November 13, 2025 Selah School Board Meeting

001are here. Derek's missing will uh g the meeting to order and uh stand if you're able for the pledge of allegiance. >> Ready? Begin. United States to the republic for it stands nation. >> Great. Thank you very much. Um we have a number of things to work on here this evening and we'll start with the district highlights. Uh and we will begin with a highlight called board member appreciation. Um and uh what I what I would like to say is this is uh this is your life Jamie Morford. No uh this is Jamie Morford's last meeting um after having served on the board for 12 years. Um, and uh, we are all going to greatly miss him. Uh, there are a few people here who would like to say a couple of things to Jamie

002and about Jamie uh, and for our community to know what kind of board member he's been and sort of memorialize things. Um, so I I sent a text out to a few former board members and I received some nice replies of people's memory of working with uh, Jamie and Kellyanne Erguson just this afternoon sent in this comment. Jaime is the living embodiment of a humble leader. He's the first to defer to the experts while acknowledging his limited experience of understanding of the subject at hand, even if he knows a great deal on the subject. But here's Jaime's secret power. He has an advanced understanding of people, being an exceptional listener, listener, and has loads of empathy, both of which add to his influence as a school board member. When Jaime speaks, his words carry extra

003weight because he doesn't particularly enjoy hearing himself talk. I can't thank Jamie enough for his support through the years, especially with the CILA aquatic center. Jaime is a credit to the CILA community. And she was a president before Jeff was the president of the board. >> First president, your second president, Jeff Hartwick said, "It was a sincere privilege to serve on the board with Jamie for 10 years. What I really admire and appreciate about Jaime is that he looks beyond the immediate and sees the bigger picture. Always viewing things with a wide lens and a keen interest in how a decision and issue and opportunity would impact others beyond the primary group. As a board member, he constantly offered healthy perspective that helped others think deeper in an effort to ensure the board's decisions served

004the best interest of all involved. The collaborative nature of Jaime's approach instilled a sense of team and created synergy among members of the board and administration to produce results in alignment with the principles of the district and betterment of our community. You can tell it's Jeff's cuz it's longer than Kellyanne's. Jamie's Jies Jamie's our dinner's getting cold. Jeff Jaime's tenure on the board is one to be remembered with honor and gratitude for his incredible contributions and steadfast dedication to the CIA school district and the students and parents the district serves. Thank you, Jamie. And as your current board president, uh I'll just say what I said to you on the phone the other day, which is you really are my role model on the board. um when with the thing that that Kellyanne said about

005when you speak it carries extra weight, not just because of the length of time that you've served on the board, but because of the credibility and trust that you've built with members of the board and members of the community. Um I I you're going to you may disagree with this, you shouldn't. I've always thought you're the smartest person on the board based on the Yeah, I knew you'd do that. Based on the questions that you ask and the comments that you make, they just cut right to the heart of things. Um, and I've just really enjoyed uh serving with you on the board. There are maybe a few other comments that people would like to make. >> Damian, I spoke the other day as well, but I just quickly wanted to well definitely agree with

006everything that everybody has said. I'm going to miss you. I appreciate I didn't realize it was 12 years. For some reason, I thought it was only 10, but I mean, 12 years, the the legacy knowledge that we're losing with you leaving the board is just it's going to take years to make up for that loss. You will be missed. I appreciate you. Know this is sometimes a thankless role, but we do very much appreciate that you put the time in. Thank you, >> Jimmy. I uh Wow. I got to go to school with a couple of your siblings and uh love and respect them as well. And then working with you on the board is just further for the reinforce that your parents did one heck of a job. I think my favorite part about

007you and how what I've learned from you and that I hope other people could glean from you as well is um being like practicing cultural relativism, being steadfast and stern in your beliefs, but also being willing to listen and have your mind changed and and um learn new things and see the world in different ways. And I think that's a a very powerful uh trait. M I [clears throat] admire that in you. >> And I believe we may have an audience. >> But yeah, never be a chance to speak. >> So I'm Shane Bland. Uh I was a former superintendent here and I remember actually swearing Jamie in 12 years ago. You looked a lot different. Remember the picture? Remember that one? >> Look the same. a little bit. >> No, but I uh everything

008that was said I totally agree with and I think one of the things that people don't know about Jamie, he he cares a lot about this community. I know that he cares a lot about people said I think um during the pandemic when we're there was some dark days and dark times. Jamie would always reach out, text, call me, check in how I was doing. That meant a lot. So I've watched you grow as a as a leader as well and I've appreciated that. 12 years You got what? Two kids married now. All you g got to give them all diplomas. >> Yep. >> Well, co was kind of had to watch from the sideline a little bit. >> But I just want to make sure I was here to say how much I appreciate

009you. >> I appreciate that. >> Appreciate your >> Thank you, Shane. >> And Derek, >> just real briefly, uh, like Joe, I know your family and uh, totally have to agree with them on the way your parents have raised you. Um, unfortunately that demeanor doesn't rub off on me, but uh, yeah, thank you for all the service that you've provided to the school district and to CEO. >> Thank you, Derek. And, uh, finish with Kevin here, unless Chris, do you want to add anything here? >> Because I just want to say to Jamie, one thing that I really appreciated about working with you over the years is you asked a lot of really good questions. I'm speaking about the financial position of the district, the processes we went through. I appreciate you caring as much

010as you have and and helped us keep the student impact at the core of our decisions. And um I just want to thank you. Appreciated working with you, Jamie. >> For all of those in the audience that don't know about school board, it is an elected position. It's an official position. Jamie was first elected in 2013. Things have changed a little bit in that short amount of time. Uh Jamie was uh reelected, initially elected and then reelected for two more four-year terms. And he he has served this community, this school district for 12 years, three terms as a school board. That that in itself is an accomplishment. But when you start to do the math a little bit, the amount of commitment it takes to be a school board member, and somebody said it's a

011thankless position, and I agree, there are times that it is thankless. These are not paid positions. It is basically volunteer for the betterment of our students, our schools, and our communities. But each year the board um formally gathers for official meetings, whether it's a study session or a meeting like tonight, 20 times during the course of one year. When you multiply that by 12 years, Jamie has spent 240 either early mornings or late evenings in school board meetings. That's not to count the number of hearings or miscellaneous other meetings the board gets into, which I would assume now takes that closer to 260 to 275 or more approaching 300 times that he's gathered together to support and make the better the betterment of our schools and our community. That in itself says a lot about

012his commitment um and the time that he's invested in our schools and our community to support students just like many of you out in the audience and all the others who have walked across the stage and got a diploma during his time. I think Jamie would say that is the mo one of the most rewarding parts of being a school board member I know as a superintendent is graduation and being able to see students accomplish their goals and get that diploma in their hand. Uh, I like Shane and being the being the superintendent have a relationship as a professional relationship with with each and every one of you, but the amount of time we spend together also turns that professional relationship into a personal relationship. So, as a superintendent, the professional part, Jamie, thank you

013for all of your years of service and for the students, but on the personal level, thank you as well. It's been a great enjoy enjoyable four years working with you and best of luck. And for all those 240 plus meetings, you get some tokens of appreciation. The first is we give you your best photographed picture that you >> 2013. [laughter] I think my wife does too. >> So Jamie, here is your picture. I don't know what you're going to do with that. I'll leave that up to you. >> I think this picture actually needs to be with the board. Okay. And then it says Jamie Morford, CELA School Board member 2013 to 2025. Thank you for your outstanding contribution to the schools of the CEA school district. Jamie, congratulations. Yeah, if you can get maybe

014figure out a way to get one with the board. Thank you for coming, Shane. Appreciate it. >> Yes, Shane. Thank you for coming. Thank you all. It's been a pleasure serving with everybody here. Um, on top of the note from Kellyanne and Jeff, we als I also served with uh Kathy Lambert and Norma, and they were they'd been in the board longer than me, and they were my kind of my guiding light. So, uh, I appreciate, you know, them back in the day, too. And uh thank you guys. It's awesome. It's uh 12 years. Some of you guys were in kindergarten, first grade, you know, and I had uh three kids in school and now I got two kids married and one kid working for me. So, there's been changes all around. We've got three

015new buildings, uh two major remodels in that time. So, stuff to be proud of and we felt like we've accomplished a lot and you guys still have work to do. So, thank you everybody. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jeremy. All right. Uh, wow. That's excellent. Thank you. Um, we have another district highlight. Uh, Kevin, would you like to tell us about the ZA cross country team? Yeah, it's not I mean it maybe it seems to be like this happens all the time, but I I hope that people realize that this is like this doesn't happen all the time to most schools in our state regardless of their classification. We had our girls team finish seventh, which is an accomplishment all in itself because if you know anything about how cross country works, in order to

