001All right. The March 19th, 2026 Forest Grove School District Board of Directors meeting is called to order at 12:01 p.m. We'll start with the roll call of board members present. Alma Lozano >> here. >> Kate Grandeski >> here. >> Christy Cockkey is here. and Briea Franco is absent and excused. Pete Truax is absent and excused and Maya Andrade is in class. Um, we'd like to ask everybody to rise for the flag salute. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. I'm looking for approval of today's agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. And we're going to move on to our first
002action item. Student Chromebook refresh purchase with Enrique Pinon, our technology manager. >> Hi. Thank you. Um so the item before you today is the student Chromebook refresh specifically for the high school and middle school. Uh this is part of one of the bond projects uh that have been planned for the bond. >> Uh we put an RFP out uh last month and we got uh responses uh from a number of vendors. Uh after reviewing all the proposals um it was decided uh that the uh proposal that was in the best interest of the district was the one from data center warehouse. Got >> uh so we are recommending that the board approve uh the purchase of replacement Chromebooks for the high school and middle school from data center warehouse utilizing bond funds uh for a
003total of$1,56,000 uh dollars >> and free to answer any questions. putting started. >> Any questions from the board? Kate, >> I don't want >> um I make a motion to approve the purchase of the Forest Grove High School and NAM's replacement Chromebooks from uh data center warehouse utilizing bond funds for a total of 1 million $6,000. >> Yeah, I was fine. Okay. >> Second. >> Any discussion today? >> No. Seeing none, we'll do all in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> All right. Motion passes. Thank you, Enrique. >> Thank you. >> And we're we're going to move on to board discussion. Um the the biggest item we're going to talk about this today is just the update of where we are with the legislative candidate questionnaire. What I did after the last board meeting
004is take the feedback given. I did remove um the question that Pete had brought up. I reworked and tried to add questions in around um the topics that you had mentioned Alma which you had actually previously mentioned at a different meeting and also the last question um that Briea had I'm sorry question number 11 about protecting right to public education. Um Besa is still working on wording. she would like a opportunity to work on wording around that particular question. But those are the changes I've made and then sent those back out to the board. I think this process is a work in process as we've been working through what these questions are trying to get at. The other layer here is I was able to have a discussion with um Chair Pendosa from the Hillsboro
005School District board about potentially partnering on using these questions um after the primary for our boards to be able to work together and build conversation around educational issues. And she was going to bring that to her board um kind of bring our questions understanding this was just a draft to her board to see if they were in agreement. she was pretty excited about the idea of collaborating and moving that forward as well, but that would be that would be looking a little bit ahead. But this gives also um maybe Hillsboro School Board a chance to weigh in on if this is an initial group of questions that we're working with, you know, how is this working? How do we want to use it? So, that's a synopsis of where we are today. I think what
006I'm looking for for from the board today is where we want to move forward with this. Um, and a couple suggestions I had put out were to just use this as a personal guide for each of us when we are in those conversations. A second option would be collectively as a board to think about sending some or all of these questions to candidates um and inviting them to answer. Uh, and then other options that we might want to consider. So, I'm I would open it up to Kate and Alma. I have heard a little bit. Um, Pete did give me some feedback, but what you think um what what you would like to see us do going forward at this point with this particular set of questions? >> Well, I I like the questions. I
007I think it's I think it's very good. Um I think the two options are are good to to pursue. And then um this morning at the community engagement for the budget um the people that I was at the table and I share this with Suzanne is that they wanted the questions um you know they said we would really like to have these questions and and I said well we're we're still formulating them but um perhaps we could put them on the um the website you know um I think Suzanne you said maybe under board under you know board um information page uh because all of the people at my table, there was five of them, they all wanted these questions um and they understand that um they were learning about unfunded mandates and how it
008affects school districts um when we have all these mandates and we don't have the money to reach out to do things that they really supported. you know, school safety and um afterchool activities were two really strong areas at my table. So, I would suggest that maybe somehow we communicate that to the the community at large so that they can engage the candidates also. >> Yeah. So, I you just to piggyback on what Kate's uh just shared, I I agree with you on that. also in different uh table settings I guess that I've been in and uh leadership so like the chamber and the Cornelius economic uh commissioners and all that I think sharing having a link somewhere to it would be great that way we can refer over to it and have everybody in the
