that you have in the hidden slides and with what I'll share today, um we are making progress. So here we have a celebration. Our goal for 2026 was that at least 75% of prek through fifth grade school schools would have access to a two-way dual language program. Currently, 12 out of our 14 preK through fifth grade schools or 85% have access to a two-way dual language program. So, what you see on on this table um are the different cohorts, the years that they were implemented. um dual language was implemented, the specific grades currently being served, and then

027the names of the schools for each of those different cohorts. You'll see that for um the 2526 school year, we will be um undergoing planning for implementation at our last two elementary schools, Knobill and Roosevelt. And you'll also see that um cohort 4 which um would have normally been uh implementing at kinder first is only implementing at kinder um this year being the first year because of the pause in 2425. So reflecting on the data that you have on slides 5 through 10, I'm just going to highlight some of our areas of opportunity that you see bolded there. Overall, enrollment in world languages in 8th grade is low. However, um this past school year 2425 is the highest um enrollment numbers that we've seen in the past four years. Uh we can we see disparities

028in percentages of eighth grade students enrolled in world languages that exist in all program categories with the exception of lowincome students. 17% of low-income students enrolled versus 8% non-l low-income. Notably, English language learners participated at 5% compared to non-English language learners at 20% and migrant students participated at 3% compared to non-migrant students at 22%. So, a couple of areas of opportunity there and then some highlights. Um it was a a good problem to have that there is a lot of text that you see here but I will highlight um three bullets for you starting at the top that we have surpassed our dual language program goal and then the second bullet students enrolled in world languages has increased from the 22 23 to 242 school year from 15.4 to 24.2%. And then towards the middle

029of the slide here, we have an increase of on-time graduation in 13 of 14 program categories and 80% on-time graduation for non lowincome students maintained for the third year in a row. What questions might I be able to answer for you? >> Well, first of all, congratulations on on continuing to grow the program. I do have one question. Do we include American Sign Language ASL as one of our world languages? And do we offer instruction in middle and high school in ASL? >> I can get that information for you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> I I do have a question. I'm just wondering is there any other information or data in regards to cultural competencies? I know that language is one of them. And so I'm just wondering do we um do we

030measure or could we collect data regarding diversity perhaps um appreciation understanding of difference of other cultures um not not just cultures based on ethnicity or race but just cultures in general. So I'm just wondering if there's additional data uh that can we can put along that can go along with the uh language data. That is an excellent question actually because on November 18th I will be providing an update on um the goal for committee's work around the revising of goal four and that's actually a question that has surfaced in that work and because one of the pillars of um dual language is socioultural competence and so the the members have asked how might we measure that. So in the training that we offer our dual language teachers, we do offer socioultural competence training. The next

031step as we go through the revision is and what metrics might we use to measure that. So we're going in that direction. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Lucero. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your report this evening. Our third report this evening is our annual enrollment report and we'll turn this over to our assistant superintendent of finance, Mr. Cooper. >> Good evening everybody. Um, it's a shame I have to follow the positive education reports with the enrollment report, but it is forthcoming. Thank you Barbara. So before you this evening is a snapshot um of our current enrollment and also we'll take you down historical path of where we have been in the last decade or so. Uh before you that's a a five-year enrollment projection actual and then a projection in 2526. And you can

032see the numbers in 1920 beginning at 15371 down to 139 almost just under 14,2526. Uh you've seen this chart many times. This is part of my budget presentation annually. The next bit of information though you will find rather interesting. So you uh Maria had a lot of words. I have a lot of numbers. And so what you see is a 10-year look. It's 11-year chart but it it does 10-year comparisons. So I want you to look at 1516. Um this is focused on our elementarymentaries. Um this this data was brought to the fact committee a little bit ago and and um interlaced with facility capacity which I did not bring you for this report but you can see our elementaryaries total FT was 7642 in 201516 and then currently and those are September numbers not

033updated for October we're down to 6250. The average elementary size a decade ago was about 578 now down to 474. So um the average elementary has decreased almost 100 and um as you can see from the slide uh we are down almost 1,400 elementary students from 1516. Uh that's a different look at the same data. What is interesting about this is the reductions on loss in enrollment has across the board except for K8 virtual which is a new program and has gained some steam. Um you can see hold on. What I found interesting about the data in particular was um you know Ridge View had the largest decline of 163 students. Number two was Gilbert and then the third would be Knob Hill. But um the declines range from uh 8% all the way to

03425% and change. So um total average elementary decline over a decade is 18.2% and then the average is that's a separate way to look at it as I said on the earlier slide down about a 100 per just under 18%. So are there any questions on this slide or the last one? So let me read through them quickly um because of the wall of information for you. I I just have a comment. It's just interesting to note that these schools are the location of these schools, right? And I don't know if there's any correlations there or any, you know, reasons why those schools are are decreasing in those areas, right? Where there's the the population could be a little different than the east side of of town. So, just something I'm thinking about or this

035is bringing to my attention. So >> and and Raymond that's a what's interesting is um not in this data set but we did examine uh students inboundary and out of boundary and since Yakama has not done elementary or secondary boundaries I don't believe I talked to Angela Jester since 2000 so it's been 25 years since we've done a full boundary process which would mean you know basically you you chase everybody back to their neighborhood schools and then you re you redraw the boundary and and you you keep them in their catchment area. Um if you I could provide the data later to the board, but each building has several hundred students out of boundary and that's because part of it is program change over time. Part of it is the uh transient nature of our

036population. So I oversee enrollment and I see kids sometimes move two or three homes in a school year or a family gets settled and you know we make the decision their siblings have gone there forever. it's it's a parent convenience and and we put them into the out of boundary school. So boundaries have not been adjusted and are very stagnant um which is something we will likely need to address in the future and that is one that is one of the issues we're facing. And then of course it is the perpetual decline u of enrollment and um we just got some fresh birth rate data from the city of Yakama and the pipeline is not looking any better. Um we should we will likely see cohorts at the kindergarten level 900s to mid8s by the

037next two or three cycles um just based on what's in the birth rate. Uh so fewer children and then a precipitous and continuous decline of enrollment across the system and so and that will eventually one slide too quick. Um head to the secondary. It's funny the middle school snapshot for some reason that three grade band didn't move much during that that decade time. Uh it will as the bubble goes through up to high school because we had some larger class sizes our cohort sitting in there. As you can see high school is down almost 700 FTE since 1516. Uh alternative learning is our bright spot. Um it has grown postcoid and the program has continued to build. So that is up about 390. And then in Stanton High School, which was interesting to me, not

038having a long long historical context in Yakimo, was to see the decline uh from 1516 of 318 FT down to 164 this current cycle, which is down almost 50% from its peak. Um any questions on the snapshot on secondary enrollment? >> Um can we go back to elementary for a second? Um >> which slide would you like, Martha? this one. >> Well, I don't know that I I my question addresses any particular slide. >> See what I can do. >> If I remember correctly, last year we opened up our district boundaries to out of district students at the elementary level and middle school, right? Um have we seen any benefit? >> I believe we netted >> numbers wise >> 15 or 20 FTE from that exercise. So, um, not a huge amount because as our

