001At 8 after 6, it's time for the um January 2026 uh Northband School Board U meeting. We here today, Anna Huitt, Julie Hail, and Megan Frontigner Cahill, Michelle Roberts, Carol Yardley, and myself, Nathan Mcccleintoch. So, we're all here. We have the full crew. Um and uh the first uh order of business is to the flag. So let's rise and >> I als it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Now, my understand is we do not have anybody who's going to be publicly speaking today. So, um I won't read off the uh caveats having to do with that. Uh second thing, we have a thank you advanced health donation of $5,000. You want to somebody anybody speak on this? That was that >> last time was Ben Mesner was the
002Kilm and yes also runs advanced health and so they also have been donating $5,000 to each of our schools yearly um for the past several years a total donation of $20,000 to help serve at risk youth. >> Very very generous. >> Absolutely. um our schools were able to um utilize some of those funds this year um to help with the food box program um for the week off during during Thanksgiving break >> amongst many other things. They they they're able to fund things typically we we aren't able to fund. >> I think we all appreciate anybody who who contributes with their time, effort, or the money to help the school district. That's very much appreciated. >> Yes. Uh next we have communications. First we have board reports. And do we have any reports? Not that
003we have any board uh committees. Okay. Move on to student represent. We don't have >> pardon. >> Can we approve the agenda, please? >> Did I miss that? Apparently I did. >> Okay. We have the agenda before us. Um do we have a motion to approve the the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> A second. >> We have a motion and a second. Uh any discussion about the agenda, changes, modifications? Okay, then um all in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? None opposed. 70 votes. Thank you for that heads up there. Um so we're to student. No, we're to evergreen actually because there's no students. Uh I will tell you the basketball teams girls are nine and two. Hey and league play starts tomorrow. Uh I believe they're both playing at home
004uh against Junction City. So anybody who could get out there, I I'm not too sure exactly when it starts. U probably around six o'clock or 5:30. And it' be nice to have role to, you know, be out there and cheer our girls and boys on. So having said that, all right, Evergreen. So we have Jamie Styles, executive director of Evergreen with us tonight and Ashley Smith, the director of special programs and alternative pathways for Evergreen. And so if you're not familiar with Evergreen, um we are our sponsoring district and they are our wonderful partners online. >> Awesome. Well, welcome. Um I wanted to share some information for you all. I know you have some new board members. So, greetings Northbend board and we have some of our board members watching virtually and some of our
005staff as well. So, hi Eva team that are watching remotely as well. Um, so we wanted to share some information with you. Uh, part of our contract is to report to our sponsoring district annually about how we're doing and what we're working on. So, there was a a much more robust report that I provided to Superintendent Crater. Um, and then these are just the highlights. So, if there's anything you're curious about or you want to know more about, definitely let us know. >> I can do it. Okay. >> Perfect. >> All right. So, this is a picture not of this school year, but the school year before. We had a a picture, but I didn't get a chance to update it for this school year. But this is pretty much all of our staff. Um
006we get together once a year in person to do a combo of um professional development and then we have a um open house of sorts. We don't have a house. It's we're all virtual. We're 100% virtual school. Um but we invite students to um a cool location somewhere in Oregon. So we happen to be at the McMinnville Air and Space Museum for this one. So our kids have a really fun event. It's an opportunity for them to meet all their teachers which is really nice. Um, so this is a group picture from that event. Um, but we are in our or last year was the conclusion of our 17th school year. Um, and we've always been with North Ben since we started in 2008. Um, we used to be called uh Oregon Virtual Academy and
007we were um managed by a for-profit entity and then a few years ago the board decided to go independent. So now we are a purely independent um product of our nonprofit and we have our own board and we function pretty much like a school district. We have most of the same requirements. Some of it's a little bit different being a charter school um but we try to align oursel as much as we can as uh other districts do. So we're we celebrated a lot of growth um and on our path to be um one of Oregon's premier virtual education options. It's me. It's me moving the slides. [laughter] >> So, here's a few of our um kind of the like state of the union uh highlights for last school year. Um so, we finished the
008year financially stable with great reserves. Um we ended around the 800ish student mark and um being a a school of choice, um students do come and go. It's kind of the nature of it. But, um, we've been all over the board and we had a huge peak with COVID and then that kind of dropped off as students returned to in-person school and then we've been slowly building up since then. Um, we've increased our staffing some. We've added some alternative pathways to try and meet students needs as much as possible around the state. And then we're continuing to focus on school improvement. and being a school of choice, we have to make a good effort for marketing and continue to uh grow that student enrollment. Uh we've had a few uh board member shifts. Um it's
009not an elected position. It it runs a little differently than your positions. Um and uh we currently have a board of five and we've had anywhere from five to seven board members. Um, and then we are rarely for charter schools and even more rarely for virtual charter schools, we do have um a a teachers union. They started a few years ago. So, we just entered our um second collective bargaining agreement with them and successfully completed those negotiations which is a tall task sometimes, but it worked out really well. Uh, this I'm going to go through kind of most of the aspects of the school. We're going to skim over a little bit. We don't want to take all of your time tonight. You have other business obviously. Um, but if there's anything you have questions
010about, feel free to stop me and we can try to answer the questions to the best of our ability. Uh, we don't have our whole team here, but we can fill in and if you need more, we can always um send it to superintendent. He can pass along to you. Um, so we ended the year uh with a healthy ending fund balance of o over 1 million. Um, and then that's the breakdown of the restricted and unrestricted funds. And this is a little bit of by the numbers here for you. Uh, we had 73 employees at the end of the year. We're over 80 now. We're growing pretty rapidly in the last year. Um, and these are the breakdown of our our leaders, confidential, classified. We don't currently have educational assistants, but it's something we
