5.27.26 Budget Committee Mtg/Board Work Session Meeting| Centennial School District 28J Livestream

001Mic check if anybody can hear me. If anybody's there. Audio. >> Hi Paul, I can hear you. It's Missy. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> And just to let you know, we are currently being live streamed just so you're aware of it. I wanted to start it early. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. Hello everybody. Good evening. All of you wonderful humans could probably see me in this um not normal ensemble. I have to log off at 7:15 considering I have to be on stage at 7:30. So, yes. Hello. Hi. I thought it was just a Wednesday for you. >> I mean, I think this is Miss uh Melissa's Wednesdays now. Yeah. >> Well, at least two a month, it seems. Yes, there you go. So, hello everyone. It's really nice to see you all. >> You

002as well. Thanks for being Thanks for being here. All right, let me do a quick roll count. Make sure we have >> forum because that would be fantastic. Chair Harden, uh, Director Salowski is rebooting her computer, so she should be joining us shortly. >> Okay, >> thank you so much for that. >> All right, I think we can move forward everybody. Good evening and thank you for coming and tonight order of the meeting of budget committee school district. It is Wednesday, May 61. Um, first item address one, adoption of the agenda. >> May I please have a motion? >> Motion to approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Motion and a second. >> All those in favor say I. Raise your hands. Hi. >> Hi. >> Just so >> hi. >> Any

003>> just in case. >> All right. >> Unanimous. Thank you all. All right. 2.0 introduction. Yes. >> I do not believe any. >> Yes. >> Regina, are you aware of any that we might be waiting on? Nope. I think everybody who said they were going to be here has isn't. >> Fantastic. >> Okay. Um we will move on to item 3.1 uh the approval of the minutes from April 22nd, 2026. So if I could have a motion to approve the minutes. I move we approve the minutes the movement second >> and a second. All right. Thank you so much. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Great. Thank much. Looks like that was unanimous. Um, okay. Item four, we'll move to reports. Item 4.1, budget process review. And with this, I will hand

004it off to Director Paul Sutherton. >> Wonderful. And can I uh get a quick verification that folks can see my screen? I will forever remember Director Andrews who uh >> reminded me as I was four or five slides deep in there that I wasn't presenting a few years back. So, thumbs up. All right. >> We see you. Thank you everyone. Thanks for being here this evening for meeting number two of the uh Centennial 2026 2027 budget process. So as uh budget chair Harden shared this uh I'll be reviewing the process and several other uh parts of the budget or providing budget summary tonight and then we'll get into the other action items. But I just want to reiterate that Centennial School District has a community participatory budget process with equal representation of board members and

005community members who work together to determine the goals and the priorities for spending of the next school year. So just a kind of a look back of where we've been where we've been in the process and uh next steps. So budget priorities were established by this committee as well as school district uh leadership uh schools themselves, community input and through various engagement activities back through January through March. Uh the administration drafted a proposed budget, presented it to this committee and the public in April of 2026, so last month. And then tonight here we're uh back with the uh proposed approved budget for you all to uh review uh based on feedback that we've received. And tonight you'll be receiving the budget, hearing testimony from the public, then having an opportunity to deliberate and uh consider

006approving the updated budget tax rate and bond collection amount. Should this committee choose to approve the budget this evening, then the budget would move forward to the final step, which is uh consideration by the school board in June of formal adoption of the budget. >> We received and answered more than 50 questions and comments about the budget that came from this committee as well as members of the public and members of uh the school district employee employee groups and others. Uh so we appreciate the thoughtful review of the proposed budget and the feedback that we received was approved. >> I'm pleased to share with the committee tonight that there are no financial changes for the approved budget from the proposed budget that was released and shared with you all back in April. So we are

007uh not coming to you tonight with any financial changes for the approved the approved budget is exactly as was proposed financially uh to you all in April. A summary of our budget I think you know can be simply stated is this is a very much a student focused budget. If you look year-over-year you see there are increased investments in instruction uh millions of dollars more spending in instruction and that is directly in the classroom as defined by the Oregon Department of Education. Uh directly resulting in smaller class sizes and continued opportunities for centennial uh students. So all we have limited resources but we are choosing to spend them very much uh centered on serving students in the best way we can with the resources provided. This is more clearly evidenced in supporting our goals the

008five goals of our strategic plan. As you can see from the screen we're anticipating that throughout elementary uh we will see an average class size of 24 to one. This does not include uh music or PE, special education and others. This is not a ratio, but this is the actual contained classroom for general education. Um we focused our strategic plan goal number one is specific to preK through three but holistically of K through five. The 24 to one is the average. So including fourth and fifth grade. What you see on the screen is just specifically though uh preK through third. uh supporting students through our other strategic plan goals. You can see we continue all our supports with uh school sites uh assistant principles, professional development, continue the insourcing of the functional life skills programming

009and learning specialists. >> There you go. >> Continuing student focus groups, co-curricular activities, clubs, and student council opportunities. There's been no reductions to services uh for students in this budget. Through supporting goal four, we offer stable class sizes and indeed smaller class sizes at the elementary level. Uh as the district is an outlier in the region in that we are maintaining and improving lower class sizes in our district. You've heard on the news, I'm sure, uh that there are numerous numerous districts facing severe budget challenges and class sizes increasing. That's not the case at Centennial. We're supporting goal number five through maintaining CTE program, Centennial Virtual Academy, professional development uh to enhance academic programming. We're also maintaining the budget committee's priorities of uh co-curricular activities for student voice, music, arts, athletics, and clubs. Y >>

010so continuing to support the middle school sports that were brought back several years ago. uh and continuing to support other CTE uh and other programmings for students through measure 98. Overall, as I said, we anticipate an elementary uh class size K through five or preK through five of 1 to 24. Middle school, we're staffing at a ratio of one uh licensed general education uh teacher for every 23 students. because uh teachers do have a prep period. The average class size will be right around 30 at the middle school level. And then similarly with high school, we're at a ratio of 1 to 23.4 and class size of right around 31. So we will have larger and we will have smaller depending on sections. There's often uh reasons to have larger class sizes. In physical education

011classes, in band and choir, it's actually advantageous to have larger class sizes. And then there's a lot of electives and other classes where we'll have smaller class sizes. So these are averages. >> Overall, the uh adopted budget for 2627 maintains all critical current services for students. It continues leveraging grants and special funds to support student mental health, learning specialist, special education support, and smaller class sizes. We continue our investment in co-curricular activities and student leadership opportunities and it continues investments in improving teaching and learning environments through our capital investment, our classroom improvement funds and our other uh investments that we're making in our facilities. Important to note as previously shared as part of our plan spend down uh it does require up to a $3.55 million uh deficit for next year. So resources are uh

012provided by the state are $3.5 million less than what we're proposed spending in the general fund. We do have a robust ending fund balance and indeed it is higher than uh the board policy on ending fund balance. So a planned intentional measured spend down is prudent and it supports student needs at this time and that's why it's being proposed. >> Okay. >> Overall informed by the Centennial Budget Committee as well as the Centennial community staff and students through ongoing strategic plan engagement and implementation sessions. The administration respectfully submits for your consideration the 2627 Centennial School Budget for a total of 177,513,722 including the general fund budget in the amount of 104,856,962 and all other fund budgets in the amount of $72,656,760. The proposed general fund permanent tax rate is 4.7448 cents per thousand of assessed

013value and the proposed tax levy is $4,727,138 for the 2627 bonded general obligation debt payments. It's an awful lot of information for you all. Um I welcome feedback and questions that you may have. All right, that is a lot of numbers. >> That is a lot of numbers. Um, we'll I'll do I'll go through each of us and give us the opportunity to ask the questions that may be. I'll just start uh on my list. Um, we'll start with board chair Moing. Did you have any questions? >> Thank you. No questions at this time. >> Your result is also >> Thank you. All right, >> Zcoya Alan, did you have any questions? >> Hello. Um, no questions at this time, but can I send them in the email after I go over >> all the

014numbers? >> You can certainly send questions at any time you'd like. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> She lived with us in June for a year. I think you're having a tough time. >> Rod Bcher, >> I I'm having trouble with my my uh voice uh staying uh on on in mute. I'm into mute uh now. I hope I'm getting through. Can you hear me? >> We can hear you. >> Okay. I just have a couple of questions and I think this is probably just kind of couple of overriding questions which can be asked at any time but I want to ask them now for my sound. >> Oh your audio cut out Rod. >> Yeah >> gives out on me again and Paul and we miss >> we can hear you now. Go ahead. >>

015Am I back? >> Yes. >> Okay. I'll just not touch my screen. um in the making of the budget and trying to uh making sure that uh we can get to all of the uh the groups that want to have have not want to and need to have the money. How much thought is putting in now that I see that the there's talk about the new bond uh getting uh online to be uh looked at by the public um earlier than we had talked about when we were in uh talks with the uh the current bond we just finished uh look uh looking at. So, I wanted to make sure that that we're looking at next year's bond as as well as finishing up all of the the building that we've done with the last

016bond. And I know there's not a great time to start things because we have so many things going on. I'm just concerned that we're going to get into a to a position where uh we don't think about it as much and we're start starting to uh spend money that would be better be used to prep for the next bond um try. So can you uh speak to that um and and tell me with maybe some examples in the current budget how we've uh maintained that that is focus on the what I don't know what to call it 27 28 or 28 29 uh budget. >> Yeah. So we budget one year at a time and so what you'll see with anything should the board consider wish to consider a capital improvement bond after uh June

0172027 which this budget only goes through June 2027 and there's no the board has not uh approved a motion to put anything on the ballot before June 2027. So there what you could observe in this would be under the board function you do see funding to continue our long range facilities planning which would inform any future bond uh activities or any future bond items that the board may wish to consider. So that's where you would see that for in this one-year budget. >> Oh yeah. I'm cons I'm concerned that we only have we're only looking at one year ahead uh from what you said and we're not thinking uh about that in the current uh bond because it's just looking one year ahead and that's all we ever have. >> We budget one year ahead.

018We do multi-year planning, Rod. We don't we we're we have a long-term budgeting philosophy. So, we are looking multiple years out, but you're not going to find evidence in a one-year budget of what we plan for next year. Does that make sense? You we can't earmark or placeholder 2728 spending in a 26 27 budget. It's not permitted by budget law. So, you're not going to see it in the budget document in what the committee can approve tonight. when the team goes out to try to sell this bond, I think I want to make sure that we offer something aside from having a a surplus uh as as a means to to help pass the bond. So, I want something to I want to be able to go out and and really talk it up and

019that we're always looking forward uh forward-looking in a in a meaningful way or some way that you can point you could point to you yourself and anyone else out for the bond uh could point to and say, "Look at this." And then we're also doing this. We're getting our ready getting the safety nets ready. We're getting the the u the projections from the state uh cared for. And that's all I'm concerned about is that >> okay many >> we're losing your audio again Rod >> people when the bun is coming do they sorry >> can you hear me >> yes now I can hear you >> okay and that that it looks like we're forward planning rather and kind of staying back uh one or two years. So, I don't know if they if that

020makes sense in in uh planning for uh a one-year budget, but it seems to make very big difference when you're talking with the voters out there, as I did for the last budget. >> Great. Thank you. I appreciate that feedback and we absolutely are doing that and that's evidenced through the the long range facilities planning and then our thoughtful budgeting process that we engage in year after year and why we're in such better position than our neighboring districts. So we can work on telling that story though. >> Yes. And that's a great story to tell. >> So Paul, I would add to that um just in terms of the efforts that we are doing because I think this is uh going to meet the interest of what Rod's expressing here as well. We can budget

021one year at a time. we're thinking a few years in advance. So, we have the long range facility planning and I don't know as far as the payment for that if that's reflected in this year's budget or if we paid that in full um during the last fiscal year um because it's a continuation over a two-year cycle with that. We have our reports to the community that we continue to do um which aren't necessarily bond related, but they do tell the story of the district and particularly to individuals who aren't necessarily parents in our district, but all residents and community members. Um, and then finally, I would say that we're looking for ways in the subsequent budget um, in terms of how to bolster our community engagement efforts because we know um, if we are

022in a bond cycle, there will be information that we need to share about the results of the long range facility plan and um, what sort of um, capital needs were identified um, that we need to be able to elevate. So, those are three ways that I can think of that we're thinking in terms of that process. If the board were to go for a bond, um the current thinking is that that would be positioned for fall of 28, but again, that's the board's prerogative as Director Sutherton um previously noted. Uh Paul, would you add or clean up anything that I shared there? >> No, I think that's great. Thank you. >> Okay. We just want to keep it up in the uh in the vision of of all the people both uh employees, students, and

023their parents. >> All right. Thank you, Rod. Um moving on. Uh Rudy Watig, any questions? >> Hi, Jess. Thank you. No questions at this time. >> All right. Thank you. Uh Director Roseki, any questions? Thank you, Director Harden. I have no questions on the 2026 2027 budget. Um, they've all been answered in the last several weeks. So, good work you guys. >> Great. Thank you very much. Um, Director Newman, did you have any questions? >> Um, thank you. No, no questions for me. It was a it's been a good process this thus far. Thanks. >> Thank you. Uh, Director Stanley, did you have any questions? >> I do not. Everything is really well laid out and all of my previous questions have been answered. >> Thank you so much. Uh, Karen Wolf Gang, did you

024have any questions? >> Not at this time. Um, oh, they were all answered. Thank you again as usual for a very responsive um, process. >> Good, good work. >> Thank you. Uh, Director Lynn, did you have any questions? No questions. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, and Janette, do you have any questions? >> I currently don't have any questions at this time. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> And board chair Shields, did you have any questions? >> I have about 12 here. Not really. I'm just teasing you. You guys have really done a great, you know, a bangup job like you always do. Much appreciated. No questions at this time. >> All right. And myself, I do not have any questions. I do want to say thank you

025to you all for your engagement. Uh it was a uh lots of great questions were asked, lots of uh and thank you all um so much for your engagement and thank you to the business office for putting it together and coming up with answers for all of our questions uh inside the box and outside the box. It was great. Um okay. All right. So, at this time, I think I got everybody. Is there anybody I missed? Okay. Not seeing any. All right. So, at this time, we're going to open up. We're going to move to item 4.4, public testimony. So, I'm going to open it up for any members of the public that would like to submit any testimony or have any comments. And um at this time, we'll open it up. and see give

026everyone a chance. I didn't see anyone in the gallery, but please uh feel free to raise your hand or uh speak up if you are there. Okay, seeing and hearing none, Regina, did you have anything? Anyone from the public reach out to you? >> Nope, there is nobody and there um aren't any questions. >> Okay. Um we will close public testimony then. Thank you all for your patience there. Um, we'll move on to item 4.5, deliberation by the budget committee. Uh, this I'll open it up to anyone who has any additional comments, questions. Feel free to raise your hand and I'll call on you. >> Melissa Stanley, go ahead. I I just feel like it warrants saying again how thankful and grateful um that I am for the thoughtfulness with all of our budgeting. Being

