001agenda is any more discussion on this? Okay, I'm going to call for a vote. All Excuse me, Wes. Go ahead. Uh, we would need to to move um to accept the uh as revised. Okay. I'd like a motion to approve the agenda as revised is noted. So, second. Okay. Went to Tom again. Thank you. Without any more discussion, call for vote. All in favor? I I 100%. Okay. So, down here to I kind of got in front of myself a little bit. Recognition of visitors. Travis is here tonight. Peter, thank you for your time. And um and Maddie, thank you for your time. So, what I'd like to do here then is I guess in item number six here, Maddie, you'd like to make a presentation. I understand. Love to. Awesome. Why don't you do
002it? So, however you want to do it. Okay. My name is Maline or Maddie. I'm the lady's mom. I am new names. Our newest uh I guess our newest thing coming up is going to be the Halloween carnival. The date that we have decided on is October 25th and it will be from 5 to 7. There will be lots of fun activities. We have a pumpkin carving contest. We have three new games that the steam team name for them by the way. Steam team is going to make. There's going to be a chili cook off which we would love donations for or anyone to volunteer. There's going to be prizes for these chili cookoffs. So, if anyone needs some gift cards, um there's going to be a cakewalk. Also, we need donations. We really need
003donations this year. You get to donate. We will have a signup sheet and everything at at some point too once we kind of have all of our stuff in as well as Ashley Curtis is working on a Amazon well it's more than just Amazon so it's kind of all over the place right now because it's also Home Depot stuff like a wish list it's like a kind all together at one point right now with a bunch of different links so we're going to try to like figure out a way and there's more stuff to be added to it so we're working on getting all that together so we can send that out and put it out on a flyer that way parents can help donate as well. Materials, time, um, food for the chili cook
004off, obviously the cakewalk, um, let's see, what else do we do? There's going to be the sixth grade haunted house. Oh, there's costume contest as well. And all of these are going to have gift card prizes. And there's going to be lots of dancing and fun. And then a trunk out in the outer area. And what else were I missing? judges for the show. Um but yeah, so definitely donations for decorations. We kind of have to start from the very beginning. All of our games and donations or decorations kind of been worn worn out and so that's a big thing. Um, and then just spreading the word about donating food for the chili and the cakewalk and believe that's all. Okay. You going to do a haunted haunted house at all or they're the sixth
005grade is going to do a haunted house. I don't know a whole lot more about it, but Well, sixth graders are just scary anyway. That's all you need. You just line them up and go sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. um their steam classes for the science technology engine or some math have put together. Um each one of them is doing kind of one either one new carnival game or carnival activity and they have kind of mapped out how they're going to build it, put it together, the cost and all of that's going out on the list of things that we need to purchase for it um to to get these new materials put in place for it. So the the same classes for our middle school will be and the ASB is going to be
006running all of our activities and um I don't well I don't know who's going to do any of the judging other than West but we'll figure that out. Um, just for historic context, um, in other Halloween carnivals, you know, a lot of the same things were happening, you know, and meeting judges for like some of the desserts or whatever. Uh, and um, historically, it's been board members that would that would volunteer to to do that. And so, so you should look to some of these guys. Awesome. I'll be there. I'm all for it. Like I said, we'll have more information as we get um more of it compiled and put it all on a flyer after working on. So, we'll make sure to get it out to you. October 21st, that Monday. Yes. On the
00721st. 21st is the next PTSO meeting to try to kind of like finalize Halloween or any questions or concerns we have at that point. And then I guess anything that's for the next one to talk about. Can I can I ask what your what your budget is? What are you trying to raise? How much money are you trying to raise? Have a raising budget. Do you know how much it's going to cost? Well, we're trying to really get some donations going and that's Well, I know, but that's why I'm asking is if you know if you know kind of the number that you're trying to get to. I think I remember them saying the budget was $500 that those are hoping um that the out of pocket costs are for because there is still some
008quite a few things you know ready for it um for the kickoff and then if we look in years past like even last year I think it was 350 I think they based their budget if I remember right based off of similar years past so you're you're you're looking for for $500 in donations they're saying that that's what's going to Then the PTSO is going to have to pay out about $500 to kick off the event. To kick off the event. Well, I'm willing to give a hundred. Call me in for 100. So, is that 600 right here? Is that six? But is it? So, I'll drop I'll drop a check off to you and Yeah. Awesome. And but but we got 600 right from the board. I can donate 600. You want to do
009600? I'm sorry. I can donate to 600. I'm You want to do you want to hear six? I have six. So 100 each, right? So there you go. You're way above your kickback. Love it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Requested to make sure that the decorations are years to come. like if you guys are gonna invest in something, I really hope that coming for the years and other guys was a few years ago a lot of things um when they moved from the storage facility in Belfare to the storage facility um there were some things that weren't correctly and so there was a huge they were pulling out as mentioned and so a lot of things had to get off such because of the little problems. I just don't want cardboard is a meeting on
010the 5:30. 5:30. Yes. Okay. Well, aren't you glad you came to spread the info? Well, we appreciate you coming. Thank you guys. This is going to bridge the gap, you know, and uh we really need this community to come together and I'm really happy. Thank you so much. Yes. Thank you guys. Have a good evening. Thank you for your time, Maddie. Thank you so much. Okay, so we're down now to item number seven on the agenda, our legislative visit. Travis, for Tom, you've been working with Travis here. Do you want to introduce kind of the agenda that you had worked up? Uh uh if not, I can. That's fine. You go ahead. Okay. So Travis, it looked like you were here tonight to respond to uh talking about financial crisis crisis in Washington public schools
011legislature not fully funding schools constitution w underfunding of special ed lack of adequate transportation funding and uh how we as the board of GSD54 can help. Yeah. So welcome. Thank you. All right. Thank you. I will uh try to keep it short because some of us have dinner plans. not not naming any names. So, I'm Travis Co, State Representative 35th District. Thanks for having me out again. Thank you, Tom, for inviting me. Um, it's no uh it's no question to you that schools across Washington state are going through a myriad of financial crisis. Um, and I'll just try to keep it a little bit brief so you can ask me questions if you if you so choose. There's multiple proposals being pushed around for the next legislative session as far as funding is concerned. And
012I want to really break apart your mind policy and funding. Um sometimes they go together, sometimes policy costs money, right? But really when you're talking about expenditures coming from one of my committees, the House Appropriation Committee, um that's kind of on one side. And then you know other policies which could potentially have cost drivers or potentially savings which we rarely ever see in Olympia um can come from the policy side as well. So, first talking about um the financial side of things, of course, it's a tough nut to crack, right? Um the first thing I want to tell you is that the revenue forecasts for the state of Washington are going down, right? The economy is hitting hard, a lot of people at home, and because of that, revenues are projected to go down. Um,
013right now we have a 75 roughly $75 billion budget and as was noted a little bit less than half of that is spent on our state's constitutional paramount duty which is education. Right now many people would say at least 50% would be the threshold to really claim that this is your paramount duty and you're probably funding something. Um, I think it's a lot of people's wish in the legislature, probably bipartisanly to respect that paramount duty and to make sure that we are fully funding our schools, but that comes up to the brick wall of our revenues, right? And especially in times like this for our families on the ground um and the kids in those families as well. There's especially in the 35th district is no different than anywhere else. There's families suffering at home
014with higher inflation, higher cost of living, anything from gas, groceries, rent, um, energy prices, auto insurance, you name it. Right? And there's a myriad of reasons. I'm not going to get into all of those, but I'm pretty sure everyone at least on some level understands the financial strain that people are under. Um, and well, when we're relying upon them to, you know, make up the gap in funding for frankly anything, including education, we're asking them to get more, right? And that's hard. And so, um, as far as funding goes, now that you understand the revenue picture is going, revenue is going down. So, that means budget writers and people on the budget committee like me in Olympia have tough decisions to make. And so for me personally, it's not that tough of a decision. You
015have what the constitution tells you to do and then you have things the constitution does not tell you to do. And we fund both of them. And budgets are a reflection of our values. if we value public education and educating our kids and if we value certain other things that are constitutionally mandated that we fund those things before we fund other things. And so um as far as funding is is concerned, what are we looking at for the next legislative session? A lot of the and Jerry probably knows this but a lot of the school related organizations have kind of pulled their resources for three main asks. special education funded, MSOC, material supplies, operating cost, and more money for transportation. Those are the three key asks. You might see other proposals out there from like
016OSPI that ask for $3 billion. That's never happening. So, if you see whatever OSPI is proposing, that's DOA, dead on arrival. That's not happening. But what school related organizations are proposing is a $ 1.5 billion increase across those three bodies. Now, me personally, I've been championing special ed since the day I walked into the legislature. I will once again introduce a bill to end the cap in special ed, which to me is fully funding special ed. Um, but there will also be discussion surrounding looking at the multiplier again. Uh so if you're not aware, you have the cap uh which artificially cuts students out, right? Potentially and then you um you have the multiplier on top of the peral allocation. And we did raise the multiplier in 2023 and we did elevate the cap in
01723 and in 24. Um my argument was there should be no cap. Um, and my what my bill would have done is take school districts, 2500 students and below schools just like this one, and it would have eliminated the cap forever. And the reason to start with those smaller schools is because they're the ones most disproportionately impacted by the special ed. Now, whether we raise the multiplier or keep it the same um is going to be a matter of discussion in Olympia as we go forward. And it will probably account for some of that $1.5 billion. But whether we raise the multiplier or not, we do need to end the cap. That's something I'm going to I'm going to die on that hill, so to speak. And I think the way we're going is from
018the minority party. My job is to push the majority into uncomfortable places to do the things they should be doing and they have in my mind failed to meet that threshold. But I keep pushing every session and every session we get a little increase. Now for the larger schools under my proposal they would have a three-step process, a three-year process until their caps were and if you can imagine I got a fiscal note on my bill. How much would it cost to end a path forever in the state of Washington? $105 million. To put it into perspective, because that's a big number. It's actually not that big of a number. Um there was a lot of other proposals that um I'll bring one up, for example, there was a proposal to raise minimum wage for
019inmates in our correctional facilities that cost $300. And so again, where are our priorities? Is it the most vulnerable students in our schools? Um, another thing kind of related to that is trying to get more Paris into the classrooms. You know, we go south a little bit to Pioneer. You see some devastating things happening the further you drive south of Paris. They're the first people the schools are cutting. But to combat learning loss, we have to be able to put a lot of resources on the ground in the classroom. Sometimes in our most vulnerable or or vulnerable populations that need us the most. Yep. And um one way to get that high dosage support is to inject more Paris. And it's not hard. If you want more Paris, have to pay them more than Taco
020Bell wages. It's not bad. Um, going on from that, MSOT, what we did fund last time was an increase was about roughly about 1/5if of what they say they needed. Um, so there going to be a push to fund the other four fifths. Um, they voted actually no on that at first because it was kind of a blank check for MSO. Um but then we went and did some work behind the scenes and we made those uh MSTOC monies categorical so that you can pay for your liability insurance costs which are going skywalking, right? And when we did that it was unanimous or near unanimous uh for MSOC funding. So we look forward to doing some of that work again. And then the the people transportation. Another big challenge that we have with funding. Um
021I've always been supportive that not only does it need more funding, but before you fund it, you actually need to fix the broken funding model. There's a lot of broken pieces that frankly don't match communities like ours. Um for example, as the crow flies from A to Z, that's how we fund the school bus, right? Um but as we know in our community, no one drives A to Z. Yeah. we are not on a great pattern, right? And so, um, those kind of things hurt the rural schools. Um, I'm not sure exactly to what extent, uh, we're going to be able to fix the funding model. It's a heavy lift and it's been attempted the last couple years in Olympia. And one of the problems I have is when you try something too big, it's
022it becomes too hard to pass, right? Because too many people have their fingers in the pot and have different ideas. But what we should be doing is a triage of the problems, the big problems within the transportation funding model, we have to fix at least some of it. Uh so that when we put money in, we're not just wasting it, right? And that it's actually going to the places it needs to go. Uh so that's the funding side of things. On policy side, um of course, a large amount of things could be proposed. many of them I maybe I don't know about yet. But I think that um some of the policy affects the funding and we have to get smarter policy and we have to first do no harm. We have to make sure
