001All right, it's 4:31, so we have everyone here in attendance today. Please rise if you're able and remove your hats for the Pledge of Allegiance. All right, welcome everyone. We have some nice members of the public in the audience today and we will begin I think with some of those members of the public being recognized in our district highlight. Oh. And Kevin's coming back for that right now. Starting with the best of the best in the Wassa Award. >> I'm going to start with the Wassa Awards and that'll give Jen timing to get the best of the best queued up. It's annual that at this time of the year that we recognize a student leadership award as well as a community leadership award. The awards are provided to us from Wassa. Wassa is the Washington
002Association of School Administrators. It is a basically an association for school superintendents. They give us the opportunity to recognize people in our communities, a student and a community member. I'd like to start with our community member recognition. And I'll have uh Mariela? Is that correct? Is that No, it's not. Tell me the right one. Mariela. There we go. Mariela Valencia. And this is what I received to recognize her tonight and why she has been selected as the community award. For the last couple of years, Mariela has dedicated so much of her time, heart, and energy to supporting our community engagement board meetings and the families we serve. Community engagement boards are held at least monthly supporting students and family who struggle with truancy. It is the last intervention that schools are able to pursue to
003try to improve a student's attendance. Part of the requirements of the community engagement board are to have not only families and school staff attend, but also include someone from the community. Mariela has been one of our consistent community members participating on the community uh engagement board. Through her work with her kinship program at Catholic Charities, she always comes prepared with resources, idea ideas, and connections to help families feel supported and cared for. Mariela's kindness and genuine passion for passion for helping others truly stands out. Her dedication has made a real difference in our community, and we are incredibly grateful for everything she continues to do for the Selah School District and the community of Selah and the families we serve. Congratulations. >> Would Would you like to say a few words? Yeah, you don't have
004to. You can pass, but if you would >> Yeah. Oh my god, you're here. Well, Well, I am very honored to be recognized for this um award. Um I love what I do and I like helping families, putting them in a better financial position, giving them the resources that they need. And it just brings me gratification. So, again, I'm so honored to get this uh award and for the people that are here um you know, uh having me or seeing me get recognized and I I'm truly blessed to be part of this community, to be working in a in the kinship program where I can make a a big difference in families. And God bless you all. Thank you. >> Well said and uh it looks like it was a good selection for this year's
005uh winner. All right, we're moving on to our student. Each we're able to honor a student for their leadership. And this year, let's take take a step back. I was able to attend the the senior recognition awards the other night. And so Mari was presented with this award the other night. So this is a second go round for her with a completely different audience, right? Yeah, and a different format. But Mari Falcone is our winner of our Wassa student leadership award. And here's what this award recognizes. And and for those of you don't know, this award uh doesn't just symbolize what she's done in her senior year. This is four years of hard work and probably a lifetime of hard work and in getting her to this point. But this award recognizes a student leader
006who has created or played a significant leadership role in initiatives or programs that promote all students. Students who Students who are recipient of this award have demonstrated leadership and serve as a role model to others. They also promote promote respect for diversity and individual differences within their school and in their community. The recipient has shown the ability to inspire, motivate, and impact the growth and the development of others. She exemplifies integrity in all words and actions and maintains a positive image and presence within the school and our greater community. She invokes hope and demonstrates initiatives by seeking ways to enrich her life, but also the lives of others. Congrat- Congratulations to you, Mari. And from the peop- all the people at the high school and all the people that know her, it is a very
007good fit to what Wassa expects this award to be given to. So congratulations. >> Well, I'd like to, you know, thank Mr. Sisson especially for so much work that he's done. Edgardo as well over here. He's been amazing in helping me become a more involved in a a leader for our Hispanic community, but also in the school community. I love being able to meet you people to get them involved in your activities through ASB, through different outside of school clubs, and making activities inside school more accessible for everyone. And so, I hope that through the few things I've done, I've been able to make school culture a lot better. So, thank you so much for this award. >> Congratulations to both of you. And I think now we are going to talk about the best
008of the best. I think you're all aware the best of the best took place awards for that recognizes our employees as well as community members, volunteers, retirees, and so forth. But, we also recognized our two senior student representatives as you'll see there. And a number of different employees of the district. This was earlier in May. Mr. Peters was there to represent the board, shared some awards with our student representatives, and then was able to congratulate not only our certified employee of the year, but our classified employee of the year as well. So, this is just to give what what a summary of what took place that evening. This is what's been on the website recognizing these people. And to Kelly and Juan to represent not only their years of service, their work, their school, their
009impact on students. Two very very good choices for to represent our certificated employees as well as our classified employees. Peters? Yeah, just a a great evening to those of you who were in attendance and uh it could not go to two more deserving people than Kelly and Juan, but uh really everyone that was recognized. It's just such a positive event. Um to to see how dedicated uh people are in every building from administration to uh the the teaching staff and and and to the para pros. Everybody, it was just a great night. So, um congratulations to those people who were recognized for that award. All right, we'll move on now to the public comments. >> Mr. Peters, can I interrupt real quick? We need to recognize our middle school civics bee. >> Oh, yes. We
010got one more. >> So, we have Yeah. >> One more district highlight and and one that's very unique and and was kind of thrown together just because of some student staff interest and heck they go to a competition that's regional. Um that includes schools all the way from I believe Easton to Spokane and our middle school students come home with the the champion and then 10 individuals that qualified in the top 20, I believe. So, it pretty incredible. This is our our mayor. These are pictures of our mayor being there as well as our city administrator being at the middle school and recognizing them with some community awards. Um We have the staff members there who who have been involved with them and then obviously the students were were extremely proud of their accomplishments in
011the civics bee. Civics bee's like spelling bee. They get questioned. They have to respond to the question quickly. If they don't, they don't get it or they answer incorrectly. It's just like a spelling bee and and again civics is one of those uh content areas that uh that has I'm not I'm going to be honest here. I don't like to say it. I'm a social studies major and a history and civics teacher, but it has taken a backseat to other things in in public education. And we know that things like this and events like this and the students uh success of our students and the commitment of our staff is that uh civics is an important part of their education. And for these students, they've definitely started uh to excel at it. So, this is
