001to all right to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for stand one nation under God indivisible and justice All right. Welcome everyone. Uh [Music] words we need uh off with superintendent comments. All right. Um got a lot that um want to share here at the beginning and then I'll have some more uh report at the end. Um but want to give you update on um bargaining and um where we are uh with YA. We had a letter of agreement that was not approved by memberships or going back to the collective bargaining agreement. Um we discussed that um as far as the stipens I think two study sessions ago and so um we have uh cut some stipens for next year as a result. Um, and you guys have have
002already seen that list. And so we'll be working with groups. We've already had people reach out about fundraising. We're in the process of streamlining um and uh we'll be working with each building's either PTO or booster club to uh help streamline that process. um with our OP group uh tenative agreement going to members uh for a vote with PSSE group um next bargaining meeting is tomorrow. Um they have uh most of the day blocked out and then um we have proposed a couple other dates waiting to hear back on meetings after that. with our coaches group. Uh we have meetings scheduled July 7th and 8th to meet with them. And um I'm going to show you uh where all this information lies on our website here in a couple minutes after I talk about a
003couple more things. Um school resource officer contract with Yelm Police Department. Um, I shared that draft with you um a week ago and um uh I heard from the mayor today. He'll be taking that to city council um during study session on Tuesday uh for approval. He agreed with all of our um edits and uh so that would be a one-year agreement um with them for two SRO's again um maintaining the same level we had this year. So, he'll let me know probably um Wednesday or Thursday of next week. He'll send me the the signed contract or if there's any questions or anything comes from city council, I'll let you know. Uh comprehensive sexual health education. Uh we met on June 17th study session um to discuss some of the recent um concerns and issues
004around that. Um, I shared with you last week a draft letter to families. Um, so let me know if you could um by uh the end of the weekend um if you've got any edits because I think the next step will be sending that out and then um working with um Lisa and her team in the fall for curriculum review. So let me know if you have any questions on that. Uh last thing for this portion of uh my comments, I want to talk to you about policy 5310. And can I get the having technology issues uh today? So that's why uh we have reinforcements here to help. Um I want to share with you uh where our information is um just as a reminder. So, if you go on human resources page here on
005our website, I want to go through um where we've been as far as increases because uh the proposal for increases at 5310 I'll get into here in a moment as well as during the agenda item. But I want to touch on a couple things. So last year we put in this page that has all of our employee groups and uh labor groups as well. And down here some additional information with uh labor relations detail. Before I get into 5310, I'll show you here in labor relations detail uh where it has all of our meetings that are scheduled. And you can see um we've proposed some additional dates with PSSE and uh we are waiting to hear back on whether or not they accept those dates. But you can see here's the coaches group for the
006seventh and 8th. Um so all of our labor relation meetings as far as negotiations are on this page. Um you can also go back to previous meetings like here was the second. You can see we met district uh PSSE and the district exchange counter proposals. So uh we give enough information to know what's happening during those meetings, but obviously we're not sharing all the details of um those proposals. So uh I want to go back here and um to the labor groups. So, I want to show you what remind you actually what we have on here as far as um increases each of our labor groups have gotten. So, you can see it goes back three years and then the new year would pop in here and then it would bump out year three. So,
007you'd have three years at a time. So, you can see here this is certificated administrators. So this would be our principles. This would be uh assistant superintendent, superintendent. Uh and you can see last year 0% plus they lost anywhere between five and 10 days. Year before that 3 to 5% depending upon the position because each year we try to as best we can catch up uh some of the categories that are behind comparables. So that shows you exactly what um the increase was for the last three years. So that's certificated administrators, classified administrators, they also had 0% this past year and between five and 10 furl days. You can see before that 3 to 5% 2 to 5%. Non-rep. This would be the just about all the other staff in this building. Um they also
008had 0%. We did not ask them to take furlow days. Year before that they got zero to 3.7 depending upon the position and depending upon where they were in relation to the comparable uh districts PSSE who are currently bargaining with. Now you'll see in PSSE there's a number of different labor groups. So you've got to look at each individual labor group to see. So this past year, uh, 3% all the way around and then 4% the year before that. And then the year before that, you can see it was anywhere from 2 to 3, uh, 2 to 9, 2 to 3, 12 to 16, 2 to 12, 2 to 20. So, um, there's detail on each group. Here's ya. Um, so this one hasn't been put in this. Uh, oh, I'm sorry. This is ops.
009It didn't look right to me. Ops were currently in negotiation. That's the one that we have a tenative agreement, but until uh we find out if it's approved or not, we would not uh update this. And then this year we just had 5% year before that 7.5%. YA group. Uh this year we just had 3.7 10% before that five and then they are uh 2.5% this next year and then coaches um this last year they agreed to only allow coaches to go up a step. So what that means is they can go up in years of experience if they're not at the top of the pay scale in years of experience but there was no increase and then the year before that 3% um and then two to four before that. So just a reminder
010that we put all that information here um for it to be very public and so I want to go back to 5310. So what the proposal is for you and I've chatted with all of you um for certificated administrators for 2526 um superintendent position 2% um all other certificated positions 2.5% is the proposal um for classified and nonrep also 2.5 and the non-rep here 2.5. So 2% for a superintendent position, 2.5 for all other positions on 5310 with the exception of a couple positions they got additional 1%. Those are positions that were anywhere between 18% or more behind comparables. And if you remember, I sent you comparables on every single position with all the districts that we compared to. You asked me to add in to 90 and Reineer, which we also added in that
011comparable. So, we presented all of that to you. So, we had a few positions that are way out of balance. So, those ones got 1% additional uh total of 3.5 for those. Those were mainly supervisor positions. If you recall, we um we adjusted four positions from director positions down to supervisor positions. Transportation is the current one that we're working on, but we did that in food services. We did that in facilities. We did that in custodial. And so all of those were uh changed from a director position down to a supervisor position. um but their starting place is way out of balance in comparison to the comparables. So um what questions do you have about 5310? I'll go into a little more detail or add to that when we get down to that agenda item.