023that uh legislators in Olympia aren't creating more mandates or rules uh or hidden costs for schools that they then have to comply with especially the small ones. What I'm afraid of is the big seabird consolidation. You see it happening in Seattle public schools right now and you know whether first schools to go schools just like this one the first ones to go and we don't want to lose our small rule schools I use great view as an example and it's like the shining gem of the 35th district uh as far as Kate's rules in in for public schools and uh I think what we personally I think what we need to focus on is I think you will see a renewed focus on student mental health. We have a lot of suicide ideation, record high
024loneliness. There's a lot of problems with our kids still coming out of CO. Even though CO is over, they have not fully recovered from this. Um, we also need to look at safety and security and in relation to that discipline. Um, and I think that there's probably going to be um a litany of other things. Uh, one of the big things my caucus is pushing in the education committee uh, this coming session and and this is one of the ways by the way you can help me and I've asked the ESDs and I've asked a lot of the different uh, school superintendents and and schoolboard directors that I know. We're trying to gather input for unnecessary bureaucracy and unnecessary things, especially as it applies to teachers in the classroom. One of the main complaints I
025get is, "I just can't do this job anymore. I don't spend time educating. I spend time being a bureaucrat and pushing paper, right?" And we want to eliminate some of those roadblocks so that educators and staff can get to the job that they're supposed to be doing. um whether it was duplicative, whether it's unnecessary, uh whether it's just overly burdensome, it doesn't make sense anymore. Our caucus is looking at kind of an omnivous bill to look at a lot of those things and see how we can unbburden uh our educators and our schools with some of those unnecessary things. And so the more input I get from all of you, um we'll be able to cut or measure twice and cut once, right? If you leave it up to politicians to decide what is unnecessary
026to you, that could be dangerous. So, um, the more input, the better output you're going to get. And, um, but that I, uh, that's that's all I have. Well, that's it. Well, that was my short version, by the way. Well, Connie can get to dinner now. So, so you the comment you made was that we can be helpful in that in that and I'm assuming gathering data or or testimony to unbburden the educators. Yeah. And it might be I don't want to say hard work, but it might be some work up front to gather some of that input. But I assure you, if we can pass a bill that eliminates some of your burdens on the ground, then it'll be the costbenefit ratio be worth it for you in the long run. What What would
027be an example of a burden? I'm looking at at Hannah there trying to get some eye contact, but he's speaking. Is there something that really glaringly sticks out? And there's a lot of burdens on um on teachers. um you know I think huge one is the TEF patient principal evaluation um program and it's a state evaluation system when I started teaching in Washington there was a really simple evaluation system that was um you know just clear satisfactory and satisfactory you know just going through the different categories um and the the workload what teachers have to do to provide and improve evidence of student growth um I think we do a good jump here at unifying our efforts. And so we nest our goals so that we work on them together, but it's it's still um
028an intense amount of of labor on the teachers to document and detail every component of their teaching and offend their teaching. Um the other thing is if the the constant change in clock hour requirements for teachers that they have to get the clock hours, pay for the clock hours in order to stay in teaching and um it's the amount of difference in the clock hours that they have to pay. It's just strange. There's there's STEM clock hours, there's equity clock hours, there's um there's just all sorts of different categories that they have to take to make sure that they're getting they have to pay attention to take those classes, pay for those classes to keep those and I I can think of others and I if you're good with this, maybe my admin administrative team
029could sit down and come up with a lot of things that we spend a lot of time with that and can we send send a list. Yes, my office list. The more detailed you can get, the better. But if not, we'll sort it out and my staff will reach back out if they have more questions. And time frame. Yeah. When would you want or need that information by? Soon as possible. Okay. Well, the sooner the better because, you know, we want it before January, right? Yeah. Um but uh the more leeway or the more runway you give us to craft the bill the better. We will get after that. One other thing and I just sparked my my memory is while I was looking at um one of your handouts about talking about transitional kindergarten.
030Um, so I've voted to protect transitional kindergarten um, for our districts and I understand the issues with ECAP and everything else that goes along with it. But my argument has always been that if you live in a child care desert like we do and if you don't have ECAP slots like we don't, then you need something. If you don't protect your TK programs, then you will have nothing. And so, uh, I have a very deep concern right now about what could potentially happen in the in the pre-K space. Uh, one of the leading candidates for governor has proposed a universal prek program. Universal prek is not a term that we use. We use either transitional kindergarten or we use ECAP or head start, right? And so it's it's a little unknown, but what does a
031universal prek program, well, one, how much does that cost? But two, um, what does that mean for our existing transitional kindergarten programs? Are we ex, you know, is this a major expansion of ECAP and to get rid of TK or is this um to get rid of ECAP and basically create a universal TK or is this some third rail of something completely different and it's a little ambiguous and you don't really know, but the way that it's the language is framed, it leads you to wonder what could potentially happen to our TK programs. And obviously, you know, we'll have a new governor one way or another in January. And um there's more than a, you know, there's at least bare minimum a 50% chance that the one I'm talking about um goes forward with these
032plans and what does that mean? So, this is something especially as you have a TK program, it's one of the number one things I heard from great new teachers that emailed me to protect that program and I did. Um it's something to keep an eye on. you know, to see how those those plans develop, especially because in January with with a slew of new statewide elected officials, it's going to be going fast and furious, right, to for them to staff up and start putting out their plans and budget requests. Um, it'll be like a whirlwind. So, that's something for me to keep programs. In your comments earlier, thank you for in your comments earlier about the cap on special ed, we have one particular heralded case here. I believe it's like over 100,000 for this
033one particular child. And in your and what you comment on the that typically it's 20,000 per student and there that other 80,000 is that what you saying would be covered if that cap was removed or the cap I mean so the per pupil allocation you would still get regular basic head allocation plus a multiplier and there's different multipliers right so maybe you get the bigger multiplier um but this is exactly why we have something called safety net So you can apply for safety net which by the way is difficult. We tried to clean that up a little bit last session to make it a little bit easier. We have safety net and things like that for these larger populations. So what my I didn't really go into but what my proposal would also do is
034end the cap for any school that has to apply for safety net and end the cap for any school with a high absolutely uh a high um population of military children. Yeah. Because that's also as we're bookended by McCord and NBK. That's that's a problem for some of ours. Yeah, thank you for that because because the cap on the percentage of students in no district that I've worked in have we met that cap, right? We've always been below that. Um but we have in everywhere I've been, we've hit many students that are high need students that cost way more than we get. Yeah. So that safety net expansion and the problem is is that if you have students above what is it 16% now? Um that's the cap percentage now. So if you have 100
035students and 20 of them are identified special ed and your cap is 16% that means four kids get left behind. And because the school doesn't want to leave the school district doesn't want to leave those four kids behind. They have to use their levy funds to cover the cost of those four kids. And that means your levy funds don't go to the other things that they were supposed to be going towards. And so this is a way in which and I'm going to just rip off the band-aid to say that this is a way the state of Washington rips off school districts and families. And so by eliminating that artificial percentage point um you know you cover all the students who actually need it, right? And so there is no more artificial cap that leaves
036kids behind or cost you more money to then cover, right? But if you're a school, a small one, and this is why I say disproportional for small schools, if you're like maybe Hood Canal or whatever, right? And you don't have a levy and you don't have bonds and you don't have any extra cash, then what do you do, right? And especially as we near this financial clip where schools where everything is extra expensive and really hard right now, especially coming out of not having esser funds anymore. Right. Right. And which by the way, I don't know to any extent in which great view has done this or not. Some schools created permanent structure with temporary funds. Yeah, don't do that. No, don't create permanent structure with temporary. Some schools did that and they're the ones
037suffering pretty hard right now. And so, um, that's how the cap works. The multiplier is just whatever the per pupil is times one point whatever it is additional money. Just so you know, we did. Yeah, you guys are smart. I like I like the uh meat and potatoes things we can do, gather data, etc., etc. What can we do as a board? How can we attempt to influence the decision making in Olympia? I would say starting in January, I'm sorry, starting in December, you'll see pre-filed bills and then they will because it's going to be the long session, you'll continue to see probably some more bills trickle in in the earlier parts of the session before policy cut on. And you know, I would I would put it on you and it's can be tough
038because it would probably be a thousand bills, right? Um, but you can separate which ones are for education, uh, funding or policy. Uh, I'm sure Jerry will absolutely be aware of most of them through either by just knowing or by his various resources. But keep an eye on those things. Track those bills. Are they dying? Are they going through the committee? Did they get passed off the House or Senate floor and onto the onto the other body? Right. Keep an eye on the amendments. What are what are we amending on those things? and and so I will see Jerry and other superintendents in Olympia advocating for certain bills from time to time, but um there are only just one a handful of people, right? And so as schoolboard members, I think your voice and and
039you know the fact that you were sent here by people, you're elected to serve this school district. your voice in Olympia, even if you show up once, twice, or even if you zoom in for testimony on a piece of legislation, those stories and those things are actually pretty powerful in Olympia. Um, it's when we set it off to the side and don't show up in which there's no input. Like I said earlier, inputs equals good outputs, right? If you don't show up to give the input, you might not get the output that you desire. So, I would say, you know, try try to make an attempt. You don't have to show up on every bill, but it's easier than ever to to zoom in a testimony now. Um, if you can make like one hill
040day for your whole board where you go and you talk to myself and Dan and Drew and maybe some of the education committee members, um, you know, that that would be that would be good. It's a good idea. Okay. You haven't heard the last of us. All right. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank Thank you very much. We need a champion and you're a champion. Okay. You're more than welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting or you can go home and have dinner. Whatever. What do you want to do? Sorry. Again, thanks for for your time tonight. There is a reason why they call it board meeting. Yeah. Board. Okay. So, we're going to move down here to uh item number eight, staff recognition. Here in this case, I guess we're
041going to have introduction of the leadership team. Yeah. So, this is the the spot where we have student recognitions and um we haven't started that yet. And um a a lot of times um uh we get kudos for the way the school runs and you guys are great about that, but some people that um haven't really been officially recognized, but I my observation have a significant role in the smooth operation of our school is the LLT. They meet regularly with um Hannah and um they talk about problems and solutions and the whole gamut of the school um that they're involved in and um I've been in quite a few different schools um and um this one runs really smoothly. um the staff are cohesive and cooperative and together and I think um a big piece
042of that is the structure of the LLT, the way it's ran and the people that are participating in that. And so I wanted to make sure you guys knew who they were and knew that they have a big part of why the school is is great. So that's Cindy, Megan, and Connie um are on it currently and over time there's been others, but they're here this time around. And I wanted to say for the board and to to you, thank you for all the work you guys do to make this a great place. So thank you very much. Are we not going to get speeches? Um I I that was that was my speech. I don't know if they want to say because when he came in as our superintendent during the um the big
043model, it was something that after his first year, he said, "This is really important here." Um, every other school district I've been at has had like a leadership team of educators that that worked together to work with the teachers, but also focus on the learning of the school. And we had a bunch of different teams, but we didn't have a learning team that was focused on student learning. And this this so we put it together. Connie and I were were on it from, you know, day one. Um, and it's um it's just an amazing tool that we have here at the school. So, we meet um frankly once a week um at 7:15 on Wednesday mornings and uh they let me know the night before what's important for the agenda, like what they're hearing from
044teachers, what teachers that they need. And then we um schedule our PLC's in the summer. meetings um twice to schedule all of the professional writing community late foundations that we have. So those are scheduled throughout the whole year with intent intentional focus um on professional development and what what we need as a team and as a school. Um they set that schedule, they set that agenda, they set the time of the school, those important things. But then also on top of it, our school improvement plan um is designed by this team. So we we spend a lot of time reviewing where do we need to change, how do we need to grow, what does our data show us? Um and then make changes and and it's like I um in the beginning of the year
