Yelm Community Schools Board Meeting 8.28.25

001All right. I now call the Young Community Schools budget hearing to order. Would you please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America. >> All right. We will now review the 2025 2026 proposed budget. Jennifer, >> are you making >> just so um those in attendance know we do a we have to do a budget hearing which is separate from the board meeting. We'll do that here at the beginning and then we adjourn that and then we enter into our normal uh board meeting and then that's where um the comments on that public comment section will be. So we have to do the formally do a uh budget hearing. So go ahead. >> All right. Thank you. Good evening. >> So do you have the PowerPoint

002D? Yes. Okay. So, I'm going to be talking about our 2526 budget that we have submitted to OSPI. It's been reviewed and approved by OSPI and now we're having a public hearing to formally adopt the budget. Um, so I'm going to be going through I don't have the CL. if you want to just click stop. >> Okay. >> So, um we have five funds that we adopt every year. Um we have our general fund, which is what gets most of our attention, what we spend most of our time talking about. And we also have four what we call small funds because they're much smaller than the general fund. So, those are capital projects, our ASB fund, our transportation vehicle, and our debt service fund. Um so again I'm going to focus on the general fund

003for the purposes of this meeting and I'll go over the small funds at the end um last couple slides. So budget summary. So this is just a cut and paste of our budget summary from the actual budget that we have submitted. Um this you received a copy of the budget this past week for review. Um this shows all of the funds. So I was talking about we have five funds. The first line there, the first column is the general fund. I know these are small numbers, but um the general fund is um we are projecting 90.3 million in revenues. Um 99.6 million in expenditures. Um we have a transfer out to um pay for um uh debt, non-voted debt that we have that goes to the debt service fund. And that leaves us with a

004-4.7 million budget. So we will not be submitting a balanced budget this year, similar to last year, but it is a little more significant as you can see. Um, so I wanted to break down, I've talked about this before, but I think it's a good time for a refresher. Um, when we're talking about our ending fund balance, um, it's not funds that we have access to. Some of that includes inventories. It includes prepaid items that we're paying for for the following year in the current year. It includes things that um are restricted. So, we have, for example, we have some carryover dollars. Um, we have carryover in typically in our CTE program. It's restricted for that program in the next year. We have carryover in some of our federal programs. Same. It's it's restricted for

005those uses in the next year. So, we have to set that aside. Um, we have the amount that we transfer out to debt service that's restricted. So, when we're looking at our ending fund balance, what we really need to focus on is our unassigned fund balance because that's really our deficit. Um, so that's a 6 almost 6.1 million. Now, I also want to note that you see a zero there where it says unassigned a minimum fund balance policy. As you know, we have a fund balance policy that requires us to set aside 5% of our expenditures for that year. Um, and that would be approximately $5 million. So, if we were to restore that fund balance, we passed a resolution to temporarily reduce that amount um because of our financial situation and we will need

006to restore it. And if we restored it, that would leave us with approximately 11.1 million deficit. So, some budget assumptions and unknowns. So, as you know, a budget is a budget. We do the best we can in predicting what's going to happen over the next year, but there are a lot of things that we just don't know. Um, obviously, the big one on everybody's mind is passing our levy. We're going out in November for a$130 um per thousand of assessed value. Um and the budget that negative4.7 million assumes that we do not pass that levy. We can't budget funds that we are not sure we're going to get. So those are not included. Um enrollment fluctuations and these first two items are really the largest revenue impacts. Um enrollment fluctuations. Um we just don't know

007what's going to happen. Um, we projected a flat enrollment based on rollup. Um, and we removed transfer students. As you've heard, we um are not accepting transfers right now until we know how many students we're going to have at the beginning of school. Um, we also have two labor groups that are still open. We're in negotiations currently. Um, um, the budget has assumed no new revenue streams. Um sometimes we can apply for grants that were unknown at the time of the budget. Um but right now we don't know of any um legislative session impacts. Um as you know we received very little help for 2526. Um and we don't expect that we're going to get any significant help anytime soon. Um food service participation and transportation writership. budget assumes that those are stay the same

008as the current year that we don't have a reduction or increase in those numbers. Um inflation obviously is an unknown. Um special education the safety net award that is um those are funds that pay for our high cost students. So we have students that are out of state and we pay a large amount in tuition every month and we can get recovery for that. We apply for it um in the spring and it's just not guaranteed funding. So, we just don't know if we're going to get it. Um, I do budget for it. We re we are receiving a million dollars this year. Um, I believe I budgeted about $800,000 for next year. Um, and then fundraisers, as you have seen, when we start cutting things or fundraising dollars do go up, we've had um

009great support from our community and wanting to sign things that are important to them. So, those could go up. Okay, next slide. Um, this is really small numbers, but I this is just to to show the budget for enrollment. Um, we, like I said, we're just doing rollup. We're looking at um, no transfers. We were down, you see that budgeted number in the middle at the very bottom, that's $5,600. I mean, students, that was the budget for 2425. Our actual ended up being about 93 students less than that. And that reduces our funding. we get about 10,000 um per student for basic education. Um so we are reducing the amount. We're we're um doing a flat enrollment based on current enrollment, not what was budgeted. So this doesn't show the current enrollment. And then on

010the first four days of school, um we will be closely watching those enrollment numbers. Every building does a count each of the first four days. Um they can count a student for enrollment as long as they showed up one of those first four days. So, we will be really closely monitoring that um and looking at whether there needs to be any staffing movements or additional reductions on positions that we haven't filled yet. Okay. General fund revenues. So, this is just a visual to show where most of our funding comes from and where else we get funding. So, the state it shows is 92% of our funding. As you can see from this chart, what's missing is our levy dollars because we I I mentioned we didn't budget for levy dollars for next year. Um and

011so typically we would have about 80% state and 12% of levy dollars. So 92% the the PI amount has reduced so the state percentages increased. Um and that is um that's based on enrollment mainly enrollment. And then there's other a lot of other formulas um regarding salaries and benefits and um material supplies and operating costs um that are funded in the basic ed aortionment funding um for those are for general purposes as well as categorical programs. I think I need to mention those are um special education. In addition to the basic aortionment that we get based on enrollment, we also get money for special education, pupil transportation, um child nutrition, English learners, um advanced academics um in those programs that we operate outside of the basic um classroom instruction. And then we have federal dollars

012of 6% and the large the the majority of those are from our title one and special ed programs and our meal reimbursements for free and reduced meals. Um there are some other grant other federal funding that we get um for um supporting military connected students some um transitional bilingual dollars and and therefore so um then there are other it's 1% so I won't spend a lot of time on it but we do get some direct grants from the federal government that's what covers most of that. So, I wanted to break down um those revenues and show how we spend them. So, what programs does it pay for? Um so, we have it pays for basic instruction is the majority of of what our revenues pay for and that is all of our general classroom teachers,

013counselors, um instructional parent support. Um and that is only for general classroom. It doesn't include our other programs like special education and CTE. You'll see those listed separately. Um it does include our alternative learning um and our open doors program and support services is 21% and that is just think about what the district needs for operations to continue operating. It's all of our um operations, custodial, transportation, maintenance grounds, um child nutrition programs and insurance and utilities. I list those separately because those are very large amounts um that we pay out of support services. Special education 20%. So special education program is a big big amount of our um costs. Compensatory ed so like I mentioned earlier those are such things as a learning assistance program high TBIP and other state categorical programs. Um and then

