3/26/2025 School Board Meeting

001Order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance of the forsy nation. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So move. I will second. It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All those in favor. How about now? Is that better? Better now. All right. Make sure you keep your microphones close, please. So, it's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Post. Same sign. Motion carries. Uh Michelle, was that you online? Yep, that's me. Okay. Thanks. All right, moving on to item B, addressing the board. Okay. So, the protocol for addressing the board. You may present a concern to the board during the time reserved for public comment. If this is the case, we ask that you prior to the start of the

002meeting sign in noting the topic you intend to address to the board. Come to the microphone up front. Uh do not reflect adversely on the political or e economic view, ethnic background, character, or motives of any individual. Do keep your comments concise, non-emotional, and brief. The board is interested in hearing your concerns and your compliments, too. It is best to call the superintendent's office a couple days before this meeting. If this isn't possible, you can ask the board present to recognize you during the hearing section. And we'll go for 3 minutes per person for a total of 20 minutes. Uh, first up is Camille Clingel. How about like that? Is that all right? Okay, perfect. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and I appreciate the audience. We obviously care very much about our

003community and our schools. Um, I've been doing a lot of reading lately and I just want to share some of the things that I've learned. Even at my age, I'm still learning so much. It's a scientific fact that humans come in two varieties. XX for female and XY for male. Except you can be born appearing female but have a five alpha reductase deficiency and grow a penis around age 12. You can be born legally male with an X and Y chromosome but your body is insensitive to androgens and you appear female. You can be born legally male with an X and Y chromosome and have a penis and testes and a uterus and fallopian tubes. You can be born legally male with an X and Y chromosome, but your Y chromosome is mixing missing the

004SR Y gene, which gives you a female body. You can be born legally female with two X chromosomes, but only one of the X's has an SRY gene, which gives you a male body. You can be born legally female with two X chromosomes and also a Y chromosome, giving you a male body. You can be born legally female with two X chromosomes, but your adrenal gland doesn't produce enough cortisol, so your body develops as male. You can also be born with XX chromosomes and also XY chromosomes. At the time I was born, girl babies came home wrapped in pink blankets. Boy babies came home in blue blankets. My parents told me early on that there were some babies, not many, who came home in a white blanket. So, we know that there are many, many

005more factors at play than whatever a person's underwear covers. I sincerely hope we can use some of this information in constructive ways to meet the needs of all people. These variables will not go away. Parents, coaches, families, all deserve to be heard and protected. Thank you. Thanks, Camille. Uh, next up is Jessica. Is it Malis? Nicholas, can you hear me? All right. Yep. Okay. I'm Jessica Nicholas. I grew up here. I went to school here. I am going to address the elephant in the room and why there are so many people here today. Uh this started with a Facebook post in Proer Chatter. I'm going to read the post and then I'm going to read my response. This was by Michelle Davis. Local school schoolboard meeting Wednesday, March 26. Please consider attending. WIAA, which oversees

006sports in Washington, is not listening to President Trump's decision banning boys and girls sports. WIAA plans to wait until April to gather votes from all the school districts. Whichever side has the majority will determine what our state does. So, Washington may choose to defy Trump's executive decision. Many people do not know this issue is still going on. There is a boy competing in girls track who plans to race against our girls at the April meet Proser is hosting. Our school board recently voted 3 to2 to stop boys from competing in girls sports. Shockingly, the two women board members voted to allow boys to continue to compete. It is rare for parents to attend schoolboard meetings in Proser, but many trans activists are regularly attending and making their voices heard. Please consider attending the board meeting

007next week. We need people to come early to sign up to speak and people to attend and pray through the meeting. The three elected school board members who voted to protect girls in sports need to see we support them. This was my response. The amount of trans hate in the comments here is frightening and honestly depressing. I see that the moderator post about staying peaceful in the comments, but already I've seen the words trans street walker and lawyer libtard talking about Alisa Riley. Take a moment and put yourself in the shoes of these kids. Imagine you're a trans kid and there is a whole group of adults praying you don't exist. Could you imagine what that would feel like? Unless you can empathize with these kids and their experiences, how can you truly be peaceful

008in this debate? Trans children are extremely brave to show up as themselves when they know fully well the hate and torment they will receive. They don't fit in a box and it's difficult. But this is a problem we can solve and adapt to. It's not a problem that needs to be prayed away. Jessica, that's your time. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Yes. Next up is Andy Gilbertson. Thank you. My name is Andy Gilbertson. I taught for 33 years here in Proser and coached for many of those years coaching tennis for boys and girls. My wife and I uh wrote a letter we are writing in regards to WIA re recent proposal to allow administrators in the state of Washington to vote in April whether to allow boys who identify as girls to participate in girls athletics.

009As a parent, as parents and concerned taxpayers, we know that President Trump has mandated that school districts will not receive federal funds if they continue to promote allowing boys to participate in girls sports. We align our values on this issue with President Trump that there are two genders, male and female. When Title Nine was passed and put into law, two genders were acknowledged. As a nation, we have fought long and hard to give opportunity for women and girls to participate in sports, not alongside men, but alongside other women. We know, especially in sports, we try to keep it a level playing field. For example, athletes are prohibited from taking steroids to enhance their physical strength and abilities, thus creating an unlevel playing field. Using that principle, why would we allow boys then to compete in

010women's sports when this no longer allows fair competition for the girls? We have already seen the devastating consequences of this policy of allowing biological males to compete with and against biological females. Much is at stake for our female athletes such as scholarships, healthy self-esteem, and their very womanhood to break records and earn scholarships. Let's keep it fair for all girls. Let's honor and support them. Let's fight for their rights that many have fought for over the years. I was uh going into my senior year in high school when Title N was passed and it revolutionized girls and women's opportunities in athletics. uh proposals like this seem to me to be undoing of 50 years of progress. Thank you. Thanks Andy. Audrey Kaufman. Audrey Kaufman. My name is Audrey Kaufman. My husband grew up in this

011town. Um I'm not from here, but I'm very grateful for all of those that take the time um to make Cross Proer Schools the best that they can be. Um I do have children that participate in sports, uh sons and daughters. Um, I'm here today because I do believe it is important to speak up uh as a woman myself and for the level playing field as was stated before as well as safety of all uh female athletes. I am grateful for the board members who are taking the leadership on this issue. Um, and I do stand on the side that I do not believe that uh, boys, biological males, should be participating in girls sports. Um, or those who are identifying as a female. Um, Riley Gaines, a former collegiate swimmer, many people already know,

012and was an ambassador for the Independent Women's Voice, said it best. I am mad that this is something that we're even having to do to talk about as was stated just a minute ago that um 50 years of progress. I am mad that we as women have to beg for equal rights that we have to beg for privac privacy in areas in which we are undressing that we have to beg for safety on the courts and in the locker rooms and even on the field. Um some might say what's the big deal? Um, I'm sure again there are some who have good intentions, but there's only a few that have been injured or assaulted. Um, to me it is, even if it's a small percentage, that tells me that the girls don't matter and that

013it's a waste of time. Um, the idea that it is appropriate for male athletes to participate in girls sports is entirely and thoroughly absurd. This is not about um what side of politics you're on or who you voted for even as a president. Personally, for me, it is just about the fact that I do not believe men should ever um be allowed to be in women's sports. No male athlete should be allowed to take away the title, the roster spot, a playing time, a right to privacy, and dignity from a woman. Thank you. Uh, Desiree Mains. Um, yes, I'm Desire Means. I am excited to see a lot of people here. I come every now and then. Um, but I think that there's so many issues that parents don't even know what's going on. And

014so if tonight brings some attention to that, that's great. So if parents don't know, um there's a Senate House Bill 5179 currently um going through Olympia and according to Representative um Stephanie Barard, she's one of our locals. Um she says, "This bill will do the following. It will dismantle local control by forcing public schools to follow controversial state mandates even when the schools can't afford them or they don't need uh or they don't meet the unique needs of our students and community. It gives OSPI the power to override local schoolboard decisions and punish schools that disobey. So, these are two things that are coming down the pipeline in Washington. And we are so thankful for schoolboard members who are willing to give their time because it's a you guys have a very thankless job. Um,

