February 12, 2026 Selah School Board Study Session

001Okay. Uh we are uh here today for our uh our study session this morning. So I'll call the meeting to order and uh rise your table and remove your caps for the flag salute. All right. Thank you. Uh thank you all for being here this morning. Uh the roll call is we're all here up on the uh for the board members. Um and we have our first uh item on the agenda is the overnight student travel request. This is for the DECA club traveling to the state DECA competition in Belleview. Um, and I I believe we need to vote on approving or not approving this travel request. Um, I'm looking right now. Uh, how many total students are there? 31. Man, incredible. All right. Um, are there any question or I move that we approve

002the overnight student travel request. Is there a second? >> Great. Are there any questions or comments about the overnight request? Okay. Uh, all those in favor of approving the overnight student travel request signify with an I. >> I. All those opposed and abstensions. Great. Good luck to Mr. Benjamin and all those uh students heading over to Belleview. Or do we have any students here that are heading over to Belleview for DECA? No DECA people. FCCLA people. All right. The next item on our agenda is item three, which is district guidelines for public comments. Are there any public comments that have been submitted or that are in the audience? It doesn't look like it. Um, we will move on now to our main item on our agenda, which is the um student voice panel. Um, we've

003invited some students here, including our uh our board representatives from the high school to come and speak to us today about um student experience, which is a new kind of category in our um Viking promise. That's a a new I don't know pillar I guess you might call it. Um under which is uh the umbrella of which uh contains a a good number of other sort of subtopics on it. Um and uh Hunter is going to help lead a a panel discussion of students here where the board will um get to hear from the people who are experts at being students uh which are students. So, uh, we're excited to hear what what you have to say about your time at CILA. Um, and and I hope you're open to ask us asking you some

004questions. Oh, I see some people nod their heads. Excellent. Good. Uh, and and I'm sure Hun will say this, but feel comfortable here that you're not inter we're here to listen to you. You're the experts. Um, please be as honest and forthright and open as you can be with your answers and um um we'll definitely be paying attention. Okay, Hunter, you Why don't you guys come up and sit up here? Uh, a few housekeeping. We're going to have to talk into the mic. Okay. Uh, so the how the mic works, if you press the button and the little ring at the bottom turns green, it means it's on or it's hot. And then you guys can just pass around. I want this to be just like a discussion. So, um, you'll need the mic, but

005then pass it to to each other. Act like you're just kind of talking with me. Um, first though, uh, so you guys have any questions about how this is going to go. Um, we wanted this to be we wanted to hear from seniors. You guys are at the end of your journey, uh, uh, within within high school. And so, really, we want you to think about not just your high school experience, but your whole time kind of K through 12, whether that's been all in CEO or if you've been somewhere else. And just think kind of reflect back on your journey that's gotten you here. and now you're just a few months away from graduating. Okay. So, with that, let's start with uh just going down the line. Tell us your name and then the

006first icebreaker is in one sentence or word uh what best describes your experience as a seedless student. >> Yes. You want to go first, Charlie? Yeah. >> Okay. Um I'm Charlie and I think the word I would use is probably like roller coaster. >> Yeah. Okay. My name is Claire and the word that I would use is probably extension. >> Uh my my name is Jose Figeroa and the word I would use is probably competitive but in like a healthy way. >> Um I'm Gabby and the word I would use is community for sure. >> Okay. So I have a few you guys have the questions. I have a few different kind of buckets of topics to talk about with your experience as a student. Uh the first one's just kind of under learning and

007preparation. Uh you're seniors, you're probably thinking a lot about what your next step is uh in your life and what your kind of life goals are. Um and we want you to be as honest as possible. Be be really reflective and um think think about both what has really helped you and also what are be critical of our system too. We want to hear honestly from your you're the ones who have lived the experience of being in the hallways every single day and in classrooms. So first question, how well do you feel CEA schools prepared you for life after high school? What helped and what didn't help most with that preparation? I feel academic wise it's really helped me at least because I always look forward to challenging myself. So I do multiple like college

008and the high school classes. So in that aspect, I really like it. But I would also like for our for like the junior class and the senior class that we learn about like financial responsibility. I would also like a little bit more like real world applications of like cuz they teach us about like check checking and banking like stuff that we roughly have a good idea because most of us work. I would like to see like more of like investing and stuff like that that could help us plan for our future or like buying like a property and then how to grow that property. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Um uh the school or the district uh uses the phrase a lot like college and career ready. Uh and right now personally I think that

009the district is doing a great job with the career ready part. Um but I see kind of a lacking in the college ready part. uh there's a lot of opportunities for extension if you are willing to do it but um I don't feel that um the school puts certain supports in place to help students preparing for college. Uh, for one example, last um last year I remember I was talking trying to email my counselor about setting up a meeting to talk about scholarships, uh, preparing to do college applications and stuff. And my counselor simply told me, "Well, you're a junior, so we're not looking at that yet. I'll meet back with you fall of senior year." But you look at other schools, other districts, students are already preparing for college and standardized testing, things like

010those their sophomore, freshman year. So, I kind of see a gap between um really and you look at you look at our pathways back there and there's some really great niche pathways for if you are wanting to go to vocational school, but there's no pathway to simply get your prerequisites done so that you're ready to go to college and maybe get a liberal arts degree, a degree in communications, degree in English. Um that's where I see the biggest gap being is there's not a specific pathway for students to simply go to college who are wanting to just get everything done before they go. Thank you. Gabby or Charlie? >> Um, I'd say one of the biggest ways that it helped me is it gave me a lot of opportunities to learn what I'm good at,

011but the things that I don't necessarily like doing. Um, things like calculus where I know that I'm good at math and I know that I'm not very receptive to um like people talking at me. So, it taught me a lot about that. But I feel like um something that it could help something that the schools could help with is more like I wouldn't say more opportunity but more um like awareness that there are more ways like the tutoring is a new thing that I think it has a lot of good um like chance to help other people but I wish it was pushed more or more opportunities to study. Um, I wrestle every day after school, so it's really hard for me to find time for homework. So, I've ended up just not doing it,

012and it can really affect my grades in certain classes, like calculus. So, I wish it was pushed more that um homework has a bigger impact on your grade, but you have more like spaces to do it like advisory or things like that where you have people to hold you accountable for it. Um, I think one thing CIA High School has done really well is kind of grow those 21st century skills. Um, I mean like my freshman year I had really bad leadership skills and I wasn't able to lead in a like in a different capacity like compared to the capacity I can lead in now. Um, I just think like some of the academics um has made me college ready but also other parts of the academics has not made me college ready. Um, I

013mean like in the college and the high school classes, you're obviously taking a college class, so you have things that are due at very specific times, but then like in other classes, there's a lot more leeway on like what you can turn in and when you can turn it in. So, I think also just trying to figure out a system to help manage that better, just like even in those general classes, you still are getting some sort of deadline where it's going to hold you accountable. >> Early, can I ask a quick follow-up question? I I don't think that I had put this together, but college and the high school because they're accredited basically through central or wherever else Udub, they have different expectations for deadlines than uh a general education class does. Is that

014right? >> I've seen that. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Uh I would like to kind of add on to what Gabby said about the support thing. Um it feels like a lot of the academic support is targeted towards students who are not as involved. Uh because like Gabby said, like if you have practice or if you're involved in any clubs or activities, there's no you're not going to be able to go in after school for an hour or two hours. Um I'm seeing kind of students who are taking like higher level classes who need the extra help are also involved in so many things. Um, so there needs to be a way to figure out kind of how you can meet them maybe like uh during the school time or uh just branching