011we're going to look into. But we do have a a team that uh works with enrollment and engagement and tries to get kids engaged and keep them engaged in school as a support to the teachers and what's going on with the academic team. Uh we do have a full special education program and provide all services for our students. Um we contract out for a few things but it is in house. Um, and then, uh, we're about split between Kade and high school, pretty close to being half and half for our, uh, certified staff. And these are a few, uh, positive things that we like to highlight. So, over 80%, we have a highly educated staff. They have advanced degrees. Um, and teachers tend to just love school. They keep going. Um, so they continually focus
012on their professional development as well. uh good number of experienced teachers with 88% with over five years of experience and um a little bit of a growth point for us is that we have a lot more stability in our leadership team where we've had um the same executive director me for over four years but I actually started with the school in 2008 and I was the second teacher hired so I've been with the school for all of those 17 years um and then we've had the same leadership team at our core for about three years. So that really helps with changes, not having those big shifts in leadership. Here's a little bit about our enrollment. So you can see year-over-year how we've grown. Um these are the new enrollment trends. So this is the number
013of new students coming in through the pipeline. And you can see that each year is just getting bigger and bigger. Um and these 2526 numbers at the time we created this presentation that's where this is at but we are well over 300 already at this point in the year. Um, so we uh foresee a big jump um from the 463 that we've had last school year and we're pretty even as well like with the teachers similarly with the students split between the different grade bands and then I'm not going to read all the clubs for you but we try to provide students with as much social engagement as we can because they are at home and they we don't want them to feel isolated. So, we provide online clubs and these are all of our
014clubs. We had um quite a bit participate, but we try to do things that um they would experience at a brick and mortar school as well, like techa, um art clubs. Um we try to look at what their interests are, of course, with Minecraft and STEM and Lego and all of those great things. So, they meet online and our teachers run those. And then we also do in-person events. So, as a charter school, we are required to uh virtual charter school to provide in-person events and they're about once a month, but we have them all over the state. So, we have staff in different areas that run those or sometimes staff will travel to an area where we may not have a lot of people and try to have um those events for students. Over
015half our students in the Portland metro area, so we typically have a lot there. Um but we have a really great group here in Northbend. um and they meet almost once a month because we do have our um main records office here down the street on Virginia Avenue. And so these were what we did in person. Lots of different fun activities. Um I'll share a little bit about attendance. Uh it's of course with all the schools across Oregon, uh there's a focus on attendance right now and improving that attendance and getting that regular attender number up the best that we can. So, we had a lot of great highlights. Um, we had the most regular attenders that we've ever had at 54%. Um, and then just uh a few the chronically truent number went down
016and so we had a lot of things to celebrate. Uh, we uh try to send out prizes for perfect attendance and the students really get into that and have contests. We have a group that's specifically focused on this and that work has really shown in the numbers. Um, and there were a few things always to make improvements on. Um, so some of the areas in the red is is what we're working on. So figuring out how to boost attendance in quarter 4, for example, when people are starting to taper off and get ready for their summer break. Um, and then we do state testing and so testing week is a challenging attendance week for us as well. Um, and so we are trying different things to try and boost those as well. And this is
017just a little bit about the year-over-year. So, uh, you know, there were dip areas, but we're trending this year to be even higher than that overall 83% um that we experienced last year. And then we love to see that second graph with that truency withdrawal number going down. >> Okay. and we have some information from our K8 principal and high school principal uh to share with you and I'll go over that. I'm going to hit some highlights um and then there's additional slides with some data if you want some more information and there's also more of that if you wanted to dig uh deeper at all. So for K8s and celebrations um is our early learning program, our um early literacy program for prek students. Um it's been going really well. it's growing and then
018a lot of our pre-K students have turned into kindergarteners that have enrolled with us. Um, our professional communities have been uh really helpful, focused on analyzing data. Our teachers are meeting consistently and that feeds into our multi-tered systems of support. All of our interventions that we've been developing at the tier 2 and three level for students um with data tracking. Um, we have seen an increase in positive parent communication since we moved over to parent squared last school year. So, that's been great. And then at K8, we had a 100% staff retention rate. Um, and that was great to see as well. And in the next slides um we have a little information about our I Ready scores um reading results, math results, um like a brief overview for K5 and then also the visual
019of all the percentages and then for um six through eight, more information for you to dig into if you would choose to. We do map testing for our reading and then detailed data on that as well. um high school wanted to point out some highlights also. So uh what they've been implementing writing across curriculum. So they've been implementing common writing strategies across all content areas, all courses at the high school. Um they've seen an increase in passing rates for ELA classes. Um they've implemented a collaborative study hall and peer tutoring sessions that have been going really well. We added wayfinder for our social emotional learning support at high school, actually schoolwide. Um, we are now an Aspire School, which means we have increased career and college information available to our students. Um, and then we
020have renewed our natural resources CTE pathway. Um, so that is really good. And here's a picture of our graduation. um and some information about how uh class of 2025 graduation um number of students and accomplishments and then some more data um should you choose to look into it further about graduation rates nth grade on track we did see a nice uptick of 8% for our nth grade on track um which was so great to see and then the last piece um for this portion that I'll go over is just an IEP goal progress our summary. Every year I like to not only take a look at our scores for I Ready and and MAP, but really for our students that have individualized needs, I want to be looking at their individualized goals and are we
