Yelm Community School Board meetings 10.9.2025

001stand of the republic stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. >> Up here. >> Felt weird kind of trying to come up front. Okay. Okay. You guys go first. >> Thank you so much for uh having us here today. Um it's important that that we share the music that we do. Um every single member of this this ensemble uh is part of the chamber choir, but we're missing half of us based on conflicts and everything else like that. But we have something that we know we can perform for you and it's important that you hear us. Um, each independent section we have sopranos, raise your hand, sopranos. Okay, that's four of the nine. So there we go. Altos, raise your hand. That's most of my alto section. Uh, bases, raise your

002hand. Tenners, raise your hand. So, uh, this year's chamber choir is 32 strong and they're making great music already at this point in time. So this uh this song is entitled connected uh which which we feel is extremely important that we're all connected as one unit um as we strive for the same goal through unity. Uh, here we are. Ready, guys? One, two, three. >> I am you are me. That's what I said. I am you are me. Don't you see? I am you are me. That's what I said. I am you are me. Don't you seems like I'm over here. You're over there with us. It seems like I'm over here. And you're over there, but us and you're seems like I'm over here. And you're over there, but there is something between user.

003I am a part of you. You are so together we are one. You are inside my heart together. Thank you guys. >> Thanks for starting our meeting. >> Absolutely. >> On the 22nd. >> Okay. Well, after that, welcome everyone. My name is Denise Hendrickson. I'm the school board president. And before we begin, I want to remind everyone that the agenda and meeting packet are made available on the district website at least 24 hours prior to at the start of each meeting. Please note that while we strive to provide all relevant materials in advance, modifications to the agenda are permissible. And that was our wonderful Yale High School fire uh student or superintendent comment. >> All right. Uh thank you. I want to um I want to start this evening uh with a short presentation. I

004think one of the things uh that has come up in um recent years in particular also was certainly mentioned at um the last board meeting is this idea of policies and district policies. And I think um one of the things that that people um may not know is how the process works. And um as a school district, as a school board, uh the process that we have to go through and the things that we have to consider when we are either um developing or implementing uh policies and procedures. So I want to take a few minutes and share some information tonight. U apologize for uh the small writing, but um you don't necessarily have to read all of this. Uh but I will explain this piece. So as a board member um you're required to

005take an oath of office and um as of actually yesterday OSPI put out uh a memo um reminding all school districts of the um very specific requirements uh for board members. And um it's House Bill 1296 that speaks specifically to what you are to do as a board member and required to do it. And they're um even reminding districts that if a board member refuses to take the oath, they may not be seated and their votes may not be counted. And so I think it's important for um the community to know uh what a board member is required to do as it relates to taking this position on a board and um I think more importantly the language associated with it and specifically what OSPI uh sent out today is the part um you see

006that we already do this on the right hand side again you may not be able to read this but this is the one the actual oath we did with Frank and um the specific speific part that they were calling out is um the part that says I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington. Um oddly enough, these time these sometimes contradict each other uh which puts schoolboard members and u uh elected officials in a very difficult spot. But this is something that the state is taking a very uh hard position on as far as um not allowing board members to be seated in their position or votes counted if they have not or will not take that oath. Um, along with that oath, um,

007Ally, I'm not sure if you can get that to, um, be any more clear, but I'm going to, um, talk through this document. And, um, we'll have this posted, I believe, after the board meeting, so you'll be able to see it. But, um, they put policies in a few different categories, um, as far as should a district, and that's fine, Ally. I can talk through it. um should a district um adopt a policy? Um is it required? Is it recommended? Or is it something that is nice to have? And kind of three ways that uh policies are generated. The far left um I'll read it from top to bottom. far left says new state or federal laws or regulations are imposed or legislative directives from um to WASDA which is the governing body for board

008of directors or new or revised statutes or laws. And then if you go down on that left hand side, uh what is the risk level of your board if they do not address that particular issue? And in kind of orange pink down there on the left says liability risk for not addressing these issues is high. Therefore, policies developed in response to the above are classified as critical. I'll talk more about the classification in the middle section. This would be uh policies that come from maybe audit results. So um we're audited every year and so as a result of that audit uh we may uh implement some policies and procedures also uh potentially due to case law uh which is constantly evolving. um researchbased best practices, state standards and guidelines, uh policy workg groupoups, task force

009reports, and then down below, what's the risk level? Uh liability risk for not addressing these issues is moderate. Therefore, policies developed in response to the above are classified as important. And then on the right side, um this would be more what we would talk about as local control type issues. Um, for example, uh, cell phone use would be, uh, a great example of us putting in a cell phone policy based on the needs of our school district. Um, clarification, uh, needed based on feedback after policy implementation if broadly significant. So again, we may have policies in place that we feel are unique to our district and then as we live with those policies, we may come back and make changes. uh the risk level down there in yellow liability risk for not addressing these issues

010is low. Therefore, policies developed in response to the above are classified as discretionary. So bottom line uh there at the bottom is should you put through policies in these particular uh categories on the far left is absolutely uh middle is yes and the right is maybe depending upon your district. So the next slide shows the categories summarized again critical, important and discretionary. Critical is required by state or federal law or tied to funding eligibility. This is where the state or federal government can withhold funding to your district if you choose not to push those policies through and um accept those. Um the purpose is to ensure legal compliance and access to necessary resources. Important policies not legally required but support supported by case law, audit findings and best practices. They help to prevent litigation and

011promotes well-being of the school community. And then discretionary uh no legal mandate or liability. uh board-driven initiatives. Um they could also come from your strategic plan. Maybe out of your strategic plan, you develop some policies and procedures. And then uh on the right, the purpose allows boards to reflect local values, needs and philosophies. So um some examples. So, here are uh some policies that would be under the critical that are required by state or federal law and tied to funding eligibility. Um oftent times districts depending upon the community may be criticized one way or the other. You're not doing enough. You're doing too much. Um the challenge is as a district that you are still required to pass and approve these policies and procedures, but where a district has some flexibility is the in the

012implementation. For example, curriculum that you choose and adopt um is up to a district. Uh but you're still required to stay within the law. And so, um, again, some may say you're not doing nearly enough in in a certain area. Some may saying you're doing too much and you shouldn't be doing or implementing that. Um, the the difficulty with that is number one, um, you as a board um, take an oath of office and are required by law. Number two, the superintendent um can uh have their certificate revoked if they do not follow state law. Um so it it's a very difficult situation. You are also um kind of at the mercy of the lawmakers that are running your state at that particular time and that can eb and flow depending upon who is elected

013and whether or not amendments are made, whether or not there's changes in laws. So these are some of the um policies that are on the critical list. Not all um but some on the important list. Um these are some of those policies that would be listed as important um supported by case law, audit finding or best practices. These are ones where districts are strongly advised um to pass through them. But uh but sometimes what might happen is there might be modifications to those. And what I've seen with some districts in um this area and this area is maybe in the adoption of the policy, they don't necessarily agree that it's best for the students in our community. It might include something like like the state requires um policy so on and so forth to be

014adopted and some districts might um follow that route. And then last is discretionary. Um and so oath of office is one that um as far as the actual oath policy we have to follow. But as far as state law of you um accepting the oath of following state and federal guidelines, that is required. I think what's really important is for um people to know and understand that a board doesn't have all the flexibility in the world to um either deny policies that are sent down by the state or federal government or um just change them um at any point in time just because they don't feel like it. This is a significant challenge because we talk a lot about local control and doing what's best for our students, our community. That might look very different

015than a neighboring school district. And that's the challenge that every board and every school district has. At our last um board meeting, and again, you don't necessarily need to read all this. I'm going to point this out. there was a reference to um this particular policy um and um it's around um I guess you can read a little bit of it. Um the idea that was presented at the board meeting was that the board brought this policy up in July, voted on it in August, and it was approved. Um but the reality of it was um what the board was approving was the statement in red. This policy was adopted in 2020 as a requirement. And what the board was um approving was the uh sentence that says anyone may file a complaint uh alleging

016a violation of this policy using the appropriate completed process outlined in the sexual harassment of sexual students prohibition policy so on. So the idea that we're not being transparent, we're not being open. Um when you uh actually listen to the conversation and the process, um the board and the district was not adopting this policy nearly adding a required statement to the policy um that was considered critical. I think all of this is relevant because this is something that um doesn't change regardless of who the board members are. Um there are always going to be um these three categories and what fits in those categories may change depending upon legislation um changing that changing or amendments to legislation. Um that may change depending upon who is elected um uh in our state in making those decisions.

