Yelm Community School Board Meeting 11.20.2025

001Okay, I would like to call the um November 20th school board meeting to order. Rise. >> It's right here. >> I pledge algiance 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. >> All right, welcome everyone. My name is Denise Henderson and I am the school board president. Before we begin, I want to remind everyone that the agenda and meeting tab are made available on our district website at least 24 hours prior to the start of each meeting. Please note that while we strive to provide all relevant materials in advance, modifications to the agenda are permissible. All right. Um we're going to begin with board recognition and we'll invite Dr. Lucero Smith out to introduce uh

002our topic tonight for recognition. >> Good evening. It is my pleasure to introduce this month's district-wide recognition honoring the exceptional contributions of our educational staff associates and our support staff who work diligent whose work diligently strengthen student success and wellbeing. BSAS or educational staff associates are highly trained professionals who provide specialized services that support students academic progress, social emotional development and overall health. This group includes school counselors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and behavior specialists. Each role requires specific preparation and state certification to meet the standards of the professional educator standards board. Alongside our ESAs, we are also recognizing some support staff whose daily work is essential to keeping students safe, supported, and ready to learn. These roles such as behavior support and help remove barriers, strengthen connections, and

003ensure students receive the immediate support they need. Together, our DSAs and support staff make a profit. Your expertise, compassion, and commitment help students build confidence, overcome challenges, and thrive in school and in life. So, at this time, I would like to call up the principles. I'll go ahead and call the order, and that's the order in which we will present this evening. So we have Lisa Crowell, Stara Watson, Jodie German, Becky Fowler, Holly Acriman, Charles Cook, Craig Curry. And in for him tonight is Anthony Kojo, Mark Bowden, and Chris Clark. And for Curtis Clark, so that's the order in mutual. So the first of four students Good evening everybody. I'm Lisa Brown and I am the principal at Fort Stevens and I would like to invite my amazing school counselor Anger Fitzgerald M to come

004next to me so I can talk about how amazing she is. All right. Um so I'm delighted to share some insights about our exceptional school counselor this evening. Gainer is truly a utility player, much like those invaluable team members that every coach dreams of having this past season, our Mariners nearly reach the World Series. And just as each player was vital, Gainer is essential on our team. Gainer is the kind of counselor who is in it for the students, willing to move mountains to ensure they have what they need. She offers students so much. Here are just a few examples. essential breaks, assisting with social emotional learning, supports in the classroom, organizes lunch punch groups where students can build their social skills, partners with teachers to help students who are struggling, and she meets one-on-one

005with students who have concerns or need a supportive listening ear. She also helps student find students find solutions with peers through restorative conversations. The list really does just go on. She brings the same dedication to our staff. She can really encap a school's supportive and academic ballpark. She spent 15 years in the minors as a parah at Fort Stevens and then she went on to the major leagues gaining 10 years of experience as a school counselor including four years in Yelm and the last two years at Fort Stevens. Her impact has been profound. I was fortunate when she joined our team following the riff and her previous principal's praise were not was not an exaggeration. No matter the challenge, Gainer approaches approaches it with a put me in coach attitude. Even when the bases are

006loaded and the stakes are high, she steps up to the plate and consistently hits a home run. As the sole administrator in the building, I know that without her support, I wouldn't be able to do the job that I do. Her support is vital to our team's success. I wholeheartedly recommend and nominate Gainer for MP. >> We can go over there until we're done. So walk in front. We'll go behind Martin later. >> I would like to invite up here with me our behavior support assistant Reed. While she comes up, I'm Stara Watson, principal at Lakmus. Megan joined our Lakmus family this year as our behavior support assistant and she has brought an exceptional dedication to her work in our school. From day one, she jumped in confidently, ready to support students and staff alike.

007as she balances responsibilities across two schools with remarkable grace. Her knowledge and skills help us all know that she is there for support. We were brainstorming other ways as we were sitting here waiting. Whether working with an individual student, being a calm presence for our adults, or documenting diet and observations, her approachability and consistency make students feel safe and respected. Her quick grow professional support for colleagues strengthens our whole team. Her stead work arrives at a much needed time and her calm compassionate presence has already made made a meaningful difference in our school community. We are so thankful for you Megan. This is a welldeserved Good evening. I'm principal at McKenna Elementary and tonight I'd like to honor MNA Porter who is my school counselor at McKenna. Um Janice, hello Ma. Um and these past

008two years, Ma's had clever time both in my building and at Mil Pond. And although I wish I could just have her full time, I'm okay with sharing her. But um um her impact as I actually wrote something, but I I I her impact is often quiet, often behind the scenes and yet deeply transforming. She ensures that every student feels seen, valued, and supported. not just academically but emotionally and socially. Her work reminds our students that school is not only a place to learn but a place to belong. Over the past few years, Ma's had to juggle her time, as I said, between our building and the timeline. And yet she is able to still hold her um invaluable minute meeting which allows our students to have that personal touch point and a trusted relationship

009with her. Through her SC lessons and her small groups she's able to work with our students and work with their emotions, help them solve conflicts, build coping strategies, and develop that confidence to advocate for themselves. MNA continues to strengthen and and build partnerships beyond just the school day. Um she continues to build family connections and supports um to help our families feel welcomed, included, and then empowered as partners um in their student success. What makes so exceptional is isn't only the programs that she helps run. It's her compassion, her professionalism, and her consistency that she brings to every interaction. She shows up for students on the hardest days, and she celebrates their success. She models empathy, patience, and the unwavering belief that every student can succeed. Because of her work, students feel safer, families feel

010supported, and McKenna is a stronger, more connected community. Mina, I the staff um are so lucky to have you and we are profoundly um a better place every day that you're um so again on behalf of our staff, our families, we grateful for you and we honor you tonight. So thank you. >> I am Ben Milton Elementary and tonight we are honoring Miss Casey Johnson, our school psychologist. Um the uh there is definitely a theme this evening and uh we are honoring people who are spread amongst multiple buildings. Um so sharing is caring. I also get to share Casey um with McKenna and um Megan is one of our common sheriff as well. Um Casey and I have had the opportunity to work together for four years now. Um, and her impact is just I

011I can't even describe it. Um, she's an integral part of our MTSS structures with providing interventions and communication and collaboration with with teachers, um, our SWE staff. We got a new program to the building this year and Case has been there like every step of the way. So I truly could not imagine building without you and um on behalf of myself and the staff, we thank you. Um my name is Holly and I'm the principal here at Prairie and I get to c Marcia is walking it way over here. Yeah, here she is. She might have some dances. >> Yeah. >> All right. So, Laura is our school psychologist here at Prairie and I also share her with the staff over there. Um, yeah. I mean, Sharon is Karen, right? Whoever said, >> yeah, Sharon

012is caring. Although we always wish her parents all day. Um, she also did her internship at Prairie along with Christine Carter. And so when I heard that Kristen was outside of Prairie, she is a natural fit here at Prairie for sure. Laura is always positive and completely student focused. She steps in to support staff with IEPs and individual student needs. She brings creativity, problem solving to tough situations and is always building strong, trusting connections with families so that their voices are heard. Her ability to listen, to validate concerns, to translate family input into actionable supports has already made a real difference for students at our school. Although she interns in secondary, right? Secondary. Yeah, I you are an elementary person at heart. There might be some quotes over that. See here, but she is elementary

013at heart. Uh, with her warmth, her energy, and patience, she meets young learners at the right level. Laura is incredibly passionate about students she serves and about creating strong systems that help every child thrive. I'm continually impressed by her creative thinking, her follow through on plans, and her determination to find positives in literally every situation. Beyond her technical skills, Laura brings a collaborative spirit. She's quick to share resources. She coaches staff. She celebrates small wins with teams. Her presence has strengthened our school community and made the path forward clearer for students who need extra support. We're so lucky to have you on our team. Thank you for supporting our students, faculty, and families. We appreciate you. Good evening. My name is elementary and exciting is Mr. Schultz. Maybe he is watcher there was only one

014person we could think of. So Kimberly, please come on down. We were both fighting over who got to go first and what we could say and we tried to minimize the amount what you were saying because there was a lot that we could. So the three things that I got to say was she's a valued member of our school team and our team. She's a positive personality that consistently brings out the best in others, students or staff. She is always willing to help with any child that is needing that emotional support or issue. Example would be me working with a kid that's having a tantrum in the hallway and she just kind of pushes these side, works with them and gets them to go to her office and they come out smiling. So, >> all