009community who is also affected by any changes um you know that happen towards uh to the school or even small businesses or housing you know it involves the entire community so having a link to it I think would be would be really good. Uh but I think to your question Christie um I think we should do both. I think we can have it for us to you know be able to chat with with those in front of us. Uh however also send sending them in and and requesting um some answers if if possible. >> Okay. I Yeah, there's a couple ones on there. Um I'd asked Dr. West at some point if she would be willing to just take a peek at these questions and see if it it aligns with what really our strategic
010plan is. We want to make sure the questions we're asking are as a board are getting answers that we need as a district. Um and so there's a couple like in number two when we do talk about Kate that's your unfunded mandates. I am curious about if we think about putting an example or shifting a couple of those questions to be more specific. And again, I would ask Dr. West in collaboration with the superintendent group to make sure that a question we're asking of legislative candidates could be useful to, you know, more than just us as a district. Um, and I think the other thing we heard from chairs, and I think this will come out as we get answers to the questions. When I brought this to the chairs, they really wanted to see
011if we can get questions that won't result in an AI generated answer in a politician's answer, right? They're I think people are trying to get at how people really want to do the job and bringing actual information and answers to those questions so that we can have a continued dialogue. So, I think as we engage with these, we'll we'll get a feel for which of these got at that and which of those maybe can be adjusted. Um, I did think there's support from Pete as well to send the questions as a board. I'll make I want to make sure that I check in with Briea um and then kind of finesse a few of these before we get to where we think we might be able to do that. Does that sound reasonable to everybody?
012>> Yeah, that that sounds reasonable. Um, somehow you could look at these questions and say, give me a personal experience. Um, I mean, some people are running for the very first time, but other people have been in legislation. And so you know it can be AI generated but if you ask for a specific example um >> I think I think that might help. >> Yeah I think most of them already we have adjusted to be able to do that Kate. So in many in many of them they do ask for >> examples and also to your point for people that haven't been in the legislative office just examples of how they either might do it or from their previous work you know where they've been able to show collaboration or communication or what have you.
013Um, okay. So, I think I think that's gives me enough uh to move forward from here on this. My I'm imagining we would I can talk to Bethany about maybe having Bethany send that on behalf of the board when we're ready. Um, and then invite responses back to the board. I think we can talk maybe at I we can talk further about if those are responses that we talk about as a board that we would like to post responses or we when we send those questions out to legislators we let them know like the the responses you send back I mean those will be public responses via email but whether or not we want to just again under board resources post those answers for people are there thoughts on that. >> Well, I I wouldn't
014be against it as long as they're aware that that's what we're going to do. Uh um or that's what we would like to do, but I don't think we should post them unless, you know, they're okay with that. >> Is there a policy behind this um posting the answers or questions or anything like that? I guess we should have started there. >> Well, that's true. I mean, I probably not. My guess would be that this maybe would be something to consider once we my gut feeling is we send them out as a board on behalf of the board to all the candidates and we welcome their responses and then just as a board we individually take those responses and use those. I think that's the next part of our agenda here is we're kind of
015building out this process about what would this look like. I think there'd be more questions to ask before we even did consider posting where we want to make sure we get responses for everybody or everybody's had a chance to do that. They all understand that their responses, you know, would be linked. Um, and then there's sort of a gray area of I mean, we're the first board to really move this forward as a board and we need to be really careful that we're not that we're keeping that separate from work of the district. So, >> um, Suzanne, do you have any thoughts on that from your perspective as a superintendent on how that might work? >> Well, there were a few ideas thrown out, so I'm going to um try to parse through a couple