012a recognition of them. Uh if you have any other question, I'd be happy to answer that. >> Right. Thank you and congratulations to those students and to those teachers as well at our middle school. All right. We will move on now to suggestions and comments from the audience. We invite all community members to address the board on an issue or topic. The agenda item titled suggestions or comments from the audience great is for any comments related to topics that are not on the agenda. The audience can also provide informal comments on specific agenda items after being recognized by the board president. Individual remarks are limited to 3 minutes, please. Patrons making comments are asked to begin by identifying themselves. Um if there's a group of people, please appoint a spokesperson. Um if desired, you may
013email written documentation to the executive assistant to be included as part of the official meeting record. We have some of that here as well that I'll read from and then another which will just be entered into the record. While the board will listen to all public comments carefully, the board cannot respond to comments spontaneously or without further deliberation. So, we're here just to listen at this point if you have a public comment. The board may direct the superintendent to respond to the issues expressed at a later date. Complaints about specific personnel will not be heard in open session and will not be part of the record of any public meeting. Harassing or derogatory statements about any persons or groups of persons will not be heard. And we have one person that signed up to speak
014today. Uh and as I mentioned, um we have a written comment that would like that would like to have read. So, if Julia's here, I think you're the first person. Welcome, Julia. >> Hello, everyone. My name is Julia Wagner. I am an ASB representative at Sila High School for the class of 2028 and SHS Drama Club. I am in the K-12 education pathway and have had to teach many classes, work with many kids, and be a leader in more ways than one. I plan to become a middle school teacher or priding myself in my ability to empathize and listen with teenagers of all age groups. I have witnessed firsthand the issues my generation has with phones. I tend to have issues myself, but as a student, as a leader, and as a peer, I believe
015the possibility of bell-to-bell phone bans at Sila High School is unreasonable and unnecessary for a multitude of reasons. For example, many students use their phones to assist in focusing, whether it be listening to something in the background, studying with the help of music, or using reminders for to-do dates and to schedule dates and to-do lists. These things cannot be achieved as easily with a Chromebook, especially without the use of AirPods or headphones. Separately, a straight-up phone ban does not teach children responsibility when it comes to technology. AirPods, smartwatches, and phones are widely overused, but a stark ban won't change that. Instead, cracking down on consequences for individuals who do use their phones inappropriately is a much better preventative method. Those who use their phones innocently for taking a picture of notes on the board or
016doing assignments should not have their phones taken just because others misuse them. The whole purpose of phone bans would be to teach students technological responsibility. Um high school is the bridge between critical development and the college and workforce. If we ban phones entirely, students don't learn when and how it's appropriate to use phones. We currently have phone tickets, so why not change the end of the period rule to end of the day? As a future teacher, I believe stricter regulations and rules, as well as clear communication with kids, is a much more effective way to tackle the over use of phones. Policies work best when students feel respected and included, not controlled or forced. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Julia. Uh this is now a a a comment that's been emailed to the
017board from Joel Dalude, uh and I'll read that um and then I'll explain the second one that we received. Dear CSD School Board and Superintendent, thank you for what you do for our city, our children, and our schools. Your time and effort is appreciated. My wife and I have three children in CSD schools. Your decisions will impact my children in the coming years. We would encourage you to choose a no-phone bell-to-bell policy. I think that it is very insightful that the teachers voted for a bell-to-bell policy. We want teachers to be able to focus on teaching and not have phones as a distraction. I'm sure you have read some of the research about cell phone use in children and the detrimental aspects, including anxiety, social media overuse, bullying, unwanted picture taking, inappropriate content, decrease in
018attention, and increase in depression. Two of the books that I've leaned heavily on in my understanding and opinion of cell phone use are The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt and 10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World. Uh that's by Jean Twenge. The second book is easy to read. My sister, who is a PhD in education, listened to a lecture that Dr. Twenge gave concerning electronic devices. She shared loads of research, only some of which is talked about in her book. I have a copy of her book that I would share with anyone wanting to borrow it for a week. I don't see a reason for phones to be out during school hours. have access to computers. I know some parents are very worried that they will not be able to communicate with their
019students. I sympathize with these parents, especially when speaking about lockdowns. Sometimes students who message their parents during the lockdown can give incorrect information, which then gets spread to the whole community through social media. Even though parents want peace of mind, phones can cause more anxiety because of misinformation. Parents should all get our information from the same source, the school district by way of Parent Square. If parents do not know how to use Parent Square, we can learn. My idea of a bell-to-bell policy is that the student can have the phone put away, but if it comes out, it gets taken. If there is an emergency, the student would have access to their phone. Emergency situations are not a daily occurrence, fortunately. Certainly, some students will find ways to break the rules, but as a policy,
020I think this is the correct course. Also, I think that if the phone is taken, it would be helpful if the parent had to pick up the phone with the student. I believe this would help parents and students be motivated to support this policy. I've been in the high school several times to give presentations. I'm surprised a few students never take out their earbuds, and that reminders are needed to put away phones. My seventh grader tells me that sometimes at lunch, it's hard to talk with friends because they get on their phones. I hope the parents who are against these policies would understand that other states have started these policies and have seen improvements with grades and behavior. There are many studies that show how detrimental and distracting phones are for students. We need policies
021to support our teachers and help students have better opportunities to learn. Thank you, Joel Delude. Uh and then we received a message from uh Martha Delude, um which we did not get confirmation that she wanted read into the record, so we will uh enter it into the record um as a part of our deliberation, and the board will have access to that, and um public will have access to it as well as part of the record. All right. Is there anybody else that's here that didn't get a chance to sign up and would like to speak uh to the uh during the public comment? Make sure we get everybody here. Okay, great. Uh I I know some of you were here just for this first part, so you're you're welcome to stay and listen to
022the rest of the meeting. I encourage you to stay and listen to the rest of the meeting. We all think it's very interesting, uh but you may not. So, again, thank you for coming this evening. And with that, we'll move on to the meeting minutes. There are two meeting minutes to approve. The first is April 23rd, 2026, and the second is May 14th of 2026. I'll make a motion that we approve the regular meeting minutes for April and for May 14th. Is there a second? Right. Comments or questions about the meeting minutes. Okay, hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor of approving the meeting minutes from April 23rd and May 14th signify with an I. I. All those opposed. And abstentions. All right, we'll move on now to the consent agenda.
