001All right. Call has been order to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under [clears throat] God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. to general review. Mr. Chair, like we make a motion to retrieve the agenda as presented. >> A motion. Second. >> Second. >> Motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Carries. Uh, next is review board minutes. Um, Mr. Mr. Chair, I move the minutes for the October 13, 2025 regular school board meeting and the special board meeting on November 3rd, 2025 be approved as it presented. Scott have a motion. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Motion a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. All right, moving on to community inputs.
002All I see there was none. >> None. >> All right, moving on to item three correspondence. Yes, please. >> If the talking points in your board packet, the all state agencies have been asked to go through an exercise uh to propose 2.5% cuts and 5% cuts to their portion of state budget. And so the Oregon Department of Education has done that. You might see some press releases about that. I just want to point out, as is the ESD here, that these are potential cuts um that will go to the state legislature. They will take this up when they begin their short session in January. These are not imminent cuts. and the legislature will look at the November 19th revenue forecast uh the status of federal funding before they decide what level of cuts might need
003to be made um at the state level. I was in a call today where OD went over some of their proposed cuts. The main ones to keep an eye on for us would be any potential cut to SIA or HSSA funding that could impact us somewhat. And Paul and I will be looking at what 2.5% and 5% cuts there might do so that we can plan ahead. We also will just forecast out a little bit if we had to make say a 2.5% general cut to the state school fund. I'm not anticipating that, but we will start talking about that just to be sure we have a plan if that were to come into play. But this is just based on declining revenue in the state. They are looking to make cuts. There's a lot
004of discussion around preserving K12 education fully. A lot of the cuts proposed by OD are more special pockets of funds. Most of the ones I saw we do not access and a lot of discussion about when would some of the um contingency funds kick in, the rainy day funds kick in, but all of that has to be decided by the legislature. So, just things to kind of keep our eye on. And then in the talking points, uh the ESD mentions again that uh the ESD board member, Kelly Bissinger, was recognized as the OSBA state board member of the year, and George Mendoza, who is my colleague, and Lrand was recognized as the state superintendent. And then with the Tiger Scott um mascot hard third quarter revenue $31820 and total income year to date $89160 and
005again that goes into the high school as any discussion board. So, we'll see what happens. Say budget. All right. Another item four1 distillation reports. Um, so Borum Electric has finished the track lighting project. We've got them placed where they're not blinding the local highway. and basically about the best we can do without certainly making PR moves with our neighbors and the highway Oregon Department of Transportation. Anyways, um we've had to clear some trees from the Athena rental that were getting old and we're essentially getting to a point where they're becoming unsafe. Um we're actually very excited about what that looks like. if you haven't seen it on Fourth and High Street, those have been removed and it has make that place look ex exponentially better. Anyways, um we've also scheduled both Weston and Athena rentals
006that are currently vacant to internal maintenance and so that we can get those back on market just as soon as we possibly can. Uh outside of that, we have gotten equipment ready and everything has been winterized, getting geared up for what could be coming discussion. Transportation IPM reports. >> Okay. Um on the IPM standpoint, we recently did a safety walkthrough and I was part of that and I lead that under the role of the integrated pest management where for potential pest problems, concerns, those types of things. Uh I took notes for all the facilities and we'll be disseminating all that information to the building principles uh so for any issues to be addressed and did not find any major issues of any type to deal with. It is getting into winter time so our friends
007are starting to make their way into the buildings or at least try and commenting that as needs arise. Um other than that nothing major to report as far as integrated best management goes. Uh transportation uh we too are gearing up for winter making sure equipment is functioning. Uh we had a meeting today just talking about the processes. Should we have implement weather as far as the who's contacted when the process we go to make sure that uh we know the road conditions before we make a decision on transportation. Um [clears throat] in the board packet I believe you guys are voting on it later. I did present some information about wanting to purchase a bus to replace uh bus number one which is being as of January 1. We're required to take it off the
008road. we cannot either transport students through the admission standards. Um I'll provide you some information there. Um when that time comes if you guys are now if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them. Uh you'll notice my recommendation is not the least expensive bus uh in there. As a matter of fact, I do recommend the more expensive of the buses uh for a couple different uh reasons. The bus that I chose unanimously is preferred to all by all the drivers as far as functionality, controls, the the cockpit for the for the driver. Uh we have a brand new version of the other bus on the lot already and we have some issues with it uh both maintenance and just the driving of it. So uh we went with the one that is preferred
009by all the rest of the drivers. It's also the only bus that an option could feasibly be offered with air conditioning which is something that I would like to look into getting this time around. We have a need for that in the beginning and end of the school year for sports and then during the summer we do transport YMCA small children in 100 degree plus weather and it's it's a little toasty in the buses and that's why I suggested that bus. So, um I did look all the different manufacturers. This is the bus that is currently available and ready to be delivered. Uh should we decide to go with that, they would modify it and add that air conditioning unit to it as an aftermarket. Um and it's far more cost effective to go this
010route rather than to custom order a new bus. The price goes up considerably if I was to go that route. So, >> thank you. any discussion? >> I just uh want to say thank you for the all the information that was helpful and thoughtful and well put together and I appreciate that sometimes the best option isn't always the least expensive one. Thank you AC that was just like shocks me. So appreciate that. >> Absolutely. >> I seem to remember in the past that we often times ask for a special configuration of the seats. Are we doing that here? >> Uh in this case, yes. So this bus does have uh a set of seats removed and then all of the seats set back incrementally to allow for uh more comfortable for long trips. This bus