015out because the only students that are able to go to these things are students who um typically are taking like lower level classes or aren't as involved in things outside of academics. >> Question for the >> are you talking about like some alternative hours like before school as opposed to after school activities? Yeah, I think that that would be a great thing to say to see um cuz like a lot of students who are involved in sports, you know, they're expected to like keep these high uh grade levels. You have to for participation, but um you can't go to pizza and work. You can't go to after school tutoring if you are playing a sport. That was going to be my followup question to the whole group. Do you guys have any ideas? I've heard

016it's really uh support for students that are kind of on the college track um before school. Is there any other ideas you guys have that would be helpful for you guys to support you guys? >> Yeah. Um, something that was implemented this year is instead of having advisory every day except Wednesdays, we only have it on Wednesdays, which there are some like pros and cons to both, but I feel like with us not being able to go from classroom to classroom anymore and like reaching out asking for help in a set time period, it has made it harder for I know me for sure because I'm a link crew leader. So I go into freshman advisories and help teach them in math or reading or help them with any homework they have. So I feel

017like if we had more opportunity to go to other teachers during advisory if they have downtime or um kind of like how last year we had Thursdays and Fridays that were academic intervention. If we had something like that again it could possibly help with that. Can you guys explain a little bit more about the current advisory structure? I know it's changed over the years quite a bit and you just mentioned maybe only on Wednesday. You know, I've had four kids through the high school. It's I've gotten the feeling at times that it's just a waste of time. That's the case. What can we do to improve it? So, what does it look like now? And what really could we do better? Cuz right now in the high school, they're only doing the what are they

018called? The the character strong, not giving us like any time of like working on like school work because I know >> benefit to you. Do you feel the character strong? because I've never heard from anyone that that's >> I think it I think it depends on the person because there are some some students that do listen to it and do take away but there's other students like in my case where I would just rather focus on my work that I need to turn in on time then then watch that video on my own time because right now our time is super limited in that class and we really don't have time to work but how it was last year and previous years uh we had more time if we used it wisely. So, it's also

019like a responsibility thing of the student if they use that time wisely to get their work done. >> Yeah, the middle school was using it, but I didn't realize it's a great program, but maybe not the best use of what little time. Yeah, I would say >> um I would say Character Strong can be very helpful. I know when I was a freshman, it was very like it talked about study habits and learning how you learn and not trying to change that for somebody else. So, I think it could be helpful in occasion like once every few weeks, but also building in that time to do homework, to do um like different assignments. I know I've brought up being a link crew leader, so um it it's different for so juniors and seniors have the

020opportunity to go in and essentially mentor freshmen. And so, I don't get to sit during character strong lessons. I'm typically the one putting on like the videos or playing the games with the um freshman or doing my own kind of lesson, which um going back to the first question has helped me a lot in leadership. But it feels like when I'm in there so much, cuz I'm in there every Wednesday, whether or not it's a built-in link crew day, um I feel like I'm not fully able to um do my own work cuz I'm so I'm trying to put in more effort into these freshmen than my um freshman mentors put into me. And I had great mentors, but it's always trying to build the further the younger kids. >> There is benefit. >> Yeah.

021And previous years when there was more advisory, it kind of rotated, didn't it? There was one day it was more like, hey, get some work done. One day was a character strong list and one day was a great check or or there's also kind of the random things taking surveys that are pushed out. That that was kind of Do you guys feel like that rotation worked better for support last year? >> No. No. So, I personally preferred how it was set up last year, which was like one day a week we'd have a character strong lesson, but it was more um the not every class does a character strong lessons. It's really up to the teacher how much they put in to asking their students. And it's not just like playing a video like there's

022follow-up questions and having a class discussion. Personally, my advisory uh does that every week, but that's because of the adviser that I have. And I know a lot of adviserss don't like I'd say uh maybe half if less actually participates in that program. Um and then last year it was one day we would have a check-in where every single student would check in with the adviser and if you're failing in class or if like like my adviser for me she knows I like to maintain all age. So if she ever like would see an A minus she would be like okay what are what's wrong here? Or if any student has missing assignments they would check in and then the other two days would be an opportunity for students to move to other classrooms. And

023we actually have seen a lot of students this year be like, "Wow, this total change of structure in advisory, it's not working for me. It's not working for students." We've had multiple students contact Mr. Monty, set up meetings, and um ultimately we're just being told that this is more beneficial for us even though the students completely disagree with it being more beneficial. Sorry. And to add to that, I think also like last year like there was a lot of advisory. So like maybe even cutting it down to like three days a week would also be beneficial. Like being able to have like being able to have that time to just sit down and do my work, especially as a student who does a lot of extracurricular activities to be able to have what was it

024like 30 minutes. It was like 15 to Yeah. So being able to like sit down and just be able to like work out all my schoolwork, do the studying I need to do for the day. It was really beneficial to me and my grades. And I have seen like a slight percentage drop in my grade because of the fact that I don't have this time in advisory anymore. and it's causing me to struggle more and having to take that stuff home after like two practices or like after extra cooking activities like clubs. So, it's just it it would be more beneficial if we had it like three days a week like rather than four because I think four was a lot. Um, so like maybe like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or like a Tuesday, Wednesday,

025Thursday just cutting it down a little bit. >> Yeah, I think finding that sweet spot for advisory is something we're always chasing. Um, okay. We're anything else around um just kind of preparation for I'm thinking just because of time that you guys you guys are doing great by the way. Good job. Uh we're going to move on to our next kind of bucket is around relationships uh culture and belonging. Ju >> just real quick uh how long do they spend in advisory each week? >> It's one day a week I think. Is it 30? It's 45 minutes this year. >> Oh 45 minutes. And then last year was it also 45 minutes just >> it was 30 minutes three day three three days a week and then the week the year before was 4 days

026a week 30 minutes. >> Okay. >> Each. Yeah. >> But it's defin it's something every year there's give and take for for um and I I think the the staff have their their input on it too or their thoughts on it and we haven't found a uh the right balance yet I think in it but this was helpful to hear. Okay. Describe a time when you felt especially supported. um and unsupported. So, think of both. Um by adults at school, what made the difference? And we don't have to name names if it was but just think just generally. So, okay. So, just time you felt supported uh and unsupported by adults at school. What made those differences? >> I can go first. Um, I I truly believe like in my heart that Sila High School

027has some of the best staff in all of like the valley because we have such great teachers and I think what really makes a difference with our teachers is that they care. Um, so like especially with all of my teachers like they'll they make it a point to reach out to me or they make it a point to like connect with me in class and to be able to have that conversation with them. Um, I mean like some teachers like I just didn't click well with and that's fine, but it wasn't that they didn't support me. It I was still supported. I just didn't have that kind of like personal connection with them. Um, I know that definitely some students feel like they weren't supported by staff and I think that's what really causes um

028some students to have a really hard time in that class because I've talked with many students. It was like um like why like why did you not do good in this class? I'm like why I just didn't connect with the teacher? Um, so like there are cases of that, but like personally like I really think that our teach like our staff is amazing and that our teachers are amazing, but I just know that other students also have really different experiences. >> Uh, kind of adding on with that, I would say it's definitely like the learning like the teaching style and the learning style of the teacher and the student. Cuz personally for me, I like like having convers like simple conversations with the teacher. That's what helps me build like a good connection with the

