Yakima School District Board Meeting April 15th, 2025

001[Music] Good evening everyone and welcome to the April 15th meeting of the Yakama School Board. It is um Murphy's law that on the warmest day of the spring we would have the largest crowd of the year in this room. So, we apologize for the standing room only scenario. Uh, but I would like to begin with pointing out that I'm sitting next to the most attractive piece of hardware I've sat next to as a board member. This is pretty fun. So, uh, we're going to get started here tonight. Um, to begin with, we do offer Spanish interpretation services. I believe Jorge from Language Connection is here. If you need translation assistance in person, please check with Jorge for a device. and Hi, would you please translate this information for us? Thank you, Jorge. We will have

002um two uh opportunities for public comment tonight. The first option is for commenting on agenda items only and the second option which comes towards the end of the meeting is for all other topics. In order to speak tonight for uh for public comment, you'll need to sign two forms. The sign-in form and the guidelines form, which are located in the back. Uh to begin with, uh Barb, please take the role. Director Walker, present. Director Navaro Jr. present. Director Rice here. President Beckett here. And Vice President Bianoeva is excused. Uh this evening our agenda has been posted but noting the importance of the agenda and the numerous attendees present for various reasons I'm going to ask the board to consider adjusting the agenda and moving the first opportunity for comments from the public on agenda items

003and items number one and two from section E which is the approvals to run concurrently after the completion of section A. the second opportunity for comments from the public. All other topics would then also be moved to the current section C updates item four. Do I have a motion to adjust the agenda? I move to adjust the agenda as stated by President Beckett. Second. Thank you. Is there any conversation? I know that is an adjustment, but I think it will help facilitate the conversation here this evening better. Uh if there's no other conversation, all in favor of the motion, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Okay. Well, and at this point, if you would please uh rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge

004allegiance 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. Today, 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. Kitas Clat 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 [Music] respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase indigenous

005people's history and culture. It also honors the [Music] truth. As a school district, we will continue to build upon our relations with the Yakama Nation. in board docs tonight and on the um website you will find obituaries for Marilyn Edna Robelard and for Paul Brisco both members of our Yaka school district family who have left us. Would you please join me this evening in a moment of silence to honor their memory. Thank you for recognitions this evening. I'm sorry. Give me one second. I need to back into the right spot here. We have a number of recognitions this evening. And Barb, help me. Who am I calling on first here tonight? I apologize. Martha will start. Thank you. Director Rice, I'll let you lead off, please. Thank you, President Beckett. The Big Nine announces the

006winter NECABW award winners. The National Electrical Contractors Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are proud to present the 21st annual recognition to these fine scholar athletes from the four big nine schools. These two organizations are training electricians for the future. NECA and IBW encourage all high school students to explain explore with their high school counselors a career in the electrical construction industry which provides salary levels that are above average and careers that last a lifetime. The following Yakma School District students were recognized for demonstrating superior balance in academics, athletics, and community involvement. from Davis High School wrestling, Shaunastasia Jackson. If you're here, um, please come up and we'll shake hands around the table and then if you would, um, stand in front of the board here that she's wrestling in Arizona. Well, good

007luck to her. Perfect. That's it. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, congratulations to her. Congratulations. Okay. So, I'm told that pictures will be taken out in the courtyard after all of the recognitions are done, right? with families. Okay. Also, Davis High School wrestling, Jose Sanchez. Is he also in Arizona? Okay. From Eisenhower High School, girls basketball, Ariana Ramos. [Applause] Congratulations. Good job. From Eisenhower High School boys basketball, Jeremiah Elmore. Congratulations. Good job. And that's the end of my list. Thank you, President Beckett. Yes, it's truly an honor to recognize our student athletes this evening. And first of all, we want to um let's see. Well, the board of directors congratulates the following student athletes for their outstanding contributions during the winter sports season. We recognize a remarkable achievement of placing eighth or better, and I emphasize better,

008right? You're going to hear about that in a minute. um or better at state and or receiving a student athlete award. Uh your dedication, hard work, and sportsmanship exemplify both your talent and your unwavering dedication. So, first of all, I'd like to rec the board like to recognize the 2024-25 WIAA state championship um seventh place for Eisenhower girls bowling team. And as I mentioned, if when as I call your name, please come forward. Uh first of all, there's Haley Littleler is not here. Okay. Ashley Lumnness, Jolie Hustler. All right. Cecilia Pew, Jaden Speltz, and Nili Tabai Yoan. Hi. Yeah. And coached by Eli Mandelle and Chad Quiznell. I'm wondering if the coaches are here tonight. Yeah. If you can come forward, please be recognized. And yeah. Next for the 202425 WIA state championship, let's see,

009excuse me. um state wrestling championship. Davis High School girls wrestling team placed fifth. How about a round of applause for Davis High School [Applause] girls? And the team was composed of Shauna Nastia Shanastasia. Sorry about that. Jackson. She is a state champ. First place at 155 lbs. What's that? Oh, that's right. She's in Arizona winning another championship. Uh, next we do we also we have another state champ. First place at 120 pounds, Rinalda Gonzalez. [Applause] She's coming. All right. A state champ. All right. Uh, placing fifth at individual weight class, Natali Natalie Pinon [Applause] Vasquez. And placing fourth at individual weight class, Sawyer Newman. [Applause] And also the the the following individuals are students. Uh we're also on the girls wrestling team. Uh Gianna Sour, Harriseli Nunees, Honey Lopez, Gabriella Sanchez, Rihanna Chavez, and Carla

010Arce. and coached by Eric, Mr. Eric Ratundo. If he's here today, please come forward. [Applause] Also, Coach Rick Lopez, if you come forward, please if you're here. Okay, we'll give him a chance to to breathe here. All right, we're going to go ahead and continue with the celebration. So, for the 2024 25 WIA state wrestling championships, uh, Davis High School, we have Jacob Alcala, second place at 132 [Applause] pounds. Okay. And placing sixth at 138 pounds is S Perez. and coached by Chad Hustader. If coach is here, would you like to shake your hand? No, not here. Okay. How about an applause for the Davis High School boys wrestling team? Now, you know, I during the state championships for basketball at the Tacoma Doom, I my wife and I attended that event and I went

011to watch history, right? And it was awesome. The the atmosphere was electric. I mean, there's a lot of energy. You saw the the the Davis High School pride, the the Yakamo school district representing in at the Seattle or the the the the Tacoma Dome. It was awesome to see that. And it was even more awesome to see the girls play. It was uh extraordinary how they played. I thought I was watching a college team play actually. So that's how that's how good that I you know that they performed on the court. They just they just blew past everybody. every team that faced them, they just they they just basically wiped the floor with them, right? So, um but yeah, extraord extraordinary event that happened and so um it's an honor to to uh recognize him

012for the 20242 4A WIAA state uh championship. First place Davis High School girls varsity team. All right. [Applause] and Big Nine League champions. So, all right. And so, we're going to go ahead and name uh all all the the players here. So, first of all, we like to recognize Cheyenne Hall, who is the state tournament MVP. [Applause] All state tournament first team Nava Deetsz [Applause] Parish. Also, all state tournament first team Issa Garcia. [Applause] Also, there is a Ay Brandt here [Applause] today. If you're here today, please come forward. Uh Jaden Hernandez, Ella [Applause] Craig, Brooklyn Gaitan, Paige Gasling, Isa [Applause] Jones, Kobe Johnson, Diona Perez, I own the pennis. Yes. And tea. I'm maybe I'm mispronouncing that. Wheeler. All right. H how about one more applause for the 4A state Washington state 4A state

013girls basketball champs. Thank you, President Walker. All yours. I forgot our coach. Yeah, we I forgot Coach Wide. How about applause for Coach [Applause] White and Congratulations. Good job. And if there's ever other Davis coaches here as well, please come forward. I know there's coach Shag that I can see from here. Uh Coach Garcia, I don't know if he's here. Uh We've got a lot of students that we're going to do photos inside and outside, but can we do the basketball team with a photo here in front of the hardware with the board and then we'll and then we'll start. [Laughter] Okay. [Laughter] Okay, then we'll p we'll hold off on that for now. We're pausing. Okay. Okay, we'll pause there. And that takes us to thank you, Norm. Okay, last section on awards and

014recognitions. The board of directors acknowledges the exceptional achievements of athletes in the Columbia Basin Big Nine All Conference. These athletes are the top ranked athletes in the Big Nine Conference. We commend these athletes for their commitment to excellence and their positive representation of our schools and our community. First off, we have boy swimming and diving from Davis. Carl Scott is the head coach. Swimmer of the year and allconerence honorable mention 200yard medley relay and second team allconerence 100yard butterfly Peter Whitney Davis High School. All conference honorable mention 200yard medley relay Josh Whitney Davis High [Applause] School. All conference honorable mention 200yard medley relay Avery Stro Davis High [Applause] School. And all conference honorable mention 200yard medley relay. and allconerence sportsmanship team Oliver Anderson, Davis High [Applause] School. Next up, we have some girls bowling. Oh,

015okay. Good. [Applause] Thank you. Is he here? That was It's It's listed later. It's coming later. Okay. Okay. Thanks, Bob. Okay. In girls bowling, Eli Mandelle and Chad Questnell coaches, we have second team all conference Nike Teuan. [Applause] Also second team all conference Cecilia Pew and all conference honorable mention Joel Lee Oler. from Eisenhower girls bowling coached by Stacy Hunchimer. Hunchmer Stacy. Okay. Is that correct? Okay. I I thought that was Anyway, the all making the allconerence sportsmanship team is Jasmine Barrera. But there's a conflict here. It says girls bowling Eisenhower, but it says Jasmine's from Davis. Somebody want to clarify that? Yes. Okay. [Applause] [Music] Hopefully we'll get that corrected in our records. from boys wrestling at Eisenhower coached by Jared Dobby. We have second team all conference Juan [Applause] Olivera. Also second team