021actually moving forward. Um so we do a full look at the different content area of those goals. um find strengths and opportunities and one thing that we found as a strength for example was um all grade levels math IEP goal progress was really great. Um an opportunity for example was high school language arts IEP goal progress and then when I dug into that deeper what we found is it's it's more writing than reading and what we learned is there's the least amount of attendance to IEP services is writing at the high school. So it had to do with attendance um and then digging deeper for all of it are students not surprisingly who regularly attend their services are making progress on their a goal. So um so we're trying to identify the barriers for the
022students that are very few who are not attending those regularly to see where we can grow from there. All right, there's just a couple more sections. Um, and wanted to share just a a light highlight. Um, we survey our families. Um, it's hard when you're not in person. It's hard to get a read of how how is everybody doing. So, we like to send out surveys and give people opportunity to give us feedback so we can continue to grow and and get better. Um, so this was a survey to our students and learning coaches and families. Um, so overall, uh, majority five and four stars for them feeling supported by their EVA staff. I actually ran into a dad at the hotel. Sometimes it happens often. He saw my logo and he's like, "My daughter
023goes to this school and this is great. She feels so supportive." So, that was it's always great to have those interactions. Um, and then they also feel that communication is very strong. Uh, like Ashley highlighted, we do parent square, email, zoom meetings. um in person. We try any way to connect with our families. Phone calls, text messages, um just making sure that outreach is really strong and that people get the support they need. Um and then families were also feeling very strongly about the supports that are available to their students both um by features with the supplemental programs we purchased through grants or the general fund. Um just different avenues for students to increase their learning. Um, and that uh this is one of my favorites, too. I like to see that people are are
024feeling like we care about their children's well-being because that's not always easy to communicate virtually either. So, I'm glad that's coming through strong that um when people join Evergreen and students join Evergreen um that they're they're being cared for and they can feel that. And then we also survey our staff. Um we have a very high staff retention. Uh people are usually very happy to work at Evergreen and stay. And so overall uh we had an 86% favorable score. Um and those just an example of the kind of questions we ask our staff. And then this is just a little heat map about how people are feeling. Um green to red. green being the most positive, red being the areas of opportunity um by our different classifications of staff and then also by their tenure
025with us. Um so most staff are feeling pretty positive about most things and we do this survey a few times a year and then we share the results with our staff too and then we also share as a leadership team our plan of action of how to address areas where people may not be feeling as positive. And then this is our last uh piece of information. So just some reflections for us and highlights. We love seeing those improved attendance rates that continue to climb. Um one area that we wanted to work on and address uh specifically is that uh for our new students that just came to us that year, we did not retain about half of them. And so we're digging in about why what happened? It takes a lot to enroll in our
026school and make that choice. and so why are they choosing to come here and then not staying after their first year? So, we're in the process of making that part of our strategic plan and digging in and seeing how we can retain more of those students. Um, and then just some more streamlining of processes and um happy about the overall high satisfaction rates and improved communication. And we did uh notice a little bit of a lack of phone outreach, but where that was lacking, it was really strong with tech text messages and emails. And I think a lot of people do prefer that kind of short written messages, but we love to have those um connections over the phone and hear that warm voice, too. So, we're trying to boost those. So, some of our
027goals coming up um are more of those individual connections. One of our teachers put on a really great um professional development for the other teachers uh recently about how um he records these tiny mini little videos and it takes them 30 seconds and he uses the students name because our high school students are they like text messages. They don't want to pick up the phone and talk to their teacher. So he'll record these little videos and send them and it's been really powerful. And the students um even though high schoolers seem so big, they're kind of little on the inside sometimes and when they hear their name, they perk up like, "Oh, this this video was made just for me." And so he spread that um magic and some other teachers are trying it. You
028know, I'll be curious to see how the students react to that more widespread. Um but the stable leadership team will continue using data for improvement. Kind of similar goals to many brickandmortars as well. um maximizing our systems um like Synergy and Canvas, which is where we keep all of our content is our learning management system. Um and then we're exploring some more ways to customize learning for students. Um because we get a lot of students that come to us because whatever was happening in in their previous schools was not working for them. So, we want to uncover what those barriers were for them and how we can do something different. Um, and so that leads us into our our um tagline that we came up with for moving forward, which is rooted in learning and
029different on purpose. So, not being afraid to try new things and be different um to support our students and as many Oregon students as we can. So, that's what we have for you and happy to answer any questions of anything that we went over that you want to know more about. >> Okay, go back to one of those early slides. I had a question. Um, >> yeah, >> not to put you on the spot. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> One of the first or second slides. Oh, there's one. This one's good. >> Okay. >> What? I love that character. >> His name is Squatchy. [laughter] >> That's so cute. >> Cute. >> Squatchy. >> That's adorable. [clears throat] >> And I just want to compliment Evergreen and Jamie and her team because I
