001Okay. Good evening. The March 5th um the March 5th, 2026 meeting of the Corvalis School Board is now called to order at 6:32 p.m. To support the health and uh safety of all community members, particularly those who are immuno compromised and their families, the board continues to offer a virtual participation option for board members and district staff. Public comment is available at select meetings both in person and virtually. Details on how to provide public comment are available on the Corvalla School District website. Tonight's agenda, board packet, and a link to the district's YouTube channel can be found on the schoolboard page of the website. All public meetings are livereamed on YouTube and recordings are typically posted the following day. Tonight we have Sammy, Chris, Shauna, Bern, Bernie, Judah, and me in attendance in person, and
002Theres is in attendance virtually. Okay. Um the first item on the agenda um or it's not the first item. As posted, the school board met in executive our closed session at 5:15 p.m. under OS1926602i regarding the superintendent performance evaluation. That's later, isn't it? >> Okay. Um, and the first item on the agenda is the acknowledgement of developmental disability awareness month. Corvalis School District 509J acknowledgement of developmental disability awareness month resolution number 22-0205. Whereas the Crella school district recognizes and pays tribute to the significant contributions made in our community by people with disabilities. And whereas the Clla School District affirms that students, families, staff, and community members should be valued for all aspects of their identities. And >> whereas de developmental disability awareness month grew out of the grassroot efforts advocating for human rights of people
003with disabilities in the 19th century. And whereas people with disabilities have historically been subjected to institutionalization and eugenics practices in Oregon and nationally. And whereas Fair Haven Training Center in Salem, Oregon was opened in 1907 as the Oregon State Institution for the Feeble-minded through state legislation in order to institutionalize people with developmental disabilities, including children. And >> whereas the Oregon Board of Eugenics was passed through state legislation in 1923 in an effort to sterilize people with disabilities, including developmental and mental health, as well as other members of society. And whereas forc sterilization in Oregon occurred until and was not abolished by the Oregon State Senate until 1983. And whereas National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month was first proclaimed nationally in 1987. And whereas people with disabilities of all kinds have contributed to the history and collective
004future of Corvalis and Benton County, Oregon. And whereas developmental disability awareness month provides an opportunity to continue the district's growth and learning about the many contributions of people with disabilities to the nation, world, and local community. And whereas education is a necessary component for creating a more equitable and anti-racist community, nation, and world. And >> whereas the Corvalis school district has made a commitment to equity and anti-ra racism and whereas the Corvalis school district has a responsibility to honor and respect the diverse histories of our community. And whereas the uh Kovalis school district believes each and every student must be celebrated and appreciated for the distinct and vibrant contributions made by sharing cultures, language, ideas, beliefs, and values within a school community. Therefore, let it be resolved by the board of education of the Corvalis
005School District as hereby proclaim March 2022 as well as each march annually as developmental disability awareness month in the district and strongly encourage students, families, staff, and community members to establish and participate in local celebrations and encourage all schools in the district to help highlight this month in great appropriate ways as well as highlight the contributions of people with disabilities to the local community, nation, and beyond, both historically and in current times. Adopted by the board of directors of school district number 509J Corvalis of Benton and Lin counties, Oregon at its regular meeting this 24th day of February, 2022. Thanks everyone. And as a reminder, um we reread the proclamations um every year as a reaffirmation of the district's commitments to um what's included in them. And I did want to point out that we
006all have this book, The Future is Disabled on our desk or on our table, uh, Prophecies, Love Notes, and Morning Songs. And the board will be doing a collective read on this book, um, together. So, thanks Judah for helping with that, too. >> The reason I don't have a copy is because I have one at home, so don't worry. >> And Theresa has one, too, for her. But um, we'll all be reading that. So, I just wanted to make sure folks knew about that, too. Um, great. Thanks. Next on the agenda is uh board member reports. Do any board members have anything to report? Okay, go ahead Judah then Bernie. >> Um two things. Uh first I was invited back to Lincoln and got to um come back together with a lot of the students
007who had made requests of me and provide updates and I have further updates to provide to them and also learn from them. Uh because of that, I also had the opportunity to sit in on a on a math class at Lincoln a little bit and it was that teacher is just wonderful and the students were so participative and just delightful. So, thank you again to Lincoln Elementary School and the students there for meeting with me and providing feedback and I have more um updates promised to them. I'm just delighted anybody else that wants to invite me places. Uh, I love being invited places and I also had the opportunity to attend the recent robotics uh, competition. I went last year. I love the robotics competition. Everybody should go. Last year they were putting like these
008tubes on poles and they had all built robots that did it differently. And this time they had to gather up balls from the ground and like shoot them way up in the air into this target. And the students all build these. And I got to see CHS and uh CV compete. Unbelievable. 10 out of 10. Everybody should go. It's amazing. Okay. A couple of things. Um I participated with a couple other people also in OSBA's legislative day up in Salem and uh we get to engage with the legislators, but I I I'm sure we will talk about it some more. But um what was really impressive was that we saw uh students from CV and CHS there as well. And you know it touches my heart to see them get engaged so early. Um that's
009part of civic participation. Uh another thing that's sort of related to uh school district even though it's a different organization. I was invited to be a judge at the Boys and Girls Club of Corvales's uh youth of the year. Um um while I was doing the judging and also the the lunchon, um the finalists were three amazing young men from our school district and and it's uh really good what we've been doing and uh and how how great our kids are. And the final part is that uh yes uh this week I uh sat in on uh the beginnings of our bargaining session and I look forward to the opportunity to learn about all the issues and uh and uh just watch the process. Um, thank you for reminding about the Boys and Girls Club
010Youth of the Year. That was um, it was just really exciting to see what the Boys and Girls Club is doing and the leadership opportunities they provide and um, just really acknowledging our um, our kids and then the the next steps that these kids get to go to when they win. And so it's just a great um opportunity for some of our students. I appreciated that I got to attend another unified basketball game. And again, I know I've talked about it before, but it's just a really great opportunity to allow a lot of our kids um play a game that um it's not part of the regular leagues or anything else, but our some of our kids with special needs get to play. And what's also really um another part that I really appreciate is
011that there's other kids that are helping these kids run down the basketball court and make basketball, you know, make the shots and cheer them on. And it's just it's really a great thing to see if you've never been to a unified game. Um, I also, um, want to thank Lou and Sammy and Bernie, and I know Ryan and Lauren were there at the day of advocating at our state level, and I just appreciate you all taking the time to do that for us. Um, also, I got to spend some time with one of our ELLL teachers, and um, she was telling me, she's our EL, it's Laura Rafj at Adams. She was telling about a special field trip that she took some of our newcomers to um to the to our country um to on
012a field trip. She took them to the post office. She took them on the city bus. She took them um to the library. They got to get a library card. and just what a day of enrichment and conversations and language practices that they got to have. And just um a really wonderful experience for those students and what a great thing that some of our teachers are doing to really just help our kids feel welcomed and part of our community. And so I just really wanted to share this because I thought it was a very rich experience um with great conversations and then she said they were very excited to write about their experiences and I just really wanted to advocate for that and just what a great program that they're doing there. So, >> I
013had a chance to attend along with several other school board members the equity team meeting this last week and just wanted to thank the community for the meaningful conversation around black history as US history as well as the chance to hear from a number of student leaders in at the middle school level around their experiences, their recommendations, their what they're thinking about, how they're thinking about um bringing school communities together as well as well as their recommendations for the adults in their lives. So really appreciated those conversations and also I haven't had a chance to see Foot Loose yet. I am looking forward to it and just wanted to say break a leg to the cast and crew of Foot Loose. >> Uh thank you chair. I want to uh uh you use the opportunity
014that uh a reminder from my colleague Judah Argent about uh being in schools to remind our schools community and the PTA communities as well that uh we are eager to show up uh when invited and we antic we we have to wait until an invitation comes in and uh also ask for grace. uh some of us work at jobs, some work too and uh it's a volunteering board so availability might be limited but uh personally I'm very eager whenever it's possible to attend as many PTA meetings and as many uh school functions or uh school visits as possible uh when invited. In that spirit as well I want to share a report about the government corner uh that the city of Corvalis hosts and I want to thank them for the kind invitation. And I
015believe at least this is the third time where I was able to uh host a government corner at the public library on Saturday between 10:00 and noon past Saturday and we had really great conversations uh very engaging questions and I I'll share a few themes but I want to share my gratitude for the community members who took uh time out of their weekends to share feedback to share questions. uh some of them uh were uh answered by staff uh uh right away or within few few days. Some of them I I am still working on synthesizing an answer or referring to staff or finding the right answers. So I want to really uh ask for community members grace about uh uh waiting for that. Some themes that I have heard about questions around enrollment uh
016and how there is some kind of uh discrepancy between estimates that are used for SNAP benefits or even the census and the data that we have. So, I will share that information with the constituents and also report back uh some of those questions uh uh to staff and maybe I'll I'll I'll be able to I hope I can request some clarification that will make it clear for the community how we count our own enrollments and also how we understand uh our uh student population in the city. Uh other uh questions were there. uh we talked about the creal's promise and really in general uh whether in the community uh government community government corner uh discussions are my conversations in the community really uh excitement and gratitude for this and also eagerness and questions about what's
017next how the programming looks like and I know most of that is going to be coming uh in the next few months and uh even year so questions about academic opportunities uh participation in math uh some questions around uh Senate Bill 141 uh regarding the accountability, how graduation rates are impacted by state mandates of how you define graduation in the state of Oregon and how that is standardized across the board. Uh questions about suicide prevention and I learned a lot from uh Ryan about uh how our unique work around uh access to therapists in Calala school district. So I will be reporting that to our community members and there was one question about if we still uh teach cursive writing and whether teach uh individual teachers are doing it or it's cons consistently being expected.
018So really uh great uh span of information and questions. Uh I want to uh thank people for that doing that and also thank the city for their partnership. Uh the following day uh Senator Widen uh uh was fulfilling his promise since he was elected hosting one town hall at least one town hall uh in every county every year uh since he was elected. Uh and I don't know the count but it's beyond the thousand of town halls and there was so many themes of information. And one of the things that he mentioned uh which is the passage of the secure rural schools act uh to used to be reauthorized every year but it's stalled in the in congress not being authorized for a couple of years and the national schoolboard association including Oregon have advocated
019very strongly. Senator Widen has been very strong supporter of it because Oregon and Idaho primarily benefits from it because that's where most of the federal lands with trees are in the country and uh uh Senator Widen jokes uh his colleagues across the country say why Idaho and Oregon uh have the most uh the money from there and he says well because that's where God decided the trees are going to be. So uh he was really championing this and I'm very grateful for him securing that even though Corvalis does not have rural schools uh in our boundary. However uh I I believe uh this is very important because when our colleagues across the state uh benefit from uh that funding it helps all of us. So I just wanted to report that and uh I was
020able to present him with the Corvalis promise and thank him for his championship for many federal programs that will help us fulfill this promise. And that's my report. >> Thanks everyone. Does Teresa have anything or >> I do. Thanks. Um can you guys hear me? >> Okay. Um so just a couple things. Um I uh also attended the boys and girls of the year um lunchon and um that is our favorite activity of the year um just to really hear how impressive um the youth from Corvalis are. So was a um it was a a very encouraging and affirming um opportunity to hear um from from the young people in our community. Uh if you haven't yet, um I do recommend you get your tickets to Foot Loose. And I do think they're starting to
021they're selling out a little bit, so I wouldn't wait too long to get some if you're planning to go. It was incredible. I had seen some photos um from the show that uh I honestly thought they were like like enhanced photos because the jumps and that some of these dances like the students just look so high up off the stage and then I saw the show and I'm like, "Oh, they really are jumping that high." It's really amazing. um a very wonderful choreography. So um if you haven't yet um please do it. We have such talented youth and a such a dynamic theater program and so it's definitely worth the the opportunity to go. Uh I attended a a discussion panel um at LBCC for a an educational policy class um and kind of was
022there to represent a little bit about what the role of a schoolboard is in terms of policy and the relationship between policy and learning um for in student learning and student outcomes. So that was um appreciated the opportunity to come. students asked really great questions and every time there's a chance to answer a question about um the function and purpose of a school board, it reminds me about the clarity of um what our role is as a board member and uh how how challenging it can be um that there are many aspects of running a district that are really not under the purview of the board even though we care greatly about them. But just to have that opportunity to reiterate the function of a board and and reminds me to keep my eyes on
023the the work that we are actually here and asked to do. Um and then the last thing is that uh I attended the uh Lynn Benton and Lincoln County um um ODHS's poverty prevention work group um for the uh month. And uh that group um for those of you that don't know about it, it's a collective of several agencies um who uh are who do work with individuals that are are affected by poverty. and um our school board, our school district um has collaborated with this um with this organization and I am fortunate to attend these meetings and I was really excited to hear about some innovative ideas to um uh expand opportunities for our students that are um participating in GED. And so, uh, that was really, um, the intentionality behind the some of
024the staff education opportunities, um, to find and and really outreach to the GED graduates, um, who may not understand, uh, all the opport all the funding that's really available for them, um, through Oregon Opportunity Grant. There's a lot of misinformation about how Oregon Opportunity Grant supports um, high school graduates. And oftentimes people think the GED students are not eligible for that. And so this group has put together some really great literature to reach out to both the students and the parents um in our community who are participating in GED to make sure they know that Oregon opportunity grant is available to them. And it's such an important um piece of funding for um our lower income students um to be able to get a college education. Um that also covers all I mean it covers
025any program that um a community college offers. So that's the more vocational oriented as well as um transfer degrees into a 4-year university. So I'm excited that they are um putting in some effort to make sure that that opportunity does not get missed um by folks um just because they've opted for the GED track. So um and that's all that I have. Thank you. >> Thanks y'all. Um I think we need to work on our time for the board. the board's very involved with things in the schools and the communities of that's um and I have a few things too and we're so I'm going to try to say them. I'm just going to list them. Um but I did want to say something about the um robotic scrimmage that I also went to. I
026wanted to say thank you to the CV students who invited me. Um, I was it was really cool to get treated with the little VIP pass and when I showed up and get a tour of what was going on and um Oh, I got a VIP pass. But sorry, Judah, but um and I got to see both high schools um in the pit repairing their robots and it was really cool to see and talk to um the CV students a little bit about um their hopes to have it be part of the CTE um program too a little bit more. And one of the things I did want to highlight about that is that I was able to take my daughter who really loves um this kind of stuff like robotics and engineering and stuff.
