001Ice flag and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Uh, next I will call for an adoption of the agenda. >> Uh, Mr. Chair, I'd like to approve the revised agenda as preserved. Thank you, Scott. Motion. Do a second. >> I second. >> Thanks, Marty. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to approval of board minutes. Have a motion. Mr. Chair, move the minutes for the March 9th, 2026 regular school board meeting be approved as Scott. Is there a second? >> Second. >> We have any discussion? All in favor of approval minutes? I >> Any opposed? Carries. Move on to agenda item two, community input. >> Thank you, Laura. There was no public input. Uh, we move on to
002agenda item three, correspondence talking points. Yeah, >> your April talking points from the ESD are in the packet. uh key points. The short legislative session ended and funding for K12 education was maintained for the 2627 school year. I do want to commend um all of the uh superintendent and KOSA staff and OSBA staff that lobbyed the legislature to ensure that funding for public education uh was not cut um in light of some budgetary shortfalls with the state. So that is good news for us. The talking points mention interim assessments. We touched on that that we are required now to give um assessments during the school year in reading and math in addition to the smarter balance test. Uh we already use I ready that is on the approved list and that is the interim assessment
003we have uh turned into the state that we'll use in the district. And then uh the talking points mentioned the Crystal Apple Awards. Uh we mention it later on the agenda as well. There is a typo here. Uh it actually be at Wildfor Horse um not the Pendleton Convention Center. >> Any discussion? >> That's our meeting night. Do we feel like there's sufficient time? >> We're always first. So, we will honor our awardees and dash up. That's my plan. >> Might not have time to stop for a picture, which would suit me just moving on to agenda item fours for one facilities. I Okay, we'll fly through these. We have upgraded the soil and the cutouts on the baseball field to a 50/50 mix to help with weather retention and easier, softer landings for sliding
004purposes. Um, tennis is getting quoted to stabilize their storage shed that sits right behind the court itself and to put power onto it so he can recharge their ball machine. The track has had its very first meets on the new surface and looks like everything's going well. an upgrade to the internet on the booth to go with their new timing system that was tested on the middle school track meet. Um, and then we have plans to install this season a second shot put in order for them to practice and warm up and all that. Um, we're upgrading irrigation, reestablishing the power to the score clock and custom landscaping on the softball field. Working with the city and little league, we have basically all funded between the three of us, kind of divided the funds between
005the three of us to try to start working that park to make it look a little bit nicer. Uh we've continued on the Athena rental renovations, including exterior paint and doors with the underground irrigation starting this week, which should finalize that space. And then when our uh when our renter gets their roof fixed, we can get it ready to go from there. Um with the exterior lights installed, the pig barn is now finalized. and filled with happy customers. They filled that thing within about three days from the time we got it set up going. Uh big shout out to the A department, Bill Menberg, Deb Glover, Cole Glover, a bunch of there's two, three high school kids that went in and welded every one of those pins because we had to shorten them up to
006make them fit. So they went out of their way and spent their weekends to get it done so that we could get county page in it. So huge shout out to them for that. And other than that, if you can't tell, the grass is growing. So we are roaming like mad. So that is what I have. >> Any discussion for the board? >> She example of high school kids using their CTE education. >> I have two questions or two things. The track service looks awesome. I know that we you more than anyone agonized over the colors and I think it looks really good. So, thank you. And then I know at the Athena softball historically from like way back the late days it was always been an issue about water. Is that particularly throughout the
007summer is that resolved that makes that landscape more permanent? >> That's hard to promise right now. And the reason I say that is because we didn't get a snow pack. Are we going to have enough water to even get to the residents by the end of the season? There was a time before the second well went in here in Athena that we got cut off every year from everything but maybe our football field so that the water could be reserved for residents. Second well went in and we've been we started to be able to irrigate it throughout the year. So yes. So the answer is yes. The plan is to get an established turf that can help push its own weeds out and keep it that way. That way the next season we're not fighting
008to bring it back again. This last year there was a problem with the line. And so then it got cold enough that we couldn't chance the fact of freezing. So we had to kill it. And so that's what we're dealing with now. We've seated it once and it's currently under construction to where we could have the system back up and running as early as tomorrow. And then he moves over to our rental right after. So they are he's this close to getting a new mainline in. The city went in and put a brand new I forget the word uh their side of thing meter. They put it into a meter and a back check valve so that we can make sure it's getting a full flow without valves getting in the way and then from
009there we can start bandating what we need to do to give it a full system over. So the hope and pray is we keep water through the season and not have to give it up and then by next year it should be a pretty good space to work on. So cool. >> Thank you. You bet. Anything else? All right, moving on. 4.2 transportation, IPM reports. Tom, >> hello everyone. Um, we have waited waist deep into spring sports. So far so good. Seemed like we've been able to cover everything fairly well. Last month I received a letter of resignation, so I have an open position for transportation. Uh we have received one application from uh an experienced licensed applicant which is exciting and I also have a potential of somebody else who uh was willing to
010go on undertake the training to become a driver as well. So we have some potential there to continue with full staffing moving forward or at least at the start of next year. Um the person that did resign is kind of staying on as a a fill-in driver for uh for us kind of helping out where we need to. So, we haven't really run into any major issues with transportation so far. Uh, on the IPM side of things, uh, spring break, we did our first application for dandelions. As you can see, they're growing wonderfully out there. Um, there's an abundance of them. If you walk through the fields, you will and pay attention, you will start to see that some of the ones that are growing are not growing correctly, and that is the herbicide starting
011to do its thing. uh primarily it's to stop the production of new plants starting and we need to slowly push out the ones that are already there and that's going to be a combination of fertilizer, watering, mechanical removal, which I've already started doing. Um I'm excited to see the difference, but it's it's hard looking out there right now and seeing all those yellow dots everywhere. That's all I have for you guys today. >> Thanks, Tom. Any discussion? move on to 4.3 preschool and Latina Elementary. >> Good evening. Okay, with preschool, we are still fully enrolled. Um, we are, sorry, falling down here. They're getting ready. They're spending lots of time outside. They're getting in the garden. They have a family event coming up called Worm World. sounds like playing with worms. Um, right up preschool's