039as we did, a lot of our neighbors did the same thing. So, um, there's a lot of open enrollment in the valley and free movement of students and every district is struggling with the same thing when it comes to birth rate. And then a lot of other districts around us are building kind of uh, vibrant and large AL programs. And so, it's actually pretty cutthroat in that regard. Um, we're almost becoming an open enrollment state as the enrollment continues to decline. So we did we did net 15 or 20 students from that. Um and our high schools they have out of district enrollment as well. It just depends upon their capacity but again the whole the whole state demographically is in decline. Um which of course has led to a large part our budget issues

040as we continue to have declining enrollment. >> Thank you. >> Um that's just a graphical representation of the slides before you. Yes. Is this a softball? >> Yes. Would you like to define AL and explain what that means? >> Uh that's alternative learning experience. Um and that usually in a lot of folks um that would be you're part online, you're part in person, you have to do check-ins. Um so AL has uh several types of models it can run. Sometimes we have our parent partnership that's considered AL or alternative learning as well. and um you've continued to grow that and I know Miss Melanie is in the back. She's brought in uh a significant amount of FTE through current partnership this cycle. So that's something new and that adds to that number. So that's that's

041one of our as I said that's our that's our bright shining star when it comes to enrollment and tracking program. Um and we continue to build that out both at Yaka online which was the 912 and then K8 virtual which is uh our K8 program. That's a good question. Appreciate that. And that is just a graphical representation of the road we just traveled. Um so any questions? Um this year's enrollment is a budget to actual just had October finalized about 100 below projection about I was off by 40 at kindergarten, another 45 at middle school. I for some reason a from August to September and I was giving the middle school principles a hard time. They were asking for more staffing. I'm like, "Well, thankfully I did not give it to you because for some

042reason the kids uh fell off the roster." So, we lost almost 60 kids between August and September. Um, and usually we and the hard part about Yakama is we don't find out about our enrollment till rather late. Um, because we don't run a process before school starts. So, a lot of withdrawal and changes happen right at September and October and and we're we're chasing them to make sure they're going to be in attendance or are they actually withdrawn after their 20 days. Any questions on enrollment? >> I guess my only question is more of a demographics question. My organization tracks state migration around the country through DO driver's license applications. I don't know if DO breaks that down regionally to where we like you're talking about the city of Yakima birth rate information. Could would

043that be beneficial to us to understand how the local population is either increasing or decreasing if if they break it down by region or not? >> That would be helpful because what I do with the birth rate generally is you get crude birth rate per thousand. So I believe for example this was a city of Yakimon data there was 2,000 births approximately. We only net about half of that over a time period. So kindergarten projection is a function of crude birth rate as a percentage over time. And what we have seen though is we go from 50 to 48 to 49, then the crude birth rates are dropping. They went from 2,000 down to 1,800 and change. And so the pipeline um is diminishing, but outbound migration uh is also part of it. So you

044Washington has been losing population to to neighboring states and around the country and you know that that's hard to project and predict. Um but overall um enrollment it appears will continue to decline. Um next year we have around a large cohort at 12th grade almost 1400 that's exiting and then we'll have an inbound K of nine low 900s. So >> Jake, are we this is probably a sensitive question. Are we seeing any impact to our attend our enrollment numbers from the current political situation? >> Um anecdotally I I did hear about uh a lot of students relocating back to California. Uh, funny enough, that was one one thing I asked him, where did the kids go? Do you know? And a lot of it was still in country. Um, but relocation uh within the United

045States, that definitely would have a downward pressure um on for some of our students to be able to be retained. But I have not, as you can see, and I'll show you when we do the financial update for fiscal year end, the beginning of the new year. Um, I don't believe it had it did not have a material impact in this case. Um, and that was why I was worried about that even during the budget presentations. You know, enrollment is a pretty linear projection. But when you have externalities like political um, you know, political issues, they're not really built into anybody's models and so you don't know how much English or spin to put on your model to make sure you account for it. So um, a little bit anecdotally I would say um, Brenda

046Green and I watched last year um, the daily attendance rates to see if there was any major impacts. there was not um material impacts that we could see but I mean we were getting more newcomers a couple years back and you know that has slowed down significantly. >> You bet. I do have a question. So again I just I I'm just curious on who we who were who we lost, right? What students did we lose? Um and why? So I I know that the birth rate accounts for probably a percentage of of the loss, right? And uh the relocation and so forth, but how about those students that are in a community that not attending, right? Maybe perhaps I know that at the state level those increase in students transferring or attending private religious schools.

047So I'm just wondering what what can the school district do to to get them those students back, right? What can I know? I'm just something I'm thinking about if I don't know if if the pandemic effect still is still impacting the school district. I don't know. And so this perpetual decline, I'm know I'm thinking we need to figure out who we're losing and why and then develop a plan to to go after them to to invite them back into the school district. So those are just thoughts I'm having in terms of your uh presentation and maybe perhaps there's other variables or other factors that are uh that are attributing or that are contributing to this perpetual um decline in enrollment because if we continue it's just going to continue to impact our our budgets perpetual

048impact on budgets right and and I don't I don't foresee going from you know every year having a riff riff riff riff for the next perpetually I guess is the word that's sticking with me. So I don't know but those are just my thoughts I just throw them out out there. What can we why what can we do about it? Thank you. >> Do we do exit interviews with families? >> Not that I'm aware of. No. I mean, a a lot of times the only time we know they're gone is when we get a records request from another district that they've moved. And so, um, sometimes families know they're going to move and they'll communicate in advance and then we can withdraw them and have a conversation. But if it happens over the summer or

049a break and the next thing you know is we just get a records request from some district across the country or a neighboring district, um, that's really that happens more often than not. um our families believe it's private and they don't want to they don't want to say why they're leaving. Um I know that even even some of the private schools though are starting to see enrollment declines themselves. Um there was weight lists and they were busy during COVID but um a lot of that has run out and so we're also seeing a decline even in some of our private neighboring private schools. >> It really is a birth rate. I mean it it truly is a demographic and birth rate issue. >> Um It's a birth rate issue and it's a huge increase in

050homeschooling. I mean there's >> there has been lots of factors. >> Yeah, homeschooling's up I think what I don't even know the percentage. It is up significantly in Washington state. >> Yeah. >> Well, Jake, you have successfully taken all of the wind out of Dr. Lucero's report. >> I told you I just >> But we do appreciate uh we do appreciate the statistics. One of our um one of our board policies specifically refers to you know our board consulting with demographers and with organizations in the uh community for uh looking at the future for our enrollment. And I think this this sort of a conversation is very helpful and something we have to cons continue. Any other questions for Jake before we move on? Hearing none, then we'll move to our fourth report this evening,

051which is our English Spanish language arts report, and Jamie Lee, our executive director of teaching and learning, will report out. Welcome, Jimmy. >> Thank you. >> Right. Good evening, President Becket, Dr. Green, members of the board. Tonight I am excited to share with you um English and Spanish language arts and um what we're doing in our district to support student learning around that. So I do want to begin with a metaphor. So if you'll turn your attention to what is referred to as Scar Bro's reading rope. This is a metaphor to a skilled reader. So, think of reading as if it were a rope made up of many strands, and you'll see those strands broken out on the left side of the graphic. Each strand represents a skill that helps a student become a strong