029teacher like how Charlie was saying. And uh like I've had other teachers that they're a little bit more laid-back. Like currently right now I have a few teach a teacher and I've had teachers in the past where they're way more hands off and I'm like I ask for help. They're like I'll be with you in a second. But then they're talking to a student about a completely like unrelated thing. And for me, I struggle with that because uh my parents always said there's no dumb question. Only dumb people don't ask questions. So I even like if I have to get it repeated to me like several times, I want to make sure I understand it. And there's like certain teachers that I've had that wouldn't like come and actually help. While I've had other teachers

030in my high school experiences where I did click with really well and I still keep in touch with them today of where uh if I have any like questions or like a certain topic, they'll like actually like set time before or after school to help me. Um, I actually really agree with um what Jose is saying because we talked about it during first period yesterday. Um, but I think one of the times I felt most supported was um, as a lot of you guys know, the head coach in the for the girls wrestling team resigned this season and he was a huge part of my wrestling career and he still is. Um, but at the time it was really hard to show up to practice every day to still keep pushing my team. We ended

031up losing two coaches and 30 girls from the wrestling team. And it was really hard, but I felt really supported with not only the teachers around the school that know how much that meant to me and how much my season means to me, but um even the um coaches on the boys team or just different um staff that has um whether or not they're my teachers right now or my coaches right now, I feel sila does a really good job on making sure not only are teachers very qualified for what they teach, but they're very good people as Well, and so that's one time I felt really supported, but when I didn't feel so supported, um I think most of the time, like Jose said, there are some teachers that are very will talk to

032you and have a lot of fun conversation, but they won't help you academically. And so, um, like we were talking about yesterday, it's hard to reach out when you I've had to reach out to some teachers multiple times say, "Hey, I don't understand this concept. Like, can you help me?" And we typically get told, "Hold on." Like, I'm having a conversation with somebody. whether they're talking about like March Madness or the Super Bowl or and it's things like though that's very interesting conversations for you guys to have like some of us really need to learn this concept because it's coming up on a test or other reasons. So yeah. >> So Gabby, just to clarify, so did those 30 girls drop out after the season started? So we went from 40 girls approximately down to

03310 girls. We went from 45 wrestlers at the start of the season to I think we are down to 16 girls on the team currently competing in districts tomorrow. So yeah, including two captain three captains from the beginning of the season. >> So I want to follow up on this feeling supported. Um is anybody else do after school sporting events or activities? Do you feel supported in those as well? I know we talked a lot about the classroom, but when you get as far as your coaches and are you do you feel like you're getting what you need there? >> Abs. I absolutely I feel like those are the times when I'm most support is doing my outside the classroom whether that's like extracurricular activities like ASB or NHS or FCCLA or doing sports. That's

034the times that I feel like the staff members truly care a lot. Uh, but also I do feel very confident that I could go to any of my teachers during the day and ask them for help outside of class and they would be they would be there um to help me and I could email them and they would respond immediately. Um, but a time that I did feel unsupported is kind of like what I talked about earlier is um, I feel like there's a big emphasis in our school on supporting those who are really desperate for support and don't have the support at home um, or don't have the support by participating in other activities. And that has left kind of a gap where we're so focused on supporting these kids who are in great

035need that we're not also recognizing that the kids who are achieving high success in academics, in sports, in extracurricular activities, they still need the support. And right now it just feels like um it's kind of like well you don't really you don't need it as much. And of course, I understand that uh equity is important and giving students like what they need to even reach like a baseline level of success, but right now it just feels like because I'm succeeding academically and in extracurricular activities that I don't need the support, which I don't think is true. I think all students need the support. >> Can I ask a quick question? And maybe this is a little different angle than support. One of the parts of this question was about a sense of belonging. C. Uh

036could you talk maybe a little bit about how what areas of school make you feel like you belong at the school or matter at the school? So personally for me, I'm part of the migrant program here at CILA as a student representative and I'm also part of the tennis team. And both places make me feel like I am wanted, that I do belong. Especially for like the migrant program where I get to share about my experiences as a Hispanic Latino student coming to CIA High School, seeing what advantages that we have, but also the struggles that we go through. And especially like with Edgardo, he helps me like with scholarships, with schools, with any questions that I have. He's helped me with multiple scholarships and multiple like opportunities that he's given me to help me

037succeed. So that gives me a sense of belonging and I it shows me that he really cares about my future. Then also with my tennis coach, we I've stayed after practice to do like homework, study, just simple things like that. And we also have like times if for like pizza and work or like celebrate success before practice, we'll sit in the cafeteria and the team members can help each other and the coaches can help the players study and get like work that they need to get done. Uh I do feel like the sense of belonging is very it's very high at Seal High School and we do place a really good emphasis on belonging. Um I do a lot of work with like ASB as the ASB president and that is our emphasis is always

038how can we bring more connection through the different activities that we're doing and u sila high school has so so many clubs there's something that's like a niche for every single person um and so I feel like um there is a really good sense of belonging among all of our students not just those who are going out of their way to get connected but I feel like in general I mean I'd be curious to like see what the statistics say like what students would personally say about uh the sense of belonging, but I do feel like our culture is very um connected. >> Yeah. Um also I think one thing for me I have very I have two definitive seasons of Sila High School. Like one season where I didn't feel like I belonged which

039is like kind of like freshman year. It's that it's that kind of like awkward year like you don't really know what you're doing and like you're like what am I doing here? like this is a school like well of course it's a school but anyways it's like it the reason why I feel like I didn't belong was because I didn't connect and I didn't connect with clubs I didn't connect with people I didn't really connect with like a lot of people I had like my core group of friends and that was really it um so I was in like a weird season where I was like I didn't feel like I belonged at CIA high school but I think one thing that our school has done really well is that we've continued to grow our

040options for students and we've also like been able to voice out more opportunities ities. Um because I feel like now like freshman year clubs weren't as advertised as they are now and like now I feel like every student has something that like Claire was saying like they belong to and that they really feel like they can like grow and flourish in. I fully agree with um the sense of belonging. I feel like one place where I uh fully belong or multiple places is my wrestling team and Thor's council. It's something that we do um we focus on is how can we make more how can we help somebody else's experience get better and so um I feel like with Thor's Council we do a lot of how can we reach out to more people bring

041more people in and help more people and so like what we're talking about today with student voice that's what we've been um focusing on for the last year kind of um and so um I feel like Thor's Council does a great job of saying even if you're not in Thor's Council, even if you're not like a student leader like I am with a few other kids, um you're still welcome to show up. You're welcome to um like we do fun days and we do more conversationheavy days. We do days where we're planning and it's all based around how can we connect it to more people. And so I feel like that does a really good job of building the school culture and bringing people together instead of saying sticking people in groups. And I do

042think that student voice is something that has helped this process come so far. Uh like students are involved in every single decision-m I and it's so unique that we our school district has students here and we have students like on Thor's council who are talking with administration every single week. I think that's something that is really unique to our school and something that when you have students helping make the decisions and coming directly to the people in charge and saying this is what the students need and this is how they're feeling. I think that that's what really helps bridge the gap between adults and students. >> So this uh we've been talking a lot around you guys been talking a lot around like what the support with adults with the kind of the culture with

043adults. What about with students? Like what's the culture u with what's the vibe of to use your guys' language? What's the vibe with students at CIA High School? And what what was that like when you started and is it any different now? Um yeah, because let's focus more like on your peers. You guys are like what is the student experience with each other been like? >> I think it really depends with who you surround yourself with. Um because I mean you're gonna have people who have all different kinds of emotions and personalities and attitudes at all different times of the day. Like I feel like at 7 am all zombies. Like we walk in, we're like, "Oh, like I really don't want to be here this morning. It's 7:35. Like I'm not really feeling it."