016all conference Manuel [Applause] Martinez honorable mention all conference Frank Redfield. [Applause] All conference honorable mention Antonio Castillo and also honorable mention Aaron [Music] [Applause] Chavez. Congratulations from girls wrestling at Eisenhower. Coached by Albert Cardinis, first team all conference. Miranda Marquez. [Applause] First team all conference, Edith [Applause] Bonitez. Second team all conference, Andrea Garcia. Second team all conference, Briana Montes Deoka [Applause] Rodriguez. Second team all conference. Alisa [Applause] Gutierrez and honorable mention on conference. Avelina Miranda Lopez. [Applause] Next, uh, boys wrestling from Davis, Chad Huffstater, head coach. [Applause] Oh, next up we have lightweight wrestler of the year and first team all conference Jacob Alcala Davis High School. [Applause] First team all conference, Isaai Perez and Miguel Galves, Davis High [Applause] School. Second team all conference, Ronaldo Lopez Contreres, Davis High School. All conference honorable mention,

017Jose Sanchez and Marriott Gamarind, Davis High [Applause] School. All All conference honorable mentioned and allconerence sportsmanship team Waqin Santo Davis High School girls wrestling at Davis. Eric Rotando, head coach, heavyweight wrestler of the year, and first team all conference, Shaastasia Jackson. First team all conference Ronaldo Gonzalez, Natalie Pinon Vasquez and Rihanna [Applause] Chavez. First team all conference. Giana [Applause] Sour, second team all conference. Carla Ars all conference honorable mention. Araeli Nunees, Honey Lopez, Gabriella Sanchez, and Sawyer Newman. [Applause] Next up, we have basketball, boys basketball from Eisenhower. Nikquil Lazat, head coach, first team all conference, Lucas [Applause] Stevens. All conference honorable mention, Jules Terry. All conference sportsmanship team Jeremiah Elmore. [Applause] All conference defense honorable mention JD Hill. Congratulations. first team allconerence defensive team and honorable mention Michael Cerna boys basketball Davis Eli Wararez head

018coach player of the year Columbia Basin Big Nine Cesar [Applause] Hernandez first team allconerence defensive team Tyson Lee and DeAnthony [Applause] Wiggins. Second team all conference Damian Pimentel and Tyson Lee. Congratulations. Congratulations. All Conference Sportsmanship, Ty [Applause] Hayden. And all conference honorable mention, DeAnthony Wiggins. [Applause] Now, all conference awards for girls basketball from Davis. Coached like before, Akil White. Player of the year and defensive player of the year, Cheyenne Hall. [Applause] [Laughter] First team all conference and first team defensive team. Issa Garcia [Applause] Davis, first team allconerence and first team defensive team, Deetsz [Applause] Parish. Second team all conference, Avery Brandt and Paige Gastling. [Applause] and all conference sportsmanship Kobe Johnson. [Applause] [Laughter] Congratulations, so many awards, so little time. Congratulations Last but not least, we have girls basketball from Eisenhower. Ray Harris, head coach,

019second team all conference and defense. Honorable mention, Nica [Applause] Roll. First team all conference defensive team, Ariana Ramos. [Applause] All conference honorable mention Mercedes [Applause] Garza and all conference sportsmanship Nicole Salamanca. [Applause] Congratulations. Now, that con completes our awards recognitions of the evening. So, now if you'd like to step out in the courtyard, we will almost but not quite. Almost but not quite. Okay, we have one more one more slide. Oh, we have three coaches to recognize. Columbia Basin Big Nine Coach of the Year awards goes to Eli Warz, boys basketball head coach at Davis High School. Akquil White, girls basketball head coach at Davis High School. Thank you, [Music] coach. And Carl Scott, boys swim and dive head coach at Davis High School. We get we want to take the the team photo up

020here, right? Congratulations. Yes, we do. We have a lot of of photography to get to here. First and foremost though, I want to say a very specific thank you to our coaches and to Barb Fiscus for making sure that all of the recognitions for our athletes are compiled, figured out, and for keeping us in line presenting them. Thank you, Barb. And thank you to all of our coaches. Yes. Yes. Kirsten would like to do photos. What would you like to do first? Okay, perfect. Okay, thank you. So, girls basketball from Davis here first. Everyone else on the courtyard for now. We will reconvene in a matter of minutes. Thank you everyone for your patience this evening. I think that the uh uh adjustment of the agenda will help uh with all of the excitement we've

021had here so far. Um there are some seats up front if any of those who are standing in the back want to be able to sit. There are open seats in the front row. We're going to move on with our agenda here at this point. And at this uh point, we're starting out in section B with our approval. So, this is comments from the public on agenda items. I have uh five uh people who have signed up to speak on agenda items this evening. So, when I call your name, if you'd like to come on up to the podium, please feel free. Uh to begin with, Miriam Anne Hubard from Gilbert. Miriam, would you like to come on? Good evening and welcome. I'm going to just remind everybody as they speak that we do have

022a time limit. So if you hear the little timer go off, please don't take offense. That's just how we keep everybody on track. Uh but in the meantime, Miriam, the time is yours. Welcome, principal. She already knows I'm speaking. Um she also knows how vocal her staff is, so that's not new either. Just yesterday, all YSD librarians received an email. It stated how valuable our jobs are in the in district and asking to us to participate in a writeup about us. Said write up to include our impact on our students and also to describe how libraries are a core part of schools and public education. Oh, the irony. Today it is widely circulating that if the middle school and high school librarians are not gone this year, they will be next year. One question in

023this is who's going to teach the IB and AP students how to access those very expensive databases that are used to complete assignments or are IB and AP also on the list to be discontinued? What do all librarians do to impact students? Well, firstly, we get them excited and interested in reading experts. all agree that reading helps raise reading scores. We do that by sharing books that we believe a specific student will enjoy. Where in a 15minute library parapro checkout is their time for the parapro to get to know students well enough to do such a matchup and their classroom teacher who would be in the library with them also does not know what is in the library to do that matchup either. As for other activities that I personally do to encourage the building

024of reading skills, logical thinking skills, social and emotional learning skills, knowledge of history, there isn't enough time to detail it. One I would like to share is that due to the amount of class time that CQLA takes to implement, fourth and fifth grade teachers no longer have time to teach Washington State or US history. I have worked that into my library schedule. Gilbert students get Washington State history and US history in library. And next week on Thursday, Trevor, I expect you in my library at 10:00 for the agreed upon visit from last November. You will then be able to witness how I fulfill also the state requirement to teach about indigenous peoples. Thank you. Thank you, Miriam. Our next uh speaker this evening is Heidi Lynn Griffin from Eisenhower. Welcome, Heidi. Good evening. My name

025is Heidi Griffin. I was hired as an English teacher at Eisenhower in 2007. In 2016, I became an instructional facilitator because I wanted to partner with and support teachers because I knew firsthand how much teachers need someone to explore different instructional strategies to support student learning. And with all the demands of teaching, a 10-hour day didn't allow for that. In 2022, I became an academic specialist. Last year, that position was cut as part of the riffs. My main concern at that time was that I would displace a younger classroom teacher when I was so close to retirement. I believe that last the last positions that should be cut are classroom teachers who have direct contact with students. But don't get me wrong, I was glad to be able to roll back into an IF position

026knowing the value instructional partners have with teachers. Last year during the riffs, a teacher told me that they didn't need an IF, that there was nothing I could do for them that they couldn't do for themselves. Even though that's not quite true, I said they were absolutely correct if they were willing to work an 18-hour day. Tonight, I would like to address the importance of another non-classroom instructional partner, certified teacher librarians. I wouldn't even call them a non-classroom position because the library at Eisenhower, as I'm sure at Davis, is one of the largest classrooms we have. There are more than 28 to 32 students engaging in academics from 7:00 a.m. until well after 3:05. And the teachers facilitating that learning are our librarians. I know my office was housed in the library for six years.

027Beyond the academic and the social emotional supports that librarians provide, student achievement is higher in schools with librarians. In 2014, the Washington State Library Media Association and OSBI conducted an impact study that evaluated the relationship between quality library programs with certified teacher librarians and student achievement. Students in districts with high poverty rates like our own with access to highquality libraries and librarians performed 15% higher in reading, 17% higher in math, and were 11% more likely to graduate than those without. I understand the difficult situation we are in, and that you have some really hard decisions to make. But in closing, I would like to extend the question that teacher asked to me to you. What can a librarian do for our students and classroom teachers that they cannot do for themselves? Well, again, this isn't

028quite true, but nothing if teachers don't mind working 18our days. Thank you. I know you have really tough decisions to make, and I appreciate the care that you do that [Music] with. Thank you, Heidi. Our next speaker on the list is Francis Macherry from our transportation district department. Excuse me. Okay. Thank you very much for being here. Kim Olsen. Kim, would you like to speak tonight? Welcome. I'm sorry. We should have walking up music for people. That awkward silence is always painful for everyone. But welcome. Thank you for being here. Good evening. I'm Kim Olsen from transportation. Um, and I am the shop steward for 760 Teamsters for transportation. I was here last year to ask for support of Jenna Bowers. I know the budget is upon us and it's a difficult decision for everyone.

029I come here again tonight to ask for support for Jenna Powers. Transportation is changing and improving and I credit part of that to Jenna. Jenna's hours were were reduced as trip supervisor and driving was added to her her job duties. Jenna's not complained and does her work efficiently and with a smile, but it's hard for her to find enough hours in the day to complete her job as a a trip supervisor. Transportation has improved its efficiency and now allows drivers to take advantage of trips rather than chartered trips, which saves the district a great deal of money. And to accomplish this, we need Jenna, our trip supervisor. I urge you to support transportation with funds and support Jenna. And I would like to remind you that all those students could not have made it to

030games and tournaments without transportation. and Jenna Bowers scheduled all of those trips and that much of the funding for schools comes from the writership on Yakima school district buses. So I hope that we will uh wall in the budget. Thank you very much for Thank you Kim. Yes, you may sir. You may sir. Fair enough. Welcome Francis. Thank you. Um just uh this actually came to my mind. We had a driver's meeting uh today and um they're no blockbusters. I mean there's sorry Marge but you know they're they're not compelling you know drama really spectacular stuff but one thing hit me today I don't know if it hit anybody else but we're we went through some of our budgets in particular the trips and you know we had the line of uh u what we

031do charters and I was looking for the line of uh admin administration input fees, you know, for I, you know, I think the the driver is probably calculated in the the expense of a trip, probably fuel. Um, the bus, of course, tires. Thank you. Thank you. Are you Lash Schwab or are you No. Okay. Okay. Okay. Um but I you know uh Jenna's you know or or whoever's in that position Jenna's there that she must get an email she gets that email request you know to do something whether it's volleyball basketball golf you know so someone has to take that process it figure out what we're going to do you know how we're going to make this work how are we going uh you know get these kids to where they need to be. You

032know, she has a list of people, drivers that have opted in, opt out, um sick leave, you know, I mean, we we're pull we're pulling people from all over. But anyway, I my point is that when budgets are made, I hope if we haven't yet, I hope we factor in a place for administrative cost because when that if that email came to a a a dark room, that would not get done. I mean, there's just a lot a lot of things that need to happen to get these kids where they need to be. So anyway, I petitioned just to just to take another look. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. McKenna, are you here? Steve, I see your name here, but it also said it looks like your handwriting in second opportunity.