016of them. I think you're right, Christie, there's no policy around posting responses to questions sent to a politician. So that um is a discussion for the board and a decision to make about whether or how you want to engage in that process. Um we certainly could post it on the website under a school board either a tab or a link or some manner. Um in terms of how the board engages in that and how you go about sharing those questions, lots of ways you can go about it. again, the board reaching a consensus, it might be easier to navigate what I think the board is trying to accomplish. Um, and that way you're all functioning in the same way as you go about this work. Um I do want to call back to what U
017director Ganduski said in that um for our politicians I think there is an expectation that anything they say can be posted but in the um interest of good relationships to let them know that ahead of time might be important. Um, and then I believe there was a third topic that was also discussed and I may have missed the question for that or did I capture everything? I think that captures it. I think um I think there's some value. Again, we're kind of our next item is sort of like what does this in if it's eventually the endgame could be an endorsement and anywhere in between on that continuum, what does that type of process entail? And I think we're sort of working through it in real time. I the value I think of us at
018least posting the questions and highlighting those for our district community is that they can see these are the questions your board is asking and expecting. And to your point, Kate, it also I found the same thing at the Dilly. Um I went to the budget meeting there and there were a couple parents that kind of were learning for the first time like how we think about the budget and it was really cool. I mean they were like, "Oh, we did not really think of it in this way." So, I think one of the things these questions could do as well is just let people know these are some of the things we're wrestling with and maybe gives an opportunity for people in the community to see specific answers that they might not have access to.
019Um, I mean, there's a lot of value in that, but I think we could talk about that next step with the entire board. For right now, what I'm hearing is if I check in with Brieesa, we might have consensus to go ahead and send these questions out to the candidates. Um, I think I'm capturing that correctly. >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. Okay. So, let's and let's move on. Um, again, this is a discussion I think we should probably hold when everybody's present, but just to get the two of you thinking about bu this process as we're going through it right now and eventually what it could look like. I think I layered in this um conversation with Evette from Hillsboro as part of a maybe how do we think regionally about how we present
020questions and take information and then what boards decide to do with that. I think it's pretty nuanced on every board. But I do think there's interest in the boards in the region in working towards uplifting this process. for our board. I would think this first step is getting the information back and then as a board maybe having a chance to talk about what information we received and sort of just highlighting where that aligns with our goals as a district. Um, and then I don't know I I'm I'm And then that is part of the process maybe is just having the board itself decide well there's clearly this is for the primary. This is the level we want to do. We want to elevate the conversation. We want to surface the information and then as a
021board at the primary we maybe decide okay now we have candidates we know for sure. Do we want to take a look at these again and as a board think about an endorsement? And that could be anywhere from yes as a board to no none at all and individually which some some people have already done endorsed. But I don't think this we've gone through a process as a board to define what that looks like. Um do you either of you have initial thoughts on that? I I think that it's a a five member board discussion. Um you know, and I I think that um we can have a discussion, but um we really have to wait to see who's in the primary. Um and you know, and I think that every year or every time
022there might be different candidates and sometimes the board might say, "Yes, we're all in agreement." And sometimes not. But um I don't know. I I have a little hesitant about the board the whole board endorsing a candidate. Um I I just have a hesitate I I'd rather I would prefer individuals doing that. Um I don't know. I I I'd have to hear what other people's thoughts are on this one. >> I agree. I think I'm I'm leaning more towards the individual as well, but I think once we have everything in front of us and we discuss as a unit, then we move from there. >> Okay. So, I think I'll take that and then again I can check in with Pete and Besa. I do feel like there I've based on what I've heard it
023feels like the consensus would be at the very end of an endorsement process the entire board at least our board would want to have full consensus if that was decided but that all things in between could also be on the table so there's really no we have to do any of these things this is just part of options that we are going to create for us and this might change as we go like you said Kate this might be where this is what we do prior to the primary and then after the primary we have a second discussion about do we want to go further. Um so I'll check in with with uh Pete and Briea and then maybe we will just revisit once we have we have some responses back from potential candidates for
