001and welcome. We're going to start with our pledge of allegiance. If you'd mind standing with us, please to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Dr. Hansen, we'll pass it over to you. [snorts] >> Good evening, President Amos, members of the board community. Thanks for joining us this evening both in person and online. Board, I want to thank you for the ability to reschedu this from last Wednesday to this Wednesday. Um, so give us a [clears throat] little extra time and and allow for folks to uh to be here. I also want to thank um Schmiden Associates um Powers and Suns Construction. We asked them to do some really quick work to help us out with some numbers. I want to thank uh cabinet uh members um
002principles that we worked with our our teachers um who've been giving us feedback um throughout this process um because as I was sharing we want to get this right and [clears throat] um you know it's gone beyond our timeline but I think um we're going to be in a better place for that. So I just want to thank thank everyone for that. This is a followup from our conversation um really four weeks ago on on January 7th. Um you asked me to explore multiple options of how can we move fifth graders back to our elementary school setting. And so with that we explored each of those options and then one additional one. And tonight I want to share with you um that information. At the last um work session, I shared with you a lot
003of times we put up our board goals and our strategic plan priorities and we just kind of go through those motions and really this work that we're doing right now is embedded in each of these and um you know particularly the first one we we recognize um the urgency around improving our student outcomes and how much the environment that they're in plays a part in that. I apologize in advance. We are not going to go in alphabetical order. Um, so this is scenario F. Um, there is some meth method to my madness here, but [clears throat] the first two are related to Highlander Park. Uh, there was a request to take a look at Highlander Park to see if Highlander Park could be converted into a kindergarten center or a 10th elementary school. So, you
004know, we're not going to go over all these again because we we did that at the last work session, but we went through a SWAT analysis to kind of identify what that would look like. And then we asked our um architect and construction partners to take a look at what that might um entail and what that might cost. This is the current floor plan of Highlander Park. Um, so on this section here by the K, the K's, this these are the old kindergarten classrooms when it was an elementary school. This wing here right now is worn, sorry, is worn online academy. And then this wing and the office areas on this side is Warren online. I'm sorry, is adult dead. So, it is it is a utilized building under the renovation to make it a
005kindergarten center. Um, this was I think I knew this, but I I was reminded that kindergarten classrooms are not the same size as general ed elementary classrooms. Um, typically they all have a bathroom and there's just larger space because there's more um a variety of activities that that kindergarters engage in. So with that, they approached this with a model of for every three general ed classrooms, that would make two kindergarten classrooms. Um so you'll notice on here the the blue the rectangles are are bigger than a traditional um classroom. in talking with our transportation team um and all of our operations and instructional folks. The disadvantage to this model would be it would add an additional grade level uh transition. So if a student was in preschool, that's a transition to kindergarten and then the
006next year they will transition to the elementary school. um the research that we looked at, the less transitions you have in your model, um the better. Um the recommendation from our transportation team that this would require a fourth tier. Um without restructuring our start times, this tier would start at 950. Um so that would be a 950 to 450 uh school day. Um I think that would put a lot of pressure on our on our families. In addition, um, collectively we, and I talked to, um, other districts that have a kindergarten center. They do have bus monitors on all of their kindergarten only buses, um, particularly because you can't see the little guys, um, above the the seats. So, that would be an additional cost for us to to um provide bus monitors for them.
007The estimated renovation cost for this type of facility is 57.8 million. Um that would be all in from you know the classroom renovation um playground you know really making that a state-of-the-art kindergarten um center staying at Highlander Park would be the 10th elementary school. So again, we did a SWAT analysis with that um same layout that exists now. With this, we would want to make sure that it was up to the same standard and code um that our other nine elementary schools would be at. Um you know, some disadvantages to this model would be that it does disrupt our current middle school feeder structure. Right now we have nine. that works. The math is, you know, works nicely because we have three schools for each middle school. This would displace our Warren online academy in
008adult ed. Um both projects would be longer than one year. So, we would have a long longer projected um completion timeline. Overall, and long-term, this would increase our operational costs um because we are adding more square footage to our um portfolio. Even though this is a used building, we don't utilize all of this building. And then the estimated renovation cost for this model would be 37.2 million. Scenario E is the fifth grade center and the concept here was looking at Crestston due to its proximity in the district and making that a fifth grade only center. So what I've provided there is the first floor layout just to give you an idea of of what that currently looks like. Then we have the second floor layout. There is no construction cost for this one. So that