033Are you deferring until the later portion? Okay. Thank you, Steve. We'll be here. We'll be here that when we get there, I promise. Thank you, Steve. Okay, then at this point, we're moving to uh section B2 in approvals. This is where we're looking at resolution 06.24.25. Uh before we Excuse me. Um, as you've seen in your board docs, we have a suggested action and uh then we have uh for rationale we have a presentation from uh both uh Jake and from Kim. Uh but to begin with um we are looking at a requested action of an approval for resolution 06.24.25 for the proposed 2526 program services reduction and force. Uh do we have a motion so that we may have discussion? Like to have a motion so that we can have the discussion, please. So

034moved. Second. Okay, that will take us to discussion and then we'll take us to our rationale and we'll begin with Mr. Cooper, please. Thank you, members of the board. Um members of the audience, I'll wait for Miss Fiscus to bring the presentation up. Before I begin um on board docs there's a set of four documents for everybody to go through if they want. There is the um PowerPoint deck which I'll go through. There is a lengthy written summary which I prepare for these meetings specifically that goes through in detail in a narrative form what's in the PowerPoint deck. Um I do that for transparency sake and also understanding because we talk about financial information uh to the community or board members in particular or any staff member you want to be clear and concise with

035that. And I also like to be redundant with the information so that people are all on the same page. So if you want to see those, those are up on board docs now. If you want to hit refresh, if you've been on the site, they should all be up there currently. So there'll be four documents, the PowerPoint deck, uh an eightpage written summary, the resolution itself, and then also the board action letter, which is the um short form of what the board is going to take action on. So those are the four documents for everybody to to look at this evening and follow along if you want. and I'll begin. But first, um, before I start the presentation, there's some positives to discuss. Um, the reduction before us this evening is a third to 25%

036of the size that was reduced last cycle. Um, so in size, it is smaller in magnitude. The district's finances are stabilizing as we've seen monthtomonth. Um, budget to actuals are coming in consistently, which we had uh issues for with some internal controls and some spending controls and those seem to be in place now. And so the budget is now behaving as it's predicted to do. That's very fortunate. So the good news is the finances are stabilizing. Our cash balances are moving upwards, which we need to do. We had to borrow money last fall to ensure that we'd have enough liquidity or cash flow for payroll. We don't want to continue to have to do that, and these reductions are part of the way we will get off of borrowed money. So the other thing that

037I want to talk about is timing. Um, I had a sidebar conversation with former YA president Vick Vicky Dwire um, before the meeting and I want to talk to you about how this time of the year is always very stressful for all of us because right now I'm going to stand before you and give you a budget presentation on a $300 million annual operating budget and I don't know about 75 to 80% of my revenue. Right? Sign a die is not done. Legislature is not settled. um I will go through and I have the last few board meetings. I told you we're going to model conservatively because we're going to try to um kind of find a sweet spot between time and then actual data. So legislature is not done till the 27th of April.

038Again, the politics, if you have been paying attention, are um not aligned. So each chamber has passed their budget. The governor said, "I don't like either of your budgets." The community and business roundt sent a letter then into the legislature um from the largest companies and corporations in Washington state saying that if you're going to go forward with these taxes, we're going to leave. So, we have business, politics, a new governor, and declining revenue. And we're going to try to create a budget. Well, that's what I've been tasked with this evening. I'm going to take you through the assumptions on the budget just so exactly how it's um being built. So the big puts and takes and then uh the assumptions and then ultimately the action that I'm requesting before the board this evening. So

039I'll go through that presentation and superintendent of course I know you'll interject as needed. So slide I don't have the clicker bar but I do that. So this chart's familiar to many um and some often ask why I focus on staffing and enrollment. Staffing and enrollment are the two biggest levers in a school system. We are funded on a per seat basis. Um on a per student basis, we get revenue for each child. Staffing is the largest expenditure in the school district between 80 and 85% of our expenditures every year on an annual basis are for people. Our people are our program and so we don't take that lightly. Now I I have misstepped already. I should have told you. I'm going to talk tonight in a financial and legal terms. It is not meant

040to be personal. Um I want you to say on a personal note, these meetings naught me terribly. Professionally, I have a job to do and I'm going to provide you the rationale go forward with that. But I just want to take kind of a personal note of privilege. These are not easy meetings for anybody, particularly those impacted. Um but again, we'll move forward as judiciously as possible. So as you can see historically um our enrollment peaked in 201718 at 16 just over 16,200 we had 108,000 staff per thousand at that point in time as you see as we progressed now I want to talk about why we were staffing so what happened during these times um is we had mccclary so additional staffing additional revenue was pushed in we had esser huge amounts of federal

041What Yakima did and most districts in their time is we added staff because there were resources available. Now you see around the state as those resources dry up and enrollment declines, districts all around are reducing. I know last cycle there was quite a bit of commentary about how we were the only district in the state doing reductions and nobody else of our caliber was doing that. Well, that's simply not true. There's reductions statewide. There's been reductions for the last three cycles. and my colleagues in the CFO world are telling me there's other reductions coming all around the state. So, we're not lonely. And unfortunately, our state revenue and picture is not that great. We have a large deficit at the state level and it's yet to be solved. So, however, you can see our increased

042staffing levels as we move through the years and our decreasing enrollment. Those are going the opposite direction for financial solveny. The entire one of my major goals is to match labor with student FTE meaning the right amount of teachers and support staff in front of the right amount of kids at any given time. When that goes out of balance, we then have to readjust because you become financially insolvent. Now, we did a huge amount of adjustment prior year. As you can see, the budget before us has another tightening and adjustment based on decline in enrollment um and some financial assumptions which I'll take you through. So to recap that slide, I won't read verbatim. We went from 162 to 146. It's a decline of about 1,600 students, 1595 or just under 10%. Last year, as

043I discussed, we implemented a$22.5 million reduction. Um that resulted in almost a 9% staffing decrease from the highest peak levels in 2324. The proposed reduction this evening reduces overall staffing levels by another 2.6% bringing us to just under 12% in total over the two reduction cycles which gets us from a percentage standpoint back to where we were at our peak. However, when you adjust for enrollment, we are still over staffed because remember we had that number of staff at 16,000 and now we have a comparable number of staff at 14,000 and change. So on a percentage basis we have reduced. However, we are still based on enrollment, we would be historically over staffed. Um, however, there are some legislative changes that cause some of that K3 ratio in particular. Sorry about this. I've never been

044able to get this clear. Unfortunately, no matter what high def um monitor I put it on, this is the simple part. So, what you see before you, if you look at the beginning balance, that's 13.6 million. That's and the percentage below that is 4.7%. That's how we ended last year. Okay, we ended last year at 4.7%. Put that in perspective. Um 3 million of that 3.2 million is YV Tech um reserved for their skill center and the remainder of the balance uh the $10 million in part is reserved as well. Um so when it comes to free cash flow of that, you know, we're 9 or$10 million, not the 13. The board has a required policy that we have 5% unreserved fund balance. What you're seeing before you at that 4.7 is total fund balance.

045So when I talk about fund balance reserve, imagine that your personal bank account. So if you have 20,000 in there and part of it is reserved for your mortgage, part of it's reserved for your gas every month. So when we make reservations, that money is not available for use. It's been set aside to use somewhere else. So the board has a policy where the unreserved meaning unfettered unencumbered cash balances must be 5% of budget. Currently our budget's about 290 million 287 million. So we're well below 5% of that which would be sorry can't do the math 112 million. Oh but the point being is we are below the unreserved amounts. the board uh and my I recommended the board after the initial budget reconciliation that we do a classified reduction of force only and you

046will see tonight um we're not reducing a significant amount of classified staff because we did those reductions again on a reduction of force that was solely classifi focused on classified units. The budget was adopted with a surplus um and we're also carrying some savings forward. So, we heard um bus drivers talk about some savings on charter transportation. That's part of that figure as well. We've also seen a decrease and decline in time sheet pay. We have however seen an increase still in substitute costs. Substitute costs continue to rise above budget and um in this next cycle um initially it looks between half a million and 750,000 more need to be budgeted for substitute costs. they continue to rise and that's something we have to address as a system. So by the end of the fiscal

047year we should end up uh flat slightly better adding to fund balance. Um the figures before you do not take into account any funds we borrow. There's a four $4.5 million note in the fund balance for liquidity. That's not included in these numbers. There's the graph. Um, every finance person needs a bar graph and a chart. And what that is showing is that's our fund balance. By fund balance, I mean that's how much cash we have in the bank at the end of the year. So fund balance is measured generally once in a year to be the end of the fiscal year, August 31st, based on your budget. When I talk about cash flow, that's the monthly amount we need to be able to pay everybody's payroll and accounts payable. how much you need month-to-month

048for cash can vary and it's not the same amount you need in fund balance. So part of the driver for the need to continue to reduce and add money back into the bank is to make sure that we have sufficient cash flow each month to pay the bills. So that is one goal of the proposed reductions. So you can see what happens uh if there is no reduction fund balance then drops to about 2 and a.5% and then again if we continue on the current spending path that's just assuming flat revenue and no additional expenditures we would be insolvent close to insolvent 26 27. So how do we solve that financial problem? So before the board this evening is are the program reductions as outlined in the chart. You can see the reductions this cycle

049are focused primarily on certificated staff and um of smaller in magnitude. So um the top two are administrative positions uh that will no longer uh be in the system. One is the purchasing coordinator out of the business office. we've just redistributed those duties and we'll do more with less. We have to model the behavior that we're asking you to all do and so that's what we decided to do in our department. Um, assistant superintendent Muretta is going to he has announced his retirement in December. So, um, we only get to count half of you, unfortunately, not all of you and so that position will be reduced as well. The largest portion is, uh, the estimated FTE for the enrollment driven staffing reductions. So twofold. I overp projected high school enrollment last cycle by a couple