017Uh that is the challenge of a school board and a school district and if we don't follow um we risk uh many many different things including funding and also uh me having my certificate revoked and um not really wanting to do that. So the biggest challenge for us as a board and as a community is figure out how do we operate within the law and still respecting and recognizing what is best for our students in our community and that is a significant challenge to operate within that box. Um but I think it's important that we continue to push and make sure that um we are fighting for our students. there are avenues for us to to take um in order to um try to change these if we don't agree with them. And that's where

018as a community we have to come together and um and work as a team to uh make our voices uh heard especially with our local legislators. they are the first people that we have to go to if we don't agree uh within any of the policies particularly in the um these first two categories. >> You guys have any questions? That was a lot. very welcome. >> I'd just like to say that there are some requirements of us taking classes like one of them is the Native American >> government to government and if we do not all take that don't get any money. >> Yeah. There's a couple other ones that they choose. >> Yeah, there's a lot to it and I think um you know people aren't going to agree with every board member regardless

019of who's elected, regardless of who sits in this these seats. Um, but I think people also need to understand um the challenges that that every school district faces, every single one. Um, and trying to do what's best for their community while still managing the legal requirements. Um, it is hard and and there is no easy way around this. >> Well, I think there's a misnomer on how much power the board actually has. I when I ran for office, I was pretty sure that we had power to actually control things locally and it became pretty clear pretty quickly that we do not. Um, and that is really frustrating because not only do we not get to make some of the changes that the community wants and that we want, but we also get to be verbally

020abused non-stop by those that think we do have the power to institute these things. So, um, it's really a lose-lose and one can look at it in two ways. either the system has been created in such a way to put the blame on us um and away from the state which is the camp that I sit in um or that just how the cookie crumbles but personally we don't have the power that I think we should have and I think the public doesn't understand when to vote for us that we don't so >> don't say anymore Ryan hasn't left yet and >> but I think that's very important because like we just no matter what policy it is you guys probably all know what we're talking about. There's just certain things that you want to

021change as a board member, as a a dad, whatever it would be, and you're almost handcuffed that you can't. You might completely disagree with that policy, but it still has to come through, but that's where the board members sit there and fight be like, "What can we control in this situation? Make sure we're communicating that to parents and just being transparent in those um situations." >> Yeah. And I think the other thing that you all have done and our district has done and this isn't to any particular um policy or uh procedure but um really encouraging our families to opt out when they feel that that is best for their child and that we as a school district um as a board and superintendent support that 100%. um that that we support families making decisions

022that are best for um them and their children. And um we will uh as long as I am superintendent, I will always support that. Um and uh hopefully that's something that isn't taken away at some point. Um >> fight for that. >> But I believe there are some districts on some certain things you cannot opt out of. There are some districts that have implemented that. Yes. Um but uh but >> we've made it easy for the parents to do that. >> Yes. >> We've given them every opportunity. >> Yep. >> Many times. So >> So thank you for um giving me the time to to share this. Um I will uh pass it over to you to go on to the next item. >> Okay. Uh the next item is uh community comments. We have

023one. It's on a nonaggenda topic. >> Okay. And so on our um nonaggenda item, see? Okay. For the community comments that are separate from um items on the posted agenda, please understand that the board will not engage in discuss discussion for policy 1400. The board values and supports the dis uh the comm opportunity for community members to share ideas. However, for non-aggenda items, the board will not take action but may refer the issue to the administration for further investigation or research. Comments on non-aggenda items will be limited to three minutes per speaker and 15 minutes per topic. Any comments directed at the performance of school personnel will not be allowed. Comments that are inappropriate to an open public meeting will be immediately stopped by the board president. Community comments need to be presented in a

024respectful manner following proper decorum. Disruption of the meeting beyond the open comment period can result in the meeting being recessed. Thanks. Uh Heather Warsaw stand right there. >> Yeah, wherever you want. >> Good evening board members, Chris and thank you Chris for your presentation. That's exactly the kind of communication, explanation, and transparency I'm going to reference later in my comment. My name is Heather Warsaw. I'm here tonight as a concerned community member and parent as a prior school board member. Although my stent was short doing due to leaving that community to return to my roots of YM, I address you all with a different understanding of your role than most. I also have an intimate understanding of public boards, elected officials, and legal requirements. This district is now facing the fourth consecutive lobby failure. That

025should be setting off alarms for every one of us. I know it is for me. Much thought and many conversations with my fellow community members have led me to an understanding of why it's not a funding problem. It's a trust problem. Each of you have or had children or grandchildren who have had the privilege of attending school in this district. Some if not all of you also attended school in this district. I did. Kindergarten through 12th grade. Went to Prairie Milond YMS YHS. You have seen firsthand the opportunity opportunities our schools once offered. You've also seen how things have changed after repeated lovey failures. You know the impact that these decisions have had, not just on budgets, but on classrooms, programs, the spirit of our school, and most importantly, our youth, our future. The community

026has clearly spoken again and again and again. That was three again. It was enough. This isn't simply a financial issue. It's a trust issue. The public has lost all confidence in how the district is being led. I urge you to take an honest look at the root cause of uh of that lack of trust. You must stop pretending this is about taxes or voter turnout. The questions we all deserve the answer to. What is this board, each one of you individually, doing to rebuild trust and credibility with the people you serve? What changes are being made to communicate more openly, to listen more carefully, and to demonstrate accountability for past decisions? While I desperately hope I am wrong, I fear you will soon be making another round of bud difficult budget decision. We need you

027to think carefully about what kind of district you want to have left when the cuts are done. Every cut sends a message about your priorities. I strongly discourage targeting sports programs for reduction or elimination. For many students, athletics are not a luxury. They are the reason they stay connected to school, to understand teamwork, and have hope. Sports are the sole reason some adults are still alive today. While these decisions and discussions often happen in meetings that are sparsely attended, not the case tonight. I may have chosen another night to give my public comment. Please remember you as elected as the elected board are the decision makers. Superintendent carried out your direction, but the ultimate responsibility lies with each of you. Too often the frustration of the public is deflected towards district staff or administration when

028in reality the decisions start and end at your table. Quit allowing someone else to shoulder the consequences of your decision. Quit hiding behind the face of the superintendent. Take responsibility for the posture of the district. After all, your decisions and votes got us here. As you consider future cut, I beg you to proceed with care. Please, before making decisions that will affect students for years to come, take a hard look at how we got here and take an equally serious step to repair the public's faith in this district. Each of you are very familiar with the saying this is why. I challenge you to remember that Y stands for young right now should also stand for youth. But if you don't do what is right for the youth, for the community of young, and for

029the district, the same thing's going to change. The new thing, and unfortunately, it's already gaining traction, is going to be this is your fault. While your decisions may not change, some things must change. The district cannot move forward until it rebuilds trust. That starts with each of you individually and as a whole through transparency, accountability, and meaningful engagement with the community you serve. The time to make the change was months, maybe years ago, but we can't go backward. So, we can agree now is the only opportunity left, and I hope each of you take it seriously. I know this was provided to each of you in writing. You may or may not have had an opportunity to read that yet. It was um forwarded from the superintendent. Thank you, Chris. Um with the suggestion that

030each of you may like to meet with me. I look forward to that. I encourage it and I hope to hear from each of you. Thanks. Thank you. >> No other comments. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Um, thank you for saying that. I did get it. >> Thank you. >> Um, all right. Um, individual contracts. I move we approve. I >> second. >> Any discussion? No. Would that be okay? Those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carried. Acceptance of gifts. >> Move. We approve. I said >> any discussion. >> Yes. Um I'd like to make a comment. Um there has been a rumor that um the board and the superintendent does not support the booster clubs and I would just like to have it on the record. I will not speak for my

031seatmates. I'm speaking for myself that I have always and always will support the booster clubs. Um, I started out as a booster club many years ago and I'm here right now without the booster club and the elementaryaries have boosters and we support the middle school, the elementaryaries and this year, last year, the booster club at the high school has had to do more than ever in my memory of doing and we applaud and We I appreciate all that the boosters do and without them you're a volunteer. We're volunteers and your time and your commitment and your passion. I don't know how else to say it. I don't know how the rumor got started but by gosh it's a lie because we always have supported the boosters. I started out I'm going to say I started

032out um my son was in kindergarten first grade at McKenna and I started out volunteering doing the old fisherman's breakfast at the McKenna Elementary and man did it smell good when when we did that. No, that is not true. I completely support the booster clubs and all that they do at all the schools and many many times I've spent my birthday doing Christmas in the park. So I know how important volunteer organizations are. I've served a lot of hot dogs, a lot of hot chocolate. We could not do the things that we do in this community without our volunteers. So if somebody ever tells you that we don't appreciate our booster clubs, our volunteers in our school, >> I mean, yeah, come and see me. I'll tell you how important they are. They are so

033important. So yep. Yeah. Squash that real good right there. I just want to say thank you to uh the groups on here. >> Um we have a lot of people in our community um working very hard to to raise funds for our students. Um >> Oh my gosh. And these are people that I think are are very strong supporters of our schools, um supporters of the levy, um supporters of doing whatever needs to be done to help our students. And um you know, it's it's unfortunate we are in the situation we're in. Uh but out of this I think um there's been some positive and that positive has been um the participation of um our our volunteers whether it's boosters, PTA, PTO um I think many of our staff across the district would say that

034many of our volunteers are there as much as they are and um we would not be able to do what we're doing currently without them. And I also think moving forward um every district is is going to be cutting no matter what. It doesn't matter if you have levy dollars or not. We are going to have to continue to partner with our our community, not just parents, but the community members in order to provide opportunities for our students. And so a big thank you um for this particular group. That's >> a lot of dollars showing up on this donor line every board meeting and it's pretty amazing. >> Yeah. Yes. But thank you all for >> Yeah. Girls basketball, CTE, automotive and and YS choir. So all those in favor of accepting these gracious gifts