014we have our CTE is 4% of our budget. And then to break it down a little differently, what activities do those revenues pay for? Um, so as you can see, the large amount is certificated, classified, salaries, and benefits. That's 85% of our total budget. We've talked about that a lot before. 85% comes out of staff. Um, the other 15% is for what we call material supplies and operating costs. Um that includes I do want to mention that includes purchase services which we contract um a lot of staff in our special education program because there is a shortage shortage of staff in many of those areas. So th that's included in what we call material supplies and operating costs. It's really instructional but it's it's um contracted staff. Um and then it pays for other things

015like insurance and utilities. Like I mentioned, those are large ones. Um running start payments. So we pass through the money we receive for running start. Um and then audit and legal are a couple other large large um payments that we make. Um supplies and materials, those are just what it sounds like. They're for classroom supplies, um equipment, cleaning supplies for custodial. Um and then we have um two small amounts. They were less than 1% so I don't have have them listed in the chart, but um travel. I do want to mention that we have um significantly cut back on travel the last couple years and moving forward. Um, and then capital outlay is um equipment items exceeding $5,000. And typically those are um items in the CTE program when we're buying large pieces of equipment

016for the program. Okay, so fund balance. This is showing a 4-year history and then um our budget moving forward. So I just wanted to show how much our fund balance has diminished over the past several years. Um we had 8.6 6 million in 2122 and we're projecting a negative 4.7. Um, a couple of points to make in the 22 23 and 23 24 school years. A lot of that reduction was due to what we called the esser cliff because we had a lot of federal influx of dollars um for COVID um and then those funds went away but a lot of the staffing did not. Um and then we had um a lot of in addition to the esser dollars for CO we had a lot of what what the state called stabilization funds to

017give us money for um stabilization for levy dollars and for transportation. Um and so those those were cut. Um, and then also the the 2425 projection that also includes $6 million of levy and LEA dollars because we did collect half of half of 24 in the 2425 school year in the fall. We just did not start collecting in the spring of 25. Um, so when we're looking at the 2526 budget, remember that includes no levy dollars. So that $6 million is not there. Um, and then I want to talk about some other things that contributed to I've mentioned some of them, but contributed to the declining fund balance. You can go ahead. Um, levy failures underfunding of basic education. As we've heard a lot, the state is not fully funding basic education. Um, and that

018includes salaries. Um we salaries that we pay to stay competitive and recruit and retain retain qualified staff is above and beyond what the state provides to us. Um we also subsidize our special ed program above what the state allocates. Um we have had large reductions over the last 3 to four years in our um local effort assistance funding. That is what we receive when we have a levy. Um and cost of goods and services keep going up. inflation um reduced enrollment and we have had flat enrollment the last couple years but we've had reduced enrollment since precoid um so every time we every year we had reduced in enrollment it reduced our fund balance that much more so um I've already talked about the essercliff um so next I want to talk about a fouryear

019our four-year forecast so this is required as part of our budget we have to submit a four-year forecast um in my mind it's hard enough to do a one-year forecast. But um uh the the four-year forecast, I want to talk about some assumptions I've made here. So the four-year forecast, I have assumed that we are going to pass the levy at $130 per thousand assess value. We're going out for two years in November, but I have assumed since it's a four-year forecast, I projected that out, the $130 out for the full four years. So, you can see that if we had if we pass our levy, we wouldn't have a negative -4 million. We'd have a $1.1 million balance. Um, and then at the end of 2627, we'd have a 1.2 and so forth. So,

020as you can see, in the last two years, that amount goes down quite a bit and by the fourth year, we're negative 2.4 million. So what this is showing us is that the $130 per thousand of assessed value is not sustainable. We would need to be start looking at more significant cuts moving forward if we retained that rate. Um and some of the assumptions I've made in these in these projections for the forecast are that we have flat enrollment. Um our revenue increases about three and a half million a year without the levy. That's just for state um maintenance payments on increase in salaries that they provide. Um, and that's based on trends. Same with the expenditure increases, 5% a year based on trends. Um, no additional cuts are being made, which we know we're

021going to have to make additional cuts. And then obviously I mentioned the levy passes. And so the next slide, this is the same assumptions being used, but assuming that we don't have a levy, that we don't pass a levy at all. um if you look at the end of the four years, we would have a negative $44 million fund balance. So that obviously shows it's not sustainable to operate without a levy. Um so going to the next slide. Um I want to talk about the things that we're continuously doing. We've talked about this, but it's just very important to know that we are constantly and continuously monitoring our fund balance. Um, additional cuts will need to be made even at the $130. We know that's not sustainable. We are going to have to make additional

022cuts. Um, I already mentioned we're looking at enrollment the first four days to identify any staffing adjustments. Um, we're closely monitoring revenues expenditures every month um to avoid potential recovery of funds. So, when I close the books at the end of the year, um, we do some calculations that ensure that the state is not going to recover any funding from us because they've already provided a lot of our state aortionment. But if we don't meet certain minimum requirements, they will take it back in January of the following year. So, we want to avoid that. Um, closely monitoring expenditures monthly to identify any trends that need to be addressed to see if there's any overspending in any departments or any categories. Um, and then continuing continuous analysis of all expenditures to identify potential reductions. Um and

023then examples of what is not funded by the state. And so I want to talk about some of the larger items. Um special ed we are at 1 and a.5 million that we subsidize that our program costs that much more than what the state allocates us for funding. And in the past typically that runs around $2.3 to $3 million. We did get a little bit of relief this past year in the legislative session for next year. Um, athletics is at about one and a half million. It was it was 1.8 million when we were still providing transportation, but we still um that is not funded by the state at all. It's 100% levy funded. And then salaries and benefits. Um, we pay over $10 million more in salary and benefits than the state allocates us

024for those salaries. Um, I just wanted to give a couple of examples. Um, for certificated instructional staff, um, our average salaries based on the budget is 109,600. The state allocates $85,000. So that's a difference of $24,600 per staff member. And same with certificate administrative staff. Um, average salary is 1495. state allocation is 126 235 um per staff member. Um so what are our options to cover those excess costs? So the state gives us money. We spend more than what they give us. Um so we have a couple of options. We hire a reduced number of staff below what the state allocates us. They allocate us a certain number of staff and we don't have the money to pay all of those staff. So, and then the other option is use levy dollars or a combination

025of those. And we typically use our levy dollars for the majority of that. Um, so if we don't have levy funds, I think it's pretty clear that we only have one option left and that's to reduce more staff. Um this slide is a required disclosure that we're provided to have as part of our budget hearing and it shows that um the state is allocating us $8.2 million in in MSOC and we are paying in our budget we have $ 8.5 million. So that's about $350,000 more that we're spending than they allocate. And then I wanted to mention this because it's it's part of the budget resolution um is it's a formality that we have to petition to OSPI to budget receivables that basically don't exist. It's money that we're going to get in the future

026through aortionment payments. Um and we include the language in the budget resolution because it's required. And so it's required when you cannot submit a balanced budget. Um the resolution includes language regarding the petitioning to OSPI to budget receivables um for our negative4.7 million fund balance. And then budgeting those receivables will not allow us to exit binding conditions. As you recall last year when we when we submitted an unbalanced budget that put us into binding conditions when the state and so um that will not allow us to exit those. >> Are there any questions on the general fund part of the budget? >> Can't be a budget meeting without a few questions. >> I know. I knew it. Casey, I'm ready for you. Yeah. >> Um okay. We you showed a little bit about the 5%