045in August um I came back from my trip and you know there's so much to do and I remember just like sitting at my desk to do and then the next day we had an eight hour LLT meeting and we got through so much. It was it was the most productive time and I felt it's such a huge weightlifting because this team carries so much of that load and um they're smart and they're capable and they just see good job. Could we get each of the three to introduce themselves and just make a comment on a victory that they've experienced through this process? Yes. Megan, you're up first. Megan Pierce and I teaching and health and I lead the middle school team. um a victory. Uh I'm the newest member. [Music] It's my second year,
046but um I think communication. I've worked at other schools and other South Seattle and other places. And I think a victory for this school is definitely um the use of time. I think other schools have full group meetings often and for us to be so small and for me just to go to the middle school team back directly to this team and solve the problems and eliminates a ton of um wasted time. It's just a very efficient way for us to communicate because we're so small because we're all so first of all we know each other so well. It's a real quick and efficient way to communicate needs, communicate issues, communicate concerns, celebrate, you know, with our little groups that we have. That's really good. I'm Connie Summers, first grade. Um, I've been on the
047LLT since before I started. Um, and uh, so what this is my 11th year? Uh, 12, something like that. uh victory. There's been a lot over the years, but one is really seeing how uh specifically our state has gone from I the school improvement plan uh of yesterday year was nothing compared to what we are doing now and how we're literally looking at students and uh celebrating how much they've grown. And I think that that has been uh wonderful. I've worked at other schools. I've worked in uh a very large district and this has been the school and the support has been a godsend. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Thank you. I'm Cindy Breeze. I don't know how many years I've been. It's been with you since Josie left. So, um, and I'm really
048proud that people work here. And I think a lot of it has to do with how we solve problems as a team and I think it says everything that people like to come to work every day and that they're proud of our school and that we love our school and that shows in everything we do. So, excellent job. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being spontaneous. So, all right. So, thank you for your hard work. Appreciate it. Thank you for your time. You can go have dinner if you want. Yeah. Okay. So, item number nine in the agenda, staff presentation. Cindy Reed, student testing. That's why she didn't get up and leave. All right. We do that. Everyone loves the data, right? Numbers as long as it's as it's good data. Bad data, not so
049much. All right. So, um this is last year's so the end of it's our 2023 2024 um SIP data for reading and math for Renaissance Place. So that's our diagnostic. It's our benchmark testing. So star reading and star math, not SCBA yet. That will come in Hannah's presentation in October of this. So just to review, um our goals in ELA transition to kindergarten were all about increasing endurance and attention span. It's really hard for them at first, but we want to focus on successful transitions from one activity to another and um daily exposure to literacy. So that's our goal for TK. And then kindergarten through 8ighth grade, we set a goal that um each class will have greater than one year's growth. So if they start off at a 4.0, we want to see them.
050So, a year should be like 5.9 because most of the school year. And then um this is an SBA goal, but we do have that data tonight, but we also wanted to have our ELA um student growth percentile at or above 35%. Next, in math, um same thing for transition to kindergarten except for we want daily exposure to numeracy in the academic setting. And um the math is a little bit different uh for kindergarten and first grade because they do star literacy or early literacy and that has numerousy and um combined and then second and eighth grade still the greater than um one year's growth. Then for SDA math we wanted a growth percentile at or above 40%. I thought it would be helpful to go over what the student growth percentile is. Again, um
051just keep in mind that it's a way to measure how much a student has learned over time compared to their peers that scored um similarly. So, um they can range anywhere from one to 99%. So, the higher the number, the greater the room. All right. And I just we put everything um on one slide. This is what LLT worked on during one of our summer days. And you can kind of see. Come on, Brit. No pressure. The top that you can't quite see, it's just the TK goal. So, um there's no star data related to that. So, you're good. So for kindergarten, it starts uh ELA in the first column um and then math, but it's all early literacy and numeracy combined. And kindergarten first grade didn't meet that goal. And so you can see
052the PK.9 that means um pre kindergarten 9th month and then 1.1 is first grade first month if that's helpful. Yeah. And then we move on to second grade and they did meet their goal for uh reading. Um they were exactly where we wanted them to be uh getting ready for third grade. And then they were just three months shy to meet that grade level for math. So really close. And then third grade met in both. Fourth grade same. and uh fifth grade ELA. They started off um at a 5.6 overall and there was some movement with students in between that class. We got some new ones, some students left. So, there's always those data irregularities, but um they were at 5.6, but they made incredible growth in their math. And our last year sixth graders
053um they did make nine months growth in um BLA. So that won't show. Yes. Um they they did really well at that growth. And then um pretty close to grade level in math. Seventh grade, yes, for both. and then eighth grade they were a little shy um of making that grade level in both. But there's great news. Um if you see down at the bottom, even though we aren't going over SBA data just yet, you can see our history of our student growth percentile of SBA. So in 2019 for ELA, it was 31.2%. 22 23 academic year 43.3%. Last year 49% they made 49% greater growth than of students their peers. And then same thing for math. Um we ended up at 46.5%. So each year we're making more and more grow. We're excited about
054that. Any questions about that? So that that's 2019 that reflect was that COVID reflection? Um that was the year before that was here before and so then there's that gap in data. You see the 2018 data and then you don't see any data until 22. So that 22 data really reflects the co. Yes. Yes. So even we even had growth during that period of time. we poured res resources into people, you know, was our months and so that really made a difference on some of those gaps. So, our summary is our reading score showed overall growth in eight out of nine classes. Um, not one class went down though. So, our reading scores met or exceeded our growth pool in K 1, two, three, four, and seven. Our math scores show growth in all grades.
055And then um they kind first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh question. Yes. Now this data excuse me I'm sorry. Go ahead. Okay. Is now is this the data that we use internally? Correct. Absolutely. This is this is how we move and change emphasis and Okay. This drives our instruction. Okay. So, three times a year, uh, falls, um, winter and spring. This drives everything. And even, um, when we review this data at the end of the year, we make decisions, and I'll go over that next on how we change things up to address the needs. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Oh, I was going to just ask about that. So, why don't Yeah. Okay. Go into it. All right. Go for it. This is why I brought this because I forgot my glasses and I have
056to choose from if you want. I'm trying to do the bridge version. So ELA, we're going to continue to focus on best practices. We did purchase a new ELA curriculum a couple years ago. That's been great. Teachers are finally finding their groove with that. Um we are still differentiating to meet all learners needs of math instruction. We've been doing great with math and just scaffolding those skills um to know how to move them through those basic knowledge skills so we can get them ready and then ensure steady growth and success. And that's all about looking at the data and pivoting when we need to. and TK2. We're still really focusing on core phonics and decoding and building foundational literacy and we're inspiring uh a love of reading. That's really important. Um our reading buddies program
057does great with that. Having the mentors read, I'm in the library on book days. Kids love to check out books. So, we're inspiring that in them, which only will help their scores. U middle school win time. So this is where we pivoted a little bit. Um based on the data we implemented instead of like in enrichment was a separate class then lab there was a homework lab at one point they stayed with their classes and each student in the school in the middle school has a goal folder. I have some over there if you want to look at them but it has their star data from the fall and they use that data. We used to do this with Hannah um before co they use that data to make their own goals. So they see
058their score, it pops up where their areas of growth can be and they work on that. So it's targeted practice and even those kids that are above grade level, they're still writing goals and they're still improving. So and it makes them responsible, you know, for their own learning. So it's been good. Wes, did I answer your question this or? Um, yes, kind of. I I was I was trying to attribute what that that high growth rate could could be um from. And I know that we track individual progress. And so when somebody is is moving more towards kind of a advanced placement, you know, we challenge them more and people are kind of falling behind and sometimes students are at both in different subjects, right? Yes. And um and then you know when they're falling
059behind they get more intensive treatment. Is that is that what's driving that growth? you know, is that plan, you know, is this the the the fruit of that plan? I would like to think so. We're so data driven um in this school and and we're still doing that, right? Okay. Yes. And we do a great job of extending um kids in the classroom that need that extension. Yeah. Um we have some volunteers working with groups on different things, you know, so we really do a good job of that of meeting all kids needs because it's not just the ones that are struggling. We want to see that growing everywhere. Well, I I really I really feel like that was um that that is kind of our secret sauce here. Yeah. It's not so secret, but
060other other schools don't don't tend to do that. Yeah. The kids quiet and working. Yeah. Right. Right. And so I I really think that that's great. So from a and this is where I get wrapped around the axis sometime. So the 35% was the growth goal that you had for each just just hear me out here. Okay. which was the growth goal and in reality we saw upwards of 49% 46% in SDA. Okay. So, but that is but that's different than the actual proficiency of per class. In other words, a number of Okay. That's very diff. Okay. I just wanted to make sure that I'm not I'm glad you asked. Overlaying too much. Yeah, that those are that's different. It's the student growth percentile. So if you think about a student um received a two
061and their scale score was such and such, it would be compared to a similar student across the state that also scored a two with a similar scale scored and then comparing them the next year, how much growth they made. So it's comparing it statewide. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to talk a lot more about the um student growth percentile um next month because it plays a huge role. The state is finally taking a stronger look at student growth as opposed to blanket scores like how many kids hit this number, how many kids hit this number and said how many of these kids we have data power to actually see how much they're growing and that's our focus. That's what we're really focused on. So the these um percentiles we're going to talk a lot about because
062it's driving our sit right now that we're working on in 2016 when I did legislative scholars Chris ranked all came and spoke to us and he was like we're we're going with growth you know we're going to focus on that and it's finally they're finally changing the way you know years later it's we need growth proficiency Good. Any questions? It's really this data is really excuse me. I'm sorry. I really like looking at this stuff. It's really important for me and for the board to be able to sit down and kind of get a sense of all the things that we're doing and what kind of results we're getting out of those things. I'm I'm just going to make a quick quick comment. I I know that's kind of an oxymoron coming from me, but
063in years past, I'm talking in the way back, right? We would get we'd get this data and it would be less than stellar. And it would and we would say, well, well, what's the plan? And and the the response was, you know, do work harder, you know, let the plan work. Well, what is the plan? tomorrow, but we're going to let it work. And then, you know, a couple years go by and same data, you know, same and and I that was like so frustrating for somebody like me because I was just like you're, you know, I felt not that the staff was apathetic and Tracy was on the staff. So I I'm not saying she was, but but it was like the leadership was kind of like was kind of like, you know, well,
064you know, you know, the economy and you know, they use all the buzzwords and because of this and and I didn't like that. and and now we have we've really gotten the the right mix of leadership at the right time, plugging in the right skill sets into the right areas and and I really I mean it's really great to see a plan actually in motion and actually you know accomplishing things and so it's just so refreshing. to just really feel that and I I think we've been on that track for some time but but it it it's such a difference you know and so anyway really congratulations we can't be afraid of bad data right data and it's like a opportunity just like we tell kids so it's a reality the reality is some grades
065are not grade level but we're working we also have teacher worked hard and recruited and retained, you know, really good teaching staff and that's Oh, yeah. I I I've never Yeah. Never say anything about, you know, but but it was it was the lack of and it it wasn't that the leadership didn't want it to improve, right? It was just that that I don't think that they really had the vision for how it could improve and and honestly I think Nick I think Nick actually was a godsend for us because he brought he came in worked with Hannah and you know brought this new system in that now we're all you know building off of and so yeah we should send them the fruit basket. on that too though. You know, some of that goes
066to Kurt as well and I think Kurt that as um as a team Kurt had some so many years of experience they brought in information from another realm that he had worked in that company. Well, see, it's it's that skill sets, right, that people learn and and um you know, it just we we just got the you know, the the the right people, the right skills, the right vision all at the same time. And oh boy, you know, wow. And look at look at what it does. Let's hope Jerry doesn't. So, that's my goal. Could I get a copy of the slide sheet? Just put that on my goals. Don't ruin it. Okay. So, any any more from the board? Nice job, Kenny. Thank you. Okay. We're down to item number 10, announcements and recognition.
