001call this meeting to order at 5:30. Let's start with a pledge of allegiance to the flag United States of America to the republic which stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justify. >> Do we have any additions, deletions or changes to the agenda? >> We actually do have some deletions. >> Uh if you can look in your agendas, we will be removing item 8.2. 2 and item 9.3 which were related to a potential bleacher donation to a nonprofit. Okay, they have changed their mind. So they no longer want our bleachers. >> Well, okay then. Then they need to >> um do you need a motion for that? >> No change. I don't think so. Okay. >> Reason why? >> Uh no, I I don't know. I mean, they came up last week and actually
002look at the bleachers. Um, but my guess is, you know, if you're going to put in bleachers, you want to make sure they're ADA and safe. So, they probably have decides they don't want that liability. So, >> for the same reason that they're not going to be in our gym anymore, they >> Yeah. So, >> answer >> makes good sense. So, >> on the other >> any public comment? No, >> I have not received any public comment. We do have a guest in the audience, but he will be uh answering any board questions at a later time. >> Perfect. All right, moving on to session five, consent agenda. Anybody have any discussion on it? >> No. >> Okay, >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> Do we have a second? >> I'll second the
003motion. on there. >> One item on the consent is just the having some staff changes. Uh Caitlyn Lloyd will be resigning at the end of the year, moving to Arizona with their soon tobe husband. Hate to leave Caitlyn, but you know, new adventures as a as a young couple. And then we have our two family leaves with Mr. Pickman and then again Miss Klene. Miss Klein's going to look for a leave, excuse me, for part of her FTE for next year where Mr. Hickman will use his uh his family leave at the end of this year and be back full-time next year. So, >> the end of 2026 or the end of the school year to >> for Pman school year. >> Yeah, end of school year. Then he'll be back next year full-time as
004as usual. kind of having the summer to >> he's gonna have a baby. >> There is another one, but I haven't received her official documentation, so I didn't put it on the >> Yeah, Miss Miss Alen Ball is also going to be a short timer with this. Good for her, though. >> Got the postings going out to the peeps. >> Postings are out, right? Um, additional reports. Erin, you want to do superintendent? >> Absolutely. Um enrollment wise uh from February to March a little bit of a turnover. We lost a family of four uh due to housing. Couldn't find appropriate housing. So lost that family. We had one student who went back to a homeschool environment and then we gained a student. So overall a net loss of of of four four in our FTE
005which uh every every student matters here. So hate to see it but again not anything that we did as a district but um just due to the circumstances of the family. So kind of see our ongoing total. Uh we did receive word this week that we might be receiving another kindergarten starting next week. So, uh, we might be bumping that back up to to 82, but we also received word that another student is leaving due to a change in, uh, that student's family situation, family life. So, um, we have tonight Mr. Grant Hewitt from Open Ed with us tonight. U, he is going to at a later time when we look at the, uh, AL policies answer any questions that the board may have. Uh, but I'm really excited about our partnership. We will be
006Are we going to be the 12th state or the eighth state? I can't remember. >> Be the 12th. >> So, we'll be the 12th state um that is working with uh with open ed. And like I said, every student that joins open ed is an eastn student statewide. So, we we love to see that. um legislation or the legislature ended on March 12th and it was I would say a I don't want to say catastrophic but a pretty terrible year for K12. Um over $90 million in reductions. Most of those reductions took place in transition uh kindergarten. It's not a program we have. The second one was in bus appreciation. they have extended basically the time you get paid back for buses a couple years. Um really just kind of a shell game of money.
007Um and then the last one was levy equalization which we don't get either. So not a lot of dramatic impact for us but um if you're not funding K12 education, it impacts all of us. So I added this little graph of what uh our legislature has done over the last few years. You can see the McCclary decision was right about here. So they ramped up the funding but over the course of the last half dozen years everything keeps dropping and dropping where the requirements keep adding and adding. I was just informed by our nurse that we now have to do um is it bleeding training. Um we have to do like bloodborne pathogen training but now we have to be taught how to do tourniquets. New state law that was passed I think last year.
008So, more unfunded mandates. So, I don't want to get too grumpy, but >> this doesn't just fall under first aid training. >> No, it's specific. I can't remember. They bleed through training or something. So, >> because that happens regularly at a school. >> Uh, you've been doing this. >> I was about to say >> I've been doing this 34 years now. And >> you've you've never needed to put a tourniquet on a >> needed to put band-aids on kids and that's about it, >> you know. >> Or you call 911, so I'm not sure how we are being broke into issue. >> Absolutely. >> I've been an EMT for six years and never put a tourniquet on. >> Okay. Thank you. >> It It's just Yeah. >> Okay. >> Bizarre. Now, on some happy note
009with the legislative session, we did receive our allocation of $6 million for our improvement grant. So after four years, we finally got it. Um Thorp also received one uh locally, but I think over this the state I think there were 12 schools that received it. So I'm very happy to see that that's happening. And you know, it's kind of a cycle. So I've already contacted Mckinstry uh to start up a planning grant for next time. So we'll kind of keep this cycle of, you know, getting the money and then planning grant. So it's usually about a three or four year cycle. Well, maybe longer now with the legislature doing what they're doing, but um so the money's here and uh we'll start work uh next year. So, great news for that. Also, just an update
010on our bleachers. Here's kind of our final uh what they'll look like. Nice jag head and yeast and jaguars. And again, those will be installed in the uh in the summer, probably closer to late July, early August or October. August, I'm sorry. >> Beautiful. Right when it's nice and hot in there. >> Right when it's nice and hot in there, we'll have a nice new hopefully a nice new floor and some new bleachers. >> Anybody got any questions for Eric? >> No. uh Ox Park. >> Um Jeff is actually on a field trip with our fourth and fifth graders. He drove over there and serving as chaperon and he's busy on his chaperone duties and could call in. So I'll try to be uh Jeff I'll be a little short. >> I'll be a little
