001I now call the March 27th, 2025 YM Community School Board meeting to order. Will you please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, welcome everyone. My name is Denise Hendrickson and I am the school board president. Before we be 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. Um board recognition. Yes, we have uh a couple uh awards to hand out this evening and I'll invite
002Dr. Lisa Smith up to introduce those awards and then we'll get to hear from a couple folks uh from those departments. Good evening everybody. Wonderful to see you. Tonight we're proud to honor the exceptional contributions of three departments that are vital to our district's success. Technology, student information services, and transportation. These teams ensure our daily operations run seamlessly, upholding our core mission of student learning. First, the Excellence in Technology Services Award recognizes professionals who manage and enhance our district's IT systems. They ensure smooth operations across all departments and supportive, effective teaching, learning, and administration. Presenting this award will be John Maynard, our director of technology. Next, our excellence in student information services award acknowledges a professional who meticulously manages and safeguards student data, ensuring its accuracy and accessibility to support informed decisionmaking across our district.
003This uh award was given by Kurt for to Nike Victory who are here this evening and we were able to award this uh at a celebration in our department yesterday. And then the third award this evening is the Excellence in Transportation Services Award. And this honors a transportation professional who goes above and beyond to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient transportation for fostering a positive and supportive environment as our students travel to and from school each day. And presenting this award are Jeff Adams, our director of transportation, and Jason Roberts, our assistant director of transportation. Now, I'm going to hand it over to John, Jeff, and Jason to present the awards. Go ahead. You can go first. [Laughter] It's first. Okay. So, um we have a lot of quality people in transportation and that shows uh
004that that's evidenced on a daily with us and constantly they're proving how quality we have. So, it's actually sometimes difficult to select somebody uh for such an award. But it wasn't this time. Uh Jason came to us. He was contracted in 2018. And doesn't he need to come up here? Jason M came to us uh before then, but he was contracted in 2018. He has only missed 1.5 days of work. That sounds [Applause] besides that he has been very excellent at constructive criticism even with me. It's been very helpful. Uh he seems to have a pulse on what's going on in transportation um in in areas that Jason and I might not be privy to. Uh but but Jason Mai is a leader uh who leads silently and everyone recognizes his leadership and so do
005we. So that's why we want to give him this award. And I'd like to have Jason, our assistant director, say something. Now I don't that's hard to follow up. I don't have much to say except Jason has been uh he's he's spearheaded some great ideas with us um achievable goals. uh whether it's our phone systems that we implemented for and technology helped with that too um for calling parents and just little ideas that have gone a long ways that helped uh us in our transition of taking over the director position. So we really appreciate Jason and all the ideas and hard work and showing up and not cancelled his route. His route has not been cancelled so since he's been doing it. That's big. Um, you're doing a picture now or should I wait? No.
006Okay. Sorry. Uh it's my pleasure to present uh Jake Jacob Vaughn with this award. Uh Jake is an incredible person and employee. He works tirelessly to achieve greatness in the district's technology footprint is living proof of that. Even after we move on and are no longer here, the foundation that Jake built for Yon will carry on long into the future. We wouldn't be here without without you. Um, I'm excited and proud to see Jake grow over the years and I couldn't think of a more deserving person. Sorry, Jake. Zach. Sorry about that. Jake's turn today. So, thank you so much. And, uh, here's your award, John. [Music] [Applause] like each other. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Everybody, I'm going to put tape on the ground for this including my Okay, sounds good. Wow, congratulations. Thank
007you, too. Okay. Uh, superintendent's comments. Um, I just want to real quickly um say a big uh thank you to um those departments that were recognized tonight. without uh without them, we cannot do all the things that we do in our in our buildings and our schools. And um I'm thrilled that we now have uh a director of operations to give um the time that that it deserves. um you know where that was placed before and expecting Jennifer to also um do all budget and finance especially in this day and age when that has become so so challenging um for us to move that to a place where um it can get more attention and then also um having the perfect person in Terry to move over um I think those four departments are thrilled
008to be working with her and um I I think it's going to make us even better uh and more efficient. Um I've got a few updates. I want to give you some uh up-to-date information on our legislature. Um I just give you real quick on just a couple areas. So um overall revenues are projected to be below the previous estimates. So they had estimates of what they believe the revenue would be and they're going to be below that. However, the revenues are still expected to increase from previous years. Um, as a matter of fact, for the 23 25 um time, it's supposed to increase 66 billion. So, one of the messages you've been hearing is about a shortfall and short funding. It's an overspending issue that we're facing. It's not a funding issue. um it's