050hundred. In part that is because the relationship between our skill center, our AL programs and the comprehensive high schools is fairly complicated and those kids flow around a lot. So Iowa projected high school uh enrollment which left some additional staff in both Eisenhower and Davis. The biggest portions of the reduction on the enrollment driven staffing do come from the two comprehensive high schools. They also have the largest number of staff in each building. It's a percentage. The remainder of the enrollment driven staffing reductions come from buildings all over the system. And so we had our staffing meetings with principles preliminarily and um they have altered their schedules and and planned for those reductions as we tighten ratios. But again, that results in nearly uh 28 FTE uh on the enrollment driven staffing side. And then

051the next is librarians. I want to talk about librarians specifically. I wanted to make sure they were called out. I did not want to lump them in just a YA because it is a unique reduction. Um and it is secondary only. So we have librarians K12. Um they do uh programmatically offer slightly different service u meaning at the elementary level they librarians are considered a specialist not they're not a specialist at secondary but they're used for rotation and preparatory periods as well they also provide direct service to students at the K3 level which makes them part of our K3 staffing. So um in that case just want to make sure that we're not discussing elementary librarians or reducing elementary librarians. We are however recommending a reduction of the six uh secondary librarians. So that would

052be your four middle schools and your two comprehensive high schools. The specialist staff the seven and a half FTE that is a mix of um two categorical FTE in buildings that no longer had funding. One was an academic specialist I believe at a building that had carried that through categorical funds. However, they were unable to have that this round. till one of those positions are reduced. The other specialist FTE and that um comes from a tightening of our specialist schedule at elementary. So at elementary standard elementary set of specialists would be music PE library. It's a standard set across the state of Washington. Three specialists and a rotation thereof. Some districts have an additional specialist like Yakama which would be steam math or they'll choose another content area for pull out or pushing right but

053they every district runs a different specialist. What is before you today um the programmatic goal was to maintain 45 minute specialist sections so we can continue to do common planning and have um P and facilitate the PLC work. I was able to model the specialist schedules um based on the 45 minute sections and how we're saving um or reducing staff is because we have had itinerants that move between buildings. The last few rounds if a building for example generated the need for 4.2 se sections of specialists we were giving them the full five not not doing the actual mathematics. So in this case what we did is we did the mathematics on the specialist per the collective bargaining agreement on what they can serve and then we will have itinerate staffs or buildings uh across

054the district. There are definitely pros and cons of the delivery model. However, this is a way to be more efficient with our staffing um make some reductions and and maintain the 45minute specialist blocks which was a goal for our education side of cabinet. And then the last piece um which is our our only classified reduction are 5ft proposed in the protek unit. Um those members in particular um are serving our our online program um at this point in time and so we have to make some changes uh programmatically to that and so that is why those positions are on the board as well. So there will be uh five classified FTE before you this evening and 42.8 certificated or sorry one 40 not do the math in my head 47.8 in total um a mixture

055of administrative and classified and certificate and classified FT now I talked about the number being over six million 6.2 two million in savings. I will get to that as the we move through the presentation, but that is the summary of the action before you. May I ask a question? Um, Mr. Cooper, thank you. Um, give you an opportunity to take a drink if you'd like of water. It's been a long couple of weeks and long day. Uh, so I want to thank you for your presentation thus far and your preparation. Um over the last six plus months, we've had um several commentaries by our Yakama Education Association president. Um one strongly advocating for a non-reduction of nurses. Are we going to reduce nurses in this riff and recall? No sir. Our YA president has also

056been at that podium advocating for more building administrators. Are we reducing building administration in this riff and recall? Not at this time. We have also heard our union president um advocate for a non-reduction of parah educators. Are we reducing par educators in this round? There's no there's no schedule reduction enforcement per education. Wonderful. Thank you. I I just want to acknowledge the the work that has gone into um listening to the input and the requests and the advocacy and those don't fall fall on deaf ears and I know you've mentioned how difficult these decisions are. They certainly are and um I appreciate the time and consideration that is taken in into that. Um I do uh I'm sorry, was there something that was I don't know. Um, all right. So, thank you for for sharing

057that information thus far. I also know that last year there was a uh we did a riff and recall of of 85 positions. Correct. And maybe this question would be directed more to Mr. Marott out of HR, but one of the two. Uh my question out of those 85 that were reduced um uh how many actually did not have a position at the end of the recall? So it is good to talk about um before we get your information why also from a chronological standpoint we need to do reduction. So right now we do not have sufficient resignations um or retirements to execute the reduction. So often times in the spring you don't have complete staffing information like you do later on in the year. And so what happens is since you don't have sufficient

058resignations and retirements we talked about we have to execute reduction force to ensure from a financial standpoint that the district does not owe the certificated staff the contract after May 15. And so chronologically I want to make sure that was on the record too. Some of this is timing about what we have in resignations and retirements and then ultimately results. So that's what I want. Ultimately the result last cycle was so I think the specific question you asked was out of the 86 position how many of them are not working uh in the district we had offered every position back. I believe that there were three that chose not to come back to the district and they're working in other districts or other positions. Um they are still on the recall list. We have offered

059I know that we have gone through uh this cycle to say what positions are open again. I know of one who has chosen to hold uh onto their recall rights. Typically once you've made the request we um remove them from seniority but based on just trying to be best employer that we can we're leaving that open. Um if they do not take a position by the end of next contract year then they would be removed. So everybody is maintaining employment as of last re uh riff and recall. And as Jake has said, um we do have 26 current resignations or retirements that will be brought into the mix. Um when we do announce, I'm probably getting in the cart before the horse here. When we do announce a riff, uh it is a riff and

060recall where we make sure that the individuals who are impacted then have the ability to dovetail back into the bargaining unit and then we will immediately start the recall process. Um there is a lot of time between now and August and I am very confident that we will have positions for everybody that is impacted by this process. I want to talk about um last year I wanted to make sure I learned from my mistakes. So this time we openly disclosed the number of the reduction in force so people knew at the meeting. So I just want to make sure that you're all aware. I also want to talk about the pros and cons of a seniority riff. So, one of the cornerstones of union rights is seniority. One of the most common ways to exercise

061a reduction or any major change in a collective baring agreement is through seniority rights because it's it's deemed by uh um courts legal court or courts of law that it's not arbitrary and capriccious, right? There's no it's only about your your hire date and your endorsement on recall. So that is why most of the time when we do reductions, it's all about seniority based reduction in force because um we're honoring the union seniority rights. And then also it is the safest way legally speaking from an employer standpoint is you're not arbitrary and capriccious. We're not picking on you based on who you are or what you are. We're just picking on you because of your hire date unfortunately. So I do want to talk about that. And then what happens too is you're I often

062get the question is well there's only 43. Why do you have to notify 97 staff? And the reason being is we need to be able to accurately account for positions and this is position by position that we are no longer going to fill. And so what happens is if you look at endorsements, we go, oh there's three special ed endorsements, a psych and SLP very highly likely to be recalled. That makes the line go higher. or we have a hard to fill physics as an example. So then the line would go higher and so that's why when you do a seniority reduction in force your your goal may be 43 but you have to notify 97. I think last year we notified about 140 138 staff for a reduction of 62. So you can see

063the math is fairly comparable. It just depends on what the actual employees are in each by the seniority list. But I I think that was important to comment on on what a seniority riff is and why it happens and um there are pros and cons to it. At the same time um it is what we have before us. So there are in the reduction enforce for you this evening there will be notifications um assuming uh you uh pass the motion on the table. uh there will be 97 members notified um and then of course 43 positions uh will be eliminated reduction of force and the same with the classified staff there will be five proposed they'll be notified of the requested barg say sorry we debated on I debated on this slide a lot um

064there's a lot of numbers but they're important and so this is where the tea leaves come in so right Now, as I noted before, we have imperfect information. My goal is to make assumptions. Um, right now I'm making conservative legislative assumptions because they're not settled. So, and both chambers budgets rely on taxes they haven't passed yet. Kind of a precarious situation, but I want to show you what I'm seeing. Again, we start the year. So, this is this is what 2526 looks like. The first slide, the simpler one was the current year 2425. So what I'm going to do now is take you through. Let's start in September of 25 new school year. Here's all the biggest puts and takes on the budget. You know, the budget is close to $300 million. I can't really

065do give you a line by line detail. I have to give you the major impacts. So what we've been modeling is next year we know so the first first item hard to see is we know the cost of the negotiated increases that we've settled. So we those are those that's a known quantitative cost currently. I know that if the uh IPD or COLA is at two and a half I know what that cost is locally. So Yakima has a lot of federally funded positions and a lot of positions still funded by levy. Every dollar the state gives then costs us money locally or from other resources. So when the cola comes it's another two and a half million about 900,000 and change. Um so IPD again I told the staff this morning cost of living

066adjustments great for the individual not great for the organization just because it's how it's funded. The state does not fund anything 100%. So when they give us a cost of living adjustment we're stuck with the rest of the bill. Um, the next is an inflationary estimate. I'm putting a $2 million hedge in for inflation. That is not that big of a hedge given that our budget's 287 million. It's less than 1% in total. We are seeing inflationary pressure still. As you know, the markets have been volatile and we'll see what tariffs or supply and chain happens. Um, but again, that's mostly to account for what we're going to see in insurance. Insurance alone is likely to be close to a million dollars. Our pol our policies now are right 300 thou or 3.3 million and

067change. We're expecting a 30% increase. It's almost a million dollars just for liability insurance. So that's part of that inflationary increase. And of course, you know, there will be other increases as well. Levy equalization. There are policy bills around levy and levy equalization floating around legislature. However, levy equalization is a tax relief program, which means it costs the state money to run. They put money into districts like Yakama um and well, any district, 200 plus districts around the state utilization, but districts that have an unfair tax burden on a per thousand basis. So, how much you're paying in a per rate, the state in effect buys that rate down all around the state of Washington as a tax relief program and it's called levy equalization. Levy equalization has uh support Republican and Democrat which makes

