001e e e well good evening and welcome everyone the um June 13th 2024 meeting of the corval school board is called to order at 6:41 p.m. thank you for your patience as um we got started this evening in the interest of public health and safety for all member community members especially imuno compromised individuals and their families the corval school board will continue to offer a virtual option for board member and District Personnel participation additionally public comment is available at some meetings both in person and virtually information about how to provide public comment is available on the corval school district website the board agenda and packet this is some feedback um as well as the link to the district YouTube channel are available on the Schoolboard web page on the district website public meetings are live
002streamed on the district's YouTube channel and a recording is posted to the same channel typically the day after the meeting tonight we have directors finger McDonald Hawkins larent Al Abra Co Vice chair tomin and myself in attendance in person co- Vice chair Jones um will be late this evening and the first um item on the agenda is board member reports does anybody have a report well I have a few H and I'm sure there's several of us that are going to share about the same but um I just wanted to report that um I had the honor of attending the DLI celebration graduation ceremony and um that was just you could tell those kids were so proud of the hard work that they had done throughout the many years that they have been in that
003program um I had the honor of attending the native student celebration I'm sure that's going to be talked about more but again another just witnessing students feeling so proud of themselves there was so much honor and tradition in that celebration um it was very fun to attend the wings uh graduation um there were two students who graduated and you could just tell how proud they were and how hard they worked and how um there was such a strong connection with the staff that um works for the wings program I just really appreciate all that they do um College Hill graduation was just full of personal celebrations and you just tell the staff knew the kids so well and uh the fact that they talk about each student as they receive their diploma I think is
004just um exceptional and then CHS graduation again so much culture in that celebration and how we honor everyone I just thought that was that really stood out and Crescent Valley was just a a lot of students um there was just a lot of pride in that room at that evening and it was very exciting to see everyone so was it was the highlight of my year to be able to hand diplomas it was just really touching and I really appreciate the fact that I got to be part of that so thank you I do have a few reports um I shared with the board uh a brief report about my uh May 18th when I hosted a government Community Corner that the city of Corvalis holds at the public library for elected officials available for
005community members to share their concerns and comments and or asking questions so it's an opportunity I wanted to uh reiterate if board members would like to uh use that opportunity to uh connect with the community to listen to their questions or feedback uh on the morning of uh May 22nd OA and see the Coral School District reach a three-year tentative agreement that we will be considering uh uh later today but for the purposes of today um I believe it was a fair contract it is a fair contract and as you know I've been privileged to be the board designate to observe these negotiations uh with labor and ensuring fairness that the negotiations is happening in a manner that's consistent with the direction of the board and the values of the community and I'm happy to
006really report the professionalism of both parties in the neg negotiation uh both District leadership and OA bargaining team conducted the negotiation in good faith with unwavering focus on student uh and safe conditions Fair pay benefits and working conditions for OA members and their families and with really mindful attention to uh the budgetary constraints that we're operating and facing uh both parties are mindful uh uh of that and later tonight we will be considering uh the to vote on the cont contract for three-year contract and last but not least uh I want to build on Chris's acknowledgement for uh how truly amazing graduations are uh Chris I remember my first one in 2017 this is my eighth one and every time it's just like uh you feel the flow you can't feel the flow of time
007because you're seeing the uh conclusion of a 13 years uh journey of students uh and high schools are are truly life-saving uh for the kids who are finding a better opportunity and um better uh way for them to be U uh functioning adults in the in in in the universe after they graduate and the way that we see that by handing them the diploma makes all this hard work worth it and um I'm really grateful to see the wings graduation the DLI graduation and this is the first time to have the Native American graduation uh really grateful to see that attention to honoring students uh unique Journeys uh in these graduations so just building on what my colleagues have shared up here as well the end of Year celebrations have been so incredibly meaningful in
008addition to graduations which were just such a beautiful acknowledgement of what students have done achieved tried the relationships they have with each other with their staff with their families and all of the support that's come together in community to help them Reach those goals as well as hearing about all of the amazing Pathways that students are headed toward and the diversity in those Pathways and how well students have felt set up to really go on and meet their own goals and their personal goals and Pathways was really meaningful to be a part of I also enjoyed being part of Many Music celebrations toward the end of the year um just one it was fun to both attend and be part of the pops and popsicles concert at chelin middle school and to be able to
009hear and see the bands choirs orchestras play see the growth that students have shown over the year the confidence that they show in those spaces as well as the incredible community and support that they have so just has been so meaningful as the as I know many of you have mentioned to the challenging work that we often are engaged in on school as part of the scho School a to be able to have those moments to really celebrate together in community students staff their families is what this is all about um okay so yeah I went to some of the same graduations and was really excited to see them DLI native College Hill and CHS graduations and um it was just like everybody has said it was really awesome to see that closure for students
010and be part of those with everyone um and I also attended the Delta last Delta meeting of the year as well um those are always great to be at and or was it the D or was it the dedi it was Dudi sorry yeah Delta's next week isn't it we I went to both of them see okay sorry it's been a long last end of the year yall so thank you um yeah am I yeah I did have a graduate at CHS so that was extra special for me too at that one um and so Delta and D EDI both of those um last meetings of the year and then just wanted um since we're at the beginning of the meeting and there's a lot of people here I just wanted to do a special
011thank you to Lincoln Elementary this is our last meeting here before we head back to the district office next year and since there's a um crew here to hear that I I just wanted to U mention that at this time and probably later too and all the tech support that comes withholding the meetings here as well much appreciation for the accessibility um that this space offers and um not that the district office doesn't offer that it's just a little bit of a bigger space that can accommodate for meetings um like ours tonight so just wanted to say thank you um to the Lincoln Community for that and um so yeah the next thing on the agenda is the Oregan Schoolboard Association and National Schoolboard Association updates so I'll be brief uh in the reports you'll
012find some updates from nsba and osba uh one thing I want to highlight that nsba have published its uh new vision mission and uh slogan and I'm grateful to have been part of uh the development of that uh if you remember one of the Keynotes uh uh in osba shared with us the power of saying each student instead of all students and how it's really lands so I carried that with me and now in the national uh School Board Association their Vision admission reflects that and I feel really proud to have been part of that uh in the report you'll find also additional resources available for Schoolboard members um that could be very helpful for us uh in terms of professional development and engaging with the Community One update that I did not share uh
013in the report uh it happened most recently that the osba will go for an executive search for an executive director uh the Washington Schoolboard Association as well is going for that so I'll be engaged in uh leading that process alongside with the board of directors so happy to answer any questions about it uh and it's going to be really a good experience so these are the reports and happy to answer any questions is there any questions questions for Sammy there's just thank yous for both that um are online yeah awesome thanks Sammy the next item on the agenda is the superintendent's report all right well thank you everybody and um I was going to mention all the graduations and events that you've all talked about so I don't know that I necessarily need to go
014into that other than just to say that um one of the things I heard a couple of times over the last several weeks as we've been honoring students is that that group of students started their freshman year or their ninth grade year um in the midst of covid so starting online um and just how resilient that group has been and how that group of students in particular has created an A normaly in our schools um as we've continued to move further away from covid and just um I Heard lots of appreciation for that um class and so um while I wanted to talk about each of the graduations you've covered it but I think that's a really important piece for us to keep in mind because we have um kids that have gone through quite
015a bit and are on the other side of that now and are finding successes as they're leaving our system so appreciation to staff um who made that happen for kids and supported them um during that transition um because it wasn't easy for anyone so that is something unique and special about that class of 2024 so as we think about them and recognize them I think that's an important piece for us to keep in mind um there's also a few other groups that I wanted to recognize for um recent events that they've been a part of um most of these are high school events but um we had two culinary teams that um from CV that were part of the proart competition um as part of our culinary arts program one of our CTE programs um
016there was a team that was in the Management Group who created a restaurant concept they um had to sell the judge it had to include Brute blueprints for a restaurant a business plan a swad analysis and marketing tactics um and then there was another group focused on culinary and they needed to put together a three course meal in an hour as well as the design of the menu and the cost that management team took third at the competition and all those students who participated earned a scholarship based on that so that was a pretty cool um opportunity and the C um the CV um culinary space has really just been um doing great things this year here it's been a fun place to walk through and see what kids are up to um because they're
017all really excited when you come through um another thing is that we have had that um Signing Day at LBCC for a few years now where students are signing into specific programs they want to be a part of and so this year we had 14 students participate in that Signing Day you know it's the concept like um in sports where there's a signing day there's a CTE Signing Day at LBCC and students um are signed from CHS CV College Hill um in the areas of automotive tech heavy equipment diesel industrial pipe trades and Welding and Fabrication so again a a good showing and those students now have Pathways towards career so that's always great to see also at from CHS we had two cre crealis high school students who've been selected for the national sources
018of strength peer leadership advisory Council and that's um Kaylee Pickering and Quinn now and they join 18 other students from across the United States to grow their leadership skills um provide information on their experiences with sources of strength and plan and participate in sources of strength National campaigns um which I'm sure Chris is happy to hear because you helped us to get sources of strength off the ground in the district which is a real um uh pro-social suicide prevention program um that we've um been able to have over the years it initially started with support through the Bon County Foundation um one other thing that I think is important for you all to know is that for next school year based on changes at the federal level we're going to be able to provide um
019free meals to all students in CSD at all of our schools um that will not require students to fill out a free and reduced lunch form um and that's will be across the um district for the whole year um which is exciting it's sort of like during the pandemic there was a time when meals were available to everybody it's going back to that and making sure that all students have um breakfast and lunch finally actually had two more things uh the next thing I wanted to highlight are our retirees for the year so I'm going to go down the list and identify the last place they've worked because some folks have been with us a really long time and they've been in lots and lots of places so I'm paty merer at lonus Pauling for
020five years Wendy kers at CV for six um Chris Rondo administrative assistant at Adams 18 years Marcy hermans office manager at Bessie Coleman for she's been with us for 20 it's okay to applaud for these group folks um Mary Frederick administrative assistant at CV for 20 Debbie McBeth teacher at Adams for 20 Elena hogrebe an educational assistant for 24 Marna McCracken a teacher for 25 years and then the numbers just keep going up uh Chris mwan uh CHS 26 years Bonnie Ryan registar at Crescent Valley 28 Lori cordus District assessment and data specialist 29 Sheree Taylor um most recently at Urban Farm 42 and Karen seander who's done risk management for us the other day we asked her and she said about 53 plus so it's pretty incredible some of the folks and how long
021they've been members of our team and the institutional knowledge they hold and they will definitely U be celebrated but missed as well so pretty cool the last thing I have is appreciation for Chris and for Melissa um those two helped us to negotiate um the charter contract which is on in the packet for tonight um so a fiveyear renewal with Monday Creek Charter um this is the second time I've done that been a part of that renewal and I have to say it went very smoothly um and I appreciate both of you for your work and effort to make that happen so with that that is the end of my superintendent report thanks ran any question go ahead Sarah yeah I was wondering I know there have been issues sometimes because um students who are
022identified as receiving free or reduced Lynch often also get fees waved or other supports and I was wondering if we're not having students fill out those forms how are we going to make sure we're identifying those kids so that they get the support they need to be able to participate in our programs most of our programs are not fee based so we've worked really hard over the last several years or last eight 10 years to eliminate that we're still working through the details on some of the things um that are Beyond The District um that students have access to based on um that um what how they've qualified in the past so we're working through that um this is pro this is a situation where a lot of districts are in the same um scenario