012Um but that's one of those that's been a hot topic on social media. So I wanted to make sure that I address that right up front. I think we covered it ourselves and pretty well. We will continue on this page. Um we will continue to update down here on this graph as well as uh we'll continue to update um the calendar with um a little bit of detail after each one of the meetings. So, um, just want to remind you that you go to our main page, go to departments, human resources, and it's right there. All right. Um, that's all I've got for now. We do have community comments. Okay. And it looks like all of them are on agenda items. All right. So now are you going to take the comments that item since
013I've uh I've discussed uh item F, we can go ahead and do them up front. Okay. So before we um take the community comments on agenda items, I'm going to read this. Uh community comments that are related to an item on um the posted agenda will be given um uh at the time the agenda item is to be discussed. Please understand that the board will not engage in discuss discussion per policy 1400. The board values and supports the opportunity for community members to share ideas. Comments on agenda items will be limited to five minutes per speaker and 20 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 immediately will be immediately stopped by the board president. Community comments
014need to be presented in a respectful manner following proper decorum. Disrupt disruption of the meeting can result in the meeting being recessed. Okay. All right. Uh I believe Tasha and Cat want to speak together. Johnson, a YCS employee, parent, and YA president. Katherine Colum, uh, parent of YCS former students, uh, YA president and employee at Richland Middle School and young community member. I'm going to read it so I can stay focused. Good evening. We would like to address the proposed changes to policy 5310 that deals with administrator pay. We fully agree that all employees at YCS should have a competitive wage. We fully support admin receiving step pays as indicated in policy 5310. We do not however support additional increase of 2.5% on top of the current administrator salary schedule. For many administrators, this means
015they would receive a 5.5% increase. The increase all depends on what step they are on and their position. For example, the superintendent instead of receiving 6404 6,44 pay increase would receive 10,87. A building administrator instead of receiving around a $4,300 increase would receive around 8,000. How many administrators are getting a SEP raise? How many are receiving the 2.5% increase? Will there be furlow days for the 2526 school year for administrators? What is the total amount of admin pay increase and what is the difference between the step raises which we do not object to and the 2.5 increase. We also would like to point out the information that's on the website has been up there. Um reminder that the YA increase of 10% included the 6% utilization which was money given from the state directly to
016the district for our salaries. um and previous percentage increases were uh one negotiated and two um were either at or even below the current IPD. There was one year in particular where it does say if there we received 5% IPD that year was 5.5% and we had members who were very upset that we did not receive the full IPD and yet we were adamant of this is what we negotiated and agreed to guys and so most of that percentage was based on what was provided by the state directly for our salaries not an additional increase of some sort as we heard today the administration did not receive a pay increase last year and also took furlow days even with those cuts their stepping increases dollar for dollar was still less than what many YA members
017had cut from their compensation. Our counselors, now we're going to talk about the impact of these cuts and where we feel the money would better be used. Our counselors are overloaded. We used to have two counselors per middle school, one at each elementary, and five at the high school. Next year, we will only have one counselor per middle school, four at the high school, and four elementary counselors. We genuinely hope that students are not having as many mental health needs that they can be addressed by the decreased number of counselors. Our class sizes are bursting. Our students are not getting the support that they need in the classroom because educators cannot reach every one of them with so many in the classroom or on case loads. We have a decrease in the number of PSSE
018employees, classified staff that help to meet those students needs. Feel that the money would be better used keeping those positions intact and keeping them supporting students in the classroom. According to what was shared with the YA, your school board, you um made the decision to cut stipens for marching band, pep band, high school choir and band concerts, national honor society, limited college uh in the high school offerings, cl cut stipens for adviserss to plan homecoming and prom attempted to negotiate these things to be brought back in full course. The cost to bring back some of those specific student facing activities would be approximately 50 to 112,000 spending if they are brought all back or only partially. During negotiations with spring, we were told repeatedly that the district did not have the money, yet clearly they
019have some money. We have been told C team sports will be cut again unless there is fundraising. The cost last year was $42,000. Based on our calculations, on the high end, you have $154,000 student facing opportunities could be brought back. Who are we supposed to put first? And could we have these things returned? Given the approximately 30 administrators their step raises and for those at the end of the step scale, we do not object to them receiving the 3% increase, but to ask for an additional 2.5% on top of that increase, we ask that you take that money instead and give it to the students that were supposed to be serving. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Michael Blank. He has indicated two areas A and F. Three minutes. All right. Good evening, uh,
020community, member of the board. Uh, two other areas I'm going to quickly touch on is going to be your coach stipens and then your 5310 compensation. First off, with the stipens, from the records that I've received, it was approximately $500,000 to supply all the coaches and additional stipens for the sports year of 2042. I believe it was the additional stipens for the honor society and everything else advisor wise, it was approximately $126,000 from the records I've received, which all of you should have received as well because you were on the email. My complaint right now is I asked specifically if there was any records or any documents for pay raises for the district office and I received no responsive records. What that tells me is that you came up with the new policy 5310 in
021the last 3 weeks. I take offense. Yes, I have the emails. It's it's on there. Okay. But I specifically asked for any pay raise information for the district office and I was told there was none. So, either I was lied to and I wasn't given the records or it just came up in the last three weeks after June 2nd. There's a lot of things you can do with money. I think for the most part, for what I've seen, we've been financially irresponsible with how we're doing it. If we're that concerned with our sports, there are ways we can adjust stuff and we can make it so people can actually do the sports, i.e. our children and the students in this community. I've had conversations specifically with people and some people think that sports are going
022to go to privatized coaches and everything. The school's going to have nothing to do with it. I think that's wrong and I think it's more cost effective for the families and the students within our district to have something available in the school for them. When you look at some of the extracurricular activities outside, it costs a extensive amount more than what we paid for the district. Even with the pay raise of $200 for a season is not comparable to the $585 for something and that's just for like three weeks. Most of the sports we're doing it is good for the students. When the students are actively engaged in sports, extracurricular activities, they're less likely to be a problem on the streets, they're less likely to be doing something they shouldn't be doing because their time
023is going to be consumed by school, extracurriculars, and sports. It builds a stronger mental ability of the students, physical capability, and a healthy lifestyle that we're taking away. We have I want to say like 10 coaches for football. I'm not trying to pick on football, but it's the easiest target right now. We have like eight coaches between assistance, strength, defense, offense, you name that guy. We are not an NFL team. I do not mind that we've won state, but I don't think that should be equatable to having eight to 10 coaches. It's $50,000 $60,000 for football alone when it comes to stipens. If we spread it out, we will be able to have more sports and activities for the students. We're failing in that aspect. I think that is what I believe. That is my
024opinion. If we want to get serious and become financially responsible, we will start deep diving into all of it and truly seeing what we should afford, what we can cut, what we cannot. band, choir, drama, you name it. We had 42 students approximately go to New York City and sing Carnegie Hall. They did a whole heck of a lot of fundraising. That was great. But the students were achieved that and they were invited. We're taking away opportunities from students that they could be receiving whether it be football scholarships, any kind of athletic scholarship, or one of those lifetime once in a lifetime opportunities for kids. I look in the room, probably the people behind me, the people sitting in front of me, we don't have that option. I truly believe we did. Everyone always wants
025better for our students, our families, and the kids in this district. But if we're not being financially responsible with where we're putting our money, we're taking it away from I have a problem. the three 3% I believe it was that you were receiving at the dro off. That's fine. I should have been at least told that within my records that way I would have been a little bit more prepared with what I had but still I'll look into other items that's time. Thank you for your time. Uh Karen Blank is up next on agenda F. Hi, my name is Karen Blank. I work for the community school district and I live in Young. Um my kids both went to Young. I think a problem that I see is we see and we talk about finances,
026but we're not talking about the kids and what they're doing. They are losing tons. why we want competitive wages and that kind of stuff. And I get that and we work hard for our money. I understand that. I'm a I work here. But I don't think now is the time to be giving those competitive wages when our kids are losing out on so many things. We might have football and soccer and sports, but what about drama? What about choir? those things where kids don't do sports and that's where they feel like they fit in. We need to look at that. Stop taking from them and giving to us and start looking at our kids. They need a voice. You guys are their voice. Just because our superintendent says something or asks for something, it doesn't
