WVSD #208 School Board Meeting 10-28-2025

001Good evening everybody. It is 700 p.m. Today is Tuesday, October 28th. We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. >> Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance 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. Any uh Dr. Finch, any changes to the agenda? >> No changes. >> All right. Communications, response to public comment. Maybe before you proceed, you might want to uh excuse uh director Steve W. We will. All right. Would somebody like to make a motion to excuse Mr. Walcott? >> I'll make a motion to excuse Mr. Walcott. >> All right. We have a motion to excuse Steve Walcott from tonight's meeting. We'll go ahead and

002vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I. Same sign. >> Motion carries. Now we'll go on to communications now. Dr. Finch. >> Very good. First we have response to public comment. So, at the school board meeting on October 14th, a staff member shared concerns about the instructional materials committee procedures and asked the school board to reconsider the procedures so that staff members can serve as parent representatives to the committee. Also, parent asked the school board to consider the addition of a middle school auditorium to the bond project so that middle school concerts can be held in an auditorium. He explained that currently middle school concerts are held in the middle school gym and the junior high band concerts are held at the high school auditorium because the junior high auditorium is too

003small. And here is the response to public comment regarding the instructional materials committee. RCW28A 320230 provides the legal parameters for the composition of the instructional materials committee. Parent members must equal less than 1/ half of the total membership for of the committee. For West Valley, there's a pool of members and for the voting members, there are nine representatives for the professional staff and eight representatives for parent members. The current composition ensures that the perspective of school staff is represented on the committee and the perspective of parents who are not school staff is represented on the committee and the school board has noted the request for reconsideration. Uh, regarding the middle school auditorium, the school board will consider adding a middle school auditorium to the bond project. This will be included in the discussion item at

004tonight's uh tonight's meeting. The addition would increase the bond from 92.5 million to 97.5 million. That concludes the public comment. There will be discussion about the middle school auditorium later in the meeting. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Finch. Uh at high school ASB. >> Very good. We have uh Katie Champion here this evening. She's the representative to the school board uh senior here at West Valley High School and she's going to provide the ASB report. >> Oh, is it is the uh on here? >> Uh we can if you'd like to read that. >> I'm sorry. >> I just did a check before. >> No, we have it right here. Just >> quickly, we'll do that. And then we have um school board meeting and we have ASP report right here. Oh my goodness. It

005keeps jumping too. Don't know why it's jumping. Here we go. Just go slowly up here. High School ASP report open link. Presentation mode is >> I guess that's that's pretty >> that might be okay. All right. And then you just scroll down. >> Yeah. >> Scroll down. >> Okay. That'll work. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh starting our report. Most of um what I cover is in homecoming week. So I thought just bring it all down and say homecoming week. Uh we have a picture of all of our ASB students. Every Wednesday in October to bring breast cancer awareness, we all wear pink. So on Wednesdays we wear pink. It's a picture of all of us. And our Buff Puff volleyball is a really fun tradition that all of the high school boys can

006participate in. 13 teams participated and that's over 100 students playing and then even more watching. So we have a lot of participation in that. It's all free and it's just another fun way to get school energy going before homecoming. And then here we have uh the fab football which is kind of like the girls buff puff part. Me and Georgia were on a buff puff team and played flag football and you get to kind of put an outfit together and make up a name and we got to compete on the football fields for the high school or on the turf. Um one team per grade. This was the first year we played on the turf and it was a really fun experience. cheer. Okay, so uh the boys cheer is also another fun homecoming tradition.

007Uh every morning the cheer girls are really patient and come in at I think like 5 in the morning to put together a dance for them and um yeah they they have a cheer dance that they present at the assembly. So another fun homecoming tradition. Um, our ASB puts together the homecoming reveal for our homecoming court. Uh, the, uh, football halftime. Uh, but our halftime presentation also includes the band color guard, the ROC honor guard cheer, and everything ASB does behind the scenes. So, it was really fun to get to support different groups of school, different parts of the school in that as well. Then we have our homecoming dance leadership did a really great job decorating and making that really cool experience for us. And I have some numbers. Um so we sold 633

008ASB tickets, 260 ID tickets, 121 guest tickets. uh because students qualify and have a waiver on file. House bill ASB tickets were free and 32 ID tickets were free. Uh $740 of revenue we didn't get because of this required policy. So this is one of the reasons we are so grateful that the district has been helping us with dance expenses. It has allowed us to keep ticket prices low and still put on a great event. Another part of homecoming is our Ram Landing project. Homecoming Court and ASB United in our school collecting donations for Ram Landing. We got a list sent to our advisories or our Ramstrongs of donations like clothes, uh, toys, things that they need, and we brought that to our ASP classes throughout the week and they collected it. This donation drive

009was a huge success and a great way to start the school year with a service project. The freshman had the most classes participate in Mrs. Whitfield's oh had the most classes participate and Mrs. Whitfield senior Ram strong collected the most items. And that is all I have. And then up oh that's our dance prizes. And then upcoming our fast pitch is on to state and we had our college fair. I got to talk to some representatives from WSU and that was a really cool opportunity for me uh and all the other seniors there. Our fall sport senior nights are all around this week. I think soccer is tonight. Um our softball state sendoff it that was last Friday. 50 leadership students are going to a leadership workshop in November. We have our marching band competitions

010and the auditions for the district musical by by birdie was today. >> That was all I have. Thank you. >> Maybe can ask you question. Um how many uh how many other students were at the college fair with you? >> Uh the whole senior class. >> The whole senior class. >> Yeah. >> And what did you name your football team? >> Oh um Uh, no. School board meeting appropriate. >> You don't have to answer. >> It was We went off of the Seahawks. Their defensive team is the Legion of Boom. So, >> yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. It was It was a really fun thing to do. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, I have two quick things. First of all, thank you very much for the slideshow. It's awesome. love to see. Uh it really

011it really adds to uh the report. So, thank you for for doing that. And secondly, um it's really neat to see uh for the old people in the room that went to West Valley a long time ago that a lot of the traditions during homecoming week uh that may have been when the old people were coming through West Valley are still happening. So, uh >> so that's really uh that brought a smile to my face. Thank you. >> Yeah, we have fun putting them on >> the the powderpuff football and the volleyball and the uh uh the guys cheerleading team. Uh >> those bring back some good memories. Thank you. >> Yeah. Any other questions? >> Thank you, Katie. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Next, we move on to item six

012on the agenda, the presentation of the strategic plan. Dr. All right. Very good. So, we have our strategic plan. Uh, last year was the first full year it was in implementation and we're staying the course with our goals for the district. uh through the strategic plan like to share with you work that's been done here in the fall and as we look forward to the school year what's going to be the focus within the strate strategic plan for the district I'm going to be presenting along with um for goal one and then strong foundations we'll have Christian Williams helping us um with goal two and the presentation for goal three we'll have Nick Clark and Amber Styles Gil and then for goal four Jed Waters and McMurray and then I'll wrap things up with our

013district foundations So uh we'll take a look again. The goal one is the culture of safety and belonging. Goal two strong foundations. Goal three mastery standards. And goal for career pathways. So last year we had a real strong focus on the launching the strategic plan and looking at goal one across every classroom. uh are practices where the teachers will actively promote and model an an environment that respects all students backgrounds and experiences by using routines that deepen relationships and that staff will explicitly teach, retach and reinforce school and classroom expectations throughout the year. Um we had professional development in this area and we had follow-through with administration checking in on classrooms and basically this year we want to continue that. Uh we'll continue to monitor the percentages. Oops. Sorry. We'll monitor uh the practices and

014um we've done that through surveys of students whether they feel um that their school is safe, whether they feel that most students are respectful at the school. We do that uh every other month um reporting that data into the school improvement plan template that we have. And then our summitative assessment is the survey of students and also families that we do every November. So that's coming up soon. They'll have the work through the uh center for educational effectiveness, the CE surveys. Uh that's outside company that does it to ensure that it's uh done properly. Uh we really promote that. I know in the past uh Michael Thorner had said, you know, we wanted to see an increase in the number of respondents and so we we worked on that and had an increase. So, we'll

015continue to really focus on making sure we have a good uh survey size of respondents for that survey. Um, but more importantly, we're going to be continuing to monitor throughout the school year. And um, the other thing I wanted to share about the whole strategic plan is that all of our data for the key performance indicators, those are online, very accessible to anyone that would like to check in on the website. Just go to strategic plan and you'll see what those key performance indicators are. We up to update those in real time. So as the OSPI releases data about nth grade on track for graduation, I I have the password. Boom. I go in there, I update the website. So as soon as we get the information, we update it. And so all all all