035I >> oppose. >> All right. Motion carries. Okay. Next item is Y AEO P salary schedule the 2025 2026. >> I move we approve. >> I second. any discussion? >> Yeah. Um, one of the the reasons that I heard during uh the levy about why it failed is um a word that's thrown around a lot and it's called transparency. And um and and I strive to try to understand what does that mean exactly? What else is it that you need in order for it to be considered transparent? Um, our office professionals, uh, we settled our contract with them. They got a 2.5% increase. Um, just to be clear, that's the same increase our teachers have this year. That's called IPD. It's the same increase our district office staff got this year. Same increase that our

036uh, administrators got this year. um and 5% more than the superintendent got. So I just want to be very clear that you see a pattern here of IPD for all the groups that we have bargained with that have current contracts in place and the office professionals are the the newest one. Um all of these again all the contracts all the collective bargaining agreements are on our web page in the human resources section. You can read any of them. You can also see what the increases were last year and the year before that. Um, I think that's a demonstration of transparency. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Y High School Spotlight. All right. Thank you for the opportunity to uh spotlight the high school. It is my pleasure um

037to do this every appreciate our staff being here. I think that's shows a lot that they're here to support. Um we have 20 minutes, at least that's what I've been told, to keep my presentation to 20 minutes. I will do my best to uh spotlight all the amazing things that are happening at the high school in 20 minutes. Um with that, can we All right. Can we make that first one happen? We'll see if the audio works. in a young high school extra story >> participating our connection. We're all together at football games. >> Definitely the people here. I like the people. I love the community. >> I love the people in me. >> I like my friends. >> We're all a family. >> Dances and football games. >> Seeing all my friends all my

038teachers. >> Football games. >> Uh my favorite part about being a tornado is the community and school spirit. >> Hey tornadoes, what's your favorite part? All right, for those of you that you're seeing it now, but uh I simply asked a question and then um I asked our staff to give me a list of kids um that are going to say great things about all of the amazing things that I think and um that is what that's the finished product. I will talk about this in just a minute, but um the gist of this conversation is um I'm not a social media expert. It's not my favorite place to live. I did Facebook many, many years ago to stay in touch with my family that lives in other states. Um, I'm tired of the negativity

039in the community on social media and so I'm trying to combat that with the amazing things that are happening. So, I will speak to that in a little bit and I have to give Hannah a shout out because Hannah and I did a video. It's been a couple weeks right now, two weeks, three weeks >> and it is up to 48,000 views all over the country into Canada and uh um that is Hannah's doing not. All right, next slide. Um uh this obviously we're going to talk about learning, belonging, community, everything that we have been doing in my four years at the high school and it jives extremely well with our strategic plan. With that, I'm going to jump into a quick demonstration. Before the meeting started, I asked Mr. Shaw if he would come

040up and uh and do a little demonstration with me. >> That's why he's so grumpy. >> And I promised it would be quick, easy, and you don't even have to think. I just need you to stand right here next to me. All right. And we're going to walk towards Miss Stillwell. And all you got to do is count your steps. Ready? Yep. >> All right. How many steps was that? >> Eight steps. So, we're going to walk four steps and then stop. Okay. And then we're going to face each other up right in the spotlight. Put your hands up like a fist. All right. And then I'm going to push. What happens? All right. That's it. You can go sit down now. >> The simple meaning to that is um and will you go to

041the next slide so I can jump into this. Um when he came up and sat next to me and I apologize if those of you have seen this before, but when he came up and sat next to and stood next to me, um he might have been wondering why, but we walked together right without any almost side to side. There wasn't any explanation. There wasn't any rules. Um, he just walked next to me. I made him walk back to the middle so we could all see what was happening. As soon as we faced each other up, he had two choices. He could quit and retreat or he could push back. And so the simple message of this is um I have spent the four years, four years, two months at the high school um trying

042to link arms with 150 people and move our organization forward. Um I think it speaks that we've done a pretty good job of that. when a bunch of staff members want to come watch this on a Thursday night when I know they're tired and we'll be back at it at six o'clock tomorrow morning. Um my bullet points in that presentation and again thank you Mr. Shaw. Um collaboration and trust that's how we move a school forward. Um we've been strengthening learning, we've been working on belonging and we've been building community at the high school. It is not an easy thing to do. The high school is a big place. Approximately 120 employees give and take depending on some district office folks that come and work here or um back and forth. A I think we're

043at 72 classroom teachers uh four administrators, dozen office professionals. It is a large place doing amazing things. We can't do this by ourselves. We link arms with everybody and we have moved the organization forward. Um, we do that by making sure everybody is seen, valued, and they know that they're part of something bigger. Not an easy task. Um, but I want to thank our administrative team. Um, because without the four of us working our guts out and building relationships with our staff, um, we wouldn't be where we are. So that, um, we're going to get into some details and then we'll provide you guys an opportunity to ask some questions. Uh, again, learning, belonging, and community. Jump to the next one. Um we're going to talk about uh each one of these things and what

044that looks like. Um how we are addressing those things at the high school. So you're up. Attendance. >> So attendance uh this is something huge that we are working collectively as staff. Um in high school what I'm wearing from elementary you have a lot of tardies. There is some unexcused absences. Um excused absences. what we're doing to try and uh get ahead of that. Uh we are doing third period sweeps. So students who are consistently tardy or skipping um or have unexped absences, we are sitting uh partnering with them to call home to see if family is aware. Um we are then having them make up some time in lunch detention. We are working really hard on Becca. So Washington state requires our students to be enrolled in their education full-time from age 8 to

045um 18. Uh so we are tracking every student in this building's attendance when they hit a certain trigger. Uh we are doing Saturday calls home. If we can't get a hold of the family during the week, we are conferencing with students. Um we are doing a student engagement accountability. So they get to come talk to one of us about hey this is how your attendance could affect your education which leads to your future. Um many phone calls, many many emails and I think something that um has really helped is making the personal phone calls to the family. So I am calling Jacobson and saying or we are calling hey your student has been tardy eight times this week and then we are tracking it on a spreadsheet so that we know when we need to

046take that next step into interventions. Do they need attendance contracts? Do we need to have families come in and meet with us? And so we can sit down and really get to the core of why the student is not coming to class. um our admin, our counselors, our ops, our wonderful attendance clerk, and our security team is all heavily involved in tracking students attendance every day. Um and so that's kind of where we're starting. Uh and we plan on continuing throughout the year to make sure that our students are coming to class. Um, I'm going to jump in and talk about uh tier one instruction. But before I do that, I will say attendance is our biggest challenge. That is our biggest challenge is getting kids to class on time every day. Um, and it's

047not unique to Yelm. That is a problem that all of my principal colleagues all over the state are having concerns with. Uh, tier one instruction, that's classroom teaching. And so, how are we improving that? Uh, something that I thought about, I was actually uh in a presentation that Mr. Woods brought in to us last spring and one of the presenters talked about this plan that he had and he was at an elementary school and basically he had a coin um with every teacher's name on it and his OP would give him war in the morning and that was his job to then go and find those four teachers and just check in on it. We are doing that. Um so when I get to work in the morning um we pull out 16 coins and

048they each get four. Um I love that because we're seeing people that we have not seen. I've evaluated the same departments year after year after year. And so there are other departments that I'm watching for the first time. Um the other thing that I will say is teachers are speaking to it and they're like, "Hey, this teacher's been in my room four times or this principal's been in my room four times. What's going on?" Um kids are picking up on it. Kids are asking, I had a kid come up to me at lunch today. Why were you in my first period uh class today? And the simple answer was that I knew that teacher's name in the morning. Um cell phone uh restriction is having a huge impact. That is a big deal. Um our

049teachers are speaking to it. Our our kids are seeing the difference. Um I am noticing student engagement um spiking just simply by taking the phones away. Um all that to say our kids are addicted to their screen. They're addicted to their phone. And we have had a few conflicts. Um I was worried that this was going to be a bigger deal than it really was. Um I think the heaviest day that we've had so far was 26 um phone um violations um in a day and that's manageable. So uh thank you for that and it's making a huge difference. Um and then uh I want to speak to instructional priorities. Um what I have asked um we have a a formal um it's somewhat informal I guess an informal walkthrough tool that we use. Um

050it's giving some feedback around our criteria that teachers are evaluated on back to teachers. Um but what I am asking our governance team and so that is our uh kind of a leadership team. Um our governance team um I've given them some ideas and I've said hey in October what do you guys want feedback on? Is that entry tasks? Is it exit tasks? Is it student engagement? Is it deeper thinking thinking questions? What do you want feedback on? And so the the governance team is creating instructional round or instructional priorities. And then when we go into classrooms, that's what we're looking for in October. That's what we're looking for in November. Um I am putting the onus back on our teachers to tell us what they want to see from us. And so I'm excited

051about where that will go this year. >> So I get to talk about the next three MTSS um practices. We have a care team that we started a couple years ago which was pretty much counselors and our admin staff will get to talk about students that aren't showing up the attendance fees or a student that may have a social emotion which could be a a student that uh during this process we had a student whose home burned down. So looking at the wraparound services around that just the whole student and the whole child and since then we have also brought our in our um school sites as well as our social worker to talk about those pieces. We meet for about an hour every Friday as a whole whole bit group in Mr. Clever's office.