027mean we say yes. Sometimes we need to stand up and say no. understand there's always a backstory. There's always something else, right? But the true people that we should be looking at each and every day is our students and how we can make our ed their education and their environment better. That's what's important. Thank you for letting me talk. Uh last one, Kelsey Turner. Um on item F. Hello, my name is Kelsey Turner. I'm a young community member. Both my kids go to Y. Good evening, members of the school board, teachers, parents, and community members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'm here to address proposed that raised administration salaries on policy 5310 while cutting essential art programs. While I understand the need for fiscal responsibility, I believe this approach harms our students
028and undermines the core values of our educational system. The arts are crucial to a well-rounded education. Studies showed students involved in the arts excel in creativity, critical thinking, and academic performance across subjects. Arts Arts, excuse me. Art programs help develop teamwork, problem solving, and emotional intelligence that prepare students for success in any field. Cutting these programs will deprive our students of an opportunity to grow intellectually and emotionally, sending the message that creativity and self-exression are less important than administrative priorities. Raising administrative salaries at the expense of arts program sends a harmful message. Those there that those at the top of the educational hierarchy are more important than the students who are at the core of our system. While administration plays a key role, the policy focus or the policy f or prim sorry excuse me
029primary focus should be on providing the best education for our children rather than increasing salaries. We should be invested in programs that directly benefit students like the arts which are essential in their holistic development. Cutting arts programs also harms the cultural vibrancy of our community. The arts are essential to thriving innovating or to a thriving innovating society. The help that helps build empathy, creativity, and the sense of shared identity. Losing these programs would not only affect students, but would diminish the cultural richness that makes our community unique. Rather than making cuts, we should explore ways to streamline administrative costs or seek alternative fundings for arts programs through grants or community partnerships. There are options to ensure we can support our students without sacrificing essential services. In conclusion, raising administrative salaries while cutting art programs is
030a poor choice. We must prioritize our students education and well-being, ensuring that they have access to the arts and all the benefits they provide. Let's make decisions that invest in their future, not at their expense. Thank you for your time and consideration. That's it. That's it. All right. Um, okay. School board minutes. I move we approve. I second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I opposed. Motion carries. New business. Um, individual contracts. I move we approve. I second. Any discussion? There's a lot here. Yeah. Um, as as I've shared with you the last uh couple board meetings, um, one of the reasons we wait till the very last minute is to make this as up todate as we possibly can. We still have uh hiring going on. And so this is uh as of
031today, you'll see everything from new hires uh to leaves of absence uh resignations and retirements. Uh and then staffing changes. Oftent times those changes are from one-year only positions to continuing positions, also coaching positions as well. Um, so a number of uh staffing changes. We'll have more at the July 17th board meeting as well. Okay. Those in favor? Opposed? Motion. Right. Second gift. I move we approve. I second. Any discussion? Uh the only thing here there was a uh uh an error. It said marble slabs and it was maple slabs. Yeah. Wood not marble that was donated. Uh other than that um you see the the donations here. Okay. Those in favor? I I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Out of district travel. I move we approve. All right. Second. Any discussion? These are for
032uh end of the summer, August for FFA officers and then next year uh cross country and FFA um getting their paperwork in line and ready for uh next school year. Okay. All those in favor? I I oppose. Motion carries. uh 2025 2026 handbooks for Fort Stevens, Lacamus, Kenna, Milpaw, Perry, South Berth, Ridgeline, Yel Middle School, Yelm High School, and Yelm Extension School. I move we approve. Is that okay? Any discussion? Yeah, Terry's going to share a little bit about this. You approve these each year. um each year we try to streamline them and she'll talk a little bit about that process and where they are. Yeah. So last year when we went to the new website we really trying to u make each one consistent in categories across the district and put them all online
033uh so they would be ADA compliant and accessible to families in multiple languages. And so, uh, each school under their our schools site has their student handbook and, uh, usually there's some kind of opening or welcome and oftentimes some type of, uh, kind of mission, vision, pledge, goal that you see there. Uh, these are the categories that are in uh, all of the schools and usually if there is something that is consistent across the district, we have that as shared and so it stays the same. And if there is an update in the district, it's updated once and and shared everywhere. A lot of the school procedures and some ways in which the school has an individual uh way their building works based on maybe it's the layout, design, the operation, the grade level. So
034you'll see a lot of school procedures that might be specific and dependent on those schools. Uh each district or each school uh went in and did updates based on maybe staffing or based on um roles and responsibilities in their school or just procedures that they felt would be better for this year. So, they've been they've been all updated here. And then if anybody uh wants to uh receive we we send this out uh as a link and a document to families in the fall is what we did this year. And we will send again that same thing and information and parents will be able to acknowledge that they know where the information is at and how to get it uh when they uh start the next school year in Q. So, it's always available. Uh
035a couple of the key areas in which we changed uh really like I said were around school policy areas. um for their own procedures. And then we did hesitate on um making too much uh change here, especially under discipline and under the cell phone policy. So that's consistent right now and we're waiting for those two policies to be brought to the board. Uh we do um remind families that these policies are ongoing and can change and we will update the handbook um as as you move forward in policy. So those two areas we anticipate seeing change uh after the first of the year when we review those policies. questions. It shocks me that not all of them much this year. Yeah, I think that's a first. Yes. Well, like I said, a lot of us,
036you know, we spent the whole year looking at them, making sure that the buildings were consistent across the board. This gave them a really easy way to go through and review so we could quickly identify the the changes that need to be made um specifically, you know, with if there was a change. Dress code is the same for everybody. So, you'll see the same thing in each one uh but based on your school. So, we didn't have to go through and re reformat, change, realign. Um they were all right there in order. So, it was much more efficient for each school to to update in this process. and I do appreciate their work I'm doing. Thank you. All those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Um 2025 2026 interlocal cooperative agreement with Sound ESD
037live school. I move we approve. I second. Any discussion? Yes. Um just to to give you um a reminder of what real life is is something that we do each year. Uh it's a program ESD designed to address the academic and behavior needs of students in second through 12th grade um with severe emotional and behavioral difficulties. They've got a program that not only um provides services but also provides training and professional development for us. Um, so again, it's one of those uh programs that we can't necessarily replicate and so we often contract with other ESDs to provide those services. Okay. Right. Those in favor? I I opposed. Motion carries. All right. Um, policy revisions. uh policy 50 through10. I move we approve. I second. Any discussion? Yes. Just a reminder that um I sent you
038this policy on Friday. Um a draft policy for you to consider. Uh that was also discussed at our June 17th study session which is open to the public. Um, and just a reminder that this is not something done in secrecy. Um, this is something that we have conversations about in open meetings and the draft was sent to you last Friday for your consideration. I appreciate the questions and comments and phone calls um with information even uh up to today. And I'm happy to answer any additional questions to what I shared earlier. But just as a reminder um we are allowing all on 5310 if they are not at the maximum step we are allowing them to go up a step um to their next year of experience uh superintendent position 2% all other positions 2.5
039and then there are four positions that get additional 1% mine is not one of those uh so that would be a total of 3.5 for them we are not asking admin to take furlow days this here again they got zero last year and took anywhere between five and 10 furlow days. Um I uh believe very strongly that um yes we have very difficult decisions to make. Yes we have a lot more difficult decisions to make over the next year especially if we don't have levy dollars. Um but we will lose our administrators. Um and it will be a revolving door. uh they are um working very hard with less resources as far as uh support and uh I think it's important to make sure that uh we are at least trying to keep them competitive
040and we're still a ways away from comparable districts. I think this is a pretty uh very conservative uh ask for policy 5310. And I also don't want to forget about all the other staff that are represented in policy 5310 that are in this building um that also took 0% increase last year. So as it as it relates to steps um the table now the step table isn't something that we have in the private sector but I've come to learn that that's common in this sector. The step table isn't just in the admin contract, is it? There's a step table for each of the bargaining groups. Is that correct? Okay. Correct. And each district determines um I'm pulling up 5310, but each district determines how far out you go um in your steps. Um there are
041um districts, for example, my wife teaches in another district and their uh steps go up to 16 years and then that's where it stops. So once you get to 16 um anything after that, you don't move up. Um on our policy 5310, I believe it goes to seven. Yeah, step seven. So that would be the equivalent of seven years. And so when you're on step seven, which u many of our staff are on seven, they don't move up anymore. So they would just get the additional 2.5% increase. But yes, there are steps in every contract. Um and they differ depending upon the contract. So last year other bargaining groups got a step and a percentage increase on top of that. Correct. The negotiation. Correct. And admin got nothing. They got to go up a step.