011would be initially primarily a trip bus. So, we have a larger seating spacing in the back for larger athletes, a little bit more comfortable for the trips. Um, this will allow us to have two very new low mile, very reliable buses for our long out of town trips and then move our more higher mileage buses to people more in town. Um, as they get older, obviously, we have more maintenance that we have to worry about those. So that's kind of my this is the first step in my plan for long-term reliable transportation for the district and there's more coming down the market. So >> and then just in terms of budget and our this is part of our plan the cycle ranks there's $317,000 in the account right now. So there's plenty of money to
012purchase this bus. And then with the higher depreciation, we're putting between $105 and $110,000 every year into the account. So in essence, every 3 years, we should be able to purchase something else to keep our fleet up to date and also being able to use the depreciation instead of have something fall off and we're still driving it and not getting anything out of it. >> Yeah. And my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, if we didn't purchase a bus right now because this one is going off the depreciation list, then that would reduce the amount of money we would have to deposit by quite a bit. >> Yeah. About 65,000. >> Yeah. Down to about 65,000. >> We actually have four buses that are coming off a depreciation list after this year. Um, so about
01310 years ago, we did a large purchase of some buses. All of those are dropping off at the end of this year. So the amount contributed to that account will drop by a considerable amount after this year. And this part of the reason why I'm wanting to get a bus now is to keep that depreciation contribution to the account for future purchases up so we're prepared when we need to buy another bus. Thankfully um even the older buses, the ones are dropping off at depreciation list are in excellent condition and with proper maintenance have a good considerable life left in them. So it's not like we're desperate to get those replaced very soon. >> Then it's would be available by January 1st to replace that soon. >> Number one is um our backup bus. Um
014it's been used once this year. Um for that reason, the delivery date on this is 60 to 90 days from the time we say that we want to purchase it. Um, we're not desperate to have that on fleet because number one is currently still a backup bus. And what will happen is we'll continue running our current configuration and when the new bus comes into place, we will move our next oldest problem child maintenance bus to the backup position and then put the newer bus into service. And we we try to have a couple buses that are in good running condition as a backup should we have breakdown or any issues. is we're asking the bus and so we're not left in a situation where we don't have proper transportation other discussion. Thank you for that
015detailed report. So we'll get to that action item later on. Uh moving on to 4.3 preschool elementary report. >> I get to be Mrs. Kaufman tonight. She's not able to be here but she sent along her report. So Mrs. Kaufman says that prek is fully enrolled. Uh the garden lessons are occurring weekly at Weston and the kids love them. Just as a reminder, we put in the sort of raised bed garden over at Weston through grant funds last spring at the summer and prek conferences were well attended. And then for K through fourth, uh they had a terrific Tiger Scots assembly and recognized students for the character trait of fairness. Their annual Halloween parade was very well intended and the kids had a great time. In health class, Mr. Dude brought in sugar cubes and
016different items to show how much sugar is in each different food. And the students were shocked by how much sugar is in the Mountain Dew. We were not shocked by that. during conferences. Um the elementary school had a popup boutique which you can still see the remnants of in the hall there with new coats and other um clothing items primarily for cold weather. The elementary school conferences have well attended. Parents received reports on their child's fall I Ready reading and math diagnostic as well as samples of of current writing and progress. The elementary classes wrote letters and made cards for the high school Veterans Day breakfast that was today. The Athena Elementary Pie Group fundraiser made over $8,000 this fall. The money is used for teacher classroom enhancement, raw books, holiday store items, field trips,
017and Kelly the Fiddler. They also spoiled staff with a wonderful soup and salad dinner during conferences. And then the Scholastic Book Fair was a great success last week. And Mrs. Coffin wants to thank all of the volunteers who ran the fair um while she was away with her new grand daughter. So she just says we have some amazing parents. >> Thank you. Any discussion? >> Onore Middle School. So, uh, Weston, we had on the 31st a Halloween pep rally where we recognized fall sports and then we had some fun Halloween competitions like a mummy rant rap and then they had to dance to thrillers. So, that was fun. Kids didn't really recognize that song too well. Um the weekend before 6th through 8th graders attended the Halloween social in Helix. We always appreciate them inviting
018us. It's a really big deal for sixth graders. Really big deal. And we had 80 kids attend. And according to Mrs. Thunderberg, they represented us very well. They had absolutely no issues. They were well behaved and very polite, including on the bus there and the bus back. So we always like to hear that about the kids. We also had conferences last week that were very well attended. This Friday for grades 7 through 12, we have a mental health awareness and substance abuse prevention day at the high school. We try to do that every other year. Students are able to opt out. Those letters went home. Uh so there will be some students who choose to opt out and we'll have activities at the middle school for middle school students that don't attend. And the topics
019that the middle schoolers will be um included in this time is uh disabilities awareness. Just awareness of people in your community and your school and um how we treat people with disabilities and the contributions that people with disabilities make. Truths and lies. That's about self-esteem. You know, what what lies do you tell about yourself and what is the truth about yourself? Tobacco prevention, um suicide prevention, sleep and the importance of sleep and self-regulation, anger management. So there are other ones for the high school. We are a little bit losing our minds with this 67 trend that anyone understands, but the kids seem to talk about it a lot. So with that in mind, we are really focusing this year with middle schoolers on not having any missing assignments, staying on top of their work. And
020so on Thursday of next week, I'm hosting a 67 social. That means sixth period and seventh period for students with no missing assignments and they will have snacks and board games or just visits. So we are advertising a six seven social around the school and they're pretty intrigued by what that would be. And then on the 21st it's going to be a big week next week. On the 21st, we're having our Tiger Scots have talent talent show. We had entries in fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. And our MC's will be wearing blowup turkey costume, telling a lot of jokes. And then the students can pay a dollar to vote for the winner. So they pay a dollar per ballot. Adults, family members are welcome to attend. you can make a donation and they come
021in and all the proceeds will go to support local veterans organizations. And then um after all that, this should seem like a bigger deal. Um the boys basketball is underway. They have their first game this weekend. And then just as a reminder, um wrestling and girls basketball, they'll begin in January. Middle school, those winter sports are split. Then just a little focus on academics. Our eighth grade math students just finished up a unit on rational and irrational numbers. That was a really good review for me when I was sitting in that math class. And then our eighth grade language arts program has really focused on using uh novels this year, just trying to get kids reading more. And so the kids just finished Where the Red Fern Grows, which is a wonderful book, but really
