Corvallis School Board Meeting 09/11/2025

001Good evening. The September 11th, 2025. Is there feedback? >> It sounds like >> there's feedback. >> Hello. Yeah. Hello. Still feedback. Yeah. Try again. Am I on the speaker though? I'm on the speaker. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Just want to make sure people online can hear us. Okay. It is um the September 11th, 2025 meeting of the Corval school board is now called to order at 6:31 p.m. To support the health and 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 Corvalis School District website. Tonight's agenda, board packet, and a link to the

002district'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 Judah, Chris, Shauna, Theres, Bernie, and myself in attendance in person. And Sammy is virtually until he arrives in person. And the first item on the agenda is acknowledgement of Hispanic Heritage Month. Corvalis School District 509J, acknowledgement of Hispanic Heritage Month, resolution number 21-0901. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month grew out of Hispanic Heritage Week, which was established by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968. And whereas Hispanic Heritage Month was established as September 15th to October 15th through public law 10000-402 by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. And whereas September 15th recognizes independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. September 16th recognizes independence for Mexico. September

00318th recognizes independence for Chile and October 12th recognizes Dia de la Raza. And whereas the state of Oregon has a documented history of xenophobia and anti-indigenity. And whereas Hispanic, Latino, AXE, and Chuco Axe students and staff make up the largest racial or ethnic minority group in Corell's schools. And whereas people who identify as Hispanic, Latino, AXE or Chuco Aexe have a rich history and have positively influenced and enriched our society and our schools through their inter ent interpreneurship, commitment to community service, deep value of justice and liberty and social and cultural life. And >> whereas Hispanic, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Latin, and Chuco, Chuana, Chicanx, and Chican people have made and continue to make important contributions to education, science, art, culture, and public service, and our nation's growth and prosperity. And whereas education is a necessary

004component for our 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-racism. And whereas the Corvalis School District has a responsibility to honor and respect the diverse histories of our community. And whereas the Corvalis 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. And oh wait no no no and no [Music] >> now therefore be it resolved by the board of directors of Corvalis school district 509J Benton and Lynn counties Oregon as follows. Proclaim September 15, 2021 through October 15, 2021, as well as each September 15th through October 15th annually as Hispanic Heritage Month in the Corvalis

005School District and strongly encourage families, staff, and community members to join in existing local celebrations and encourage all schools in the Corvalis School District to help highlight this month in grade appropriate ways, as well as highlight the contrib contribution of Hispanic, Latin, Latino, Latin, Latin X, Latin, and Chuco, uh, Chana, Ch X, and Chane peoples 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 Lynn counties, Oregon at its regular meeting this 9th day of September 2021. >> Thanks everyone. And as a reminder, we um reread those proclamations every um year as a reaffirmation of the district's commitments to what is contained in them. And the next item on the agenda is board member reports. Do any

006board members have anything to report? Um, first of all, I just want to remind people that I am retired, so I get lots of opportunities to be out and do things for the district. Um, first of all, I was able to attend the back to school rally and um, I know that's a day when some people would rather be in their classrooms. But I think that with everybody there, there's just such a strong sense of unity. And I think that's really important for our our school district to show that. Um Ryan, I thought you did a great job just, you know, even as we're going into a tough time. Um you brought just kind of a sense of of peace, I think, to it and talking about our story, which I think is really important

007to share. Um we also a few of colleagues up here got to serve lunch to staff and that's always such a gift to just connect with people and and get to serve our district and serve our staff members. Kim, you did a great job organizing all of that. I know that takes a lot of time and energy and it seems like there were such great choices for everyone to have and it all went really well. I also got to attend the resource fair at Linus Pauling. I know that Kelly helped organize that with Sarah Divine. And again, um I just think it's a really good opportunity for families to come in and see the different resources. The room was full of different representatives from different agencies and a lot of families were there to connect

008with those resources. Um, a lot of district people were there just with really open arms and very welcoming to our families. So, I'm I'm just so glad that we're still doing that. Um, I say this every year, this time of the year, and I I'm going to say it again because I think it is so important that our district um provides school supplies for our families. I know I say that, but in appreciation every year, but you know, it's just such a big important thing and takes a lot of stress off our families. You know, we've got some families with big families, lots of kids, and that's it becomes very expensive. So I just want to appreciate that we are still doing that. Um, I also had the opportunity to attend the Bridges uh registration

009day and I will tell you it was just it warmed my heart to see when a student would walk in the staff were all busy working getting ready for the year and everybody literally dropped whatever they were doing to stop to welcome those kids coming in. And I just thought, you know, like those kids felt connected and I just I'm excited to see what that program brings for our students. That's it. >> Thanks, Chris. Anybody else have a report? >> Does Sammy have a report? >> Uh, thank you, chair. I would just uh add to uh Chris's reports about uh the back to school rally uh the same sentiment of appreciation and also add the appreciation to the Coralis Public Schools Foundation and community partners, nonprofits and businesses and individuals who contributed to the grants

010that were distributed to uh educators and school staff uh to support the kids. So, um it was really great to see that support visible during the rally and want to thank those uh partners who did that and hope that we find more partners as well. >> Thanks, Sammy. And um I'll add that I also attended the back to school rally and um I know Bernie was there too and it was really great to welcome staff and offer words. Um, and I really appreciated seeing the excitement of the district staff that received those um those vouchers for the supplies. I think that really makes a difference for a lot of folks. So, thank you to the foundation on that as well. Um, I also attended the Indian education parent committee meeting and um, welcome back barbecue

011and so that was nice to be able to spend time in community. Um, and just want to say thanks to the staff that helps um, put those together and the the parent committee. Um, and just in general, um, I was able to I went as a parent to the Linus polling open open house. Um, and I also was able to chat with a few folk as well as a board member. So, that was nice to be in community with everybody. Um, and I was also at the resource fair, but as a volunteer with an organization I'm part of. and um it was really great to see all of the um families come in and be able to partner with the district in a different capacity. So, I just wanted to add that as well for

012my report. So, thank you. Um oh, and I did not get to attend the um public school foundation meeting this last month, but Theres went, right? >> I did not. >> You did not. Okay. I thought theres went. So, >> I wanted to go. >> Okay. So, we apologize to that we were not there this time, but um Okay. So, next item on the agenda, superintendent report. So, I'll pass it to Ryan. >> Sounds good. Thank you. Well, um, for the first meeting of the year, we typically recognize our new administrators that are, um, in our district this year, and so four of them are here in the audience tonight. So, Kelly, would you mind standing up? [Applause] So, Kelly serving as the principal at Mountain View and prior to this, she has been at

013Mountain View for several years um in leadership roles and then has taught in a couple schools in our district at Garfield and KJH and this is her 16th year in education. So, welcome to the team. Uh Courtney Courtney Shre, would you please stand up? So Courtney's our principal at Bridges and last year she served there as well as a teacher and dean and prior to that she was doing life skills at Lionus Pauling um and has been in education for 18 years and has really helped to create that culture at Bridges that is um so positive that Chris was sharing about. So again, thanks for being here. Courtney Megan Newell right in front. She's our new special education coordinator. And Megan comes to us from Greater Albany Public Schools where she's filled in a similar

014role and before that she was with South Lane School District and prior to that she was here with us as a speech language pathologist. So, um, full circle for Megan and we're grateful that she's back with us and this is her 20th year in public ed. [Applause] And then Vi finally, Autumn Benton. She is our district mental health manager and she has served as a counselor um at Oregon State University in the counseling services. She's worked at the Children's Farm home and has just been a great asset to us as we've worked to support staff over the last couple of weeks. Um so again, Autumn, thank you for joining the team. A number of the topics I was going to cover you've already covered. Um but I will still highlight some points. So the first

015is the health re um health and resource fair that was put on. Um, so we had this year 740 people that we served, which was 250 more people than we served the year before. Um, we had over 300 kids that were um, connected with Operation School Bell, which provides them with clothing through the assistance league. We had 90 um, 67 dental screenings, 46 medical appointments. Some of those were for sports physicals and others were for vaccinations. 55 hearing screenings, 858 vision screenings. Um, and also uh some pre-scheduled language testing and also kids could register for school that day. So again, this is the fifth year that we've put on the fair and it takes a lot of work and a lot of community involvement to make it happen. Um, but I think at this point

016it's well established and our commu community anticipates having that opportunity to go to LP and receive the services they need to kick off the school year. So again, Sarah and Kelly, thanks for all you did to make that help and and also the foundations um with financial support. um the welcome back rally. Thanks again for um talking about that and again thanks to the foundation for finding small business um owners who wanted to do a donation to teachers classrooms um and supporting staff members to be able to have the resources they needed in the time they needed it. Um and so that was fantastic. Um we're well underway with our um school year. So please drive slowly in our school zones. Um we had um some really fun examples right out of the gate. A

017fourth grader showing at se up at 7 am the first day of school and not wanting to go home and just sitting out front and reading till school um open for him. Um the at the high schools with a new cell phone policy we see kids playing cards um with their peers which is much better than screen time. And then um at middle school students engage in activities through character strong where again the middle school the startup is really about building community. And so just really fun things to see and observe as we start the school year. Um and then back to the cell phone expectations I think that um as a superintendent I wasn't exactly sure how that would feel and how that would go. And what I can say is that I am

018really proud of our students and proud of our staff because it has gone really well. Um, and it does create space for kids to be with one another, pay attention to one another rather than looking down or focusing on their um earbud earbuds. It's just um it just feels good. So, I just want you to know if you haven't been able to be in our school since this started, um it's really valuable. Um a CHS staff member stopped me when I pulled my cell phone out. Um and that was an important reminder for me as well because I'm trying to model that expectation, too. Um but as a whole this year while we have difficult things to talk about tonight um has started off really successfully and I can only attribute that to our community

019to our students and to our staff for making that happen. So um here we go. That's it. >> Thanks Ryan. Um the next item on the agenda is the SBA and NSBA updates. And I is Sammy still online. He's here. Okay. Um I don't have anything to report on it and Sammy has the report on that. So we will just go ahead and skip that one. Then next item on the agenda is um the consolidation proposal. And so I'm going to hand it over to Ryan. feels like a closeup. Um, I think we'll start just with introductions um because each member of the team here will share some of the information tonight in terms of the proposal, the consolidation proposal. Um, again, I'm Ryan Austin. I'm the superintendent and I'll share um some of the

020rationale for the proposal. um and answer questions. >> I'm Lauren Wolf. I am the director of finance and I will share the finance side of the proposal. >> Uh I'm Byron Bethros, director of student growth and experience and I'll talk about innovation and programming. >> And I'm Kim Patton and I'll share about the facilities and the long-range facilities planning committee. So, one of the things you'll notice tonight um which is different is that oftent times I will come and provide a presentation um on a topic and oftentimes that comes in a PowerPoint and that's the first time you've um seen the information. Um, I decided to go with a different path for this process. Um, and so, as you know, on Friday, I sent out the proposal to the community. The reason why I did

021that was because it allowed me to be at Sheldon Middle School and to have a conversation with the staff there before this information went public and also an opportunity for us to talk about how to prepare students and staff for the fall upcoming Monday. Um and so rather than wait till tonight and present the information and try to figure out how to care for people tomorrow, we went with a more proactive um plan around that. And that's why tonight a lot of the information will be similar to what you saw in the packet. However, that's because this is the actual presentation of the materials. And so it may feel a little bit redundant, but I think it's important to share it um in in its entirety. And that's why um we're doing it this way.

022So we're going to start off with the why. So this is a historical enrollment chart. So the line depicts our enrollment since 1959 when the school district incorporated through on the right down to 2025 where we can see we're back in that decline. Something that I want to point out is that in 1959 when we incorporated we had 10 elementary schools, one middle school and one one high school. about 4,500 students and in 2025 we're getting down to that level again or reaching and predicted to get close to that level and right now we're operating eight elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools. So in between you can see through the rises in our enrollment we've opened schools through the declines we've closed schools. This is a cyclical um thing that happens in

023school districts and it's not the first time we've been through this. Um I presented this last month. This is a depiction of our long-range facility committee planning's work. Long-range facility planning committee's work. Um it in the first column it shows that our facilities are in good to fair shape. We've set our building capacities and thought about district level programming and what we can expect by grade level. So, at elementary, we can house 3,233 students and that our enrollment projections for the 2526 school year is 2,221 students, which would give us that 69% capacity. I will point out that those are still projections for 2526 because we have not reached our 10-day drop and Lauren would know more about that, but I want to point that out that we are still using projected numbers because we

024don't have those hard numbers to update just yet. Um, so the long-range facilities planning committee uh presented their conclusions at the board retreat. We presented those on August 13th. And I'm just putting these up here as a reminder that we have these conclusions from the committee. But the real highlight is that the enrollment decline over the next 10 years will result in significant underutilization of our facilities. But all of these conclusions have been kept in mind as we've worked through Ryan's proposal and and considered all of the options. >> So the one of the things that I shared um with staff during our welcome back rally, I did three sessions for people to come and ask questions and learn more about um how I was going to bring a proposal forward. And one of the

025things that I thought was important is that um I've thought a lot about this and I thought it was important to highlight some of the considerations that I've taken under um adisement as I've tried to come up with the best proposal I can. Um and so starting at the top recognizing that you we've established board goals. We've established those board goals through a lot of community engagement several years ago and those have helped us to identify our targets for growth and improvement and it's important to note that those are key a key area of consideration um in this plan. Some of the other areas that I think are important to think about um are inclusion practices. How do we make sure that students have have access? I've had to think about things like the potential

026loss of students. As you know, we are funded by the number of students that attend our schools. And so looking at a plan, I needed to also consider that factor. Um the feeder schools that we have, those patterns, recognizing that at this point where students start in elementary, where they go for middle and where they go for high school. So thinking about those patterns. um transportation, the transportation that we have currently and in this plan what transportation could and could look like um was an important consideration programming. So when I think about programming, I'm thinking about oftentimes our specialists. So we've had conversations over the last several years about the arts um and the programming that we're able to provide enrollment patterns. So where do we see increasing enrollment patterns? Where do we see decreasing

