001Okay, it is 700 p.m. I said 7:02, but we're all sitting here, so we're going to get started right at 7. Um, and the regular meeting of the West Valley School District Board of Directors is now called to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> Ready, begin. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, I'm making one slight change to the agenda under communications. I'm just going to um for the new board members and just a refresher for the rest of us uh that have been on the board. I'm going to read four bullet points on just basic parliamentary principles um because we do it a little more
002informally uh here. According to policy 14 uh procedure, I'm just going to read these four. We do not operate under Robert's rules of order but have a more simplified rules. Business is presented before the board in form of a motion but no no second is needed. Um debate on a motion is informal but should strictly uh deal with a question at hand as determined by the president. The president um can call can call for informal discussion on an issue before the introduction of a formal motion. Um and that's about it. So we don't need a second. A lot of people you have a motion first and then you have discussion and then you call for the vote. We can also just have informal discussion before we even have a motion. So I just wanted to
003clear that up a little bit to understand in the public also that we do operate a little more informally on this board according to our uh policy. So thank you for that. Um Dr. Finch uh communications a response to public comment. Very good. At the schoolboard meeting on January 13, 2026, a parent represented many students and parents from the West Valley swim team. The parent expressed concern about the potential closing of Lion's Pool and asked for the district to consider contingency plans. Uh the response to public comment is as follows. The district has developed a contingency plan for the 2627 school year to ensure that the West Valley boys and girls swim teams will have a facility for practice. The district has reserved lanes at the swimming pool at the Yakma Athletic Club for the
0042627 school year. West Valley administrators will continue to meet with representatives from the city of Yaka and other school districts to consider options for Lion's Pool. If Lion's Pool is not available for the 2627 school year, practice sessions for the West Valley boys and girls swim team will be held from 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Yakama Athletic Club. That concludes the public comment. >> Thank you. Uh B High School ASB, Katie of Georgia, are you doing ASB report today? >> Yes. >> All right. All right, we have student representatives Katie Champy, Georgia, and they're going to do the ASB report and then they're going to move into the schoolboard appreciation recognition as well. >> Are we good to go? >> You're good to go. >> Okay. ASB treated the students to a winter
005themed assembly in the afternoon on Friday before winter break. And ASB also hosted a kids camp for grades 1 to 5 over winter break. About 85 elementary students got to see the high school meet high school role models and have a fun day while their parents worked or finished up some holiday prep. This is important to ASB for a few reasons. Uh we build future student leaders. It's a fundraiser for us and it's also a community building activity. Um, the winter sports are having strong seasons and nearing the playoffs. We had the winter pep assembly on Friday, January 9th. And also we got to spotlight our incredible Mr. West Valley guys who have take over tonight as we're speaking. Um, we started the new year off strong with senior porches on January 6th and those
006will be in the yearbooks soon and families can purchase copies if they want. Mr. West Valley is in full swing with their education and fundraising. Their pageant is on February 18th and everybody is invited. Our MLK junior observation took place in Ramstrong classes on January 23rd. Our speaker was state leadership director James Layman and it was a video sharing a message about the power in believing. Okay. Um ASB leadership and renaissance helped create decorations for the PTSA senior parent son's night out fundraiser. Uh, I don't think this has actually happened yet, but their theme of retro games should be really fun. Um, and so our upcoming news, our CTE department is hosting a course fair in early February so students can discover the electives to be offer as they prepare to register for the 26
00727th school year. We are anticipating some playoff basketball and state for wrestling. Uh, follow follow our social media to stay informed. Uh we will also be having about 50 students attend the Jo's leadership workshop on February 18th. ASB will pay the expenses, the registration, subs, bus and lunch, all that kind of stuff to make sure this is open to anyone um who really wants to. And this is like one of the main reasons we fundra is so we're able to take kids that aren't even necessarily in our ASB class to um workshops like this and learn more leadership skills. Um, we're also about to be in full swing of spring sports, too. So, that's going to be something exciting to look out for. Uh, the music, the musical is set to go on stage February
00820th, 21st, 27th, and 28th. The students are doing everything they can to be ready and hoping the junior high auditorium will also be ready. ASB is planning an assembly that celebrates our fine arts on February 20th. We call this the Ramies and it's a fun way to recognize other students, not just our athletic groups. Um, this is also when we reveal the girls who will be in Rams on the red carpet. Another one of our clubs, DECA, is getting ready to host their daughter date night on March 7th. This is a huge event. Um, and it's also a pretty big fundraiser for their state and national competitions. It's also a really good community building event. I've been a part of this event for the past few years. It's always a super super long day, but
009it's always always always pays off to see the smiles on the little girls faces. Um, and then our sophomore class is getting ready to host tool on Saturday, March 14th as their first major fundraiser class. They are planning and prepping already. And that's all we have. >> Thank you. >> All right, let's move to school board appreciation recognition. We have our student reps are going to read the proclamation from the governor. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Can we just start whenever? >> Yep. >> Okay. Whereas the mission of Washington's public school system is to ensure that all students achieve at high levels and possess the knowledge and skills to be responsible residents of a democratic society and enjoy productive and satisfying lives. And whereas Washington's 295 locally elected school boards and nine elected educational service district