052So students come up again, but there's also some takeaways. How are we going to help with that? What are the pieces that we're going to do to ensure that there's some follow through on that? And then we talk about those pieces when kids names come on or off off that group um we speak about that and how how that was successful or how we supported. We did start the year um with some inclusionary practices that we brought up to our staff and talked about that. So tier one like greeting at the door and they have some goals around that thing or however some collective um things within departments working. So there are those practices PC's um do we want to share share that piece the the one piece that we have you want to click?

053>> Yeah that would be great. So, for those of you that don't know, PLC's are professional learning communities. That is the um on Wednesday mornings, our teachers get to work collaboratively together. Um they're typically talking about their assessments, their student data. Um a focus in both our math department and our English department has been obviously the state assessment. Um my line that I use with our staff every year is um I know it's one day, I know it's one test, I know it's only 10th graders, but that is how we are graded. That is our score book. That is what everybody else looks at. That's what gets published in the paper. So we have to prepare for that. Um and uh what I have done here is I've taken our four years of data. Um

054and drew a red line for the state average and a blue line for Yelm. And we should be extremely thankful for Chris's leadership and our math department. Um and all of our math teachers because they're working really really hard. Um and again that is a snapshot of one day, one assessment. Um, some kids, um, I will tell you, we have a student that went to an elite college that did not meet state assessment. Why? Because it's not attached to their grade. Doesn't mean anything. So, we are getting their best effort and that's what we're being evaluated on. We're trying to make sure our kids know the importance of it and we've done well with that. English in the next tab. I just want to talk about that for just a minute. Um, our English team

055um is right on par to a point where in 2025, last spring, we outperformed the state average. Um and um we should be proud of that. Uh we've had a couple different administrators in the four years oversee the um English department. Allie's doing it this year. Um but the team uh works great together and they are doing amazing things. All right, back to our presentations. So for uh CBAs and academic placements um so uh th those are pieces that we utilize and and determine where where kids are landing within those PLC's. Also PE our professional learning committees the math team will get together and talk about specific um contentbased assessments that they're going to use. And then really the real key piece that has changed in the in the four years since I've been here,

056they're diagnosing which questions are kids missing specifically as a whole and then reteing those pieces. Same is true of the writing examples that are used in ELA. So these are parts within those PLC's that are really important that the teams are utilizing and it's made a difference in with our math boards from being 15 points below to just three off of it. So it it is huge in how they're using these to be supportive of student growth and student student supports graduation and pathways. Um one thing we had car night uh last night. Thank you very much for post it was really really exceptional. We had a huge turnout um and a lot of our local um organizations and businesses and colleges around tech schools and trade schools to come talk to people and there

057was a great amount of interest that was great to see Miss Matis um who led that for us. Um the other credit recovery there's two periods of credit recovery instead of allowing kids to continue to slip and realize I'm just not going to graduate. This isn't an option. we're we're catching them earlier and fit that within our schedule for a couple of teachers that are teaching those and allow kids to get back on par or or in that place where they can be ahead. And then tornado time or high school and beyond plan to be we did switch to school link which is a new course instead of Zello. I got to make a really cool song about Zello last year because someone told me I had to sing it. So in saying that piece,

058it's a very streamlined piece and as we get into this, there will also be a lot of access for parents so where you can get in and see what pieces kids are using and as as we get the kids learning this tool a little better um and we have the ability to have them, but for instance, they just did their first um piece. A teacher can watch and see. I know you would, this would be surprising, but a student that opens up a Chromebook and then closes it five minutes later and says, "Hey, I did that. That's great." the teacher actually sees the percentage of what they finished in live time while they're doing it and then you go back and take a general lunch. I realize that you opened it and shut it and

059it was really cute but can you finish it? So >> in saying that piece it seems to be a very very good program and one that we'll utilize and add in some other tools as we get to know it better but right now it seems to be really effective. Before we jump uh the credit recovery, um this was predictable, but uh the board got a snapshot of our grad rates and you could see the first three years that I was the principal here, they were going up and then last year dipped back down. Um predictable. Um I watched that cohort when they were freshman and they came uh with some deficiencies and then um this was 2025 was the first year where um our counselors did not have the two credit elective waiver. Um, and

060so that had a that had a dip. Um, and um, what we did this year to help that is our counselors have quickly identified all of our kids that are deficient and we're putting them into a either a first period or fifth period try to recovery class, hoping to see a huge impact so we can see that grad rate go back up in the right direction. >> All right, to get started with belonging, I'm going to take a minute and share a story. This is unplanned, but I have to share it because it happened today and I was so excited. There's a senior student uh who was here uh freshman sophomore year went to a neighboring district and came back and she's like, "Oh, Miss Jacobson, you have no idea how happy I am to

061be back. I absolutely now that I can compare districts love these teachers. They care so much. They're all meeting me at the door. They know my name. I'm like talking to them and I'm putting my phone away and I'm passing my classes and this is so amazing. I cannot believe that we have this opportunity and so I was like you're welcome but that is one of many stories and I know this student so coming from her that means a lot. So super excited about that. um with a culture of dignity. Um our counselors um have spent a lot of time with students doing student interviews. Um talking to them, what are our needs? What are concerns? Uh how do you feel belong in here? How or what can we do to help you uh belong

062in our school? And so the information received from that has been incredible. Our CIP team also did empathy interviews with our staff. hospital staff uh signed up for different times either before school, during lunch, after school and met um with the team and went over some specific questions. Got a lot of information from that extremely useful for us um that we've kind of >> jump right there. something we didn't really talk about um in PLC's each department or group the algebra group the geometry group the English nine group they were all asked in August to come up with an act a goal and an action step that is going to incre increase belonging and an goal and an action step that is going to increase their academics. Those goals are then submitted. That is going

063to drive our entire CSIP. Um, and the before they made their goals, they had access for a few hours of all the anecdotal data that came back from kids, all the anecdotal data that came back from staff over the last couple years. >> Those conversations peer-to-peer were just so meaningful. Colleague to colleague, so meaningful. Um, and it just really, I think, strengthened a lot of relationships um on our campus. uh student behavior. We're doing uh weekly student supports. I think one of the biggest impacts is our care team that we meet on Fridays and talk about individual students with specific needs with the counselors and our uh school sites and our school social worker and just putting a plan in place for each kid and bringing the student in, bringing the family in and just

064seeing some growth and some changes in the students have been very impactful on that. So, student leadership, project management, which is our student leadership class. Um, the one thing under the leadership of Mrs. Wil is we're trying to put some power, some leverage back into kids hands. What do you want to see in our school? Um, one thing that I am have been discussing with Miss Wolf is how we're going to challenge kids to expand that beyond just the project management class. Um, getting more kids in leadership roles and how can we do that and that those ideas really will come from our kids. um that work the best. We can we can create stuff and have stuff, but if it's student led, it really goes places. And so that's something that we'll be continue

065to work on. And in a time where I guess the amount of leadership for different classes are, if it's student led from the groundworks up, I think will be pretty exceptional. So we'll work on those and hopefully I can share back at the end of the year if you ask me what happened with here and share some pieces that are organically made by kids that mean and usually when it's made by kids, it stays. Um, it's not person independent. It's school depending. So, um, creative opportunities. >> Don't take that from me. I love this one. I I'm so excited. As you know, some students love academics. They rock it. Uh, I was not one of those. I went a drama club. That's what got me engaged. Um, so students get engaged in different ways in

066our school. Uh, if you have not gone to one of our our walks, please come. Huge event. So much fun to see kids work from elementary all the way to high school. So, so come, so come on out. Club rush was great. That's when all the clubs come out during lunch so kids can see everything from needle point, which is one I would like to join. They couldn't, but still try. Um, all the way to gaming. Gaming club has what, over 50 kids and I don't know, there's a lot of them and it's really loud so I I'll stick with the needle point club. um they feel so at home there and it's just so nice to see all that. Don't forget to come to our concerts, lots of those and uh our social media

067u thanks to our student leaders and Mr. Cleveringa or all the social media. So join he's going to talk about a little bit later but you need to you need to like brand us on that. So recognition. One thing that isn't on here is it is that you talk about student um joy voice. There's a passing what is it the the wheel? What's the book's attire? >> Tireless tireless teacher >> tireless teacher teachers award. Um that is one that is selected by by the students and the teacher gets a tire in the room for a while. So it's an individual need of it. But pretty cool thing. That's what I talked about. Kids kind of came up with that. It's been something that is one of as teachers we're choosing another staff member passing of

068the cup. Um there's department awards. So use weekly uh staff shout outs. You will start to see more kids on our reader boards. You can see some now we're going to spotlight and highlight kids on the reader board so you can see those pieces. It gets towards the end of the year graduation and students having students up there as long as it's okay that they're up there. Having those people up there will be really, really important, but also let you see as people drive by, see some of the shine of the kids and how great they are here. >> Well, we said social media recognition. When I was a kid, you got the certificate you took it home, put on your fridge, you're happy. Uh, kids don't want that. It doesn't do any good anymore.