052reader. There are two big parts that work together for reading to for readers to be fluent and create meaningful um create meaning from reading. So looking at the bottom, the blue side of the rope, that is the word recognition part. This is the strand that's all about being able to read the words accurately and automatically. It includes recognizing familiar words, sounding out new words, and understanding that letters make sounds and sounds go together to form words. When this part is strong, students can read new words quickly without struggling over each one. The second part or the top part of this rope that is outlined in red is the language comprehension part. This is the part about understanding what words mean, putting them together to make sentences and make meaning of those sentences, connecting ideas, and

053using background knowledge to make sense of what we're reading. When that part is strong, readers can not only decode the words, but also really understand the story or information that they are reading. So thinking about those two parts of the rope as they fuse together, they're they weave together to create smooth reading, effortless that's effortless and meaningful. This is why good reading instruction needs to support both sides of the rope, the decoding and the comprehension piece. A student may struggle if one part of the rope is weak. So it's important to help develop both. In short, reading isn't just one skill. It's many skills working together to create fluent and meaningful reading. So that's important to understand all of these small aspects as we dive into the plans that we are working on to grow

054our students as well as the assessments that we are delivering. So I will make reference back to the reading rope a couple of times throughout my presentation. So I wanted to start with just our overall data that we're very familiar with and this is our smarter balanced assessment data. This assessment is given one time a year, generally in the spring at the end of the year, and gives us a snapshot of where our students are performing relative to students in the state according to our common core state standards. So what is in front of you outlined in blue is the Yakma school district and outlined in orange is the Washington state average. And this is only for English language arts. So when combined, if thinking about level three and four as being students who are

055performing at or above benchmark, the Yakama school district last year performed at an average level of 31%. And the uh state of Washington performed at an average level of 51%. And what I'm doing is combining level 3es and level fours. Um these bars represent all of the students who take the test. So they are comp compiled of third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and 10th grade students and then sometimes we have 11th grade students who have to make up the assessment as well. What this data does for us is it actually it helps us to identify strengths where students are performing in our state standards and then also offers us areas of improvement for the next year's instruction. So thinking about how do we make decisions for the current year in real time, we now

056have the opportunity to look at a new data set that I have in front of you which is called our star renaissance data. This is a uh platform assessment that students will take three times a year. So we'll actually have fall, winter, spring data. What is before you is our fall data. This is the very first time our students have taken this assessment and the data represented in front of you is um aligned to the state standards. So if you think about um a level three student has to perform in the 65th percentile according of in the whole nation to be considered a level three or four. And so at this moment in time this is where our students are performing. This data is powerful for us because it gives us the opportunity to dig

057deeper into what each grade level's performance is and identify who our students are that need additional support and opportunity. So, it's an early predictor, but gives us the opportunity to actually focus on state standards that our students are struggling with or need pushed further into so that we can make those real-time decisions to impact the performance on the smarter balanced assessment. Um so looking at this data in front of you just looking at sixth grade for example level one students are at about a 48%. When we are uh working with principles or principles working with teachers they can create groups and conditions for focusing on necessary instruction. This is uh not new to us but this data gives us the opportunity to focus on student growth. So the next time our students take this in

058um January, we'll actually get a student growth percentile. So we'll see the rate of growth that that students are achieving. They can use that to set goals for themselves um in order to grow towards passing the um state assessment. Additionally, this data gives us the opportunity to um show students how how they could they are performing relative to the state assessment, but it's kind of like a practice for game, right? So that so that it's not a big secret when they take the smarter balance assessment. Then thinking if that was 6th through 12th grade, what are we doing um to assess our kindergarteners through fifth grade? So this data isn't necessarily new. We um have our early screening of literacy in English and Spanish language arts. Lovingly referred to as dibbles which stands for dynamic

059indicator of basic early literacy skills. So thinking back to the reading group or reading rope, most of these skills are assessed in that word recognition part with um one or two subtests in u assessing comprehension. And then uh we also have the lecturer data that gives us how our students in dual language are performing. Um it is important to note that on the dibble side grades three and four include students in dual language and non-dual language. Uh so in this slide you'll see a big red bar at kindergarten which kind of seems to stand out and that's actually a normal um trend to see in the fall because our kindergarteners are coming in with some having very little instruction in any parts of skilled reading and they are the quickest group to uh change levels

060of their from intensive to to benchmark. So, what are we doing in response to all of that data that we have? We are um I'm going to focus on increase cycles, but I did really quickly want to touch on the work that's happening on Mondays and Wednesdays to help support student growth. One of those is a focus on guaranteed standards. So we are selecting, reviewing and revising those for every single grade level each year based on u teacher input and then also based on the data that we now have on how students are performing on those standards. Our guaranteed standards are the standards we're telling families are going to provide in intensive and um intervention and enrichment for students to master those standards. And then we are engaging in units of study work which is

061ongoing and spans multiple content areas. But in the unit of study work, it actually gives teachers the opportunity to break apart their guaranteed standards, unpack them into learning targets, and then establish proficiency skills because those standards can be huge and include a lot in one standard. So really digging in and understanding what are the levels within a standard and how do students progress through meeting each level within a standard is critical. It also helps outline what we're going to teach in in the mile high knee deep curriculum that we have. Um, so focusing on inquiry cycles and connecting it back to the data, thinking about how do we respond? Well, when we look at the data and specifically speaking of the teaching and learning department at this moment, we have taken the opportunity to meet

062with each one of our elementary school principles and instructional facilitators and looked at their data at a a student bygrade level um process. So we are meeting and going grade level by grade level to say thinking about individual skills. Where are the students in that grade level performing? Is it at the most foundational skill for that grade level or is it the second most foundational skill? Then looking at data at that level actually allows us to create an action plan for groups of students or for individual students to give them exactly what they need in instruction to move through those um parts of the reading rope so that there are not any gaps. It also allows us the opportunity to provide a professional development and support for teachers who might need support in delivering that

063instruction. Um so that's been very powerful. We we did we've made it through every elementary school um so far for the beginning of the year data analysis and then we'll go back in the middle of the year after we give that January benchmark. In between that time, our building principles will um use their action plans around probably November, end of November. The next bullet says progress monitoring. So they'll use that progress monitoring data to track their progress and their action plan and make adjustments as needed. What's new to us is the star data. So we are actually going to be able to replicate that process with our um middle school and high schools. So we will get to look at data and actually make instructional decisions for how we are meeting students where they are

064at. And then future work uh for Monday and Wednesday time is actually beginning to develop condom common endofunit assessments um in English and Spanish language arts so that we can actually have some really good data uh by student by standard. One more slide and I'll be really quick is the opportunities that we have um that we need to continue to grow in. So the future work in the common end of unit assessments align aligned to our guaranteed standards which actually help us focus on the PLC questions one and two. What do we expect students to learn and how do we know if they're learning it? Then streamlining our literacy intervention which we also call tier three instruction and what and supporting what that looks like across all schools. So students no matter what school they're