010boards are the core of the public education governance system in our state. And whereas the districts and regions they serve they lead serve more than 1.1 million students, have a combined annual budget of over $16 million, and employ approximately 120,000 people. And whereas school directors play a crucial role in promoting student learning and achievement by creating a vision, establishing policies and budgets, and setting clear standards of accountability for all involved. And whereas school directors are directly accountable to the residents of their districts and regions, serving as a vital link between members of the community and their schools. And whereas school directors and educational service districts provide a passionate voice of advocacy for public schools and the welfare of school children. And whereas it is important it is appropriate to recognize school directors as outstanding public
011servants and champions of public education. Uh, now therefore, I, Bob Ferguson, governor of the state of Washington, do hereby proclaim January 2026 as schoolboard recognition month in Washington. And I encourage all people in our state to join me in this special observance signed this 31st day of December, 2025. >> All right, nice job. And let's give our board a hand. Our students, you can come forward. We have certificates for you here. So, this one is for Georgia. >> Thank you. >> And I'm pretty sure that is for Katie. >> Thank you. >> There you go. Thank you for your service. We got here's one for Haley. >> We got Joel. Thank you. For James Steel. says Natalie. There it is. Natalie, thank you. And then we're going to have Jed Waters here as our executive
012director for innovation for West Valley. Jed's going to share some projects that our students did and and uh made some things here for the board. >> Yeah. I want to highlight some of the work of our students at the different buildings. So, the first thing you guys have is the name plates at your spots there. So, those were made by our eighth grade student Carson Tree. He's been two years in the construction engineering tech program that's taught by Mr. Appling, Travis Appling. Um Carson was also part of the PAL program. So for that name plate, they use our mid-level campus or junior high. The innovation center and Sunni High School will have CNC routers. So that's how they actually engrave your name is they use a program called VCarve uh CAD perm to design what
013the lettering, the graphics are, and then they use a CNC router that'll go, you know, cut into the plastic that way. A lot of our plastics been donated by Yakma Plastics. It's a great partnership there and use a table saw um for the stand there. So, that was some of the neat things that they're able to do. And then the plaque that Dr. Finch has uh that was designed by graphic design students or TAs from Justin Wright's graphic design class previously was Mason um Hley or Hanley and then Hi Sab. I'm sorry if I mispronounced those names, but um two of our students there. So, a great Did I get you two student leads? Did I do it right? I'm not paying attention. All right. Um, so yeah, so that was great that then we
014used a laser cutter for that. And one of the neat things we talked about some of our alignment, the middle level campus, the animation center and the high school all has laser engravers. They use them in different ways, but some of the neat technology we're able to incorporate into some of our different buildings and see some of the neat things and those represent really what our industry around the area has. So neat projects they can get done for you guys and thank you for your work. >> Yeah, thank you Jed. And thanks to our teachers for leading our students. Thanks for our students for doing such cool projects. And then also just want to recognize all the other schools. They gave us posters here. They have uh some signed cards for you and just lots
015of cool things here for board appreciation. So all the schools uh had recognition and and then all these great uh projects that our students did. >> We appreciate it. >> Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> This is awesome. >> Okay. U moving to uh D selection of instructional materials committee. Um there's seven positions. Four are parent guardian members of our uh IMC and three are staff members. So we uh had several people put their names in for wanting to be on this uh IMC instructional materials committee. So we're starting the first one we pick and I'm going to have our illustrious vice president pick and I'm going to hold the bag. Um so you can blame him. So the first one we're picking is the term ends. They're taking someone's place. So the
016term ends June 30, 2027. And then the rest of them that we'll be picking ends in June of 2029. Is that really a year already? Wow. 2027. So this first one that we pick will be uh for term ending 27. And you get to read the name. >> Oh, thank you. Candace Cutles. Okay. And uh three more out of this bag for parent guardian member. Lily Morrison, Lorraine Gregory, Sierra Arcant. >> Thank you. And then for the three staff members term ending June 30th, 2029. I'll pick three of those Jeremiah Ruthles. >> Sorry. So sorry. It's okay. And Amy Mills. Hey, thank you. >> Um, Steve, can I ask a question about this? So, um, I was the parent member before I became on the board. >> What you don't want me to ask? >>
017Yes. No, go ahead. I know what you're going to say. >> So, can I still serve as a non voting school board member? >> Because I know Mr. He did that in the past as a school board. >> I don't know the answer to that. I think since there's it could be two of us could do it, right, without it being a public meeting. So, um I would like to still continue on that on that um >> as non voting, right? >> Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. >> So, if that's possible, I would like to do that. >> All right. Sounds good. >> Okay. Okay. Next is our program presentation. Geraldine Ashva is our director of state and federal programs and they'll provide information about the district's transitional bilingual and instructional program. Yes. >> Welcome. >>