027And um I wanted to say thank you to the high school students for being such good role models to the younger students too and seeing what they can see next. Um see themselves getting involved with to keep that excitement going. Um I also attended the Coralis Public School Foundation meeting. Um I was able to attend the equity committee. I won't repeat everything that um Shauna said about that. I just really appreciate the work that goes on in those um meetings. Um and I also attended advocacy day in Salem. I um took the day off um to go to that. And um I'll talk about that in the next section. And um the last thing, oh, I went to the um Lionus Pauling Middle School winter theater um performances too. And it was really cool to
028see the um how much some of the students have grown from fall to winter. And so I'm looking forward to seeing their spring growth and seeing new students um entering theater as well. So it was really cool to see that. And I'm looking forward to seeing Foot Loose this weekend because I already bought tickets. So buy your tickets if you have not. That's true. >> Um and the next item on the agenda is the OSBA and NSBA updates. Um, I was just going to talk about advocacy day if you want and I'm going to keep it really short because we have stuff and you have um NSBA as well. I will say that um I really appreciate the partnerships that happen with the organizations that put on the advocacy days um for schoolboard members and
029um superintendent and um I can't remember the other name of what is the name of the business one? >> OASPA. ASPA um that they work together to bring everybody's voices together for that in those areas. And one of the biggest things that um we're asking for on that day was for the state to use the education stability fund so we don't continue to see decreases in funding next year. And so we'll see what happens. We tried our we try our best and um one of the things that I share with them is we're doing everything we can here in Corvalis like really doing everything we can and making hard choices in that effort. Um and we we're asking folk at the state level to do their part too. And um so if anybody is interested
030in learning more about what that is and writing to your legislators about it, you can feel free to let us know um and we can help you out with that. but uh what the education stability fund is because it's only for K12 education. It's not for anything else. And so it's um so we'll see what happens with that. But I will say it was a great day and I appreciated um seeing Ryan and Lauren's advocacy as well um and helping tell the story of what's happening here um so folk can want to fund education too. So go ahead Sammy. >> Thank you Lou. I want to reiterate the great highlights that you mentioned on the state level. Um board members, you have the reports from the national level. So I want to invite any questions
031you have and I may add a few things if there's no questions. So I do have a few updates that I just received today that are not the reports and they will be released around April. Uh what I would say is NSBA is looking forward to engage local schoolboard members on multiple aspects yearround advocacy and uh absent some details I would say the two dimensions that might be interesting to some of us and probably is relevant to us here locally are uh funding special education and ensuring special education is fully funded and supported on federal level and uplifting the stories that we have locally. And the other one is the recruitment and retention of our workforce and educators. And there will be an an ability for us to nominate someone from Coralis or Oregon to
032connect with peers across the nation year round to uplift those stories and make a very compelling argument to United States Congress that they need to do their parts on the commitments toward public schools in these two dimensions. So I'll fill in the details as soon as they are become public. Uh that's one of the things that I was fortunate to learn through the legislative uh committee that I'm a member of on the National School Board Association and just want to share I'm looking forward for April uh for the delegates assembly. They will be considering my nomination uh for the treasure treasurer secretary of the National School Board Association. It's an officer position. Uh to my understanding uh we never had an Oregon member, a school board member nominated to that position since uh the National
033School Board Association was formed about 85 years ago. So I look forward to that and I ask you for your support and thank you for your supports. I would have not been able to do this work. What this will allow me to do is really advocate for our peers here in Corvalis across the country for better allocation of resources for school districts to help students. Thanks, Sammy. And um just a reminder for everybody um that you two can be engaged with OSBA and NSBA if you have time and would like to. Um okay, the next item on the agenda is the superintendent report. >> All right, I have just a few things I wanted to highlight. Um the first one is that this week is classified appreciation week. So our classified staff make up a
034huge percentage of the staff that support students in our schools. everything from greeting them as they get out of the car in the morning to supervising them on the playground to supporting reading instruction to making sure that our technology works to make sure that our campuses are clean and safe. Um they really create that buzz in our schools. And so um if you have a chance or if you know classified staff um that are friends and colleagues, please make sure to appreciate them. Um we started the week with appreciation for them and I know schools have um gone above and beyond um because again they play a vital role in what happens in our schools. So um any opportunity to celebrate them is is worth the time. Um also kindergarten enrollment um opened on March
0352nd and so there's a kindergarten information page on our website and we've also been sharing out information through Par parent parent square. But again, as you talk to your neighbors, make sure that folks know that they can enroll their kinders. Now, um it's also Golden Apple season, so we're fortunate through the KAS Public Schools Foundation and the Pastega family to have the Golden Apple Awards, and so we'll be um highlighting staff um in the near future. Um they're typically a surprise, so we don't share ahead of time. Um and so far, we've gotten away with it without anyone figuring it out ahead of time, but those are coming soon. Um, one of the things about it is we receive a number of nominations and we are able to do four each year. Um, but it
036just reminds me of how incredible the folks are that work in our district and how hard it is to decide on a small group out of all the applications and recommendations that we get. Also, along with the Kval Public Schools Foundation, as a reminder, um, our next um, board meeting, which is next Thursday, is a joint board meeting. So, members of CPSF will be here as well. um they're going to be able to share an update. Um typically they do that in the fall but weren't able to um fit into the agenda this fall. So they'll be coming but giving sort of an 18-month picture of what the work has been that they've done. Um and also to have conversations with all of you about how can they continue to support specifically supporting right now
037um during our transitions. So have that in mind as a a point of conversation. Um, also recently at um, one of our board meetings, the CV culinary students um, provided you with a meal. Um, recently they um, participated in ProStart. It was um, a competition that was put on by Oregon Hospitality Foundation. Um, they took third place. U, but listen to this. For their challenge, they prepared a three course Middle Eastern inspired meal in 60 minutes with no running water or electricity. So that is uh quite a feat and they took third place. So um not only are they great chefs and bring you yummy meals, they are creative and can problem solve like nobody's business. So that's pretty cool. Um and then we have a couple of updates around consolidation that I've been doing
038every month. Um the first one is related to staffing. And so, um, early next week, we'll be sharing out the timeline and the process for sharing announcements with staff about changes for next school year. So, they'll get that information early next week, and then that will roll out over the following several weeks. programming. Again, now that we've talked about the Cordalis promise and set the framework, um the innovation team and staff are continuing to work on curriculum planning, the resources that we need and professional development specifically for teachers who are maybe teaching something either at a level that they haven't taught in the past or um new content. And then also um we'll be sharing a K12 curriculum handbook with families um this spring um again K12. So, more information for families about what's taught
039in our schools around facilities and transportation. Last um a couple weeks ago, we met with both associations to talk about move coordination and answer questions that they had um questions that they'd been receiving from staff members because again, we want to be able to communicate that well. And then Kim and her team will be going out to schools to further provide information um basically from a move manual that provides um step by step in that process. Another thing that's happening right now, I mean Jason Haye uh the superintendent from LBL is in the audience tonight. Um we are working to have an agreement in place with LBL um so that they are able to bring our early childhood programming to um the latician elementary facility um both with early childhood special education and head start
040as well. Um so again something that we're close to having um put put together um in order to allow his staff members to prepare. So that's something that's happening currently. um student transitions. We have worked to make sure that um as students as we identify where students will be attending um next year that the information about their strengths and areas that um we need to make sure that we're supporting well um that that information gets to the next school and the teachers. So, we've been working on that for the transition piece. Um and then student transfers, the first transfer window has closed and the uh we're currently working through the trans transfer requests and school capacities to provide initial information to our families um during that first transfer in that first transfer window. Um and
041then also school transition teams continue to meet to plan end of year school activities and events. So, those are some of the things that have happened over the last um several weeks, several months. Um, and I'll continue to bring that to you every month as we continue with that process. >> Questions? Does anybody have questions? Um, is your hand up, Sha? >> Okay. Is your hand up? Are are you ready for one or >> Okay. First of all, thank you for the ongoing conversation on the early learning. I really appreciate both sides working on this very important aspect uh for our families and children. Um I look forward to learning more about the Middle Eastern cuisine that uh our students uh did and would like to practice our oversight obligation whenever there's an opportunity. Uh
042on a serious note, I want to ask you uh not necessarily today, but in in future updates as we get closer uh communication about transportation availability for families, especially uh on the eastern side of uh the highway uh for constituents who will be attending Mountain View. Uh not necessarily only for the students, but also for families who might need to uh receive some essential uh services. some will be making decisions very soon about uh those accessibility. So would love to hear more about uh that in the near future what kind of uh supports we're providing especially when uh city's transportation is limited. >> Yeah. And I know that Kim um shared that she has um plan to put have a draft that will gain community input and feedback. Um so she's working on that draft.
043>> Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Ryan. It's a lot of information to get all at once, and so I think just processing and thinking through what questions might be helpful to ask in the moment. Um, in thinking about the transfer window closing, I'm curious with all of the information shared out just before, while that window was still open with families about the new model, >> were there a significant number of questions that came in from families? I know from the board, I don't think we had a huge number of questions that came through. So, I'm just curious. I know questions about the model, the program model that families might have been considering um that could have gone to Byron or others on the team if there were trends, patterns, you know,
044requests for information from families that were coming through >> that might be helpful for us to know, >> yeah, >> what families were concerned about or >> Byron has had a handful of um emails come through with questions. Um, some of them have been more information about the the ma the math pathways. I know that there was a meeting at um middle school where they talked some of more about that. So, some of those questions were answered there. Um, we've had some questions related to middle school um or junior high schedule. Um, but overall the there haven't been um a huge influx of questions um which I think says a lot to the work that the team did to try to provide the um information the other night. One of the things that I've done
045is when people have asked me questions, I've encouraged them to um because you can still get to the um the video if you just click on the consolidation button on the front page and then you can go to the YouTube which provides that presentation. So I have encouraged people to do that too. I know that that has been true for the foundation board as well to take a look at that. Um, so I think that that has been a pretty important tool and something that I'm been encouraging people to spend a little bit time with. Yeah, >> other questions. Okay, my questions already got asked and the um I look forward to hearing more about the early childhood. I know that's a huge need in the community. So looking forward to hearing updates about that
046later on. >> And again, thanks Jason for being here. um Jason or a member of his team comes to a meeting every year and it just happens to be a great night to be able to talk about our work together. >> Yeah. >> And um Denise is also here from the ESD board. So, thank you for being here with Jason. >> Okay. Um we're just a little behind but not super. That's good. Um the next item on the agenda is public comment. We will now open the public comment period. We value the lived experiences of students, families, staff, and the community and welcome public comment as an essential part of the district and board's work. The complete guidelines for public comment are available at the registration table, outside the boardroom entrance, and on the board's
047website. I will now share some important points. When it is your turn to speak, please come forward, take a seat, and direct your comments to the board. And this little red light turns on. Your mic's on. There's a little person button. Press that to turn it on. If it's already on, you don't have to press it again. Um, speakers may offer objective criticism of district operations and programs, but the board will not hear complaints concerning individual district personnel. As a reminder, you will have three minutes to make your comments, and the light turns yellow on the table when you have 30 seconds left. And when your time is up, the light turns red, at which point I will need to ask you to um no longer be talking. And following your comments, the board will
048have three minutes to ask clarifying questions, but are not able to engage in conversation. And that of course is really hard because we like talking with people. If you like to have conversation, there's other ways to do that, but we are here to listen and ask clarifying questions. If board members would like to revisit a topic or issue brought up during public comment, they may do so at the appropriate time in the agenda. Before you start your comments, please state your name for the record and state whether you reside within the school district boundary. And I believe we do have comments cards. That's how many? >> 13 times I can't do the math in my head. >> 39 39 minutes. >> 39 minutes. We have 20 minutes allocated every meeting for public comment. I just
049want to make sure people know that we will get through as many as we can and um they are ordered and order received every time >> and so we'll see where we're at as the meeting goes on and I just want to reemphasize we are not trying to silence any voices. >> We just have a certain amount of time for the agenda. Will Roen Culber name is Will Roden Cobber and I reside within the district. And uh I want to start by saying if you want to continue your book club, I'd be happy to donate uh copies of Ryan Holidayiday's book, Ego is the Enemy, if you'd like to read that next. Um I want to start with by saying that uh Corvalis has drawn families for five decades based on four pillars in this
050community. Hulet Packard, the university, health care systems, and this school district. And I don't think that uh very many people in this community need to be reminded of the state of Huelet Packard these days. I remember when they expanded across all seven buildings in their facility and now they barely fill two. And that's not their fault necessarily and it's not my place to criticize as a citizen. Um same with the health care system. I don't know if you've experienced uh our health care system lately but it is uh difficult to say the least. and it is not at the standard that we once remember it. Uh I want to say that uh the university grows and fits and starts um with the advent of online education. I feel like there are fewer and fewer families
051coming to Corvalis because they can learn at home and the same with uh our online professors. Um no fault of theirs. Technology changes and so does uh the times. So that leaves us with this school district. Um there are many many families who have come to Corvalis simply to participate in this district. At one time in the late 90s and early 2000s it was one of the best districts in the country. Crescent Valley was a top 100 school in this nation. Now it is barely 15,000th according to some rankings. I want to impress upon this board your responsibility to this community to provide an equitable education that is rigorous that is tested to be rigorous not just in theory but in practice. I am appalled when I read at the end of the curriculum presentation
052the other night that you are going to teach students what to think not or how to think what not what to know. I think your responsibility is academics is knowledge. It is how to use that knowledge and not what to think. And I'm disappointed in the fact that you profess that you want to listen to the community and your actions say otherwise. >> Thank you, Will. Any questions from the board? >> Have a great night. >> Thanks, Will. >> Mattaline Razor, >> just one second. Um, at most government meetings, we don't have clapping at you don't do that at the state level or city level or also a local government meeting. So, I just wanted to let the audience know that it's not to silence people. It's just a procedural thing in governmental meetings. Thank
053you. >> Hi. Um, I'm Meline. I'm with the students man action and I I didn't come here with facts today. I came here how how I'm feeling. Um unfortunately this past year 2026 there's already been multiple multiple school shootings and I feel that while school shootings are seen there's nothing done about it. I don't feel safe when I go to school. I I see online as things happen, as people die and get injured, and I I still have to go to school, I slip in my shoes, I go out the door, and I I get to class, and I think, what if I'm one of those students who have to sit in an empty classroom or a classroom full of people scared in the dark, and I think, what if I'm that girl in the
054back of the classroom texting her parents saying, "I'm sorry I didn't say I love you this morning, and I'm I'm going to I miss you and I'm scared. I don't I don't want to be that and I'm very very very scared. Um there's nothing being done. Um while there are bills being p passed, not enough is happening. Guns are weapons, but the real problem is the people. The people who can get a hold of them. It needs to there needs to be a way where we can call upon it and be like, "Hey, this person cannot have access to this weapon, this something that can kill someone in just a matter of seconds." I I want to feel safe. I want to go to school. I want to grow. I want to learn. I want
055to I want to go places that I've never been before. But I can't do that with the fear that in the place where I'm supposed to be and the place that I am supposed to learn, grow, and be myself and have a future that I can't be safe. I want safety and I want to be exactly who I want to be. But I can't do that if I know that out there somewhere someone can get a hold of a webin bring it to from California to Oregon from Washington to Oregon. I need a safe space that I have been promised but I don't have that anymore. The promise has been broken and I can't stick to a promise that is not going to be fulfilled. I know I didn't come here with facts and I
056know I didn't come here very prepared because this is the first time I've ever spoken in front of people, but I I came here wanting to say that I need stability and I that's not what I'm getting and I need it now and I feel that something needs to be done which is not happening. Thank you. >> Thanks, Meline. Is there any questions? Oh, Chris has a question. Do you mind waiting one moment? >> Not at all. >> Madlin, thank you so much for being here. That took a lot of courage and um just sharing your fears. I really appreciate that. I do. Are you um a student here in Coralis? >> Yes, I go to Crescent Valley >> CV. Okay. And would you be welcome to having some conversations because I know somebody in
057our district and myself included would love to sit down and have some conversations with you to hear. >> I would absolutely love to sit down and have conversations. >> Great. We would love to do that and thank you so much for your um coming and acting. I'm just going to say thank you for coming and and wearing your shirts and supporting. >> Of course. Thank you guys so much for listening to me. This means a lot. Um, thank you for your support. It means a lot to all of us. Thank you so much. I'm gonna pass this on to my friend now. >> Thank you, Meline. And just a reminder, we we have to we have to I'm sorry it's so informal. It's just the way public comment works or in um personal. It's formal.