012alley. Uh, with and we're starting to promote and we'll get a little further into promoting near the end of the month of um, preschool enrollment. So, getting up getting the word out to accept applications and as I see people come in the door with kiddos, I tend to stop them and ask them or if I see them in town, how old is your little one? And and we'll direct them to the website to be able to apply. uh kindergarten through fourth grade. Kindergarten is starting their annual alphabet countdown. So we're getting that close to the end of the year where they will start and each day will represent a letter of the alphabet where they have activities around that. So like I think on the G day they get to chew gum and other fun
013activities. And I just know that because they are making me nail down the calendar for things clear up to the last day of school. I'm not there yet, but they're ready for that. And that's always a fun one that the kids look forward to and the teachers do as well. Uh third and fourth grade, they're getting ready for state testing that starts tomorrow in our building. And uh our third graders are nervous, but teachers keep telling them, "You've got this." And she got in. Sorry, Morgan was having trouble getting in. Um get back to my Mrs. Hansel's class. She has won the highest attendance average award for the fifth month. She's I don't know what she does. Get those kiddos to school. I think it's you know that we talk about it falls but down
014on relationship building and and that is a a really big strength of hers and I think that's uh that shows because her kiddos are in the high 97 98 99 percentile each month. Uh, we've got three students who have run their 100 miles and so they've gotten their 100 mile t-shirt and they've gotten to run a lap, couple laps in the hallway with the rest rest of the school cheering them on. I think I did hear a kiddo today. They're at 150 miles. These kids are just moving. That track is getting a lot of miles on it and we're very fortunate that we have it on our campus for our kiddos to be able to access that. Uh, we have a Carnegie Art family event this Wednesday. Um, we've got a garden family event next
015week. We like to cram as much as we can in the spring. Um, with everybody doing baseball and softball and track and all the things. The greenhouse project is completed and plants are in there and growing. I've decided I need a lawn chair that I can a new place that I can maybe go hide. Karen will find me. She always does. Um, but it's it's a really nice if you happen to walk by or whatever, poke your head in there. Um Corey's still working on some of the organization in there, but we've got plants that are just very happy. We've got our book fair going this week. So, we've got a family event with that Wednesday in conjunction with our family art night. Um let's see what else. Gosh, we've got lots going on. Why
016is that? We are um starting kindergarten registration promotion. So getting those materials out. Again, if you see people with kids, ask if their child is uh five by the age or five by September 1st, encourage them to come get on our list so they don't miss out on all things kindergarten. Um third through fifth grade, they went to the symphony in Walaw Wala. And some of our our blend class, those second graders got to go as well, so that was kind of a bonus for them. They got to play their recorders. They got to dance. They had a really good time. So, um I think that is where we are at with elementary and preschool. >> Thank you. Any discussion? I had one question about testing. Are we seeing opt outs? >> Very few, I
017think. Yeah, very very few right now. So far, so far. >> Great. Thank you. We'll get a few more as the kids start talking about it. But >> good, >> right? We want to do Western Middle School. >> Well, April is sort of our testing month. Speaking of ESPback, uh we're doing our final I Ready in reading and math this Wednesday. And then we do smarter balance language arts on April 29th and math on May 6th. Our fifth and eighth graders also do science, but those teachers schedule that independently since it doesn't impact the whole school. We are working on a little different incentive this year. Um particularly with smarter balanced where they can only take it the one time and if a student just doesn't feel like trying that day or has an off
018day, there's no ability to retake it. And so we're talking with the kids about um if they are on grade level in I ready or increase their score then we will have uh ice cream for those students. So that's kind of an individual achievement. And then on the same day the last week of school if their grade level beats the state average in reading and or math smarter balanced then we were going to bring in a taco truck and they will have to talk. So, everybody should earn something. Some might earn a little bit more than others, but just as an incentive to get the kids to have a reason to to focus on those important testing days. So, we are getting the word out and the taco truck idea seems to be catching. So,
019we're doing we're doing the same where all third graders will get to because it's their first time taking it. So we want to celebrate that they made it and did it and participated and the fourth grader beats beating the state average. So >> if you see a taco truck running around it's because the high school, the middle school and the elementary are all pushing tacos. Tacos for testing. >> But money well spent, welld deserved if they give us their best effort. And so we just want to incentivize that a little bit. >> We had parent teacher conferences last week on Tuesday and Thursday evening. they were well attended. It's always a good time just to check in with uh parents as we start to close out the school year. Our seventh and eighth grade band
020students attended the middle school Tri County band festival in Stanfield last week. And our art class uh art classes have a guest artist coming in on April 21st. Our art teacher is very good about bringing in outside experts at least once a year to to work with the kids. So, we're looking forward to that. Track is underway. As Travis mentioned, we had our first or our only home track meet for the middle school last Friday. Uh here on our track before spring break, we had a successful one school, one book culminating week. On Monday, we had uh discussion groups and guest speakers. We had a scuba diver and um two search and rescue workers come and and talk with the kids. They ended the day starting their graphic organizer for their performance task. The students
021finished their essays or performance tasks uh throughout the week and then the students who had done a thorough job on their graphic organizer were able to watch a movie about the Thai cave rescue event on Friday with a box of what looked like real movie theater candy. So they got to enjoy themselves. So at this point we are well into spring. The sprint has started to June and we're just really focused on assessments here in April and then we'll have a lot more social and culminating events uh in May and into the first week of June. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All right, moving on to Westfield High School. Morgan, >> good evening. Are you able to hear me? Okay. I don't know if that's a yes. Okay, perfect. Um, and I apologize. I'm repping
022us at the statewide athletic dire else I'd be there. Um, we had eight student spring break academic support. So hopefully we're going to see all of that translate into great metrics for graduation and our freshman on track. Our open house was last week in lie of one of our conference nights which showcase student work uh including a chili cookoff art show and a make your own lava lamp chemistry demonstration. I only accidentally exploded one kids lava lamp so they got to make another one. uh more events that are coming up this month. Tomorrow does kick off our ESback testing and the benchmark we have set which seniors say it's unfair because they didn't know it was a competition but um our juniors get a taco truck if they beat the seniors scores from last year.