023now and so we'll be able to figure it out and work through it together but that's a great question um and one we've been we've been wrestling with and at the end of the day it's just pretty awesome that kids will be able to walk into school and get what they get their needs met um related to nutrition services well then there's no Stigma because it doesn't mean anything if exactly any other questions or comments for um I had were you GNA oh you're just addressing okay sorry yeah I was like I was seeing a hand reach um I was just going to comment on the free Mills too that that's pretty amazing and um that that's in so helpful for so many people means a lot for a lot of especially the families that
024are just right above that line a lot of times and so just wanted to recognize that and I'm glad that the district is doing that can you say again where people fill that out because I think sometimes people don't know where it's at if they haven't filled it out before you're not going to have to oh you don't have to it's just all yeah okay I missed that somehow that's okay ask the clarifier yeah okay that's even better well the other thing I think about is you know evenings when you're trying to B balance all those things and that's just one more um stressor for a family to get prepared for the next day and you can just kind of put that aside too so I think that's a real value for for families or
025even waiting for the approval letter takes a while sometimes and so that's great that that barrier has is not there thank you for clarifying that um and you had mentioned the um graduate ating seniors starting online and um that I just wanted to underscore that that that's such a big achievement for students all over the state and including the students here to be graduating starting in that modality and the shifts that came with it and learning for them back and forth and that's pretty awesome um and now we're getting into that mode where some of the students the kindergarteners and new students coming in would not have had any impacts and so I'm really happy that we're starting to transition into students in the district having not had any of those um covid related impacts
026in the classroom I know they did in life but like in the learning environment and I'm really happy for the teachers and staff too that that's starting to shift a little bit too so and I forgot to say thank you to all the staff and teachers because more people are here right now than there will be later for being close to this into the school year but yeah so thanks Ryan let me use a tiny moment of your report totally okay um next on the agenda is the public um hearing for public testimony on the 20242 budget and um just for clarity for folk there's two public comment periods especially for folk that are watching online um this evening one is specifically for the budget and then the other one is for general public comments
027so when if people hear public comment stuff read twice that is why um so we will now open the public comment period for public testimony on the 2024 to 25 budget we value the lived experiences of students fam staff and community and welcome public comment as a necessary and important part of the work of the district and board the complete guidelines for public comment are available on the registration table at the back of the gym and on the board's website I will share a few important points now when it is your turn to speak please come forward and have a seat and direct your comments to the board um please make sure you turn on your microphone the green light will come on when it's on um speakers may offer objective criticism of District Operations
028and programs but the board will not hear complaints concerning individual District personnel as a reminder you will have three minutes to make your comments there will be a green light in front of you um at 30 seconds the light turns yellow um I try to get people's attention but oftentimes you're reading so you don't see me waving at you um that you're at 30 seconds um and then the light turns red when your time is up at that point I do ask people to wrap up what they're saying um and do have to interrupt people sometimes so apologies ahead of time on that um and then following your comments the board will have three minutes to ask clarifying questions but are not able to engage in and conversation so we're not able to ask you
029questions or you're not able to have a conversation with us we can ask ask clarifying questions on what you provide um which is always hard for us because we like talking to the public and if board members would like to revisit a topic or an issue brought up during public comment they may do so at the appropriate time in the agenda and before you start your comments please state your name for the record and state whether you reside within the School District boundary don't forget that part please sometimes that happens too and then we have to be like wait um so do we have public testimony for the budget and just for clarity for fol um when we have translators we double the time for the being able to um off our translation good [Music]
030afternoon my name is Gabriela I have two children in the district I am here because I feel very sad very upset very frustrated uh I am really UPS said because um I know that you will be reducing the art classes and this is something that it is very um um beneficial for children it's something that in which they can use their hands they can um be creative they can create create and they have a lot of fun they can enjoy themselves [Music] also the time that um the students are going to be allowed to go to the library is also being reduced and this is an important time for them to also relax um to be able to feel a little bit free from the um learning of mathematics and other subjects and a time
031in which they can select their own book select their own reading um and be more themselves in a relaxed environment [Music] um and these um activities are really good for their brains to create new connections and they can improve their um life overall in general [Music] and lastly um music classes which also are beneficial not only for any children any child but especially to children who have a condition or a um disability um music helps them um this I'm so sorry excuse me I'm sorry um [Music] music is something that everybody from every age enjoys um and they also learn teach them to play instruments um to play the flute and other instruments like these which enhance their um abilities and skills [Music] when they engage in the blowing air into the instrument um this
032is something that benefits their body connections um their metabolism is affected by this action of blowing into the instrument um and this is something that is very beneficial for students um with autism [Music] and so I would love to ask you if you would be willing and consider to reduce um to keep these classes and instead make reductions in other areas that are perhaps less necessary such as perhaps health class at the high school level um where um health is something that can be taught and um developed these ideas at home or in the doctor's office um with the [Music] students I'm sorry but thank you for listening to me and and I hope that um you can do something about my requests thank you so any questions from the board gas Gabriella [Applause] um
033my name is Gabriela um Ro Castro I am gabriela's daughter um I'm a G be a senior next year I I'm really um I'm a Avid music lover I like creative um departments but I don't think it's the necessary thing to cut the budgets for any anything creative whatsoever it should be something celebrated instead of just taken away there are children who would just want to have like I don't know like um create something that each CH child learns differently and sometimes art music and any other creative program can help them with their learning path I myself and love singing I sing at my in the church choir at the local Catholic church but there are other um ways to reduce budgets without hurting um the confidence of my fellow students instead we should try
034to find alternative ways to do this and also to find ways to that benefit the students instead of just take away opportunities I think that the best one of one of the solutions is to remove Health classes because they're most of the time they don't even benefit most of the children I mean first aid is important but what but but sexed education can be taught by parents it it or anything anybody in even within the doctor's office but it should not be taught by teachers because it's because it's something very personal it's not something that students often talk about especially at home and I myself did take health class and from what I learned was most of the time did not even um benefit me at all if anything it was just a bunch of
035propaganda being shoved down my throat first I didn't question it but once I started questioning it that's when I realized every the whole truth everything that they taught me in that class was was all to fuel this narrative that political narrative that we see in the media which they Tau toxic masculinity they also taught us about lgbtq stuff like I mean I'm not against anybody who identifies as that but why are we why should we teach our people like me about sexuality when we can just figure it out for ourselves it's not it's not something that it's taught something that is learned on our own also why are Gabriel I'm sorry you're you're out of time did you want to finish your last thought I'm I'm considering but yes I'm I app your time thank
036you does anyone have any questions thank you for coming down talking [Applause] Gabriella okay um hearing no further comments the public comment period for the 2024 to 2025 budget is now closed um and next on the agenda is um resolution number 24- 0601 adopt budget make Appropriations impose property taxes and category taxes and Lauren is available to answer questions if we have questions this is for the board part nobody has questions there's um is there any discussion okay is there a motion oh I think it might be helpful to have some discussion that's why I was like I was waiting for somebody to um just just in terms of I know that the budget is multi-layered in terms of process and I know we have a lot of community tonight who are also here to
037continue to comment and share and likely ask for Creative Solutions as as we are all um dedicated to doing our best to really support the school system and students in every way that we can and so I'm wondering if I don't know if this would be a question to Lauren or back to you Ryan just in terms of process of adopting the budget the importance of the act of adopting a budget tonight in terms of what that would mean if it was adopted or not adopted in terms of functioning in the school district just so we have on the table what the process is for some of the steps that might um come up as asks from the community if this is an appropriate time to bring that to the table we we're required to
038have a adopted budget by the end of the month um so that we're able to make payroll and um compensate folks over the summer um to do anything that we need to do related to any um facilities all those things are um would basically like as we think about the federal government and sometimes they talk about government shutdown um it's conceptually the same thing we we need to have a budget approved by the end of the month if it's okay I would like to ask Lauren some questions that we have asked in the budget committee but to really Elevate them again for the record if that's okay so Lauren thank you very much for presenting the budget to the budget committee and I know some of this might be repetitive but uh to honor the
039community showing up here I want to make sure we uh highlight few of the constraints that we are operating in could you highlight how much the state has appropriated for uh all schools and our school district and what they would have should have appropriated so we keep everything the same without any additional Investments or additional Cuts how would that look like so for this bium we uh 2425 will be year two of the bayum um in this B we were allocated 10.2 billion uh for education in the state school fund um and a loose calculation for for us um would be to maintain our current level um would be we would have needed 11 billion dollars in this bium in order to remain stable next year and that's 11 billion dollar compared to what they
040appropriated of $10.2 billion correct correct and uh initially they proposed $ 9.5 billion uh and that 10.2 was the limit they assumed is going to be more than enough to fulfill all the needs unfortunately it was not what kind of assumptions you think the state miscalculated when they gave us 10.2 instead of 11 I think um the the 10.2 number that we landed at um was it was a historic investment in K12 um but based on the fact that we've never been fully funded um a historic investment isn't enough to um serve our kids in the way that we need to and the needs that we know that they're showing up um to us with so could you highlight the 10.2 where is it between current service level and quality education model uh is it
041somewhere in the middle is it the bare at the bottom of the barrel or is it at the Quality education model model I don't believe the 10.2 is is the quality education model but there's going to be differ opinions on what that looks like depending on what group you talk to really appreciate it thank you anyone else I'm just sort of continuing on the funding issue um in addition to the allocation from the state we are this year coming to the end of our pandemic funding that's correct that's correct um we have until the end of September to to spend it technically um but we will be out of funds um June that's we plan to uh finish spending those funds at the end of a fiscal year just to keep things smooth and you
042how much of that our budget was coming from those funds that are now gone from the federal government I don't have that number off the top of my head it was multiple millions of dollars that we had to spend um and we have used those in in various different ways but there is a chunk of that that has been supporting Staffing this year um and to maintain those Staffing and maintain the services that they're providing um we have to make some adjustments thank you other questions or comments so this is the first time Lauren has been um in this position where she's needed to bring forward a budget um and it has been the least opportune opportunity to do that so I appreciate Lauren and her um ability to work through some really difficult and
043challenging times um and come forward with a balanced budget I know that there are questions about um priorities and what's available and what we're able to do and um Lauren has brought forward the best budget in her ability to do so and I appreciate her for doing that thank you thank you Lauren um I just wanted to mention that the budget is really tough and um I don't know if I should say this now or after I'm like I think I can say it now yes um the just knowing that the dollar amount looks high that came in at one point um from the state but the percentage that's been invested in public education has been declining over the years I've said this at the last several meetings and I think there's folk that weren't
044here for those conversations to know that I think it was 8.8% of a decline after for the last four by nms and that number seems low but it's a lot when you're looking at like the amount of money AC the number number of dollars and um so when we have um statements being made like record number of dollars invested in um public education that may sound like a dollar amount true but the percentage at the same time had been steadily going down and it was still going down it continues to go down and so the um the advocacy of trying to help the state remember its commitment to public education and funding it properly is really important and um I wish we were not in this budget situation um that we're in I know that