058>> Cecilia Cox. >> Good evening board. U my name is Cecilia Cox. I'm a sophomore at Crescent Valley High School. Over the years, a fear has instilled in me, one of constant worrying, tibness, and anger. My twin siblings attend Leticia Carson Elementary School. And with every morning as they leave, as they head out to school, I find myself wondering, will they come home tonight? This is a fear that no child or adult should ever have after sending a loved one off to school. Yet, this is the situation that I and millions across the nation find ourselves in. Thus, I cannot imagine the stress placed upon our teachers and administrators. Yet, what action have we taken to prevent these scenarios? Aside from the mandated safety lessons once a year, we do not learn anything else about
059safety measures. Even more saddening, I have not even stated what I am here for today. Yet, I can imagine that every person in this room knows what I am talking about. School shootings. This is where my proposal comes in. Oregon's extremist protection order law, also known as red flag laws or ERPOS, are court orders that temporarily remove firearm access from those deemed as dangerous to themselves or others. Under Oregon law, a law enforcement officer or a person's family or household member which is classified as a spouse, partner, child, sibling, or pairing sibling or parent might may file a petition for an extremist protection order. The court will hear a request called a petition for an extremist protection order on the day the petition is filed or on the next day the court is open. Now
060to my point, I asked the Corvalis school board to implement lessons about red flag laws during advisor slideshows at Corvalis High School, Cresant Valley High School, and middle schools across Corvalis. These slideshows can include videos, texts, and interactive information about ERPOS and other meth methods of gun violence prevention. I am also certain that students demand action and corvalis moms demand action volunteers would be ecstatic to provide slideshows with this information. Educating our youth on gun violence prevention and awareness are the greatest tools to prevention. ERPOs have been proven to work but only if people know about them. A recent study conducted on more than 10,000 diverse candidates revealed that only 7% of US adults consider themselves familiar with these laws. I can only imagine what statistic this is for high school students. Lessons mentioning gun
061violence prevention will obviously stress a student, but do you know what will stress the student out more? Thank you for your time. I also have leave behind packets with information. Is that okay? >> Thank you, Sicilia. Is there any questions from the board? Um, Judah and Sammy. So, if you wanted to wait a second, remember we have three minutes total between both of you. Go Judah and then Sammy. >> So, there besides the one you mentioned, three additional um protective orders that can remove a person's gun from their possession. Are you suggesting limiting the education to just this one or to any that might be accessible to a student? >> Um, I'm suggesting that we should have advisor uh slideshow lessons about extremist protection orders. This would also include domestic violence pro protection orders. Um,
062these are laws that revoke um firearm access from individuals that are deemed high-risisk. Um, yeah, that's that it could be any any sort of gun violence prevention really would be great. >> So then just just so the community knows, I'm also referencing a stalking protective order, the family abuse protection act order that you're mentioning, and then the sexual uh abuse protection act can >> can also any of the protective >> any and all of those would be greatly appreciated by >> just a reminder to make sure you're asking clarifying questions in a question, please. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. >> Sorry, those were clarifying questions. Thank you. >> Clarifying question. Thank you, Cecilia. I I want to ask you and probably if you can answer now, that's great. Or maybe follow up later on uh
063with the board. >> Um while the board adopts curriculum, does not approve specific uh plans, but can have expectations around certain goals. And I believe you shared with us the goals that uh we we are aligned on. Could you share with the board and staff where does that lie in in terms of uh which year might be age appropriate? And uh is it social studies? Is it civics? Where would it be most fitting just for awareness and your perspective >> when for when the slideshows would be presented? um advisor uh lessons. I we have those at Corvalis High School, Crescent Valley High School, and I believe in middle schools. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Can I pass these out? >> Thank you, Cecilia, for your time. >> Okay, >> you can leave
064those with Kim. >> If you leave your handouts with Kim, >> Amanda McBride. Good evening. Uh, I'm Amanda McBride. I rent in the district. I have two kids at Garfield and I have an educator of 13 years in the district as of September. I'm here tonight as an involved community member with experience of knowing what it's like to work full days in a classroom, being responsible for everyone and everything inside those four walls. Right now, we have to be aware of how important it is to support the mental health of our school staff as they wait to find out their placements as a consequence of this consolidation. Remember remembering this stress falls on top of the daily load they already carry. Two years ago, Kira Mud wrote a poem that I think captures the load
065teachers carry. And she gave me permission to read it tonight. It's not intended as a jab or to point fingers, just a glimpse of her experience over the last 16 years. 50 Minutes by Kira Mud. The reality is I have the first five, maybe 10 minutes to set the tone to teach mastery of 78 standards for six classes of 30 plus children. Is the assignment I'm about to introduce good enough to challenge the kids reading past a 12th grade reading level while also being accessible to those reading below it? I plan these differentiated lessons on my own time. I could have done it during my uninterrupted prep, but I use it for staff surveys, IEP504 forms, building accommodations into my lessons, writing mandatory goals, collecting data for them, and reflecting behavior referrals, responding to emails,
066contacting Pam families about grades and behavior concerns. God, I wish I had time to tell these families all the amazing things their kids are doing, too. Updating Canvas, grading every assignment for 180 kids, feeling guilty that I can't provide them better feedback. It's okay that I'm not being paid for working outside my contract hours because teachers know what they got they signed up for. This is just part of the job, right? Am I doing it wrong? I'll just do it after I tuck in my own kids. Sweet dreams, my loves. I hope I have the energy to be the mother you deserve tomorrow after school. I'll show up in the morning because I love what I do and I need to feed my kids. business as usual. Unless there's a lockdown, someone pulls the fire
067alarm, an assembly, an extended adviser, a mandatory survey that only a sliver of students take seriously. Unless we're obligated to try a new strategy forced on us in professional development, unless we're implementing a new mandatory curriculum teachers chose, unless we're interrupted constantly by escalating behaviors, the same behaviors that started small in the beginning have now spiraled into weaponized blatant disruption towards everyone in the room. the other 29 kids forfeiting their rights to their education. And it's all put back on the teacher. But hey, remember your why. Did you try building a relationship? Does it matter that I've been prioritizing my time fostering friendships between the sweetest, shy humans, being the bridge between severe social anxiety and friendship? Does it matter how many kids share with me how they fit into the LGBTQ spectrum? Because I'm
068the only adult they've ever trusted with that information. Doesn't matter how many times I've held the space for children to feel their feelings, feel comfortable in their own skin, live their authentic identities, and build trust that I have their backs. Don't let anyone leave your classroom in the first 10 minutes or the last 10 minutes. >> Sorry, the time just you seen it go off. I seen you pause. Thank you. Any questions? Shauna, >> Amanda, did you have a little bit more that you wanted to share with us? >> So short. Uh, don't let anyone leave your classroom in the first 10 minutes or the last 10 minutes. This is precious learning time. We will interrupt you with at least one phone call. Uh, though right at the minute when you have your class's attention
069after using every trick in your book to hold the focus of 30 adolescence. Sigh of relief. I finally have them. I can start my lesson. Can you send so- and so to the office? They're going home for the day. An announcement over the intercom. A student coming in late asking what they've missed. A cell phone I have to confiscate. and follow up on. I've lost them. 45 minutes left. Restart as many times as it takes so I can hit these standards and make those connections until the bell rings and the next 30 plus students walk through the door. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board? Go ahead, Shauna. >> Amanda, thank you. Really appreciate your just encouragement to focus on Okay, I'm not I'm going to question. I promise. staff mental health.
070Saying that we care about staff mental health is one thing. Taking action is another. Do you have recommendations of what of specific recommendations of actions that could be taken? >> Thank you for the question, Shauna. Um, in light of the consolidation in acknowledging I wanted to say something a couple of weeks ago. Numbers matter. Numbers matter. You know this. a classroom of 30 plus students, there's only so many plates that a teacher, a staff can juggle. There are staff that don't have an EA all day. They don't have a student teacher to help them out. There are staff who there are schools who are given an aotted amount of FTE that they then are responsible for figuring out whose need is highest versus providing sorry I'm going to turn it down a notch versus providing
071the actual support upfront for every teacher. Maybe to have an EA uh maybe to have no more than 20 kids in a classroom. I uh had the pleasure of subbing at Lincoln Elementary and um I don't know how a teacher does it with 25 kids in a classroom, especially when two are melting down in a calming corner and two are like struggling with what's going on between them and the other like 21 are just like we're really really wanting to learn math. Really really want to. So like my own son I'm really nervous about him next year. He is going into a classroom of 30 plus kids as a fourth grader and he he needs time. He needs support and so I'm really worried that he's going to get lost. So when you're making your
072staff and I know it's coming up like staff need to be in the rooms. They need a buddy to help them out. That would be really helpful for mental health. People need to be able to take breaks. Thank you for that question. >> Thank you so much Amanda for your time. Thank you. >> Um, we have exhausted our 20 minutes and um, >> how many? >> Four. >> We have four. >> We've only done four out of >> 13. >> Chair. Um, may it please the board to extend the time by 20 minutes. That's it. >> And see and see where we're at. Okay. Um just I would like to remind folk to if you want to ask clarifying questions to maybe I know it's we want to lead up to questions sometimes but just
073ask the question shorter that will help with the timing to try to get more heard if that makes sense. >> Yes. >> Okay. Go ahead >> Susie Collier. >> Oh okay. Sorry. Um, my name is Susie Collier and I reside within the Corvalis school district lines. Um, I am the workforce development program manager at the Boys and Girls Club of Corvalis. I'm really excited about the district's focus on expanding community partnerships and strengthening workforce readiness pathways. I'm here tonight to share the club's interest in growing our partnership with the school district as we continue this work. This year, we have engaged 150 teens from every middle school and high school in the Corvalis School District in hands-on workforce programming. Our programs support teens from the time they enter middle school through their final years of
074high school. Seventh and eighth graders run a student store, managing inventory, handling sales, and practicing customer service. Ninth and tth graders operate a fully licensed cafe. They earn food safety certifications and help manage daily operations. One teen serves as a paid manager, gaining leadership experience and earning above minimum wage. Underclassmen partic or sorry, excuse me, upper classmen participate in T3 training teens for tomorrow where they complete paid internships, receive weekly workforce training, and have the opportunity for long-term employment. All of this supports our simple goal that teens leave our programs future ready. We are uniquely positioned as a community partner because we already have a strong relationship with the district. We intentionally recruit teens from child development classrooms to connect their career interests to paid work. Teachers, school counselors, and other staff frequently refer students
075to our programs, and bus transportation is already provided directly from the schools. As the district continues expanding workforce and community partnerships, we at the Boys and Girls Club are excited to keep working together to create even more opportunities for teens across our community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Susie. Any questions from the board? >> Thank you so much for your time. >> Patricia Vulk. I am not a techie otherwise I'd have a poweroint. I have art. Yes, actual art from the student. It should have a light. >> Um, you have to you have to sit and introduce yourself. >> Pardon my Okay, >> it was already on. >> Okay. So, first of all, I'd like to be introduced as Patricia von Glan because the harassment and intimidation of my family, it is not acceptable. It
076never was and it never should be. I am speaking from my educational background and I have a real long extensive one. I am also speaking because I represent and advocate for children with special needs and I have along with other parents put forth legal cases against this district over those 30 years and we have won. Oh, excuse me. The word is prevailed. So I have a wealth of information but I also believe deeply in public education. We are a great community. We are generous people. Tell them the truth. Put the real data up front. They will open their hearts and they will open their pockets. The reason most of the people that I've canvased are leaving the school district is not for religion. It is for behavior. Behavior in the classrooms. We've heard from members
077teachers in our schools, particularly the SEG from Mountain View social emotional where teachers have been hit and bit and kicked and he's asking twice for help. Teachers are traumatized to go in there. Lionus Polling for two years worked with the school district for the behavior in that school. They didn't get the promises. Eight teachers walked out. It should have been all of them because what affects one classroom affects everyone. Students and teachers. And now you want to put 700 kids into Linus polling. That's asking for a whole lot of trouble. I am asking first that we have an independent professional educational business merger audit. Find the jobs, the positions, what they're responsible for. How can we consolidate from the top down? Education should be built from the bottom from the students and in classroom. So
078if you cut 18 teachers, you need to cut two or three times the amount administrators. >> Sure. Your time is up. >> I'll move on. >> No, your time is up. >> Oh, you're kidding. >> Three minutes. Sorry. Is there any questions from the board? >> You got to ask about this. >> I had a question about if you know about the positions that were merged at the admin level. Do you know about those? >> I know of some of them. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. But it would be really nice if everything was listed so people could see it. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Sammy, >> I have to ask questions. So, absolutely. I'll ask you a couple of questions. The first one is yes or no. Um, you mentioned at the
079beginning a disclosure of intimidation or harassment, and I'm not going to ask you the details in a public meeting, >> but what I want to ask you is, are you aware that the school district has no tolerance to any harassment, and we do have policies that uh uh process any claims around that? Are you aware of uh those policies? Yes or no? >> Of course, I'm aware. >> Thank you very much. That's all what I can ask you right now at this stage. Uh the second question uh is that you mentioned independent professional merger audit. Tell me which school districts anywhere in the country that have gone through such a service. >> Several school districts have across the nation. I spent 10 years going across which >> I can give you a list >> please
080>> but not right now. I will research it again. When big school districts merge, they usually use independent people who are trained to make really good concrete decisions. Closing the rural school, which is large enough to accommodate a K through eight and busing kids in. >> I'm sorry. It's not a good decision. >> That's all my question. I just want to make sure. Could you provide? >> But I will. >> Yeah. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? Thank you, Patricia. >> Please ask me about the order that I carried. >> Time is up. Sorry. >> Okay. >> Tom, we should chat later. >> K E T A. >> Thank you. in trouble. >> My name is Kea Tom and I reside in the district. Okay. 30 years
081ago, Corvalis schools were losing students to homeschool and private school. The district adopted reading recovery with a 25% failure rate as an improvement over the natural 10% failure rate. The district slowed down math instruction so children could get a deeper understanding of addition and subtraction in the fourth grade. The superintendent asked parents to bring up ideas to stop the declining enrollment. Franklin was formed by parents and two farm home teachers who saw the result of illiteracy. The Carllis School Board misunderstands equity. It thinks poor people are dumb. The school district ignores the success of its one school with a contentrich curriculum and meddles with the materials used to give students a high school education by 8th grade. The district refuses to expand the program. Instead, the school district is diminishing content in all schools, driving
082out 22% of its eligible students. If the school district would regain 10% of its eligible students, it wouldn't have to close schools. So, why do school board members think poor people are stupid? Why not give every ch the advantage of an upper middle class home intellectual confidence? Why not offer a path toward greater economic security and social mobility? Apparently, the board and the superintendent believe in social Darwinism, the opposite of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The school board is reinforcing social class or parents education and position determines children's exposure to learning, and it is losing money. Franklin is a public school with a lottery to enroll. More people want it in than there is space. The district has never offered a similar school to meet demand. The Harding school building was withheld. Other schools may not
083have not adopted any core knowledge curriculum. It is too much work. Now the school district is dumbing down the entire math curriculum. Families that can are leaving the public schools. The district sidelined the MA Saxon math books that Frank that Franklin used. This series showed a 30% increase in math scores after six months in use. They ease the burden on teachers. The books allow the student to progress individually with continuous review. Project follow-through showed direct instruction out of Eugene, one of two successful teaching methods out of 13. Carvales and Oregon adopted ineffective methods. Listen to sold a story online. It's a podcast. Professor James Soland in the education department at the University of Virginia tenured young because his statistical approach showed how badly the models most teacher believe work fail. Teaching should not be based
084on belief. Innovative does not mean >> your time is up. >> Okay. >> Any questions from >> I got one little >> Any questions from the board? >> Okay. >> Um can you tell me the name of the podcast you said? >> Sold a story. So the story. Thank you. >> It's got 18 um episodes. >> Um I do have a question because you said that the board thinks that the that poor people are dumb. Can you like I don't you like using that word. Can you please provide a very specific example of what you're talking about? >> Isn't long division now being taught to be taught in sixth grade when in the Saxon books it's the end of the fourth and it's usually a third grade. >> Okay. Are you aware that the curriculum
085is not under the purview of the board in the in classroom instruction? >> Where is it from? >> I can't answer questions. M. >> Okay. >> Do you mind um engaging in a conversation after this meeting so we can discuss further? >> I don't mind. >> Thank you. >> So I stay here through the whole meeting or should I leave? >> You can email. I'll just answer that. People who need to engage later can email us. Thank you for your time, Keith. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Naomi Hartman. My name is Naomi Hartman. I teach music at Lincoln Elementary School and I live in Corvales. My statement is longer than three minutes, so I will read the first part today and the second on April 16th. As a music teacher and strong supporter of the
086arts, I am here to advocate for both music and visual art, but will only speak indirectly about art because I am not an art teacher. I want to be clear that I am speaking in support of art teachers but not for them. One thing that I will say directly is that we should stop treating music as if it is more important than visual arts. Art and music are equally important and should be given an equal number of minutes in our elementary schedules. I have drafted sample special schedules that do this and I would be happy to share these if the board is interested. We should also stop treating the arts as if they are less important than academic subjects. The arts are an essential part of what it means to be human and access to
087robust arts education should not be limited to students who can afford extracurricular arts opportunities. Too often decision makers in educational settings believe that they have to choose between supporting arts or supporting academics. But the truth is arts education supports academic learning. There are many reasons for this. First, arts education, particularly at the youngest grade levels, supports brain development. The arts are creative, expressive, fullbody, exploratory, interactive, hands-on, play-based learning modalities. The arts support social emotional learning as well as literacy, math, and science connections. Minutes spent learning the arts are not minutes taken away from core subjects, but rather minutes spent developing the whole brain. Dollars spent on arts education are not dollars taken away from core learning, but dollar dollars invested in the whole child. Two years ago, our school district reduced minutes for elementary art.