065in are getting similar intervention and support. That answers PLC questions three and four. and then continuing the literacy inquiry cycles in all buildings. So they're completing that cycle of creating looking at data, creating an action plan, executing their action plan, and then responding um to their to their new set of data. So what has been successful? Well, the literacy inquiry cycles, but each elementary building, we found it to be very helpful and successful, and we have amazing action plans that have already been executed, and we're seeing growth out of those. the implementation of individual inquiry cycle documents that buildings are using outside of the work that they're doing with teaching and learning and then uh the construction of the systems that allow us to monitor student learning to identify support and intervention and ex extension

066which gives us the real time data to make those decisions in the moment so that we're not waiting for that sump score and that's it. Any questions? Thank you. I I'm hoping that these efforts will work. I have a couple questions. What are we doing at the middle school level when we have students arrive in sixth grade that are reading at a second grade level or third grade level? What what interventions are we doing? And by the same token, what are we doing at high school when we have nth graders arriving reading below a fourth grade level, which I know we have. So what are our strategies to address some of those issues? >> So specifically thinking about the reading rope, when students are right in sixth grade or nth grade and they are reading

067at a second grade level, they're most likely lacking they most likely have gaps in that word recognition piece. And so very specifically what we do for students who are needing that level of intensive instruction is we have a read 180 program um in all of our middle schools every grade and high schools 9th and 10th grade and some 11th and 12th grade. We also are using those in some of our special education using that program in some of our special education classrooms. And so read 180 does require another assessment. It's it's the MAP assessment which is the measure of academic progress. Um and then based on that assessment, it places students within the program where they need to be. So within um within read 180, there's a very intensive side of the program that is

068called code. And those are students who actually need explicit phonics instruction. And so that become that becomes a period in their schedule where they attend read 180. We uh we do see major successes in a read 180 program. Thank you, Jamie. Appreciate your report this evening. That'll take us to our updates section of the agenda this evening. To begin with, does any member of the board have an update for the board members this evening? >> Um, I've got a legislative committee meeting this weekend. So out of that should come the proposed um platform statement that will go before the wasda board of directors for their approval. We should have that by our next meeting 5th of November. Um I hope and um we've got annual conference coming up the I don't 18 1920 is that

069right of November 1920 21 that weekend anyway. Um it's in Seattle this year and I'm wondering um who all will be attending. Do we know >> I will be attending and I'm also attending the pre-conference in law. [Music] Okay. All right. They are making some accommodations for me um in the general session or meal times. Um, so we'll have a table for our district. Um, and I'll I'll let those who are attending know that. >> Thank you, Director Rice. I I don't have a update but I do have an ask perhaps uh or even a recommendation that you know currently at there's a question at the national level of public education there's discourse regarding AI and impact of core learning and it's a discussion that it's going on in higher education as well right in

070terms of integrity um you know just all the issues that go along with the equity we know that it's an equity issue in terms of the information, all right, that's compiled can be biased against certain populations or so forth. Uh what's interesting, it's it's it's growing so fast, developing so fast, I don't think we keep it's hard to keep up. And what I what I've learned is that uh students are uploading exams, essays, and a lot of uh information, documents from their instructors. And so AI is generating uh information. So I can go in and say, "Mr. Garcia's history class, I'd like to know what I need to do to pass his class or to pass this exam for chapter five." And it'll give me all the answers, right? And so it's I'm just wondering

071then, you know, about the integrity, the how it impacts core learning, how it impacts our our goals, right? Our our ends, all that kind of stuff. It's it's a so I'm just that's just me wondering about the impact of that you know security privacy you know how how are students using it in this district how are teachers and staff using it and do we I know we may or may not a lot of school districts organizations don't have parameters or policies or procedures in place yet because by the time you develop some then it's moving on to uh something else and I hear that the next move is operating systems, right, where it can go out and actually order your pizza for you and pay for it and have it delivered for for you. So,

072that's amazing what what it's doing. So, I just wonder about that. You know, I know that we're divided that it's a fad or perhaps it's here to stay uh that it does impact or enhances or it has a negative impact on core learning. And so just wondering about that and what is it that we're doing as a district to to keep up with with that and to help our students to actually uh utilize that. So that's something that's that has an interest of mine and and perhaps that the superintendent already has some thoughts about that in terms of the future and providing some presentation or or work study for us. So that's just an ask that I have personally because it is becoming more and more of a challenge for not only higher education but

073I believe public education at all. So yeah uh briefly I would share that uh we have a growing partnership with the University of Washington and Dr. Mins uh the program that uh many teachers have access to already. There's a pilot going out with colleague, it's called colleague AI and u we have some more work to do obviously. So there's a growth across that area. Um I think that given the interest we could uh move this to a board retreat topic and address this in the future and get together with you on all those questions and make sure that we're uh spending the appropriate time to answer all of those questions. >> That would be perfectly appropriate. certainly on the agenda at every conference I go to in my industry. And um just as a pure

074side note, I am starving. So if you do have a bot bringing something by from Domino's at some point in time this evening, I'll I'll go in half on that with you. Um be good to know about um uh anybody else from the board before we move to Dr. Green. Superintendent's update. >> Thank you, President Beckett, members of the board. Um, I'd like to first invite uh Lucas Jerger up and uh I think Hector Mendes as well. They have a brief for us tonight. Uh not a report, a brief. So, we are going to keep it brief. Uh one request was made from the board to keep apprised of the strategic plan. Just by way of reminder, this is our sunset uh year of the um strategic plan, which was a six-year plan. And uh

075we are doing a refresh. So we have four different distinct groups and over the next four months each of those groups will present. Please do keep in mind that uh we only began this process uh in September. So we have Lucas and and and Hector here presenting and they're at just the beginning of the refresh. Uh the groups that come later on in the coming months will provide more details. So um that's just important to know that they are all going to look different. Obviously, the goals are going to be different measurements, but uh presentations themselves. So, I'll turn it over. >> Uh just thank you again for having me back. Um it's really touching to see you guys still have those magnets after all this time. I really appreciate your dedication to discovery. Um

076yeah, so we are tasked with goal one. Um we also have John Solar the lead. He was not able to be here tonight, but he is very much a vital part of this as well. This is our current team. So, uh, myself, John, and Hector are our lead. I just got to highlight Hector's humility. I'm all about alphabetical order, and he was like, "No, put me last. You guys need to be first." I just want to appreciate Hector and how he leads like that. Um, I got to make him blush a little bit. Uh, yeah. So we have our students there and then our participant list is comprised of principles, teachers with the Yakma school district, parents within the Yakma school district, u providers of preschool sites out in the community as well. Uh when

077we originally started thinking about this, we were really focused on preschool. Uh and then as the course of conversations with uh the team that is kind of organizing this whole thing, we really realized it's P3. It's preschool to third grade. early learning. Um, so we kind of uh switched at the last minute and really tried to focus on getting some elementary representation and not being overly preschool. It's still probably a little bit more preschool than not, but better than what we originally had put out there students. >> Yeah. And then the students, so we have two of those students are high school students. Uh, and then we have a kindergartener. Here's me showing some humility. I totally misunderstood Dr. green when he said, "Get some students on your team." I was thinking, "Well, we're doing