016get a seventh place team, you have to have contributions from the entire team in order to collect the number of points in order to do that. You could have in some cases at you may have some runners that are the fastest runners, but that doesn't really have a huge impact on the team award, which and many times we don't associate cross country as much as a team sport. But I will tell you here in CILA, it's a team sport. It's coached as a team sport. The athletes buy in as a team sport. It is truly a team sport for our so for our girls who two of the members of that team are right there to to have the season that you have and then to finish on the high note uh of that seventh

017place finish is quite an accomplishment. So congratulation to you. What also makes it interesting and probably especially is that we have a boys team also that that did exactly the same thing. They finished fifth as a team. Again, it took the entire team to get that fifth place. Even the last timed person coming in for that team had a huge impact on getting that team trophy of fifth place. So to have a girls team in seventh and a boys team in fifth, an overall huge accomplishment for the uh cross country program at our high school, but also uh definitely for our whole athletic um program. So congratulations ladies who are part of that team. many of you if you're a part of that team uh but also for all the athletes, coaches and uh the

018parents and the community members who supported that in their efforts. So, congrats. >> Fantastic. Yeah, nice work. >> Charlie or Claire, do you want to say anything about your your race? Well, tell us about the cross country family. >> Oh, uh well, thank you for shing us out. We really appreciate that. And um just like Mr. K said it really is like a whole team thing and that's one of like my favorite experiences at like Cel is being able to participate in um athletics and it was my fourth year at the state meet so it was just a huge like a huge um it was a really cool moment to wrap it all up and I'm just really grateful for um that experience that I've got to have. >> Um yeah, same with me. The

019cross country team is definitely a family. Um the coaches and the athletes have done a really good job of like fostering um that kind of community. So, it's been really amazing being on this team, and I'm not a state runner, but I was able to go to the state meet. Um, and just being able to see the girls um still so supportive and so family-like with one another was just so amazing to watch and see. >> And we did have quite like a few like staff members from Sila High School. Um there was a lot of support from their community and we definitely felt it. So, we appreciate that. >> Yeah, >> that's great. Thank you very much. Uh we normally would have now suggestions and comments from the audience and we're going to postpone

020that for just a moment. Um, we we have a slight revision to the agenda, which is that we have a a class of students here uh who are seniors, if I'm understanding it correctly, who would like to address the board with a um policy proposal um and rather than have them be limited to the 3minut time period, we thought it would be more appropriate for them to have a chance to um speak about what they've been working on as part of a class project and also something you deeply believe and hold to be true. Um would if you have individual speakers that would be great or if you have a single you have two speakers. Uh if you would use the mic up there and hit the button on the mic so that we can

021all hear you we would really appreciate it. This also allows us not having it as public comment. This is for the people in the audience people up here to ask you questions for followup and kind of have a bit more of a conversation about it. >> Okay. Okay. in so in our American government class uh a part of what we're learning is uh uh a dictatorship and like the process that it goes through. So like voting and like the importance of like a voice um when it comes to that. So, we had a assignment and it's how to turn a bill into a law. And we were all given a chance to um come up with a bill for the school that we want to bring to you guys and make it a law. So,

022like changing a policy or um like offering up something that we think would be beneficial for the school. And uh the bill that we picked that we all kind of thought would be the best to bring and most likely to succeed is um off-campus lunch for seniors in particular. Um so we know that this was readressed in 2013. Um but it hasn't been changed. So we wanted to touch on it uh because it's something that we do actually um intend like getting feedback on. So we really appreciate it. At first we didn't know we were going to get feedback. So, thank you guys for doing that. Um, but, uh, so basically how it would go is if we were to do it, we'd have a trial with the seniors this year. So, um, uh, every

023Friday of the last trimester so we have time to figure stuff out. Um, we would do off-campus lunch and we'd have to have a parent um, like permission form at the beginning of the trimester. Um, you'd have to be academically legible to like leave. So we have grade checks every week for like or every two weeks for um sports. So we do the same thing for off-campus lunch and then uh also holding like a 3.0 you know, our higher GPA just to make sure that the people are leave that are leaving are more responsible and uh making sure like it's good for like the community cuz um there were some comments in the past uh I've heard from like teachers or um just like admin that uh when there was uh open camp open campus

024lunch, excuse me, sorry. Uh that uh some communities weren't um like happy with how the students were disrespecting like um kind of their restaurants or their spaces. So, that would be a good thing. Um, some reasons why we think it's beneficial is because uh if it's just seniors, we're going into like the world, we're going to go to college, we're going to go into the work force, like there's uh responsibilities that I feel like we haven't been taught um as much like in classroom that like time management and responsibility could be taught like through um having like deadlines like tardies. like if you were to be tardy during like an off-campus lunch, then you wouldn't get the privilege for like the rest of the trimester. And that's pretty much all I have for you guys.

025Uh but Gabby has some more information. Um so the specific requirements to be eligible for this is students must maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher. Students must have no major disciplinary infractions and students must submit a signed parental or guardian consent form which is basically gonna hold the parents or the student reliable. It won't be on the school and this is them signing off that they agree to having their kids be able to do this. They also will have weekly grade checks like Miley said and this will be held like the advisors in our classes like in our school will be the ones that are like making sure that these are updated and then all the admin will know so they can see what schools what students are eligible for this. We also during this

026project reach out reached out to other schools that have off-campus lunch which include Nachis and Zilla and we got feedback from them to see how they run their off-campus lunches and it was pretty much the same thing of where they have grade checks and making sure that they have like forms signed from parents and GPA stuff. And then we also um have um rules about if you're tardy back a certain amount of times after like getting back from lunch then you will have the privilege revoked. >> That's pretty much it. Um do you guys have any questions? >> I do. Yeah. So did you did you guys also work with the administration like Mr. Monty? So, we had him come in class and Miss Forbes, uh, the counselor, uh, to listen to us, uh, give

027like the proposal, and he said that he thinks it's a great idea, but he can't do anything about it because it's a like part of a policy, right? >> Um, like not being able to leave school during like lunchtime or just in general. And then also, uh, I think it was something about like driving. Um, there was two policies that he couldn't change. So, he said to bring it to you guys, but he thinks it's a good idea. >> I feel like you have support from did miss >> I'd say so >> uh so I [clears throat] was trying to read real quickly >> to understand how how do you foresee this being managed like is would there be would you need a staff member to the door like how what what volume of students

028sure with you know seniors a small but as it it grows I could see this >> I I think of like the younger schools where you're managing recess >> pick up and drop off Right. >> What is that? What is that going to look like at the high school? >> Um, so I know we use like Minga a lot and there's like stickers on Minga for like ASB, like when people pay their ASB, you put like um that kind of sticker on there or like I've gotten like a lunch pass sticker to like approve me to go upstairs during lunchtime. So, um, something I feel like would be good is if we got like one of those stickers like for trimester to like approve a student. um like uh just like off-campus lunch >> a

029physical sticker on your ASB or >> Yeah. So, like on the app, like on the Minga, there's like above if you press your ID, there's there's like stickers above your name and then you would just show it to like an administrator or like a person like watching the door when you walk out and then um that'll be like the best way we can manage it because there's still like students for like YBC that like walk in and out and so that's something that um we'd have to talk about more, but that's kind of our best idea at the moment. >> Thank you. Yeah, there's also we could do um because I was talking to someone from Oll today who they also have off-campus lunch and they were given like little cards to swipe into like

030the buildings and obviously that isn't like something that we could do because that would like take a lot of money and stuff. But like having a check in and checkout system could also help keep keep track of the students that are leaving. We may have another comment from an audience member. So, >> currently during lunch, we already have teachers that do watch the parking lot on cameras and they go around in a golf cart to make sure there's not people leaving the campus. Um, we also talked about colored lanyards and cars so we know who is allowed and which vehicles are allowed to leave during that time. So, we do have teachers that are watching the parking lot currently. So, I think that would also help. And your proposal is for all four grades to

031be able to leave seniors. >> Seniors forever. You said that as a trial you would be seniors. Are you thinking it would expand after this year? >> Um no. So like this year it would be um just seniors of course, but like the trial uh would be just Fridays. Gotcha. And uh when it extends into like the next year, it wouldn't be just Fridays and it would stay just seniors because there's also like with driving, we don't want like lowerassmen having to like walk places and then just like the really the like places in close vicinity getting like overwhelmed because kids can't drive. So like everybody would walk to River Canyon and then they wouldn't be able to handle that many people. So we definitely get arguments at like if they had that much capacity.