042If they um if they were under the max, they got to move up a step, but there was no percentage increase. So are you talking about in all of the bargaining units like PARS and classified within their contract, their steps aren't laid out the same way that uh teacher or admin? Not necessarily. Uh depends on the contract as far as how many steps out they go. Um There's Deut and she probably has it memorized as to how many steps per salary schedule but what's the range uh per classified there's steps one two three and four and then after that five six seven and eight are longevity steps for both PMP and then what about other groups they range from in policy 5310 they go up to seven all groups in 5310 go up to seven
043um are certificated Ed YBA um goes to 25 plus but there's there's some breaks in there. So they go to 15 and then it's like there's a break like 16 to 19 and then there's like a 19 to 24 point and then a 25 plus. Yeah. So that is part of negotiation. Uh when you have negotiations that's one of the things that you discuss when we had the state salary schedule it was set for us but that's not the case any longer. Yeah, I've signed up a few things. So, are you able to go into a little bit more detail of how some of these other cuts that are getting tied in are being were made, i.e. stipens because I don't specifically remember cutting a bunch of programs, but I do know you guys were
044under negotiation. We weren't allowed in those talks as in we're never allowed in those talks. So, how now that that's being tied in with 5310 in conversation, can you go into a little detail how all of that worked out so everybody's aware? Yeah. So, a couple study sessions ago, um we sat here and discussed specifically one of the topics was um stipens. Uh we knew that uh if we didn't reach an agreement with the LOA, then we were going to have to fall back on the collective bargaining agreement. When you fall back on the collective bargaining agreement, you've got to honor everything in there um if you offer them. So then that was when we went line by line through all the stipens to determine um which ones we would keep including um reducing the
045number of sections of college in the high school. Um we also had guidance from uh DD on which stipens we had to offer that there was no um negotiation on that. We couldn't um pull those out because that work had to be done. So that conversation took place here in preparation for if uh we didn't come to an agreement on the LOA then we would fall back on those cuts. Um, and the year prior those cuts weren't needed because the year prior they were not needed because we reached agreement on the letter of agreement and in the collective bargaining agreement with teachers in the event of a significant revenue loss levy loss um you can cut up to 50% of uh a given stipen. So we went into into negotiation with them and determined which
046ones we were going to reduce. That was where we talked about band uh marching band, pep band, and those discussions around um what the stipen would be reduced to. But then we also had conversations about what job duties would go away. And so that's where that happened. Um this year the LOA did not pass members and so therefore um we fell back on the collective bargaining agreement. And it's not to say that next year um we couldn't enter into a letter of agreement um in the third year of the collective bargaining agreement. Um however, without levy dollars, we're going to be um making more cuts um next year. Any other questions? Do you want to can you get into any specifics on some of the comparables? I mean, some of the information that I saw
047was quite shocking to me. I was one last year that everybody's here is aware of. I was strongly against any raises for admin and probably a huge reason that there was no pay raise um and furlow days coming from the private sector. When we don't make money, we don't get raises. That being said, looking at how far behind we had fallen according to some of our comparables and we even asked them to include some of the local comparables that are quite a bit smaller than we are was pretty shocking. And what it comes down to is if you do end up losing people because they can make 20% more going across the street, how do you fill some of those positions that are necessary to have? And if you've got to then hire somebody that's
048looking for comparable pay, now you're going to be paying a potential 15% premium to fill that position and you could have potentially gone away with two and a half%. So there's a lot more to this onion than meets the eye. And so I appreciate questions and I appreciate people critically thinking, but nothing up here is as cut and dry as it seems on Facebook. I can absolutely tell you that. I dig through numbers all day, every day. That's what I do. Jen knows that I give her heck all the time. So, there's a lot more to it and I'm available to answer whatever questions I legally can answer, but it's not all that it seems on Facebook. I'm going to say that right now. Well, let me respond to your question at the beginning about
049comparables. So last year uh in the fall, we started meeting with our um administrators. In the past, you'll recall that the superintendent would bring you their proposal for policy 5310. Um superintendent would tell you why they're proposing that policy. We'd move forward. Well, what I wanted to do and what I'm familiar with in previous districts is we actually as principles had conversations with district administration and had some input, so to speak. Um, not as a uh labor union and not not even necessarily as an association, but we at least wanted to be invited to the table to have conversation. So, we started that last fall um before we failed the first levy. And so one of the things we first talked about was, okay, who are the comparable districts? Typically, when you decide on your
050comparable districts, you're looking at two things. You're looking at um not only size of a district, what are like-siz districts um similar to us, and then you're also talking about geographically, who do we compete with for staff members? So when we met last fall, we identified um Bethl, which is larger than us, but uh we do compete with them as far as uh staff, Clover Park, Franklin Pierce, Kelso, Long View, North Thirstston, Olympia, Tumbwater, University Place, and Yelm. Then you guys after we did this work this fall because we put everything on pause last fall after we failed the levy and focused our attention on that and did not have additional meetings with our administrators from 5310 on this any longer. So then fast forward to this fall you had asked us to add in
051Tanino Reineer um to the group. So we not only presented to you the comparable group um without Tanu and Reineer which is the work we did originally and for example I'll take um high school assistant principal that's a position that we cut one of their positions last year so we have two assistants and uh for example in comparison to the group without Tino and Rineer um that position was 12.14% below the average. So then we added in uh Tanino and Reineer. When you add them in, that brings it down to 9.66% below the average. So we take that information and then we uh started having discussions about each one of these groups. Uh we are still going to be behind in all areas of 5310 um even if this is approved. So what we'll do
052this year is we will update this information as um negotiations or contracts or policies are approved. So then we have new numbers in the spring or late winter as we start talking about policy 5310 again. So we're not pulling these numbers out of thin air. We're pulling these out based on our comparables. And um each one of our bargaining groups has comparables. They're not necessarily the same group of comparables, but each group we use comparables to try to make sure that we're being competitive um with neighboring districts, districts our size. This is the living document. It's going to keep changing every year. Yes, it's a live document. And so this is done for every single C position in 5310. It's done for every classified position in 5310 and it's done for every uh exempt non-rep
053position in 5310. Um and uh Tammy and Tammy Kirkham and Dee are the ones responsible for gathering this information. You can't typically find this information on websites. you have to make phone calls and talk to HR directors, talk to assistant superintendent to get live up-to-date information on this. And then um we continually will keep this updated so that next year um we're bringing you a fresh look at our comparables and how we relate. when you do comparables, what um like for instance like on uh the talk about the stipens being cut, how does that relate to um other districts? It just depends. Uh every district is cutting right now and so what they choose to cut um depends from district to district, right? But the stipens um being cut and salaries are not necessarily related,
054right? I understand that. But I mean as far as um the amount that they would get per stipen that is based on each district and the negotiation. Yeah, I see you're saying ours our what we pay per stipen at the high school or in the middle school is not the same stipen that North Thirsten or Tanino would pay. Right. Not necessarily. Those are all negotiated. Um we do try to um look at uh stipens as well when we're negotiating to make sure that we're competitive in comparison to other groups. Um for example with our coaches that we're meeting with on July 7th and 8th. Um that is part of that. You'll look at you know what is Tumbwater offering coaches comparable um to those positions. And so you look at those comps um in all
055of those groups including stipens because a stipen could be included in another contract in another district and we're paying a stipen for that same that would be in in part of their contract also. Um I guess I don't fully understand the question but stipens are individually u negotiated in the contracts. Okay. like for um the honor, you know, as far as paying for that stipen, is that inside of their contract for that day or is it it's added up? No, that is a part of the collective bargaining agreement in a different section than salaries and that's where it differs where with other uh school districts. Yeah. Yeah. That that could be different from district to district what they offer for a like position. Let's just take head football coach since that was a popular one.
056Um what a head football coach makes in Yelm um can be very different than what a head football coach makes in Twater or Olympia or Northr or um those are all negotiated as part of the collective bargaining agreements. So then the last time policy 5310 was updated is on the on the website. Correct? Current policy 5310 is on the website. We would not update it until we have the new one approved whatever that one is. Okay. So then you can look at the bottom like you can go and you can see when the last time the current board packet that's published on our website the 109 pages has the current policy 5310 and highlighted in red are the changes. Okay um to the proposed policy 5310. Yeah. So when we if and when we approve
057a new policy then that will be updated on the website. Then we would go in and replace um and then what I showed you earlier. Not only do we replace policy 5310 in the policy section of our website, but then we would go uh go into the uh part that I showed you earlier where it has the salary increases. We would update um certificated admin. We would update classified admin. So, we'll do that update as well once policy 5310 um has been adopted in addition to the policy section of our web page where that actually lives. All right. Two and a half% is IPD. Can you describe a little bit what IPD stands for? Implicit price deflector I believe Jennifer deflector deflector same thing. Um so what is happening um we often districts will often
058tie salaries to IPD. Um and that is I guess the best way to say it. Um the pass through that we get from the state. However, we know the pass through from the state does not cover all of our employees. It covers a certain number of employees. All the uh additional employees come out of our budget. So, IPD is often used as a measure in bargaining um whether a district might say um we're going to give you IPD plus one or IPD plus a half percent. Um so we are passing through the 2.5 um which again still costs the district a little bit. Um and uh so far that is the same 2.5 that um we have for all of our groups for next year. However, we do have uh two that are still in
059negotiation. One needs to be uh approved by members. at and that additional 1% were for the farthest group behind or farthest groups. What percentage were they behind? I've been with it. They were from 18% and higher behind their comparables and those were um supervisor positions again that we converted. Um they were director positions and they were paid at a higher salary. Um we have moved those down to supervisor positions in the area of food services, facilities, um custodial and we are now looking at the we had an assistant director in transportation. That position is open. We are also going to be moving that one down to a supervisor position as well. Uh we're just trying to figure out exactly the duties of that position and we've got to work with Terry and human resources and
060transportation to determine and and develop that one because we haven't had that position there. Phillip, we've got to write the job description. a little bit of the poker game because not a big fan of giving raises when we don't have the money. But at the same standpoint, you lose one or two of those positions. And if you have to hire them at the comparable rate, you're losing even more money than if you're just giving up the two and a half percent. Now, I agree. What happens in all honesty in our business, if those positions are vacated, you have to reset the salary to market value um in order to attract high quality administrators. will be um more than likely increasing it more than 2.5%. When you have to reset it, that's what happens when those
061positions get vacated. Um otherwise, you don't and the pool looks very different. And you see that um you see that often with principal positions, assistant principal positions. You see that with superintendent positions. Um anytime they're vacated, you then have to reset it um based on market value in order to attract the best candidates. Um otherwise it will go elsewhere. So on uh I mean I know it's ad admin all along but all over the board but when we talk about um principles so if we go out for a principal I know that it was had changed when this last that we hired a superintendent that we had to put the um not the exact amount but within a margin. You have to put the pay range out there. The pay range out there for the
062superintendent. It they changed the law some place years ago. So what you're saying is that's the same thing with the uh principal or assistant or that's what you're talking about that. Yes. Okay, so this is like probably going to be totally off the subject here, but so the comments that I heard that I keep hearing and it's kind of like sticking in the back of my mind is that Um, we're sacrificing these things for our kids in order to keep administrators. We still have to have arts in the high school. Correct. they it's still we still have to have those things in the high school because they're required subjects. So just because we we are giving payraises because we are um doing this policy doesn't mean that we are sacrificing electives at the high school.