023And these will be taken as a vote at the end of reading of items B through H. The first item is item B, which is the human resources action sheet. And Stephanie's going to highlight a couple of details on that um to update us on movement in the district for employment. >> Yeah. So, you can see it's a pretty significant staffing sheet this month compared to what we're used to. One that I'll point out for classified staff, we did make a hire for our lead mechanic. Michael McKay is now our new lead mechanic over at the transportation department. No relation to Kevin McKay. Spelled with a C. He's taking over for Steve Stanley who's been with the district for over 10 years as our mechanic. So, we're excited to get him on board, get him
024trained up, and get him started. Well, he's actually already started, but um get him all up to date on everything in there. Certificated, you'll see we do have a handful of resignations for some teachers and only a couple of new hires. You'll see that going in through August as we've made a lot of reductions as we've talked about with you guys. So, you'll see a lot more um or a lot fewer new hires than you did previously. So, that's all I got for >> Great. Any questions or comments about the um human resource resources action sheet? >> I had one question, Dan. Uh specifically, the counselor position at the high school and then the assistant principal at the middle school. Are we looking at filling those vacancies? >> Counseling position is open. As applicants are
025applying, uh the position that I may close tomorrow. Um and assistant principal at the middle school is also open and applicants are applying. That position closes also, I believe, tonight. >> Midnight tonight. Okay. >> And that's a good question, too. As if we get any more um resignations, of course, we'll go through the same process of whether or not to fill them. But, >> really excited about the math teachers coming in, especially welcoming Dylan Bishop back into the Zillah High School fold, a great graduate and uh a former Viking, now a current Viking math teacher coming in. I and I also want to pass along my uh best wishes to Paul Hudson and thank him for his service to the district. An outstanding administrator he's been um full of energy uh and and just a
026uh um an excellent guy to be around. Um a former student of mine also at Yakima Valley College. So, I have the special um special thanks to him for that and and best wishes in his new position. I think it's at La Salle High School, if I remember correctly. Really exciting opportunity for him and I'm I'm glad it's it's uh uh it's going to work out for him and and again, thank him for his for his service to our district. All right, the next item on the consent agenda is a policy update and this is one that we heard addressed here in the um uh in the public comment, um but for us it's our first reading of um the students and telecommunications devices policy 3245. Um this is a reading of a draft of
027a procedure uh that we will vote on at our next meeting for approval or not approval um um in our business meeting at the end of at the end of June. >> Mr. Peters, before you continue, can we go back to item C, payroll goods and services? >> Not a problem. I've done that one again. I've jumped ahead. >> You're just excited. We're through the >> All right, Stephanie, sorry. Payroll goods and services. >> couple quick um items to make note of. Primary electric and design, um about $5,400. That has to do with our transportation um fuel tanks. Um I think this has been mentioned before, but we're getting fuel tanks installed on our um property to be able to fuel our buses on site. Um and so that will help save us while we're
028switching to dyed fuel, too, so we'll save about 40 cents a gallon on diesel, um but also save in staff time and not having to drive to go fuel up, so. There's that one and then for capital projects with KCDA, you'll see it was about $700,000 there that that is for the high school turf um that construction project there, so. >> Great. Terrific. And that project is right on schedule, right? We're moving along with the turf. Great. All right, thank you. Sorry for jumping over that one, Stephanie. And now we'll move to the um item uh D on uh um procedure uh 3245. We've got some language here about phone use during the school day, communication, limited personal use, and so forth. Uh are there any questions or comments that the board wants to make
029about the draft for procedure 3245? Okay. Uh, we will continue. Hopefully, uh, if there are people in the, uh, community that have strong opinions about this, they'll continue to let us know and communicate with the board. Um, either by coming and speaking or by, uh, sending us emails or speaking with us. Uh, we're definitely continue to gather information and input on this. Uh, and we'll have our final vote on that policy at our next school board meeting. Uh, our item E under the consent agenda is our policy updates. These are second readings and a vote on adoption or not for policy 6955, which is a maintenance of facilities records, 5401 sick leave, 5404 family and medical leave, 5403 emergency and discretionary leave, and then a policy review for April 26th. Um, is, uh, the additional
030document that's been added there. Uh, are there any questions about these policy updates? Or comments? Rather routine, um, clean up of the language. This happens often times in policy updates from year to year, um, to make them more accurate, transparent. All right. Uh, our next item is item F, which is, uh, uh, travel requests. These are for overnight or out-of-state travel requests. The first is for the national TSA conference and competition, going back to Washington, D.C. The second is for the FCCLA national leadership conference and competition, also back in Washington, D.C. Oh my gosh, that's July 4th. Holy cow. That'll What a What an event that'll be on our 250th anniversary. And on August 9th through 12th, there's an uh, um, a request for student council senators of Selah Middle School to attend a leadership