016the data right now is as upto-date as it can be. Some there's a little lag from some of the data from OSPI, but um I like to have the official data from OPI. I put that in there so it matches the OSBI website, our website, everything is uh real consistent there. So culture, safety, belonging is still uh out, you know, so important for our students in West Valley and that really is the foundation for the learning. And now to talk about the learning, uh we'll talk have goal two. Kristen Williams is our instructional coach at Apple Valley Elementary. Uh she's also worked as an intern for us as a principal and also a principal sub. But uh as a instructional coach, she's been real instrumental in working with the rest of the instructional coaches on

017providing professional development to our staff regarding this uh important area of of the um strategic plan. And so I asked Kristen to uh help share tonight the work the work that she's done and the work that's being done across the whole district at the elementary level. >> Hi. Um yeah, like Peter said for strong foundations, our outcome is the hope that we increase the percentage of students reading at grade level and also increase the percentage of students that have acquired grade level mathematical skills and concepts. That is measured through our I Ready diagnostics and like Peter said, those scores are updated fall, winter, and spring. So our school improvement plans have that data in place. it's on our district website and we're monitoring those as coaches and administrators tracking that data to see that we're

018meeting meeting those goals and reaching those. Um part of our um main focus this year for goal two is the focus on teacher clarity. And we started that with aligning our instructional practices across all of the grade levels and really um making sure that teachers have the clarity of knowing their standards. And when they know their standards, they're able to do all of these things. um asking the appropriate questions at the right times, knowing when to step in in the in the moment in the lesson, those discussion prompts, giving students um what we like to call wise feedback or specific feedback. Um and again leading up to that assessment. On the other side, making sure that all of our tasks and activities are aligned to the standard at hand. Whatever our goal or um learning

019target success criteria is for that particular lesson, that our tasks and activities are fully aligned. And um I guess I kind of said that already, the learning intentions success criteria. Um some of the ways we've done this this year, we started off um all of the buildings in August with professional development on teacher clarity um led by administrators and coaches. We followed that in September with um another round of professional development on a release day. And then our monthly PLC days, of course, those late start Wednesdays. The focus this year is really on teacher clarity. And in the elementary for goal two, that's on those strong foundations. We know that giving students at a young early age, those K5 students, those reading and math skills are just going to increase their success as the years

020go on. So that's kind of I think in a nutshell. You >> book study last year. >> Oh yes. And the district did do um admin read uh a book teacher clarity over the summer and then um it was offered as a book study for the district after school and I'm also offering it um as in my coaching role at Apple Valley. So we're just digging down each month reading a chapter and really focusing on what is it that we can do to have strong foundations in our building. And >> what was the name of the book? >> Teacher clarity. Gotcha. >> I had it. I should have brought it with you. >> Oh, yeah. We have lots of copies in the district. >> Lots of book studies happening. Really appreciate Kristen's leadership to make

021that happen. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Krist. >> Next is goal three, mastery of standards. And so we have Nick Clark, principal of West Valley Middle School, and Amber Styles Gill, principal of West Valley Junior High. They are a dream team at the mid level and they're going to share uh focus at the mid level for mastery of standards. >> All right. Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. All right. So, um just like uh when we saw you guys last year, we're just taking off with this and so goals one and three are our focus points. I don't want to lose, you know, goal one at all. So, just a few things that we do there with that is we still are doing our tier one systems with our PBIS. We're still greeting

022kids at the door. We still have our advisory going on every day. Um, so I just want to make sure that we're, you know, working through Character Strong, which is our district curriculum for that. So, goal one is still right there underlining and, uh, and make sure that we're really making sure the kids are feeling safe and welcome every day. That's a big part of it. Goal three, mastery of standards. Our outcome, our our outcome is supposed to be increasing standards of students meeting grade level standards in all content areas. So again, our data that we use to collect that and aside from the summit that Peter uh there you go. Thank you. So So we do we do collect the data through I Ready um three times a year. We have classroom based assessments

023that our PLC's work through as well and WEDA, ESBAT, those are all data points for us that we would look through and make sure we're meeting this outcome. All right. So um standardsbased grading. So we kind of made a checklist for you guys. So these are things that have we have started and we're really still working through. We don't ever kind of give up on this. This is an ongoing feat. And so standardsbased grading and our implementation of that in the Skyward and our standardsbased and mastery based and all that. So we're still working through those and uh and so we're making small tweaks when we need to. And so like Amber says, we're doing some fine tuning. Um, so yeah, so last year, uh, this is actually our same list that we used last

024year to present to you guys with a few additions that we have at near the bottom there because we wanted to show that we feel like we're really making good progress in our mastery of standards, but we are still working. Um, we last year everybody completed proficiency scales, so across the board all of our teachers have those. and we wrapped up our mastery based learning collaborative that we were a part of. But our teachers are still collaborating around mastery standards and mastery based learning and um working always on their proficiency scales because once you put things in front of kids then it's real life and you have to make adjustments. But we feel really good about where we are right now in terms of all of our content area teachers having scales for their um

025curriculum and standards. >> Yeah. So, one of the as we were promoting the mastery based learning and the standardsbased grading, um, we focused on the core four subject matters to start with and made sure that we got those established. And so, last year we really onboarded our elective and our exploratory teachers and those are they're still continuing with that. And we feel like they're getting a really good stronghold as well as much as the core teachers were. So across the board at the middle level campus, our teachers are feeling pretty confident with our proficiency scales and our mastery based learning um techniques and curriculums. >> And then we um were able to adopt new reading curriculum. Thank you for approving that. Um and so we've been implementing that in our ELA classes this year and

026it's a guaranteed and viable curriculum which is a piece of our strategic plan, right? It's right in there. Um, we also wanted to point out that this also the implementation of this curriculum aligns with goal one as well um because it's providing literature and experiences for our students. It's part of a student experience but looking at their their own experiences but also others. So like in ELA, I would tell my kids like you want to read books that are windows, mirrors, sliding glass doors, those kinds of things where you're looking at other people's perspectives, but also seeing yourself in the literature and then having new experiences. So our new curriculum um is helping us to do that. But the one piece that we don't have checked there, of course, because it's new, is our teachers

027are continuing to develop common assessments aligned to the standards. And that of course means some tweaks sometimes to their proficiency scales. >> Yeah. So drawing that line like uh the elementary is doing is very much the same. Teacher clarity is a umbrella that kind of overcompenses what we're doing this year. We're really hitting the ground running. So we really want to see that line from the standard straight through to the the lessons all the way through to the assessments. And teachers are planning backwards with the assessments in mind. And so drawing that so that the students, the teacher, and whoever walks in at any given time could really see what the intention of is that classroom and that lesson and being able to so that everyone's on the same page. We're not having things done

028to us. We're all together working through it. So, >> and we're doing very similar things. I mean, the strong foundations is similar to the mastery of standards, right? It's just like the big kid version. And so, we too have book studies at the mid level. Our teachers have chosen to go with the teacher clarity playbook, which is more of like a handbook. um or you think of like kind of like a study guide kind of piece, but it um breaks down and has some just practical applications of writing learning targets and success criteria aligned to your standards. And we've been saying to our teachers like we're not trying to give you anything new. We just want to dig deeper and get better at what we're doing because we have great teachers. We just want to

029keep getting better. And so that has seemed to take some pressure off so they're not feeling like, oh my gosh, you're giving us one more thing. It's more like, no, this is good teaching. let's do what we're doing, but let's just keep getting better at it. Um, so a lot of similarities like Kristen mentioned at our PLC's, at our late starts, everything is around teacher clarity and just keeping our focus. Um, our math team, the high school, they're able to um pilot some materials specifically for algebra. And because we also offer algebra at the junior high, um, our teachers who teach algebra were able to pilot those materials or in the process of that as well. um which they love to team vertically whether it's high school or our elementary teachers, our math teachers really

030enjoy that. So this is just a nice little segue into that teaming. >> I think that's it for >> and so and just kind of finish it up. Another one that's not checked right now that we really are pouncing on this year is that um our school improvement plan we really want to we saw a deficiency in our English language learners and so we really wanted to take a focus in on that. So, we've been using utilizing our coaches and the district has been great about stepping forward with being able to pull some teachers out and pull do some PD for underneath that and so we really appreciate that. So, that's something that we're really hitting the ground running as well with. So, yeah. Any questions on this guys? >> Thank you. Very good. Thank

031you. >> All right. Uh, next we have career pathways as a focus. And first we'll have Jed Waters, our director, executive director of innovation for the district and um person who oversees the innovation center. And you can go ahead read it more than they probably enough for me. So okay and then the using that arrow there. >> Okay, perfect. All right. So the four outcomes we have with career pathways are looking at every student using their high school and beyond plan to be career ready that I presented to you guys earlier in September on school links. So we had lessons at the junior high and or I'm sorry at the high school and innovation center. I think upcoming this week or next we are slated for the mid-level campus to start their lessons in schoolings