067Looks like we have another Camp Seymour. So, uh and then professional development day, no school on the 7th. And the next board meeting is the 23rd of October. Okay. Any other comments there before I move on? Question. Oh, go ahead. Uh, who Today is the today the 25th by it is they left today. Who's at camp Seymour? Fifth grade. Fifth grade and they are with our fifth grade teacher um Miss Rollson. And the other staff member that attended two staff members is um Chilson. you know that but has a fifth grader so she as a staff member you know and we'll want to hear about that next month and they left this morning and you could you had to swim through the energy and they it was that physical location of that campaign okay um
068that's very exciting I will there's there's a high possibility I will not be able to make the meeting in October. Okay. Um possibly Zoom, but I can't guarantee it. Okay. All right. I'm going to get down to the consent agenda then. Hang on. Uh I'm in the same category for the October meeting as Wes is. And what I'm doing has nothing to do with what Wes does. But if you look at the shirt that I'm wearing today, the only week that I could get to go to Hawaii, uh, was I'll be in the air or maybe maybe on the ground, depending on my son's a pilot for Delta and my wife and I fly free. Wow. Now you're standing off. Stand by and stand by me as we go to the airport maybe the night
069before and see if we can get on a red eyee. And if not, can we catch the first flight in the morning for the second flight or do we have to fly through Los Angeles? I don't want to tell any more stories. All right. So, we would have a I'll be there. We would have a quorum. Okay. We're doing business. It's funny you should say that. I've got it down. I'll be here. That's all. Okay. I'm going to move on to the consent agenda. I'd like a uh motion to approve the consent agenda. So move second and Tom. Thank you. Uh discussion. I'd like to point out the donation from Mary Petty Bone, my music teacher, which is very very nice of her to do that. That's awesome. and the donation from Roy Watkins and
070uh Bruce Waxman. Um obviously helping out our our performing arts department which is always appreciated and I just think that that's great that there's people willing to give their hard-earned money um to our little school. is very pretty in the community. Thank you. I guess thing that was sobering to me is when I started adding up these stings, they're in the budget that it's just sobering when you look at the overtime essentially this is overtime additional time. Okay. Okay. So, um the uh the director program director and the performing arts coordinators, these are all that performing arts. That's the lady that leads the whole drama, the piano board. Okay. All right. They're just serving a lot of money. Sorry, did she get her keyboard? Miss Shen, it's it's in the works. Okay. I drove it
071to Powers Music last week and they're looking at it to um use those funds that we did raise to make sure it's up to up to sn Okay. Any more discussion here on the consent agenda? If there's not, I'm going to call for a vote. All in favor? I 100%. Okay. Moving on here. We're down to the tenant reports under item 12. Let me give you my talking points there so you can [Music] go. Think that's for everybody. Um, I was very pleased this uh couple weeks ago to to learn that um uh we had our first CTE course approved. I've been, you know, I came to it with no experience other than just a desire to want to do that and see that it was a gap for our kids. So, I started asking
072questions a couple years ago and um um if I'm anything, I'm persistent and I kept after it and we were able to get um this month our first CTE course approved by the state of Washington. Um and we also um Katie was uh approved for a CCT certification. So, our video production course will fall under the state parameters for a career in technical ed course, which does drive some additional funds. It also means that our students um will be entering their high school experience with having um engaged in career tech courses like all the other middle school kids in our region. Um and um there are so there are some additional funds and it also opened us up um for a potential grant for equipment that I I've applied for. Also my goal is to
073um expand that um to other courses. I know that um uh many school districts um at middle level really um embrace that. Um, and so, um, some of it will depend on the the teachers that that we have because I'm not going to hire new teachers, but we're going to take their skill sets, their courses, their interests, and try to build more current technical ed options for kids. And those are around orienting children towards careers and building skills in in that vein. And so, we have a start. Does this also kind of coar a hat of organic STEM? And this particular course um is aligned in probably STEM because it is very technological. Um not every course would necessarily be STEM. That could be a career exploration course but um there's lots of overlap I
074would say. Yeah. Yeah. And so that was that was exciting. More to come. It's a longer process now. Now that we got approved, then there's the backside of getting it into the system, getting it coded into our courses and and yeah, it's a bureaucratic uh uh load, but it's worth it. I think the board should see some of the stuff that the students are doing. My son's in the the video, what is it? Production. And it is so cute. It's so cute. Yeah. Yeah. It's fantastic and it's actually quite useful. They've um they've been doing uh instructional videos for um our children on like what what does a fire grill look like, you know, and how do we line up in the lunchroom and and uh in addition to the the news session that they
075do at the end of the week. And so, um, yeah, it's a really a a neat program and, um, hopefully we'll be able to get the grant to upgrade their equipment and, um, and then we'll move on to other courses and try to expand that program. Can we view some of that at a board meeting? Yeah. Yeah. Looking forward. Did you say news section? So, each week they do like a weekly broadcast. It's kind of news. They do weather, they do food service, news. Yeah. That kind of stuff. They do sports and um can we see that? Yeah. In a future board game. Yeah. And um they sounds like fun. So um then this year, I don't know if they've done in the past, but this is the first time I remember seeing them. They've
076been doing videos on like how-to videos for, you know, we're getting ready to have a fire drill. So they had a fire a how-to uh for kids to watch before the fire drill. This is how we do things, right? This is how we do things in the lunchroom. this is how we collect our things at the end of the day and make our way to the bus. Um so um I was really very pleased with that segment. So we did a radio station and my middle school when that was Yeah. So it um that's a great course and we're hoping to find others um develop others. Um our I have a comment on that. I'm a big fan of the education system and uh certainly prek or TK through 12. I start getting uh kind
077of uh I don't know what the word is I'll cut to the point. Technical education and training is critical for this country, for this state, and for this county. And there's been an emphasis for decades and decades is you've got to get out of high school and you've got to go to college and you've got to get a college degree and that's going to be your ticket to whatever. And in many cases, that's true. and and especially in the advanced degrees, master's degrees and and some doctorate degrees and technical education and training has taken a backseat in the last I'm going to say 30 years, maybe 40 years, and uh we're paying the price for it today. You go down and try and get your car worked on at a car dealer, they don't have
078enough technicians to get your car fixed. And you can expand that and go in into all kinds of different areas. Uh and the fact that we're focusing on it is really important. And there's a um when we get to the the general assembly, there's an emphasis to do just that. And I'm seeing more of it in the last couple of years. And I'm really excited about that because we need it. That's my comment. Thank you. Um, another big announcement and which was one of the things that we were uh very anxiously working on last year and a half is hiring a um placement for for Tracy. So, we have um found a business manager and you'll she'll talk about it um some more in a little bit and her skill set, but um we have
079a transition schedule coming up. She'll be starting on the 23 and we have a plan for transition. Um and then um and then Tracy will be uh stepping out in the retirement world. But um I she and I have been talking about negotiation for some additional contract time for her uh on the back side of that transition for questions and support um and and needs for for the second half of the year so that by the end of the year um the our new business manager and myself might be prepared to actually to run the place. So, and she agreed the possibility of that. Yes. Yes. She cares, right? So, that and she'll talk more about in her reports. Um, we Cindy um she's she's everywhere. We met with our safety committee uh last week
080and and and reviewed just lots of various things, you know, um about what what they uh there's kind of two parts of the safety committee really is like are there staff things? are there, you know, uh, workspace things that we need to consider that might be safe or unsafe that we need to take a look at. And then there's the traditional, uh, student side of, uh, emergency planning, fire drills, equipment, um, and and all that. So, we had had a meeting and Cindy led that and did great. And before you leave, just curious part of this safety thing and talk about Uh the with the the Georgia school shooting, was there anything that we got a chance to learn from the school preparedness preventing measures? Is there anything there that's been looked at that we
081should be aware of? Over years past, this has been in the news, right? Um that a lot of things that are school property have been nailed down the front entrance. um things like that and we practice your drills um and as prepared as one could be for this situation. I guess the thing that jumped out at me that just kind of hangs with me as I understand what little I did read about this some doors were open and some doors were closed and I know that there was a time in the past when the kicks on school door on the classroom doors was removed. I'm assuming that's still the case and that our doors remain Yeah. All that second door. Okay. Again, I'm just I'm not trying to just just curious if that we've looked
082at and there was anything there that jumped out at us that all are I think it's difficult when the um perpetrator is um is somebody that is typically allowed in the school. You know, a student it's different when you know some deranged crackpot is is coming up, right? I mean, we're pretty secure against that. Um but but from a you know an internal um shooter standpoint uh you know that's that's kind of bad and and I guess all the classrooms would have to be locked and you know so you can mitigate but but you know I mean how do you how do you fight against that? And I and they they arrested that that person's uh dad, correct? So, um it's a it's a hard subject for sure. Again, I was just seeing this only
083reason I asked the rhetorically there was something obvious. Thank you. So, um and somewhat related. Um, so we've switched this year from Clear Risk to the Washington State risk management pool. Um, and Tracy and I have been the primary ones working with them. Um, and um, it's dramatically different um, than what we've experienced previously. Um, they are very so they're not necessarily an insurance company, they're a risk pool. So, it's a group of um uh school districts that collaborate together to kind of make sure we're covered. And so, they have they very proactive um and in terms of providing uh trainings and resources. And one of the things that they do um is they have every school is assigned a risk manager. So that person comes to the school district three, four times a year
084and meets with me and we talk about um a variety of different things. And this first time was um me um talking through them through various things with them. But um discussing issues that I saw as risks and and and worries. And so what we they're this year they're um they rotate through risk areas and they gave me this list and I thought this is fantastic to um Hannah and Cindy as well as future administrators that they can be thinking about these things as as avenues of risk um associated with operation of a school. And so um it was extremely helpful to look down that list. And then this particular year there um focuses on facilities and deferred maintenance as a as a um avenue of mitigating risk. what um and so um in essence
085I'm setting a um school improvement goal if you will in this category around risk and we're going to meet meet midy year and and through the end of the year to talk about the goal that I set um around um facilities and um the goal that um I set um that was doable and already something that was kind of on our table plate was uh maintenance. Um and not so much deferred maintenance except that we don't really have um Tony is marvelous at taking care of things, fabulous, but we don't have a really good system of tracking, right? Um, and we really depend on his memory to know when we've done things and not done things and when things need to come up and when we should be doing things. And um, this school is
086in great shape. Um, because of his hard work. But, um, I just, uh, wanted some sort of organized system for knowing when and how and where. Um and um because I told him like if you got hit by a bus, we'd be in trouble. So we needed some some system for tracking these things. And so that's my goal um to sit down with Britney to formulate a structure and then with Tony to kind of go through it with us to um input the data so that we have an ongoing um list of of um resources and um dates and things that we need for um ensuring that we don't have any deferred maintenance facilities. So that's one of the many categories of um risk that they have and that's their focus for this year and