011bit quicker than >> I'd like to point out when I saw that it was one page I was like this is this is like a new record and it is still thorough. >> IT IS VERY DETAILED. >> Still thorough. Um last couple days we've had uh Camt here on campus. Um they're putting in our new access control system right in the uh custodial closet behind us there. Uh he's been like I said working two days straight and we're really close to having it all up and running and we'll have that done and hand out new cards and kind of a new hierarchy of access for everybody to get in in the building and on campus. Um Jeff has been working on kind of behind the scenes things with uh the gym floor. If the board
012approves that. So u if the uh if the vote is a positive one, we we're ready to start on Monday with the asbestous abatement kind of was set up for the first week. We uh have installed the scoreboard. um going to do some electrical work so we can plug in a generator to it to as needed and obviously fill out some some low spots out there that we'll we'll work on once it dries up a bit and couple things in transportation bus fender flare and a little bit of smoking and burning oil in the transit van. Uh I didn't get an update on the transit van. He took it in last week. Um but I haven't got an update since he's been out of town. So kind of a quick report. The past doesn't have
013a bus this week. So, >> because we have a driver who hurt herself and is now not able to drive for a while. Yeah. >> Is there any chance that like families can get reimbursed for some of the funds for fuel for driving? It's >> No, it's not. Can't give the public funds. Is there any way we could reverse engineer like parking the van a van up at the pass so that somebody up there could drive it to the school and bring it in and bring >> can't have a non-emp employee drive it. >> There was an employee though. >> Uh possibly. Yeah, when Jeff gets back we there are some things we can look at. Yeah, it's a temporary anal pain. Um but yeah, >> like how temporary deviate because we have a couple
014people getting CDL. you have April though >> that's that's in the in the process too. Um yeah, with with Jeff out and things scheduled and and >> it's just it's really tough on top of all of the transportation for sports too additional, it's just really really hurting our bottom line, the families of their >> understand. Um not much I can do. I wish we had more drivers. I wish we had more buses and I wish gas was a dollar. >> I wish those weren't the only solutions though, too. like what else can we do to limit our um need on to rely on the bus to get the pass kids off because there aren't that many. So, it's not like we need a huge bus. >> No. No, we don't. >> All right. Um, anybody
015else have any comment on ops report, >> board member report? Anybody got anything? Yes, I wanted to talk more about um housing. Uh we've had some families that are up at the pass who are longtime homeowners and they're really trying to either get full-time families into their homes >> or sell their houses. You know, most likely they're going to get turned into vacation rentals or, you know, like somebody's secondary part-time home. We get a lot of that turned over. Um, so for the families who are having trouble finding homes, are those realistic options for them? Because we'd probably need to move on these two houses soon to be able to um, you know, not have them sold in the meantime. >> All I can do is add >> one of the homes is at Silver,
016but there's another one at Hayak. Yeah, I think a lot of that is it's more so connecting those people with our families here that if there is a if there is somebody who's looking to create a rental then figure out a way to post that whether it's in the east and Facebook group parent group or something like that might not be a bad call because otherwise I can't see I I don't know how the school can facilitate that. I think it's more of a private thing. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't necessarily mean that the school needs to facilitate it. It's just like is that a solution that's going to work for some of these families and should we try to you know make that happen through the Facebook pages and stuff or whatever but
017um you know mostly through I because those are people who are longtime friends of mine in both cases for these homes and um you know they're definitely very interested in selling but they're really looking for long longer term rentals who are going to be there for a few years. Uh, so I mean with with school, maybe that's only going to work for kids for like a school year or not. But >> yeah, >> from what you're hearing from these families, is that an option for them? Like would they be willing to go to the pass >> or >> I think all of it is economics, >> you know? I I don't know the I'm guessing the rental costs up there are probably higher than maybe the rental costs down in in I guess. I don't
018know. probably you're probably pretty darn close rental wise on what it costs up at the pass versus what it costs down in town. Okay. >> But the problem with it is is that you at the pass unless you are >> cool with driving and if you like if you work in on the west side >> it gets you closer to the west side which is great but the trade-off is is that you're >> you're at the top of the pass. There's not as many services up there. So that's where >> which is good too. >> It's good and bad. Yeah. I mean, it's it's again, it's a double-edged sword on that type of thing. Um, I don't I mean, yes, if you have a higher end house up there, obviously the rent cost is going
019to be higher, but if you're looking at apples to apples on like condition and type, they're probably pretty darn close. Um, but I think you're more looking at where to where do the parents of these students work? >> At what did I see? $4.95 at Safeway for gas today and diesel was over $6. That's a hard pill to swallow. >> So, yeah, the state. >> Yep. >> So, >> yep. Anybody else on board? We also have e-cars too that people use at the past. There's been so many uh with the summit being open the last few weekends and I would say at least half the cars are electric cars coming up. >> Teslas and whatnot. Yeah. Those are families that we could recruit into. Um, you know, to people who can >> be up there.
020>> Perfect. All right, moving on to section seven by Nage. >> These reports are as of February, which puts us 50% of the way through the year. So, having cash up $899,000. Um, the orange line there is our minimum fund balance policy. And the red dots there are our three-year average. And this is our budget status report also as of February with our um ending fund balance at $912,000 which puts us at a 23% ending fund balance. And our capital projects fund has an ending balance of $471,000. That service didn't have any new activity. ASB has an ending fund balance of 42,158. And our transportation vehicle fund has an ending fund balance of $129,600. >> Beautiful. >> Anything out of the ordinary this month? >> Nope. Just trending pretty in the middle of the year.