068it even though it is outside of basic ed just to be clear it could be reduced entirely. The levy equalization could go away except political support is there. It is outside of basic education though and can be reduced. Currently though we're we're modeling current statute. So what's in statute has us down 400,000 levy equalization. So again reading the tea leaves I have to go by what I actually have in hand. what's in statute and then also what I'm assuming. The next is the enrollment decline. So we did have I did over project enrollment and that deficit is moving forward to a million and a half. Um that's the deficit of budget versus actual uh after January aortionment. So taking everything into account that's the amount of revenue less than I anticipated the portionment. I'm projecting

069downward again about 240 students. um our enrollment has stabilized to an extent except our kindergarten classes still continue to be at or right below a thousand. So we're we're not seeing classes of 12 or 1300 anymore. We're seeing classes of 990 and 1,000 and change. So that will continue to ripple through the organization. And then last but not least, I have $2 million uh for unknown costs, enrollment decline, and buffer. And you're like, really? Another two million? Well, I haven't talked about one of the other unknowns, which would be the federal revenue. If anybody has any idea on what the feds are going to do, um, that would be great. And I say that only half jokingly because we don't know what the federal government's going to do. Uh, we do hope that they keep

070the big the three. We do hope they keep USDA, food service, title one for low-inccome remediation, and then IDA for special ed. Those are our three biggest funding sources. Um, again, we don't know if the feds are going to change how they fund, if it's going to go to a block grant again. So, we are taking risk on right now without perfect information and have to make some type of hedge to ensure that we have some liquidity. Now, to the you take that into consideration, the takes on the budget then if we're negatives would be just about 11.3 million. So, those are all the that's the downward pressure I'm modeling on the on the operating budget. the positives. So, here's some positives. Thankfully, this community um with support of staff passed the local levy. So,

071this is the second year of that collection. So, we had a higher collection in the first year, but a lower one from the older levy. Now, we go from a higher levy to another higher levy. And so, that pickup is about 2.6 million. So, thankful to the voters and for passing that measure or we'd be in a lot worse shape. Um, and then we go into the reductions. So, the reductions uh are split in there. There's there's a $3 million line item and a 3.2 totaling $6.2 million. Um, one was the enrollment driven staffing that we talked about earlier and then the other one was the program reductions, uh, which we also detailed. Now, the other thing I'm modeling in this is that we continue to save money in transportation. No pressure, Anthony, on the

072charter side. Um, but we have seen some real savings that will continue forward. So, why I'm modeling those forward uh those savings moving to that continue through the fiscal year. And so, I'm not trying to hide the ball there. I do believe those savings are going to continue. But, so that's why it's on a positive on the savings side. Now, there are a few things in the legislature that can drive or swing this budget millions and millions of dollars. One is there's policy bills around MSOC. We serve material supplies and operating costs. The other thing that is up in the air is pension contribution rates. So, when the state moves the pension rate down for the employer, it's like a colon reverse. So, when I talked to you a little bit ago about when the

073state gives a cola, it costs us money. When the state lowers pension contribution rates, it saves us money. I just don't know how much. So, the chambers have a spread of about 4% on the contribution rates. That's a lot of that's a that's a big difference in money. So the model before you takes the highest employer contribution rates which means the least amount of savings for us and pushes it through the model because what I have seen is the state actuaries who determine what the pension rates have to be they've also been revisiting the market recently because it's not doing as well. So market returns on everybody's pension plans was doing awesome and now it's kind of stabilized and they have to make some new actual assumptions. So there is a battle at the legislature

074on how much to put into each of our pension plans and that changes over time. I've seen it go high and low. Um we do have a solvent pension plan in Washington state. Um I think even plan one is solvent now. Um but so all our plans are solvent currently but the legislature does mess with the contribution rate. So I I want to say it's like a colon reverse. If they change that rate one or two% that could be millions of dollars one way or the other. But just to put it in perspective, we're modeling it conservatively um because we don't have agreement in chambers. So there could be a wide swing in those rates. The hard part about the rates when they change is they're often temporary. So they go down, they go down

075for a couple cycles and then they realize woo or the market returns were less than actuarily um anticipated. Then they'll increase the rates which will cost us potentially more money in the future. So pension rates are a big part of this budget that's yet to be unknown. So, I just want to make sure you all understand that. The other thing I mod two other positive pieces of revenue I model is I took the lowest amount of MSOC enhancement out of the house um because they're still battling for the um material supplies and operating costs number. So, the House has the most conservative. The Senate, for example, when you look at them, it was fully funded, it was another $3 million. Not in policy though yet. So, again, I have to go about what's in law

076and what I can actually model. So we model the conservative uh MSOC increase and then on the special education that is modeled with the most conservative multipliers. So each chamber has different multipliers to add. So special education is funded basic ed first and then a percentage of special ed on top. So it's basic ed plus 110 or 120%. they they the state messes with the multiplier on occasion and so when I model what was currently out by each chamber that does generate just under a million dollars in additional revenue so more positive there now that does that is not what if you've been hearing the news about some big legislation on special education that's not it that's them playing around the periphery on on small budget drivers that's not the big full ask so recap

077the the downward pressure again, labor costs, IPD, some inflationary hedges, and then enrollment decline and buffer. And I also didn't talk about the other thing that we don't know is, and we haven't seen it materially yet, but immigration policy could have a downward effect on our enrollment. We have not seen I don't believe in our numbers yet. But again, that's another macro policy issue that could drive enrollment down further. It's just not in any I've been doing this for 25 years. It's not really any of my models. I don't I don't know how to model that. Um but again, you we could lose student to to macro policy or macro level policy. We just don't know. So, uh I believe before you uh are solid budgetary assumptions based on the known facts. um and incorporated

078into expenditures that I am aware of to date and then of course legislative assumptions based on uh conservative approach to each chambers's proposed budget. In the end, this u action before you does add to reserves. Now, there's no the CFO that would be me. I'm going to talk about me like I'm not here generally wants to get the cash amounts up as fast as possible, right? because cash is still king and liquidity is really important for the organization. However, I do think we need to continue to take a measured approach as we add back to the fund balance. So that's why you see an addition of just under two million was not about ready to come up the the dis and ask for five or 10 million to be added back to fund balance in

079one one chunk. I do recognize that fund most districts fund balances were built over many years. um they often evaporate in a few few short years, but they're built fund balances are only built with surpluses. So I know I know that's something that is hard for people to under take in, but we only add the fund balance when we have a surplus, meaning we spend less than we take in. Um and so we have to continue to add back into fund balance. I believe this does it in a measured way, not overly aggressive. um because again we are balancing how much of our program we can and our people we can have in front of students and supporting students versus our financial liquidity. Again, this will be what happens if there's no action. Um, and

080we continue to run at that 5.5 $6 million deficit. And then this would be the projection forward to take action this evening. and all my assumptions are correct which I believe many of them will be but again legislature always surprises in one way or the other um then we would slightly add to fund balance and increase our financial uh stability and overall position. So and the last but not least um learning from last year I thought I'd address this head on. So we hear about administrative overhead. Uh I am fortunate enough that I have access to statewide data tables and can pull the entire state any at any given time and calculate administrative overhead based on what's reported uh in every district's financial statements across the state. So what I want to do this evening

081is take you through our current rank. So 2324 is the most recently completed fiscal year that has compiled data statewide. So in that year uh which is last prior fiscal year um we had a total admin of overhead of 11.62 statewide that year was 12.3% so below the statewide average. The average in Yakama County is 14.16 significantly below that. And then our ranking in overhead for 2324 would have us 241 out of 295 districts. Now that's before we made significant administrative reductions our current budget. So I I took the adopted budget and have calculated the administrative expense in it. It comes to uh just under 10.2%. So that reduction from 11.62 to 10.2 is four million just over $4 million in admin overhead from one year to the next. If we're to maintain that percentage

082at around 10.2, we would be 281st out of 295 districts and then the bottom 5%. Which uh I have worked in a few districts and I have consulted for probably 40 around the state of Washington. Having a district like Yakima with overhead close to 10% with the amount of federal programs we have and our poverty levels is pretty amazing. you want to take a look at districts of high poverty and see what their overhead is, I would encourage you to do that and take a look at the numbers um because they'll surprise you. So, my prior district um has had the lowest overhead in King County for 20some years and I noticed they continue that trait. That is something I pride myself on um along with the superintendent is trying to put every dollar in

083the classroom as possible. Um so to that end um that is why you saw smaller amounts of administrative reductions this cycle um as we are near uh the bottom when it comes to overhead questions on that slide. All right, overall questions. Now, to recap for everybody, there are four documents online. There's the PowerPoint deck that I just went through. There's the actual resolution, which is a a legal document for the most part. There's the summary of the action and then there is this if you would like, there's this in narrative form. So, if you want to go through this in detail on the summary, I also go into more detail about our cash flow and liquidity needs. So you can see on a month-to-month basis why we need a certain amount of cash. So if

084anybody would like to do that and again I'd be happy to answer your questions. Um and I know this presentation the topic is tough um but essential and and I know it's it's going along but I I I know we need to discuss also but I do know also you had um Kim Nules on the uh item too. Do you want to take questions first from the board and then go to Kim or do you want to have Kim speak first? Take questions from you. Okay. Any questions from the board to begin with? Nothing. Okay. So, I'm going to bring up uh All right. Thank you members of the board and President Beckett. Uh my name is Kim Null. I'm the director of HR for certificated staff. And I want to talk to you tonight

085and everybody here a little bit about uh you heard um about the reduction in force. When you hear riff, you also want to talk about the recall process. And I want to just talk really briefly about the recall process um because they do go hand in hand. Um YA President Franic Guerrero and I will be working together as labor partners to facilitate this recall process um as quickly and efficiently as possible while also following our CBA. Um Chantel Heffington is our HR office manager. she'll be uh a direct lead in many of the phone calls um that she's making and talking to everyone during this recall process. So tonight I want to briefly discuss u the process because tomorrow um we will start um our administrators will be delivering the riff letters if this is

086approved tonight. Um, the recall process is really to ensure that all employees at the bargaining unit are afforded ample opportunity to secure a position for the next school year. If you are on the risk list, this does not mean your job is lost. So, please be patient while we work through with the labor agreement to fill assignments. YSD is committed to filling all positions internally prior to advertising any potential openings for new employees. So tomorrow, staff members that are on uh the RIFF list, they will receive the RIFF letter from their building administrator as well as a letter outlining the pro this process that I'm talking through tonight. Um on Thursday, any position that was riffed will then be posted in building in their specific buildings uh for three days. If you're on that riff