015right. Not only does she build a strong relationship and it's not just walking up and down, she's always willing to go that extra mile to help staff to help students and she makes me a better principal because I can always ask her what that she's in our meetings. She is professional and she she also does a great job of working with families and so she always has a son and suffer. Thank you. Congratulations. Good evening everyone. My name is Anthony Ko, proud vice principal of Middle School. Go to world. I'm standing in for Mr. Curry, our principal. and uh he text me some words to say about Miss Sophia Agar aka Sophie who's also not here. I told Mark when it's time for the hug he stand. So here's the words from Mr. Curry. Okay,

016there it is. Miss Agar is a true asset to our school and a true advocate for some of our most vulnerable population students. She is highly knowledgeable and competent and we appreciate her amazing contributions to our school. I agree with all of that and I'd like to add she's highly professional, easy to get along with. She has a great sense of humor. She is everything that you would want from a school site. And I I see a hitter in the back. And I want to say that she also is a very very good hitter. No shade. I don't know the difference. the hood. >> Thank you. >> I was like, I don't need to write anything because I can talk about forever. Uh and then she came in and I was like about that thing

017and that thing and that thing. So I ended up actually um Val has a job title health room assistant but the reality is that doesn't even begin to describe her job and her impact on YMS. She's often the only person in our in our building of almost 700 kids taking care of them, looking out for them and you know just covering up the the scratchiest taking care of these little kids. Uh the the thing that she her job she does exceptionally every single day. The part of it that is beyond is her care in which she does it. When we talk about creating a sense of belonging in young community schools, we could just look at Val and watch her to see an example of that. The relationship that she builds with her regular customers

018is closer to one of family than it is of customers, right? And then the the ones that just come in because they bruise their elbow or whatever, she takes care of in a way that I know that as a father I would hope that my kids would take care of at at their school. Uh she is a she is a rock for these kids. She is there for whatever they need. But Val's impact goes beyond the walls of the health room. She is a connection to our community with regular calls to check in on immunizations to reach out to families for support. She is a coach with our track team. She's a cheerleader for our staff and she's an advocate for her colleagues. The bottom line is that we have a special thing going at

019BMS which is built around what I call the culture of care. God is the heart of this and he wouldn't be the same without her. Thank you so much. far beyond counseling. Genie embodies what it means to be a school counselor. She has built nurtured culture in ways both joyful and profound. Whether it's organizing secret staff spirit weeks um the Disney award this week which I wouldn't fit in was quite a birdie's birthday. Sorry, I missed that part. But I thought it was a Disney day and I missed that. So, and the biggest thing is keeping your door open to not only our kids, but our staff are always welcome and filling part part of the team largely due to Jamie's ability to create and mentor that with us in times where sometimes we all

020just need a picture. Genie is a kind calling whose new counselors look up to for guidance. We have two new in in our system there that look to her daily. Not only because of her deep knowledge of the young community school systems, but because her generosity, patience, and wavering commitment to helping others succeed. She's a trusted mentor, a creative leader, and a true part of our community school. Genie, your dedication strengthens the bonds among staff and students alike and your spirit has made wise to place where people feel seen, supported, inspired. We're grateful for your leadership, your kindness, and joy school did. You simply make it the best day ever. So, congratulations. Yes. All right. There. Ready? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. I don't want to shake your hand. I want Thank you

021all. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Thanks. And thank you. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> A bowling match. Congratulations. >> Recognition. All right. Uh, next is superintendent comments. >> I will be uh pretty brief this evening. Uh, just want to uh update the board. You guys know this. Obviously, the levy has been taught behind. Uh, couple things. So, next Tuesday, the vote gets certified. Uh, once the vote is certified, I'll be sending out communication to our families and to our staff. I don't know exactly what time on Tuesday that'll be certified, but as soon as it is um it's uh late in the day, I'll send it out in the evening. Otherwise, uh send that out earlier. So, that'll talk about uh some of the steps we are taking immediately and the steps

022moving forward. I do want to remind um folks about binding conditions because what's different about this time in our budget cuts is that um our district does not operate alone in this process any longer. Um now what happens is we move into what's called a financial oversight. Uh Denise was on the call uh on the meeting last week with OSPI and ESD. That is our regular quarterly meeting. I'm also meeting weekly myself with OSBI and ESC uh to discuss very specific um budget issues and uh plans moving forward. So, as as part of the financial oversight process, OSPI will be coming to the January 22nd board meeting, and that has to be a specific step in the process where they um have to accept our new binding conditions and entering into financial oversight. Financial oversight

023is where they um identify a committee that takes a closer look at our finances which is already happening. Uh it's it's been happening and we've already been working in collaboration with them. So then once that uh committee is uh developed in addition to the folks from OSPI and ESD they then work in collaboration with us as we move forward. They do not govern as far as um they do not have authority over the cuts we make. However, they are involved in the process. They are involved in the recommendations. They are involved in the brainstorm and they involved in all of it. So, the plan is not our plan alone. Uh we already have some very concrete ideas uh of where cuts need to be made in addition to um other cuts that we'll be making.

024And uh given the magnitude of cuts that need to be made, everything uh will have to be on the table. Um there is no area of our district that uh we are not looking at and that includes like I said immediate cuts and future cuts. In addition to the financial oversight committee and the work that we do with them, we also create a 24 month 24 plus. The goal when you are in financial oversight is two years to get out of financial oversight. That is the goal of OSPI. That is the goal of ESC 1113 and that is obviously our goal as well. So we work very closely with them. Again, this is not something we do in isolation. Um I continue to meet with them weekly. We are also very aware that there are

025some cuts that are going to need to be decided on before January 22nd and that's where you as a board in the coming board meetings um are going to need to make some decisions because we do have some things that are timesensitive as far as um expectations and impacts beyond our school district. And so, uh, we'll continue talking about that and scheduling additional study sessions, uh, to specifically just talk about that. So, I just wanted to update you on the process and, uh, Denise will continue to, uh, attend in addition to another board member as well, uh, all of our binding condition meetings. And then I will continue to meet weekly with ESD and OSPI uh to continue to do a deep dive into our finances. Also in addition to that um our CFO uh

026resigned and so we are uh working with ESD as our business manager in the meantime which actually works very well in conjunction with our financial situation. So they are already intimately involved in day-to-day operations um in all aspects of our district. So uh the partnership actually um is is good timing for us uh to have them very involved in the day-to-day operations and then uh Deb and I uh speak with them on a daily basis with regards to expenditures. Um, so I don't know if you guys have any questions, but I will certainly be keeping you up to date on uh all that information moving forward and uh pretty regular emails with information from uh OSPI and ESC. All right. Um, yes question. All right. Community comments one. >> Yes, we have one. We have

027Ma Porter talking about attendance and engagement. And there is a microphone. >> Okay. >> All right. I want to remind everyone of the guidelines for public comment in accordance with policy 1400. Um, for comments on non-aggenda items, the board will listen but will not engage in discussion or take action tonight. Non-aggenda items may be referred to administration for follow-up comments. Um, comments are limited to three minutes per speaker and 15 minutes per topic. Um, please note that the uh comments directed at performance of specific school personnel are not permitted. All remarks must be appropriate for an open public meeting and presented respectively. The board president will stop comments that violate these expectations and disruptions beyond the comment period may result in the meeting being paused or ended. Additionally, the board's silence during public comment should

028not be interpreted as agreement or endorsement of the speaker's remarks. Our role during this portion is to listen. We value your participation and appreciate your cooperation and helping us maintain a respectful and productive meeting environment. >> Okay, Vera, you're up. >> Uh, so I'm Ma Porter. I'm the school counselor at McKenna Elementary. I have been in the district for a while now. Um, prior to being the school counselor, I was a fourth grade teacher. Uh, I was a fourth grade teacher back when we were adopting new curriculum. Um, and that's that's kind of a a little bit of of what I'm going to go into a little bit tonight. This is kind of a preview. I'm actually going to um bombard you all with some more information in the coming weeks. So, um, and and

029invite you to engage in some conversations. Um there we've seen a lot of conversation lately in the CIS meetings um about attendance and engagement and we know that there's a direct correlation between those things in academic achievement and behavior. And so um while I am not a fan of the curriculum we've adopted in the past um I've taught it. It's very challenging. uh most of those times stretches beyond the common core state standards. And as a fourth grade teacher, I felt like I had to do a song and dance daily to keep my kids engaged. Um I I feel like we're we're stuck with it for now. There's, you know, we have no can't look at curriculum adoption, but we do need to kind of look at some ways that we can improve intendance attendance