015and I know I've seen at enough schoolboard meetings that your hands are tied so many times. Um, and so I think it's up to our community to we have to go further. So I'm talking to parents, find out what's going on in Olympia, contact your representatives. Um, and that's where we have to make a difference. Um, this bill also says, so it's bill 5179 also says that OSPI will be able to go after the superintendent, school board, individual schoolboard members, um, which could recall result in a recall. Um, so that's something else that they're trying to get more power over our local district. So we've seen a lot of different things come through Olympia that we talk about all the time on the west side and the east side. oftentimes we say, you know, that's

016not the way we live over here. Um we don't do the same things. We don't um maybe even have our families in the same kind of environment, just city and and rural. But I just really want to encourage everybody that's here and everybody that's listening, we cannot wait until it gets to our local school board. We have to go to the state level and um and just keep fighting all of this because if we want to protect our kids from the ideas that we disagree with, it has to start sooner. We cannot wait until the last minute. We cannot wait until it's actually in our town. Because I don't know how many times in the last 15 years I've heard people say, "Well, we live in a conservative community. It won't happen here." Or, "I

017know who's on the school board." And they'll do it. parents, we have to do our part. And even if that's here, just saying thank you for voting for, you know, or making statements that support um what the community where the community stands on different issues. We have to be more involved. And so I'm hoping that following this meeting that the people that are here and the people that are listening will continue to attend and be part of these meetings so that they can help know what's going on. Thanks. Thank you, Desiree. Jessica Hoper. Hi. I had not planned on speaking and uh then I was told to please come and share my story. So, that's why I'm here. Um, I'm just calling because I guess a lot of people here. Um, a lot of people

018haven't heard the story and this is something that hap started happening a lot longer than last week or whenever the Facebook post was. This has been happening for a while. I watched it come down the pipeline. A year ago, my daughter called from Cheni. Um, there was an invitational and she said, "Mom, there is a boy, biological boy, racing against the girls." Um, Mali Rude, a lot of you know the Rude family had to race against the transidentified boy and of course lost and then Garcia went on to win state in the 400. Well, this year Sole, my daughter has been asked to run the 400. Hold on. Please refrain from using names. Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you. Um so this year my daughter has been asked to run the 400 and will be facing

019biological boy at invitationals both in proer and the SEWAC gsl regionals and someone said at the last board meeting they're just kids. Well so is my daughter. My daughter's just a kid. An open category would be a good solution. And I know we all voted already. this the board voted. There's nothing that can be done here. But I do agree that we need to talk to state representatives and talk to people and find a solution because they're all just kids. The girls, too, and they deserve a safe and fair space to compete. And my daughter deserves a safe and fair space to compete. She runs and works her tail off. And knowing just looking at the scores, she's still seven seconds behind them. and she won the Kamayakin Jamberee against 4A schools. My daughter did,

020but she's still so far behind because there is a biological advantage you cannot deny. And in Washington state, and I'll end with this, a lot of people don't realize this. You do not have to take hormone suppressants. You do not have to do anything. You just have to say you identify as a girl. And that is not fair. That is not fair. the physiological advantage are not fair and that's what I'm speaking from fairness. I don't want anyone to be prohibited from having an opportunity whether that's an open category or whatn not but we need to protect the girls and their fairness as well because the second you take the rights of girls away and give them to someone else they're no longer rights they're special privileges. Thank you. Yes. Uh Lori Lori Alsbury. Okay,

021thank you. Uh Laura Jansen, can you guys hear me? Yes. Uh I was going to talk about some other stuff, but I'm actually just going to keep this really short. Trans kids are kids. Trans girls are girls and trans boys are boys. You guys, we need to quit like picking on trans people. It happens so much and it's so disappointing. Um, Elisa, I'm really proud of you, Michelle. I'm really proud of you for making a stand. Um, especially against the three people who are always against you and apparently against trans people constantly. Um, every time I come talk to you guys, it's about this issue. And I like I I just don't know what to say anymore. I'm so disappointed and frustrated um with so many people. I'm just that we have at least two

022who seem to have a conscience and care. Thank you, Laura. We got time for one more. Uh Bill Jenin. Move M move it closer to your Oh, is that better? That's okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you hearing everybody here. I know uh it's pretty packed house. Um I'm Bill Jen. I'm former um school board member and was elected by our wonderful community um and other places to be in the state house of representatives. So um I've always looked for solutions. Um I everybody has has given their opinions and that's and and I'm sure we all respect those. Um as far as solution is concerned perhaps what we can do because public schools were known and and um one of the big things on public schools is to be inclusive and and

023so started thinking about okay how can we be inclusive as far as as somebody said the elephant in the room is concerned. Um, one way it would be to create a new category. Um, you know, we have the boys sports, we have the girls sports. Perhaps create a new category sort of like like like co-ed. I'm sure a lot of people have played co-ed. I have played co-ed softball, still do. And and it's competitive and it's fun. And if we were to have a new a a new category that that some of these students would be able to participate in, it would still give them the opportunity to participate and be involved in the sport that that they love. Um it it can be set up as like it was before Title 9 when we

024had when we had the different different classifications. It could be set up something like that um uh as inter mural or something of that sort. Um but it would be an opportunity and that's my suggestion and I wanted to share that with you and thank you for hearing. Thank you, Bill. That can that concludes our um uh public comment period for tonight. If you'd like to submit comments, you're more than welcome to email the superintendent. We'll include that in the meeting minutes. Um, and you're more than welcome to come at a future meeting and and speak. If you submit them to me, my email can be found there and I will always reply and it will be included in our my assistant and it will say these minutes will that your message will be included

025in the meeting minutes. So, please make sure that you get that response email that way you can assure that it's in the minutes. Thank you. Okay, moving on toformational items. The Proer School District business hours for spring break. Just very quick, I always share with you when we're doing something of change, spring break is next week. Um, our district office here in this building um here over on this side will be open from 8 to noon. They still work their eight hours, but we allow them some flexibility and so forth. So, we just commit to being open to the public from 8 to noon Monday through Friday next week. Great. Thank you. uh student rep reports. Yoshimi, so um for ASB, uh we have created a chord committee. So um our cord requirements for seniors

026weren't exactly um clear and a lot of seniors haven't really been doing their jobs lately. So we were like, we should create a committee. So we've come up with a system for that to implement um into ASB next year. Um, and then Yoshimi, do you mind pausing for a second? Can Can we please keep it down? And if you're going to talk, please do it out in the hallway and we might close the door just to minimize any if we can. Blake, maybe grab the door. Good, please. Thank you. Sorry, Yushimi. Go ahead. And then, uh, we don't have much planned for ASB right now because it's spring break. And then band just came back from our contest uh at like four and we got a which is the highest rating you can get for

027concert band. So yeah, that's good. Congratulations, Cammy. Um so with spring break, there's not a lot going on with athletics, but I have heard a lot of good things about the tennis courts, so everyone's really appreciative appreciative of that. Thank you, Alexander. I have nothing to report. Okay, thank you. All right, moving on to discussion items. School building reports. Uh, Jody Sabin, Proer Heights Elementary. First up, those that stayed, I have great things to say. Those that left are going to miss out on how wonderful Heights is. Where's my teachers? I have some teachers here. Okay, are you ready? Here's what we've got. I do want to give you an update. You got, Last time I was talking to you guys, um, we went to Iowa. I was asking to go to Iowa. I wanted

028to give you an update on that. Um it was fantastic. It really um gave us some validated some stuff that we're doing. The actually the presenter is from West or White River School District over in the Buckley area or Buckley school is Buckley. And he came over and so we were talking and he said and I had asked him I go how long does it take to really get some solid PLC you know really going? He goes about six years. And I said okay. And he goes are you guys on about year three? And I said no we're about year and a half like one and a half years. and he was like, "Oh, you guys are moving along quickly." So, that was great for all of us to hear. Um, that was reaffirming. So,

029that was great. And we um it was just a it was really good. Um, if you've been to Sous City, I would suggest not going. Um, it's it's terri like there's nothing to like it's there's not a lot to do there. Um, but they have great architecture. Um, so we are the end of the year is kind of wrapping up and or coming to a wrap-up. We did a fundraiser, a chocolate fundraiser as most of you probably know and probably bought lots of chocolate from us. And so those field trips due to um those field trips are getting planned because we have our ASB money for that. So be on the lookout for that so we can say thank you. Um handed out um three like mini grants and um they handed out all three