078early learning preschool to third grade." So, I'm trying to convince all these parents to send their preschoolers to this group. Um, so, uh, Jay Lonnie is actually a kindergartener and she was a vital part of our first meeting. Um, but I'm very thankful that Trevor was able to bail me out and give me some high school kids to be a part of our group as well. I will ask more questions next time. Uh so the community key commitment from the last uh strategic plan is we reviewed this earlier as well. At least 19 out of every 20 students entering kindergarten. So 95% demonstrate kindergarten level skill development across six key domains physical, social, emotional, literacy, cognitive, language, and math. Um so in our first meeting, we've actually had two meetings. The first one though was

079more of um a nuts and bolts, learning the online platform canvas that we're using um setting some norms, working expectations, things of that nature. And then the last time we met, which was last month, we um took a look at the current strategic plan. So I'm talking about the big I think it's 20 plus page packet um and some other documentation of what our current goal is and um just had wonderings, notice, questions, any comments that we had. So we piled all that information into strengths and you're going to see in a minute here um weaknesses but our strengths that our team really focused on was that the goal was uh had a purpose is clear and early focus. There's a PK3 emphasis recognizing the outside impact of early learning on long-term outcomes. It was

080whole child's framing. So social emotional physical language cognitive literacy and math are all named. It's a nice balance. not just academics play and seal social emotional learning were explicitly valued. Um there are some different breakdowns of the goal and it called out resilience, purposeful play, creativity and prudent risk-taking, strong alignment to developmentally appropriate practices. Uh continuum to third or grade three proficiency. So it tie the early years to end of grade outcomes in literacy and numeracy uh while keeping the why front and center and then bold community commitment. The 95% kindergarten readiness targets as an aspirational northstar that can rally partners. Uh our weaknesses that we kind of honed in on is the goal narrowly focused on kindergarten readiness. Um so while the statement or while the 20 pack pay pack even there part of

081it was goal one it talks about a lot of things PK through third grade but that um the commitment that we talked about earlier honed in on kindergarten readiness. So it really seemed like it didn't incorporate the whole PK to3 mindset there and what we needed to do it stopped short. It it's you know that should be something that's important that we're looking at but we probably should have a goal that's more around third grade level um small district preschool pipeline. Uh again, we at Discovery only get about 15% of the students. And so every year the kindergarten students, it varies between 10 and 20% from what I've seen come out of discovery. We have very limited uh amount of students coming out that we are directly influencing which goes right into the next one

082of limited district leverage over most student readiness. Again, um we just started the P3 collaboration with our community partners. Before that, I don't know how much um contact we really had with them, how much influence, how much we were working together. And even now, like I said earlier, we're only working with about 20 out of 100 plus partners. We're very limited in that um in the kindergarten. And that is something we should still be working on. We shouldn't give that up. That is going to be a great thing for us in the future as we build that up and work better. But it it was a weakness right now as we went into this um this school. I think it was six years ago. So the plan. So in August we had our premeating. We

083talked about norms, expectations, working agreements. Last month we got together and we talked about purpose. Um review current strategic plan. Uh notice wonders, questions, ideas. I'm going to just pause for one second. We've got some great direction from the overall strategic um plan team. I'm not sure what the official title is, but they've set up this canvas platform. I think Henry Samson has been the architect behind that. And it's really allowed us to give all the information ahead of time to our participants so they can review uh like for October we're going to meet and actually this Thursday we've uploaded all the data about kindergarten readiness and reading and math up through third grade u dibble stuff all the stuff you heard uh Jamie talking about just a while ago. Um and so they can

084review that ahead of time. We also uploaded other district strategic plans so they can look at those ahead of time so that when we come for our hour we can just start talking and start discussing and really be strategic with our time and not spend time looking at all that data. Um I think it's called a flip classroom approach. Um but I loved it in September. I'm really excited for Thursday. Uh yeah and we have ice breakers on there and we're doing different things in there. It's been a it's been a great avenue for us to do that. Um so on Thursday, yeah, we're going to look at the data. We're going to talk about that. We're going to probably do the same thing with I know we are noticeing questions and ideas regarding the

085data. And then we're going to uh Hector and John are going to look at what themes are emerging and we're going to create different EDC camp um conversations. So we're going to say here's theme one, here's theme two, pick a theme to go talk about and we're going to have the group really talk through and just just discuss those and take notes and then bring that back again. Um and after every meeting we are uploading notes and review from the previous meeting so they can refer back to that. Uh we're going to after those we're going to really look at the themes that come out of there and start discussing possible recommendations recommendations in December and then January hone in more on those. We're hoping to finish in January. That's our goal. We're really fine-tune

086those goals and then if needed we'll meet again in um February. And every time we meet, we're also asking what other information do you need that you don't have? We got that this last time because we brought up some more information on Canvas and we'll continue to do that as we move through this. >> One more questions. You've accomplished quite a bit already. Um do you do you share amongst the team leads what you've what your particular team has done? >> Have not yet. I know we had a lot of conversation when we were trying to fight over participants for our teams. I'm thinking that that might be helpful um to encourage some sharing time amongst the team leads themselves so that you know cuz cuz we all don't want to have to recreate the

087wheel four times over. And um it would seem to me that if if there was some opportunity for sharing amongst the team leads that might help generate some thoughts on the part of you or other team leads for the direction of your team. >> I will share that with the team. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, thank you so much. We really appreciate the um, uh, leadership that we have in each of our four um, goal groups and, uh, we look forward to next month's presentation. At this point, I'd like to turn the time over briefly to Bob No, uh, legal counsel for a PRR report update. Uh this was a request made by the board as well to keep u the board apprised of what PRRS public record requests are looking like

088in the district. >> Thank you. Uh good evening board. U last time we presented this we just presented the number of requests we had received and for the last two years and then year to date for this year and we pre presented that again today. The uh notably last year total we received 135 records requests and year to date this year we're already at 152. So uh we're well beyond what we had last year. We created another graph um is a second graph that shows the timelines for responses to the requests. Garcia had asked for some information about how long it takes to process these and notably most of them are processed within 5 days. We have three that are in the 31 to 60day window. Uh those are larger requests that require a lot

089more time to process and even those ones we send out installments prior to trying to complete within the 60 days. We haven't had one go beyond 60 days this year yet. So hopefully that's information that's helpful to the board and we intend to monthly just provide this to you and have it available for your review. Thank you. >> I just want to say before we go on, I I really appreciated seeing this. I missed the meeting. I was out of town when Gracilla brought up the question about the numbers. I hadn't really thought about that, but I've I've been well aware of what other public entities have gone through with public records requests and what a large process that is for so many groups and to see how quickly our organization is clearing these is

090um very appreciated from my perspective. So, I just want to say thank you for for all the efforts in that area. >> Thank you. And thank you, Bob. Appreciate that. convey our gratitude as well to Monica Lake who does a tremendous amount of work as well. At this time, I'd like to invite uh up to the podium um Amy Norton and Omar Santoy. You come on up, please. Wonderful. And uh it's my pleasure at this time to share that we have uh an award winner from Snow. Now, Snow is the school nurse organization of Washington. It's the premier nursing association for school nurses in our state uh which began in 1956 and have worked ever since to keep our students healthy so that they can learn without distraction. And in part of uh the organization