027per year average expenditure increase. Is that strictly inflation and salary increases or is there something else fitting into that? >> Um it's based on a 10-year trend of our expenditures and the increases. It's it's just a flatout average of of the trends that we've been spending. >> No, but I think what you're asking is is it because of material supplies and operating costs and then the cost of people? >> Yes. Those are those are the two uh expenses that um rise every year. Uh but as we've stated uh the state has not kept up with um inflation not even close. >> Okay. And then our our actuals in 2425 on the expenditures were actually quite a bit better than our budget by about I think 3 million. Is that something that we anticipate could also

028be happening 2526? Well, I think a lot of it depends on the things I've talked about, our enrollment at the beginning of the year and whether we need to make additional staffing reductions. Um, but we we have already identified over a million dollars in staffing and open positions that are being held um dependent on what happens in November. And even if we pass our levy, we we know we still have to make reductions. So, it's a possibility that that could happen. Um, but it's not likely if we don't pass our levy. Okay. And then I guess my last question, we showed what happens if we don't pass the levy for a four-year trend. In actuality, I mean, what would really happen would be worse, right? Because we could make a whole bunch of cuts and

029we're still not even going to be anywhere close to balancing the budget. So, what is the actual situation that would happen? We would never get 44 million in a hole and still be ex in existence, right? >> No. And actually, I was going to um speak on this during my comments, but I think it's relevant now. Um so, yes, the bottom line is um without levy dollars, um our district will not be able to operate. Um that's the bottom line. Um we cannot afford to operate unless we have levy dollars. There are districts um that are making significant cuts like we are with levy dollars. Um couple things happening right now. We had um one of our regularly scheduled meetings today with OSPI and the ESD uh around binding conditions and right now uh we

030meet with them quarterly and we meet at the end of the year. Um, basically we talk about what are we doing, what measures are we taking in order to try to balance the budget. Um, we share everything that we're sharing here in addition to um all the other cuts and positions that we are holding currently and not filling uh as a result of that. And um then what happens is if um we can't get to a place where we can balance the budget um OSPI then um does what's called financial oversight and they put together a committee uh folks from OSPI and other um financial experts and then they come in and continue to meet with us but look even closer at the budget. Um they've been looking at it with us all along. for

031example, we have to submit our budget to the ESD. Um, they have to okay it before it goes on to OSPI. OSPI then has to okay it um before we even bring it to you guys to approve. So from financial oversight um from there where they committee and we work closely with them uh they make recommendations around spending around cuts. If we still can't get to a balanced budget, then at that point, um, they take over oversight and then they make decisions around spending, um, they make decisions around allocations for hiring. Um, they essentially are the fiscal agent for, uh, Yelm Community Schools. If uh we are still not able to balance the budget which again without levy dollars it won't happen uh we will not be able to balance the budget without levy dollars.

032That's the bottom line. Then at that point, what happens is dissolution and uh that's where you talk about YM Community Schools becoming part of another district, whether that's Bethl School District or North Thirstston. Then YM Community Schools becomes part of them and then you inherit uh whatever tax payment they have. Um so it's no longer um our decision here in YM until the next election. Um, at that point you would be subject to whatever tax payment uh that school district has. Um, but very directly, Casey, the bottom line is without levy dollars, you do not operate with a deficit of 44 million. Um, you can't and um we would be in a situation where decisions would be made for us. And we're not talking a few hundred,000. um we're we're talking millions of dollars and

033this potentially is our first year without any levy dollars because last year we had part of a year of levy dollars still ending the 2024. Um but now we are going into a year where there is no guaranteed levy dollars available and so if it does not pass in November um these things would be set in motion immediately. So, we would be looking at uh making immediate cuts for the remainder of the school year. Obviously, we have collective bargaining agreements that we have to honor, but anywhere that we are able to make cuts, for example, um it would be potentially that we would cut sports for the rest of the school year. um as far as uh winter and spring season, uh we would cut any other extracurricular activities and um even some staffing cuts

034where we are able and where the collective bargaining agreement allows. So, um, at the end of the day, uh, we have to pass the levy. And as Jennifer said, that levy at a $130, that's not getting us back to making up the deficit and replenishing the 5% um, as policy states, ending fund balance, and reserves. Um, that's just getting us to a place where we would still need to make some cuts to just have a balanced budget. That's not even the uh ending fund balance or the reserves. That's not putting anything back in there. So, uh what we're doing is is we're going to our voters to ask for something um quite honestly very minimal just to keep us balanced. And then um as Jennifer said, that would only be two years. We then have

035to go back out at the end of this. um the bigger picture, the funding system is broken and that has become very very clear across our state. When you have Belleview School District in binding conditions, um that tells you something. The funding system is broken and there is no way that you can operate without levy dollars um without the funding model at the state being revamped. Um, and that's just where we are. And there's going to be more and more districts uh in the same situation that all the other uh districts are. We even had districts this past year borrowed themselves to keep from going into binding conditions and you can only do that for so long. Um, so it's a very somber picture, but this is how dependent we are on levy dollars because

036of the fact that we are not fully funded by the state >> and there are 20 right now there are 20 school districts that are in binding conditions. >> Well, there's eight right now. Um but there are others that are in that position to to go there. >> Yes. >> And that number is growing >> with no levy dollars. >> We are the only district in binding conditions that does not have a levy. >> Yeah. >> And a year ago there was three of us. >> Um yeah, I think it was five or or six, but um there will be more. Uh and according to OSPI, they are having conversations similar to what they have in binding conditions with a lot more districts across the state. >> Not in good. It's not in company. We

037want districts want to be in. >> We don't want to be here. >> No, but every district in the state is cutting. >> Yeah. >> Um >> and and some are just having to cut more. And like I said, even um districts with levy dollars in binding conditions and that speaks volumes. >> Sure. >> Any other questions about general fund? >> Nobody's brave enough. Okay. So, I'll move on to the small funds. Um so capital projects. So this this is for um building renovations, new construction, um items that are going to improve the life of our facilities. Um site purchases. Um and we typically pay for things like um roofing, painting, asphalt improvements, and major renovations. Um and so I have budgeted some capacity there. We don't have any large projects planned for next year

038yet, but if if I need capacity and the expenditures in case that we do decide to move forward with a with a project, um the revenues from the capital projects fund um come from impact fees and interest earnings on our account. Um the reason the balance is what it is is because we received a lot of state um matching dollars from the bond. Um, and so this money will as we do more projects and maintain our facilities, that money will go down and we don't have any new revenue coming into the capital projects at this time. >> Jennifer, just a reminder, the other reason that we're also hanging on to that because if we have to, we can borrow from capital projects, but you have to pay it back, >> right? And um this past

039legislative session um they passed legislation that allows districts in binding conditions to borrow from themselves. You have to pay it back within one year, but you can do it without interest. Whereas in the past, you could not borrow without interest. That's something that they've done. It's no cost to the state for them to do that. And it allows districts in binding conditions to essentially borrow from themselves. Those dollars cannot be used for salaries. Those dollars cannot be used for um any of our people costs um in the district. Otherwise, we would certainly use those. But um also knowing that there is no replenishing of that other than impact fees, um we're going to be very frugal there and save that for um absolute uh you know emergencies and replacements, things that have to be repaired

040because we don't have an emergency fund. This is it. And um we're going to try to use that sparingly as we need to, but again um it can only be used for certain things. and people is not one of them. >> And then impact fees have future um additional restrictions um on the use of those funds. Um transportation vehicle funds. So basically this is to buy our new buses. The revenue comes in from depreciation on the buses that we currently have. Um and we it it has um it has taken over a year about a year and a half to receive buses that we have ordered. So, this $700,000 just to pay for three buses that we'll be receiving soon that were ordered a year and a half ago. Um, and then with capacity for