088Last year, we cut elementary music to once a week. Last spring, there was a parent petition to restore both art and music minutes, but we were not in the financial position to do so. This year we decided to close two schools which is extremely painful but it does put us in a better financial position. Instead of restoring art and music to their former level former levels however the district has decided to add a new steam special. Teachers, families and students broadly support adding more steam to our district offerings. I also support steam. However, adding steam as a new special removes the minutes in the elementary schedule that could have been used to restore art restore art and music. My initial objection to the Steam special was that we should have restored art and music first
089and then found creative ways to add Steam as scheduling and funding allows. As I have learned more about best practices for Steam, I've learned that a standalone Steam special is also not the most effective way to teach Steam. The current plan is bad for art and music and it is also not great for steam. If you are not a music teacher, you might not understand why we are unwilling to accept elementary music once a week. The reason is this. Music once a week is ineffective because skills require practice. >> Naomi, I'm sorry your time is up with that part. Um, is anybody have any questions? Sammy. >> Naomi, I have a challenge for you maybe for April's testimony. Um the school board have really powerful tool which is setting expectations or goals and the programming
090changes or the decisions around um allocation of uh resources or programming is district. So my question is with that preamble >> is that thank you is that could you provide us with guidance around what do you expect students to achieve with respect to music and arts at let's say arbitrarily I'm using third grade sixth grade ninth grade and when they graduate what kind of uh uh metrics that we should expect them to have feel free to answer now or maybe sleep on it and sing for it later. >> So what I So the answer is yes. Um but I would not want to do that off the top of my head. What I would rather do is collaborate with the other music teachers and particularly with the art teachers. Um so that we can give
091you something that's accurate and also tell you where those sources come from. Um uh and I would probably do that by email because I have more to say on April 16th. Thank you. >> Already. But yes, I would love to provide that information. >> Sounds good. Thank you. Go ahead, Judah. >> When you're either now or when you're fully through, would you be willing to share your written testimony with us by email so we can have the full statement? >> Definitely. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead, Shauna. >> There's only about a minute left. You were just starting to say something about two days a week, the importance of music. Yep. >> Is there something you can say in one minute that would help clarify what you can't say? Imagine if students were only able
092to practice math or reading once a week. Music once a week increases the inequities between students who depend on music during the school day and those who can afford extracurricular music. Ultimately, we end up with a group of students who had access to private lessons or afterchool ensembles who are prepared to join secondary ensembles at high levels equivalent to their peers in neighboring school districts who are still meeting OMA's recommendation for two days a week of elementary music. While students who receive one day a week of music during elementary school are poorly prepared for ensembles. I have this much more if we have time and if not I can do it in April. >> There's 30 seconds. >> Great. However, I believe our current situation is not one where we have to choose arts over
093steam or steam over arts. This is a situation where we can have our cake and eat it too. If we are willing to do some creative problem solving, the solution is to embed steam into all subjects and give the ste the specials minutes back to art and music. If we did this, we could have robust arts and robust steam education without overstretching our budget or schedules. >> That's it. >> Thank you, Naomi. green. >> Um, that's our How many are left on there? >> Uh, five. One, two, three, four, five. >> We extended by double our public comment period. >> Do we have students in this room then? >> We can't we can't. It has to be order received. So, >> yeah. Sorry. >> Are we I'm looking for guidance from the rest of the
094board. So I don't unilaterally make a decision for the >> chair. I move I ask for the ask for consensus for 15 minutes. >> For 15 minutes. >> Yes. >> I I want five left. >> We have five left. And I just want to make sure we're not creating a norm. We have a lot of business on the agenda and we allocate our time. I know we extended our time. we had a ton of report and we underallocated time on that. Um, and we also doubled the public comment period. And so I just want to make sure that we're not creating a norm of extending for hours and we're pushing all of our presentations really late with the staff that have information to share as well. Um, and public comment is only one of the
095several ways that the community can engage and um, provide comment on the district. So, I just wanted to reemphasize that and also understand that we would like to extend um I would not recommend extending beyond 8:00 PM because we are already our next item on the agenda was supposed to be at 7:15. So, we'll be 45 minutes behind at that point if that's okay with you all and we need to take a short break as well. Is 8 p.m. Okay. >> Can I just weigh in and say that I I if we only if you think >> Go ahead. Oh, sorry. Yes. Um, if we're only thinking of extending until 8 o'clock, which gives us seven more minutes, I would say that I I think gosh, I'd be really annoyed if I was the fifth
096person out of that and we gave seven more minutes. And so, I'm inclined to say that we should not extend and just take a break and go on to business if we're not going to extend enough time to hear all five. I'm inclined to agree with Theres and if the chair wouldn't mind reiterating all the ways that the school board can be reached outside of the public comment period. >> Is there anybody else? Phil, >> I'd like to hear folks, but I also understand the points that are being made. >> I'd like to hear folks and I don't want to spend any more time us having this discussion because we're wasting more time. We are. Yeah. Is that you want to hear more time too or you want >> So just to clarify I'm not
097opposed to more time. I'm opposed to not hearing all five people if we're going to extend the time because that seems like an arbitrary cut off. If we're going to go long then let's just hear the five or not and call it. That'd be 15 minutes if nobody asks questions. >> Chair, uh, one thing we can control is, uh, we can abstain from questions and ask community members who will testify if they can leave their email with Kim or email the board so we can connect with them afterwards. and also ask individual uh community members if there's a point that was stated they can share their agreement or disagreement to it instead of reiterating it and I completely agree we should not create a precedence where we have very valuable business we need to do
098and we want to hear from community and this is only one tool to hear from community so I will defer to your judgment and I'm okay either way >> okay so if you we have five people left if there's something you can email us about I would say to do that if you don't mind and if you want to still say something you can but let us know what you're going to do that way I can we can um and at our next meeting I would like the board to be committed to staying closer to the public comment period timeline and that can prepare the community in advance. Um I will reiterate that at the end. Go ahead. Julie Alexander. I'll try to be quick. Hello board. My name is Julie Alexander. I live and
099parent in the district and I'm speaking this evening to address transportation equity and safety issues. Right now, some students spend up to an hour on the bus each way totaling two hours of ride time. For some College Hill routes, that time is actually closer to three hours a day. The routes for elementary students attending our title one schools are consistently longer than those for students attending non-title one schools. They're almost twice as long. That's not just an inconvenience. It's an equity issue. Long rides affect fatigue, access to afterchool activities, family time, overall well-being. In addition, this time is largely unsupervised. While behavioral incidents are recorded by the district's contracted transportation provider, those data are not public facing and parents can't really easily determine whether the bus environment is safe, if there's recurring issues, when certain
100routes need intervention. We're going to add several hundred more eligible riders next year. And so families really deserve transparency about what's happening on these routes and how decisions about roots are being made. Yes, our district contracts with an outside provider, but the responsibility for equity and safety really remains with the district. And that might mean adding more buses or redrawing boundaries to ensure that ride times are comparable across schools. We cannot afford to deepen existing trans uh disparities as more students become dependent on busing. And I'd encourage consideration of total busing time for students who are about to start being bus to access uh electives and sports. At the same time, families who walk, bike, or drive their children are going to face increased traffic and safety challenges at those school sites that are most
101impacted by consolidation. Um, I hope you'll encourage the district to consider what safety precautions can be taken inhouse and to work proactively with the city of Corvalis to add lighting, signage, turn lanes, police patrols at these sites to improve safety next year. Um, we're going to be asking families to change longestablished travel patterns and we should be doing everything possible to ensure the infrastructure is ready to support safe routes to school. So, I'm urging the board to do three things. um prioritize transparency especially around the bus incident data and route decisions, equity so that no group of students bears disproportionate burdens and then safety on the roads students use to access their schools. Our students deserve a transportation system that supports their ability to learn, thrive, and stay safe. And I have some street recommendations
102that I won't go over now because I'll just submit it to Kim. Thanks. >> Any questions? >> You said no questions. >> I have I still have to ask them if they want questions. I know I said that, but I still have to ask. Any questions? >> Great. >> Okay. Thank you, Julie, for your time, >> Odin. >> Okay. Um, my name is Odin and I reside in the area thing. Okay. So, my name is Odin. I've spoke up here once before at Laticia Carson. We should have more R time which is called in which is independent reading and also in our reading class where we switch classes between three different people just like in math when I think we should stay in our home room but so we should read actual books that are
103fiction I mean non-fiction and also we should have more recess because a lot of uh kids in my class get in trouble. But I think if we had more movement time, they wouldn't get in as much trouble. Thank you for hearing me out. >> Thanks, Odin. Do you have any questions? Board, >> can I ask you just a really quick question because you didn't use all your first three minutes. Do you think that the increased library time next year will help with reading? >> Yeah. Um, basically, so I think I agree with the person that was talking about having more reading and art. I mean, music and art. And that's like I agree with that deeply. But, um, I do agree with the library time because it gives more practice for the people that do
104Oop. Okay, >> great. Thanks Odin for your time. >> Thank you, >> Heather Rankin. I didn't print out a paper. I'm on my phone today. Okay. Um, hello. Hello, my name is Heather Rankin and I live in the district and I want to raise a serious concern about the district's transportation policy tied to the upcoming school choice lottery. The district plans to provide transportation for students attending a school of choice through the lottery, but families from Leticia Carson and Sheldon, the students that are being displaced, aren't guaranteed transportation if they participate in that same lottery. Leticia Carson serves the highest concentration of low-income families in the district. And for many of these families, transportation is the difference between actually being able to attend a school and it just being a nice idea. So if transportation
105is provided for some lottery placements but not for the students most affected by closures, the result is predictable. Families with cars or other resources can make a choice while families without transportation get blocked. Put simply, the policy gives access to some and blocks it for others. So it's separate but not equal. I also want to briefly clarify a point about the small area income and poverty estimates or SAPE data produced by the US Census Bureau that came up earlier. Um, in addition to poverty estimates, SAPE also provides annual estimates of the number of children ages 5 to 17 living within each school district. And those estimates are used nationally to help determine eligibility and allocations for federal Title One funding. They're not a literal headcount, but they're the best standardized estimate available for understanding how
106many school-aged children live within district boundaries and for tracking trends over time. So, if the board believes that those estimates are not appropriate for understanding how many children live in the district, it would be helpful to know what data set the public should rely on instead. And this is especially concerning because there hasn't been a real plan for redistricting or equity review. And the board me mentioned assessing feasibility at some point in the future, but nothing concrete has happened. Meanwhile, the buses are already struggling, which makes this even harder for the students being displaced. My fourth grader told me he got flipped off um this afternoon by some girl in a school bus when he was walking home from his bus stop at Garfield. And like I've seen I've been behind the bus like going
107to Boys and Girls Club and like it's rough. Like you can see in the back of the bus like kids fighting and pushing each other like you've all probably been on a school bus. Um but yeah, so here's the deal. If transportation determines whether a child can get to a school, then denying it to the district's poorest students while offering it to others is not equity. It's exclusion. It may even violate civil rights. And I strongly urge the board to fix this policy immediately so that displaced car Leticia Carson and Sheldon families have the same transportation access as all other lottery participants. Taking action now avoids unnecessary legal problems, protects our most vulnerable students, and actually lives up to the board's stated commitment to fairness. Thank you. >> Thanks, Heather. Any questions from the board?