044But then you have like those days where like the energy is up and like you can really tell that students are most students are engaging and that they are like willing to put in the work and effort. But I really do believe it's who you surround yourself with. Um because I know freshman year I surrounded myself with people who had bad attitudes and of course my attitude went down as well and I did contribute to the culture. But this year I have people who are more um upbeat and like positive and just like happy to even be there and like happy to have the opportunity to get to go to school and not have to go to school. Um that like I can now positively contribute to the culture of our school and like I

045can put a smile on my face and be like, "Hi, how are you?" like be able to have that small conversation to help contribute to the culture because I feel like right now a lot of students aren't willing to put in the effort to fix their attitude in the morning. I think a huge mind shift that needs to happen is like I get to go to school instead of I have to go to school cuz like what what an amazing opportunity is to be able to come to school every single day and to be able to learn and like get yourself ready for the future. Um, kind of building on what um, Charlie said is um, something that was talked about in the character strong yesterday was always finding the silver lining. And I feel

046like if you can train yourself to always find like a positive outcome, it could be a sucky situation and things may not be very fun right now, but if you can find a silver lining or a nice outcome, you start to see that other people feed off of that. And so, um, kind of like how Charlie said, if you can fix your attitude, other people can fix theirs as well. Um, that's kind of like the biggest thing in culture right now in in the school is you may want to see the change, but you have to start it with yourself. And so, uh, just it's really hard to see students be all like, well, this is happening to me and it sucks and yeah, it's going to suck and you want to be there for

047these people, but you have to kind of tell them, well, what's the silver lining where not everything is just bad. Like, I will say this for wrestling. I I always bring things back to wrestling because that's where my mind is right now with districts right around the corner is my coaches left. It sucked. Like it was re weird having three new faces show up in the room. Um some of them were brand new, some of them were my coaches when I was a freshman. And at the time I was like this is terrible. I don't want to be here anymore. And now looking back, like the silver lining was my coaches pour so much energy and emphasis into us. And it's it sucked at the time, but they've truly taken our program up a step.

048So if more people can say, "Yes, this sucked, but now that this outcome shows and it's better, I think it could truly bring the school together in a more positive place." >> Kind of going what Charlie said, like when I first got here, I thought it was like the movies of like, "Oh no, I'm the freshman. the seniors are going to pick on me. But it wasn't it wasn't really like that. Uh for me personally, uh kind of like what Charlie said at the beginning, I kind of did hang out with some of like the kids that had like lower energies of like I don't want to be here. This is pointless. And I for me cuz I have four older siblings that went to college and graduated from college and I'm like that's my

049plan too. I want to be successful just like them. But when I started hanging out with them, that kind of shifted my mindset, like, do I really need to go? But then after a while, like junior, sophomore year, I started hanging out with a different crowd of people when I started playing tennis. So, and then I started meeting people like you said not to name names, but Ethan Sawson. He's one of the coolest people that I've met. He's super super upbeat, super kind, sup like always just happy to be there. And I'm like, "Oh, this is who I need to hang out with more. this is like the kind kind of person I want to be. So after hanging out with him, I got to be like him of like being upbeat, saying hi to

050everybody even if I didn't know them. Just like having people to surround yourself with with similar go similar goals helps so much. >> Jose said something that I really agree with, which is that like student leaders are the ones who make the difference among the other students. Uh and I think that at Seal High School a lot of students are given the opportunity to be leaders and you know how students are they follow the bandwagon and I do feel like the culture is very connected. Students feel connected. I mean this week we is like kind of like our spirit week. It's like a connection week and so we have different events every single day at lunch and like yesterday we did like Valentine's Day card making and some and it some students were a little

051hesitant at first but as soon as like some students came it was just flooded like these two tables are flooded with kids from different grades and they're just able to I think connect over the fact that uh we're all like doing something together and I think that's really unique also at our school is that students are so connected and you can have a conversation with anyone I think is really great. >> Question um for you guys. This is not on the on the questions you guys have, but when you guys came in as freshman, I remember there was concerns around student behavior. Um disrupting disruptions in the classroom, kids wandering the hallways, vape vaping was a was a big uh and the data showed it. That was in our discipline data. How do you guys

052feel like student behavior has improved? Has it not improved? What do you guys see now that you've been there for four years? >> I would say you looking at the different grades, it shows the different levels of maturity in it, and that's natural. Freshmen are naturally going to be a lot less mature than seniors, and that's there's so many different reasons for that. But I think with seniors seeing the outcome that it had on our freshman year, we've I I the way I've seen it is we've set the example of vaping isn't cool. Skipping class isn't cool. It's not your it's not what you have to do to get us to be impressed by you. And you don't need our approval to be who you are. And so I think I would say it's gone

053down a good amount just as like juniors, seniors, like even some of the sophomores have seen the downside of it. I would say when we were freshman, we saw a lot of kids skipping class. And like when we were sophomores, the vape alarms went up and they would go off so much and it would just be like, why is this constantly going off? And so it kind of set that standard of we do not want to be that class that's always skipping class or breaking the ice machine or the ice machine. Sorry. The bathrooms are shut down. We do not want to be that. >> Yeah. Remember the paper towels being ripped off the wall? Yeah. Yeah. >> That was our eighth grade year. And it was bad. Took like the door off the bathroom.

054>> Yeah. The ba the bathrooms by the ox gym still aren't fixed after that, by the way. They're still bad. Oh, sorry. Um, I do think that student beh misbehavior has gone down significantly. Not to say that it isn't still there because I there is obviously still things I can work on, but just the like Abby said, we've seen a huge decrease in like the vape alarms going off. And um I think a big part of that has been the campus engagement team. Uh it's been these past two years that I've really seen an emphasis on that. And there's there's uh staff members that go out and they patrol the parking lot between every single period. There's constantly getting in the halls. If you're in the halls there, if you don't have a pass, why

055are you in the halls? Uh so I think that that is what I've seen that's really helped that behavior decrease is the um accountability from the staff engagement team has been really cool to see. I agree with them that it has gone down, but all it really boils down to is like character of the students because there's certain students that were in those like steps and they're like, you know what, this isn't cool. I'm going to do something else. Do something different. Well, there is still a lot of students that are like, I don't care. As we can see right now for the at least the men's bathroom, what two, three of them are closed down and we only have the main one. And I'm like, it sucks for me cuz I'm like, I just

056need to go in there, do my business, and go out. But since all most of my classrooms are either on the main floor or upstairs, when I when I'm I'm upstairs, I have to go all the way down to the main floor. like, yeah, this may sound lazy, but I don't want to go up and down those flight of stairs twice every day just to do my necessities, which I do agree with what Charlie said of like the stu like the camp like the student campus having making sure like students are where they're supposed to be, but also like having set like reminders or like having a program that can help like students get out of those steps. >> Okay, thank you guys. So, I was curious on that, what your guys's thoughts were, what

057you've noticed over the years. Um, looking at time, we're going to go to our next bucket. It's around um student voice and decision- making. So, do you guys do you feel students have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect you? And then why or why not? >> I would say yes, for sure. I feel C sila students have always been involved in decision- making whether or not you're in Thor's council or ASB or student council or whatever's going on. I feel like they've always had a good um like drive to reach out see what the students think with the surveys or things like that. And if you are involved in Thor's Council or Student Council or any of the things, um, just recently we went on a field trip to get ideas for the Thors