027enrollment patterns? and how does that play into this um academic opportunity? How do we take a change and build it into something where there's um ac greater academic opportunity and that's something that Byron's going to talk about? Also, school boundaries. Um, understanding that right before the pandemic, we had lots of conversations about boundaries and how do we make sure that that's a consideration right now. The potential loss of staff, um, which is a reality in consolidation and a difficult thing to talk through, but an important thing for us to recognize and consider um, in developing a plan. The conditions of our buildings. Um we have um buildings that are almost brand new and others that have um been with us for quite some time. And as we did the bond work, we were intentional about

028where that work happened. So having thought through that um opportunities for innovation, again thinking about if we're going to look at different grade level configurations, are there ways to be innovative? the impact on our students. Um how will a change in their school location impact them? Uh feedback. So feedback along the way. Um I'll show at the end a timeline with other opportunities for feedback. Um the financial aspect of this. Finances are a key factor in any decision related to consolidation. Um equity. How do we make sure that we're supporting students in the with the resources that we have? Again, the impact on staff, location of new development, thinking about things like um where is building and construction happening in our community? And then also grade configurations. Are there different grade configurations for consideration? And

029so those were some of the factors that went into coming up with the proposal that I'm bringing forward tonight. Again, this is an initial proposal and you'll have lots of opportunity to hear from community be before our October 30th and November 13th board meetings, but as of tonight, I feel like this is the proposal I'm bringing forward to you that you can then um move forward with, modify, change, or discard. But this is the the work that I've done in order to bring you a proposal to to start from. So the proposal would be that Lincoln, Adams, Katherine Jones, Harrison, Garfield, Leticia Carson, and Bessie Coleman elementary schools um becomes K through sixth grade schools. They are right now they are all K5s and so they would grow to include sixth graders. Mountain Elementary becomes

030a kindergarten through 8th grade school. Um that would allow us to have two eighth grade schools in our community. Lionus Paulie Middle School becomes a seventh and eighth grade school and is renamed Corvalis Junior High, allowing students to develop a new mascot in school culture. The closure of Sheldon Middle School, we would continue to keep those gyms open at Sheldon um in order for community use. We know that we don't have enough gym space generally speaking. And then the school board reviews the feasibility of two high schools during the 2829 school year or when enrollment falls below 2025 students in grades 9 through 12. Um that is a an important piece of this um recommendation. We've heard lots of rumors about the closure of Crescent Valley um for months and months, maybe years. And so

031I felt like it was important to put in a point of time where we would have that conversation. In no way is this implying that that it would be the year that we would make a decision on a closure or a consolidation. This is just a point in time to say we need to come back to this conversation um and continue to have it. The board also asked me to come up with a couple of other options. Um so to kind of to inform my thinking. Um so the first option that I considered was the status quo option meaning make no changes. Um we maintain the same number of schools which would be a benefit. Um and so staff and students would be required to move to new buildings. That's the benefit. The negative is

032the long-term financial stability of that plan. Um, and operating our schools as we do now with the numbers that we have. Um, there's not any financial benefit to that. Um, and that is one of the key pieces of this is around a plan that addresses um, our financial challenges. And so based on that um, this is not the option that I move forward um, in the proposal. The other option that I brought forward or considered to bring forward which is not coming forward is the closure of an elementary school. Um it has more savings than doing nothing or status quo and it does maintain um the feeder school model. Um for some of those buildings but not all. The negatives um fewer savings than the proposal brought forward. The loss of neighborhood schools for an

033elementary school community. One of the things we um one of the other reasons I brought forward the proposal that I did was it maintains our a our elementary school hubs in our community higher likelihood of losing students with their elementary school closing. Um it would require a boundary adjustment process that would take additional time and um from my experience creates quite a bit of conflict in the community which is concerning and one of the reasons why you asked me to bring forward a single proposal. Um and also innovation is still possible but potentially limited because we're still within the same structure of K5 68 912 just with one less elementary school. So again the reason I didn't bring that forward is because of the limited cost savings um uncertain impact of boundary adjustments and it

034could require another major change next school year because the savings just isn't there. and I'll share a little bit um of the financials related to the proposal that's before you. Um and so when when running these scenarios or or models um really we're looking at maintaining the current service level that we have in this current year. So same amount of specialist time um same positions within schools, all of that. Um, so there's no structural changes here, um, or changes in class size assumptions or anything of that nature. So everything stays status quo. Um, the only difference in the models is how where the students are and how they move um, throughout the system. So in the model before you, it reduces um, our the staffing required by 11.28 full-time positions um, or about a 2.8%

035reduction. It reduces the amount spent per student without changing the services that we're providing to the students. Um so that's a savings of about 3.4%. And it reduces the overall spending obviously when um you reduce the per pupil amount. So this is not a full picture of all the services that the um students receive in the district. It's just looking at those positions that are assigned to schools um and are allocated that way. So when we look at this um it does still um require reduction in staffing by using our ratios and and our staffing allocations. But if we were to look at this same picture doing status quo um we would be reducing many more staff. And um if you remember AC past the last few years, we have reduced a lot more than

03611 um full-time positions in a year. And then using um this model, we are estimated in the next um fiscal year to need to reduce about uh 3.87 million. I will say that number um is still what I would call squishy. I'm not sure what the more professional word is, but I call it squishy. Um because we don't have enrollment data for this year yet. We know how many um kids are in registered with us now, but like Kim mentioned, we have not hit that 10day drop period. So, how our um student information system would work is they stay enrolled with us until another district picks them up or they haven't been in attendance for 10 days. So, we haven't hit that mark yet. And that information um is our next jumping off point to

037update our projections in enrollment, which is important because enrollment means um revenue. And then um the next piece of that that makes it squishy is that we don't have our tax statement for the for the tax year yet. Um and that also plays into our our revenue. So you can't hang your hat on that number yet. We will be back with updated financial projections and the normal budget cycle process. Um but as we're looking at modeling, this is where we currently are. Um so the proposal before the board reflects a savings about 1.87 million. Um which means they would there would need to be additional reductions made through the process. Um and we we believe I mean there's all options on the table as we go through every budget cycle. Um, and we also think

038that the work of the innovation team will help look at um our priorities um and and the return on those dollars for um students and and help us decide where we go from here. So, we just wanted I think it's important to note that this consolidation savings um does not mean that there won't be additional reductions um as we have been through the last several years. We w we're continuing um to look at our our finances and the unfortunate fact still remains that um expenditures related to mostly staffing um and then just general inflation are um are going up much quicker than the state and federal government's investment in education. And that makes it extremely difficult to serve students um in the way that I think we all believe that they should be served. >>

039So there were a couple of areas that um having put out that proposal um questions that have um come up that I think are things that we can either answer now or give a little bit of additional information um to. The first one is that the proposed changes are for the 2627 school year. So again, another reason why not to um mention high schools beyond that um date and time that we will come back to that conversation is because these are all changes for next school year um that we're proposing right now. Also um it doesn't mean that in that 2829 school year we will be in the process of closing a high school. there are too many factors um for consideration for projections that far out and also recognizing that there will be potential

040changes in the board changes in any of our positions and so we're not going to make a decision I would not propose making a decision for people who are not um in this room at this point in time um questions about Sheldon seventh and eighth graders um so again the eighth th graders would be heading off to high school. It should actually be more about the sixth and seventh graders. Um we're thinking about their um transition to Corvalis Junior High. Um one of the questions that comes up about that that I've heard is if I'm in the Mountain View boundary, would I be required to go back to Mountain View for my eighth grade year, let's say? And I would say that's not my proposal. My proposal is that students could go to um Calalis

041Junior High with their peers at Sheldon. Um, and then I'll talk a little bit more about Mountain View here in a second. Um, Franklin, College Hill, and Bridges were not named in the recommendation, so there's no recommendation for changes there. Um, that, um, was implied, but not um, outlined specifically. So, I think that's an important clarification um, for Mountain View to change to a K8. I think that there are things we still need to know to be able to um make that plan and that would be after the board takes action in November because there's a few ways that you could grow Mountain View to a K8. You could make it a K6 next year, a K7 the year after that, a K8 the year after that. That would be one um one option. Another

042option would be based on the interest in the the K8 model um which I have had some positive feedback to um that you could go ahead and just open it um K8 next year um but we won't know that till this proposal a proposal is approved by the board and we can reach out to families and get a better sense about the interest in that K8 model. And then finally, staff considerations. Um, we have been, um, I, as I said before, I wanted to be at Sheldon to talk to staff on Friday. Um, lots of questions have come up. I was back there on Tuesday. Um, again, thanks to the foundation, they provided a meal and so I was able to answer questions. And the questions that staff have right now that are top of

043mind for them are um where will I be next year and do I have the license to to be able to make some choices and do I have some choice in this matter? And so what we are currently working on is reviewing staff licenses um along with TSBC our our standards agency and also talking with universities to be able to talk with staff by the end of October to say this is what your current lensure allows you to do. If you're interested in being at K6 and you want to do sixth grade um these are the things you would need to do in or in order to be able to do that. So we're working to be able to have those conversations with staff. Um, every year we send out a document asking staff about

044preference for the upcoming school year. Um, if they're interested in a new position or a new school. Um, we'll continue to do that in this process. And then also being clear with folks that seniority is a significant factor in all of this. And so working with our associations um will be a important piece as well. So, um, those are some of the considerations thus far for staff and some of the conversations that we've had. All right. So, what do we want for the future of public ed and Corvalis to look like for our students? And so, that's where the innovation team comes in. Um and so when changes happen sometimes there's also possibilities and opportunities amidst those changes. And so in this moment we're being strategic um and intentional when there are changes that are

045coming up that we're expecting to happen and how can we leverage that change to also think about how to improve and better our programming for students. And when I talk about program, I talk about rigor in our classrooms, opportunities for students, relevant learning, how we engage students. If I think about our board goals, that's really where I go to of of how can we make those come alive in our in our schools and in our classrooms. And so, as we're anticipating this change coming up in our system, um we have developed an innovation team to really think about envisioning the future of what program programs could look like in our schools. And so a couple things that come up and that we've heard, I know that you've all heard and we've heard in our community

046um over the last few years as we've had to make reductions that's taken away pieces of programming that we believe are crucial and essential to students and teaching the whole child. Um and we've also in this proposal and over the last week or so from there heard questions about what does what do electives look like for sixth graders? what does it look like at a 68 or or a K8 and what does what does a 78 look like? What what are the opportunities for students? And so this innovation team is going to take all of those types of questions to ponder and look at to see what is possible, what could this look like? And so the way I think about this is kind of putting those concerns that we've had about math with the

047concerns we've had about music or library and wonderings we've had around our programs and what if we have those back on the table with a group that can talk about how can this really look now in in a model of whatever model we have approved like what would that look like to enhance programming for students? What would our electives and our specials and our programs look like in a K8 or a K6 or a 78? What would that look like? Um so the innovation team um is yeah uh is comprised of 32 individuals. Um about 75% of them are teachers. We have representatives at least two people from every school in our district. Um we have classified members, we have a few administrators, uh two board members and the group um that was selected, we

048had an application process. We had a lot of applicants and we selected 32 of people who have diverse lived experiences, diverse experiences in education um across different specials. I see some folks back here like from the music program that are part of the team as well. Um, and so those like diverse and intersecting experiences we think will help us come together to like really think about programming and Corvalis and what it could be like. Um, I've we've not really said who's on the team yet, but I sent out the first email with everyone's email on them and I had several replies of like, oh my gosh, I want to watch this team in place because of the diverse mix of people and the diverse ideas and views that people are bringing. Um, and so our

049work for innovation team starts next week and it's just a starting to talk about education and what our beliefs are. Um, as we start to get ready to really look at programming and so again, the team is looking at trends in education right now. Um, we'll work on opportunities to engage the community. We've been working on lining up um, Ryan has been helping us line up different community partners that can come in and help shed some light on different topics for us. The foundation has also offered to help bring business partners in to talk about our community partners in our community and how they can help us with with these ideas. Um, equity and inclusion are at the center of this and how do we provide access and in our designs for all kids. Um,

050and then of course aligning this work to our board goals is um at top priority for the group for the innovation team. >> One more thing about the innovation team is that that group will meet for two years. So while you'll be making a decision by the middle of November about what the proposal what proposal you'll go with for consolidation, this group will continue to meet through the rest of the school year as those transitions happen and through the following school year as well to see those promising practices move forward. Um the in terms of the timeline, I know that you've seen this before, but I think it's important to note um that there are a number of opportunities for um public input. Um, one of the reasons why I think it was valuable to

051bring a a single proposal forward is because people can look at that proposal and come up with other ideas or suggestions um related to it in a way that's different than three proposals and then you're trying to choose between A, B, and C. This I think can be more iterative that way. Um, so again, we had um today September 11th and we are presenting it to you today. Tomorrow I have a superintendent chat with staff. Superintendent chats are something that I've done monthly um as a way for um staff to ask the questions that are top of mind for them. Um they looked different during COVID than they do during a traditional school year. And so one of the things I shared with staff is it's probably going to feel more like that because there

052will be things that I don't have answers to and questions that I can't answer at this point in time, but also things I do know. And so the first one of those is tomorrow and it will basically just be a chance for staff from across the district to ask me questions via Zoom. Um we have a listening session scheduled for next week, Spanish listening session um as well. And then we're going to have um more board meetings, more another opportunity for listening session um before we get to the October 30th and no November 13th board meetings. Those listening sessions we will have um t table groups with the opportunity to have a a leader um lead that conversation bringing forth ideas um as well as a presentation that gives the broad brush of this of