032as well. Outcomes is increase nth grade students on track increase percentage of students who graduate with post-secary credits. We've done a lot of that at the high school level or at the high school here and that increase our four-year graduation rate. And then Ben and I are just going to kind of talk a few of the ones we want to tie in with the innovation center teacher clarity. So a lot of it looks at as we just talked about the connection standards um students feeling comfortable in the classroom is really all of our teachers uh utilize something called a RAM record. So it's kind of a standard document at the innovation center that really guides what is going on in class. So no matter what the activity is lesson is our teachers or the class

033should have a RAM record. You can kind of see two pictures on the bottom there that really focus on what I'm learning. So that's that master standards. So what standards are they working on or what essential questions they try to answer? Why am I learning that? Which really fits in the career pathways at the innovation center with the health science, computer science, STEM, aerospace, robotics. They should know I'm in that pathway, but why am I learning this? How does this connect to my future versus the teacher just told me to do this worksheet and be quiet? So, I'm just sitting here doing this worksheet. So, our goal is everything connects to and they can create think why they're learning. How will I know I've learned it? Um, so what are they doing? What's their success

034criteria in order to know and then what am I doing to learn it? Like sometimes in CT or a lot some of our classes you get caught up in a project like I am welding. Why are you welding? Well weld just because it's welding class. So but why are you learning? So really get into what kind of task am I doing to learn how to weld and how to judge my well do everything set up my operations so that then that can take me to a future career as a welder or even if they go into other areas that precision attention to detail following the directions following a star and operating procedure really helps out that way. And then on the right hand side there's a graphic that we have in all our classrooms that

035just kind of focuses back on our teacher clarity. So again the things we just talked about what am I learning, why am I learning it, how will I learn it and what I'm doing. If I go through a walk through those are the things that after I use my observation I'll stop and ask the students as we do learning walks throughout the district. Those are really a lot of the same questions we're answering. So at the innovation center focused in on the career pathways but then teacher clarity has to help get us there. If not we're just kind of wandering around aimlessly. So teacher clarity provides that direction for us to our future careers. >> All right. And then Ben McMurray, our principal of the high school, we're using the little arrow to advance. >>

036Enter, right? >> Enter works, too. >> I wanted to clarify as a West Valley grad as well, um, we can't call it Powderpuff anymore. >> Oh, well, there was a there was a not school board appropriate name, so I just I just totally uh >> most of the names totally just said uh yeah I just totally said the wrong thing. So >> it was super clever just not >> thanks for thanks for uh keeping me accountable. >> Okay so four big things that we were focusing on with the uh the goal for that we are are looking at the high school. So peer observations are big for us. We started this in the 2122 school year. Uh it was optional back then. So it was kind of like one of those things that teachers could

037u go ahead and jump into if they wanted to. I was giving them building optional time for that if they would like to do that. Uh the next year we actually semi forced them to do it because we said if they would like to get one of their building optional days done they would have to do one observation day which would be seven different observations in different classrooms in the building. And the the crux to that was really our building culture. We wanted teachers to have an open door policy and we wanted people to be free to go in and out anytime they want and feel good about people seeing what they were doing and giving positive comments as they did that. So, I feel like that's really helped us um along the way, especially

038with our instructional coaches being implemented a couple years back because now our instructional coaches are going in with teams of teachers and that is allowing them to then debrief afterwards and have really rich conversations around what they saw and what takeaways they had. We keep it very positive. We don't ever talk about what we didn't see or what we would like to see. We always talk about what we were taking away from the classroom or that teacher so that we understood that it was a it was a a gained situation. It was a value gain situation instead of a negative situation. The other one was teacher clarity goals which everyone has talked about. Obviously that's a big theme for the whole district. We attacked ours a little bit differently. We had almost two full days

039to talk to our staff and try to figure it out. So, we ironed out what our teacher clarity goal would look like and then we came back and we revised that, edited that, looked at that, and then had lots of conversations in here actually about what that looks like. And we're posting those on all of our doors. We haven't done it yet because we wanted to also empower our students. So, our students are creating posters for our teachers that have their clarity goal on them. So, they've got their names, they've got their clarity goal, and then a couple of things about that teacher so that we can post that on their door. Um, and then everybody sees that as they come into the build, into the door, into the room. Um, and they can also

040focus their concentration on that if they're doing peer observations or if even if students are in there or we want to give feedback on those teacher clarity goals. So, we're trying to make them very public and very open. Um, not to make everyone uncomfortable in the building, but to make it to where we're all in this together and we all want to get better and we all want to focus on specific things that we can get better at. Uh we also discuss those at every single staff meeting and late starts. So when we start staff meetings, we have conversations around those clarity goals, like where we're at in the process, what kind of data we can collect to see if our clarity goal is is actually doing what we want it to, whether we should

041change it, alter it, um or adjust it as the year goes. We're hoping to do this for the next couple of years so that we can get a good foundation of what we're doing. Oh, maybe not. There we go. Uh PLC focus. We talk about our clarity goals there as well. So every single time we have late starts, that's the number one thing that we talk about is clarity goals. We have at least two people in each department share out. We are also focusing on DNF data. We really want to see what students are struggling in our classes and which classes they're struggling in. I think we've had a hard time having conversations around that. And I feel like that's a very rich conversation to have. What classes in science are we struggling with? What

042classes in math are we struggling with? and how can we make things a little bit different or maybe even make things clearer for students so that they have more success in those classes. Uh difficult conversations to have, but we're starting those now and they're being forced on our departments. So hopefully in the future um we will have a lot more comfortable conversations around how we can tweak things or manipulate things to where students understand what the goal is and where we're going. And the last one, which is probably the most difficult one for us to grasp because things are moving a lot faster. Uh, education is difficult because everything's changing all the time and a lot of educators don't like change. I I'm just throwing it out there that they they have a hard time

043seeing change. We've got a virtual academy. We've got RAM flex now, which has been a fantastic program, which we did present about last year. Uh we've got RAM success which is basically a credit retrieval course that we run during the school day to make sure that students are getting the classes that they've either not had success in previously or or need in in the future so that they can graduate a little bit quicker. Um we've got dual enrolled kids. We've got lots of options for our students, which in my opinion is fantastic and in my opinion is very difficult um all the way around because now we've got I always call it the Burger King way, right? Like um you can have it your way. That's what it comes down to. And if you can

044have it your way, that means you can kind of mix and match and do all kinds of different things, which hurts our FTE at the high school. And we're trying to figure out ways to target certain students that would be good for those programs. As we've done in the past with Running Start and YVTech, we've had a long time to figure out Running Start and YBT Tech. We haven't had as much time to figure out how RAM flex fits in there, how WBVA fits in there, how all these other options that we have now fit in with our students. And so, we're really grappling with that. And like I said, educators as a whole really have a hard time with that. Change as a whole is difficult for us. So, we're moving in that direction

045and we're trying to figure that out as we go. So, those are the four major things that I wanted to make sure I pointed out for goal four today. >> Thank you, Ben. >> All right. So, I think you can see a strategic plan. You hope that uh a plan like for a district would have coherence in the and bring coherence to the district. I think tonight you heard that with this focus on the teacher clarity across all the grade levels and and just the um ownership of that work by our administrators and I appreciate um them sharing tonight. The final part of the strategic plans district foundations systems to ensure high quality student learning, authentic engagement and partnerships with student families and community facilities and operations to support an outstanding student experience and a

046culture of excellence accountability and continuous improvement. In the spring, we always have our department uh leaders, the directors uh share with the board the work they've done uh throughout the school year and the plans for the future. I think what really comes through there is the focus on continuous improvement. We're always looking to get better in West Valley. And um for district foundations, uh a really big piece uh that our board has been leading is this facilities and operations to support outstanding student experience. So later in tonight's meeting, uh we'll be looking forward to this discussion with the board on the upcoming bond and to uh get direction from the board to come back at our next meeting with language that we put on the ballot. So the uh the board's certainly a partner in

047the work for the strategic plan. Appreciate the role that you play and um at this point I guess we open it up for any questions you have for any of the presenters. I I appreciate a lot of uh well I do I do see just I do I see the coherence on everybody I think with the goals and everybody's focused on the same goals. I I loved hearing uh Christian Williams just the the focus on reading and math and and and bringing that up at the elementary level and then from the dream team. Um the uh uh I appreciate you showing the unchecked boxes. You know, I think it's easy to say like this is all I've done, but I think it's important to recognize, but this is where I need to grow. And and

048I really love the the attitude to grow. And I see that with the high school, too, is that like the peer observations. I feel like it's how can we be better teachers and how can we I I I I think that culture is so incredibly important. And so I just say good job to what you guys are doing is leading all of our uh all of our schools. So thank you for doing that. >> I have a couple of questions. Um just a clarification. I I remember um previous discussions about the peer observations. Is is that correct my memory is that all verbally done or is there some written feedback that's given during that process at all? >> Well, the observation the purpose is not necessarily to give feedback to the teacher that's being observed