030think, you know, you mentioned a couple times in the leadership stability um and the difference it makes. and I see it in in in there. And so I just want to commend you on the work you've done. >> We appreciate that. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Appreciate the information. >> Keep up the good work. >> All right. Next on my agenda is the uh North Bin Education Association report. Eva Vargo, I believe. Yes, indeed. not affiliated with either. [laughter] >> So strange. So the LA I think we've only had 10 school days since the last board meeting I mean. So I don't have a lot to report in terms of what's happening. Um I know at the elementary schools for example the students or the the staff have been working with the
031students to um remind them of you know how we walk in the hallways and what the rules are on the playground you know put the ball away when you're done and that sort of thing. So um but that's just standard practice. Um and I know at the secondary level um we've only got I think it's three weeks until the first semester is is comes to a conclusion. So finals are like right around the corner and so we're trying to make sure we get everything finished and then prepare and you know do some practice tests and stuff. So um that's that's ahead of us. Um but other than that I'll just jump to the extra mile presentation because yeah 10 days is not a lot of school days and especially when it was right before the
032holidays. So, um, so the I have one actual extra mile nomination. Go ahead. Yeah. Is is Travis Mets. I, uh, received a letter from actually the maintenance department in regards to Travis and, uh, they wrote, "We wanted to formally recognize Travis's outstanding contributions to our team. His incredible work in the maintenance department while we have been down a person. His dedication, skill, and reliable support has made a huge difference every single day." And it's not just about fixing things. It's about the positive impact that he has. Travis's commitment to keeping our facilities in top shape ensures that everyone else can focus on their jobs without disruption. And this positive attitude makes our workplace better. Travis is a cornerstone of this team and we all rely on him every day and he never disappoints. Um, so
033there's like a little asterric directly to Travis that says, "Travis, thank you for going the extra mile and for being such an invaluable asset. Uh, we want you to know that your commitment to our team and your willingness to step up and do what needs to be done, even if it falls outside of your job title, do not go unnoticed. So things have been tough, but every day you show up, you roll up your sleeves, and make things happen. So thank you for pushing through, and we appreciate you." So, that was just a letter collectively from the maintenance department in regards to Travis. And then um I don't know if you know, but tomorrow is law enforcement appreciation day and we have a couple of uh school resource officers that we wanted to um to
034highlight and extend our deepest gratitude uh to both Jared Jane. I think Jared might be first. Don't know the order I did. Yes, Jared. Um, so it's fun seeing Jared in the hallways because um I was a fifth grade teacher at North Bay when when he was a North Bay student. So it's neat to see him in um in a professional setting now. Um but also uh Trevor uh >> gosh I've been practicing that one all day. Anyway, um but their presence in our hallways uh brings a profound sense of safety and partnership allowing us to focus on our work, focus on teaching and our students um to focus on learning. And so we thank each of them for their dedication, their guidance, and for being such an integral part um and trusted members of
035our school community. And then of course um you also all know that it's um schoolboard appreciation month. So I can't you know not celebrate all these wonderful colleagues without also honoring each of you. Um so there is a slide specifically I kind of stole this from Facebook. [laughter] Um >> but um I had my elementary ESL students I'll write you um thank you notes so you have them amongst your your cards. And so it was um a fun task to try to explain to um students whose you know English is not their first language and I'm trying to explain to them what does a schoolboard do and and um and then to write a thank you note and I'm like well normally we sign our thank you notes like love or or warmly and they're
036like but they're strangers. I'm like yeah we're not not love [laughter] but anyway so it was just a really good teaching lesson. So I hope you enjoy theirs. Um, and I think there was at least one student who signed um, her closing to her letter was, "Thank you." But it's in Russian. So, sadly, I can't say it myself. I don't speak Russian. Anyway, gracias. >> Thank you very [laughter] much. >> Thank you. >> Next, we have the superintendent report. Um, as we begin the year, I just want to recognize dedication and begin the new year, not the new school year, but the dedication and professionalism of our staff and certified teachers across the district. The work happening in the classrooms continues to make a meaningful difference to our students. And I also want to acknowledge
037just the the changes that have to been taking place and um um the the district's need to respond to declining enrollment um and taking responsible steps to stabilize the district budget also um does um you know create some some some adjustments to our staff. And so I just want to acknowledge their flexibility and their continued commitment to focus on students first and and and they're also very much appreciated. So I wanted to put that out there. Um the Port Theater, I wanted to provide an update on that. I was a little vague I think in the last last board meeting about it but um we we had been exploring an opportunity as you know um we were exploring it thoughtfully and responsibly to focus on the long-term value for students in the district with the
038obvious intent of purchasing a potential performing arts theater funded through the sale of Viking Lane property um which was generating a one-time capital resource for us that could be used to purchase the theater um and and I I don't know if everybody is still clear on that message, so that's why I'm repeating it. So, it was a very careful thought process in doing this and again, we wanted to do it in a very fiscally responsible way. Um, after careful budget review, we submitted what we believed was an offer that was going to be accepted. Um, however, the counter offer came back significantly higher. Um at that point um I do not believe that um it would be financially prudent to continue to pursue that option for us um as it stands. So I do believe
039it is time to step away from that opportunity and continue to look forward at the next opportunity for students and the board has an interest in talking more about that. you know, we could invite our attorney for an executive session um to to get into more specifics on that, but but at this point, um given what we know about the ADA renovations and and some of the other things we would need to do um based on the counter, it does not feel responsible for us to ask for that for that at this time. Yeah. You know, and so I think today right now, I mean, basically we just move on, look the other direction. So, um it would have been a wonderful opportunity for our students, but but we will have many opportunities to come.