031camp in Randall, Washington. Are there any questions or comments on the travel requests? I'll just say those sound excellent. That's exciting and another testament to our students doing uh well in national competitions um and uh being rewarded for that and also bringing that information and knowledge back to our school uh to make our district even even that much stronger. Uh all right, item G is surplus property declaration. This is an annual annual? I think it is annual, right? We did We have a yard sale every year? Is it All right, so this is our yard sale declaration. Uh surplus property declaration um and uh this is um a few things that are worth noting, I guess, including a Dodge Grand Caravan and a Blue Bird diesel bus. Not uncommon to have a diesel bus go
032up, right? We We try and keep those fresh uh and in good working order. This is a 2010 one and then a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan as well are two of the I don't know highlighted items, I guess I would say. Is there anything else about that we should know, Stephanie? >> No, once we get your guys' approval to surplus these items, then we'll do our advertising and hold our our surplus sale. We have the private available to private schools first and then that'll be on July 6th. Uh it's a little later than usual just because of our migration and some scheduling issues um but July 6th is the private sale and July 8th will be the public sale for them. >> And where will that be located? >> Over here in the Lynch gym,
033the old Lynch gym. >> Perfect. >> Yep. >> All right, um any other questions or comments about the surplus uh sale? The final one here on our consent agenda is the Selah School District Transitional Bilingual Instructional Program um and uh Christie, that's I believe your uh item here. Is there anything that you'd like us to know about the um about those programs? >> There's no changes from last year and so it just needs the annual approval of the programs that are that are within the district. >> And is this uh a state or a federal uh requirement? >> TBIP is a state program. >> State program. Okay, great. Are there any questions from the board about uh since Christie's here to answer those questions about the bilingual instructional program or transitional bilingual instructional program? Okay,
034terrific. Thank you, Christie. Um we will now vote on the uh consent agenda. I move that we approve the consent agenda's items B through H. Is there a second? Great. Are there um any comments or questions? All right. All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, signify with an I. I. All those opposed? And abstentions? Fantastic. All right. Now I'm just checking. We're moving on to item six. All right, good. Item six is a resolution 2026-6 authorization to employ supervisory personnel. Last meeting business meeting we voted to authorize non-supervisory personnel. This year it's another um um uh another resolution uh or this this month another resolution this time for supervisory personnel. This is standard protocol as well that we do annually as a board um and it's part of I believe Washington state law
035as as well that we um approve or not approve this resolution. Are there any questions about the authorization to improve employ supervisory personnel? I should probably make a motion. I'll move that we approve resolution 2026-6. Is there a second? Great. Are there any comments or questions about this resolution? Okay, fantastic. All those in favor of resolution 2026 signify with an I. I. All those opposed? Abstentions? Okay, great. We have now item number seven, which is the student board representatives report. And as you can see, we're short a couple of student board representatives because I believe they're baccalaureate this evening getting ready to graduate. It's a very special time of year for the seniors, of course, around the country, but in the Seal School District, we're missing both of our senior school board representatives, Clara and
036Charlie, but we are joined by our junior, soon to be senior. How's that feel? Soon to be senior representatives, Aliana and Miriam. Aliana, would you like to provide a report to the board? >> First I wanted to talk about the assembly from earlier today. Oh my goodness, I must have cried at least five times today because of my senior friends that are graduating this year. And it's kind of a bittersweet feeling even though I haven't been here that long to watch them go. But they're off to do better things and that's what we want for them. And Yeah, I think that's about it. I've had a pretty good year so far. >> Aliana, describe what the event was today. What is it What's it look like? >> So it was it started as the seniors
037walking through and basically like saying their last hurrah, saying goodbye to everyone. And we gave out some flowers to some teachers and counselors that were moving away this year or resigning or retiring. And Sad to see them go, but And then We basically just honored them, showed a few slideshows of like them signing a camera or walking through the younger schools. And Yeah. >> That's a really cool tradition where they go back to the elementary school, right? They get to do a little graduation walk and give those elementary students a little preview of what's coming for them. That's great. Thank you for your report, Aliana. Miriam, would you like to speak? >> I also got to go to the assembly today. It was really good and I'm friends with like probably half the senior class.