045every single person works for the district because they care about students and they care about the community they care about the future and so any kind of decline that impacts people's ability to do what they want to do to help that work move forward is really heartbreaking and I just wanted to mention that again since um again some of you all weren't in some of our conversations around the budget before we prepare to make a motion on that and um yeah go one more thing okay um the other thing I want I want to highlight is that um the budget process is a um year-long process and what I um what I worry about is there is a lot of um focus on the budget right now as we're passing a budget and we need
046that same intensity when we get to November and December when we are talking to legislators about the funding for the next bium because we're making decisions now based on a decision that was made in June not last June but the June prior and so we have work that we need to do and we have a community that's invested and believes in public education and I just don't want to lose that in the midst of you know this is the end of the budget process we're moving into summer we're going to move into the fall we just can't lose that because there is work that has to be done um for us to be able to have a solid budget um as we go um next June when that is adopted for the following by anym
047thanks for that Ryan and um for folk who weren't at other conversations the Oregon School Board association's legislative policy committee has suggested ptas be ready for those conversations um as they're coming up that's the recommendation and how to engage us through your ptas and pto's um and you have board members that serve in capacities on the LPC is what it's called um as well um that's um Sarah myself so if you want to learn more about that kind of Engagement or us to bring things to those meetings feel free to let us know too and that's um related to budget advocacy I know we're talking about the budget for this year um But continuing what Ryan was saying about it's a it's an ongoing process it doesn't end today and we'll be um ready to
048roll with you yeah um if there's no further discussion um does anyone wish to make a motion there's a the packet has some requested language shair oh yeah go sh sorry just another com if that's okay discussion sorry to keep dragging these moments we still have a few more minutes on holding things and then and and knowing that the community is here listening as well I think one of the most challenging things in moving toward a vote for this is that that knowledge that as a board it isn't within our jurisdiction or our role to make those FTE determinations or to decide where the budget goes in terms of specific areas or program areas and and that's a hard thing I just want to acknowledge that too I know from at the board level as
049well as District administration and your in your work working closely with schools principles and other staff too we care very very deeply about a lot of the things that are coming forward and want to hear about those things um um I know you've heard from board members on libraries on music on arts on Mental Health the importance of all of these areas and how much we deeply deeply care about this and also an understanding that a vote for moving this budget forward now is not a vote against Creative Solutions or other discussions about policy changes that that's more about the role of the board now at this stage in that budget process and cycle of making sure the continues to function as it needs to and that folks get their paychecks and I think that's
050something that um is a challenge to hold on to and feel and I really appreciate what you said too Ryan in terms of the budget not this time of year gets so much emphasis and it's happening all year long in that strategic planning and really thinking about how do we get creative how do we set priorities and so hearing from the community is so helpful in terms of understanding and shaping board goals and District goals and work that happens all year long and that we want to have continue all year long so thank you yes I would like to really honor that note and recognize it the motion that we're about to do is constrained by several factors we impose taxes because within a certain limit uh whether uh meure 5 on 50 more than
05110 20 years ago have uh Limited how much taxes we get or the legislator has limited how much revenue we get uh on education are two constraints that we need to not take for granted and question if uh business as usual on those parameters is okay it is not okay but those are the constraints that we have a third constraint that's a little bit closer to our influence not the control of this board is how much money we get based on enrollment and how much enrollment we get in Calis based on affordability of Housing and how much our city leaders are willing to listen to our plea that this is a May Day for our schools for our enrollment um and it is unique to Calis that we are limiting access to affordable housing limiting
052access for uh working families with children to stay here come here and be retained in our school district so we can continue the enrollment M and uh we have to be very cander candid uh that if the enrollment decline continues Appropriations from the states will decline as well and it's going to be really hurting us here locally in Coralis uh that's not all of it uh definitely funding education is at the bare minimum and we need to um invest in public education but also our city needs to invest in a affordable housing so we can uh honor our Workforce who would like to work here and serve in our school district and also retain people uh who look like me and would like to have kids one day and want to have them to be
053in Calis right now it's not viable and becoming less and less viable um so that's down for of truth of what we cannot control when we make that budget and to change that we need to continue that activism and that organ izing as board members as community members parents and and unions to really change the needle on this and it's going to take all year around mindful advocacy with the city with the county and the legislature and with that if there's uh if the chair will allow a motion happy to read it uh chair I move that resolution number 24- 0601 be adopted to adopt the budget making Appropriations impose property taxes and categorize taxes for the 24 2024 25 fiscal year is there a second second okay um it has been moved by Sammy
054and seconded by theres that resolution number 24- 0601 be adopted to adopt the budget make appropriation imposed property taxes and categorized taxes for the 24 to 20 2024 to 25 fiscal year is there any further discussion okay gonna call for a vote Sarah I Chris I Judah I shaa I theres I Sammy I and I vote I motion passes sort of feels a little bit like one of the heavier motions we've passed and I just wanted to say I'm really sorry that we have to pass the budget like that you all um yeah um and then next item on the agenda is public comment I have to reread the whole thing just so you all know it's part of of the public meeting laws so bear with me as I reread that we will now
055open the general public comment period we value the lived experiences of students families staff and community and welcome public comment as a necessary and important part of the work of the district and board the complete guidelines for public comment are available on the registration table at the back of the gym and on the board's website I will share a few important points now when it is your turn to speak speak please come forward have a seat and director comments to the board um again there's a button on the thing to turn the mic on and you will see a green light 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 the
056light is green at 3 and then at 30 seconds it is yellow and when your time is up it is read and at that time I will have to let you know your time is up um following your comments the board will have three minutes to ask clarifying questions but are not able to engage in conversation and again this is a really hard part that we cannot have that dialogue with you if board members would like to revisit a topic or issue brought up during public comment they may do so at the appropriate time in the agenda before you start your comments please state your name for the record and state whether you reside within the School District boundary and I know we do have some comments so Kim is going to start calling folk
057up thank you for my three minutes I'm Dana Zachary I live in Corvalis in the boundary of the district and I'm a former librarian with the school district I want you to hold on to your hats I'm not here to talk about Library Cuts I'm here because I am a Jew since October 7th the biggest Slaughter of Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust I've said I am a Jew out loud more times than in my entire 53 years prior EX exponentially more I do it because I am resisting a dizzying horrifying tsunami of anti-Semitism as one of the small number of Jews in this town and in this state I tell everyone who will listen that anti-Semitism is an emergency right now in my first draft of this I laid out all
058my evidence and I had to cut it because cuz I would be here speaking to you for 17 minutes not allowed so I'll I won't try and convince you because I actually think there are people in the room I just can't convince anyway but I will say this your Jewish students American Jews Israeli American Jewish students ones who identify as zionists and ones who do not live in this town a town where our neighbors stand in front of the courthouse every Saturday and call for Jewish death the US Congress actually passed a bill calling one of the most common chance anti-semitic and we know that that contentious body agrees on nothing and passes almost nothing they agree so people say they think that zionists are the problem not Jews but I want you to know
059that in polling 83 to 95% of worldwide Jews tell you there is no difference they are the same thing and I want you to know that just because some Jews get up and chant River to the sea that excuses nothing and changes nothing free speech and hate speech are different and even if you think everything you're an absolutist and everything's free speech Just because something is permissible does not mean it is acceptable so that's the town our kids live in and then they face anti-semitic macro and microaggressions at school because of course they do what's happening everywhere a poll said seven to 10 seven out of 10 American Jewish High School students report anti-Semitism in their schools that was months ago can you imagine we're going to need to pause you just for a second
060just see if there's questions because your timer is up but um the lights's right here oh wow yeah okay does anybody have any questions yeah uh could Dana uh could you uh continue your remarks thank you that was going to be my thanks Sammy I really appreciate that because I'm almost halfway through and I timed myself people I really did okay so anyway the question I'm so glad I can talk because this is the meat of it the question is are our students safe are they feeling safe this district is all about Equity inclusion belonging so what I ask what I'm here to ask is for intentional urgent passionate action on their behalf to protect them I know that good things are occurring this District does great things a bias reporting system has been created
061District leaders have met with Jewish community members all year and with my heartfelt gratitude to Eric Wright and Aaron mcke I've been welcomed into schools to talk to secondary Educators and these Frank talks about anti-Semitism have been unbelievable so little problematic push back it doesn't even it's not even worth mentioning your staff is wonderful and caring and you know that so more though does need to be done and can be done and I have specific actions to recommend but I'm not going to take my time here I'll send you an email tomorrow um because I I got thoughts I I should share them um but and I'm finishing we must fight hate of all kinds I don't diminish or negate any kind of hate other kinds of hate when I focus on anti-Semitism anti-Semitism is
062what I know and it's got a unique cultural and historical significance that requires a unique approach and so that's why I end with a call in knowing that the people in this room all of them you them prioritize student and Family Safety belonging and inclusion we together need to be intentional and Urgent in making sure our Jewish students are embraced and protected as are all of our students thank you for the time yeah this we there's a tiny bit of time left if anybody had any other super fast questions we can't take questions from the audience I'm sorry um thank you for coming Dana and I look forward to receiving your email with your recommendations that was goingon to be my question so yeah it's G to be long I apologize T thank you don't
063ever apologize for sending stuff to us please okay thanks everybody thank you which power right oh just okay all right so I'm Genevie ra I reside in the kobala school district and I've watched with Pride as two of my children successfully completed their education in the coales public school system just last Friday my son graduated throughout their Journey I've been fortunate to meet exceptional Educators who have made a profound impact on my children's lives one aspect of this District that has always filled me with pride is the visible support for lgbtq plus rights implified by the rainbow Flags outside our elementary middle and high schools during pride month I understand you might be wondering why I'm here once again perhaps you expected me to talk about math but tonight my purpose is completely different I
064wish to point out the district has fallen short in a support for Jewish minority group students I've reached out multiple times throughout my children's School career to address numerous microgr questions and blatant anti-Semitism that they and other Jewish students have experienced I've advocated for Holocaust Education which has been lacking but with Oregon Senate Bill 664 mandating its Curriculum by 2026 I am hopeful I've raised concerns about the raising raising um anti-Semitism this year and received positive responses and the district is helping and has been respectful I'm not here to complain about that I'm here to emphasize to the board that there's a significant problem within our schools children many of whom carry generational trauma from anti-Semitism are once again confronted with the horrors of anti-Semitism within the our school walls and outside of it anti-Semitism
065is a human perennial it is also the greatest Ship Shape Shifter during the Inquisition it was about religion then during the Holocaust it was about race now it's because we have our own State and on our ancestral indigenous land vasy grman says anti-Semitism is everywhere you can meet it in in the academic Academy of Sciences in the games children play on the playground it takes many forms from mocking contemptuous ill will murder pro programs then he says anti-Semitism is a mean rather than an end it is a measure of the contradictions yet to be resolved it is a mirror to the failings of the individual social structure and state systems tell me what you accuse the Jews of and I'll tell you what you're guilty of this your Jewish children have felt isolated osted and
066have felt the need to hide their identities when you have Jewish a Jewish child in your school who is told that all Jews should die you have a problem when you have students perpetuating propaganda about Jews you have a problem when children idolize Nazi Flags you have a problem with such sentiment as expressed within our schools it's reflective of a serious problem that cannot be ignored every child deserves to feel safe respected and included in the is that your last sentence um just one one small little okay I usually pause people to see if anybody has questions before you finish it that's that's usually what we just have to pause it but that's usually our question is just to make sure there's not other questions thank you J gave every child deserves to feel safe