021So, we've got to January. We caught up all of our actuals to um budget gearing up for um budget now since the legislative session is over. We're just waiting for some final um benefit numbers and things like that and we'll start digging into next year's budget. >> It's my favorite when your reports aren't this easy. >> You're like, "Yeah, THERE'S NOTHING." YOU KNOW, EVERYTHING'S TRENDING GREAT. PERFECT. We love this. Let's just keep going. We like it when there's no surpris get a call from me if I have any concerns first. >> Okay. Any questions for >> So when will we get the 6 million and where is that issue? >> So it's um a reimburseable grant. Okay. So it's usually um in another district that I have that had it. It's um it's a two
022years. So I think we have it for two years and once we start invoicing the grant we'll start getting reimbursements for it >> I guess. >> So yeah. So as soon as we get an invoice for like Mckin Street or whoever we're using that's when we'll start getting it. We have to spend the funds first. >> Okay. So we'll start seeing the spending here. >> Yeah. Once we start receiving invoices or actually starting the conversations with whatever vendors and contractors we want to use. Yes. So as soon as we start seeing invoices, we'll start seeing the flow of um the expenditure sitting in the capital projects fund. >> Anybody else? Okay, going on to board discussion. 8.1 flooring and asbestous abatement. I'm going to take a guess and say Aaron's going through this. >> I
023will. So yeah, you'll see there's nine uh attachments there. Um I think we have four four or five for the asbestous abatement and then four for uh hardwood floor for the gym and one is a combined uh quote but you can see the the costs of each of the bids. Um it would be my recommendation that we use uh let's see advanced uh asbestous abatement and then Gford Industries for our gym floor and sleeve replacement for volleyball and pickle ball. And then you can see each of the quotes there of there. They certainly have a little bit of a variety. Um you can tell the companies that really didn't want to want to work with us. >> Um $1 million. >> The the the one I would like to pay attention have the board pay
024attention to is Gford Industries quote versus the one for Sound Hardwoods. Yes, Sound Hardwoods is a a lower quote, but it doesn't include the movement of the basketball hoops nor the uh replacement sleeves. So, when you put them both together, it's kind of apples to apples. And if we went with sound hardwood, then we'd have to have another contractor and and just another layer of >> and then Gford and advanced is who we discussed at the last correct all pretty much on board with that. >> But now you can see the actual costs and dollar to dollar and >> um that would be my recommendation and that's kind of where uh since our last board meeting that Jeff has been put in his time. So, u this again was just a discussion to look at
025it those quotes to make sure the board feels comfortable in doing that. And then 8.2 uh we remove from the agenda >> because they don't want our pictures. >> I thought it would be it'd be a nice thing. Uh >> something tells me that we'll surplus those and somebody's going to want them. >> We will we will definitely surplus all of that beautiful wood that's on those bleachers. >> Yeah. >> Or send it to the send it to the wood shop and let the kids do something. Well, I think we'll probably do a combination of the two. >> I'm sure they'll have something to do with it. >> Um, are you looking for a vote on those? >> I not at this point. That's That'll be in uh board business. This was justformational. So, the
026board had time to look at all the quotes and make sure we're all on on the same page. >> Okie dokie. Have any questions or discussion on this? >> Hearing none, we removed 8.2. 2. So we have now moved on to board business. We have 9.1. We've got open ed. >> Yes, we have Mr. Grant Huitt here in the audience. And what I'd like to call the attention of the board is uh policy 2255. This will be the first reading of a modified AL policy, alternative learning experience policy, very similar to one we have, but has been kind of drafted by open ed for on our behalf and uh will then kind of lead us into working with them in the future. So, I also included some of the uh previous documentation that I gave
027the board last year with from open ed about uh kind of what they do and how they work. And Grant is here to answer any of the board's questions or concerns. And um and we have submitted our enrollment packet to open ed and they are kind of digitizing that now and kind of making it work for both their system and our system. And again, >> maybe I'll let Grant what you know, you know, you're the expert in open ed. I'm not go ahead. >> Um, so what the board's looking at tonight as the first reading of the policies that are required to be able to operate this partnership that we entered into. So, uh, it's an alternative learning uh, program under the Washington statutes. Um, this allows us to have a really home-based education with
028a guide on the side educators who are working alongside these families at home versus uh an in-person experience. There's also this idea of an online learning experience in Washington. Uh, this the alternative learning environment gives you more flexibility and so that's why we have gone down that pathway is to meet families where they are. Um the process we're in right now uh is we have gotten uh what it takes to become an Eastn School uh member. We're digitizing that. Um we have kind of three levels of our um what I would call enrollment flow. So we have an interest idea of people who are interested. I want to learn more. This this rate of conversion on this is very very low. families who apply and we call an application being someone who gives us uh
029information about their child. So as soon as they're like I have a fifth grader or sixth grader their name is that essentially creates a login for them in our platform and then we start accepting enrollment dollars. After this meeting and the first reading, uh we will move into opening up in the next probably 5 to 10 days that umation phase where we start to collect student names uh and to be prepared for your acceptance of these documents in the April meeting and then we would um open up our enrollment flow from the April meeting to start gathering actual full enrollments in the program. Um we think right now our interest form level is about 125 uh students who are interested in the in the program. We normally close 60% of those. Um so we're really
030excited about that where that is and that really is 100% right now word of mouth. All we have done is told our current families, the 17,000 we serve outside of Washington that we're coming Washington and that got us 120omeish folks who automatically signed in. So, as soon as we open up that application phase, uh, over the next 10 days, we will start putting Facebook messaging out there and start in going into these communities and have these conversations, which will drive that number higher. So, we're really excited. We're excited to be here. We're excited to be in Washington. It's very hard for families to do home education in Washington. The state does not make it easy. and uh we're excited to bring what we consider our our real value ad is is helping bridge what they
031want to do and what they can do with public education. So we're we're really excited about the partnership. I know it's been a year, it's been a long time. We're now to the point where it's time to time to hit the road. So Erin's been a pleasure to work with. >> Yes, we all agree. >> We like him. >> Thank you. Thank you, Grant. >> And his support of the state's Department of Education. Yes. Don't Don't get me riled up. >> My team was like, "Don't talk about this part." >> No. Now, um we're starting with K8. >> That's correct. >> Yeah. We're not going into high school. >> Not going into high school. And and to be honest, high school might not be something we ever do. >> Yeah. >> Uh K8 is is