041growth so that if there are buses um because it takes so long, we're always looking for buses that were built by a district that they decided they no longer wanted so we can get those quicker and we did that with a couple this year. Um, so that's what that fund is. And then um next slide um ASB and debt service. So ASB um the revenues and expenditures are presented by the student clubs. Um they determine what activities they're going to have for the year and what revenues and expenditures that will contain and then they submit those to us. Um and so they have an ending fund balance of 412,000 next year. Um debt service fund. um the debt service fund um the revenue comes from property taxes on our bonds and the expenditures are principal

042and interest on those bonds. So we collect the property taxes to make those payments. Any other questions >> and I will be leaving after the hearing. It's my mother's 90th birthday, so I'm going to go spend some time with her. I remember uh you vote on the budget in the regular uh board meeting agenda, but um any other questions for for Jennifer before we let her go? >> You've heard her all sound like you're happy about that. >> Thank you. >> So, will you tell your mom happy birthday? >> I will. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, I'm going to adjourn the budget hearing. No. Um, I'm going to call the regular board meeting into session. >> Um, I now >> Huh? >> I now call the um August 28th, 2025 YM Community School Board meeting

043to order. But we've already >> done the pledge of allegiance. Okay. Welcome everyone. My name is Denise Hendrickson and I'm the school board president. Before we begin, I want to remind everyone that the agenda and meeting packet are made available on our district website at least 24 hours prior to the start of each meeting. Please note that while we strive to provide all relevant materials in advance, modifications to the agenda are permissible. All right, superintendent cons. >> Um, yeah, just a couple. one was um an update on binding conditions and uh the other thing that that I'll add to that is um uh OSPI and the ESD will be here September 25th to do a presentation at the board meeting. Um they're going to come and present uh specifically on um Yum Community Schools and

044also the process around binding conditions. Um it's it's very well laid out on their website, but um they're going to come and uh it'll be an opportunity for um them to share with you even though you guys are regularly in the loop, but I think it's good for our community to hear from them um and uh hear exactly what the process is and uh what happens moving forward. and they'll go into a little more detail about um finance, financial oversight, um the committee, um disillusion, all of that. And um so that'll be on the 25th. And >> reading to ask them questions. >> Yeah, we're going to put them on the agenda for presentation and then um yeah, any questions. and Denise was there today for our regular binding conditions uh meeting with them and

045um they're happy to to come do that. Um they they do not want to see districts stay on binding conditions. They certainly do not want to see districts um go into disillusion and so their goal is to do everything they possibly can to to help. But um they're really limited. Um especially when you saw up here 85% of our expenditures are people and um that's just a cost that um every district has to has to pay and what we're funded at from the state. Um that gap between where we're funded and where people are are being paid is getting wider and wider and since the mccclary decision that gap um is growing and the state is not keeping up with it. So, um they'll be here on September 25th to do a presentation. Um we

046have uh two groups we're bargaining with. Uh PSSE is one of them. Um we've got uh next bargaining sessions September 8th and September 10th. Um we had uh sessions scheduled in August, but those were um cancelled. I think um the u >> tentative and so we did not meet in um in August we didn't have uh any meeting times so uh we're meeting on the 8th and 10th and then uh schedule any additional meetings after that um we also have um dates scheduled with our OP group as well and um those are coming up uh September September 4th, 5th, 11th, 16th, 18th, 30th. Um so those are scheduled out of ways. Um I also wanted to bring to you some data. Um there was some questions from you and from others. um when you uh

047agreed to give um everybody on policy 5310 uh a 2.5% increase. Um there was also questions about steps increases. How um with every year of experience you get to go up a step and um why did people on 5310 get to go up a step and how does that relate? So, um, pulled some data and, um, in the YEA group, 194 people get to go up a step this coming year. PSSE, 99 people get to go up a step this year. In our coaches group, 25 are going up a step. Our OP group, 16 are going up a step. 13 certificated administrators are going up a step. six classified administrators and then three non-represented staff. Uh so you can see in every single bargaining group across our district, every employee group um has some sort

048of step whether it's seven steps or whether it's 20 steps. And so every single group um in our district, if they were uh if they qualified, if the employee qualified and had not maxed out their steps, everyone got to go up a step. And so I wanted to to clarify that. Um and then also just give you an update on um negotiations which um have been um very positive and I think um good communication um with both groups. We'll continue that um starting next week along with uh the start of school which um gets really busy and so um thanks to all the groups involved for making time beyond the workday um to to come together and so we'll have uh more on that and then I've got um some more that I'll share just

049updates from um some other things going on. I'll do that at the end. >> Okay. right now. Uh, community comments. >> We have um several on non-aggenda topics and so um you want to do those now? >> Sure. >> All right. So, for non uh non-aggenda items, uh the community comments that are separate items from uh posted agenda. Please understand the board will not engage in discussion per policy 1400. The board values and supports the 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

050that are inappropriate to an open public meeting will be immediately stopped by the board president. Community comments need to be presented in a respectful manner following proper decorum. Disruption of the meeting beyond the open comment period can result in the meeting be being recessed. Hey, >> so we have um seven signed up on the same topic. Um so as a board you can just let each one do three minutes. Um or the total of one topic is 15 minutes. Um I think typically you've allowed each person to have their time. So if we just want to do the three minutes per person um to give them their full amount. Um up first is Valerie. Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Valerie Kinsky. I am a health assistant at YMS. Hi, Mark. >> I

051am a health assistant at YMS and have been in this position for 29 years as of this coming October. I am here tonight to talk up the upcoming contract for our classified family. We are up for a renewal of our contract and are hoping for more livable wage. The health assistant is the second lowest paid employee of the district with having some of the most responsibilities of all positions. We handle all day-to-day duties of taking care of ill or injured sta students and staff. I am responsible for the day-to-day life-saving emergencies, whether it's physical or mental or suicidal attempts. Safety is first for my students and staff. I have students with anxiety that I work with weekly, sometimes daily, as well as my everyday duties. I handle all life-saving medications, daily medications. I have to

052know or be aware of all children's allergies. Not to mention, I handle all statemandated vaccines and enter them into Washington state registry. I have always received a fantastic evaluation year after year. I have a very high needs position and feel undervalued when my pay is undercut than the surrounding areas. Just an example, I make after working 29 years, my pay is $26.72 an hour. Whereas my neighboring health assistants make $30.14 an hour after 20 years of service. Another comparable district, based on size, makes $31.92 an hour after 25 years of service. Franklin Paris schools pay 3166 and Clover Park schools pay $31.71. I'm about $5 under that. I did not receive a raise in this position for the last two contracts. It's been over six years I have stayed at the same pay. During CO

053we were considered heroes. We kept people safe. We had to wear protective gear to protect all involved. We had to run COVID test on ill students. We put our lives on the line taking care of these individuals. It was a different time and was such an exa exhausting time, but we made it through. We need to have equitable, fair pay for our health assistants across the district. We all want to be treated with fairness. We need to be up to the same pay level as others. I also have my degree that Paris had to get across the district a few years ago. They looped my position into that and required that I have that, but my degree was already turned into the district. I'm not asking for back pay. We are a small group of

054about nine girls, but we have a very big duty to do every day. Please consider us for a comparable wage as the surrounding areas are making. We all should have and make a livable wage. Please understand I love my job and all the staff and children. That's why I still continue to come to Y Middle School. And thank you for allowing me to talk tonight. Faith. Uh, >> hi. My name is Faith Doyle and I've served as a classified staff member at Yel Community Schools for the last seven years. For six of those years, I've worked as a sped pair in the south southward self program and I've witnessed the self program grow and thrive. But in recent years with the reduction in staff hours and increases in class sizes that has created serious challenges.