030went to Heights teachers and so um Eva Petro also was here. she asked to go to um get your teach on in Vegas. And so with that, what she learned was um to write reinforce idea through some games, different games. So she asked for um games. Um Stacy Bort and Kendra Wood, they're both grade teachers. They wrote a grant for snap circuits and that just um they're about houses and it's just really um some enrichment about electricity and how that works. So they're able to do that. We are in the midst of planning for next year, which is just crazy to me, but we're planning for our 2526 school year. We are in conferences. If you have not been to um the book fair um in the springtime, Heights always hosts the book fair. And

031so, you need to come because there's always treasures, always treasures of some kind of fuzzy pin that you have to have. And so, I totally suggest that you go to that. So, do you have any questions? Questions for Jenny. Students. All right. you real quick. I I it's not a question. I've um I posed this to one other principle. I'm going to pose it to all of them. So, obviously, just something to think on. So, my my question um to this principle was how do we get to 90% proficiency? What would you need? Well, let me tell you. Oh, no. I Well, we have a plan. Okay. All right. So, let's catch up and Oh, okay. Okay, I'm just throwing it out to everybody and then we can Well, I will say what I will

032say is that this um that's where we went in Sous City, the presenter, he has the his elementary school has the highest um rates, the highest SBA scores in Pierce County and so they are in the '9s and there's um kids in resource rooms and they're on IEPs have a 60 plus 60% plus um of also passing. So, we are looking at him and so Awesome. Yep. All right. Thanks. Thanks, Jody. Thanks, Jody. But I'll give you more details after I process that. All right. Next. Next up is uh Department reports uh transportation director Amy Am. Um so, we have a lot going on. We're gearing up for our wild ride of a month next month. We have a whole bunch of trips scheduled. My drivers are enjoying Starbase just as much as the kids

033are. Um, so they do like to get those real quick. We have state inspections for our yearly inspections are in April and the 28th and 29th. We typically have them in July. Somehow we draw the short stick and that match a little more. So, we're super busy getting all the buses in, getting them all ready to go so we can pass our inspections. Um, the two buses we have ordered for this summer for trips that have no seat belts and air conditioning are on target to be here delivered by August 31st. And then you want the great news first. I have two drivers starting class on Monday. Oh, congratulations. So, awesome. I'm excited for that. So, we're going to get them all through classes and get the training started during spring break so that we

034can get them going. and they have their permits already, so it could be as short as 15 days to get them ready for testing. So, we'll be super busy. Um, the super sad news is our electric bus died. Didn't we just get it? I'm not joking. Um, Cummins came and picked it up on Tuesday. They flatbedded it up to Spokane. It is a known error in the battery pack system. So, we are getting a brand new upgraded battery pack system for free in the bus. And I've asked that it be back by the 20th of April so we can have it ready for inspections on the 28th. And it's all warranty work. It's not costing us anything. Okay. And then I kind of put out a little thing is we're going to get all the

035buses washed when they come back from spring break because they're looking very wintry right now. And now that we're pretty sure the weather's off, we'll get them cleaned up and shiny again. Any questions? Well, I had a question on the school, the electric bus, but you kind of answered that right off the bat. Actually, before that happened, it was fantastic. I love driving it. It has great get up and go. It's very smooth. And I was letting drivers um test drive it to kind of We were playing with the battery like if I let it go all the way down to empty on the battery charge and charge it back up, we were getting fantastic mileage. So, one charge was getting us close to 75 miles and the max is 90 and then it was

036taking two and a half to three hours to charge again to go back on route, which is perfect because that's our midday. Um, and the drivers that drove it, not one of them complained. They all asked could they have the next one. Um, I I personally like it because I don't have to smell like diesel afterwards. But, um, it it's great. it was doing. It goes up the hill better than the diesel buses. As it comes down, you don't have to ride the brakes because the way it recharges the battery just slows that bus right down. Yeah. And I ran it on the long route up until we got to just enough to make sure we could get back to the bus garage. So, and then I've taken a lot of the drivers out and

037we've done like test drives in it showing them it maneuvers the same exact way a regular school bus does. You know, I'm not forcing them, but when they ask, we go. Good. And we share. So, they are looking forward to the next one coming. Will it have the updated battery pack? Yes, it will. Okay. That was already confirmed beforehand. So, and then the charger for the next one is a fast charger and it should have the full 100% battery charge in less than two hours from empty. And between the directors up and down the valley that are getting the electric buses, we're kind of forming a if I bring my bus, can I charge it during the game? If you bring yours, yes. You like sharing back and forth just so we can try to

038see how far we can push them. So great. Yeah. And then also the end of next month, we have our bus rodeo coming up. And since I'm on the OSPI board for that, um, I'll be super busy with training, teaching, running, judging the rodeo for ESD 10, 105, 123, and 171. Awesome. Any questions, students? Well, great. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up is a 2526 budget discussion. And you'll notice there's no attachment. We just thought it would be good to have a public discussion about where we're at. We're a long ways for finishing our 2526 budget. So, does everybody hear that? We're a long ways from finishing the 2526 budget, but one of the things that you've learned about me is that I'm about transparency and open communication. And so we want everyone

039to know, we've been talking um Delise did a presentation about enrollment a couple board meetings ago. Our enrollment is declining. When enrollment declines, that means the amount of money we have declines. Not misuse of money, not but your your paycheck's going down, right? You work less hours, you your paycheck's going down. So there's been many items about how are we going to do reductions. Some of those are staff and I'm being very transparent. There are no names attached to that. We um I'm seeing some bus people here. I'll just use an example. We still have to run our routes. Um so do we foresee changing the number of bus people? We don't know because we don't know where that reduction in students is coming from. We still have to feed all the students because there's

040same numbers of students per se at the elementary schools. That's not where we're seeing the reduction, but we do have a reduction at the high school. Would it maybe change the employment or uh assignment location assignment of a PSSE member? But I've also said the whole time we're trying to keep Proser people working in Proser, Proser school district employees working in Proser. So would we job share? Would we move someone down to a place that we needed? That's our goal. Okay. I think everybody needs to know that we are looking at approximately a 2 million to $2.3 million reduction. Okay, that is not a reduction that we like, but we are supposed to be fiscally responsible. We've asked you for levy dollars. We've asked you to support our school systems, and you would want us

041to be fiscally responsible. We're lucky that we're asking for a reduction of 2.3, approximately 2.3ish, police, I'm not quoting anybody, not 2.3. I'm saying 2.3ish. Um because we need to start talking about it because those are hard, icky, scary conversations. Everybody keeps asking where is it coming from. There is no one perfect place. Um things that have been on the discussion, Diana and I are going to kind of tag team on this. Everybody you need to hear. We're talking about no decisions have been made. C squad athletics, seventh and eighth grade combo teams. Not seventh and eighth grade athletics, seventh and eighth grade combo teams. So if you want to understand what that means, and Diana's been here a long time, so she's going to help me if I say this wrong. We have a

042seventh grade A and a seventh grade B. We have an eighth grade A and an eighth grade B. But we pride ourselves in trying not to cut at middle school athletics. So, we made a combo team and said, "We might have a game or two or we might be able to do this in practice, but we're going to try and not cut anyone." That cost of that seventh and eighth grade combo team is what we're talking about. Not talking about cutting seventh and eighth grade athletics. The other one is in um more high school athletics. We are going to continue with all of our varsity and JV programs at this time. The discussion is about C squad athletics. Now, could be C squad. Some people think that's where freshmen are. Not necessarily. So, we're not

043saying that. We're not cutting swimming. We're not cutting golf. We're not cutting a program. We're trying to minimize. And it's not always the the the coach or the child. It's the travel, the uniforms, the coaches. The coaching expense, right? Or not coaches, everybody. Officials is the word I wanted. The cost of officials right now is exorbitant. So, we're trying to look at places we can cut without misshaping the dreams of the foster community. Another one is security. Now, everybody, don't panic, but we're going to talk about security. And Diana's going to chime in here in just a minute about when we hired when Proer hired security officers, security guards. approximately I could I mean we've had a high school security officer for a while I the others came prior to to COVID um when that