032our sweet spot. 77% of the families we serve across the country are in K8. Um when you look at innovative or alternative learning environments, the risk tolerance that parents have in K to8 is much higher than when you start talking about college and college attainment, secondary education. And so we find that that's where our sweet spot is. Uh and we will not have a problem reaching those families. >> And we're thinking 70 80 kids. >> I I would like to see us in the 70 to 80 range. I think um we will talk as we get closer and if you want to put a cap on it for the first year, we can have that conversation. Um right now we're sitting with 120. I think we close, you know, 60% of that. Um we'll get
033more interest as we start talking throughout the summer. Our enrollment window will close on July 13th. Um, and that then gives us enough time to QA all of the uh enrollment packets to make sure they're clean and what you all need. And that also gives us time because it's very important in these learning programs to have uh the teacher student kind of compact start to develop before school starts so they have a learning plan in place before day one. Uh, and so that gives us enough time to have those those conversations. So we will close and you will have a hard number on April on July 13th. Um but we'll start reporting to you that funnel flow uh probably late mid to midappril and then once we move to that enrollment flow we'll start reporting
034to you weekly. And what does that translate to for FDES for us roughly if it's >> so you don't from from a we pay the teachers we employ the teachers um this true partnership um and >> from your side the role of the district is to help enroll those students so it's a registar question uh and just your current capacity today to get students enrolled um you know that's the only FTE increase that you would have >> so and so the program was eighth Great. >> Great. >> Uh, do you have any data on re-entry into a traditional school? >> I can go I can go pull it. A lot of our families go back to a traditional homeschool environment. >> Okay. >> Um, or they go into a a uh just a different a
035different virtual education provider. We just find that our sweet spots in the K8 space, they're people who do high school really really well. Sure. Um, we do a lot of counseling of eighth graders who go out like what's next for you? And and the vast majority, I would say over 65% go back to homeschooling, >> okay, >> for what they're looking for. Now, what we do help them with as they make that transition back is um a lot of families start worrying about transcripting. So, how do you how do you transcript a homeschool experience for college? And we have a number of um different platforms that we help families kind of integrate with and discover to say look if you want to do it at home and and go you can do NCAA sports from
036home, you can do college from home. You can do it all. Here are the tools that are going to be helpful for you. Here are the free ones. Here are the paid ones. And we're happy to walk them through that to help them with the transition. >> Well, I appreciate that you don't just send them off into the wild for high school. >> We go help them get there to >> We We really do. Uh mainly because uh our families normally have multiple children at home and we have an eighth grader leaving. It doesn't mean I don't have a kindergartener coming up the coming up on the rear. Uh and and we have a 97% return rate. Our families are in and they stay in. So we're really excited about that. And they love to
037tell their friends. Um that's our number one marketing tool is just friend friend. >> Referrals are great. >> So you have live instructors. >> So we have both. We have asynchronous and live. Uh I would call it guide on the side versus stage on the stage. >> Okay. >> So we're not This isn't set you on Zoom and watch somebody the whole time, >> right? >> It's uh an educator who helps you pick your curriculum >> and then helps monitor your progress as you go down the curriculum. The real value ad that we have that almost no virtual program offers is what we call our community events. And so if you're a part of our community, you get to be involved in one clubs, uh, in-person, uh, field trips if we choose to, if we
038have enough kids that are interested. Um, and we have one-on-one tutoring and group tutoring sessions every day of the week. And so if you're struggling in any subject, we will put you may not be with your home room teacher, but we're going to put you with a licensed educator who's an expert in math or science or calculus and arrange either a one-on-one or in a group setting. And you can select that essentially from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. every day. >> Okay. >> So, but it is more and this program is designed this way. It is more self-driven. Um, the families we recruit will be very active families. >> A lot of times when you think about online education, you think about the bottom 10% of kids and like, you know, where are you shoving
039them in the corner and keeping them out of your out of your building? We are attracting the top level kids who want to move faster, who want to do alternative things. A lot of our kids open their own businesses. We support a lot of entrepreneurship. Um, you know, I actually just just had saw a kid who opened up a tennis racket um raceing business um that he was operating during the during the school year and into the summer. Um, and he's, you know, using our program as an opportunity to to fund that education and do what he's doing. >> And you guys partner with lots of online vendors. I know. >> So, we partner in a lot of curriculum vendors. So, it's one of the things that makes us different than everybody else is what
040we call our curricular marketplace, which allows you to select different vendors for different subjects. Versus oneizefits-all virtual education or distance education where you're selecting one provider for math, history, science, you may pick one provider for science and a different provider for uh English, but it's all overseen by one of our educators who is licensed in Washington for that trial. This is exciting. >> And we'll provide all of that, all the reporting requirements. Aaron will be like, I need a list of every teacher with a license. We will provide him with a a list of every teacher with a license. >> So, do we at the district report our enrollment or are you reporting our enrollment? >> You report the enrollment. >> We're reporting. So, they collecting from all >> and then I invoice you in
041nine monthly invoices. Sure. >> So, that's the other feature about the program is uh unlike many vendors, we do not ask for any upfront dollars. So, everything we've been putting into Washington thus far is 100% on us. If we don't find a kid, you don't pay us anything. We are taking all the risk that we can find kids. The other piece is that we only bill you for kids who are actively enrolled in the program. So every month we pull an activity and a report and we send it to our our school partners and say we we believe that these are the active kids they match your registar great we'll get paid for them in nine invoices over the course of the year. So if a kid drops between uh September and August they would
042be on the September invoice and not on the August. >> Exciting. >> Yeah. Are the families the families are paying you directly? >> No, it's 100% free for a family. >> Go ahead. >> They're a public school student. >> Yep. >> That's the real value. The real value. What we do is is target traditional homeschool families who are used to mix and matching curricular options. We say, "Look, we understand why you haven't picked anything else. It's because you're kind of locked into one sizefits-all. Take a look at our marketplace. You're going to be able to pick what you're already privately paying for. Uh it's like it's as you know aligned to Washington state standards go off and and thrive. The the real the real thing that a parent gives up from being a homeschooler to