055At both the start and the end of the school day our classroom did not have the appropriate staffing ratios. This leaves us struggling to provide the level of support our students need and sets us behind before the day has even begun. On a personal level, the pay for this work does not reflect its importance. If I had to rely solely on this wage, I would not be able to meet basic living expenses. I would likely be homeless. Our students deserve much better, and so do the staff who dedicate themselves to their success. My job is vital and significant to Young Community Schools. Without our classified staff, our district would stop functioning. The work classified staff do is valuable. I and all classified staff in YM Community Schools deserve a fair contract and livable wage. Thank

056you for your time. >> Alexis, good evening school board members. I am Alexis Fusen and I have served as a classified staff member in Yelm Community Schools as a special education parah educator for the past five years. This isn't just about money for me because while it's still a concern because my rent raises every year up until now, the my step raises have not matched my rent increases. And on top of that, I have to be afraid of getting cut for the past three school years. So, I don't even know if I'm coming to a job. Sorry. Um, >> got the salad. >> My bigger concern and why I wanted to speak tonight is staff safety. I saw the comprehensive learning center at Ridgeline Middle School through four sets of staff, including teachers. This means

057on top of my job description, I also h had to help new staff get acclimated to our program and students, both of which require stability to thrive. After multiple violent incidents caused by student behaviors causing injury to myself and others, I was moved into another program last year. These different incidents with different students happened every single year and all I was ever told to do was document it and then I was emotionally manipulated into believing it was my fault. This caused major depression and anxiety which caused physical illness that affected my attendance. After being in the new program for the remainder of the 2024 2025 school year, these all improved because after five years, I finally felt safe coming to work. This isn't just my story. All they did was replace me, but this is

058still happening to the people in there and across the district. This district continues to make cuts to these programs instead of offering support to help ensure staff and student safety. We need a fair contract and some sort of guarantee of safety for staff who show up for these kids and get paid $25 an hour. My job is vital and significant to Young Community Schools. And next is Angela. Hello and good evening, Young School Board members. My name is Angela Barlo and I'm a classified staff member for Young Community Schools as a school bus transportation driver. I've served this community as a driver for eight years, contracted, but much longer non-contracted. My job as a school bus driver has had its ups and downs, but some of these kids I have drove since elementary school, and

059they are now in high school. The rapport and relationships I built with these students, their parents, and the community is what kept me coming back each year. We really do grow to love these children and care about their futures. I have actually spoke to most of you in the past, Frank, when transportation was having a difficult time with the culture within the workplace because it was very negative. I would like to say thank you for taking part in making that change. The dynamics have much improved and I'm hopeful they will continue that way forward. I'm here tonight asking each one of you to hear us out and keep us in your thoughts. We are now in a new negotiation process and as yesterday we found out we will not have a transportation director assistant. When

060I was just thinking we might have support within the walls of transportation, it again will be another year of limping through. I myself have struggled financially and emotionally over the last four years. I'm not sure that I can continue doing this job. I started out with wages roughly under $20 and now they're roughly under 30. But it's been a hardship. I need to buy a new vehicle and I'm not sure that I can continue being a bus driver and pay a car payment. Uh we used to be able to do field trips and have more time and now since the levy fell, we can no longer do that. the money's not there and a lot of our hours have been cut back. It's really hard going into another year knowing we will have not enough

061drivers because that weight is put on us to pick up extra students. We have taken routes and split them up and put more kids on our bus probably than we should. Um and it's it's really sad to know that we're going into another year that's going to be really rough. Um, my job is vital and significant to YM Community Schools. We need the support from the board members and the administrators to secure a fair contract and livable wages. If you don't know our struggles, please ask me. I would love to share it with you. I would love to share thoughts of how we can get new bus drivers in. We have to start thinking outside the box. They I was a bus driver 20 years ago and it was hard to find bus drivers then.

062Nothing has changed to secure more bus drivers. We need to sit at the big table and come up with the craziest ideas to get them in here. How are we going to do that? It's not just about wage, but wage is huge because inflation has been huge. Um, I'm worried that this year that we could lose more vital people without your support and understanding. Sincerely, Angela, your bus driver. Okay. I'm sorry, I can't read the next name. Uh, starts with an E. >> Sorry, I couldn't read it. >> All right. I just want to start off by saying I'm not used to all this. I'm more of a back person with my ears. Y'all hear me? I don't want to get on the microphone. >> Okay. >> My name is Emo Balmer. I've been with

063the transportation starting my fifth year. >> I've seen some scary stuff. It's not like being a bus driver. I drive out a district. I've seen some scary stuff going from one district to another. I've seen guns flashed at me, gang signs. I've been in c involved in road rage. All of this is why a student is in my vehicle. I protect that student like if it was my own. Okay. Um kind of like what Angela says, if we don't get treated fairly, I'm moving on. There's something out there better than taking a risk going from one district to another. >> Thank you for your time. >> Uh Robbie, good evening school board members. My name is Robbie Schneider. I have been a school bus driver for this district for 22 years. I have been I

064worked on the summer paint crew for 15 of those years. I have been the driver trainer for the last two years. We need help. As classified staff, we need help. In 22 years, I still do not make a livable wage. It's not fair to us. We are the backbone of this district. >> If we're not here, you're not here. The students won't be here. It's not just bus drivers. You have food service. You have custodial grounds and maintenance. We have our library techs. There's hundreds of us. And if we're not here, our students aren't here. All we're asking is for is fair wages so we don't have to make that decision if do I have power this winter or do I have food this winter because we're already making those decisions. It's only August. Thank

065you. Gabriel. >> Good evening. My name is Gabriel Iverson. I'm a food service warehouse person and I have also um been a bus driver assistant for YM Community Schools over the last 11 years. I'm the PSC Yelm chapter president. I want to thank our school board members, um, Debbie, Denise specifically, for everything that you all have done, um, over the years that I've been a community member. And in the years that I've been um, a an employee of YM Community Schools, I have seen the effort that you have put in. Casey Frank, step up. Thank you. um union people are volunteers too and and we know the effort that you're putting in um to be in the position that you're in. But I can't speak I can't say what the rest of these folks said.

066All I can do is piggyback on top of them. We're community members. We work for YM Community Schools. Our kids go to our schools. We protect the community's kids throughout the day and at our schools. We see that the budget is not looking great. We know the financial situation that Yel Community Schools is in, but that doesn't stop us from wanting to be here and have a livable wage for the job that we do for this community. We rely on you to recognize that we are as important as the rest of the staff that may be averaging 24 26 hund,000 over the average that the state is uh allotting. We don't see that. We're struggling and we need you to recognize. We need you to see us. That's why we're here tonight. We maybe you

067don't see us, right? We're not the teachers. We're not the face of YM Community Schools, but like Miss Robbie said, we're the backbone. We need you to see us. We need you to hear that we are here and passionate for our community, for our students, and in order for us to stay here, we're going to have to have a livable wage. I don't see how that can happen when we're in the red. But somehow we've made it happen for our other bargaining groups and our administrators. We must find a way to do it for the for those of us that are able to remain in this district if the worst case scenarios happen that were outlined earlier tonight. When those worst case scenarios happen, you're still going to have PSSE members here for YM Community