049but to gain like Ben said gain some understanding of of how the teacher is doing the teacher clarity, right? and um having that alignment of the learning standards and the targets and the activity and the assessment and then by having our instructional coaches go side by side with the teachers doing the observation then they can debrief about what they saw and what they can take back to their classroom. So it's not so much uh giving feedback to the teacher being observed but more what can we learn from that observation and bring back to my classroom. And Peter, just to add to that, at the mid level, we have a form that teachers worked on with um some of our teachers worked with our coaches to develop a form and when they go to do those

050peer observations, they fill that out as more of like a reflection um and the takeaways and we have um at the mid level we have expected strategies as admin that we introduced um when we came on board. So they're looking for some of those things and thinking about how they can implement um those ideas into their classroom and then they share that form with us as well. >> Okay. I like this whole process. So I just have a few questions about it. And then um so when those take place, is it like teams that do it together or do the do they change every time? I mean how many people participate? Is that just oneon-one or is it multiple individuals? >> Yeah, let's let Ben answer because he's a little closer to the action. >>

051It all it all depends. So, basically, we're paying them for their prep time. So, if they've got second period prep and they would like to see other teachers in the building. Sometimes teachers will just send emails out to everyone who has second prep and say, "Hey, I'm going to go observe this person. Does anybody want to go with me?" Four people might go and they might debrief afterwards. Sometimes you can't do that as easily. So sometimes it's just one person going to on their prep to go watch other teachers and then make sure that they get their time in. So it just depends on what's going on and how that works. But literally we're just paying for them for their prep. They're prepping outside of school which means they get optional time for that. >>

052No need to comment on this. Just must be a little nerve-wracking for some of the teachers going through that for four people show up. >> I don't know. Bob, you want How does it feel? >> Yeah. Um, I've been on all sides of that. Um, uh, I've got open door policy. One of our, um, instructional facilitators, uh, just throughout email, uh, yesterday or day before said, "Are you guys, you know, sent it to a group of us, are you open for is your door open for people coming in?" Yes, always. Um, I've gone out um alone um un uh without being directly invited. I have been directly invited and gone alone. I've uh gone in with groups um and I've had uh where one teacher will set up, you know, the group that's going in.

053Other times it'll be an instructional facilitator that sets up the group and the group goes in. Um so, um essentially every which way you can slice it. Um I've done it. Um, I will say that most times when I've gone in, I've filled out about 2/3 of a piece of paper to keep for myself and filled out a bottom third of a paper to leave with the teacher whose class I was observing uh to let them know, you know, that I appreciated being there, that there were a number of things that I uh I got to see that I'm uh reflecting on how I can record it in my own uh practice. Um, it's been a very positive. Um, uh, all aspects of it have been positive. Cool. >> Well, thank you for the explanation.

054Sounds like a great process. It's very intriguing. So, I hope it continues to be a success. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Yeah, I just have a few questions. Um so in in in goals three and four um and by the way I just I I think it's uh just as a introductory comment I think the mastery of standards and the proficiency associated with that I think that's that's a great outcome that I that for our students um uh that's uh I just I just I love everything about that uh um to demonstrate proficiency um in the strategic plan. It it references in goals three and four, increasing percentage of students meeting grade level standards in all classes and then a variety of other in goal four um you know increasing the percentage of nth

055grade students on track for graduation. So there's these various indicators of percentages that we have. So my question is is those numbers are of of West Valley that you know that's updated through OSBI right >> well the assessment information is OSPI or the nth grade on track for graduation but that is more summitative we are doing more u leading indicators so we're looking at that more on a monthly basis right >> and then like Ben said the last year administrators were monitoring that on a monthly basis the D's and Fs and then Ben said, you know, we really need the teachers to own this and analyze it and become part of the >> kind of the action research on how we're going to >> move the needle on that. And so this year the teachers

056are part of analyzing that D's and S as well. >> Right. So my question I guess is twofold in terms of is there do we have any information on how we rank in these various areas are wide statewide so forth >> not that I want to necessarily compare >> I do want to compare how are we doing against our other peer districts number one and then number two >> okay yes we want to increase the percentage But what what are we what are we where where are we trying to get to? >> And then are there other districts that are really moving the needle? Because I love the work that we're do. I love everything that I heard about today. It's a lot of internal work. We have terrific people, very intelligent. But my question

057is back to the numbers is if there are other districts that are doing it awesome and really making that impact and really moving that needle, at what point in the process do we venture out and look at models that, >> you know, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. So that's like a multiple series of questions, but that's that's where my head is at. >> And I feel good that I can phone a friend up here. Yeah. So, uh, Ben was doing, uh, work with the Center for Educational Effectiveness, the CE, on looking, uh, I believe they call it outlier study. So, Ben, do you want to share a little bit about the work you're doing? I know last year with Eric. >> Yeah, we actually jumped into a book study um that I'm on

058I'm paying for with the area and Sunnyside has done a lot of work on this because their grad rate has really increased considerably and that's with bringing in their alternative program. Innesota used to be separate and a lot of school districts in order to increase their grad rate would just kick kids to their alternative program so that their grad rate would increase and that happened considerably especially when that was a big um indicator as far as like how well a district is doing. Um Sunnyside brought in their alternative program and decided to incorporate the whole thing and still had a lot of success with their grad rate. And so that is really the model that we're focusing on and there were a lot of people that were kind of surrounding Sunnyside and making sure that

059that was working well. So, we jumped in with a book study with them. We're on our second year right now. And it really comes down to the indicators that you're looking at and making sure that everyone in the building is seeing those indicators on a regular basis, which is one of the reasons why we did the DNF thing every month is because we want to make sure that we have that a little bit more at the forefront. And if we're looking at it more often, we're thinking it's going to change for the better. Um, we because of course, you don't want to just lower the rigor. You don't want to just um get kids through so that your grad rate increases. You want to keep the rigor where it's at, but also move the needle

060to where we're being more clear in what we're asking of kids and getting them to that bar. And I know this doesn't your your question really is the question that everybody wants to answer in the whole nation. So when you ask that that's a really difficult um question, but I'm just telling you the work that we're trying to do to get to that point. >> No, it it does make sense. I guess more from a 35,000 ft view. I go on the district's website. Why are we page one district website? Why are we terrific? >> And there's a bunch of really good things on here that I totally agree with, by the way. And again, that's that's attributed to our staff. I want to be able I mean, like I'm I'm competitive about West Valley

061School District. I think we're the best. I want to prove it. Mhm. >> I want the objective data to show that we're number one. >> That's what I I mean that's but not just we're number one because we're number one, but number one because we're getting great outcomes. >> So it's not I mean you know >> I think you see that in some like when you compare our ESPback scores like I'm going to take eighth grade math. I'm always praising our math >> junior math teachers, but when you look at our eighth grade ESPback math data from this last year and you compare it to the state, >> we're phenomenal. Is it where we want to be? No. But we are doing so much better. And then also another piece of your question was about

062like are we going out are we seeking these other places? Right. So, I can't remember if we talked about this previously, but for several years, we were part of the Mastery Based Learning Collaborative, which brought together a lot of schools, and we were able to work with um people not just in Washington State, but people really from all over um and coaches from the East Coast and everywhere in between. And so we were able to get a lot of great ideas and really make I think some good progress on our mastery of standards and mastery based learning because we were able to learn from you know we had site visits but we also had meetings quite frequently where we met with all of these schools and got ideas. So >> thank you. >> I I

063do have to also add that most of the district that we've seen that are doing a really really good job of moving that needle are getting extra funding in a lot of different areas that we are not. And so we really have to think outside the box as to how we can get that or how we can how we can maneuver what we have and what we can control in order to do that. So it makes it more difficult for West Valley for sure, but like Amber said, I think our scores do reflect that we're at least getting them there and above. >> What are those areas then that they're getting the extra funding in? >> Uh it could be a lot of things. I mean we went to um was it Lindsay, California? >>

064Yeah. Yeah, they went to Lindsay, California, but they had Marzano was putting all kinds of money into it. The state was putting all kinds of money into it. They had a lot of free and reduced money coming in. Like it just seems like there were a lot more grants for those schools and the things they could do seemed extraordinarily out of touch as far as what our community could do because of our our area like our size. just the the the amount of region that we have in our school district makes it much more difficult for us to provide internet resources for everyone in the whole district. Um when we went to Lindsay, it was so much tighter, so much easier, so much more condensed, and they had so much more money that they could

065provide those kinds of things for our students. >> So, so like internet resources for students that don't have it at home, that type of thing. >> And programs, um was it uh power school? They had lots of different SDS programs, different things that they were buying outside of the norm that that were difficult for us to >> to figure out ways to fund. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Or people for that matter or class size for that matter. Like when you can hire more people, hire more teachers, reduce class size, obviously your numbers should increase because you're getting more one-on-one time with us. Well, instructional coaches, you've talked about the need for additional staffing for instructional coaches that thank you guys. Thank you. >> Anything you want to ask? That's perfect. >> All right. Thank