087that's the goal that I have with them um for this year. I also met with their ombbudzman. They've assigned me another superintendent, um, John Hannah, um, from Morton, um, who I met with him the other day and we just talked about, um, risk and operating a school and ways that that, um, the, uh, risk pool can be helpful. He also has helped me with CTE stuff, too. So, got a double whammy out of that. Um, and, um, so, uh, I gave you the risk samples. Um and then one other piece that they also sent us is they have a a um it's called Zywave. It's a platform for um support for HR and cyber risk. Right. So um that's that's kind of a a a risk area that kind of is easy to forget about
088but can potentially be extremely costly for everybody. Um and um so it's it's a good reminder and a good support uh for us um uh in that way. So that's the risk pool. I think not only did we save a few bucks, but I think we have um a resource that will help us be a better school. Um quick comment the uh policies that we're dealing with right now dive into that very that very area. Yeah. And you know this policy that's why insurance is so much there's lots of risks and the better job we do at mitigating those the um the better off the risk pool is and we're spending less money on those kinds of things instead of books and uniforms and play equipment and all those kind of things. Um we have
089excitingly enough two applicants um for our part-time counselor position. Um we're going to we're interviewing one of them tomorrow. So um Paul, our previous um support um has has continued to help us. Um but you know, he's a retired gentleman with lots of activities and uh jobs. He does a great job, but we wanted to have uh somebody that we can have on an ongoing uh regular basis. Um, and so we put it out and we have a couple act applicants for a part-time position and hopefully in the next month or two we'll I'll be in asking you to approve a contract. That's the hope and so that's my report. Thank you. Any any words wisdom or questions before we move on? Not hearing any. Okay, Hannah. All right. Um so first thing enrollment is
090really strong right now and JC will will show some numbers but on top of those numbers we just had um two new enrollments that finalized today and they're going to start this week first graders um and you know we talked a little bit about last month the first week of September it's really challenging with um choice transfer request and trying to do that balance out um so I didn't balance perfectly um but with that you know the first week school we're in and I see I see openings in fifth grade and I'm like okay great and so like great I can open up some of those choice you know transfer requests I did and the second week of school too many families came in and so our fifth grade is over um now for a
091couple it's it's it's tough you know we we try our best to balance but you know fortunately we've got a system in place for overage um and how we work through that um but our enrollment's really good it's it's above what we budgeted for and it's um it's strong families that have you know have moved in here are choosing to go here for positive reason uh fifth grade left this morning but can't see more and they're already having fun hearing about it even in the rain I think they can't see more in sunshine I think they can't see more in rain and it's equally fun it's just fun so they're having a great time um I'm gonna head there tomorrow night for dinner campfire So the Thursday night the kids said they have so much
092more to tell me on Thursday night. So like Thursday night Wednesday night they're so excited. So we decided to go and for a while see they can't find these kids. Um volleyball football is going strong. We had our first home games yesterday with Christian school. Um their team won. Um our JV football did tie which is exciting. Um, but you know, European Christian school is is one of the Olympia schools that's they're really challenging. They've never been a team that they're really challenging. I don't know if we ever wanted to support with them. Um, but they are a very athletic school. Um, it was ship too. Yeah. And our school was fantastic. Our kids were excellent. They were positive and they were encouraging each other. Our volleyball team in particular is incredibly here. We have
093so many eighth graders. Our varsity only has one eighth grader on it. This time another eighth grader who enjoyed the kind of practices play. So it's really it's exciting to see these young players come together and they were encouraging each other and staying really positive. Um, even though we had uh an eighth grader jump serving and jump serving in volleyball is a really hard thing to do, but it's an incredibly powerful serve and our kids were just our our little ones were still there trying to bump those those volleyball and they were they do great to get their spirits up. So, I was really proud of them. And then on top of that, not only did they work really hard, it's after the game, um I struggled some years in getting kids to to really
094home teams really participate in setting tables back up again. Um you know, helping us get things up and that's always been kind of an expectation at great view is that our players do that. And I didn't even have to ask. Last night when varsity game was over and the kids were feeling, you know, a little bit down, they instantly went started pulling the benches and getting them set up as lunch tables for breakfast this morning. It was just an automatic thing. And that's what grade kids do. And not just the kids, great families. The parents were out there moving all the tables, saying, you know, is this set up right? I don't ever know if I'm setting things up exactly right, but it was they all the tables in everything. Uh, and that just makes
095me so controversial that that is something that is just an automatic consistency. I saw some of our football players picking up pieces of garbage that were blowing outside as they were. So, um, those moments make me so proud of our kids. Um, our LLT, we just, you know, talked about that. We're working right now on our school improvement plan. Um, we'll be pursuing that in October. Um, I'll be presenting it, but it's a collective work. It is it is not my work. It is collective work. Um we with that we will be going over SBA scores and um some of the new reports that are coming out from the state are really interesting. Um, I will try not to do too deep of a data dive, but um, I'm kind of interested in some of
096the way SEC is reporting on things like attendance, uh, how their student growth percentiles um, are showing what they're showing as schools and, um, how we are doing in comparison to state data, which is, you know, always good, but we have to have areas that we need to focus on and and what the state wants us to focus on for areas of growth. So, the state even comes out with reports that says, "We would like you to focus on this in your school. movement in in your areas of growth and so um we're doing that leadership team. Um school pictures were last week Heather Beck photography did them. She did a beautiful job. Um she is again this year taking care of all of our school photography. Um, even the the chaperons, the teachers at
097Camp Seymour are sending their pictures to Heather so that she's able to put them in a portfolio that parents can then scan parents who aren't at Camp Seymour can scan um the the QR code so then they can she's not even doing that for purchase. She's just doing that as you know our school workers so that they can see these great pictures from kids. Um so we appreciate her so much. Um the last week I moved my senior to well she's not a senior anymore. I moved my freshman to Central Washington University and um she's now a college student at Central and these two wonderful people let me go and all these people took over things here at the school so I could go focus on um my family and that um emotional journey to
098your kid off to college. Um and during that time, uh the safety meeting, the safety management meeting happened and um Sydney took the lead on that. Uh so scheduling out the drills for the year, which is, you know, a huge thing. So our first fire drill is going to be on Monday. Um, and the first fire drill is just a a real interesting thing because our TK kiddos are four years old and you know there's 16 of them and we it's just it's a it's a fun journey to see how we do in in a drill and in a safe setting to get safely out of the building and and line up. So, um, my expectation is that we will all get out to our locations and our spots. I don't have a timeline for
099that yet because again it's the first time with four rules but we we we warned everybody about the first one because the the teachers they practice with them over and over again and it takes time. So these aren't surprise drills from the very beginning. Um we don't do that because we want them to get the practice and comfort with it but that will be on Monday. Um and so the teachers are always looking their kids on what that's going to look like. Um you heard the PTSO came to talk about that. Um, I'm really excited about this team of parents that are are coming in and really excited to try to get things moving going again. And when I asked them to come to schoolboard meetings was so excited that um came tonight to share
100that. Um, and she they're going to rotate. So, one will try to come to every share updates which makes me pretty excited. Um, teacher and service day is October 7th. We are working on our TPAR teacher principal evaluation program system. We use a Daniel framework um framework and of course the state updated Danielson framework in 2022 and then became law this year that schools worked in it last year and then implemented it this year. Um it's just a lot more data and paperwork for teachers really. Yes, it does lead to great conversations about how to improve teaching. Um and that's what we're going to focus on. Um, and it's it's not a model. It's not a um I mean I'm sure it can be in some places, but that's not how we operate. How are
101we going to use this framework to support us in stronger educators and supporting students in student? So, we'll be working all day on that framework, setting student growth goals as a team, nesting them as teams so that we don't feel isolated and alone and setting these massive growth goals and providing evidence for them. Um, and we'll work along with curriculum mapping because that's kind of a big piece of it. So teachers have their curriculum map for the year, but how does this support the student growth goals that we're studying? So it's really tying those instructions to the data that we're seeing. Um, so we're excited for that day because it's a it's an important space that teachers get to really work on it so that it's not just overhanging there as well. Um, our middle
102school theater class is doing the Wizard of Oz. Tryyous were last week. Callbacks from yesterday. I got to go and participate on that. Um, so casting is happening right now. Miss Shannon is getting things ready. The Wizard of Oz was slightly more expensive rights than um a lot of our plays that we've done in the past. And um that really um kind of sparked donations from people who really wanted to support shows um that Shannon puts together. So, I'm really excited about this. The kids are pumped about doing so. So, they are they're so so excited about it. And uh there's just really neat things happening with the relationships that they're coming together to work on this. Um kids who are are quieter. We got some sixth graders that were never thought they wanted to
103do theater, but joined theater this year and they are just on fire for this. So, I'm I'm really excited for that. Um that's really that's all I've got. Thank you. Yes. When is the wizard of in January? It's probably going to be the second in January, but we'll have to dates. So, are you going to use the kindergarteners as munchkins? Oh my goodness. I think it would be so cute. Maybe maybe I know the class is big enough that she's using every kiddo, you know, in the cast. Every kidd has a part. Um, yeah. And we're not we're not craning in Glenda, right? Probably. I mean, we should talk about risk assessment. Um, but I I expect that you're probably going to be loading up on a lot of Wildcat gear if she's going to
104Central, right? Well, so Chris and I are both Oh, okay. We're both alumni. Well, you know, that's where Claire went. Yes, we cannot pressure her to say, but we went to all the universities. She was really You're like, you're like, oh, this Harvard such a dump. Such a dump. Wow, look at Central. Look, and it's breezy and, you know, clean and Oh, Yale. Oh, you don't want to Oh, god. You don't want to go there. We visited on a beautiful day. Yeah, you visited Western on a torrential downpour day. Well, you you made the right choice. Yeah, between those two. Okay. Any more you have a major? You know, that's what Claire theater studies. Yep. Okay. Gonna move on here if there's any more. Okay, Tracy, you're up. You have my report in front of
105you and we um close the year August 31st of the county treasur and the general fund of $7249 16,56381 capital projects $134,52737 transportation fund 239,46367 and debt service of 57 72,000 turn 650 for the month of um September which is the beginning of our next fiscal year we have beginning balance of 7249312 so that is above the projection of which was our projected ending for last year so I'm thinking that we are above that was my hope and it turned out that um total revenues are at for this month projected at 255,98264. Our payroll and benefits, our payroll benefits and vouchers totaled um 148,516. So that's just um over 10% of our budget which is normal for this month. So we paid upfront we pay our insurance bill which is we're around 80,000 about $73,000.