063No, we're talking about stipens. We're not talking about class offerings. Okay? because some because sometimes I think that they're kind of getting mixed in there or I feel like because it's such a hot topic that it's that they're kind of getting wound in there together. Well, I think everything it has to because we're we've cut what six, seven, eight million dollars worth of stuff and we're still having to cut and so if you're robbing Peter to pay Paul regardless of what you do and certain things have gotten more expensive for the district. They've spent more money this last year in some areas while still making cuts in the other. So I understand the justification for making it seem like you're cutting from the kids to give admin but some of but in the end everything
064that we cut is cutting from the kids because stuck in between CBAs and state mandates on threequarters of the stuff and we've cut 85% of everything else that we legally can cut. But we have to keep I mean it's like the elective stuff we have to keep because they're required classes to fulfill graduation requirements. So we can't cut we have to keep those things. And so I'm like going I want to go back. I mean it's so hard it it the community thinks that these are such easy decisions and I'm telling you they are not. They are gut-wrenching decisions for us. do not think they are made lightly at all. I just want to go back and give you one piece of data. Currently, um, Peninsula School District has an assistant principal opening at Gig
065Harbor High School. They are posting the salary for 154,900 to 169,400. So 155 to 169. We currently are 125 to 149. That's just an example of a current job posting that's out there right now as we speak. And I could pull up many more um that are out there. So my point being that when those positions are vacated, if they are vacated, you have to reset to market value and take a look at those comps and try to get competitive. And I think to put a direct correlation to increase in those in policy 53 to cuts and stipens is unfair. Um I I think that it is unfair to put that on the backs of the staff members in policy 5310 um when we would not allow that for any other labor group. But you
066answered my question as far as looking up that where it was a uh salary between you know uh this amount and that amount that it is a law and it has to be on it. Yes. Well, thank you. And then two with my belief is if we don't hire good people, the kids aren't going to get a good education. If we hire some bum off the street to be a principal, you know what is he going to know? How is he going to run school? I know for myself just hiring people you have to have employee retention because trying to train somebody to replace that person is next impossible. It cost you a lot more money. They have to go through how the district goes, how the business operates, whatever it may be. It costs
067a lot more time, energy, and just like that, like Chris's example, you see, it's going to cost a lot you a lot more money to find that same comparable person that'd be able to fill that position. Yeah, in the in the private sector in my world when we you don't get a huge pay raise by staying with the company you're with. You usually get it by jumping right? And this is kind of the same mentality. You know, if the company keeps you happy enough with small raises, you stay there even though you're getting offers that are 20% higher to go elsewhere, but at some point you get into the position where if you do lose that position, you have to pay that much more to replace them. what the market value is currently. And I
068also think that um I don't want to lose sight of the fact that um these folks have stayed here, the last two years, and that should not be lost in all of this. That tells you something. Um, and when you have conversations with these people and look them in the eyes and hear what they've done and what they are dealing with on a daily basis with limited resources, um, there is no doubt they are worth a very conservative 2.5% increase. They are worth a whole lot more than that. Um, but I think it's my job to fight for them because they have stayed here for two years through this. They could have easily left and made more money in other districts. And you know what it's like as a board to have administrators that don't
069work out. You've seen that in this district and you know what happens. So, I'm just going to be honest and say that these folks, not just the administrators, but the people in this building, um 2.5% increase is um the least we can do for them. And I will continue to fight for our kids and find ways for us to be able to offer uh programs and services for them. Um but we also have to fight as a community. um for our levy. I think my biggest frustration through this process and most people here are aware of it. I think it's equally shared with a lot in the community, especially online, is the fact that we can't make a decision two months after a levy fails and bounce the budget and cut everything from that point
070because it's so convoluted and complicated. things to state. We we have every meeting we have something new we have to look at and it's just a small drop in the bucket in the big picture and we can't get there. And then some meetings we're looking at raises which are putting us the opposite direction we need to go and then two meetings later we've got another negotiation which is putting us the opposite direction. Two months later we're talking about programs that need to get cut or technology. Then we're talking about sports. Um, which we know how I feel about that and I will continue to fight for sports. But the hard part about this is it's it's not like running a project where we can just make all the cuts at once and balance our budget.
071And so at any point when we jump back the other way and then have to come back and make another cut, it magnifies the decision you made to to provide a raise. And so I think we just have to do our best to be transparent every step of the way on these decisions we're making and why because there's a lot more information that we've received than is out there. Well, this year has been even more complex. Um, levy aside, what we've had to deal with from the state and federal government as far as um indecision around funding and exactly what our revenue streams are going to be from all the different revenues that we receive has come in at various times and that's one of the reasons that you have to wait till you have
072the whole picture and oftentimes it puts us um late in the process to make a clear decision. Um the other option is we make cuts uh significant cuts up front and then we live with them and um uh maybe or maybe not bring them back. Uh but if they involve employees, typically you're not going to get them back because they're going to go find another place to work. So uh our frustration with budgeting is not unique to Yelm. um we just have the levy piece which more districts have that than we've seen in the past. But um every superintendent um or fiscal director that I've talked to or Jennifer's talked to or the ESD um this is a challenging process for everybody, more challenging than normal right now. And I don't see that getting more
073clear with each session that comes um at our state level. I think it's made it pretty clear this last year and a half that the whole entire system is diseased. No questions. Yep. Any more questions? I don't have any. Okay. All right. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Yeah. All right. Vouchers and payrolls. I move we approve. Any discussion? for vouchers and payroll. Yeah. Oh, she's next. Stand alone. Yeah. So, everybody's got to with directors before the meeting and approval. Okay. I Motion carried. All right. Um, facilities report. Sorry, I'm just making note on your last motion so that Debbie has that for her record. I was doing too. That's okay. Okay. So, do I have a motion? I move we approve. I second. Okay. Any discussion? Yes, it was. Thank you. Okay,
074thank you foring me there for a moment. So, uh before you are the um couple of works items that uh we have done in the last month or are ready to pay out, but uh that's not what I want to do. I want a slideshow, but I also like to share with you a little bit of work that's going on um throughout this. So um thank you for moving that forward and and after discussion of approval but you know some of the things that you know are happening I know that was just been exactly here tonight as we have struggled with u making this room work uh we've been moving through our Windows 11 update routing the entire district um we were forced to move to Windows 11 because Microsoft has discontinued support uh for