058Council summit in April 14th, >> 15th. Sorry, >> I'm planning this thing and I don't even know the the day. >> I was close. So, um, I feel like when you've been involved long enough, you get to say, "Hey, I think this will work. I think this is an amazing idea. And even if you're not, like my first day in choir, I showed up and immediately they're like, "Hey, we're going to do this warm-up. What do you think?" And I'm like, I just I've been in choir for three years, took a year off, and now that I'm back, like immediately they're asking for my opinion, how to do this, what should we do? And so even from um classes like band, choir or um clubs, Thor's council and ASB, like it's always done a good

059job on bringing your opinion in whether it's things that only direct that class or that period or things that can change the whole school. So I think the school does a really good job of that. >> Um yeah, I can also like add on to that. I think voice I mean I think that students who want to have an impact they have opportunities open for them to make sure that they're going to have that impact and like their words are being heard by people. Um but I mean like students who don't want that of course aren't going to take those opportunities. Um and also like what Gabby said like students have a lot of voice in clubs. We have a lot of studentled clubs. So like for NHS I'm the vice president of that and

060like everything is led by me and Miley Zaylor. Like that's what our club is and like everything is led by us and we do everything and so does like the other officers in that club. Um so like with all clubs like there are students who are in charge of it and like the people like the adviser just there to like facilitate like the leadership and the soft skills that people are learning throughout like leading these different areas and leading in different capacities. >> Kind of adding on to what both of them said. It's not even just the clubs. There's certain classes that I've had that you can have an impact on. Like right now I'm in I'm in the EWU leadership class and right now we go through multiple things of like projects that we've

061had. So recently we just got done with our Minga uh competition. So it was all student ran in that classroom. Me and four or five different other classmates. We decided to get a competition for staff to give out more minga points for the students. And what we did is that you reach a certain certain threshold of Minga points and you would get one ticket, two tickets, etc. And what we saw through the numbers is that teachers almost doubled of what they would normally give for Minga points. So having like simple like stuff like that of the teacher of the students helping the teachers like making the school better place. What we saw is that everybody had fun, everybody enjoyed it, everybody got Minga points. even the teachers that didn't really give any, they started giving

062out near the hundreds. So, yeah, it's crazy to think about, but but it's what we saw and that's what we were aiming for just for the teachers and the students to have like better connections and like having better school spirit. >> Yeah. Uh there's definitely a lot of opportunities for student voice to be heard. Uh and I feel like mine has been it's been heard quite a bit. I don't know how much though action is taken on what students truly have to say. Uh like I talked about there's been a call for over for this whole school year from students to bring back advisory. There's been posters everywhere and we've just been met with complete no this is we're not even or if we do go to discuss it it's being told well the staff

063says differently. Um, so even if our voices I think that our voices are heard in multiple different occasions like Thor's Council has been a great addition to our school, but uh there's just areas where it still feels like you know if the students are saying one thing and the data supports it and some of the staff agree then why aren't the students being heard out or why isn't their action taken on what they have to say? >> Actually that was a follow-up question that I'd written down and I feel like you both answered on either side of it. So you feel like the district as a whole is doing a better job of listening. I mean this panel is a good example and I do think we should probably do this once a year with

064different grade levels as well. But um so what I hear you saying is that we're listening and and we hear you and your administrators and teachers hear you. And then my followup was going to be but are you getting a response? So it sounds like with the Minga thing, yeah, you got plenty of response, but maybe with the advisory thing, not so much. Do you have other examples that you can share with us one way or the other? Um, I say yeah. Um, or yes, in a lot of situation, there is a lot of um like feedback or if it's not immediate action, it's a conversation. I know in choir it is a mostly studentledd class which you wouldn't expect it to be but it is. So a lot of the time um Mr. Matson

065the choir teacher will choose certain section leaders to be his repres representatives of the class and from the section leaders he will pick a president and a vice president. I this year have la this year and last year I was vice president and alto section leader. So it has given like a lot of different perspective on I like just yesterday I said hey I think this is what will help our choir if we want to sound more connected or like get more um sound out of us or this or that and a lot of the time he'll say write that down we'll have a conversation though we don't do it that day or it might not even be that week it's still there's not always going to be immediate action, but there's always going to

066be let's talk about this further, see what we can do, and always filter in, do what we can, slowly change it instead of immediately. >> That's a that's a good response. >> I would agree that there's a ton of that in the classrooms where teachers are taking feedback from students on how they want to learn and if they are being receptive. Um, but also, like I said, I've seen the opposite side of it. I I serve as the ASB president and so we go through all of the stuff, all of the um like money that goes through the building and um we do a lot of like the planning for stuff and every single thing that we plan has to go through administration and I completely understand that because it has to be approved. I

067would say about probably like 50% of our stuff is disapproved. But I do feel like I do feel like that has improved is um like we have for for um example we have spirit directors who are in charge of like creating our spirit days and stuff and so they have meetings with Mrs. Gauze to get certain things approved. Um but sometimes we are met with things that's like no you can't do this. Often we're giving reasoning but sometimes we aren't and that's what's more frustrating as a student. >> Any other questions? Um I just know yes we're getting close to 8 o'clock. I told you guys it'd be right around eight. We're going for about an hour. It's It's gone by pretty quick. Um, last question. I'm really interested in this one. This is uh

068it's why I wanted to end it with this. Um, if you And so, think about your whole We've been talking a lot about high school, but now think about your whole K12 experience. If you could change one thing about the CILA K12 experience for future students, what would it be and why? I would say one thing that I would change is um building more of a it's kind of hard to phrase it. When we were in elementary school, it was always pushed that when you're doing good, you're going to be it's going to be highlighted, but it it wasn't like we're not going to help you get there to be doing good. We just want you to do good. And then in middle school, it was always, oh, if you go above and beyond, you're

069going to get a Mingo point or a Pride pass. But nothing ever happened with these. So, I wish it was more of a um we will help you get to this point where yes, some of your some of your classmates are doing uh better or doing better in this class or um getting more pride passes cuz everyone counted their pride passes. Everyone wanted just as much as their classmates. I felt like it if we would push more on the we're going to get all of our students to a point where they feel confident in their abilities instead of to the point where they can perform better in their abilities. It would be that would have changed a lot in my uh just K12 years >> for me. I would say reflect and kind of celebrate

070on failure because even when I was younger in the K12 failure was taught like ingrained that it was bad. You had to succeed the first time or if you didn't succeed the first time it was kind of the last chance that you had. But over as I got older, I saw no one's going to be perfect. So I would rather us see the failure and see how we would improve it instead of treating it as like, oh, this is bad. Failure is bad. But as I got into high school, it's more became prevalent of failure is just the next step to success. You can't if you don't try, you're if you fail, you're trying. If you succeed, you're trying. So, it's just like putting in that the extra voice of like failure is not bad.