022tough at the end. And a we had a lot of kids a little bit upset that day and annoyed that they even had to read the book at home. [laughter] And so I had one eighth grade boy in the hall like why did you let us read this book? I know. I'm sorry. It's never gotten any better. and all these but they really were engaged in the book and now they've switched to non-fiction and they're reading chew on this which is the adolescent version of a book you may have heard of which was called fast food nation and so it's about the fast food industry and processed food and the advertising that goes into the fast food industry and so the kids are now sort of horrified in a different way telling me again, why
023are we reading this now? I can't eat anything anymore. [laughter] So, but that is just trying to get those non-fiction skills in in a high interest way. And then last year, we piloted a mentor program at the high school with a small group of u high school boys. We are expanding that to girls and the middle school this year. And that program will begin this Friday. So we have some middle schoolers by invitation and willingness who will start a sixw weekl long mentor program during that early release time on Friday. So we are busy this month at west. [clears throat] Well, today we held our second annual Veterans Day breakfast and we were joined by nine veterans and spouses who were willing to share their stories with students. And as always, I'm so impressed. Students
024ask thoughtful questions. They were actively engaged with getting to know our veteran community members. And for a couple of the tables where maybe we didn't have a veteran represented, we had staff members fill in. And even there it was everyone has some story to tell or some connection. And so it was again very uh cool but also just honoring uh community members and uh Cloud showed up in his full dress and it it was very very um sweet this morning. Um past that we had great turnout at our fall conferences. We pres-scheduled students that had failing grades leading into them so that we could really focus on creating plans for their quarter grade averages. So, since we're doing grading differently, we really wanted to make sure that those students knew like here's your path for
025the next uh quarter and and how we're going to still get you to a passing graded semester. Our freshman on track team is back at the ESB on Wednesday where we're going to again have more of that regional training and review the data of some of these things that we already have been putting into place and and what are we seeing compared to previous years. So really excited to dig in a little bit on the numbers and yeah see what they're thinking and how they're responding to again kind of this grading change. Last month, our sophomores and juniors had their annual pre-ACT and PSAT testing day. So, this was kind of our sophomores first round of standardized testing at the high school level. Uh, they really enjoy the breakfast break. So, I had Pop-Tarts for
026them. They could not get enough. So, yeah, hopefully scores reflect that. Um, and then as Miss Fio noted, we have our mental health and substance abuse awareness day. We have 15 different speakers coming in on a myriad of topics, also including vaping, fentanyl, distracted driving, and the impact of trauma. For a little bit of our uh other piece here that I wanted to highlight was some of the clubs and what they're working on right now. So, our itina club is gearing up for creating dress up days for indigenous week and then our district pow-wow will be held on November 18th. FFA is starting up their wreath order again for their fundraisers and are excited to take a team to the a sales competition which uh a couple team members have like ran with it. So,
027there's a whole portion where you have to kind of pretend that you're going to cold call and try and sell your product. And we have a freshman that was like, I am born to be able to say. So, it's very, very cool. Um, they get a little embarrassed when you come watch them, but they did kind of a run through with some of the alumni supporters and I think think they're feeling good going into it. The Schnitzer Cares Group set this year's mission statement and they would like to open their grant funding for organizations that provide assistance and support to women who may be experiencing homelessness or unable to provide for basic concepts. And then our National Honor Society is going to have our first community blood drive coming up early December. And then finally,
028snow club has set their mountain dates for February. So, lots going on trying to get kids involved. And then all three of our fall sports had postseason showings with volleyball posting a top six finish. We do have a petition out that maybe we should have been fourth place. So, we will see. We're going to stay with top six right now. Uh Evelyn Hodgson finished 21st in cross country and football made it to the top six team. And then we are currently open for signups for basketball and wrestling. And in that we're piloting final forms, which is an online form collector that OSAA supports and endorses. So hopefully streamlining some of that uh paper process and and that way again things like your physical go in and every everyone knows when it's going to expire and
029it's hopefully a little bit more of a streamlined process moving forward. Great. Any discussion? Thank you. I love the pictures about the veterans >> 1406 superintend superintendent. >> So you have the current enrollment in your packet uh at 481. So past that initial 10day drop, we're pretty much holding steady around the 480 number >> 62 policy DB PDC. >> This is our required annual review of our Indian policies and procedures. I'll just highlight a few things in here. Um, first of all, we have a an excellent working relationship with the tribe and we do not have a current Indian educator. However, the person in charge of that, Kendall Rosario, is filling that role in our district in the short run while they wait to hire. We provide a lot of attendance and academic data to
030the Indian educator upon request and have even given them some access to our student information system so they can retrieve whatever data that they need more easily. This AR reviews uh talks about some things like the Indian education parent advisory committee and impact aid program meetings. In my time as superintendent, those have not really been in place by the tribe. However, I would say that we do have regular communication with the tribe and if they were to put those things in place and ask us to be there, we absolutely uh would do that. We do receive impact aid funds and as a reminder that is money in lie of property taxes for the reservation land that is in our district boundaries that we do not get property taxes for. So we do track that carefully
031through the district office and we do receive some help in there. And then just in general, we support um Native American programming districtwide. The POW next week is an example of that. We also support our students who participate in tribal cultural programming outside of school and um give them excused absences, that sort of thing. We also again work closely with the Indian Education Department to be sure that our Native American students are on track to graduate and doing well in school. So, as you look through that, there are some things in here that I would say, well, gosh, are we doing those things? Um, if we're not, it's because that organization does not seem to be in place and has not been in my memory. But in terms of working closely with the tribe, providing