044conversation happened initially it was because we didn't have secure buildings and now we are going to be at the point we have it was a stop gap measure until we had single points of entry it was prior to all the construction occurring well that's all occurred and we're our last one the middle school is getting finished up I think this week well spring break is what we're looking at. So there's it's just it is really hard. I was a middle school teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal, principal, and to talk about cutting kids is really hard because um for some for kids like belonging on a team or being part of an experience like that is it may be the only time they ever do it. Um and it may be the first and last

045time they ever do it. So it'd be really hard to consider cutting those things. But the reality is we can't just reduce teachers and because that's the closest to kids in education. So we really have to look at the whole system to to find those cuts. And so I want everybody to hear that we are trying to not negatively impact education in our system. Extracurricular things while they are certainly important to the well-being both mental physical of our students. We are in this business to educate and we have to do things all across the board. For example, I'm looking at you know shimi now you know musics and and the different things every we have to consider that. So while security and student safety is still a very high priority now that we have secure

046buildings and we have our badge access working and we have one point of entry, right? Is that a place that we can modify, not eliminate, modify to maybe save some money? Okay. So, we just wanted to have an open discussion about that. I've received a couple emails. If you're one of the people who have sent me an email about C Squad athletics and seventh and eighth grade athletics, I did not respond to you purposely yesterday or today because I wanted this public statement to be made before I responded to you because I was trying to keep the water cooler conversation happening out there before we did that. Uh we're just I mean we're looking at a lot of things. I I don't have you talked about the food service. I have not. Go ahead. Uh

047so we are exploring there are school districts that contract with a company to provide food services. uh to provide all the food. Um we're doing some exploring. It's reduced cost for them. Um and so we're not reduced all their employees. That's a misnomer. That's you still have to feed the kids. You still have to cook the food. You still have to wash the dishes. That doesn't go away. But the ordering things, you know, individually and preparing and doing all that. We spend a lot of of time of cutting vegetables, packaging vegetables, all those things that are required for students to have as part of their meal. So, we're looking at of all the options and what's out there to that would help us. And if you're listening or you're here tonight or you're going to

048listen this as recorded, if you have an idea, I can't Dan and I, our team can't think of everything. Maybe you see something that that you have questions about. Please ask because often as an ed educational leader, we kind of get this and sometimes somebody has to help and say, "Hey, have you thought about that?" Okay. So, so last night Kim and I came and worked until about we went home and came back and worked till about 8:30 or 9. And um when we left I texted her, we need to turn off the power to the church because there was lights on in the church and we just vacated the church. Boys and Girls Club just vacated everything out of the church and has turned over their keys just like two days ago. But turning

049off the lights of the church would save us a little money, but it's not going to save us the amount of money that we need to save. But we are looking at all of those things. Reprogramming our irrigation sprinklers, doing different things, changing the weekend heat settings, all of those things. So, I want you to know we're doing all of those steps. And I welcome any questions, but I just felt it was important that we put that out for the public. Great. Thank you. Any questions for Cameron? Yeah, the delete. You mentioned the 2.3 million. Is that for one year? Well, each year we will reassess um the enrollment while it drops the following year, it drops at a smaller amount the following year. We have about four between three and four depending on how

050you look at it years of declining enrollment and then we're pretty flat kinder. We have one small group at current sixth graders which is about 30 below or 35. couple of smaller but not that small but most of them are within a 10 student range after we so the 9th 12 11 10 9 and then it's pretty flat so we're seeing approximately three years the other thing that at this point that you know are kind of unknowns for us is are they going to increase allocation for our materials and operating costs um what's happening with the federal government and the like the federal funds that we receive um are we closing offices but still going to receive the funds in a different way. We don't know. So, um all of those things there's things that

051we're we're working on and trying to make progress, but it's it is challenging because of the unknowns. And um whoever spoke tonight about speaking to their legislature, local legislators, um that's really important. Um our insurance has almost will almost triple in three years. Um, and we're not getting triple money from the state to cover that cost. Um, you know, so that's just an a small example. Well, the insure the all of the insurance like all in the state of everything like really across across the country and in in for school insurance there's only two two companies in the whole state. So there's not really a lot of competition either to um to switch like, oh, I'll just go find a new car insurance. That doesn't work. Um so every district in the state, our insurance

052initially used to be recently about $400,000. This year it was over 800,000 that in that change in one year and then it's supposed to increase another 30% next year. Good question. I think to clarify the question was why it was why the insurance has gone up just so everybody online yeah I it's not it's not a claim issue or you know it's not like when you have a driving a ticket and your car insurance goes up that's not this situation this is the insurance across the board everybody insurance I you probably you may have noticed if your your auto insurance probably increased it is your homeowner's insurance probably would have increased. It's in business and farm, too. Yep. 30% about every year. Yeah. Well, we're in contact with districts in our area and everybody's going

053through the same thing talking about do we switch, do we stay, do we go to independent and unfortunately the best decision right now is to stay and pay the money because a lot of districts have done the latter and have realized it costs them more money in the long run when they have a claim that they can't pay for. So, we're kind of stuck. So, so TK's a state program. Um, and that sometimes each week we hear something different. So the most recent message today was we will be we were actually in a position we didn't know if they were going to give us all our money for this year. So the most recent message today was we will be fully funded for this year and that we will be able to continue the same

054number of classes but not increase next year. So that's that's where we are for today. No, we have three. We have two at Riverview and one at Wet Street. So, we're crossing our fingers and hoping that they that does happen and we'd be able to keep our three classes. Um, but the legislaturator is not done. So, and so if you're watching the legislative action, um, the long session I think is done April, let me know 25 24 something like that. And then they can ask for a an extension. Um we're hoping that we can get um a balance what they call a balanced budget either out of the House or Senate or some combination by May one because we have a lot of decisions that we have to make by May. Great. Thank you. Any

055questions for Kim, Deanna, or Disease? Thank you for the update. I appreciate it. Okay. Next up is review of policy 1430, audience participation. So, um, by the way, we are very happy to have a lot of people here. Um, we wish we filled the house every night or every time we had a board meeting. Not every night because you don't want to be here if we're not here, but, um, every board meeting. So, one of the things we did then is we looked at our audience participation. And so, this is what's called a discussion item. And um we are have looked what you have in front of you is the redline policy and a draft policy to update 1430 and I'm welcome any questions but it's there for you review and then I would any

056suggestions you would have or requests to talk through then we would talk about them and present them before we bring it for a first review. I the only comment I have is on the 20 minutes for hearing the visitors and it's basically a threem minute time limit. That doesn't mathematically work very well. Yeah, it just looks 21 three and and 20 doesn't work very good. So, it always ends up kind of being 21. But I felt um and I'm happy to write whatever number you wish in there. Um but because of the time it takes for people to come up and back and depending on how long they talk, we can generally get in seven people. So, I'm happy to change it to 20, 25, 21, I don't know, whatever the board requests or a

057multiple of three. Any suggestions? It just feels like it should be 21, but that's my So, noted Frank, you all kind of agree to the 21. I would be agree that M 21 it is trying to set a good example. Any other comments or questions? With your permission then I will make that change to 21. It will be presented for first reading with 21. Thank you. Uh moving on to review of policy and procedure 1420 the proposed agenda and consent agenda. So the agenda that you have in today's board meeting um we are trying to it has changed prior to Kim. This is the agenda that we've used since I've been here but policy um didn't match especially in the procedure side of things. And so we're just making it match what we've been doing.