018Yep. And let's go ahead and have the board join the audience so we can see the overhead. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you for having me. Um, as Dr. Finch said, my name is Gerlyn Ashva, state federal federal programs director, and we're going to talk tonight about our transitional bilingual instructional program. Um, and I apologize for the red font on that, but it is the only slide that is not clear. So, um, better choice next time. Uh, and it's not There we go. Okay. Um, so I just wanted to start it off with giving you a little bit of information about our demographics because I don't think that, uh, we all realize that in our school district, we actually have 32 languages representative represented. So while students may not come to school speaking all
01932 of those languages, they a lot of students have other languages at home that they are exposed to or it was the first language or the most used language in their home. On a smaller scale, when we're talking about the transitional bilingual instructional program, we're looking at our students who are receiving services are representing nine of those 32 languages. Again, still a very significant number of languages. Um the students who are served through the transitional bilingual services program are students who have been identified through a survey in which they mark their first language is another language other than English or another language is spo spoken more often in the home. Um and then they're screened and if they qualify for services then they would receive these transitional bilingual services. So that's what I'm going to
020be talking about tonight. Just wanted to give you a little bit of context there. Um, so the transitional bilingual instruct instructional program is a statef funded supplemental program. It's meant to enhance general or basic education. Um, and the goal here is to provide meaningful access to content and English language development. And I'd like to just emphasize the down there at the bottom where it talks about language and cultural assets. Really honing in on on what the students are bringing to school with them and seeing that as an asset rather than a deficit for our students. So again, meaningful access to grade level content and English language development. Um that's a a transitional bilingual instructional program is a sister program to the federal title three program. So same intent and purpose for both of those programs.
021uh we are shifting in the state of Washington and I'd say almost probably uh nationally really moving at the state level and the district level from that uh student is a student uh has English as a second language or uh English first um from going down the hall to the English language development teacher classrooms or the ESL teachers classroom and having every teacher this model here on the right hand side being a teacher of language. So the math teacher is a teacher of the academic language of math. The social studies or history teacher is a teacher of the academic language of history. So we are all collectively responsible for the English language development of our multilingual students. And that's been a big shift probably I would say the last five or six years and and
022uh we're still having to kind of wrap our minds around that right. Uh we do follow a multi-tered system of support framework. So different students will receive different levels of support. So if you're a multilingual student in West Valley, we're doing a really we're working really hard at uh making sure all of our teachers have the skills and the strategies and the support that they need to help support the multilingual student in their classroom at tier one in the core. So everybody is receiving services in the core or that tier one. Some students need a little bit more. they maybe need um additional small group time um additional minutes um outside of that core. And then we also have students who need more intensive support with their English language development. So that'd be your tier
023three. And you probably see this triangle at several board meetings, right? The multi-tered system of support framework. So last year we uh went through program review. Our federal programs went through basically an audit is what that was. and we it was successful. We had a great program review. So, what came out of though was just really good information about um what we're doing well, some things we can celebrate and then some things that we can just focus on. So, I just want to share those with you. So, here we have some trend data or multilingual learner exit rate. So, students who qualify for the program um the goal is to to be proficient in English. And so, when they are we we take an annual assessment called the UIA. It's an English language proficiency assessment
024and when they test proficient then they exit out of the program and so they're no longer categorized as a multilingual learner. Doesn't mean they don't need additional support just means they were not getting the funding to support in the same way. Um so you can see when we first started the WEDA we switched from what was called the ELPA English language proficiency assessment. Um we kind of took a little dip in our u transition percentage and we were at 3.2% 2% for transitioning out of program in 2122. We also had just come off of COVID. So that was a big hit as well. And then of course we've just in uh increasingly gained and then had a little a little slide there last year. Um all of those years very comparable to the state exit
025rates. Um so we feel pretty good like we're we're right there with the state on that. Um this year of course it's going to be you know more than more than the 8.8 8 is our goal, right? Increasing that as we go. Um, some more data that we we noticed and some areas that we felt like we needed to focus on um as we moved into this new year was our long-term English language learners. And I actually really like calling them experienced language learners, right? If we're going for asset space, they're the ones with the experience, right? They're the experienced language learners. But the state calls them long-term English language learners, meaning they've been in program for five or more years. the longer you're on the program, sometimes it's harder to get out, you right?