032>> Have you talked to River Canyon? Um we did reach out to some uh do you know who got responses from? >> I can speak on that. So my in my class each um there was different groups reaching out to like restaurants. They were reaching out to um staff members. >> I get you a mic here. There we go. >> Oh, I get the famous mic. Okay. So in class um kids were split up into different groups and um there was a group that actually went out and spoke with restaurants and they were all on board. Um we just didn't have the opportunity to gather all that data. Um so the community is on board. They said that they would have the staff. Um the only thing that was ever mentioned as a possible like

033um thing that they're worried about is like if there was something that was to occur during that lunchtime in their restaurant that they would want to um have that student no longer be able to be participants. So like a major infraction. And we also spoke with um all the other staff that do already take on that role of monitoring students during lunchtime. and they were all on board on saying that it would be a great bene benefit for seniors um specifically because we are getting them ready for um the adult life. So like they're like why not start now? So thank you >> and it's something that Monty um did come in and he worked with us. He revised everything, gave feedback to all the students before coming here as well. Um so him and

034as well as um the other admin said that it it would be an amazing change. >> Other questions for the students? >> Yeah. Is any Oh, >> go ahead Charlie. >> Oh, okay. Um my question would be like would the 30 minute lunch period be extended because I know that's a really hard thing to manage like getting in your car trying to get out of the parking lot. um especially when there's a lot of other seniors trying to get out and then getting to a restaurant then ordering and then trying to get back before the time limit ends. But also like trying to debate if you want to eat in the restaurant or not, it doesn't seem like a lot of time just for that to be plausible to happen. >> Um I think if

035we were to like uh uh like present to like uh extend the lunch time, that would be great, but right now we were just focusing on like being able to leave. So we would encourage students to order like online so they could go and pick up their meal and they could sit and eat so it'd be ready like when they leave class like by the time they get out the parking lot and they get there it'd be ready. So that'd be like highly encouraged but as of right now yes I think um extending the lunch period would be great but that's not what we were looking at in particular. That's a great question. >> You you don't have open periods at the high school when we were in school. Did you have open periods? you

036had open periods in the school so you could take a longer lunch if you had fourth period off or something like that. You don't have that so much anymore. Okay. >> Any other questions? >> I think one step maybe would be to check with the transportation department too. I know we're fairly fragile uh system to get everybody to their >> schools and you know path passer throughs and stuff. So are there buses going on during whatever lunch period this would be? Might be something to kind of check into. Okay. >> And then I think if you got down the road a little bit, what would be kind of fun is doing a to kind of address Charlie's question is a demo day. You know, have a Saturday where, you know, you can get you kind

037of ballpark there's going to be 120 students that are going to do it. Can you get, you know, volunteers to >> see how how long that process actually takes and is it doable in a 30-minut time period? But you guys have done a lot of the research. That's awesome. >> Maybe a half day. they could try it on a half day and see what happens. >> So, I really like the idea and I saw [clears throat] this at the high school that you guys are want to do it on a probationary period. I think that's a really good idea. I think uh probably the two questions I have is or I would need to see because I know the community the reason part of the reason we haven't done this in the past is because

038of the influx of students into local businesses is a major issue. So, I would want to see a letter from these local businesses saying, "Hey, I sign off on this idea uh in order for me to be on board." And also, besides the fact that you guys are going to be adults, what's another reason why do you feel the need to have open campus for lunch? Um, oops. >> Um, so some of the stuff that we talked about when deciding what bill we wanted to like actually do was that it kind of is also like based on nutrients or like amount of food because schools don't always have like it's not bad food, but there's not a lot of like a big serving size. And especially for like student athletes when they are like going

039to school at 7 in the morning and then getting home at 5 at night and having a small lunch portion is not enough to keep them going throughout the whole day. And when we talked to a bunch of seniors about this, we had them fill out a Google form. That's what a lot of people had said. And then also just like obviously the responsibility aspect of it of them wanting more freedom and like having the responsibility to do that and like be able to go and get food from other places or even like go home if they needed to get their own food, anything like that. Just Yeah. Yeah. I think in addition to that um it gives students like an opportunity to kind of like refresh themselves. I know senior year could be pretty

040stressful because like you just want to be done and like you're so close yet like you still have a whole year to go through. So having a chance to like go home and like get a full meal like refresh and then come back. A lot of teachers might appreciate it because they might be in a better attitude like have a better attitude towards them and towards like like being motivated for school work. But also like um there's kids that sit alone and sometimes even like uh the cafeteria area can get a little overcrowded. Like the lines can get really long or there's just not enough tables for people to sit at. And I think that if we had off-campus lunch, then it'd give more of like an opportunity for um teachers to be able to

041keep the halls clear because I know that sometimes is a struggle because there's um you know the hallway like the the more recent one that was built on um where like the science and like uh languages. I know a lot of students sit in that area, although they try to keep them out because there's classrooms and it can be disrupting. And I think if we had less students in the building, they could learn to they they'd be able to minimize it better. Yeah. Thank you. >> Guess one last thought is I'm on I'm on the same side as what Dererick and Charlie are saying. Like I can just envision you being stuck in the drive-thru at Taco Bell. You got five minutes left >> and you got four or five people in your car, >>

042right? >> And everyone's getting Gordita Crunchy Mills or whatever. Is there is there >> is [laughter] there >> that's not your regular >> is there a thought here where we can rely on the district in a way and then I know this is asking maybe asking a little too much but providing like sack lunches to go like seniors all you want to get off campus you want to go clear your head you want to go take a drive and come back or whatever but you don't have time to go get stuck in the drive-thru at Taco Bell or can river Canyon or whatever I mean the options are limited up by the high school right like where where are kids going to So those are businesses are going to get overwhelmed there. You got 30

043minutes. >> Should probably eat lunch. >> Yeah. >> Right. So is there a way that we could partner with the nutrition department and say >> we have lunches to go that day? >> That's >> I don't know. Just a thought >> because I like I remember being in high school and thinking man leaving that would be really cool. >> I don't really remember why but it was just like that would be >> right. and but but the 30 minutes is is that that's gonna be a tight tight timeline to take >> no matter where you're going. So >> that's a really good idea. >> Yeah, I that Yeah, I like that actually a lot. Um the only question I would have about that is uh moneywise like would we be able to support like would

044it be like coming from the cafeteria or would it be Yeah. Okay then. Yeah, I think that'd be a great idea. [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Sounds great. >> So, I just happened to be the superintendent in Zilla, one of the districts that you um looked upon. It's a it's a different number, sheer number of students who are seniors and a lot easier to manage. I can remember one of the challenges there um were other students in cars. Okay. Students a that were eligible to leave and those that were not eligible to leave became a huge problem to manage. In your research, did you did you find out anything about that? Because at one time I know that in Zilla it was limited to only the student who had the parent permission

045could be in the car to leave. they could not take any other students with them. So, did you find anything else about that? >> Um, the only thing that I see that we have on our form right now is that if they are caught with other people or if they are like breaking their like the rules of their what they have, they would lose the privilege. Um, but other than that, I don't see anything about it. I mean, plus like we could have the doors monitored because I know like we have like celebrate success um at like the ends of like different trimesters and we do have teachers um in front of a lot of doors. So, I think that we could also probably like manage it through that as well. >> Yeah. Just to

046go to go back, it wasn't the it wasn't the managing of the in and out into the into the building. it was the managing of who was going to get into individual other students cars and and then the liability that that driver takes on for the passengers if within that car. Um and then it it became problematic with parents who who did not want their children going in other students cars. So it was fine if the if the student was a friend, a well-known person of the family, but if it wasn't and the student was going to go off with somebody else, that where is where it ran into problems. And that's where it became almost impossible for the administration or those people to manage to understand who was who could go with who. And

047so they really limited it to yes, you can go off campus at lunch. Yes, if you were a senior, you could do it, but you you as an individual only could be the only person in that car, unless it was like a sibling that was also >> So, um, are you like, okay, this might sound silly, but if we were to in like if this were to continue on and we were to talk about it more, um, do you think in your opinion, would it be better to only say like yes or no unless it's like a sibling you can't leave in a certain person's car or like talk more to the parents about it like get put out a form if your kid can do it yes or no. >> I I don't know.