058And I welcome any questions. I've got it. We need to include like all of the letters. I I mean I see we add different things. Um changes or addition to agenda. Consent agenda is actually in the front. We moved it to the back. So, we're trying we are trying to um stay with exactly what's on today's agenda in the order in which it is. It would go consent items, reports, future meetings, executive session, the procedure. So under the procedure it shows matching and then on the policy on page 20 it shows the proposed which I think does match what a lot of other districts do and so that's the standard was the policy. I think what we do works still for us and they tend to have a match. Okay. And that was my goal

059was to make sure that we were following what was in our procedure. And so if there's something I'm missing, I'm happy to. So if I look on page 24 um it does not match what our current agenda looks like. Am I am I reading this incorrect? because it has approval of minutes which should be in consent agenda but we have the consent agenda down. Well, we always have we put the student rep reports first so if they have to leave and don't want to be here all night then then then that is a you know we can get their reports and then they can get back and um back home for homework or whatever. So I would like to have that moved back up. Okay. I will make sure that so what I'm hearing is

060we're going to make sure that our p policy matches exactly what our current agenda looks like. Is that a correct statement? Correct. Okay. Agree with that. If that is done without a lot of um changes, I will present it at first reading. If it doesn't feel smooth, it'll go back as a discussion item for next time. Um, we can move it to first reading and if we have a slight tweak, you can always tweak it for second. Okay, I will do that. Thank you. Any other questions for Kim on the agenda? All right. Thank you. Uh, next up is uh review policy and procedure 3112, social emotional climate. Um I I guess I don't have a lot to say here. Um we we did not have a 3112. Is it a is it a required

061or it's a recommended and so um especially with um what we've been talking about Diana and I talked about staffing and what's doing best for students. We've heard tonight about um we're a public educational system and accepting all students as they come to us. Those kinds of things. I felt that this was um that the climate in the school is important to them or to us in pro. Um Deanna could probably add to this too. Social emotional learning is done um since I have high school students here. This is done in your Mustang period, right? For your character strong. That's what this is about. Um middle schools done at Suavid, right? Those types of things. Um this is a a requirement. The one of the legislative moves is requiring a high school move on plan

062that falls into that. Um this would also support remember we just um approved the purchase of Panorama which is our MTSS system our multi-tier system of supports to help us track students and their progress academically behavior attendance and in their social emotional learning. So it it it just supports that positive school environment that you're trying to facilitate for students to be successful. I think the other piece is we did the student, parent, and staff surveys through CE. This is another way to say to our people, we want to hear your voice and we want to hear what you're thinking about our schools. Um, so it's not a requirement, right? I was just making sure because um like Rainart kids don't go through character character strong the last two years of their high school, right? Yeah.

063Yes. Okay. I mean, it's a requirement for teachers to provide it if you're in the class. So, by the time you guys are in Running Start, um I mean, there's other things not just what's in that class, but they do other activities and mental health wellness week, all those kinds of things too would be part of that as well. Okay, got wish week is a perfect example for a mental health positive thing. Positive question. So, so currently there is no say planning team or materials yet in the district. Correct. Okay. Right. We our MTSS some of the things that are in the policy um will be supported through the MTSS um system and then like um uh when you talk about a planning team and all those things to coordinate that's all going to be

064part of our MTSS process. So we will address that. it maybe should have a different maybe we should put in a different term or label for it because each building will have their own site their own team plus we'll have a dis we have a district team already in place so I may ask Diana and her MTSS team to look at this before we bring it back in first reading to make sure that we have the crosser terminology to match this is just a guidance policy and we we don't meet it won't be at the next board meeting we have a meeting after the next board meeting but so maybe it'll come late up later either late in April or the beginning of May. It's not an emergency. So, seems like the more policies we

065have, harder it is to manage. So, I'm all for less policies. It's it's a thick book if you print it out, especially when you are trying in the process of updating them for the last 30 years, I think. And I for those that are listening and doing whatever, we are Selena, my assistant who's not able to be here tonight, we are committed to trying to get them in a rotation so that we're doing one or two or three every single board meeting so that we're not trying to catch up 20 years. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, students? Lisa. So, I think what I'm going to hear then is we're going to wait till the MTSS meeting and get that language before we bring it back to you. Yes, please. Thank you. Uh, next

066up is review of policy and procedure 3413, student immunization and life-threatening health conditions. So, it was actually our nurses that brought this to me update because it didn't match with the state law. We had our old policy did not match. But um I just want to highlight that the what's what's um interesting about the WASDA and this example is it speaks to student immunization and life-threatening health conditions. But there's not one word in there other than the title about life-threatening health conditions. So this needs to be fixed because a student that has a life-threatening health condition cannot attend school if they do not have their life-threatening health condition medication like an EpiPen. Um it could be seizure medication. Um, so it could be they have a severe asthma condition. So this needs to be updated.

067So I'm going to take it back to the nurses because it's it talks all through there about immunizations. It does not ever talk about life-threatening health conditions on any of them. So I did notice that. So I wanted to highlight that. So it's going to have to be updated updated the updated version. So we'll see this on another discussion in a future meeting. Any other questions on it in the meantime? Excuse me. In regards to life-threatening or immunization when you life threatening, there's nothing in here about life-threatening conditions except in the title. It's missing. Okay, that's easy enough. We'll see it. And moving on to action items.Uou with the Princess Theater and Keen Riverview Elementary for Disney's The Jungle Book Kids. I don't know if Jesse was able to make it on. I just want

068to give her an opportunity. Jesse, are you there? I'm online. Yeah. Okay. Go ahead. Yeah. So, our first graders, um, this is the third play that the Princess Theater will be partnering with the Proer School District on. Um, this will be with our first graders. The other two, one was at Woodstrand and one was at Heights that they just finished up. Um, this will be our second year doing it. We made some adjustments, but we're hoping to start right after break, and we're excited for it for our students and for the community as well. Questions for Jesse? So, a maybe a clarification question, you know, we've done a few of these with the Princess Theater. Um I and maybe it's just a question for everybody is could this be put on the consent agenda in

069future meetings if it's somewhat ordinary if it's the last couple years? I I don't know. I I was posing this question to myself earlier in my mind and then also I think standard practice for city council group. I think there should be items that are under ordinary so minutes vouchers and things like that. It's you know could have the contract modified. I I appreciate the idea for it and I think everybody for the art system that's a different partnership. So I appreciate that aspect but I think we're looking at things. Okay. Thank you. I will just share there are um and I'm not recommending this. I'm just bringing it out for discussion. There are um times when um you could say contracts less than $10,000 can be um appro signed and approved by person X,

070could be a superintendent, could be whatever. And then they're notified in a in a notification to the public. but you don't have to wait for them. So the um pro the field trips and some of those that are regular things, those could go and could go through without having to wait for a board approval up to a certain dollar amount. But I don't know even if we have a policy in processor that says that. But that is another option that could be done. And you can leave the amount relatively small so it doesn't get over um but it allow also remember when we've had to do last minute on like a DJ or last minute on some of those um and there everybody's here freaked out because prom's two nights away and can we sign

071the contract that would alleviate some of that um so we can bring that forward and look at what that dollar amount might be but that's another way you could shorten this piece and still have it in these are the contracts in a consent agenda item. These are the contracts the superintendent signed prior or since the last board meeting. Thank you. We'll move to uh approve theou with Princess Theater and Keen River View Elementary. I'll second. It's been moved and seconded to approve theou uh students. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Motion carries. Moving on to the consultant service agreement with the reptile man at Keen Riverview Elementary. This one's mine, too. Um, same thing with the reptile man. My our students love it, our staff loves it. Um, and then

072we do he puts on a family night and it's reasonably priced. Um, he brings in different reptiles and yeah, so we've done it the last couple years and so we're just asking for approval to to bring him back. questions for Jesse. I would have moved to approve the consultance agreement service agreement for the reptile man at Keen River View Elementary. Been moved and seconded to approve the consultants agreement with the reptile man at Keen Riverview Elementary students. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks, Jesse. Uh, moving on to the out of state travel request for Woodstrand Elementary School to Silverwood. Mr. Gilman online. Kevin, can you hear us? Or Mr. Gilman, are you online? Okay. What? Uh, yeah. So, they fund. He responded, Diana, he responded in

073the chat that he can hear you. Um, I don't know if he has volume, though. Okay. We can't hear him, so we'll just wing it without him. Uh this is his uh NASB expense for his students to go on like an end of the year trip. It looks fun. Well, I I would make a motion to approve the trip. I second it. It's moved and ex uh seconded to approve out of state travel request for Witstrand Elementary School students. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Uh moving on to resolution 0425, final acceptance of construction completion for Witstrand Elementary. So this is very standard. Um you've done them on the other buildings depending on how long you've been on the board and so forth. We are just saying to the

074state of Washington that we are done. Very short and sweet. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. I'd make a motion to approve resolution 0425 final acceptance of construction completion elementary. Does this date need to be changed or is it not a big deal on dated this day 26th day of March 2024? Oh, it's probably a typo. Yes, it will need to be changed. We can hand change it for signatures, but thank you very much. Okay, we have a I'll second the motion. to approve resolution 0425. So, it's been moved and seconded to approve resolution 0425. This is a roll call vote. Uh Michelle I, Brian, I, Frank, I, Lisa, I two will vote I. Motion carries. Uh moving on to the first reading of policy 6702, the wellness policy. So this was the policy that was in