024the primary. >> Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. You know, a thing that to think about though is um before we go on, I mean to include in our discussion is that if our board endorsed a candidate and that candidate didn't get elect got elected, let me see, let me start over again. If the board elected a candidate and then um and the other candidate won, you know, would that have bad feeling towards Forest Grove and towards our board? Do you understand what I'm saying? >> Yeah. No, I think it's a good point. I think it's opening up that's this all of these discussions I think are really good because it's opening up this idea of how do you build relationships towards building legislation, but how do you also, you know, be clear about our values and
025our plans and what we need. And I think it's a great point, Kate. I think this is all part of the discussion that will come up and >> they're all things that need to be considered. Yeah, I I think these questions are good for our upline to to see also and understand uh where we're coming from as a district as well. I think it's more informationational also for them. It's, you know, this is kind of what is important to us here uh versus really picking any sides. It's just sharing with them where where we stand uh at the district or what we need, I guess. Okay. >> Yeah. I I I I do think that the questions get at the heart of, you know, we want their support and them to to connect with the
026district. But um and this is another side is I really wish that um we would go back to another era where how and who you vote for is private. Um because this way of putting putting um I mean there's two sides to this but say taking a side um you know it may not affect the the legislator one way or another but politically what does that do in our community you know for example if it's you know an ultraconervative or someone of color or something I I mean I just I the the goal is to have uh communication and not divide us but to unite us. So that's my perspective about voting, you know. Um okay. So I'm that's all I'm going to say. I hope you get my idea. >> No, I like I
027said, I think there's value in this discussion, this exact discussion. And I think >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, I think we just continue to talk about those pieces and then build as we go and adjust as we go. Like you said, Alma, this >> these questions provide us information and maybe that's enough and then we work as a board to try to engage the community through the budget discussions. I mean, there's a lot of different ways we're doing this that are getting at the same thing, building building information so we can all understand and work together and support each other. So, um I appreciate those comments. Um, can we move on to the last one briefly? >> Yes, please. >> Okay. Okay. So, the last one really is something we need to talk about together,
028but I did email the board um a copy of the results from our board self assessment, which I think we're pretty we're pretty spot-on and we'll talk about it when Pete and Briea are here. That's in a separate email. There's just you can um I did the summary graphs, but it highlights a couple of the areas that we all tended to identify and I think there's just discussion we could have together around why was that the one we all scored low and what are the things we need to do collectively as a board to come back to that survey in six months and hopefully see some improvement. I think some of the things identified in there especially about the information are and it was mentioned is just new board members and even you know I'm
029still learning just all of us learning more about the district and having information I think will help some of that but I appreciated the board being pretty honest there I think it's the first time we've been able to look at how we're operating um so take a look at that and again when Briea and Pete are with us um maybe it's the last meeting in April Bethany I think where we have that board discussion time that's we'll probably revisit that that and we'll probably have chance by then to have um answers back from these questions. So any any comments about that if you've had a chance to take a look at or is there anything you'd like to say about that? >> Uh I I did look at it and um this is the first
030time since I've been on the board that we've ever done this so I I think it's good. I I think it was really insightful. So good, good, good. >> Okay. Okay. Um, the only other I just had one other good of the order. I know that's not on the agenda, but we have time. So good of the order, just an FYI, is that I have extended an invite to both Senator Sman and Rep. Mlan to join us for the April 14th budget meeting in the audience and just let them know that was happening and um if they'd like to come and watch that and see part of our process. So, I just wanted to put that out there and let everybody know. Um, and I think that's everything and our thoughts are with Pete at
031Truax. He has said it's fine to share, but I think he's, you know, needing some thoughts and support, which he's getting from our community right now for his family. And so, I I still think he is actually at WA today representing the board at that meeting. Um, so thanks to the board for that. And anything else before we adjourn? Okay. Okay. I think being there no further business, this meeting is adjourned at 12:27 p.m. Thank you. Thank you Bethany too.