091they have um an award that is uh nominated obviously uh and it is a nurse uh it's a non-administrator I believe it is of the year and so non- nurse administrator. Thank you. And uh I would Amy would you like to say a few words before we present this award to the gentleman to your right? >> Darn it. Um, no, this is this is a really awesome award to be able to give. Um, Yakama's got a nice history of award winners when it comes to health services, and I'm really proud that Omar is our latest award winner. Um, one of the nomination letters that we re received for his nomination, um, I've got some quotes out of here for you. Um, Omar's ability to drive meaningful change in schools aligns seamlessly with the Yakama School

092District's vision for student health services, effectively reducing barriers to care, improving student outcomes, and enhancing both the professional development of nurses and the leadership capacity of his colleagues. Omar's excellence in orchestrating tasks, mobilizing resources, and implementing sustainable systems ensures the continuity and success of essential health services. Uh his leadership in coordinating both physical and mental health care across the district exemplifies his unwavering commitment to student and family well-being. With a profound passion for supporting students, he is dedicated to fostering professional growth among his staff by providing opportunities to enhance knowledge and develop essential skill sets. It's my pleasure to award the non- nurse administrator of the year to you. Uh I will keep this brief. Um I just want to call out um it is amazing to be attached uh to uh our health services

093department uh here in our district. Um we have an amazing staff uh working with our wonderful community. Um uh we have such amazing kids um and great leadership uh in Amy in leading that department. And so we're very proud of uh the impact that we're making uh across the district and across the community. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. >> Wonderful. And um the next uh item there's another brief uh another briefing here with yes another brief uh by Jake uh Cooper here. We've been sharing uh some past some some some bond information and uh he has prepared uh some a slide here just to update the board on what it looks like in our county. >> This will be a singular slide um unlike the five slide brief prior. Um

094no just kidding. Um so u before you this evening uh is a compilation of the bonds that have been run in Yakama County since 2010. You'll notice there was 33 bond attempts and 15 pass which is slightly higher than the state average about 45% state average runs about 42. Um you will also notice there's only one district that hasn't run a bond measure since 2010 on that chart before you. Um and then you can see the bonds run and pass. for example, our neighbors, I think CILA has about the best batting average those run multiple measures um about 50%. Um but again, this does show and highlights that we in the Yakima uh county have uh not run a bond since 2010. Uh particularly of we talked about the large districts last time. This is

095a more local look of those districts that have sought capital measures um since 2010. 33 attempts and 15 passed. >> Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Do we have any questions on this slide? >> Can we remind folks what the pass rate is, what the requirements are for voting for and passing a bond? >> You bet. Thanks, Martha. It's a two-prong uh 60% plus one supermajority and then also 40% validation. So 40% of your prior year's general uh elections. Um so take for example this year's November election after that would be the next the next election would be that would be your validation requirement and some districts do fail on validation based on turnout which is unfortunate when you get super majority and you don't have enough turnout to actually pass the measure. >> Thank you. Are

096there any other questions from the board? >> Okay, then I will actually point out that on that slide I think the best batting average is probably Watau. They were two out of two and we had another couple of districts, but certainly certainly CILA did have the most attempts and they're they're passing that at 50% which is above the the average. So I just wanted to make sure that we were aware of that. Uh other items just to apprise the board, we have uh a legislative breakfast at ESD that is December 9th. It will be sent out to you. will be waiting in your calendar invite. Uh that breakfast breakfast is from 8:30 to 10:30 and we have several legislators already confirmed. Uh so it's ESD 105 legislative breakfast. Do we have a location bar? >>

097Yes. Yakima Museum. >> Yakima Museum. So again, that will be in your calendar invitation. Uh also um we do have uh our next board meeting is Wednesday, November 5th. That's a uh it's off the regular schedule, so it's not on a Monday. It will be on Wednesday, November 5th at 4 p.m. That is a site visit at Lewis and Clark Middle School. Other items that I think the board would like to know is that we do have a student senate meeting tomorrow morning. So, we have uh around from 30 to 40 students uh from around uh from 8th grade to 12th grade that will be participating in a three-hour student senate meeting. uh that will be held at one of our partner uh opportunities at Ber Baker Bank. So, we're proud of uh being able

098to reach out and collaborate with a local business and have them uh host us and we're grateful to them for their uh donation of a space. Uh also also just to follow up on one of the questions, I believe it might have been uh director Navaro that was asking about our students and recovering our students. We do have uh 500 students that are being uh a list of 500 students that are being recruited back to YSD and that's happening through the work of uh principal Melanie and what she's doing at the online uh opportunity school that we have. So that list is being at in the evenings calls are being made, night classes and opportunities then to recoup some of those students and we continue to see the great work that she's doing uh and

099her staff obviously the work that's going into recovering students which also accounts for the the larger number that we're seeing the positive outcomes there with the number of uh students enrolled in our online program. And then uh just to notify the board also this last weekend I had the opportunity to on Saturday spend the day um at the University of Washington presenting with Kelly Aramaki who is kind of becoming our sister school so to speak our sister district. So, Kelly Armaki is the superintendent of the Belleview School District and uh he and I were able to present to the doctoral uh students at the University of Washington uh talking about school finance the disparity that we see uh between the two schools, especially when you have a state funding model that only a handful of

100states have in our country uh where the money does not follow the student so to speak. There is no weighted percentage to that that accounts for the inequities that we see. So, the probably the most blaring number that I was able to share was um if you take the state and local funds um that we see or that Belleview receives per student, there's over a $9,000 difference in in local and state funds. And if you multiply that by 15, you're looking at $143 million per year that they receive more than what we do for our student count. So that is significant when you're talking about um equity and the opportunities that that money does provide especially uh when we have to take funds out of uh uh other existing locations to address things like um

101maintenance issues and whatnot. So, another opportunity when we start uh considering potentially a bond and uh I believe that's the last item I have this evening and um just want to thank you again for the direction on the strategic plan as you saw we had uh that opportunity with Lucas and we have those forthcoming opportunities but the two report outs that we had tonight on the ends reports I think uh speak to the uh vision of our community and certainly the support of the district uh you as board members in moving uh both our early learning and our uh multilingual uh uh programs forward uh specifically our dual language and what's happening there but also our dual language outcomes that we see. So thank you. >> Thank you Dr. De. The highlights for community engagement

102section is attached as normal in board docs. The list of future or upcoming board meetings is attached. There is a letter also included with um building and other district events attached to it. Does any member have any questions about the calendar this evening? If not, then we'll move on to comments from the public on agenda items. This is the first opportunity for public comment regarding agenda items. And I see we have five people signed up this evening. The first on our list tonight is Serenity Benoy. >> They're all speaking on something that's not on the agenda, so I'll put them at the second public. >> I I apologize, Barb. >> Okay. >> She handed it to me. I assumed that meant something it did not. I will hold that list for later. I apologize to

103the speakers on this list. We will get to you on our second opportunity for public comment. So, Barb, I take that to mean nobody has signed up to speak on our agenda items this evening. Thank you very much. >> Correct. >> Okay. My apologies. That will move us to our consent agenda. There are three items on the consent agenda this evening. They they include the approval of minutes from September, the notification of approval of warrants for September, and the approval of personnel action items. If any member of the board would like to have any of these items removed from the consent agenda for further discussion, we can remove them and they can be discussed individually. If not, I would entertain a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Been moved