040Um so, just wanted to update you on that. Viking Lane, however, um we received the final paperwork on that. Nathan and I um had had some um emails back and forth about that, kind of looking it over and our attorney also looking it over, Michael Keane um from GHR Law. And um after uh approval from uh Nathan um we went ahead and signed that offer today. So it is an executed agreement at this point. Um the next step is for Michael Keane to draft a construction and act access maintenance um easement for the property which was part of that agreement. So you know it had some time constraints and things like that in there. Um so they'll be working on that on our end. I do believe that um uh BPA and Bonville Power will
041have to then also work with the homeowners association. That's outside of us. That's outside of our our um ruby. So um BPA did express their sincere gratitude um to the board for considering and accepting the offer. um this was a two-year process for me and BPA and so um we do thank you for listening and for considering and for helping bring that extra revenue into the district for future capital projects. Um it's a big step forward for reinforcing a safe and reliable high voltage electrical transmission grid for the south coast of Oregon and ensuring that their workers have a safe environment to execute their work. um that did generate an additional $695,000 of capital revenue for us that was unexpected in this year's budget and an additional $15,000 dedicated to a trail system at North
042Bay Elementary School. So, I think that's a big win for [clears throat] in and a piece of land that we weren't going to use yet. We still have plenty of land out there that would be well abused, make good use of. Very excited about that. Um we had we had we've talked off and on. We had a presentation to the community about an operational levy. Um I had the um pleasure of meeting with union um leadership Eva Varga Christina Gman regarding that and um also Oregon Education Association's political strategist and we discussed possible next steps. Um, we talked about a shared goal of identifying meaningful positions that could expand student opportunities, enhance student safety, strengthen our CTE programs, and add enriching elective options for our students and um potentially strengthen early learning programs within the
043district. I want to acknowledge by acknowledge the certified union's leadership and our staff that are working alongside union leadership to continue to seek these creative proactive approaches to address addressing budgetary constraints. So we will continue that conversation. Um our hope is to um bring something to the February meeting and to potentially present um some options for you as far as putting this on the May um ballot. and we have some more information that that we would want to discuss before that. So, I also want to provide an extra extra mile shout out. Um, and that one of those goes to Eva Varga. Second goes to Marty McAllister. They are our certified and classified union presidents. And I don't think we thank them enough for the extra work they do because they um they have full-time
044jobs. you know, they are they are committed to making our district better every single day. And in addition to that, they're they're helping with the union leadership and and helping represent that. So, we want to recognize and thank them for their leadership and the important work they do, giving the time and energy above and beyond the regular responsibilities of their positions. U much of this work happens behind the scenes, but its impact is felt throughout our schools, and we truly appreciate their dedication and willingness to step up in times of need and partnership with the district to provide support for our staff, which leads directly to our students. So again, thank you for that. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> And an additional extra extra mile shout out goes to Gary Prince because um Mr.
045Prince um has also stepped up in time of need and has been filling in as the vice principal for the high school and he's now spending a couple weeks at the middle school and um he has been serving as assistant principal when we needed someone to step in that position and I want to thank him and commend him on his professionalism as he continues to do an exceptional job and we're grateful for that dedication and commitment to North School District. So again, thank you Gary. >> And we all attended, most of us, sorry, not all, but we attended a legislative forum at the ESD. Um, and we had the opportunity to hear from and and speak to legislators Boomer Wright, Court, uh, Dick Anderson, and David Brock Smith. and as they're preparing for the upcoming
046short legislative session. Um again, the the all South Coast districts are represented and the primary focus and message for that um for those who weren't able to attend was really um driving home the fact that as the state is entering budget constraints to not affect our state school fund revenue in the middle of a bianium. as we've already planned and we already have resources in place and we heard some testimony from teachers, some of it very heartfelt about the need to be able to at least continue this bianium and to do that the the governor can access the education stability fund which has been done nine times in the past and there is no reason why it should not be done now rather than impact all the districts in Oregon by um cutting the state
047school fund mid byan which is incredibly hard to deal with. So the educational stability fund is there. It is has a cap. It's at its gap. Um so if they use it, it has a couple years to build itself up. Um and the projections um of revenue over the next um year show that that it can potentially build itself back up. So now would be the time to access that rather than cut funds. So thank you for those who are in attendance as well. I want to read something to you um that that came to my attention. This was a message out of Northbend School District. And just bear with me for a second here. It says, "Girls wear dresses to school. The boys wear shirts and trousers, not jeans. That's tradition. But when a
048few youngsters began coming to school and pedal pushers, those brightly colored shorter than slack pants in the Sunny Hill area, it precipitated a small fur that resulted in a school district dress code. That a dress code even had to be considered was indicative of how social changing. And this was uh from board minutes uh 1971. And uh >> we got a kick out of that when we found it. So we weren't sure. >> Those pushers, those kids are out of control. >> Now they work at James. >> Their ankles are out. >> This is society is falling apart. No, >> we will bring more um fun bullets from history from board minutes. >> Love it. >> Proceed. >> That's great. I mean, I'm trying to figure out where you're going with that. [laughter] >> What's
049happening? >> Well, next time you'll know. Next time you know where it's coming. >> So, yeah, >> I figured this on my left one. [laughter] >> Um, finally, we have board member appreciation month. So, uh, before we move on, I want to take a moment to recognize our board members in honor of Oregon school board member appreciation month. Serving on a school board is no small task. It is a tremendous commitment of time, thought, and care. You're asked to navigate complex educational, financial, and policy decisions, often with competing needs, always with the students at the center. I want to thank each of you for your willingness to serve our community and for the thoughtful questions you ask and for the steady leadership you provide especially during times of change. Your work is not always visible