067respected and included in the educational environment regardless of their religious and or ethnic background and the country they from it is imperative for schools to address anti-Semitism properly and comprehensively to ensure that the well-beings of all their students and at the end I would just like to say I am uh Israeli my children were Israeli and I am Jewish thank you thank you we still have a couple minutes if there's any other questions for jenev thank you so much jenevie for your time I'd like to thank jenevie for sharing her story with us first my name is is Eduardo Ted mccan kids know me as El Prof I've had three children graduate from CSD and have been the school librarian at Garfield Elementary for 10 years I'm here tonight to share my story because I
068know that by now you've gotten the studies the pleas the petitions but I'm not sure you've gotten the stories because that is what children will be missing and what we will be missing the children's stories I'm an immigrant to this country I grew up in Mexico and my passion is to work with latino children I've been an educator for over 20 years I taught and coached in inner city Houston for many years before coming to Corvalis I saw a lot of things in the East End I became familiar with adaptive learning strategies different curriculums program models but the one thing that stuck out to me through it all was that if you got kids reading no matter where they came from what language they spoke or who their teacher was if they started picking their
069own book books and reading you knew they were going to be okay but and this is the big caveat I also saw that they have to have access to books that's my gospel that's what I preach get them a book and get them reading and they're going to learn but to do that don't forget they have to have a book I've changed the names just so you know jimie is a high need Student who's come a long way this year in the Fallen winter she would often escalate and her high-pitched Keening could be heard throughout the school our Behavior team especially our skills trainer worked a lot with her and she has grown so much this year this spring she told her teacher she wanted to be on a Lucha lios team her teacher approached
070me and we made a plan and I was able to get her on a team they did okay not not great but pretty respectable in their last match 2third of the way through Jamie figured out before any of her te teammates that mathematically they couldn't win eliminated eliminated eliminated she kept moaning and rocking back and forth they did lose but she kept it together then I walked her team back to class and she loudly declared to everyone we're eliminated but joined back in the class with with their class activity later that day the teacher told me that she had heard her quietly murmuring to herself I got to read more I got to read more I got to read more Jorge is a first grader at my school he's kind of quirky and opinionated this
071spring he figured out he figured out that he can come every day and check out a new book so most mornings I arrive at school and even before the Bell Rings Jor has come and crashing through the door I got to pause you for a second I'm sorry can you go ahead and can you yeah yeah sorry but we just have to make sure I just have to follow the rules yall thank you often he will wait he will be waiting for me there before I even get there in the morning he walked in the other day and gently mind you gently because that's not entirely how he rolls he placed this book on the circulation counter Bret this is for you I learned to read with this one and you don't have it here
072so I brought it so you can put it in your library so I'm here to ask you to demand to beg whatever it takes please figure something out so that we don't have to apologize to our students and close the doors to the library when they want to come in and get a book because as you heard I got to read more I got to read more I got to read more thank you there's um there's still two more minutes left if anybody has any other questions thank you Ardo how about now okay hello school board and superintendent NS and assistant superintendent Harter um I am Michelle Wyman I see her pronouns I'm a farm to school educator with the Corvalis Environmental Center and parent to two kids and I do reside in within the
073district I have a rising fifth grader and a rising ninth grader um in my work and also working directly with students and providing participatory education um I also am an Oregon Battle of the book coach for many years now and I have seen firsthand how students as Pro El Prof was saying how students um who are non-readers actually get excited about opening that book and reading aloud to their fellow teammates um it's one of the most magical things that I've ever worked on getting them to be excited about reading the 13 stack of books that is required for the obob competitions um this will not happen next year with the current budget that has just passed um so I am here to uh advocate for these and other programs which are on the chopping block
074um now is not the time to put on hold programs that truly engage students in reading the Arts and Music and also the skills trainers reading scores are at a 26e low in Oregon so we need to do everything we can to I got to read more I got to read more I got to read more as El proof um shared with us also as a PTA vice president I've attended the last few board meetings read the emails from superintendent NS I have a I know that the this is really hard work and that um our enrollment is being reduced because of unaffordable Hing housing um and I know as Lou said that these are really hard decisions you all are making and I appreciate that yes these Cuts involve my family deeply but I
075am privileged to stand here in front of you tonight on behalf of 268 parents that have signed a petition um for finding a creative way to reinstating these positions for next year so if there's any parents here that want to stand feel free to go ahead um we've shared this petition uh as far and wide as we possibly can in the last few weeks we've worked together to have a creative solution for this budget crisis and we know that it's not the end tonight um but as everyone else here knows these budget cuts do not reflect the Corvalis School District's own goals and strategies and does not ensure that all students have Equitable access to reading and the Arts and Music and so that's why we are here tonight and I'm convinced that pulling these
076very engaging and particip participatory educational aspects of our kids days in corval school district will cause more parents to disenroll from the corval school district thus furthering the budget cuts um I also have not only do I have two daughters that have gone through Oregon Battle of the books competitions but I also have a daughter that um felt she was not good at art until she was accidentally put into art class and it was it made her year and was very important to her mental health so I am here um to read the petition that I handed you I know I have no no time I know I was like you're out of time I'm sorry does anybody have any questions go ahead Sammy I'd love to hear the petition thank you we would like
077to hear the petition we respectfully if anyone's standing great we respectfully request that funding be restored to essential Staffing positions in Corvalis School District including all the whole school district for the 2024 25 school year in order to meet the budget shortfall while still providing a robust student experience we request the following actions be taken one school board call a special meeting to pass a revision to the reserve policy which will reduce the minimum Reserve balance to 4% rather than the current 5% creating approximately 9954 th000 of surplus ending in ending fund balance reserves two superintendent Ryan NOS work collaboratively with principles to use this newly available Surplus to prioritize the following reinstate skills trainers and inclusion assistance across the district restore Library art and music as much as the budget allows that's essentially it
078I'm privileged to be here and um represent these parents that have worked on this so thank you for all you do for our kids I appreciate it thank you um looks like we have another question too and you have a couple minutes left Michelle thank you uh would you like would you be able to email us uh email the board with the petition I I see that we're going to get scan out it um would where my question is given the sentiment of the petition and I know probably can't speak on behalf of all if the action of lowering the reserves will triple the pain next year yeah is the sentiment that we should still go for it we know that we are not done that we will need to go to the state for
079continued um support for these essential participatory education components of our students day but we also know that if they are cut now that will make them really really difficult to claw back if there is more funding available from the state okay and we know that further further parents will remove their kids from the school district and then further the problem for next year appreciate it that's why we're here thank you one more question uh I would like to maybe ask you if you can follow up uh in an email uh from the budget committee meeting that we had before and if you can really reflect on what I'm going to review the petition but I would like to see what discussions we had uh during the budget committee meeting the Alaska budget committee meeting and
080the petition and if you can find any overlap or any contrast and if you can highlight that to the board I would appreciate that followup okay thank you you're just about out of time um I just wanted to really quick clarifying question um just to reemphasize you all are aware we can't dictate what positions would get filled if there was a reserve thing done right um as I understand it it would be the onto the district to make those decisions yes thank you that's what I was asking if just wanted to make sure that was clear for you all that like the board can't make the thank you but the board can make the decisions on how much to Res to put into reserves right yes thank you I just wanted to make sure we
081had the yeah thank you appreciate you um thanks Michelle next [Applause] keep it kind of short um hi you guys can hear me everybody all right I'm Keith Moses teach art at cron Valley I love art but I also love everything about education so um a couple things one I just wanted to know how the board feels about this addressing the goals when we pass the bond there were some wordage in there about how it would support Arts support PE those sort of things and is that sinking in that we're letting those things kind of slip after we just spent all this money to build beautiful schools um the other part um we're we're not really looking at like the big picture I think we're we're talking about kicking the can down the road a
082little bit here financially but um yeah enrollment is shrinking and is this just another little stop Gap until a bigger decision has to happen as far as restructuring schools as far as the size of our district what we do um I think more transparency more discussion with the community I think would be helpful about that um also looking at um the the Staffing decisions I know the board has nothing to do with that um that is the district decision and then that filters on down to each school but I feel like temporary employees um particularly tertiary employees in R PE like this um really get the short in all the time and it's really hard because they're part of the people that make the school special you know they're the ones that are reaching out
083they're the ones eating lunch they're the ones spending the time with these kids um that uh a lot of people can't do um we have those tough conversations we have those um interpersonal relationships that are pretty pretty unique and uh it's just unfortunate that we're the first ones to go each time and the easiest decision to make it seems um so I just wonder as a board how you feel about that and how that conveys back to the district um where does that emotion or sentiment come from why is it always the same people why is it always the same situation um lastly um just a few things about art um we've already touched on it uh with the library and with um with music as well um but I feel like it is a
084voice for our students um it's one of the places that they can be their identity can come out where they can feel safe where they can express their fears if they are not doing well in school if they're being intimidated um there's so many cues that come from these types of classes um it's also a place it's a second home in some cases might be their only home and uh it's uh unfortunate that that access is getting smaller um and it's also a place uh all of these things bring together all the other skills that we're doing daytoday in our classrooms ke Keith I'm gonna have to ask you to pause really quick sure yeah I can I can actually end right there so um I don't want to go on too much about that
085you guys all I know you all love art and I know you all love PE and music and the library and I know it's a tough decision um but I would like to have you address like the goals as far as long-term solution with schools and as far as the bond and how that addresses that okay thank you Keith is there any questions okay thank you and unfortunately we can't answer your initial question because we can't do the dialogue but thank you okay thanks Keith and um Kim how many comment cards are yeah four okay because we're at like we already went over a few minutes on our because we have only had 20 minutes so are you all okay if we extend the time to finish the last few comments all right thank you
086my name is Chris cavanaro and for the past five years I have worked as a mental health and wellness skills trainer serving schools that include Garfield Lincoln and lonus Pauling I'm here today to briefly speak about the impact of cutting skills trainers transparency about District messaging regarding students receiving special education services and a call to action to bring back skills trainer positions as a skills trainer I'm passionate about building strong connections with students who have often been impacted by trauma depression anxiety neurodiversity and other mental health concerns skills trainers are a resource to help bridge the gap between the intersectionalities of race culture language gender ID gender identity gender expression sexual orientation Educational Systems and mental health work without this valuable resource some of the district's most marginalized students might be relocated to more restrictive
087environments and possibly placed outside the district which impacts their ability to feel seen and connected to their school communities you may wonder what does a skills trainer do among other things skills trainers help students build emotional regulation social ski and social skills so they can participate more regularly in schoolwide activities routines and expectations some of my most impactful memories include teaching students how to ask for help instead of hitting supporting them in identifying a safe adult in the building and modeling a collaborative problem solving conversation with staff about how and where to create an in-class break space these are just a few examples of how skills trainers maximize opportunities for students to connect with peers and teachers on June 6th the district provided a budget update message which stated quote we have made no Staffing