048Okay. It it's uh I'd have to give some thought to that. I was waiting really to to see what came about uh this this afternoon evening about what you're presenting, but uh I'll have to give some more thought to that. Okay. >> I I think Kevin, [clears throat] that's a really valid point. I mean, the cross country girls know what happened at practice earlier this season with that accident. Um, that's one of our policy updates tonight is uh riding specifically with employees on in a district or private vehicle. Um, and so there are serious lawsuit concerns there with the school district and somehow we would have to be able to protect the school district from lawsuits if students were riding with other students. Basically, once you leave that ground, the school district has to be

049absolutely absolved. Um, >> well, the problem >> I think that's a very valid point. >> Just because the kid and the kid's parents signed off, if they damaged someone else, that person that's just grandma walking across the road didn't sign a waiver. >> So, it is very hard to completely insulate the school from any potential >> liability in that. >> And and I also know that there are struggles at the high school right now with parking enforcement. So, there are a lot of students who have paid for passes and they show up to school and their spots are taken up. So, I I'm not saying this isn't a great idea because I actually like it. I I mean, I graduated here 30 years ago and this was an issue back then. Um, but I I

050do think there are some major considerations that uh would have to be resolved before we could move forward. >> Okay. So, you came here and presented, which you did a great job, and thank you all for being here and taking this project on. It's it's it's definitely worthy of the work and the time you've put in to it for a lot of reasons, not only for the the closed campus idea, but for all the things you're you've learned about the process and in our case, a policy. What next? and and what are you hoping to to have the board do by bringing this to them tonight? >> Um, so, uh, we know you guys have like smaller meetings that aren't as like open. We were wondering if there was like ever like a time or

051opportunity where we could go in more in depth with it and like have like a conversation with you guys like um not in like such like a formal setting uh to kind of get those ideas out and make sure like we're addressing those things that need to be addressed. Um, as well as like safety stuff like with the liability, like figuring out the best way to approach that. Um, uh, basically just putting the idea out there. Like I said, when we came, we didn't know we're going to be getting feedback, so this is great. Um, but that's a lot of what we've looked at and a lot of what we have. And your guys's uh, feedback has been really beneficial for what we've been looking at. So, >> uh, we also intend to get more

052feedback from the community because we still have like forms that we want filled out and like someone over here had asked for an actual like copy of the um, restaurant signing off on that. So, we definitely intend to get more feedback to make sure that we're making this the best bill that we can make it. >> Great. Well, thank you very much for coming. I I know the school board uh, really appreciates hearing from students. Um I I I'm impressed by how well you responded to our questions. Uh this is a whole different environment than your school classroom. So I commend your instructor, your teacher at the school, uh and your classmates for for bringing this to us in a very professional manner. So thank you very much for being >> Thank you guys so

053much. >> All right. Um we will uh continue to consider that uh at future meetings. Yeah. You don't have to stay if you don't want to. Those those you probably may want to check out here at this point. That thin thin things down a little bit. You're welcome to go off campus now. It is a shame. I think I'm the only Well, Kevin and I are the only people from the before times, uh, which was at the where we are right now at the previous high school. You could walk down the street to Kings Row and get a hamburger and come back in a half an hour very easily. Um, Kings Row specials were very, very famous for that. Yeah. Um, so, uh, we'd love to see if we can make something happen there, but

054there are still obviously some kinks to work out and some things to discuss. Uh, we do have a couple of people signed up for public comment. Um, I don't think there's anything that's been sent in to us for public comment. The first uh group and thank you so much for being patient with us. We appreciate it. Is Mr. Morales's history class is signed up. Are you here to speak on anything? That was them. Oh, that was Mrs. Morales. I have Mr. Morales. Okay, got it. Sorry. Then Nikki Gruters is our next person. Thank you, Nikki, for being so patient with us. >> Okay. My name is Nikki Gruters. I'm a nursing student at Heritage University and I was born and raised in CILA. Um, I've lived here my whole life. Um, and I am a

055mother of three boys. I currently serve on our faculty's nursing department committees such as curriculum and policies committees. Um, as a nursing student and as a parent, I care deeply about the health and well-being of our students um, and my children. One area that directly impacts their health is the food um that they are served at school. My children often eat breakfast at school and at um lunch. They eat school lunch. Um [sighs] my children um need their their food. It's not a heavy reliability. They choose to eat at home and then they also go to school and eat. and oftentimes after school they come home and they're like starving. Um so according to USDA's my plate guidelines, children should be eating a variety of foods daily with half their plate consuming of fruits and

056vegetables. Um these foods provide essential nutritions that pro support physical development, cognitive function, and long-term health. However, many school meals fall short of these recommendations, often relying on processed foods with limited fresh produce. I know the district is making great changes in the food. Um, I've seen it on the lunch menu. Um, but I urge you to improve the quality of breakfast, increasing the variety of foods with less processed foods, more farm to farm fresh foods. This approach not only enhances nutritional values but also supports our local economy and f fosters community partnerships. The consequences of poor nutrition in schools are well documented. Children who lack access to healthy meals are more likely to experience obesity, type 2 diabetes, academic challenges due to a decreased concentration and energy levels. By making thoughtful changes to our

057school food program, we can positively influence both student health and academic performances. Our children are vocal and about what they eat. If we can improve the quality of food that they receive at school, we may have the opportunity to influence the foods that they eat at home and create healthier habits. I believe that with community support and district leadership, we can make meaningful changes that benefit benefit every student in CILA. Thank you so much for your time. >> Great. Thank you very much, Nikki. And um uh unfortunately, unlike the thing that we just had, we can't really because it wasn't on the agenda, we can't really have a conversation with you about it. Um but we may uh contact you for some follow-up questions and some information to share. >> That would sound wonderful. I

058I think a lot of um what you know, the students shared about meals and everything um I have lots of different ideas of ways to help better foods and give more options. Um, you know, I graduated 13 years ago, so um, I'm learning a lot as a parent who has kids in sports, too, and those needs and those changes. >> Great. Thank you again for coming. I really, really appreciate it. All right. Our next item on the agenda um is the approval of regular meeting minutes um, from the October 23rd meeting. I will move that we approve the meeting minutes from uh, October 23rd, 2025. Is there a second? I'll second it. >> Uh, all those in favor signify with an I. I. All those opposed and abstain. All right. Great. The meeting minutes are

059approved for 20 October 23, 2025. The next item is our consent agenda. Um, and on this consent agenda, there are a number of items starting with the human resources action sheet, including the payroll, goods, and services for November. Um, one policy first reading on field trips, and then a number of policy uh updates, second readings. Um, I'm I'm going to ask that two of the items, and we'll get to that. I'm kind of giving Chris a second to come back in to talk about human resources for the policy updates for the second reading before we get to vote on that. I'm going to suggest um that we pass those policy updates, second reading and adoption with the exception of board self assessment and standards for individual school directors until such a time as our new

060um board member is seated uh and sworn in and can participate in the um a voting and understanding of board self assessment and standards for individual school directors. Um, so I'll I'll kind of stop there and maybe we can move through the human resources. There comes Chris. The human resources action sheet. Chris, uh, we have a short HR action sheet here as we move through the consent agenda. Very short. Uh, is there is there anything that we need to know about from that document? Great. Uh, is are there any questions or comments about the um HR action sheet? All right. Next, we're moving on to the payroll, goods, and services. Um, this is a uh a monthly update on the what's going out. Um, is there anything there, Chris, that we should uh pay attention

061to and take your time if you need to. >> Yeah, I've already looked through these in detail. Um, I did my my audit, my monthly audit of these and um I don't have anything to highlight tonight. >> Great. Are there any uh questions about the payroll goods and services? All right, we'll move on to the next item, which is a policy update on field trips, excursions, and outdoor education. This includes what um uh board member uh uh uh Iverson mentioned, what Derek mentioned about uh sports teams are included under this policy. Kevin, will you explain just briefly what this policy is intended to do? It's simply to keep uh students out of private vehicles. It's really really pretty straightforward. And and weirdly enough, this we found out about this by looking at this policy actually

062prior to the accident happening and then realizing what is currently in our policy. and and then the accident obviously just magnified the language here that we felt it was necessary uh to get some change in language in there. So this is what we're bringing to you in the first reading with that language. Pretty straightforward though. Chris, >> we just during the process of I was meeting with Joe Koscart, our director of transportation services, Lori Ozanic, um our nutrition director, and this that's when we came across this. we were actually working on the procedure side of things and all the forms and the timelines and we we came across that and we're like oh I we didn't even realize that was in the policy. So >> So can I ask would I know that students say