071Failure is just another step to learn. Uh for me it's really incredible to see the amount of students that are wanting to pursue success academically and wanting to pursue higher level uh higher levels academically. But I'm wondering why we don't have the staff to support that. Currently right now at the high school we have uh about 140 students I would say who are taking calculus or pre-calculus class. This is um college level calculus. We only have one staff member who's certified to teach that. This teacher has five periods a day and as a student you cannot learn in a class with 50 other students. So if we're seeing our students who are getting these credits now, which you don't take calculus until typically you're a sophomore in college, why haven't we gotten the support so

072that we have more teachers who can teach that? So these opportunities are more available for students and not just so shut down because when you go into your higher level classes at the high school, there's only so many teachers who can teach that. So students are constrained. Um I know in my political science it's uh political science 101. This year we had 33 students in my period. In the other class period there was 30 students as well which is a large amount of students to have in a class especially one that is so high level. So, we're seeing the want from students and I think it's kind of following through is how do we support the students who are wanting that and giving them what they're desiring because this is incredible that we have students

073who are it's that are having that dedication from the from themselves. They're not being pushed to do this. This is their own want and their own desire. So, how do we support those goals that they have? >> I think something that's really hard is like I I would like want to see more consistency in our schools. Um because I mean like every year there's some abrupt change in every single like every single year there's some like big change that like students have to get used to and I'm a person who really values like structure and like like keeping things the same like not keeping things the same but like having at least like the same kind of schedule but like every year when there's like this big abrupt change when I have to go to

074school and like oh this has changed like it's really hard and like even like the transition from like middle school to high school like maybe even like trying to make that transition even smoother because I mean as a middle schooler High school was a huge like culture shock for me almost like I I was like down in the middle school like I was scared to pull my phone out of the locker like terrified because I thought my phone was going to get taken away and then I get to the high school and like it's not a big deal like oh like I had I can have my backpack with me like there's a lot of different like these like big changes and like there's not a lot of consistency between our different schools. Um and

075like even within our school like I just I wish to see more consistency. Is there any I guess any questions from the board that maybe to loop back to that you want to follow up on? >> Yeah, I want to try to be real quick. So, um, we talked a lot about I think we're doing a pretty good job with the culture. Um, but as you know, I harp on grades and academics and so my question um is how many of you are planning on going to college? All four of you. Do you feel like you are uh and we talked about this a little bit earlier, but do you feel like you are ready for college and what it's going to bring academically? >> I'm going to say yes, but I don't think that

076is a direct result of just what I've been taught in the classroom. I think it's only because I've pursued extension opportunities. I think also different students have different answers for that because I mean of course like if you're taking those extension opportunities you're going to be a little more ready um compared to the students who have not had the opportunity or like have not taken that opportunity like students who are in like regular classes like they're not like I don't believe they're >> so I would agree with that statist statistically our sample is not great we're not looking at a you know the whole population or a good sample of the population >> I would say certainly some parts CS but other parts no so we understand like roughly of how the grading system will

077work for colleges but another thing that we weren't really taught or wasn't really brought up is like how to manage that time for like if you plan to go to college uh how to manage time for when you're in your college class when to get scholarships when to work your job or how to involve yourself with a new community out of outside of the seal of high school how to involve yourself with a new community that's completely stranger to you. >> I completely agree with what Jose is saying. I would say academically like we have some teachers that are very like I'm going to teach you in two ways. I'm going to teach you how a college will teach you and then I'm going to paraphrase it in the way I would teach you. Uh

078like Claire brought up earlier, our calculus teacher does an amazing job at though she is very spread thin right now. Um with five classes, she does an amazing job at saying this is how you're going how most teachers at college will teach you. They're just going to throw you a chunk of text and you're going to have to understand it. But I'm not going to throw you into the deep waters just yet. Here's your chunk of text. I'm going to give you the chance to read through it, understand it, and then I'm going to paraphrase to make sure we're on the same page. So, I feel like a lot of that has helped and we have a lot of good teachers that know that there is going to be a shift, but um I I

079would say I'm ready academically but not really for the difference in expectations in the structure. So, so just as a followup to that, so I've I've made two proposals. One is to um standardize grading from sixth grade through 12th grade. So basically because right now we have college in the classroom, they have one scale and then your non-ol in the classroom classes have a different scale. They're essentially graded on a curve. Um so I would like to see that unified. I know there's some challenges there. Uh what are your thoughts on that? >> Um I've actually like I've talked to a lot of staff about this and I think one thing that I'm consistently hearing is that like each department would want their own grading skill and like I don't know if that's possible at

080all. That's just something that I've heard. I've heard that was something that was done in the past, I think. Um like so the math department, everyone like the general education classes and the college classes like they have their own grading scale. The English classes have their own grading scale. And I mean that's really important because I feel like every kind of like subcategory of classes like they they have to grade very different. You're going to grade a math test very differently as you're going to grade an English essay very differently. Yeah, I've heard the same thing as Charlie from staff is that they would want different things. But I do think that um at least there needs to be streamline between college in the classroom and regular because it's a shock when um a lot

081of students they're taking a class and they're able to earn 50% and pass the class. But in college, no. If you get 50% that's an F. Uh but if you get like 70% in a non-ol class, that's like a B minus. But if you get that in co in a college in the classroom, that's a C minus or which is a fail. >> I kind of like what Charlie said of like hearing staff hoping that they would have their own grading skills for a certain type of teaching or certain classrooms cuz no college is going to say teach the same way. Each class is going to have their specific way of how you're going to earn your credits and how you're going to pass the class. I feel like that would be another way to

082prepare students for college and for college is um showing like even just starting in high school of how different each class is going to be and what you're going to need to change for each of those classes. >> I agree. I I can see why it would be very helpful. I feel like just going from one of my classes, we have very small expectations. as long as you show up, you're going to be passing, which is very interesting for a lot of reasons. But in one of my other classes, you show up, you have to do all of your um like quizzes and tests. And I I wish that it could be like the same, but like they were saying, like you have to grade differently because of the different expectations. Um, and so a

083lot of like I'm not in just college and the high school classes, but I'm not in all gen ed classes. And so I I see both sides of the scale where um gened classes like you can get a B minus and most people will be like, hey, that's C's get degrees kind of moment. So I can see fully why that's there. But also I I wish there was more consistent consistency of um if we were all graded the same like the same standard then I feel like a lot of kids would have more strive to do more instead of just well I showed up I'm going to get at least a C. And so um I feel like there's a lot of good and um like differences in it. And so if I I feel

084like if it was graded on the same scale, then it could really change a lot of kids perspective and help build them more to towards college. >> All right. Thank you. And then the last thing is uh cell phone policy. I'm sure you guys have heard this floated around. Um we do have a draft of a proposed cell phone policy. We're going to seek feedback. Uh the superintendent is directing that. Um what do you guys think about that? Essentially, the policy that I brought was that cell phones aren't allowed during the school day in the classroom. Uh, except at the high school, you can bring them out during lunch, but otherwise, and and it would be a policy for both staff and students, um, and the goal would be to have it consistently enforced. So,

085you're not going to calculus class where your phone gets taken away and then you're going to another class and the teacher's like, "Yeah, have your phones out." Really, we want to have it consistent. Uh what are your initial thoughts on something like that? >> Um I would say it really it really changes from person to person but I know um just recently I had to do an assignment um in my civics and government class which pulls up a lot of different um topics that we talk about and I had to write an essay on constitutional rights and um what my topic was was abortion. I wasn't able to research this from my Chromebook because it kept filtering a lot of it and it wasn't giving me raw raw data. So, if we weren't allowed to

086have our phones, I wouldn't have had the same access to resources. Not everyone uses their phone for academic purposes, and I know that, but it would be hard for the people that do use it for academic purposes. Like, I have a lot of different resources from my phone. I do like I log my homework from my phone. So, I think it really changes because I can set deadlines on my phone that I can't do on my Chromebook. So, I think it there's going to be a lot of changes that would come with that. But, I feel like it could affect the kids that use it for academic purposes that are always trying to do the right thing with their phones more than it may affect the kids that get their phone taken away because they're