023So hopefully this will again >> yeah kind of build not just state average because that's what we met in two of our three last year but um again give a little bit incentive because they can put faces to names. So hoping uh it catches on and might be how we approach it moving forward. Past that we have our 8th and 11th uh 8th through 11th grade forecasting night next Monday. And then on April 30th, we'll have the FFA supporters farm fair along with the CTE showcases and bond tours. And then for extracurriculars and clubs, we are u having our NHS induction ceremony, FFA banquet, and schnitzer cares dinner. And then um just an aside that puts on my title n hat here, we are ending the year with what is known as proportional participation of
024female and male athletes. That is the same proportion of our student body. Um and again in in layman's terms, it's the hardest of the three prongs of Title 9 to reach. So it means that you know if we have 50% well we have 49% females and 51% males and we're right about right at that. So that's ideally what you shoot for is that you have interested um athletes from from again that same proportional ability from your school. So that's great news. And then finally our senior week schedule has been posted and mailed out to families. Uh again, building off of last year, we're working around the state competitions, so it's a little more front-loaded, but their final week. Monday will be no school due to Memorial Day. Tuesday will have their commencement practice, their elementary
025visit, and then after school will be the car parade and um optional bakalorate. Wednesday is the senior breakfast at Athena Christian Church. And then Thursday will be their last day checkout with Saturday being their culminating commencement ceremony at 6 pm. And I will add that uh now that we use huddle cameras, I'm going to take a look and see if that one will uh live stream it better. I know we tried it last year and our last gym camera um was a fisheye, so it looked a little little off. So, we're going to try a different streaming service this year and see if it uh is a little bit more approachable for those that can't make it to the physical ceremony. And that's all I have. >> Thank you. Any discussion? >> I just want
026to say this, Marty. Um, thanks for attending the conference. Um, and I love hearing your recap of graduation um, activities um, knowing that you've been through it a few times. And so that's awesome. You It feels good to know that we've been we've been down the show before and you're doing great. >> Thank you. >> All right, moving on to agenda agenda item 4.6, superintendent report. >> So in your packet are our current enrollment numbers. You can see that um we've had a a dip since spring break. This is the second year now in a row that we have had families move after spring break. So that's something we're going to want to consider if that's a trend when we sort of project numbers moving forward. However, we're still slightly above where we ended last
027year and we thought we would be more like 460 students. So we are still in uh relatively good shape there uh with our enrollment numbers. Any discussion on 4602 high school attendance requirements for graduation ceremony and and curricular activities. >> So in your packet is a proposal from the high school that Morgan will discuss in in just a minute to uh make an attempt to improve our attendance at the high school. behind that sheet are our attendance numbers uh to date at the elementary school, the middle school, and high school. So if you notice the elementary school um the percentage of students who are less than 90% attendance um as of our uh April 1 attendance poll is 24%. The percentage that are below the state law of 80% is 3.8%. And then when you
028look at the middle school, it's very similar. 24.84% or below 90% attendance and below the legal attendance requirement, 5% or below 80% attendance. Then when you look at the high school, the percentage of students at the high school that are below 90% attendance is almost half. It's 48.6%. And the percentage of students below the legal threshold of 80% is 21%. So there is a huge discrepancy between our attendance efforts at the elementary and the middle school and the high school. And by that I don't mean that we are working less hard at it at the high school, but the students are not buying in to regular attendance at school and they are older and they can drive and um that impacts their attendance. In addition, the county ordinance that allows us to site students with
029uh regular attendance below the legal threshold of 80% uh ends uh at age 16. You can site students through age 15 but not past that. >> Yes. So our the ability for us to have some teeth to attendance requirements at the high school diminishes in those anywhere from depending on when you turn 16 sophomore through seniors. So, uh, Morgan and I have been sort of listening to other administrators and asking around and putting our heads together with with some other districts. And there are a couple of area districts who actually attach an attendance requirement to curricular events like school dances, homecoming, prom, and to walking at graduation. You can get a diploma, but you can't be in the ceremony if you don't have um think typical is like 85% attendance at school. So Morgan went
030up and uh met with the high school principal in Stanfield. They've had this in place a couple of years and it has dramatically improved their high school attendance. and their thinking is if you aren't coming to school then you shouldn't be able to participate in the the fun stuff that coming to school is actually important. So Morgan's going to talk a little bit about her proposal. We will phase it in over uh several years uh beginning with next year's senior class. So, the class of 2027 and then kind of moving on from there to try to pres uh provide again a tangible reason for students and parents to ensure that students are at school. So, Morgan, I'm going to turn it over to you and let you kind of talk through the proposal. >> Thank
031you. Um again the proposal that you have in front of you is um modeled off of again similar to what Stanfield has and has had in place now for I believe three years and we Anna and I had discussed that you know 80 5% is kind of meeting in the middle right so you have that base requirement from OD but then you also have you know the 90% that is uh what is on our state report card and so 85% % kind of holds a little bit of that higher standard. Um, but trying to get us up towards that um 90% metric. And the idea is over the course of your high school career that you are present for 85% or more of the days. And so if you did have, you know, maybe a