030and engagement and make school more enticing for our students. And so today I'm specifically going to address early childhood education. I started my career in 1998 teaching preschool. And so and then I've actually taught a year of kindergarten. It's the worst year of my life. But um I learned a lot of things and I love little people that just for me for teaching. Um I want to show you what a kindergarten day looks like. I'm not going to show them all to you. These are six math worksheets for one lesson in a day. I have four writing and reading pages for reading. And that's just reading skills. That's another domain. Our kindergarters are sitting and listening for a good portion of the day and then they're actually working. I've had a lot of educational early

031childhood. This is not developmentally appropriate for our students. They should not be sitting and doing worksheets. All of the psychologists that we look to based and social learning age 10. So, this is not appropriate. Other schools are catching on because we keep doing the same thing and we're still not getting the results we want. We continue to shove more and more of this at our students. We continue to see a decline in attendance. We continue to see a decline in engagement and an increase in maladaptive behaviors. Olivia caught on a long time ago. They actually do a lot of play-based and center based learning in their in their kindergarten and first grade. Uh if you saw the news article, Tom Water is now adopting play-based learning. They haven't quite added as much as Olympia, but

032they're they're on the way. And Northston, who I battled with when I worked there, they have now figured out our kids need to be playing in school. We have five and sixy olds that hate school. I know because I talked to them, third, fourth, fifth grade. Those are the years where we are building the foundations and helping them develop relationships and learn how to be students. They need to not be doing this. They need to be working on those skills so that when they go to first, second, third, fourth, fifth grade on middle high school, they have what they need to be able to be successful and maintain their emotions, regulate their behavior. We got to do something. Okay. We should not be in last place here. Looking at the district, we can make a

033choice here. We can change what we're doing. I'm not asking. There's ways to do this. Let's put them to join. Give them something to come to school and enjoy. Yes, he he likes yearning because he wants to go in first grade. All right. Um, school board minutes. >> I move we approve. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Those in favor? >> I oppose. Motion carries. Individual contracts. >> I second. >> Any discussion? Those in favor? I >> oppose. Motion carries. >> Acceptance of gifts. >> I second. >> All right. And there's >> Well, there's we have such a generous community. We have I'm just going to call them out. Kona Ice for our athletics, high school athletics. Um Traveling Tom's Coffee for athletics and then alumni for uh the kids to go to

034nationals and then Washington Cattleman's Association for uh Nationals, Women's Cattle Association, excuse me, um for nationals. So, all right. Those in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. All right. The continuous school improvement plans. I move. >> I second. >> Any discussion? Lisa, you can add anything on these tonight. >> Just think these are the plans that principles uh do with their schools annually and they set the plan in the fall. They look at their data. They reexamine the plan in a mid year, make adjustments, and then they reflect at the end for the coming year. I would say the difference now is that their strategic their school improvement plans are aligned with strategic plan. So all the goals are exactly the same. >> All right. Those in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. All right. Um, oh,

035one thing I forgot is that Bill Hos has been excused this evening. He had knee replacement surgery, so he'll be hopping in here next board meeting. Um, policy revisions. Um, see here. >> All right. the first one. >> Yeah. >> I second. >> All right. Now discussion. >> All right. Um we've got a lot of policy work. Uh here we spent um a little over two hours at our last study session going through each one of these in detail. Um the first section that you uh have a first and second on the table is section D uh nons substantive revisions. These actually do not need more action. However, uh we're bringing them forward because we think that uh all of our policies and procedures should go before the board. Uh so the change for 2162,

03631222 and 3225 all of these um have required us to change the phrase uh emergency expulsion to emergency removal. So in all three of these policies, that is the change. Everywhere it said emergency expulsion, uh we had to change it to emergency removal, which is the new terminology for uh removing a student from uh the educational setting. And you guys had a chance to look at all these. You had a binder just like this one that Casey has in front of him that uh we went through in great detail. So um those are the first three um on the table and I'll have my back team for any questions or to take action and then um if that serves me right as to have those terms changed in the student record. >> Yes. I believe

037it goes back to 2019. Any parent that would like to come back and have their discipline record changed to emergency removal from uh emergency expulsion, then uh we would do that and then update the record and give that to them and that's on request based on the RCW. >> Are there any other questions? on those. >> All right, those in favor >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. And then the next policy revisions and replacements. Those are just information still have to go through those. >> Yeah, these are all information only. And then um you will determine um if we move them forward to second reading in uh the next board meeting or if we continue discussion on them. Um they are revision or replacement and I just want to remind um really more for the

038audience because you guys have heard this many many times um that policies land in three areas. they land in the critical area which means it's required by state or federal law um or tied to funding eligibility and the purpose is that it ensures legal compliance and access to necessary resources. So anything that's critical comes down from the state um from law to OPI to WASDA uh which then uh crafts the new policy and sends it out to the districts to adopt. Then there's also important which is the other category uh not legally required but supported by case law and findings of best practices. This helps prevent litigation and promotes well-being of the school community. And then uh there's discretionary. Discretionary is uh there's no legal mandate or liability. These are usually board-driven agendas or initiatives

039or district. Uh the example I'm used is cell phone policy currently. That's not in state statute, but could be in the future. But that's an example of a policy that we move forward. So um there's three areas and again each one has a different set of requirements critical um is required and we're going to talk um very specifically about 2020 and um Dr. Lisa Smith is going to do a presentation on that because this is the one that has the um uh I think the most concern and need for discussion. We spent a lot of time on this at our study session talking and I think there were six or seven people in the audience um that got to hear that conversation, but we were all in agreement that this is a conversation needs to

040happen out in the open. Um this is something that um districts are being required to adopt and implement in their district um because of law. And so the other ones above that, 2161, 3143, 4260, 3207, 2420, uh those are all uh pretty minor either revisions or complete replacements um that take out complete sections and those um you've had lots of time to read, to look over. Um you've had each one of those in very uh in great detail as far as the changes of those. they do not change necessarily the intent of the policy. Um, however, we believe 2020 is one of those that um, we were in complete agreement that we need more discussion on this one. And at the end of this tonight, you may say we're not ready to move this forward

041to second reading and we want even more information on this and want to do some more digging and you may choose to just move the others forward. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Lisa to share a little more information. Do you mind going to the next slide? >> All right. Before we begin our discussion about this policy, I want to acknowledge that the decisions about what we teach and how we teach it matter deeply. They shape the learning experiences of our students and they reflect our district's responsibility to ensure high quality, legally sound instruction in every classroom. In Washington state, the legislature and state education agencies determine the learning standards and many of the policies that guide public education. Local districts, however, are responsible for how those standards are implemented through

042decisions about curriculum, instructional materials, and teaching practices. Instruction is the core of what we do. The materials we use and the way we select them shape how students think, engage, and prepare for their futures. These decisions are foundational to teaching and learning. And we also know that the instructional content can be personal fam for families and it reflects values and beliefs. Tonight we're presenting updates to policy 2020 and procedure 2020P course design, selection, and adoption of instructional materials that are required by law. These updates stem from Senate Bill 5462 and House Bill 2331 that both became effective July 1st of this year as well as the Supreme Court's decision in Mahmud v. Taylor which took effect in April of this year. Together, they mandate the school district's use materials that reflect varied student experience, prohibit

043rejection of content based on protected class perspectives, and require timely response to religious optout requests by families. These updates are not optional. They're legal mandates that ensure the district continues to provide instruction lawfully. So, as mentioned, these updates are rooted in the new in new state legislation. Senate Bill 5462, which takes effect which took effect on July 1st, 2025, is one of the key drivers. This law requires that districts adopt instructional materials that reflect a broad range of student experiences. It also prohibits excluding content solely because it includes perspectives related to protecting classes. In other words, instructional materials must be selected in a way that is consistent with the law's expectation that students see a variety of experiences and viewpoints reflected in what they learn. In addition to Senate Bill 542, House Bill 2331 further