087list, you will not have the opportunity at that time to apply for any of those open positions because um those as part of the CDA is we follow the inbuilding process first. Um once we are done with uh this inbuilding process across the district with the inbuilding moves, we will then open up the remaining positions to our unassigned pool. So any positions that were eliminated, they go into the unassigned pool and they will have the opportunity um to fill a position across the district. After the unassigned pool employees have secured their positions in the district, uh we will then be uh begin the recall process from the RIFF pool. Um employees in the Rift pool shall be retained in positions as close as possible u to those that they held at the time of the

088riff. If those positions are no longer available, they may pick from any other open position that they're qualified for. Um once the rift pool has been completed, if we have open positions, they will then be open to every um everybody in the district. And then finally, after um that final process, um if we have any openings, we'll open to the outside. Um, if you're not immediately recalled, um, as, um, Anthony spoke to earlier, you do have a two-year right to recall. Last year, we did have people resign and retire throughout throughout the summer. Um, so we were able to recall all but um, a couple of teachers who are on the recall list for this year. So, that's just a a brief overview of the recall process. again that we'll start tomorrow um with all

089all of our RIFF employees uh receiving letters from our administrators. So, any questions from the board? I guess my only question is sort of a process question and and I don't know the ins and outs of it from last year, but I know there was public testimony as far as people who were questioning the timeliness of the process last year. Does this time frame match up with our bargaining agreements? Yes. So that's um why very we've been very clear about um tomorrow we will hand hand off the letters and then on Thursday we open up and it's 3 days in building and so people in the building have the opportunity to take any of the positions. If there are positions taken then it's another three days after that. So um we've already done an internal

090process um of movement. So I foresee that it'll it it will not take as long as it normally does. Once we do that internal movement, the unassigned pool, they have 3 days to pick um their positions. They send those in to Chantel and I. We sort through them. Takes us a couple days to get everybody in their positions and then compile the pool for the recall process and then we'll start that process. So we are um following the legal process as well as our CDA Any other questions? President Beck, I think it's important to say that last year we started this very first process in the first week of January knowing that because there would be positions that u would be impacted to give people the opportunity to apply for either internal or external positions

091as quickly as possible. this year um it is happening a little bit later because we are not faced with that dynamic and we have a long session uh and that's the process of waiting to see what drops from the state legislature. So yes uh we are doing it a little bit later but we're still uh over one month ahead of uh the legislative requirement. Any other questions from board members? And thank you, Kim. Mr. Cooper, do you have anything else? Um, I do. Just one thing. Um, the budget could come out better, right, than we anticipated. That's the case. That will be great conversation to have because then we would talk potentially about where we add back to the system or maybe we reduce less. And so that option is still out there, but the

092politics obviously are in limbo when it comes to increased taxes. So there is a scenario where big policy bills pass and the two chambers and the governor reach agreement where the butter the budget is better off. There's a scenario where it's worse as well and we potentially don't add to fund balance and have to figure out other ways to save money. Those are both options that are currently on the table given that we're in midappril and sign a dies until the 27th and they're already talking about a special session. So this is not my first rodeo when it comes to legislature. Um so that's why I model things conservatively and but you know there are scenarios and the swings are so large. We're talking about billions of dollars of swings at the legislative level where

093the budget looks quite a bit different than what we just discussed. In that regard, I'll come back with you along with the superintendent and we'll provide you an update and then if there's a need for different direction, we'll take it up as board of directors. But I just wanted to make sure that people were aware of that as a potential. Well, hearing no other discussion, the motion to approve resolution 06.2, excuse me, 06.24.25 reduction in force is on the table. It's been moved and seconded. We've had discussion. We can proceed to a vote. Would you please call a roll call vote for us tonight? Director Walker, yes. Director Navaro Jr. I. Director Rice, yes. President Beckett, I. Motion passes four to zero. Thank you, Barb. Next on our agenda this evening will be the approval

094to purchase student and staff technology devices in alignment with the replacement cycle. And again, Mr. Cooper, I think this falls to you to begin with. Again, Jake, before um before we go to rationale and information, uh the board's being requested to approve the purchase of student and staff technology devices as part of the scheduled replacement cycle utilizing the recognized interlocal purchasing agreement with Dell for a total cost of 1, excuse me, $1,421,8969. Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. We'll go to Jake for the rationale, please. Before you this evening is a request to approve a technology purchase for our laptops. Um, we have been lucky in the last three to five years. We're able to use uh ESSER funding and also FTC funding um and rate to buy

095down uh significantly our cost for student laptops and technology. Uh unfortunately those times have come to an end and so we need now to begin to purchase laptops out of the general fund and what you see before you is a multi-year uh approach to purchasing our needed um laptops for replacement cycle. So this is just for replacement cycle only. Um I have spent a lot of time with Andy Mr. Andy Gonzalez is going over this and I would recommend a uh a yes vote on this action for you this evening so we can accomplish our laptop purchases. Are there any questions for members of the board? Hearing no uh no questions, no discussion. Um all in favor of the motion, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. That'll take us to our reports to

096the board and we'll begin with Omar Santoy, executive director of student services. Omar, welcome this evening. Thank you for being here. Good evening, uh, President Beckett, members of the board, Superintendent Green, and cabinet members. Um, thank you for this opportunity to speak with you tonight. Uh, we are glad that the board is interested um, in our district-wide school counseling program. um and the meaningful partnerships that we continue to build uh in this community. Joining me um in this presentation uh will be Dr. Heather Hasty Yulery uh principal at Davis High School. Uh her and I will be primarily speaking to uh the partnerships uh and then also directors uh Erin Thomas, director of student services and uh Gabe Stoz, director of uh career and technical education. Um and they will probably primarily be speaking to

097uh school counseling program across the district. So uh let's dive in. I get the uh presentation up. Thank you. So Devin, um in regard to our school counseling program update, uh this year our counseling team is focus focused on uh strengthening student support structures. Um and really they've created two major initiatives uh that they are centering on. Um the first is leveraging our policy process. Um and really what that means is they are have created uh professional learning teams. Um and the goal is that they work collaboratively uh to boost student success across the district. Um and the second initiative is uh supporting the whole student. Um and that is uh work that is being done to um enhance and focus on mental health support. Um continue the great work that we do uh and

098that our counselors do around academic planning um and hoping to create strong support network uh for all of our students. And that's really trying to leverage uh the natural support uh systems in our students lives um and really engaging our families uh in the education uh process throughout their education uh career. And switching gears to uh community partnerships, uh we're proud of the relationships that we've built and that we continue to build with our community. Um our district currently partners with around 30 local businesses across Yakima. Uh some examples of uh the businesses that we partner with um are uh businesses like barber shops, uh grocery stores, banks. Um those are just to name a few. Um and while student services does not manage the uh business partnerships, uh we definitely benefit from them as

099we have a lot of students and families that come to our office um in need. Um and so we have uh businesses across Yakimma uh stepping up to supporting our our students and families. Um and beyond businesses uh we have formed strong ties with professional agencies across Yakima. Um and these agencies are providing vital services uh to our students and families um in their professional settings. Um some of the some of these agencies that we partner with is department of uh children, youth and families and uh that partly focuses on student well-being. Um our regional school district 105 uh we partner with them and they offer uh mental health and substance use um support for our students um and counseling services. The uh mental and physical health providers across Akima. uh we have a great

100relationship with them and we work together uh on just keeping our kids healthy. Um and then organizations addressing uh needs like things like homelessness, food insecurity through poverty. Uh we're grateful for the ongoing support that we also uh uh get to continue with um the faith-based organizations uh across Yakimon. um they for our schools in a very powerful way every year. Um and we're so thankful and uh grateful that we get to continue to be in relationship with them. Um at our last board meeting, Dr. Green and his superintendent update uh shared that uh Principal Hasty uh is set to uh present at the upcoming WASA conference. Um and I wanted to give a little bit more information about that. Um it is really truly a special thing uh that her proposal was selected. Um

101I don't know if the board uh got the uh any additional information. There was over 170 proposals submitted uh to AWS. Um and uh stood out amongst a a ton of other proposals that are just very inspiring. Um, and so we're just very proud of that that AWSP and WA was would take notice. Um, and a real treat that we have tonight is uh Dr. Hasty Ulery is uh here and she's going to give us a a brief u overview and a sneak peek at at what she's hoping to cover in her presentation. Okay. Thank you very much. thanks for um letting me take this time real briefly. Um what we're excited about is with our faith-based partnerships and at Davis High School, it has just blossomed. It has grown and it is just fantastic.