032them whatever information they need, we do that very faithfully. We also have our annual meeting out at CTI to keep fostering that relationship. So I feel comfortable saying that we are in alignment with this policy at least on the side of things that would be our kind of end of the bargain. are the things that we have control over and offer to the tribe for our students. >> Thank you. 603 bond election discussion. Well, obviously uh our bond did not pass and I think um potentially by a larger margin than we might have been anticipating. And so I have some thoughts about that, but I just wanted the board to have a little bit of discussion uh tonight about your thoughts and what you think our next steps ought to be. And then I have
033some thoughts on that as well. discussion. I'm going to go all um I obviously disappointing and the optimist optimist in me um by the pass. Um I do appreciate the engagement of the community. And I think we gained a lot of traction and opportunity to answer some questions um and learn some more things about how um maybe the board could be even more involved and how we can maybe better communicate um at the places where people communicate and social media it feels like. Um, so although it's disappointing, I think there's continues to be, um, I as much as I I feel like we should try and take advantage of something on the next election so that we don't lose the momentum that we've gained in terms of see us lose that momentum. So I know
034to say by June was optimistic but I think the past month would have been seemed like a lot we kind of lost for a variety of reasons seem like federal level pretty challenging to be asking for money right now. Um I thought again similarly I thought we did a wonderful job and a huge kudos to our volunteers. Uh it's an amazing effort on their behalf so I want to be very complimentary to our back. I think similarly to your comment, uh I think just to kind of honor the investment that they made, their time and energy, I think that certainly from the lens that I see, we should try to put something out. You know, we I think we need to to listen, maybe retool and hear what sort of people want to know what
035it look like, but that would be a component of moving forward with some sort of engagement. We reassessing what our our ask is and then somehow I'll say it for myself. Um, I [clears throat] think I wasn't surprised that it failed. I think it is a really hard time to ask people for money. And it makes me wonder if the right thing is to put out another bond package or not just based on all of the things that are uh occurring from a financial and economic standpoint our community. That said, we have some serious needs and we really want to I think we really want to support our teachers and our students and ensure that they have access to the best possible facilities. And so I I think uh I think it's worth it for
036us to spend some time in a work session in the future to do some public engagement outreach like we all talking about gather feedback and um retool and put something out there. I think looking at what looking at not increasing property taxes uh but staying attempting to stay the same to see how much we could get for that amount. uh then be able to move forward whatever that project looks like, whatever that money is. Um I think that is going to rely heavily on whether or not we get the Austin grant. Again, without the awesome grant, I don't know that it's going to be worth the bond like any sort of bond on on books. Um so we'll need to line up all of those timelines. So is the next a round? I can't remember
037if it's January, >> December. So, we'll we'll know by December 31st. We've already just preemptively let [clears throat] them know that we intend to apply. The deadline is December. It opens December 1st. Deadline 15 here. Actually, I've got it here. Um, we are 48th in priority. I think before we've been 75th, so that's not bad. We still qualify for 10.2. 2 million. However, our current bond rate would not generate that much even over 20 years. So, I don't believe we would necessarily be in a position to maximize that, but we we still qualify for that amount. So, we went ahead and alerted them that we intend to apply, which we needed to do so that they know we intend to use our current facilities assessment and long range plan. we can still use that for
038a May election and then we will apply for the awesome grant and we should know by December 31st because I do agree with Tim that that would impact whether it is worth looking at the May election. My thought is to look at our calendars and see if we could look at a work session in December. I know December is hard, but if we wanted to pursue that, we would need to reconvene the SEBACK in January. And Scott can tell me if I'm a little off on my timeline, but I think we'd have to reconvene them for a meeting or two meetings in January to pick out of those already kind of priced out projects what what we might want to look at in May. And then it would have to go to the board in
039February because the filing deadline would be March. So, we're on a very tight timeline. But my thought, and again, I'm just one voice here, is to look at if there is an option to not allow that bond rate to drop off the books and maybe look at a very short bond. Could could our current rate generate enough revenue with a match to do maybe one project on a five or sixyear term? and then we could that $139 doesn't drop off the books and you're not going all the way uphill the next time you come around to do a bond. So that was sort of my reaction after I let the dust settle for a couple of days was maybe to look at that. But I think we would need a board work session just to
040talk about everybody's thoughts and make the decision to reconvene the CBAC. And Scott, would we have to go into an action item to reconvene? >> I don't think there's an action item from the board because the the CBAC is a subcommittee of the sus. >> That's right. Right. It's my committee. >> Yeah. I guess my thought would be >> So you would just support my making that decision. So I guess that would just be looking to the board for consensus to move in that direction. But I mean I certainly would be supportive of that approach and with the the notion being that potentially uh it just be thoughtful. I know December is going to be busy but maybe we try to attach the work session just prior to the December board meeting so we keep
041small to it. >> We have two if you want to attach it. A lot would depend on how much time you feel you you want in a board work session. Also, uh existing events we have on >> next board meeting is December. >> September 4th. >> Yeah. September thought exchange or something. >> Fourth is the thought exchange at 6:30 and then the following Monday gets the regular board >> at 6:30 or we could pick a different thing. We could do like a five or 5:30 before one of those existing events. >> A question for maybe for the board certainly for you and you know just thinking through sort of our community engagement piece. Order of the night of the thought exchange is sort of positioned as one of those topics or maybe that topic is