075discussion last time with Laura Montenero, one of our nurses. Just wanting to highlight the the uh importance of wellness in our staff and our students. And so I'd entertain any questions, but I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Any questions? No, I thought it was really well done. So I'll move to approve the first reading of policy 6702. I'll second it. It's moved moved and second to approve the first reading of policy 6702. Students, all those in favor signify by saying I I I post same sign. Motion carries. Okay. I think uh next up, student discipline first reading of policy 3241. We talked it quite length. Um if you have some questions, I'm happy if you've seen anything that did not get changed or adjusted, but I think we got it pretty good. Some of you that

076are in the audience that may not understand this. So we normally bring a dis a policy that needs to be reviewed. We bring it up as discussion so we can freely talk about it. Then I or my team, we make the adjustments or things that are brought up at the meeting and then we bring it to a first reading. We are still able to make adjustments in a first reading, a typo, something that's wrong. As long as it's not a major change in the policy, then we basically say now here we come back to the next board meeting. it's a second reading and it's a final and it should have no changes at the final. We just make sure we do that with almost everything. Um, every once in a while we can take something

077right to first reading, but we try and have a discussion item. So, if you've not been here before and you're wondering like what's discussion in first reading and second reading, that's the process that a policy change goes through. Um, I have a question on it's on page This will be 62. It's highlight. I don't know what page it is on on the 62 on the packet, but it's in one of the paragraphs. It's highlighted in yellow. Board policy 3112, social emotional climate. It's got to be consistent with that, but we haven't approved that yet. So, how do we improve this with that? But that that also is probably what brought up that's probably what brought up policy 3112 and why we realized we didn't have it because it was in this policy. So um un

078really if we're going to change the number or the name but if we're going to keep it 3112 and that name I don't think it's going to matter. We just have to get it in place and we can always well this is your discipline one right of that. Okay. We just we just wanted everybody to be very transparent that 3112 was found. In fact, we didn't have it when we went to update this policy. So, what would happen in this if you're looking at it, board policy 3112 hyphen social emotional climate adjustment period. Oh, climate period. The adjust name number of policies name will be removed. It would just end right there. As long as we're moving forward with discussing 3112, as long as we didn't change the title of it or the number, we

079would be fine. Any questions for this one? Uh, real quick on rights and responsibilities, district commitment. Um, it reads the district will observe students fundamental rights and we'll administer. Tell me where you're at. First page. First page. Yeah, page one and then down under rights and responsibilities. Um page page 61, right? Yes. I just clicked on the agenda policy, but sorry. Um but under five, it says deprive a student of the student's right to an equal educational opportunity in whole or in part by school district without due process or law. Can like just explain that maybe? Well, Dan and I are probably tag team on this. Basically, we have a fundamental responsibility to provide a student with a free and p appropriate public education. We cannot deprive a student of that. But what it's so

080there's due process that we have to go through. So, if we said something was going to change in a student's education, there's a due process that we have to follow. also would be like if a student was disciplined and say they were suspended for three days, they have the they do have the right to appeal that like to Kim and then if that's overturned it you you can't say sorry you can't have any of your homework. You flunk all those things. You weren't there for three days. Too bad. Um, and so that it also is just emphasizing that just like in any other situation, students uh have right to due process if they want to appeal the decision, appeal their discipline, but you can't like they maybe couldn't weren't there those three days in school

081because they were suspended, but you can't just say sorry, you don't you just you get an F for all that. But if you if you had I mean a student that ultimately just got to the point where he was um total distraction in the classroom. I mean not saying that the kid has to stay in the classroom at that point, right? There are other means of So we have that classroom environment. Yep, you're exactly correct. That might be an alternative learning environment. Okay. So the other thing that's very clear there is that we're responsible financially for the equal or similar or equal equal but fair. There's a wording and legal language equal but fair similar educational opportunity and we're responsible for the financial part of that. So, we say this is not working well in

082this traditional means and the family agrees. Um, we're going to try idea X. We're still responsible for the financial educational tools for that student. Thank you. Any other questions, students? Well, I move to approve the first reading of policy 3241. I second it. It's been moved and second to approve the first reading of policy 3241, student discipline students. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Motion carries. Uh, moving on to the second reading of policy 2410, graduation requirement. Unless there's questions, I don't have anything to add. We've been through this. I move to approve the second final reading of policy 2410, graduation requirement. Been moved and seconded to approve second and final reading of policy 2410. Students, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Uh, second

083reading of policy 3425, anaphilaxis prevention and response. Uh, we've been through this a couple times as well, so I would entertain any questions. I move to approve the second and final reading of policy 3425. been moved and seconded to approve policy 3425 anaphylaxis prevention and response students. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries. Uh moving to item nine, second reading of policy 3204, sex discrimination and sex based harassment of harassments. That's got to be a typo, right? face harassment. Anyway, so students prohibited um got me off guard there. It's got too many harassments. Any questions on this policy? I think we saw it last time. So the actual title just made my listing is sex discrimination, sexbased harassment of students prohibited. Yeah. I move to approve the second reading of policy

0843204. I'll second. It's been moved and second to approve the policy 3204. Students, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Um item 10 is a 2526 uh advancement v individual determination agreement. So this is probably for 15 years been a regular occurrence both 10 and 11. Uh the first one is our co our AVID courses and our AVID program at the middle school and the high school and the second one is our AVID excel program which is for second language students that we have at the middle school and those are just our yearly contracts. Any questions on the contract? Well, I move to approve the 202526 AVID agreement. I'll second it. Okay. It's moved and seconded to approve the 2526 uh AVID agreement students. All those in favor signify by

085saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Uh moving on to the 2526 agreement. AVID agreement excel in the bilingual program. Any questions for Deanna on that one? I move to approve the 2526 agreement for achievement via individual determination Excel bilingual program. moved and seconded to approve the 2526 AVID Excel bilingual program. All the students, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. Uh moving on to item 12 is a Presser High School new course proposal intro intro to chiology. So uh this is one we missed and the high school highlighted to me. So, it's back it's on the agenda and they want me also to let you know I guess because they don't want to have nobody knows what kinesiology is. Mostly they're changing the name to intro to exercise science. Oh,

086it's Piology. Um, it's exercise science. That's what they're going to change it to. They're the name is going to be intro to exercise science instead of kology because I think just so kids be more likely to know what it means. That makes sense. and maybe adults. Questions for Diana? I'm assuming the startup cost would be covered through CCT. Although CTE courses get CTE money and of course they will they will put it out for students to to uh put as an as a request but if they don't get the number of students then they wouldn't wouldn't be starting the class. Any questions? Stephen, well, I'd make a motion to approve Roser High School new course proposal intro to kinesiology. It's been moved and seconded to approve uh the Proer High School new course intro to

087kinesiology students. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Motion carries. Moving on to vouchers. Any questions on vouchers? Hearing none. I'll move to approve vouchers. I'd second it. Been moved and seconded to approve vouchers. Students, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. I. Motion carries. That concludes our action items tonight. Moving on to consent items 1 through three. I'd make the motion to approve the consent items. I'll second it. Been moved and seconded to approve the consent items. students. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion carries. All right. Thank you for all that. Moving on to reports. Deise, you're up first. Okay. Um I All I have tonight is student enrollment for March. Um and I'm sure you've already looked at it. We're down two

088from February. Um and that's due to um a withdrawal. We're had 12 enrollment and 13 withdrawals. And then we had some schedule changes for Running Start. Um, but something that I do want to point out is if you look at page two of the graph, March of last year, we are down 44 kids um, from March of last year. And that's that's pure funding for us. Um, so I think that's really important to point out. Um, when we're talking about budget and cuts and everything like that, our our declining enrollment is very evident. So what we're talking about is when we budgeted, we budgeted for a certain enrollment in September, we've done good with what we budgeted for, but when you compare one year to the next, that's what what we're talking about. And if

089we look next year in March, we'll see a continued enrollment because our class sizes are smaller. Just want in case somebody doesn't see this all the time. I want to Any questions for Deise students? Michelle, do you have anything? No questions. Thanks. Thank you. Deise Diana. Um, we're finishing up the pilots at the middle school. We're going to be meeting after spring break for science. So, we'll hopefully we will be able to move forward there. Um, very excited. I applied for a grant from Battel and we asked for 20 uh five, we worked with someone that helps us out with a little information there and they recommended we asked for $25,000 to help support the adoption and they gave us 31,000. So, I'm pretty excited about that. I will highlight what Jod said. Jody said