050but it is deeply impactful. So thank you for helping shape the future of North Ben School District and the students that we serve. And on behalf of our district, we truly appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Appreciate that. Um, we do have something um coming up here, don't we? >> Yeah. Little video from one of our schools that they want to share with you. >> Oh, I'm not prepared. >> Our screen here. >> Yeah, now's a good time. >> [laughter] >> Oh, >> do you know that school board? >> What's one way we can? >> Yeah, that's a good idea. >> What do you think schools the school board members do? I think one is someone who we decision. >> That's really good. >> Good morning. What's your name? >> What do you
051think a school board member does? >> Um, they help kids that um new kids uh get used to schools and the new a new school and um and so they feel comfortable in the school and um help make the school better. >> January is our national school board appreciation month. What would you like to say to appreciate the board members? >> Thank you for all your hard work. What do you think a board member does? Uh, help people. >> Okay. Do you know [laughter] a school board member is someone who volunteers their time to help out the school and do projects? That's really cool. Would you like to say something to them? Thank you for everything you do. >> What's your name? >> Did you know that it's board appreciation month? >> Yeah. How can
052>> board members help help like make our sacrifice? >> Um, you have to be kind to others and help >> and how can we honor them >> by also being kind and uh not say bad things. >> Yes. [laughter] >> Good morning. What do you think of board members? >> I think I think they're awesome and they help and they make the right decisions. Did you know that boys do a lot of our financing to help make our school a better place on their own time? >> Yeah. [laughter] Thank you. >> Thank you for your [laughter] >> Thank you. [clears throat] [laughter] >> Hey, they got it right. Good. Thank you, North. >> Oh, that was so sweet. >> That was so sweet. >> Some of them Some of them want us to do work
053we're not doing right now. [laughter] >> They had really good answers. They did really good. That was so cute. Tim, I have a question about your report. Um, do you have any idea when the work might start or how you're going to have the project happen out at North Bay with that money for the trail system? >> No. [laughter] >> To be honest, >> fair enough. >> Yeah, we I we'll have to figure out what the timeline is to actually get the money. We'll want to incorporate into our budget, make sure we have appropriation authority to spend the money, and then allocate it. And then we'll want to plan out, you know, something that that is nice. Nice. >> Is that something that has to happen after they finish their construction? We have to wait
054for that or >> no construction won't impact any of our other exper. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Any other questions for Tim? All right, we're on to the consent agenda. Uh, I have a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Any second? >> I second. >> We have a second. Have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion? No discussion. Then I call for the question. All in favor say I. >> I. >> And any opposed? None opposed. Says 70 votes. >> Next talking about approval of the 2026 27 draft Northbend School District calendar. So um yearly we have a um calendar committee meetings to talk about the next year's calendar. Um this year we met with representatives from both certified pot union and some
055district leadership and talked about some different options for next school year. We um this year we had we had started or experimented with the concept of a meet and greet the having something before school starts for students and families to come visit the school. Um we wanted to continue that into next school year. Um and and that will replace the back to school night but could you know still offer some of those things but a different focus. So opportunity again like I said for the families the students to come meet their teachers. So we've we had some discussions around when that should be. Um you know teachers come back in if you look at the blue on August those first two blue days 27th and 28th those are extra days that a brand new teacher
056to our district would do. So so that's all teachers don't work those days but they do come back the 31st. And what we've had is a three-day week we had this year was a three-day week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday, Friday, and Monday were part of an extended Labor Day weekend. And um then Tuesday this year was another work day before students came on Wednesday. So when we had discussed sort of a meet and greet and some other options, the calendar committee and after some surveying of staff and discussion with the unions um agreed to actually shorten the Labor Day extended holiday by one day. So now that it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and one of the schools will do the meet and greet on Thursday the 3. The uh K five, I should
057say. Um is that is K5 Thursday? >> Yeah, K5 will do meet and greet on Thursday. Uh 6th through 12th will do meet and greet on the Tuesday before school starts. So, and and that was based on staff preference in both buildings and and and it was close. I mean, it was about 6040 one way or the other. Um, so out of the survey results received, but we wanted to honor that and um still provide that for our families. So, we by shortening that week, it also by shortening that weekend, it also gives us some more time to allow teachers to um get ready for the start of school. And um part of that is in the current union agreements that that extended labor every weekend is in language. So um with the the input
058from the unions and and the unions sort of voting through survey now we'll walk through the process of anou adjust that language in the contract to actually make this happen. So, in the end of this motion, you'll see that it this calendar as it sits is contingent upon thatou. And um we took that extra day that we used to shorten the Labor Day weekend and we put it into Thanksgiving week, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and then those other two days are non-pays. So, what that does is it locks in that whole week as a week off. So, um, this year the students didn't have school, but the teachers and the classified staff had Monday that they worked. So, this actually makes it an entire week for both staff and students to make it a little
059easier, too. Um, and and I know that in the past we've t, you know, sort of the calendars have gone back and forth between the two districts, but um, Mr. Roberts and I have had conversations about this, too. And our hope and I've shared this with him. Our hope is that we're in alignment on these types of things because we do we do recognize how important it is for both districts and staff or you know kids go to school in both districts. Everybody kind of has we share something in common across the board. So that's that's those are really the primary changes there in this calendar. Anything else? Oh, and there is a board approved holiday. Um, and and and those are also in our agreements. And so we've selected December 31st as one of
060those holidays and March 26th as one of those holidays. And >> still >> and we have to approve that. >> Those become 12 month uh holidays for 12 month employees. Yeah, it has to be approved differently. >> Okay. >> They're they're kind they could flow, but they're pretty standard in where they use >> I have a question. >> Is it in the um contracts uh for staff and teachers to always start after Labor Day? >> I was just curious because it's so late this year and they get out so late June 17th. >> Oh, this will be the latest, right? It kind of rolls through, right? We go through the cycle and then it'll start b it'll bounce back. >> Yeah. So that's why I was just wondering like >> is it in a contract
061that we just always start after June or after Labor Day? >> I don't think it's in the contract. It's just the way we just do it. >> Yeah, we have a certain amount of time we need to get and this is just from starting after Labor Day for students. [clears throat] >> Any other questions? Okay. Well, um >> I move to approve the 2627 Northbend district calendar as presented contingent on approval of anou from both unions. I also move to approve the 202627 board selected holidays as presented. >> I'll second that. >> Okay, we have a motion, actually two motions wrapped into one. So, uh, any of discussion about that? >> Any Okay, we'll then call for the question. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? No. 70 vote in favor. All