042the bond. And if we could muster some terrible feedback that way if and again just thinking out loud the rate of meet as on the 8th maybe maybe the fourth with that thought exchange just trying to engage at least part of the discussion being around did you know would you support the bonding did you at least get some dialogue going with the thought being that the board could kind of view and debrief that on the eight or before regular work just for discussion. So we would look at having the thought exchange, having the bond be on that agenda, which I strongly re I was going to recommend that and then do a work session before the regular board meeting. Thank you. >> I don't know if Kristen wanted to chime in here. >> A work
043session before a regular board meeting is really hard for me to make. So would it be possible to do it on a different day? I know December is busy and I'm sorry for suggesting that, but or I would stay after the meeting if you want to do it after the meeting. >> We could do ML's bedtime there. Uh >> I'm I'm all in favor of either before or after. I'm happy to do either. rolling immediately into it after we just say the work session will begin as soon as the board meeting concludes. We can wrap up the meeting if we want. >> Okay. >> I >> Does that work for you then Kristen? Do you hear that? >> Yeah, that would work fine. >> Thank you. >> We're also not limited to time that way
044either. >> Correct. The work session can end other than close mid time. Yeah, there's that. which probably does it differently than mine. 8:00 picture look forward to see. All right. So, we'll plan on board session following the December 8th meeting, the December 4th thought exchange. We will have engagement round on the agenda along with any other items you have. So, we had I'll just jump ahead to that a little bit. The three topics we had initially agreed to were the strategic plan, lifelong learning. I think we should keep that. That feeds into that CTE uh thought there. And then we had the curriculum adoption process and we had board roles and responsibilities, board policy. So I would recommend replacing one of those for sure with the bond and then we could keep the other one.
045The other thought I had though we could do this in February or both. A lot seemed to come up online about state testing and I thought maybe I should address that in thought exchanges. Give people vocabulary about testing and what the different tests are and why some of that data is more valid than others. We could completely adjust these in December or I could put the testing one off to February and we could keep one of the other two. or >> I would love to see us talking about testing at this January one. I think that seems really present to what people have been talking about. >> December or February. >> That's what No, that's what I meant. December. January. They're all the same. December. Sorry. >> Go ahead and start that conversation now. because
046and it may be big enough to circle back again too. Um, okay. So, December 4th and then I will get the stakeholder letters out this week. I didn't want to get them out till I knew what the agenda would be. We will do lifelong learning. That's our last uh cornerstone that we haven't done yet. the bond and testing as our agenda items. And maybe we can market that a little more. Again, knowing maybe the University of News is where we got most of our traction and engagement around um the lawn. Maybe we really focus like we we have we heard from the community and we're going to focus a larger proportion of this community engagement event on the topics that we heard about us. So even before the thought exchange, could we do some kind
047of survey to get feedback on why people voted no >> that so we know are they willing to pass a bond and they just think we went too high. I heard a lot of uh critique of the flagship gym. Um obviously just raising taxes in general as a critique. I I wonder I think that most of the people who voted no are not necessarily going to come to the thought exchange. So I wonder there's a different way to get feedback. >> I think we might want that on the agenda of the work session. So, if we have the thought exchange and maybe get a little bit of feedback and then we go to the work session and talk about what we'd like to put out a survey, what might we want on a survey, then
048we could look at trying to get a survey out prior to potentially convening the CBACK in January where we can look at that feedback. The issue is, and this is where we might need more than the school district's involvement because my reach is parents and we can put a survey out, but it's going on our website and it's going on our Facebook page. Where we're not putting it is the Athena community citizens page. So it I think at the work session we could also talk about maybe the board's role in reaching its own constituents outside of people who are directly connected to the district right now. And so should those surveys be in post offices? Should board members be talking to people they know voted no and asked handing them a survey? how to get
049the survey out to the 590 people that voted no that are not necessarily district parents. And I think that was a gap for us. It's just reaching beyond people who have kids in school or grandkids in the school. So on a work session, we want to talk about just feasibility of a May election. probably the schedule to get there. >> Yeah. I would also encourage us not to put out a survey until we know we've gotten the OS grant. I don't want to do a bunch of engagement until we know we should move. And I don't think we lose that much by waiting until January to start asking for some of that feedback the same time CBAC gets together because even if we convene the C back in January, we're going to want some sort
050of mini feedback period, which I think Natalie is where that then would come into play. How are we going to get a little bit of feedback to know if we want to make this final decision? If I may, I think, you know, I know at the public meeting that we had, theformational meeting we had at the high school, I know that Tim and I both had a couple community members come up to us and specific kind of the overall like you're not engaging with those sort of who aren't on social media or aren't in the schools was sort of the challenge to us, which I think we acknowledged, right, that we're struggling to find those that maybe would have gotten used through print media and which doesn't exist really anymore. So maybe part of the
051conversation on the night of the fourth is also like what what aren't we thinking of you know where are we not help us kind of find that path be better engaged with those constituents for like that we're not including this now that had been sort of thrown at us for like prescription like you guys aren't doing a good job going out and finding those people who aren't on social media or don't have kids paraphrasing which I agree I like certainly. So anyway, maybe that's a question. Sorry. >> No, I I thought about that too. And is that something that um you know Ethan Ethan contacted the church? >> Oh, yeah. >> Ethan. Yes. if could he help us um reach folks that way or even um the folks at the city, you know, both cities,
052could they help us find um I know we heard that Paul lady took his sign to doubts that he seemed to have um although supportive of the board of of the bond, but he seemed to have his finger on sort of feeling in a in a particular group and I don't know, but maybe reaching out to him or others to see how we reach those pockets. >> So for a work session after the board meeting on the 8th, we would just talk about the feasibility of a May election just in some general terms. We could look at those projects and see what what well I guess really this feedback would >> I think maybe I certainly think from the board's lens having some visibility to what does the continuation rate look like for like$139 I'll