009an overextended uh in in spending. So that's an increase of 2.6% over the 2123 uh time period. And then 25 to 27 we'll see another 70 billion that's 6.8% above uh current and then 27 to 29 another 76 billion and that's an additional 7.7%. So, one of the things that we are refusing to get involved in is the conversation around um budget because uh as you all know the paramount duty of the state of Washington is to fully fund public education. So, we're not even entering into that conversation as a state because that's the paramount duty and it's in our state constitution. What we are doing is spending time on three specific areas I've shared with you. M socks, which are materials, supplies, and operating costs. Um, basically what it costs us to run our
010district. Um, fuel, um, insurance, uh, a number of things that inflation has not kept up with. Um, the Senate bill increases that, um, allocation across the state school districts by 111 million and the House bill, uh, is an increase by 41 million. So big difference between the two. Um in special education, the Senate bill is 1 billion uh dollar increase and elimination of that 16% uh cap, which means uh you get funded up to 16% of your enrollment um to offset the special education cost, but oftent times districts go above that 16%. Um you're not funded for that. And then um the House bill is only 188 million versus 1 billion in the Senate. So they are on polar opposite sides. In uh most sessions, you would see them meet somewhere in the middle. Um
011there is some some optimis optimism that um they will meet closer on the Senate side given uh the priorities of the of the new governor. Uh but we just won't know until the very end of session. And so um transportation bills have pretty much dropped off um ones that were going to increase funding. Um so we're really down to the MSOC and special ed bill. I'll continue to keep you updated on u my Friday update to you and then we'll also continue pushing out information in our newsletters. But um a lot is happening right now and will continue to happen the rest of session. Um and then good news on national boards. They were talking about cutting um that stipen and um now uh it looks like that that is not in play any longer.
012So um probably no change to national board. So our teachers that have achieved that um that uh great um honor and a lot of work. It's it's a ton of work to get your national boards. It's a ton of work to keep your national boards. So that stipen uh looks like it's going to stay. Um two more things. Uh we have an audit going on starting tomorrow. So we'll have Washington state auditors here looking at a couple areas. Um all financial internal controls for transactions and systems. And then they will also choose some federal programs um to look at as well. So um that'll start tomorrow. Um Jennifer has been busy u with preparing for that. And then I had my meeting um with the auditor today. They um do that with superintendent and with
013a board member as well. And then they'll do that again at the end of their time. So keep you up to date on that. And just so people know, we post all of our previous audits are on our website and the reports from those audits. And we'll do the same with this one. Uh once it's completed, we'll put it up on our website for everybody to see. Last thing is strategic planning committee applications. We have 30 applications so far. I think you guys have the list. We have one student. So, I'm going to encourage our student reps um to apply and I'll talk to them more about that. Um five community members, six staff, nine parents or guardians, and then some that cross over between um areas. So, uh it closes tomorrow. So, when it's
014finally closed, we'll get you all the information. We can still recruit um particularly students uh once it's closed, but at least for um adults in the community, we want to get that um going. So, I'll be bringing you those to consider for selection for that committee. And that's all I've got for now. Okay. Um are there any community comments? Nope. No community comments. Okay. Uh, school board minutes. I move approve. Any discussion? Okay. Those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Uh, new business, individual contracts. I move to oppose. Any discussion? Uh this is a time of year where you're going to start to see retirements um resignations and so those uh will be coming in this spring um as we get those numbers that also u impacts our planning for next year. Um but those will
015be uh coming in here the rest of uh the school year. Okay. Those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. acceptance of gifts. Any discussion? No. But um once again uh generous community um and uh pretty cool to see. Okay. Those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Out of district travel the YHS FBLA to Belleview, Washington. I move we approve. Second. Any discussion? Nope. Nothing there. Okay. Is there state competition? Um, those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Vouchers and payroll. I move we approve. I second. Any discussion? Yes. Board member Kang and I reviewed the vouchers before the meeting and recommend for approval. Okay. Those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Facilities report. I second. Any discussion? No, not much here. Um Terry is assessing all the um small works projects that we had slated in our capital
016projects plan and we'll be meeting with her in the next couple weeks uh to talk about um where we might want to make modifications in that plan. But as you know all the large projects with the exception of transportation um all the large projects have been completed. So, it's a matter of us uh revisiting the capital plan to see if there's anything else on there that maybe uh wasn't necessarily at the top of the priority list, but um do we still want to do it and do we have the funds to carry it out in capital projects? So, uh we'll be having more conversation about that. Was that the total price of the generator services or did we have a a previous amount? Yeah, we had a previous amount um that was 40 45,000 I