053current proposal. Um so those again start next week and again we are looking for to we wanted to create opportunities for people to come together um and and work alongside us and share their ideas. So those are the opportunities forthcoming. So now I'm going to turn it back to you um for questions that you may have um that you would like us to to answer. So, we have about 29 minutes for questions and answers. So, I'm going to ask people to pick one question each and then we can go back around if that way everybody has an opportunity to ask questions. So, whoever wants to start, Judah, then Sammy. Um would it be possible with the Mountain View K8 that we would have um intradist transfer policy for seventh and eighth or for yeah for

054the sixth seven or seventh and eighth grade that is similar to our dual immersion schools where they could consistently choose to go to Corvalis Junior High if they wanted to transfer out and be with a larger group of peers. >> Um that is a possibility. Again, I would say that the plan for Mountain View is still the area of the proposal that would has the most unanswered questions. And that's just because we can't aren't ready to go ask families about that. Um the sixth, seventh, and ethically is that there's families that are excited about it. Um, but we also until we get to November 13th and know that that's the plan. I feel nervous about asking people would you be interested in that model. Doesn't mean I can't if the board directs us to start

055that process, but as of now um I've basically held a lot of things in obeyance until we get to November 13th. So I want to go back to that but I'll ask another umbrella question. You mentioned the alignment with the school board goals uh in the proposal itself and in the future as well as we explore the innovation team. I'm curious if you could uh walk us through each goal and perhaps give us a highlights why the proposal uh advances or help us achieve the schoolboard goals that we adopted for the next five years. Do you want me to take that or does anybody else want to add to it? >> Okay. Um so the first one um I would say that the the academic continuity that um happens with a K6 also with a

056K8 having two K8s there's benefit to that and there's some research that shows um academic um improvement in a K8 model. Um there is also the opportunity as we think about equity. This proposal maintains each of our neighborhood schools for elementary which is our neighborhood hubs which are important pieces of what we do in support of communities. Um it also allows us to think about the way um one of those tenants around inclusion is included in um that goal area as well. Um we also know that when kids are with their um can be with their siblings siblings potentially longer in a K6 or a K8. Um so that's a n can add to the nurturing environment. Um they can also be with teachers that they had in their early years through middle school or

057through sixth grade and maintaining those relationships. Oftentimes um those relationships are um really important for sixth graders to hold on to or seventh and eighth graders. So there's benefit to that. Um the opportunity to think about things differently as K6s, 78s, and K8s allows us to be um focusing on innovation and creativity in a way that maintaining the status quo doesn't necessarily do for us. Um there's a lot of examples of ways along the in each one of those goal areas that this proposal um tends um works to address. >> Thank you. Other questions? >> Go ahead, Britney. >> Um, yeah, it's for Lauren. Uh, quick question. How are the savings uh derived? I mean, I I see reduction in in FTE. I see uh um getting more efficiency out of it. But what about

058the cost of maintaining um an MT facility? And are we getting revenue and so on uh to compensate for that? There's no assumptions around revenue for a closed facility because that would um once we have a decision that would need to go back to that long range facilities planning committee to decide what we would actually do with that. So there's no um revenue assumptions in these calculations. Um we're really just looking at the the change in where students go to school and now what that looks like in staffing. So, just as a reminder for everyone, our staffing um makes up close to 80% of our total budget. Um and so really when you're looking at a financial model, you're looking at staffing. Um so that's the main piece of this. Um the the secondary piece

059of it is is our different um we do have utilities in there. Utilities are interesting. And I did some research on this and I could have probably read different things for a whole day if I let myself. But really what it came down to um is there's no exact model um for utility savings. And what made most sense to me as I was reading through all the the different opinions was looking at things like um our electricity and our fuel for for heating depending on the the building type. um and those we would still need to maintain uh electricity obviously in a building and heating um to maintain the the building itself and make sure we didn't have leaks and different things like that. So we assumed um a 20% savings on electricity which felt

060really conservative and and and it could be more than that. Um and then the the main savings on utility are really from the the water um and garbage. So all combined um it's about a 40% savings on the utility cost. So it's not a huge number. Um it's le it's about half of a cost of a teacher um for Sheldon specifically um on those savings. We also currently have to rent um a piece of property for storage. So there's a savings in that lease agreement. We would no longer have that lease agreement because we would use our own property potentially for storage. So savings there. Um and then we also look at district level programming and the ability to serve students in the same way but just as we are with having more students in

061a a school. Um we can be efficient in our staffing that comes from the district level as well. And so there are some assumed savings related to that. So and I would say like these are all based on our formulas now. Um, and we do tweak those every year just depending on like if we have a new idea we want to try or or something like that. So depending on what comes out of innovation team like that could look different. Um, and these are are models based on what we're currently doing. Um, and making sure that we as we do the modeling you're only changing like that one control. So you keep everything else, you know, um, the same so that you're able to really assess what the one change, which is where our kids

062would attend, um, how what that would impact. Does that answer your question? >> Yeah, mostly. We we'll talk more about this, too. >> Yeah. >> Theres, is your hand up? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, so one question. All right. Um, so my question is about the capacity um for the the K6s and then for Mountain View that would become a K8. Is generally just do you have a um do you have or can you provide a breakdown of um what you think would happen in each of those schools if they absorb their sixth graders? Um or at Mountain View if they absorb seventh and eth. >> Do you have confirmation that there's space um at Mountain View to absorb seventh and eighth grade as well as sixth? they'd be absorbing three grades. So, are you

063how certain are you that there is space to do that? And what do the enrollment numbers then kind of look like across those um those different schools? And I don't know if you have that tonight, but that would be something I would want to see. And then with growth in the Mountain View area, if we put three grades out there and then Adair grows, are we just going to reach a point where then Mountain View can't hold everybody that's in its boundary? >> I snuck in a second question there, but >> yeah. Um Kim, do you want me to answer or you >> either way? Okay. Um, so yes, we have looked at obviously the building capacity numbers on um, the chart that Kim presented towards the beginning. It looks at our different ass um,

064assumed utilization rates for those buildings. Um and yes, for you had a lot of questions in the one question, but the sub question, yes. Um based on our our current modeling, there would still be an additional um spaces for students at Mountain View in um the K6 model. And so then if we expand that to the seven eight um assuming about you know maybe 30 kids per class in the middle school um yes there's space to do that and to grow that um through even if there's more development in that area. So we have space all of our schools we still um the most we were going to utilize at elementary um we're setting our target at 90% and all of our schools are below that. Um the closest school will only be under by

065um 50 students, but most of them still have space for 100 plus students. So there's room within the model to handle fluctuation changes in enrollment. Did that answer? >> Yeah, it answered all my secret extra questions, too. So good job. >> Yes. >> And theres, this is where I would remind you that new development doesn't equate new always equate new students, >> right? Yeah. And I would say too, this really plays into the enrollment numbers because we haven't put out the projections for those yet and won't until after October 1st. So, this is using enrollment numbers based on what we were projecting for this current year. Once those get solidified, then all of these numbers get updated as well. But even within that, the model still works. >> Thank you. So, first before I pull

066a Theres and sneak one and tag on hers and then ask my question, um, just wanted to say thank you for all the the thoughtfulness and care that's going into this. It's hard to talk about consolidation at all, knowing that what we're talking about is potentially closing one or more school communities. And we're hearing that from from staff, from families as well. And and it's a school that my family has been through as well, so I know just deeply and have hold a lot of care for the people there who are holding that, too. Um, so I'm going to do a little bit of a sneaky thing in thinking about that with Teresa's question about numbers and percentages. A question that's already coming in from community is around overcrowding or worry about that at Linus

067Pauling. I recognize there wouldn't be sixth graders there. Do you have those same projections just with what it would look like to consolidate all the seventh and eighth graders aside from Franklin and then aside from potentially Franklin and Mountain View if Mountain View was K8 versus K6? >> Yeah. in the model um with the seventh and eighth graders and in our model we modeled the financials as um I modeled the financials over Mountain View as a K6 in this model um because we aren't sure like how that plan would work at Mountain View if it would be the step-up plan or not. So we needed to make sure in 2627 that all seventh and eighth graders in the district could fit in Linus Pauline. So even with all seventh and eighth graders in Linus polling

068um the space available using our utilization numbers is 128 uh spa like for 128 more students to join Linus Pauline. >> Do you have do you happen to know the the percentage utilizations so we can >> um 85% utilization? >> Okay. and and it gets the utilization numbers and this is where I kick it back to Kim, but it gets trickier um at the um the schools where there's like sections of courses and students move around. So, we don't want as high of a utilization in a middle and high school building as we do in elementary where we call those self-contained classrooms. Is that right? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Should I save my other question for the next round? >> Okay. I too thank you for a very wellthoughtout plan. Um, as a person

069who worked in a school that was part of a consolidation years ago, it was really difficult at the elementary level for many of the reasons you stated and then some. So, I appreciate this. My question is for the staff at Sheldon. um knowing the big concerns that they have, will we be able to do any kind of emergency licensing like we've done in the past like during COVID and stuff? Um and will we second question will we give priority to the Sheldon staff for moving in within the district? So, we will work with staff to help to support them to get the lensure they need. Um, and in terms of the prioritization, um, that's a question I'll have to come back to you because I don't have the contract in front of me to be

070able to say that, but I know that we're going to try our best to, um, allow folks to be in the spaces they want to be in. >> Great. Thank you. And just going back to what Judah was asking about because I think that's been the biggest concern that I keep hearing. So, could we, and I'm sorry, this is like a second question, but really it's part of Judah's question. >> Can we at least start talking about allowing um like for open, you know, open enrollment? Can we start having that conversation because I just think that will really relieve a lot of stress. >> Yeah. Um so can I say let's go back to your third of four questions Chris Hawkins. Um the the piece that you shared um about the Sheldon staff. I'm also

071thinking about the Linus Pauling staff. Um and so I think that um there are staff that will be um impacted across the district in this consolidation. We know that that happens oftenimes because of seniority. So that will impact staff at CDHS and CV. Um and so there are staff across the district that this any consolidation pro proposal will impact. Yeah. >> Um, >> and then what was your other Oh, your fourth question was um about I'm teasing you. Um was about um the ability to do transfers open and open enrollment. Um again, we're going to look to first we need to look to see what sort of interest there is in that. Um because ideally we would open at sixth, seventh, and eighth grade next year. Um I tend to think K8 are a pretty

072um a pretty powerful model. Um, and if we have enough families that are interested in it, then we're going to work to do that. Um, but we just don't know the answer to that yet. >> Thank you. >> And um, so my first question, which is one question, is um, about staffing too because um, there was another $2 million that were short even with consolidation. And with your comment about that being staffing, um I'm wondering what and my question is more around what care is being provided for staff across the district. Um knowing that how that works with seniority and everything and thinking about the other middle school being impacted and the high schools being impacted and elementaryaries across the district, especially because the sixth grade teachers would obviously go to across the elementaryaries. And

073then um yes I had a question about care for staff really in this process since and thinking about where and my double question I joking I have a double question is that where that other 2 million is that what we're going to have to keep in mind is that going to look like staffing in addition to that 11 that you mentioned. So that was for both of you one care for staff one for monies. So um my focus this um since the since Friday has been on the care for the shelter and staff this afternoon I spent time at Lionus Pauling at the end of the day and worked with Greg um to go and do a staff me staff meeting with them to answer questions as well. Um so we have that on the

074calendar. Um that's why I'm doing a um soups chat tomorrow. Initially it was scheduled thinking that tonight would be the night that the proposal was shared with the community. Having um modified that I still kept that date. So again trying to provide staff with the information I can as quickly as I can. Um I think that's what we're trying to do. Um on Monday at Sheldon we set up a care room so if staff needed to take a break they could. We had roving subs, so we had two licensed and two classified to cover for people if they needed a break. So, we are trying to be really intentional about the support we provide. Um, when I introduced Autumn, I recognized the fact that she's been really supporting staff this like right out of the

075gate and that has so much to do with the fact that um, we recognize that this is a difficult thing for staff to do or to go through. I also realized this was like the first week of school um, and that wasn't done lightly. um by going and sharing that with them. But it's also because we need to have a decision by November so we can start to do all the logistics. Um so um so that's why I did it as early as I did it. Um because we need staff to be able to know as much as they can now and then when we know more we can share more. Um and so then to the second question um one of the things that we identified um in that in the proposal was that

076status quo still even with the status quo proposal we will have less we will have less staff next year. And the reason why we know that to be true is because we know that our ninth grade will become 10th grade and our eighth graders will become 9th graders and that that 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th are the last four large classes. So, we know that there will be some rate reductions that have to be made um regardless. And at the same time, we're going to continue to do our best to make reductions um in departments and other areas as well um in order to limit the impact on on our schools. I would say that the fact that we are do going through a consolidation process. The impact on license is primarily because we'll have

077fewer kids. The impact on our non-rep and our classified is because we're going through a consolidation process. So all three of our groups are going to be impacted. One because of the limited number of students that we have or the change in the number of students we have and the other um two groups is because of consolidation. >> Thank you. Um and we only have nine and a half minutes left for questions. So um if you have another question if you that's not a complex multi-art question please. Okay go ahead Sammy and then Judah. >> Can I make it multi-arts if it is? Can I request data for later? >> Yes. >> Awesome. So can I request the following data uh and they're just A, B, and C. And I think C maybe you can

078speak to it right away. So A is uh what my colleague spoke about the utilization percentages. My request is if you can list again the status quo where we are right now in the utilization which we have and also what is the ideal or no more than a certain percentage for elementary for middle and high and then the forecast for the utilization for uh the elementarymentaries the junior high if the proposal pass and then for the K8s. And since this is an academic town, I'm going to ask for plus or minus percentage that you anticipate with a confidence. I know we're not confident 100%. So what is our confidence that we will be within certain range if there's an influx of housing or if there is a surprise ch um kindergarten uh registrations? We know