053just use again just using for the sake of easy map $139 in five years that you x amount of dollars or if you were able to match the Austin grant I'll just use say 5 million, 5 million, you got 10 million bucks. I would, you know, what theoretically would fall into that. What could we buy for for that perceived value? Uh so I think at least the board has some awareness of what that looks like. And then I think going for the Cback and sort of like looking for some guidance and then I think the board has some insight into what the budget could be. uh the CBAC has some visibility and recommendation you know then I think when it comes then as it moves back to the board then I think the board is
054in a decision- making do we retain the continuation bond do we sort of aim just above like I think it lets the board have a more informed decision-m process about do we just play it safe and go for the continuation bond which generates this X uh or do we want to you know if we ask for a $150 it'll give you why so I think that helps work just to making the same decision about how to best proceed with the two. Yeah, I mean from my perspective I would like to have the numbers for that meeting on tape so that we can know what that looks like and then I don't see any reason why we can't direct the CBA to say like we're >> what can you do? >> Here are the financial options
055we're considering and this is like this is our most likely path. tell us what projects you think should be done, you know, with that money. >> Yeah. >> Is this better? >> Yeah. And help directionalize it. >> Um, so, >> and I I'm working right now to set up a phone call with Cassie Hibbert and I will get these numbers from Piper Sandler, just have them rerun some current numbers on what a$139 would generate like over five, six, seven years. Um and then so we can talk about kind of the economics of it and engagement and feedback strategy in order to make a quick turnaround on a potential May election >> which may be more related. I can't remember if the Austin grant you could apply for and uh and receive monies I think it's
056every six years. So that may help craft the hyper [clears throat] salmon request is if the awesome grant is you can only receive monies every six years then maybe we have to ensure that >> I think term bond needs to be matched up with the awesome grant >> it needs to be no less than the awesome grant. >> Exactly. So that way if we have a bond sun setting we can still swing for the awesome grant. Okay. So, it's not if if it's six years, it's not worth looking at five years because I don't I think we should take a bond out six. >> I would think that would get us. >> I will check on that. Let's see if I just happen to have it here. >> So, I think they would have updated
057the assessment the assessed values current data from count. So, that might help give us a little bit further on patch. I will say there's still a lot of confusion around the difference between market value and assessed value. I got an email from a constituent who told me what they were going to pay in taxes and it showed a screenshot of their market their real market value and not their assessed value. >> They were also adding the pole amount on top of the current bond rather than >> taking into account that that bond was not going to be in effect anymore. Yeah, there's a lot of confusion there. >> It would certainly be a simpler message if we could generate a project without raising anyone. You know, if we just say your taxes won't be raised,
058just keep in the current tax rate and we can do this. You don't even have to get into all that. It would be a much cleaner message right now. >> Yeah. Well, the two school laws passed election rule continuations and the two that failed were increases. So, I think what Legos Lego And was it was the other one that not make comparisons with the certainly not it was a $250 million bond to pass and I guess we go 70 plus%. Yes. So >> yeah I thought and made a good point over the weekend. I mean if the Austin grant was $50 million our community could never support a match with that. It doesn't really matter how [clears throat] >> much it is. That'd be necessary. >> It's a multiplier. We're still very limited. We're at
059a two there. It was a 3 to one or 5 to one. We [clears throat] could get a lot done. >> All right. Just to recap, so I'm sure I have everything. We are going to do a work session after the December 8th board meeting. At the December 4th thought exchange, we are shifting the agenda to include a discussion about the bond and information around testing and we will keep the lifelong learning cornerstone. the work session. I will have the numbers uh around what a $139 per thousand would generate over a minimum of when we could apply for an awesome grant. Again, we're thinking six years. So maybe like a sixyear or sevenyear number. And so then the board would kind of set some parameters around selecting a project that might fit within that if
060we got a matching grant and some general engagement and survey strategies, feedback strategies, and then a timeline to re-engage the CBACK if we want to look at a May election. Am I missing anything on that agenda? One quick point to note and I think it's good for us right the long term is seven years which is say we're successful I mean you still have roughly twoish years before you even complete the project right by the time you get your design partner hired get the work you know bid out and under construction so I mean following that along right like we would have two yearsish for completion so really that would just give us a couple years I think to really demonstrate to the public look at this you know here's a new uh facility maybe
061with the intent kind of come right out of that and just start kind of getting the public in there and kind of promoting something new. So I think I'd be I'd be supporting that. >> Okay. So I think we covered the community engagement calendar there as well. >> OSBA to recap. Tim and Marty and I went to the OSBA conference and just wanted to give [laughter] uh for those who haven't ever been, it's uh a great experience. It's good to be in a room with school board members from across the state. Um, seeing the different problems that people are facing. Um, keynote speakers usually really good, someone inspiring, reminds me why you do this thing that isn't always the most fun. um or yeah uh and I think the session that stood out to the
062most as uh interesting was the Senate Bill 141 discussion with OD. It's the new accountability bill talking about the new accountability metrics that are going to be pushed down and what the district is going to have to do to comply with those new requirements. Um it was good to realize that we don't it's going to be additional work but I don't think it's going to pretty much lift to make it happen. It will require board action to adopt the metrics but >> they'll OD will have seven the five common metrics we already looked at on the school report card. four year graduation rate, five year complet rate, attendance, third grade reading, and >> it's like 368 I think if I remember right the grades that they look at for reading and math and >> they're
063adding eighth grade math and >> something else. I should know this off the top of my head, but I don't yet. And then we have to select one more. We're likely to select CTE completion program leaders CTE since that's a big focus for our district. And then we are required to give an internal um assessment that we need to discuss with the board three times a year. We pretty much already do that. We give by ready. that's on the approved list and we already discuss it with you one to two times a year. We would just need to be sure that we go over those three times a year, but we give the diagnostic three times a year. So that would not be hard to do, but there's a lot of discussion around like that.