106So that that's always a big month for building. Our ending fund balance is projected at and our minus our reserve of 377825. So that's our 9% reserve set aside. We're still in the black which is really nice because a lot of times we end up in the negative with our discretionary um balance but we're at 1574. our enrollment um we reported this month um 210 I'm sorry 222.7 and our budget um budget including TK was 210 we're 12.7 FTE of our budget that's really great news perfect place and spread out pretty nicely and very Um I did want to talk about and um Cooper, you have a hand out your um report. It's her her resume. Um we were we interviewed her months ago and I and Sherry. And um as you can see looking
107at her resume, she comes with some um good education and some good experience. So she comes with experience from two larger districts um South Kit South and Central Pit South. Um her most current employer was at um Central or I'm sorry, South Kit School District. I think you're saying um or South Pitch at South and Barack is what she did um at South Kitap. She was the director of business services. So she worked under the um assistant superintendent of finance basically and she has kind of summarized the areas that she um has experience in both there and at Kit. But she does bring a pretty the job here at Great View encompasses most every functional area in the business um department of of the school district. And so she is, you know, um has been
108certified through law, which means as a um school business official, which means that she's had five, you know, more years experience in at least five functional areas. So that's pretty good. That's very good experience for us to bring somebody a good foundation to be able to take those skills and that experience and her education and spread it to the other areas that I was very excited to have somebody with this kind of background apply you know at great view and I think for me also in the interview I feel like that she has a passion for schools. You know, she has a business background and her deg. But um how she kind of explained it was people don't realize that there's this whole other side to school which is the business area. And so she
109said I you know when I discovered that I really she feels lucky that she did because it's a passion to be able to give and you know to serve in a public arena and she gets to do that with kids. So um part of an attitude you need to have when you come to a small district because you'll wear many hats and you'll be buried at times focused on what it's about. It's about the kids and you know I told her the fun thing here you get to sit in their office and during the holidays you get to hear the kids practicing and singing and just it's it's a really unique place to work. So does she live in the Mason County area? She lives in Puerto Rico. Oh, she Can we ask questions? Yeah.
110Um, did she mentioned why she wanted to leave South Kit? She did. Um, there was a couple of reasons why. One, um, they had budget issues there. And so, um, she I think there were two people that failed her position in the school. and um she thought that um at one point her position was um looked at for budget cuts. Um that didn't happen, but she felt like that would be something that would happen. Do do you feel like um she's in it for the long haul because her experience is about four to five years and then she moves on. you know, I wish I could say 100%, but did you get a feeling like she was I did I think she's, you know, she has experience in a large district and it is different
111than being small district. Um, and so I think in in listening to her, she's ready to come to a place where she can kind of make it her own. You know, she'll be in charge of all of it. And I think, you know, she's ready to do that to take on that challenge. So, in as much as we know about her in the interview and a couple other conversations, um, she's very committed to let me come here. So, but as far as staying for 22 years, I don't blame her at all for leaving the bank. I know about that. Um, but yeah. Okay, great. But it's not uncommon um for people that work at larger districts. in a lot of positions and you know in the business arena in large school districts and the reason
112she I know that she moved from north to south was more money and more responsibility the position. So, um, closer to home, too. Closer to Okay. So, and as we get down through the agenda here, it looks like uh we do have a action item here to approve. Okay. And if approved, I did kind of summarize a little bit of what we would be um if she is approved by the board, we would bring her on Thursday. That's October 23rd. And um first first assignment would be a report that's called SG75 personnel report that we send to the state. Um it helps it helps raise funding for a school and every person and so when bringing her on board we would just have that. So she would be working very modified scheduling, you know, a
113couple days a week until the first December and then the plan would be to transition her completely into a business office and I would myself in a closet somewhere as support or outside until the 13th. So does she like the color purple? I think so. The movie or she does if um if two um we certainly invited you to the board meeting but now I hear two board members be gone um on the 23rd but we would never come back December 13th would be my last work day 13th in December and um looking good then was that approved Count December 13, 2020. That needs to go before the board, by the way. Well, I have vacation days. Okay. All right. I'm going to move on here, unless there's any additional questions. Okay. So, we're down
114now to item number 14, new business or action items. So, first item there was the fall board retreat agenda. And that was what we had talked about. I'm really miss you floating around the table. Yeah, our staff here. It might be on our staff. [Music] Oh, here we go. Here we go. I think everybody So, as uh Deb's pointed out, this is what we're looking at. One page. Oh, board of director's meeting. So, we're uh still set up for the 2nd of November, 7:30 to 11:30. It looks like we'll go back to the Port of Allen building. Um we talked quite a bit about superintendent goals uh Deb and I and Jerry uh during the the premier through agenda meeting and and so we were kind of looking forward as as this whole career in
115technical education is is up front. one of Jerry's goals. Obviously, the next item was to complete the Apollo HBAC project, which is looks like it's ready to go. If we can just get the materials to do the final installation, um the facilities improvement plan, which we've already touched on, part of the risk section, and then of course it looks like this year is the teacher negotiation schedule. So this is and as as we we looked along here looking kind of what Jerry's accomplished or what has been accomplished during Jerry's tenure which last year obviously the successful replacement of Tracer was clearly high in our list and we're we're meeting that the Apollo getting it going was another piece. Um I can't remember off the top of my head right now what we also had out
116there but those are the ones that that ring out. So, these were kind of the things that that Dev and I and Sherry threw out and it's certainly by no means cast in stone. Um, the I think there's a little what I had intended under item four here is I was actually looking less at a board slide um and more at a strength, weakness, opportunities and threats assessment of actually GSD54. And that was that that it weighs on me because um you heard Travis talk about this consolidation thing and we have this gem here that there are many of us that don't want to preserve this yet gem, but there's going to be definitely definitely challenges as we go through this. I mean we we to the credit of the community and the reputation our
117209 number is no longer or 210 whatever that was is no longer the budget piece it's a number considerably above that which gives us that operating room but that was kind of where I was was headed and as opposed to and not saying that a board isn't necessary but I was wondering if in that we would replace the board with actually our viewing and and and if you've ever been to one of And I've led several of these and I'd be glad to lead this one. This one is is it's just literally you're in front of an eel or or whiteboard. What are the strengths? And we just fire them out each each individual. We go through that strength and then we'll drop into the weaknesses. What are the what are the weaknesses and parallel
118that opportunities and then the threats and then basically higher up each one of those and just get a a collective vision. So that's something that I would really like to see us do and and and then we're talking about a session that if we do it well, we're easily done in 2030. If we do it, get in and there might be some postwork that we have to do. So that's kind of my proposal and I'm definitely open to that. Well, if without any I'm going to change that to more of a GSD 54 unless I hear some Okay. No, I think that's good. Um, the operating agreement again is one that we need to continue to keep uh focus on and so we talked about revisiting that again and resigning it. And then one of
119the things too, okay, rec. Okay. And Wes, you brought up something that that I would like to to to talk a little bit about a reclaiming board traditions. And we tal in that one piece, we talked about the school theater productions. Uh yeah. Yeah. And uh congratulations. And we have the beginnings of another one that happened tonight with the um PTSO representative coming which was really great. And you see that they got they got money to to launch the Halloween, you know, carnival. And you know the other traditions are you know board members judge the the c you know costume contests or the um you know the the chili book offs and you know I'm going to be out of town for it. I was just like suggesting that that we do that. Right. And
120um so those are some of the some of the traditions that that I think were lost during you know the the years that shall not be named. Um but uh but I I I do think we should we need to kind of reclaim reclaim our traditions here. Yes. So so I'm looking forward to that discussion. Okay. And then one of the things that that we also Dev and I and Jerry were talking through and this is an interesting piece that Hannah in particular your leadership team. We did this. Oh gosh. Ellen Ellen was the proctor or she was the uh facilitated the session. Jay was still here. U Michael was on the board at the time and Tim Hero. we did this and and I'm just really curious looking back to this is is uh
121is it does it meet our needs and does it need to reflect? I mean it really does. We we guide our SIP off of the strategic plan that was you know done all those years ago. We still have similar our motto is still the same to engage and inspire and we we talked about our it's the beginning of our handbook. It's the beginning of our student books that we get. Um so we definitely you know, still follow it. It would it would be worth a strategic um you know, planning team um looking at at getting not even just what the team would be. [Music] Yeah, that and that's how I came into it at the time. My mom was asked and she said I'm just kind of what I think I can do to it.