009is a a positive. But I wanted to give you a um kind of a sky view of this just to reinforce. You know, this is designed to be a middle school. Um, so you see lots of athletic fields. Um, you don't see playgrounds. You don't see space for, you know, kids to do that. So, we would have to add that into um this piece. So, there would be some construction, I guess, in that in that sense. As I mentioned before, this would add an additional grade level transition. So, we would have K4, a transition to fifth, and then a transition to 68, and then transition to 912. Based on a couple conversations that I've had with um superintendents that that have this model and and talking with some of our parents, this would be difficult
010to create a sense of belonging not only for the students but also for our families knowing that they would only be there one year. Um so you do see uh that piece and you see a decrease in parent and and caregiver engagement. It would disrupt our instructional coherence and our grade level articulation. Um, so right now our our K4 teachers are able to talk with one another about instruction, about what they're seeing with their kids. Um, this would make that more difficult or almost impossible to have that grade level articulation. In working with our transportation team, our current bus fleet at Crestston would be able to accommodate all of the fifth graders. That being said, because of the expanded um routes for Raymond Park and Stony Brook, additional buses and drivers would be needed um
011for that. Our fifth graders would no longer have access to middle school sports. As I mentioned, the facility um was not designed for 10 and 11 year olds. And then we lose operational and program access and efficiencies when you isolate a grade level. One thing that I I failed to mention on here, um, when we had our conversations with Walpert, if we have a fifth grade center and we take Raymond Park and Stony Brook and make them 78 678 buildings, we we essentially divide our district into two. Um, which proposes some challenges when you look at demographics and other data points that we would want to try to balance as much as we could. [clears throat] So with that, there would be extensive uh renovation needed um to to make this happen because we would
012have we would want to build a capacity for 1,600 students. Um so when you take a look at kind of what they're looking at, we would build this additional bank of 10 classrooms on the first floor and an additional bank of 10 classrooms on the second floor. you see a playground um you know inst you know implemented in this one as I mentioned it does add a grade level transition uh similar challenges to isolating the fifth grade academy in in that um you know they would they would be the same similar a longer projected completion time for this project as well and and this was the most expensive model um this one came in at 808 84 million um dollars to to do that complete renovation. All right. Scenario B. This was the um scenario
013where we took a look at our current nine elementarymentaries and um pursued the the option of adding classrooms to those elementary schools to build capacity to have our fifth graders um back in all of our elementary schools. So again, we did a spot analysis there of that. Four elementary schools we looked at to add four classrooms. The first one is um Hawthorne Elementary. So you have two views here. You have the the blueprint and the blue area is the classrooms that would be added. So what we asked Schmidt and Powers to do is to look at that from a uh four classroom and bathroom. So, we're adding a bank of bathrooms um there as well. So, for Hawthorne um it would be on the um south end of the of the building. So, currently right
014now classrooms 7, 8, 9, and 10 are kindergarten classrooms. You'll notice those are bigger than our than our other classrooms. in talking with the principles and and I think hearing from the board at our work session, these would not necessarily be fifth grade classrooms. I I think what we heard from you and and and talking to the principles, is there a way we could specialize those classrooms for programming for they may not be I just want to make that clear those may not be the fifth grade classrooms. Um, Miss Triplet, I think you were, you know, if there there was a special ed program in that and we wanted to make it more um >> tailored designed for that student need, um, that would give us the opportunity to do that because, and you'll notice
015a theme here, the the elementary schools that were chosen are are are elementaryaries that don't have pods or communities per se. So, you have these long you know, CLA um hallways with classrooms. So, it will be interesting to see how this does play out because if you have, you know, classrooms one through four are second grade and 5 through eight or third grade, you know, what what does that look, you know, these could be fourth grade classrooms, right? Um but then you have this kindergarten in here. So, the principles did not they were not discouraged. They feel like they can figure it out. Um, but that's what that would look like at at Hawthorne. Again, four classrooms and a bank of classrooms. It would maintain our current feeder structure. Hawthorne would still feed into Raymond
016Park. It sustains our community and continuity for six years. Increases enrollment and program flexibility. And the estimated completion for this for these um projects would be August of 2027. And the estimated renovation cost for Hawthorne is 5.2 million. If you remember, Pleasant Run has the same um footprint that Hawthorne does. So, it's a very um similar setup. [clears throat] Adding on at the same location, all the same positives to that. Grassy Creek was the other um one of the other elementaryaries that we identified. I want you to disregard this um section here where you see these purples and light blues. Cso was our architect when we did the renovation at Grassy Creek at first because Schmidt came in to support us with this work. They were not aware that we had already renovated those spaces.