079that could happen. We got surprised in 2019. So I want to make sure that at least we capture as much as possible of those variables. So that's my request of a table and maybe a narrative for utilization forecasts. That's part A. >> Part B is a request for >> Yeah. Oh no, that's just part A. That's >> Oh my gosh. >> It's just table. I'm requesting a table. >> Big A and little A. or >> you might need to email this to them too, Sammy. >> I'm happy to email that. >> Yeah, that might be a little bit easier. >> So, um because this is a we'll take up some staff time. I want to make sure that with the chair this is >> um you know an appropriate ask too. >> Yes, absolutely. Um

080and I can pause and see if the chair and the rest of the board think that's something we should pursue. >> Um I think we I need to see I can't like keep I have to see it. Yeah, but it's it sounds like a lot of information. So, if it's going to help us make a really solid decision, then I think it's worth the staff time. If it's just double-checking for extra information, I would say maybe consider that. >> I believe it is important, but again, I want to defer that the general body will decide. And the reason I think it's important is we have heard from community members about, oh, this school could uh be overwhelmed with utilization or not. So having all that data in front of us really would help us navigate

081it. But again, I'll defer to the full board. >> I think that what would be helpful is if you could write those questions down and and share them so that it's very hard to follow I think the the intersections of the different piece that you're asking >> because I I think I hear a lot of redundancy in that of information they have provided but not information that they have compiled into one spot. And so I'm not sure if you're asking them to put all the different pieces in one place or actually get information that they haven't given us yet. And so if I think seeing it written out would help to clarify that. >> Happy to do that. >> Go ahead. >> Part B or shall I just send out? >> I would send it

082out. Yeah. Because that way it's um super clear what being asked for everyone. >> Sounds good. >> Thanks, Sammy. >> Because B and C are also data requests. >> Uh B is a data request. C is not a data request. Okay. Well, let's see. >> See, uh, Ryan, you have spoken and I have too with other superintendent and leaders across the states and nation where there is consolidation. What have you learned when they have experienced it or if they are experiencing it? What lessons learned that might be relevant to us and what might be something unique to us we need to pay extra attention to? I think that um we are one of the first of many districts in Oregon and across the country that are in the process of consolidation. Um what I've learned

083from colleagues um some of those things have been really helpful to me. As an example, the the plan to be with staff and set up a care room and support was something that another superintendent colleague shared with me. Um which helped me to be thinking about that. Um I know that um at Crater Lake Elementary in Bethl they had an end of year celebration and sort of a closure of that school which was an opportunity for everyone to come and celebrate together um the history of the building. Um so there are lots of things I've learned. I've learned that this process um needs to be um short so that we can move on together. I've learned that that students are resilient and move on quite um much sooner than adults do. Um and it matters

084how the adults show up in the space and that impacts how students are able to be prepared for the next thing. If it feels like it's a loss, then um kids will see it as as that. But generally speaking, they will move past that sooner than the adults. Those are just some of the um pieces that I've learned um as I've listened to folks um who've gone through this process. And again, I want to reiterate that we are um early in and there will be many districts that are going to be looking to you all and to us as models of how to do this because they're going to be going through the same sorts of um community pain. >> Thank you. >> I have such a treat for you. This is one question with

085information you've just told me you already have. If you you'd said that you had learned you had calculated an estimate for the each elementary school's utilization rate and um what Linus polling would look like even assuming that Mountain View is a K6. Could you potentially just write like a simple chart and I could have it in a chart? >> I can. Um it looks what we looked at is actually at our assumed utilization of 90% how many spaces would be left um for students to be in the building. My we have this information in proposal. I would like to update it when we have the enrollment data after the 10day drop um to look at what our actual enrollment looks like because this is a a model using a touch point of October 2024. So,

086I would like to have it updated. That's why it's not in the presentation yet because we haven't hit our date where we report on enrollment. Um, but yes, we looked at we kind of looked at it in a different way, but I think would get at the same um ask and it sounds like maybe that's also part of same ask as well. I I want to make one clarification for the group because when we presented our building capacity numbers, we used a utilization factor which already put us at 90% when we built our building capacity number. And so I'm hearing utilization and I'm wondering about what we projected in our building capacity as utilization and what the actual utilization is. And so I just want to make sure that we're all understanding that correctly. What

087I am wanting to show the community is that our elementary schools and then the proposed junior high that for the rooms that we want to have free for that age group are free even if we're accounting for the additional students. So we're not feeling like we're just jamming those schools full of kids. Okay, I have a quick maybe a hypothetical and then a request. Um, as much as I wish we didn't have to talk about consolidating at all in seeing the numbers that this would be potentially 1.8 million out of four million and being very excited about the work, Byron, that you'll be leading with the innovation team. Really thinking about what does the community want in education? What could this look like with these new models? this worry of there's a certain amount that

088will come from consolidation and then there likely is going to be another round of cuts that would come heavily probably from staffing which is the biggest expense in a school district. So the question of is is a plan like this enough to be able to really preserve a solid and strong education in what the community is asking for. So just that's a hypothetical for us to be considering. And then my request is around before maybe before we wrap up or go to um close this so we can hear from the community tonight too. Communication plan. How will there's all these great listening sessions planned? What will the communication flow be from listening sessions that folks are attending to bringing that information back to the board who are ultimately tasked with making this decision to you

089know all of the information that's coming in from the community that different board members are hearing. making sure the community can hear one another's questions as well as the responses from the district. Is there a plan something like um I know Lauren, you put so much work last year or earlier this year into the budget website where there were Q&As's that were continually being updated. I know what a huge ask that is, but I'm just curious what the plan is for that communication both to the board and the flow with the community. >> Okay, I'll take part one. Um I I do want to remind everyone that when we were um February of earlier this year, so February 2025, when we were looking at school year 2627, we were looking at reductions of almost $12

090million. And now we're looking at that number um and we are under $4 million. That changes our trajectory. we are constantly doing things that changes our financial outlook. Um, and so I just want to like bring us back into that perspective because these changes are going to help us down the road. We cannot um we can we can project enrollment, but we don't know exactly what's going to happen with other factors around our community. And so we do feel like this plan puts us in a position um to be able to um move forward and and and manage our financials. Not to say that we don't we're not still battling um issues with funding at the federal and state level. like all of those things still apply, but within the factors that we can control,

091um I we would not be bringing this plan forward if we didn't think that it was um attainable for the district. And I would say as far as the programming goes, and maybe Byron has additional things to add to this, is yes, there may be reductions, but there's also probably better ways to do some of the things that we're currently doing. Um, and how do we get an even higher I call it return on investment because that's my my financial word, but our students that is our investment and how do we provide a better experience for them um better opportunities and meet all of those board goals in different ways that that maybe don't cost the same amount of money. So, we have to be willing to look at things differently in order to have

092different results. Yeah. Do you want red? >> If you want to answer the communication plan. >> Yeah. So, um we are working on a frequently asked questions document right now that we've used before. We're also looking at the document that we call a stoplight report um red, yellow, and green. um with the ideas that came forward around budget season. Um we're planning to incorporate both of those um as ways that we are providing feedback to the community. Um and then in the listening sessions, we are have some questions that we're going to ask table groups to spend some time with and report out on. Um so there will be other points in time where we're getting additional information. We need to figure out how we're going to report that back out um at the end

093of those listening sessions. But that is um for now those those other two pieces are we're currently working on. >> Theres you had your hand up. Did you have a quick one? >> I do. I want to know if anywhere in this proposal will we be able to eliminate the split level the split grade classes that are so challenging in so many ways. I think we won't be able to completely get away from blends um in our schools, but what this allows us to do is a couple things. One, it allows us to save some some funds. Um often times what we find is we have we need to deploy staff. Um we typically hold on to two licensed and two classified um that we um send to um schools right before the sort of

094as we see bubbles um to try to um eliminate those and also by having K6s you'll have more staff in those buildings which creates greater um flexibility for principles who are building master schedules. So there are a couple of ways that it helps us to address um our blended classrooms and again that it won't eliminate them but it is it does provide principles with a little bit more flexibility to address that. >> Okay, thanks and so many questions but you guys have really provided a lot of information for the round that we brought to you. So thank you. >> I appreciate that too. Think my um last question was around long-term stability with this model. Um because that question has come up a lot too if is this like not necessarily just enough for the

095financial part but in a longer term with the elementary levels especially because I really appreciate keeping those community hubs in place because I think those are really important. um and we don't have a crystal ball is basically what I have thought with the birth rates and everything like that. So that's I think a tough question for anybody to answer because we only can see a few years out based on birth rates and so I just that was more of a not for you to have to answer but more of like that's come up and >> I'd like oh you want to answer okay go ahead. Um so I think this plan um this proposal has two sort of two main objectives. One is to reduce costs and two is to maintain neighborhood elementary schools. Um

096and so I think that's an an important piece for us to think about. Um we know that the numbers in those schools will still not be at capacity and at the same time there's a a value in having a neighborhood um elementary school that I think would be lost in a different proposal. Um, so I think it's an important it's it's an important question to ask. >> Okay. Thank you for answering it. Yeah. Um, okay. That is where Bernie, did you have a last question? Because you were the only one. Did you go to Did you have another one? >> Did you? >> Yeah, it's asked and answered. >> It's been asked and Okay. You sure, Chris? Okay. Just want to make sure because everybody had a couple and we're only a few minutes over

097and we were under another area. So that's okay. That's why I was like, it's fine. Um, thank you all so much for your presentation. I know that was a lot of work that went into the proposal. I appreciate that as you all are transitioning out of your seats, I'm just going to keep talking for a second. I appreciate that um the that it is a single proposal for the community to consider and I just wanted to remind folk that that is not the final decided for sure thing. It is a proposal and there may be things that we need to tweak. We don't know until we have more conversations. And I really encourage folk to go to the to spread the word about the community um engagement opportunities that are out there. Um whether you're

098in the room or listening online and um to remember that your voices are important. we're not going to get every single thing that everybody wants and um and anything um that happens with a change like this as it's really hard for communities and um so that was all. The next item on the agenda is the public comment period. We're >> Oh yeah, that's true. Um we're and we are um it's not scheduled to start till 8:10. So we can take a quick break for before public comment uh for like five minutes. Just use the restroom. Five minute break. Okay, thanks everyone for um a short break. We're going to go ahead and we're going to go ahead and get started again. Thank you. Um so we're going to go ahead and get started again. And

099the next item, oh, before we get started, um I know folk had questions that didn't get answered, so don't forget you can email those to Ryan um if we didn't get to all of them. Right. Yeah. And um the next item on the agenda is um public comment. And we'll now open the public comment period regarding Oh, hold on one second. >> Yeah, it's okay. We'll just we'll um be opening 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 work. The complete guidelines for public comment are available at the registration table outside the boardroom entrance and on the board's website. I will now share some important points. When it is your turn to speak, please

100come forward, take a seat, and direct your comments to the board. 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. When you have 30 seconds left, I will try to alert you that the um light is yellow. Um when it's green, that's the start of your time. Yellow is 30 seconds left. When your time is up, it turns red. and I will need to let you know your time is up. Following your comments, the board will have three minutes to ask clarifying questions but are not able to engage in conversation. So, as a reminder, we can't have a back and forth dialogue at this time, which is hard sometimes, or most

101of the time, I should say. 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 before we do comments, I just wanted to remind everybody that this is not your only opportunity to provide feedback um to the board, especially if you're here to comment on um the consolidation proposal. And just a reminder of all those opportunities um in future meetings as well as the um community sessions that I really encourage you all to participate in. Um so again um please um when you come up here state your name for the record and whether you reside

102within the school boundary. >> Amanda. >> Oh and um you can turn this on when there's a red light. Your mic's on. Amanda Cordis. I reside within the Corvalis school district boundary. Um I'm coming to ask the board to address two items both related to elementary capacity, one narrow in focus and one overarching. Um the first is regarding the capacity calculations and if that 90% is based on classroom seats. Um how does that work for spaces that the entire student body needs to move through in a single day? specifically the cafeteria and for those schools reaching that 90% capacity utilization can we ensure that all students have appropriate time and sufficient time to meet their needs at lunch and then also start lunch or end lunch at a reasonable time of day. Um, and kind

103of related to that bigger picture, I would like to ask the board to address the sixth recommendation of the long range planning committee, which was that the district should review intradistrict boundaries to support enrollment trends and ensure that resources are distributed equitably. I appreciate this suggestion. I am strongly in favor of it. However, the consolidation plan, as it is currently written, lists not requiring boundary adjustments as a pro. If we truly want to be equitable, we do not get to skip doing the equitable thing just because it is harder or it would take more work. Equity is measured in the impact. And right now, as Charice mentioned, we have those blended classrooms. We have other classrooms with 30 plus students. We have schools where enrollment is increasing or holding steady, others where it is declining,

104and others where it's declining rapidly. Adding a sixth grade cohort might temporarily shore up numbers for one year. But it does nothing to address those underlying enrollment trends or the current distribution of resources. We owe it to our students to provide them with the most equitable stable configuration possible at the end of this process and therefore we must review the intradist boundaries. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? Okay, thank you Amanda. I can email. >> Oh, yeah. Thank you for emailing it. For folks didn't hear, Judah was asking for the Yeah, thank you. >> You have to turn the mic on. >> Hello. Uh, I'm Amanda McBride and I do reside in the Corvalis School District boundaries. Um I had three things that I wanted to bring um as questions and ponderings for consideration

105for the innovation team. Um as a I am a parent of two Garfield geckos and I am a proud alumni staff of Linus Pauling Middle School and uh some things that are really uh near to my heart are electives. Uh, as the past STEM teacher and curriculum builder, I um cherish the sixth graders that get to come in from elementary schools and have a lot of elective offerings. So, keeping sixth graders at elementary, knowing that current specials are two PE, one art, one music, one library is pretty limited. Um, I feel the heartbreak from my own children and thinking of sixth grade students who could have the elective of or the openings of electives in middle school um and losing that and staying at K6. So figuring out that sort of thing um space at

106schools I've been at Linus Pauling during the rise and the fall of many bubbles and looking at the buzzword utilization. um being in a class of 30 plus humans, it might fit. There might be 32 seats in a classroom, but the actual like service that those students are getting in that class could greatly vary. And with the decrease in staff, losing staff, losing staff support and those services that we offer students, you want more than one adult in the room if you can. Um and so thinking about looking at class sizes and filling schools evenly. Um, and then my last thing, um, I feel confident in asking this question now that, um, I'm not a staff member anymore. Um, but a Franklin school, I have a lot of questions about Franklin School as a K8.