032a really rough sophomore year, um, and I don't know, maybe it's, you know, an ongoing medical issue that isn't qualifying under some of those other things that we would look at as an attendance wise, that you're not just stuck forever. Um, again, you know, Anna and I went back and forth on with the senior class having it be where we didn't want to hold them accountable to the last two years. Um, so we propose that they start with an 85% rate. Juniors starting next year would then have that for their junior and senior year. Sophomore, again, we would build in um until those freshmen would be their whole four years. And there is would be an appeal process, right? Um, you know, certainly if there are extenduating circumstances that need to be considered. Um, I
033would not want to withhold something that would be again out of a student's control. Um, in speaking to Stanfield, they said that in the three years they've had this, they have only had two uh appeals that have had to go through. um that once they rolled it out and it was very clear, families found the importance of seeing their kid walk across the stage and and that was enough of a pull for them to also be on board to support, you know, hey, when we call and say your student is skipping, do you want to um take custody of them or do we need to, you know, find where they are? Um parents were far less likely to say, "Oh, oh yeah, yeah, right." It was, "Hey, no, we're going to get them back to
034school, right? we don't want this counting against their attendance. So, um again, it's one of those things where it's not going to quite get us to that 90%, but I do think we're going to see um a large uptick in those finding it worthwhile to be at school um even through again not just senior year when you have maybe quote senioritis, but um junior year, sophomore year, and freshman year as well. I want to point out that we have a 170 day student school year. 90% attendance means you can miss 17 days of school. That's quite a bit. 85% attendance means you can miss 25 days of school in a year. Uh I mean we have kids that miss no days of school, two days of school. So I think 85% is quite generous. That's
035more than two days a month that you can miss and still be absolutely on track to participate in your graduation ceremony. The other thing that I haven't pointed out in a while, um, and one reason this is so important is that 90% sounds great. In our minds, that's an A. But if you have 90% attendance all of your starting in kindergarten by your freshman year you have missed a day of school a year of school. And so 90% attendance which is what we're sort of um rate rated on by the state is still missing quite a bit of school if if that's your attendance rate every year. So, in our opinion, um, these thresholds are pretty generous. I'll also note that we have a robust attendance tracking system to support this. It's not that we
036would say you have to have 85% attendance to be in your graduation ceremony and then boop, you get to two weeks before graduation and guess what? You don't get to walk in your graduation ceremony. We review attendance every month. Carissa Hixenbball, who is our attendance monitor, is in contact with families every month. We have students on attendance contracts. We have support systems in place. This will not be new news to anyone uh by the time they would get close to that graduation ceremony. The final thing I have in here is our board policy on the graduation exercise policy IKFB. And it says uh all students in good standing who have successfully completed the requirements for a high school diploma um modified diploma or extended diploma may participate in graduation exercises. And so back in our
037proposal, we would add 85% attendance over the course of your high school career as being part of being in good standing. So it it is in alignment with our board policy. The diploma, if you meet the credit requirements, you have a right to, but participating in a commencement exercises, you need to be in good standing to do that. So, we wanted to bring this to the board for uh discussion and um thought and then we would look at implementing it next year unless there was objection from from the board. >> Have a question. How much of the day do you have to miss before it's counted as as an absence? you we do period attendance at the high school level. So they're on a seven period day. So it it's kind of cumulative. So if
038they come in third period um and they're there for four periods and they've missed three periods. So you miss another three periods and then another one period it would show up as a day of absence. The question is a little bit more of at what point can you get credit for being there for the period? And Morgan, have we said if it's if you're there before halfway through? >> Yes. And on the attendance reports, it it does count by half day increments. Um so it's not an all or nothing by any means. Um you can chip away and and again keep if you have a morning appointment and you get there before lunch, uh you're still going to get that half day credit. Is three periods a half day or four on a seven period
039day? Do you know? >> Great question. Um, I think it gets you to about oh, I want to say the actual time um that we log you back in, but I I can do more research on that. I don't really have a robust experience with this, but it has been my experience that when my child is marked absent, I don't get a call until after the school day is over. So that comment about parents like finding their student and getting them to school or whatever. I'm not exactly sure how that works if >> the automated call goes out twice a day. And so if they're not there first period, there's a call that goes out, I think about 9:00 a.m. And then if they are absent later in the day, you'd get the call in
040the afternoon. >> And just to clarify, Kristen, it's um a little bit more noticeable like when they don't come back from lunch. So that is one of the things that our front office monitors and if you've left campus it's it's part of the issue sometimes with having the open campus or having a full day versus the seniors that um leave at lunch is that if you don't come back that's when we're we're making the personal phone call home as well. gotta say, oh, go ahead, Joe. I was gonna say, uh, I'm a proponent of this, you know, just again, I think attendance matters. Um, so I was just appreciative that there's some steps we take to try to incentivize, um, if you will, to get get students back in the building and, uh, improve those