088reductions in special education and prioritized maintaining the level of support we provide for students with disabilities end quote this messaging does not acknowledge that skills trainers also provide support to many students on individualized education plans or IEPs within each School in my case 70% of the students on my mental health case load are also receiving IPP Services additionally next year the district plans to welcome the highest number of in incoming kindergarten students with IEPs cutting skills trainers will impact the current level of IEP support putting additional stress on entire school teams across the district as previously previously stated by Michelle I strongly encourage the school board to call a special meeting to revise the reserve policy so the District administration team can work with building administrators to find ways to reinstate skills trainer positions across
089the district thank you you does anybody have any questions thank you Chris for your time thank you [Applause] I'm keah Tom I went to Lincoln School and I live in the school district and all four of my children um were raised and graduated in the school district the education reform in 1995 um devalued uh education to the point that my third daughter couldn't read and um and she couldn't add subtract and I taught her to read when she was almost eight years old so and then we went to Franklin school and she ended up being an engineer so um my um complaint basically with the education that um is that they're not using materials and practices to generate success the first time around but following the second time around so you inculcate failure um but
090a complete education a complete curriculum includes music and art and music is another way of thinking and that other way of thinking integrates with mathematics and Sciences that has mental flexibility and to cut these things that um improve an education while having inadequate um teaching materials because nobody has emulated or even attempted any other schools with materials that Franklin used and I actually sent um Mr no the um report that U math at Franklin School jumped 30% increase in six months after introducing the sax and mass score books and that was the self- teing and if you don't have to remediate and other then you can save money by not hiring a whole bunch of people to remediate the mistakes that you need to do right the first time around but cutting um and Franklin
091was no novel at that time for demanding a library and the parents fund a library because that was going out of fashion because you could look everything up on the internet and to cut these things that make a complete education is just fool Hardy without looking at what you're doing to begin with and I guess that's about it any questions any questions [Music] y'all thank you Kea for your [Applause] timeing hi my name is Nancy rone I do live within the district I don't have any kids in the district but I have lots of music kids that I would claim all of them as my own and um superintendent NOS mentioned that a lot of the fees were dropped for some of the activities and I'm sure some of our $ 8.6 million of property
092taxes and the special option Levy going to Athletics if those fees have been dropped then I highly encourage you to put those fees towards retaining music and arts positions and uh making that available because music and art and sports too are where we level the playing field you don't have to have fancy clothes you have to be able to participate and music is math a lot of the engineering students play in the OSU Symphony there's living proof of this and so I encourage that and despite my fashion accessory tonight I do also highly advocate for health classes and I think High School is too late to start those Health classes I'd like to see those Health classes dip down into middle school if they haven't already because kids don't get the information they need at
093home lots of times so um music and arts and try and support that please thank you does anybody have any questions thank you Nancy thank you e ready okay oh there we go thank you much so I am Patricia Von glan I live in the district I've had two students go through our district and I am here to make some creative suggestions I come from a business point of view where everyone sat around the table all different ranks and you just kept shooting ideas and they considered each one so I'm going to pose some options and we can speak about it first after reading this I noticed that uh there are no changes to the music in PE the only one that is required by OD is PE health for 150 minutes per year we
094as parents within the next year will be lobbying the state to make music and art equal in importance and minutes of classroom time with that we're asking for you to dip into the reserves now children cannot wait for another year parents will move their kids quickly out of the district my neighborhood has very very many children and the parents are moving them out and they would rather stay but we're cutting the electives of music and art and the behavior in the classrooms is escalated and they have the finances to go to other schools they also have the philanthropic nature to take that money and donate it right here to our schools and improve things so it was mentioned that perhaps IEPs and 54s might be a ve be a vehicle we can include social and
095emotional classes as a requirement on someone's IEP and 504s so we can put in art and music to reduce anxiety to improve self-acceptance there's many ways legally we could if we choose to go down that path to increase art and music for children we would like not to go that way so you already know why art music is essential your time we got to pause you real quick oh goodness I know that went by fast my Heavens okay any I'll cut it real short no questions did you want to make a final Point yeah yeah so number one is top down tier reduction uh in the salaries from the administration down to the lowest hanging hanging fruit which are the teachers number one freeze the raises freeze the um teachers on special assignments I don't
096understand why there's another literacy project get that person in the classroom hands on deck in the classroom although I am a proponent of Athletics I would like to have a clear review line by line sport by sport of the funds initiated to each one we're no longer a Pack 12 or pack 10 we're pack two we need to challenge our students to not dream unrealistically and take the funds Athletics the buses the bus drivers the food the overnight hotels the lack of academic time that we're spending going to and from Bend we can do an intermural Sports in each school and keep health and wellness and use those funds for music and art uh years ago they had the split teaching assignments one school and the other school driving back and forth it ended in
097a fatality we don't want that to happen again we have a preponderance of principles and assistant more assistant principles we have a principal and three assistant principles in one building those are the people who can be split keep the principal in one school take the assistance morning in this school afternoon in this school don't take the teachers and put that burden on them to drive back and forth that can save a lot of money as well um the sports I already said the freezing of uh the tofas and while I do believe in books the OD says we are required to have one librarian teacher in the entire District we did this in in Hoover many years ago to save money we are a very educated very generous population if you give parents a schedule
098they will show up and we have a lot of phds Master's teachers bilingual parents who can run the library we can't order books but we can enhance the library classrooms until Library becomes as necessary as PE p your timer is going to go off again for the yep so I just went to quotes from the students one student said music we actually we like the public meeting laws we can't keep going I'm so sorry it was a repeat of what I said in the beginning I really appreciate your time Patty thank you okay um oh I know I was I was like was I on the wrong page thank you thanks for your patience I was hearing no further comments the public comment period is now closed and um thank you again to everybody that
099came to provide public comment this evening we appreciate you all's time very much um do you all need a break yeah okay um we're going to go ahead and take our break right now and we have um we do have yeah we'll be able to do this before the next mon yeah we'll take it we need to be back on time because we have um Kristen miles joining us this evening too so e e e okay so um okay thank you for your patience you all um we were just chatting about the um agenda real quick to see where we're at um because we have some time things on here um next on the agenda though is ratifying the contract with the Oregon School Employees Association Jennifer Duval is here to answer any questions um
100if we have any and also if we have comments any questions or comments from the board okay we got a couple so Sammy then theres uh Jennifer and Ryan with permission from the board I'm GNA go uh uh Off Script here and ask Jennifer how many negotiations have you been involved uh throughout your career I haven't actually counted them but being here over 20 years a lot and uh this one ranks as the number like last or do you anticipate anymore um I'm hoping my last we'll see well the reason I asked this questions it's a it's a comment and a question um well let me start with a comment I have really been honored to witness how you Ryan and the team uh lead those processes in a way that's just uh phenomenal uh
101it should be you should be teaching in in in schools for people who need to do those negotiations how they should be done uh because I feel every other District University Community College uh should be jealous of uh caral School District um for both uh the professionalism of our union members and the professionalism of our negotiation team and I know your leadership is phenomenal in it so with that I want to say thank you on behalf of uh all those who have been benefiting from those negotiations uh that thank you on behalf of uh uh many people who don't know what could have been happening if uh those negotiations did not end up the way that they ended up and we see those happening in other places where they end up with strikes they end
102up with impasses uh so despite the difficult situations we always have seen great place great results and with that I want to ask you a personal question what piece of advice would you give she's the HR Director you can't ask her okay I've been told she's an HR Director he can't ask a personal question what advice would you give future boards future uh folks who are or other folks who are involved in negotiation from what you have learned in negotiations like a piece of wisdon I'm sorry I'm calling you uh calling on you without any prior notice but if you can think of a piece of advice or two what would you share I think what's helped us be successful is the ongoing relationship we have with both associations being able to on a regular
103basis connect problem solved together um brainstorm as far as even in tough times being able to just respectfully and knowing we're both really on the same um page as far as it's about students it's about taking care of employees um and it's not always easy but I think that goes a long way and really has served this District well thank you and my last comments for the board uh having witnessed negotiation it's been really positive uh good faith and uh great results uh anticipated for both uh the union members uh who uh were negotiated on their behalf uh through the negotiation team and the district as an institution and the kids uh first and foremost so my recommendation is to approve and uh sorry I jumped in right away but I want to really share
104a positive tone of how this negotiation have uh started and concluded thanks um I um saw a lot of really great things in here but I wanted to call particular attention to the changes to the sick leave bank I that might seem a little bit strange a little detail to point out but um I just really was appreciative of the increased flexibility that that will offer folks in our district and staff so um thanks for whoever thought of that and held out to make sure that that got in there because I think that um is a um it's a it's a kindness to our staff to be able to allow people to be sick it should be a right but it is not it is a kindness but thank you district for extending that and
105making that something that can reach more people any other comments go ahead Sarah yeah I keep reading this and I and it's something I just noticed this afternoon and didn't get a chance to ask about but on the cap and costs I think there's a discrepancy in what it says here when it says employee will be a maximum of 1,315 and then in parentheses it says 1,365 I noticed that as I was working on updating it's three 1,365 okay yeah yeah I just I saw it as I was going back over stuff this afternoon and was like oh yes okay good you've already caught it any other comments right yeah that this will um this is a three-year agreement with our classified staff um which was the in the interest of both parties and so
106we won't be back at the table with either group next year for the first time um since I've been in this role so we're also appreciative that we're going to have a little bit of a break thanks Ryan um and I'm I bet the unions are too yes um I just want to just offer appreciation for everyone who has been working on negotiations and um the agreement that was reached and making sure that everyone's taken care of with insurance and breaks and health and all the things that make people be able to do the work that they want to be here doing um so yeah and is anybody wish to make a motion Sammy chair I move to approve the contract with OA for 20124 2027 for a second second it's been moved by Judah
107or moved by Sammy and seconded by Judah to approve the contract with OCA any further discussion okay I'm going to restate that then it has been moved by Sammy and second in by Judah to approve the contract with Osa for the 2024 to 2027 year and uh call forther vote Sarah I Chris I Judah I shaa I theres I Sammy I and I vote I motion passes thank you thanks thank you and um for just um I still need to talk about this part yes because it's on the public agenda that it got pulled yes um if you're following along on the agenda the Muddy Creek contract renewal part is being pulled for this evening and we are going to um hop over to the board self- evaluation report and that is with um Kristen
108miles who I hear is Dr Miles what congratulations e e okay all right thank you for having me back sorry that took us a minute weird awkward silence nice to see all of you um thanks for uh taking the board self evaluation as you have the last few years which is great I think you are one of the few districts that takes it year over over year and can see your results year-over year which is exactly what we want um I know we've got some limited time so you've all received it in advance you've all had a chance to look at it we sent some questions in advance for you to think about and really the most important thing that um that I want you to think about at the end of this is what
109do you want to do with it and I believe last year if I'm not mistaken what you what you decided to do with it was take some of these things that you learned into I think you took it into your August Retreat didn't you didn't you take some of the things that we learned into the August Retreat um so really look at what you want to do with the information that we that um that we look at tonight so the questions for the group what I'm GNA ask you is that you've got it in front of you what did you observe this is the first question I'm going to ask you before we even start going through it what did You observe just a few observations and we're not making meaning yet but just what