017So board, I think I shared with you initially that renovation estimate came in at 15 million, but we don't need to do any of that work. So that will that will drastically cut down um the cost. So for Grassy Creek, it's on the southeast corner of the building. So if you're looking at it from Prospect, it would be on on your right hand side. Um we would be able to add four classrooms there and a bank of class a bank of restrooms really with no additional we can just extend out that hallway. Same positives as the others. Um, Crestston, I'm sorry, Grassy Creek would fit into Crestston. This is that's incorrect on there. That should say Crestston. And then LOL. LOL. LOL has the most unique layout. Um, we've identified LOL as an opportunity to
018build on as well. I mean, you can kind of see there in the dark blue um square and then the restrooms, I'm sorry, the classrooms up to the corner. This one would cost a we anticipate maybe a little bit more on this one. Um potentially you'll see more hall space there, but it should be right around that 5.2 5.5 million. So, someone's going to ask why were the other schools not chosen? Good question. All right. If you remember, Liberty Park and Brookiew have the same floor plan. Um they were built around the same time. um identical layouts just reconfigured on on their land a little bit different. Brook View and Liberty Park are pod it's a pod design so they have six pods with four classrooms in each pod. We could add on you know
019potentially at Liberty Park we would want to replicate that pod structure which would be would require a larger investment um to do that. Brook View would be a little bit more challenging just because of the layout of the transportation routes. Lakeside is very similar to um Brook View in Liberty Park. In fact, they were kind of designed based on the renovation that Lakeside went through. They are also a pod school in most of their area. Um so again, you can kind of see you know, car routes or or bus routes here would be disrupted if we added on to this. Also, when you look at their their black top on their playground, that would be a challenge for us to to add on there. I apologize. This is an old Google Earth picture. Um, so
020this was from when we were doing our renovations there. Um, but you get a you get an an idea of just the layout of Eastridge. And I I think, you know, Tamika reminds us that from end to end, it's a quarter mile um from distance. So that would pose a challenge, you know, adding on, but at the very end here on the on the west side of the building, um there is an underground water retention and um we we don't think we can build on that. um and and to to replace that or to move that somewhere else would would be very extensive and expensive. And then last is um Sunny Heights. It has a neighborhood community uh structure to it. A little different than Liberty Park, Brookview, and Lakeside. There's no doors to their
021neighborhoods. They're just wide open spaces. Um again there there probably is some um ability to expand here. We would want to replicate that also for them. Um it does intrude into the the Stony Brook area. That may be a possibility. We we do think it would cost more than the other four schools. Um because I think you know we got lots of questions on why were the schools chosen as they were when three of them are south of Washington Street and when we looked at our density population um you know more of our population is north of Washington Street. in in talking with Walpert, we believe we can draw those boundaries to um accommodate that um where we have to push some of that enrollment south. But we're happy to go through these um summaries.
022You know, I think it's all the things that we've been saying. Uh we know fifth graders learn um they're still elementary learners. uh whether that be socially, emotionally, academically. We know they benefit from recess which they would have access to um those relationshipbased classrooms, the consistency and structure of six years. I mentioned the research before um it does show that when you transition earlier or add additional transitions that does lead to a drop in achievement. And one of the concerns that we heard throughout this process, this would remove the interaction with the older students. It sustains that stronger sense of community and belonging. Um the six-year piece, the relationships with their staff, the peers, our families. Um you know, we tend to have stronger parent engagement at our elementarymentaries and this would strengthen that even
023more. And it just protects the culture and the connection that all of us value in Warren. Again, things that we've said avoids those extra moves so we would not have that isolation uh grade level one clean transition from elementary to middle. It would delay the transition for more social, emotional, and academic development and reduces anxiety, behavior issues, and attendance dips that often occur with multiple transitions. This is why we're doing it. Stronger academic coherence. um you know through our conversations it would give us a consistent uh instructional model. It would give us more effective grade level alignment and intervention supports improves data monitoring and accountability. Um I mentioned this is a kind of a weakness of the other one but this one give us cleaner curriculum planning across uh developmental bands. And then what hasn't
024been mentioned yet, this preserves a true 68 middle school experience for our sixth through eighth graders. From an operation, this is the most um operationally responsible model. It would increase our capacity with existing elementary and middle school buildings. It maintains our current feeder patterns and transportation tiers. It would have fewer transportation and staffing disruptions than standalone campuses. uh avoids unnecessary additional transitions and large centralized construction. And we believe that this delivers the best outcome in the quickest amount of time while remaining fiscally responsible and sustainable. Okay, I did a lot of talking because my mouth is dry. So what what questions can I answer? >> I have a quick question. um the August 2027. So, what would be the plan on when we would start this and how and >> yeah, it would be our
025plan to to have our fifth graders be in our elementary schools for the 2728 school year. >> Best case scenario, the classrooms are ready to go. >> Worst case scenario, we set up temporary classrooms and we've done that before through our current renovations. Um and depending on that timeline, then we would move those uh students in when their classrooms are ready. >> Okay. >> Dr. Hansen, thank you. Um I feel like we're finally getting on the similar same page. Um [snorts] I still have this portion looks great. I think this is where we were originally at. Um, so we've just circled back around to this, but my only concern is still the current fifth graders going into 2026. What will we be doing for them and how would that transition look? Because um, they're still
026going to be affected. Um, we know renovations, we have no control of that by August, but what can we guarantee and what are you and your um, you know, associate superintendent and >> yeah, >> academic with Ryan, what are you working on to accomplish that that will model because not just moving is not the answer that is just one portion of it. So, um I'm still kind of confused on the what academic model and how are we strategically going to hit academics to ensure that our um >> so from a timeline standpoint our first step tonight is to approve this process. Um Miss Triplet, what what the next step with that is and yes, I'll engage um cabinet principles. I will be asking for parents and students to be a part of that process as