041attendance. >> Yeah, agreed. I'd say if I were to miss 25 days of work out of 170, I wouldn't have a job. And that's the way the world works. And these students really need to figure that out sooner rather than later. And losing access to walking per graduation or dances seems like a really good way to teach a hard lesson really. Although four years you get a 100 absences. like that seems >> I would probably be in favor of a higher percentage but I'm more of a I'm in full support. >> Um I I am curious. I'm in support in general for sure. Um obviously when they're gone from field trips and sports and that sort of thing that does not count. No, it's marked as a school activity and in our attendance system they
042are not marked absent. It it shows that they were gone but they're still counted present. Awesome. >> And then I'm curious, are we noticing a trend particularly around more absences on Fridays? Morgan, do you >> do you know >> I do not know off the top of my head. Um I know when I've run individual reports for students I have not necessarily seen that trend. Um but I haven't looked as a holistic collective on that. >> Just be curious. I have heard some chatter out there that there's less importance on Fridays maybe um or that if you're all caught up you don't need to come on Friday, that sort of thing. Um so I'd just be curious to know about that piece. But in general, I'm supportive of this for sure. >> That's how work
043grades, right? >> Right. >> Exactly. >> The high school does run a full schedule on Fridays. Um, but again, this would be a reason not to decide you don't need to be there on Friday. >> But we can see if we can pull that data if there's a day of the week that seems to be a bigger day. from day to week. >> We may have >> and and Friday is um gosh, it's an uphill battle from the teaching perspective because everyone in our league doesn't have school on Fridays. And so when you already have um your athletes out, which could be gosh uh in the spring it's probably close to 50% of the school. Um winter it's a little bit less. uh it's very hard to introduce new concepts when you know that half
044your class is gone. Um, so I I know they've tried to find creative ways of um again maybe not necessarily introducing new concepts but still having required work on those days so it's not just a catch-up but um I do know that Fridays just from that uh league perspective definitely throw a wrench in in that perspective of oh is it a necessary day? No, I appreciate that comment because yeah, if you're the kid that's there, you're like, why aren't we doing new stuff? And if you're the athlete that's not there, you're like, half the school's not here. Why are we doing new stuff? So, as a teacher, I can see how that would be difficult. >> We did just see that article come out. Was it OSU or UFO that produced the study that showed
045that there's no benefit to having kids out of school on Fridays? 4 day week is not beneficial to students. So, My hope is >> we've felt that sentiment for a long time. Um >> my hope is that others in our look at the data and make different decisions. But >> yeah, >> we'll see. >> Especially with our >> question there's no benefit, but is there a detriment? I didn't see this. >> I didn't >> There's one out of OSC that says there is a detriment. >> There is a That's the question. Not >> I don't know if it's the same one that Tim read because it's I read it like four years ago. So there might be a new one. >> There's been more data coming out later. >> Um because we have board policy
046that says all students in good standing will participate in the graduation exercise and the policy has never defined good standing. I don't believe that the board can correct me if I'm wrong that we need to take board action. It's really more for your information and input. Um, we're not changing policy. There's no financial impact. There's no staffing impact, bargaining impact. Um, >> I would agree, Mr. Chair. I can >> I want to It's a big decision, but I think it's still just a an input type. Okay. And then just to clarify, would that be like high school handbook that that we would in terms of >> Yes, we will start communicating that to the junior class uh immediately and getting it into all parent communications handbooks um any communication we do about attendance with high
047schoolers, we will start communicating that um with every class that enters high school sort of where they where they stand with that and and this obviously pertains to just graduation, but um in terms of other extracurriculars, dances, and that sort of thing, that would just be a high school. >> This is just focused on the high school. >> Yes. >> And the appeal process would allow for someone to say, "Yeah, I was awful and look at the progress that I've been making." if they are under that 85% they maybe could still get in >> if there was some highly unusual circumstance because we're not defining excused or unexcused absence here. It it um it's just absence from school. Uh when the state looks at our attendance rate, they aren't considering excused or unexcused absences. And
048frankly, if you're missing 25 days of school a year, whether it's excused or unexcused, there's a detriment to your education to be gone that much. That's what we believe that you need to be at school. So, the appeals process would be about an unusual circumstance um that that you might need a waiver for that. I mean, we do have sometimes students have a a catastrophic medical situation or family situation, just something really unusual happen. So, we have a bathroom to allow in the appeals process. >> Friday actually has a better attendance rate than the other days of the week. Oh, Tuesdays and Thursdays are not our favorite days, but it's pretty a it's pretty close all the way across Florida. This is just the higher >> Yeah. average daily attendance for a day of the
049week. Oh no, I guess Friday is a little bit >> a little bit of >> Yeah, but not there isn't a big Oh my gosh. >> I can get the general dress. >> So Monday the average daily attendance Mondays is 88%. This is at the high school >> high school only. >> Tuesday is 90%. Wednesday is 89%. Thursday is 90% and Friday is 86%. Little >> a little lower than Wednesday. >> Not a big Yeah, >> it's not like it's 60%. >> Thanks. >> Thank you. Coffin or Der? >> No, no expert. >> Thank you for the update on that. Any other discussion from the board on the next item? >> All right. Moving on to 4.6.3 6.3 bond information. >> Well, we are well into the uh bond campaign. The district uh hopefully you