110did you see as you look through it a couple of things maybe that we view things a little bit differently in some areas yeah some some places where there was a little in congruence which I have some information on later anything else anybody noticed I would say very little it effective yep very very little in the Red Zone what meaning did you make of things as you looked through the data what did you as you look through what were your ah this is what this this is what this means this is what I'm interpreting what did you think about it so this my first year on the board but looking at the changes it seems like if with the board taking the same evaluation year-over-year that then the board seem to have mutual definitions for
111types of actions and types of goals and what um see would look like in each individual type of goal which is where you can see how progress is happening great probably I'll I'll uh answer both questions in this observation in page 104 out of 158 in the packet the balanced uh governance standards overview um seeing uh relative growth in community engagements over the last three years um and also relative growth in culture and climate and I'm seeing oscillation and uh several others uh steady uh results on accountability I think uh meaning probably the community engagements we've been very uh conscious about it in the last three years so that explains the increase and in uh the community engagement evaluation not only in terms of conscience about it that we need to do it but also
112making actions to actually do it and now we're seeing that we're becoming effective in it uh I think these two things explain really harsh uh relatively harsh uh evaluation in 22 and now um probably reflective of the work that we're doing uh in 2024 that's showing that growth so those are some meanings that I'm getting from the aggregation of this standards thank you one one thing that I found interesting is um also in community engagement and it was the one that um where we do more advocacy for public policy and with um Community leaders um County government officials and state state legislators um and that was one that we had um lower ratings and we've had the last couple years I actually think that is good news for us because it highlights what we see
113as a need as we work as a community to address things like affordable housing and Statewide as we think about um Educational Funding I think it's I think we're recognizing right now that things are different um and a greater need there and so um as I would interpret it I would think that we gave ourselves harsh harsher rankings because it's something we know we need to do um really well going forward and so we set a new Baseline in my mind as we did that rating and what did you see as overall strength and areas of improvement what hit you as oh we're doing this really well we need to probably pick up and and do some of this better I have to really celebrate that standard 11 board member conduct ethics and relationship uh
114with superintendent um Kristen you see lots of different school districts not today many uh I believe that's a strength that we need to be we we ought to be proud of uh and it is really good basis of good governance and and um I'm grateful that uh reflecting on that we're seeing a huge uh evalu huge relatively for anything else really good evaluation there like more more than 50% on every Dimension over the years yeah that's a really um it's one of those power standards where um that's what we call them where it's a foundational one where your roles and responsibilities and your relationship with your superintendent are really critical to everything else and to be strong in that area is is really key you see is strengths or areas of improvement areas where you'd
115like to grow so one of the areas for just a strength just to Echo Samy I noticed that too in terms of relationships interpersonal relationships relationships across the board with District leadership and and growth in some ways with Community engagement as well over the last several years and some of those things still standing out in terms of certain types of community engagement or some board members seeing grow that some not and variability even how we view that ourselves in terms of how well we're reaching out to community members in different ways through different modalities and something that stood out to me too was another specific piece I saw was communicating that connection between policy and student outcomes as being one that had more variability and and how we're seeing that and I think even in
116the process just in thinking about what we're modeling by looking at this right now purely from a self-reflective standpoint point two we're judging ourselves on this around how we think we're doing in community engagement and that still opens the question of well how is that perceived by the community I had a somewhat related thought of like we feel very good about ourselves it seems like and I was like with a lot of these areas and I'm wondering like how the same thing like how is that um is that different than how the perception is like because we're engaged with the work every day and at all the meetings and stuff like that and is that reflected on how we're perceived though and so those are some areas of question I have I guess um I
117don't know if it's an area for growth but it's just more reflective of yeah can I make a comment about that sure um the I have felt like um in these conversations over the last couple years you hold yourselves to high standard um and so I'm not as I'm not questioning that calibration as much um one of the things that stood out to me is around cultural responsiveness and that there had been in effectiv the last couple years and movement and Improvement there and I think that um again this is an area that you hold yourselves to incredibly high standard and so seeing that um Improvement um well it's little in terms of the bar graph it's significant in terms of um how you um envision your work so I think that's um to me
118another area of continued work but also celebration because I don't think you would um you would go easy on yourselves well I feel like some of the places too that we're critical of ourselves we've seen improvements and how those have impa impacted our work and it's I think it may reflect more of a desire to sort of figure out what the next steps are to continue building on that that we sort of we okay this worked it was it's great it's going well but how do we get to that next step so it's not just sort of a static bar of how we evaluate ourselves but it's like every year okay this is where we are where do we want to be based on like we've gotten to this level we don't need necessarily want
119to just stay there right and that's sort of that last question is what do you want to do with this information and and we and you've already sort of addressed I don't want to stay on these questions forever because I know we've got limited time you've already talked a little bit about how these results compared to previous years and I know you were looking at that um we can talk about as we go through what questions if anything do you have after looking at it but really the most important thing at the end of this is what do you want to do with this where do you go with that um here's the you know obviously you're looking at the general like how you compared to previous years you can't see this I I can
120barely see this but so I'm looking at the analysis from from my perspective and the the number crunching that comes out of this your overall strengths are Standard 12 um being good stewards of the money budgeting and financial accountability that's standard 11 that we talked about and standard seven culture and climate that came out as a strength as well improvements over last year which you already started talking about Improvement in cultural responsiveness and Improvement in culture and climate and um uh a brand new study shows that uh in cultural responsiveness um when done well by the board can impact the superintendent's leadership style as well and so you're having an impact on your superintendent in a positive way when you do cultural responsive as well your specific strengths I put some of these up here
121um and and you saw these too um where you scored yourselves pretty highly but I also Consolidated a number of these into themes so you collaborate with your superintendent to set long-term strategic goals making decisions and setting priorities around those goals and you're knowledgeable about your role in supporting those goals and initiatives so you've got a good handle on what that means what your gole is um how those work you ensure that um you your superintendent and your staff understand the roles and responsibilities in creating and supporting a culture of high expectations throughout the system so supporting that culture of of expecting um well having high expectations for all students and that all students can learn um fostering an environment of mutual cooperation support and personal growth and treating the system as a system which
122means not shifting problem here over here but working to solve problems across the system and I didn't want to type anything else out but all of Standards 11 and 12 so those pieces about roles and responsibilities and financial stewardship those were your specific strengths sort of um collapsed into themes areas of improvement um what those numbers look like were still Community engagement which I know has shown up for you for a number of years effective leadership and using data for continuous Improvement and accountability specifically um you ranked yourself a little lower on promoting practices that solicit input from all areas of the community communicating to the public how decisions are linked to student data and creating a culture that encourages the use of data to identify needs and working collaboratively with other agencies to encourage
123dialogue that Fosters continual growth so still those areas of specific Community engagement that Ryan was alluding to I think and that um and that has you know has been your focus so another report that we do that doesn't get put in your packet is uh we crunch the congruence numbers like where are you most in alignment where are you least in alignment because that's sort of an interesting conversation too like even whether you're ranking yourselves really highly or really low like where where are you in alignment there and where do you see the whole like rainbow of you know you noticed this too that there were some areas where you answered kind of differently and that those are interesting conversations to have because it could be about calibrating the question or it could be about
124lack of experience having not gone through an entire cycle um or it just could be different Perceptions in how things move in the district but where you were in the most congruence was budgeting and financial accountability and then where you were leased an agreement was around standard 10 Innovation and creativity so least agreement with respect to um that standard and how um and how your fulfilling that standard specifically um there was leas agreement in advocating for public policy that supports education through relationships with Community leaders and external Partners so that had some that had some in congruence um board members being visible in the community there was a little disagreement there and although I I see that commonly that that is a common one for there to be disagreement on and uh communicating to the
125public how decisions are linked to Student Learning data so those were the areas of disagreement and if we had a bunch more time I would say like let's dig into what your thoughts were there and you know why some folks were writing never and why some f folks were writing always I know we don't have a ton of time with that but that may be something that you want to look at when we're asking what do you want to do with that information so that's my question is with the information you have in front of you with some data and I'll I'll send this so that you have have you know some of that um analysis information knowing that you've still got these pieces that you want to work on I think it's really important
126that what you do with this leverages your strengths to address the areas of improvement right you've got these you've got these specific strengths you're really strong you rate yourself really strongly in um in your relationship with your superintendent and in knowing your roles and responsibilities having a really good foundation for governance again super important and you rate yourself really strongly and being good Financial stewards understanding that system also super important how can you leverage the strengths in those areas to improve the areas that you still want to work on and and these are all connected all of these standards as you probably noticed some of the questions seemed a little repetitive but they're all and all of those standards are connected and as you know from doing this year over Year all of these standards
127are research based and all of them when when you're working toward them I will not say when you're doing them perfectly that sets you up for for failure when you're working toward them they measurably improve student outcomes so knowing that I think the the question is like what's the importance of taking the self assessment what do you want to do with the information that comes out of it what's purpose I'm thinking about the um the community engagement invisibility part that you talked about and I've been on the board for four years now not super duper long but not brand new anymore and um that has consistently been something that we talk about like every year about Community engagement and I'm trying to I would like to figure out as a board how we can do
128that more consistently not necessarily like quote unquote better but more consistently because I think we've had moments where we did it really well and then other moments where there's just like LS of and what do we mean by a community engagement so like defining that as a board um and having input like what are your expectations for engagement from the community I'd like to know those kind of things so I think that and everybody knows that's like a really big one for me you know that by now too but um so I would have questions around on that is like do we need to have a shared definition of what that means um what does the community think it means speaking of community engagement and then the um linking of data to learning outcomes because
129we talk about data a lot and then I was like oh if we're not linking it to learning outcomes that's a good point right and so just doing that a little bit better like strategies and stuff so those are the two I wrote down that i' like to see us work on something with and particularly when you are are um looking at Community engagement and well particularly when there is um variance in folks answers on being visible in the community um it it can sometimes be good to not not just have one unified definition of what is community engagement but multiple definitions because because some folks um really see that as individual Community engagement like you know how often do I visit schools like how often do I go to public events how often am
130I at you know this and and then other you know folks see you know how how often are folks coming to board meetings how how can we bring people in and then there's the perspective of how do we get to communities like how do we go where people are how do we do listening sessions how do like there are multiple modalities for Community engagement so I wonder about coming to you know Community engagement to us means you know the these three or four big things and maybe each of us has a strength has different strengths different interests in um in participating in those kinds of things that's what I mean like it doesn't have to I didn't mean like just a single like I didn't think you did it was like there's just one way