027surrounded by districts that are struggling hardcore, I'm I'm just grateful that we have time for these conversations. We have people that really truly know what they're doing and are making it student centered. And I just it's really really wonderful. >> Well said. Thank you very much. Um, anyone else? Last call. All right, seeing no other hands. I we will move forward, we'll move into item 5.0, 5.1 to be more specific, old business. So, I need a volunteer. Um this is the motion for approval of the proposed budget tax rate and levy. >> So if uh I'm not we need a budget committee member to uh make the motion read the following slide. Isn't that correct Paul? >> Correct. Yep. >> I'm happy to do that. >> Nice. Thank Karen. I Karen Wolf Gang >> move

028for the approval of the 2026 27 Centennial School District budget as proposed of 177,513,722 including the general fund budget in the amount of $14,856,962 and all other fund budgets in the amount of 72,656,760. the general fund permanent tax rate of 4.7448 per thousand of assessed value and a tax levy of 4 million727,138 for bonded general obligation debt. >> Second. Who was that? >> Director Stanley with a second. Okay. All those in favor say I and show your hands. It' be great. Hi. >> Hi. >> Okay, I think I got everyone but just in case. Any nays? >> Okay, hearing none. Any abstains? >> I abstain. Ananette. >> And Janette abstains. Okay. Thank you, Anjanette. All right. Uh well with that the budget is approved and so the committee has approved the 2026 2027 budget uh

029general tax fund rate and levy for the bond. Thank you all so much. Thank you for your energy and engagement. Uh really appreciate it. And um we will move there's no new business. Paul, anything go to the order? Any last calls? >> No, just a lot of gratitude for you all. I know these are all unpaid positions. you're all sacrificing and diverting time from your families, rest time, other things, activities you may uh embark on or need to do or have other things that demanding your time and you choose to spend it here advocating for your community, advocating for our students, advocating for the district and uh your thoughtful review of the budget, uh thoughtful feedback, questions, uh just a lot of gratitude for you all and the time that you put into this process

030and your commitment to the district. So thank you so much and a lot of gratitude to the business office team. I'm up here before you but there's a big team you know behind well small but mighty team I guess is the term right uh behind behind us uh who puts in a lot of work uh for um both the budget and the audit and business processes. So just a lot of gratitude to the team and to you all. So thank you so much. >> All right well said. Thank you Paul and thank you to everyone. Well, uh it is 6:29 and we will call the meeting of the budget committee uh members uh the budget committee meeting adjourned. Thank you all so much. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Thanks for your work.

031>> Is there a different link? >> This is the same link that we'll have for the work session. Okay. And it will that will start at seven. >> At 7 o'clock. Yes. >> How fantastic. >> Nice little break. Efficient. Oh, >> see you board members at 7 o'clock. You feel good. Okay, I'm looking around the room. See who we've got as directors here. I see Jess. I see Rose. I see David. I see Will's picture. I see Michael's picture. I see. Well, we got about two minutes to go. Hi Isabelle, thanks for coming. You see a hand raised, Ally? >> Oh, if I did, it was not intentional. Lowering now. >> No worries. You'd be surprised how many things happen during these sessions. So, we do not worry about that kind of thing. Ah, there's

032Michael. I see him. Just about ready to begin. Everyone Waiting for it to turn to 700 p.m. All right. I'd like to call to order the Centennial School District governing board to meeting as a work session tonight starting tonight at 700 p.m. Um board members, your agenda has been in your board book. So could I have someone approve the meeting agenda for this evening? Motion to approve. ite should have said >> motion to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second to approve the board meeting agenda as presented. All those in favor indicate by saying I. And because we are virtual, would you mind putting your hand up as well? This makes it easier for us to figure out who's doing the voting here. >> Thank you

033so much. Anybody >> anyone objections to the agenda? Hearing none. All right. Looks like we've got a unanimous let's move forward with this evening. Uh, Superintendent Owens, do we have an introduction of guests this evening? >> No formal introduction of guests, but as you can see on the screen here, there's quite a few faces that you don't normally see. So, those will be introduced in our first report, but as per this agenda topic, no. >> All right. Thank you so much. That that helps us um figure out that there are more people here this evening. Next on the agenda is the approval of our May 13th minute minutes. May I have a motion to approve as presented? >> I move to to approve the meeting minutes from May 13th. >> Second. >> Been moved and

034seconded. Any discussion about those minutes? Any corrections? We're looking good. Thank you. All those in favor of approval of the minutes as presented, indicate by saying I and raising your hand. Hi. >> Thank you so much. Anybody else? We're good. All right. And we got another voter. I'm not sure she's allowed to vote as of yet. Oh gosh. Public forum is not applicable during work sessions for the board. So, we're moving uh from number four to reports. And our first report is listed as district equity advisory committee annual report. Dr. Cassuda um and director Wright, you are on board. So the rest of us can mute ourselves and listen to your report this evening. >> Wonderful. All right. Good evening everyone. Um, I'm going to uh share my screen and also then introduce uh folks

035from our um district equity advisory committee who are joining us to co-present tonight. Um can everyone see my screen? Excellent. Okay. Um I'm happy to introduce Kanani Balffor. She's the career technical education regional program manager uh and a member of our district equity advisory committee uh considered uh one of our community partner members on the committee and also um pleased to present Isabella Reynold Ventura. She's a student at Centennial High School. And then of course Denise is here as well. So, um the four of us are going to be um co-presenting um here tonight. So, we'll start off uh with a brief overview of what we'll be presenting. Uh providing you for those who are not familiar an overview and the purpose of the committee uh provide you with information about committee members, progressions of

036our work as a committee, the learning. so far and student and parent perspectives. I believe this is me. Uh, hi everyone. Kani Balffor, CTE regional coordinator. I work out of MESD and I have the pleasure and privilege of working with the school districts in East county's uh CTE programs, administrators, teachers, and students. Um we are here today uh to talk about what we do. Um and the purpose of our equity advisory committee is to inform and advise the superintendent and district leadership on issues related to educational equity and access. Uh this includes examining school district school and district situations that may disproportionately impact unrepresented students and help district leaders better understand how the policies, practices, and the decisions that they make affect students and families. Um our work is grounded in Oregon statutes including OS

037328. I have to read this part. uh 0.52 and OS 329.95 um which emphasized that equis equity access and inclusive educational practice for all students. >> All right. Um we're mindful of the fact that some of our equity advisory committee members um are engaged in the committee and and may also not necessarily want their information, their names broadcast to the public set. So um regardless of that, I thought it was important uh to provide you with who is on the committee. Um, it was important to, uh, Denise and I under the charge of of the superintendent and the school board to make sure we were honoring our commitment in the process of selecting committee members who reflected Centennial's uh, community. So, what you see here is a representation as it's it's u set up so

038far. There are other ways to express the diversity of the committee, but this is just a brief snapshot. Here we have four students on the committee, three high school and one middle schooler who couldn't be with us tonight because of a conflict with the school event. We have three staff members, three family members. We had two community partners. Uh now we have one one community partner had a conflict and then we have um a community member who's um community member at large. Um, of the 12 people on the committee, not county Denise and I, we have 11 people of color and about half of our committee is multilingual. All right. This uh slide represents the progression of the committee's work. Um it's important when you're doing uh equity work that you're uh not only establishing

039u uh a strong sense of connection between the committee members but then also a strong understanding of the context in which we are um of which we are examining and and trying to support. Right? So you'll see here uh we began by building the team and establishing a shared understanding of the committee's purpose and the legal guidance that uh brought the committee together. From there, we have focused on developing a contextual understanding by learning about the Centennial community, uh the district's systems, uh student demographics, and the data that reflects um academic and u um u climate progress for our students. Um and that included student and family survey results and our equity audit report. Um, as our understanding deepened, the committee began orienting to potential priorities that have a significant impact on student learning experiences.

040A key part of this process has been viewing equity work as a continuous cycle of learning, reflection, feedback before action while also intentionally building community and trust throughout our process. Um, I'll leave it at that. All right. And to take it a little bit further from what Dr. Kutsuda shared, really we have spent most of this year in the forming and developing our team and purpose as well as developing our contextual understanding. So as a part of forming and developing our team, we've really prioritized and spent time relationship building in the group over time. So we're collectively together just about once a month. And um in those spaces as we've built relationship, it allows opportunities to build that trust and those connections and understanding so that we can talk about sensitive issues that might come

041up in a building or across the district as well as look at data with a really um collective lens to really name some things that we may be wondering or questioning about. And again, that trust and those connections really help us to do that. We um have been building and sharing our shared goals around equity and inclusion. And this last time, you know, folks were really sharing that it's really nice to be in a space where people have shared values around this and really want to keep that at the center and the focus of our work. And it does help us continue to have honest conversations about culturally specific um experiences that students are having, families are having, and what we really want for each and every student in our district. As a part of

042developing our understanding about Centennial, we have reviewed the E equity audit that was conducted several years ago. As a part of our strategic planning work, we have also looked deeper at the data that's connected to our district demographic. So, looking at race and ethnicity, thinking about um special populations across the district, looking at the spans of students between our elementary, middle, and high school. We've spent time as a group looking at the strategic plan much more um in fine-tune because there's multiple pages. If we look at the big 27page document, we've pulled out more of those pieces to really look at what's involved and what we're hoping for for the district and student experiences. We spent the most time reviewing our attendance data from many, many different lenses. And a part of looking at that

043attendance data, we've had the opportunity to look at the data that we have that's pulled from synergy that we can put in graphs. But then the benefit of having families and students on the committee, they've also brought in their own experiences or experiences from friends or from family members that adds an additional layer to the data that we're looking at and brings it more to life. And so as a part of our conversations, um we've gotten to a place where we feel like we're getting a little bit more narrowed in that um what we want to dive deeper into for the next school year is thinking about that um truly authentic parent and family partnerships with our schools. our families have rich experiences and there's so much to offer and um the experiences students are

044having in schools being able to bridge that and so we really want to do some more work around that as well as continue to um think about the partnerships when it comes to attendance. There's so much that schools can do to impact attendance and there's so much that students and families may or may not know about the impact around not attending school or attending school that we want to continue that focus as well. All right, let's spell. >> There we go. Good evening. My name is Isabella Moreno Ventura. I am currently a student in Centennial High School. I'm here to talk about student and parent perspectives and why it is critical to have us have like our opinion be out there. Um this work is most meaningful when student and family voices are not only

045heard but actively included in district decisions making. One of the key learnings from this year that has been the importance of creating authentic opportunities for students and parents to share their experiences p perspectives and ideas. Their insights help and dis direct better understandings, barriers, strengths and real impact for systems and practices on our school. We have um talked about how students have had a trouble with attendance um and how students have needed that help. But we how we're showing that we want an input and how things go with our school. And we can tell that also parents want to be more part of the community to help understand what is going on because they can hear something from a student and then they'll hear another thing from a teacher, but they want to also be

046involved. wanted to open it up for any questions uh that you may have, the board may have, which may have. >> That concludes our report. >> Board members, um I see Jess's hand up and I do want to make sure everybody has an opportunity. So, Jess, would you start us off, please? >> Yeah. Uh great. Thank you. It sounds like this group is up to some good work. Uh, one first question is about retainment of the team. Are the same people going to be on the team next year and the year after that? So, we aren't having to catch up different people and fill gaps in in attendance or amongst the team. Mhm. Uh well, we anticipate and expect that we will uh continue with our same team members. Um when we uh first selected

047students for this group, we tried to select students who could serve multiple years if possible, so we'd have some continuity. And um to be very honest, we already have experienced a couple folks who had unexpected conflicts and couldn't continue with the group. So, uh, in addition to what I've just shared, we're also planning on recruiting, uh, additional equity committee members specifically to to, uh, fill in some of the, um, slots for, uh, folks like their community partners and our community members. Um, those were the folks who had conflicts who couldn't continue. So, um, really still maintaining that interest in a representative group. Um, so, yep. Yes. And >> and um my next question was about the attendance uh challenges that we're seeing at school level. What have you come up with ideas um or ways

048of remediating that process or you know getting people in school increasing our attendance numbers? >> I'm happy to take this one. So, we are still in the unpacking of the conversation because attendance has a lot of um reasons why students aren't attending and or um why they may not be staying in school as often as we want them. And so one of the big ahas a couple sessions ago even from a couple of the students when we had shared more research around attendance and the impact of not attending we had several students who were like big eyed and they were like oh my goodness that means I'm in the at risk group that means I'm not a regular attender. Wow I wish I would have known this earlier. And so it was highlighting the need

049for us to continue to do more outreach and um education sharing with students and parents because there are reasons around misconceptions that you know kindergarten isn't required in Oregon. So there's misconceptions around should I extend my kindergartener even though kindergarten attendance has such an impact long term. There are um misconceptions when it comes to older students like my grades are pretty good so it doesn't matter if I don't attend. So we need to address those. We do have many students that have true barriers and so thinking about Amanda as one of our social workers is here with us and we do have a group that's dedicated to working with students and families that have really really chronic absenteeism. So, um I think the the short answer is we have more work to do and the

050long answer is it's a group effort and there are some very specific steps that we can continue to take to really help increase attendance and having students share their perspective with us is definitely a way for us to target um that piece as well. And then I I'll also share given the complexity that Denise has named around attendance, we realize the data that we do have and that we have shared so far which we have looked at through uh various lenses and will continue to look at may also not be enough data. Right? So one of the possibilities that equity district equity advisory committee could work on is how else do we gather more information to really understand some of the root causes or reasons why attendance may be dropping, waning or not adequate in

051certain grade levels of the district. Right? So um the data we all we have as comprehensive as it is is um perpetually and always inadequate can't tell the whole story. Right? So talked a little bit about other ways we could seek out information, things like um listening sessions with students, motivational interviews, things like that which might assist us in um drafting advisory recommendations. Right. So I don't know and Kani had an answer to that as well. You're welcome to unmute. >> No. Okay. Director Lynn, did you have any questions? >> Uh, just I had heard from some members that the meeting some meetings were canceled. Is that accurate? And how many? >> We had a couple meetings uh to my recollection that were cancelled. Um, one was uh due to a variety of conflicting district

052events. We did not know that some of the district events would be scheduled on top of our meetings. So some I I think actually it was during conferences. Some of our parents said they couldn't come because they were also attending conference. So we're working to avoid that next year. Um but yeah, we did cancel a couple of meetings. And I would say having meetings monthly uh which we're getting into the technical weeds, but having meetings monthly may not be the best cadence. So we were especially in the afternoon evening. So, we've been working with the committee to just determine if if that if we continue with the cadence in the time that we have or if it needs to be altered to accommodate people's schedules a little bit more. And we discussed that at the