087playing on it. You know, >> I would also have to agree with Gabby. uh the if we do that I feel like there would have to be a change of like the filtering process on the Chromebooks because for a lot of uh for a lot of students for me personally I'm in sports med I've need to do more research on that cuz right now we are on the mental health unit and we just finished that and I needed to find sources for like a little poster that I would make for our uh sports med but a lot of the sites were blocked and I'm like I can't do any research search on this because I can't have the opportunity to see the information and data I need to see. So that's when I would have

088to bring out my phone to at least email myself the the source that the reliable source that I would use to put it into the to the poster and it just makes it more difficult if we don't have our phones uh for the research purposes like Gabby said if we're using it responsibly and with a certain code that we have to follow. But if you do imply that rule, I feel like there would have to be either specialized Chromebooks in those classes that allow us to do that research that we need to kn that we need to see for those specific data points or just having a little bit more leeway, but also having set rules that classrooms need to have for like why you needed your cell phone in that classroom. I I mean

089I think like you said earlier this isn't a very good sample I guess. I mean we are all I mean we're sitting here because Mr. McKay like noticed us and knows that we everyone here applied to be on the student board. Um so uh I personally would view it as a good thing but I'm not every student at CIA High School and I know there would be a lot of push back. Um but I personally view it as like a positive for students for that not to be allowed in class. It's just a matter of how are we making this so that it actually follows through and every teacher is committed to not having this in classrooms. That is going to be the biggest thing is consistency. Like Charlie said earlier, consistency from classroom to

090classroom. Um I think is the most important thing about this policy. >> Yeah. I like I really think like not having your phone is a really good idea because I mean it eliminates it eliminates a lot of distraction within classrooms. But I also completely understand their point of needing it for research purposes because everything is blocked. Like even trying to like get onto a website that you need for class like you would get on it is like this is blocked by category and like there's no way to get around that. Um so like you kind of just have to like start like scrolling and like searching for a new one which ultimately takes up more time because you're having to like search and search and search for a source and typically like there's like 10

091blocked. And one time like I was researching so hard and I I reached so many blocked walls that I banned myself out of my Chromebook for 10 minutes and I just had to sit there and I was like I just sat there cuz like I couldn't do anything for 10 minutes. You can't open your docs, you can't open classroom, you can't open anything. So like I just had to sit there for 10 minutes until like the timer ran out and then I had to continue my research essay. But I really do think like having no phones would be beneficial, but also figuring out how to get around that like block like that block to not ban yourself out of your Chromebook for 10 minutes is also something that also needs to be addressed and known.

092Building on to what Charlie said, I I've also been in the situation where you're trying to do something where um you're looking for sources or you're writing a paper or something like that where you're talking about some sometimes heavy topics and in class when you write it on your Chromebooks, I two years ago I was writing an essay about an eating disorder and just simply typing out the terms eating disorder in my search bar got got my Chromebook flagged. and I got called to the office. So though I wasn't saying like I wasn't saying anything about somebody had an eating disorder or um somebody struggling which is a good good that our school reaches out and checks in. It was still I simply typed the words out eating disorder and I got called down to

093the office which ended up taking a lot of my class period. So I turned in my essay late because I didn't have time to write it. And so if with phones, if we were to like kind of filter the usage of phone instead of taking it away completely, um it could kind of like meet in the middle where yes, there's a lot of times where kids are just on their phone. Um but instead of like taking away taking it away completely, there could be a more um accountability aspect to it. Like I've seen a lot of teachers in different districts do like a phone jail type situation where when you're able to have it, you can have it. You can use it for music, you can use it for academic purposes, but when it's time

094that you are not allowed to have your phone, it has to be in this phone jail like holder and that is your spot and only you are able to touch your phone. And even like we're all seniors, most of us are 18 or approaching 18. So, I've had moments where I've had to step out and take a call for work or getting my driver's license or things like that where it's we're all approaching being adults and we're so close to being out of high school where we're starting to feel the effects of that. So, if we don't have our phones or we're not allowed to have our phones out at all, some of us will miss these important emails, u phone calls, things like that. So, do you think it sounds like the biggest issue

095is research, right? So, do you think it would help if your teacher gave you um websites that that they've researched and you could actually get to on your Chromebooks, whether it's 10, 15, five, whatever to help with the research. You didn't have to need phones. >> The teachers um they don't have the same like restrictions that we do. So, u I and a lot of like what they're talking about is like independent studying. So, I I mean I could definitely like I think that would be a very good resource like for teachers to do that, but they don't have the same like stipulations on their devices that us students do on ours. And like Abby said, I do think that's beneficial. Um, but I don't think that it's a big enough thing uh the research

096thing to dissuade from a phone policy of no phones in the schools. And I know that the teachers could always do research on a Chromebook that's restricted to be able to figure that out for themselves, but it just sounds like that would help. So you wouldn't get to go to the Facebook jail or whatever you went to. So thank you. >> When you're doing your uh research, is uh is it within the classroom space and is is the the teacher obviously there during that time? Okay. So, this isn't like you're sitting in the you're sitting in the library or sitting in the lunchroom and you have your phone out doing research. Most of the time you're doing the research, you are in a classroom setting and the teacher is there and there's a purpose to

097your use of the phone, right? Is that fair to say? >> Okay. >> Teachers can override individual websites when students are in the classroom. That could solve a lot of that, too. I think one thing that's really hard is like with our research essays, they're all very specific topics. Um, I mean, like for me, I researched Lin Manuel Miranda and like not many people like know him and like that wouldn't be a topic that teachers would go out of their way to like find resources for, but like I got myself banned trying to research about this man, like trying to research about like his accomplishments and his achievements because of how many blocked articles there were. So I think also trying to figure out a system of like having specific topics but like not putting

098too much work on the teacher having to find 15 websites about Lin Manuel Miranda that aren't blocked. >> I usually get banned just trying to log into my computer. >> That's different kind of issue remembering passwords blocked. Yeah. >> Yeah. the the student reps have already heard this, but I did I sat on a um or listened to a board that had students and principles and superintendent and parents on it uh in a school district that implemented this cell phone policy very strictly and the students were the most hesitant followed by the parents. Um but once they they've been doing it for two school years now and now that they've got it in the students who were there like it's created a lot more cohesion and um better feelings within the school there's a lot

099less bullying. Um and overall within the classroom they've found that once they got away from you know having their phones with them all the time that they made that adjustment and they actually like it better. So just food for thought but I appreciate your feedback for me. You guys have been great. Thank you. I have one more. I'm sorry. It's probably better. You probably like maybe like this better than having to go back to the classic, but maybe not. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. So, we've had some discussions. Uh Mr. Iverson spoke about grading policies. Craig, we've also brought to the table some discussions about um late assignments, right? and we've had these discussions with you and I think you've you've shared some input about that there is there is current practices in the high

100school that you can turn in assignments uh at certain times okay and I know that's different from your college and the high school classes there are deadlines that you must follow and assignments are due at certain times and then some of the other classes you don't have that there's kind of it's more liberal when you turn things in can you give some give us some feedback about that um and about what you think as students uh now that you're looking back at high school and how that should be done in your opinion. >> Um I would say just recently in one of my classes we had about two weeks to write a final and he said the deadline is Friday at midnight. Like it has to be turned in at Friday at midnight. and I

101worked really hard to get my essay in and I got it in 30 minutes before the deadline and but I got it in on time and I worked really hard to do this deadline and it was really I was proud of myself like I worked really hard about it and just yesterday we were in class and he was like well not him his sub he was like okay finish your assignment and if you're if you're done with that finish your essay and it was like though you had this expectation it's still lenient and you you still turn it in. Like, I'm not going to care if you if you turn it in late. And so, it part of me was like, why did I even try so hard to turn it in by the deadline