107Um, especially with Mountain View being moved into a K8 model, like proposed K8 model is, uh, Franklin is also a K8 model, but it feels very different than any other school that we have in our district, and it is a really wonderfully located neighborhood school. Um, centrally located between the Garfield and Adams boundaries. Um, and I'm just questioning, I know it wasn't mentioned in the consolidation as well as College Hill and Bridges, but because we're looking at adding numbers to existing schools, thinking about what that population looks like and just wondering what the role of Franklin is now and in the future as a K8 model. And I see my yellow light. So, that's all I have. >> Thank you. Do anybody have questions? >> Okay. Thank you, Amanda. Thank you. Uh, good evening. My

108name is Travis Oveg. I'm a parent at Mountain View Elementary and I reside in the Corville School District. What frustrates me most is the way this whole process is being handled. We've been given just one recommended plan, not real options to compare. And now the board is expected to make a final decision by November 13th. That's barely two months from the time parents even got to weigh in. It feels rushed, like something is being pushed through quickly just to get it over with, not like genuine community input is wanted. And then there's the question of why Mountain View. We are one of the smallest schools in in the district. We don't have a proper gym or track, science labs, or lockers. Even our bathrooms and classrooms are built for little kids. No, not adolescence going

109through puberty. Yet, this plan would turn Mountain View into a K through8 while closing Shelin, a building that already has age appropriate facilities for middle schoolers. If the district is determined to force a K through8 model, why not use Sheltin instead of asking the smallest, least equipped elementary to carry this burden? This isn't just about Mountain View kids either. Adair village students would also be locked into this plan. That doubles the number of rural students who will be denied the same electives, sports, and extracurricular opportunities their peers will get at Corllis Junior High. The result is two different school systems of education inside of one district. One rich in opportunity, the other stripped down to the bare minimum. Let's call this what it is, a rural disadvantage. And I don't understand why other models haven't

110even been considered. Across the country, many districts with declining enrollment, just like Corllis, have shifted to K through six elementaryaries and 7 through 12 secondary schools. That model saves money, keeps things consistent, and gives younger kids earlier access to electives and athletics that we all want. Lincoln County, right next door, already uses this approach in most of their communities. Why hasn't Coralis put something like that on the table, even to look at? I want to be clear. I am not in favor of a K- through8 plan that applies only to one school. If it's so wonderful, why aren't they all going that model? That's unequal. It's unfair and it divides the district. To pick the smallest, least equipped building, ignore better alternatives like a 7 through2 model or repurposing Shuttlein and then rush the process

111through. It feels like adding insult to injury. This plan is being sold as equity, but where is the equity in forcing one community into something completely different and giving families barely any time to respond? Mountain View and Adair, Adair Village kids matter just as much as every other student in Corllis, please slow this process down. Bring real options to the table and stop asking one school to carry the weight for the entire school district. Now, to add just a little bit to that, I have a few seconds left. We all know that um there's not equality in this model. A junior high in Corvalis is going to have a lot more opportunities, a lot more peers of similar age than Mountain View can ever ever give to their middle school age students. I think what

112you're saying the question you had earlier was 30 and 30 or roughly for seven eighth grade that likely is going to lead to maybe uh you know blended classrooms, all that kind of stuff. This is a bad proposal. Thank you. >> Any question? Oh, we got to wait for questions. Okay, we have a couple questions. Um, go ahead Sammy then. Judah, >> thank you chair. Uh, Mr. Albridge, uh, I thank you for taking the time really sharing your thoughts and I want to ask you just if I understood what you're hoping for. You're asking that, uh, the board considers K through six and 7 through a 12 through 12 uh, system instead of uh, what we have or what's being proposed. And if that's not achievable achievable, you're proposing that Sheldon is considered for the

113K8 in the in your neighborhood instead of Mount View because it might be more equipped or you see it that it is more equipped for the K8. Is that correct? >> Uh that is yes that is correct in regards to giving us another plan. I believe we're so the proposal was $4 million in a deficit. This is truly a half measure. If you're looking to save 2 million, you're already going to need to save more additional money down the road. Why not do a full measure? Close both middle schools, keep the elementary school hubs, and go through a 7 through 12 model at the high schools. You have two high schools. That makes much more sense. All kids are then consistently with their same peers. That that model makes sense to me. >> Thank you.

114>> Any other questions? I have a question. about um it feeling unequitable with the for the eighth seventh and eighth graders. If it was more of the open um bound or open what did you call it? >> Open enrollment to have that choice would that feel more equitable for the seventh and eighth graders? >> Great question actually. Um so my big question with that open enroll is amazing. What about transportation? Is transportation going to be provided to families that are outside of, you know, Corval city limits like my wife and I are with our children? Is that going to be provided to Adair Village students? >> I think transportation is off the top of my mind and my wife's mind. Um, another is I hate to say this, but separate is never equal. I'm sorry.

115You're going to have two completely different models. You're going to have a junior high school with the vast majority of seventh and eighth graders and then Mountain View with very, very limited numbers. And that's going to lead to limited more limited opportunities. It's never going to be equal. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? See, I almost start getting into discussions. It's hard. I know. Feel free to email me if you want to, but all right. Um, thank you so much, Travis. All right. All right. Hi, sorry. Hi, my name is Alan Overvig and I am an eighth grader at Shudderland Middle School. Middle school has been really important for me. Sheldon has spaces for students, gyms, a track, lockers, and elective classrooms. Things that just don't exist at Mountain View Mountain View Elementary.

116Those spaces make school feel bigger and more like a step toward high school. I've also had more independence here than I did in elementary school. Moving between classes, trying different electives, and being a part of a team sport has helped me grow and feel more prepared for the next step. Uh but with this new plan, my brother and sisters at Mountain View Elementary won't get any of that. They'll stay in an elementary building through 8th grade without the name, without the same opportunities or preparation for high school. That doesn't feel fair. Please don't take those experiences away from them. Thank you for listening. Does anybody have any questions? I have this a similar question is um if they're able to have that choice of going to if there was a junior high, do you think

117that would help the with your concerns a little bit? >> Maybe just a little bit. Yeah, probably. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you. >> Thank you, Alan. Is it on? Okay, good. All right. Um, so I'm Crystal Overvig within the Corvalis School District. Um, my children, my three youngest children go to Mountain View. Um, and I just I feel this plan is really unfair. Six elementary schools will become K through six, which I don't disagree. I went through a K through six school in Meford. Um, but to have Mountain View as K through K through eight, I feel is unequitable. Um, for my three younger kids and every other kid at Mountain View, uh, I feel like they would not get that middle school experience, which also

118is something I truly valued. That prepared me for my years in high school. Um, middle school at this point would not just be two extra grades. It's where kids branch out, try electives like band or art, join sports teams, and make friends outside of their little elementary bubble. It's where they start figuring out who they are before stepping into high school. I've seen this firsthand with my oldest, Allan, who is an eighth grader now, and middle school has been huge for him. He's grown so much because of the opportunities he's had. He's in electives uh that he enjoys right now, especially Spanish class. He's playing sports. He's meeting new friends. And I can see how much more prepared he is for high school because of those opportunities. It breaks my heart to think that my

119younger three won't get these same chances if this proposal goes through. They'll just stay in the elementary building while their classmates across the city are moving on, getting those middle school experiences. And for what reason? To save money. That's what this feels like. Mountain View families are being asked to carry the weight of the district's financial problems. We're being told it's about equity, but how is it equity to take opportunities away from one group of kids while everyone else keeps them? Our kids matter just as much as every other kid in Corvalis. They deserve the same pathway, the same chances, the same preparation for high school. Please don't make Mountain View the sacrifice school. Thank you. >> Questions? Go ahead, Judah. only feel answer you feel comfortable. But hypothetically, um, if you were to be

120able to like say drop your kids off at a transportation hub at Mountain View and they were taken to Corvalis Junior High, would that be something that would work for your family? >> Uh, my kids currently all take the bus. So, if them still taking the bus would be an option, then absolutely. Okay. I but yeah >> any other questions I had the similar question since it's a similar um concern is if there was that um choice to be able to go to the junior high that was proposed coupled with Judah's suggestion of transportation would that feel more equitable for that experience that you're describing >> I mean it it is a better option but still I'm more in favor of like my husband even mentioned the K6/7 through12 model. Um my sister-in-law teaches in

121that model in Walport and I think that's a better option so everybody's on the same pathways. >> Thank you Crystal. Okay. We're going to take the online um community member Shin now. Shin, can you hear us? Can you try to unmute soon? Okay, we'll come back to you soon once um Can you please check on them, Kim? Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening to you all and thank you for hearing us. My name is Charles Fine. Uh my family and I reside within the Corvalis school district boundaries. My daughter attends uh Chelder Middle School and yesterday uh excuse me last year when we were deciding whether or not she should go to public school or private school, we looked at how the schools performed. Cheldwin outperforms Lionus Pauling by no small measure. And yet

122we're proposing to close Cheldin and keep Linus polling. In truth, it doesn't matter where she goes so much as the quality of the education she receives. Now I understand we're consolidating some of the staff and if some of the excellence from Chelin could be exported or transferred to Linus polling that would be good. I'm concerned about that though because of two things. One I know that the the contract is uh with the union is centered on seniority. That said, I know you have the capacity to figure out what positions stay open and which ones are closed and thereby you can adjust for the better performers at least somewhat. But there's also another issue. You see, about a year or two ago, Bessie Coleman underwent a uh reduction in force. And what happened was the people

123who came in direct contact with the students, their numbers were reduced and instead a vice president, excuse me, vice principal >> was introduced. More administration, less teaching. I don't want that kind of uh thinking to be part of the innovation that we're seeing going forward. Finally, and I'm not sure how much of this is just my speculation and how much of it is really based in reality, we're reducing what I heard earlier today is we're losing about 11 positions, FTEES, 11.28 I think it was. Anyway, and that is based on a need to save money. Understandable given the finances we're all looking at. But the reduction in enrollment, as I understand, is something that is cohort-based. Translation, when the birth rate declines, it's not the fifth and sixth graders that disappear. It's the kindergarteners, first

124and second graders that disappear. So if that reduction in force occurs evenly, which I hope you're not considering, then >> Charles, can you wrap up your last thought? Thank you. >> Okay. Well, just a brief note. I'd like to see that the any reductions are proportionate to the number of students that are actually being served in any given grade. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? Thank you, Charles. >> Okay, Shun, are you ready online? >> Yes. Could you hear me now? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Okay. I apologize. Like I didn't realize the the web, you know, forecast is delayed by about a minute if if not more. So little issue there. Okay. Um yeah, so I have a quick one here. Um my name is Shi Moto. I live in the you

125know we live in the county and in the school district and I have a sixth grader at Sheldon who'll be affected by proposed school closures. Um so I understand this may be a necessary step you know stabilized budget coral. Um now just um quick thing. So now we're also going to be assessing high school closures rise the same group enters high school. So the current sixth and seventh graders will be you know the most you know most affected by those closures should be taken care of for the future success and potential high school closure as soon as they enter again isn't it? Um you know we're talking about two disruptions for the you know these kids you know how much they want these kids kids to fail like these are the same kids that have

126gone through you know missed out on the early grace or COVID uh closures and all that. Um if closing the high schools in the near future, this conversation really and you know process for the these kids to go through you know should be happening you know now as well. It should not be handwave three years that's everything. >> Any questions? >> Thank you Shan. >> Yes. Chris Black, excuse me, Chris Blacker. >> Hello, my name is Chris Blacker. I am a parent in the district. I have two children at Leticia Carson Elementary. Good evening. Uh for more than a decade, Corvalis has been in the middle of a demographic shift. Every year, our kindergarten classes are smaller than the year before. This trend is due to birth rates, a housing crisis, and families leaving for

127better opportunities. It's predictable, not temporary, and the impact is already here at our elementary schools. After the last three years of cuts, many elementary classrooms, including blended rooms, are sitting at 30 kids. Libraries and art, have been cut in half. This is the result of 10 years of continued decline with no building consolidation. Families have seen it, and many have left. The district's own numbers are blunt. Elementary schools are projected to fall to just 59% utilization in two or three years while our middle schools Linus Pauling and Sheldon will remain stable at 86%. In other words, elementary school populations are already collapsing while middle schools are healthy. And yet, this proposal moves us in the opposite direction. It collapses the two middle schools into one, immediately pushing utilization above 100%, especially if Mountain View is

128not expected to take the eighth graders. It also pushes sixth graders into already weakened elementary schools. Adding sixth grade will only spread our recently cut resources even thinner. Less art, less music, less library, more sections to cover with the same shared librarians, art and music teachers. It is also impossible to fund a middle school curriculum with elective suite across 11 elementary schools. Sixth graders will lose opportunities and elementary schools will be uh stretched past the point of breaking. Our new innovation team has no actual plans yet. They'll be experimenting in real time over two years on our students lives. What's worse, our population decline will only continue, making this proposal nothing more than a political short-term band-aid, a one or two-year fix that dumps kids into shrinking elementary schools just to buy time. It doesn't

129stop the demographic trend. It's likely to accelerate it as parents will leave due to the chaos. This plan sacrifices a healthy middle school structure to backfill half empty elementary schools. It's simply shortsighted. If we want to be responsible, we have to strengthen elementary, where the population decline is hitting us first, and protect the middle school opportunities that keep students engaged. What will we do when the population falls again? When will we accept reality and make responsible decisions? I know we all want to keep all of our community schools. We may even want to make them K6. But what happens when they're at 55 50% utilization again in just a matter of three to four years. Then we'll have to close those and we won't even have a good middle school to send the kids to

130either. Electives will just be shattered. Staff will leave. I just feel our kids deserve more than this quick fix. I think they deserve a well-th thoughtout long-term plan that says we will have decent efficiency across all grade levels, across all cohorts for the next 5 to 10 years and not to be gambling and guessing with experimental designs. Thank you. [Applause] Any questions? I think my question is um since yours is also based on hypotheticals, where did you get your um backing for that all of that would be >> all the data uses from the Corval school district budget 2526 and the projection of birth rates is from Benton County Healthcare. Um it's five and and we don't have a couple years. We have five years of health or birth rate data that's going to affect

131us, right? Because you know right now the kindergarteners are already born 5 years in advance. So we already know. And then housing is the other thing we keep talking about a lot on this board. You guys mentioned housing more than academic success by like a ratio of 10 to1 and housing is not going to fix it because as the person sitting here said they've the district has said you need four new houses to get a new student or five new apartment units to get one student. We'd have to be we'd have to be building 1,000 to 1500 houses every single year. There is no evidence and no data to show that we're there. We don't have the housing starts. We don't have the the um uh um uh zoning uh changes that we would need.