027well. We know we're doing things that are good. We know we're missing some things because otherwise our students would be performing at a higher level. Um I would like to bring that back to the board um in a setting like this to share that with you because that I think that needs it deserves extensive u work and this is our first step because if from a timeline perspective we're at a sensitive point here to get this ready to go for the 27 28 year. Um but I that's up next on our list. And will we um will we be voting on or will you be giving us the information on um just so I'm clear on my thought process. Will we just be voting on to do if this is scenario B? If this is
028what we choose, we will be voting on to just start the four classrooms, but not necessarily the scope of how those classrooms will be designed or looked. Will that be something you and your cabinet will be discussing and then bringing back what us is that part B? Does that make sense? So, this is what I'll be asking for approval for tonight to approve the addition to approve the um process of moving forward to fund, plan, develop, renovate those additional 16 classrooms. The second thing that I'll ask for approval for tonight is to maintain our current high ability and boundaries for this school year and implement everything for the 2728 school year. >> So, will we be implementing uh a different highability program? I think that is probably the only thing I'm still kind of have
029some unreadiness with because like the parents I talked to in going to the schools. Um and I looked it up for s sustainability and um I can't remember the year but I'll pull it up. I know um in one year the board did not want to approve like the um shuttle model because it was so expensive. like do we have a number on how much that transportation um costs with that with that model? Yeah, when they made that decision it was over 250,000 and Allison knows that because she went back and watched the or listened to it or >> I think actually it was closer to I think I said 250 was closer to 800,000 to do the direct busing which is why they moved to the shuttle model back in 2015. The shuttle model
030is cheaper than directing. >> So I I know you want your I'mma give it to you, Terry. So to directly send them to their boundary schools where buses are already going is more expensive than um shuttling them to a different school. to keep the feeder model with the three feeders but pick them up. So rather than send them for example to Pleasant Run and then to Brook View to pick them up at their house and take them right to Brookview with keeping those same feeder sites that we have is what's more expensive because you're essentially having to run buses only for high ability across the district which is why they went away from that model. But I think with this we'd be keeping what we have now for next school year and looking at that
031for the 2728 school year of >> and if we have if you can get some current numbers on what that >> Yeah, I I will tell you it'll be more than it was then just with increased costs, but we'll see if we can identify what that number is. >> Thank you. Thank you, Alison. Piggybacking off of Lanna's idea, I know that we've talked about wanting to give a fifth grade experience. Would that start next year or we the planning is already going for that? Secondly, um are we going to put a high ability classroom in each one of those four schools as for that fifth grade? Yeah, the the answer is yes to the fifth grade experience and and we'll come back to the board and the community to share what we're proposing for that.
032We've already made some um immediate we we right now we're I've I've shared with our team we have to treat it like it's an elementary. We're having success in fourth grade. >> We're seeing tremendous growth. We're seeing achievement. Why can't we replicate what's happening in fourth grade in into some of that fifth grade piece? So, we're looking at that and and making um some initial steps right away. But again, to give that the um time and and you know, depth that it needs, I'd ask for a little bit more time with that. Um your second question that that is yet to be determined. Um I think when we look at the capacity that we have with our new setup, um we'll have to reexplore whether or not we can fit second and third grade high
033ability, then fourth and fifth grade high ability. We've talked about a different, you know, different models. Um, do we maintain, you know, our current shuttle system? That's yet to be determined. >> A couple things. Um, I know that one of the main complaints that we've heard from parents regarding shuttling has to do with missing specials, which sounds like it's more of a master scheduling issue as opposed to a not using a shuttle issue, or at least that was what we were told by multiple people who came and gave comments. And so maybe if that's something that can be looked at going into next year. Um, second, that took me a hot minute. I apologize. So, my question about adding classrooms. So, for $5.2 million for four classrooms, I'm assuming these are real classrooms under a
034real roof with HVAC and like classrooms we want to send our children to, not an additional classroom that's like been plopped in as a trailer, right? We're talking real has a foundation, all that fun stuff. Classrooms. >> Yes. It will be an extension of the current building. >> Okay. Because Yeah, that was my concern. Thank you. Oh, I just wanted to say we have come a long way and I am so happy. It seems like when we first started, if you guys can remember, we were at a dead end where it was saying it could not happen or it could not be done. So, I thank you uh Dr. Hansen for going back getting with your team and coming up with these recommendations. Um it seems like uh it's a great recommendation. And you know,
035we're already at the end almost of this school year. So, it would be sort of impossible for us to start at the beginning of 2026, but if we take our time and prepare for 2027, I think everybody will be happy and we will have our fifth graders back in our elementary schools. um adding these extra classrooms on to the classrooms that we already have seems like an excellent idea because there are other projects and things that we need to address like renovating these middle schools and updating some of the things that we already have. So instead of investing three times more money into some of the other recommendations, you did find a way of having a low cost, being able to add those additional classrooms to those four elementary schools, which would give us what
036we were asking for, moving the fifth graders back. So, you know, we looking at it acade I mean looking at it uh financially, it seems like, you know, it's fitting our budget and then that will allow us to move forward with some other things that we had on our agenda as far as the middle schools and also the fieldhouse and updating some of the sports areas and things like that. So, we're able to get it all in. Um, as far as the uh high um ability programming, um I know you know I can't remember what my mother said. If you try to uh rush too fast with everything, then you're going to mess up everything. So, we are focusing on trying to get the fifth graders back. And we told you that was top priority.