066you. Nice presentation. >> All right. Next, we go to let's see, where are we? Item seven on the agenda, public comment of non-discussion agenda items. I have a little script here I need to read. Is that how you always say it every time? >> That's how I get it right every time. >> Cliff notes. >> So, members of the public who would like to provide public comments will sign in. Speakers will be called in the order that they 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. Okay. Do we have anybody on the list

067for signing in? >> No. >> All right. Anybody in the room care to speak? >> Where's the list at? >> Sign in. >> Yeah, I think it's somewhere to sign in. >> It's okay. >> Hey, you could just come up if at this point. Is there anybody on the list now, Stephanie? >> All right, the mic is all yours. >> Uh, good evening, members of the school board. I appreciate that uh you chose to uh uh represent the West Valley School District and and help leading uh our uh our community organization that we love. Um my name is Bob Balderson. I've been a Yakman resident for 24 years, most of which has been in West Valley. Uh I have children who have spent their entire school lives uh in West Valley and are now at

068the middle middle level campus and uh high school. Um my wife also teaches in the district. Uh, I teach, coach, and volunteer in the district. I have concerns about how I, as a parent, taxpayer, and voter have had restricted opportunities and reduced resources because of my employment status. Uh, by schoolboard policy, I cannot serve on the instructional materials committee, even though my children are at an age where parental oversight of educational materials is uh preparing them for life after high school. As a West Valley parent, I'm disappointed the school board has chosen to strip me of this right. Also, by district policy, I'm not allowed to keep track of my students progress on a Skyward account separate from my professional Skyward account. This too is a decision that the district chose to make and the

069representatives from ESD 105 have said that is possible for our district to fix. Uh this exclusionary policy disproportionately uh impacts parents with uh blended families. Keeping track of my children's in-person activities is challenging enough. And I was thankful that the district chose to subscribe with an online monitoring service uh Q Studio. Not sure quite how you pronounce that. >> Uh however, because I have a wsd208.org org email address associated with my Skyward account. Uh I'm unable to take advantage of the service. As a taxpayer, I feel that been singled out again because of my employment status. Each of these items uh are uh each of these are items which the school board alone can fix. Uh each can be fixed at no monetary cost. And considering the stance that many of you have taken with

070regard to parents rights, I hope this message is clear. Our bus drivers, custodians, nurses, IT technicians, mechanics, counselors, and yes, teachers deserve to be heard with an equal voice and treated on an equal footing with regard to district-wide services for their children. I urge you to consider policy revisions that fix these matters. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone else in the room who would like to speak? If not, public comment from non-discussion agenda items is closed. Um, next on the agenda, we have item eight, approval of the consent agenda. As all of you see there, there are a number of items. If there's anything anybody has any concerns on the board that would like to discuss any in any detail uh now perhaps you can bring it

071up. Otherwise uh if someone would like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> All right. We have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. We'll go ahead and take a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I >> I >> motion carries 4 Z. I'm >> sure try not miss anything. Next we have item number nine, discussion items. There's two items there. Um obviously these are kind of a big discussion for us to have and we've been talking about these to some degree, but let's have a formal discussion at this point. Let's start with I think we could the levy proposals first or does anyone want to start in any other order? >> Well,

072it'd be good to follow the agenda of the >> levy proposal. I had shared information in the board packet about the levy renewal considerations uh what the levy supports. I shared a pie chart uh showing the different percentages of areas for the educational programs operational levy. Uh that was something that uh Steve Walcott had requested. And then at the last board meeting uh there had been discussion by the board and it uh appeared to be consensus to look at um running the levy for four years for $150 per thousand. And at this point, uh, looking for, uh, final consensus, uh, because I do need to have the board provide the administration direction to prepare a ballot proposal that would be on the February 10th, 2026 ballot for the replacement levy. And, uh, we would work

073on getting that language from legal counsel and bringing that to the board for approval on a vote. And that would be at our next board meeting on no uh, Monday, November 10th. We actually have the board meeting on Monday, our next board meeting, because uh Tuesday the 11th is a holiday for Veterans Day. And so look definitely looking for direction from the board so we can move forward and get the ballot proposal language finalized and brought to the board for approval. >> All right. Well, we can have some discussion. I think we kind of beat this before. So unless anyone has anything new, um you can move on. >> I I just had some thoughts maybe. I like I'm I think I'm for uh approving it the resolution tonight, but um one thing I think

074would be helpful for us um you know because we are asking the community to approve it is you know the with the jump from the 6 whatever million to 9 you've got a $3 million increase. Um, and I think, um, the pie chart I think does a really good job of laying that out, but maybe if we can specify how that where's that $3 million extra going to go to, like, you know, I think like, you know, asking, you know, Ben, the question about the areas of funding that um that gave those schools more success, like I I I would love to see that maybe some of that funding go tie into our goals of of getting that success. And so, um, I think just for transparency sake, if we can, >> um, give a

075little more detail, you know, >> and and it doesn't have to tie us to it. You know, I I realize you can put words out and it can seem like it's we're tied to it, but I think in a sense, these are our goals. We want to take this and we want to hire this many more teachers. And maybe we can, maybe we can't, but we have goals in it. And I think I think it'd be helpful for the community as we try to ask them to pass this. >> Yeah. Anything else? >> I don't have any further comments. >> I don't either. >> None. >> All right. So I just to cl you know kind of summarize ID heard consensus at our last meeting to um come back with language that would um have

076the $150 per thousand be that as our estimate for the four-year levy. >> Uh Mr. Keeper has asked for additional information that would just share what are our goal areas for the additional resources that we would have >> and maybe how that resource would be used. >> Right. >> Yep. The goal areas and how how the resources would be used. and we can do that. >> All right, >> I think we're ready for the bond if you want to. >> So outside of that, everybody's kind of in in consensus there for that. So, okay, let's move on to the bond. >> All right, I did include information from Corey Plagger. Cory would be with us, but he's actually doing two different board presentations tonight. So, it's it's a busy busy time of year. We're uh

077preparing for upcoming bonds and levies. So the information uh I did share we at our last meeting um the board asked the administration to identify what what would be additional cost for having a auditorium that could fit the band and choir uh so they wouldn't have to perform in the gym. And um we looked at what the square footage was on the existing proposal and basically with an additional 5 million we could add the square footage needed for uh auditorium at the middle school that would house the be have the students on the stage have the parents in the audience. Uh the high school auditorium seating is about a little over 500. Um and the uh seating for the auditorium that we were proposing for the middle school would be approximately 900 to a,000. And

078so that would be quite a bit more capacity. U because even now the with the junior high concerts held at the high school auditorium, it's almost standing room only at that point. So we really need greater capacity seating. >> What's the seating at the junior high right now? >> Well, I was talking about the high school auditorium. >> Okay, gotcha. Yeah, there there's there's less seating at the junior high auditorium. So, the uh really the what the board really needs to give direction tonight is do we move forward with the original proposal of the 92.5 million or do we add the 5 million for the middle school auditorium which would be a 97.5 million bond. And then Corey Plagger from DA Davidson, he's worked with the board before and been here in person to present

079in the past. So he was able to put together the information about what the cost would be using the updated uh assessed value that uh we've had. And so I'm going to take us through that presentation right now. So on page two of uh I have it on the overhead and you can follow along um with your uh iPads there or the computers that you have. So the um what is this doing here? Hide that. There we go. Okay. So, we have um this is again background information that we have. The high school bond is going to be paid off in 2026. And so on this page two, this shows what the middle uh the Apple Valley and Summit View bond, what the cost is for that. Um we look at what the assessed value

080has done over time. uh recently had an increase in assessed value which included the 80 million plus in new construction. So the more new construction we have then the tax rate is spread over um more taxpayers basically. Page four is the property values and school taxes. So we have the levy rate uh has gone down over time because of the assessed value going up and then we have the school bond information there. So total for 2025 was $2.77 per thousand and anticipated to go down and the one of the reasons for that decrease is the defeasement of uh 7.5 million that the school board approved earlier this fall. So this is a replacement bond. You can see at the top on page five, the top is the 92.5 million. So this these next couple pages

081are examples for the 92.5 million bond. So the um elementary school bond you can see would be in 2027 would be 54 cents per thousand and the new bond would be 79 cents per thousand. And so the combined rate for bond would be $1.33 per thousand. So that $133 per thousand is less than the current 2025 which is $152 per thousand. and even a little bit less than the anticipated 2026. So with the 92.5 million, it'd be uh the tax rate would go down uh from what we currently have for the combined tax rate. And then next, if you add the levy at $150 per thousand, again on page six, this is a $92.5 million bond example. So the combined rate is $2.83 83 cents and that would be over you know the life there