053last meeting. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Vice Chair Moring. >> Thank you. Uh thank you so much to folks on the on the committee. It's it's a very needed and necessary work and it's um it's it's great to hear that we're working on the attendance piece. It's obviously a really hot button issue for for us in the district and um you know it's it's something that's going to take time as been alluded to. Um but it sounds like we're making great progress to it and I just want to emphasize that we continue you know taking um advantage of what the things are working and doing them and looking for ways to just improve all around. But overall, really pleased to hear the report tonight and the progress that's being made. Thank you so much. >>

054Director Newman, >> thank you. Thanks for the report. Um, it it seems it sounds to me I guess I have like a two-parter question. What if it sounds to me like you are like your your focus primarily thus far has been identifying areas of focus um and attendance being a key one. Are there any other key areas of focus that that you're looking at? And then um have you started considering more um opportunities to uh improve to improve on those I I can answer and then I'll invite other committee members to jump in. Um we started off with a broad uh a pretty comprehensive data dive which covers a really wide scope of possible work for the committee. Um, I'll also share uh that if you recall in that one slide where I had the

055green bars that sort of mapped out sort of the progressions of work, we're we're mindful that there's sometimes this feeling of urgency to take action right away. Um, and there's a lot of research and evidence that shows if we rush into taking action and making recommendations before we truly understand the context and the issues that sometimes our recommendations aren't sound. Right. And so, um, we've really, um, intentionally and sometimes maybe even frustratingly to our own committee have slowed ourselves down, uh, so that we can really understand the issues and just the comprehensive data dive. I don't even know that we could do it justice in one and a half, two hour evening meetings once a month, right? So just going through the data itself was a task and then really being mindful that whatever we

056may land on in terms of a a focus for our work um that should be considered thoughtfully and carefully. And in order to do that we really we really need to take the time to understand the situation as well as the district context. Otherwise we would probably have we could uh risk providing recommendations that are not sound. Right? So, um, long answer to say we're, um, mindful of that and we're going at the pace that we feel supports, um, equity work. Um, and it is the intent of the committee to to do more than look at data. Yeah, that the committee is very determined to take action. So, yeah, >> thanks. And I and I really do appreciate the intent in intentionality uh, going into it. Thank you, >> Director Silleski. >> I don't really

057have anything to add other than more appreciation for the work that you guys are doing. I know equity work is hard and slow. Um, and I just appreciate you doing doing getting in there. Um, and looking forward to hearing more from your committee as you progress. Uh, Director Stanley um included information in the chat, but Oh, good. >> I did. I Sorry. This will be my last little quick comment and then I'm about to go sing my heart out. So, um I hope I'm coming through. Um but the all of these issues are the same issues across the state, right? Like they're everywhere. So, I'm glad that we're starting and I don't think we're going to be stopping these conversations anytime soon. So, thank you to everybody who is taking the time to do it

058and um I'm sorry I have to leave early this evening. So, thank you all very much for your time. >> Thank you. and chair shields. I the question that I have, how does this um or does it dovetail with things like the portrait of a graduate or profile of a graduate? How are you incorporating just the idea of equity across all things? How do you relate it back to our strategic planning or our long range facility planning or our portrait of a graduate? all of these other kind of things that are are umbrellas for the work that we do. >> I'm happy to uh respond to that first and then invite other folks to jump in from the committee. Um so I I think it is all uh very much connected and aligned. Um the

059committee actually looked at the profile of a graduate and all of the competencies. They they uh had time to examine and look at and review this the district improvement plan uh which uh really guides and connects or is basically school improvement plans as well, right? And so they looked at the equity audit that surfaced a lot of our issues around equity and access uh for our students, right? So uh uh that set the foundation and the framework for their continued learning about the district and started to steer us towards some of what we're considering as our priorities. Right? So um very very much connected and I would say um if for example we end up selecting attendance as a priority to focus on um that touches everything everything I mean that's foundational if if students

060aren't at school they're not accessing right so I think that was one of the thoughts or the reasons or the rationale for selecting that it seemed to be such a foundational component of providing students with educ educational experience that's high quality so forth. So um yeah, I mean I think looking at our work already that we've done in uh around um assessing uh equity and access in the district serve to guide the equity committee's work. I don't know if Denise or Keani or Isabella have anything they'd like to add. I was going to say, um, Director Shields, as you started naming a couple pieces, you're identifying that one equity work is interconnected in all the work that we do. And so, um, trying to peel it off to connect with one area is hard because

061it's so interconnected to everything. And as our um committee has had conversations, we've had lots of big conversations because it's like what about this and what about this and what about having staff that represents the students and what about having these experiences and what about this? So um sometimes it goes really really big and looking at Kehlani nodding often Keelani has brought us back to okay remember the purpose of the committee are outlined in these few bullets and so how is it that we do narrow a focus and what are those recommendations that we do make um because we can't tackle everything and what is one of those big leverage points that could make a really big difference and so kind of our narrowing of thinking about the authentic partnerships with families and um parents

062across the district that has such huge implications because it impacts everything as well as attendance. So I think that's why we're trying to narrow those even though both of those are still really big. >> And by selecting those two, I mean, we're able to really lean on or capitalize, whatever the phrase may be, our committee members, right? Their experiences uh that really provide information that inform our our practices. Um, so yeah, >> uh, I I will only add I actually think in some ways um, uh, Denise and Tasha are being very nice. I'm sure at times it's like hurting cats. Um, because we're all really excited about the work and super passionate about it. And I think one of the things that you're seeing reflected in the time that it's taking is that there are

063so many perspectives to talk about. There's the parent perspective and the students perspective and there's multiple student perspective and multiple parent perspectives. And so when we or were looking at the portrait of a graduate, I think we could all see pieces of the work. And then when we started looking at attendance data, there was so so much to say and so much to listen to. And I think it's really important that we get those perspectives out there. Um, and then along the way, I think a large part of this work is the relationship building that we do and the excitement that we have and the conversations and the the uh turn and talks that um we're doing in order to kind of well build relationships but also surface what's important for us to be talking

064about and doing and looking at. Um, how do we look at the data and then take that one step further? How is the parent perspective reflected in the data? how is it not? Um, and I think all of that is taking probably more time than any of us expected. Uh, and then also ends up in that uh a little bit of a hurting cats uh situation uh for Tasha and Denise. >> Any other committee members like to speak to that? >> I'm wondering Isabella, is there anything else you want to add in? you had so many great points when we met last week. >> Um, currently I don't really have anything. Uh, I think everyone has pretty much put on the topic that I've thought about. >> Thank you. I do have a followup and

065I don't know that it's a question but just a um reflection. you were talking about the things that you have learned, but I'm interested in how it that information gets out to our students and our community members and our um chief communication officer, you know, um Andre, haha, you're here. How how can even bullet points of information, especially as you mentioned, we keep talking about attendance, but the kindergarten and why it's important. I wouldn't know unless you pointed it out to me. Where do you point it out to me as either a community member or a parent? Those communications that we're already trying to establish to try to, you know, get into deeper um I guess not just realization but just so people see that the district is communicating with them about a variety of

066issues. So I think that um having our um chief communications involved in taking that data that you're you are gathering and some of those bullet points and just say the FAQs, right? Did you know just did you know that the impact of of a kindergartener attending school will do this d and I may not have a kindergartenner but my neighbor might have a kindergartener right and so those are the kinds of things that I know it's so hard you know to get out this information but whatever we can do and I know that um Christine's been really good at doing that kind work for us and so just add more to her plate. I don't know what else you know just poor girl I'm sorry but it just seems like wow I'd love for this

067information to be more broadly shared as you can and that's it from me. I'm sorry it's more of a comment rather than a question. >> Yeah I appreciate that. But I think there is some potential in connecting with uh Christine and figuring out how we share out about the work of the equity committee. I appreciate that. Any other questions before we say thank you to our advisory committee members who came out this evening to share with us? Nope. Doesn't look like you're going to be put on the hot seat anymore. Thank you so much for being here this evening. you're more than welcome to stay with us. Um, but you're also more than welcome to, you know, continue on with your evening in a different way. So, thank you again. All right, board members. What

068we're going to do is go to report uh 52, which is immigration response workg groupoup update. And um we have several people I'm looking at the agenda here who are going to speak to this um tonight. our chief communications officer, Christine, as we've already mentioned. Denise, you're back on um director right on the hot seat again um as well. And then Superintendent Owens, is there anything you'd like to say to kick this report off? >> Thank you, Chair Shields. Um, I would just keep my comments brief to say that this year required the district to respond to the broader uncertainty and concern related to immigration enforcement and its impact on students and families. And so in response, the district established a crossf functional work group. Um, and tonight you're going to hear about what that

069work group has been working on and the products of their collaboration. So, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Chief Andre and Director Wright and um committee members to share with us. >> And as Christine is bringing up the slides, I think this is a beautiful segue after sharing information about the district equity advisory committee to go into some real time um experiences for families, students, and staff that have that equity piece just so embedded. So, um, Christine, do we want to have the other folks just introduce themselves real quick and then you can kick it off? >> Yeah, that'd be great. >> Sorry. >> Other members, if you can just pop yourself off real quick and introduce yourselves to the group. >> Hi. >> Happen. I'm sorry. >> Sorry, Amanda. I'm Ally Marks.

070I'm the principal of Centennial Middle School. >> I knew that was going to happen, too. Uh, my name is Amanda. I use she her pronouns. I'm a school social worker at Centennial. >> Suzanne Cummings, director of transportation for Centennial School District. >> All right. So, um, as, uh, Superintendent Owens mentioned tonight, we are going to bring you information about, um, the work of the work group specifically and kind of how that has helped us to refine our immigration response practices, um, and just the work that that group has done, um, since we came to you with this topic back in December. Um, so for an overview of the group, we began meeting on January 23rd, 2026. Um based on conversations that were happening in our district throughout the fall and into the winter, it was

071really clear that we just needed to bring together a representative group um of stakeholders from across the district to come together and have the conversation about this topic in a very meaningful and um well-rounded way where we could get different people with different lenses and perspectives to bring awareness to all of us for the needs that needed to be addressed and where we could make refinements or where we possibly had gaps that we needed to attend to more thoughtfully. Um so since that time we've met six times. The group was con uh made up of students, staff um including certified, classified and administrators and community partners. The initial meetings of the group really focused on getting the need surfaced. So having all of the group come together and really identify what is the need, what

072is happening in our community, what are we hearing from our community, what are we seeing in our schools. Um and then from there knowing that there is so many needs to address, we really work to refine our priorities and action steps so that we could focus on what are the needs that are rising to the highest priorities and what things need our attention first so that we can really dial in and get some productive work done in the time that we had together. Um we also wanted to develop a shared understanding so that we could work really collaboratively with the same understandings and definitions of what our scope was. Um Denise, do you want to talk about the two small groups? >> Sure. And um mirroring off of what some other districts had done, we

073had different buckets of work. And the buckets of work naturally fit together. And so Christine helped to facilitate and work with the group that was focusing on the proactive staff training needs as well as the safe and supportive schools aspect. And then myself and many others, Amanda included, focused on the social services, connections, and resources for families. So as we first established this group, we wanted again building that shared understanding of what the scope was and what our role was um as a group of representatives coming together in this. So one of those was just to increase awareness of districtwide and building level processes, resources and systems. What we were hearing from our stakeholders in the fall and winter was that there was a lack of clarity around what are our processes, what are we

074doing in response um and making sure that within that group we all understood that so that we could then take that awareness outside the group. We also wanted to focus on and understand actions that are within the control and legal ability of the district. there's a lot of things we would like to do but that are just simply outside the scope of our district or outside of our legal capabilities. Um and so really focusing on the things that are actionable and can be done quickly and productively. We wanted to strengthen those existing processes as well. you know, we know that this work is changing as things in our community are changing and we can't just sit on a process and um trust that it's going to work if we're not constantly reviewing it and looking

075for ways it needs to um expand or evolve in response to what's happening. Um and then also part of that is our internal and external communications around that. How are we making sure that that information is understood where it needs to be? Denise, can you speak to the last two? You bet. Part of our time with the group was also developing shared working agreements. And so part of that had to do with if there was information occurring in a building that had to do with a family, how were we sharing that? If there were um concerns coming up from staff in a different building, how could you bring that back to the group so that then we collectively could work on that versus different pockets of um individuals across the district feeling like there wasn't

076a concerted effort. So we committed to as a group working through those things together. And then we also wanted to make sure that any of the work that we were doing was aligning with recommendations that again were in laws that were already in place were in policies that we had as a district and or exist existing practices. We didn't want to create new and different things. if we had existing practices that we could one strengthen and or share out with more individuals so that more people were aware of something that we had in place that maybe they didn't know existed before. So as we continued through the work as Denise mentioned previously we did divide the group into two smaller groups so that we could really dial in our focus and take action steps in

077a concentrated way. So the group that I worked most closely with was the proactive staff training and the safe and supportive schools group. Um through this group we identified kind of our top priority needs as you can see here. One was we needed to clarify the response protocols that we had for activity on or near our campus. Um, in addition kind of parallel to that, one of the needs that ro arose within that was um, making sure staff also understood our existing safety protocols, including our standard response protocol and how does that come into play if there's immigration enforcement activity on or near one of our campuses. And it became evident kind of through the discussions of the group that there was also a need to revisit standard response protocol and make sure staff were

078understanding how to implement those practices um that were maybe being taken for granted that um people already knew and making sure in fact that they did. So those topics kind of became entwined through that conversation. We also wanted to identify gaps in staff training that were leading to some of that lack of understanding or inability to properly implement these practices. um because these are some of our most important practices. Keeping our campuses safe, keeping our students and staff safe is the highest priority and we needed to make sure that um training was happening that was going to allow people to step into those protocols and use them um effectively. And then also just refining communication steps specifically, how are we notifying our stakeholders if immigration enforcement is happening on campus, near campus? um and the

079tools that we use for that is parent score effective for that? Do we need to look at other methods? Um so those were part of the needs that arose to the top of the list for that group. And then with the other small group that focused on the social service connections and resources for families, areas that the group identified where there were big needs was thinking about for our students and our families and staff having spaces where they could share concerns that they could relay needs and they could also receive support. That was something that was occurring inconsistently or not everyone was aware. So that was identified as a need. having a central place for um specific information to be housed so that anyone could access it. Um both having that space as well as

080making sure everyone was aware of that space was an identified need. And then there was a really big um identified need around how do we respond to situations? So if a family member or a student comes to someone in a school building and shares someone in my family has been detained and or deported, how does a team within our building system within our existing structures respond for those students? So those were three big areas that our group identified as needs that we needed to work on. So as we progressed throughout our series of meetings, we um achieved some of our outcomes and actions that we set out or made significant progress along the way. So for our first small group, we did do a refinement of protocols. Um it wasn't a drastic change from the