069It is now, can we give them a shout out? Can we tag them in a Twitter post or a Facebook post or Instagram post or Snapchat or all these other things that I don't know? >> All right. Um, I did jump into the social media game this summer. Only have nine posted, but this was last week. We're like 215, 220 followers. Um, there's a ton of young high school pages out there. Uh, I've had this conversation with educators for the last couple years. It's it's endless. It's hard to manage. Um, but, uh, there is a Facebook page and we have, um, that is our staff photo from, uh, one of our August days. That QR code will take you to the Instagram account that we're all kind of managing together. Um, and I said this

070before, I think the next slide we'll talk more about it. Um, those are our nine posts. We've had some fun with them. Um, this was again last week. 33,000 views, 5,000 views, 4,000 views, 3,700 views, 3600 views. Some of the same ones. Those are engagements. So, those are likes. Um, I'm learning a lot that uh uh Facebook and Instagram are merged and I created this as a page, not a person. And so I get access to all this analytical data and it is insane to go through and think about it. Um, but it is helping us and hopefully we're reaching our community. My mantra this year has been if you're not telling your our story, somebody else is. I'm tired of somebody else telling the story. We're going to tell our own because it's a

071pretty cool school that we're the opportunity to run. >> So community input. I appreciated you guys talking about Booster Club because we have some booster club members here with us tonight and they are phenomenal. um they are working endless amounts of hours. I don't think um people know the heart and soul that actually goes into what they're doing. Um it's been wonderful for us to partner with them. Um when we partner with them, they partner with the community, it kind of brings us all together. Um and that's been a really beautiful thing to experience in women. Um we also have uh parents from our community uh of our students coming in for our monthly CFIT team meetings um getting input their voice stern uh partnering with us to do the best that we can um

072the next one is that me >> that's you >> all right uh track this is something I started we have a an agenda every Monday hopefully every Monday afternoon 2 o'clock we get to pause and calibrate our work because it's the only time in the week that we are actually all in the same room at the same time. Um and so something I started was we're tracking our positive parent interactions. And so every time we make a positive phone call, every time we have a great interaction with uh the parent um uh first week of school, I watched our section the student section at a volleyball game. They got their pom poms. The pom poms fall apart. There's stuff all over the bleachers. Um, as the game ended, I watched most of our students leave,

073but I did see two students stay behind and uh grab the broom, grab the uh dustpan, and sweep everything up. I recognized one of them. I took a picture of the other one, asked our front office, "Hey, do you know who this is?" Found both of them, called their parents. Those are the things that we're trying to do. It was a great phone call to make to a parent when they you tell a parent um what a great kid they have and the role that the the model that they're making for their peers. We're trying to track that. Um, I talked about social media. We're pushing that out and um, uh, Miss Smiles is jumping into a new position and learning really, really fast. Um, all the things, but we're going to do our best

074with a monthly, uh, community newsletter. Um, trying to get content again from 12 or 13 departments, 100 people, and get out the good story on a monthly basis. >> Student, >> one, one more. >> So, we will have studentled conferences in the spring. Um, one thing that we are looking using school is because we nappy a little bit. Um, the focus of student conference or the sheet is really around who's going to college. I think we're going to broaden that. I know we're going to broaden that to both our trade school kids that are looking at trade schools or tech pieces. Um, our kids that are going to be joining the workforce as well as our um, kids that are joining military or going in the military branches. And reason behind that is both one

075for teachers input coming back but our students are saying this really doesn't apply to me. So it's hard to have a kid have a high school and beyond plan. It doesn't really apply to what their plan is going to be. Um and so and we see more and more of our kids looking a different route than college is not I want to say I believe in college but it's not the only answer. And so making sure that uh we have that for our kids. And I'll work with a group of teachers as well as pulling in some students and maybe some some community members to say how can we do this and how can we make this the best application for our student and have it a process that comes from sixth, seventh and ethn.

076So I'll be talking with our our joining middle schools about what are you seeing there and how can we make this streamlined so it's something they keep and it's all housed within school link and can be carried. The nice part about school link and being a safe program is student leaves like a student left and then would come back to us that would carry away and then come back to us. So so those pieces don't just go away um using school. >> All right, our next one uh one of the goals for the strategic plan is uh what is uh engaging our community look like? And so um I want to celebrate uh what it looks like at the high school um because our staff do an amazing job connecting with their community. Um I

077put out in several surveys last week and I just asked um tell me how many times are we interacting with parents? And so I'm going to go really really fast here. Um but from our administrative office we have made 115 uh calls solely on attendance. Um we have 81 calendared parent meetings between the four of us in the first month of school. We estimate about 300 dropins in the first month of school. Um, we have processed uh close to 500 uh discipline offenses. It could be this kid missed class five times and the teacher wrote them up. Um, it could be something more uh serious than that. Um, we've dealt with and interviewed kids and uh um with families 218 times on suspensions. Most of those are, hey, you're not following our expectations. Um, we're

078going to take a break and have a reminder in in school suspension. Um but uh we have had a few majors already this year. Our counseling team um again amazing amazing uh we had at one point uh six counselors we have four and a partial at the extension school right now. Um what they are doing is amazing. Just in the month of September 178 appointments um they've estimated to take 480 phone calls from families. Uh they processed 462 schedule changes in the first 10 days of school. Um we have taken on 120 new enrollment meetings. That means that we've gotten all the documentation from the previous school, previous uh state and then we decide on placement. That does not happen with a click of a switch. That is time for both the registar and our

079counselors. Um they are participating in 104 504s that are 150 kids on our campus that need additional support and we're communicating those with our teachers. We put out a needs assessment, 1100 results came back. It is their job to read on 1100 results from kids and then they will come up with a game plan of what their counseling goals look like for the year. Um, a challenge is uh advising New Market and Running Start kids. They're only here for one period. They they come here and they take choir, right? Or they come here and they take band and then they're over at um SPSCC or another place. And so our counselors are still required to make sure that they are hitting all the marks, passing all their classes, and make meeting all their requirements of

080graduation. Many of those meetings are harder to get to than the kids that are here all day. Um support staff, um our front office estimates that they interact with about 700 so far in the month, 750, uh community members or parents, um in a month's time. Um our attendance office has taken over a thousand phone calls in uh 30 days. Um our ASB and athletics office is estimating 350 phone calls or interactions with families. Um our registar who joined us the uh from Ridgeline Middle School the day before school started has processed 52 of the 120 new student packets. Not a not an easy thing. um uh security team um is doing tardy sweeps third period. So kids that have a number of tardies, our security team is calling that kid in and they're saying

081you were tardy five times. Call your parent and they call their parent and we monitor that. We're tracking that. We've done 101 of them in a month. health room has uh 335 visits to the health room and uh engaged with 543 parents that is either health safety plans, need support. Um Sher was here tonight. I could probably speak more to that, but it is a tireless work and non-stop. Um uh I did all that work about a week ago and then I realized I haven't even got to our teachers yet. So I put out a survey earlier this week and I said, "Teachers, how are you guys doing? What are you doing?" So, um, in the last two days, I've gotten, uh, results back. I asked the teachers three questions. How many times have you

082been to a parent meeting? How many times have you emailed a parent? How many times have you called a parent? And then I totaled all those up. Um, our classroom teachers totally have had 331 parent phone calls. Um, they have sent 3,359 emails to families. Many of those are automated with progress in their academic content. um and they have been in 141 parent teacher meetings. So, we are engaging with our community. We are doing a great job as a staff. Um and uh it it's not easy when we lose staff and we lose office hours or office professional hours or we lose classroom teachers or we lose administrators, but the people that are still here are working their guts out and it is noticed. Um what are we doing to move forward? We're going to

083continue with our PLC's. We're going to talk about I talked about those instructional priorities. We're going to uh keep hammering those this year. Um I am looking forward to uh gathering all of those action steps from our PLC groups on their academic goal, their behavioral goal. More import more important to me is monitoring the action steps that they're going to take. And then uh student life conference is happening in the spring. Um sees set process looking forward to getting our booster parents to join us. I'm going to continue to have a social media presence and I'm gonna ask Hannah to help me more often than she has the last couple weeks. And uh I keep preaching to our staff. Please, please, please find opportunities to celebrate because we are doing great things. And I'm done.

084And the extension school is up. And I was not 20 minutes. Sorry. >> That was exactly 20 minutes. Yeah. >> Give or take. Perfect. >> All right. then we will be quicker. Um, not sure if we introduced ourselves. I was a little nervous. A lot of faces I know. It doesn't matter if I know you or not. I think if I know you makes me even more nervous. Um, I'm Ally Jacobson. This is my seventh year um here in Yelm and in my second year as principal of the extension school. And then I'm gonna have Felicia introduce herself because I think many of you know her. >> I'm Felicia. I have been in the district for six or seven years, but this is my first year at both the extension school, Yale Open Doors, and

085the preschool. >> So, we we really are so excited to have her on board and helping me with the extension school. I it's hard to be at two places at the same time. So, our schedules um are set where the staff and students there are getting supported more than they have been in the past. So, super excited about that. Um, again, same theme as as that you're hearing, which is great. We're all uh on the same page here, working on our learning, belonging, and community, even from the high school also to the extension school. I'm going to talk a little bit about each one of those. Felicia is as well. Um, as you know, uh, Yum Extension School is an alternative school. It is a smaller school. We uh go anywhere from 110 120 students.