082of the Apple Valley bond and then there is it's structured in a way that when the Apple Valley and Summit View bond goes off in 2038 in 2039 there would be a a little bit of an increase in the the middle school uh in Ontar Valley bond so that there still would be the tax rate would go down in 2039. um the 20 the $283 would be less than the 2026 rate but uh right around the rate that we had in 2024 and even and then less than we had in 2021, 2022, 2023. Now the next slides are an example of a 97 and a half million bond. So this would be adding the middle school auditorium to the project. So the 97.5 half million bond, this is page seven. Uh the combined bond rate

083in 2027 would be the 54 cents per thousand for the Apple Valley Summit bond. And then the the new bond would be 83 cents per thousand for a combined rate of $1.37. Again, the $137 for the bond rate would be less than the 2025 rate of $152. And so the parameters that the long range facilities planning committee they had they they wanted to make sure that the bond rate would not increase if we had a bond. So because the assessed value has gone up even with um the 97.5 million bond. It's still actually less of a tax rate than 2025. So the 2025 tax rate with the high school and some of you that's $152 per thousand. With the 97.5 half million bond it would be $137. uh per thousand. So it would be actually

084a less of a tax rate than we currently have in 2025. And then when you combine the levy and the bonds all together, it's a $2.87 per thousand. You can see that in 2027, $287 per thousand. And again, that's less than the rate of 2021, 2022, 2023. Really close to the 2024 rate. 2025 rate was $2.77 per thousand. And we anticipate in 2026 it will be $247 per thousand. And I believe that's yeah that's that concludes that. And then the other information I shared was looking at the comparison of neighboring districts. So just to have a sense it with the $287 per thousand the $283 per thousand. How does that compare? Now these comparisons just you know be transparent here. We're comparing the 2025 current rates to what our proposed rate would be in 2027.

085But you can see um in comparison to 2025 rates, the the $287 per thousand, that's that's really right there uh as you know tied for the lowest in our upper valley uh our neighboring districts. So again, the way we read this is down at the bottom you see West Valley with the first asterisk. That's the combined rate of $2.87 per thousand. That would be if we ran the $97.5 million bond, which would include the middle school auditorium. And then the very bottom with the two asterisks, that's the $283 combined rate, and that's with the original layout of the $92.5 million bond without the large middle school auditorium. But uh just in comparison um it's also helpful I think with on the recording sometimes it's hard to see the screen I think but in comparison the

0862025 tax rate for Nat cheese combined rate was $382 per thousand East Valley $3.38 Yakima $326 Highland $2.98 and Sila $287 again West Valley with the 97.5 million bond would be $287 7 that'd be right with with CILA and uh with the $92.5 million B $283. All right. So those that's the information I had shared in the um in the board packet and so I think uh we're done presenting back and uh hear the discussion. All right. Who would like to go first? >> I feel like I've been going first all night. So second. >> Yeah. I think I think where I'm at right now, the 925 I'm I'm willing to vote on and I'm excited for the 975 I want to get there, but I don't know what the value of the auditorium adds

087to it. As I'm looking at the scope and sequence, one of the things that was really valuable about the long-term facility plan was that we really got to look through each item. And I just I don't know what the auditorium will get us for 5 million. And so I'd like to see maybe a little bit more detail on the auditorium. I'd like to get there. I just don't know what it is yet. >> Okay. >> Um Dr. Finch, you were going to look into the uh the feasibility of expanding the junior high auditorium. Did you were you able to >> Well, one of the things I had heard from the staff was that they wanted to be able to have the auditorium as part of the middle school so that it could be used during

088the school day >> so there could be rehearsals during the school day. Kids wouldn't have to leave the building. Um so it would just be a part of the new middle school. So, we really didn't look at a way to expand. I mean, we did a walk through with a consultant and it really seemed like it would be difficult to any expansion of the stage of the current junior high. You really weren't going to get enough space that you're going to be able to add the number of students that we have participating in sixth grade band and choir because we have so many students. Yeah. So, it really we we looked at it, but it there really wasn't feasibility to expand the current junior high auditorium and have it be something that would really work

089for the school. >> And I I I don't think I quite understand either the it's an RCW, I believe. Is that right? That why is it that the middle school students aren't able to use that building? >> No, it's a great question. So in the other information that was included in the board packet, it shows the cost of the projects and then it shows what the matching the matching funds are from the state. >> So the matching funds are used because um we're using the square footage of the current junior high and we're going to add that square footage to the middle school. Mhm. >> So when you're doing that, we're basically taking money that's intended for the modernization of the junior high building and we're saying, well, we're not going to modernize the junior

090high building. We're going to add on to the middle school building and that will be the use of those funds. >> Okay. >> So, by doing that, you're saying that we're not going to use the junior high building for future use of students during the school day because we're taking the money for the matching funds and using it to expand the middle school. So, so if we were to expand do to build on a new auditorium at the junior high, then it would cost more than 5 million because over at the middle school, we're getting the matching funds which bring the exact cost down. >> Yeah, I think you would ask why can't we use the junior high after the project? It's because we're saying we're using that square footage for modernization of the junior

091high building and we're adding that to the middle school instead, right? And so we're going to take the junior high off of the the books of usable space for the district for students. We can still use it for administration buildings. We can use it after school for student activities, but you can't use it during the school day. >> Okay. And that's and that's because of an RCW. >> It's it's the agreement that you have for the use of the matching funds. >> Okay. Gotcha. Okay. >> So it is tied to the Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um I I I think I think I can get there. Um you know, I don't think this meeting that I'm ready to >> to approve that the addition, but um I I see uh I see the need,

092you know, and and I think at the community forum forum hearing from so many um you know, about how packed in we are. I just went to the choir concert at the high school last >> last week, you know, and we were packed there, you know, and there I think there's other alternatives we can do, but um but I see the need and I I I think I'm going to get to the point of approving it. Um but um maybe something I I'd like to see numbers on it. >> Sure. um is I know we have um we have a certain number of students that are involved in sports, certain number of students involved in arts and I know a lot of times you the arts tends to get the the raw end of the

093deal like they don't get all of the resources but I maybe if we can see the number of students in sports versus the number of students involved in the arts like band choir concert I think that would be helpful as well just to >> I think just lend to the the question is the value like Sure. >> You know, is it is it meeting that value? But >> that would be helpful for me. >> so, um, a few questions. Number one, >> um, the $2.87 87 cents and the very and thank you to Corey for and and you for getting this together for us. What wasn't crystal clear in my at least in my own brain was that do these various numbers factor the defeasement. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And if you

094said that that wasn't enormously clear without the defeasant it would be 10 cents more. >> Got it. Okay. Um secondly, um if we were to move forward with adding the auditorium or the extra $5 million to the to the middle school, does how does that or does that not impact the approximately estimated $468,000 that we would spend on the ADA compliance uh at the junior high auditorium? Or is that just not part of Would we? So, in other words, we passed the bond. Would we not move forward with that project? What's kind of the what what are we going to what are we going to do with the junior high auditorium? You know, I'm I'm thinking through that. Um I don't know necessarily think we need to have an answer exactly tonight, but my the

095junior high auditorium is a really nice asset that we have. Um, if the bond passes, do we still need that? Because are we, you know, what what what kind of audit is that going to effectively replace the existing junior high auditorium? Um, and I don't necessarily need an answer to that in order to vote yes on the 97.5 million bond, but um I think that's a question worth having an answer for. >> Right. It's a good question. I I was going to say that I would need to get back to double check on whether we're required to do that ADA compliance or not. Uh but that part of the project has not been started. So >> well obviously >> we'll be able to save on that. >> Well and if the bond doesn't pass I

096think we need to do that >> um for a whole variety of the uh reasons. But thinking ahead just a little bit, thinking optimistically for a second that if the if the if if we ran the bond for this and we and it included the the middle school auditorium, I guess >> at least in my own mind, I'd like to know what what we are or are not going to do with the with the junior high auditorium. Um, third question is, um, could bond council, and I wouldn't think it would be that difficult, but >> effectively write two two bond resolutions um, >> uh, one with the one with the 92, >> one with the 925 and the other one with 975. I mean, it's literally just trans it's just a number change. So, um,

097just in order to kind of keep us moving ahead, um, uh, >> yes, to answer your question, yes, I'm sure that >> that we could do that and it makes sense to go in that direction because it sounds like the board is not quite decided yet. So we can have the bond council write those two different resolutions and then at the next meeting we can present the information that you had asked for uh the other board members about um getting more clear about like number of students participating, what size do we need for that middle school auditorium to be and then also like you had asked about the junior high auditorium and so we could come back at the next board meeting with those two different proposals and then make a decision at that time.