064>> But we're in a much better position than some districts are not using an approved assessment already. So they're going to have to retool and move to a new product potentially later. But again, OD is going to work with us to set growth targets, which always excites just what they >> Yeah, it's just they're used to setting those growth targets with much larger districts and then when you're talking about 30 kids in eighth grade, it's a different experience. But I did remind them of that. Um, just about got somebody's ear. Just always try to remind them that it's different when you're talking to small how you develop data. >> They are still in rule making and the state board of education has to adopt the rules in December, which I guess is not that far
065away obviously, but so some of this is still in talk. So they're lining things still. So we'll begin setting growth targets in the spring mute. >> Um I don't think so. I think it's always valuable. I thought it was um for those of you that are have been before, it felt um a little um smaller than it's been in the past. the small schools breakfast was notably it seemed um empty in there really um compared to what I have remembered in the past. Um it was nice to see the representation of Kelly um and George from the east side of the state. Um so that was nice um and learn a little bit um particularly from Hill School District about what their board does in terms of advocacy and engagement the community. And I think
066we have um an opportunity to maybe learn from what they're doing um in terms of how they're um a little bit maybe more visible in a board role in their community. I think we do a really good job of being I know I have to speak myself. I feel like I'm at a lot of things, but I don't necessarily um put myself out there as a board member at all the things I'm at. And I think they um I think there's things to learn from that. Thanks. Anything else? >> Everything. >> Just appreciate opportunity [clears throat] to go and spend some time just thinking about things I don't get time to think about in my day-to-day job and and just being able to talk with board members in that environment. I always appreciate that. I
067do just one other thing. I did sit through um a board um a budgeting fiscal session and I was very appreciative of Paula and him and and some of the questions that other people were asking. I was like, "Oh boy, [laughter] we're very um you guys both did a really good job in that area. I feel like as board members, we're very educated and aware. Um and there's um other districts that aren't as fortunate." So, We have business items. Five personnel. >> So you have some personnel items here in the packet. So we uh have hired Alli Rhonda as the middle school secretary replacing Laura who is replacing Paula. That's classified information only. She is currently a pair professional at Wesson Middle School and we think that will be an outstanding fit. Extra duty hires
068John Sergeant, middle school wrestling coach, and Travis Johnson, middle school boys basketball coach. And then we have a certified one-year retired rehire contract resignation that is Craig Taylor at the elementary school. He had been job sharing with Kayla Shear and Kayla Shear information only um will move from part-time to full-time to finish out this school year but she is already board approved in the role of first grade teacher. >> Thank you a motion move to approve personnel report as presented. Next morning. Do I have a second? I believe any discussion. Just sorry to hear Mr. Taylor having smell issues. So agreed. Uh I have a motion to approve. All in favor? I >> opposed passes. On to action items. 61. Youthline grants. >> So once again, we have received a Youthline grant uh which is
069around suicide prevention for $1,750. The bulk of this is being used to support our mental health awareness day next week and Mrs. Hixenba has successfully applied for that several years now and been awarded and we have put that to good use. >> Thank you. motion. >> Mr. Chair, I believe we I move we accept the grant for youth line in the amount of 1715 any discussion say for myself. I appreciate that Simba continues to apply for this and obviously suicide prevention is very important. What else? Uh, have a motion to approve. All in favor? I >> oppose. Carries. 6.2. OSBA election. >> You have information in your packet about the gorge region OSBA board um election. There are two regional representatives for the board of directors for the gorge region, Nicole Shaw and Paul Zastro,
070and then one regional representative for legislative policy committee, Jose Eparicio. Motion, Mr. Chair, I'd like to move to castina Westmin School District's vote for Nicole Shot for the board of director for the growth region and Jose have a second. >> Uh motion a second. Any discussion? I may. So I uh I know both Nicole and Paul. Paul actually ran and I held that seat. He ran against me on several occasions. So I do happen to know Paul serves on the uh ESD board. Uh but Nicole serves on Condan School District. Actually, to be candid, I recruited her to serve on the OSBA board on behalf of the rural advisory uh committee at the time and she's since uh since the rural adviser, became an actual caucus. Uh she served as president there. So, Nicole's passionate.