086Uh we have four full-time teachers. We've added a part-time CTE teacher. Um and we have a part-time counselor as well as an OP and a Cara. Uh so amazing staff and they're doing great things with with students. Uh at an alternative school, kids go there for many reasons. They're either very behind on their credits and they need to go somewhere where they can work at a faster pace um and catch up on their credits. It could be just a larger environment is not theirs. Uh too much anxiety, too much going on. They need that more one-on-one support. So, some students are there. And then we do have quite a few students who work full-time and the hours at the high school, it just does not fit for them. Uh so, there's a variety of reasons

087why students go. They all have amazing stories. Um and we enjoy having every single one of them there. Uh one of the the issues is that they've fallen behind on their credits and we're looking for ontime graduation which is completing graduation in four years. We did last year go from 52 to 56% of students graduating on time. And now that I have Felicia on board, I'm like we're we're bumping this up hardcore. So, we're we're working on 67% of on-time graduation uh for our students. Uh belonging, we've we've done phenomenal with our belonging, but again, we're going to keep pumping that up. We're going to go from 98% from 95 to 98% of students really feeling a sense of belonging. And we put some things in place some last year and we're again, you know,

088bumping it up and adding more to that. in community. Um we we want to involve our our community, our parents in the process of supporting our students to graduate. That is our ultimate goal besides sense of belonging graduating and having next steps for them. Okay. Well, I kind of talked about this already. So, what are we going to do to to increase our graduation and and provide the support for our students? Our teachers are meeting with students every week, doing a check-in every week, looking, hey, where's our progress? Uh, how are we doing? Where are we stuck? If you're stuck and not making progress, you need to come in more often because students can can work some at home, some at the extension school. You're going to come in, you're going to sit with me.

089We're going to continue with this progress. So, that weekly check-in uh with the students uh and then making specific plans for them. Uh something I noticed when I uh became principal over there is the lack of CTE classes. They would have to come over here for CTE and that was just a little hiccup for them. So we've um added a part-time CTE teacher where they can get those classes there at the extension school. Uh so that is another reason why we believe that we are going to be bumping that up. Uh and then also our care team just like the care team model that we have here at the high school we also have there it is every Friday we meet with the teachers and the counselor and our parah and our all of us

090together it's like a family like where's the students that are are in need or are stuck or need something what is it how can we support them what resources can we provide for them uh and those conversations are just just amazing to have our belonging. Um, again, we kids love it once they go over there. At first they're like, one teacher stuck with them all the time. I don't know. And they end up loving it. It is a family. They feel comfortable. They've made some really good uh friendships. Uh, Felicia's over there all the time. She can speak of those friendships blossoming and and having some positive interactions. We've started different things like now we're going to do new monthly uh lunch activities where they get to come at lunch and do all kinds of

091activities. We're going to have family uh evening activities which she'll talk about maybe some of those um oh my goodness I don't know just way so much going on and uh some of the belonging stuff she's going to touch on because she does have kids uh have them the opportunity to submit a survey of what is it that you're looking for in our school what is it that you would like to see how can I help you uh and that information is coming to her we're collecting that talking about it as a staff and seeing what we can do to provide. Hopefully I didn't steal your thunder there. Um and our belonging as you can and see and I won't get too much in this but the participation used to be very low and then

092um we started really coming up with a plan to get the participation to hear from the kids. Uh and so we're going to do that again this year. Just really putting it out there. guys, tell us what you're thinking. Give us that information so we can support you. Uh, and if you're a parent of an extension school, please fill out the survey when it comes to you. Thank you. >> All right, here we go, Felicia. >> So, community, this is one of my favorite things. It's something that I highly believe in along with my team. And so, I I have had a lot of fun partnering with Ally to start something a little bit new. Um we have been sending out bi-weekly newsletters. Um they were at purse just so we're document but we recently

093got um access or to s'more. And so the beautiful thing about s'more is it still gives parents you know pictures. It gives them all of the information that we feel like they would want, but also it allows us to add polls, to add surveys, Google forms, and so we make sure we have something within our s'more that gives us that community parent feedback, but also our students. So, we don't just send this to um our parents, we also include our uh students within it. And so our goal is um to make sure that we have um families interacting with this another thing going out. And so we able to pull the stats. So our first um although it wasn't our first newsletter, our first s'more went out and we had 46 views. Um when I

094looked tonight it went up to 48. And so we would like a 100% of our families to even access this. But we're making progress. Um something that I think uh when Miss Jacobson and I talked to students that they've enjoyed um and we've enjoyed hearing that they are actually accessing this is they love our polls and we're asking them what do you want to see in our newsletter? What do you want to see at our school? Because if we are doing things that don't interest them, are they going to come? Nope. Can someone be sitting at the school that Miss Jacob's been looking awkward when no one comes? So, we are really pulling their voice into this. Um, something that's not pictured up here is the survey. Um, at the end of our we have

095uh or not even a survey, I'm sorry. It's it's a Google form. Hey, reach out. If you you can't call, maybe you want to fill out the survey. What concerns do you have? Would you be interested? Come in and meet with us. Let's do a family activity. How can we pull you in? What do we What do you want from us to help support your engagement, but also your students success and your growth? Um, our staff has been phenomenal about, hey, have you seen the more? We'll be on a phone call. I think it was Tuesday. I heard, hey, our s'more went out. Did you look at it? There's links. we have um high school information or young high school information and so it's been kind of fun because every week you can also kind

096of tweak it to the results that we get in our Google document and on our poll um we have it on our website so when it says desktop people are going to our website accessing it from their computer they're getting on it from their cell phones um and so I am probably more excited than I should be to watch that number grow. Um because we are building this based off of what our community, our family members, what our our students want to see, want to access. Um it it's been a great year so far and we're so excited um to see how how our students grow this year. So check back with us at the end of the year because I'm sure we'll have plenty of amazing stories. Thank you. I don't have any questions.

097So, just like uh lack of a board meeting, you have data uh more data than you would ever need. Um >> I think what's important to to note is that all of this data is tied back to the strategic plan. um every one of our buildings just like uh you saw at Lacamus um reporting on the three areas that we are focused on learning, belonging, and community. Um and so you have all the the data in front of you um that we're going to be tracking throughout the course of the year. And also um you've got kind of the sheet that explains all the data as well that you guys are going to continue to get for every building as we visit. But um what questions do you have for them? They're prepared to answer

098anything. >> Well, I had a bunch of questions or a couple questions written down, but then they went ahead and answered. self. First of all, um I'd like to say having been around a lot of years and bringing in each building that um sometimes cuts something positive and I really like this format as far as bringing you guys in the high school instead of running you through an all day. it worked and I was really one that oh it's not going to be the same and it's a lot more information. It's a lot more I I like it. I don't know how you guys feel about it probably either one of them but you did a great job and with all the information. Um now do I have a question? Um I'll let someone else

099ask but it it really good. Really thank you. really enjoyed it. >> One of the data points that is missing on the packet you guys got um uh we had a office professional retire and a new office professional start. So they have the keeper of the more account. So when that person leaves we don't have access to data from last year and so we're uh trying to figure out once we get this months we will then be able to compare it monthto month. Um but we >> but we will get it. >> Yeah. I mean, it's not like it's a million dollar key, right? >> Yeah, >> we know where she lives. >> That's right. >> Yeah, we'll do it on >> I know, but we'll go find >> I'm sorry I missed the care

100night because I always flight someone into that. >> Great turnout. Miss M does an amazing job. >> Um, >> she left. Yeah, >> that's always so fun. >> Um, >> what are you guys uh finding is the reason for the attendance or lack of >> uh YM's not unique to uh Yeah. Right. This is a a trend across schools. I think um whether we like it or not, we learned a lot in the middle of COVID when we shut down and there are kids that are successful by simply logging on a machine and completing work without coming to school. So there's that component. I um I also think at the end of the day um the only thing that's going to get some kid there is in intrinsic motivation and um there are kids that

101there is a level of apathy um in our schools right now that I have never seen 27 years in the business. Um it's I don't think there's a reason I don't think there's one thing. Um but we are uh we are just like every other principal that I talk to. Attendance is one of our biggest challenges. >> So, how do you think you're going to counteract that? Because I'm like I I mean, I just talked to kids. I even talked to my own grandkids. You know, you cannot go anywhere without an education. The doors just shut for you if you do not finish high school, even if it takes you five years or six years. And so you you've got to get an education and then do something, you know, and at least pursue something

102and and you never know where you're going to go. And that that road you might think you're going to go may take you somewhere else and it may take you somewhere else. So it's like trying to get these kids to realize you got to be there. I think it's a little bit deeper that I think you'd be shocked the amount of times where I've had a kid sitting in front of me and says they tell me it doesn't really matter and I say well let's call mom or dad or whoever that is >> and you may get the same exact answer. Um and that that's discouraging. I think I think the only thing that we have is then to try to build a relationship with the kid and when they when they are here um

103you have that relationship you create and it's not like a punitive like you're here you've been gone we're it's we're happy to see you >> you build that relationship and it starts a day at a time and it starts a week at a time and then it starts a month at a time and there for and I guess that's a key component too of having some of those pieces we talked about about those classes class where a kid a lot of these kids are behind because they just shouldn't show up and then they feel like they're too far behind and it's just too big a weight to bear. So having some of those classes here where we can do some catchup and and they can see the Europe to walk alongside them and to build