017believe. 40,000. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Which is a lot better than um what it could have been if they would have had to replace the main breaker. Um which it was not thankfully. Okay. Those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. financial reports. No new financial reports tonight. Um you got to see quite a bit at our study session last week and um probably still looking that over. Uh we'll have more for you at the next board meeting and at the next study session in April. Okay. Yes, Russ learned quite a bit, too. um student enrollment. Uh well, you'll see kind of a drop in enrollment. We see that typically every spring um as families move or students um make other plans. But as you also know, um we have staff making phone calls to uh nearly 245
018students that have left our system since 2021. And we are inviting them in for an information session um either uh the evening I think of April 24th and then the next day, the 25th, we're offering three sessions. Um really the idea is to invite them uh in to see what's possible and what is out there. Many students who drop out of school often think they can't go back and that they're not allowed to or there's not a program to meet their needs. So, we're going to have everything from our extension school, uh, representation from the high school, representation from, uh, South Pound Community College, from Gravity, uh, what am I missing? JobCore. Um, so really, it's an opportunity for them to come in and then connect with uh, people that might be able to help
019them um, take the next step. And so, our goal is to re-engage as many of those uh, former students as we can. And um and with some of them, we may find out that they've already um gotten a degree somewhere. Um we just didn't know about it. But um as we talk about uh enrollment and every spring as that drops, um we want to do a better job of capturing those students and trying to find programs that would work for them. Okay. All right. Board comments. So really I just want to show my appreciation for our transportation and IT workers. Um I remember when I was younger I really admired transportation workers cuz for me like the bus driver would be the first person I would see in the day. And so whenever they would
020greet me with a smile it always kind of set the mood for that day. And I just thought they were super cool because they could drive a bus. And I still think that's really cool cuz I struggle to drive a compact car. So it's like I don't know how you do that and then yeah it is so important for smooth flow and there is a lot of stuff I think that like they often times don't get enough recognition but that's what these board meetings are for and I think it's super cool that we do that for every board meeting and yeah yeah like Sophie said I have a similar relationship I know one of our one of our elementary school bus teachers used to sing to us every day so that was pretty congrats to
021Jason Jacob been Nike. That's great accomplishments there. And then also congrats to Educators Rising who competed at their competition in Arizona. I'm pretty sure two of them placed first or maybe one second. I know one place first and then as a team they placed second which is pretty cool. Um and I think it's really cool that we're asking those dropout students to come back and then have them or give them opportunities for what they can do. Uh and then also coming up we have our ASB art walk. Um we have a little bit less visual art than before. Um especially from the elementary school. So if you have a grandkid or something or you know somebody who's an artist, let us know. Um but that's coming up. And then also we had have an emergency
022ASB meeting today and I lasted two minutes. So quick quick meetings for me today. But just one thing on the agenda. Um, I enjoyed the short meeting. Felt like we were flying through it. It felt weird. I was like, I can't believe we're here. Um, shout out to transportation. I know it's in a rebuilding year for you guys. You guys are doing great. Um, I want to shout out to I see a bunch of the principles here tonight. So, thank you for taking your Thursday evenings to be here. Um, and I just encourage all of us to just work together as we navigate the upcoming months um, ahead of us with the levy and all that good stuff. and we just continue to work together and there's not so much division because I don't think
023we're going to get anywhere pointing fingers at one another um through that process. So, good point. Just like to mirror everything they said and thank goodness we didn't have much of a windtorm last night. I swate the transportation workers and looking forward to strategic planning. Deb, somebody that realized a great community member and he was over the years he was always a friend of education and his wife and his daughter and Yeah. Okay. Um I would also say ditto to everything. And then um I also had um uh the honor to attend a surprise roasting of our superintendent. Um the special ed advisory parents group awarded our superintendent with um I don't what was the award? Um heart of education. Heart of education. And what was really neat was they set him in the middle
024of the room and he was surrounded by all these staff. And the best part was to hear the comments of the kids because all this uproar and division and strife that's been going on, I think that we forget who are our most important people in this community, and that's the kids. And the things that they had to say about our superintendent were wonderful because he is their friend. And so I think sometimes in all this that goes on we forget he is students friends and that's what we're here for is to look out for what's best for kids. And they said it perfectly. So that was fun. I really enjoyed watching him get roasted. Was he speechless? He was speechless and so were the the staff in the room were speechless, too. It was great.