071I love her passion for the work. She has kids in the region uh very supportive of small schools, born raised in Condan. So, uh really supported that. Joseio, he actually served on the legislative policy committee prior uh when I was on the list board of directors. the sake disclosure. He and I are work colleagues. Um his father-in-law is also Doug Nelson who was the longtime uh OSBA board representative and served as a high district ESD uh superintendent. So I think I discussion motion and a second. Um all in favor I any oppose carries >> I will if you would like I will do the ballot so it can be taken care of >> that would be wonderful. Thank you. >> Moving on to item 6.3 bus purchase. Do I have a motion? I move to
072approve the purchase of the 2026 Bluebird 78 passenger diesel rear engine with air conditioning in the amount of 223,166,000 >> incredibly specific uh do have a second >> any discussion any other questions >> I just very much appreciate uh Tom's effort and kind of I thought the the board packet was well informed and for provided us a lot of options. So appreciate due diligence on that. >> I can tell a lot of thought went into this. It wasn't just that that one looks good. [laughter] >> Absolutely. >> All right. Uh motion to adopt. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Moving on to overnight trips. >> We have uh few winter overnight trips here. So, wrestling tournaments um December 12th to 13th at Culver, January 2nd to 3rd in Joseph. Potential district tournament February
07320th to 21st location to be determined. Potential state February 26th through 28th in Portland. And then we have potential high school girls basketball state first round February 27th to 28th location to be determined and same for uh boys but that would be February 26th to 27th. >> Thank you motion. Mr. Mr. Chair, move to approve overnight trips to do a second. >> Any discussion? I have a motion to approve. All favors cars. Hopefully, we get to go to all those things. >> All right. Do I have a motion to review distribution? Mr. Chair, move to approve distribution says you have a second any discussion. >> I do want to point one thing out first. [laughter] >> At the end of your packet, you're working on how we present the cafeteria monthly report. So you'll see
074it look a little different. We're trying to set it up to look more like the the general fund report where we can more predict revenue and ending fund balance. However, that is a work in progress this year. So I don't want the board to read too much into it. We're reviewing it, but you're going to see that look different. We're just attempting to get that fund in balance and we're trying to figure out the best way to look at the numbers to do that. So that will start to look a little bit different as we work through that this year. >> For the sake of full disclosure, uh when I was reviewing my report packet this week and I went to the end and I was really confused confused when balance and I'm like report
075dummy. So >> So when it says cafeteria, [laughter] thank you for that. That would be a big issue. >> Like, holy cow. [laughter] >> Oh, >> we have two employees in the >> man. Something's going on. >> We're also checking in. Ann and Karen and I are sitting down and having a meeting and we're checking in and trying to really look at the meals and how many days are on the calendar and how we can plan and and Karen's got I mean, she was rattling off numbers about this meal cost this and this meal cost that. I mean, so she's put a lot of time and effort into it and so we're we I thought our meeting was very successful and we you know we were like okay this is a big month let's do
076this and this is a shorter month and so then this report has been tweaked according to that to try one and the unfortunately the report is I have to report the money that was received so which Karen yells at me every time because we have money sitting there but it hasn't been deposited yet you know for that month so it's a month behind It's not like state school fund comes in in the month of November and we use it. It's we have the meals and then we get paid the next month and she's like it's not fair. Like we know it's coming. It's just how it's reported. So >> and then keep in mind too we're overbudgeting there. There's no ending fund balance. So when you compare kind of the projection to the budget, the
077budget has to hold a larger potential amount because we're unsure how much we're taking in. And so if you don't have enough budgeted, then if we take in more than that, you have to do the reconciliation. So this is just a work in progress. It's just a different way of looking at it more to help us internally right now. I look forward to seeing Republic. Any other discussion? Uh have a motion to approve distributions. All in favor? >> I [clears throat] motion carries. Uh board of education will go first. Um well I too was disappointed by the election the bond election results to say it has not even been said. Um I do think we have a great school district [snorts] exceptionally low and less so I'm obviously my kids go to school here. I
078went to school here. So, I'm disappointed, but I'm I'm not deterred together plan and we'll keep doing what we've always done, which is the best we can for the kids. So, >> thanks. >> Uh, I just want to give a shout out to the after school program as someone who's been taking advantage of that. Not only is it an extremely affordable afterchool care option for our district, but they've really been going above and beyond with all the activities that they're providing. They are not just sitting there doing nothing all day. They're doing projects and crafts and flying kites and playing bingo. It's like my son is bummed every day when I pick up and play. So, um, huge huge kudos to them for that, for putting it together so quickly. And I just really hope
079that is something that we're able to continue um for all parents moving forward in the district. >> Great. >> Um I just want to say thank you again for the opportunity to do a conference. Um it's always helpful. Um and then I just want to echo what Cl said. I think um [clears throat] it's easy to get discouraged. Um, but I don't certainly don't want our administration or our teachers um to at all feel that the the fact the bond didn't pass that they don't have the support of the us certainly and of the community because they do uh again I'm just going to tiger Scott Trump once every week and I think everybody should come spend a little time at the junior high and see what really happens and what it's really like because
080the work that um is done across the district and these buildings really is pretty remarkable. So uh similar my my head has been very uh much sort of looking back over my shoulder at the bottom component of it and I just think comments tonight uh as well as my peers thus far have been very much in line with my office. So looking forward to kind of some ongoing conversation and taken another run. Scott, Kristen, >> I think that uh you know, one of the things that we talked about during this bond campaign was the state of our facilities. And it is true that we need new facilities, but I also think that I want to be really clear that our facilities team takes incredible care of our facilities and uh constantly making improvements and maintaining
081the things that we have. So, I also hope that in all the conversations that were happening that they were not discouraged. And along those lines, I am one of the crazy people who like to use the track at 5:00 in the morning. And those track lights are such an improvement. I love it so much. So, thank you to the facilities team for that. >> You can see them behind you. >> Uh, yeah. I guess I just echo fellow board members comments and say that I do not think that the bond failing is any in any way a reflection of our staff uh our teachers or our district's ability to educate students or the employees of this district do every day. Um I think there are a lot of externalities that uh came into play here
082[clears throat] and I would also say I think we had excellent engagement. Uh I was reelected with 480 votes 483. We had over was it,50 people vote. So we had nearly well what was that almost two and a half times the voter turnout that we had in uh the election in May. So I think we did manage [clears throat] to engage with people the word got out and I think now is the time to follow along with that and keep the conversation moving. Hopefully we can get the awesome grant and make more progress. With that, I'll join the meeting. [clears throat]