104and seconded to approve the consent agenda. Are there any questions, discussion? >> Hearing none. Uh, all in favor of approving tonight's consent agenda, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, please say nay. >> Thank you very much. The motion carries. That takes us to our approvals section. The first approval this evening is of the YEA uh excuse me YA Yakma School District agreement and we'll turn that over to Mr. Myrietta. >> Thank you. Um we would like to report that uh we have a successful three-year agreement. The YA uh association voted for and ratified the agreement. Uh it is a three-year agreement with an increase to the base wage by 2.5% in the first year plus an additional optional day. In the second year, it is an increase of half a percent to the

105try, which stands for time, responsibility, and incentive contract. And then in year three, a $500,000 increase to VIBA um for a three-year grant. If there's any questions or concerns, I am uh recommending uh to support and endorse this uh and pass it. And I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank the YEA bargaining team, uh, chief negotiator Duff Durant, YEA President Francis Guerrero, and the rest of the bargaining team, Michael Clark, Jennifer Hernandez, Kimberly Wahberg, Raina Goodwin, Erica Rodriguez, and Chad Quiznell, who were all instrumental in having a collaborative positive agreement. I'd also like to thank the district's team uh of uh Jay Cooper, Maria Lucera, Kim Newell, Bill Hilton, Olivia Martins. Thank you. >> I move to approve the YA uh agreement. >> Excuse me, pres Mr. President. I I wanted to say

106something before that. I I just want to apprise the board that I need to u due to a potential conflict that I need to recuse myself from u any discussion and vote on this action item. Thank you. >> Understood. Thank you, Director Naro. Director uh Walker has made a motion to approve the agreement between YA and the Akima School District as presented. Is there a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Barb, would you please call the role on this item tonight? >> Yes. Director Walker, >> I. >> Director Rice, >> I. >> Director Navaro Jr. is abstaining. And President Walker, I mean, President Beckett, sorry. >> I Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you very much, Mr. Marietta. I noticed you left your name off that list,

107but thank you to you as well for your work with that. I thought that was implied, but uh it was also my last agreement with u as chief negotiator. So I really want to thank everybody for the opportunity. So thank you very much. Our second item on our approval section tonight is resolution 02.25.26 which is the approval of cancellation of outstanding warrants. Mr. Cooper, >> good evening. before you is a prefuncter resolution. Um the district brings to you because we have warrants and not checks. Um that if they are close to one year or approximately one year without being cashed, we then um cancel those warrants and then they get returned to the state for uh and lost property for lack of better description and those folks can uh go after them at that point

108in time. So this is one where we clean up our books and um provide you and required by state statute for you to take action on the item. Thank you, Jake. >> I move that the board approve resolution 02.25.26, cancellation of outstanding warrants. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion. All in favor of the motion, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, please say nay. Motion carries. Thank you. The last approval. Oh, excuse me. That was our last approval. So, that takes us to our second opportunity for comments from the public. And I have my list handy and ready. We do have uh five people signed up this evening. Please uh understand with the time constraint, if uh if the timer goes off, please understand we

109may uh uh call to call you to wrap up. Please don't be offended by that. We want everybody to be able to be heard who has signed up this evening. So to begin with, Serenity, are you here? Please come on up to the podium. Serenity from Heritage University. Am I pronouncing Benoy correctly? Benois, thank you. Thank you for being here. >> Hello members of the board. My name is Serenity Benois and I'm a senior nursing student at Heritage University. I'm also an Eisenhower graduate. Um, and all of my siblings have also graduated from Eisenhower. Today, I'm here to speak about the urgent need to support students mental health by incorporating self-care workshops into our schools. Even before the pandemic, many students struggled with academic success. But since 2020, anxiety, depression have increased dramatically across the

110country and Yaka is no exception. During my research on this topic, I found plenty of information about self-care and how to support our educators. And that is very important, but there's not a lot of information on how much the students are also needing that support. In a survey conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences in 2022, 69% of public schools in the US reported an increase in the percentage of students seeking mental health services from schools. Personally, I didn't learn anything about mindfulness or self-care until I started college. These practices have made a big difference in my life and I think what could I have learned if I had these skills earlier? I know I would have been better prepared to handle stress and avoid burnout. A study from University of Washington really stood out

111to me. In 2018, researchers were scanning brains from youth from 9 to 17 and their scans were actually paused because of the pandemic. And when they looked back, they saw that the brains were actually aging from the increased stress. Life may have seemed like it has gone back to normal, but students are still carrying the lasting impacts that stress and isolation have created. I recently watched the board meeting from June uh 2nd, I believe, where Principal Hilton presented what he's done at Washington Middle School with a lot of workshops that he's done. He was actually my principal when I went to Franklin. And I feel like that is very inspiring. And something that stood out to me that he said is that students must feel safe and supported at school. And I feel like using

112his work and implementing them across the district would be very beneficial to students. By introducing self-care workshops districtwide, we can help students build resilience through practical stress management and healthy coping skills. As a future nurse, I understand that early intervention is important. Teaching students to recognize the signs of anxiety, manage stress, and take care of their emotional health is not just helpful for school. It's a lifelong skill. If we want students to succeed academically, we must first support their mental and emotional well-being. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for being here this evening. Our second speaker is Crystal Perez from Heritage. Welcome, Crystal. >> Good evening, members of the Yaka School District. My name is Crystal Perez and I'm a nursing student at Heritage University. I grew up in Yakoma, attended schools in

113this district, and remain strongly connected to this community. While this is my first time testifying to the board, I feel it's important to speak about a growing public health issue, the youth mental health crisis. Across Yaka, more students are struggling with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. During my nursing clinical rotations, I have seen how untreated mental health needs quickly escalate into crisis that not just affect students, but also their families and the community. Um, this issue is also personal to me. I've had young family members who, because they do not have access timely to mental health support, turned into drugs as a way to cope. Poor mental health care often leaves people vulnerable to substance abuse. And I know that if more help had been available, some of these struggles could have been prevented. If

114we can strengthen mental health supports in schools, we can also help reduce the cycles of addiction in our community. Right now, counselors of our schools are often responsible for h for hundreds of students. And while I know they're doing their best, many times they leave their leaving students without the proper help they need. When those needs go unmet, we see the effects in lower academic performances, more crisis situations, and long-term harm for both students and the community. I encourage the the district to continue exploring ways to strengthen school-based mental health supports, whether through additional counseling staff, partnerships with local providers, or afterchool programs that create safe and supportive spaces for students. As a future nurse, I've seen how early intervention can help change lives. And I believe that by working together, we can build a

115stronger foundation for the well-being and success of Yakamas. Thank you. Thank you, Crystal. Next on our list this evening is Cassandra Zenil. >> Welcome. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Cassandra Zenil and I'm a nursing student at Heritage University. I have lived in Yakma since 2008 and have completed all my schooling here in the Yakma school district. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about a concern that affects all of our students, which is the mental health crisis. Recent local data has shown that this is an urgent issue in our community. In the Yakama County, a recent report found that 38% of eighth graders reported feeling sad or hopeless in the past year. This is higher than the state average in the state of Washington which is 35%. Additionally, 18%