108Thank you, Heather. Leo Spears. Hi. Uh, I'm Leo. I reside within the area. Um, I go to school at Lionus Pauling. Uh, I have found that a lot of kids that live in Corvalis, their parents would rather send them to private schools purely because of academics. Um, and I'm going to focus on a singular part of the academics. Uh, my favorite subject is math. Um, so I learned long division when I was in fourth grade, but now, uh, the kids in my class didn't even know it till like the second trimester in sixth grade. Um, I think you should help make the math program a little better. Like because some of the kids are really far behind. I'm not like saying that to be rude. Uh, it's just because like a lot of the kids
109in my class are being held back because I go to school with a lot of really smart kids, but um I can't work ahead because I don't know that what the next unit is. And I mean, I have a wonderful math teacher. uh she tries to help me do harder stuff while pushing the rest of the class forward. So, and I know the other math teacher, too. He's also very good. That's all I have to say. >> Thanks, Leo. Is there any questions from the board? I have one question because you didn't use your whole time. Do you um do you think that the changes to add more math options in middle school will be helpful? >> Yes. >> Okay, cool. Thank you, Leo. Have a good day. >> Denise Hughes Tooffen. All right. Good
110evening everyone. and I'll try and keep this as short as possible. So, I'm here as a parent. So, I'm um so I'm here in my capacity. Um as a parent, I live in the Kovalis area. I'm the parent of two children who attend schools right here in the district. I want to thank the board for acknowledging that this month is developmental disability awareness month. And I also want to thank all the staff and teachers who work to support all of our children. That said, I do want to ask us to really think about in terms of that acknowledgement, what does that look like at the ground level? So in recent months we have had a lot of discussion within our district about school consolidations um innovate innovation teams steam programs reading math very important topics.
111However I have found myself asking where are the conversations about students and their families who are receiving special education services. Yes, we do rejoice in the fact that graduation rates have increased, but this only tells part of the story. Do we know? Are we curious about the day-to-day experiences of our students? Do these students as they walk the halls of their schools, do they feel connected to their peers and are they actively involved in the life of their schools? Do they have friends? very important questions. What are some of the microaggressions that these students experience? I have been told that autism has become an adjective and some students use it in a way to refer to someone who is less desirable or who lacks skills. How are our students who are not receiving special education
112services? How are they learning about their peers? All too often, our students who are on IEPs have to learn about the norms of the typical students, but the reverse is not true. Other questions, how many students with IEPs leave our school district due to lack of support? Our schools are rooted in abbleism. It goes handinhand with colonialism and racism. So in addition to all that's included in your acknowledgement, I ask you to reflect on the school systems and how it actually contributes to disabling students and their families as well as other people who support them as the district continues conversations about innovation. >> Denise, I have to ask you to the times up. >> Does anybody have any questions? >> Can you You're almost done. you had like one more sentence or so. I I'm
113guessing it was very short on the second page looked like. >> Yeah. Um I was just going to add that the work of the innovation team that I hope that this work reflects the experiences, hopes and dreams of all students and that parents and students who are on IEPs are actually invited to the table. Right. We want to help build this plane and not have the plane take off without us. Thank you, Denise, for your time. >> Okay. Um, hearing no further comments, the public comment period is now closed. I'm going to restate what I said earlier that when we have our next public comment period that we will um the board is not going to extend entirely um past the 20 minutes. We may, but not um we may not be able to get
114through all comments if there are more than allocated. So with that, we need to take a break before we get on to the next item. Five minutes. Okay, we're getting started. We're back online, everyone. Um that we're going to reconvene our meeting. Um, the next item on the agenda is the 21st Century Community Learning C Center's Grant Pages update. And we have Emily and Amy. >> Hi, my name is Amy Le and we are here to talk to you about 21st Century and our pages program. And I am Emily Peterson. Oh man. And I am Emily Peterson and I am the coordinator of the 21st century program. I have taught in Corvalis for 10 years prior to this um first and second grade at Katherine Jones Harrison Elementary and I also helped with the reading
115intervention um within deploying within our elementary schools. I'm here tonight to give you a brief overview of our program, share some examples of the academic and enrichment that students are accessing, and highlight the impact that we're seeing so far. Pages is supported through the 21st century um community learning center grant. It is a federal grant that is based on a five-year award cycle. We started in the fall of 2023 and we are currently in year three. The goals of the program are to provide academic intervention, enrichment, and family engagement at participating elementary schools. PAGES extends the school day into the afterchool by providing targeted academic support and enrichment opportunities while also supporting working families. At the center of our program are the three outcomes: achievement, connection, and equity. This year the program operates across three
116elementary sites. Lincoln Elementary, Kathern Jones Harrison Elementary, and Leticia Carson Elementary. Each site has a group of staff members that are dedicated to the afterchool program, Pages or Pahinas. We have five site leads currently with us. Brooke Baron, Harnet Mahal, Cam Sherry, Alex Graves, and Mahathy Ralph who support and oversee the day-to-day coordination at the site. And we have an a group of educational assistants who provide the academic enrichment and intervention along with a Corvalis environmental center staff member who is dedicated to the classroom as well. Across these sites, we serve second through fifth grade. Um, you can see as an example for our Lincoln Elementary, we currently have 46 students enrolled, but we've served 58 over the school year. And we have 33 regular attenders. We just opened last week at Katherine Jones Harrison
117Elementary. So, I'll have those numbers as we continue. Um, and we started with a group of 16 and have been adding week this week even more. So, um, and then 42 students are currently served at Leticia Carson Elementary. The federal um guidelines for regular attenders are students attending 30 or more days. We surpass that by far. Um so we look at 80% attendance. So our regular attenders up there are students who attend 80% because that's where we see the greatest academic growth for the students that are regular attenders. Our program is built around four key components. Students receive targeted academic intervention in literacy and math. They participate in steam and enrichment experiences. They engage in social emotional learning and maintain ongoing communication with families to support student success. Within our program, each student receives a
118free supper. We call it snack. Um and so they are able to get another meal while they're there. It's a long day. They come in at 2:30 and they um leave at 5:30. We provide transportation to anyone in Corvalis. So we have students that are there that um are great candidates for the program but maybe on a transfer um and so we're able to provide them with busing home. Students participate daily in targeted academic support. We're currently running 25 small reading groups using the same school day um intervention SIPs that focuses on decoding fluency and highfrequency words. We also have our fourth and fifth grade classroom be using Bridg's math intervention and supporting four math groups there with foundational maths number sense and place value to help support and connect to the curriculum within the
119school day. One of the ways we measure uh the impact of pages is through student literacy progress. This chart shows our decoding skills. We know students need to learn their sounds and then be able to put them together. So, we watch that decoding happen as they're learning those kindergarten and first grade skills within our curriculum. You'll see here at the beginning of the year, the red section represents students performing well below the benchmark in pages. In our middle of the year data, we see that movement towards approaching and meeting benchmark expectations, which reflects the impact of consistent small group and reading support. 25% of our regular attenders moved into the um well into the below or at grade level. We see a similar trend with our fourth and fifth grade. thinking about our benchmark assessments
120for our upper elementaryaries, those no longer um test foundational skills. So, in order to see the impact of the reading intervention, we look at accuracy because if they're decoding the words accurately, it's working. And so, you'll see here at the beginning of the year um students were uh in the red were well below and now we have much more in the below and in the green c in the at category. These gains are consistent with our small group reading support. 47% of all fourth and fifth grade regular attenders moved out of the well below. In addition to the academic intervention, this is where we really get the students is with the hands-on enrichment experiences. These are just two examples of that what we're currently working on. Students in second and third grade are doing robotics
121and engineering. They've put together lots of different Lego robotics and learned about different ways to help get things from one place to another. They're currently designing how to problem solve an issue within the desert. Um we look at using this to provide social emotional skills as well as we go through and work on what it's like to be collaborative and talk with a partner and disagree with a partner. Our fourth and fifth graders just finished their student entrepreneurship food trucks where they used math literacy and budgeting skills to be able to create their own food truck, their own menu, how they're going to be able to get m get the money for it because some of them wanted to just offer for free. Um but then you can't buy the rest of your product. So
122we had to do some problem solving there. Um, so that they had just finished up wrapping that and I petted into our sewing unit. >> They also got the experience of shrinky dinks. >> Yes, shrinky dinks. Apparently that's not a common thing anymore. Um, community partnerships play a lot within the expanding student opportunities. One of our biggest partners is the Corvalis Environmental Center. And these are activities that are brought to us by a Corvalis environmental staff. Here you'll see students in the garden. They were working on creating an irrigation line which they're then going to help with the irrigation in our school gardens. Uh they made homemade boba and then they made recipes with their class. Um and one student's recipe was chosen to make and so um they're they're enjoying French toast. The lessons
123um reflect student interest and input, choice and agency from the students and the collaboration of their interpersonal skills. This is provided to us through the grant. So that's where that Corvalis Environmental Center staff comes in um and runs that group three days a week. We also partner with Smart Reading where um one student is paired with one adult reader and they help with that confidence in reading. They get to take home two free books a month of their choice and that's provided through that smart reading partnership once a week. And then our Crescent Valley STEM Club supports our Katherine Jones Harrison group. They come, it's a group of high schoolers. They've made all their own lessons and they come in and teach them to the second and third graders and give more hands-on learning opportunities.
124>> Yes. >> Can you say that in the >> Yeah, >> I believe they were funded through a Yay Grant through the foundation in order to do that. >> Yes. This is their second year with us and it's been um a really cool experience to see a lot of the same high schoolers came back. So to see that growth and to see their confidence grow as well. In addition to that academic outcomes that I speak of, we also regularly collect feedback from families. Part of the grant is collecting this feedback from caregivers so that we can see how we can improve our program and what we're doing well at. You can see that 98% of families reported that they saw the improvement in their students academics and that families overwhelmingly reported that they trust our
125program staff, that their student enjoys the program, and that they feel safe there. This was with 52 families completing the survey. To ensure um program quality, we align closely with the school day. I attend all of the student support team meetings that are with any um participants within our program. I also attend all of the MTSS meetings, the multi-tered systems of support where they're looking at all of the students and looking at what needs arise and where the targeted skills are needed. I also um we use amplify benchmark and curriculum progress monitoring to watch our intervention and make sure we're being fluid and moving students where they need that most targeted instruction. And staff receive ongoing training in order to make sure that we're providing the best instruction for them. We also maintain an advisory
126committee which pulls together all of the stakeholders in the grants. This is quarterly and we discuss the progress and priorities of the program. As we look ahead, we will move into year four of the grant. Part of the grant is that the um award starts declining so that we can become sustainable on our own. So next year we're looking at 90% of the award. We had strong staff retention between year two and year three and we're looking at that going into it which has created a lot of stability and consistency for our students who have returned. And um our locations are always based on where the need is and where the priorities come. So those are discussed after enrollment and staffing um within the spring. So I really appreciate your opportunity to share this update
127with you. What makes the program meaningful is not just the additional learning time, but the intentional design behind it, connecting it to the school day and supporting students within the curriculum that is supported in our schools. When those pieces work together, we not only see that improving academically, but also that confidence, curiosity, and a stronger sense of belonging. I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Thanks, Emily. That's like such great information just hearing the impacts. Um, okay. There are questions already. I don't know who put their hand up first. Bernie and then Judah. >> Hi, Emily. Uh, first thing, um, the hundred students, is it because it's limited by the grant dollar amount? Uh, it it that's the cap, right? >> Yeah. So, part of the grant was we had to when they submitted, not
128me. I did not do that heavy lifting. that was our elementary coordinators and assistant superintendent. Um we looked at what can how what is the capacity of the rooms we have as well. Um and then we are also seeing that same rising cost in staffing. Um and so as we look at the benefits and PERS and things like that, it's limited to how many adults we can have run the program. um is the intro well what do you know now what schools are going to be benefiting from this program next year? >> Um so the grant is towards title schools or schools that could qualify for title. So it would be at one of those. We haven't made that decision yet. Part of that is enrollment in space as we look beyond and just where
129the need where it moves to and where the need is. So, we've been at other schools that I didn't mention tonight, but then the need was elsewhere. So, we moved. >> Thank you. >> Can you clarify what you mean by title because people may not know what that is? >> Like even which title it is. >> Yeah. So, title one schools, that's how we got our grant and so we'll have five title one schools. It will be located in one or more of those next year. >> Okay. Thanks. Other questions, comments? Shauna, >> thank you so much for the great presentation. It seems like just an amazing program with so much happening, really positive outcomes, really positive feedback. Um, which I also get at home having a a CV STEM kid at home um who's
130also enjoying it from the high school side. You mentioned that long-term plan is hopes for sustainability. As the grant also um winds down, is there a possibility longer term of applying or renewing the grant or is it something that school districts are expected to figure out a sustainability plan long term and then sustain those costs themselves or is there additional funding in the future? >> All of the above. So, um it is set up in a way that should create sustainability. Um but we also know our funding within the state is limited. Um, so you can apply again for another five-year cycle. I know several of them, we've already had it within the district. We were partnered with the Boys and Girls Club, so this isn't the first year with the first time with the
131cohort grant, but also the first time that the Corvalis School District has taken that on. >> I will add real quick that this is um we watch it closely because it is fedally funded and there has been a time in the past where this wasn't included in the budget. this summer. We didn't know if it was happening or not because it wasn't in the bill and then there was some advocacy for it. So, if it ever comes about again, we'll share that. The other budget thing I would say is it um blends well with title one funds and uh early literacy funds. So, we'll be looking at those to help with the matching. Can I ask a related I usually go last, but it's so connected to what Sea I was going to say. Were
132you gonna ask? I was just going to ask is there possibilities of >> if the district is able to embed it a little bit more in the existing areas to apply for the funds to expand it beyond because since all but one of our elementary schools are going to be title one schools next year, right? So, I was just kind of curious about that if that's a possibility. >> I think yes, we'll continue to look at applying and the grant is limited. So, um it's a matter of how far those dollars will go, but we are for sure watching closely. Okay. >> Couple things. One is that um we're really fortunate to have that grant. Um there are examples that of grants that because of prioritization because of lower academic skills and lower resourcing communities.
133Sometimes other districts have prioritization for some grants that um people apply for. Summer learning is a great example of that. Um it's not a grant that we apply for because we know we're um so far down the list so we're not going to qualify. But the 21st century grant we have qualified for. Um, and I really think that has a lot to do with Amy and Melissa writing the grant and with Emily leading the grant. Um, Emily works for us part-time, but she also leads other districts in um the read work around the science of reading. So, we're fortunate to have her um as an employee in our district. Um, and then the um back to the piece around the federal funding um that was a spot where I saw advocacy in action. I was
134in DC in July as a representative for Oregon and those dollars were on hold um and we met with all of our legislators and several superintendents from each state were there um advocating and those dollars got freed up. So it was one of those times where it does matter to be in those spaces advocating and being able to tell stories related to what's happening in our district. So thank you for the work. Um, and again, it's one that we're fortunate to be able to earn to have um because sometimes we don't qualify, but between that and the breading of the support from our foundation or the um braiding of the support from our foundation, we're able to do some really cool things. And um this is one of those. So, thanks. I think Ryan, you
135you did answer uh 95% of my question, which is uh do you see a value if we have access to the list of those recipients across the country and if we could have a cohort where uh we can connect about lessons learned? Do we learn from each other and board members can report to those members of Congress uh on annual basis? This is what we're what's happening. Please keep advocating for it. Well, I know that Emily um comes together with other 21st grant recipients. Um so she would be the person who would have more of that um um intel than I would. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. We meet um monthly and talk about what's working, what needs to be fixed and tweaked a little bit and so I'm happy to get that information as well.