044defines what's required. House Bill 2331 directs school boards to formally document how instructional materials are selected and reviewed. It reinforces that materials cannot be excluded simply because they include perspectives associated with protected classes. Together with Senate Bill 5462, this legislation clarifies both the expectations for what materials must include and the process districts must follow to ensure compliance. The third legal change affecting this policy comes from the US Supreme Court. Mahmud v. Taylor requires public school districts to accommodate parent requests to opt their children out of specific instructional content based on sincerely held religious beliefs. Districts must provide a timely written response within five school days and offer an academically appropriate alternative that does not stigmatize the student. This ruling establishes a clear legal obligation and is reflected in the updated procedure. So the policies and

045procedures were updated are not optional and RCW28A300.0714 makes that clear. This statute gives the office of the superintendent of public instruction authority to take action if a district does not comply with the state law. Those actions may include financial penalties, administrative consequences for district leadership or even recall proceedings for board members in cases of willful or negligent non-compliance. The law reinforces the seriousness of these requirements and the importance of lawful implementation. So this slide brings together the specific requirements the district must follow under the updated policy. Instructional materials must be age appropriate and reflect varied perspectives. Parents have the legal right to request exemptions for religious reasons and the district must respond within 5 days and provide an alternative. The policy also affirms that at least one parent must serve on the instructional materials committee

046and that parents have the right to review, raise concerns, or file formal complaints about instructional content. Last, instructional materials may not be excluded simply because they include content related to protected class perspectives. These provisions are now legal expectations for all public school districts in Washington. So then our implementation plan as a district, I think that's the important point kind of what do we do moving forward. So our first steps are first of all really being sure that we're aligned to the legal framework. And so what that means is that we're following the key tenants in the policy as aligned to the RCWs, the laws, the statutes that um guide this particular policy. It will require us to take a look at our curriculum adoption procedures and making sure that we select materials that reflect a

047range of student experiences. What I will tell you is that is already part of our process. Uh it also requires for the uh instructional materials committee that we uh update our evaluation tools and provide a training so committee members apply legal standards consistently. We'll also develop userfriendly legally aligned rubrics and guidelines to support decision making during all of our curriculum adoption cycles. We will collaborate regionally. So, we'll coordinate with OSPI, neighboring districts, and legal advisors to ensure accuracy and consistency in applying state policy. And last, and most importantly, that will clearly inform families and staff of their rights, the complaint process, and procedures for religious opt out and other requests. So, last slide. In conclusion, first, this update is not optional. It reflects legal requirements that are now in effect for all public school districts

048in Washington. Second, this policy ensures that our district is in compliance with state and federal law. It also affirms our commitment to follow a transparent, structured process. Third, every step we've outlined tonight is aligned with the expectations set by the legislature, the courts, and the office of superintendent of public instruction. And we also recognize that instructional materials were deeply important for our families and this policy strong interest in our community. That's why the implementation plan includes clear steps for family communication, staff training, and structured procedures for feedback and opt out requests. Our goal is to ensure that every student has access to highquality instruction that meets legal standards while giving families ways to engage. We appreciate the board's leadership as we navigate these requirements. The changes are challenging, but we're approaching them with professionalism, therapy,

049and a commitment to doing what is required and supporting the community we serve. So at this time I'd like to open it up for discussion on as I said before we have presented this is one that uh we spent a lot of time um a good portion of our two plus hours study session on this particular policy just um policy in general about how we are now seeing more policy policies and procedures that are being handed down to districts where uh districts have very little authority as it relates to the policy itself and the procedures. Um we've done a lot of research. We've talked with legal um in addition to obviously legal that has vetted this from probably OSPI and um one of the things that some districts um will do is in the policy

050a way of saying we don't necessarily completely agree with this policy and uh what is written in it will say something to the effect of um as required by the Um it this is difficult. Uh there is no way around it. That is why as as a board as a group we uh very specifically said this has to be discussed in the open. This has to be a conversation um out in the open. This is not something that um you can just move forward with and um not have conversation. So with that, I want to uh pass the mic down and you guys have conversation. >> Yeah, >> I know I wasn't there when you guys were discussing this. I was on vacation, but I I know there are a handful of school districts including

051the state of Washington parents bill. Has are any districts starting the process of finding litigation for these two that you >> not that I've heard of yet. doesn't doesn't mean that it's not in the works, but it's not public yet that we have heard of. >> I mean, I personally I can't vote gay on this bill when it does come. I need more time. I think we need more time to kick this down, but the whole purpose of us being on the board is supposed to be making decisions that are right for our families and our kids. And this policy straight up clips the board's office to do that. that specifically tells us that the board can't make a curriculum adoption. There's there's no point in being on the board if you can't support what

052your people around asking for. This is egregious. This is egregious to me. So, um at this point, I need I definitely need more time, but I can't morally feel good about pushing this through. >> Well, we can always talk. I mean, yeah, for first this is just first Yeah. >> Yeah. This is the first reading, but if you push it through the first reading, get voted on next time, I thought. >> No. So, you want more? >> I want to get more information or we can vote on it next time, but I don't know what level of information we're going to get. My mind at this point, >> I think one of the things that we are doing is um having conversations with with other districts. There are some that have already passed the policy

053procedures, put it in place. Um there are others that that have not. Um there are uh there was a requirement on timeline for this, but I think there are districts that uh feel similar to us in that um we want to have all the information available to us before we um are forced to make a final decision on this. And so um we are perfectly fine with continuing to try to gather information. uh we can continue to uh seek input from other districts that are in a similar situation. And um and I specifically asked our legal counsel who represents many districts um larger and smaller if there was any current litigation around this and they said no, not yet. Um but it could be. So we are we are perfectly fine with um not moving

054this to second breeding if that's the wish of the board and continuing to to research and gather more information. >> One more question on this I guess >> these are all RCWs are there any associated this as well. >> Uh I would need to double check. I think our just RCW so that you can look at original source documents. >> And I'd just like to say that me being off the board, I think the new board member needs um some time to look at this and go over it and it's it's called time. So I think I agree that We need more time. >> More time. >> Yeah, I think there needs to be further discussion on it. I know we out at our last study session, but going over there. It's real complex. Um,

055more than anything, it removes that local control. We don't always align with what pushes down the pipeline. Um, again, there's opt out language, but you know, see opt out, I said. We're going to see opt out social studies. I think this just opens up the gate. You're going to see opt out math eventually. windows to Brook stopped being mandated by the state just being pushed down the pipelines. So I know there'll be more conversation. So we would need uh an amendment uh to the motion that's on the table. Um currently the motion on the table is uh to approve the section E. Um so I guess what we would need is just direction here to move the others forward to second reading uh but retain 2020. I guess we don't need a motion but I

056think for the record >> I think the statement is saying that we are not moving 2020 to the >> second >> we don't have a motion >> true but I think >> for the for the okay so >> all right >> do not move 2020 >> to second reading >> thank you >> yeah the rest >> the rest of them were moving to second reading but um not 2020. >> Okay. >> All right. I just want to make one other comment that was in relation to Lisa was talking about it about it the instructional materials review committee. Um we just had that today um earlier today uh for half the day uh based on a request of a parent in our district to review uh middle school sexual health education curriculum. And so um uh

057our student learning department assembled the committee went through the process that day and um there are some recommendations from and so there will be some changes coming forward. So I guess I really just want to point that out to say that there's a process in place uh and and it was used well in this particular case based on a parent request complaint uh and I think the process was very effective and I think it's very relevant to this particular policy as well. >> That's right. This was a parent um who objected to this question of the curriculum was willing to put in a request for reconsideration which triggers this process. And we had um 25 people there today. 20 a little under 20 people there today. A cross-section of the community staff members as well.

058And um very very productive discussion where we went through kind of state statutes, requirements, identified what we have autonomy over as a district and what uh the state requires in terms of standards and then um together we made a decision and um in this particular case the uh we made a decision that we're going to move forward with the parents request in regard to this curriculum. I think the other thing I might call out about 2020 and and I think this could come in some of the work moving forward the um there's an opportunity I think for us to kind of look at some of the underlying protective class language and learn a little bit more about that and how it's informing portions of 2020 but also look at Mammoon Taylor because they are kind

059of two sides of a coin. So in this environment where we can potentially um we're looking at even more stringent standards around diverse curriculum, we also have something we've never had before, which is outside of comprehensive sexual health. Now anywhere in the curriculum a parent can um petition that and can you know uh let us know that they do not want their child involved in that portion of the curriculum and then we would be required to come up with another assignment and opt them out. So, I just want to call that out and I think I think we just need more time to process through all the pieces of that uh and then decide as a district what you want the response to be. >> Thank you. >> So, I know this is kind of

060silly, but if they're going to give us the option to opt out, then why are they putting all this on us? Why don't they just let us have the low patrol? That'll I mean that's a question that we can ask them. But if they're going to let us opt out, then why go through all the hoops to do all this stuff? Silly thing. >> Well, it's because they know that not every parent is going to take the time that wants to opt out is going to take the time and effort to opt out, which we've seen already. >> But that's so then that's our job is to opt out for the for everyone. But it's like here we are sitting here and that's our local control and it's like if we're going to opt out

061just opt out. >> What kind what kind of what kind of system have we created where we have to have so many different curriculums that parents have to opt out? I mean that we're we're sitting here looking at where our education is at specifically in y state of Washington the nation as a whole >> and there are kids struggling in math kids struggling in reading and we're spending a bunch of time and effort fighting because we have to opt them out of stuff that's not even shouldn't even be part of a basic education and now we're jumping through extra hoops to try to get us there when we should be focused on what really is important. So the whole system is broken. >> Now you know why we need more time. >> Yeah. Got it.

