001like to call to order the January 13, 2026 Forceville School District Board of Directors meeting at 5:33 p.m. We'll start with a roll call of board members present. Resa Franco preski >> here. Pete Trux >> here. >> Maya Andrade here. >> Christy Ky is here. And Alma Lozano is excused for tonight. like to ask us all to rise for the flag. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> All right. I'm looking for approval or amendment to tonight's agenda. Madame Chair, I move to approve with the following amendment tonight's agenda. I would like to add a spot for brief presentation and by and a heartfelt thank you to Viking Cafe. >> Been
002moved. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> All right, we will take a moment. I'm going to introduce Jill Hurdle and members of the bike cafe. If you guys would mind using the mic to just introduce yourselves and we we would really like to thank each one of you as a school board in addition to the services from Viking Cafe members and their parents who have supported as well on schoolboard appreciation week. You can see up here we have these wonderful posters uh handmade by students and I think there's going to be more on that later but especially taking the time um for those of you students who came tonight to serve us some coffee and present us with an amazing Viking cafe mug that was
003designed um and Jill will talk about this a little bit by a student and take it away Jill. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much for letting us come and we appreciate the school board so much for their support of inclusion. The mugs that we presented tonight were designed by a student and um we're just so grateful for all the talents and creativity that is allowed through inclusion. So, but it it wouldn't be possible I'm just a teacher. The students are the ones that make it happen every day. So, I'd like to pass it over to Brillin to say a quick thank you. Thank you, Jill. That was very well said. We just want to extend our heartfelt thank you to you guys, the school board, for all that you do for us. A lot
004of our classes at the high school that promote inclusion would not be possible without your dedication and your efforts. So, we really really appreciate you and all of your work to help support us to make inclusion happen within the high school. Going off of that, we just want to share a little bit about why inclusion is important to us. But just to go down the line and even share one thing that inclusion has impacted us and how it's changing Forest Grove High School for the better. For me, inclusion has allowed me to make so many new diverse connections and allow me to gain a bunch of different diver different perspectives that I would have never had before. >> Mine is going to a lot of games. My favorite part about inclusion is that it allows
005us to see everybody's unique perspective and hear from many different viewpoints about what they think and what they value. My favorite is keeping score for the unified basketball games. >> Make them All right. Well, thank you again so much. We really appreciate your support and um thank you for letting us come tonight. And anybody else that needs to come out here? >> I think we'll end with a school board. Cheers to the Viking Cafe. Cheers to you >> and thank you again for your time tonight and starting us off on a positive note. >> And each one of these have something interesting to say on them. Really? >> Yes. one of our her students um loves to volunteer and so she takes a a whole box and she does that um and then brings it
006back to us and gets a new box. So they're they're just wonderful. >> She does a wonderful job. Madison vegan. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you everybody. Thank you so much. Anybody else? >> All right. I think we're going to move on to student representative report with Maya. you guys can hear me. Good afternoon everybody. Um I hope we all had a restful break and a great start to the new year. Um January marks our final month before the end of the semester and across campus students are fully immersed and wrapping up their classes and making sure they're wrapped up with great grades. Many of them are preparing their finals completing some projects and working hard to finish some material on a strong note. Um earlier this this month Dr. otherwise
007have the opportunity of deep students, discuss future plans for our school and review the areas of improvements. Uh the students who participated would like to extend their gratitude to you Dr. West for allowing us to uh have a space where we can really express what we feel. Um a lot of them are really uh they appreciate you a lot for taking the time to listen to their concerns and reaffirming the strong support system that exists within our district. Um following that meeting, our ASB and MIA, which are both major leadership positions in our school, have decided to take some of um the notes that we at the meeting and kind of um receive more student feedback and begin collaborating um ways to build our school um stronger and also improve that spirit. We were talking
008about we're currently working on plans for renewals and hallway revenue improvement projects to help bring back the sense of school spirit and that energy that we have missed. >> Yeah. Alongside this work, uh students um mental health has become a major area of focus for all of us. Um after reviewing results from a recent community surveys, it became clear that many students are seeking additional mental health resources and support. And so in response, ASB students are actively working on ways to expand access and create safe spaces within a school. One of these efforts include launching a studentless podcast that will share mental health resources while also allowing students to speak openly about their experiences. Uh we hope that this allows other students to not only reach out if they need help, but also know that
009we are um a group that just really wants to make the school a better place for all of us. Um the the goal is to feel to have students feel connected and reassuring that they're not alone. And a lot of these students are also planning small events like a cocoa exam to help those that are kind of stressed about cramming in for finals. Um, which I'm sure we some of us can relate to. Um, and they just kind of want to make a academic I guess community but you know make sure that you know that they're being supported as much as possible. Uh, finally Latinos in action is preparing to host it annual winter formal. This year our theme is a winter night in Paris and the dance will take place on February 14th. Students