026So, we really want to focus on um supporting our teachers in a way that helps support the long-term English language learners and really um enhance services for them and um we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute. So, the state average for the long-term English language learners was 32%. And when we went through the program review, we were able to really look at the data and see that we we're at 38%. So that was like a what are we going to do moment, right? We've got to address this because there's a disparity there. So we're higher than the state here. And then the other piece that we uh really have focused on is our students who are multilingual students who are also served in special education. We're about 10% higher than the state
027in that area. Our current data for this 2526 school year is that we have 571 multilingual students. I think that's probably the highest number we've had since I've been in state and federal programs. Uh we have 226 long-term English language learners. So students who have been in program more than five years. That's significant. Um and we have 162 uh multilingual students who are served in special education. We broke it down a little bit further. At the elementary level, we have 319 multilingual students and 10% of them are long-term English language learners, which makes sense, right? Because they have to be in program for five or more years to be categorized long-term English learner. Really, they really become uh if they're still in program by fifth grade, that's when that really happens for them. Um and
028then at the secondary level, 77% or 194 students out of 252 are ELTELS or long-term English learners. Very significant. Uh so we set some goals for our program uh and uh they're simple. We wanted to increase our professional development and then just support the implementation of those best practices. So, it was something that we're talking about, we're looking for, we're having ongoing instructional coaching and really supporting our teachers so they can u really support the students. So, tonight we're going to celebrate the work that has been happening this school year. So, I have Rebecca Festa who is our district multilingual instructional coach and Jesse Golett who is our midlevel multilingual instructional coach. Um, they're going to share the work with you, but I also invited a couple other guests. I have Jennifer Ditter Jen. Would
029you just stand up just so they can see who you are? She's a multi or she's an instructional coach at Cottonwood Elementary and she is a GLAD trainer. You're going to hear a little bit about GLAD. So, she's important to that role as well. And then Crystal Diiera who is our English lang our new English language development teacher at the high school and important to this work as well. So, I wanted to shout them out. So, um so I just wanted to give a little bit more background. Um we speak a lot in acronyms. So SCOP is one that we um we use a lot in our field and it means sheltered instruction observation protocol. It's an instructional framework and lesson design. So it's not an additional curriculum. It would be how to design your
030lessons to meet the needs of our language learners. um project GLAD, which is guided language acquisition design. Uh Jen Ditter and I are both certified GLAD trainers. Um and so that is in is also an instructional model similar but different than SCOP and it's strategies to use scaffolds um to use in the classroom to provide access for all students to grade level content. And then the WEDA test which Gerilyn referenced. Um we can not agree on what the name means but it it might be what world class um instructional design and assessment or it could be Wisconsin Delaware and Arkansas or the states that founded the assessment. But regardless it is the test that our students take um students who are in program take on a yearly basis. So just a little bit of background
031in case we uh slip back into our acronyms. Um so again after our program review, we wanted to increase our professional development. Um we wanted to ensure the effect effectiveness and continuous improvement of our program for our students. And so we were really fortunate this year. It's been very exciting. We have had um teacher release days um single release days for almost all of our students or our teachers in the district. And on these days we worked to um as a team all of of us worked as a team to familiarize the teachers with the sheltered instruction protocol that we are all teachers of language in the classroom. And that is new to some teachers because the framework has changed over the years. And so the big question is um for the teachers is well