062>> Okay. Now for something fun. Paulie, how about something fun for I can do that. I got you. I thought I'd lighten it up the mood a little bit here. All right. Um well, thank you school board member members and community members for uh coming over to Prairie tonight and for allowing me time to share the Prairie School with them for 256 and I also want to acknowledge all the staff that are here tonight. Um I appreciate you being here and I didn't know you were going to be here so it definitely weren't my seeing me here. So thank you for taking the time. I know it's a late night. My order room said I should getting ready for bed and I'm clearly not getting ready for bed. Um, so I was kind of planning

063this and and stressed and nervous about how I'm going to do this because if you think about all the amazing things that happen every single day and everything that we do, how do you put it into 15 minutes or 10 minutes or five slides? And that's hard because there's a lot of really amazing things happening in this building. And so I hope I highlight it and I hope I represent it well for all of you that are creative and have been here for a long time. I haven't been here as long but I hope my All right. Um did any of you guys did any school? Okay. I wasn't sure. This would be kind of fun for you. All right. Um anyways, um I am excited to share how Murray is committed to the three

064core commitments of learning and belonging and community that was supported by the strategic plan. Um I will reference some of the information in the infographics that Kurt provided and share some fun pictures so that you have a visual of what's happening at Prairie. Um, those of you that don't know, this is my second year at Prairie and this year our theme is grow stronger together. Um, last year we focused a lot on just getting to know each other, learning about each other and putting systems into place and this year we're really continuing to strengthen those systems and deepen our relationships as a staff with our community. Um, I am pretty nervous and I thought my face might match my sweater at some point. Um, I don't know if it is, but anyways, I thought maybe

065I should, but Chris was good for the night. So, I'm going to go with that. All right, next slide, please. Thank you. Um, so Perry Elementary is guided by core values of learning, belonging, and community. Together with staff, we set clear priorities, nurturing instructional excellence and creating more welcoming, wellorganized spaces both in classrooms and across the school so every student, staff member, and family feels acknowledged, supported, and empowered to grow. Our co-created staff dignity promise reinforces these values through respect, honest communication, trustbased teamwork, safe expectations that encourage thoughtful risk takingaking, reliable resources and technology in a culture that um works on kindness, balance, and appreciation. All right, next. So looking at our focus, I'll talk about some of the features towards the end. At Perry learning is really rooted in strong tier one instruction that

066supports every student and removes barriers to success. This year our primary focus is high quality intentional reading instruction supported by um targeted connection to core practices that intentionally work on reading instruction and work on closing the gaps in both reading and math. We use meaningful data conversations to guide strategy. Collaborate to share effective practices and continue strengthening our MTSS and our PLC's to provide timely supports and shared commitment to every student's growth. At Prairie Elementary, we create warm and welcoming environments where every student hopefully feels safe, respected, and ready to learn. Through daily morning meetings that build seal skills and by recognizing positive behavior, we teach and practice those specific social and emotional skills that help everyone, students, staff, and families feel appreciated, valued, validated, and treated fairly. We intentionally foster connections through inclusive routines,

067classroom communities, and schoolwide events that celebrate diversity and encourage empathy. Our community is deeply valued and appreciated and teamwork is central to how we operate. Staff, families, and community partners collaborate to identify and remove barriers, provide differentiated supports, and strengthen student success by prioritizing belonging alongside academic growth. We ensure each child can engage confident confidently, contribute meaningful, and thrive both socially and academically. Uh, I wanted to kind of point out some of these pictures. Um, up on the top, I'll kind of talk about this a little bit. Um, we get into further into there, but we have a this is during our assemblies. We do a positive attendance um, winning spin wheel for attendance. Kids really get a kick out of that at assemblies. And then the picture in the middle is our new custodian

068um, Mr. Chris who came from us from Young Middle School and it was custodian appreciation day and it was one of his like first days actually weeks or something in the building and the cute little kinder class came over with this adorable book to welcome him and also thank him for what he does. It's been a great great add to our building. And then at the very bottom picture, those are some PTO families that have worked on our Halloween carnival and they made it a really fun, exciting event for all of our kiddos and some of our staff that came as well. All right, so we're going to get into learning. This is probably my fight part to talk about. So we're going to go to the next slide, please. So this year we adjusted

069our attendance systems and celebrations to better support um student learning. Our team meets monthly to review attendance data while our health room assistant and attendance specialist, Miss Abby, monitors patterns daily and follows up with families. We focus on students who fall below our 90% attendance goal because chronic absences are significantly affecting our learning. Each month at our student of the month assemblies, Miss Abby spins that virtual wheel I talked about um of students who met the attendance criteria and one student from every grade uh will win a small little treat and they also get an email home to their families letting them know of the celebrations. Students love that little recognition. If you can see that little guy in the middle there, he received an attendance recognition with a big old smile. Um, and so

070we're continuing um to work on attendance. It's always something that's important, obviously. And so we're just hoping that we can raise our 71% regular attendance rate and continue to move that even higher. Last year, our staff focused on strengthening math instruction um through collaborative conversations about strategies and developing students conceptual understanding. We emphasize building mathematic knowledge and using productive routines to improve learning and staff are committed to applying these practices for our students. As um as the infographic from her shows, we saw pretty strong areas in math instruction. Especially notable are the fourth and fifth grade median student growth percentiles. also want to acknowledge that grades three through five outperform the YCS district average and most schools across Washington which is a celebration of our collective efforts and progress and I'm really proud of our

071student I think it's really impressive data I also think it's um gather that we see first three four and five but I think it's also important to acknowledge what our kindergarten first grade and second grade teachers do because they also get from that point it's very important taste team very very big team. Um this year we are focusing on ELA instruction and as you can see in the infographic as well it shows that our grade four real strong growth in ELA. We still have some work to do with third and fifth grade in this area but we're continuing to work on it. This year we're working with Lorie Gray and Aaron Bayer on a few things. We are doing a book study on shifting the balance uh which focuses on the science of reading. We

072also had our kinder teachers were trained in trained in a blending practice. All of our grades one through four were trained on 95% group which focuses on explicit instruction and phonics and phmic awareness. And then grade five teachers were trained in rewards which focuses more on that comprehension skills. And so all of those that were trained is is something that they can work on during their intervention time to support and close those gaps. We're also implementing which has been really fun to see teachers do um a one minute drill with um phmic awareness across all grades. So these little one minute drills are pretty flexible quick activities that you can do any time. So it's been fun to see teachers using that. Um, another thing about Prairie and I was hoping to have a video

073and I didn't quite get that together. Um, Prairie is we also have the functional learning classroom um at Prairie was Kayla. She teaches the upper grade and then Miss Bella who services the lower grade. Students in the FLC spend most of their time in that classroom, but often go into the general education study for specialists, maybe morning sectors, science or recess. These te these kiddos teach us so much on a daily basis and I I truly think that this program does make Prairie a better place. Um, and I think it's a great place for kids to learn as well. Um, PUR's MTSS coordinates tier supports strong core instruction and targeted small group health and intensive interventions using regular progress monitoring. And our PLC team analyzes data, shares strategies, and design interventions so decisions are consistent,

074timely, and focused on student success. Uh, let's see. So, picture-wise, you can see on the top, I bet some of you didn't know you'd be in this um little Yeah, they they're smiling out, right? Uh they have big smiles on their face, but this is right after they got trained on 95% group with Aaron and Lori. And it's all materials that we got from our OSI grant from last year. I ordered from last year knowing that this was going to be our goal for the year. And they're all smiles. And every single teacher showed up to support this, which I think is pretty cool. a lot about who we are. Um, we talked about the kiddo that got the attendance award. And then this bottom picture right here is uh one of our newer teachers