043being in the program is is the testing piece. So they're going to have to take all the state assessments that are required under Washington. But it's that trade-off of do you want to do you want to keep paying for it out of pocket or do you want to do that and take the tests? And for a lot of families that trade-off's worth it. So, I just want to make sure that I'm like grasping this all in my own head. >> Okay. >> Let's go on a journey together in my head sometimes. Okay. >> Um, >> so we, let's call it 60 kids. We report that we have 60 kids um who are all in this program. You guys bill us. We're basically qualifying that we have these 60 kids. We pay you guys and everybody's
044happy. Hunky dory, >> right? And you keep a percentage of the money. >> Yes. Yeah. >> And that's that's our h Okay, perfect. Then my head IS WORKING FABULOUSLY TODAY and this is a great Tuesday for me to be here. >> Yeah. So that's exactly how it works. It's a we call it a partnership because we're taking some of the risk to say hey where can you go find these kids and you're taking some of the risk to say that the open ed is going to send us good enrollment packets that meet our needs. Um and I'll I have been a partnerships guy for a long time. Here's what I will I will tell you. The first year will have bumps. >> It will exist. Um, but we are here. And the reason I flew
045up from Vegas to Seattle to drive over here is because we will be here when the bumps come. It is 100% guaranteed that I bet the Department of Ed does an audit. We are totally ready for the audit. We've been researching other people's audits. We've been asking what did they fail at? How do they do it better? I actually just had a call as I was driving over here from Seattle with our our tech team and I was like, "Okay, so the audit packet is going to look like this and it's going to format like this." and they're like, "We're building it. We'll have a sample." And I'm like, "Great. That's great. But we know from previous audits, this is what the questions are." And so, we're really we're really preparing for it. We've taken
046a long time to be thoughtful about it. Um, we hired an attorney in who's licensed in Washington, happens to be moving to Idaho, but really smart guy. He's been helping us out, making sure we're ahead of the curve on it. Um, but I I expect if we double your enrollment, you're going to have somebody knocking on your door saying, "Hey, why do you have a double the number of kids you used to have?" It's just going to happen. Uh, but we're we're not the people who just leave you high and drive. We're going to be there helping you answer every question. I think Erin would say our team's been great to work with so far. >> Absolutely. Yeah. Very helpful. >> Yeah, I think it sounds great. I mean my daughter, she had done online
047for transitional periods in sixth grade and so and that was through Washington connection. >> Yep. >> And yeah, I mean she probably could have got the same education just going to the library. >> Yeah. >> So again, it was no personal touch to it, right? >> No, it's a it's a real set it and forget it kind of concept, >> right? >> Uh we require interactions every week between teacher and student and parent. Um we we treat our families in a 360 degree approach. We have a parent support team and a learning support team because we know that if one of those sides of the equation gets offkilter, it will affect the other side. So we're constant if we don't if we don't see parents responding to our communications, our learning team doubles down and
048puts our students in an at risk category to make sure that we know where they are. If we have a kid in that risk category, we're talking to mom and explaining why they're in the at risk category. Um, and it's really an impressive uh operation on on the learning side. It's a lot of lot of lot of Slack channels, a lot of lot of conversations, a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails. >> Yeah. >> Um, and we have staff who lives in Washington already who are super excited to have uh us coming to Washington. So, >> well, I'm looking at your guys' uh your partner providers that you guys work with. I'm like, "Oh, Alex, oh, that brings me back to college." Like, those are quality quality providers. Yeah, >> we're able to
049get them in lower cost because we work across multiple states. >> Yeah. >> They just have lots of lots of connections. >> I see. >> Yeah. >> So, every >> every student has the opportunity if they don't have the needed technology to um to purchase tech to get a computer through our marketplace. And so, we monitor and we require it to be updated like every three years. So, we set out the the requirements that your machine is going to need. Not every student needs one. Uh, so we don't force one down everybody's throat. We we say, "Here are the minimum requirements." And then our teams, our support team is working with the parents to make sure it meets the needs. >> Okay. It's nothing that we have to manage. >> N Chromebooks. No, we are
050uh we try we try to be the lowest uh lift possible for y'all uh because we know you're a small district and we appreciate that. Um we want you to be able to at the end of the day our partnership is about helping your brick and mortar kids. So how do you take the 20% that we're leaving at the on the table um and and use that to improve your library, to improve your your athletics, to repave something. Um, our districts have done everything from uh community playgrounds to new science labs to new science equipment. Um, the only thing I beg of you, and you're a business manager, so you get it. Please do not use this for reoccurring revenue. View it as one-time dollars because at any given time, someone could yank the rugged
051in front of you, and you don't want to have committed the dollars to something that's an ongoing expense. So, think of it as one time. What do I do special? And so so this partnership if I heard correctly so since we're partnering >> any any student in Washington state >> correct >> we can recruit statewide >> is enrolled through through >> through you guys. >> Okay. >> Do we have >> and we'll we'll we'll talk over the next couple of years. >> I like that idea. >> Um we'll we'll talk over the next couple of years about what the size you want to grow to as like to be to be honest not everybody wants every kid. Uh but then we would go and find a second partner. We'd we'd lean on Aaron and be
052like who you like to work with in the state because we like to have one program. So we want people who are doing the same stuff. Um but the story of growth in Oregon um we started with 20 families four five years ago now. We will end this school year with 2,800 families. >> Um and so it will grow very very quickly. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think that just in the way of education that number is going to gradually continue to grow. >> Our interest our interest is off the charts right now. And so some school districts like I want a thousand kids. So we had a district in Oregon who said I want,200 kids. Fine. I give him 1,200 kids. He finally came back. He said I want 5,000 kids. And I'm like great.
053His in-person population is only 800. >> Yeah. >> But he's now got 1,200 in his virtual program. Um, and and I don't know all of Washington's statutes, but you might want to pay attention because the moment your uh virtual number becomes higher than your regular number, how you treat kids across the norm becomes different. So in in Oregon, for example, if if you have more kids learning one particular way, that becomes the normal way, even though it's different than your brick and mort. And so you end up treating them differently. So certain notices you had to do no longer exist because the majority of your kids are in a special program. So you don't have to do these certain things. So um those are things we're always happy to help you find and look for.