136>> Wonderful. Across the country or regional? uh regional and um the afterchool kids network comes together with us and they bring a lot of across the country stories and um like Ryan said it was bipartisan across they use it across the nation and provide after school um really being able to allow working families to have a place for their kids to go that's safe. >> Amazing. Thank you so much, >> Chris. And then I wanted to see if Theres too had any questions. Go ahead, Chris. >> Just real quick, thank you for all that you're doing. I know like trying to keep kids engaged after school hours and um excited about it is difficult and yet you guys have done a great job with that. So I just wanted to say thank you for doing
137that. It's difficult. Thanks. Um, I do have a question because there's so much with the federal funding that is so uncertain. Do we have a backup plan for this program? Are we working on one? >> We do not have a backup plan. >> Um, so that's why it was so concerning in July um that those dollars had already been um appropriated through Congress and were being held up. Um, and that was a concern that was brought up from representative superintendents across the country. >> Yeah. Well, thanks for doing the advocacy, too. And you as well, I'm sure, are doing lots of advocacy. And um yeah, because I think that we've seen the literacy rates go up quite a bit. And I know some of this has to do with it. I'm certain, just seeing the
138impacts um and the assessment scores for literacy. So, thanks for your work on this. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. All right. I don't think we have any other questions. All right. Thanks you all for >> Next on the agenda is the annual comprehensive financial report and we have Lauren. >> I'm fairly certain I had to go after them last year and this is very boring in comparison. So I'm sorry. >> It's like they do it on purpose, huh Lauren? Yeah. Um although that is a good thing when you're talking about an audit. Um if you it's more more boring is uh usually good. So the um document is posted currently on board book and we will get it up on the actual website um tomorrow for anybody who's watching. Um but really there's nothing to
139report. Um we do this annual comprehensive financial report annually as required by law. Um really the the purpose is just to give the overall um financial picture of the district and then also make sure that we're in compliance with state federal um guidelines as well as uh GAP which is the generally acceptable accounting principles which is the international standard. So this is done by um a third party and we have to submit it to the state every year um in order to receive our state school funding. Um, if I was going to draw your attention to anything in here, um, is there is a few different, um, independent auditor reports within here. Um, the most important is really the opinion that they issue on the audit. We received an unmodified um, opinion, which means clean.
140Um, it's positive thing. The un in front of that makes it sound not good, but that is um, that is positive. Um, they also um, commented on our robust internal control processes um which is something that we have been working on for several years. Um the financial highlights if you were going to read anything in this document that's mostly technical I would suggest that you read the management's discussion and analysis which is really just the narrative overview of what's in here. um more words than numbers for the words people. And um some of our our highlights here um is really that we have a positive net position which would be really unfortunate if I wasn't here to present that um of just under $54 million. Um our net position did decrease more significantly than it
141has in the past, but that is due to um restatement of some dollars based on a new Gazsby, which is the governmental accounting standards board. We are required to follow um these I don't really know how to explain it, but um it's sort of like a statute, like a state statute. we then have to follow what they um put out. And so we um with the addition of Gazsby 101 um we had to expand our liabilities to add in um rec and recognize compensated absences. So basically our staff who have absences on the books that they could use, we have to recognize that now in our financials as a liability. That's just the rule and we did it. So, um there's more of an impact to that, but it doesn't really change the overall financial
142picture at all. Um so, that is what I would suggest. Um I would also like to just point out that um I know you guys have had some interaction with Maria who's our accounting manager, but this is really her baby. Um and so I just want to thank her because this is um months and months worth of work. she has now engaged with auditors for the audit for the fiscal year that ends um June 2026. We do an interim audit process and then we also have the final audit process. Um and we just got this one back um in February. So she's having maybe a month or two break um and then she's going to dive back into it for the current fiscal year. Um and she's done a lot of work to improve this.
143when I was in her role, this was not my passion. And so I would say um I maybe didn't dig into it as much as she did as far as um improving um some different components around the audit and how the data is presented. So I really appreciate her. She's done a ton of work on this um and she's about ready to start again. So um here it is. Just some if you want to take a read tonight before you go to bed, it should help put you to sleep. I mean, I already looked at it, but ahead of the meeting, but um other folk watching online may not have read it yet. So, I appreciate you putting the highlights of what to look at. And I think people have questions. I can tell by
144the arms going up. So, I think Bernie had >> I could have narrowed down who was going to ask the questions. >> We'll go Bernie. And then I seen Sammy's hand. Yeah, >> I know. >> And then we'll go from there. Lauren. Um, my question is about the gas statement again. Um, I I just didn't get it. Uh, so the re reatement resulted in a $8 million reduction >> from from our uh rollover last year or >> Yes. 7.7 million I think was a dollar amount because so our staff depending on their contracts earn different amounts of um leave depending on their work calendars and the um collective bargaining agreements we have with our associations. And so say for example I have 80 hours of leave on the books and then you take that 80
145multiply that by my hourly rate and then now that becomes a liability for the district that we are recognizing in our financials. We've always reported on those numbers but we weren't required to then actually put those in the financials. Um, I would say if you're reading the audit, there's um there's the statements that are at the very front, the governmentwide financial statements. Um, I don't want to say that information is not valuable. It just doesn't really apply to uh school district finances, but we're required to report on that. And there's a lot of numbers in there that aren't um actually impacting our cash or our bottom line and our financials. So, for example, in the budget, you wouldn't see a line item um that then takes into account that liability. We wouldn't be expensing it.
146Um but when we state our net position, we do have to include it in there. Um and as you can imagine with um just under a thousand employees that there is quite a bit of liability related to um earned time off. We also keep time off on sick time off on the books for employees who no longer work for us as well um because PERS employees in the state of Oregon um in general can transfer their sick leave to another um public school district in Oregon. So we leave it on our books until um like say I went to another district, I would fill out a form and say I would like to transfer my earned leave from Corales to your district now. So it has to sit on our books until that um transfer
147request comes through. So, it's not what I would call a real number. We're reporting on it to stay compliant, but it doesn't impact our budget or any um real financial operations in the district, and it's really only represented on those governmentwide financial statements. >> You just answered my second question, so perfect. Thank you. >> Well, thank you, Lauren. Uh I agree with you. The most important word here I was looking for is unmodified >> and to give grace to other districts. If there is any uh uh findings, they would have corrective actions and as soon as uh the financial department states those corrective actions and a plan to address them, that's a good thing as well. Uh we're at the top there where unmodified that means we have transparency. Just want to highlight something for
148the community to know that this is required by law. our duty of care and financial duty. We receive this is one of very unique times where we receive an email not from Kim, not from you, but from the auditor and Kim tells us this is the auditor. It's not spam. And the auditor will ask us very specific questions. Is there any allegation of fraud, any allegation of one, two, three, four, fives that you ever heard? And we would report that whether it's substantiated or not, we don't investigate it, but we'd report this is what we heard. and then they would follow through and ask the right questions to compare uh your financial statements with any possibilities of uh discrepancies and then reports back independently to the to the district and the community. So I just
149want to share that this is an expectation by the law and this is a process of transparency that uh we are holding ourselves accountable to and the board has a role in it. Yeah, I would also say to add on to that is you guys aren't the only ones that are um surveyed in that by the auditors. So like Ryan and I are always um we have to be answering those questionnaires as internal managers. Um as well as we tap um at random different um staff in our buildings who have access to money like usually our office managers at our high schools. We have fiscal clerks um that handle money. So, we tap those people as well and kind of on a rotating basis for them to self-report anything uh directly to the auditors. I
150generally am really hands off on day-to-day transactions because I sign every check um and contract. And so, for that internal control piece and division of duties, I shouldn't be conducting um financial tr transactions, individual transactions. And so that's sort of a way that we um divide that as well. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you very much. Really appreciate you uh explaining that and this is something new for me and I appreciate learning about it. Could you explain the February timeline? We're getting it in January, February. My understanding the vendors are getting scarcer and they're taking longer time to process things. Um is there a timeline where this is going to impact us if we gets later than this? Yes. So, typically we have to have this turned into the state by the first business day
151of the new year, like after January 1st. Um, this year there was a specific requirement because, um, anybody who receives a certain level of federal funds um, has to complete another layer to the audit. Um, and the federal government puts out the uniform guidance on that on an annual basis. Um but because of the government shutdown, they did not put out that information in time for the auditors to be able to conduct the single audit test on our federal funds. Um which was on IDA. It's in the back of this. You can read the report on that. Um but the then state recognized that um the auditors were going to be unable to get that in on time and so they gave a um extension which I haven't seen before um until February. I want
152to I think it was the fourth. Um I would say we have experienced um a delay by our specific auditing company for the last four years which has um we have now met the terms of the contract with them and we have terminated that agre agreement and have engaged with a new um firm that we believe will be able to provide us better service because really you should have this in January every year. um we've also had them submitting data um on our behalf to the state that we've never had the chance to review a draft. And so we then we've had to like pull it back and do um excessive work to to correct that. Um and so we're hoping to move forward in a more positive um direction. In in general, if we
153don't have it in by the deadline, we will not receive our state school fund payment um in the springtime. I guess that could be more tricky, but um we monitor our cash pretty closely and that doesn't make me as nervous at this point, but >> wonderful. Thank you so much. Really appreciated that. >> Any other questions? 370. >> No, I'm good. Thank you. >> No. Okay. Um, I just wanted to reemphasize that for folk that are new at like engaging with the board business that the audit happens every year and this is very normal and that um we have consistently um came out with audit reports showing that everything is good is basically what's happening and that the financials are um being stewarded well through these external audits and it's one that I know I
154asked about it earlier in the year I was like cuz I was like it's usually here by now. So um I appreciate that we got it in time for the funding too because um all those things add up and are necessary to keep us going all year. And so thanks for your work and tell oh my gosh what is her name? That's what I thought. I was like is it Maria? Tell Maria thank you too. >> Thanks. All right. Thanks Lauren. Yep. >> Oh it's me again. Um the next item on the agenda is the superintendent evaluation. Should I just read it before we say anything? >> Yeah. >> Could you explain the process of like >> Yes. Yeah, that's what I mean. >> There's no motion. >> Yeah, we just read it. Um, so
155I just wanted I was going to do that. Thank you, Judah. I just want to make sure folk know that the superintendent's evaluation is an executive session because it's part of employment and just like any employee with their supervisor that would not be done in public that part. And so um there whatever is said in that setting is remains confidential. That's why it's an executive session. And so folk may not hear every single thing that we talked to Ryan about and that's okay. and um because that's how employment works with a supervisor and an employee. So, I just want to remind folk that are listening um on how that process works. uh he provided information to us in a previous executive session and then the board um I helped facilitate that process as board chair
156with us as a board uh to provide feedback and then I can I synthesize all the feedback into a um a statement that is read into record to the public and that's posted publicly um with our evaluation and again that does not necessarily contain everything we talked about or wrote about because there was a lot of things that are not in here as well um that get synthesized down to two pages. That's what I'm trying to say. Thank you. And so I'm going to go ahead and I say this every year that I've done this is like it's really hard for me to read this long out loud because I'm not an out loud reader. And so thank you for your patience with me as I read this. And okay, so this is the Corvalis
157School District board of directors um 2025 to 2026 evaluation of Superintendent Ryan Nos. I will say one more thing. The date on here is the date that we do the evaluation, but Ryan is evaluated for on 2024 to 2025. It's a little bit strange how that works, but it's because the data is from 2024 and 2025. There we go. And that will be reemphasized later on. Okay, Dr. Ryan Nos is completing his 10th year as superintendent of the Corvalis School District. This past academic year has prevent presented several challenges stemming from national and state level budget reductions, damaging national rhetoric around public education, lives of families impacted by loss of access to basic necessities and by immigration enforcement and enrollment declines. Ryan and his team have continued to show they are committed to helping students
158move towards graduation and prepare for life after K12, no matter which path they choose. Data shared offered a lens to see areas of strength and areas of growth. Both are important to keep in mind as the needs of students in our district continue to shift during uncertain times for public education. This evaluation has been compiled in a way that synthesizes key items shared by board members based on his performance during the 2024 to 2025 academic year. And the areas evaluated for the 2024 to 2025 priorities are goal one excellent learning excellent learning experience, goal two equitable systems, goal three relevant and engaging learning, goal four healthy communities. Executive summary. There were areas of growth identified by board members which were also highlighted by Dr. NS in his report. Both board members and superintendent NOS reviewed
159key metrics to discuss areas of concern. Board members pointed out ways in which they see the district moving towards addressing those needs as well as suggestions on how to address them. Ryan's leadership managing and responding to unexpected changes shows in how he managed to support the school board moving toward achieving its excellent learning experience goals. Since 2014, 825 students have earned their seal biiteracy or multi-iteracy, 102 of them in this last year alone. The district is now at levels with a 90% graduation rate. Students participating in one of the 11 career and technical education programs and pathways have shown stronger engagement in school with their graduation rates at 96% for those who participate in at least 0.5 credit and for those enrolled in a CTE concentrating concentrator maintaining their graduation rate at 99% for the
160second year. Student with disabilities graduating increased significantly as well. The board also recognizes the areas in which the district leads in leads the state in metrics related to math and reading levels. Districtwide data continues to trend in a positive direction following the significant impacts of the CO 19 pandemic. Areas that need to be addressed were recognized by both Superintendent Nos and the board which includes students navigating poverty and students with disabilities. The board acknowledges the opportunities for growth in reading scores which are being addressed through in-depth instruction support and reading training over 112 staff members in the science of reading courses. The future investments planned for title one school support in math are recognized as steps in addressing this area. The board looks forward to seeing how these investments help address academic areas of concern