081protocols that we had previously had in place. But what we did do for staff is create some role specific or scenario specific versions of protocols to make staff it make it easier for staff to um not have to dig through deep documents with lots of links but just to have simple charts or onepage um kind of cheat sheets of like here's what you do in your role for this situation. Um again making it as easy as possible for staff to understand and use. Uh we also updated our training protocols for both immigration response and standard response and those are now combined into a single staff training um so that we can really have open discussions with staff about how those pieces work together. And throughout the last couple months, myself and our safety and security

082coordinator, Neil O'Donnell, have been visiting all of our schools, um, or are working through the list of our schools currently, I should say, to actually go and do those trainings in person so that staff would have an opportunity to ask questions, get clarification, um, and just receive kind of the full spans of information in a much more um, kind of one, not one-on-one, but small group sort of way versus like large group trainings or watching a video. Um that was an ask that came specifically from our immigration response workg group to make sure staff had those opportunities to ask questions um right there during the training. And then um we implemented new staff text alerts. Um this is a new system for us that we were piloting over the last couple months. So far it

083is working well. Um this allows us to reach staff much quicker when something is happening at a campus. Um to let them be responsive as responsive as possible. We refined our communications flowchart. So now we have clarity on making sure that we're able to get notifications out to our stakeholder groups as quickly as possible when an incident is occurring. And we are adding new community self-enrollment for notifications. And there is now updated language on our immigration resources website um about our notifications process and um that people can now reach out to me to sign up for that. And we're going to continue to review that system and how we can make it more user friendly going forward. And um just to get some other perspectives besides just Denise and I um I we do again

084have members of our group here. So one of the pieces around training that also came up was thinking about our bus drivers specifically. These are staff members who are out in our community often by themselves or typically by themselves with a bus full of students. And we wanted to make sure that our protocols also met their needs. Um so Suzanne was Suzanne and um also our um supervisor of transportation Masameilliano Rushi were also part of this group so that we could incorporate transportation into this planning. So Suzanne would you want to talk to kind of some of the work we did specific to transportation? >> Sure. Thank you. Um it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you all for all the great work you do every day to serve our students. Um there was some

085anxiety expressed at a cab network group in the fall. A lot of our bus drivers were very concerned about um scenarios that you know kind of uh fantasies or whatnot that you know how would they handle certain things and I think they felt very heard and appreciative that this work took place and that transportation was a part of it. So between the cabinet work group in the fall and the cabinet work group in the spring, we were able to show them a lot of great work and that their voices were heard. Um, as Christine mentioned, sometimes bus drivers feel vulnerable. Transitions are delicate times and you know talking about attendance. Sometimes bus drivers see and hear things that students are experiencing, you know, live directly. And so having a a nice protocol that takes our

086standard response protocols and how what does it look like on a bus and really helping them realize that they actually do have tools and they are connected to the greater community and that they're a really fundamental and important part of the process. It's been a joy. It's been great to be a part of it and to bring that lens and you know what does transportation how do we support the students? How do we keep them safe? We have had already two incidents where we did need to implement our um our response and one was a false alarm and worked extremely well and one was not a false alarm and a student was concerned about their stop and a congregation of um unknown vehicles at at their home and we were able to um bypass their

087stop and keep them safe and make sure they were reunited with their family. So, thanks again. Thanks Suzanne. And then um just also speaking on the topic of staff training, Ally Marx is here. She is the principal at CMS which is one of the first schools that we implemented this new training protocol at. And so Ally, I'm wondering if you can speak to how this training looked and felt for you and your staff at the school. >> Sure. Good evening everybody. Thank you so much for having me, especially to speak on such an important topic. Um, in the fall, one important learning at CMS was that while our office team understood our immigration response plan, that understanding was not shared broadly with our staff and our students. And at that time, we also recognized that

088how we communicated information mattered and we wanted people to feel prepared and to know that there was a plan. And we also didn't want to unintentionally increase anxiety or fear. Um, so a significant step forward for our building was when we did have Christine and Neil O'Donnell come um and present their new training. It was on April 22nd that we did this and their training address standard response protocol and helped clarify how our immigration response is integrated with standard response protocol, aligned to standard response protocol, and really if there were some sort of concern with immigration, we would follow safety practices that our staff already know. And I think that that connection was important because it helped our staff see that this work is not separate. It's not unfamiliar, but it's part of our broader

089commitment to make sure that our schools are safe and supportive and that we're prepared. Um the value of the work group specifically has been bringing district leaders, building staff, students, and community partners together to identify gaps like what we were experiencing at CMS. Um, and I think together we learned that staff need to understand the response protocols. Our families need clear and accessible information and students need to experience school as a place where adults are calm, prepared, and supportive. Um, and so ultimately I believe that the training that was created and the work that we did more holistically as this group um, helped us build readiness and trust and I think that's what the goal was. >> Thanks, Sally. And with that, I will turn it over to Denise for the second group. >> Fantastic.

090And Amanda is going to share some highlights of several of the things that came out as outcomes and actions related to the social service connections and resources families. Specifically, she'll be speaking to the affinity spaces that have been created both for students and staff, talking about know your rights trainings and emergency preparedness. So, take it away, Amanda. Hi, thanks for inviting me um to share about the work that we've been doing. So yeah, um kind of following back on what Ally and Christina have shared is like the intention was to not um create more anxiety and fear during these times that are so uncertain, but really trying to meet people where they're at. So that goes along with the affinity spaces that we created. um some of our schools reached out about their particular needs

091and the concerns that their students were sharing, which opened up um the opportunity to provide affinity-led spaces by um staff who identify as Latino or Latino. Um and so I think that's been really helpful for students. Um we have those going on at I think oh gosh like four schools Denise right? Um uh and then the staff piece too. So, one of our other social workers, Grace, has been supporting um a space for staff um that brings in culturally specific practices um so staff are able to uh heal together in a group and process in a group as well as bring what they learn to families. And that's been in partnership with um some really great folks at MESD. Um there was also an opportunity this year um the we had more district across district

092collaboration around an opportunity for families to learn um about emergency preparedness in case of a detainment. Um, so families were able to get the skills on learning how to fill out these forms, um, and get access to notaries and a space for them to ask questions. And the intention is that that will that work will also continue next year as well. >> Great. And in addition to those pieces, um, the website has been updated. We had information there that's accessible for families, but it's been updated and reorganized. And we will be sharing out um some reminders to staff. And so we've recognized that making sure that all of our staff know where this information is on the website can be really helpful because if a family comes to them with a concern, staff members can

093say, "Great, let's pull up some resources. Let's talk through what's available." And then we also had um built out our urgent response that's a part of our tier three existing processes. So with um our multi-tered systems of support, tier one is really supporting all students, tier 2 supports some students and tier three is looked at supporting individual students who have intensive needs. And so from that we expanded it for students and families that have urgent needs. So, the urgent needs might come from a family member being detained or deported or it might come from a family member who has had um their house catch on fire or another tragedy. And so, we wanted to recognize that for some students there are urgencies that occur in their families and for themselves that we need teams to

094take um steps right away for. And so, this has been a document that we've shared with our um school counselors, our um social workers, our school sites, and our building administrators. And through this process of having the workg group, we were able to refine some things in real time. We had the document set up one way and had kind of a flow and then there was something that happened at Centennial High School and it made us rethink like why would we add these extra steps because if we would have done that in this situation, it would have added, you know, a couple more days in delay and or added people that didn't need to be involved. And so I think for all of these processes across both groups, we've had real-time situations that we could

095use out some of these things and come back and debrief and fine-tune them. And then Amanda and a group are working with um some know your rights opportunities that will be shared with some more students and then figuring out some plans for that for next year as well. Okay. So, you know, this like I mentioned earlier, this is ongoing work that will continue to evolve as we go. Um, the group work group will be pausing for the summer as many of our members are not working during the summer months. Um, but we have already kind of set up for ourselves the list of where do we pick this work back up and get right back to it when we all return in the fall. Um, so, uh, I will be continuing to work with Neil

096over the summer to talk about these training, um, the training model that we've now put in place. How do we keep it moving forward? How do we, um, integrate it into annual training so that it just becomes part of the staff norms, not only at the beginning of the year during pre-ervice for like refresher trainings, but also if new staff come in in the middle of the year, how do we tend to that need? Um, so we'll be working on some um tools and resources to make that really accessible for staff. And then we're going to continue to develop our public facing website and resources as well as staff resources on the internet with some of those um urgent response documents and things that staff would need quick access to. Um, and this will be

097paired also with um updated communications for both staff and families um pretty soon. We really wanted to um secure that we had our internal structures in place and now we are at the point where we're ready to explain them in more detail and help broaden that understanding externally. Um and then Denise, we'll let you take the next one. >> Yep. Exactly. And then we do have additional things that we want to put in place going into the next year. And as a part of that, the work group talked about coming together in um right before either pre-ervice or right as a part of pre-ervice to really think through what has changed over the summer, how can we be more responsive because as times have changed so quickly, we want to make sure that we're ahead

098of that and um who knows what will come our way. And so hopefully we can just build on what's in place and we won't have to make some um extreme shifts. But you never know, we'll be prepared for it. Um, the other piece we really wanted to do is we know that there's been some new legislation that has come online while this work group was meeting. Specifically, House Bill 4079, which relates to district responsibility to provide notification of immigration enforcement activity on campus, as well as Senate Bill 1538, which um does some cleanup from some of the existing policies um and OS's related to uh warrant validation and some of those legal response measures. Um and I am happy to share with the work that we've done around this in this work group. We are

099on track to be in full compliance with House Bill 4079 well before the September um implementation deadline. So we are in really good shape there. And then you as the board will see some updated policy language coming probably in the coming months related to these two pieces of legislation um so that we can continue to solidify this work um not just internally but as a district as a whole. Um and then there we're going to continue to offer the emergency preparedness and know your rights training going forward. Um these are valuable resources for our impacted community and we really want to be a source of those resources where they can access um and provide those in a safe way that meets a variety of needs. And as Denise mentioned, we are going to get back

100together at the start of next year to um look for adjustments And with that, are there any questions? >> Let's go through our list to make sure that we uh have everybody have an opportunity and see. Let's um start with you. One more person down the list. Director Lynn. >> No, no questions tonight. Thank you, >> Vice Chair Morin. >> Thank you. Thank you. So, just a couple of questions, but I wanted to express my gratitude for the working group on this. This is a complex challenge for everybody um all over the place and um it feels like you all have done a really good job of boiling it down to actionable items and the work does not go unnoticed. And I I thank you for this detailed report tonight. It's very helpful to to

101know what we're doing to respond to the things that are happening and continuing to happen although they may not be as uh in the forefront of the media right now. We know that some of that has not um completely subsided in our communities. Um a couple of quick questions. Um thank you for addressing the legislative alignment with the uh recent House bill and Senate bill. Um there were a couple of pieces you Chief Hendrick, I think you mostly touched on on with communication with um the self-enrollment and just some other uh items that we're doing. And so my biggest piece on that is what are we doing to make sure the information gets out to the people who are most impacted, who may not always be the most digitally connected. Um, and then there was

102um some discussion of staff readiness gaps and I just wanted to see if we had an assessment in place for um how it's being rolled out, you know, across all the buildings and it and that the protocol and the trainings are being done um consistently for everybody because I think that's probably key uh to making sure that this work is, you know, successful um for years to come. >> Absolutely. So, I'll take those in two parts because I heard I think I heard two questions in there. Um, so in terms of communication, um, I mean, I think unfortunately the reality is is outside of digital access, there's very few options we have in terms of timely messaging. So, thinking about initial alerts, we have um, with our parent square platform, we have the ability to

103do emails, text messages, and voicemails. Um, and right now we now have that capability for staff, families, um, yeah, staff and families. Um, unless someone has actively opted out. And so, um, we are able and and I can say right now, I believe we're somewhere about 98 to 99% contactability for all students in the district having at least one adult through Parent Square that we're able to contact. whether or not people are reading those messages. You know, we'd have to run deeper analytics, but we do have at least one active email, phone number, or app user for all students in the district up to 98% I believe is the total. So, we actually have a really high rate of contactability overall as a district. Um, in terms of broader community, again, it's very tricky and

104that's why we're trying to implement the self-enrollment option where people can reach out and choose to elect to get notifications. Um, we're going to be continuing to refine that because our tool is not really set up for people outside of staff and family. Um, so we're kind of leveraging the tool we have as best we can. Um, we do also have a key communicators emailing list, but that is not the most timely way to get information. So, we can continue to do broader um outreach um in terms of the specific notifications, but um it's it's a district challenge for every district in terms of communications is we only have so many mediums to reach people where they're at if we cannot connect with them through email, text or phone. And so, we're we're continuing to

105explore other options, but it's always a challenge. Um, and the second question was in terms of I believe staff accountability for participation in trainings. >> I think uh Amanda wanted to maybe weigh in on that. >> Fantastic. >> Yeah, I just wanted to say real quick um Will that I really appreciate that question because right our district is so diverse and we have so many languages. But um Christine, I think you helped our amazing colleague Jimea with this, but um she's our culturally specific liaison and she did a training specifically for Spanish speakers on knowing how to use the communication apps. I always get parent square and the other one confused, but she did amazing work on um turning all that information that's in English into Spanish and then did the hands-on uh one- on-one

106support for families to get it on their phones to know how to access um these apps. And I think that work will also continue next year because she did that. I think she was targeting the transition 8th to 9th grade parents. So, um, we're working on getting more, uh, making sure our Spanish speaking and other non-English-speaking families know how to use these systems. >> Great. Thank you. I really appreciate hearing that. Um, I said, I know it's a complex thing and and we're making good progress on it. Um, just the continued focus, I think, making sure that we're um, doing everything we can is the important piece. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I I will add because Amanda's comment sparked my memory of this. So, thank you for that, Amanda. Um, we also too do

107do still have um multiple members of the team that are meeting with like regional meetings and some of that is with community partners in different aspects and things as well. So we are also providing updates to a variety of partners and other districts across the region and that does actually help as well get the word out because um sometimes those uh community partners have connections with families beyond what we have and so that is another avenue that I did overlook in my original response. So um second question um talking about staff training right now because this uh training change is so recent we are just doing the best we can to get to as many school staffs as we can between now and the end of the year to get the information updated kind of

108as an initial update. Um it's a challenge this time of year to get extra time in staff meetings when people have had those mapped out. But I will say we have completed in-person trainings um for staff at five of our schools with a sixth one scheduled I believe next week or the week after. Um I don't know that we're going to get to every school between now and the end of the year. So one of the things we're doing is we're doing also a voice over scripted version of the slide deck that will be shared out with any staff who weren't able to attend one of those initial update trainings this year. Going into next year, this will become part of our annual training. And that's part of the work we have ahead of us