038So, yeah, it was really bittersweet, but I'm super proud of them all. So, I'm super excited for them. Um, yeah, it was just really cool. I didn't really know that they did a graduation assembly and so it was just fun to go and See everyone. And like see what they've accomplished and there were a few speeches and they all did amazing. And yeah, it was just lots of fun. >> Awesome. Well, we're ready for you to be senior representative. So, we look forward to hearing more from you next year. Our next item is the executive director for student learning report and this is two one report, I guess, is about state and federal annual report and I think this is Christie as well as going to be speaking. Also, Christie has some slides here on
039our state and federal programs. I'll let you take it away, Christie. >> So, those in the audience that don't know me, I'm Christie Aryan, the director of student support. So, I oversee all the state and federal programs for the district and um I don't think my clicker's on. Pointer. No. >> Okay, guys. >> Yeah. >> Really good presentation there. >> Did that. >> go. >> Is that you or me? I know, that's why I was It's you cuz it this is not working either. I don't know. Yeah. When it like this Pick that like this. Okay. Thank you. All right, so state and federal programs, those consist of Title 1 Part A, LAP, Title um 6, and then Title 1 Part C, Title 3, and TBIP are the the um programs that I oversee. And
040so, the revenues for those programs are generated um by student enrollment within that program. Um and then the are the funding is generated by student enrollment, and then the eligibility for the programs are a little bit different for each one. Um we look at poverty data for Title 1 and LAP for um the funding. Um and services for LAP are really around academic need. That's how students are enrolled in that. Uh for TBIP and Title 3, we look at the home language survey, and that's filled out upon registration. Same with the Ed 506 upon registration or anytime, really. Um and that is enrollment in our Title 6 program. And then for our um Title 1 Part C Migrant Program. It's a certificate of eligibility that really enrolls the students and that's done through an interview
041with our migrant, um, education staff. So, when we think about poverty data, we are looking at, um, directly certified students as well as, um, families who self-identify through our family income survey. And the like the slide before, Title One is by the census data that really kind of rolls out from, um, the federal government to the state and then to the districts. Uh, for LAP, we look at the, um, the directly certified and those are students who might qualify for McKinney-Vento or for state assistance of some kind, whether it's food or insurance. And so, those are our directly certified families. And it is also combined with the family income survey. We go off of a three-year average, um, for next year's funding. And right now, we, as a district, we're at 55.59 as a, uh,
042low income or poverty level. And then, Title One Part A is, um, really all of our buildings are school-wide because it the threshold is 40%. And so, we have, um, school-wide programs in every single school. We mainly staff, um, have staffing coming out of that funding. There is, uh, a component of parent and family engagement that is a, uh, a required set-aside. We've done some PD this year with that. And then, our other two set-asides are McKinney-Vento, which is students experiencing homelessness. And we do have a set-aside that goes to our private schools. So, students that live within our attendance boundary and attend private schools, we, um, we, uh, allocate money for their program, as well. So, our total Title One budget is just over a million dollars. We do roll over Title 2 at
043our transfer Title 2 and Title 4 into Title 1. So, it does increase our allocation just a little bit. And then it you see the breakdown of the things that just from the slide before as well. Mostly staffing. Out of Title 1 because it is a program for based on our our poverty rate. We have a family service team that that really serves our families really well. This is a dynamic team and they work so well together in order to get our families connected to community resources such as housing, clothing, laundry, as well as transportation to and from school, to and from appointments, just to try and remove those barriers to education. They really work hard on attendance and engagement. So, doing home visits to get kids engaged, to get families engaged into the school.
044The two food programs we partner with the Seal La Push Food Bank and we have a backpack program for students that have been identified by this team. So, they get to go home every weekend with a a bag of food. And then we also have food partner with OIC and we have they bring boxes I think about 100 each week and we have families that pick them up here at the district office to just kind of help the family with food assistance. They do so much more, but but that's really the the main thing. And then last year we did this team put on a district resource fair that was in August. We're going to do that again this year. There was school supplies, sports physical vouchers, on site haircuts and haircut vouchers. We had
045the OIC food boxes there. We had we partnered with local churches that gave or provided hygiene kits and school supplies as well. We had Hang Loose there with shaved ice, um, and then we also partnered that with school registration. So, we had a a lab going on on inside the middle school and the resource fair was outside. I know, huh? >> There we go. >> Okay, back up. Okay, so then that was kind of wraps up Title I and our LAP, um, program is the state equivalent to Title I and this really is based on uh funding is based on poverty rate, but our services are lean more towards academic, um, versus the non-academic services in Title I and so, um, we have a our our system is our MTSS system, so multi-tiered system of
046support and we really speak and teach to the core or that Tier 1 and any student at any time could really kind of move on that continuum. And so, if students are falling behind, they would go one direction, students that are excelling going one direction and really it's about providing the supports that the students need to to, um, do their best in in their academics. Um, we serve all of Robert Lince and J.C. Key, um, the whole building, uh, with our Go Times and then with SIS and middle school, we focus on students who are two or more grade levels below and that's where the support and the resources go within their intervention systems. And then high school, we focus on students who are credit deficient and, um, the resources go towards those those classes
047as well as after school, um, tutoring and and boot camps that what do. So, other LAP supports, most of them are staff-driven just like in Title 1. So, our PBIS interventionists, pride teams, it's really the non-classroom positions that are in our building are funded through our state and and federal programs. Online coordinator for Greenways, para push-ins. We also have some set aside in LAP High Poverty for professional development, teacher training. Those are identified by building need and it usually is tied to their Title 1 goal for the year. We also, this year is new a TK set aside out of our LAP dollars as well as Robert Lintz's LAP High Poverty. They also have a small set aside for the for the TK classroom. And then we have some web-based licenses for the interventions that
048are paid out of LAP as well. We I won't spend too much time on Title 6. We were here last month with that, but the one highlight since our last meeting is Jenny Honanie came in as an elder and spoke to our um our NAPAC, our Native American Parent Advisory Committee, and she just had some really wise words and how to stay involved in school with or their their students' education and really just how they can provide some of the cultural and language supports that might be needed for their for their child as well. So, that was a good experience for our parents on that committee. Our migrant is Title 1 Part C, so our migrant education we have to have a PAC and meeting certain a number of times each year, but our PAC
049is amazing. We just had a PD yesterday for our migrant summer school staff and the ESD came in and had a lot to say about our PAC. They're just so involved. They end up planning most of our general PAC meetings and really are involved and care about this community and and their community as well. So, it's really just a really good group of parents. Um so, then some services are are along the lines of Title I, but go a little more in-depth to meet the needs of a migratory lifestyle and and students who are moving within the school year for that work. One of our biggest highlights, I think the little boy on the ground on the bike says it all. We had a donor give bikes at our event and our last event and