037And our next priority was the high ability programming. So now if we approve this, will you immediately start coming up with some recommendations for the high ability programming and then we can also vote on that? >> Yes. I just want to make sure it's clear that because you said low cost, it's it's it is a lower cost probably than the other options, but it's still a 2021 million >> project because each building is five to 5.2 million each. So, and that's four buildings. >> Oh, when I said low, it sounded much better than 25 and 30, you [laughter] know. So, that's what I meant. >> I just want to make sure you just 5,000. When I saw five, I was like >> ask two things off the question asked. So the plan eliminates shuttling. >>
038No, we we have not we have not determined the high ability plan for for next year. I'm I will be asking the board to keep it the same. >> Right. Right. >> Yeah. for the 2728. Now that we're moving our fifth graders back to all of our schools, we will need to re-evaluate what that model looks like. >> Okay. Okay. And to Gloria's point, this funding is coming from where >> we would plan on funding this from our 2026b first mortgage bonds. Um what was capacity? I know in one of our meetings, our last meeting with Walbert that um she was saying that even adding some of the classrooms in a few years we might still be at um over capacity. Did that get resolved? Th >> this will resolve that. Yes, >> that will
039completely resolve that. And then going back to um again I'm I have to get past my thing and put some trust back in you all because as you know it's it's it's dwindled voting on this um high ability. I still have not heard how do we or what we're going to do about with the shuttling the 30 minutes that they're losing every day. Um that lost instructional time. That is very very important um for us to figure out a plan. And I just want to make sure that we have covered all of those bases before we do a um a vote and then you know we vote for a blanket. Yes, we approve the high ability and then it's some things that are thrown in there that is still not um projecting our ability program,
040you know, forward and putting our high ability students in direct competition or at the same level that our surrounding districts are. >> Yeah. Does that make sense? >> Mr. But we share your concern. Tonight, I'm asking for approval for us to move forward with the four classrooms at each of those schools, maintain our current model for one more year. We will be coming back to you late this year, early 2027 with boundary recommendations for redistricting as well as high ability model recommendations. Right. So, but if we're voting on high ability tonight or if we're we're doing that vote, then we are still voting on the same model and there's still >> for one more year >> that minutes of instructional time a day for one year. They're still losing that. My unreadiness is how do
041we address that for the 2026 school year? >> Yeah. My my recommendation is we don't we don't move those kids twice. Um we can look at transportation routes to see if we can expedite some of that. Um yeah, the the recommendation is to maintain the current model for one more year. Recognizing that there is that um negative portion of it, >> is it just with transportation because of the way that they're shuttled? There's no um like time during their day to like extend or restructure anything. >> We we can look at that piece. You know, from Rachel's comment of specials because there's a second, third, or fourth, the probability of them losing related arts is going to happen because second, third, or fourth may have first period related arts. Now, we can look at that
042to say, can our younger kids go first? So, then then the high ability kids aren't losing that piece. I do know two of our schools structure it so that it's their tier time. most of our high ability kids aren't um in a tier. So, that's one way that they're making up for that loss time is um you know utilizing that to um scheduling that first thing in the morning. >> Okay. Yeah, I think it we owe it to our um students and our parents to look at how we can kind of structure that to minimize that time. Um [snorts] I can only speak for you. I'm just not comfortable with knowing that and just saying yes, let's just keep it like that for one more year because, you know, that's the easiest route to go.