032how do I do that in in my classroom like what what do I need to do? So we um provided them with the background information. We worked on analyzing district data such as I Ready and then also the WEDA data of their multilingual students so that they knew specifically the proficiency levels of their the students that they had in their classes. Um identifying the strengths and needs of the students. So these are just um some pictures of the teachers working together and strategies that we worked on. Um and then the teachers had time with the coaches to learn, discuss and plan um to implement high yield strategies. So it was really a day of providing them the specific information with their students and then planning with them to implement those strategies. Um as of today,
033most of our elementary teachers have had a release day. um all of our middle level student uh teachers have had a release day, all of our IC and all of our high school teachers. So, we've been able to reach most of the teachers in the district this year. Um we've had some really good feedback from them. The second um training that we um do and we have provided this in the past as well but we are continuing to provide is the guided language acquisition or glad trainings which Jen and I provide together. And so when we do this it's a two-day research and theory training and then a 4-day classroom demo training um where we go into the classroom and we teach the strategies to students while the participants are watching. Um it's a really
034effective model and um but it is a lot of time out of the classroom. Uh almost all of our elementary teachers have gone through glad training um and we continue to reach out to the teachers who are new to the district to provide the that training to them as well. And then this year we also have been um given permission to do more of a condensed version. So at the middle level campus and the innovation center I have just just we just started and today was my first demo day at the innovation center was very successful. Um so they've had a condensed research and theory training and then we are starting our demo days but we're spreading them out so it's not so much time out of the classroom all at one time. So they
035are teachers are already implementing the strategies. Um, it takes time and it takes practice to learn what to do, how to do it. Um, it's a different way of thinking for some of the teachers. Um, but they're already starting to implement the um, strategy. So, I'm super proud of them. Um, that's some more GLAD training. And then, um, we always ask for feedback. And so, this is just a few of the teacher takeaways. um they're learning information that they hadn't pre previously considered for their English language learners and then better understanding the um needs and strengths of where their students currently are and how to move forward with them. Okay. And now Rebecca has some more information. So our second goal was supporting or is supporting implementation of best practices. So we had release days
036with teachers. We have ongoing um support with our teachers and professional development. But now what does that look like in the classroom and how are we supporting the teachers? So, um, our teachers work really hard and you're going to see some of their work that they then took and they implemented with their students. And just a note, these strategies that they learn in these um, professional development uh, days and release days, they are um, not just for our multilingual students, but the strategies are great strategies for all students. And so um it takes really a lot of intentional planning on the teacher's part and this gives such great um opportunity for students to develop their um receptive reading and their listening skills as well as expressive language um their speaking and writing. So on the
037left that is um an observation chart where a teacher will put up pictures and then um maybe they'll pose a question or students um go and look at the picture and they might write a question that they have about the picture. So they're making observations and writing those down and talking to a partner. Um, the next one is a narrative input chart. A teacher would um have a story that they're telling. So they have a background that they create ahead of time and they have pictures with a story on the back of the pictures and as they tell the story they make the story come alive for the student and place it up on um the background making sure that they're using academic language of the content with their students and having students repeat that.