050all got in your mailbox sent out a a mailing with bond information. Then just a reminder that we have three bond information events. Uh Tim and other board members are going to have um small group discussion at the Sugar Shack on Friday the 24th at 7 a.m. and Saturday May 2nd at 8:00 a.m. and then on Thursday, April 30th, we have the CTE showcase and a fair at the high school from 5 to 7. And I will do kind of um drop in bond information sessions. I'll do presentations every 30 or 45 minutes uh where people can come in and get basic information about the bond and then ask questions. So, we would like to have possible some board members at the uh event on Thursday 30th that evening and then I think we have
051board members assigned to the coffee time at Sugar Shack. And I believe the pack was going to buy coffee for the people that attend the Sugar Shack meetings, which was nice of them. >> Any discussion? Just appreciate coordination and uh I will be at the event certainly on the event on the morning of the second. We are sending out a postcard I believe this week just with the events on it to the mailing list and of district boundaries. So one more reminder for people >> about 604 Crystal Apple Awards. Just reiterating, uh, the Crystal Apple Awards are Monday, May 11th at 5:15 p.m. at Wild Horse. Um, I think they start serving some refreshments at 4:30 and then the awards start at 5:15. We can't say who our award winners are yet, but we do
052have um, two award winners who will be uh, notified here shortly. And uh Athena Weston is always first. So we will present their crystal apple and then head to the board meeting same day. So if you can join us, we'd love to have you celebrate two of our outstanding educators. >> Any discussion? >> I think it's a great event and uh kudos in advance to our pending winners. Uh I do try to attend that event but unfortunately I'm not paying with them out of the country. I do think it's a great event to support our staff. >> Good excuse. >> Yeah, exactly. >> All right. 4.65 staff appreciation. >> Uh we will host staff appreciation week the week of April 27th. We tend to do it the week before the National Teacher Appreciation Week because
053Junior show is always that week and we end up having staff out when we're trying to honor them. So, we do it a week early and we include all staff in that just teachers. We will communicate our thanks to our staff and parent groups and the administrative staff will have um some treats and celebrations. Any discussion moving on 4.66 stand for children instructional time survey. >> I just want to make you aware of this. Um stand for children is a basically a political action committee in Oregon that has some interest in education. And my understanding is that they are sort of looking to maybe lobby the legislature to extend the school year for Oregon students. In Oregon, we do have one of fewest number of required days of school for students. In Oregon, we measure
054it in instructional hours. Um, students in K8 and 12 have to have 960 hours of school per year. for students in grades 9 through 11 990 hours. Um our school schedule is uh set up to be a little bit above that which gives us some buffer um in lobbying the legislature or getting ready to lobby the legislature. Stand for Oregon, which um is a group that superintendents can be out of alignment with, has looked at every district in the state, looked at their websites, and is going to publish every district's student contact days. And they've given us time to correct the information if it's incorrect. They are pretty correct with us. and so I'm not going to attend a webinar or um contact them because ours is is close enough. So they correctly say that
055in elementary and secondary we have 170 student contact days. That is correct. That's the information they are most interested in is comparing us to other states. Other states have 180, 185, 190 school days. They say that our elementary students are in school 6 hours and 55 minutes per school day. That is not exactly correct, but it's close. Our high school students are in school 7 hours and 3 minutes per day. That's uh about 7 minutes less than they are in school. So, I'm not going to correct that information. Our kids are in school approximately 7 hours a day for 170 days. I also didn't get into the Friday early release thing. Um, again, our instructional hours are a little ahead of what we need uh as a state requirement and so I'm just not getting
056in the weeds on this. Again, what they're looking at really is comparing us to other states. That's the student contact days. We're at 170. Um, there are a lot of districts that are under that. So, I'm comfortable with the information they're going to publish about Athena Weston School District. So, if you saw it in the news, I want you to be aware. >> Thank you. Any discussion? >> Thank you for that. >> Moving on to the port. 6.7 summer programs. >> Okay. It's crazy. We're already talking about summer programming. So, we will have our YMCA summer camp again this year. We will run five weeks starting the week of June 22nd and ending on Thursday of the week of June 20th. And so, the themes we're having fundamentals, wild world wonders, squishy science, nature explorers,
057and aqua marine adventures. So, we will run from 8 to about 3:30 again with but with transportation. Um, summer food program will be feeding lunch and they'll have snacks. Um, it's a good thing pool's going to be open this summer, so they'll have opportunities. They swim a couple times a week. Um, lots of field trips that they're still planning and we are able to do it. Um, the Y, they're just amazing at getting grants to help support our summer programming. So, it'll be at $75 per week per family or per kiddo. Um, they also do have there's a link the state of Oregon does have some funds to help with hardship. So, uh we've got that opportunity for families and we've really been pushing it for kids kindergarten through entering fifth grade. Then high school
058credit retrieval and academic support. They will run the same weeks that the YMCA camp is running so that we can provide transportation and lunch services as well. And uh they'll offer their credit recovery. Students can join from 8 to 12 with busing and lunch and snacks provided. Students will either have packets from teachers or take admentum via the online system depending on how close to course completion they are. So that's the plan at the high school. Then we will also have kindergarten and fifth grade special education jump start. We've got a larger sized group going from fourth to fifth this year that spend a large not large but most a lot of their day in the resource room. So, we're going to hold um jump start for them in August as well as typically we