132The last thing is we've needed to redistrict since 2018. One of the most uh u I think heartwarming things I saw was one of the student liaison from CV came with a letter with basically the entire student body, basically every single sports team, every single elective team, every single student that they could find, including staff that said you have to redistrict. You've been waiting seven years and now you have almost 500 or more kids at one high school than the other. That's the biggest reason why the high schools are having issues. Same with middle schools. You have many more children in in Linus Pauling than Sheldon. It was mentioned that we're going to be 85% next year in utilization. That math doesn't make any sense. We have 820 or 30 kids right now in sixth

133and seventh grade. If we move them all to I mean um sorry excuse me we have like 1220 kids based on the numbers that were up there earlier in the in the uh two middle schools. If you just take twothirds of that population and move them over to Lionus that's over 800 kids supposedly the capacity is like 700 and something. So these numbers just don't make any sense. You cannot consolidate your middle schools right now because they're way too big. Like we can't. The only way to work it is to push them together and then move all the sixth graders down to elementary which only gives you a couple years. So this isn't consolidation. It's just destroying the middle school structure to try to prop up elementaryaries that have to close. We have elementaryaries at

134less than 50% utilization and there's going to get worse every year that goes forward. >> Okay, that wasn't what my I didn't finish. >> The data came from your I didn't finish my question, so that wasn't what I was actually talking about. >> I was talking about the um slashing of opportunities like electives and stuff like that, but you have >> 40 seconds and I seen another board member's hand up. So um maybe we can have a conversation at a later electives because sixth grade you can't offer all the electives to seven different schools. You can't you just can't you can't have that many. There's no way we're going to have the funding for that. The other question >> you have 30 seconds. >> I I feel 30 seconds will not be sufficient but I'm

135I'm curious. Are you questioning the data and the math that the districts is providing and based on it you disagree with the proposal or are you >> Yes, I recommend closing the question. Are you suggesting or are you suggesting specific proposal based on the data that the district is providing? >> The data says close Franklin, close to elementary schools. That gets you to like 90% efficiency for elementary. It leaves a middle where it needs to be and then you'll have to close high school in a couple years like Ryan's mentioned. >> Thank you for answering the questions too, Chris. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate um being able to speak to you all tonight. Um so I'm Cuser Capular. I reside in the Corvalis School

136District um boundaries and um I'm a child and family therapist and I also am a volunteer in the Corvalis school district and I'm a community member. So um I guess from my experiences um in the past as a skills trainer I was in Shelderland and I was in Mountain View and so I got to see what the dynamics were at that time and um Sheldon was a great spot for people to walk to school especially a lot of lowincome families were there um and so it reduced barriers for them to have a really good education um for them to have a school there. Um, I did notice that at Mountain View there were less it was a smaller facility and also it there's um not as much transportation. They can't walk to school the same

137way. Um, so I definitely noticed that difference. Um, I agreed with something that was said tonight just to slow the process down. I really feel like making like a few different plans and having a few different proposals might be nice. I hadn't heard the idea to have a 7th to 12th grade and to have two of those. I thought that was a very cool idea. Um, so anyway, I'm just I'm just supportive of the idea to kind of slow things down, make some more plans, come to a really solid one. Um, if you decide to just stick with the two high schools and the two middle schools, I think maybe considering uh closing an elementary school or two might be helpful. Um, I do want to advocate for CHS and CV because I think it's

138really valuable to have two high schools. Um, and if you're trying to consolidate them, maybe having um, uh, 10 and 11 and then or like 9 and 10 at CHS because people can walk to school and bike and then um, at CV having 11 and 12. So, just kind of throwing some ideas out there. But um I think maybe coming to back to the table and just come drawing up some more ideas might be helpful for the community. So thanks for thanks for having me talk. >> Yeah, any questions? >> Go ahead, Sammy. >> Uh Chris, I really appreciate the thoughtful uh suggestions. Could you compare or contrast uh the thoughts thought process that you have in terms of the goals? So for example from the superintendent we heard preserving programs preserving the elementary schools

139as uh uh community hubs and of course uh use of resources and financials effectively were the goals that grounded the suggestions. What do you think uh do you agree with those goals or do you have other goals that might be more priority that should take in their place? Great questions. Um, so the community hub aspect I think is really helpful. In fact, that's why I was presenting the idea that Sheldon might be a good place to um just develop more and keep. Um, and then I like the idea of middle schools being intact, but elementary schools also being intact, but maybe closing one or two. And that might have some they might have to be busted a little bit, but it would be less than the middle school because middle school the kids are often

140in electives and um or like extracurricular activities and so they're being bust you know being busted to Sheldon is just another layer of of transportation needed and so I think um I think the model of the the local community school is great. Um, and I also think the equity is really important and that's why I'm also bringing up the the model that or the idea that Shelin should could stay intact and be really um beneficial because that equity piece is really important for the low-income families. Yeah. Any other questions? >> Right. Thank you, Carissa. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Okay, hearing no further comments, the public comment period is now closed. Thank you everybody for taking the time to bring your voices to the conversation. And okay, the next item on the agenda is nominations

141for Oregon School Board Association or OSBA board of directors and legislative policy committee positions. >> Oh, I missed Oh, I missed something. Sorry, it's on the bottom. I wrote so many notes of comments. I'm sorry. Sorry, Melissa. It's >> with me. It's okay. >> It's the integrated guidance is the next item on the agenda. Do we want to >> do we want it? Let's take a break while folk are transitioning around. Five minutes. Real a real five minutes. Real five minutes. close. >> Okay, we are back. Um, so the next item on the agenda is the integrated guidance with Melissa. >> Hi everybody. What you have in front of you or in your board report today was the annual report for integrated guidance. It was uh a review of our spending from last year, what

142we focused our attention on with our integrated guidance funds from the state and um it is the end of the 23 to 25 integrated guidance application. We've made a new application. You've seen that it came out. We did that last school year. You've seen it. That's the new spending. Um, so this is really just kind of an endgame and this presentation and you seeing it and it being posted on the website is a requirement from OD. So that's why we're here. I don't have a presentation. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer. Um, and if you don't have questions, um, next year, I would just like to point out that beginning, this is my last integrated guidance report because, um, Dr. Byron Beths in the back of the room will be taking over integrated

143guidance as the director of student growth and experience. I'm sorry. >> Does anyone have questions for Melissa? Go ahead, Sammy. >> Of course. Since uh this is a last time you're on the >> grill me. I'm ready. Okay. What would you like to share with us or with the community to highlight from the report that really need to be highlighted about the integrated guidance whether uh as results that you have shared or as plans of what we're we need to do? >> Thank you. I I think what I think about integrated guidance is looking forward. So you have created some fantastic board goals for us for as a district. Those board goals have been translated into scorecards for our departments and for our schools. And we're now able to take a look at our integrated

144guidance spending by taking a look at our scorecard. What's important? Where are we headed? And whenever we think about spending, we ask ourselves, is this the direction we want to go based on what the scorecard is telling us? The scorecard, our goals on the scorecard are connected directly to the board goals. It feels like the alignment is just really there. I don't think that that is a function of integrated guidance. I think that's a function of this school district. The fact that we have the board goals, the fact that we are working together as departments and schools to create um school improvement plans, those scorecards, and we're aligned. So now we can look at that spending and um be aligned in what we're spending our funds on. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Judah. >> Okay.

145So, I read this a while ago and then I took a look at the diff. So, the >> especially that one big number, the third grade ELA. Yes. >> Plus 15.1%. >> Yes. >> I was like, hot diggity dog. Um, >> love that. And then flipping to the next page and seeing that our four-year cohort graduation and the five-year, which we normally do really well at, have both dropped, >> right? Um, is there something that we had done differently that's first of all working especially look at look at third grade ELA. >> Yeah. >> Um or then not working for high school because we're up up up doing much better regular attenders and then high schools were looking down. >> So I taking a look at um third grade ELA proficiency and remembering that those

146are are um definitely verified 23 24 scores. So, these are not this last year's tests that happened in the spring. These are a year ago. There's a lot to celebrate there with ELA and that has so much to do with um a curriculum that um at both our um English language um schools and our dual language schools and following that curriculum and using it in a way that helps to support students to learn how to read. So, that's what you're seeing there. And that is some hard work from our coordinator team, specifically Amy Leon, um and Marcianne. So, thank you for that. the four-year cohort graduation rate and the dip was um was something that I think was kind of surprising um to see because I know that we're working really hard on um relevant

147and engaging learning for our high school students, specifically focusing on AP classes, career technical ed classes. What can we do to help students to feel like what they're doing in high school will matter for them when they graduate high school? So, that was disappointing for us. I know that our high schools are in their school improvement plans, their scorecards, their work is particularly on graduation rate this year, but not as a whole number. Instead, they're taking a disagregated look at their numbers for graduation, knowing that if they can increase those levels of disagregated, so students who are on IEPs, students who are navigating poverty, students um who are English language learners, if they can raise those scores, then all of those scores will increase. So, I don't have an answer for it. Yes, we're it's

148not a it's not a celebration, but it does help us to focus in on that scorecard and have our um high schools focused in on graduation rates in that disagregated manner. >> Any other questions for Melissa? >> Thank you for the report, Melissa. And I seen I let I really like seeing those numbers go up, too. And I know that they're way higher than the state in some areas too that the district is doing. And so >> um appreciate the work that the teachers across the schools and the coordinators are doing. >> 100%. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Okay. Now the next item of the agenda that I try to skip ahead to my bad um is nominations for the Oregon School Board Association OSB board of directors and legislative policy committee positions.

149We are now accepting nominations for the Oregon boards or school boards association board of directors position number 10. Does anyone wish to make a nomination? >> Chair. >> Yes. >> Uh I want to say uh the chair Dr. Loi Whitebear has been phenomenal colleague on the Oregon school board association uh board of directors not only as the president of the color caucus but also in her capacity as a director representing the region that encompasses Lynn Benton and Lincoln. uh she have done phenomenal work and outreach to school districts truly literally every school district and um updated the roster of OSVA based on her outreach is like you have outdated information here's the information uh her wisdom has been phenomenal uh and really bringing questions for the board to discuss and to consider that has huge

150impacts on the state and on the kids in our region and and the kids who are underserved in many communities in the Len Benton Lincoln. So with that preamble, I want to move I move that the Corval school board nominate Dr. Luhoui Whitebear for the OSBA board of director position number 10. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. has been moved by Sammy and seconded by Judah to nominate me as the OBA board director's position 10. Is there any further discussion? I really appreciate your your sharing semi and and disagree from all my experience, but just wanted to ask if this is a nomination that you would be excited um to receive if we held a vote. Um, yes, it would be one I would um be happy to receive. I really appreciate being

151able to work with other other districts in our region. Um, and especially being from a rural school district graduate in our region and in Lincoln County, it means a lot to be able to serve beyond our school board and um, see how those decisions at the state level are impacting Corvalis and our region and how we can work together to have a strong um, Lynbent and Lincoln County um, districts. So yeah, I would be really happy to any other discussion. Okay, has been Oh, okay. I thought you It's been moved by Sammy and seconded by Judah to nominate me. Um, Lu White Bear uh for um the Oregon School Board Association Board of Directors position 10. Sammy >> I >> Judah >> I >> Chris >> I >> Shauna >> I >> Theres >> I

152>> Bernie >> I >> and I vote I motion passes. Thank you all for your confidence in me and serving our region and our local district. Um and we will see what happens with the votes in our region as well. And we also have nominations for the um OSBA legislative policy committee position 10 as well. Does anyone wish to make a nomination? I'll make Oh, were you ahead? >> I was just going to make a comment about um that the LPC person serving region 10 um from Central and School District, I know that um he he has been nominated and um has been working in strong partnership with me to keep our region as informed as we can. So, I just going to mention that. I was just going to ask, I know we supposed

153to talk about this ahead of time, but is there somebody that on our board that would like that that position? >> We don't have to nominate anybody as well. >> I just want to make sure anybody that wanted it that we would present that forward. >> Thank you for checking. Chris, did you have a question? Sammy, >> I have something about NSBA related to nominations. >> You can keep that for comments later because this is about OSBA. Yeah, we could also double nominate people from other areas, but I think since Jason is already nominated from his district, that's good. Okay. So, for that one, Kim, I believe there's a sheet, right, that you'll Okay. Okay. And then the next item on the agenda is consolidated action. As a reminder, the items under this portion of