161so the district continues to grow positively. Under Ryan's leadership, the district has continued to support opportunities for students that will allow them to explore their own their own personal goals while opening their minds up to new possibilities as well. from community career affairs to a wide range of CSD programs, culinary arts, construction, urban farm, music arts and theater, digital media, early childhood education or early child early childhood health professionals. Students continue to have more opportunities than they have in the past to connect their learning in school with what is happening in the community as they develop their own future goals. The board applauds Ryan's leadership in creating relevant and engaging learning at the high school level. Ryan has made tremendous efforts in cultivating schools in and a district that promotes wellness through social, emotional, mental,
162and physical health and well-being of students, families, and staff by fostering personal growth, community care, and equitable systems that honor the rightful presence of all students. Resulting from the youth truth survey reflect results from the youth truth survey reflect ongoing improvements in wellness for students and staff particularly in mental health. Having embedded social and emotional learning curricula across all grade levels continues to help promote well-being for students as well as critical skills that supports their learning and being a good friend community member. The board also recognizes areas of concern highlighted particularly for Native American and Pacific Islander students in the secondary level as well as students impacted by immigration issues. Prioritizing counseling support, mental health support, and access to physical and mental health referrals continues to be an invaluable resource to students and their families
163that CSD provides. Examples given dental and vision screenings. The circumstances our community and students are navigating are tremendously challenging. The board closely monitors outcomes related to the goal of healthy communities, including students receiving programs and services that can help them navigate these challenges. The board recognizes there are issues with community trust that will require a great deal of work to repair and there is a need to identify ways to unify our district. There will be other hard decisions ahead. We need to engage more, communicate more, and provide a feedback loop that makes people feel heard. The board recognizes that this effort does not rest solely on the shoulders of Superintendent Nos and looks forward to partnering with him on these efforts. Ryan has shown a tremendous level of ethics, leadership, caring communication, and strong stewardship
164of the financial stability of the organization. He has shown a ability to operate the district toward its goal and implement strategic plans that may be difficult and unpopular but are grounded by focusing on what is best for children. Corvalis is fortunate to have Ryan's leadership as we navigate the rough seas of inadequate and poorly allocated state and federal funding for public education. There is no such thing as perfect in public education, but there is thoughtful and deliberate recalibration to keep things as steady as possible. This is something Ryan does well. Our staff and students will experience far less volatility because he is willing to make hard choices now to prevent harder choices later. It is hard to imagine where the district would be without Ryan's leadership to endure a global pandemic and begin to recover
165educational impacts of it only to immediately face significant negative budget impacts over multiple years. Even still, through Ryan's leadership, the district continues to lead in state metrics at the district-wide level. There are multiple supports in place that indicate this is a district where students are valued and families matter. The board is confident in Superintendent Ryan Nos's ability to continue to lead the district during a pivotal time. Okay, I read the whole two pages. Thank you for bearing with me. Well, thank you. I appreciate the your feedback um and critique and suggestions for how to continue to improve. Um, and I appreciate each one of you for um, as volunteers uh, everything that you do, including supervising me um, and also being good thought partners along the way. So, once again, thank you. >> Any further
166comment from the board? >> Okay. Well, um, with that being said, the next item on the agenda is the K12 social science adoption postponement with Nikki, Kim, and Amy. Okay. Um good evening. We are here to talk to you about our um adoption postponement and also give you an update on the curric curriculum adoption schedule which has been is under revision um through the OD. So um I'm Nikki McFarland. I'm the high school coordinator. >> Kim Johnson, middle school coordinator. >> Hi again. Amy Leon, elementary coordinator. And so just on this first slide, I just want to point out some um changes in in social sciences. Our social sciences, at least at my level at the high school, is really focused on history. Um the new adopted standards are more comprehensive. They also um have
167civics. We have that 0.5 civics graduation requirement. Um economics and geography. And then there's this section over there that's kind of hanging there that's called social studies skills. And I think that's actually the most important part of social studies instruction. Um, and that includes things like questioning, chronological thinking, collecting, interpreting, evaluating, and applying information from different sources, seeking diverse perspectives, evaluating and assessing discrimination, racism, and inequality. Constructing explanations, arguments, and solutions that are wellreasoned. Cultivating global awareness. demonstrating empathy and developing skills to analyze digital and social media. So, they're pretty comprehensive, lifelong skills that I think can easily be glossed over and I just wanted to make sure that I called those out and the um because they are a part of our standards and social studies. All right. So, why are we postponing this
168important thing? Um I think the biggest reason and we we can all share parts of it is as um it's important to note that when we do an adoption it's a fullyear process and often a two-year process um if we include professional development and support with implementation and uh early on this year we started the process we have emails out and then as things changed and shifted we also took a took a breath and said um we value and we can't move through on any process unless we have teacher voice and unless we have teacher voice in the course that we're adopting for. And at that point um probably in November and December, we knew that we didn't know who our social studies teachers for sure would be this year, what that would look like
169with fifth and sixth grade. We're still working through all of that. And so we um collectively came together and said we need to have that teacher voice. We we need to wait a year. Nikki, did you have something else you wanted to offer? >> Yeah, I just wanted to add one of the changes coming to the high school um is related to alignment. And in this slide, it says courses offered high school 2728. So on Monday, our high school teachers will be talking about pathway alignments in all of our areas. Um, and I just I I wanted to share some of the data that they'll be looking at. So, one piece of data they'll be looking at as they make adjustments is our student AP interest survey data. Um, so I worked with Laura Chen
170who's on the board to administer a survey to our students. A lot of social studies classes came up in that survey and so I'll be sharing that with that that team. Um those included uh AP economics both micro and macro, AP world and AP comparative governments as high interest areas. Um and also AP human geography. I administered a second survey which is still open to students through Sunday that is about like uh it asks them do we have classes that really align with your areas of interest and what was a surprise to me in there is that they want to see more social studies electives. our diploma requirements is three credits in the social sciences and they're saying we actually want more and so I'll be sharing that data with um staff on Monday as
171well. So um what are we doing instead? Because as we all know this is a super critical important area. So, we just wanted to share a little bit about what's happening now and what's going to happen in the next year. And as part of an official postponement, we have to include this information anyway. So, our teachers um at the elementary level and K6 will continue to utilize the Oregon State standards. The um the OD has open- source lessons on many of the standards. We have our own uh racial equity lessons that were developed by our staff that align with many of the standards. We also have the tribal history shared history lessons that are available K through all of the grades that our teachers use. And then lastly, um for elementary, thinking about a lot
172of the subjects in language arts, um lend themselves really well to the social science concepts. And so many of the standards are actually already taught through those lessons at the elementary level. All right. And at the middle school level, the teachers are going to continue to use the materials from the adoption that we have in place, which um include TCI History Alive for grades six and seven and then New Zella for six through eight. Um and those also do include the tribal history and the shared history lessons that we do in the middle school as well. So, I was just thinking um our last adoption for social studies I think was in 2020 and I remember being um in my bedroom um presenting to the board for that adoption before I'd even figured out like
173that I needed a separate space um for that kind of work. But um so at that time when we did that adoption the teachers worked together to develop a scope and sequence and they still have that and since that time the state has approved new standards and so what the teachers have worked through is looking at the integration of the ethnic study standards and the tribal history shared history standards and said in this course this is where we're addressing those standards and these are the primary resources that we're using. Um, in all of my conversations with the social science teachers, they've really focused on their use of primary resources, which is a component of um, those essential social study skills. So, that is their plan in the interimm year before adoption. Uh, looking ahead at
174the future installation of uh, curriculum that we have. This is what's slated to come up for next year. We're going to be doing the social science adoption and then as well the PE adoption um and then to be announced after that. The OD is working on they're having some listening sessions and they're sending surveys out and they're working with the with the teachers in the state to figure out what the new um calendar will look like for the schedule of adoptions. And I I will um share if any of you take the time to look for the adoption schedule on OD. It's um it's really tricky a little bit. We found three and we we are pretty sure we found the most recent one. >> It was the one from the listening session that I
175attended last week. >> So um that should be the most current since it is what their staff shared. Um, I think also when we talked about the postponement, the thing is important to know is because it's an adoption year, the state does do a lot of uh listening sessions and caravans and we've participated in those as if we were, so we're not losing or missing information that we'll be able to carry forward next year. Um, additionally thinking about what we're going to do next year to support ongoing social science learning in K4. When we gave our presentation, we talked about flex time and that content flex time, which hasn't always been a guaranteed time in in the day that social studies will be um part of what that time what happens during that time. And
176then in the fifth and sixth grade utilizing um their reading and writing program and really intentional social science alignment and thematic units there in the junior high in the 78 will be implementing year-long social science classes which is new. Uh for the last few years, we've had uh twothirds of a year, two trimesters out of three for social studies. And uh this coming year, they will be a full year-long social studies courses. >> And then lastly, um at the high school, as I mentioned, we're working on alignment of high school courses in all subject areas, beginning that work on Monday, continuing that work through October 30th, 2026. um because that's when we start forecasting for 2728. Um so that's the timeline our teachers will be working backwards to kind of create a timeline for themselves
177to be ready for um any new courses and pathways in 2728. Um so once that is done we will begin the social studies adoption process in early in the early part of the winter and then we will bring you um our adoption proposal in spring 2027. Okay, thanks y'all um for the update. Questions from the board. >> Chris, thank you for that great presentation. Will there be anyone piloting next year or anything? >> We will work with the teachers through a process. We have a pretty um pretty formal process that we go through K12 and it um sometimes includes piloting sometimes doesn't. We work with teachers through that. So I wouldn't guarantee it but teachers voice will be part of the decision around that. >> Sammy, >> the last time you did it 2020 COVID,
178but I remember leading to it, I was invited on a panel alongside with Lou. Was that the social studies? And I remember like when you talk about teacher voice, it was like they were asking questions, they were engaging with diverse group of stakeholders from the community to really understand what are the expectations for the students to succeed in in the future. I really like that thoughtful process. It just makes sense. We can't rush through this process. And I want to go back to the community corner. Uh community member asked me, uh, well, forget about federal and states. Tell me one big decision that's within the boundaries of the school board and that it's a big decision, big responsibility and you can control it. What what that look like? And immediately what came to mind is
179making sure that transition for next year is as smooth as possible. Community members, parents and kids and educators are ready and excited about the first day of school the same way every kid is excited about the their kindergarten day uh first kindergarten day. And I think that lens of we need to be very thoughtful about not getting excited about many things and doing the the least necessary to succeed and make sure students are successful is critical. And I think applying that lens what I'm hearing from you postponing is what's best for the kids is what's best for the transition especially those who are impacted the most by it. Is that correct? Yes, that's definitely correct. It takes a lot of teacher time and energy. >> Thank you. >> Does Teresa have any >> Okay, I
180had a couple questions. Um Oh, she is talking. Okay, go ahead, Teres. >> Nope, I'm good. >> Oh, okay. >> We need like a reaction thing I can use to let you know that I heard and I'm good. But it's all right. Yeah, just like if Kim Kim will keep an eye on it to see if you're raising your hand. Okay. Um I have a couple questions and I remember the last adoption as well and I got to look at the stuff and I was like oh some of the lessons but I tr had to trust that the teachers were like not going to use some of those. Um because while the board adopts are approves adoption of curriculum, we do not approve the individual lesson plans that go out into the classes. And so
181I think that's really important for people to understand that part. Um for the new social studies standards, are they um in effect 26 or do they get postponed again or are they in effect now? They keep losing because they keep postponing. >> Yeah, they are they are in effect and that's why >> 25 then fall 25. Yeah, because the state list came out um in October in October at the end of October 2025 and um and so what they approve has to be aligned to the newest standards. >> Okay, great. Yeah, that's that was my question because I was losing track of where we were with it because they were like it's for real this year. I just kidding. It's next year. And so um with the tribal history, shared histories, um that's not part
182of the curriculum. that's its own sets that the tribes develop with OD. Um, we've never formally approved like adoption of that, but it is being taught, right? Because we didn't have to purchase it. Is that why we don't have to approve anything with it? >> That is correct. >> Our policy is um supplemental materials don't go to the board and that is considered supplemental because it's not the whole entire curriculum. Does that make sense? >> Yes. Except for it's meeting that standard part. So that's where I have a question about like in how do we ensure that those are being taught across the district or are they >> it might be a division 22. >> Okay. >> I think it is a division 22. >> That's what that report. Okay. And then the other question
183I had is you mentioned tribal history shared histories which is one bill. Ethnic studies was another bill but I didn't hear you mention another genocide. So how is that showing up in this? Um, so what I know Kim, I think we all we all kind of did this. We created a I mean it's a sheet that has the the grade level bands. Um, and it it has every single standard and we asked staff to share like in what course at least for me at the high school level it's like what course are you teaching this in and then what are your resources and materials that you're using. So that was my way to ensure that we are like um we are using those new standards even when we don't yet have new materials. >> Okay,
184great. Um that's good to know because it was like they were passed different years. However, they got like you have to do it on the same year when they postponed things. So they ended up rolling into the same year of implementation. Um and not all of them have curriculum developed. And so that's where it gets a little tricky with um how they're rolling out. And so I just kind of had to that was my question is making sure that we're still meeting all the standards because they're rolled in together as new social studies versus each bill right now. Is that's okay. And so we are okay that was my questions. Thanks other questions or if unless >> procedural question if there's no more questions. >> Okay. >> The procedural questions. The motion does not have
185a timeline. Are we comfortable with defining the timeline or is it proper just to say it the way it's >> That's a great question. Were you all asking for a year? >> Yeah. >> Yes, we are asking for a year and then once we have your approval for postponement, then we have to um file that with the OD. So, I'll do that once it's been approved. So would it please uh staff and the board that the motion will be uh read as uh to postpone adoption of K12 social science materials for one year. Okay. So if there's no questions, I'm ready for a motion. Chair, >> go ahead. >> I move to postpone adoption of K12 social science materials for one year. >> I'll second. >> It's been moved by Sammy and seconded by Shauna.