131and then they but just so like Community knows like totally what you said like there's is do we even know what we're talking about right with each other you know what I mean because I don't think we necessarily do yeah yeah I won't repeat because that was largely my comment around this with what we to do with this information I'll just say I I think yes there is um in some of these questions it's uh it's hard to really do much with the uh information Here Without Really a sense of even is there a shared understanding of what we're even answering and um so yeah I think there that's an opportunity for us to really come back and and think about the dimensions of those questions like these are probably some areas of community engagement
132that we do really well in and there are probably some areas where we probably fall flat pretty regularly are we answering this question from an aggregate like well across all the ways we could do this or do we have particular things in mind when we are answering this am I thinking about myself or am I thinking about myself relation to my colleagues like what's the what's that metric because we have one um that we're applying to it but I don't know that it's a shared one and so uh when I see variations in that I think yeah because like I have no idea how the others would feel about um their own way that they're assessing their involvement compared to the way that I am assessing mine um but I'm sure that we are operating
133with some kind of standard that helps us know if we feel like we are being involved um so I think that's a growth opportunity for us and that's one example of community engagement one example but I think in some of the other questions um there are some there's some opportunity to provide more context around um how to understand the question so one thing I believe I want to build on the last comments one thing I believe we could board leadership and probably a follow to this uh that's more than n minutes is to uplift the in conru in congruencies into a lens of do we need to talk about this to have a common understanding uh not necessarily unified understanding but at least common understanding um and possibly for board leadership to uh have Equitable
134allocation of time lens where if Inc congruencies uh our dimensions of where like oh this agenda item or this topic might be related to something that we need to have a better understanding on uh through the lens of in congruencies probably that would be something I would put more time into to so we take our time to actually see each one of uh the seven board members perspective uh I think that's one thing I would like to do with this information uh the other one is question 60 which was a strength standard N9 question 60 the board works to avoid policy decisions that shift problems from one part of the system to another we're doing better over the time I believe there's a also overlap between that Dimension uh at question 6 standard nine 6
13560 yes uh systems thinking the board works to avoid policy decisions that shift board problems from one part of the system to another and you highlighted it as a strength but when you put that one with the overlap I believe with one area of development or in congruency which is the board works collaboratively with other agencies to encourage dialogue and Foster continual growth or the higher Dimension Community engagement I wonder if question 60 still stands our our answer to question 60 still stands not only the board works to avoid but the community Works to avoid or even uh the stakeholders we work with work to avoid a policy decision that shifts problems from one parts of the system to another I'm reflecting on an earlier conversation today tonight where this is an important conversation we
136need to have with the community where we need to be mindful not to shift a problem from one place to another uh so I think that's one thing I want to take with this information I feel we were doing really great at 60 but as as a board but not necessarily as a community or an institution uh or at least we don't have a common understanding are we doing that or not I think that's a good point Sammy of thinking do we answer that is in the school system or the larger system and like how many of those larger Circles of systems are we speaking of like doing some systems thinking kind of going on over here but so um like what dimension of those systems are we talking about um so that might have
137it that might change how people answer that is that am I reading that right yeah okay thanks we could do a whole systems thing with our border treat that'd be fun one of the things that I thought about as I was doing this was how sad I am that the scholarship program and training went away I feel like you're looking directly at me and it's not your I mean I just look at you because you were the one who did that with us because I felt like every year that gave us opportunity to kind of look at something and work on it together and do some training and work on the board together in a way that was really was really valuable over several years and then I as I was doing the evaluation I
138was feeling that loss of being able to say this is something we really need to work on let's think of a project let's do this thing let's do some training let's get something done so I don't have an answer to that but I I feel like that work and that um those projects were had value now we still could do that work you just wouldn't get a scholarship that's the down that's good to know though you know what I mean because I don't it's not just about the scholarship if we want to do the work that's nice yeah thanks for that reminder Sarah if if we feel like there's an area that we could work on you're taking that up again might be worth thinking about when might you have an opportunity to do some
139of this um some of these pieces that that you're talking about which is um calibrate some of these definitions of pieces and then you know talk about how you how you move forward with them how you come to a understanding how you define what it is and then how you determine whether or not you are doing these things how you want to do these things when might you have an opportunity to to work on those pieces do you think because I don't want to leave you without a little bit of a commitment or a plan yeah so I've been just collecting notes because I think it's information that would be valuable as we plan The Retreat for August I was thinking the same thing I was already imagining us doing like some systems mappings and
140stuff like that thinking about the advocacy we've been encouraging the student or the students I'm still at I'm it's finals week at OSU I'm sorry my brain is over there the community great do you have any questions for me I will send this to you in case this is helpful or this is useful um that collection that crunch of data um any questions for me or anything you need from me I know that I'm probably out of time or almost out of time any piece of advice for us from what you heard from us I think um having worked with you for many years which has been a Joy by the way um I I think really you've talked about Community engagement for for years and I think that really doing having a focus on
141what does what does that mean what does it look like to be visible in the community what what kind of visibility do you want to have and then seeking and I know you've done this I know you did this one year that I worked with you you did a whole big Community engagement thing and and came back with a lot of information from that I think my question for you would be is well so this is going a little bit off topic and I won't go too far off topic is the information you got from that report still useful to you are you still using it where is that in your system and um do you need more like what what the information that you have how is that being useful to you right now
142and what else do you need so as you sit and talk about what you know how do we come to consensus on what some of these things mean to us and how we want to move forward I think it's important to consider all of the the information that you have your fingertips and then where the gaps are what do you what do you need now what needs to be refreshed how do you get that and then what's the work in front of you so coming to those common definitions and then seeing that Gap analysis where so where are we now and Sarah you were talking a little bit about this where are we now and then where do we want to go how much information do we have that can support where we are now
143as as to where we want to go and I feel like that kind of conversation is valuable in a group where everybody's joined this board at different times and so some of us have seeing how far we've gone and May and either are seeing that as an accomplishment or they're seeing that as a we can do so much more and other people are coming in with less of the history but maybe more of expectations and so having a more um you understanding across the board of what our expectations are I think could be valuable yeah because of that difference thank you everybody good to see you thank you Dr miles okay um next on the agenda is Consolidated action as a reminder the items under this portion of the agenda are for Action does anyone
144have a question about anything and Consolidated action okay um did we on the calendar did The Retreat date change or did I just it I just wrote it down wrong okay no more questions is there any other questions on items okay does anyone wish to make a motion I move we approve the items in Consolidated action for a second second it's been moved by Sir and second and by teres any final discussion okay has been moved by Sarah and seconded by theres to adopt the Consolidated action items as submitted um okay Sarah I I Chris I Judah I shaa I theres I Sammy I and I vote I motion passes okay um um the next item on the agenda is Consolidated information as a reminder the items under this portion of the agenda are for
145discussion would anyone like to consider or discuss an item and Consolidated information okay well that was quick for that one there's not a lot in there but still um the next item on the agenda is board member comments is there any comments from any board members Sammy uh speaking of dates and timelines I would like to remind us all on a couple of uh professional development opportunities uh that you might already have them on your schedule uh or or a form that you need to fill in to identify if you're coming or not the August 9th to 11th in Salem Convention Center is the osba summer Board conference uh the theme is lift Student Success Through the board Leadership Institute so August 9 through the 11th and uh the 2024 OSB annual convention is going
146to be again in Portland on November 7 through the 9th and uh the theme was announced recently all in for students um I'll be uh mcing that uh weekend so I'll be speaking a lot but also gonna have front seats a couple of night days there so uh it would be great to have the full board there um i s understand if you have family or uh work opportunities but it would be really an honor to be alongside with you um during uh the annual convention this year that's the summer one you said uh the annual one the annual one okay thank you I'm not sure if I AMC the summer one too but maybe uh but the the annual one is November 7 to the 9 thanks Sammy any other board comments I have
147a comment that it I mean I think we've commented on this before but it's always striking to me as we celebrate all the things we get to go to the art exhibits and the music performances and all those things that we celebrate those and then we are hearing about the cuts and so I just feel like we should acknowledge to the community that we are celebrating those things I went to the last Lucho Libro performance I went to the district art exhibits you have seen music performances and they've all been wonderful but it feels like there's a cloud hanging over them right now and so I feel like I want to acknowledge to the community that while we celebrate these things and we enjoy them we're not doing that blindly that we know um that
148the decisions we made today will have an impact on those events in coming years yeah also um I second that I also um it was hard to hear about our Jewish students and so I'm wondering can we he more about what we're doing to support support them in our schools is part of our next agenda yeah I will add that to the board agenda document and then we'll work on um agend putting that into building that into the agenda thank you and then I also want to say one more thing I hope this is appropriate time but this has been really hard for us to hear all you know the community in about cuts um I think we all are on the same page to to say that it's was really difficult to make the
149decisions that we've made we know that it affects people and we've been in the schools where we've seen the amazing work that our music and art teachers and Librarians are doing and I just I want to acknowledge that as well um but I also want to comment on some things that have been said about our leadership and I I wish people could take a look around um across the state at what's going on in other districts with other leaders and school boards um to see like the more serious cuts that they're having to make um how School boards and in other areas are you know buding heads all the time and are not in agreement and um are not making choices that are best for kids I also want to comment that I don't I
150understand I was on that other side once um people don't see the amount of time and commitment that our leadership has with you Ryan um you know I know that you attend many many many school events um after school hours I know that you attend city meetings County meetings State meetings you're at the state department you're at OD you're doing all this work that to really um better our education here in Coralis and to make sure our kids have what they need and are getting served in an equitable way and I don't think people see that I don't think people see the time that your team takes they're here every board meeting they're in the schools they're at a lot of evening events and um that doesn't happen at other places and so I just
151want to make sure that we acknowledge all of that um and appreciate all that you do and all that you and your team does thank you thanks Chris any other com thanks Chris just wanted to share my gratitude for your comments too and gratitude for and thankfulness for our district and the way that we work together and the thoughtfulness and time that everyone puts into really caring for and showing up for students families and staff um couple of things that came up for me today just to Echo the the gratitude for community for coming and speaking and sharing with us all of your thoughts your feelings your experiences it matters a lot and we listen deeply we take notes we take it to heart and really think about how does what we're hearing and learning
152impact our roles in policymaking decisions so just very grateful for Community for coming forward and reaching out to us through email through public testimony in in every other way that you do reach out one of the things that I noticed in something I noticed in looking at the Consolidated action tonight I always read through lists of of personnel changes and just look for Trends and patterns and something that made me really sad to see was seeing both positions ending related to music and arts and then seeing two music teachers who also resigned and just thinking about I know I mentioned this at the at the last meeting but I've just we're hearing it come up repeatedly in community 2 around the need for a next step of the district goals coming out this year of
153that shared vision for different programs including Music Arts Theater libraries and others where there may not yet be a shared vision of really what are the activities that make a really strong and solid public education for students that include these um I heard that echoed from some of the comments again tonight too and just thinking about without that in place yet or having it in place maybe to some degrees but not fully yet what the new board goals established can lead to some of these unintended consequences that we also see in terms of of other resignations or folks maybe not feeling like this is the best place to be right now so I I was sad to see that and know that's part of the ongoing work in the district to strengthen what we are