104them up instead of we really don't want now if your choice is is I really want to catch up quicker and yes could be the option. We do entertain that. But there's multiple trying multiple different avenues to give hope back to a kid and also to say it matters, >> right? >> And that really starts with relational and from our counselors to our admin team to our teachers. It's really about that connection and then digging on it. That care team discussion I talked about, we talk a lot about how do we how do we connect with this kid? How do we make sure we maintain that connection? And then the follow through. >> So when you ask about, you know, how are we going to change it? I think it starts one kid at a

105time. You look at that growth piece, then it's two kids, then it's three kids, and you monitor how well that's effective and what what's going on and then continue not to just admire it, but to dive in and really try to tackle it. And we've done that. Um, and we found some things are not successful. Can't punish a kid to come to school enough. Um, there are some kids that Becca does work with. um and following that piece where there is some teeth to it. We had a story today where a parent wanted us to tell the kid, um, can you please tell my kid if he doesn't come to school, you I'm going to be charged 100 bucks >> A day. And so we can't lie to the student, right? >> Saying that, but

106um, we talk around those pieces. So it's really those parts, those individual pieces, having more conversations individually with families. If there is the response back, like it really doesn't matter. find that connection to make sure that there is someone here that can they look up to that can have that conversation that says it does matter and uh just continuing to work on that case that >> are you having um any luck with Becca are they supporting you because for a while >> it was >> in 2020 two years ago uh pre uh reduction of force um one of our employees uh was the best in the county and we had more hearings at this high school than any other high school in the county. Um and we were seeing a growth um that obviously made

107a difference. Um we did not get to it last year just did not have the capacity and that power. It's something that I tasked Felicia with this year. Um the the tricky part about it is the kid has to be almost in the 11th hour before um a lot happens. And at the end of the process, my history has been the court, the county is going to say, "Work with your counselor, work with your school, um work with your principal, work with your teachers to create a plan." And we've done all of that to get to the 11th hour. That process does scare some kids and families, and that helps. Um, I guess my comment to that is it's our only tool in our tool belt, so we're going to use it. >> I have

108one more question on the on the cell phone. Um, you uh talk to it. Um, are you going to have any uh stats or statistics that later down that by not being on the cell every waking minute during the day that it might reduce the bullying and the discipline in and around if not in the classroom but you know on the school grounds. Are you going to be able to track that or see that or have you seen it? Yeah, we'll be able to track um display instances and compare year-to-year. Um that's a great question because something that uh other schools have done and I didn't want to jump into this immediately. Um but now that we've got our feet on the ground with the current cell phone policy, one of the next things that

109I would like to do, and again I'm going to work through our governance team. Um if I'm in Mr. Mr. Clark's classroom and I have to go to the bathroom. Instead of just taking my phone and going to the bathroom and texting my four buddies to meet me there, I'm going to we're going to ask that kid to give the phone to Mr. Clark and then I'm going to go use the restroom and I guarantee you um two things will happen. They'll have a second phone or um they will figure out that the bathroom really isn't that cool. >> But there's a lot of that coming up now where we can't always, you know, the high school, the staff or whatever. Um, if there's bullying going on, we can't stop it. If he seems to

110want to bully me or say something and you take care of it, >> all you do is >> and then and then on both then it continues and it leads into much more. Y >> we still can't monitor at home. So, we're still running into those pieces um before school starts where something was set on Saturday and Sunday. But the piece in saying that is we're seeing far less of that piece. And so it's been super cool. >> The other part that's probably a big I've probably had 30 kids thank me that we did it >> that last year had cell phone issues um saying just they can't control it and they're glad that we helped. >> Um >> and that was actually in our in our data when we pulled kids. Some kids talked

111about that in that piece. Um, one misnomer that we'll get to put out a little bit later is you can't say directly that our F rate is or the number of FS that we have is due to just cell phones and engage kids, but it's 200 lower than it was last year. So, we have 200 fewer FS than we did the same time last year. And I don't think our teachers are working any any less hard than they did last year. That's more better English. I think we should thank our students for showing up with the policy because >> are you noticing any positive or negative student behavior trending one way or another? whether it's with the cell phones, graduation, anything like that trends that are kind of going about >> um the the Tik

112Tok challenges ended a couple years ago and so we're not seeing those in our schools like >> I will say this uh and again this is anecdotal um every year out of co it has gotten significantly better and that's not just at Y that is across the state across the country um behaviors social skills are coming back and it's um we're seeing that positive effect. >> Yeah. On this on track off track on October 3rd, we have on track passing off track passing. Does that just mean that if they're off track and they're passing, they haven't done all the assignments, but the grades are still good. So, uh, this is Kurt's, uh, 4A's data, and my punch tells me that what he's pulled is, uh, ninth grader might be failing their English nine class right

113now, but they got a credit when they were in eighth grade. So, they still are on track to have the six credits that they need at the conclusion of the school year, even though they might be failing the class. The other thing that I struggle with this data is um the moment you pull it, >> there's 82 teachers who are in very different places as far as um did they grade that quiz? Is that quiz sitting in the the box over there? Um was the kid absent the day before? So the data doesn't do us a lot of good until grades post that semester. >> Okay. Thank you. I just want to say thank you. Um, having been a former high school principal, um, I know how hard that job is under normal circumstances, let

114alone uh, post pandemic and fewer staff. Um, I think after having been a high school principal and my son went to the neighboring high school, being an assistant superintendent in district of two high schools, um, it is pretty amazing the work that our team does, not at not just admin, but our counselors, our teachers, our um, classified staff, our bus drivers at building relationships with kids. And there is nothing more important that we do than that. Everything else comes after that. Um, and it's pretty remarkable uh to see the efforts that our staff put forward in building relationships with kids. Um, and and there is nothing more important that we do than than that alone. um our kids are hurting and they want to know that somebody cares about them and not just cares about

115them that quite frankly that loves them and wants the best for them. And uh our staff does a great job of that with limited resources and limited time. Um it's unfortunate that this is where we are, but I'm I'm very proud of this team. Um nobody wants their job. There aren't people lining up to do what they do. Um, and it's pretty amazing that they show up every day and if you ask them um how they're doing, they'll say it's the best day ever. Um, even if it is a very hard day. So, I just want to say thank you to you guys and your staff and the way you lead them. Um, we appreciate it and you don't hear that enough. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> We have a little over barely. >>

116Okay. >> Board comments. >> Yeah. I personally have noticed like with cell phone policy uh people have been like yeah people be mad about getting their phone taken but uh a lot of people that I know that usually wouldn't pay attention in class have started to pay attention in class. It's just the cell phone policy although students don't like it is doing it job and it is really fun. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um I too have noticed a like a severe increase in like engagement within the students. It was definitely hard to adjust at first but I think that it is definitely for the best. It is ser like even for me I've noticed like the teachers are more engagement with the students and I've really like that and also I know she's not

117here anymore but I would like to thank this math for hosting the career night or care fair. Um, I was first there and I think that it was very nice connecting and engaging with different colleges and career choices. I think that was amazing and I definitely going to be going to them next year. It was a lot of fun and I just want to thank >> Yes. Is this true? I also went to the Caref Fair. I highly recommend. Um, and then I want to shout out our YHS choir. It was a great surprise to see them come up and sing a song for us. I did choir for about eight or so years. Um, and so it was very nostalgic for me. The a lot of people that I sang with a couple years

118before I almost got up and started singing, too. I'll give them this spot. Um, and also wonderful presentations for the high school and extension school. There was a lot of depth and detail to them, which I think really shows um, how much time and commitment goes into improving and maintaining the experiences of staff and students here at Young. So, wonderful job. and I'll follow you on Instagram. Yeah, go ahead. >> Um I think uh one of my favorite parts about the presentation for the high school was the um all the stuff like seeing what like the the counselors were doing and like some of the data on that because I know that a lot of students like think that the counselors don't do much or stuff like that. But I think it's it's good that

119it's like students can see that that they they can like be uh that the counselors actually do a lot like hundreds of emails, all that stuff. And um I think shout out to the >> you do a post >> and then um >> social media post >> also the extension school. It's cool to see that all stuff that they're doing because I know that um all the students that go there. Shout out for them and all the teachers that work there. >> Um really like give a thanks like to the boosters and everything um as an extracurriculars and like um just do it overall. They really are just like such a big help to our community and it's just great to have their support. Um, and then also like the presentation, you guys did an

120amazing job. Um, really got like how amazing our school is and what we're really doing here to make it better. And I love learning about the extension tools too because I know I'm not fully educated on it and I love getting to hear about it and what like amazing things are happening there, how connected they are, how we're reaching out to community um and like be able to have the articles um like what you're talking about to just have people know what they want and like get to hear. Um also the social media is a good thing. I know uh a lot of high schoolers are really on social media. it's like the only way to communicate with them sometimes. Um, so it's a good way to like um get all the students to come