050he won the bike and it just lit up the whole night. And so, so this is kind of what why we do this program is to just really give opportunities to our students and our and our community our community members. So, the other picture I just wanted to highlight is that lower left. The students went on a college field trip and just the awe of her in that big building and and it just makes me tear up a little bit because it's really about giving them those opportunities to really see what life is like. So, our Title III and TBIP, this is for our multilingual learners. So, those that have identified on the home language survey language other than English. And so, we fund ML interventionists and ML pairs that push in and really help
051Under this program is dual, which I'll I'll get to as well. But, we do we do materials for WIDA, which is our our standards for English language development. We also look at spending money on our Spanish proficiency because we are a dual language district. So, we want to see how are they proficient not just in English, but in Spanish as well. We fund level one and newcomer curriculum when they need just those extra supplements. And then, we also have a program called elevation that really has PD modules. It helps us plan for ML students and a lot of our compliance pieces like letters and things are generated from that program. We do professional development as well. So we had a glad training for our K5 our K8 dual teachers and it was by grade band
052here over the course of the week. So we we funded that and then ML endorsements for two of our JCP teachers. They took advantage of that this year. So our dual language program is a K8 plus dual language program. So we start in kinder our preschool is a one way but in kinder we started two way 80% of their days in Spanish 20% is in English and it tapers off 10 by 10% with each grade level. We work towards 50/50 by third grade to eighth grade and then they just are able to apply those language skills at the high school but we are not not requiring the 50% of their day in Spanish. We use stamp for our proficiency test. And really our dual language program isn't a program for our multilingual learners and so
053it's really to get them to achieve both English language development or proficiency in English but to help them also get to a place where they are bilingual by literate. They haven't lost their home language. So the the highlights for for dual this year really go along with these pictures in the lower left. We had a panel of six middle school students that spoke to regional directors of dual language as well as some higher ed staff members came from Central and they were just so impressed with them. They wanted to take them on the road and you know answer have them speak to everybody. They were very eloquent engaged and very thoughtful with their answers and it was really fun to to host and participate in that. The other two pictures are two classroom pictures from
054when we had Chilean students visit our school. This was a partnership with one of our local churches who had them who actually hosted them and set up the visit and it was just so much fun for both groups of students to really see what culture is like in Chile and and then to experience to experience what life is like there through through kids their age. So a couple other highlights since it is a dual language program for our multilingual learners, I really just wanted to highlight the WIDA exit rate over time. So starting in 2022 when we started the WIDA, we transitioned from ELPA to WIDA that year. It was a one 1.3 exit rate in that first year and we're now at a 7.15 or 7.17 with our exit rate last year and our
055preliminary numbers are 4.8 right now. But we still have some scores that are coming in for this year. And then our student progressing that means that if they haven't passed it's the percentage of who is making growth from year to year and that's increasing each year. And so we're just super excited that the kids that are exiting are actually in our SIS building majority of the time and that is important because they're exiting before they become what is called an L tel a long-term English learner and we want to avoid that status because it's a lot harder, the test is more rigorous, and it's a lot harder to exit. The biggest highlight I think for dual was our family night that we just did May 7th and there was so many families there. We ran
056out of food which is a great problem. We had lots of performances and it was just a great night of celebration of culture. One of our dual students who spoke in front of the panel brought it up and and his um of it is I can't put words to it. It was just beautiful. So So it was a great night. And that's it. I'm open to questions. >> Thank you very much, Kristy. Are there questions from the board or comments from the board? >> Just need some clarification. >> So um on on the exit and the progressing, what does that mean exactly? Are those Spanish speakers moving on to English only or English uh speaking students learning Spanish and leaving the program? >> No, the that is for multilingual learners only. So the students that
057I've identified as a language other than English and they are making uh they're exiting the program after so many years in um because they have met English proficiency. And so that's the exit rate. When they meet English proficiency and then the progressing is the same group of students who is make who are making growth from one year to the next. >> So So that's what we want. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah, and and being close to that the state as well is like we're not we're in line with where everyone else is in the state with that exit rate and that progressing rate is also important because we're not lagging or you know, with our program in the way it's designed. >> Other questions? Are there languages other than Spanish that are supported for multilingual learners
058in the Seattle School District? >> Yes, we've got a few. We have a couple families with Mandarin. We have um uh we've had a couple um families with um a Saudi Arabian language. I'm not quite sure which one it was. And then um we've had uh Dutch in the past and we've had Vietnamese in the past. But um it's probably less than 10 in the whole district, but but we have had some. >> Uh and that's great. Thank you very much. And you also had a great turnout for family night. What was What's like for the resource fair earlier in the year? >> Resource fair, it was our first one. It was probably lagging, but the families that were there were super excited. We had 134 sign-in, um and we had 100 of the OIC
059boxes, so those all went. And so, um so it was a really good It was still a really good event. We're excited though for this year to make it a little bit bigger and better. We're going to have the haircut people inside, so they can actually do the clippers and not just scissor cuts, and so it'll be an exciting event. So, we're >> It's just such a great idea to bring all of those resources together. We had one at YBC, and it was just it was super. People could find things that they didn't even know existed >> Right. >> by coming to that. So, it's >> Right. And we had school resources as well as community resources there, so that they felt prepared to start the year. >> And have there been any changes in
060the from the federal grants? We heard a lot of stuff in the news about Department of Education changing allocations and so forth. Has that had an impact on SELA? >> Yeah, um it did have an impact early on. We There was um on the table of Title III, um go like going away, Title I being significantly reduced, Title II and IV going away. Um and as of right now, it's sustained. And so, we've got we've gotten funding for for all of them. >> That's great news. >> Yeah. >> Excellent. Okay, thank you. Other questions or comments for Christie? >> I I have some questions about the the family services team. >> Mhm. >> Um That's Is that funded by federal grants, too, or is it >> Um the six people on the slide, four of
061them are uh are two of them are partially funded by state um by Title I and LAP, and then two of them are fully funded through um Title I or migrant. Um and Edgardo does actually have 1 hour of BEA, so it's partially, I guess. Um uh just for translation purposes, but they are all partially funded by state and federal programs. >> Okay. >> And then we had Natasha on there as well. So, you want to talk about that? >> Yeah, Natasha Hernandez is our community in schools staff member. And so, that that contract is not continuing next year. So, she won't be here next year, but she is community in schools and and was not a district funded staff member. >> Are we going to still be able to do her responsibilities or are
062those going away? >> Yeah, with our our team is such a like I said, they're dynamic. They're they're a true team. Like they pick up each other's slack. They they when there's not slack, but they they have each other's back. And so, at our last meeting that was the first thing that came up is how are we going to support Robert Lentz and JCP, which was on Natasha's plate. And so, so we're already in the works of how that's going to look next year and and to be able to do that with the the current team that we still have. >> Okay. I I I know those those services are greatly needed in our community. As part of my work, I go into literally every school in the area. And everyone has groups like that.