109this summer is how do we create an accountability system so that we are able to track who's taken the training, who hasn't, who do we need to connect with, and how are we connecting with onboarding new staff to make sure no one slips through those cracks going forward. >> Thank you, >> Director Newman. Sorry, it took me a little bit there to find my mouse. Um, like Vice Chair Moing, I really appreciate the the work and the effort that you all put in when I think about where this conversation started in I believe it was the December December board meeting to now. And I know there are a lot of questions from us too. Um, it's really great to see a lot of that uh really implemented and and a big change to to um

110to where we were. So, um I don't really have any particular questions, but I just want to um acknowledge that and really appreciate um especially looking at some of the training and bringing in these sort of this mix of of procedures into a distinct workflow that is maybe ideally a little bit easier to follow. then oh will we go from immigration policy to other other uh workflows in certain scenarios just to have it all in one place sounds great. So I appreciate that and I look forward to seeing the continued evolution of the immigration resources page on the website. >> Thank you. Director Solowski, >> where are you? Director Soloski. Oh, I don't see her on my screen. Director Harden, >> uh, I, you know, I want to thank you all for your sense of

111urgency in this matter and prioritization with it. You guys, it really, I'm impressed. It, it seems like you guys have made a lot of progress in a short time, and I want to thank you all for that. um you know seeing the overview and the uh outcomes and needs and then what is the ongoing work and implementation seeing that in this presentation uh I really appreciated that and seeing how uh what we can expect moving forward out of the group u my question is similar to the equity group um equity access group is the team going to be intact next year are there holes to fill. Are there, you know, is it going to be the same people progressing with the same work in next year and years moving forward? >> A great question. Um,

112I will say and Denise, jump in at any point, we did start with a significantly larger group at the beginning of this work than we ended up with more recently. Um, and for a variety of reasons, I think we kind of got dialed as we identified specific action steps, we got dialed down to a smaller, more um, nimble group that was really taking those action steps forward. Um, when we come together in the fall, my expectation would be that we will extend the invitation to all members of the original group to rejoin us and then once we get through our first meeting, kind of reassess like are there spots that need to be filled? Are there more spaces that we can extend invitations to based on the next phases of work and who are the

113people closest to that work that really need to have their voices at the table? Um, and Denise, feel free to add anything I missed. >> Yeah, in addition to that, we didn't have any parents on this group and that was one of the conversations we had with the students because we had multiple high school students joining us. So, it was like, do we need to bring your parents in? Are there different perspectives they have than you have? And so, um, they all felt like they were able to share the concerns that were coming up and what needed to be addressed. But that would continue to be an area that we would want to reconsider, um, is just after we've implemented and updated these things, are there still things that parents aren't knowing about or hearing

114about that we do need to take into consideration? So, that would be an area that we may need to add some more people to the group around. Thank you so much. >> Uh, Director Silowski uh had a computer issue, so she might have other questions. If she does, I know she knows how to get a hold of you. Any other questions from uh directors? All right, seeing none, thank you so much committee members and our our staff who've been helping with this. Um, as Director Newman said, you've come a super long way from the very beginning. Um it's it's impressive what your work you've done at your individual areas and the individual needs and how you have um represented your constituent group within the structure of the committee. It's very much appreciated the extra efforts

115that you've been putting out for not just the students, but I think the community as a whole to make people feel safer in this extraordinary time that we've experienced and how tough it's been for everyone, right? And the acknowledgement and hearing about it goes a long way. So much appreciated from all from all of you tonight. That being said though, if we're done with this report this evening and you're absolutely free to go with our appreciation for staying with us this evening and uh we'll probably see you again at a different time, maybe more information at a at a report later on. Thank you again tonight. Board members, do you have the stamina to have one more report to kind of where to go? All right, then. And Rose is back with this. So, yay.

116So, Superintendent um Owens, there's a year end report that we're looking forward to have from you. >> All right. Thank you, Chair Shields. I believe that you're able to see the report. Good evening, board directors. It's my pleasure and privilege to share with you a recap of the 2526 school year as a reflection of our shared progress during year three of roadmap 27. Last year, I shared with the board that we were beginning to move from the development of systems and structures into deeper implementation work as outlined in roadmap 27. As I reflect on the school year, I believe that continued to be true across the district. We saw increasing consistency in many of the systems, routines, and improvement efforts we have been working to establish over the past several years. At the same time,

117I believe this year also reinforced an important reality that this work takes time. Sustained improvement requires focus, consistency, refinement, and a willingness to stay with the work long enough for it to truly take hold. Throughout the year, our principles and our school teams have continued sharing examples of classroom learning, student growth, and school-based improvement efforts through their presentations to the board and strategic plan updates. My role in much of the work I will reflect on tonight is often centered more on the organizational conditions that support the work districtwide. The systems, structures, planning processes, collaboration, and long-term alignment intended to support improved outcomes over time. So this evening, I want to spend some time reflecting on several major threads of work across the district this year, including our continued instructional systems work, organizational alignment, and leadership

118development efforts, long range facilities planning work, and several of the major areas I believe will help shape the district's focus moving forward into the 2627 school year. As we continued implementing roadmap 27 this year, one of the clearest areas of continued development was our work around continuous improvement systems and instructional coherence across the district. Much of this work centered around creating more consistent structures for teams to collaboratively reflect on practice, analyze student information, refine instruction, and align improvement efforts across schools. One of the primary vehicles for this continued uh for this work continued to be our trimester data summit process. Throughout the year, representative leadership teams from each school came together to review student outcome data, identified trends, reflect on instructional practices, and engage in collaborative planning connected to their school improvement plans and roadmap

11927 priorities. This year also marked an important transition in that work as district as the district shifted from contracted facilitation support through performance fact toward increased internal planning and facilitation of the process by district staff. This year, we also differentiated and expanded portions of this work at Centennial High School through the development of a dedicated ninth and tth grade data summit series focused specifically on core academic areas and early high school success indicators. This allowed high school teams to engage in more targeted analysis and planning connected to attendance, grades, instructional practices, and student supports during a critical transition period for students. At the elementary level, grade level teams from across all six schools participated in a series of coordinated standards mapping and curriculum alignment sessions. Throughout the year, teachers work collaboratively to align pacing, identify

120critical and focal standards, clarify learning targets, and strengthen shared understanding around what proficiency looks like for students. This work also helps strengthen consistency and coherence across schools while reinforcing the connection between standards, curriculum, assessment, and instructional planning. Much of this work was also directly connected to the district's continued focus on literacy within roadmap 27, including efforts to strengthen instructional consistency, collaborative lesson design, and mastery of critical literacy standards across our schools. Similarly, our professional learning community and MTSS work continued to mature throughout the year. Increasingly, teams are using collaborative planning time, data summits, attendance review processes, and intervention systems in a more coordinated way to support students academically, behaviorally, and socially. Another significant thread throughout the year was our equity focused professional learning partnership with West Ed. Staff from every school participated in a year-long

121series designed to strengthen tier one equity teams and support the translation of the district's equity commitments into building level professional learning and classroom practice. Across the series, teams engaged in work connected to high expectations, classroom discourse, culturally responsive instructional practices, belonging, and the social conditions necessary for collaborative learning environments. The work also supported the development of ongoing building-based professional learning structures that schools will continue carrying forward. As we just as was just mentioned in the previous report, this year also required the district to respond to broader uncertainty and concern related to immigration enforcement and its impact on students and families. In response, the district established a crossf functional work group involving students, staff, administrators, and community partners focused on strengthening district response systems, staff training, communication protocols, and family supports related to immigration concerns. Throughout

122the year, this work included refinement of response protocols, the staff training, communications planning, resource development, and the coordination of supports intended to help ensure schools remain safe, predictable, and supportive environments for students and families. While much of this work occurred operationally behind the scenes, it nevertheless required significant coordination, communication, and responsiveness across the organization during the school year. Throughout the year, the bo the board also heard directly from several elementary schools regarding how roadmap 27 priorities are increasingly translating into school level practices and student experiences whether through literacy focused instructional work, belonging and attendance efforts, collaborative planning structures or opportunities for student voice and engagement. These presentations helped illustrate how broader district systems work is beginning to take shape within classrooms and school communities across the district. Across the year, schools highlighted examples connected to

123early literacy, attendance, belonging, collaborative PLC work, and expanded opportunities for student engagement and voice. As I reflect on the work collectively, one of the things that stands out the most is the amount of intentional connected implementation work occurring across the organization. Increasingly, these efforts are becoming more integrated into the ongoing routines, the planning structures, the collaboration processes and instructional practices of the district rather than existing as isolated initiatives or standalone events. In many ways, this work centered less on launching entirely new initiatives and more on deepening implementation, strengthening collaborative structures, and increasingly moving this work from externally supported efforts towards internally sustained practice. While we still have important work ahead of us, I believe this continued refinement in internalization of systems work remains essential to improving outcomes for students over time. One significant example of

124this was our continued imple implementation of the profile of a Centennial graduate, particularly through this year's pilot work connected to the academically prepared competency. Throughout this year, teacher leaders and administrators from across the district participated in a series of profile of a graduate centennial graduate pilot leader work sessions focused on developing authentic learning experiences, strengthening instructional rigor, developing common understandings around the evidence of learning, and creating opportunities for student reflection and demonstration of learning. As part of this process, participating staff work collaboratively to test ideas, reflect on implementation, refine instructional practices, and help identify what supports are necessary for future scaling of the work. This culminated in the development of student summits at both the elementary and secondary levels where students demonstrated learning connected to the profile of a centennial graduate competencies through presentations, exhibitions,

125reflection, and dialogue with authentic audiences. These are photos of last week's elementary student summit, and the secondary student summit will be held tomorrow. One of the things I appreciated about this work is that it moved beyond simply asking students to complete projects or presentations. Instead, the emphasis increasingly centered on students being able to explain their thinking, reflect on their learning, articulate evidence of growth, and communicate why their learning matters. I believe that represents an important shift in how we think about student engagement, ownership, and demonstration of learning over time. Another important organizational development this year and as was reflected in an early report was the launch of the district equity advisory committee. This committee brings together students, families, staff, and community members to help inform the district practices and provide additional perspectives regarding barriers, opportunities,

126and student experiences across the system. This work aligns with the broader efforts throughout the year to strengthen student voice, family partnership, and inclusive decision-making processes connected to roadmap 27 implementation. In addition to the work occurring within schools, we also continued efforts to strengthen alignment between roadmap 27 and broader district planning and improvement processes. Throughout the year, district departments continued refining devel uh department level priorities and identifying connections between their work and the district strategic plan, helping reinforce that implementation of roadmap 27 extends beyond classroom instruction alone. It also involves the systems and organizational supports that help schools function effectively every day. This year also included the launch of the district's long range facilities planning process in partnership with DLR group. Throughout the year, this work included department level interviews, staff listening sessions, school site reviews,

127educational alignment conversations, facility condition analysis, and the development of planning structures intended to support broader stakeholder engagement. As part of the long range facilities planning process this spring, the district launched the facilities advisory committee, bringing together parents, students, staff, union repres representatives, administrators, community partners, board participation, and facilitation support from DLR group and district leadership. Through the first three committee meetings, participants examined long-term facility conditions, enrollment trends, educational ade adequacy considerations, safety and security needs, equitable access to programs and services, modernization priorities, and alignment between future facility investments in the district's instructional vision. One thing I appreciated about this process is that the conversation has consistently remained grounded in educational programming and student experience rather than simply the buildings themselves. Throughout the process, participants have explored how learning environments either support or constrain the types

128of experiences we want for students, including conversations over flexible learning spaces, accessibility, career and technical education opportunities, student belonging, safety, and community centered spaces. Meanwhile, the district has also continued investing in facility improvements and capital stewardship projects across schools. This has included continuing seismic improvements at Oliver Middle School, classroom and learning space renovations at Park Lane, a brand new playground at Powell but fresh paint and libraries, gyms, cafeterias, and other common areas throughout the district, as well as continued HVAC modernization through the PAF funding partnerships. Additional projects are also scheduled for summer 26 as the district continues reinvesting in learning environments and facility conditions across the system. These include classroom and HVAC upgrades at Palute Elementary and the renovation of the Centennial Middle School playground. This year also included a significant bargaining process with CA

129that required substantial time, coordination, communication, and organizational attention throughout the school year. I appreciate the continued efforts of both bargaining teams to engage in the work and ultimately reach agreement prior to the um and ultimately reach agreement. Taken together, I believe these efforts continue strengthening the district's ability to sustain improvement work over time. While there's still substantial work ahead of us, I believe that we are increasingly seeing stronger internal systems, clearer alignment between district priorities and school level implementation, and continued commitment to the long-term work necessary to support students across Centennial School District. So, where are we going? As we look ahead to the 2627 school year, I believe several major areas of work will continue shaping the district's f focus and direction. In many ways, next year represents both a continuation of important work

130already underway and an opportunity to reflect on where the district is headed moving forward. First, next year will represent, believe it or not, year four of roadmap 27 implementation. I believe it is important that we continue maintaining focus and discipline around the priorities already underway rather than prematurely shifting directions. Much of next year's work will continue centering on refining and strengthening systems and practices already underway. Next year also represents an opportunity to begin re-engaging the Centennial community in reflection and future planning conversations regarding what comes after road mapap 27. While roadmap 27 remains a comprehensive plan with significant work still underway, next year will allow the district to begin gathering feedback and reflecting on progress, priorities, and future direction. As I shared previously with the board, I anticipate this process taking a somewhat lighter touch

131approach than the extensive consultant supported process that we used several years ago to develop roadmap 27 and conduct the district's equity audit. We also intend to align this work with the state of Oregon's integrated guidance and aligning for student success planning requirements as part of a coordinated organizational planning process. Moving forward, another primary area of focus next year will be the continuation of the district's long range facilities planning process. Following the initial work completed this spring, the facilities advisory committee will reconvene in the fall alongside additional community engagement opportunities as the district continues working toward development of a long-range facilities plan for future board consideration. I believe this work represents an important opportunity to continue reflecting on how our learning environments support the educational experiences that we want for our students over time. Next year

132will also include the bar beginning of another bargaining cycle with OEA. As with all major organizational work, we will continue approaching the process thoughtfully and with focus on supporting students, staff, and stable organizational systems over time. Finally, the coming year will mark the 50th anniversary of the Centennial School District. I think that milestone will naturally create opportunities to reflect on the district's history, the work currently underway across the organization, and the future direction of the district. As we continue planning ahead this summer, we will begin planning ways to honor the past, highlight the present, and envision the future of our district as we celebrate this important anniversary. We're fortunate to have a community filled with families, alumni, staff, and community members who support our students in their learning. Our 50th anniversary provides an opportunity to