068Schools. You're still going to have YA members here for YM Community Schools, and you're all going to still be in this community. Don't let the legacy of YM Community Schools die with our budget. build it up with the community members that are here working for Young Community Schools by building them up. Thank you for your time. >> Okay, >> thank you all for your comments. Okay, we're gonna move on. If you guys want to stay for the rest of the meeting, you can. >> Or you guys can you're welcome to stay or you're welcome to leave. What? Whatever you guys want to do. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item is uh school board minutes. >> I move we approve. >> I second. >> Those in favor? >> I >> oppose. Motion carries. >>

069Individual contracts. >> I move we approve. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Just want to I just want to say thanks uh for being Oh, wait a second. Um just want to say thanks for your patience as we were updating this even uh you know >> even this afternoon because uh in order for our staff to be able to work next week um you've got to approve their hire. And so uh also thanks to our um HR department, business department. Um they they work hard to get these names to you so that um we can make sure these people get paid and that they are available to start working. So I just want to say thanks for your patience as in particular this section changes um quite a bit leading up to the

070board meeting. >> Okay. Those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries. Um I forgot to say that Bill Hos has been excused. >> Yes. >> All right. >> Acceptance of gifts. >> I move we approve. >> I second. >> Any discussion? Um no, just a thank you to these folks. um with Terry and Jeff uh donating to the new transportation department and then uh Michelle Stefen uh as you know she's part of yard and one of our parents and helps with uh cheerleading. So a big thanks to all of them and while we're here just a thank you um to Denise and Debbie and Bill for coming Friday night uh for a special board meeting to approve uh a donation. So, I just want to say thanks for that as well. >> Okay, those in

071favor? >> I >> oppose. Motion carries. All right. Uh, the YECA contract for 2025 2027. >> We approve. >> Any discussion? Uh thank you to to Dee um for her work um with Dave Wson Kerry and Dakota Hill. Um and uh we met this summer and I got to be part of those couple meetings and great group to work with and their uh the leadership of their group is changing over um here in a week. So we'll have uh new uh leadership for the coaches. >> Okay. Those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. All right. The resolution 10-24-25 the adoption of the 2526 budget. >> I move we approve. >> Any discussion? Not unless you have any more questions. I think we've we've discussed it quite a bit and we'll continue discussing it

072moving forward. >> Yeah. Okay. Those in favor >> I >> oppose. Motion carries. All right. Resolution 11-24-25. It's a request for change of school district boundaries. >> Yeah. So this uh >> we approve. >> Sorry, >> I second. >> Okay. Now jumping the gun here. Sorry. Um so this is interesting. This is not have anything to do with um adjusting our district boundaries. This is something that we have to do um in a process like this. And you guys know all about this because I've been communicating with you, but um for the community, what it is is we have one specific street in our district with 12 houses um that has requested to be in the Tumbwater School District. Uh this particular street runs right up the middle of our boundary. So it's not uh

073necessarily on the edge uh between Yum and Tumb Water. It's it it goes right up in um to our boundary. So, uh the way it works is they have to get enough signatures from um their community uh to make this happen. And then what happens from there is superintendent, school board president meet with the other superintendent, school board president. We have conversation about that. Um in our particular case, there was no reason to agree to the change. is part of the YM school district boundaries. Um and then Tumb Water um had no reason to not allow it to happen. Um if a district can increase their tax base um most of the time they're going to do that. So then what happens is it goes to the ESD. ESD then has to put together a

074committee to hear it. So, um, in addition to that, the the pages and pages of information, um, that I had to put together in response to questions, um, for the ESD, you guys have seen, I shared that with you when I submitted that. We then have to do this as a formality um to approve the resolution here that we are in fact denying uh that this particular street uh be moved permanently to the Tomwater School District for uh enrollment and tax purposes. And then what happens next is Denise and I get to go to a hearing at 6 PM on September 10th at the ESD where we go and present our case which is a lot of what you see here and then TW does the same and then the committee makes a decision and

075from there we have to honor whatever that decision is. So again, it has nothing to do with our boundaries in our district as far as um shuffling those, changing those. It's specifically one street um of 12 homes that is requesting to be in the Tomwater School District. And so um if you have any questions, I'm happy to try to answer those. But you guys have been uh in the loop the entire way. But um I understand there's been some um traffic on social media that the the board was making decisions about boundaries without a process. Um as I've said many times, we're going to be spending this coming school year in reviewing our boundaries for our entire district, for every school um because we do have overcrowding um in some of our buildings and we

076need to take a look at that. that is separate from this particular um resolution. >> Yeah. >> First time we've lost >> land. >> No, >> this um happens periodically in in districts. Um it happened when I worked in the Olympia school district, a brand new neighborhood that was going in. Um it was closer in proximity to Olympia School District, but it was designated Tumbwater. And so, um, they went through the exact same process. So, this is not uncommon. >> Hopefully, it's a little more pleasant than the last time. >> It's all I'm going to say. >> I'm sure it will be. >> Yes. Uh, so we'll vote on this now. >> All those in favor? >> I oppose. >> Motion carries. All right. YCS administrative organizational chart for 2025 2026. >> I move we

077approve. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Couple changes. Um fewer staff on that org chart than before and then um several uh positions that were director positions were moved down to supervisor positions and um you've been part of that conversation. Uh we got rid of the uh CTE director position um which Terry was in and Terry is now a director of operations. And then we have a supervisor in food services, maintenance and grounds custodial. Um those were uh positions that were changed. And then as was mentioned earlier um at this point we are not replacing the assistant director transportation. >> Okay. Those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Uh policy revisions. It's a second reading for um the students and telecommunication devices. It's 3245 and then 3245 for procedures. >> I move we approve.

078>> I second. >> Any discussion? Well, uh, there's been a lot of conversation on this one and, um, I got input as for those that don't know, I meet with each board member individually ahead of, uh, every board meeting and we go over the entire, uh, packet, have conversation. Um there are a couple places where there's been conversation and if we deviate from um the policy as it's written, somebody would just need to make a a motion on that. But the two things that um have come up uh was do we allow uh students to have cell phones uh allow them to use it during passing period and do we allow them to use it during lunch or um just allow it at lunch or not at all. And so that was um kind of

079the the piece that was on the table for you guys to um make a decision. But isn't that the way the policy reads? It's with >> I'm pulling it up right now. Yes, >> with I think it's just lunch. >> Currently, it is >> we had the first reading. Then we sent you and talk to you and whatever. >> So if if we're wanting to keep it that way, it is currently just lunch. >> Just lunch. >> And um again, a school can um be more stringent. uh they can say none at all. For example, our elementaryaries, I don't think they have any interest in uh allowing any cell phone use um at their school. Um and I think there's even conversation with the middle schools um potentially about no use at all, but um

080this would be the minimum requirement. And then I think also important to to add I shared this with you uh all in our meetings that last week OSPI came out and um they had done a survey with all 294 districts asking who has a policy who's looking at a policy. 75% of the districts were either um currently implementing a policy or in the process of doing that. I would not be surprised if uh in the near future there was legislation uh limiting um the use of of cell phones and by the way um other devices that have been listed on here as well, you know, watches and >> the watch also I noticed um several different states also coming out with Yeah. >> Yeah. So it's like oh well here we go. I wouldn't be

081surprised if our state >> the research has come out. >> It's good research. >> Okay. So, is there any other discussion? >> I think it's just important we're getting our students attention back and we're getting our staff's attention back. I think there's less distractions on both ends of that. I think that's going to be important moving forward. >> The staff has a harder monies. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. >> I wish they could vote. >> Sounds like we can >> They've contributed a lot. >> Yeah. Okay. Vouchers and payroll. >> I move we approve. >> I second. Any discussion? I believe did you you went and lift over voucher? I did. Yes, Frank. Yes, I did. >> All right. Those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries.