075that came to our building, new to the district I should say. And I don't know if you can see in the back, but she did a really cool um Olympic math thing. That was a review where she did a um modal assessment review, but made it Olympic. And so the kids actually won some awards and to do teamwork and stuff. So, it was pretty cool. Thought it was something to highlight. All right. And then we're going to go to the next slide on belonging. Thank you. At Prairie, we continually foster belonging by modeling respect and creating a safe, welcoming place where every student can learn and grow. We have monthly character trait um we have monthly character traits that focus on building character. We talk about these each day during morning announcements and then celebrate

076them during our monthly assembly. This reinforces expected behavior and celebrates students that show that show that we want to see these traits on a daily basis. These um expectations are reinforced schoolwide and supported in grade grade level wellness Wednesday le um lessons led by our specialists. Um one of our teachers uh in second grade, Mr. He had also when we're talking about belonging, he had his class create a dignity promise which we did similar to the beginning of the year and then he turned it into a song with his kids and and it reminds them of what their daily commitments are. And it's pretty adorable to watch these kids. If you're ever bored around 8:45, 9:00 in the morning, I can come bring you down to his classrooms and you should watch these kids. a

077student will lead the song and then the kids p repeat it and it is it is adorable and it's it's cool to see the commitment that those kiddos bring to the day. Um and then up in the corner there you can see on the right side that there's a kindergarten classroom that created their own dignity promise and that that's up there as well and she had all of her kiddos sign that dignity promise and what they what they're committing to that day as well. Um, we also have at Prairie we have our kinder buddies. I think that's been going on for a long time. I don't know. I think that's just what we do. They're all shaking their head. That's what we do. Um, our kinder buddy program pairs with our kinders with our fifth

078grade. Fifth graders sign a commitment to their role so that they can be a positive role model while building meaningful relationships through assemblies, dismissal, and other activities. Our FLC program also supports belonging. LC students join that general education setting where they're welcomed daily by students and staff. And it it's just so cool to see when those kiddos come in and how excited their peers are when they walk into the room and say, "Hey, good to see you." And it's just really cool to see um kids supporting kids and building those relationships with someone that might be a little bit different. Um as you see on the infographic as well when we talk a little bit about um 18 incences in September and in October that's strong improvement and back they know what happened here right

079behavior has definitely lessened our focus efforts to provide targeted support without reflex. We did also lose um 25 students that went back to the home school which is never go back but that is what we asked families to do. Um and besides that with a with supporting behavior we also have this year a K through3 specialist and intervention specialist Mrs. Frost. She was a fifth grade teacher, but she now works in our K through3 intervention who supports students with social emotional needs. She retaches skills that support the prairie way and supports teachers in the classroom with some of the behavioral needs that comes up. Um, I do believe this really helped with behaviors as well. Besides supporting with needs um and K3, she also works to support students with academics and our title math program

080and supports also in wellness Wednesday. She's everywhere in this building in every single space in every single classroom K through. Now looking at our belonging survey, um our fall belonging survey shows that Curry students feel a strong sense of connection to our school. Over 89% of our students report feeling validated, accepted, and treated fairly, which speaks to the high quality relationships our staff build on every day. The data highlights one area for deeper focus, which is a sense of appreciation. Our school focus this year is the intentional design to help students feel recognized for who they are and what they contribute. This isn't a deficit, but is more of a direction that our students are telling we need to grow at school. This insight helps us redefine what we do with dignity. It also helps

081deepen our sense of being um to help students feel seen and valued. We believe at Prairie that belonging directly relates to academic success and that relationships matter. As this is my second year at Prairie and the first time I'm going to take on student leadership, I think I might be crazy. I'm not sure how I'm going to fit this in my day, but I'm going to do it. Um, we are we have some fifth grade student leadership and I'm really excited. There's some amazing kids and they were so adorable when they learned that they were going to be part of the fifth grade leadership team. Um, there's nine kiddos that were selected and it's just that chance for kids to have that positive impact by modeling kindness, respect, and responsibility and also showing those prairie

082traits and we're really hoping that we can get more student voice within it as well. So, um, picture-wise, uh, you could see up on the top left there are some of our kiddos that earned the reading math awards. That's another classroom and they look pretty proud there. Uh, and then the one below that with the our schools are better because we were and that's the picture we used where you do positive office referrals. But I don't know if you see those big smiles, but that is our Pittsburgh leadership team shortly after they found out they were part of it. Um, and what was cool too besides that is some of them nominated kids. So they might have been nominated or they could have written up an application to be a part of it too. So

083it was kind of cool to to see what kids thought about their peers as well. And then yeah, the last one that was the dignity promise from kindergarten. Okay, next slide. Community. You guys hanging in there already talking? We're almost there. Okay. Um, so let's start with community. Our school continues to prioritize community input and shared ownership and the strength of our partnership with the PTO is central to that work. I see me on my PTO is no longer with us, but she's still here. Here she is. Uh, the family events and volunteer opportunities this year have created meaningful touch points from classroom helpers to family nights that deepened relationships between students, staff, and caregivers. Um, we have a new strong newsletter engagement that shows real strong interest. Um, September readings we had 28 families

084that read it and we do send them out weekly. Thank you from Thank you to Sher from Prairie for sending those out on a weekly basis. Um, and in October we rose to 972 indicating our message messages are resonating more families. Our 24-25 family belonging survey shows a strong 96% satisfaction rate though only 85 families completed it um to make that feedback more representative when developing a targeted plan during conferences in hopes that we can reach more families during this time um and going with that. So celebration celebrating student success has become a visible part of our culture through positive office referrals that are sent directly to families. The response we receive and some of these are just really fun meaningful um communications. So when we send the positive office referrals, thank you to Miss

085Wilson who started this little trend. Um, but those positive office for girls when you send them out to families and then they come back and the families respond, it is it is so adorable and what the families they're like, you make my day or thank you so much for sending that out and that makes our day too. Um, positive things really do make things better. Um, so we're going to continue with those and keeping that homechool connection um and making sure that we we enjoy those as well. some of my favorites. Um, we're also working and we've talked a lot about um, student led conferences and the intentionality of giving student voice in learning. When students prepare to present goals, work samples, and reflections, conferences shift from reporting to partnering. And this empowers students, it

086clarifies next steps for families and admirals advocacy skills. Parent leadership is growing. Um, we've had seven parents that are actively engaged in our onschool initiatives and committees and three families that attended our CEB meeting and contributed to our CES. Uh, we'll be continuing to work and expand um in those leadership pathways together with our PTO and all of our volunteers. We're building a school culture with where families feel informed, involved, and invested in their students success. Uh, let's see. So, just to kind of tie into those pictures there, you can see on the left side there's some of our PTO families helping out with the second grade project over there. I think they they second grade. Yeah, that was they were working hard on that for a while. And then the middle one is just

087an example of the positive office world. That's the picture that goes um home in an email and then they get a little sheet of paper that um their teacher wrote up specifically for them to acknowledge them for the hard work. And then that last little picture I thought was just kind of a nice way to end this was I think it just shows how is something that we cultivate. Um you can see those two cutie patooties up there making that heart um with with their bodies. And I think it kind of goes to the part where I talked about growing stronger together. But us at Prairie is that we have to plant and work on planting that kindness. We water, learn, and support each other. And our community grows stronger when we do these things,

088which goes right back to our grow stronger together. Um, so yeah, this hope you I hope I put everything together in whatever amount of time that was, but thank you for coming to Prairie and for being a part of information. What uh strategies are proving most effective the students are that are constantly missing school? >> What strategies are proving? Um I think I think when we can catch it when they're walking in the door is a really good way just to kind of build those connections when they're with their parents. Hey, why are you gone today? I think we did that one today, didn't we, Sharon? Oh, well, you know what happens when you miss the bus? We want you to get here, right? And having those conversations is important because when you show up

089late, probably miss math or something. I think that helps a lot. I think um we've had our attendance conversations and then we're calling families. Any family that's below that that um attendance rating, we're calling that. So, we've been making calls the last two months. And then the next thing that we'll be going to will be like an attendance reward, which often works if we can get kids to come three days in a three days in a row. A little prize. I mean, this is where we're at. Um and and there's and and that piece works as well. Um sometimes we do a 10 contract. We aren't there yet. Um we're only two months in, but it's >> Yeah. >> Great. Just from an attendance standpoint, what I mean what we know what the reasons are