054But how those numbers affect will also kind of change how you can administer your your brick and mortar kids as well. >> So that sounds like that'll be a problem probably next year. >> Yeah, like you said, it's a pos there will be bumps, but we'll we'll work through them. I do foresee us probably need some more clerical help in the district >> and we're working to make the clerical side easier and easier. It's just right now there is a lot of data manual data transfer. Um what is your SIS system? >> Skyward. >> Okay. Um so we we're always finding ways to try to help our partners alleviate that. But that is the to your point what's the one thing the only thing that we have ever seen districts need to add is clerical
055staff and um in some states they add counselors who just because they have a higher number of kids who may need need help >> because it look like our counselor was going to more right >> for next year. >> Hopefully we can find somebody else to fill in. >> Okay. Uh we also have a lot of contacts with virtual providers. So if you're ever like, "Hey, I who who can we talk to about a virtual counseling?" We probably know somebody who does that. >> Yeah. >> Do we have a contract length that we've committed to you guys yet? >> Your agreement, I could reread it. I'm going to guess it's a three-year. >> Okay. >> Uh that's kind of our standard. And then at the end of three years there's some um probably not an
056auto renew but I prefer you take another thing and then it extends I think year over year from that point forward. >> I was curious just >> no no >> three years. >> Yeah it's a three and then the first the the other the only rule on if you're terminating we're not going to talk about that is um you have to make that decision by January 15th. >> Okay. because the way students enroll, we don't want kids to be enrolling if we're in. >> So, >> cool. >> Not that I see that as an issue, but >> no, my guess is every, you know, around Thanksgiving uh in that third year, we'll talk about the renewal so that we don't bump up against the uh January date. >> How many kids did you say are
057in Oregon now with in open ed? >> In Oregon, we're end with 26 2,800. >> 2,800. Okay. But I think I will grow to 5,000 next fall. I've got 2900 in the application phase right now. >> Yeah, basically almost double. >> I've also added four partners in Oregon. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> We're really strategic about our growth, but our first partner is our most important partner. >> We like Thank you for being first. >> That's right. So when you do when you When you do take on another partner, let's say Ethan's first and we take on another partner. Can we get a percentage of that? >> No. >> Okay. >> You tell me the cap you want and I'll maintain your level. >> So if you tell me, Grant, it's 1,000 kids. I won't
058let you go below the thousand. >> Uh I'll probably feed you at 1,200 because we always have kids who who leave. Um and then we'll what we try to do is then every other kid we just pick an assignment. If we if you had a favorite partner district or friend district on the um eastern side of the state in the Spokane region or around there, we would probably pick there and then we probably geollocate the kids. >> Gotcha. >> Um you know, but that's what we've started to do in Oregon is we kind of have east, west, and a south. Um and we're starting to geoloccate the kids. >> That's why we start in right in the middle. >> That's right. There's a still a lot of road between here and spokan. >> It's only
059three hours all night. >> Exploring three hours of fantastic. >> So I'm a I'm a Callispel kid from Calispel, Montana. Um and I live in Vegas now. So um I have done this drive. I've done the Inland Empire Builder across the Highline. Um yeah, it's a it's a fun trip. I did it as a high schooler. It was a great truck. Um so you know, I'm excited. I I look forward to having reasons to come up here and you'll probably see my face twice a year um just to make sure that everything's comfortable and that we're doing what you want and you're not angry. Um but uh Erin's had good conversations with our legal counsel and and we'll >> What about other school users? Have we talked to them? Other school districts? >> I have
060not. Well, I have not talked to any other districts in in Oregon or any other states. >> Okay. You're talking one at the beginning. >> I put you in touch with somebody. >> Oh, okay. >> Because I never I guess I don't recall I never have a superintendent enter into an agreement without talking to another. >> I can't recall who we talking. >> Yeah, I will. I can go back longer, but I know I put you in touch with them. >> Just curious what they might say some of the gotchas are or things that we could better plan for >> we might not get. >> I mean, I'll be candid. The the gotcha moment will be the number of kids. >> Mhm. >> I grew I I made a mistake and I I own it.
061I'll made a mistake in in Oregon. I grew a partner from 70 to 1,600. >> Oh. >> In a in a year and I told them they might be getting 500 more. Um they were they were drowning. They were drowning. There are two problems the districts have. contracting problems like you're contracting getting smaller or growth problems. I can only help you with one. >> Yeah, >> I can make your problems growth problems, but there are problems with growth. >> I like the fact that our growth problems require an extra adult human being to manage things. not we need a bigger building or we don't have enough desks or that that I feel like that problem is a little bit easier to manage when it's just one additional human being or maybe we need two additional
062human beings to be able to manage things. I'm cool with that. >> Good with that. >> Do you guys have are there textbooks or is it strictly all online? >> So there's there's there's there's curriculum. So I want I want to be clear in in in Washington there are very strict definitions around things. These are going to be programs that are uh led by led by teachers and curriculum that are supported and supplemented with online help and not driven by online. >> So the educator in our program is the key driver of learning and guiding them through the process. >> They may supplement that with online and they may use online >> but online will never be the primary delivery of their education. It's a very important nuance in Washington. You get into this nuance
063about virtual and online and if that's the primary thing it it's a whole another patch of rules we have to follow. >> Yeah. I mean I think everybody went through virtual and nobody liked it. >> Nobody totally right. So, our secret sauce is a mixture of recruiting high-quality families, bringing teachers that are licensed alongside families, and providing a really enhanced community experience for kids who normally don't get that. So, our our kids uh last last spring did a virtual tour of of the pyramids in Egypt with a live drone pilot who was flying it and talking to them at the same time. And so, they could literally say, "Spin it around." and he would spin it around in real time. >> Um, so like the we have an astronaut doing a talk, a Q&A with
064our kids. So we are always looking because we serve 17,000 kids. It's really interesting for people to be a part of that. And so we're always looking to leverage our entire platform to make every kid, whether it's the nine kids we service in Arkansas or the 7,000 we service at the Nevo district in Utah, get the same experiences. And then some of those we record and you can use them with your uh brick and mort. >> Love that. >> Are you hiring CTE teachers in Washington as well? >> Then I give if they're required to have for the eighth grade section, we would um but we we follow the guidances that we have to who we have to hire based upon the requirements of the grade levels, but we will hire the right endorsed and