102The um the picture you see up there, that's Donnie. If you ever come to our building in the mornings, Donnie is out there greeting kids every day and like without fail. And if he's not there, the kids are asking if he's okay. So, you know, and it's very rare that he's not there. It's usually because he has an appointment somewhere or he'll go over and others will drive him like to the sporting events and different things and stuff. So, he's made a lot of connections with our kids and if you ever do go out there and you say hi to him, he'll kind of look at you and nod and then he turns to the kids. So, because that's where that's where his passion is. That's and so that's that greeting the spending time with

103students and that particular connection that actually started with just like those first couple days of school when you're looking for partners and community partners to help you welcome students in help find places such like that and um and Donnie as well as others have have stuck around which is fantastic helping us in different ways but um that that's very special some of the other ways that our faith-based partners help us at our dances, at prom, at um gosh, again, at sporting events, also though like tutoring and such. So, they come in, they do tutoring. It's very much like working with community partners, which is what they are. And then guest speakers for our students. So like um Nina and John, there's a couple from from yet a different faith-based community who come and they speak

104to our students about just their story and they can really relate. So just as like you bring in a guest speaker, um there's some who have some very similar experiences as some of our students with like gangs and such like that. And so um and then just their their journey and their way out and they share that with our students. Um, and then on Tuesdays, every Tuesday, you will see a group a group of faith-based partners on our campus. Um, beautifification, for lack of a better word, really like um, we've got Linda Isella, we've got Susanna, we've got some others who come with her and um, they're going around and they're picking up the campus, but at the same time they're talking to people. They're building the morale of the staff as well as the

105students and that is so cool. And again, you see them every Tuesday. So, it's consistent and it's the consistency in our students lives as well that is just so fantastic to see. But, um, just things like picking up things, pointing out like, hey, there's there's some issues that we're seeing or that we're hearing in the community. Can we meet and talk about it? In fact, just this morning, we had a meeting with O is Nina, John. Um Jake Cub's another one of our partners and then and Donnie and we were talking about how do we grow our faith-based partnership from faith-based to true community partnership even bigger and and um what are some other partners we can bring in. And so it's just to give you kind of a taste of some of the things

106we're doing at Davis that our partners are doing right and the kids. And so the presentation that we're doing in the summer really we'll be bringing along some of our faith-based partners to talk about it. We'll be videoing some of our kids to talk about what's it mean to have community partners in their life. And so that's that's my part. Good evening. I get to talk to you about my favorite thing and oops, I just did the wrong thing. Sorry. Okay, here we go. All right, so again, good evening. Um, I have the privilege to facilitate the elementary school counselors PL2 and this team consists of all the elementary school counselors for our K5 schools. And so they collectively represent 6,381 students and all of those students social emotional learning and all the different levels

107that they are at. So it's a true district level team. Um we are in the first year so we are building the team and it's a rollout year. So there's a lot of work that has to happen before you can start at that first level of the PLC process. You're really developing your team. And so, um, I like to I liken it to like a farmer who wants to have an abundant harvest. They wouldn't just go out and throw seeds in a field and hope for the best, right? They would till the land. They would prepare the soil. They would remove any barriers. And that's the work that we have done this year so far and we will continue to do. And that work helps to truly prepare for that planting that we're doing. So,

108excuse me, Aaron. Yes. For those of those that are in the viewing audience, could you tell us what PLC stands for? Yes. So the a PLC is a professional learning community and that would be our district and a PLT is a team of that PLC. So we're a professional learning team for our counselors. So thank you. And so then um we have done all that work to develop that team to establish all the things that we we need to do and we're nearly finished with that preparation work. So we are completing our needs assessment right now and we are working on root cause and then from that work then we create a um an action plan and then we can start continuing our work on those essential standards. And so then we start the PLC

109process. So that important work that we're doing, it aligns with strategic plan goal one. And in goal one, it says that our students will acquire social emotional skills. And so we are deep into that work. I'm really proud of the progress that we have made this year. Um, I'm also very impressed with the level of dedication and commitment of our school counselors and I'm looking forward to year two where we can dig deeper and then share with you that entire plan and the progress that we have. Thank you. All right. Good evening, President Beckett and distinguished members of the board. I'm Gabe Scott, CTE director, and I'll be sharing updates on two crucial initiatives supporting our students post-secary success. So, in 2023, Washington State took a significant step forward with House Bill 5243, which established

110a universal high school and beyond plan um for all students in Washington state. uh Washington did select school links and that platform is going to ensure every student in our state has equal access to a comprehensive postsecondary planning tools. Now our counselors are at the forefront of this transition and we're implementing robust training programs that factor on three key areas. First, career pathway exploration and guidance. Second, graduation requirement tracking. and third, college readiness support and planning. Now, this platform will serve as our counselor's central tool for guiding our students through their post-secondary journey. Now, looking ahead, we're planning for full implementation in the 2025 26 school year and with ongoing training and integration into student planning meetings. Now, secondly, complementing our school link's implementation, we've strengthened our relationship with Central Washington University to enhance our

111dual credit programs. This collaboration focuses on providing our counselors with comprehensive, up-to-date information about college and the high school courses. Now, we've identified several key areas where counselor support is crucial. First, addressing common misconceptions about program eligibility and costs. Second, clarifying distinctions between college and high school running start and our advanced placement and international balorate programs. And third, and finally, supporting our families in making better informed decisions about these opportunities. Our counselors are now better equipped to guide students towards dual credit options that align with their individual career and college goals that are going to be outlined in their high school and beyond plan which is school links. Now, in conclusion, these initiatives represent our commitment to providing comprehensive post-secary support for all students. Through the school links implementation and enhanced dual credit guidance, we're

112building a stronger foundation for student success beyond high school. Thank you for your time and happy to answer any questions. Any questions from the board? Yeah, I have I have a couple more. I'll start with you. Okay. Well, first in in the secondary level, how how is the information on career pathways and graduation planning delivered to students? Um what's the what's the process and method? So, there's a few different avenues. one-to-one counseling obviously with students. Um we are looking at starting as early as seventh and eighth grade to kind of look at what may be a futures night for our students where they can actually explore some of these pathways early on so they can really opt into different kinds of pathways as well. Um second could be through our advisory classes at high school

113where we're looking to increase some time as well. Now through school links it does have options for graduation pathways um through their course planner. So they could select an AP if they were an Eisenhower student that would build their schedule for them. Same thing with an IB. If a student wants to go through a career and technical education graduation pathway, they could at Eisenhower select like their welding agg program and then it's going to also help populate that schedule to meet that pathway as well. And then I have a question for the Thank you by the way. Yes. I have a question for the elementary level as well. um in the in the PLC pro or in your process, we obviously have some things going now programmatically, but I'm curious if that's um a three-

114tiered process kind of like we have a tier one um system where we have curriculum delivered to all students in terms of social emotional curriculum. And then what's what is our structure like in terms of tier 2 secondary level interventions and tier three interventions if that's the model we're still using. I'm curious as to what what are some of the curricula being used? Is it being used widely and um and also training in the use of social and emotional curriculum. So some Sure. So we do have a a multi-tered systems of support for our students. And so in tier one, we rely heavily on the teachers to um provide the support to the students. So the tier one would be um their everyday school. We we want teachers to be able to integrate that work

115into their teaching. And our counselors start at tier 2 and then they are providing more intense support and they are doing like small groups or even like a tier three one-on-one. They're providing that additional support. And there are different programs that people use and the the the teachers and the counselors have the opportunity. They do have academic freedom to choose what they want, but they we do have some resources for them like like Second Step and other resources out there. So, they do have that freedom to choose and our counselors um come with a toolbox of their own. And so, we don't tell them exactly what they're going to do, but they get to decide the essential standards that they're going to focus on and then we will be updating that plan every year. And

116are you using the um ASA national model standards as your as your standards for we use OSPI socially emotional standards? Use their standards. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Uhhuh. Yeah. I have a quick question for Gabe. Uh first and foremost, thank you for for your work um especially in the CT area and I know that uh we have had this dual language now um growth in working with Central Washington University. Oh, dual credit, I'm sorry. Could could you do you have any of the you might not have this now and I can get it from you and then share it with the board, but do you have any um numbers of how it has increased um over the last let's say year plus? I don't have those direct numbers on me. I can get those

117from Principal Diner and Principal Hasty. I can say with confidence they have grown in the last year and we are even looking at other classes as we grow and expand that kind of cross career and technical education and those college and the high school courses through central as well. Thank you. If I could get that from you at some point I'll share that with the board. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you. Our May 5th meeting will be at YBT from what I understand. So we may have the opportunity in the very near future right setting it up. Um, Mr. Santo, does that conclude? Um, yeah, you know, there uh Bob, sorry, I didn't know if I'd be invited back. Um, you know, there there was just, uh, one more thing I wanted to mention. Um,

118and I I think just kind of in conclusion, uh, we are just so proud of our, uh, school counselors across this district. They're hardworking individuals that do amazing things for um, our students. Um, and also, uh, I'm we are very proud of this community and how this community shows up, uh, for our district and rallies around. Um, we can't do this alone. Um, and, uh, and we're so thankful for our community partners and, um, there is a, uh, I believe, uh, some recognition that is coming. Uh, Superintendent Green. Yes. I I I do want to acknowledge the work that Omar has really done in in creating a a bridge to our community as well. When we talk about the faith-based partnership and the recognition that's happening around the state for that uh and how we

119have every school that has multiple faith-based partners and the impact thereof, it is tremendous in the envy of of of numerous districts and cities. So, I've never seen anything like it to the magnitude of a district our size. uh and it's directly it directly correlates to the work that that Omar has done but also I know no I can compliment you on this and I will al also say that part of it is is that you know bridging with you know I think it was Jake CH Jake Cup uh that played a significant role if you know Jake Cup he's uh no long he's achieved the lifelong dream of of having somebody in your family becoming more famous and have more recognition which is what you want as a parent as a grandparent so he's

120just a tremendous um resource and community community advocate and he was um instrumental in really um growing and and being a a strong catalyst uh for the initiation of the faith-based partnership and uh he will be recognized in the coming weeks. Uh he will receive a um uh Washington Association of School Administrators uh recognition for community leadership. um it it'll be from our district to him and I I'll look forward to bringing him back to the board and we can go into more detail about that faith-based partnership and how it played out. It's very very interesting, exciting, and cutting edge and we look forward to that. Now, go ahead. No, thank you. I just wanted to make sure that the recognition went to you. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you, Omar. Thank you, um Heather, Erin,

121and Gabe as well. I have to um just say as a parent who goes through the Davis High School drop off every single morning that Donniey's presence is a a bright light in everyone's morning there. It's a very nice thing to see at the drop off line every morning. So, uh thank you to all four of you for the presentation this evening. Uh that takes us to updates and our begin with members of the board. Does any board member have an update for the rest of the board tonight? I know you want to talk about the legislature, but you're holding back. I appreciate that. You know, if I made a statement tonight at whatever time it is, 9:19, it would change by midnight because that's I mean, they're they're having very, very long days and

122short nights and getting very tired in the meantime. Raymond, anything? Okay, Dr. Green, that'll take us to the superintendent update. Thank you. I'll I'll keep this uh short as well, but uh since I was called out as maybe sharing something from the legislative component, I I did shoot out a quick text about a half an hour ago. Uh only because I was in touch with um um one of my contacts in Olympia that works uh directly in the halls of uh of the government there. And uh she had um connections with four senators, conversation with four senators about a bill that was going to drop, supposed to drop yesterday. It was postponed until today. I reached out and said, "Has it finally dropped?" And it has. I have not read it yet. It's it's now