186Any further discussion? Okay. It has been moved by Sammy and seconded by Shauna to postpone adoption of K12 social science materials for one year. Sammy >> I >> Chris >> I >> Shauna >> I >> Bernie >> I >> Judah >> I >> Theres >> I >> and I vote I motion passes. Thanks you all for your work. Okay, the next item on the agenda is consolidated action. As a reminder, the items under this portion of the agenda are for action. Does anyone have any questions about anything in the consolidated action? >> Judah. >> Uh, a >> which is which one's is that Osborne >> Osborne structural repair project pre-qualification of bidters. >> Okay. >> Same. >> I had that one too. >> Same. Okay. Any others? Okay, sounds like we're just have questions for
187you, Kim. And since Judah requested once Kim comes up, you can start and then everybody else that had questions can follow. Um, so I I know things with Osborne can be a little bit difficult to follow because we own the property, but the city manages the property. Um, when we're talking about pre-qualification of biders, is the city also having to approve the the same pool of people because they manage the property. >> The repairs to the building are going to be handled by the district and so although they are not required to approve it, we will involve them in that decision- making. Um but it is our project and we will be funneling the funds all funnel through our district coffers and so we are responsible for the procurement of said services. >> Who else
188had questions on this? Okay, on this side Chris. >> Thank you. Can you um be a little bit more clear just for public knowledge about the funding? So, it's not just all coming from the district budget. >> Yes, I can tell you what we have secured at this point. $4.3 million was um awarded from the state legislature towards this project. $500,000 has been set aside by the school district for this project. And that is um going to be we currently have been spending $100,000 a year towards maintenance of the pool. It's that over five years. So, 500,000 from the school district and $100,000 from Benton County. was dedicated to the project. So those funds are >> and the city of Corvalis, >> I'm sorry, 500,000 from the city of Corvalis. Yes. And so those funds
189are not enough for us to do all of the deferred maintenance on the pool. It is only enough to do the bare minimum to get the pool open. So that includes the structural um repairs to the roof, which requires a re-roof. We'll be doing the pool liner. There's a list of some things that we're doing, but it's we're focusing to just get the pool building open and get the pool open so the community can start um using the pool again. >> Can I have a followup? And we the the pool was closed because of total safety for the >> correct. It was closed because of a structural failure in the roof structural system and it closed the indoor pool and locker rooms and so the outdoor pool has remained open. >> Okay. I just want
190to make that clear because there's been some question out in the community about closing the pool. Thank you. >> Yes, >> Kim. Uh thank you for that presentation at uh LP with the city. Uh there's a recording of it somewhere I believe, right? Yes, we have a place on our website for Osborne updates. >> Okay. >> And so that is it is there. Um we are work still working very closely with city staff with parks and wreck and with the public works department because they have been doing the maintenance on the pool to date and they are the most knowledgeable about operations of a pool. I don't operate a pool. And so we're continuing that collaboration and partnership with the parks and recreation department and public works. And that being said, we will be um
191we've hired the architects and we will be going out to bid. >> Thank you. Uh could you uh Well, first of all, I want to say thank you, Ryan. Uh when you said $4.5 million dollars from the legislature, >> 4.3 >> $4.3 million from the legislature. Thank you for our legislators. Uh Senator Sar Gelson have made tremendous Hercuan effort to support it. And thank you Ryan for the initiative initiating that and also for reaching to all stakeholders. I really want to acknowledge that effort. Um few questions and few notes. First of all, I want to highlight how levelheaded Ryan and Kim and staff are getting the job done, not wanting to take credit, not putting blame anywhere, just getting the work done. Thank you. Yes, I'm I'm taking notes on how to do this and
192I'm gonna try to do my best to follow your suits on doing that. Uh could you qu uh clarify pre-qualification of biders right now? Why didn't we do it sooner? Why this is the right timeline for it? If you can walk us through timeline and say today is the right time. >> Absolutely. So, um, this project has been a little bit challenging in the number of people that are involved, the city, the school district, the funding, where are we going to get this, how much can we fund, how much, how do we even identify what we need to fund? And so, um, we engaged in the facilities assessment, which identified all of the repairs that needed to be made long term. We looked at that. We evaluated all of the priorities within that. we identified
193funding and we decided that all we could do is really focus on opening the building because the timeline was just growing to make that happen. Um, when I looked at pre-qualifying biders, the reason to pre-qualify biders is we want to make sure on a tricky project like this that we have highly qualified biders who also have experience in aquatics because it's a very uh niche part of the um construction industry. And so we want to pre-qualify so we make sure we get highquality biders and we determined b I did lots of consulting with different construction firms with waha group with our architects about what's the best method of procurement so should we do CMGC should we do design build and the market is really favorable favorable for us right now to do a hard bid
194so low bid but in doing that we run the risk of contractors who are not the most qualified so pre-qualifying right now is important to get that short list of contractors who will come in and do our hard bid to keep our price down um right now versus three months ago. Um in talking through that we will get our best results when we have some better cost estimating. So if um for those of you who are on the board when we did construction we go through our design phases. So we are finishing up our design development documents right now >> and in that we sent that off for a next round of cost estimating. Cost estimates will be back to us next week. We will be spending some time to evaluate that, but getting that
195advertisement next week right when the cost estimates come in is our most favorable time to pre-qualify biders. We don't want to do that without the budget >> and seeing those cost estimating. So, that is why now is the time to pre-qualify. >> Wonderful. >> Does that answer your question? >> Does answer it and gives really good context. Final question. Uh two two-sided questions. It's $500,000 only from the city, correct? Correct. >> Yeah. >> So, rhetorical question unless you know the answer and I can see the reporter, he can't help us uh getting the answers from the city. Uh I saw in the budget of the city that and I advocated for the levy. They promised uh with a levy that they will uh keep the theater up open and will keep Osborne operational uh which
196includes maintenance. Uh in their capital improvement p budgets they had Osborne allocated some funds. Where is that? >> I'm gonna let Ryan >> that it would be a fine question to ask um a counselor >> and I will thank you. Thank you. I just want to say thank you so much. Again, I want to say thank you for being level-headed of getting all the resources possible. I am looking forward for the collaborative relationship uh for the city because they're going to operate this, but they they did commit to the community and to the voters when they pass the levy to operate Osborne. I know they may not have predicted this, but they promised the the community that they're going to keep Osborne operational, both structural and functional, and they did have line item for capital
197improvement. They identified it. Um I I hope that uh they can continue investing uh as much as we are and appreciate their investments, $500,000. Uh but definitely this is an important investment and and I think we need to hear more transparency around that. There is one piece that I would add to that is that um I want to acknowledge um that we are not able to do all of the maintenance that is required and there are maintenance projects that are going to continue to need to be funded. So I just want to I don't want to leave it that we're doing everything and they're not funding it all. Um so I just I I want to point that out. >> Yeah, I think that's fair. And I also think that they've been good um partners
198through this. Um and I want to also highlight that. >> Correct. Just on the same theme, um is that why you only plan to restore the uh reopen the space with no plan for outy years? Right. Well, I think the reason that we moved in that direction is really because the longer we wait to find the funding for those out years, the longer the pool is closed and it it just we weren't finding that path to full um full plans for maintenance of the pool and it's still work that has to be done. I want to acknowledge that we ha there has to be a plan for how to keep that pool operational because there are more things that need to be done and that was outlined in our facilities assessment. I think that as
199Ryan and I worked through that, it just was so important to our community to get it back open because we have swimmers who are not having access to pools and that we have staff who are staffing that outdoor pool during winter months and it's it's not an ideal scenario. So, we decided to make that move to to focus on reopening the pool and working through the operational agreement, working through ongoing maintenance and how that's going to happen moving forward from here. >> Yeah, I I I really encourage you to continue to work with the city and everybody else to get the outy years because, you know, it's going to happen again if if we we neglect the the maintenance once we get it working again. >> Absolutely. Other questions? >> Can I add to what
200Bern said? >> Sure. And I have questions. >> Okay. Um, just that we um know that we need to go back to our um agreement with the city once we are operational um and have more conversations related to that. >> That was going to be one of my questions. So, I'm glad you just said that. Um my other my question is is there any online or no? Okay. Um, so we have I remember in the presentation in the fall that you did um at the the community session with the city, it was 6 million we were trying to get to, right? And we're at 4 point or 5.4. Yes, correct. Okay. I just did the math real quick with the numbers you gave me. >> Um, and in that time we didn't have some of
201these funds secured yet. We think we had some of them were preparing to be secured but weren't. So that was only five months ago. that wasn't that long ago. So, I just wanted to say thank you for the work because I know designing takes time. Um I know you're not personally sitting there designing the pool because as you said, you don't build pools, but like um finding people to do design work and do the estimates, all of that takes time. So, I feel like you are moving pretty quickly, as quickly as you can once we had the funding. And I appreciate you pointing out that we needed to wait for that because otherwise there's no point in it because we wouldn't be able to pay people. >> Correct. Um, and I wanted to reemphasize um
202Bernie's point too because we're still looking for that other um $600,000 about like that we continue to work with folk and have conversations and if there's anything the board can do to help support the that work too. Um, and I remember in the presentation in the fall too that it's like a couple years out from when construction starts. Is that correct? Or was it a year out? I can't remember. >> It's likely an 18month construction process. And so, um, I am not ready to commit to what the closure will look like because once we get a contractor on board, which I do intend to have a contract award at your June board meeting, >> okay, >> we will then really work on mobilization and um, scheduling with the contractor. We are going to prioritize keeping
203the outdoor pool open for the months of July and August. That's when they have high participation. And so that being said, we might start to see mobilization and different things during those months, but are we are prioritizing to keep that pool open. >> Okay. Thank you. That was I just want to make sure folk knew that it wasn't like we're just going to start breaking ground and all of a sudden it's open. It takes time. >> Yes. >> Um Yeah. And there's a whole web page if people have further questions dedicated to Osborne, right? >> Yes. Okay. >> Correct. >> Cool. And this um you'll update it with this information as soon as we have it. >> I will. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. So, we're still on um we need a
204motion if anybody's ready. >> Sure. >> Yeah. >> I move to approve consolidated action as presented. >> Second. >> Was that you, Judah? Okay. It's been moved by Sammy and seconded by Judah. Any further comments? Okay. It has been moved by Sammy and seconded by Judah to adopt the consolidated action items as submitted. And um Sammy >> I. >> Chris >> I. >> Shauna >> I. >> Bernie >> I. >> Judah >> I. >> Theres >> I. >> And I vote I. Motion passes. And next item on the agenda is consolidated information. As a reminder, the items under this portion of the agenda are for discussion. Would anyone like to discuss an item and consolidated information? Okay, cool. Next item on the agenda is board member comments. Is there any board member comments? Shauna, then
205Sammy then. Okay, let's >> Yeah, sure. Go ahead, Shauna. >> Okay. Just wanted to also Ryan, thanks for the reminder that it's classified appreciation week and just wanted to give a a thank you to classified staff across the district, not just this week, but all the time for the work that they do to really keep things going, to show up for students, to show up for one another and families in the district as well. So, wanted to do that. And also wanted to thank folks who came for public comment tonight. We heard from a lot of different folks on a lot of different topics. That's not always the case. I've taken lots of notes and look forward to reflecting on on what was shared tonight and following up. So, want to thank the community for
206showing up as well. >> Yeah, I just want to make a plug and thank all the volunteers who will be participating this month in uh the foundation's career day over at OSU. Uh so, remember, wear something green. you're gonna be in trouble, buddy. Chair, uh I have I have one uh uplifting note and another one uh not so much. Uh I just uh heard from a credible source outside my employment relationship uh that uh it's unfortunate that uh HB uh like just as of today uh it's uh it's been rumored that their Boise campus is going to be closed and all those functions are going to move to Corvallis. So there will be huge impacts uh on our housing and schools. So this is something not anybody can predict but if if proven to be
207true I think that will create u huge opportunities for us uh in Corvalis. Um I look forward to learn more and I hope that's uh true but it's very credible source that I heard this from. Um, and I'll share more information with Ryan to to make sure that we can coordinate with families who may be transitioning to our community to welcome them. Uh, so that's the first note. Uh, the second note, uh, I don't like to make statements and platitudes, but it's really hits me hard when um, a huge region that, uh, my ancestor land and family members are going through uncertain times. Uh, one of my earliest memories is uh, watching Wolf Blitzer with a less gray beard uh, covering the Iraq war during Desert Storm. And uh, my dad was telling me our
208family are from that region. And my grandpa on a landline would uh, calm him down and says uh, everything is okay. Peace is prevailing because uh, you know, that's what you would what you would say on a on a landline. Um it's a flashback because uh when I'm checking on my family, they are sharing similar sentiments over the WhatsApp uh trying to uh assure me everything is okay. Uh but my heart goes to uh our local community members uh from Iranian and Israeli and Arab and all those from different uh uh backgrounds with connections to the lands uh all the way from Pakistan and Afanistan to uh Israel and and Lebanon and and and everywhere in between where uh I know there is so much uncertaintity and adults are going through either trauma or challenges
209and children as Well, and I know uh our duty as educators is to hold all those truths that uh uh come in in in different uh weights on us uh the the authoritarian regimes that have been called uh um uh called at to to uh not do the injustices and at the same time uh not to do that on the expense of civilian lives and loss of lives. So I I share that not because I want to stop a war. I don't think this is a platform where uh any US senator, member of Congress or presidents will listen to me. But I share it because I know um our uh parents, families, and children who exist in our community um are going to depend on our schools to provide a place to uh foster dialogue
210and understanding and compassion to all those truths about the uncertaintity that's happening in that region that's connects uh our children, our families to their uh extended families or direct family members. So uh we have navigated similar situations with uh Israeli and Palestinian uh conflict recently and I know our Iranian and Arabian and Israeli community members are right now might be navigating similar sentiments. So I just want to share that u u ask of uh resources and making sure we navigate that in a trauma-informed way. And um I'm sending my prayers to uh my family first and foremost and for everybody in that region uh for a better outcome than what we're seeing today. >> Thanks Sammy. >> Thanks for sharing that. Um I I knowing you you've already probably done some things with staff to
211just help with supporting our families. um and was curious what you are doing because I'm I know you have um and second so I have that question and then second I would like to follow up on the students that spoke about their fears of school shootings and can we arrange to talk to them and like share some different ways that we've already done to make them feel safe and yet honor their feelings and their fears and and figure out what else we can do to support them. >> Yeah, I know that um on the break I saw Nikki talking to the students to get their contact information as they're working on the the lessons. Um I was sort of listening in to see that that was the case. And I also had notes in my
212own notes to check in. Um and and thanks for asking the questions about what what school they attend. That will just make it easier. Um and then um overall we um as a district spend time talking about how we um care for one another, how we find um shared perspectives and viewpoints. Um and so I think the things that we've done all along through multiple conflicts and multiple hard things that have gone on um over the years, I think it's that that ongoing work that that really makes a difference. Um but it's also a good point of reminder to with our principles too. >> And how are we supporting our because we have um our translators Kita and all those people. How are we supporting them? Because I'm sure things are kind of raised, you
213know, with fears and feelings with families that they're working with. >> Yeah. And I think that's a an important piece with um the relationship with Marcianne to check in on our people. Um the other thing that I think just to highlight is that um our diver our equity committee that comes together represents a lot of different um backgrounds and experiences. Um and um it's another group that I I need to check in on. >> Yeah. >> Other board member comments. Judah. >> So I I just I wanted to start by thanking the leadership for we read a book every year for allowing street the future is disabled and the the comment tonight um regarding disability and community I felt was unbelievably poignant and to part of the reason why I really wanted us to read
214this book is as this board knows and several people know that I'm part of the neurodeiverse community and to to be taking a a closer look at how we're looking at the community of our students who are living with disabilities. Um, and that means so many different things. disability means something different to to every person. And also with the understanding that um abbleism is um is still a relatively unchallenged negative undercurrent that particularly impacts school communities as a whole. I don't think that our our district could be exempt from that. And you know sometimes I struggle with the tension of being in a ways like a figurehead leader, but that we draw the attention of this board community as as a leadership for the school community into reconceptualizing and re understanding and completely re-imagining the
215context of what ability or disability means in our schools and how people fit in and to draw that into into a tender focus and to let our imaginations be wide. And I continually draw myself back to a a common slogan in the disability justice community, nothing about us without us. that that we're paying attention to who we're not hearing in these rooms. Thank you. >> Thanks, Judah. And I really hope that the community understands that we're not reading this book for like say, "Oh, look at us. We're reading." It's because it's a commitment of the board in furthering our education and understandings of the materials and how it relates to the students and supporting them and the staff and parents in our district. And um there's so many of people on the table up here
216that either are part of the um community or have family members that are are both. And so I think that that's something I really wanted to reemphasize what you're saying, the importance of our shared readings is our commitment to furthering our learning and um our commitments to the students and families and staff in the district. So thanks for that. Um did anybody else have any comments? Okay, I had a couple comments. Um it was just that Sammy's report on the government corner um I really highly encourage folk if you're able to go to those and participate in them um to do that. And I was also thinking it might be good if we try to think of a way for us to do something like that. Not to compete with the government corners but maybe
217even offer a invitation to folk on city council to meet with us times that aren't Saturday mornings. Um, I think that's a perfect time for people when they're off work if they don't have kids that are in sports, for example, because that's when a lot of kids sports are in the mornings on Saturdays. Um, and especially in the spring. Um, so maybe something in the evening might work for some folk and that might still get involved with sports practices, but maybe they can come in between while the kids at practice, so it might be convenient that way. So, I just wonder if we can chat about that a little bit more as a board. I see head nods. Okay, thank you. And then the last thing is a message for the community is that don't
218forget that public comment is one way to chat with us and the other ways are through email um and also just requesting a meeting with us because we all have um we take a lot of time to meet with the community and if folk would like to schedule time to meet with us and ask questions, get clarification on things, sometimes that's the best way to do it. Um, and we're happy to answer questions anytime for clarity. If things are confusing or you have questions about anything, just let us know and we're here for you. Um, and we will meet with you and email you as well. And that was all with that. And with no further business, the meeting is adjourned at 9:50 p.m. Have a good evening. It's not my