065licensed educators for the for the batch. >> Right. Okay. Cool. Does CTE not tend to be a K to8? >> Sometimes we see it in the eight seven a little bit, but not as much as high school. >> Cool. >> Very exciting. >> I came here to say nothing. I'm very excited I came. >> So, the only like a million questions. >> Yeah. I mean, it's how fast. >> Yeah. you know, and we're going to have some internal conversations because obviously I know the Washington people are going to audit us. You know, what's our comfort level and how many kids that first year? After the first year, I'm not worried about growth at all. I'm just worried about swamping a swamping a small district, right? >> And uh you know, having uh the regulatory side
066come on over the top. >> Um we're used to the regulatory navigation. It's just it's a headache and it's easier to navigate with 50 kids than it is with 200 kids. >> Yeah. >> But we haven't made those decisions yet. We're we're seeing what the enrollment flow looks like. We got this we have to have this meeting tonight. You got to have your April meeting. I'll zoom in for your April meeting. Um and then we'll be >> as a general rule for your new districts that you're like, "Oh yeah, you you all are going to be audited." What's kind of your cap that you tend to suggest? So, we haven't So, I mean, we've had we've had a I know the audits coming. Um, we did it in Kansas with 124. Okay. >> Um, I
067think it's it's more just about the attitude and and there's just some political attitude around alternative learning in in Washington. >> Um, so it's not just that we're fighting an audit here. We're fighting an audit and an angry group of people who are like, "I hate this law exists >> in and of itself." Um, and that's that's okay. >> You're going to make everybody happy. We try, but it's not the state's already, >> right? Um, we're not the only district you're not the only district that does it. >> So, there's been a bunch there's been a bunch of audits. Uh, I actually feel more comfortable about Washington's audit process than I have in any other state we've entered in because there's been enough of them that I know what they look like >> versus the
068just random oneoff and I got to find it. There have been this fight's been happening. >> Yeah, >> we're not the first. Um, but we got to learn from everybody else. >> Yeah. >> But I bet >> we're not your first first. I mean, I I survived a a legislative audit in or in Utah last year with with zero findings. Um, the legislature came and created a law to make their rules part of the law because they felt they had to do something. So, they had all these rules in department of ed on how to administer our program. Fine. They literally write wrote a rule wrote a law that took all the rules and put them in statute. I was like, "Okay, but I asked why are you doing it?" They said, "Had to have
069something out of the audit." I said, "Okay. Gotta find something. >> Got to find something. Um and they'll find something. Um but we'll be we'll be ready for it. In >> the last couple legislative sessions, they've gone after a uh with districts who, like you said, you have 70 brick and mortar kids, but 800 virtual kids. So they're trying to again squeeze any kind of financial information and sources from >> they just don't like >> no >> they just don't like they don't like that it's different and and they made it very hard for homeschoolers to operate and these programs make it a little easier for them to operate not homeschoolers but home educated kids and and they just don't like their own framework >> but it's their framework >> unfortunately it's becoming more and
070are prevalent like >> well and I'd much rather attract kids back into the system so we know where they are. We know who they are. We know what they're doing. We know they're getting getting enough touch points. Some somebody is seeing them. Somebody's talking to them and and they're getting, you know, they're not just lost. They're not just a number that fell off and like where did that kid go? You know, that's it's exciting to bring kids back. We we opened in Nevada in the spring and uh we brought 70 kids. So out ofundred 80 kids. We brought 70 kids who had never been in the public school before. Like they'd never been there. No one had them on any any any roster anywhere. And now they're back. And that's great. And we want that.
071>> Well, and I mean it's not unique. All of us have seen a kid or met a kid who has been homeschooled their entire school careers and you're like, I think you're missing something. And it's unfortunate and it's sad and and how do you help them? This is a I think this is going to be a phenomenal program to be able to still have kids who want to and parents that want their kids being educated at home. >> 57% of our kids in Oregon had never been in a public school before we started this. >> Wow. >> And then as far as students per educator, >> like >> we'll meet the we'll meet the requirements under Washington law. I don't know what they are. Yeah, >> I believe it's 1 to 30. >> I saw
072that in the proced. >> So, out of curiosity, is your marketing team going to create us some marketing that we can because this is small town physically put places and hand them to. >> So, I would tell you, so I would tell you we can do that. I would tell you don't do that. >> Okay. >> You don't want to rob Peter to pay Paul. >> Okay. >> So, you don't want your kids who are here to stop coming. >> Yes. So I wouldn't now if you have known homeschoolers. >> No, I'm talking known homeschoolers. But >> so we'll have we'll have um we'll give you a media packet which you can use to do Facebook post. We'll update it kind of every quarter with new graphics and things and you can put your own
073kind of spin on it. We can get you a flyer. Um but I would tell you if you it's a delicate balance. I'm not going to advertise in your neighborhood because I don't want to steal your kids. >> So because that's a negative to you. If you have if you lose five kids to me, you're not getting the same FTE dollars or full full-time enrollment dollars. So, I I will stay clear and we will talk to kids across the state that are not. >> Don't we also have other homeschool kids that won't be part of this program who are still in the district that we're managing or signing off? >> We Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. You do for other for other things. Yeah. >> Okay. >> But I just don't want to ste I don't
074want to steal your kids. >> We appreciate you not wanting to steal our kids. So, I always tell local because I always it's cool. They're like, "This is really exciting. I want to tell people about go tell somebody on the other side of the state. Don't tell your neighbor." >> WELL, SO WHAT I look at I'm I'm a local realtor. I get a lot of people that are coming from the west side or from out of area and they're like, "Well, what are what what are my education options?" >> Great opportunity. Tell them about it. >> That's and it's kind of where it's like, "Okay, it's a fine line, >> but I also like having the ability to throw it in a packet and I've got all my little school packets that I can give