102if it was just, well, here's more time to work on it if you need it. Though, it's helpful. And I purely believe that it's helpful for the students that don't have time to do assignments or that were gone for like extended amount of time because everyone's sick right now or different reasons. it still felt like, oh, I expect you to do this, but I'm not gonna be upset if you don't. And so, I was very like, why did I even work so hard? Why did I put myself through that stress if nobody was going to uphold that deadline? So, I feel like if we had stricter deadlines and more like I like you have this expectation to turn it in by then that's how it's going to be in college, like this is your expectation,

103it could build more. I kind of want to add on to that of I get of like why we need strict deadline strict my bad strict deadlines, but also at the same time there are so many other factors that can go into it cuz like like Gabby said, students could be sick or there could be family emergencies that happen all of a sudden or just like work emergencies or who knows what. So I feel like it would be up to the student to communicate with their teachers cuz that's how it is in college too because you could have uh last minute work, last minute family, last minute etc. So I feel like having a set deadline is good. We need that. But also for teachers and students to communicate with each other to see what

104kind of leeway or to see what compromise they can come up with. I mean, Mr. McKay said it exactly. And the college and the high school classes, if you don't have it done by this time, it's an F. You get you get an F. It's a college class. This is on your transcript forever. But um and I think I'm not sure I think our school does like technically have a policy. Um and if you are gone, you can like every day you're absent, you get like an extension um on your deadline. Uh but it's just not it's just not being put in place. And we do have mid-try deadlines which is like all your schoolwork needs to be in by this if you want it graded otherwise it's just marked as missing and an F.

105Uh but it's just it just varies if teachers follow that or not. Um I lost all my thoughts. What was the question? Do you think it's important? Um things. >> Oh, I got my thoughts back. Okay. Um, I think for me, especially during fall trimester, I had three college classes, but I also had two sports practices after school. I had my extracurriculars. And for me, like it was a struggle trying to get all my things turned in on time. So, I think also like if you're implementing these deadlines, you have to give students opportunities to be able to fulfill what they need to fulfill. Because for me like taking away advisory like that that messed up a lot of things for me like like I got lower grades because of the advisory that was taken

106away from me because that was a time that I would sit down and just try to get my work done because I' I wouldn't be getting home until I'd be gone from my house from if I had a meeting like 7:00 a.m. to being home at 9:00 p.m. And I wouldn't go home in between any of that. So I think also setting up ways for students to succeed even when they're busy. And like even if I was home, I was purely home to change, eat, and then leave. Like that's what I would go home for. Um, so I think setting up a way for students to also find success in being busy, but also trying to excel in college classes. So, like I said, like bringing back advisory or having like set times for students

107who are in these college and the like who are in classes and who also have sports, like making sure that they're succeeding and have the supports they need to be able to meet these deadlines. You think that would involve like I used to um be a high be a school um coach and for our kids that were struggling we decided to push our practice times back 45 minutes and so in that 45 minutes they were expected to be in the library working on their homework and then we went and we started our regular practice time. Would something like that be a benefit? I think it would be very beneficial, but for me, like my fall schedule was I got out of school, then I went straight to cross country practice, which ended at 5. And

108then I'd have cheer practice at 6. >> Yeah. >> Like 6:30. So pushing that back 45 minutes would allow me less time to go home and even try to start stuff cuz like I'd go home and I'd like I'd pull out my backpack and I'd start like starting I'd start working, but that would give me even less time. But I mean that 45 minutes I think would be very beneficial. But I also think we need to like see the bigger picture and like ask actual athletes like would this be beneficial for your schedule or would this create more conflict because I think it needs to be discussed on both behalf of the coach and the athletes. >> Okay. Yeah. Because we had the opportunities like like I said earlier we had morning where they could

109come in early and work on their stuff and then we had after because we gave them every opportunity to maintain their eligibility and improve themselves. Um, I feel at least with the wrestling team, it's a little more difficult to push practice back different times because we only have one wrestling room, the one that's here. And so already we have to go from the high school down here, which is easy for most people, but like for me, I don't drive. So it it's already hard enough for me to like I'll walk down here and then maybe if I have time, I'll pull out my Chromebook and work. But I pushing if we were to push practice back then it would push into our little guy wrestling which is kind of the basis of our high school

110wrestling program. We go hand in hand. And so it's really hard like like Charlie said like I have days where I'm out of the house from 7:00 a.m. to 7:30. And whether it's I'm at school or I'm at wrestling or I'm helping coach little guy or I'm helping with my um church's middle school youth group, it's some of us just don't have that opportunity to push back practice. And so it's kind of it though it will work for a lot of sports, the sports that aren't at the high school, it's a little more difficult. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's a bit of a scheduling issue. Hunter, do you want to wrap us up or do you >> Yeah, I just wanted to say uh thank you guys first of all. You guys did awesome. I I

111think the board would agree with me on that. Two, I I'm excited to to see where you guys go and and hopefully you guys come back and share all the great things in life. And I I think you guys are more prepared than you even know. Uh it's natural to have those kind of fears of uh am I ready or not? um being gone 14 hours a day during high school in college, you like, "Hey, you know what? I only have to go to class 3 hours a day. That's kind of nice." So, um I'm just and I I appreciate you guys being so uh one one tenant I live by is speak your truth. Uh so I appreciate you guys sharing your truth, both the good and the and the bad of what your

112experiences have been. Uh I know you've given me a lot of food for thought as someone who oversees the teaching and learning side of the district of think ways we can improve and and what we should be really proud of too. So uh with that I'll make sure you guys get uh excused for your absence this morning. I'll talk to um the the front office. Okay. Is there any last words uh that you want to share with the board or with any of us? >> I know. Well, I think I got yours excused, but I didn't excuse everyone else yet. So you're good. But any other comments from the board? >> Great job. Thank you. >> Yeah, I I appreciate your your your criticisms and your praise. I think that's great. Um Jose, I really

113I mean you struck me because I believe this too that failure is a part of growth and that you never truly fail unless you stop trying. And so I really appreciate that. Thank you. >> I I wrote down just a couple of quick thoughts. First of all, thank you for your thoughtful responses. Thank you for being here like zombies at 7:00 in the morning. But uh so great job on this. Um and I I ended up with alliteration and I didn't mean this on purpose, but uh uh you're very poised. Um very positive uh and to echo what Hunter said, very prepared. Uh I I we it would be kind of interesting to have some former um student board reps come and talk about what their college experience was like because my sense is in

114knowing some of them that they've done very well when they've gone off to college. So you may not know it yet, but we can see uh what bright futures you have. So I'm excited to hear how things go. And the last P that I'll bring up is we're all very proud of you. So thank you very much for coming here this morning. Excellent work. Uh we are uh out of time. Uh, so we will take up and by the way that that's a that's a testament to how interested we were in hearing you. We're supposed to go to eight and we could keep going. I we could all keep going on this, right? It's really interesting. >> Um, so I I I do hope that we do get additional opportunities this year and and in

115years in in the future for other grade levels and and other chances to hear from you because it was just excellent great study session this morning. So, um we will uh push the middle school and high school grading scale and acceptance of late assignment conversation to our probably to our um our next board meeting. Uh I'm going to guess. Uh is there no need for executive session? I believe if that's correct. Uh and with that, we're adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.