043Um, I really think we need to look at um how can we eat some of that time, >> President Amos, because we are asking for action tonight. U we would want to do public comment. >> Is there any public comment from anyone? >> Great. Great question. >> Yeah. And I'm going to get you the proper form and we're going to our our president will instruct you to come to the mic. I'll get you the proper form. >> Mr. We're not doing forms tonight. No, no forms. Just come on up. >> You want to come on up? >> She's like, >> that way the folks on >> you're in the hot seat. [laughter] >> Well, good evening everyone. How are you? >> Thank you. Um, I was I'm just new to this and I'm not really
044sure when we talk about high ability learners, what are who are they? Um, and how is I I understand you're saying they're losing 30 minute of instructional time and I'm totally don't like that personally, but I don't know who those children are. >> We have um You want Allison to take that or [laughter] >> No, no, Allison, let Dr. Hansen do it. Uh our current high ability um model at elementary at least um serves our um students that are performing in both u math and reading um in the top percentile um in a number of different assessments. We use parent recommendations, teacher recommendations, um iLearn checkpoints, a number of different um assessments to identify those high ability students um who are either showing potential um for being high ability learners or um are really high
045achieving. Um, so it's about 5% of the overall district population who then is served in those high ability programs um to help accelerate their growth in um reading and math at the um currently it begins in second grade. Um so our second, third, and fourth graders. And we have um three schools, Lakeside, Burke View, and LOL. Um where um students that are identified from those feeder schools then are transported to those buildings for the high ability classrooms. Answer your question. >> You're welcome. >> Anyone else? for >> I I just would like to say um since there's uh still concern about um the high ability she says that there's 5% of our students my recommendation would be to um have a meeting with those parents and discuss um the high ability and see you know
046what they have to say and you know as a group with you in the middle of them, then you guys can come up with something, you know, and then that would allow the parents to give input and you give input and ask questions just like this parent came forth. So, I think at this point in time, that would be my recommendation as far as addressing the high ability program and then uh from there we would be able to assess what we need to do >> with respect. We did that. We had a high >> we haven't called all the parents that it's only 5% of parents that are in high school. >> We had a high ability focus group >> just only just representatives. I'm saying send communication to all of those parents that have
047students that are in the high ability program and and tell them it's very important. Bring them all together and discuss the issue. >> I will um agree with that. at Miss Gloria that at least we're offering and I know we sent out for the focus groups but even like during um our parent in touch times or something where you know those parents are already coming to get a broader spectrum versus you know um we had a small sample of those parents that gave us information. So if somehow we can collect that feedback from those parents. And then I would also add um for our fifth grade teachers like where are they at um with all of this? I would really like to um I don't know if that's doing your process checks or something to
048go out to the schools and really, you know, with my own ears be able to hear how they're feeling, whether they're for it or against it. And um we know we want to move the fifth graders. How can we make it more cohesive? We don't want to lose any of our teachers or ignore any of their feelings. And just me personally, I'm just an inperson person. So, um, >> Julie, would you mind speaking on that? >> This is Julie Wakeakeman's our WA president. >> My favorite should never be given one. Good evening, everybody. Um, so I sent out a survey last week um to the middle school like all our members that are in the middle schools just asking for their feedback how they're feeling right now. Um there's a lot of trepidation not about
049that change is needed but the current timeline um because it originally was going to be January then it was February and then it became TBD uh which as I think you know Miss Williams you said the school year I mean is basically over like it's not over but for planning purposes it is um and you know we want to do this right so I'm at the high school we just switched to blocks scheduling and we spent a ton of time planning, professional developing and thinking it through. And in comparison, that's a very small change to what is being proposed here. Um, and again, no one is in disagreement that shifts need to be made. Um, so I'm going to say, and you can see we have members here that work in our middle schools. um
050doing it right, taking our time is what's best for our kids, what's best for our staff, and gives them that reassurance because a lot of them, they're worried about their jobs. If things move, who are people going to lose their jobs or not? Where will they be? And I think that will probably go for K4 as well because if people are shifting, who gets shifted, when will they find out, and how do they find out? Um, so I appreciate us taking the time to slow down and really reflect and look um about where we're going to go. >> Thank you. >> I also think inerson conversations. Yes. Over a survey because >> Yes. over Yes. So if we could I don't know Dr. Henson if you plan that with her or just get our teachers
051if we're able to get in front of them who all on the board would like to um come. I think that would be very important in a nonformal. This is like I hate being up here, you know. I want to talk to you and you give me the the grit of it. You know, this is what we think is going to go. Um, we always do a plan like what can go wrong in this scenario. I want to hear your fears like what you think could go wrong so we can all be problem solving and get this right. Like I mean I agree we want to get it right. We don't want to rush it. We want it right. and try to make it as smooth as we can for the children. Um, you know,
052I know the adults may be a little uncomfortable, you know, used to my building or whatever, but if I think if we could all keep the focus on the children and the success of the district, I think everything else will kind of like fall in place. If that makes sense. Thank you. Can I make a motion? >> Well, I just want to say I agree. Um that's why this uh 272 28 school year would be perfect. That will allow us time to get everything in place and you know go from there. Dr. Hansen, um I know we always invest in our people. You do not see us losing any teachers over this transition at all, do you? My hope is that we do everything we can so we don't um I forget maybe you were
053asking me before the meeting started. I do think some of our fifth grade teachers enjoy being in the middle school setting. I think some of our fifth grade teachers will enjoy being in the elementary setting. So I I do think setting could be a determinant of whether they stay in Warren. We will do everything we can to keep them. Um, you know, Brian in our invest in people focus group and and work group um has a plan. We we this will help us reset everything to go back and say, "Hey, here's what we thought at the time. Is this our current thinking or do we need to think about something different?" It gives us more time to engage in person. I'm thinking parent teacher conferences. We set up shop at those three high ability schools.