063The the weekend backpack program to make sure that people have food. Keep track of the kids that don't come to school with families that are low income or transit trying to figure out where they're at McKinley Bento and all that stuff. And I'm I'm really glad that we have a program here to to help support that as well. So, thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Other comments or questions? Okay. Great. Thank you so much for your report, Christie. We really appreciate the work you do for our district. And as Larry said, that's just such important work for equity purposes and for all sorts of other things to keep kids ready for school, belonging in school. So, thank you very much. All right. We'll move on to the associate superintendent for district operations, who tonight will
064be Stephanie is going to talk to us about the enrollment update and the financial status update and I think also the draft budget reduction plan. >> A through F. Oh, all of them. Okay, fantastic. Stephanie, take it away. >> So, enrollment update for May, our May 1st count, we had 3,499 students. Uh that is a drop of two FTE. This is average FTE, so it's not necessarily students, it's FTE. Um decrease of two FTE leaving us 17 over what we projected going into, which is great. We held our enrollment count in May. Our final count is next Monday, June 1st, so we'll be able to have our final number for the year. Um hopefully we'll stay right in that area and be good to go. Um as a reminder, it's about $10,000 per student FTE
065that we get funded through the state through apportionment, so it's 17 over is about $170,000 that we'll get in addition um through our apportionment process. >> Are we still counting the seniors? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Oh, yeah. >> [laughter] >> Good. >> They might be gone, but they're still on the books. Um and just as a reference, 1 year ago, May 2025, we were 60 students higher, so we've lost 60 students in that that year. Okay, any questions on enrollment? Okay. Uh budget status as of the end of April, 2/3 of the way through the fiscal year, we have received 66% of our budgeted revenues, which I'll point out, like I did last time, our levy revenue, we've received 90% of that now. Um April's the big second payment for tax for property taxes.
066So, we see that large number go up to 90% there. Um expenditures, we've spent 64% of our budgeted uh expenditures for the year, leaving us with $10,872,000 in our fund balance, which is about 15.8% of our budgeted expenditures, if you were to look at it that way. One other thing I'll point out on the second page there is our transportation vehicle fund. You'll see that we did issue a payment for a bus purchase. We just got one new bus, we're getting rid of one for surplus, and we're buying a new one. We took possession of that this last month and then and it's on route right now, so already got it in use. So, our ending fund balance there is $307,000 for transportation vehicle. We will get our depreciation revenue in August for the year,
067so that'll go back up to be used for more bus purchases in the future. Capital projects ending fund balance there is 7.2 million. We've spent 300 about $350,000 so far this year, and you'll see those expenditures go up as those projects at the high school um get more into it. And we won't see that state match money come back to us until we get our portion out first for that CTE addition, so. Just a heads-up on that one. Any questions? >> I I got a couple. I don't know if you do it right now, but um anyway, I just I thought occurred to me while you were doing this. Um Some people I've been talking to the homeowners, their value their house values are actually going down. I don't know if anybody in the I'm
068just wondering how will we know like what the community tax base will be for next the school year? >> And we we get that number from our Yakima County Assessor. And he's given us an estimate. I don't know what that is off the top of my head right now, but it is going >> already it to you? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, overall, I mean, you'll see the abs and flows in properties is some newer properties might be higher, older properties are going down. Um but overall, our community is going up. Um and I'm not sure of that percentage, do you? Are you? Yeah, in growth from last year. I know it's single digits. It's not double digits like we did before. >> So, we're not really worried about everybody's property values just
069like going down and having to look at additional cuts or anything like that. Okay. >> No. >> We're happy for the property owners to have less tax bills. >> Yeah. Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. No problem. Okay. And the next item here is the draft budget reduction for 26-27. Um this is the same kind of updated handout that you guys received last month um at the April business meeting. Just as a reminder, April business meeting, the reduction total on that was about $2.5 million is what was listed there. So, this is just giving you an update on what other further reductions we've made since then in the last month. Uh we're now at just under $3 million in reductions that we've made going forward to next year. And included in that is a
070reduction of three certified positions, one administrator, and three classified. And just note that all of those were done through attrition as well. So, we haven't done any reductions in force um to get to where we are now. There are some little other minor reductions throughout this handout here, but our overall reduction so far is $3 million. Did you have anything thing to add, Kevin? >> I'll just add that uh as we shared earlier and Cres has shared every time she's talked about the budget, everything every day brings something new. And that will continue. And um Um, as we as we provide you at the next study session, I believe on the 11th of June, you will see a different number here just from what's happened through from tonight until that time. Uh, but it should
071it should not be significant. Uh, as you get closer to the year, start to understand where your staffing is. People have made decision decisions on on their employment. Um, but I I'm my assumption is there will will be some addition there. Um, again, this this is the we're getting close to the end of a lot of work that has gone on um, really since this time last year and then providing you updates on where we are. Um, at the study session, we'll be able to show you what this total of 2.969 actually means uh, in regards to um, how it impacts uh, next year's budget, the gap that's potentially still there, how big that gap is, what the impact is on the ending fund balance. All those things uh, we will be able to share