075to everybody." That's one of those where I'm like, "Okay, >> our marketing team will put something new." >> Yeah. >> Sounds great to me. >> I know. I'm so excited. >> Well, I'm just excited you already did the partnership agreement. So, this is all the the fun work that we have to do to launch. So, this is the easy stuff. And you don't have to make any action tonight. It's just a notice that it's happening. Yeah. >> And then next year, next meeting, you have to approve it. >> Okay. >> Good stuff. >> Anybody else got anything else? There were two board I think there were two board items. Correct. Do you need to not do you need to say them publicly? Both of them. >> No, there just first reading on policy 2255. >>
076Okay. >> And the others were just the previous agreements that we've already >> Oh, you're right. >> Cool. >> Thank you very much, Grant. Appreciate >> Thank you so much for coming all the way up here. >> Thank you for being here. >> Yeah. No, thank you. I'm not gonna lie, I definitely thought you were going to zoom in and so when you were here I was like, "Fuck yes, this is great." >> And that I'm going to Texas tomorrow morning. >> Look at you. >> Okay. Um, >> goes a long ways. >> I'm from a small town and no one came to visit us and cared about us. I I care about small towns. >> Like I actually drove up here yesterday. I think somebody thought I was crazy cuz I was taking a
077picture of the school outside cuz you know I like to put stuff on Facebook and uh and I was like this is a community we will help. We we will genuinely help this community. If I partner with Seattle public schools, I'm just a number. Like they don't care. >> But for y'all, this is a really big deal. >> Coming is important to me. >> And you'll we'll have a partner manager assigned to you um who is who works for me. They will um 95% sure they will they will come too. They will they will show up and want to meet you take you to dinner. I I wanted to take uh Aaron to lunch but apparently there's nowhere to go to lunch. So >> you just have TO GO TO CLEVELAND OR is >> fiesta
078I guess the fiesta >> um >> fiesta mountain >> but I don't think they're open on Monday Tuesdays or Wednesdays. I feel like I was like there fell off. >> It's been a baby peanut butter and jelly sandwich. >> There you go. >> I could have microwaved it. >> Fabulous. >> Great. >> Okay. All right. If we have no further questions for Grant and open ed, then we'll move on to 9.2 resolution. >> Yeah. 9.2 Two is resolution for the use of existing capital project funds to fund the asbestous abatement and the new gym flooring. >> Do we have any discussion? >> Uh I think we've already discussed it. >> I believe we have too. >> Yeah. >> I'm showing advanced asbestous and gford on this. Is everybody good with that? I will make them
079motion to approve capital fund pressure. >> Second. >> Fabulous. All in favor? >> I >> Perfect. All right. >> Thank you very much. This is >> more good news for the district. So, >> let's go have let's >> awesome. >> Put a gym together here, guys. >> I do have some samples. I think maybe I showed these last week, but some of the students have been designing. This might be a little bit much. >> Are we letting the kids pick or are we picking? Oh, we will I I have >> It's a contest. You get to pick out >> We will have Gford come up with some samples for us. But yeah, this one I thought was >> I really like that one though. >> This one would be really expensive. >> Sure it would
080be. We can't do really expensive, but it's really cool. >> It's And then I think you've seen these before. So we can get a projector and in the dark we can project it. >> I love this idea. >> Project the playing cord. Yeah, >> dark on the the lines. >> I just I don't know what it is. I Everybody says I think it's just our age group. We're like blackout. Blackout was the thing when we were all in high school. So, we all we we always like blackout nights, black uniforms and all that. Oh, that's really cool. I bet that's expensive, but it's really cool. >> We will have multiple I I think I've asked Jeff to get have have Ger give us three or four options that we can look at. I would not
081be able to play on this court. >> I also don't play ball sports very well anyway, but a >> lot going on. I'm not >> I'm not super athletic myself. I'm like, "Oh, look how pretty it is." >> Yeah. >> I Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm an athletic. I just am not a ball sporter. >> I have no aim. >> I think somewhere we'll we'll land in between. So, yeah, >> we'll have the students involved in maybe some of the voting and >> and the community and >> it'll be weird. I've looked at that gym for for 35 years. >> Yeah. I just think we need to make sure we're focusing on the players and, you know, the court and the use for that and making it sweet, cool, too. >> We want We
082want making sure it's safe for the kids. >> Yep. >> And longevity for the community and uh >> they were playing shuffle board out there, right? Wasn't that a >> They were playing gift from the 1960 community. >> We used to play floor hockey in there. >> Yep. >> We've done floor hockey. What's the big What's the big sport we do at lunch now? What's that? nine square >> nine square >> four square but with nine different squares and it gets I tell you it gets competitive >> so uh exciting news good things happening at east end so thank you for that >> perfect all right and then we scrapped 9.3 because they do not want our bleachers >> which is just fine and dandy so that takes us to exact session >> and we
083do not have an exact session uh this evening Then we don't need exact session. Moving on. All right. Sharing a good news. Anybody got anything? >> Have the exact session. >> We don't. Look at that. >> It's still light up. It >> is. Yes. >> That's amazing. >> The ski season is still holding on. We had um student athletes winning at the sundown showdown a couple Friday nights ago up at the summit. Um kids were competing as pros. Jade won as pro women. Uh, we had Aaron Brown, Austin's brother Win, as well as Alex Brown and Finny and Bailey. So, some of the students who have been really working hard to crush it out on the rails and jumps and stuff. And then coming up this weekend is one of the only contests that has
084actually made it through the season because everything's been cancelled um from December all the way through now. But um this one is at Mission Ridge the Bomber Bank SOM and it will be um Jade, Aaron, and Alex um competing for that one as some of the students. >> So wish them well this weekend and hopefully they come home big. >> Going back to the open ed thing. So the students that are relatively local that enroll that that also opens them up for participating in our sports >> technically there >> just like any homeschool student. Absolutely. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Or they can come here for electives. We have some lots of families that do that. >> Or do workshop. They work here. >> Perfect. >> I know one family that's here that's like are they
085being good? >> I know. I got one I got one in particular in mine too that are homeschooling right now. I'm like, "Oh, this sounds like an amazing program for them." They hate that. >> I mean, and it is hard to homeschool, you know, without support. I I couldn't do it as a parent. >> There's no way. It's hard. >> Especially when you got six kids, >> all needing different absolutely >> it's like pandemic all over. >> Yes. >> I'm so happy I wasn't a parent. >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't envy any of you guys for having to go through that. Okay, >> I'm done with it. >> Anybody got anything else? >> None. >> Okay, we're on to section 12. Does anybody want to make a motion to adjourn this meeting? >> I'll make
086a motion to adjourn. >> Make a motion 9:35. Do we have a second? Second. >> All in favor? Meeting 9:35. No, 6:30, not 9. voice. >> It's not over here. >> No, I am. I'm just I'm lost in my own >> because of my head.