025Yes, it was. Yeah, we didn't know about that. I didn't either, but I didn't but I didn't tell that I was invited. It was uh quite an honor and um particularly because it's from um the parents and and the staff of that um special education committee and um those are some of our most vulnerable students and um I think we can sometimes forget that and uh went to the game night um the most recent one and um had had a great time playing Uno and playing bingo and I didn't win at any of them but um sitting with kids and playing games um the laughing, the smiles, it's um definitely a reminder of why we do what we do. And um that's exactly why I show up every day is is for our kids. And
026it's neat that that um some people saw that because that's definitely my goal and that's what I want people to know about me. And so um I was very humbled and very surprised. Yeah. Did you have anything else? Nope. Go ahead. It was it was very humbling. I could Yes. Um couple other things. Um Dee and I meet with our labor groups um every month and um recently got some feedback from YA labor group about uh our process um for having discussions and um considering budget cuts. And so I've taken a lot of time kind of outlining the work we've done. I'm going to send this to you tomorrow. But one of the things I want to share um is some of the areas that we are looking at to u to try to balance
027the budget. And one is um rolling over cuts from last year. Taking a real uh close look at all the cuts we made and determining which ones we are going to roll over because um keeping in mind that we've got to maintain the level of cuts we cut last spring and then cut more. So, if we take things off the table um or put them back on the table, so to speak, from last year, then we've got to find other things to cut. So, rolling over budget cuts from last year. Um, another one that's really important is monitoring legislative developments because that is going to tremendously impact us in one way or another. And if we were to make some cuts ahead of the legislative um decisions and we got additional funds uh I think
028that would that would be considered mismanagement of funds if we were making additional cuts when we are going to have revenue coming in. So um waiting on that. Um looking at staffing allocations based on the collective bargaining agreements and uh based on the prototypical model of what um class sizes should be in staffing building budget analysis again looking at um each building and department budget uh to determine uh what are areas that we can reduce. We already reduced quite a bit last year uh with the building budgets. um consideration of in and out of district transfers. In the past, YM has taken um pretty much all transfers. We reduced uh a number of transfers last year, but just tonight earlier um we had our principles looking at the in district transfers and then looking at
029their enrollment projections for next year to determine whether or not they're going to have space. um maximizing revenue streams, taking a look at all revenue that comes in um to our district and um revisiting the rules around that revenue and determining um can this be used for staffing because if it can um we need to maximize that. um engagement with our school and district administrators on areas where we can be more efficient um or eliminate. So, we continue those conversations. We've had three study sessions with you and we have another one in April. And then in addition to all of those, we have regular meetings here at the district office on finding ways that we can um be more efficient next year as we look at making cuts. The the reason there isn't urgency this
030year is because we are not doing a reduction in force. So, we're not doing a riff in our district. Therefore, we are not bound by timelines that are in the collective bargaining agreements. That's why we're taking our time. We're going to do this right and we're going to do it well. Um, and we're going to make sure that we have all the information that's available to us before we make those final decisions. And so if um there are people that are not being patient with this, I understand because people want to know what the cuts are, but we would not be doing our job well if we were making these decisions without all the information. Um so I'll be sharing with you more of the feedback I got from um from YA and then kind
031of our response to that. Um, as I said, our next uh board study session is in April on the 28th. Uh, we have Sunday through Friday of next week, we have law enforcement, um, FBI here in town doing some training. They'll be at our middle schools. Um, they'll be in unmarked vehicles. They'll look like civilians. So, um you won't notice them necessarily other than vehicles at their uh the parking lots during spring break, but um they'll be here doing training all week long and um we uh we like to have the partnership with them and allow them to use our facilities for that. Uh April 9th, I have uh meeting with all the other county superintendents. We'll be meeting with the presidents from St. Martins's, Evergreen, and South Pet Sound Community College. We do this
032every year to talk about um our partnerships and how we can do uh a better job of uh improving those partnerships. And then the last thing um is kind of cool. I used to um coach football and baseball at Olympia High School and one of my former players is in gonna be inducted into the Olympia High School Hall of Fame and he asked me if I would do his introduction. Um, so I thought that was pretty cool. And so on April 12th, um, I'll be going to that to introduce, uh, one of my former players who's being inducted. And I thought, um, that's pretty cool. And also an example of those relationships that here, um, 25 years later, um, him and I still have a strong relationship and bond. and it was an honor to
033get that phone call from him to see if I would be the one to introduce him. Baseball or um both. As a Olympia high school athlete, they they kind of look at everything and um based on all of his accomplishments during his time there. Um he's one of three being inducted this year. Um, it's a pretty cool tradition that they do and something that I'd love to see us consider because we have a lot of people in the history of uh Yelm athletics that um could easily be honored in a hall of fame. So, it's something I want to share uh as we move forward and see if it's maybe something we can introduce here. It could be. I think they used to I think we've I think we've had I think we've Yeah, yeah,
034I think it'd be good for the community and good to recognize people that have um achieved in this community. So, track star. I think we had a track star that was Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Paty Walker. Walker. Paty Walker. Okay. Are