090talked about the book fair. It's at Heights and then there's a a little smaller version at Woodstren. She talked about buying a fuzzy pin, but as a curriculum director, I will recommend you buy a book. Um, or multiple books and read them. Um, but fuzzy pens are fun, too. And then we have been working with uh the Cavalcade of Authors. It's something that's been around for a long time, but kind of stopped for a while and it's back on. The Cavalcade is uh going to be happening on Saturday, April 19th from 9 to 3:45 in the Tri Cities. There's about a dozen authors of for of books from you know um you know younger all the way through high school authors and then uh we the library the friends of the library is going to

091support an author coming to the middle school and actually talking to the students at the middle school. So we've been working uh for we've had a couple of meetings so we're pretty excited. It's new for us and it's been around but never been in proer that we know of. So this will be our first time. I think it'll be cool. It's really cool. Kids get really excited about getting to see a real author. I think um you know it's always nice to talk about the positive things whether it's Keen River View and Mallay or a Jungle Book or this type of thing. These experiences that we give to our students are really priceless. I think of the Mastercard commercial, right? But these really are the priceless things that if we can expose them to something

092and meet an author, they may um have dreams or visions of following in those footsteps. I think a lot of times um they think of writing as like an assignment in a class and and I think they don't get to use their imagination in the world. So, if we can expose them to more things, whether it's Starbase, Reese, since STEM or or Lion King or music or whatever, that's what we're about. Great. That's all for me. Any questions for Deanna student? All right. Thanks, J. All right. Um, I do want to talk about the planning with the Princess Theater for KV uh Keen River view. The play will be in um May right before graduation. So it'll if you have family here or something that's just something to give. Um contract negotiations I don't know

093if people are aware but it is a big project. Um and we have started with the crosser coaches association. We're um doing some pre-work with our building secretaries. Um we have our first um what's called PSSE. Um that's our classified group and that's all day tomorrow and we start with the principles tomorrow evening. Um so those are big um very important to the structure of our building and and the relationship in those negotiations is what makes a happier team hap happier life. So that's going on. I'm h excited that the next capital meeting just for our notes is April 17th. Friends of the fields um lots of work going on. Lots of work. Um I don't know we have if you see signs out if you're people who are going to play um if you

094go to our parks and things please look for signs um all of the spraying is being done I wish Andy was here I think it's Wednesday or Thursday next week or Thursday and Friday I can't remember on all of our play fields um I don't know if you walked up you saw granular things here irrigation is going on we're starting some mowing um where if oh if you're a person listening when or you live or drive by and pay a lot of attention to the track and art fer that area. If you start seeing some brown grass or wondering why it's brown on the west end or southwest end of the track, we are purposely not watering that as we change the sprinkler structures to keep the water off the track and off the um

095high jump pads and things like that. It will come back. We will bring the proper sprinklers in, but we don't want to be watering our new truck. And so, we have are turning them off. If you happen to see a yellow uh we don't know the color, a painted sprinkler head, it's off on purpose. You might see a flag there. Um, but that's what's going on there. Um, when it's 78 out, it grows pretty fast. Um, Hel Middle School, we finally have the Mullians. So, they're supposed to be doing them tomorrow and Friday. Um, Absco is the company that puts our badge readers in and so forth. Going back to what we talked about, this is our last piece of our secure entries. Um, and I have to beg everybody. I don't want to say

096beg, but I'm going to beg. We did not get one RFQ, which re is a request for qualifications from a realtor in our community to help us sell our properties. We did not get one. And we really need someone to help us and help your business. So, we'd we'd like for somebody to step forward. Um, and Andy, are you still here? the old tennis court. The work has started. We'll have one tennis court for pickle ball courts. We'll be playing on them before long. So, thank you to our levy dollars, our capital levy dollars. We're going to be able to make that um come to reality. Um Schwin, South Central Washington in um instructional network is a group of superintendent in the lower valley area. We met here in this room today. Um, a lot

097of great learning and our directors, Delise was there. Our dire directors were with us and we had some good time learning a lot of budget work and we're trying to be very transparent but that's what's going on. Um, I trying to keep up on my learning and staffing for 2526 is the open for any questions but shorter list but a lot big but it's short. Any questions for Kim? Thank you, Kim. Okay, moving on to board reports. Uh Michelle, do you have anything? Yeah. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Great. Um well, I don't know if the room is still full. I hear it was full at the beginning and um as always, I'm really appreciative for people who take the time to come to our board meetings. I hope um that you come more

098frequently. There's you're always welcome. Um, I did want to take this opportunity just to clear up any confusion regarding the resolution on the proposed WIAA amendments from our last board meeting. Uh, so first a reminder of the school board's role. The school board is responsible for setting the district's direction and objectives. We're responsible for adopting and revising policies that govern operations, curriculum, student discipline. We approve an annual budget and ensure responsible use of those funds. We hire and evaluate the superintendent. We represent the concerns of parents, taxpayers, and students, track progress toward district goals, and hold the superintendent accountable. We determine whether to place levies and bonds before voters, and we ensure compliance with state law. We do not vote on WIAA rule amendments. That authority belongs to a representative assembly of 53 administrators or

099their delegates from the six WIAA districts. As far as I know, Proser does not send a voting delegate to that assembly. We do not make laws. That responsibility rests with our elected legislators. If you want legal changes, I encourage you to reach out to them. There are many critical issues affecting our schools that deserve their attention. Placing issues outside our authority on the board agenda only creates confusion in the community and it wastes valuable time. Our board has important work to do within its jurisdiction and I sincerely hope the pattern doesn't continue. I'll continue to vote against any resolution that exceeds the board's authority or violates the state laws that we took an oath to uphold. So lastly, while on the topic of advocating where it matters, I encourage our community to ask their legislators

100about the potential impact on school funding if the US Department of Education is eliminated. This is a significant issue that warrants serious discussion. Last year, federal funding accounted for over 9% of our district's budget, totaling nearly $4 million. These funds play a crucial role in supporting schools with high percentages of low-income students by providing additional resources, staff, and interventions to improve student achievement. special education services and accommodations for students with disabilities, CTE, career and technical education programs that prepare students for careers and trades. English learner programs that help students develop language proficiency and grants for school safety measures and mental health initiatives. If the Department of Education were eliminated, these programs would face significant funding cuts or force states to shoulder the financial burden, potentially leading to disparities in educational support based on state budgets

101and priorities. Now, we don't yet know how this will impact our district, but before it does, I encourage everyone to reach out to their legislators and advocate for our schools. On a final note, I was fortunate enough to catch the last showing of Newsies at the Princess Theater and it was absolutely amazing. I was so proud of the kids in the show. I was literally in tears at the end. So, a huge thank you to the theater for providing such a wonderful opportunity for the youth in our community. And that is all I have. Thanks, Michelle. BR um I just wanna obviously social media nowadays I think um I I was very limited on social media um up until being elected to the prostate school board and then I was dealing with it. I think

102it's just become a pretty toxic environment. Um, unfortunately a couple posts that were shared with me over the past few days. Um, one from an individual um that used terms that were very derogatory and embarrassing. Um, and mind you that this individual um was in agreement with with my beliefs about males in female sports. So although I I you know we were in agreement on one thing, just the the response that he had online, um it it was it was disgusting to say the least. Um another post claims that we had board members being attacked online with hateful statements um and comments being made about them, which if this is true um again just cowardly and unacceptable. And if that has happened, I am truly sorry that uh for those events. I am that that

103it's ridiculous. Re regardless of whether we agree or disagree on whatever the issue is, we we've got to get back to a point where we can just have a civilized conversation and at the end of it part ways if need be. But unfortunately, we're not there. We are still hiding behind screens flexing Facebook muscles. That's what it is. And we are, again, I've said it before, a spiritual battle. And the enemy, it's all about division. That's what he's trying to do. I will continue as a school board member to fight for what I believe in is best for our students and community in regard to the roadblocks that I believe the state of Washington continues to throw our way. But at some point, the focus needs to be on student development in math, reading, and