121together and sometimes get a good laugh because I know that school tour was a little I got >> um I also wanted to add thank you for choir to choir for performing for us. Um, I also think that it's really amazing how much the booster clubs have helped us and supported us in such hard times. And then I really appreciated Cleveringa's presentation about all the amazing things that are happening at Yelm. And then I got to learn a lot about the extension school, which is something I think we don't really hear about and stuff that I had learned today that I had no idea like what that's happening in our school district. And then even though I've been lacking a little bit helping Clever Ringo with his social media aspect, um I run the Yam

122student body and so I've help I've really been focusing on that and I'm really proud to say that in the last 30 days we have had 1.4 million profile views on the student audience. >> You don't follow one of the best I would say one of the best high school images. >> Yeah, >> I work really hard on it. is an amazing talent and somebody's going to be lucky to hire her running their media campaign someday. >> Maybe that's who we need for our young community. >> She's already >> I just found >> Okay, Bill. >> Okay. I like also like to thank the choir and also thank the high school admin team. Great presentation. And I got to say thanks to a lot of the people that actually stayed for the meetings. So, and

123uh been to a few football games, watch four football games and four nights left. Uh outcomes always didn't come out the way we wanted it. And uh I I would have to say that Eatonville's crowd on Friday night were their size of school was a darn good group showing up there. I couldn't believe it. >> Um yeah, thank you for choir. You can sing way better than I can. I can tell you that much. I think I sound like that, but I know it's probably not true. Um, and uh, Heather, thank you for calling us out for what it is. Um, I think more and more people need to show up here and do that, just not on social media. Um, you know, people can talk positive on a board comment, too. It doesn't always

124have to be, you know, fingerpointing and stuff, but there's a lot of good things that do go on, um, that we don't necessarily get recognized for, you know, and it's real easy to point fingers a lot of times. Um, thank you for the high school and the extension school presentations. You guys are extremely busy. I don't know how you manage it all. Um, bunch of stuff going on and I'll be talking to you about hiring you for a media person before you uh get out of here. So, um, I do appreciate everyone staying here as long as you have >> Oh, it's a great meeting and I want to see a nod. Do you like doing it uh this way showcating showcasing other than when we came in during the summer and did it? Um,

125I I think the uh authentic meaning is a nice place to showcase the schools. Um, and we got more parents to watch and staff members to watch. In the middle of the day, it's hard to get everybody at school. >> Great. Thank you. And the choir and before you leave, I'd follow, but I don't know how to do it. >> Don't let her on. Um, I want to talk a little bit about the personal aspect of what I heard from the high school about looking at each kid for who they were and what they need because they're not always getting that at home. That is something that I think more people need to be looking at life that way. Um, we're not numbers. We're not social media profiles. We're people and I think that kids

126aren't getting what they need at home a lot of the time. See that coaching through sports and I really appreciate it know that we have people like you guys who are taking that task and working with the kids individually because that is what the society is missing. Um, on that same level, I want to appreciate the booster club and all the other volunteers in this community that are also looking at the individual needs these kids have and that this community has as a whole. And it takes a village and it takes even more than a village right now when there's so much misinformation and fingerpointing and torching pitchfork grabbing that is going on. So, it takes a lot more of the good to overshadow the bad. And I'm proud to be able to also me

127and my friends and proud that you guys are working to move that needle. Um, and that gets me into the transparency conversation because I think that's tied to this whole thing as well. I mean, we do need to be transparent, but at that same token, the community has to want to receive that information. Um, I take every phone call that I get and we've talked on the phone multiple times. And you would be shocked at how few phone calls I do get. We don't have our own PR. We don't have people working for us. We're not full-time politicians. Thank God. Um, but we can't spend all day on social media trying to play whackable. It doesn't work. We have jobs. We have families. We have kids. Um, but if you get to know us as

128individual, just see how our hearts are in. and you'll see that it's for the kids. And if you have questions on decisions that are made, believe me, a lot more conversation, discussion goes into within the brief hour you see us sitting in the meetings, pick up your phone, call and if you disagree with something, let us know. We are here to support you guys. We are here to support the community. There's usually a reason behind everything and it's not always right. So, call us out. But we also need your help to spread that word to the community that we are approachable, that we do have their best interest at hand, and that we want to be here for the kids. And we can't do that on our own. We're only five people. So, the fingerprint

129pointed at us all day and all night, and it does, but we need the help of the community to help combat that. And if they're not here to help us, we're never going to this battle. So, I appreciate you coming here and giving us that information today. I know that you have a heart for the community as well. But just as much as you need our help, we need your help. >> Okay. And then so I also have something I want to say um because I did get a few phone calls. So I want to make a statement of non-endorsement. As a school board, we do not endorse or oppose any candidate for public office. Our role is to serve the educational interests of our students and community in a nonpartisan manner. While we do

130not engage in political campaigning, the board may choose to endorse or support educational initiatives, ballot measures, or policies that directly advance the mission, vision, and goals of our district. So, I just want to be really clear on that. We don't endorse or oppose any candidate. So with that, I also want to say thank you to the high school staff for um hosting this and um I always love the extension school because if it would have been there when I was going to school, >> that is where I would have gone. >> Never in a big high school. So thank you very much and thank you to the all the booster clubs at all the schools and um all the volunteer organizations in our community. I belong to Rotary. They're near and dear to my heart.

131The 12 weeks or 10 weeks of summer food program that we do, I bag food um for the summer for um just for families that are in need. And so it's very near and dear to my heart. I always will support any kind of a volunteer organization and all things in this community. And I want people to know that we all do. We're volunteers ourselves. So um and I appreciate everyone for coming here this evening and spending it with us. So that I'll uh I'll try to be quick. Um first one is uh really exciting. I think um it it is just a testament to our district and the people. Um Tracy Schultz, the assistant principal at Southworth Elementary, has been named the assistant principal of the year in Washington State by Association of Washington

132School Principles. Uh she was nominated by uh few of her staff and um then uh as a nominee, you've got to then fill out a pretty lengthy application. Uh she reluctantly did that. Um she's not one to brag about herself. Um but uh that's a big honor and there will be a lot more coming on that. Um it'll be throughout the course of this year. They'll come spend several hours at the building um interviewing people. They'll probably want to reach out to you and interview you students, parents. Um it's a big deal. So uh big congratulations to Tracy, assistant principal at Southworth. um care event was awesome. Um a lot of people put time and energy into that and uh it's just a lot of fun to to watch. We had our first special ed

133parent advisory committee meeting this week. um just a just a really neat group of people uh focused on um improving our special education programs and Shannon Powell um our director and his team um they're really the ones responsible for starting that and opening the door for conversation and inviting feedback of what can we do better and different and kind of taking the approach of um families with students who have special needs should not have to fight for what is um best for their child. Um as districts, we should be providing that and they shouldn't always have to fight for that. And that has been kind of the that's kind of been the process in in school districts is that you have to fight for what's best for your child. We don't always get it right.

134Um but he has these meetings to allow for um parents uh a representative from every building um to get that information and bring it back to the committee. And so that's been really uh really good. I got to go to the Yale Middle School booster club meeting um after the SPE parent advisory meeting um because I was already there on campus and um really impressed. Um they're working hard. um they have so many things planned and it's all around engagement. It's all around engaging our students and our families and it was pretty neat to see. Um I did my September bus ride um out to Clearwood um and got to do the I do the elementary one and I do the secondary one. I do one every month. Um the Debbie works with Kimmy, one

135of our routers over there. they schedule their bus route that I'm riding and um you're always welcome to join me if you ever want to. Um but it's fun. Um I want to say thank you to Shannon. Um, the reason I want to say thank you to Shannon is because um, she took the time to uh, take the invitation that Debbie keeps pushing out on social media that the superintendent will meet with you anytime, anywhere, day or night. Um, and try to answer any questions. I'll hear the criticism. You can tell me the criticism about me. I will listen. Um Shannon reached out and she had questions and we sat and talked for a little over an hour and um I just appreciate that she was willing to sit down and have a face tof

136face conversation and um and I not enough people are willing to do that and that's going to be the best um strategy for us in our district is face to face conversation. So, just wanted to say thank you to that. I got invited to the Thirstston County Regional Planning uh board um to present on our levy. Um very supportive group, a group that wanted to know how they can help. This morning at 7:30 a.m. I was at Fen County Chamber Board meeting. They invited me to come to also share about um the levy, but also big picture around school funding. They want to know how they can support and help um not only just Yelm but but a broader uh conversation around uh budget. And um I just want to say thanks for um our

137staff here tonight um for presenting. Uh there is so much good going on in our district and so many good people um that work in our schools and um it's unfortunate that we have people that um want to spend their time pushing negative things out there. Um it's only hurting our kids in our community. And so I would challenge everybody here who has social media um go on there and put something positive about something you may have seen tonight. And I think we just need to continue to flood with um the good news and ignore the negative and invite people to conversations. Um, and if they don't take you up on it, uh, I don't know why we give them, um, any time uh, of our own to to even listen to what they're saying

138or read what they're writing if they're not willing to have conversation. And so I would encourage all of us to, um, invite people to conversation. And so with that, um, we'll go. >> Okay. I kind of stay off social media, but I get sick of it. gives me a headache. Um, next board meeting is October 23rd, 6 o'clock. It's a regular board meeting and it's at the district office. Meeting adjourned. Thank you.