054We meet with parents as they're coming in, right? Um, we have opportunities to get in front of our middle schools coming up here in March. Fifth grade is a topic for us. Um, so it just it buys us some time to to have more conversations. As good as we are, we will not be able to um, you know, make it perfect for everyone, but we hope that that the process will be as clean as it can be and fair. And I just want to say as a a teacher, you know, specializing in elementary K through six license, um, normally the fifth grade is always in the elementary school. The ones that are fortunate enough to be working in a middle school that, hey, they can consider that just an opportunity. But ordinarily, they are to
055expect to be in elementary school. That is K through five. Has always been like that. And so, you know, even though they may not like going back to the elementary school, if that's what your license is in, that's what you were trained to do. >> Yeah. And what we've heard what we've heard from them, we have a lot of coaches or we have, you know, clubs. So, they're missing out on that opportunity because, you know, they don't have middle school, they don't have elementary sports that they can coach like they can at the at the middle school level, >> you know. But our our the board we always say we do what's in the best interest of the child. I know they want to be in sports but we're doing what's in the best interest
056of the child and that is you know having them back in elementary school >> and if you are a teacher fifth grade you need to be there with them and then we will find other things that we can do as far as the sports and things to put them in. Change is hard >> and again I think this buys us some time >> to hear them to respond to it. >> Um again I think we'll make >> most of them um feel good with it. We we may not make all of them. >> And one last thing the majority of our schools in other districts um K through five they're not in the middle schools. So they're going to find that, you know, more schools are in elementary that are in fifth grade than not.
057So >> Dr. Hansen, um are we able to get some data on how many teachers are in our middle school that are actually um coaches in what that looks like. Um >> Okay. Thank you. I was just going to say that I do know that some like some coaches if they want to keep that when they are done with their duties at their building they can go to the other building to coach. Um but maybe they bring some of those clubs to the elementary level and bring >> guys look I don't want and I'm not saying this just because we have teachers in the crowd. We have heard a lot of feedback from them and I think they you heard Julie say they want certainty with it. Um they're, you know, whether they've been in
058the building for several years and you know they have relationships with kids and I think there are solutions to these and it's just going to be change and and we're going to have to help them through that change process. Um and and we'll do the best we can. >> Can I make a motion so that we can discuss Julie's made a motion. Do we have a second? >> Do you want my motion? What is your motion? >> My motion is to um uh approve the plan and funding and design and construction of four classroom additions at Lel, Pleasant Run, Hawthorne, and Grassy Creek Elementary. Um to support the return to fifth grade in all our elementary buildings beginning the 2728 school year. >> I was on a triplet. [laughter] >> Okay. For the record, we
059second. >> Okay. Now we can discuss. >> All right. Board discussion. >> I think my biggest concern and knowing that lost time is just making sure that we can address that and look at that more throughout the next couple months or >> highability >> the high ability programming. Um because I do not want to see any more lost time. Like we've all talked about we want our kids to be the best to get the best and we always think of their best interest and 30 minutes extra in a car ride and losing some instruction. If we can just can I don't know. We've talked about it and talked about it. >> That's not the >> Rome Rome wasn't built in a day. So, we stuck in we're voting on the fifth grade. >> Any other
060comments on >> adding the four rooms to the schools? All right, Madame Secretary, will you take an oral vote? >> I will. Miss Gloria, >> yes. >> Howard? >> Yes. >> Julie? Yes. >> Rachel? Yes. >> Terry, >> yes. >> Kevin, >> yes. >> And Leanna is a yes. >> That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Okay, I'll take the swing. I then move to maintain the current highbility program with discussion with parents moving forward and school boundaries through the 2026 2027 school year to allow thoughtful planning, staff and family engagement and alignment with fifth grade transition. >> And I'll second that. >> Right. We have a motion by Rachel, second by Julie. Discussion. >> You repeat that again. >> It's literally right here. >> Right here. [clears throat and snorts] >> Literally right there.