122So, and that's how I got involved. So, that would be okay. So, I'm just going to take that as we're going to move on until a later date. Okay. So, I don't know that we even Yeah, I guess we'll leave it on there. The review mission and the motor. So anyway, these are what we threw out here and believe me if there's any of the other board members that have mind Gary that if you see something else on the list, I think we can go with this one. Yeah. Okay. All right. Okay. Well, thank you very much for that endorsement. Okay. So, we're down now to an action item, which is uh the Andrew Cooper. Um, and that was attached to the back of of U. So, I'd like a a motion to approve uh
123the employment contract and the new finance director Andrea Cooper. So much the last second Tom discussion. Um, thank you for all your work for the research. Thank you. Yeah. How many applicants did we have? Yeah. Um I think she was interesting in the evaluation process just person clearly she rose to the top. She rose. Yeah. Okay. We had another background mostly students and then business How did you find her? We just posted for it and we advertised and worked the communities that were involved with but we didn't have a lot of and there's a lot of movement. I know that Chris school district ended up going to school district. I did have some interest initially talking to people. Um I even reached out to two of them in fact didn't hear about I later heard
124after we closed and interviewed her um did hear from somebody that was interested in accounting but we already and reference checks and all that was going to be my next question you did the background so she was vetted Well, exact for me your 22 years and the first person rose to the top and culture tension into the musher that's I mean I feel fortunate that you have something that qualify but it's something whoever we replace with I'm wanting to stay in touch and watch what's going on because um I just feel like I need to give Sure. You can't make too many mistakes and so you don't want to not have a relationship with person. Make sure she knows what she's doing. So in the process for her process is that our endorsement approval soon
125we do tonight and that allows her then to move forward with her notices. Okay. Just want to make sure I have clear vision. Okay. Well, unless every left any more discussion here, I'm I'm almost I'm almost nervous. I'm I'm nervous because she's got big shoes to fill. You know, this there's been a lot of emotion around this she announce kind of rough has been I mean, nothing against Andrea, of course, but it it is it is it is rough. I've only got five years of your 22 years or bad impression. This is the freshest school district. You know, person that sits in my seat too. It took a long time for the board and the superintendent and myself to build what we know, especially on the fiscal side. Told this story over and over. When
126I came on board, we were an ending fund balance of $5,000. you and you and uh consolidation. So So I I you know I am not I am not saying this against against Andrea. I've never met her and you're highly recommending her and your recommendation means everything and I'm I'm planning on voting yes just purely on that. Right. though it it sometimes when I hear a business person saying why I left be I'm leaving because of budget issues where you are in you are critically involved in right and you're leaving because of budget issues and you know like somebody leaving pioneer which has a huge problem and moving to another you know you you just kind you sort There's a lot of movement going. Yeah. Superintendent and CFO design. But but but business managers have
127a a important role and and you know um you know boards are not micromanagers. Well they they shouldn't be. and and you know so we're not you know we're not deep down in the in the financials and many of us wouldn't even know what we're looking at right and so you know when I it's sort of like uh so history though with south they never I think they haven't and they struggle with their so they have had ongoing so it's more of a community support issue. Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay. That will be her biggest challenge that she has pieces of experience in those areas and and she has an education. Okay. But putting it all together and being the one person, this, you know, this will be a trial for her to know. I mean,
128she's going to be able to want to continue to do it. And so that's why saying will she be here forever? I don't know. It will depend on this year and depend on her to want to take on, right? Do you think she's overqualified for it? Okay. The um but you know what I was saying? It's like somebody leaving a sales management position because and trying to get another sales management position because the sales were down, right? And you know, it's like okay. So, okay. It's not it's a community community support. Yeah. Okay. Well, that makes me feel better. All right. I'm ready to go. All right. So, I'm gonna do this. So, I'd like to go ahead and call. No more discussion. I'd like to call for vote. I'm going to call Wes. Uh,
129yes. Tom, yes. Yes. Deb, yes. Le, yes. Okay. 100%. Yay. Thank you. Good job. Well done. Another deliverable. Good job. Okay. Boy, that's it's a relief. It's a relief. The time that you announced your retirement, uh, it's rolled around in the back of everybody's heads. What are we going to do? And not just you've been a fixture. And that's a compliment. And we have waited with anticipation through the search process and through all the conversations and you and the team meaning everybody that's in here as far as I'm concerned you uh you reached in the bag and pulled out a really good candidate. really good candidate. I've hired lots of people and I've been hired and not hired. Uh it's a tough process. It's a very tough process and you want to have enough information
130and enough like ideally let's say a dozen if you had all dozen ingredients for your hire and that's really hard to find. So if you get eight or nine of them and and it looks good and she also I think is willing she interviewed she talked about the holes the areas that she knows that she's going to have to build her experience one of them is HR you know even though her degree minor is human resource management she's got her practice and so she knows that you know and so during work with her and get her the resources she needs Yeah, I don't mean to correct Tom, but instead of fixture, maybe we should have said long-term asset to the district. Interesting. I know. I've had people look at me and go, what are you
131going to Well intended. Okay, so I'm going to move on here. So that there one change that we talked about here in the in the agenda there is that date change date. Okay. So you'll you'll catch that. Okay. Thank you. Okay, Tom. We're down here to item 15 and legislative update. All right. Now you two are welcome to uh stick around if you want the excitement of it all. Mass. Thank you. Enjoy dinner. Brit's like, "Why? Why do I have to say Brit is loyal, honest, trustworthy, brave, truth?" Yes. Unlike Unlike them. Okay. Uh our role in guiding the school and the board through the the legislative process. Uh the last couple of years it's taken on more and more and more importance. And the more and more I've learned uh the more of a
132challenge that I see that it is. And uh we had a busy busy general assembly on uh Friday, Saturday. And you've got documents in front of you. One of them is uh looks like this. It's got green across the top. You hold it horizontally. And those were all the legislative proposals listed. And there's three pages and about a fifth on the back page. And they're listed alphabetically. And there are three of these documents sitting in front of you. It's like uh 40 pages and it's all of the positions that the Washington State School Directors Association has in front of them to uh try and influence the legislature. And I want to tell you that the opinions about what priorities are vary completely across the board and it comes out in the general assembly. There are
133people that have been on the WASDA school directors that have been on the WASDA boards and and uh uh different different service teams for a long time and they know how the how the political process works in in WADA. It's a big organization. I think there's 200 and some school directors in the uh there's a lot more than that. There's 200 plus districts in the state. 295 I believe. Yeah. And you multiply that by five so you've got up near a thousand or so or more. And I've sat through three of these. The reason I'm taking a couple of a couple of minutes is it really reminds me of watching either the federal government work or the state government work. And uh when they come into the general assembly, when I say when they come
134in, I'm talking about these these groups within WASDA. And there's a a very small percentage of WASDA personnel involved. And then there's quite a bit of leadership in WANDA which are made up of school board directors. What did I say there was? Um yeah, there's 40 40 pages of of these positions and then you've got one more document in front of you and it's the top 10 priority WA was positions according to Great View School and they will take what we tell them for these top 10 priority positions and they'll combine it with all the other boards that participate that way. And I tell you, there's some boards that they don't participate in was they they certainly don't participate in the general assembly. And I think there's a number of them that don't participate in
135the the conference, the annual conference, they have the opportunity to and whether it's, you know, the size of the school and people's responsibilities, etc., etc. And I'm going to go back to what I said before. There's opinions on the the horizon where the sun comes up and and the horizon where the sun sets. There's a whole bunch of small school districts. In fact, there's a group of small school districts that that kind of comes together and and uh puts their ideas together. And I mentioned that last year we had a a significant breakthrough where we took away the ranking or waiting system of the large districts because they had uh if it called for a weighted vote, the large districts could put all of their votes in there and and the small school districts get
136wiped out. I think there's still some uh heartburn over the fact that the large districts lost that that power alphabetically. I just want you to look at the green sheet alphabetically. It talks about uh ample funding up near the top. It talks about get down look down there where it says attract. It's about the ninth and tth items on there. Attract, recruit, and retain diverse school board directors. Attract, recruit, and retain diverse staff. Go down a little bit further. Capital construction. Down a little bit farther. class size reduction funding, charter school, employee dismissal, enhanced funding for transitional bilingual education. You get down to near the bottom of the page and there's several things for equitable funding, equitable school funding, equity and remediation, equity based education system. turn the page. I can look that up if
137you want. I have the details on every And you have quite a bit of the details as well. Oh, don't forget the consolidation of school districts. Yeah. So, I had the retroactive cuts and reduction in force. Yes, they have a position on that, too. And if you looked at their positions on all of these uh um 40 positions, you probably be in strong agreement with some of them and you might be in uh antagonistic disagreement with some of them. And and based on that, we have the ability and and we've talked about policies for a long time. We've studied policies. We've approved policies. We've revised policies. Uh, I like tonight we had the the strong benefit of having Travis here and hear him talk about uh his perspective and his encouragement that we aid and
138assist the committees that he's on and that uh we have a board day at the legislature. I don't expect you to have uh to be ready to do everything involved. So we have we have a couple of options by October 8th which is two weeks from tonight. We have to submit our 10 priorities. And I believe we could probably come up with our 10 priorities tonight if you're willing to take 10 or 15 minutes to do it. Otherwise, you take home the information that you have. You look through it. You ask yourself some questions and and uh and we would make another copy of this thick packet of positions and then we try and and uh connect it over the next couple of weeks outside of a board meeting to get your spot to get
139your thoughts. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to tell you what my top like 15 are. And if you look uh alphabetically on the green sheet, my top is fully funding education. And if you look on page two of that, they have uh full funding of basic education. It's about two inches down that second page. That's your number one. That's my number one. Okay, my number two is special education funding. So if you take the green sheet and go down alphabetically to SP support for special education programs that the one you're talking about probably goes by re say that again look at funings there's support for special education programs that's one of the put a mark next to that. Okay. I think it's more specific to money. I don't see it under
140funding. See that unique and necessary program, but I don't see anything for special education. I'm not finding it either. I can find it. Uh my third one is MSOC. We talked about MSOC. Tracy has helped us uh by explaining what MSOC is. U how does that help us? How does Mox help us? What I want to know what the state doesn't fund. We have to fund ourselves through Go ahead, Jerry. through levy dollars. That's That's where the levy dollars come in to make up for a teacher. Um that um potentially I'll give you one, but a teacher is um not an MSOC teacher staff. An MOC would be the cleanest one is insurance, right? So um they our insurance bill 60 90 and it was going to be $120,000 but they don't give us nearly
141enough money to cover that. So um um so we um and that we have lids on what we can collect but no lid on our our potential bills, right? The liabilities, our fiscal liabilities can grow with the economy, but the amount of money we can get in the state is fixed, right? And so Msocks is an area that is just grows freely. Gas prices, electric prices, insurance prices, um paper costs, um pumps for water, those can all grow exponentially. And so um and they have But the amount of money the state has given us has not grown that anywhere close. So that's what that's about. Okay, Tommy. So we're down to three. What's your number four? Uh, everybody got a handle on the MSOC piece? Yes. My number four is transitional kindergarten and it's on
142the very last page. And if you want a definition of any of these, just say it and we can look it up. Not a definition, but uh you can read their position on it. And you girls have got one of those thick stapled documents down there. There's one here. Yeah. Uh I am so so strong on transitional kindergarten and uh they fought in the last legislature of how they were going to deal with it. Some of them wanted to toss it. Uh all right. Uh, number five on my list is transportation costs and and Travis addressed that as well. You did a nice job on that. Uh my number six is insurance and how it's listed in here is uh insurance premiums or six or and it's protection against uh protection against insurance rates spiking
143and the schools being uh held accountable for it without the funding. uh to cover it. My number number seven is literacy. Uh literacy is like reading, writing, arithmetic, right? And uh if schools take their attention off of that and and go too far into the weeds with other things and the the legislature passes these laws and WADA writes the policies and WASDA sends it out and basically the state is demanding that we add these things to our responsibilities. Uh some of them which are underfunded. I like the fact that Travis said uh people are gathering more and more and more information and he addressed it to Hannah and Hannah absolutely u confirmed that. Uh, number eight on my list is OPMA, Open Public Meetings Act, Executive Sessions. And, uh, the school districts recognize the fact