072in great detail at the study session which will lead to also Chris and Steph have been hard at work on getting all this information and data into the system so we can generate a budget, make a run through it uh, and then uh, have it come to you in the June business meeting and then go through the process of getting your approval for that, sending it off to ESD for their review, then on to OSPI and so forth. So, I think I outlined some of that in the email to you as well, but where that's at. >> Any questions on on the reductions so far? >> We'll talk more about it later, but thank you for doing this work and for the building administrators who are all coming through every line of their budget to
073try and get us closer to um, uh, to in the black, I guess you might say or to balance budget. Um, it's it has been a multi-year process and uh, we're getting there is what I would say. So, thank you very much. >> Yeah, it a huge group effort, and I was gone for most of it on maternity leave, but everybody district-wide administrators have done a fantastic job at doing this, so. Okay. And then the last items I have here are the annual reports for technology, nutrition, and transportation. I won't read through those, but um let you guys kind of do that on your own, but if you have any burning questions, I can try and answer them for you. >> Well, I'll just say thank you to um I think it's Joe who wrote
074the the transportation annual report, to Greg, and um uh to our nutritional program, as well. Um we we appreciate uh getting to hear from them in person. Um uh uh but um uh we also are respectful of their time. Um and um I was like looking at the food one. That's what that one got some interesting stuff in it, right? So, thank you very much, Lori, for preparing that, as well. Uh the food one, just to just to mention, um there's been some decrease in the participation in breakfast and lunch. It's stayed pretty steady, it looks like, uh but I like to see expanded scratch cooking, which is really uh I think one of the hallmarks of the CELA nutritional program, and to see that that's growing is is really cool. So, thank you, Lori,
075for that report. All right, are there any other questions or comments about technology, nutrition, or transportation? Okay, excellent. We move on now to item 10, which is the superintendent report. Uh Kevin, do you have an update for us? >> Yeah, my report is all about graduation. It's uh it's culmination of all the work we do. I mean, it's all I to me, it's why I'm the superintendent, is seeing kids get a diploma. I think it's for all I can speak for all of us here that work uh in our positions, and and hopefully that you as a board is to is to celebrate the success of another class of students who have gone through our system. Many of those students have have been in our system since they were either in preschool or kindergarten. And
076so see them and how what they've accomplished They they have had a busy schedule. I would say today was extremely busy for them. They they did tour all the vet grad practice. They toured all the buildings. They actually toured here, which was nice and new. So the staff here was able to see them. They were in the in Lynch today as well and at Were they at Lynch at John Cabell as well and Lynch? Yeah. Yeah, they did the barbecue and they had something different. King's Row sponsored a barbecue in Wixom Park for them, which was great. So all that was new. Um Baccalaureate later this evening and then I think they've got another practice and then getting ready on Monday for the graduation ceremony. So special time. All kinds of things I'm in the
077award ceremony the other night recognized some students that wow have really excelled in their achievement of academics, leadership and a multitude of other things. So a great time. Uh I know a lot of others not the graduates, but a lot of others will be looking forward to the 9th, which is the last day of school. Um It is an early release day as well and then for you reminders we have our next study session mid-month meeting on 6/11 in the morning. That that session will be all about the budget. You'll You'll get to hear tired of hearing us talk about the budget. But you'll know a lot when you leave that one. And then we do have a regular board meeting at the end of June on the 25th. That's my report. >> Great. Thank
078you very much. Are there I think we're moving on now to board communication. Are there any board Board of Directors that would like to communicate? >> Just going back to the conversation before the meeting started. What time do we need to be to the on Monday for graduation? >> You want me to take that? >> Uh anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes ahead of time. We were just joking about a former board member who used to like to kind of get there right just in time for the festivities. >> That would be Mr. Murphy, just for the record. >> [laughter] >> Trying to be polite about it. Uh all right, so and aware for everybody in the audience and in in the Seal School District um you know how it is getting in and
079out of the Sun Dome, right? It is it's it can be a real jam. Those of you I'm still scarred from the Nate Bargatze concert performance that we went to. Um so um I don't know, maybe half an hour ahead of time, something like that. >> Yeah, I think that'd be safe if half hour. Again, students and the family yeah, students family, everybody will be mingling around staff uh beforehand. If you feel like you want to you know, do that, uh obviously you two have an other reasons to be there maybe a little early, but um yeah, you're welcome at any time to come there. But try to be there before 5 minutes like Jamie and we worried about where he was. >> It's it's not I don't know if anybody saw what happened at
080the Gorge just last weekend, so yeah, Chinook Fest does not have that issue. There we go, right exactly. I I'll just say a congratulation to Derek and Larry for their seniors that are graduating and for those seniors that won scholarships and were awarded those the other evening. It it's kind of um well, their hard work and dedication and the teachers' hard work and dedication the commitment to their future is something that makes us all very proud. Um and it's it's nice to see our students um prepared for the future and and it's not just us that's saying it, it's national awards that they're winning, it's national scholarships and regional scholarships and dominating the the Rotary scholarships. Um it just is um reinforces our our belief in our in our faith in our school district um
081for me personally. So, I congratulate our teachers and our schools for for turning out yet another wonderful group of seniors. So, congratulations to them and and to their teachers and and to their parents, really. Okay, if there are no other comments, check, make sure. All right, we'll see you on Monday and the meeting is adjourned.