038And then at the bottom, it's kind of hard to see, but there are chants that uh teachers work on that helps students uh with the academic language that they're learning. And that repetition really helps them learn the content in class as well as just being together with other students. It lowers all of these strategies help lower their effective filter and um students will participate more freely. We've got some cooperative strip paragraphs on the left. Those students work together to create a sentence and then they put it all together to create one paragraph. So that cooperative learning is very helpful. And we have cooperative um or sentence patterning charts. Students learn the different parts of a sentence and they're colorcoded. You'll see adjective, noun, verbs, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. And then along with the teacher and
039classmates, they come up with sentences and create that. and then they can use their sentences for the cooperative strip paragraphs. We see gallery walks at the high school and gallery walks and word walls. These are all great strategies for students to work together and um help with uh comprehension. And then they take their work from these walks. They take some um structured notes. They synthesize those notes and they're able to use those. They made comic strips in biology and they made different graph um drawings in um another science class. So all of these uh strategies they work to um they all have a purpose and the purpose is getting students to use that uh academic language and uh increase their knowledge of not only the content but the English language. So, we had some student
040reflections and one that really stood out to me was uh the one that says, "Yes, this has helped me this year. This has helped me be able to talk out loud." And that's what we want. We want our students to use their language, language of the content and talk because we know if students are doing the talking, they're learning. So I just felt the feedback from them was super valuable and our plan for program success as we continue improvement doesn't happen by chance. It results from intentional evidence-based program enhancements and they deserve continued support and investment. As you can see, um Gerilyn showed you, we had an 8% exit rate. So with that momentum and continued emphasis on high quality instruction and targeted coaching, we have a clear opportunity to exceed um that 8% and
041grow um in the future. >> We can give him a hand questions. Thank you very much. Um, any questions? I'll I'll just start out. I just want to thank you so much for um all the hard work that you're doing. I I love just the key words, best practices, and doing things with a purpose. I mean, it's sort of obvious there with everything. And I started writing questions, but every time I wrote a question, then you answered it. So, I don't have a whole lot of questions because you answered it. One of them was just that exiting rate of 8% as you see it continue to grow. Do you do you have a goal or is it just just to see it keep going? >> I like it when we're not higher or in that
042case I'd want to be higher than the state, right? But I I like to compare us to the state, right? I like to look at what is what are most districts around the state doing and and are we >> within appropriate range. Um, so no, I I would just say I want to continue to see I would love to see students exiting out prior to becoming long-term English learners. Uh, if we can get them exiting in the primary grades even, right, if we put the focus there as well. Um, but that's when the learning really is powerful, right, in those early years. So, um, not a not a specific percentage, but I just like to see it go up every year. Yeah, >> thank you. >> I I I actually the exact same thing that
043he said is what I thought is that I I wrote down questions and then the next person answered it. And so my first question was um how are the teachers being equipped for the new paradigm? And this Miss Goldbeck answered that. And then I asked, well, what are some of the new strategies? And then Miss Besta answered that. And so very good presentation. And I I I really love the investment that West Valley does into our teachers. Um I think if we can make our teachers better teachers and I think we'll have better students, >> right? And I just want to add to that, like I think our teachers have been doing several of these things for years, but I think having like the release day where we're able to take our student list and
044we're able to say these are multilingual students and now I'm going to have the whole day to work with an instructional coach and plan intentionally is really powerful. best practices and but sometimes just that you can say this student needs this strategy or this support and really be cognizant of that. I think that's >> and to work with somebody too. >> Yeah. And work with somebody, right? Just have a thought partner and that's the beauty of the instructional coaching. >> Yeah. >> Great job. >> Awesome. Thank you. Anybody else? Yeah, that was definitely my feedback is I thought it was cool that you guys took time to kind of mastermind around what worked best for um the children that needed this support. I think that's really awesome. I came from a background of zero diversity,
045so this is so cool to see everyone just pouring into it and making it a better place. >> Yeah, thanks. >> And Jyn, the four domains are reading, writing, listening, speaking, right? >> Correct. And WEDA testing started yesterday and we have eight weeks of testing those 571 students. So our team is fully mobilized and and working through it right now. So again, we'll know at May how we did. So >> I loved what you said about um looking at langu language and cultural assets um and looking at that as a value. Um I thought that was really powerful and it kind of guides all of your work. I could really tell from >> right we want to look at all of our students from an assets based lens, right? >> Um and um talking about
046it helps make that happen. >> Yeah, that's great. >> Bringing their assets to the table. So yeah, awesome. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay, the next on our agenda is a public comment of non-discussion items. And we have one person signed up. I'm just going to read what we read at every public comment. Members of the public who would like to provide public comment will sign in. Speakers will be called in the order that they are signed in to speak. Speakers will be given three minutes for their comments. Public comment is not the proper forum to address concerns about a specific staff member. If a person has concerns about a specific staff member, they should make an appointment with the superintendent to address their concerns. Carol, you're signed up.