075Windows 10 but um some things you don't know that happened um On June 8th, I believe it was June 8th, uh we had a fiber failure overnight at Fort Stevens on a Saturday. Uh we believe we had some squirrels or some type of varmmen who ran up poles and um chewed them all up and so they were out there pretty much all night making sure we had fiber ready to start school uh the next day. So these are the kinds of things that our staff were working on uh 247 to make sure school is running. And it was pretty cool. I just thought this was neat how they were running through to see where the brakes were and they had to do it with this infrared light. So, um just you don't get to see
076this. It's not what happens during the day. Um we've started our summer deep cleaning and our custodial staff is again on a very small um crew. We have a a few staff that are out for lead this summer and he people are teaming together. uh we've been doing things a little bit differently when we have only one custodian in a building. It makes it really difficult to move a lot of furniture and get things done. So they are kind of teaming together uh across buildings and uh supporting one another uh in doing that work so that our buildings are ready for our students and our staff when they come back to the best of our ability. So you can see again Paul right there is our custodial supervisor and is working side by side helping
077people as they are learning new parts of their job. We've moved to a new uh vendor with um products. This these products comparably are much less expensive and of higher quality uh and has been very helpful. They are also coming in and doing training with our staff on the new products. So, as we are bringing in those, we are also using up the old supplies at um the secondary schools doing that elementary in first. So, again, they're they're really working hard to um get all of our um you can see there are the vents and the and the materials already. Oops. Go back one. And uh then we've all been running doing some of our safety projects uh around this uh the district. Uh if you've ever walked between Ridgeline and uh Mil Pond, there's
078a very large opening there which is the back side of the playground. And so we've closed that off to make sure students can stay on campus and no other people can come on campus while they're there. And then we had some students who were very creative and found ways to jump on the roofs. Again, not safe for them, nor is it um beneficial for our buildings. So again, we're looking at our the fencing and things that protect our buildings, but also protect our students. Um there's many other projects that are going on. So, you'll have some pictures of the next one uh that that uh are things that are in progress right now. Um Bill, you've been watching the construction start over at McKenna with the roof being done. And so, there's some stuff everybody
079sees in the parking lot as they're driving by. And um one side of the building is starting uh to be done. And then we have these uh portables. Portables are meant to last anywhere from 15 to 20 years. Um and our portables are lasting longer than that. They have many years in our district, but sometimes the roofs fail. And so portables 15, 16, and 17 at the high school are over 20 years old. And um they they're having a number of leaks this year. So, uh we targeted some of those portals to prevent further damage. So, I just again wanted to share with you some of the things that our staff are working on and um that are preparing uh the environment the best that we can for our students. Yeah, I was down in
080McKenna yesterday getting some top soil and the guy loaded me says, "Yeah, they're over there wasting money." And I said, "Wait, wait a minute. This building's 20 years old. The money comes out of our construction fund and it has nothing to do with learning funds." So, I straighten him out. But both it does affect their learning when um there is damage to their roofs. So did say well I guess it's better to have a good roof. So good way to bring up. So uh I do recommend those items that we did last month for your approval and just want to give you spotlight what's coming. Okay. Those in favor? I oppose. Okay. Financial report. I move. Oh, it's just information. Yeah. Yeah. I I gave you a couple paper there. I was just going to
081talk. I don't have any slides or I just a quick update on on our current year fund balance. So, we'll be keeping you updated every month. And in your packet, you can see what our fund balance is ending at for the month of was ending at for the month of May. And um we're at about 5.2 million. So we're right in line of with where we projected we were going to be. Um so even even with a lot one thing that resonates with me is that with a loss of $7.5 million in LEA and um levy revenue this year. We're still ending with a $5.2 million fund balance projected. Um so that just um goes to show that the cuts we did last year, as painful as they were, has set us up to be
082in a place um for ending with a positive balance this year. Um so the outlook obviously if we if we don't have a levy because of the timing, we do have one more opportunity to go out for a levy this year for next 2026. Um but based on the timing, we have to um adopt a budget um as if we were not going to have a levy next year. So, um I if we did pass a levy, we would likely break even next year based on a preliminary budget that I'm reviewing. Um I put something together, but I still have a lot of reconciliation to do. Um Dee is going to enter staff are going to do a final HR poll with any changes we've made to the um staffing file tomorrow. Um so I'll
083have all the final numbers and then continue reconciling all of the programs and revenues and expenditures. Um, so I'll be going over the um budget status um in a lot more detail at the study sessions coming up on the I believe 17th and 18th for that week. Um so but I did just want to talk about um a couple of things. Um, so just to put things in context before we get into the details of the next study session of the budget, um, I just want to talk about, um, if we do not pass a levy, by the end of next year, we will have lost well over $20 million. And so, um, I just want to point that out because that's a lot of money. Um, we will have more cuts coming if we
084do not pass a levy. Um and um I wanted to also give you some examples of Oh, first I want to talk about so um as Chris mentioned, these items aren't unique and you've heard me say them many times, but it's been a while and I think it's very important to keep this at the forefront of um when we're talking about budget. Um so even without a levy, there's a lot of other challenges. There's a lot of other factors that contribute to our declining fund balance over the last several years. Um so um in addition to the triple levy failure, which is kind of the obvious one, um we have had large reductions to local effort assistance, our LEA funding. So even if we had a levy and we're getting LEA funding, it's cut in
085half over from five years ago. Um significant reduction. Um we're paying higher salaries than the state provides. Chris already talked about that a little bit. every time we give IPD, we're actually passing through more money than we're getting um because they don't fund us for all of our staff. Um underfunding of basic education um due to an outdated funding model. I know you've heard that a lot. Um the prototypical funding model um was based on um the fact that all districts are the same. Elementary, middle, and high schools across the whole state are funded the same. And we know that's not the case. um special education program costs continue to escalate. Um of course we appreciate every little bit that the legislature provides us, but they didn't even put a dent in what we need
086to fund fully fund special education. Um they did add some support which was helpful and I'm thankful for that. Um cost of goods and services are increasingly outpacing state funding for MSOcks. That you've heard about a lot this session and they did they even put a dent in it? I don't even know if I'd call it a dent. they they put a little bit in there. Um and then reduced enrollment um postcoid and when I say reduced enrollment people think that we have reduced enrollment now. What I'm talking about is the um the contribution to our our um fund balance decreasing is because we had um decreased enrollment postco. So every year we had decreased enrollment from before we lost fund balance. our fund balance decreased. Um we've we've pretty much rebounded rebounded from postco
087um from pre-COVID sorry um enrollment numbers. Um I gave you another handout. Um I wanted to talk a little bit about um programs that we again it's about the loss of a levy and programs that are have historically been very heavily subsidized by the local levy dollars and these are projections for next year's budget. Um, I have started reconciling some programs as Shannon knows that we spent a lot of quality time together yesterday on special education. So, these numbers are pretty good. Um, but this just shows that we are um um we are subsidizing the program with our own money by $3.5 million. In the past, we've had the local levy dollars to help with that. We don't have that any. So, this is money that we have to fund from something from something else.