063like the swim team like those students have to travel to because we don't have a pool. Yeah. got to go to Lions and don't we and probably cross country too there's a waiver that and I know when we fill out the uh I have a student athlete and you have to fill it out to give permission to ride in other students cars so we shouldn't have been asking for permission to do that or is that separate? That's something that I'll need to follow up on because that Jamie made a good point about the liability. If you have a parent permission slip signed, but then the driver hits a pedestrian, you know, we don't have any waiver from that pedestrian that gets hit. So then um that student's liable first and foremost and then it comes

064back on the district. So the district liability is still there even with those signed permission slips. >> Yeah. Then I'll just point that out that as a >> I'll follow up on that papers >> there. >> Just one quick question on that. The the language >> change makes plenty of sense when it comes to private vehicles. I was just curious the other struck out line on RCW67.20. What is >> we didn't think that it was pertinent to put parks bathing beaches in a bathing beach? >> I have no idea, but the RCW references. [laughter] >> I was just curious. How does this have to do with vehicles? So, thank you for the clarification. >> Thanks. >> For our athletes that are that are students here, are you are you following along with what the change

065will be? >> Okay. Okay. Great. All right. Um let's move to the uh final no second to last item on the agenda, which is policy review. um starting with 6220 and moving all the way through 3420 no excuse me through 5000 um policy 5000 on a recruitment selection evaluation of staff. Um are there any um comments or questions on these policies after we've had a chance to look at them from our last meeting? >> And I think your suggestion to hold 1820 and 1821 till Larry is seated. Okay. >> I also like to hold off on 5,1630. >> And uh what's the uh what what would be the reason for that? >> Um so 1821 is uh that one is being held off. Is that correct? >> Yes, correct. >> Okay. So on 5,000 my

066concern is with some of the language. So for example, assure that students are grown and meet their full potential. Uh I feel like that removes the responsibility from administrators to ensure that the students are being successful. Um so it it shifts it from having accountability for student performance in my opinion to ensuring that staff members are highly effective. So, so in when I read that, I'm looking at we're we're saying the student performance doesn't matter. It's just that the superintendent is looking at it and saying that the um employees are good to go. And we're here for student performance first and foremost. And so I I just want to make sure that the board has some way to provide oversight toward administration for academic performance. And I feel like that's being removed in the language

067that's being taken out here. This is >> I could be wrong. >> This is 5,000. >> This is uh yes 5,000. >> Okay. And are you talking about the first paragraph under the strike? >> Correct. Where it's strucken out. assure that students grow and meet their full potential. >> Okay, I see what you're saying right there that you would like to have that continue to be included in the policy. I I would like to make sure that the school board can provide oversight if that's not being met. And I end. Yeah. I mean, you look through our board policies, there's a lot of really ambiguous language in there. Yeah. And and I think per the superintendent contract, I think uh per other board policies, I mean, we have to trust, and I know Dan, you've

068repeated this at meetings that um we have to trust that that the superintendent can look at the principles and analyze them properly and the principles with their teachers and other district. I mean there has to be a certain amount of trust but when it comes down to it we look at um student scores as at least I do as the metric by which we are are measuring student success >> and and so I just want to make sure that the board can provide some oversight to that degree. So where it says staff are recruited and selected to ensure that all staff members are highly effective, you feel it and have necessary skills and experience to meet the learning needs of students. That that doesn't cover the the highly effective part. Seems like it would cover

069the part that's been stricken. >> Yeah, I would I would say I agree with that. But that that would mean that it's okay to have that part taken out if we say highly effective is defined by assure students grow and meet their full potential in district programs. That seems like it's redundant to say highly effective and the previous comment or the part that's been taken out. And I don't know why that first line has been taken out. This because WASDA policy I'm guessing Kevin. Yeah, these all of these that have to do with the board um are all connected to the WASDA board standards that were updated and this is how they were brought. This wasn't anything that uh internally within our school district that we struck or revised. These are all came directly from

070WASDA. >> We don't have to wholesale adopt what WASDA says. >> You do not. No, >> just just like on uh I know I'm bouncing back and forth on policy 1821. It's an optional policy. Um according to the the little summary sheet that we got that's included in the agenda. So, um, I'm I'm Derek, just so I'm I want to make sure I understand what you're saying, which if if we're going to change the language for this, if we're not going to adopt it, and maybe we want to talk about the language a little bit more at the next meeting, what part would you like to see included? And what part are you okay with not being in that um in that policy, the draft? >> I mean, if we were to add back that

071we assured that students grow and meet their full potential, I I'm good with adding that back in. Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> And and I think probably in combination with that when we go to policy 1630, um I know that uh I've made Facebook posts regarding this, the superintendent will have the opportunity for confidential conferences on no less than three occasions per year. So if we're not having confidential conferences with the superintendent, how can we accurately um review him or provide that feedback? I think we need to have at least one. Maybe it doesn't need to be three, but I think we need to have some sort of confidential um executive session or whatever means we can to discuss what we are seeing as members of the board because the way that it's happened the

072last two years is we get uh we get a little paper that we fill out, right, to um review the superintendent. And I would like to have more discussion just like we had tonight. I feel like this was really beneficial to have these types of discussions versus just doing everything, you know, over email or or in secret. >> I uh I don't think I think we have had uh executive sessions where we've met with Kevin to discuss the annual performance review. If that's my memory is the last >> I I don't re recall since I've been seated on the board. I don't remember having those. >> I I know there was one there was one meeting I walked into the PD room and Kevin said, "Well, this is my evaluation." I was like, "Oh, I

073guess I don't need to be at this executive session." So, I left. >> Yeah, we did a executive session. The the first part of what you're saying is accurate where we did the uh build out the questionnaire, returned them to Dan. Dan sort of summarized them and then we did have a closed door and discussed it amongst that. And maybe that's not maybe like more of an open back and forth because that was but that I I would consider that as executive session that we sat through had that discussion. >> Okay. I I guess so so what I'm saying is when I look at these two policies I I want to have some sort of vehicle for us to because we're only in charge of the superintendent in the school district. I want to make

074sure we don't lose that vehicle as a school board to review the superintendent and through him especially with administration affect change in other administrative duties. >> Uh okay. Um I I would uh I guess we can talk about that here and and have a discussion or maybe a vote to see what which ones we want to table or which ones we want to move forward with. I'm I myself am comfortable with the language of 16:30 um because we do meet with the superintendent at least once a year and I think we meet twice a year because we have a halfyearly performance or at least we gather information from Kevin about uh progress during the year and that to me seems like a sufficient um evaluation period for for uh superintendent. Um, so I'm I'm okay

075with 1630 and I I my myself just since we're having this conversation about whether to table things, I'd be okay if we tabled 5,000 until we were more comfortable with the language about um uh staff are recruited and selected to and what follows that. I think if we want to get additional input uh on that, maybe we could we could table that. So, so what would be the proper way for me to provide my input without violating the public records meetings act? So, for example, if I want to go in and say, "Hey, I would I would like to see this language changed in this policy. How do you propose that I do that?" >> Uh, would do you have language that you have ready tonight? >> No, I don't. >> Oh, I guess you

076would. >> So, that's why I'd like to table this stuff. >> Yeah. So, I would say you table it and at the next time that we bring this up before the board, you would say, "I have some alternative or alternate language that I'd like to see in place of the language that's currently here." And then we would vote on replacing the language that's currently in the policy or proposed policy. >> And would that be more appropriate, Dan, after the first reading, then once we get to the second reading? >> I I would all be okay with the language in those. So if you are ready, we get the first reading from the uh policies prior to the first reading at the meeting. So yeah, that I mean if you're ready to go at the first

077reading rather than at the second reading, that that makes a lot more sense to me um to be able to handle any revisions to it before we get to the second reading and have to decide whether to table things or not. So we could maybe move on more with more of a progress there. Um um so uh Derek, do you want to make a motion to table a number of these and then we can vote on that? And if it passes, we'll table them. And if it doesn't, we'll make a motion. Uh and I I would be prepared to make an alternative motion if that doesn't pass for tableabling some but not all of the ones maybe that you're interested in table. >> Okay. So So I move that we um table code 1630, code

0781821, and code 5000. just those three on my behalf until December. >> Okay. And are there any more comments or questions about that proposal of tableabling 1630 which is evaluation of superintendent 1821 which are standards for individual school directors and 5,000 for recruitment and selection of staff. You Derek you don't want to include 1820 board self- assessment. Uh, no. I know you mentioned that earlier. So, >> but you'll but you you want to include that in I >> I'll include that in motion as well. Sure. >> Okay. Great. So, those four are being proposed to be tabled until uh our next business meeting when the um new board member will be sworn in. Um and we may have a chance to come up with alternate language to uh put in place of that. That sound