144that we're on film right now and this is all being recorded. And uh when we go into executive session, we need to be able to to yes, let's turn the camera off and discuss what we need to discuss. Uh my number nine is prevent self harm and suicide. And Travis addressed the mental health challenges that we're having. And I like the the uh policy and and their attempt to take a strong position with the legislators for that. And the last one is prevent substance abuse and overdose. And we're a a prek through eight school. Uh but don't be fooled. There are kids in great view that have used or are using drugs. Yes. Okay. And and whether it's the part of the community or other family members or relatives or whatever or they're living in
145a household where it's going on um preventing substance abuse and and overdose. It's high on my list. The the thing that jumped out at me here as we were talking through this and we've talked about within this board about building the when the legislature starts to dictate to local school districts about curricular about the local control. Uh and and I would have thought that somewhere in there that that would have been a a highlight within our top 10, but I'm just I'm just throwing it out there rhetorically. Yeah. Go under L and find the local control. Yes. Local control to sanction sanction educational experiences and local control in school district improvement. So I sat through this Friday and local control came up multiple multiple times. And I'm going to go to my book here and
146I'm going to give you an example. Um, there was an amendment to an amendment proposal in the title of local control. It was submitted by Mount Vernon School District. And current position says here, Wazda believes local control is essential to public education and therefore laws, regulations, and policies should be written to support the public election of local school directors and boards. and Mount Vernon submitted an amendment and the amendment would add believes local control is essential to public education and therefore laws, regulations and policies should be written to support the public election of local school district excuse excuse me school directors and boards. So the WASDA people on the committees believe that you should either pass these proposals or not pass the propos proposals. I sat through vote after vote after vote and when they
147used language that boosted the need for local control, they got shut down over and over and over again. Wow, that makes no sense. I'll see if I can find one that explains the committee and it's the uh the committee rationale for recommending do not pass. The committee voted a do not pass because they were concerned about the re the excuse me removal of public election thereby diluting the local authority of school boards. I can find you a better uh a better definition. I voted for that and it failed. All the ones that I voted for that had some mention of local control, they all failed. And and the belief on the part of the WASDA boards is that if the language of local control were to pass, it would contradict the work that they're trying
148to do within their present uh committees and recommendations. So, you've heard my recommendations. You heard what Travis said. You have the option to take these blank forms, do more research on your own, and we'll get uh the extended version of the proposals in each of your hands very fast. Three of you can take them tonight and the other person can get theirs as quickly as Brick can get them printed and and we'll get it out to you. I don't need one because I've got I've got it also. It's online through email. Yeah, Britney emailed out the uh and it's on the website. You can go on to the website and get it directly from the website. So, give me your feedback. Well, I I was going through and lacing these as as going through just
149to get an idea. Um, and you don't have to rank them in priority. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Well, I just wanted to see how they prioritize by virtue and each board can send in their information of the top 10 school funding, special ed, MTOP funding, transitional kindergarten, transportation funding, insurance, Literally, are we trying to get all on the same page too or does if I don't agree with what you have? Oh, absolutely. Okay. What you write down your 10 is your 10. Okay. Okay. So, you can take Oh, thank you. I'm I'm aligned probably the like I said I the only thing that in my in my view of this is somehow it's the local control and we have school boards still be a functioning viable entity uh and
150yet your input is that that that support of that concept seems to be eroding. Is that is that an accurate translation? U yes and uh it's not new. It's been going on for I don't know six, seven, eight years. maybe longer. and and uh the state board of education and the office of the superintendent of public instruction believe and will reinforce and they have reinforced that when the legislature passes a law and it be and it becomes a law and that law is given to WADA and WASDA writes policies that meet the needs of the law. Bring the uh the law into compliance and whether we agree with the law and the policies that come out of the state, we're mandated to be obedient to those policies. And the most simple uh idea that I
151can give you is during CO uh CO mandated that certain things take place and all the schools got shut down. local control in a particular district could have modified that and said we're going to make adjustments. Now, that was an extreme measure and the governor was using executive power to do that. OSPI threatened to withhold state funding from schools that chose to disobey the state. Can we work around it? Yes. Do we work around it? Yes. Do we like everything that we have to have a policy on? Maybe, maybe not. Can we be in compliance with the state of Washington? Yes. Can we run our school to the best of our ability with the plan that we have and the laws that we have to to uh work with? Absolutely. Do we have a great
152school in spite of some of the things that we don't like about all the policies and laws. Yes, we have an awesome school. So, here's what I'm going to plan. That's That's Les's 10 right there. Okay. He's going to uh highly efficient. He's going to go through it and he's going to get back to me with his 10. And uh girls, what do you think on the end of the table there? I have my nine. Yeah, I have two more to fill. Um, okay. One of mine is digital education access for all. A lot of us out here out in our area still rely on satellite internet. And I think that's a big issue. If we have another pandemic or we have another shutdown, how are students going to engage and learn and grow? We've
153already done this. We got to hit the ground running. And I don't think we have the ability to do that. That's what I need to Can we Can we add things like everything I write down? I'm just going to add equity in front. Equitable. The digital education access for all is a wonderful proposal and uh it has not been Good job Deb. uh it hasn't happened yet and it's a complex issue where during the pandemic the federal government and the state governments said okay we're going to get uh digital education access for all and it's a monstrous task monstrous task and they've thrown a lot of money at it and they have not been uh successful Although we do see signs of improvement in the digital side with fiber optics coming in at least. Yes.
154But that's still to the only come to a portion of our you still have to pay to access to that internet. That's the downside. You can get it to where you need it. So it cost you another too. Like I got skipped. Thomas road got skipped. There's still roads in our district that did not get those Yeah. cables. So, yeah. And you know, we I I personally have a you know, Tom Farmer and my dad has and it just kind of got overlooked. I don't understand how that's such a a key component to hoop road. Let's uh put a wrap on this so we can move through the rest of our agenda. Okay, I have uh mine and two others. And I maybe before you leave, Ed Henry, you can go ahead and hammer out
155the other the others. And Wes is going to get it to me. What's going to happen is I have to turn in one list of 10 priorities and I'm going to take all the stuff that you've written here and we're probably going to agree on I don't know most of it and and I'll potentially be reaching out to you guys and uh getting some feedback and see if you can live with seven eight nine and 10 or nine and 10. It's so hard to just choose 10 when there is multiple. Oh yeah. Okay. So, we're we're Thanks, Tom, for the legislative update and the effort here to get our collective input. Uh we're down to item 16 under policy reviews. um current family marital status and pregnancy related conditions to staff u updates to contracting
156transportation services. Those are clearly this is our first reading. Um we have those policies presently. So um when we're down to the action items unless there's some discussion around those policy can we move on to the action items please? Okay. So what I'd like is a motion to approve policy 3205 sex based discrimination prohibition. Second. So that was West and Tom. Yes. Discussion if not uh like call for vote. All in favor? I 100%. Okay. I'd like a motion to approve policy 3246. So moved. Wes second. Yeah. Discussion. No discussion. I'd call for a vote to approve 3246. All in favor? I 100%. I'd like a motion to approve policy 3432 and emergencies. So moved. Second. West home. Discussion. The only thing here that when I went through this hearing, it looked like there was
157a lot of there's a number of deliverables here and I wasn't sure where we stood. lock down. I know we we talked to this when Kurt was here about you know alternative locations like the fire department fire and whatnot. So it wasn't Do you know where we stand on on on all of the pieces? Do we have the We have a robust plan and we review it. Okay. Okay. All right. That was my only question that we All right. Any more discussion on that? Uh then I'm going to call the vote. All in favor? I I 100%. Okay. I'd like a motion to approve policy 4130 critical involvement title one second. West. Uh discussion. No discussion. All in favor? I 100%. I'd like a motion to approve 511 policy sexual sex discrimination and sex based
158harassment. So staff second last Tom discussion. No discussion. All in favor? I'll call for vote. All in favor? I. Okay. Motion to approve policy 6220 proposal request for bid for proposal requirement. So moved. Second. West. Okay. Discussion. Not I'll call for vote. All in favor? I 100%. Okay. All right. We're down to 17. Uh item 17 on the agenda, October board meeting, we talked about student recognition. In fact, we have state testing, the SIP's going to be produced, and then of course Cindy had that highly capable program again. So that those are out there. And I guess the only thing I would say is that is the October. So that would be the final of the offsite. We we went through that tonight. Uh so it just be the final approval of the offsite agenda.
159Oh, right. Yes. That would be the retreat. Yeah, the retreat. That's what I offsite retreat. So, that would be the only thing that I would add there. Unless somebody else has something else. Okay. All right. So, if no further ado, unless Tom, do you think there's any more? Well, you're already going to be on the agenda for legislative update. So, yeah. Okay. Oh, yeah. All right. So, we're nearing the end of this thing, so I'm going to call for board reflections. Wes. Oh, um I really enjoyed Cindy's um presentation and talk and learning about the Halloween carnival. I'd like to remind everybody that of our commitments to them and I'll be dropping a check tomorrow on my way by school. And um yeah, great great meeting. I I wish we didn't do the legislative update
160at the end because it it just ticks me off, but um but other than that, I Yeah. Oh, and Travis's um Travis's presentation was great. And how lucky are we to have the year of of a representative that comes out to us? So, okay. Thank you for um I like the PTSO visitor. Uh I'm not going to be in town for the Halloween carnival. That made me mad. I like chili cookoffs and cakewalks. You'll be thinking about us when you're on the shore, right? We see the whales. Yes. Be like, I wonder what cakes are there. Well, have a guava cake for clay because that's his favorite when he goes there. I really like the LLT recognition and I really like this the spontaneous responses from Cindy, Connie, and Megan. Uh that that's a good
161that's a good program when it first came up years ago and I thought, "Oh boy, we're going to take time out of teaching the kids and uh and it's working. It's working very efficiently and I'm happy that we've got a a good-look candidate for the finance HR piece. And uh Tracy's smiling more. I like that. Okay, we we worked well as a board today. We played nicely. Yep. I just thought I felt like I learned a lot tonight. Um the legislative report, the list of things, so it seems more concrete. They're talking about the legislature, which always seems a little nebulous to me. So, this felt good. Um, I like hearing specifics about the new um, business manager because that makes me feel safer. Um, hearing that seeing the numbers from Cindy were good. I
162just felt like the whole night it was just one thing after another I was learning something and I love that. I was happy to see the test results and to see how passionate Cindy is about that and just makes me very proud and happy to know that she's in her back pocket in our corner and I don't think she gets the recognition that she deserves. She is she's everywhere and on the athletic side too. She is big shout out to S. For me, u it's it's I I've dreaded Tracy leaving us ever since she announced it last December and amazing how fast a year has gone in regard to that. So I would say that the BM person and and I I guess if I'm sitting here tonight after 22 years I would really like
163to do a really cool set but I mean I mean sit down dinner wine the whole some sort of a plaque. I would really like to see that because like I said I've only had five of the 22 years. you guys, you you and Tom and Wes, you've got a lot more years than I do than the rest of us do, but she's made a significant impact. So anyway, that's mine. Uh Jerry, we are quite a harmonious and effective team and I I really appreciate that. um not always that way at every board and uh we managed to to make it work. Um I I'm the WASDA thing that's interesting to me is that we as a tiny little district can have an equal voice. So when we do speak, it's equal to Seattle school
164district in our ability to communicate the need. So it's really important that we do that. you have you're a school director just like Seattle school director would be and can speak um uh and have an impact and strangely I kind of find that as a superintendent too I have the title so I do get heard even though I'm in my little places um and so let's be sure to use that um the voice that you guys have as directors because this year is a very very very big year um that uh and the legislature and so the more voices that are speaking up for us um the better off we'll be. So um so that that's encouraging but Travis was here is perfect. So good good meeting probably one thing I was going to add
165to this and I I think it was significant tonight Deb kind of touched a little bit in the learnings were the fact that we could have that GSD54 school board director's day in at the capital. Yeah, I mean that that truly is an agenda item that we need pull together. I mean it's be take a bus. I'm just kidding. I don't want to get on a bus. I don't want to get on a bus. A school bus. It just seemed like a school thing to say. Don't want to go. Okay. So, we're down now at the end of the agenda to do the executive session. Jerry, we go in 10 minutes. Okay. It certainly see light as day or not.