098But I clearly want to say my position is is we should run the 975. >> Okay. >> Yes, I would like the other additional information, but my but my attitude is is is um we should run the 90 uh 97 uh5 97.5 million bond proposal with the with the middle school auditorium. Um, if for no other reason than minimizing kids traveling back and forth between buildings is a safety concern, that for me is worth $5 million. So, that's my position. >> All right. Well, stole a little bit of my thunder. One of my questions was what's going to happen to the junior high um auditorium. So, >> that's something for Dr. finish the tape back. Um, very similar to your thought, you know, I've seen some of the preliminary information already. I'm in favor of

099going for the 97.5 for a lot of reasons. Um, very similar to what I said about some of our other projects that we have kind of kicked down the road for for years and we never get to it or we get to it and by then the cost is higher and I don't want to see us delay anymore on some of these things and we've heard from a number of people about the auditorium that something needs to be done about it. So, um, we can get more information and we can find out more about it in more detail, but I think there is a little bit of a sense of we need to get moving forward on some of these projects instead of just, you know, every time, you know, the administration comes to us.

100We're we're getting more and more information. I don't know that the more information is going to change my mind about this. I think this is something we need to do um and probably should have done a long time ago to be perfectly honest, but I'm glad to see that it's high on the list of things we should consider doing right now. So my my thought here is just very similar to Mr. Thorners. I I like the idea of getting more information on it, but I don't like the idea of really delaying it anymore. You know, further meetings and further out. I think some of these things are very clear in terms of the mandate from the community to do these things. And so I think we should figure out a way to do it. We

101can, you know, 5 million is a lot of money. So there's a lot of things you can do to that auditorium with $5 million. We just have to figure that part out. I think we allocate what we're going to spend on it and then we move forward with the project. So short and simple is my thoughts on it. It needs to be done. Let's get it done. And I would like to see us just get get moving on this and not delay. >> All right. Any other comments? Any more from anyone? >> No, I appreciate the direction. >> I I have one more on um just in regards to I think messaging and communicating with the bond. I've every every time I'm around other parents and stuff, I just ask them, "What are your thoughts

102on um on the bond?" And I think for you know I would say it's it's it's 50/50 probably but uh one of the things that comes up and Mr. I think it was Mr. Woff brought it up at the forum was our messaging around Mountain View. um you know because what it's much simpler that's h what's happening to Mountain View and I think by having it on there there's this expectation that they're going to get uh this you know uh more space and stuff like that but I think county code doesn't doesn't allow it and so I think maybe just include in this message for clarity that we can't expand the footprint of Mountain View because of Yakiman County Code and I you know, the well is is a big part of that issue, just

103being on a well. Um, but I think it just I I I don't want to, >> right, >> pass the bond and then the community was expecting that we were going to do more at Mountain View, >> right? >> Um, and lose that trust. >> Right. Right. >> so be clear, transparent about the communication about Mountain View. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think so. >> Sounds good. All right. Any more discussion? Anybody? I'm good. >> All right. Clear enough direction? >> Yes. Very clear. >> All right. Great. So, now we'll open it up to public comment um on the discussion items. I'm not going to read my script again to everyone. So, you know it already, but if there's anybody who has a comment or wants to make any public comments, please step up to the

104mic. >> All right. Well, I may be your athletic director at the junior high and former athlete, but I am an appreciator of the arts and I think that all of our students deserve an opportunity to find what they're great at. Um, I feel like I can answer a few of the questions that you were discussing or at least give you maybe a little bit more to think about. Um, I do remember our arts teachers came to the public forum and they spoke passionately about why they they believe that we need an addition to the a, you know, an additional auditorium. And I'll be honest, in the moment I was like, "Oh gosh, just say you just support the bond." I was nervous for them. But I want you to know, I think they made

105some really good points. And um in talking to our choir teacher about just the musical opportunities for our kids um in our plays, they don't have access to the pit, you may remember them saying that. And so we want to be able to provide not just opportunities for the kids on stage, but for those musically as well to play their instruments and do all of those things. So that is one reason that I know they feel passionate about just expanding that. Um, and I do see some great opportunities to utilize our current auditorium even with an additional auditorium. We have our afterchool clubs and activities. And um, in those clubs that we currently have, we have our ballet folklore um, which they perform and then need to practice performing. Most of the time they're practicing

106right now in the cafeteria, but sometimes they can practice in the auditorium. It's just a space thing. Um and then also some of our seasons we have a drama club um in addition to the musical that we put on and some years we've had um a fall play and a spring play as well districtwide sometimes just for the high school or just for the middle school. So there's so many opportunities just within our after school before and after school clubs to utilize that space as well. Um, we also I know you know I kind of live at school cuz I love it and there are community groups that come in and utilize like our space in the auditorium for dance recital and um other meetings and similar activities. And then um my counterpart is really

107good with numbers. So he was a able to just tell me off the top of our his head we have over a hundred choir students just in sixth grade. Um, and then 125 band students just in sixth grade. And so I think it's not just about the space. >> Sorry, skills. Can you say that? >> 100 over 100 choir students in sixth grade and over 125 band students in sixth grade. And then I'm not the numbers person. I'm the ELA person. So I don't know how many kids are in banding choir in seventh grade, but a lot. There's there's a significant amount. So, um I'm sure that our our arts teachers could speak even more to that, but there's there's value, I think, in additional space and opportunities for our kids, but also value in

108the space that we have. >> Oh, and I want to invite you because our um our kids just started trying out for the play like our high school students said here. And so, middle school students tried out yesterday and then high school students today. And then they have additional students that couldn't make it will be there tomorrow and then they'll be rehearsing all the time. So it's a great opportunity even before the musical to come visit the auditorium if you haven't been there recently. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Good evening. My name is Bradley. I'm a teacher at the high school. Uh but before I taught at the high school in the innovation center, I was a teacher at the mid-level campus for a very long time, eight years. And um I've been doing

109yearbook for a very long time. I did it at the middle junior high before the middle school even existed uh back in the '90s. I did it in high school here at West Valley which is now the IC. And I'm the yearbook adviser now. And so I have been in a lot of district buildings and spaces and auditoriums and classrooms and I see a lot of things. And so when you asked you asked about the value of the spaces, I cannot tell you how many comments I hear from parents who don't know that I'm a teacher. Although a lot of people probably do by now, but um just hearing the things they say and I went to the choir concert last weekend and I heard several comments about like why do not we have a

110bigger space for this >> because it's so small and and it is cuz if you think about it if there's 100 kids in sixth grade and every one of them brings one parent that's an extra 100 people that we have to fit and that's just one grade level. So when you question these spaces, and I I say this with some trepidation because I've been involved in every bond effort since I've been a teacher, and the junior high has always been kind of the poison pill, so to speak, and the auditorium space has always been one of those big issues. I keep looking at Amber because she and I worked on the last one. But um I would really encourage you if you have not seen those spaces both at the middle school and the junior

111high to go check them out. Um they are the auditorium in the junior high is one of the most uniquely weird spaces I've ever seen in my entire life. Um part of being the yearbook adviser, I was uh at the junior high when we had our 40th anniversary and uh the theme that year was 40 years of gold because we also switched to the Rams the the next year. And um other than just learning how many shades of yellow there are, there's quite a few. Um, one of the things that we did was we contacted as many of the people that had taught there retirees. Um, we even found one of the guys that worked on the original construction company and asked him about the spaces. And the auditorium, some of it was ADA at

112the time because the building was built right before that. Those requirements kicked in. But that place is is unique. It's it's there's very few places like it in the valley. I see a lot of schools. If we can save it in some way for after school space, it's absolutely worth the effort. I know it's a lot of money. I mean, I committed a budget sheet just like everybody else. And our our times are tight. Our district's done a really great job so far with our finances. But the arts programs need more more support and frankly, we need more space. It is about art, but it's also about space. And so, when we can't house one of the grade levels or even two of them in a spot, I mean, it's it's small even for the

113high school now. So, I would say anything we can do to add capacity. And if you if you really have never seen them, I would encourage you to go if Amber will let you. I actually don't know if OSHA will, but um if you can go up on the catwalks and take a look above the pit, which I don't think is open anymore. >> I don't think you know on that. >> Well, I was going to volunteer. >> I probably should admit this open session, but I've been up there. And um it's it's a pretty cool cool thing. So, if you haven't seen those things, I would strongly encourage you to take a look at that if you're still trying to make up your minds. I know it's a lot, but um and I'm normally

114not big on anecdotal evidence being a history teacher, but you really should look. There's a lot of people I think who are watching and your point about Mountain View is very well done because I hear a lot of people talk to me about Mountain View, but if you haven't, I would really encourage you to add it to the to your package. I think it's worth it. I think the community is finally ready to to embrace it. And I think to Mr. Kevart's point, it is about messaging. And so I think if what we all know can be communicated better to the families, I think that would that would help. So please add it in there. Don't give up on it. Take a look. And I'm sure she invited you already, so should take her up

115on that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Oh yes, Mr. Marinac. >> Dr. page with your cons since I see you have it. Uh, pull up the board memo that shows the bottom le page as a courtesy to our guest here. >> And does it show up as well? >> I believe so. Scroll down. Oh, that's the bottom. Sorry. This is the living there. to the right. >> Thank you. >> All righty. So, uh, thank you for your time. So, I just want to take off from last board meeting when I spoke on the levy. And so it's also a continuation of that discussion and a theme that um Mr. Keeper brought up. So when you look at the levy revenue of 9.9 million um the starting point for the levy that's ending