082Facilities? >> I move we approve. >> I second. >> Any discussion? >> You have a slideshow. Jose. Oh, great. >> Like your pictures. >> I'll give you some minimize this. All right. So, the items that you see in your report uh are again many of the projects, capital projects as we talked about the project capital projects fund today uh are the things that uh we've been working on over the summer. Many times we are going through inspections, evaluations. Those are yearly requirements from um all kinds of department of health and um all all kinds of safety entities. So you see a lot of items there about fixing our security systems, our fire systems, if there's anything that is broken when those inspections are are happening. Um so these are typical things. You'll see more in

083the next report uh because it takes a little time to get those process through, but they've been working on those all summer. Uh in addition, again, just want to kind of share with you some of the things and how we're ready for school this year in the operations department. Uh today, uh our kitchens got reopened, our food was delivered. Uh they are ready to go. Uh what a great crew. And as I shared with them today, they are the only department that was fully staffed uh in the spring and we did not lose anyone over the summer and they are ready to go. They are dynamic. They are amazing. And this lady right here, which we've all talked about before, Tina has returned to us as her supervisor. She is phenomenal. Uh she's got the

084menus planned through December. She's got staff um supporting her and working together. And I just an amazing crew of people. So, uh as you can see, our food is right here being delivered. And all throughout today, uh our custodial maintenance and grounds, they've worked all summer. They're 260 and they have busted their tails to get these schools ready. Um, and they went through training uh last Friday and got in, you know, they had a lot of of their reertifications done and things like that. And again, a very a very um hardworking group of people that care a lot about those buildings and a lot about um what creates a safe environment for our students. Our bus drivers have trained our van drivers, our bus assistants, our substitutes uh over the last three days so that

085they are ready to roll on Wednesday. Uh we've been talking about where we're at in terms of staffing throughout the summer. Uh we are still uh working to hire people. Uh we have definitely three open positions that we are going to recruit. We have a few people who are in training but as we start school it'll be very difficult to train them while our driver trainer drivers are um working and so we will continue to work on that. We have found some support from first student who will be bringing in some drivers to uh help us um make sure our routes run. Uh we are still crossing our fingers at this point and again the team understands where it's at but uh we really have the plan right now to not cancel any routes on

086the first day of school. That is our goal. uh some of the projects that we've been talking about. There's the play shed. Um really turned out sharp. Um really great. And Randall, our custodian, uh had the had we talked about the paint and the color. He made sure that that was an exact match of all the trim and brought that out to the um to the people installing. And so they were able to make sure that that is an exact match and and fits very nicely like it was there from the very beginning. >> Did you send that picture to Chris? It only took two years. I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna hurt his feelings. If you haven't driven past McKenna, it looks beautiful. The roof is done, but as we talked about

087and again in our our capital projects, uh roofing costs are very um how do I say this? Have exponentially increased. So, when we went to forward and put this in the capital projects, it was quoted at 500,000 and this will cost us almost nine um to replace a roof now. So the when we talk about the increase of costs as uh Jennifer was talking about this is that's more than 5%. So um but it looks beautiful and I say it's 99% done because they have a little bit of flashing and a little bit of sheet metal that they're just finishing up. Um they hope to be done by Tuesday but there might be a little bit that goes into next week but it is ready to go. Our boilers we talked about being installed. They

088have now been tested and are running and um so that's at the high school and again a very efficient operating system that we have electronic controls over and um very pleased at how that all processed nicely and then our staff will get training on that um in the middle of September and just in the mechanicals of it and our playgrounds have been chipped um I you'll see why I said that in a second but uh safety requirements require nine inches of play chips Um, many of them weren't. This is a very significant cost, but it's also a very important safety component. Um, and so you'll see those across all of our playgrounds. Uh, this playground here, uh, is fenced in due to our preschool moving into this space and wanting to make sure that they

089have a safe environment to play in. And, uh, again, for our site house, the students that they were in are now going to be the second sight house that we have. So, um, that was a a change there. And some of our playgrounds got polished, so they're chipped and polished. Uh, and this happened because of our uh um Prairie PTA. They came out and did some of this uh playground play things. They put in new nets. They did painted some poles. So, they give back to the school in this way um in making the environment a little bit more fun and a little bit more inviting to our students. And so, uh, they put in some time and then they also paid for the product to do that. So, um, we appreciate their efforts and

090that of all of our our donors and, um, efforts of our booster clubs. And, uh, so that's just a little bit of how operations are ready to roll. >> I had a question from a citizen and our new uh, reader boards and I just wanted to make sure I answered the question correctly. The question was, uh, with the new reader boards, can they also be used in a disaster, say the B or road closed or an accident? >> And I said, I think so, but that I would ask. >> Yep. >> And get back. And >> so now they're all linked. >> They're all linked >> except for the one reader board that's out on the corner of Coats and Edwards. Uh, that one was put in when Young uh Middle School was rebuilt. And

091so it's the one that's not >> connected, but there is one going in. They're working on the power right now. We just learned that there was some damage uh over the weekend. We don't know how it happened, but so they're working to repair that. Um you know, there are lots of reasons that can happen, but they're all connected. We can um Angel, our opinion facilities, and also Lisa Locker Anderson have the ability to push one message out. I do too, uh to all of our reader boards at the same time. So if we are having an emergency or we are having to communicate anything uh we can do that and then we will post since the district office doesn't really have a reader board on the front um if there's any district news or anything

092we want to put out we can put it out um to all the schools or we can um post it on that one that goes through the main part of town that's now going out on the one near the end of the corner of uh the baseball fields >> meaning if an emergency that would affect you know south area or certain area >> if there's got to be a road closure or anything. Lose. Yep. We can we can put a message out there. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Okay. All right. Um those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. Um >> I don't think we have any financial relief parts, do we? >> Not any addition. >> I think we've got that. Um, student enrollment, anything? >> Um,

093I'll just, uh, mention a couple things there. Uh, we're monitoring enrollment closely. Uh, obviously a big unknown is kindergarten just because, um, you don't know who's coming if they're not enrolled. >> Um, >> we do know one. And then um >> we're also seeing um a lot of people coming and enrolling, but you also don't necessarily know who's going to be leaving. Um I just real quickly also want to remind about transfers. Um again, people would might say, well, why don't you just take all the transfers because that brings more money to the district. Um reason we haven't is because we are staffed uh remember we cut a 100 positions a year ago spring and so we are staffed um at much less than we were before and so uh by limiting the transfers uh

094we can make sure that our classes are not overloaded. Also, uh we paid nearly a million dollars in overload costs um last year and this year we budgeted half of that because we're monitoring that much more closely. And then the other thing I'll say as far as enrollment is unfortunately um we also have a lot of people um being dishonest about where they live. Um, we've had people that have been denied transfers from out of district and then come back and in some cases falsify documentation um to try to get into our district. And so it's unfortunate that Debbie and Lisa Walker Anderson and the ops in the buildings are having to spend time um basically as detectives trying to get accurate information because we do have people being dishonest about um where they're living

095in order to get into our schools which then um overcrowds the classrooms because we are again staffing them very tightly based on um the numbers that we know. Um so we're we're dealing with that one at a time and I've had to call some families and um let them know that the documentation they provided um was not valid based on Puget Sound Energy telling us that that was not a valid account and that the address actually belonged to one of our staff members that they were using. So, you would be amazed at the stories we get and um the ways that people are trying to get into our schools. When we find this out, we're encouraging them fill out the transfer paperwork after school starts. um if we have space in in particular grades or