133bring our whole community together, and I look forward to bringing you more information about what opportunities for engagement and celebration look like in the coming year. As I reflect on the year, I continue to come back to the idea that meaningful improvement work is often less dramatic than some people sometimes expect. Much of it involves sustained effort, collaboration, refinement, problem solving, and a willingness to continue working through challenges over time. This year, I believe we saw that work occurring across our schools, departments, leadership teams, classrooms, and community partnerships in many different ways. While there's certainly still important work ahead of us, I also believe this year demonstrated a continued commitment from staff across the organization to supporting students, strengthening their practice, and continuing to move the district forward in thoughtful and intentional ways. I appreciate

134the continued partnership of our board, staff, students, families, and community as we continue that work together. It's my privilege to serve Centennial School District and I remain grateful for the opportunity to support this work alongside so many dedicated people across the organization. It's been my pleasure to feature this work. I'm happy to address any questions the board may have. And that concludes my superintendent's year-end report. >> Thank you. So board members, let's start with um Vice Chair Moing if you're there. >> I am here. Thank you. >> Yes, I'm here. Mayor, thank you, Superintendent Owens. I I appreciate the uh detailed report as always. I will sit and reflect on it and follow up with any questions. >> Thank you, Director Newman. >> Um yeah, thank you for the report. I don't have any questions,

135but I mean since it is a year on report, I would just like to express my appreciation for your leadership this year. Thank you, >> Director Silleski. >> Yes, thank you. I'm on my phone, so I apologize for not having my camera. Um, I am just after hearing all this, I'm just so proud of the district and I continue to be proud of the work that we're doing. Um, I had a couple of things with roadmap 27 for next year. We talked about revisiting it potentially with a bit of a lighter touch. Um, and I would encourage us to to still continue to do some stakeholder engagement, especially with the diversity equity committee and some of these other work groups and things that we've um brought together. I think that bringing those groups together then

136on the strategic plan as it moves forward would be really thoughtful. Um, and I'm not suggesting that you were saying no um, stakeholder engagement, but I just know lighter touch. Um, I think agreed we can do it ourselves. We don't necessarily need a big group. Um, but yeah, I'm just and I'm really excited for next year. Um, I will also just throw it out there that I turn 50 next year. Um, and I'm going to own it. So, um, me and Centennial um, at the last Trailblazers Championships. Thank you, James. That was a great report. >> Wow. Thank you for that, directors. Extra little information we're going to be able to act on next year. This will be good. Director Harden, >> no questions. Thanks again for the report. When you laid out like this,

137there's a lot of work going on and um I hope it has great results for our students. Hope it leads to positive impacts for them. >> Director Lynn, >> no questions. Thank you, >> Chair Shields. Uh it's it's just amazing to see when it's all laid out as many of you as the directors have already mentioned. Um a lot to reflect on. And uh again, send the slide deck one more time to us because we're going to need it as a reference of all of the kinds of things that we've been accomplishing because I think it's also important for us as board members to reflect on the work that we've been doing and we'll be talking about board evaluation and how we participate in what your leadership is. So, um it's going to be it's

138important for us to have that slide deck readily available. So, board members, we'll need to take a short break, but I think we could just unless there's some reason not to. Can I have a motion to um con to what's the wording I want to use? Motion to confirm um the list of confirmation items as listed. Something like that. >> Motion to approve the confirmation items as listed. >> Oh, great. I've got the motion and the second. Any discussion on any of the confirmation items? Not hearing any. We'll um take a mo a vote on the motion. All those in favor of approving the confirmation items as presented, indicate by saying I and showing me your hand if you're on camera, >> I. >> Thank you. Anybody not voting? I'm an eye. >> Sorry. >>

139You're an I. Gotcha. All right. >> I think we've got everybody. Thank you so much. All right. Let's take um How we doing on time, guys? It's getting to be where you have a little bit longer meeting. Um you want five or 10? Show them a show of hands. Five. Can we do it in five? All right. We'll see you in five. And five minutes goes fast. Really fast. All righty. Want to make sure I have a quorum before I get us back. I see Michael. I see Jess. I see me. I see Rose. I see Will. I don't see director Lynn. There. There. I see you. The gallery keeps moving around so I never know who I'm looking at. Oh, now I've got everybody. Thank you everyone. Oh, you guys are really good at

140coming back. So, we're in section seven, our board action items, and our first is old business, which is our second read of the policy with the option to adopt it this evening for evaluation of board operational procedures. And these are um committees of the superintendent. And so uh there's a facilitator and I see director Newman's name as the facilitator this evening for this particular topic or whoever else is on your committee. However you are organizing it, it's now for you to present. >> All right. Um I will share the screen and I'll introduce what we uh the changes we made after your feedback last time. Um make sure I'm sharing the right window. Hopefully you all see um my screen and it should be evaluation of board operational procedures. Do you all see that? All

141right. Um I'll share and then um director Morgan if you have anything to add uh please do so. So we took your feedback from last month when we shared this which um we had largely gone with OSBA's language last month which was very vague uh very open-ended I'll say about uh operational procedures about um really board self-evaluation or board evaluation and um I think that the feedback that we got back was you wanted a little bit more. Um, so we still wanted to maintain. Sorry, I'm trying to as soon as I went to share, I lost most of my uh Zoom window. Trying to get that back while I'm talking to you. Um, so um, we still wanted to maintain a fair amount of flexibility, but at the same time listening to a lot of

142your your concerns and questions and and just wanting to have a little bit better definition of the purpose of the evaluation. um as well as kind of who's going to be responsible for for kicking it off. So um we see here the uh the the current wording. Um it is about five sentences. Um we do have some of the um what we presented last time is in the part of it is in this gray highlighted and then the completely crossed out section. This was in this is actually the current policy that was adopted um in September of 2013. So we put in um made a few few adjustments here. So first of all we still are just talking about the the purpose the first line about the purpose of why do we um well acknowledgement

143of who we are and then a purpose of of why to uh really the improvement of board uh we changed from leadership to governance just to to identify we're talking about all of us as members of the board not just board leadership could be interpreted as being our uh chair and vice chair. Um the old version was very prescriptive about exactly what the evaluation is going to be and we came still wanted to walk back on that and be a little more uh allow a little more freedom and a little more flexibility for how how we're actually going to conduct an evaluation. uh the board will plan an annual evaluation of its board based on the operating agreements and that was a a key thing we added to give us a framework around which we're

144going to evaluate ourselves. Um and then board leadership will facilitate evaluation timeline and process. So this time when we are talking about board leadership we are specifically referring to the uh chair and vice chair will facilitate evaluation and time or sorry yeah timeline and process but that doesn't mean that they're necessarily conducting the the evaluation but hey we're going to do an evaluation in um May for example we're we're kicking it off May or June and uh some of our thinking around This as we were discussing as far as proposed timelines would be to uh conduct an evaluation um as early as this year uh and have it have the results of our evaluation to discuss at our uh board retreat in the summer. Um while I'm here, I figured I would at least just

145pull up the board operating agreement. So these would be kind of the the foundation. We didn't say we're going to uh evaluate ourselves in all 15 agreements, but again, letting these be sort of the guiding principles. How are we aligning to the operating agreements? And again, we talk about these during the summer during the summer retreat. We can we have a little bit more. We've done some evaluation before we even come into the conversation. Um I will point out that we even have as one of our operating agreements that we'll periodically review our own performance. So, I thought that was a an interesting parody uh going back and forth between our operating agreements and the uh uh board evaluation. So, uh D uh Vice Chair Moren, do you have anything to add before we open

146up for questions, comments? No, I think you did a good job of summarizing that. Um, we we took in the feedback from folks and um hopefully this reflects what we were um answers the questions and reflects better about what the intentions of our our committee are. >> Thank you. Let's um open it up to questions starting again. I'm just trying to rotate through us. Director Solowski, do you have any questions? I just want to thank you guys for the work that you put into this and the thought that you put into this. Um it shows that you are listening to what we're talking about and I think this is great. Um, I think that what this allows is just that little bit of flexibility because we never know what is going to happen. we, God

147forbid, have another COVID year or some big thing that like I if um if we don't have the time as a board to do to review ourselves, it's important and yes, we should do it. But like um there are times when our time is so limited that like this gives us that flexibility of like if the board leadership says that we have what what do we have the time for? Let's do that. Um, I think that's great. So, thank you. Good work, >> Director Harden. >> Great job. You know, I I really like the improvements and or adjustments, I should say. You know who, when, what, without having a specific date and time. It's still, you know, who is doing what and how often, when those kinds of questions were are answered, and really appreciate

148your uh effort in that. Thank you, >> Director Lynn. >> No questions. Thank you, >> Chair Shields. Oh, you know, I've got questions. Um, second paragraph. The primary purpose of this assessment is the improvement of board governance. Governance of what? Ourselves. District governance. cuz governance to me actually it still meant leadership. Um so that was my especially when it's capitalized. So I'm that sentence is not as complete as I'd like it to be. Uh but I >> I'm actually just noticing that it's a comma at the end. So it's not really a sentence anyway. It just it if you have some ideas of the primary purpose of this assessment is the improvement of board operations board governance what does that I don't understand what the definition of governance is as it relates to a >>

149the general general concept of board governance refers to systems processes and policies that guide a board of directors. Um, that is kind of what the general concept of board governance is. >> I love those words, Will, because those words mean something to me. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, if it said board systems operate and you of your just the words that you use to help describe it to me like, oh, I get it now. >> Well, and and further down too, you know, the annual evaluation will function, its functions is based on the operating agreements. I think that backs up it goes from larger big picture into more specific but without pigeon hauling ourselves into something specific is what I would offer and director Newman please jump in if I'm u not clearly articulating the

150the will of the committee. >> Yeah. No, I I agree with with that and and I also I understand uh Chair Shields your concern about the the wording and I I I think that that is one of the spots that we were kind of throwing around some different ways to how do we describe >> you describe >> the function of us as a whole. >> Yeah. Well, if you if and and what we can do tonight, we have the opportunity to approve it this evening or with a little bit more word smith smithing, right? Um, we could also make sure it's in confirmation items so that if taking this information on from this evening and just adding the clarity to what governance is. I would also ask if that that sentence doesn't necessarily stand alone.

151The primary purpose of assessment of is the improvement of board operations systems etc. The board will plan an annual evaluation. That whole thing could be just one paragraph. it's separated by the um the striking right of the information but not necessarily needs to be separate sentences as separate paragraphs. Um I think those uh those three sentences really could be combined into um a single paragraph and just a little bit of tweaking and I would definitely be comfortable um moving it into confirmation for next meeting and and having it improved. But that's my opinion. Um please other uh directors if that is not something that's comfortable for you then um please let me know speak up and I will I'll I'll move for a vote tonight. But I'm also comfortable just making it a little cleaner

152and bringing it back in the confirmation items. All right. Making an executive decision. Um, is it okay by the superintendent committee u members um Newman and Moring that you will clean it up just a tad bit for confirmation items for our next meeting with the help of our executive assistant Missy who will pull those. It's hard um when you're doing this much striking and trying to get all of the nuances in there. >> Yeah, I'm okay with that. >> Yeah, I was going to say I'm comfortable with that. Will uh director or sorry, Vice Chair Moring, you said, do you remember your exact words? Operations and what? >> Oh man, now it's late. Uh >> we can we can refer to the recording. >> Exactly. >> That's right. We can't watch YouTube. um systems, processes

153and policies that guide a board of directors. I think it was systems, process proc Yeah, systems, processes and policies that guide a board of directors is what the concept of board governance is. >> Yeah. >> Um and that's applicable to all boards, not specifically a school board, right? >> I think those updates. Yeah, >> that's what we were getting caught up to in our our our own meeting is how do we adequately describe that >> I thoroughly trust that that those kind of just as you've said it tonight guys this is really good work and appreciate the time and effort it takes so um yeah if you're comfortable doing that and bringing it back we'll put it in confirmation items and board members of course anything that's in confirmation items you have the opportunity to

154pull And so if there was something that you were not feeling good about at that time, we could pull it and have the committee members address the changes that they had made. Any other comments, concerns, directors, before we move to the next one? >> Right. Thank you guys for your work. >> Thank you. >> So, new business items. We're moving to consideration of the approval of the 267 school calendar. Is that correct? I moved down from the agenda. So, I'm hoping I'm still on the agenda correctly. 7.2.1 if I got that correct. And would that be >> Dr. Cassuda? >> Yes, absolutely. Um, I don't know that I will review everything that's in in the board note. uh would like to present to you the collaboratively designed uh school year calendar proposal. You see there

155that it was developed by a constituent group uh made up of administrators, classified staff, licensed staff and representatives from various uh departments and operational or departments across the district. Um, I've highlighted a number of key points in the calendar from start of the year to when semesters end and begin again, last days of school for different grade levels. I'll say that uh some of the uh instructional benefits of this calendar as the committee has designed it was to move uh to alignment between all grade levels bands um elementary, middle and high school to semesters creating greater consistency for instructional pacing, grading timelines and interventions. that allowed us also to align conference and uh conference planning days and prep days across the grade levels um improving um continuity and consistency and communication for our families who

156are living this calendar as well. Um we have built in structural preparation and report card work time to support grading consistency and instructional planning. Um, we've also been able to include and increase uh professional development and collaboration days um to support some of the strategic planning uh and professional learning structures in the district. Um let's see here. We've um included also a staggered start for kindergarten that supports successful transitions uh for our younger learners, many of whom may not have experienced school so far, and allows staff to uh develop um routines and deeper relationships with students for a smoother start to the school year. Uh we believe by consolidating uh all grade bands to the semester schedule which lines up to the semester schedule that the high school has adopted minimizes disruption, aligns practices, aligns

157learning and increases coherence uh for the district across the district. So, it's uh my recommendation that the board approve the adoption of this 202627 preK12 school year calendar. I also say it's a singular calendar and if you for many of you who've been in Centennial for a while um you have you will have experienced Centennial with multiple calendars and that was um um major uh effort of work of the calendar committee to figure out how we could uh mesh and compromise and mold and align all that's needed within a calendar including the instructional minute requirements, legal requirements um like PE and instructional for division 22. Um, and then lining up uh what that all the days that we uh get to share to collaborate and improve our practice. So, >> thank you. Starting from the

158top of our list, Director Harden, you're back at the top. >> Uh, thanks. Uh, just I don't know if it's a typo or not. Um, January 22nd is a Friday, semester 1 ends. Then it says semester 2 begins on January 26th, which is a Tuesday. >> It would help if I have have the calendar blown up to a size that I can see it. >> Typo. It might be, you know, maybe I'm not seeing the date on the sheet, right? But it looks like it says January 26th. Seme >> uh semester 1 ends January 22nd. Semester uh 2 begins on January 26th. >> So what's January 25th? That Monday. >> It may have been in the board notes a typo. >> Let me go back to the board notes. Uh January 20. >> Yeah, January

15925th. Um or if you're asking what that is in terms of the day. Let me see here. Pulling it up. January 25th would be a no school report card and semester 2 prep day with the teachers. >> Got it. Okay. Thank you. I just >> So there it does seem like there's a little bit of gap of a gap between the date semester 1 ends and the day semester 2 begins. And that's because of that planning day which is contractually required. >> Yeah. No, no problem. I just wanted to make sure we had our eyes dotted and tees cross dropped. Yes. Yes. Appreciate it. >> Director Lynn. >> No questions. Thank you, >> Vice Chair Moring. >> Uh, thank you. Um, Dr. Katsuda, I know a lot of work goes into putting this uh this

160calendar work um together in a various It looks like we got a good cross-section of various people involved in the committee. Um this was a unanimous recommendation out of the calendar committee to to adopt this u or to put forth these recommendations to us for adoption. >> Yes, it was >> great. That's awesome. That's great to see that level of collaboration um taking place across all levels there. >> Director Newman. >> Uh no questions. I appreciate the efforts going in, especially combining it all into one calendar. >> Director Silowski, >> great work to the calendar committee on Yeah. merging it all into one. No questions. Ready to make a motion. >> Uh, go for it. Um, I would like to move that we adopt the calendar for the 2026 2027 school year. >> Second. >>

161We got that motion and seconder. Only comment from the chair is wow, it looks so much cleaner. It's so much easier to read. >> Woof. Congratulations to the the efforts of everybody on that committee. >> Um, I think we've had discussion and questions answered. So, we'll just put the motion to you. All those in favor of the motion as presented indicate by saying I and raising your hand. >> I >> Are there any opposed to the motion to approve? No obstensions. All right. Great work, people. Great work, committee. That was wonderful. All right. Oo, now we're moving to our own board meeting schedule. Is that correct? Again, I apologize. I'm scrolling through. Do we have to Missy? Is Is that something we have to approve? Where'd you go, Missy? There you are. >> I'm here.