079good? I guess one alternative Dan just thrown it out there if there's possible to just not pass E of the consent agenda all of it. I don't know if there's any timesensitive policies in there that are going to change between now and December. If it's going to save any time and effort going through each one individually and voting on each, we could just table all of them until December. We're we're we're checking right now if there's stuff that we need to do right now tonight. Yeah, there's at least one which is 6220 bidder request for proposal requirements that we need to have taken care of. >> All the rest of them might there is no has to happen tonight. So you could you could reverse it and we would say we would table all policies

080except for 62. I'll amend my uh my motion. So, I move that we um move or delay all of the policies with the except exception of 6220. So, we're going to approve that one tonight and table the other policies until uh December. >> Okay. Any other comments or questions about that proposal? Uh so, we will sorry. Yes, please. Perfect. Great. Yep. Um and we are now going to to vote on just on that motion to table those rather than on the entire consent agenda. Sound good? Okay. Uh, all those in favor of tableabling that motion signify with an I. >> I. >> All those opposed and abstensions. Okay. So, we will table uh those policy reviews second readings until our next meeting in December where we only have one meeting now that I think about

081it um ex with the exception of draft 6220. So uh we have one final note here which is overnight travel requests. Um this is the western band clinic in SeaTac with Mr. Madson. Um and he is taking I'm opening the document right here. Eight students um for a uh uh an outofd district overnight travel request. Any comments or questions about that travel request? Okay, great. Um, I will move that we approve the consent agenda, including item 6220 from the second reading of the policy updates, uh, human resources action sheet, payroll, goods, and services, and the first I guess we're not approving the first reading, but the first reading and the overnight travel request. Is there a second to that motion? >> I'll second that. >> Great. All those in favor signify with an I. >>

082I. All those opposed and abstensions. Okay, great. >> Jennifer, great job. [clears throat] >> Yeah, no kidding, Jennifer. We got the Robert's rules of orders. We're flexing our muscles here a little. All right, we're moving on now to um a resolution. This is administration resolution 25, excuse me, 2025-22, which is certification of 2026 excess property taxes. Chris, will you explain what that uh resolution entails? >> Sure. Sure. This is an annual resolution that uh is presented to the board and it is required under RCW84520 for the school board to certify the amounts to be levied in the the next calendar year. So for this um for the uh year we have included the budget adopted budget with those amounts listed. One of the things that um I do before I bring this resolution to the

083board is I look at our most recent uh assessed valuation amounts and I make sure that although the the the voters have approved the dollar amount that can be collected, I still want to make sure and Kevin and I um go over this every time is that we don't exceed the projected rate per thousand that we promise taxpayers when we go out um and ask for approval on a bond or a levy. So, um, this at this point with the the assessed value that came in, we're projected at $162 per thousand and the voters, we promised the voters it would be $165 per thousand or less. So, we're fine. The only year that we rolled back the amount that we were going to collect was in 2021. we exceeded the rate per thousand and so

084we felt it was necessary to roll the levy back and not collect the full amount because we said we would stay under a certain do uh rate per thousand. So that was the only year in my 26 years that we ever had to roll back a levy collection. So, that's what this resolution represents and um I'm required to process it to the county commissioners and the county elections office uh tomorrow for their approval by the end of November. So, >> uh and you need approval of this resolution in order to do that. >> Yes. >> All right. So, I move that we approve resolution 2025-22. Is there a second? >> And are there any questions or comments about this resolution? Okay. All those in favor of passing this resolution signify with an I. I. All

085those opposed. Abstensions. Okay. Good. Do you drive it down? Do you fly it in? How do you >> The first year I was thinking, do I have to drive to Ellensburg to give them this resolution? I don't. I can scan and email it. >> Magic of email. All right. We'll move on now to the Thank you, Chris, for doing that. We appreciate it. We'll move on now to the student board representative update. Uh let's start at the end of the table with our junior board representatives. Is there anything you'd like to add to the good of the order here? What do you think about um letting people go off campus? I'll start with that question. We did we heard from some other people, but we didn't hear from the juniors. What do the juniors think

086of that proposal? >> I think it's a good idea. >> What what what's good about the idea? Um I like um how they talked about how it's going to give them more responsibility because I think that's a big deal. Um like especially from like private school and stuff like they would just like I went to Monasur and they would just give us all the homework for the day. We would be still be in class but they'd be like this is all the stuff you have to get done like get it done on your own time. And so I think that's a very important skill to learn. So yeah, >> this is a u topic that I've heard of before from my first period, which is a public speaking class. And one of the current seniors

087in that class, she um said the same idea but with uh less evidence. And I think it would be really cool. It gives them more responsibility and it teaches the school board that we are able to trust them as young adults. >> What do you see as the downsides? Make make the opposite case. >> The car reliabilities >> cuz I don't think everyone's going to be able to leave and come back in time. >> I mean that's that's for me is a big question. 30 minutes is tight. I mean, that is just Joe's idea of having grabbing go or something, but that's a tough turnaround for sure. Uh uh do you have anything else to add in terms of an update? Okay. Uh Claire and Charlie. >> Oh, yes, I can go. Um personally, I

088am opposed to the idea of having an open campus lunch. I just think it's too much of a um I I personally think it's too much of a liability to put on students and um you know having to have more work done to like cover the um the repercussions that could happen because of students not following the guidelines and I do like I I do understand where students are coming from. I mean, it would be great to have a refresh just to step away from school, but um unfortunately, I just do not think that um that if this were something to be put in place, I don't think it would be um feasible for like a long term. And I just I just don't believe that um it would be I don't believe that the

089benefits would outweigh the downsides of it. >> Yeah. Um I definitely see like the positive sides of it. Um, but I do believe that it would be more of like maybe like a one time thing like one time a year, twice a year. Um, just something a little less common than every Friday. Um, or like every day for that instance, like every trimester. I just think maybe do like once or twice a year with maybe the same stipulations, but I mean, as Claire brought up, there's a lot of potential consequences that could come from this. Um, like you guys mentioned, like there could be car accidents with it. And that's a really scary thought just for like not only for the school district but for families who are signing these waivers um of when these

090kids are going off campus. >> How well monitored is it right now? Are there people consistently sneaking off or is that not really a thing or >> Well, there's always people sneaking off campus like they'll always get caught and then like they like they go like sorry they'll like go to lunch detention but like they don't even go to lunch detention. So, like there's really no consequence um for sneaking off campus or for doing something like that. Um I know a lot of kids just order food off of their phones and have it delivered to the school. Um so I mean that's kind of a beneficial way, but um I mean one thing that kids really love is their cars. Um and they love being in their cars. Um so I think maybe if like

091I don't know like that's just where they want to be. So that's like and we're not allowed to be in our cars anyways. You can't go from the building just to sit in your car for lunch, right? >> Um, no. Because um there are instances with like drugs. >> I mean, that was one of the other things I didn't ask him about, but I >> which causes a lot of problems um just for staff because staff is liable for that since it's on school grounds. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. And just uh as an f kind of as an aside, we had to get a no pre trespassing order for our church to in order to protect that back parking lot because we were having issues specifically for with kids from the high school

092going over there and doing things that we didn't want happening over in the church parking lot. So, it's definitely a complicated issue. And so, I like the idea of a limited permission, a probation, something like that. I'm not opposed to that, but it's >> Well, we also >> going to need a lot of discussion. >> We also have Minga, so like if you have like 40 Minga points or whatever, you get like an off-campus lunch with like three friends. >> So, there's also that kind of opportunity that kids can have. Um, so >> great. Are there other updates that you'd like to provide for the board? We really appreciate your feedback, by the way. That's great. Um, I know someone brought up during conference week, um, just like the idea was proposed, um, having the

093long day on Monday instead of Wednesday and then every day after that just being a short day. Um, I know that was proposed. I know a lot of students liked that idea as well. So, that's just a thought. >> What's the advantage of doing it that way instead of the Wednesday? >> Um, honestly, I don't really want to get up on a Wednesday like for conference because like, oh, it's a long day. Like, I don't really want to deal with the long day. So, I mean, just doing it on Monday, um, like the hard day is over with and then you just have like the rest of the week to look forward to. Just like, oh, like I get to go home for the rest of the week and there's not really a long day