096buildings um we will uh allow accordingly, but we're not going to overload our classes um with uh students from outside our district. It's not fair to our staff. It's not fair to our families. So, we're really working hard to keep those numbers right at um those trigger numbers and and try not to go over Okay, board comments. >> Um, well, meeting the football ended a little late today, so I'm happy I can make it without missing anything. Um, well, first I want to give a shout out to our uh union members who came up and spoke. Um, a very integral part of these meetings. Um, I feel like the meaning and mission behind a school board would be kind of void if we didn't have these community discussions. Um, I think there are still one

097or two of you in here, so pass on the message. Um, but you guys are very, very important and um, your advocacy as a state officer um, for the Washington CTE sports medicine association. That advocacy is what we see a lot and what a lot of um people strive for when they advocate at, you know, the Washington Capital. Um that drive and courage to get up in front of a bunch of people and to say what you want to say or what you need to say um is really admirable and so uh thank you for that. Um you guys are awesome and it really builds the community. Um and yeah, cool to see also our facilities report. Um they're really tidying up the place, aren't they? It's very pretty. Um I still miss the old

098South Worth, but you know, it's it's looking great, so I'm not gonna complain. I'm not But um yeah, so that's awesome. Yeah. >> Um I agree with everything that Sophie said. I just wanted to add that um I think it's important that we all work together, not against each other because we're going through a real hardship. And if we go through it together and we can get out of it together, that's really important. >> Um like those two said, I do appreciate those of you that spoke tonight. I know it takes courage. I don't think many of you are here that did speak, but those that are left, um I do appreciate everything you guys say, and I know a lot of times you can feel underappreciated at your job. I think we all can

099a lot of times. Um, but we do see you guys. We do hear you guys. Um, you're just not a name out there. Um, I talk to a lot of you guys on a daily basis. Um, whether that's a bus driver, somebody in the building. Um, I am excited for the school year. I'm excited to get the kids out of the house. Um, do want to say my youngest starts kindergarten at Southworth, so beware. I see Mr. Cook shaking his head. He already knows. I've warned him, so that's all I can say for you. So, that's all I got. I mean, I think as everybody saw, we're we're at a pretty rough time this last year and a half and there's really no light at the end of the tunnel currently. Um, I mean, we're

100we're hoping and we're praying that the levy can help shed some light on us, but if it doesn't, with what Chris said, which I knew the answer to, but I wanted everybody else to hear, it gets even darker. Um, so I I do really appreciate those of you that have spoken today and I do really appreciate all that you do for this community because I know it's hard and you're underappreciated and you don't make a good wage and it's getting worse and inflation's getting worse for everybody and the school district's budget as it relates to the revenues that we get from the state is also showing that. I mean, it's a microcosm of where we're at as a society. Um, but I appreciate how respectful everybody was and I think we can get through this

101together. I'm just going to take this whole community to do that. Um, so I appreciate all of y'all and thank you for speaking today. >> And I agree and it'll be rough but we'll get through it. I happen to ch president and this year there's no um open and so I think that I saw on one of the sites and I think it was South that asked for um people to volunteer to um come help when you did the drop offs, right? Am I whatever it's called? >> And I didn't go down the column to see if any of the other schools were doing it like Lakamus or >> Bill Pond is. And so my challenge is to the rest of the board is instead of going to that we help pass out the supplies.

102>> What day though? >> Well, we'll have to look it up. Just say yes or no. Will you do >> Well, here's my thing is >> I'm inviting you to do it. would love to help, but if it's like December 2nd, I have to do statements at Mountain Lumber. >> December second. >> I mean September. >> Yeah. >> I'm like I'm like trying to get out of the board here. >> Oh, I >> I've already thought about going >> the second of September. >> It's from 4 to 7. >> Oh, it's in the evening. >> Oh, I'm all over that. Like a cheap shirt. I if it's during today >> when's milk bones but the same time. >> Yeah. I just have to do statements in the morning at the lumber yard. You know they

103want their days and times for you tomorrow when I send you the update. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Okay. That's your challenge? >> Yep. >> Okay. So, you know, I mean my favorite line here is not it's not my favorite line, but I just always say it. Jaden's broke because I love that little kid who's reading the thing. Jaden's broke. And I'm just I'm so tired of saying it, but because I'm just sick of us being broke. But we do see our classified employees and they are truly a backbone of our district. They're backbone in our community because they live here and they work here. And um our teachers are also backbones in our community because they they also provide what we need for our students and our administrators. everybody is so vital here and

104we have to have this balancing act and it's just like if our legislators would only see that and it's like but they don't and so somehow we have to figure out a way to work together and get them to understand that and we've we've spoken with Matt Marshall about that and for all the years that it took for them to do the mccclary act and they still don't understand. They still didn't fully fund education. But we're working on that. We're just going to have to work together and get this figured out because I don't want to keep saying James tired of >> tired of it. But I was going to go visit every single school and just go stand there and just look at it and get it in my mind that we're going to

105have a great >> year this year. I don't care. We're gonna have a great year. I'm saying it. We're gonna have a great year. >> I'm saying it. I'm blaming it. >> All right. Just a couple things. Um >> blaming it. >> Olympia Federal Savings launching their uh Affinity cards. Basically, they're uh when you open an account there, you can get a Yelm Community Schools uh debit card. And they're doing that with high schools all over the region. They're starting that September 8th and they're going through the middle of November. And so I think they're going to have promotional deals going on. They're going to be advertising about that. But it's pretty cool. There's I think three or four different >> um card choices with YM Community Schools logos. And so that's pretty cool. Um

106big thanks to uh Terry and David and Charles and others. We are dealing with a rodent issue at Southworth right now. Um so >> after it just >> one of the joys of um facilities uh but their team has jumped in to try to get that resolved as quickly as they can. and um but you know it's one of the challenges that come and so they're working very quickly. Um also just want to say thank you to um all of our staff. Um we've got great staff in our district and um had a conversation with somebody today and um we were just talking about the fact that um everybody is feeling pressure um stress, anxiety um just given um everybody kind of feeling like they have to do more with less. Um, and at the

107same time preparing for kids to come. Uh we've got great people in this district and I hope that um people will just give um grace and have some understanding that everybody's going through stuff and and personally um people have stuff going on in their lives and I think um we get so focused on what I need and when I need it and we forget that um other people have things going on and people are working hard and people are doing the very best they can and that we need to continue to assume best intentions. And then the last thing I'll say is um we have to come together and and um you know just being hurtful and saying things about people on social media. Um and um just causing harm um to people and groups

108of people um is not going to get us anywhere. Um it's just going to continue to tear us apart as a community. Uh so I just encourage people um sit down and have conversations face to face. Um, your for first instinct shouldn't be to go to social media and post it because you're not happy about something. Um, call, have a conversation, meet with somebody. Um, because I think all of us in this district are more than willing to sit down with people and have a conversation and try to work through whatever it is. And so, um, we have to find a way to come together, um, for our students. And I just hope that uh people will be willing to do that. And sometimes we can agree to disagree um but still work together for

109our kids. >> I think it's getting better. I forgot to say that we went to the um orientation. >> The first the district directed. >> Yeah. >> It's an early morning for you. >> Oh, real early. both. >> Yes. And I forgot to say that I have a I have a grandson going to kindergarten this year. So Oh, look out. Milong's heading your way. And he's ready to go. >> Yeah. Just will never be the same. Okay. On that happy little note. All right. Next board meeting is uh September 11th, 2025, 6 pm and we're going to be at Lacabus. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Meetings adjourned.