104writing. We have some individuals in our district doing great things that have some great ideas that need to be heard and looked into about increasing the proficiency levels of our students. Huge community turnout tonight, but a few weeks ago, this place was pretty empty. And at at one of those meetings, we're we are going over student assessment results. Crickets in here. Results that as a district we need to improve on. Uh this was brought up earlier, public comment about legislative. I'll just I'll real quick throw these out. Senate Bill 5179, Senate Bill 5181, and Senate Bill 5637. Again, whether you're for or against this stuff, parents, guardians, community, you've got to make your voices heard on that side of the state. That's all I got. Thank you, Brian. Frank, well, I just want to thank

105um you three for all the hard work you're doing. I mean that budget stuff is not easy especially when it looks like bad news and all the other things you guys have your responsibilities. So I thank you much for that. I also want to thank everybody who came out. Um you know we need to hear from parents primarily. I said this a few weeks a or few meetings ago that it's really good to we need to have parents of the the kids who actually go here to to give input and um also you know local taxpayers they're you know they're the they're the stakeholders in our schools and um but I just thank everybody who reached out to me and um shared their concerns and who came out tonight. Um, you know, this is our

106the board reports are our chance to give our opinion about things. So, I'm going to take that chance here. And, um, just to give give a little recap, I voted the way I voted because, um, um, I just wanted to explain it a little bit why I am in support of not letting males play in girls sports. Um, as I said at the last meeting, we have to protect biological females in sports. Not just for physical safety, but also for fairness in sports. What about females rights? Part of the goal of education and sports is to build confidence in students and athletes and to protect the boundaries that have always been in place. I know as a father of a daughter who's on the track team and the cross country team, the thought of having

107to compete against a biological male in sports was very is very discouraging to her. In her words, I quote, "I wouldn't do sports if men were able to compete with me because it's not fair for girls who actually put in the work and effort into every practice and to get better only for a biological male to easily beat all of us without having any input or any not having put in as much work." So, that's how they see it. That's how my daughter sees it. I think biological males competing in girls sports will ruin sports in our schools and mainly because many females just won't turn out. Why do our schools and children have to be the testing ground for these agendas? There has to be a line in the sand at some point. Our

108stakeholders depend on us to represent them and build the best schools that we can. And that is what we are elected to do. We don't need to get on the crazy train of political agendas. Instead, we need to take a step back and look at how and why the public school system was created. It was meant to be a tool to help parents raise and educate kids and ensure that all children received a basic education and and is and was based more on um I lost my place here. We need we need to maintain healthy boundaries and safe schools to keep kids to make give kids a good foundation for life. It is becoming more obvious to me now than ever before that this is not just battle of ideas but a spiritual battle for

109the souls of kids and we need to fight for them. That's all I got. since you guys made a community um I'm sorry there's there's no further comment I understand that but I feel um since you guys mentioned the safety of kids if you guys implemented this policy with keeping trans athletes outside of sports this is I'm sorry I'm sorry but this is our time as reports as we conclude the meeting if you want to come speak you know please sign up you can submit your u your comments comments to via email. We can make them part of the minutes. Going to propose keeping them out of sports. Like who's going to check on that? Excuse me. There is no more public comment. I'm sorry. If you want to submit questions, please submit it to

110the superintendent. Thank you. Uh I think um let me let me find a start here. I do appreciate very much a lot of communication I've had with the community over the last few days. Um, the people I've had a chance to speak with in person and talk about what happened at the vote two weeks ago, I think from various viewpoints got to a point of understanding as to what took place, what was characterized in text messages and posted on social media didn't reflect what happened in that vote. Um, it's it's too bad. I know our IT department is very busy. The last meeting um the recordings of the meetings are always recorded and posted on YouTube, but it hasn't been updated since the end of February. I think it's on now. We worked on it

111this afternoon. Okay. I checked earlier today, but I'm glad it is because I think if you have a chance to watch the recording, the five of us had a very productive and respectful discussion and vote. And Jason did a very good job setting up what that vote was and what the resolution was and made it really clear. We can't vote and did not vote to change the law or to prohibit any type of athlete from participating. We can't do that as a school board. That's beyond our capacity. If we did that, we would violate the law and our agreement with the WIAA. I will always vote to uphold the law. The law changes, I will follow that law. I think it's important to understand the resolution that was passed suggests I think the specific languages

112we recommend voting to make the amendment seven and 8. I think it's also important to know that and I don't know if this has changed but if you go on from the beginning of resolution 7 and 8 if you go on the WIA website it's at WIAA back slash um policy amendments 2025 and I do have that written down and I can anybody interested pol amendments seven and eight now are advisory only it says advisory only to be in compliance with the state law so what that means it takes a 60% majority authority to pass um and amend WIA policies for their role. So even if those amendments or any amendments seven and eight were passed with a 100% vote, they're not going to change their policy as their advisory only. So we passed an

113advis advisory resolution to advise the vote and the advisor the vote now is an advisory vote. The law can't be changed the school board and can't be changed at the WIAA WIAA level. Um, I think that's important to know. I'm happy to speak with anybody. I would just, you know, please recommend or listen, remember what your parents told you or what I was told growing up. Don't believe everything you hear. Please talk to me. Um, you know, unfortunately, you know, I'm a middle-aged woman that's been an attorney for over 20 years. I have been called a lot worse things. um than what was posted. I did mind the comments made about my seven and 10 year old daughter and the hope that they get hurt and how would I feel if my daughters were hurt

114the same way I would feel if they were hurt by anyone or if your children would be hurt. I wouldn't want anyone's kids to ever be hurt. I'm elected. You make your comments at me and be an adult and come talk to me and don't sit at home clicking away. You can come talk to me. I'm here. You can talk to me here. You can talk to me. I will talk to you. But that's it. I want to also say that Newsies was incredible. Especially the Sunday afternoon. I had to go twice because my seven-year-old fell asleep on Friday and was devastated she didn't see the second act. So back we went Sunday afternoon where she was awake the whole time. It was an almost soldout show. There were standing ovations which I just thought

115for these kids that performed their hearts out. not you weren't there. The level of talent and the level of production at this show was un unbelievable. Um and I just thought that the Sunday afternoon audience gave them such a great attention to the show that it was fabulous and we have so many good things going on. It's wonderful to focus on the good things. Thank you, Alisa. Um, I don't know if I could put it into any better words than what Alisa, Frank, Brian, and Michelle um said, but I think part of being um civil discourse means we can all agree to disagree without calling names, without bullying, without harassing, without doing any of that stuff. Because really what it does is it it demeans your argument and makes you have no argument because that's

116the only logic that you could physically come at is to attack somebody or or whatever or their family. Um I don't think there's any room for it whatever side you you know you're on. But we can all agree to disagree. And I think that's you know like what Brian said, we're missing that not only you know across the US but you know it seems like it's here in Proer as well. you know, this the sad part is is we see each other at grocery stores, we see each other at events, you know, we can be civily, you know, have some civil discourse and and nobody's going to agree on 100%. But if we can't just be cordial with one another, then I don't I don't know where that's going to end up in the future.

117And I think that's where we really just need to get back that even if you degree disagree with somebody, you can still be friends with them. I mean that doesn't prohibit doesn't prohibit that and I think in a lot of lights we're forgetting some of that and and it's uncalled for you know Lisa I am sorry that you went through that. Um it isn't isn't appropriate in any way. Um and I just I I like I said I don't think I could say it any better than what you guys did. So you know thank you for that. Um, I mean the only other thing I would add is, you know, we, you know, our our bow or our oath is to this school district to making sure the kids get a good quality education and

118come out proficient in reading, writing, math, and science. Um, you know, there are things that are worth fighting for. I do believe um you know it was said earlier um you know be more active in the legislature that's what we really need to do like um I think it goes for us as well if we can be active in trying to reach out whether it's to um partner with other districts to kind of help get our voices heard you know we're we're proer we're small we're not Seattle we're not Spokane we're not even T cities but if we can partner with enough people you know perhaps you know we can have you know, a larger voice and and and see where that goes. So, um, yeah, I I appreciate your comments and and thank you

119for all that. With that, we will have a safety and security meeting April 9th, uh, right pro, no, wait a minute, where's it at? Staff development room at 5:00 pm and then a regular meeting uh, at 6 pm right here. With that, this meeting is adjourned.