059transition work on transitioning those kiddos in the spring, but there's going to be some room rearranging and re moving around and so we want those kiddos to be able to have their experience in the room where they are going to be for the remaining of the school year. So, we will do it in August and then they don't have a whole summer to then adjust to a new building as well. So, um that is in the works. Miss Fox from here will go over and help join the um special education team at the middle school for those kiddos. Then we will have our kinder jump start here. And this will all happen August 17th through August 20th. So, four days from 9 to noon, again with lunch and transportation, and our kinders are invited to
060come and be able to start getting into the routine of school, be able to be the only ones in the building, learn where the cafeteria is, learn where the bathrooms are, learn about those noisy self flushing toilets. You would not believe the issues those things cause with kindergarteners. They are scary. So, being able to navigate the building, going into the library, but being able to navigate, getting to meet Mrs. Webb, getting to meet the rest of the office staff as well as myself without having 150 some other bodies in the building to navigate through. It's always been very successful. Parents are very supportive of that as well, knowing that their kiddos are are getting that jump start. Um, we will have starting in our summer, we're going to have a kinder family event. Um, it's
061actually the week after school is out where kinder parents and their kiddos are invited to come for a dinner event, a Q&A session that the parents get to meet with kindergarten teachers, ask their questions, hear questions that they from other parents they may not have even thought of. um their kiddos will then participate in the kindergarten screening and they'll get to go out and play on the playground and we'll have staff to help supervise that so parents can give um the classroom teachers their divided attention as well as then we hope to be able to send I'm working on a couple grants be able to send them with a summer learning kit that they take and are able to work on some of those skills to help their kiddo get the best preparation for kindergarten.
062Any questions? >> No, I thank you. I love the intention around the jump starts. Thanks. Moving on to business items 5.1 versus >> um we have an elementary vacancy because as you know Megan Brian is retiring or yes >> resigning to reducing to young people doing all kinds of things reducing to halftime and Kayla sheared will return to halftime and they will team teach. And so that leaves an elementary position. And so we um are uh would like to hire Cely Robinson as an elementary teacher. Uh Celely is an Athena Weston graduate and was my student teacher. So we are delighted to welcome her back into the district. She comes with uh many years as an elementary teacher uh with um a special set of skills at the primary level when she was my student
063teacher. She did very very well with fifth graders. But then when I saw her with kindergarteners, I said to her at the time, you are a primary teacher. Um and she is. So we are delighted to um recommend Celia Robinson for hire. We also are delighted to recommend John Salter uh for hire as our high school athletic director. He comes with many years of um management and um again his uh boys have gone through our district. He's invested in the district. He is well known in the district and he is excited to offer his time as high school athletic director. He will be retiring in June and then will take on that position beginning in July. And then as Tom mentioned and this is for information only we have a classified resignation Samantha Scott at
064best strike. >> Thank you. I have a motion. >> Uh Mr. Chair, I move to approve Sally Robinson as an elementary teacher and John Salter as a high school athlete. >> Thanks Scott. I have a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I >> any opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to agenda item six, action items 6.1, surplusing senior class Chromebooks. So, as has been our practice, we would like to surplus 51 senior class Chromebooks to allow them to have them if they wish at the end of their senior year to give our seniors a device as they leave in case they need that as they begin um postsecary life. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion? >> Mr. SH move to approve the surplus of 51 senior class. >>
065Thank you, Mark. You have a second. >> Second, Scott. >> Thank you, Scott. Any discussion? >> I just find this program to be very valuable. I'm very appreciative that we >> agreed. Uh, all in favor of surplusing the senior class Chromebooks. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. And on the grants, >> we have two Pacific Power Foundation grants. $1,000 to support our internal food bank and $2,000 to support the Tiger Scott treasure truck. >> Thank you. Do I have motions? >> Mr. Chair, I'm to accept the Pacific Power Foundation grants as present. >> Thank you, Marty. Do I have a second? >> Second. Any discussion? >> I just think you miss. >> Absolutely. Just for promoting. >> Yes, >> we are um serving 45 families now with with >> uh all in favor of approving the
066grants. Any opposed? Push carries. Moving on to policies. These are second readings. And so we'll be looking for a motion to adopt the end of each I believe. So the first policy on the list uh GCBDA GDBDA is family medical leave. The policy changes reflect some changes in the law. Uh the biggest change um is around what conditions qualify for leave taken through the Oregon Family Leave Act and paid family and medical leave insurance. um there's a difference now where um they cannot be taken concurrently and so our policy needs to align to that change in the law. I have noted the change there on the recommended policy. Look for a motion on adoption of the family and medical leave policy JCDA. Sorry, GDPA. >> Mr. Mr Chair, I move to approve policy GCDA GDA
067as presented. >> Thanks, Scott. >> Thanks for taking >> any to have sec. Any discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Mush carries. Moving on to policy GCBDF GDBF paid family and medical. >> So this is kind of the second half of the the same thing. You can see there are a lot more strikeouts in this policy. The recommended policy simplifies the original and then addresses the issue that the leaf cannot be taken. >> Thank you. Do I have a motion? I'll move to uh approve policy GCBDF DBDF as presented. >> Second wins. Any discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Carries. Moving on to policy IKF, graduation requirements. So we discussed uh this one a little more in depth at our March meeting and there are some uh changes with some vocabulary in the