116of eighth graders in the Yaka Valley had seriously considered attempting suicide. We also have a predominantly Hispanic population and as we know they face additional cultural and systemic barriers such as mental health being stigmatized. These students may have less support at home or at school and fewer resources may be available to them. Poor mental health in students has concrete consequences such as difficulty concentrating, increased absences, a higher risk of dropping out, behavioral issues, and social emotional distress. These students cannot learn to their full potential when their minds and hearts are burdened. Gun violence, alcohol abuse, substance abuse isn't the only thing that is harming our children. It is also poor mental health. We owe it to our children to create an environment where they feel safe, seen, and supported. As a former student who also

117suffered with their mental health during adolescence, I recommend three things. One, ensuring that every school, elementary through high school, has dedicated psychologists or counselors who hold psychology degrees, not just a general social worker. These professionals are bringing um specialized training in children and adolescent mental health. Second, providing culturally responsive support for Hispanic and immigrant families such as bilang bilingual counseling outreach to families to reduce stigma and education that mental health is real and treatable. Lastly, implementing early screening and consistent school-based programs such as social emotional learning beginning in elementary grades, safe spaces for students to talk, peer support groups, and clear referral pathways when students show signs of distress. In closing, our children's minds are the foundation of their future and our community's future. We act now to we must act now to fund, staff,

118and prioritize mental health infrastructures in our schools. I thank you for your time and your commitment to the well-being of every student in the Athma school district. Thank you. >> Thank you, Cassandra. Next on our list is Angela Martin from Heritage University. Welcome. >> Good afternoon board. My name is Anelis Marin and I am a senior nursing student at Herage University. I was born and raised in the Yakama County in community in which I have been serving through community service with my church throughout like 15 years. Um, as part of my nursing education, I have had the honor of completing my public health clinicals at Eisenhower High School where I was able to see firsthand a lot of health challenges that students are experiencing. I am here today to testify about the increased asthma flare-ups

119and the respiratory irritation that students are experiencing, especially during this time where many wildfires and smoke worsen the air quality. This issue not only puts their health at risk, but it also interferes with their ability to stay in class and continue their education. One simple evidence-based measure we can take is to place humidifiers in classrooms. The American Lung Association has shown that dry air and pollution make respiratory problems worse, and humidifiers can help by keeping airways moist and improving breathing comfort. Some may worry about the cost or maintenance, but portable humidifiers are affordable and easy to maintain, especially when compared to the medical and hospital emergency room visits or missed school days from the asthma. Improving indoor air quality will help students stay healthy, teachers breathe easier, and families feel confident that their children are

120learning in a safe environment. This is a community in which I deeply care for and want our children to succeed. As a future nurse, my role is not only to treat the problem, but to prevent illness and prevent and promote wellness. I respectfully ask that you consider requiring humidifiers in each classroom. By supporting this, respiratory issues will decrease along with better attendance. Thank you for your time and your commitment to the well-being for our children. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Last on our list is Mr. McKenna. Steve, are you here? Welcome, Steve. Um, my name is Steve McKenna. I'm retired educator and from the Yakama School District. I'm a former YA president. Um, I the last meeting I've discussed some issues about district finances. Um, I would like to let you know

121that, um, I own rental property in the Yakama school district. I am a taxpayer in the Yakim school district. I've mentioned it numerous times to the board during public comment. I have paid taxes for over 40 years in the Akimal school district and continue to pay taxes at which a large portion of those taxes go to the Akimal school district even though I live in CILA. I have a right to comment on how my tax dollars are spent. It's obvious um that I get my information from OSPI. Um and what is reported by the district to OSPI is where I find my information. Um it's obvious that this district has hired too many administrative personnel that need budgets, office space, and secretaries. That's the root of the financial problem that has caused three riffs and

122the $4.6 million TAN loan for the last two years. I asked Mr. Cooper if he could name a district that has not failed its levy that has had as many riffs in the last two years. He could not when we discussed this information in August. Um there are 295 districts in the state of Washington. Um less than 7% have gone down the Belleview road that most likely was caused by some of the same issues in Yakima. using COVID money to hire personnel, not reducing um personnel by attrition when enrollment declines, not budgeting properly. It is um just wrong that classroom personnel that have no input in these budgetary decisions are rifted. The central office personnel that make the poor decisions are untouched and in fact um receive raises. I would say that um you have

123a demographic issue that Mr. Cooper showed that is coming very quickly and has been coming for multiple years now. I would suggest some changes to some of the curriculum that you do as far as reducing class size in K3 would help mental health issues and help get kids more personal attention in classrooms. when you put 28 to 30 kids in a kindergarten classroom, that makes it very tough on teachers. Um, students in the middle school, I referring to Mr. Walker's comment earlier, um, one of the things about reading that's very important is they need to find reading that they're interested in and that they enjoy. And by getting rid of middle school librarians and high school librarians, you're just taking a major step backwards in that respect. So, um, anyway, I will stop now since

124I'm out of time. Thank you. >> Thank you, sweetie. >> We have two sections under policy governance this evening. The first is the report on policy 1000.2.5 which is our asset protection policy. And Mr. Cooper, I'll let you lead off on this. >> You bet. Um, so before you this evening is the asset protection uh monitor report has been updated with uh current fax and figures from the prior year as we monitor one year in a rears. Um to to sum this policy up, this is your audit, your maintenance, and your insurance, and then your protection of your intellectual property, and then your hiring practices, not allowing um individuals without background checks to have unfettered access to our students. So, if you have any questions, I'd be more than happy to entertain them. Um this

125point in time, >> any questions for member of the board? Excuse me. >> Does this go out for a survey monkey or does this do we approve this now? >> This will go out for a survey monkey tomorrow. Excuse me. And the the survey will be due back on the 28th. >> We'll review it at the November 5th meeting and the full report is included in board docs for review. Thank you, Jake. That takes us to our second item which is the approval of the ratings which were received for four different policies 1000.2.7 2.8 2.9 and 3.4. The responses are included in your board docs package. Does any board member have any comments that they would like to uh expand, elaborate, or add to? Well, I'll leave it to the pleasure of the board. Would

126we like to approve these in a group or would we like to do them individually? >> I I move approval of Shoot. >> I said shoot. >> You almost had a hot mic moment. >> I move approval of policies the monitoring reports for policies 1000.2.2 2 1 1000.2 1.2.9 and 100.3.4 just as a clarification. I think that very first one was 1000.2.7. >> That's before I enlarge the screen. >> Just making sure we're all on the same page. We have a motion. Is there a second? It's been moved and seconded to receive and approve the monitoring reports that are attached in board docs tonight. Is there any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed, please say nay. >> Carries. Thank you very much. Dr. Green, do we have a

127need for executive session this evening? >> No. Seeing no need for executive session, I'll remind everybody our next board meeting is November 5th at 4 PM at Lewis and Clark Middle School. Stick around tonight for the uh Peter Paul and Mary sing along I'll be leading. Otherwise, uh we are adjourned. Thank you.