154able to provide thank you Other Board member comments were you raising your hand okay oh I think you're I think you're I guess since I don't be the only one that doesn't talk but this process very much felt like a like a notice like you're going to have to eat 10 worms and if you work really really hard you're only going to have to eat nine worms but you're going to have to have some worms to eat and it's so I just want to re say like it's an unfortunate situation but I am happy to to be on this team even though this terrible thing was happening and well we still have to eat a lot of worms I think nine is better than 10 I'm thinking that I hadn't had dinner yet and now
155thinking about the eating the worms I don't need to worry about doing that so thank you for that too um no I I haven't thought of it that way but that is is um certainly a a a very Vivid way to imagine what feels like an untenable situation so um I will start by saying that I have great appreciation for all of the hard work that our district does and I I don't have any doubt that every person in this district is bringing all of their effort to these hard decisions so that's there is no criticism to be offered of how people make difficult situations that they how make they make difficult decisions in situations where um at least in the immediate power is limited so I want to fully acknowledge that and I appreciate
156that as a board we understand that at the moment at this moment in time our priority is to make sure there is a budget so that this District can continue to do its its work and we have done that and I'm grateful for that I also want to appeal to what I know is the passion and the empathetic nature of many of the leaders in our district to please make sure that we really are listening and that we are really looking for and exhausting the Creative Solutions I know that we there's not a solution that meets all of our needs not from us not from this group not from reserves not from community Community suggestions we cannot plug any Gap by ourselves also just want to make sure that we are not holding so tightly
157to the ideas we've already come up with that we fail to ask ourselves if we're sure we've really thought about any alternatives that have been presented and the impacts that they may have or the ripple effect that they might have I really don't think there's anything more to say except that if we decide that the conversation is just done um we are we are giving up the little bit of power that we have we have to stay in this conversation we have to continue to look at the unmet needs of our district we have to continue to ask ourselves if we've exhausted every option to meet them to the fullest of our ability within the resources that we have and um I'm not saying that we haven't accomplished that I'm saying that I just want
158to make sure that we're keeping that at the Forefront that um because I'm because I continue to hear and I continue to feel for my own self like uh there just may be some missed opportunities we just want to make sure we don't let them go by and I think I'll just leave it at that Samy you know tonight actually and these comments helped me realize something the conversation with Salem have been and will continue to be as soon as we ask them why you did not give us that extra million or six million or and the aggregate 800 million for this BM here's the response that we will hear we have heard and we will continue to hear they will say quote but we need more transparency and accountability for the money that you're
159already getting and if tonight's is not an answer that we can show where every single dollar where which fund it goes I don't know what they're talking about we can open the budget documents we can show them where every dollar is going and they can see at every face where the hurt is happening because we're not getting those dollars that's we really need to maintain the services that we need to provide to people so I really want us to help each other capture those warms that's for lack of better terms capture that ickiness that's we're feeling right now because that is the answer that I think I need to articulate better we need to articulate better uh to the legislature to tell them well the accountability is here we have that answers that transparency is
160here we can show you where the pain is happening because we're not getting those dollars and we can show you where the gains are because of those dollars that we have invested already and I don't know what's the arch of the red rck on this one because if they keep saying the same thing what could be a good con convincing arguments um but tonight we have seen it through this budget process we have seen it like we have the transparency we have the accountability to the highest level and all what I can say is accountability goes both ways they got to invest in a system that's chronically starving if they want to see the results otherwise what we saw now is going to be a drop in the buckets within the years to come I
161know we're a little over on this part of our conversation but we're actually somehow ahead of schedule I don't know what happened but some kind of magical powers or something um but um I I just want to mention with what you're saying Sammy um and theres that there's like video footage that's on all four YouTube channels like if they need it like they can see that they can just look at our public comments across the state not just here in Corvalis but across the state and like listen to the voices of teachers and staff and family members and students and it's all there for them it it's like a choice whether or not they want to invest the time in looking for those videos they I mean that's one of the good things about our
162meetings being live streamed is that there is that record available for the people making those decisions with budgets at the state level um so I think that's a good reminder for them um that they don't have to continue to ask people to tell the same story over and over again if it's already it's already there and that's one of my biggest like beefs I'll use that word instead of worms it's one of my biggest things with um with asking people to continue to tell their trauma stories and it's like they already told us and you're not going to listen to us who are voted in by our communities to advocate for the people of our community but you're like but I want to hear it exactly from their voice I want to hear their tears
163see their tears again just to hear them and instead of like hearing from the people who represent them and saying like this is what our community needs and I really wish that when we're talking about systems earlier that our system was not set up in a with the mentality of like I have to hear it firsthand and not trust the people that the community trusts in advocating for them and so I think that's something for us to think about as we're advocating at the state level um is to remind them of that and also of course always inviting the community along with us and those efforts um because their voices are powerful as we've heard and one of the things I was thinking about is over the past few years we've heard the voices of
164the community for a lot of things primarily around things like math and science and things like that and this has been the biggest like Champion voice calling for protecting Arts and Music well music is in the Arts and so all of those areas um that we don't hear advocated for for as often um and so I just wanted to say some appreciation from that one of the students that was here had the sign that said it's um said not stem Steam and to remember the Arts in that so I was like I love that sign and also disclosure I used a lot of Art in my own teaching so um because it is a powerful tool and uh even like the book cover that we were given about how to deal with how you feel
165and stuff like that and the way that art helps us express ourselves and work through the mental Health parts that were talked about all the things they talked about I I just really appreciated the community really coming forward on behalf of the Arts and all its forms and just wanted to express that appreciation again um and it's not a it's really hard I've said that every meeting to know that these are people we know in the community and um and that we interact with and that Ryan you and your team interact with way more than we do and so I know that's really heavy for for everyone um and just really it it is hard and I know the petition is asking for us to look at the reserves so I don't want to pretend
166like that ask didn't come forward for a policy revision um and I think one of the things it's really important for the community to think about I don't know if anybody's still watching at this point but there's a couple people here you all are thank you you listening um is that that has a timeline that I think I don't know how istic it is for what the hope is for next like at the beginning of the school year because I don't even know what the timeline if we were to do a special meeting and if we were to um do what they asked for in the petition there still has to be meetings there's the ask and the petition with principes with ran and with teachers and people are going to be on vacations and
167off contracts for a little bit and so there's a lot of things I don't know how that would even work and I don't want to ask Ryan or your team to answer that tonight but those are the questions that came up in my head even if we did that like what would that timeline even look like um and always that reminder that the board cannot dictate what positions the budget goes for and that was something I try to reemphasize a couple times this evening um that way there's not this I I don't want to give the community false hope that if the board does some makes an action on a certain area that it will equal exactly a scenario that they're hoping for because we don't make those decisions and so I just want just
168want to be really transparent with the community with that ask and remind us as a board that that was the whole basis of all these voices coming forward earlier was that petition that came in during public comment and for us to um not make a decision tonight obviously but um but that we remember that was what the ask was and for the community to remember there are parameters around what we can do and there are timelines that may not match what the hopes are perhaps I don't know for sure but I just wanted that's really long way of saying I don't even know if we can do that and so that's S I just wanted to I told some of the community members I just want to stay as real with you as possible with
169this because I don't want to create something that we're making a promise that is not what's going to happen that was my long that was a lot for this time of night but um I did want to end with a couple of other things that are not related to the petition and the budget um and that is to say happy pride month to everybody and um we received a lot of emails of appreciation for the pride flag that has been coming in so I just wanted to um mention that that we received those and um and I will be replying to emails now that I have my account back that's my other um comment for the public and um this again the end of year thank yous to all of the staff you all put
170in so many hours in these meetings this is our last meeting at Lincoln as I mentioned earlier and um I will miss walking to the meetings but um I understand that um we are making that choice too to help with the budget for example and I just wanted to thank again our tech support people for always being there for us and um as well to help us get through these meetings and help the community stay informed as well so those are my um some of my thank yous and to the board of course for hanging in there with me as your chair this year since um our next item is actually election of officers so this is like our last meeting of this iteration of this year um and so that I just wanted to
171mention all of that and we're way over time now but we're still we're still ahead of time on the agenda just wanted to just wanted to say that not a anybody I just for myself to remind myself that we're still ahead um that's not directed at I'm letting that one go about other people's meanings there's more than one person just saying okay but um so the next item on the agenda is actually election of officers and the first um the first position is for board chair for 2024 to 25 we do not need a motion just names of the people you would like to nominate for the position a board chair for the fisc year 2024 to 25 does anyone wish to make a motion I would like to make a motion to nominate Dr
172Whitebear back to position of chair again um for another year I've really appreciated your authenticity humility dedication to community engagement and transparency in this process and I would really appreciate the chance to continue learning along with you in your leadership approach is there any other nominations okay if there are um he no objections or further nominations the nominations are closed and then I have to take a vote now so Sarah I can I say absolutely I and I was promised a conchshell that's never appeared instead of I'll explain in a minute I I would also say I eastic eye if feels I don't know if I'm supposed to vote for myself I don't okay I wasn't sure how that okay I could I could say I and I'd say thank you for um trusting me
173to lead our meetings for another year and represent the board um and what Judah is talking about with the con shell is I am not a big fan of gaves and so I was joking about bringing a con shell because culturally that is how you call attention for some of my people and so that's where that comment came from um now it makes more sense nobody knew what was going on um but now everybody in the whole Community knows what we're talking about okay um so I'm the new I'm the continuing chair duties effective July 1 2024 um and then now we have co- Vice chair we have two positions um we do again we do not need a motion just names of the people we'd like to nominate for the position of board co-
174Vice chair for the fiscal year 24 to 25 and this is for one of the positions there's two does anyone wish to make a motion oh it's not a motion no nomination I'm so sorry it's late it's not for a motion it's for a nomination a nomination okay thank you very much well uh I um would like to nominate uh Shauna Tomy to continue on as co-vice chair okay is there any other nominations for that position not a motion nominations okay hearing no objections or further nominations oh wait do you accept that I will accept the nomination we should have asked you too I realized if we all voted I and then you said no good thing I said yes thank you okay thank you for asking yeah hearing no objections or further nominations the
175nominations are closed um so no we do it twice because there's two position there two separate positions actually thank you for clarifying now okay Sarah I Chris yes Judah I shaa I thees I Sammy I and I vote I thank you Shauna thank you for the opportunity um and thank you for being co- Vice chair duties effective July 1st 2024 and then we're going to do that one more time for the second co- Vice chair and again I'm just following the public meeting R I was rereading everything um we do not need a motion even though I did that last time just say the names of the people you would like to nominate for the position of board co-chair for the second position for the fiscal year 2425 does anyone wish to make a nomination
176I'll nominate teres Jones are there any other nominations do you accept that nomination theres I do okay hearing no objections or further nominations nominations are now closed Sarah I Chris I Judah I shaa I theres I Sammy I and I vote I thank you theres for um continuing on as co- Vice chair duties effective July 1st [Music] 2024 and with that we have no further business and the meeting is adjourned at 9:45 p.m. thank you for for