154the agenda are for action. Does anyone have a question about anything in consolidated action? >> Shauna and Judah and Sammy. >> What do you budget committee? budget committee. >> The >> what is that? >> Um dial >> the dialab bus contract award. >> Dialab bus. What did you have Sammy? >> Discussion just brief discussion on the minutes. >> Minutes. Okay. Which minutes? The last meeting which is the one we discussed the uh uh that that uh consolidation uh that is >> retreat >> the retreat. Thank you. >> Okay. So let's start with budget committee. Go ahead JA. >> Sure. So, I noticed in the consolidated action for this week that there's an announcement for some budget committee vacancies. And so, just wanted to draw attention to that for community members who might want to be

155engaged. But also noting that I know that this has happened in past years as well where we have folks who have served partial um terms on the budget committee. And so just a curiosity I guess in terms of is that something that we if folks leave after a partial service just just checking in in terms of if that was something that folks enjoyed, learned from found that that that amount of learning was what they were looking for versus if being on the budget committee was different from what they expected versus just curiosity around understanding um why we might have a higher number of partial terms being served. to make sure we can support people well who are on the budget committee as well as those who might be interested. So I don't have an ask

156around that but I just wanted to to note that or bring that up for conversation. >> Oh go ahead. >> Do you want me to respond? Yeah. >> Um so I did send out a survey to all of you and out of the 14 people that I sent it to only two responded um to get feedback on the budget committee. So, it's a little bit difficult to assess how I can better support that group without that feedback. Um, we do ask for a resignation letter from anyone who is only serving a partial term. Um, and there's always different reasons why. Sometimes it's they're moving out of district, so they no longer qualify to be on the budget committee. Um, some when they um uh did apply for the committee didn't understand what the committee's roles

157and responsibilities are. So there's always a bunch um of different varying reasons, but I am um definitely interested in and want to improve that process, but I do need feedback in order to to do better on that. Um, so we also have when it's the same as like on the board when if someone resigns, um, then someone may only fill that partial bit until that full term is fulfilled, um, and then it it starts back over on the three-year term. So that's why there's the different term amounts um, listed there. A lot of people don't want to do it for a three-year term. I think um it is a difficult role for community members to to do just as you all um sit here in an unpaid position and take a lot of feedback um

158and criticism and I think that's difficult for people as well. >> Thank you Lauren. >> Does anybody else have any other questions on budget committee? Okay, Dabus, >> I really just had one. Well, I'm going to pull theres into two in one questions. Um, so am I correct in understanding that this contractor is currently providing individualized transport service? >> Correct. And so this is going to basically be continuation of the existing individualized transportation that is already set up for there's not going to be a transition of service for students receiving that. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Is >> thanks Kim. >> Well wait I had a question too. Did you was the other contract that long too? Because this goes till 36. Yeah. Is that a normal length for the contract? >> Um, I

159would say that typical length is five years, but we put into that contract that we could terminate or we could renegotiate terms. There aren't a lot of providers that provide this type of service. And what we saw for proposals was drastic in service level um across the the board. >> Okay. Thank you. That was my only question because it was pretty long. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. >> No, thank you. retreats minute Sammy. >> Uh since some people actually now I learned they go to uh AI in Google notebook and they can read what happened in board meeting through the transcript. I want to elevate what's in the minute minutes meeting from the retreat that's in the today's meeting about the school consolidation. So I have someone and I was searching for school consolidation discussion. I

160want to really highlight something really important. Thank you, Kim, for capturing the discussion that we had during the retreat in August uh school board meeting leading up to this meeting that really informed the board about the long range facilities planning progress and the recommendations and some lessons learned that we discussed. So, I just want to point that out for the community and anybody who's seeing the summary of discussion on school consolidation. That's the minutes meeting minutes from August. retreat meeting includes some really substantial information for those who want to see context how we got here and uh how we arrived into the proposal that was uh recommended to us today. So I just wanted to make a comment and uh thank uh Kim and staff for preparing the minutes. >> Thanks Sammy. Um, I think

161that the point in the process for that is important, um, for people to remember that the board asked Ryan to bring one proposal. Um, and so I thank you for bringing that up. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Anything else on the minutes? Okay. Consolidated information. As a reminder, the items under this portion >> Oh. Oh, it's action. Oh my gosh, I did not have enough coffee today. I'm sorry, y'all. Um, does anyone wish to make a motion? >> Chair, I move to approve consolidated action as presented. >> Is there a second? >> Second. It has been moved by Sammy and seconded by um Bernie to uh adopt the consolidated action items as submitted. Is there any final discussion? Okay. Has been moved by Sammy and seconded by Bernie to adopt the consolidated action items as submitted. Sammy

162>> I. >> Judah. >> I. >> Chris >> I. >> Shauna >> I. >> Theres I. >> Bernie >> I. >> And I vote I. Motion passes. Thank you. Um, and now we're on consolidated information. As a reminder, the items under this portion of the agenda are for discussion. Would anyone like to discuss an item in consolidated information? Uh Chris, >> can we pull JFCE personal electronics devices? >> The new one. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I had a question. Is there any others that people would like to go ahead Sami >> sorry the same and also uh the uh schedule of revenues expenditures and changes in fund balance uh for unodudited June 30th 2025 >> the pre- audit report >> uh that's correct yep >> okay Judah >> could we pull the

163JFC eB with the JFCB. >> Yes. Okay. So, let's go um in order on the Is there any others that folk wanted to discuss? Let's go um in order on the agenda with the pre- audit first and then we'll do the um the policy. So, uh, my question on the Priyata is there, uh, it's related to the $3,100 or $3,100, uh, difference between the excess of revenues over expenditures and the um the the basically that sale of of or compensation for loss of fixed assets 3,100. What is that? >> I think we sold a trailer. >> Okay. >> Thank you. That's all. That's it. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Thanks, Lauren. Okay. Was there any other questions on the audit report? Okay. Let's look at um let's look at the policy first. the JFCB. Who

164pulled it? I was that you, Chris? >> Well, Chris, you pulled it. Chris, you should go first. >> I was hoping they would ask the question in a better way because really I want to talk a little bit more about this policy. As a person who did a lot of work under emergency evacuation and um crisis, I just am wondering a couple things about the policy. Um it says that kids are allowed to keep their cell phones in a backpack or a locker or in a pouch. And I'm curious what is being what is common right now with that practice? And then um after looking at a lot of information across the nation about cell phones, I'm also wondering about um what kind of support, this is not really policy, but it kind of is.

165What kind of support are we offering our office staff? Are they getting inundated with parents calling, leaving messages or anything like that that you know where you would usually text your kid and say, "Hey, doctor's appointment 10:00. Meet me in the front office like are they getting overwhelmed and I just want to check in on that?" Let's start with those two. >> Okay. Thanks, Sammy. I mean Chris. Okay. Um, >> oh yes, we have to lighten it up. It's after nine o'clock. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, so with regard to where they're putting their devices, um, our elementary students have always not had them out. Um, our middle school students have spent the last two years keeping them away. Um, so that's not been too much of a change. Um, the big change really is

166for high school. Our two high schools have implemented um I had the language here inclass storage. Um so just imagine those over the door shoe hangers, you know, where you can put multiple shoes in a cloth thing. So they've purchased those um to the tune of about $720 total. Um and they're putting them in all their classrooms. Students can walk in, put their um phone in the holder, and then they go to their desk. I too have concerns about our emergency um response because um our SRP or standard response protocol calls for students to be able to have their cell phones in an emergency once the big bad thing is kind of done. Um and there's a lot of research on the fact that them being able to text their parents after a big bad

167thing um really kinds tends to bring down the anxiety. So, um, in fact, I talked with one of the, um, assistant principles last week during or two weeks ago during rally, and he said, "Can we tell the teachers that, um, when that when the students evacuate from a big bad thing that they can walk up to the p up to the classroom hanger, grab their phone, and walk out with it?" And I said, "Absolutely. I don't think that that would be an issue at all." So, the access is there for our high school kids who are most used to having their phone with them all the time. >> Speaking of phones, >> Yeah. And then the next question was about office staff and okay was about office staff. She was just giving me an answer.

168She she phoned a friend. Uh um but Kim is in charge of our office um our office managers and working with them monthly. I'm I want to bring this to an office manager meeting to ask what >> Yeah. So what that what's that looking like because I haven't heard anything yet but they tend to not you know they tend to when they come together talk more about the things that are stressing them. So I would like to hear from Kim um in that conversation with office managers and and come back to you with that. One of the things that I asked our levels coordinators when they worked with principles in reviewing this policy, I asked them to think about what um for principles to think about what do they currently do to allow kids to

169use phones in the classroom to call home or is it walk down to the office and to make sure that that is readily available. So, I'm hoping that these are um these are things that they're easily putting into practice. >> Thank you. Something I did read um with the cell phone ban that's you know happening across the nation is that schools are creating um pretty spec I know we have a great communication plan and Kelly does a great job with that but they're paying a little bit more attention to the response um if there was an evacuation the type of information that would go out thinking that you might not have access to kids might not have access. So, just something to think about with that. Doing a lot of reading on it. And I

170appreciate that the kids would be able to grab that. I think that >> we might need to look at that because in an emergency evacuation, >> you don't have a lot of time, right? >> In some of the practices that we did. So, >> um I don't know how that is involved in policy, but I just would hope that we think about that a little bit. >> It was brought up in the um the guidance from OD but not really addressed as much even though many of our districts use SRP as a um as an evacuation or emergency response. >> Thanks. >> Well, this is new and um going pretty well. There have been questions that have come up um about things like that. Would it be better for kids to have it in their

171backpack because then they may touch it less frequently? So that we're we're still we're still working through >> what's going to make sense for us long term, but we also wanted to start the year with a a policy in place rather than move it in um in the middle of the year. Um so I do think we're um we're learning as we go to some degree, but also it's it's been going pretty well. So we don't want to make significant changes either. >> That's great. I'm glad to hear that because I think for a lot of kids anticipated that this was going to be a lot more difficult than it really has been. So great. Thank you. >> You have one too, Bernie, on this one question. >> Okay. And then um Judah and Sammy

172after you. Uh Melissa, um how much of this policy is a direct uh translation from the governor's executive uh order? Oh, >> probably about 90% of it. I adjusted the order of things and I also did a better job defining what a peed was um just to make it clear. I also honestly did not um I I thought that the language around being able to use your phone on a school bus on the ride in and back was not very clear in the policy draft. So, I adjusted that a little bit to make it more clear. Um, so some of that language about um if you're on a if you're on a a staff supervised school related activity that you can't use your phone, but if you're not, then you can. So, like athletic trips,

173you can use your phone on the bus. Riding home, use your phone on the bus. So, most of it is, but I adjusted a little bit. >> So, it would also meet the requirement of having having the policy by 31st of October. Right. >> Right. So, we're like Ryan was saying, we are already implementing a no cell phone, you know, policy in all of our schools and um or a no no cell phone guidance and now we have a policy to go along with it. So, tonight's first read, second read would be um in mid-occtober and then it would be in place by October I mean the policy would be adopted by October 31st but we already are following it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um, so the let me see if I can

174phrase this correctly. There are some devices that can be used for accessibility features, but that there are other devices that are not say web capable >> that can be used for the same accessibility. I'm thinking of hearing aids. Um, there's some great ways to incorporate them into your phone and use earbuds for that. Um, if students are using devices as an accessibility aid, but there's technically something else available, are they having to go through the exceptions process to be able to use that? >> No, we're not we're not we're not getting into that. If if they're using the device for for that accessibility, we're allowing that to happen. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um, thank you. I think you answered several questions I I was already intending to ask. So, uh it's much le a

175smaller list. OSBA policy when when the question was about the sample policy, you were referring to the OSBA policy. >> Yes. >> Can I ask you for a favor if you can share as a feedback to OSBA what we have developed this might be very informative for them to consider our experience. >> Thank you. And um maybe this is a conversation for offline, but I really want to uh tag uh the follow up on on uh Chris's feedback, which is there might be some deviation or differences between an actual evacuation of an emergency or clearing uh the the the classroom after an all clear completely all clear where like the threat is completely eliminated where a timely clearing is not necessary. neessary and I'm not sure if that will be easy to distinguish but definitely

176those micro details might be important to consider maybe not on a policy level but happy to chime in >> like in practice. Yeah. And when I was thinking about um those high school students being able to grab their phone from the the shoe rack, I was thinking about it's all done. We've been sitting here for an hour waiting for law enforcement to open a door for us though. So it should be they should have time to be able to do it. But you're right, there's other situations that are not that quick and so that that's a consideration. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Um the other thing is the my question was can we always capture the cost and what I'm understanding from you it's going to be really minimal. Uh already we spent about 100 less

177than $800 and we're not anticipating more cost unless we end up seeing an FTE hours right being used on disciplinary progressive disciplinary actions. that's the policy calls for. >> Um, can we have maybe a summary update on a frequent basis and I'm talking even annual just to capture how much this is costing us as long as the capturing does not cost us a lot. Okay. The reason is we want to provide that feedback to the governor's office and to the legislature like this. They are expecting us to spend money on this from nowhere, >> right? It was money that we don't have um and money that they're not giving us. So, we went with the um least expensive option uh and and did it this way instead. But I know that they provided all kinds

178of information about how much those special pouches cost and how much the magnets cost and how much staff would cost to run the magnets and we're not doing any of that because that is that's money we don't have and we don't want to spend on that >> activity. So you could just um refer your um your colleagues at um other school boards to the FAQ that OD put out because it identified costs associated with implementation of the policy. >> Wonderful. Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. But then we we don't need to do that on our own. >> They they ced it. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Another thing as we continue implementing the policy and I'm hearing there's not much drastic change from our actual practice is there do you anticipate by January

179when the session comes in and they want to enshrine that potentially into a law. Do you expect us to have any lessons learned that the board can hear or that we can pass on to the legislators like here's how this is impacting us and here's maybe how the legislature need to tweak what the executive order now looks like into a law. I think we can just kind of watch how we're how we're going. Um up to that point, we've had um a few parents email and say, you know, give their opinion on on the decision, but the decisions the decision. So, we're following the executive order and we're doing um we're doing the policy the way that it was intended. So, if we have any feedback, we will bring that forward in January or later.