123um on my phone, and I look forward to reviewing that in the next uh couple of hours after this meeting. Uh it's Senate Bill 5812. Um Senator Wellman is in support of this bill. Not completely elated with it from what I understand. My words, not hers, uh my understanding secondhand. Uh but it's uh something that um she can can live with and and maybe even better than that. So again, not having read this, um I was contacted to uh to to speak and and advocate in support of uh of this House bill. So again, I'll review this this evening. I would have had a report on you, but it just it just dropped less than 24 hours before there's going to be a a a conversation about it. Uh that starts at about 5:30, 5

124or 5:30 tomorrow night, and I believe it's bill kind of fourth or fifth in the in the category. So, it could be about a a three or four hour session or before it even gets to to that that that piece. So, um that'll be kind of more of an update. Had we had this information um you know, a couple of days ago, we might have a different conversation in this room. Um from speaking, we're in a situation now where we could we could see a shortened session. We could see an extended session. We just don't know. And I think a lot of it's going to depend on on what this bill looks like for us in the education realm. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Green. We do have a long list of events in board

125docs and we we see sporting events, musical, theater, etc. events. Um I'm wondering Kirsten if you wouldn't at least give us a brief update on what's going on with our Yamate exchange. I know that's a very exciting thing for a whole lot of people. If you don't mind ad libing for a second for us, I would be happy to. So, our 75 Yamate students uh and five teachers came from Japan arriving on the 11th and they will be in Yakama for two weeks. They will leave on the 25th. Uh they are doing many activities at schools um such as Eisenhower and Davis. also uh a few students at East Valley High School and um we have over 40 host families in the community. We also have um some sponsors of past participants from from the

12690s who uh are helping with scholarship for outbound portion. We also have the Tamaki Foundation who is sponsoring our closing reception at the Yakama Valley Museum with our Japanese American uh community leading us through the permanent exhibit now of the land of joy and sorrow. So that will be our our final event on the 23rd. Uh then the kids pack up and and go. I was actually just texting with a well-known coach here, uh, Eisenhower, Phil English, who has caught wind of an athlete from, uh, Japan, a running track athlete. So, uh, this athlete will be practicing with them at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. So, many cultural uh, opportunities that are being expressed um, back and forth. U, many people in this room are hosting. Myself and my husband have four boys um at

127home right now, anxiously awaiting my arrival back at home so they can ask me what they can do after school tomorrow. So, super fun. Thanks for asking. Okay, we'll go then to our second opportunity from comments from the public. This is for all other topics. We have three that are signed up, I believe. Mr. McKenna, are you here? Steve, do you want to begin tonight? Good evening. Welcome. Uh, my name is Steve McKenna. Um, taxpayer in the Yakim School District. Uh I've spoken to you numerous times about some of these issues. Um I know the financial issues presented tonight. Um we had the financial calamity back in uh October where we laid off classified staff. Now we are riffing off staff that serve uh students directly primarily. And um but the district has money to

128give the superintendent a large raise, which I spoke to at the last school board meeting, which is already larger than the governor's salary and roughly twice what the state school superintendent receives. He has one of the largest salaries in Eastern Washington of any superintendent. And the district has uh I would say a couple things about the uh central office administration there. The district had I brought this up earlier this year. The district has more central office administrators than the district had in 2020 with over 1500 fewer students. District has added large numbers of classified administrators that do not show up in the stats that Mr. Koopa mentioned today and um so um but uh I will show you the next meeting I'll probably show you the ratio of administration to uh uh teachers and we

129will talk some more. But it's just frustrating to see that we have money for raises with the superintendent, but we're laying off staff that serve students directly. It's just an interesting way to operate and not a good one. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Next on our list tonight is Duff Dit. Mr. Dit, would you like to address the board? Welcome. Good evening. I'm Dr. Whit, Yakama School District parent, teacher and YA bargaining chair. Um I'm going to speak first off as a parent on the topic of the riffs and losing our six secondary um librarians. Heather Kesler is the name of the librarian Eisenhower whose job you cut today. Um that is the woman that my daughter sees every day when she comes to school. Uh we arrive at 7:30 on the daily. She walks

130directly to the library and she and Mrs. Kesler have a wonderful conversation about the books that she has been reading for the week. Uh she returns those books and gets more those books are the thing that drives my daughter daily to exceed in the classroom. Um that relationship uh started on the first day of school. It will go all the way through this school year. And I am um I I feel personally devastated that that is going to be a conversation I'm going to have with my kid that in the place where I work that where I put all my time and effort, we are the district that doesn't have secondary librarians anymore. Um I find that to be maybe one of the saddest and most embarrassing statements that I'm going to have to uh

131to say about the place where I work. Um as an English teacher, the library is a place where I go on the daily. Um, I talk to Miss Kesler uh constantly about books that my students would be interested in so I can have those conversations with my honor students. Um, it is an uphill battle that we fight against technology in order to encourage long form reading. And it's a battle that I will continue to fight because of how much it brings their academics up as they push into other classes with the ability to focus and maintain that attention throughout um, activities. uh the the storytelling that takes place in that and the ability for someone to advance that storytelling onto a student with that with that level of expertise and knowledge is not something replaced

132by a checkout specialist um in a gorgeous place full of materials for these students to access. Um which also means my son will not have a librarian at Franklin any longer and my other son only gets two more years of librarian access. like I just like it it it this is like a mind-blower for me as an English teacher. Um in response to um to Mr. Cooper's presentation um I I fully understand there are hard decisions to be made and we all knew walking into this room what was going to happen today. I mean it was no secret. He's been talking about it all year long. There's going to be a reduction of force. Um my my disappointment just lies with the way that we are we are treated and the way that we are

133presented this information and the way decisions appear to be made in this environment which feels heartless, cold and without empathy. Um two opportunities that Dr. Green had to ask Mr. Cooper about the presentation he was providing. the opportunities were given to cherrypick comments that our union president has asked about pro providing support and it obviously showed that other memberships in other unions were not being cut but ours was. Um, every time that and that wasn't your intention to make to be disrespectful. It certainly came off that way to everyone in the room. And every time that happens, you are disrespecting 1,000 teachers that view her as our union leader and representative. Thank you, Duff. We have one more speaker signed up, uh, Annie Blake from McKinley. Annie, do you want to speak tonight? Welcome. The

134floor is yours. So, Annie Blake, third grade teacher at McKinley Elementary. Um, I do know some teachers that are going to be personally impacted tomorrow with the budget cuts. Um, Jake, I know it's a hard decision and you came in to the district with a deficit. Like I've asked before, I think there's more that could be done that doesn't cut from the teachers that doesn't that it shouldn't affect the teachers. Um, it's affecting our students. We don't need new technology at the elementary level. My gosh, I'm an old school teacher who says, "Get rid of the computers. Let them read an actual book, physical book that our librarians give to them. Let them go outside and enjoy nature. Let them go outside and explore the world around them, but not on a computer. We can

135do so much more without a computer. So, please, if you need to take our elementary ones, and if we have to get rid of the SBA at the third grade level, next thing, because I don't know any third graders that really need to take a a two week long test in math and reading. Jake, I do or Dr. Green, I do want to say thank you for wearing red. Um, school board members, I mentioned last time that we all we all rep you, we represent you. You represent us. We vote for you. It's not just Dr. Green. And yet you had no questions about Jay Cooper's budget decisions. No questions on why we need to spend over a million dollars on technology and laptops. But you had a lot of questions about the counseling program

136that was presented. How do you come to your decisions? I would like to know how you do your job. Do you pre-eread any of this? I know from the embarrassment of the recognition earlier tonight, you guys aren't prepared. So I know you don't pre-eread and come like I as a teacher I spend countless hours planning each minute of my lesson researching my lessons so that I can provide researchbased lessons and evidence to my students. Do you even do that? Is it too much to ask that you plan ahead? Our contract hours is what 7 and 1/2 hours? I spend well over 10 hours a day doing my job because you keep cutting positions and I have to do more and more year after year. Jake, you mentioned that the substitute budget is higher than you

137plan. Have you thought about it? It's because you've cut all of our support, so we're doing more. You're stressing us teachers out more where we're going to the hospital. I spent a week in the hospital, guys, for spring break because of the stress that this job has been putting on me. Thank you. That takes us to our consent agenda for this evening. The consent agenda is located under section E in your board docs. It includes the approval of minutes for March of 2025, notification of approval of warrants for March, approval of personnel actions, budget status reports for March of 2025, and the uh narrative monthly financial update from the assistant superintendent of finance. Does any member of the board wish to have any item pulled from the consent agenda for further discussion tonight? No. Hearing

138none. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Having read everything in the consent agenda and on the entire agenda, I move to approve the consent agenda. Second. A motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. Uh all in favor of approving the consent agenda tonight, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Section F under policy governance. We'll begin with Mr. Myrietta for policy 1000.2.2, the working environment of staff. I believe this is the second reading. Um it has been posted in board docs in respect to a summary of what the document states that we have policies which govern our employees provide for labor agreements grievance processes and checks and balances. Do you have any questions? This I think this is our first reading is it not because

139we haven't received our survey monkey on this yet. That's correct. Yeah. just just for clarification. So, uh discussion or uh comments on improvements or tweaks to the policy can be submitted. The survey monkey will be set tomorrow. Section two is regarding policy 1000.2.4 and that is Mr. Cooper. Good evening. Um before you was financial planning and budgeting. Um this document was updated with uh all the annual uh budget updates you get. So basically before you was a recitation of the report that I gave you. So annually you're required to have a report that uh provides you assumptions on revenue and expenditures um what we're going to collect in that period etc. So um you had this in advance and before um it's been updated with uh the annual updates and again you actually saw this

140even though it the monitor report is a year and a rears back um you just saw that actually come to life before you with a presentation. So there's any questions I'd be happy to entertain. No questions again that survey monkey will be sent out tomorrow. Uh section number three is the approval for ratings for the policy of 1000.2.1 treatment of students and their parents guardians again to Mr. Cooper. The responses were in board docs. This one is second reading. Yeah, typically we um so we're voting we're voting to receive Yeah. Were there any comments or elaborations on the written comments that were submitted? Okay. Hearing none, then a motion to approve the responses. So moved. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Um, do we have

141a need for executive sessions? Okay. Well, then it takes us to the end of our agenda this evening. So, we will be adjourned until May 5th and our meeting will be at YB Tech. So, we'll see you all then. Thank you. We are journed.