094that I have to go through. And in in addition, the teachers like at least at the high school, Tuesday is like the long day where they spend until like late hours in the night. And I'm I'm sure like as as the daughter of an educator myself, I know that like it's really really hard to have to get up the next day and um work that full day. >> Oh, interesting. and like have like in the past like um before the co 19 pandemic I do remember having um the day on the Monday and it felt a lot um it it felt like it worked a lot better for conferencing scheduling and then that it would it just um it felt more productive for the students instead of them also like treating that Wednesday um as

095it did this year like a half day as well. >> We always had a long day. I feel like conferences, the whole week used to be a half day years ago. >> And then the middle school, high school have Monday and Tuesday night late nights. I >> mean, in terms of >> Oh, Wednesday. >> Yeah. So, like the long Sorry, the long class day. What's the full day? So, they go half day Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and then they have their regular late start. And >> I can't remember that. >> Yeah. So this comes down to uh the amount of instructional minutes that's required by the state of Washington and we are very close to not meeting that because of our late start Wednesdays uh and our half days for parent conferences. We also have

096to count in the early release days that we have spread throughout the year in anticipation of breaks like I think think is it Christmas we have a a half day. All of that all computes into getting an instructional amount of minutes and we are we meet that uh by submitting the amount of minutes we have to the state board of education and meet the compliance thing but we're close. So if we were to have um half days all the way through that throughout that week that may potentially put us in not meeting the instructional minute requirements. Yeah. It's it is pretty thin. Yeah. And so what I will I will tell you that parent conferences in the last couple of years, the structure that the district uses for parent conferences uh is being considered to

097be looked at differently. And maybe that's me uh who who looks at parent conferences in CILA as being very traditional and have been this way for a long long long period of time. Um we are in talks with uh our um teachers association about the idea of parent conferences uh being different for that entire week uh and not having half days. Maybe look at a full day of parent conferences and have three full days of instruction that week and two days of parent conferences. Um sorry, Charlie. [laughter] Yeah, you don't have to worry about it. But um part of that even requires us to submit a waiver request uh to OSPI to be able to do that. But I will tell you that we're we're having some initial um discussions about how parent conferences may

098look differently. Our high school and our middle school um use two nights of parent comp two evenings to meet the needs of the parents. uh where our elementaryaries only have one night. And so that that brings about some complexities with regards to the work day for employees who are in the same position but just work at a different grade level. So um I don't know if we'll get to the point of making uh some changes to that. You have to start early. Uh there's actually a resolution then back in 2023 was brought to the board and you signed it in anticipation of potential changes to parent conferences. That's part of the requirement that needs to go to OSPI for approval. Uh we'll see where that goes. But we do realize that parent conferences um although

099they're very well attended and that's the one thing I have to keep in mind is the parent conferences are not for the staff. They're not for the students. They're really for the parents. And if we're getting great turnout to our parent conferences, then we have to keep that in the back of the mind because we're we're even at our secondary schools, we are getting very very high percentage of participation in parent conferences. >> Yeah, I know. But that's helpful. >> Yeah, very helpful. >> Uh Charlie, great to bring that up right now. And Claire, great to bring that up now. Very timely for sure. So, thank you very much. All right, we're moving on now to the Yes. And if you need to leave, uh, uh, the, um, student board representatives. >> Yep. Have a

100good evening. Uh, we are now moving on to the item number eight, associate superintendent for district operations. We have kind of a brief 2024 25 year end highlights and an enrollment update. >> Awesome. Yes, this is a very high level uh, summary of what the um, highlights are for the 2425 year end closing. The full presentation will be brought to the board on December 13th or 11th. 11th. So, um, we just wanted to give you a little bit of information. As a reminder, our deadline for year end closing is always the October right around October 25th, which we met. Um, the ESD, we submit our our year-end report to the ESD. They do an independent review. They got back to us with three or four FYIs which were pretty uh minor things that we fixed

101and now uh Kevin certified our report. Um it went to OSPI today. The deadline is Saturday. So got that in on time. So this gives you just a very high level summary. So as a reminder for enrollment the projection for the 2425 school year was 3619. Our actual year-end average was 362. Reminder, we're funded based on year-end average. So, our projection every year, we want to project what we think the year-end average is going to look like. And we use that statistical method on uh survival rate from one grade to the next. So, that was represents just under 17 under projection. As a reminder, FT every FTE is worth right around $10,000. So, that's $160,000 we weren't able to collect being under projection. So we prefer to be over projection but not too far over

102so we don't impact class sizes. So revenues um we ended the year receiving 64.5 million in revenues which was a 1.7 million less than what we had budgeted. We always budget a good amount of capacity on both sides of the budget for the unforeseen grants that we may get and enrollment and all those other things that may come through. So we were that was basically unused capacity that we didn't uh need for on the revenue side. Expenditure side we landed at 65.6 million in expenditures which was 1.9 million less than budget. So we definitely have some carryovers and um including our nutrition program and some other programs and also unused capacity on the expenditure side. Transfers. This is the second year in a row that we have not transferred funds from the general fund to

103capital projects. Um we had, as you all know, we had a long-standing practice um of transferring uh in the early years. In my first 10 years here, we transferred 800,000 a year and then we moved to 400,000 a year. But the last two years being difficult budget years, we've cut that out. So, it's something that needs to be discussed again moving forward because after we get done with these two projects, I'll talk about that in a minute. We'll have just under a million dollars left and we have other projects that are coming up that we'll need to do. So, um also the cash reserves. So, we ended the year at 10 point just under 10.6 million. Um the actual deficit uh we budgeted a $1.3 million deficit. We landed at a $1.1 million deficit. So,

104$200,000 um less than what we thought we were going to be in the red, which is a good thing. Again, 10 just under 10.6 million, which represents uh 16 uh 16% 16.14%. Um the board parameter is 8%. 8% would be 5.2 million. So, we're basically double that in our cash reserve. But as we all know, we don't want to keep dipping so low that we end up we need to get a balanced budget here in the next two years to keep be sustainable for the future. Um so the breakdown of the fund balance we have unreserved fund balance of 8 little under 8.4 million which is 12.81% 81% of the expenditures actual expenditures and res the reserved amount is 2,184 which is 3.33%. Um included in the reserved amount is all the carryovers. We also

105have uh capacity built into the reserved amount for a potential transfers to cap project. So, we put 500,000 in there for a potential transfer moving forward and also $500,000 to help um subsidize the special ed program. Most districts run in the red and special ed. So, we try to keep some money in reserve for that. Um carryovers and reserves. You can see that uh detail there. Um we had our building budget carryover. We allow buildings to carry over 15% of just their basic yet allocations. were down in the reasonable amount now. We used to have buildings were carrying over more than that in uh the past years and so we were putting caps on it. Uh but we don't want to say you can't carry over anything because then we don't want to find buildings

106just spending to spend. Uh so we give them a little bit of grace there. Nutrition carryover 581,000. We did dip into that pretty uh good amount to get down to what 581 with our new walk-in freezer and refrigerator unit over at John Campbell. Um and then the inventories for commodities for nutrition. We have to reserve that amount. Program carryovers, we have some lap high poverty funds, ECAP which is our early childhood education, the preschool. We have our best which is mentor funds that we get from the ESD and TK. We had some totaling 310,000 in carryovers that are already in our bank account. Those are the ones we reserve. The other ones are claim, spend, and claim, which obviously aren't reserves in our cash reserve reserve for unemployment pool. We also have money um at

107the ESD 105 to uh help or to pay for unemployment claims and we keep an amount in there for that purpose. So, total carryover, it's just under 2.2 million. Any questions on the general fund? >> I just have a quick question. For the purpose of our board policy, the percent of cash reserve is 12.81, not 16.4. Is that correct? >> The the actual Yes, >> that's the number we should look at. >> It is 12.81. The the 8% really pertains to the unreserved unreserved even though the policy doesn't >> doesn't actually say that. It just says 8%. >> Okay. So, and it's and we ch remember the policy's been updated to say 8% at year end. >> Okay. >> So, it's going to fluctuate during the year based on cash flow. So, you want to

108say okay the parameter needs to be a set point in time. So, that's what we have at this point. >> Great. Thank you. >> Any other questions on that? >> And there's a fuller report coming in. >> Oh, definitely. Yeah. This is high level >> at the next meeting in December. Is that right? Okay. Great. Uh enrollment update. Um, Derek, did you have a question? >> Okay. And then cap projects, just real quick, and then I'll move to enrollment. The year-end uh fund balance for capital projects, 7.3 million. The unused state match money because we did get additional funds on the that we didn't need on the transportation cooperative, which bumped that bond uh unused state match money uh reserve up to one just under 1.6 million. That money is being expended first and foremost