162>> I apologize. I just have to keep looking across my screen. Everybody, >> I'm here. I'm here. Yes, we would. Uh, we do want to approve this. >> Okay. So, >> can share it if you'd like so folks can look at it. >> Okay, that'd be great. Thank you. Yes, please. >> All right. Can you see my screen? >> Not. There it is. >> There it is. Okay, great. There it is. >> So, starting off with you, Director Lynn. Any questions about the um board of directors meeting schedule as you see it on your screen? >> No. Thank you. >> All right, Vice Chair Mo. >> Uh, thank you. Um I think we nailed just on July and August of this year. I think we did nail down some times for those meetings. Is that

163correct? >> Yes. So we are looking at a 4:00 start time uh for the July 1st meeting and that will be virtual. Uh once this calendar was approved, I was going to go ahead and send out calendar invitations. >> Perfect. um the August 12th board retreat. I'm still trying to see uh when Vince Adams availability is that day. So, I know I've sent out a calendar invite for I think it was a 10 to 2 time frame. Have to go back and look, but that may adjust a little bit, but it is still going to be on that day. >> Okay. Thank you. >> A couple other things if I can just point out real quick. You'll see the November 18th date. there's an asterk next to it and that is because um November 11th

164which is when I we normally would have our board meeting is a holiday. So talking with board leadership we moved it back a week. Um in addition to you'll see on June 16th we adjusted that date as well due to the uh high school and CBA graduation very similar to what we've done this year as well. Uh we've also kept this calendar very similar to what we've done this year where we are going to have the work sessions virtual and the regular business meetings in person um unless things change or we need to add special meetings or so on and so forth. So that's kind of the format of the the calendar how it was developed. >> Thank you. Director Newman, any questions? >> No questions. Director Soski, I'm good. Thank you. >> Director Harden.

165>> Uh, no questions, but just to raise awareness, we'll want to sync the budget committee meetings along with the virtual committee with the virtual work session time slots. >> Thank you. All right, directors. Seeing the calendar as presented, do I have a motion to accept? >> I move to accept the board meeting schedule for 2627. >> Second. >> Motion and seconded to adopt this board meeting schedule. Again, as usual, all those in favor indicate by saying I and raising your hand. >> I I >> Any opposed? Any abstaining? Good. I think we are good to go on that. Thank you so much. Doing great, guys. All right. Superintendent policy meeting on board member compensation. And who are my presenters this evening? I know it's Director Lynn. They're the facilitator and directors Moring and Newman. You

166director Lynn, you take it over and help me figure that part out. >> Thank you. Well, of course, this is just a first read on the board member compensation. As everyone uh can see, there's a background document, there's a draft policy, and a draft resolutions. Um, this has been a couple years in the making, um, including the legislature passing it, OSBA getting some clarification, and finally getting us some, uh, draft, uh, policies. Um, of course, the first decision point uh, before the board when they if and when they decide to pass it will be whether there should be stipens or not. Um, if they're not, then all the rest of the decisions are moot and we can move on. Uh, of course, the second one is the amount of the legislation allowed up to $500

167plus inflation, which is why Portland Public Schools went with something around 528 um in theirs. Um, but of course, we don't have to do that. If we decide we're a mid-level school with a mid-level budget, uh, we could decide on a mid-level amount. Uh the third is whether we want to vote on it every year or just have it perpetual until rescended, changed, or no longer budgeted for. Um and then when it goes into effect um how soon or how late um of course and then the procedure that OSBA worked out is that we will vote on um two or three board member positions at a time so that those board members uh can avoid a conflict of interest of voting on their own compensation. Um so if we were to pass it, we could

168pass it in uh three or four chunks uh to cover all the board positions. Um that's about it. You can see in the resolutions uh some of the justifications behind it. Uh it is to increase you know participation in workingclass communities and Centennial is a working-class community. Uh it's to increase diversity uh to represent our diverse population. Centennial is a very very diverse population. Um and again it doesn't need to be a top amount but we should take into consideration um what people who are on the margins might have to pay for just to get to a meeting. um on a monthly basis. Um you know, if you have to get an Uber from work at the last moment uh to and from a board meeting, that's like 50 bucks a meeting. Um if they

169have to do child care or cover for dinner, um then that's another, you know, expense just to come to a board meeting and participate in their community. So again, this is a first reading. Um happy to answer any questions uh for the committee and hope we can move it forward next month. Do any of your committee members wish to continue to to speak to that more? Whoever you are director, >> sorry, go ahead. Oh, um, no, I was going to say Director Lyn did did a great job summarizing our committee's meeting. >> Any other uh, Director Newman, you were also on that. >> Yeah, I I have nothing to add. No, I I'm appreciate what director Lynn presented. >> Okay, thank you. Then we're going to go um so I'm skipping director Lynn Mo and

170Newman because you guys are there, right? Okay. Uh so that opens up to um down again down the list. Director Sleski, >> um I do not have any questions at this time. I think that um what from what I've read as we want to continue to increase equity in the school district, this is one thing that we can do to hopefully increase equity on the board um and just kind of level that playing field for everybody so that anyone can be a member of the board. Um thank you. That's it. Director Harden. >> Um, my question I don't I didn't see it outlined anywhere, but my question is if we give the stipend once a year annually, but then said board member renegs on their commitment to the community and leaves their position. How do

171we handle that situation? Is the newly appointed board member allotted the same amount of money? And do we ask the leaving board member for money back? >> Uh, no. I believe it's on a prrated amount after the fact and I I forget which documented in, but it would be it would be pro rated for actual attendance on the board. So, if they, you know, leave after six meetings, they would not be compensated for more than six meetings. Okay. And if >> it's a monthly stipend, um the annual versus perpetual portion is whether or not we would renew it every year or if it would just continue u paid out monthly um until there was no money left or did the the the policy changed or whatnot. I would imagine this would be a line item,

172you know, going forward in a budget. And so that would just be part of the the the calculation on that. >> Yeah. >> Is that correct, director? >> Yes. Thank you. >> And is it tied to attendance in the meetings? So if a say a board member is elected but doesn't show up to meetings, are they then prrated? And are we uh giving the are the financial transactions being at the end of the year or is it the beginning of the year or throughout? And like I said, it may very well be in there, but I didn't I didn't see it outlined. >> I'm trying to look it up. >> Yeah, that was something I recall us kind of chewing on that aspect of it. Director Harden, you know, there there is um a line

173in there that they may be prrated for service for incomplete months, but we didn't have at the time of our meeting clarification on how we would do that or how we would adequately uh address that that portion of it. Um I'd hate to think that somebody would go through the trouble of getting elected in a campaign to not show up and collect a stipend. Um but it's you know absolutely we you know we absolutely we need to be accountable to that uh action of course. Um director Sutherton I don't know if there's anything you might add to that specific question from a buy a business office perspective of processing these stipens and and our 1099s for you know the the year. You're on mute, Director Sullton. >> Or we can't hear you. It doesn't look

174like you're on mute, but it >> Yeah, >> I can't hear you. >> Is this any better? >> There you go. >> Thank you. Uh the legislaturator has made clear that these are not uh that board members are not not W2 income. So, it' be 1099 be as fee for service essentially. So we don't have any concerns just to be cleared from a business office standpoint. We think we'll be able to operationalize it. >> Any other questions? Followup, Director Hard? >> No, no other questions. I might reach out and just ask the questions and maybe I'll I'll look at it with a little more detail in hopes of finding some of those answers myself. Um, but if I can't find them, I might reach out to one or both or all of you and just

175kind of follow up there. Just some of these outlines, like I love the spirit of it. It makes so much sense in our community. I would hate for financial uh serving on the board to be a financial burden for anyone. Um, and uh I would also like to protect us from a grift. >> Superintendent Owens. Yeah, I was on the committee discussions and so I can weigh into what director Harden um shared. I think director uh Lynn did a really good job of outlining uh the proposed policy. I'm looking at the specific language in the policy that says stipens will be issued and then in bracket language monthly. So you could choose monthly or not, but let's say you did. Stipens will be issued monthly and may be prrated for service for incomplete months. And

176I think what director Harden is getting to um not to speak for you, but is the distinction of what is an incomplete month. Is it you dropped off the board completely and you didn't complete the year so that you completed six months you get paid for six months or is it you completed a year but you know showed for 40% of the meetings or you prrated for 40% of the stipened. We and committee members speak to this, but we intentionally left it as it was written knowing that that is um somewhat subjective language that the board will want to discuss. And I think that it's a good discussion for the board to have in terms of how you want that language to read and how that should be interpreted. >> Thank you, Chair Shields. Um,

177what I'd like to see is an AR that goes along with this for the operational processes because it's there may be answers, but just as director Harden was saying, where the heck are they? And we found out the same is um happening in a different one that you're going to see tonight as well. So, it might be helpful just to have those procedural things set aside or if you want it in policy, procedures in policy, you can leave them there, too. But it's it's helpful if it's more easily um discernible. That isn't your committee's issue. It's a committee. It's a challenge that sometimes um OSBA is not they just put everything in there, but it's not always um digestible. And if we can make it digestible either by headings or an administrative uh regulation, you

178know, sending that out, I that's for you to chew on. Um from the first read, I'd also like to have um more clarity from the committee about expenses versus stipen. Um, if I am right now, if I have child care needs, if I have an Uber need, any of those things, Director Lynn, that you were bringing up, which are absolutely the kinds of things that could happen for board members. Um, I am to consider that that is covered under my stipen, and that we are not vouchering for expenses any longer. And I'd like to know if that includes um meetings that are out that are outside of the of our board meetings like our attendance at OSBA functions, things of that nature. I need some clarity about that. So that's one piece I'd like to

179see more clarity on in our next iteration. Um that ethics question. Uh Director Lynn, man, you're going to have to explain that to me how that voting process works. I understand there was something in here when I was reading it and I really got a little concerned and in the where's whereas board members understand their ethical obligations have declared conflicts of interest for participation in the statute and votes required by OS. I don't know if that is what we're talking about the RS um 244.120 I honestly have no idea. It was a question that I'd written down for myself. And then um your recommendation for what's going to happen uh the budget committee just went through the budget the um impact of this for 20 assuming we're not doing anything for 2526. We're assuming I'm

180assuming I guess I should have said that that we're moving forward with this after approval in 2627. It's not in the budget. So, um some help from um the business office about how that would be uh dealt with and what is the annual hit for seven board members. I don't I didn't do the math. >> Uh did you have that on hand, Paul? I forget. It was >> Well, it depends on what the board assesses, right? But if you Sorry, microphone check. Are are you all hearing it? Okay, great. >> Yeah. So, if we just did, you know, the $500, we didn't index it for inflation, you're looking at $3,500 a month or $42,000 per year. So, >> so $42,000 to give stipens to all seven board members who accept it because there is the

181option for board members to opt out as >> Yeah, correct. >> Okay. >> So, I think that that's something to consider board members um that there's a $42,000 hit uh per year plus if you are going to do compensation. I don't disagree necessarily um with the intent, but I I'd like to hear if you've done any research on um that it can help I'm reading from the whereouses. It can help reduce barriers to participation, promote diversity of representation, and acknowledge that the significant commitment required to effectively fulfill their duties. If this 500 or whatever dollar amount this board sets is to cover the expense of being a board member, then I've never understood why just um making it more clear that any expense that I could incur and list all of those things that uh

182are eligible for reimbursement doesn't make more sense than a blanket amount of money per per board member. that could accumulate to a 40 thou $42,000 hit. That's my personal opinion about that. Um I think we can we can make it clear that you are not going to be out of pocket with your expenses through the uh reimbursement process. So I don't I don't know. It's like >> is the scheme you're thinking about that like very poor people would have to produce receipts? No, everybody has to produce receipts. Why Why would you say poor people have to produce receipts? >> Well, because you're talking about compensation and for expenses versus a stipen for serving on the board, there's already a separate expenses, which if there's clarification needed there. Um, but again, if we're placing additional burdens

183while we're trying to alleviate burdens, then we're fighting against our costs. So then explain to me am I going to be getting a um potential $500 uh stipen plus reimbursement for expenses and what does that list of expenses that qualify? >> No, the expenses are for other board district. It says for attending conferences or other things that are part of board business. That's already been part of policy. That's not being changed. This is a separate uh for just board stipent. >> Okay. I see Rose's hand is up, so I'll defer. Rose direct. >> Um I what I would like to say is that there is a notion of unpaid labor and what we recognize in people and so what or what we ask of people. And so for you and me, it may be easy

184to volunteer, but for a person of color, asking them to give unpaid labor in something can be offensive. And so it's about making sure that everyone feels um I don't know. I know that I I don't have it right in front of me, but I know there's this notion of this unpaid lab this idea of unpaid labor. um and not wanting like yeah to be honest, you know, like some of us may be struggling more than others. Some of us may be retired, some of us may not be working, right? And so whatever we need to be able to bring us to the table, I think um we need to look at that. >> Dr. Moring has his hand up. Yeah, but I've spoken, so if anybody else wanted to hasn't had a chance yet,

185wants to jump in, I I would happily defer to them first. >> No, I think this is great. Everybody's had an opportunity to share. Um, and so this is good. Raise your hand for more context information to share. >> It's Yeah, thank you, Sher Shields. I I appreciate your questions and followup on some of those things. And I think that there is some some good clarity that we could go back and um talk about, you know, if there are stipens, certain expenses, you know, um may not be covered under reimbursement. What does that look like? Right? What does external events look like? Um because they're not technically covered right now and they're not required attendance for us either, right? Um and then um I know we don't have any local research on whether or not

186these stipens have improved. uh participation. Um we can certainly look and see if there's anything nationally >> and there have been some boards who've done this, right? That it's like you just mentioned I think Portland public has had it in in their >> Yeah, they just started it and they just elected their their people at the same last, you know, last year as well. So, I don't think that there's enough body of evidence there to to find out, but there are um over a dozen a dozen states that have the have had these stipens already um for their school board. So, I think we might be able to pull some research as much as we can um to look at, you know, look at that and look at their intentions. So, and there's some good

187stuff on there for for take back to the committee for us to to kind of chew on a little bit. >> Thank you. I appreciate it. Any other uh director will have a question to have the committee work with or chew on a bit. So com um then the committee will either you bring it back, right? And we'll work on that and any other um additional narrowing maybe from what you've heard this evening. Um that'll be appropriate whether it be a second read or another draft. you can kind of figure that out, guys, and and bring it on back and see where we'll where we will be in the process. Um, but we would want to get it in place prior to the new school year. That's obviously going to be the goal for that.