090for attendance over and over. I mean, look at your fiveyear trend. It's it's actually better than it's been for most of the last four, but still. >> Yeah. >> It's terrible across the board, not just here, but everywhere. >> It's hard in elementary first of all, right? Because um there those kids aren't getting up, you know, they have families that are getting up and getting them to school. I often hear, you know, we miss the bus. Sometimes they like to say that. Um I think it's just it's a number of things. It's hard to really pinpoint the exact thing, but um I guess the more that we can do every day to make sure these kids are loved and that we want them here and we want them to know learning is important and learning's

091fun, the more we can do that. That's that's your money maker there. And just building those relationships with kids and teachers making those relationships with family. Those those extent aren't wide. No, we got another one. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Next we have and payroll. >> I believe we A second. >> Any discussion? >> All right. Those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Operations report. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah. >> As you see, the public works activity by encourage you to approve. A lot of these are projects that have reached completion of the small work projects and have been closed after substantial completion was identified. So, um that's why you'll see a number of those like the the roofing and some of the summer projects that you just take

092a little bit time to make sure we get everything complete. Any questions about our public work? I'll I can give you a little update on some other happening in operations vote on that. And uh just some highlights. I just want to say that the operations team is working so collaboratively right now and really working to create uh efficient effort and uh really respond things in a timely manner. There's a couple things that have been going on uh that we learn about and again have to implement and act quickly. So uh at the beginning of the school year we found out that family access required to be Q for us family access uh required multifactor authentication which means we needed to change everything in our data system to provide a better security and access. That is

093a huge lift and our technology department in partnership with um SIS looked at how we had our roles and responsibilities for all staff members and um implemented a multifactor authentication. So most of you know that is if you log into your bank you have to verify or log into another account you have to verify it's you. That's a pretty big um movement when you're looking at over 800 staff members and you're trying to figure out how to uh secure all of our data and get them to authenticate. And that moved so smoothly this last week. We'll have a second roll out on the rest of the teachers um who don't have edit or secure access issues. Um they'll have that come uh to them also. But again, the big roll out went very very smoothly.

094And again, it doesn't happen just with one person. It takes a lot of thought and a lot of process. Um we've been working uh in maintenance um for the last year and along with looking at our facilities for TUR. We know we put those in a number of years ago and we're looking at how do we maintain them. Uh we partnered up with field trip again and have gone through an annual testing and maintenance program with them and we had a day and a half training which is what they need to come serve the field. They came up to train and provide access to help us learn better ways to uh take care of those skills. Generally the life is um 8 to 10 years if we um cared for. If they implement these things

095we continue we can extend the life to 10 to 12 years um which is really important. So um again really good work and opportunity for our staff take ownership forward again partnership with HR I can't thank um the whole HR team enough we are constantly looking to hire operations custodians code service um transportation and again we have continued to move forward with hiring bus drivers um continuing to have two in training to we hired two van drivers There's five assistants. Uh we have no custodial openings right now. We have three custodians in training for subs and that is going to have a huge impact on our schools. Uh we've had a lot of schools go without coverage and so we've had an additional subs that will really impact our ability. We also again in partnership

096with our vendors work really hard and as you earlier heard and so for some people in the audience we did receive the $744,000 grant that's been confirmed with OSPI. Uh so that planning will start in January. There is again no cost on our part. We will work with ACS and upload vendor partners right and so the 400 building at the high school will now have an HVAC system which lastly um just in terms of collaboration efforts we worked with LA last week and found out that our counties have uh passed a law um that require us to now uh deal with organic waste as compost closed and we have to separate all of our garbage that's effective January 2026. So we uh met with North Public Schools who's been doing this for a little bit,

097took some insight from them. Um our custodials provide Paul Manhower and and Tina Freeze with food service both went over there. We're putting a plan together and yes, you're still excited. I know principles over there hiding rides. Um we will have a plan, right? And um this is where I'm so excited to hear about the things that students are doing and we'd like to really bring this to some of our student leaders talk with definitely at our middle schools and even our you know fifth grade leaderships at the elementaryaries and talk about how students can be engaged in this kind of work because by 2030 it will be at the home level. It will be at the residence level just so we will all be doing this. Um but again what a better thing for

098our environment what a better thing for us to do. uh and to help our students understand about their contribution and how they can leap it better than they have it which you hear me say often and um moving forward. And then just a couple of things on food service. We have a audit coming up. It's the annual audit. It's not a surprise happens. Um so we're really excited to be able to to look at things that we're doing. I mentioned that we have increased our meal service over this year. last year in October to this year was 30% increase. That's more meals that our kids are needing and of course more garbage. But we rather them eat it, right? Um and so um that's just a big kudo to all of our our food service

099staff. Um and Tina is working extremely hard with all of them to make sure that we are being very efficient with our uh production. And I said, there's nobody that guesses better how many kids need to eat every day than our food service staff because they are often within 30 meals, 20 meals, 10 meals they're producing and and selling or getting, you know, out and that's a really tight margin and they do an amazing job. Uh and we also learned about a nutrition uh grant uh for equipment and so we're working on that right now in January so that we can try to uh upgrade some of our equipment for again energy efficiency and production and uh then I'm I'm calling on some of our our student leaders here. Uh we are required and staff

100and families community we need to uh revive our wellness committee. uh this looks at our wellness policy and all of the factors that look at nutrition and health. Uh this extends into the classroom, but it also extends into the community. So, uh we'll be putting out some uh again information. We have a few volunteers from the community already, but I'm looking for some students to be a part of this and also to take this um and get feedback from our students in the schools. So, um just a little more information um to join that committee. And lastly, I just have two CT updates. It's not really in my operations, but it's under my umbrella of work. Um, we have the flip night uh this week on Tuesday, and I don't know if any of you

101got to know, but um it is a requirement by the state that we provide financial aid training for our families and give them access to FA and WA scholarship um funding applications. um our community partners and most of u our business you know banks and and investment groups uh helped join our flip committee financial learning in progress uh last year and have helped us grow this opportunity. We received a thousand grant from WASAC which is the Washington Student Achievement Council to help again attract families and students into this and we focus on the K12 not just seniors who need to apply for financial aid. Uh we had maybe 50 students attend and families. That was the student, the family, the brother, the sister, everybody. Last year we had 176 on Tuesday with interactive workshops with

102um we had Pete uh credit union put on a workshop only fed along with Pam Ferris with uh Edward Jones and then great support and sponsorship from other organizations with prizes that were donated from OB Washington Place Blaze Credit Union. uh couldn't have done uh that work without them. But huge shout out to Nicole Matthysse, Hillary Hall, and uh Ashley Ellis who helped pull that together and the students helped pull that off. So, and then lastly, just auto text um from Lorine White talk, which is one of our egg teachers, and we just received a $40,000 grant uh for small engines uh in the program. And as that has been continuing to grow, giving us new equipment and opportunities for more students have access to equipment rather than one uh uh engine to four kids,

103we now will have one to two and a great opportunity for them to get deeper into their skill set um and passions that they have for their um careers. So um just a lot of really good things happening but nothing happens by itself. It really happens with people coming together and working together. So there's my >> thanks. >> All right we have table. All those in favor >> oppos. Okay. Motion carries. All right. We don't have a financial report >> for this one. >> Okay. Student enrollment. >> Uh that'll be updated next month. December. >> All right. Board comments. >> Yep. Down the road. Thank you. Um well, first of all, I want to congratulate the education on their nomination of the um I know how much time and effort they put into this. And

104then I also want to thank for that amazing slideshow. So I found myself um I like seeing the fun that they were having in their home. And then I also like to traditions and like your mind reading and your positive office. I really like that and then the monthly recognition for the students. I think that just builds such good motivation to come to school. And then yeah, I love it. Anyways, um also something else I heard I think only once is the failure sensitive topic. I don't know. But as a student who has um experienced a failure before, I've seen this community come together and make amazing for the student. And so um I don't doubt that this committee will come together again this year. >> Um what said big shout out to all the

105teachers that the staff And then another thing is growing up my dad and I have not seen it's amazing how just finding good and bad. Um, similarly to both what they both said is I really like the um the uh shout outs to all like the school counselors and psychologists at the beginning. I love this like we recognize like all sorts of people from every school in the district and um specifically Prairie today and it was like I saw so much going on and it's just I think it's cool how um that they were like really belonging survey. I like that they did that and how many students were like participating in that and all the positive results and um I just think it's like it's really cool what has to education very exciting kindergarten.