068law replacing alternative certificate with certificate of attendance. It codifies the half credit in career path skills and personal finance education as diploma requirements. uh we are in compliance with that. And then the piece we wanted to look at was under essential skills which are still not a requirement postco but they will be coming back into play in the next year. I think we are exempt through 2027 and then they will be uh reinstating essential skills requirements. And the decision that the board needs to make is um here on page under essential skills. the district will or will not allow English language learner students to demonstrate proficiency in essential skills in the students language of origin for a high school diploma or in your packet. I also sent an email with some further information that the
069board asked me to gather from some area districts. So districts that have a higher English language learner population around us. So I specifically reached out to Mil Freewater and Yatilla. Both districts have selected that they will allow English language learners to demonstrate proficiency in essential skills in their language of origin. And the reasoning behind that was that the new graduation requirement is in language arts, not English language arts. And so, uh, students can demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking, and it doesn't have to be in English. So, that change from English language arts to language arts opened up a pathway to allow students to demonstrate proficiency in a native language. Um, it's still students still must demonstrate proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking even if it's in their dominant language. And that is still
070not easy to do. That's still a a requirement. Uh, both districts said that while it's rare, it is possible to have a recent aror with limited English skills enroll in public school as late as high school. And so um while those students tend to have functional English, they may have have some lagging skills in, you know, reading, writing, and speaking. So if a student is a recent arrival and can demonstrate proficiency in language arts in their dominant language and a district does allow does not allow that, the district could open itself up to a civil rights suit or media backlash. And so again, it's providing a a pathway for students to earn a high school diploma. Uh in summary, uh by selecting will, we have options. If we select will not, we can be forced
071to deny a diploma. That was the input from Milton Freewater. So the board will need to uh make a decision on that issue before I submit the policy to OSBA. If we say that we will allow them to demonstrate proficiency in another language, how do we facilitate that? >> Um, we would probably have to use the English language learner um liaison at the ESD to do the testing. That person comes out right now to do the um ELPA, which is the English language proficiency assessment. and we would use that person then to administer essential skills um work sample requirements to a student in that uh situation. >> Thank you. Are you looking for feedback? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> I'm in support of Will. Makes sense. I would agree. If I may, Mr. Chair, I'd like
072to make a motion to approve policy IKF with the notion that will be default. >> Thanks, Scott. Have a motion. Have a second. >> Second. >> Morty. Any discussion? Shade the background from other districts where it's maybe I have a motion and a second. All in favor of improving policy IKF with the essential skills will check. >> Sorry. >> Any oppose? Motion carries. Was a long Sorry. Uh moving on to 6.6 Six policy JECA admission of resident students. >> This is another policy basically impacted by um that terminology of alter alternative certificate versus certificate of attendance. And then um my recommendation is the the district may based on district criteria deny regular school admission to a student who has become a resident student and who is under expulsion from another district for reasons other than
073a weapon policy violation. So if a student was expelled from another district then moves into our district, we may deny regular school admission. that just again gives us options um based on each student's particular circumstances. So that's my recommendation on policy. And then um same thing for May based on district criteria to provide alternative program of instruction to a student who has become a resident student and who is under expulsion. So it just allows us to to make a decision there. Thank you. Motion. >> I move to approve policy JCA as presented. >> Thank you, Kristen. Have a second. >> Second. >> Very handy. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 6.7 policy JHCD medications. >> So, um the law has changed quite a bit for new regulations around medication. Uh, a
074key point in this proposed policy is um the allowance to um use a non-injectable short acting opio opioid antagonist that it may be administered to any student or other individual by district personnel on district premises. Um, we have Narcan in all buildings. We have it clearly labeled. our staff has been trained and there's no ill effect to someone if you give it and and they did not need it. And so we just would want in our policy that that we can use the naran and because we have it in the building we're then required to change our policy to include that statement. There also were some ARS I believe with that that are quite lengthy and are just simply in alignment with the law and approved by the nursing staff at the estimate. >> Thank
075you. Do I have a motion? >> M I move to approve policy JHCD as pos. Any discussion? Appreciate that we have an argument. Uh motion and a second to adopt policy. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Have a motion uh to approve distributions. Mr. Chair, I move that all distributions approved as present. Thank you, Scott. Have a second. Second. Excuse me. >> Sorry. Thanks, Kristen. Any discussion on distribution? >> We're not going to quiz. >> I know. They've done that before hearing. No discussion. Uh, all in favor of approving distributions. I >> any opposed. Motion carries. Uh, board of education adjournment. Scott, you already kic. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, just appreciate it. Here it is already April. So, uh, thank you. As we try to keep the kiddos attention, uh, I
076appreciate the conversation around attendance as a huge proponent of keeping kids in building. um would be successful and once again welcome to our newest board member. >> Thanks Mr. Chair. >> New year same good job like >> I just want to say I really appreciate how much thoughts put into our policies and in particular that we emphasize allowing ourselves flexibility rather than hard and fast rules. information. >> Uh, and with that, we'll wrap it up.