047Come on up. >> Well, I really just had a couple of questions. Um, one is, um, is there a presentation, um, prior to school starting to outline the sex education curriculum in the middle school? Uh, and I was asked I was wondering if we could have a presentation of that curriculum here at the schoolboard meeting. And um, another thing was I was wondering can parents opt their kids out of that program? And I kind of wonder what if they opt out, do they have uh, what do they do if they're opt out of the program? So that was just my few questions tonight. >> Thank you, Carol. >> Okay, there is no one else signed up, but if there is anyone else that would like to make a comment, now is the time. Okay, hearing
048none, I'm going to close the public comment section. Uh, next on our agenda is approval of the consent agenda. There are 1 2 3 4 five six six different consent agendas. Um I'm going to make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Um but I want to see if there's anybody that would like to make any comments or pull anything off the consent agenda. >> Sir, we're approving A B CDE E. >> We're approving approval of minutes. >> Yes. approval of vouchers and payroll, financial reports, approval of employment contracts, approval of resignations, retirements and separations, and approval of lead requests. Thank you for that question. >> I I'll make a motion to approve all six. >> Okay, there's a motion to approve the consent agenda. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed
049by the same sign. Motion carries 5. Okay. Now we move into action items and we're going to take uh each A, B, C, D, and E separately as an action item. So the first uh item is approval of travel requests and uh is there any uh discussion or comments on any of those? If not, I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve all of the travel requests. >> Okay. Motion to approve all the travel requests on the floor. All in favor of approving the travel request signify by saying I. >> I. Opposed by the same sign. Motion approves 5 to zero. Uh B is approval of the policy additions. Uh first reading on all six of them. And uh again, is there any questions or comments on any of those? I I
050would like to just point out that policy 6961 defeasence of bond proceeds is a new policy that was initiate initiated by the West Valley School Board. The intention is to state clearly to the public that the policy of the West Valley School District is to process a defeasence of funds if there are excess bond proceeds. The policy provides a one-year time period after projects are completed. The policy directs the district administration to identify the total amount of excess bond funds, identifying a 10% set aside, and then identify the remaining amount that could be used for a defeasance of funds to lower the tax rate for West Valley taxpayers. If there are funds remaining that exceed the processing cost of the defeasence process, the school board uh if they yeah if they exceeds the cost of
051the defeasence process, meaning that there are excess funds, then the school board will follow the law for the defeasence of funds including a public hearing and the school board will approve the defeasance. So just wanted to point that out because we had talked about budget development at the last meeting. uh the board asked me to bring forward this policy and so this is a great opportunity to make a statement that any excess bond funds in the in the future would be defeased and make that the policy of the district. >> Thank you Dr. Finch. Um Mr. Wilcox, um on I I I guess I had a request on 6220. Can we push the first reading out uh to the next meeting? I just I didn't get really all the chance to take in all of
052that and I just was hoping for like a little more time to to process some of the information. >> I agree with you. I read a lot of it to go through it again. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, we are going to um remove five. So, I will read the other motions. There's a policy approval of policy additions. These are revisions. First reading uh 1630 evaluation of the superintendent 21108 learning assistance program 3425 accommodating students with adrenal insufficiency which is a new policy uh 5011 sexual harassment of district staff prohibited and now six uh 6961 defeasence of surplus bond proceeds which Dr. Fence just talked about. So, unless you want to remove one of those besides what um you just did, we will I'll entertain a motion to approve the rest of the policy first
053reading. >> Can I ask a question about 6961? >> Yes. >> Um Dr. Finch, was this reviewed by our legal council at all? >> Yes. >> Okay, that's >> just cuz for everybody else's awareness because we've talked about >> adding this language to the bond and adding it to different areas, but whether we could we I think we weren't able to add it to the bond. Correct. >> Legally, >> right? Legally couldn't add the bond, but then we had bond, our bond uh advisors, Yeah. council were able to review this and >> Okay. >> Um, >> so they signed up on this and >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Good question. >> Yeah. Any other questions? >> Okay. Again, I'll entertain a motion to pass the rest. >> I'll make a motion to approve all but
0546220 and table that in front of the bank. >> Okay. Motion is made. All in favor signify by saying I. I >> I opposed by the same sign. Motion carried five to zero. Okay. C. Approval of a highly capable district plan. >> Yes. This requires annual schoolboard approval and so we include the plan with the cover memo and um just need board approval. >> Okay. I will make a motion to approve the highly capable district plan. All in favor signify by saying I >> I oppose by the same sign. Motion carried 50 D is approval of schoolowned vehicle use. Again, this is annual approval needed and there's a cover memo to explain that. And so, we just need approval for schoolowned vehicle use. >> I will entertain a motion. >> I'll make a motion to