180>> That'd be great. Thank you. >> Um I had a question on it or a couple questions, too. Um, we did receive actually communication on this one too about the I know it's outside of our um control because it's a um executive order from the governor, but it was about um outing students with disabilities since they're the ones who have an exception. >> Yeah. And um is there support in place for students to encourage them to have them if they need them and that way they're not feeling like embarrassed about it because some students didn't want people to know perhaps. >> Yeah. >> And so I'm wondering if you'll have thought about that part for the support part. >> That that's something that I would want to talk with Megan, our new special ed coordinator

181about to make sure that that's a conversation she's having with her staff um during their staff meetings. But that's a great consideration. Yeah, I was kind of concerned about that, too. Um, and then I have a question about the practice with the high school students and um I don't understand how that's following the law if they have their cell phones in their possession like out in in passing or at lunch and so I'm kind of since it's a it's like bell to bell, right? So, how does that working if they're using pouches? >> Do you want to talk about it because you've been doing it? You look like you want to say something. >> Well, they they put it in their backpack and they they walk out of class with it. I haven't been seeing

182them in kids carrying them >> um in hallways at lunchtime or in passing periods. >> Okay. So, my question I guess is why do they have to put it in a pouch then instead of leaving it in their backpack? It was a matter of um buildings trying to come up with a plan um to make it uh this is the system they're trying right now. >> Okay. I was just it seems opposite of what I would think because you would think they would be trying to have them just keep it in there and be responsible and everything, especially if all the other students can have them in their backpacks all day and not mess with them. So, just >> Well, they're just trying to make it a non-issue by having all of the high schoolers

183have them in the pouches. >> Okay. Okay. That was all my questions. Thanks. >> All righty. >> Did you have a question about the AR? >> Oh, yeah. The >> AR could ask question. >> Okay. Yeah. And you don't have to do the exception form if it's Yeah. So if if it's um a 504 IEP >> can Exactly. >> So your question was answered on the AR. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. That was everything on consolidated information then. Um and then the next item on the agenda is board member comments. Is there any board member comments? Chris, >> sorry. I know it's really late, but I did want to say two things. I did um I probably could have done this on the board report, but I did attend city council meeting as I said

184I would start to attend as many as I can and I did attend one. Um and so I just wanted you to know that I represented us. Um and I just an information a good um discussion they were having was about the West Hills corridor plan which really affects our district in a way that they're um creating a safer route to school basically on the West Hills road. And so I thought that was really interesting. And one thing that they're doing that I didn't know about was when um they're making now bike paths in the area. And if you look at downtown where coming over the bridge on Harrison, they are raising bike paths higher than the road which is creating a safer route for um bicyclists and walkers which is going to affect our

185kids that are going to Adam school and that new residential project that they're bu they're putting in on 53rd that will affect that as well. And so I thought that was really good information for us to know. Um and then I just wanted to say one more thing. Um in a recent article in the newspaper there was some comment about um it was just kind of a negative article about the board and our district and how we feel about teachers and equity. And I just really wanted to re-emphasize the fact that we have a very unique school board in the fact that we're very positive and that we're really into supporting our students that that's our priority and our staff. And the article didn't really reflect that. And I just wanted to re-emphasize that we

186as I I should I guess I should speak for myself that I really feel that we have an amazing staff in our in our district that is working really hard to do the right thing. And I just wanted to make sure that that's communicated and that we as a as a school board, I just feel like we're we're really trying really hard to support our staff and our students and that is our priority. And I just didn't think that reflected in that article. And then I just want to reminder all of us as we're going through really tough conversations um that we remember to take care of ourselves. that I know these are really hard to come to and that we do what we need to do before we come to a board meeting or

187afterwards, you know, drink lots of water, take lots of walks, whatever it does to help you. Um, just because I know it's going to be a tough next few months. Thanks. Thank you, Chris, for sharing all of that. I just wanted to thank staff across schools who over the last couple of weeks, especially with back to school, um have brought so much care and energy and effort and enthusiasm to really welcoming students back into schools or maybe to schools for the first time as well as their families. There are so many emotions this time of year to manage not only their own emotions but the emotions of all of those students and family members as well. And just wanted to give a shout out to the incredible staff in the district for giving their all

188to this back to school time. >> Just real quick, I wanted to highlight that Festival Latino is back in Albany this Saturday from 12:00 to 5:00 at Monty's Park. There is going to be dancing and singing and food and booths and cool stuff. So, just to highlight that that is back available after I think a fiveyear absence and I am planning on on going >> when and where it's at Monteth Park from 12 to 5 on Saturday. >> Yeah. So, uh, I had the opportunity at the end of August to, um, sub for the Garfield garden, um, as the primary waterer. Um, they have one garden bed that, uh, the, um, um, you know, what do they call it? The irrigation. Yeah, that's it. The irrigation, uh, didn't work. And so, every day I marched

189myself over there and watered and I harvested, too. And while I was working on that, I saw community members coming in and picking tomatoes and, um, you know, using the space. That was really lovely. So, I think it's that's a beautiful space. I'm glad that it's getting used by the community, but also learned that uh they have been donating the items that they the the produce that they've grown, they've been donating to a local food bank. And so, that was very exciting to hear. And um I just think that's a really lovely um there's a lot of hard stuff, but there's also a lot of these really sweet gems out there like our little kids that are helping to pick tomatoes and give them to the food bank. And that is re a really really

190important thing for us to remember. Our kids are poised to do well and give and care and support. And um I appreciate that we have a district that's making space uh for them to be able to participate in that. And the tomatoes were amazing. I did partake of one or two while I was picking them. Um anyway, it's a lovely space. If you have not had a chance to go by and see it since it's been relocated after the the remodel there, um please stop by and see it. It's raised beds. They're accessible. Um and uh so it's it's really a lovely space. Um the other thing I wanted to just give a compliment to is the um staff who organized the um registration days for our larger like for Corvalis High School specifically, but

191it's a lot of kids coming through, many of whom do not know what they're doing. I saw um my son started high school this year. I saw a number of kids in the hallway that could not figure out their lockers. And there were staff right behind going, "Let me show you how to do this." Um, figuring out your locker is uh not an easy thing to do. It doesn't make any sense. Turn so far and then you can't turn. You have to only turn back a little bit and it's confusing if you've never done it. And so I was appreciated the staff that were there to just help even the smallest things like getting adjusted to being able to open a locker um and have that work before their first day um was really uh

192um was really impressive and I think it really helped the kids to feel excited and welcomed for their first day. So, um also, um loved that, uh the kids, the transition kids, so coming into high school, coming into middle school, got to have their day, their first day, um and really get to feel like they could get to know and own that space. I think that's really valuable. I know that takes extra time and coordinating from our district, but I think that the payoff is definitely worth it. So, um those are just a couple ways that I saw our district doing a really great job making space for kids and helping them to feel included. And so, thank you so much for um for continuing to prioritize those things. >> Sorry to interrupt. I may

193have said Saturday is the event. It's Sunday. >> It's Sunday. That's a big that's a big important detail there. >> Any other board member comments? Sammy, >> I have a few. And I'll be my I'll try to be mindful of the time. Uh I don't want to break a record. Uh we go over time. It's 9:30. We should be done, right? >> We should be done. Okay. >> Two minutes. That's fine. >> So, I'll be very brief. First of all, I want to concur with my colleague uh uh Chris about the the concern when the media is the fourth power. They hold us accountable. They help us uh celebrate and they help us uh uh put the sunlight on the issues at hand uh when government works. And that's why the media needs to uh

194needs to work hard when facts are not shared accurately or frankly when the economic model unfortunately is a clickbait. Uh if when people are encouraged to click on something sometimes titles or headlines are um not accurate, inflammatory or flat false and I believe uh that has been going on for a while now. only one outlet of media and I share that with a huge concern to say that because I'm a I'm a believer in independent media and I believe we should always celebrate the media but also it's this shared accountability that's I need to say it uh at the same time say uh when uh they share a rumor of a closure of a school that's not act not true or they share a headline that's really is not accurate or representing the board actions

195uh it's just makes me really sad especially when what Chris me highlighted which is the phenomenal work our district does on equity and elevate the work that we have committed ourselves to and the high bar we always uh work on I think that's really important to highlight so thank you Chris uh for anybody listening to this the bottom line of it is click into the article and also look into the school district's work uh listen to the facts reach out to any board member in the community and validate what you hear. And if you are moving to Corvals, Corval schools are the best schools that I can imagine sending kids to and I have seen many many school districts. With that, I want to go to another point quickly which is the community participation today

196was phenomenal. I really want to thank people for reaching out and sharing with passion about different alternatives. I am confident that this will help us refine and evaluate and validate the proposal in front of us and any alternation alterations that might come forward. So really want to say this was very very valuable and I just want want to reiterate that another issue that I don't think it's a schoolboard business but I want to share it because I've been reached out to by community members and advocates from different sides about the landfill. It's a county decision. It's a KOAI judicial decision of the county commissioner. So, we don't we can't even lobby them on it. However, uh I have heard concerns about the landfill expansion. Uh I heard advocacy telling us we need to worry about

197how much the cost of the trash will be for the school district uh or how that impacts our values on sustainability and making sure we're using resources well. So, I don't know if this is a topic uh leadership want to consider. I just wanted to elevate it. That's it's a community discussion that's I'm hearing uh from community members and advocates and you might be hearing from folks trying to persuade us one way or the other. Um last but not least, I apologize. I came really late and I had to drop uh from the virtual to the to the to being here. I had to had restroom break on my way from the airport. So I probably I missed the NSBA reports. Um, in addition to the reports, I just want to say I just came

198back from uh Council of Urban uh Boards of Education and I'm going back tomorrow and one of the highlights I met uh Colin Kaepernick uh who happens to have a connection to Corvalis. Ryan, correct me, he played baseball or basketball here? Baseball in uh Corvalis. Uh so he has a connection to Corvalis and also now he have a connection to education. uh he's leading work on the use of AI in a very mindful way to help students learn about literacy and storytelling in the school and that's really exciting work to do. So it was really great conversation to meet him uh last night and today he spoke to uh hundreds of school board members uh about that topic. Uh also one update from NSBA, they're going to offer board members or uh superintendents or administrators

199all the way to educators uh certification on the use of AI. So it will be a certification program where you can attend multiple uh trainings on that. So that will roll up uh roll roll out soon and as soon as details will be there I'll share it. Uh, another thing from uh, NSBA this morning. I was in the Los Angeles uh, uh, Western Carpenters Union uh, training center. Um Theres and Bernie and I attended their training center here in Tangent. And that grew the opportunity for them to sponsor a site visit for uh about I think 40 or 50 um board members from all across the nation to visit their training center there, learn about pre-apprentice programs and how CTE programs can lead to good paying jobs. So it was really really exciting opportunity to

200see that. I did some virtual welding, so you can actually do welding with a 3D glass. I scored 50%, so definitely need training if I want to get there. It was really great, but they're going to put me on the elected officials leaderboard. Uh, apparently 50% was high. Um, so, uh, last but not less across the states and the nation. I want to highlight all those expenses were paid by those organizations. So the school district's professional development fund was not tapped into by all of this work. So that's a that's all of that's a preamble to an opportunity for anyone of you or any of our colleagues in Oregon. Uh the Pacific region of NSBA has three board directors. I'm one of them, the only one from Oregon. And there is another uh person from

201Washington and another person uh from uh Nevada. and the Washington person term limit the term he's she's termed out so now there's an opening and the deadline is extended to September 19 no board action is necessary if either one of you want to join that will be the first time ever that's Oregon sends two board members to an SBA or if you have met someone from Oregon that you think uh should be nominated and tapped into uh encouraging to go and do this work please let me know we can uh do that offline the Corvals does not need to make an action. Just I want to share that with you. So if you're if you're interested in that work, uh you have until September 19th to make a decision. >> Thanks, Sammy. Any other board

202member comments? Okay. I just had a couple. Um one is I wanted to um make sure that the community knew that um the board did not put the school district through an equity test. Um, so I just wanted to make sure that people knew that that was not a thing that happened. Um, and that um, if people want to hear an update on the Osborne conversation, please that that information has gone out to folk, but I just wanted to remind everybody that that's on the 29th. What time is it at Ryan? Again, >> 6:30 p.m. at Lionus Pauling Middle School. So, I encourage people if you're want to know updates on Osborne um to check that out and again please come to the community sessions and continue to send the board um your thoughts on

203the consolidation. Um you can email us all at one time at boardcarbalis.k12.org. us. Um, and speaking of the consolidation, I just wanted to um mention a couple things about there being one proposal and also the timeline. Um, having one proposal I think has brought some ideas from the community that we may not have otherwise heard. And so it may feel hard to not have choices of like picking something, but I think we're actually hearing more ideas this way. And so I wanted to thank the community that's bringing those thoughts in and questions and the timeline. um feels really rushed for some folk, but thinking from our view of how long it takes to make plans for a big change like this um feels really important. as Ryan had pointed out earlier, having it earlier in

204the year and not later in the year and also not having it be way into um into the winter would make it really hard knowing how the decisions are made from with admin to the building level admins with their staff and um learning about all of that over the past few years, this feels like a timeline that's needed. Um, and so I apologize to the community if it does feel rushed. It also doesn't feel rushed when you think of all of the things that have to happen after. And so I just wanted to explain a little bit more. I know that Ryan and um other folk have gone over that before, but just to reiterate that part I think is important. Um, and then I just wanted to say I know that the that things

205um are feeling a little bit unstable for a lot of people in the community for a variety of reasons. um and um due to national climate and so I just wanted to say like we understand and are doing our best to on the board to try to support our community and the students and staff and families that are part of the district. So um that's all I wanted to say and with that we have no further business and we are adjourned at 9:42 p.m. Thank you.