106I have a total blast. lots of coloring at group tables building things and I personally don't believe in having too much fun but my fine yeah I really that freedom. I'm a little less now. >> Chill it down a little bit. Now, you know, you know, I think and first and then when it comes time for middle school then when they have to exercise those skills and know it out there it kind of hits the bar so I think one of them was very very meaningful and yeah it's very important to look at how fragile early education really is because if there's one insufficiency that it will start to snowball over the years and becomes increasingly harder to nourish those efficiencies as they get older. So, thank you very much supporter. It was very meaningful

107and I can tell they do care a lot about students and their education not only at the kindergarten level but also just want to thank all the nominees tonight. Your hard work has to go unrecognized. Um I know all the principles nominated multiple people buildings. Um it's hard probably she's want to get that. Um, but thank you for all of you guys. Thank you for the donations. Um, it's always amazing the community stepping up filling the void out there. FFA is always a champion in donating every single time. Their names always on the donation list. Um, thank you for Prairie for having us. It's always fun to be in this room. Um, I was in here with Chris last year emotion all the kids to the unicycles and how fun that is. Um, but thank

108you for Prairie for having us tonight. Um, and with that, um, I know the upcoming months will be challenging, whether it's policy changes, levy talk and setbacks, budgets, anything like that. The upcoming months will be challenging, but I think it's a good challenge we get in place a lot of times, but I think the challenge all of us are ready for um, and it's just important we work together. So, >> thank you, Prairie, for having us. And I see in the audience there's some old currents right there. >> It was greatation. Okay. So I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words from four decades. It has been my greatest honor to serve as director of school as I'm so grateful for the so many dedicated administrators, teachers, and all district staff who

109have put our students first every single day and continue to show up. Thank you to my fellow board members and superintendants, past and especially present. Your commitment, vision, and willingness to work as a team and make tough decisions have been instrumental in moving our district forward, especially now during these challenging times. I am incredibly proud of the work we have accomplished together all these years. We have navigated challenges, celebrated achievements, and always kept the focus of providing the best possible education for our children. Never give up. Four decades is a long time and the landscape, really long. Okay. Four decades is a long time. And the landscape of education has certainly changed. Through it all, the constants have been bright faces of our students and your dedication as leaders to guide them. However, the impact

110of our work is not just measured in years, but in the countless lives that we have touched. This experience has been more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. As I step away, please know that I will always be a proud supporter of Young Community Schools and the bright future it holds for our students and community. I'm leaving with 40 years of amazing memories. I'm going to close now because I don't have anything. Look at me. With two of my favorite quotes. Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill. And then another one most of you will remember. Remember kids are 30% of our population and 100% of our teacher. Gary Edwards. Thank you. Okay. I don't want any special treatments like you've never given

111me for all years. >> Some special treat. >> Um these are my favorite coming to the schools, watching the presentations, seeing what's going on, meeting the people. It's it's nice to see that there's still some good going on because most of what we hear is all native. What we're dealing with is all native. So these are nice press of us which is a great presentation. I also love seeing the awards because it also shows the amazing people that we do have. It's not just negativity that we don't usually see on social media. They deal with OSPI all the time. >> Um now for the bad I mean everything else. So we've got a lot of decisions to make a lot of hard levy decisions to make. lack of ley funds. As you see, we have

112a lot of policy decisions to make. Um even though the state's trying to take those decisions away from us, away from you guys, parents, um all I can ask for as a board member is for the community and parents to continue to get involved. Whether that's helping to volunteer to raise funding for programs that may not be funded anymore or helping us to push back against the state with some of the policies that I know a lot of the families not agree with because I hear from them all the time. We can't do this alone. Other districts are going through the same thing, but we need the community to work together to push back against some of these things because local control is important. That's how this was created. We're young. We're here for young

113families. Um we need to work together as one kind of push back against what Olympia is trying to force on us. So, we need all hands on that. Um finally, This has been a wild ride and daddy was actually a board member when I went to school. Daddy actually handed me my diploma >> and she wrote the same call. We talk like a great great great grand I hope you feel I know it's been wild and I don't want you to let these last couple years soil know. Okay. Well, I attended the uh young high school, the military students, the military connected students um had a chance to um present at the high school. And um if we get a chance to have them present again and have an opportunity to go and see them

114speak the four students, it's worth the time to go and sit and listen to them speak because um they serve along with their with their parents and um it's very important to to go and listen to that Because what you come away with is that sense of community and we talk about this is jail community schools and then right now we need to rebuild that and those kids have felt that and they talk about community the sense of community and it's something that Kendall and I talked about. You listen to that and it's those four students talked about community. We need that so badly right now. Um, so that was something. And then to see the community come together for the flip and they were all there and I helped do pizza and that was

115great. And then the middle school um comprehensive sexual health curriculum. What was it? Re the committee. And here's one of the parents that was here with us. And um it was a community event so to speak and we reviewed it and they had their we listened to them and um it was interesting to listen to everybody's opinion and I I enjoyed it. It was a community thing. So we need our community to come together and dedicate back. >> We're gonna make that decision still. >> Just uh couple things and I also prepared something uh that I want to share with Debbie. Uh first of all, I want to say congratulations to our award winners. um every staff member in our district could be given an award uh and could be honored um at any given

116point in time in in the school year. And um I think it's important that we find as many different ways as we can to recognize our staff um because they work very very hard and um especially under our specific conditions in in our district. It's public education is so so challenging right now. Um, and that's not even with the additional challenges that we have. And and any person that is willing to come in our schools, work with kids, and show up every day, uh, each one of them deserves an award. Um, thank you, Holly, for your presentation. That was excellent. Um, you're doing an amazing job here, and, uh, I know there are days you don't feel that way. Um, but you are. you have uh made a difference in a very short time. You

117can feel it when you walk in the building and I know that's in large part because of your leadership. So um so I did write a few words. Um we are I've heard that there are people um working on an event to uh honor you beyond just saying a few words tonight. So that's coming. Um, nobody serves on a board for 41 years doesn't get acknowledged in the community in which they serve. So, um, but that that will be here. Um, so, uh, a couple words. Uh, it's an honor to express my deepest gratitude for your 41 years of dedicated service to Young Community Schools board of directors. You began this journey on November 15th, 1984. I was 12. Okay. Since then, some others might not have been born out here. Uh, since that day,

118you have helped shape this district in ways that we feel every day. Today, Yel Community School serves roughly 5,500 students and about 600 staff. Each student represents a family and across 41 years you have represented and advocated for tens of thousands of children, educators and parents. That scale is remarkable, but what matters even more is how faithfully and lovingly you showed up for each of those people. Your impact is woven into safer classrooms, richer programs, and countless opportunities for our young people. Your love for public schools and your love for young have always been clear. You have given and continue to give so many volunteer hours. I repeat, volunteer hours. Uh board members are not paid. Not for recognition or reward, but because you believe in our children and our community. You have served selflessly.

119That steady behindthe-scenes devotion is the truest form of service. Board work is demanding and often thankless. And yet you poured in hundreds of hours of meetings, outreach, and decisionmaking simply because you wanted the best for every child that you found. I've seen students and staff seek your wisdom and feel your compassion. You model what it means to be a servant leader. You lead by serving, lift others without seeking the spotlight, and stay for the hard work real change requires. Your leadership has been thoughtful, principled, and rooted in love for y'all. And that love will ripple through this community for generations. On a personal note, Debbie, I want to say thank you. Thank you for your steady guidance. your encouragement and the countless ways you have supported me and stood by me probably when it wasn't

120safe to be near me. I will miss working with you. Your council has meant a great deal to me and I'm deeply grateful for the time we've spent together serving our students and families. On behalf of the entire Young Community Schools families, students, parents, teachers, administrators, and staff, I want to say thank you. Thank you for your tireless advocacy for your generosity of time and spirit and the legacy of caring you leave with us. We will carry forward the lessons you've taught. That public education is a shared responsibility, that community matters, and that one person's devotion can truly change lives. Debbie, we honor your service. We celebrate your legacy, and we promise to continue this work with the same compassion and commitment you have always shown. Yeah.