088Um, so we have to take away other other programs and activities and find um how we're going to pay for that. Um, athletics is another big one that's um been subsidized by our local levy. We don't get any money from the state for athletics. Um, we are um we increase the payto-play fees. Um, we are now putting the um total cost to to the payto-play fees into the general fund for next year and that is going to be 210,000. Um, so that helps offset the one and a half million, but but we're still subsidizing athletics by 1.3 million. So just just to give some context to some of our challenges um without the levy, it's still a state law or whatever that if a low income kid can't afford to pay that we have to
089pay their share. Yeah. It's called household 1660. If they qualify for that, they they get a wave fees waved fees for athletics and extracurriculars. Um, so I I think that um so like I said, I'll be talking about budget upcoming budget in a lot more detail. Um I I wasn't ready to give any preliminary numbers before I actually start reconciling things because I have to make sure that I put in all the expenditures that align with all the revenues and um so more to come on that. No, I think you you you said it. I think the big the big three for us without levy dollars are special education, MSOCS, U, material, supplies, and operating costs, which we heard about both of those during session, and then athletics is the third one. We've subsidized in
090all three of those areas. Again, not unique to Yelm. This is happening um all across the state, but if you have levy dollars, it makes it a whole lot easier because that in part is where those dollars go. in addition to staffing. And so without those dollars, you've got to get creative. And like Jennifer said, if you do some simple math with our ending fund balance and how much we subsidize, so this year um over the past two years is what Jennifer was talking about about the 20 million um the 13 and seven. Uh and then this next year we're getting zero because you remember we got levy dollars for part of the year last year. Um but losing 20 million over two years. Um, and like Jennifer also said, we cut very, uh, significantly
091last spring um, intentionally to try to then minimize the cuts this year to catch our breath because without levy dollars moving forward, we're going to have to do the remaining cuts um, moving into next year. So, uh, we'll we'll find out, but simple math would tell you, um, that's where those levy dollars would go to subsidize those three areas. And without those, we're going to have additional cuts. And the 20 million that is using historical levy dollars that we've received in the past where we know that our levy goes up each year to help with the cost of inflation and increase costs across the board. Um, so the 20 million is using prior year levies without any increase. So we'll be digging into this a lot at our two study sessions we have coming up
092um backtoback nights. Um so we'll also be sending you some information ahead of that uh for you to look over and ask any questions but then when we meet here together we'll be digging into that some more. Any questions? Okay, thank you. Uh student enrollment uh related but unrelated um uh as you know we have um denied most uh out of district transfers. Um the question people would ask would be, well, don't you get money when you bring students in? Um yes, you do. However, um as I've talked about before, um I'll use the elementary for example. Let's say that McKenna has 20 out of district students that want to come in. Um they don't all come in second grade or one particular grade. you can hire a teacher to then take that class. They
093come across the board at a variety of grade levels. And when we're already staffed at or above the trigger um based on our collective bargaining agreement, for every student over, you've got to pay overage. So um it doesn't make sense to just automatically take in every out of district transfer student. Um, with that, we've had six out of district uh, families that were denied um, appeal the process. There is an appeal process through OSPI for families that do not live in our district, apply to be in our district. We say no. They have an appeal process through the state which takes which takes a tremendous amount of time and resources um that I have to sit on a pre-hering meeting with the uh administrative law judge for each one of those. Then we have to
094schedule a hearing for each one of those. The uh prehering is typically about an hour. Debbie Stillwell sits in those with me uh between the two of us. for taking notes and then the hearing itself either we represent ourself or our attorney represents us in that process those can be up to two hours. So um as you can see it is a tremendous uh amount of time and resources that go into defending our decision to deny um transfers out of district. By the way, the only reason you can appeal is if the district did not follow policies, procedures, and laws. You cannot appeal because it's a good fit for my child and it would be a hardship if they don't get to go to the school they've been at for three years. However, the hearing
095still goes through even if we've followed procedures, policies, and the law. They still get their hearing. And then the administrative law judge will say during the hearing, "I'm sorry. Um, you can't share that information. I'm sorry you can't say that." Um, because that is not what I rule on. I only rule on policies, procedures, and law of the decision that was made. So, as you can tell, I have some feelings about this. Um, and it's hard because these are kids that we've had. They're great kids. That's not what this is about. This is about us being in a tremendous uh tremendously difficult spot without levy dollars to be able to do what we did in the past where Yel was a place where we said come one come all and we didn't deny. So for
096people that have been with us a year, two years, three years or more, this is now a shock to them that they um have to apply. However, it's the right thing for our families and students that live in our school district and it's the right thing for our staff who are um teaching caring for these students. And when you have overcrowded classrooms, that becomes increasingly difficult. And so, if we can control that in any way, we're going to do that. Okay. Sorry, I'll get off my soap box. No. Well, it was a new it was a new experience because we've never been hunken what we could do and we can't do or way apart. Yeah. I guess the state doesn't make any sense. Okay. Word comments. You're up, Sophie. Oh boy. Uh keep it short.
097Just kidding. That's a lot to ask for me. Um all right. Well, I would first like to um thank our speakers, our advocates who came up here and voiced their concerns, opinions, and beliefs. That's a really awesome thing to see. Um money is a topic of interest today. Of course, it's everywhere and it's extremely tedious and I think I have like a moderate headache now, as I'm sure most of you do. Um, but on a lighter note, if anyone wants to know what I have been up to my summer break, I've been gearing up for college applications. Um, I'm wasting no time. I don't want anything to sneak up on me my senior year. Um, early bird gets the scholarship, as I like to say. Oh, there's another instance where money hits me over the
098head with a lawn mower. Um, college tuition. It's crazy. It's It's trifling. It really is. I've tried to make a game where I guess how expensive a college is and I act surprised each time it's like three times as expensive as a college is. Um and then I panic because how am I going to pay for that? But yeah, it's it's a lot. Um money's never really been my uh strong suit. Not very good at it. Nowhere near getting my finance degree anytime soon. But it's uh an important conversation to be had. And so I'm glad that we were able to make such a productive conversation even though it kind of messed with my head a little bit. Will you share about your competition nationals? Oh, that's right. That happened. Yeah. Um, that was fun.
099I mean, uh, we went down to Las Vegas to participate in sports medicine and competition and we ended up placing overall ninth. So, we were just a smidge off from quarterfinals. Uh there's a whole story behind that because we got 100% but we were a little too slow so we didn't make the cut. Um but you know it was it was a really fun experience so I really wouldn't change a thing. I mean maybe be a little bit faster but you know uh we're going to work on that next year. Don't worry. Don't worry. And that was a lot of fun. Very hot in Las Vegas. Um I don't handle the heat very well. So I definitely wouldn't go down there for university. They were trying to recruit me. like now it's a little spot
100down here. Uh but it looks like that's where national is going to be happening again next year. So I'm very excited for that. Uh and so yeah, thank you for making that possible. Of course, it was awesome. My team is very excited for next year because now we have a better feel of the land. And yeah, just stay tuned and see how that goes. And I think that's all I have. Yeah. All right. I appreciate those that are left ahead to talk. Um, but I do appreciate you coming out there and talking. Um, I appreciate all the leg work that did um, and anybody else that was involved in putting all those comps together and even after you did all of that. We got our 30 page handbook, we asked for more on top of
101that. So, I do appreciate that leg work that was put into that which sparked conversation the night weeks before of conversations on that. Um, so I just appreciate that conversation. No decisions ever made lightly. Um, rack our brains all the time with numbers. Um, but with that, you know, I hope everyone has a good summer break. Um, my kids always ask, why don't you have summer break, Dad? Um, why doesn't the board have summer break? Said, you know, doesn't never stop. So, but that's what I got. Yeah, just like Frank said, uh this tonight's meeting was probably one of the rush not excuse me worst meetings hardest decision I've had to make in 20 years. I wish I had a magic wand that but doesn't work that way. And whoever gave us these. Hey, they're
102cool. So, I'm gonna hang that up while I get those are from Jeff Burgess. Um, is Kai still here? Yes. Kai's husband. Um, so they made those in their metal arts. They call for our shop teacher. Yes, our shop teacher. And they gave me one. We got to be completely honest about this. They gave me one and Debbie saw it and said, "I really like that. I'd like to have one of those." So, I went back and said, "Hey, uh, Ka, can you help me here?" And she, uh, pulled some strings and got some more made for you guys. So, yeah, she knows somebody who can make that sitting here. So, you're welcome. Hopefully, it'll turn into student based enterprise out of the shop class. Yeah. Casey, you have anything more to say? It's upset
103enough. Um, no, I appreciate all the conversation and the hard ones and I appreciate when I see people getting involved and asking questions um, and disagreeing to be honest because that's our right and more people need to get out and get involved and take that path. And every one of us on the board is very approachable. I don't get a lot of phone calls or emails of people asking me questions or giving their opinions, but when I do, I answer. So, I highly You don't get a lot. I don't get a lot. I must not be approachable like you. But I I think when it comes to keeping cuts away from the kids, that's a that is a phrase that we've used and said probably hundreds of times over the last year. And what it
104comes down to is if there were cuts to be made that wouldn't affect the kids, we would have already made them and we probably already did. And we're still in the hole. Um, so now we're trying to take the tact of minimizing the impact the cuts that we make have on and no matter what we do, there's a cut that's going to affect somebody. Um, and some of the so job, it's not a high paying job for volunteers, even though social media says we're not. Um, but I I I appreciate everybody coming in and having these conversations, and I look forward to more of them. Yes, thank you all for remaining and all your words of wisdom and a good conversation, but I have to tell you about this. So, I'm a thing on I
105got a thing about mountains, okay? And out here in Yam, we know how our mountain looks, right? We don't the same in Tacoma. It's just not the same, right? And we take pride in saying the old folks, have you seen the mountain today? Mountain, you know, mountains out. Have you looked at the mountain? Well, when I saw this, I said, "Wow, Chris, where'd you get this? That's really cool." Whoever did that did a magnificent job. And then he proceeds to tell me how he got them as a gift or bought it. I I really Oh, I just was impressed with the mountain. So, to the kids, to our person that works here, Jeff. Jeff, thank you. It is great. You guys could make some really big bucks selling these, right, as a fundraiser, but not
106mine. So, I thank you. But that's how it all started. Nope. No, that's our purchase. No, that's it. Okay. So, um, uh, Rotary's had two I've missed it because I'm staying with my brother, but it's we've had two weeks Oh, yeah. into the, uh, 10 weeks of summer food bags. So, um, they're bagging food on Monday. They did they did 400 last Monday and 400. That's kind of Okay. And then Tuesday's the giveaway. So, um, 10 weeks And then um I don't know how these guys missed it, but I get to do the big thing. Graduation spectacular. My favorite thing. It's the best thing ever. Just played with our mom. So, um, I just so appreciate everyone that showed up for the kids at the Tacoma Dome. And then the other thing that I've been
107really thinking about is I would like to thank all of our staff that poured into our students. um whether they were certificated, classified, our bus drivers, our volunteers, our parents, our administrators, whoever they were, our families, our community members that have poured into our high school students because the looks on their faces when they walked across that state, they it was priceless. I think it might have been maybe because we had grandkids. They they it was priceless. They I think this might have been might have been up there one of my favorite graduations. Even better than when you graduated president, could I say something? It was the best. I just got to say thank you to everyone that just made our kids day. It was spectacular. No, it it was a good I can't believe
108that I forgot graduation. It was it was so good. I mean, and all the staff and and the whole program as always. 362 I think kids walked across the stage and they asked you know this is a highpaying job and with all the stress but when those kids walk across that that stage and when you see them um stand up because they're going in the military they're doing this they're doing that and all of the issues are so little compared to seeing those kids and the job that the staff and the district have done is it's and they were all excited. I we had more thank yous for handing them the diploma than I think I've ever had in a lot of years. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. I mean it's like it was great.