188So, that's we'll make sure that we get that done. So, thank you everybody. A lot of work we know. Oh, >> one more question. Um did um maybe this question is for Missy. Missy, there was a a list of 20 30 April. It was a dump in April of board policies and there's like 20 30 of them which we got caught up in our in our superintendent committee. Did was there anything that had impact on this committee for compensation? Let me take a look and double check. I don't want to misspeak. So, let me take a look and then I will let you know. I'll chat it. >> Okay. Just let the the committee know. I mean, committee members, we were surprised when we were doing our work that suddenly there was an April missive

189from OSBA that moved and changed the work that we were doing. So, it would be just just know that Missy will get a hold of you if there's something in that April um I I would have called it a dump of because there were so many changes that are coming our way. Um by the way, that we'll be having to deal with. Um >> and I'm looking at it now, chair shields, and I'm not seeing anything related to stipens. >> Okay, cool. Good. You blacked out, guys. That's good information. All right. Next um policy is the first read of policy and a potential AR for DBEA, the budget committee. And that has been um the committee is myself, Director Harden, uh Superintendent Owens, Director Southerntherton, and our facilitator is Director Sleski. So, Director Soulski, here

190you go. >> Thank you, Chair Shields. Um uh I don't have the capability of sharing it on screen. Missy, can you or someone um share it on screen. Hopefully you've all had a chance to read it in board book. Um it was um want to give some real kudos to Chair Shields for doing a lot of the leg work and language um on this policy. Um, as she mentioned, it changed uh in April as we were meeting um and so we had to change a little bit again. But the intention of this policy um and uh attached AR is really to to just kind of put out um let's see here like the budget committee membership terms and how we elect them. um kind of following the snafu that happened this past year where we

191kind of strung it out and um we just really want to make sure that uh this looks like what the board would like going forward and so um I'm not going to go through it line by line. It is getting late and hopefully you all prepared. I would love to go around if there's any questions or comments and I would love to in invite the people from my committee to also share anything before we go around the room. >> Director Harden, you are on the committee. >> Yes. Um, I appreciated, you know, this will be a great opportunity for us to meet, you know, in an in a semi-in process, uh, the budget committee members, as well as, um, meeting them before they're on it, as well as allowing for, um, more more people's engagement.

192and then we can appoint as needed by the term if that makes sense. Um there's no more auto uh renewals of anyone's um you know everyone goes up for uh the positions at the end of the term. If it's uh someone that's repeated, you know, if there's, you know, three spots and four applicants, then we would select, you know, after the interview process, we'd appoint three of them um based on that. And um we kind of like that factor. One thing I am noticing, you know, after the last conversation with the stipen, we may need to adjust um in the AR is that no appointed budget committee member may receive any type of compensation from the district. We might need to tweak that um if we do uh have a stipend um and just maybe

193update some of language there. >> And let me speak to that, Director Hartin, I was a member of this committee. Um, the OSBA has a redundancy situation. Again, they they weren't clear. Uh it's something we're having to put out back to OSBA because um you know if if we decide the board members are are getting a stipen then we're going to have to be clear in this language that they were clear in the language that committee members were not going to receive a stipen. That's what it says. and yet board members are committee members. So, it was a confusing little piece of wording situation. Um been really good about um going out to OSBA for clarification on that. Um so, we'll come we'll try to get we'll be able to hopefully speak to that with

194more clarity. And Missy, if you could go down to the vacancies section, which is what uh Director Harden was um talking about. The other thing that we discovered, which we didn't know and we hadn't been following through with, is that um let's say somebody has to resign or they've moved out of the district, then they then we would be in a process of interviewing that for that um vacant position, but it starts another three-year term. It's not they don't pick up on the last two years or something of that nature. And one of the things that we will bring to you um separate from this um potential change in policy and potential AR is a staggering because we're required again by policy to do a a to try to be um staggering these positions the

195best we can. So, we're going to be looking at our current membership and where individuals would be dropping off anyway after their three-year commitment. Um, they do have the right to to reup. Um, but we're we're supposed to do a better job of staggering than we have. We can start with that, but based on resignations or moving out of district or whatever, I don't know how much control we really have over something like that. but it is the policy recommendation. So, I'll open it up to questions. Um, director, see, where am I in my list? I'm trying to keep it Well, just go back to director Lynn, let's start with you again, please. Thank you. >> No, I'm good. Thank you, everybody. >> Director Moren, >> thank you. I appreciate the uh the committee's work

196on this. I know this is another one of our policies that are quite complex and and required a lot of clarity. Um I know there's a lot that went into producing this. Um so thank you for doing that. Um on the it looks good. I like I like where it's headed and I would echo all the things that you know need to be kind of reworked or or tweaked. Um, and then I think the thing that I would add, uh, maybe you talked about this as a committee, is if there are term limits to how many how often somebody could could reapply for for their where their position, right? >> We discussed term limits a little bit. In fact, um it had been it had been discussed that a person uh after two rotations of

197three-year terms, so a total of six, might be asked to take a a year of hiatus. um at when we when we were when we were kind of musing over this. This is when we got the April update and um that I apologize that sort of dropped away a bit, but as director Harden has already stated um every every time your time is up, you have to reapply. And so it would be at the, you know, the the board would know, the board members who are voting will know that a person has served maybe a total of six years. And if there are are candidates um and they choose not to select the person that's had that much service, prior service, it's really the board's vote for the number of applicants that we have for

198the open positions. Director Harden, did I state that in any way differently than you and did it be stated? >> No. Yeah. >> Can I say one thing really fast? >> Yes, please. I I would say that >> the idea of term limits um why we kind of shied away from that was because there's so many um we we don't want to handcuff ourselves to something that we have to hold on to. And if there is a huge upheaval of the board or if you know like there's somebody that has been there um and has the expertise that we maybe need for that season. Like we don't want to count out somebody who would be beneficial to be on our board just because they've been there for too long. But with the term limits of

199our board, I would say that um that that will refresh enough so that hopefully uh you know um what am I trying to say? Oh, I lost it. I'm so sorry. >> No worries. I think that these are the kinds of questions though that we could add clarity as much as we can from our previous discussion. One question we would ask you as members um board members in the um administrative regulation which we have more control of. We had also discussed uh including a uh sample calendar so that people who would be looking we would want to send the AR to them so they could get the clarity that a budget committee process would have and maybe even the interview questions could be a sample in the AR but we uh didn't get we didn't

200as a committee get that far as to making a recommendation to you at this time. >> I I I would like to finish and just say that if there are people who are interested in still having term limits in this, I'd love to hear about that from you guys um so that we can edit that. I I wanted to give you our understanding of why we did what we did, but I'd love to hear feed more feedback if there is some. >> Yeah, Director Moring. >> Yeah, I want to make sure that we give the other directors the chance to wait. I did have a quick followup on the tournaments that I wanted to add, but I don't want to take time away from anyone else. >> Everyone's had a chance. We've rotated through. It's

201open open time. >> Thank Thank you for keeping track of that because I have not been keeping track of who has had a chance. Um and thank you Director Sloski for um explaining the the thinking of the of the group um on the idea of term. One of the reasons we went back and decided this would this particular policy was the catalyst for all of our policy review, right? Um, and I believe it was brought up then, um, and a few months ago that, you know, if if we're trying to increase equity and and representation and things like that, if I'm somebody who might be new to the process and I see, oh, well, this person's already been on this committee for two, three, five cycles, whatever it may be, I don't what are my

202chances of actually getting selected if I have to go up against somebody like that. So, I think the idea of term limits um is something that um because these are appointed positions, not elected positions, I think the idea of term limits helps promote that diversity and equity um factor into that and allowing other people the opportunity to serve and without, you know, running a campaign. Whereas, you know, electeds um across all levels of government are loathed to give themselves term limits um because if the people want them to continue, the people should ultimately have that say, but in this case, the people is a very limited group of us, >> right? And so I would just say, you know, just just something to continue chewing on. Yeah. Um, in many of our conversations throughout tonight,

203you know, we've we've looked at that equity lens, use that equity lens, and is there an opportunity to to apply that in this situation, too? Um, >> yeah, for sure. >> with with So, thank you. >> Thank you, Director Newman. >> Coming off mute here. Sorry. Um, you actually hadn't cycled through due to me. >> Did I screw up? Dang it. I was doing so well. I wouldn't have used that strong of a language. Um, now I'm trying to remember what my question was though. Oh, um, so I do have a question. I I'm I'm actually still kind of especially with uh Vice Chair Moring's comment about term limits and and the equity that's that that is really I think that is something to really consider the the visual impact or that kind of the

204the soft uh barrier that it presents. But now my question is so we do talk about to be eligible for appointment the appointed member must live and be registered to vote in the district. Do we need language anywhere that's just really clear that if you move out of the district or if you no longer meet these requirements, you need to resign or or that you must because it's saying to be eligible for appointment in the AR, but >> Right. I think that can we committee members, can we kind of take that as potential friendly amendment that we could put in there? >> Yeah. to be more clear. >> Thank you. That makes sense. We did u director Marin, we did have draft language about um term limits. >> Yeah. >> And then we then we

205didn't because of our discussion, right? This discussion is so important to us. >> Um uh so facilitator uh Salowski um maybe what we could do is put that draft language in, you know, how we'd kind of do the bracket thing like this or that. So, um I would imagine maybe we are not going to have a second read for adoption. Maybe just another graph read. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> With maybe some voting as opposed to like which version does the board feel more confident. >> Okay. >> Standing. >> Yeah. >> All right. And then taking in the the comments that you've all um given to us this evening, this has been helpful for the team. Um we did have um Director Southerntherton and Superintendent Owens on this committee to help us as well. Do

206either of you have any more uh input or questions, concerns before we move off of this topic? first rate. >> Uh, I would just add to this that Missy and I had tracked a couple of things that we wanted to make sure to check with OSBA about between reads, which were um the appointment to fill a vacated position would begin a three-year term. We just want to make sure that that's legally permissible. Um and then no appointed as director Harden noted budget committee member may receive any type of compensation from the district. And so we just wanted to make sure if the board were to pass such a policy um that that is described in such a way that it doesn't preclude board members by virtue of a different policy of not being able to

207receive that stipen. James, could we just be more specific? Sorry, specific and say no budget committee member will receive uh payment for in regards to being a budget committee member. Well, I think that this is the needle that because uh Chair Shields had recently added the word appointed into the language um which >> would be if you were an appointed budget rather than elected. Um and so I think that that language was already intended to thread that needle but >> right >> um but yeah, I think some way adding some explicitness was helpful there. It was like they left out words which is not >> surprising. This is my personal bias that comes out about OSBA language. And you would if you had seen the first draft when we were moving around language just to

208make sure the paragraphs met up with other paragraphs of of the like topic, you would have been it would have made you go blind. So anyway, thank you everybody for your engagement on this. Um, directors, you're good. You wave. Yeah. Okay, great. Then we are on to future agenda items. Number eight, uh, Superintendent Owens, can you help us with that? >> All right. So, we have the last board meeting of the fiscal year in June, and there's a lot on it. Um, we have the LGBTQIA+ pride month proclamation. Uh, introduction of new CHS assistant principal Emily Rios. Uh, spring sports recognition is earmarked for that date as well. The 2526 budget um adoption presentation hearing. um the roadmap 27 3rd trimester update the 2627 budget calendar uh which I think this policy may kind of

209preclude that u because there's some considerations relative to how the budget calendar structured based on how the board considers the um policy and related AR uh comprehensive substance use prevention and intervention plan 2627 student fees um some revisits on policies potentially a couple new ones. We'll see. And then Superintendent Evo um about couple things there. Uh prepare for a long meeting. Uh we will not have a budget meeting prior to this. So we will be starting at a regular time which is going to be helpful. um the uh superintendent evaluation, you will be getting uh some information prior to you're going to have homework to do. So um be mindful and watch for for that as well. And the thing that's nice is that we are um a board that moves together into the next

210year. So if um if we decide that something does need to take like the budget, you know, committee policy, if we find that we just got too much to go, then um we could maybe leave that to our July or August meeting for comp, you know, to finish finish it off if necessary. I don't think that would hurt us. So, we we'll do what we have to do, which is things that end up, you know, end our year and then those that could could be based on Superintendent Owens and um Executive Assistant Gindle will let us know that we can delay for another month on something. We'll move for that. Um, anything else? Um, good of the order, Director Harden. Future agenda items are good to the order. Before we adjourn nothing, nothing. Vice Chair

211Ming, he's good. Dr. Newman, >> nothing. >> Got it. Director Suski, >> no. >> Chair Shields already made my my comment again. You guys, really good work. you you're so good about hanging in there on these really long nights. So, it's much much much appreciated. Uh and then other than that, Superintendent Owens, anything else before we say good night to one another? >> Think you've heard enough from me? Appreciate y'all. >> All right. Good night. We are adjourned at 950. Is it 9:51? Jeez, crazy. All right.