062right, we move on. budget overview. This is going to be fascinating. >> You guys are going to read some applications from people interested in being on a budget pre and it's also opportunity to train a little bit on the budget process. Um and I do want to point out here she's on the budget committee. Um so it was wonderful to work with last year. Um, so before we before you're looking at the applications, if if you're not familiar with it, I wanted to to give you just sort of a generalized overview um closer to the actual budget process. Um, Lorie will also provide a more in-depth um overview of this too. The we'll cover some some different items here. We'll go over those. So that's just there for your reference. Local budget law um establishes
063standard procedures for us. It outlines the programs uh fiscal policies. Um they require estimates of resources and requirements. So the revenue and expenses and they do have to balance creating this. Um and we do um have a citizen involvement process and that is the budget committee if you go to the members applications and they help control public spending and uh spending on public funds and ensure some fiscal transparency in that process. Um a district that doesn't follow local budget law may not lawfully spend money or certify property taxes to the county assessor. And so that would jeopardize our ability to serve students or pay our staff. Um property tax is made contrary to local budget law and it's voidable by the Oregon tax court if appealed by a county assessor court. Um that's department of
064revenue. That's not really right now. But um the budget, what is a budget? It's a financial plan. it it it it's our best essentially it's it's a a very educated very very educated guess but at that moment in time what our revenues will be and what our projected expenditures will be um we present a budget on a one-year fiscal year that runs July 1st through June 30th so you'll hear the state school fund operates on that bianium the two-year basis our budgets are approved on a yearly basis based on good faith estimates of revenue expenditures. And we have here sort of on the the left just if you think about kind of the layers of the onion, the outer one is really the fund and then as it drives down deeper it you get kind
065of into the weeds of a budget. So when you're looking at a budget committee and budget adoption process where the budget document itself might go fund into function and into object really the budget committee itself is looking at it and approving at a fund and function level a a a higher a higher level of the budget itself. not getting into the needs of personnel and physicians more. Um the larger categories which are this is actually from a screenshot from our budget. When you look at the general fund the those areas of instruction support services, enterprise community services, debt services, interfund transfers, contingency amounts. So approving at those levels um the function the the fund is sort of the where where the money comes from the legal control of it. It identifies the types of activities
066allowed to carry out. So we have the general fund spec general funded that's typically your states will fund your property taxes. Um whereas the special revenue fund, think of that more as grants, grant money that's coming in. Then those are those are obviously our two largest amounts are 47 million and almost 14 million. Um the function at the next level down gets into the why the purpose of the expenditure which is the the appropriation level of instruction or of support services or of those other areas facilities acquisition things like that. So again, budget committee is kind of functioning at that fund and function level. The budget officer is responsible for compiling information from stakeholders and other sources and developing a proposed budget. However, the proposed budget must align with our district goals, values, strategies, objectives
067established by leadership, known obligations, and Oregon budget law. We look at our fund balances. We must estimate what it will be part of the revenue based on the known history and trend analysis. determine revenue projections based on known estimates provided by the state local resources and known grants that we have. Um and again this provides us the appropriation authority to then spend the money. Otherwise we can't legally spend it. So if the appropriation authority doesn't get isn't approved and we got an extra revenue source, we can't truly spend that money until we get that appropriation authority. We will add in known expenditures, increases um due to contract negotiations that are already agreed upon such as salary step, insurance increases, are there other obligations that are required? Um so kind of going through all of those.
068What are the rollup costs? you might talk about it current staffing levels and what what are the expectations within our contracts and agreements with staff as we plan for the next year's expenditures. Um this is a snapshot of our revenue sources for our general fund for 2526. So you'll see that the main sources there are really your local sources and your state sources. Um primarily your property taxes and then your state school fund dollars. A beginning fund balance is the money that we planned to carry over from the previous year into the current year. There's there's and I'll let you kind of dig into this a little bit more, but there's different classifications. um a fund balance we have established by schoolboard policy. Previously, um this was part of a a board resolution back from
069I think 2011, but um we have created a fund balance policy DVE. And what that tells us is that we must um set aside 5% of total adopted revenues and then 2% of general fund total adopted revenues. So, we'll look at all revenue for everything and we'll have 5% of that set aside as as a as part of that fund balance and then 2% of just the general fund. And that's called an economic stability fund. And so, per board policy, we can access that if the state school fund grant decreases by more than 1% of the budgeted amount. So that's built in there as a safety for the district so that we have money set aside. It helps us cover expenditures if we're not receiving revenue or if we were paid too much. There was
070a year a while back and some of you might remember this where um we were receiving too much revenue from the state. Well, we recognized that. So we were very careful obviously not spending that. And then we got to the end of the school year and the state stopped paying us because they they're going to get the money back. So, um, but making sure you have money in your account to cover the expenses is is something that's really important. Also, when you hit summer, you know, in July, you want to make sure you have the money to float your bills and expenses before you start receiving state school money. Um, it it is something that follows um generally accepted accounting principles. Oregon School Board Association has a recommendation of five to 15% set aside as
071your ending fund balance or beginning fund balance rule. And the typically the smaller your district, the larger percentage you should have set aside. The the larger your district, the smaller by by a general rule. Um and um or what's a little bit safer is having three months operating expenses set aside. Um so so it it provides a nice stability for the district. So that's why we have that. It's very important. It's critical that we keep that money set aside. So we if you hear the number 7% we that's what the seven's referring to. the 5% of all funds and uh of all revenues and then 2% of the general fund will say the expenditures. Um when we when we're planning for the budget, you're looking at salary and steps. We always plan for it with