109It was a great So we, you know, even with all of the um challenges we're going through, we can't lose sight of we are doing something right. and by those kids going across the stage. Yeah, I was getting a little tearyeyed at graduation. It was it was just the best. Yeah, it was just the best. But it it's to the staff, it's to the administrator, it's to everybody, the community that puts into these kids. So, yeah, they pour into those kids and then when they walk across that, there's nothing like it. You guys got to change your vacation and fix your I got to say hi. Okay. went to wash the pants that I wore. I reached in a pocket. What the heck? Three little ducks. They gave Yeah, there's some some ducks in a
110row. So, anyways, there you go. Moving along. Moving along. So, I I knew uh tonight would be a challenging meeting. So, um I thought I would share um the last couple months in in pictures for you. Um so, uh you'll see um some some key pictures on the left standing with two former superintendent here in Yum, Glenn and Allen. And uh two of my monthly bus rides. And then up top uh on the right you'll see uh dinner this year with the student reps at u my house and uh reminder my team one in our games. Um and then two of our favorite staff members working uh as they do outside of their normal day. They also work in supervised games. So let's take you back to May 28th. um as a district that received
111the uh Purple Star award as a military friendly district, we got an invite to jump out of an airplane with the Golden Knights. You got the invite. We did. Well, Shannon um decided he did not want to do it because he was scared. Yes. So um the other way. So this is my um stunt double on May 28th. I got to go and uh the two of us got to jump out of US Army airplane. Uh these are the Golden Knights who travel all over the country. They do demos. They do jumps into stadiums onto the White House lawn, the Pentagon. Um so it was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day and um just a big thank you to them for the invite and thanks that Shannon's scared. Um also want to
112uh congratulate our cabinet um who received a leadership award at our WASA awards and not in the picture is Jennifer, Terry, and Shannon. Um but Dee and Lisa were good sports and posed for a picture. So, uh, then on May 29th, as part of that invitation, got to go to JBLM and, uh, spend some time with some of their, uh, leaders. Um, talk about two things. One, um, programs, services, and opportunities for our students, but also um, how do we continue to strengthen our relationship with them as it relates to supporting our military connected families? It was a great opportunity. Um really enjoyed my day there. Um and there's a Blackhawk right behind. Also got to see an Apache helicopter and talk to the pilots and um visit all areas including Madigan and just get
113to learn a lot about um that partnership. Um so um I'm sure you recognize both of us. This is me and Shannon at our unified prom. Um there was a a theme. It was 70s. We don't just normally dress like this, but um thought I'd share that. One of the most fun evenings dancing with our um students with special needs. Um students from all over Thirstston County came and what a neat event at Yam High School in the Commons. Um maybe I'll wear that again sometime. Day of Champions, one of the greatest events um that uh happens in in large part due to um our staff and our parents who put this together, Shannon's team and our special education uh parent advisory committee. Um it is phenomenal and the smiles and you see these these
114are all volunteers um students and some staff that are out there helping uh an amazing day. Uh we'll be hosting again um next year and it's just a really welloiled machine as far as the way it's put together. I mixed in uh my son's wedding um at our house. June 7th is a perfect time to get married, Connor, because nothing's going on in our family. My wife and I are educators. But when he said, "Dad, can we get married June 7th?" Um, well, you know, we're still working. That's a busy time. And we'd like to have it at the house. But I will tell you, um, amazing day, amazing day. And, um, it was a ton of work, but, um, beautiful time. I got invited to do career day at Fort Stevens and um of
115course kids ask what in the world I do and so trying to explain to them what I do um is hard. Uh but my measure of success as far as uh am I getting in buildings enough is if kids call me by name. And I had a lot of kids at Ford Stevens um say hi Mr. Woods. and I had a great time. I also got to um get attacked by a dog um just for the heck of it. And um so that was fun while I was there. And then he said, "Just let go of the sleeve." And the dog takes it back. Um it was a little bit scary, but um you do these things when you're asked, I guess. Uh, another amazing event, Sideigh House exit ceremony. These four, um, Dawson, Eric,
116CO, and Jay all graduated from our program. Um, I've gotten to know these four in particular this this year pretty well. Um, it was hard saying goodbye to them. um they not only uh are students of ours and have been for a while, they also do a lot of volunteer work around the district, including um coming by and doing recycling. Um but one of the um best days, they were so excited and um a lot of fun. Graduation um certainly a highlight. Uh, Bill, you might recognize this young man. And um, yes, um, it is possible um that Samantha Blank handed out some little ducks um to the graduates to hand to me when they shook my hand um, when they crossed the stage and I had a sleeve full um, and I still have
117them, but it was funny. You're deciding what you're going to do with them. I only got five. Um, I got a lot and my sleeve was full. Uh, it was fun. As a high school, former high school principal, students, um, typically coordinated and gave me something every year and it was always in good taste and very respectful. Um, we did our second annual district office awards, uh, where, um, I come up with awards for, um, all of our staff members in the district office. Um, just to highlight Shannon one more time, um, he got the number two award. Um, he's always talking about how other staff are my favorite and so I've just permanently made him number two. Um, so awards like that are given out at this event at our end of the year
118lunchon. Um, it's a lot of fun and hopefully we we have some laughs. And then uh last but not least, I want to highlight strategic planning. We met five times about 30 people. Um, I'm very excited about the work that we've done. Um, we're going to be bringing you a draft July 17th to the board meeting. three areas rose to the top. Learning, belonging, and community um are the three areas. And so we've been doing a lot of work thanks to Lisa, Kurt, and Kendall. Um we meet after every meeting. We kind of crunch the data, crunch the information, try to boil it down to meaningful goals and strategies. And I think you're going to be very pleased with what we bring um to you. I know Debbie, you made every meeting. Denise, you made
119all but the last one because you were at the airport. So, it's not going to be any surprise to you and the others. I've kept you updated a little bit as we've gone. But, I think you're going to be very pleased with um our goals and strategies and all of them are measurable outcomes. And so, the nice thing will be that we'll be able to measure our progress. Um, and this will be our plan for the next five years. And we can certainly do edits as we go, but this is going to guide our decision making um as we move forward. That's all I've got. Okay. All right. You have a reading of the next meeting. Yep. Next board meeting is July 17th, 6 o'clock regular meeting. District office meeting.