109on the turf field. So it'll be exhausted for that project because it was authorized to spend those monies on safety related projects. And then the non-bond funds are the Wilbur rep amount which is 3.9 million and then the nonbond other is 1.7 million. So 5.7 million total in uh nonbond funds. And so the two projects as you know that are in process, the CTE addition and the turf field, at the completion of both of those projects and considering the the state match money that we'll be receiving on those two projects, we should land just under $1 million left in the the cap projects. Now, that's all dependent on where how the project pans out. If we don't run into any uh issues with the budget on those. >> All right, I'll move on. >> Can

110we put in a track for a million bucks? Wouldn't that be nice? All right, enrollment update. So, this is as of November. Thank you to Jennifer. She jumped right on this when we had the numbers from the the count. Um, our number count for November is 3509. So, remember that doesn't include running start uh open doors and TK because they're reported separately. Shows a decrease of 13 FTE from the October count. So we did see a slight decline again and we're expecting to see a slight decline through the the rest of the year. It especially happens at the end of trimesters. So we have the end of the trimester coming up. So we should we probably will see a slight drop in December being the the end of the trimester is end of November. So

111when looking at the November 24 count to November 25, we experienced a total decrease of 75 FTE. the one-year look. Um, when looking at projected enrollment uh versus average to date, we're 30 over projection, which is which is good that we're over projection at this point because we will see that decline over the course of the year. Hopefully, we'll stay in a positive position by the end of the year is what we we can hope for. We're also we continue to be open to non-resident student applications. There is a board policy on that as you know. Um, families need to apply. They need to be released from their home district by the superintendent, signed off, and then they bring it to the new district they want to uh apply to. Kevin has to sign off

112on those, but we have a process that goes out. Counselors check on disciplinary issues and a lot of things before approvals are made. We have to make sure we have space and all that, but we do have space districtwide. Anything you want to add on that, Kevin? >> Although we'll lose some students at the trimester, we may gain some students as well. >> That's true. uh that that have been maybe put on hold or have decided to start the school year in their home school district and now they've worked through the process and now would like to, you know, transfer into our district. So, it'll we'll lose some and gain some. It won't be significant one way or the other though. >> Okay, great. Thank you very much, Chris. Appreciate that. Our next item is

113item nine, the superintendent report. Again, just uh I know we did this at the beginning of the meeting, but Jamie uh from the superintendent's perspective, thank you for being a board member and all of you've done for all the years. Um I I think our students um and our community and all the people that have gone through the schools during that time have benefited from you being on the board. So, thank you. My report's really really small. Uh Dan and Derek uh just publicly you two are both off to the WASDA conference to represent the district uh next week. Hope you uh have got everything you need to feel comfortable about going. Um when you're there if things go sideways, which hopefully they won't, you definitely can call Chris or I or Jennifer and we'll

114get them all straightened off. But more than likely, you'll have an excellent time. It's a new venue for WASDA being in downtown Seattle and and from everything I I've heard from the staff at Wazda, they're really excited and expecting it to be a really good conference. Uh if you're taking your spouses with you, enjoy the time as well. Um no no school, a reminder that uh before you know it, we'll be on the Thanksgiving vacation and we don't have school on that Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving. So, it'll be an actual three-day of no school one when we return from Thanksgiving uh community forum. We've had to adjust the date a few times with conflicts of school related activities, but we've landed on a date of 12-3 as a next community forum. It'll be similar that

115I'll seek out ideas from from patrons, parents, community members, uh and try to speak to those. I I will say that the last two have not been well attended. I don't know if that's a sign that is good or bad, but regardless, I'm always been the one to if it's one person or a hundred, it's going to be beneficial for the people that decide to show. And uh I feel I have an obligation if it's one or two to have those same conversations with those people. And we did have that last time. We are going to move it um outside of the middle school. It's a it's a it's not set up, but it it does challenge the um custodial schedule there when you have people in that facility. Um and so I'd like to

116kind of take that off of that custodial team and then bring it right here to the boardroom. And the number of people, this room is big enough to be able to handle the crowd that we need. So that'll be the one change. It'll be at 6:00. And then um again we're in a we're coming up on next month in the month of December believe it or not and it is a one board meeting month. It is on the 11th. So other than that um thank you again for being board members and um looking obviously having a new member on a on a board means a new board. So a new new time of change and adjustment for all of us as we we bring in Larry. We congratulate him. Although it's not certified and official,

117we do know that Larry will be will be joining the board and we welcome and congratulate him for that. That's my report and thank you. >> Great. Thank you, Kevin. Uh we are in board communications and I think Derek wanted to say something uh first about band instrument. >> Yeah. So I'm not expecting any action tonight, but what I did want to if you would just take one of those, I was talking to the band director at the high school and uh he needs some additional funding. um his goal has been to get one of the top or to to create a top 10 band program here in Washington state, which I wholly support. Um you can see from this list here, um first and second pages, he's looking for about $200,000 overall. Um it's

118a big ask, especially um with our budget deficits. But I do believe that or for me as a board member, putting money in the classroom as close to the students as we can is what is most important. Um, and so as we look at this, I would like to over the next couple of months find ways to at least provide some of the funding for these band instruments. I know that Kevin told me that um for their competition in February, they don't have sufficient instruments to perform at a level that would allow them to win. And I would like to make us uh maybe not if not this year, next year, find a way to make that happen. Um, and Chris, as a request for information, if we could get as a board, um, maybe

119the breakdown of income and expense, if not for individual sports, I know that's a huge ask, just in general, how much do we get in the sporting activities, how much do we spend every year? um and uh I hate to use this word but maybe provide a per student equitable solution to our students who are in the band and drama programs. Um just because I do feel like the extracurricular programs provided by the band and drama clubs reach students who are not participating in sports and so I'd like to see um some money put forth to them. And um Kevin said that they have about 95 members who participate in band. They're an integral part of our football and our basketball games especially in addition to the uh other concerts that they do. Um and

120so they reach other than I think the track team, I think that's the largest extracurricular program that we have. And so I'd like to make sure that we find ways to support it. And and just to clarify, Kevin you're referring to when you're speaking about Kevin is Kevin Madson, right? Not this Kevin, but the Kevin that's the band instructor. Okay, great. Thank you. >> Younger mortality. [laughter] >> Can I offer just a >> offer just a little bit of information on the finances there just so for informationational purposes, Derek? In 2324, we did use some of our uh federal ESSER monies to purchase $60,000 of band instruments at the high school and 25 at the middle school. I went back in time. We did have some allocations early on 16, 17, 17, 18, 18, 19.

121Some of those may have been cut through the budget cutting cut process. We always have provided for years the instrument repair allocations. you know, the high school gets anywhere from 2500 to 5,000 and um the middle schools gets around 2500. So, we are trying to to keep up. It's it's a tough one because this we try to budget for instrument replacement almost every year in the levy and then with the cuts we end up having to just reduce a lot of different things. It wasn't part of the levy when we when we passed it. So, one thing that I would maybe recommend and uh Kevin and I talked a little bit about this is when we go out for another levy in 20 for 2027, I think um that we think about is there something

122in the current levy that we're funding that we can maybe get rid of or or maybe there's a reduction to athletics and activities. I'm not suggesting that, but if that's a decision, then that would be a way to add some funds there. But right now, we don't get any funding from the state for band instrument uh replacement. And I agree, we need to have money to replace instruments because we keep those instruments on hand for kids use and it's important, but it's just one of those other things we don't get funding for, but we need to find it. And they're way too expensive for most students. >> Oh, yeah. They're crazy. >> The the reason we spent the eser money on it, of my memory, is for equity purposes. >> That's right. and and that

123that was approved in 2022 but not expended until 23 or 24 because of delays in instrument shipping as as far as I understand. >> That's correct. >> So, it's yeah, it's a tough issue. It's not an easy issue. I mean, I know that there's a public group um trying to do an endowment, which would be my preferred method. It's a gift that >> gives into the future independent of the school district, but in the meantime, maybe we can provide a band-aid. I can put some information together for you on this act activities and athletics >> for your request. >> A band-aid to aid the band. Yeah. Right. Word play. All right. Uh the board of directors communications. Other comments or questions for the good of the order. Uh I I I have already sent a

124message to Larry and uh congratulated him. Uh congratulations Joe as well. We'll say a little bit more about it the next meeting to welcome everybody in. But congratulations to uh to Larry and to Joe for sure. All right, Jamie, you get to do it. Here we go. You ready? One more time. There it is. Meeting adjourned.