072the actual people we have. So we'll look at again the contract obligations. Is is there a cost of living increase built in? And then how many people are stepping? What does that step up in years and experience mean to that budget so that we can plan exactly for what's happening? If we have open positions, we'll look at an average to fill that in. Insurance costs, we'll go in there. What are the materials or purchase services we need? Do we have capital outlay requirements, maintenance requirements, debt requirements, any transfers that must take place? [clears throat] It it's quite an extensive process that that we go through when we build this. Um the budget committee itself is composed of the governing body, the school board, and an equal number of appointed electors. And so that's the process
073that starts this evening. It started when you announced the openings, but now you have some applications to review. The electors are registered voters of the district. They cannot be officers, agents, or employees. They're appointed for staggering three-year terms. And as a budget committee, both the governing body and the appointed electors have the same authority. And so what happens is you'll receive a proposed budget. The budget committee approves it after we go through it and talk about it, answer questions, and then that job is to approve it. And then it goes to the school board for final adoption. And that adoption has to take place before we get into that July month because we can't spend money legally without it. All meeting subject to public meeting laws. There's a presiding officer must be one of the
074electives must be elected at the first meeting. We follow the same rules regarding forum. Um and a majority of the committee is required to take action. um committee may request and receive additional information from district officials. So, we'll we'll do is we'll give you the budget, we'll give the committee the budget, publish it beforehand, so that way we can open it up for for questions and we have an email set up or they can be sent to individuals and we'll try to answer as many questions as we can going into that budget committee meeting. So we as we're presenting it to you, talking about it, we'll cover as many of those things as we can and then you have an opportunity to ask more questions. There's an opportunity for public um input comment. So you'll
075[clears throat] receive the budget, hear the budget message, hear the consider hear and consider public comment, discuss and revise if needed the fund and function level um and approve budget approved property taxes. And then that goes to the budget hearing. So then at the next school board meeting, the June meeting, the school district holds the budget hearing. Um and the hearing is on the budget as approved by the budget committee. Any person may make a comment on the budget. And um after that's adopted, like within a school year, if the governing body needs to change something within the budget, we can do this without holding another budget hearing meeting if there's some rules around this, but just generally it's there's no increase to taxes and there's no increases to the expenditures of any of the
076funds by 10% or more um of that fund. So, if we're not if we're not changing it more than that, if you're changing it more than that, then you do have to go forward with um with another budget hearing and meeting to to revise that because again, when you're building this, it is a snapshot. You're trying to capture, but there there's always some fluctuations and and those changes would always come to you to approve if they were within that 10% amount, if you were moving money within the box. So again, before June 30th, that takes place and then then we adopt the budget, make the final appropriations, which is our authority to spend money, impose each tax levy, and then categorize each tax by measure five category. And we'll discuss that in a little more
077depth so you understand what that means before that happened. But it's one of those things that really that amount is already set. It's already established. And we did explore because the board had a great question. What if we lower the tax? you know, we can't we know we can't go over it, but what if we lower it? You know, can we do that for residents? The problem with that is that someone's already thought of that. And if you do lower it, the state scope fund doesn't backfill that. We actually lose that money. So, we don't want to lower it because we will receive less revenue. And that is a brief overview of that process. >> Can I ask questions? >> Yeah, sure. >> For our district, is the 7% close to three months? >> No.
078So, should we be looking at that? We >> I think we should at some point consider that. Um I think we need to talk about um you know the um the ending fund balance. There's a couple things that that we've been working towards and and one of them is when and and we we had the presentation from Evergreen. So, as a sponsoring district, Ever all the state school fund dollars for their students flows through our district. So we receive all that money as if the students are ours, but then per our an agreement with them, we pass through a percentage of it. So that percentage is uh 94% of it for all students and then 95% for special education students with the 11% cap. So then we keep the rest. Well, when that when that
079was established years ago, the part we keep was just it's kind of it's kind of just dumped in the general fund and we just have always used it. Well, when they're in fluctuating enrollment, that also impacts us and it makes it harder to balance our budget. So, one thing we've been working on is making sure that we can build a solid ending fund balance to at some point break that revenue out and show it as a separate line item in there in the budget. So that way we don't spend it until after we know it's realized completely. Um so that's one thing we want to work on and and as we have that a solid ending fund balance established then I think we need we need we should in order to be truly responsible and
080safe and build it up to that three months. >> And then I had one other question. I think it was slide 12. It said governing body and equal number of appointed electors. So, how many people total are on the board uh for the budget? >> There'll be there's seven of you and then there'll be seven of them, >> but we're only approving two because there's already five, >> correct? Because it's that three-year kind of rolling cycle. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Great question. >> No, thought it was a good opportunity to give a little bit of background. >> I appreciate it. >> Yeah. >> Oh, we move on to board comments. Does anybody have comments that they want to make? Any subject? >> I mean, did anybody see on social media the uh
081picture of the police car parking space at Northman High School? I think maybe we should fix punctuation. >> Oh, it does. >> Oh, I didn't see it. >> It says police cars. We'll get a ticket for parking there basically because there's not punctuation. [laughter] That's not what it means. But I sent it to Tim like this is hilarious. >> What did it say? >> It says no parking police cars. >> [laughter] >> She didn't park anything else there, not a police car. >> It's really funny. I just I found it comical. >> And so you have received some budget applications. So you'll review those and then I believe at the next meeting >> and then March, is it March we have the first budget meeting? [laughter] >> May. Okay. Oh, we got time. All right.
082I appreciate you, Michelle. >> Uh, well, with that, well, we haveformational uh information on district finances uh enrollment work session coming up. Next board meeting is on February 5, 2026 with our work session on January 22nd coming up in a couple weeks. And unless there's anything else for the board, we are in a position to return. >> All right, we are journ. Thank you. Appreciate it.