116up is 6.9 million. So you have that increase that's there plus there's also the additional if we hit the assessed value of 3.5 million in that year 1 year 2027. So effectively you're going from 6.9 million to about 13 million. And I think hey it sounds like a you know the the lev to get to $150 is great idea whatever. However I think the communication with the community is important to say hey you know this is what we plan on doing. Uh there was talk about expanding programs. So when the previous bond did not hit the assessed value Dr. Finch said hey we had to really focus in on the classroom. There's some you guys would know better as teachers some programs that were taken away. So, if we're going to go ahead and add

117it back in, I think we should show the taxpayers what are we talking about here. Mr. Keer brought it up a little bit. You know, how much staff? And rather than get pinned in on a specific number because you need flexibility, say, "Hey, we're planning on picking up maybe 20 25 people, 15 people. We're going to devote it to parsers or extra whatever whatever that is." And so you're not paid in because I know some of this is based upon state and federal funding which you can't guarantee. No different when Sheila Wood presents the budget to this board and she has a a key summary page and she puts in there what her assumptions are. She talks about enrollment. She talks about increases in uh compensation. She talks about the level of staffing. And just

118because you're going to go from 6.9 million if you hit the assessed value, it's not just 9.9 million coming in. It's going to be over $13 million. >> Peter, but could a point of clarification, the the levy current would be the 6.9 and then the LEA brings it up to a total about 10 million. >> So the total, you know, your total here you said is correct, but it'd be about 10 million to about 13.5 million. So there would be an increase. >> Yeah. And and so I'm talking about whatever that delta is, right? >> And its programs need I'm talking about again taking off what Mr. Kevin said Ben's not here, but he talked about some pretty cool stuff. You know, maybe that's what we're talking about. The other thing is, and when you

119look at the pie chart, and I know there's been a discussion over the group about um deferred maintenance and not getting a situation we've gotten in the past and hey, we want to start putting more money. And I realize that this, you know, the pie chart that's up above what we're talking about here, um, and I'm not as nimble on your system, but anyway. Um, uh, part of that, and I know it comes out of the greater budget because this is a a small percentage. Part of that money that you guys are going to designate, you know, hey, we want this to go to the capex. I can't tell from this pie chart going into the future, the table that's below in terms of like, well, what is the plan? And maybe you you don't

120have any, but you certainly have a range. Hey, you know, we think if this levy passes and if we get the LEA in addition, instead of allocating ballpark about a million million five in the past, maybe we can do a million five to 2 million. So, it brings a little meat to the bone in terms of hey taxpayer, this is what we plan on doing. We're going to ballpark higher again 10 to 15, few pairs here and there. We're going to send aside some money for, you know, additional dollars for deferred maintenance. So, we don't get in a situation like we had in the past where we're applying capex monies from excess monies or asking for it from the community because we realize the portfolio value of all of our facilities. We know we need

121to set aside money. So, I think just be helpful to the community say, "Hey, we're, you know, we think this levy is really important. we can reinstitute some programs that we had to cut back when we didn't reach the assessed value. And and by the way, this is the way we're going to do it. So it's the incremental, you know, ballpark 6.99 million because you look over the the four years with the LEA, that's that's an additional 11.5 million over the four year period just on the LA if we reach this value. So, I just think it would just be helpful as a taxpayer to show with a, you know, it doesn't have to be picture perfect. You could put all the caveats in the world in it. You know, this is assuming this level

122of inflation. We're assuming we're going to get this, you know, consistent funding from uh the state and the federal government because we know those things are unknowns. So, that that's you just taking them from last time I spoke and then some of the comments that Mr. Keeper had brought up. So, anyway, that's my two cents. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Anyone else? Anyone else? Last call. All right. Thank you for your comments. Um, that was item 10, public comments on discussion items. That is now closed. We will move on to item 11 on the agenda. Action items. There are some approval of travel requests. uh marching band, JOTC, and boys basketball. And then we have approval of resolutions. So, let's start with action item A, approval of travel requests. Any discussion? Any questions about any

123of those? Or anyone like to make a motion to approve? >> Make a motion to approve the travel request. >> All right, we have a motion to approve the travel request for the three items. We'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I oppose same sign. Motion carries 40. Next we have the approval of resolution. So we to take these one at a time I guess. Um the first one B1 uh certification of 2026 excess property taxes. Um resolution number 25-10-782. Any questions or discussion? Any more detail anyone want to offer on that? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve that resolution. >> I move to approve resolution 2510782. >> Thank you, Mr. Thorner. We'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. >>

124I. Oppos. Same sign. Motion carries 40. Next, we have resolution number 25-10-783, cancellation of outstanding warrants. Again, any discussion by anyone or any further questions? If not, if would someone care to make a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve 2510783. >> All right, we have a motion. We'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. >> I oppose. Same sign. >> Motion carries. 4. Next, we Let's see. >> Items arising. Thank you. Um, anything new from anybody? Anything in particular? Anyone wants to bring up? All right. Next, we'll go on to item 13, reports, the enrollment report, safety report, travel log report. Again, anybody care to add anything? That's all been in the in the package. Dr. Finch, anything you'd like to elaborate on in any of that? Well,

125>> just nice to see that enrollment was actually up from October in comparison to September. So that's that's really nice to see. >> All right, there's no further comments, questions, or discussion on item 13. We'll move on to item 14, the superintendent report. Again, that's in your package. Uh Dr. Fish, anything Dr. Finch, anything you would like to add to that? Excuse me, sir. Well, I just shared that uh we were a able to make a connection uh in our region with uh David Mestes who's the senior legislative assistant for US Representative Dan New House. I had a chance to be on a zoom with Mr. Meest. He's actually a former teacher. I really felt like he understood our situation and the importance of the federal funding that we do receive here in West Valley

126and he assured us that uh Representative New House was an advocate for the federal funding and also it was nice to get Mr. from my Estus contact information so that um we can contact him directly and um you know there were some issues last summer on concerns about federal funding that might not be released eventually was released but it's really nice to know that we have a contact now uh Representative New House's office that we can have a direct line of communication with. So appreciate him uh taking the time to zoom with us. It was myself and a couple other superintendents from the region and u just really appreciate making that connection. All right. Thank you, Dr. Finch. Um, you know what? Before we get there, can I back up just a little bit? Items

127arising here. I'm sorry. Um, I just want to make a note. I don't know if we'll see Mr. Thorner again. I hope we will before >> You got I got a whole month to go. >> You got a whole month to go. I guess we'll say that. >> We'll just strike that. >> We'll strike it. >> I mean, unless you want me to last my uh term. No early vacations, sir. No early vacations. Okay. Well, then we'll wait. We'll go on to item 15, board reports, board development. >> I have one. I have one. Um earlier today, I called Dr. bench um about uh as you may know I I drive my son to school uh most every morning and we drive up here to the high school and my route takes me along some

128of you and uh and it's essentially at the time where I pass many school buses uh or I'm driving behind and and our and our bus drivers are awesome um just very careful but we're at the point of the year particular particularly on the secondary route where it's dark out and I called Dr. bench and I I and I this has been a trend that I've been seeing as I've been taking my son to school that um it would be really nice if we could partner uh our transportation uh department could partner with local law enforcement um on some public service announcements uh through our social media channels and other outlets and potentially some law enforcement enforcement uh law enforcement presence rather on our major arterials because I saw just this morning um to illegal

129passings while the red lights were fat flashing on some of you and to the ex and and in the theme of of safety um as careful as our bus drivers are um I I would be it would it would be a horrifying thing um to have an accident associated with that. So, I I I don't know if there's anything that we can do to with our with uh YSO and the Akma Police Department um along with transportation to kind of aid our community in um responsible driving as it pertains to school buses. Um, one of the things that administration has always done very well is they let us know, um, anytime we have a lockdown, anytime we have a bus accident, which doesn't happen very often, which is a credit to transportation and our bus

130drivers. Um, I my heart stops when I get those emails. Um and you know thankfully um things are going to happen. Things are going to I mean you bus accidents are going to happen but uh um if we can if we can have some increased awareness I I just like to I shared that with Dr. Finch this morning and I don't expect him to have any answers for what we're going to do about that but I raised that to this morning to him. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate his consideration. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you for that comment. Anyone else? It's good. All right, that's the last item on the agenda. We will adjourn tonight's meeting at 8:43 p.m. Again, it's Tuesday, fe uh October 28th. Thank you everybody for attending tonight. Uh

131don't take off and let's do we have anything for everyone to sign here? >> I think so. There's a purpose there. >> Okay. in the last 10 minutes. >> Bill Sammit. Uh,