061I don't know what you were recommending. I didn't hear what you said. Go ahead. >> Just Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um it was uh motioned by Rachel and then second by Julie >> and I know there's some protrep but we've got we've got to have boundaries set for next year. Like we have to >> we got to have the basics >> and and we can >> and that gives us a time for thoughtful planning >> for the high ability part of it. And we can ask parents. We have plenty of time to ask parents. Nobody's being feeling feeling like they're being shoved into something in a short period of time. Um, so well I will go on the strength and take a faith leap that we will be addressing that lost learning time that is
062not leaving my mind. So >> as long as we are addressing that um you know then I'm okay. >> All right. Are we ready for a vote? Any more discussion? >> Yeah, I got >> Go ahead, Mr. Dorothy. >> Yeah, I'm I'm I'm good with all I saw in here. I I've been from the very beginning. There were some things that were some little things that I think were uh need to be flushed out, but I think you did that. I think you did a fine job presenting that. Um, you know, proceeding with planning, funding, design, and construction. We want to do that. We need to do that. Um, I I just don't see I know I heard some folks talking about, you know, we don't want we don't want to rush through the process.
063I don't believe we have been. I think we've been pacing ourselves pretty good. We're we're we're picking up at the right time. Way I look at it. Um with the right momentum and u I I think it's a good good program and a good uh concept. I think we're going to do very well. There's a lot of things and and and with the time frame and I think there's a few things that need to be hashed out. you know, we want some numbers on people and and all of that kind of business, but you know, we got to get off the dime and we got to move on this thing. And I think the timeline we've got and the framework we've got is going to be successful. So, we just want to say thanks again
064to you and your staff putting this thing together. You put a lot of time in here. We spent a lot of money on the demographers. I think they did their job. My fulfilling about having those guys here is that uh I believe in contract uh correction and consultants. they can pay big money to do all that work and they spent a lot of work doing it. They helped us come up with where we are right now. I just want to appreciate you and your staff and all the work you've done and and all the work that the folks that have supported us uh have done. So, thanks again. Bravo. And that's all I've got. So, >> thank you, Mr. Dorsy. I agree with that completely. I say I I have to agree with that too
065because you know we wanted the fifth gate grade back. But then the demographers came in and said, "Hey, you can't do that if you want to keep having because you're going to be overcrowded." And so now we knew we had a problem now. What do we do to solve that? And we found it. So it took us a little bit, but we found it. >> I don't know why I have to say a little opposite. [laughter] I think that we didn't need those demographers. As you see Dr. Hansen standing there and his team, they were educated enough to come up with this recommendation and plan. So, moving forward, we need to, you know, my philosophy is use what you got. So, from now on, you know, before we invest a lot of money, let's put
066our brains together and uh the next thing we'll be doing is this um high ability. I know that it's enough people that are educated enough to come up with something that's going to be workable. And that's what I would like to see moving in the future for us to before we just run and jump out and spend a whole lot of money having somebody to come in and tell us what we can't do, then we are educated enough to come together and determine that for ourselves. So, and then that can save us money and we can use that money somewhere else. So, that's my opinion. board if I can. We appreciate your confidence and your support. The demographer will be very instrumental in redrawing our boundaries. Um so their work is not done. Um Miss
067Triplet, you know, asked them on the call last Friday, uh what what can we expect from you going forward. Their response was, "We are with you until you get across the finish line." Um, so they recognize where we are in our commitment to getting our fifth graders back into our elementary schools and they are side by side with us to redraw the boundaries. That's going to be their biggest uh task to to help us balance out our schools. We appreciate your confidence though. >> I know. Any other comments? All right, Secretary Triplet, we're ready for a vote. >> Gloria, >> yes. Howard, >> yes. >> Julie, >> yes. >> Rachel, >> yes. >> Terry, >> yes. >> Kevin, >> Yes. [laughter] >> That motion passes unanimously. >> Anything else, Dr. Hansen? Um, with the approval
068tonight, we we will include the con the four additional classrooms in our schedule B um preliminary determination notice. That first we had to reset that. If you remember, our first meeting will be at Feb the February 18th board meeting. Um, our second meeting will be at the March 4th budget workshop or budget work session. Yes. >> So, we'll start off with that, but that's how we will fund um this project. Dr. Hansen, does the amount there just include the brick and mortar or does it also include like the furniture and the necessities that need to go inside? >> That is a great question. >> Oh, you looked over there. Who am I looking >> Katie in the way back? >> All in >> hard and soft cost. >> Okay, thank you. and Allison will be
069a part of that design team for our um exceptional learners to make sure those okay any other business right well thank you Dr. Hansen thank you board um this meeting is now >> journed