055approve the approval of school owned vehicle use. >> Okay. A motion's on the floor to approve school own vehicle use. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed by the same sign. Motion carried. 5 E. approval of junior high domestic water piping project bid award. >> I asked uh Ryan McDaniel, our assistant superintendent for educational support services. I asked him to be here this evening to just give us a short summary about the process that was involved for the the bid process and then the the winning bid. >> Yeah. Uh first of all, the uh policy 6210, the purchasing authorization and control given that the uh capital outlay purchases of services exceeded $75,000. And so, um, it goes above Dr. Finch and is put in front of the the board. Um, for
056the board's knowledge, when there are, uh, bids that go out, if it's over $100,000, we can either do the formal bid or small works up to $300,000. This project exceeded that, so we had to go through the formal bid process. We had to advertise to the public. Uh, we obtained sealed bids, and then when we opened the bids, that was open to the public as well. and then taking uh the lowest bid. That's what you have in front of you right now. >> Can I ask um is this coming out of old bond funds or where is this fun? >> Yeah, it's coming out of our capex uh funds but there there are some bonds uh funds left in that. >> Okay. So, >> so this was budgeted >> or is this a budget? >>
057Yes, this is prior to the disease. Right. >> Yeah. It's coming out of capital projects. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Was this was this one of the things that we pulled out of the facilities plan to just get care of immediately? Okay. >> Yeah, this was uh it was important for the facilities plan to get get in place because we need to decide are we going to keep the junior high building as an asset. >> If so, then we would invest in the domestic water pipe. So, when we just said yes, we'll keep that as an asset because we've got the central kitchen there, we've got gyms, we've got and we can eventually um >> Yeah. Okay. >> Uh use it as district office as well. And so it made sense to um go ahead and
058and invest in that building because we're going to retain that as a building in the future. >> And the bid came in below what was anticipated, which is also good news. >> That's correct. Yeah. >> Great comments. Any other questions or comments? >> Okay. Then I will entertain a motion to approve the junior high domestic water piping project bid. I'll make a motion to approve. >> Okay, Natalie made a motion to approve it. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I opposed by the same sign. >> Motion passes. 5 Z. Dr. Finch, is there any items arising? >> I have no items. >> Anybody else? Items arising. Okay. Um there's reports is number 11. You all received uh all those reports and I trust you've read them and they're very good. uh superintendent report.
059>> Can I ask about um 11? >> Sure. >> A lot of the reports refer to CE data. Is that available? >> Right. That'll be part of our um >> summit >> report that we have uh the data summit that we have coming up in March. >> Okay. So, but it's not publicly available yet. It's not published. >> Uh we haven't made it public yet, but it'll be public as part of the uh data summit. We're pulling them all together. >> Yeah. It was good to see they had pulled out pieces of data that the principles highlighted, but I was interested to see the whole thing. >> And for the public, that's the center for educational effectiveness, and that's the annual surveys that we do in uh November. We get the results back right at
060the end of December. So that's principles were really digging into the survey results. That's the surveys of students, staff, and uh families. And so that was u pretty much as you look you could everyone has access to those administrative reports and I think almost every principal was referring to it because it was >> yeah hot off the press so they were interested they did a great job. >> Yeah we did. >> All right superintendent report I just wanted to share that we put the link for uh coffee with the school board put that into my report here and we also advertised that on social media and advertised it through our parent square. And then also uh one of our community members had shared well how do you sign up for parent square? So I put
061the link in there. Um anyone can sign up for parent square even if you don't have kids in the school. We do have uh a community button that we press when we have information that's relevant to the community. And so you can uh just go on to the website there and there's the link is provided in the superintendent report. So all these reports are available online. If you just go to today's meeting and go to the agenda and click there, then you can get the link to all these. And then finally, um, another update about the replacement levy and replacement bond. Uh, just want to make sure that we clarified that for both a bond and a levy for schools, voters approve a set amount that is needed. And if the assessed value of property
062in the community goes up, then the combined tax rate will go down. Schools do not get more money when the assessed value increases. voters approve a set amount and if the assessed value increases then the combined tax rate decreases. So just wanted to clarify that as well. Thank you Dr. Are there any board reports or board development from the board changing? >> Okay, before I adjourn the meeting, I just want to um thank again um for all these uh notes and appreciation and think candy or something in there and um this is really awesome. So for whoever, thank you so much all the students. >> Yeah, all the students that did a lot of hard work. So we really we really appreciate that. So, thank you so much >> and we thank the board for
063your service. Um, I'm not sure people realize that really this is community service and action. So, thank you for your service. >> Yeah, you're welcome. Okay, it is 7:53 and this meeting is now adjourned. Thank you.