010across all three L classes are working hard to plan and organize uh the event and they're asking for any donations from the community as it would be greatly. The last thing I want to highlight today is our club of the meeting. Uh today I want to focus on period club. Uh this is a very important club at the high school. It's a club that focuses on ending period poverty poverty excuse me throughout the school and the community. But on top of that, there are clubs that are extremely supportive to everybody else in the community. Anytime we need some sort of resources or some information, even donations, all of them are actively there to help. Uh they volunteer a lot and we're really really thankful for period club and just the amazing support that they uh
011hand everybody. Um we would also like to give a big shout out to Zoe Castro, the president, um and her team as they continue to support the understanding of female menration and raising gender stereotypes. a huge shout out for all they do. And that pretty much wraps up what we've been doing since spring. >> Thank you, Maya. So Maya, I really appreciate in addition to putting together her report for these meetings. We we asked that she if if it was in her capacity to highlight start highlighting the specific clubs at the high school in each meeting. And so I really appreciate her willingness to be receptive to that and working with our executive assistant Bethany Magnus to now provide I think a format to do that. Um but I love having the visual there and
012I think that gives everybody it gives us all an idea of the work that's being done >> and I'm working on some QR codes so that if you're interested or want to support it and also avail I know it's extra time and I really appreciate the time you already spend on top and so thank you so much. Um, for board reports tonight, I am going to start by acknowledging that our community is continuing to stand together to oppose ICE activities both statewide and nationwide. I believe there are many in our community who oppose the harm caused by unethical, violent, and lethal immigration enforcement behaviors. Thank you to those community members who rallied last weekend on the corners of 47 out by AIDS hardware to be a physical reminder of the injustices that continue to happen
013in our community regarding ICE. At last night's council meeting, Mercedes Mercedes Garcia provided public comment at the Forest Grove City Council meeting that thanked our local law enforcement, the local indivisible chapter, and the community for their continued support of protecting all in our community. There's so many people who are connected to someone directly who has been impacted. It's important to continue to share those stories and speak out against what is happening. Thank you to all the staff and community members who continue to coordinate safety watches, attend town halls, and care for our families and students, not only throughout the break, but every day. I wanted to highlight an upcoming town hall on January 30th at Pacific, which will feature attorney general Dan Rayfield. This was highlighted in all the newsletters from our local representatives R.
014Mlan and Senator Soulman. It was going to be moderated by Dr. West and it will be held at Pacific University. And for people that are feeling like they want to do more than what they're doing or just plug in where they can, continuing to come to show up to these events to be informed um is very helpful just for all of us to understand where we are and what we can do to support our students and our families. Last month, there's a few minutes I would like to highlight in schools. One was attending the Forest Grove High School girls wrestling match versus Century. It was really inspiring. Uh now the the lighting and just the the production of sports compared to when at least way back when I was in sports is so impressive at
015how our high schools do that. Um really ex really kind of fun to see how supportive and different ways that our coaching staff coach those kids in such a great way. I it was just really fun to watch that dynamic. What really like to watch the parents in the crowds who are filming, but mostly um the younger kids were there, especially the girls that could look down on that m and see strong women just proud to be doing what they're doing. So really loved all of those pieces. Uh, I wanted to thank Hillary Baratha who hosted a poetry slam for her classes right before break and invited the board in to see that and also had video of those for those of us who couldn't make it in. This is an opportunity to help students
016bolster their public speaking skills and confidence. Um there were many presentations that inspired I mean they all do because all these kids are getting up there and reading their poetry and but one in particular that resonated me was with me was a trio of young women who performed together a poem entitled I love my body. This highlighted all of the differences we see in our own bodies. And I just wanted to thank all of our teachers who continue to make learning challenging um for our students but also uh relevant and very self- affirming. And finally, the winter concert at Forest Grove High School included a song or two from the beginning high school band. And this is a new opportunity newish I believe where students in high school who have never had an opportunity to
017learn an instrument can take up or try a new instrument. And apparently the beginning band is about 18 students. Um but on that particular night only eight students were attending the concert. And so when the beginning band set up it was a very very small group. But what I really appreciated about um our band director and just the heart of our music program is the show must go on and he encouraged everybody in that audience to support these eight players who were just playing the most basic of songs and it was just a really fun thing to see and to watch. So appreciate all the efforts that went into that. And then on a local level, um the highlight of this month for us, I believe, was the legislative dinner which surpassed expected numbers. This
018is a event we put on each year in our region. It's pretty unique to our region. It brings together all the school boards and all of our legislators um and superintendent. We expected 55. We had almost 70 show up. We had legislators, staff, CFOs. Thank you to Director Cl who came as well. Superintendents from every single district and board members from every one of our districts were there. Dr. West and Mike Scoffield uh presented an up-to-date information regarding the impact of legislative decisions, specifically pointing out to legislators that although in the press we see that the schools were given an additional um or we were funded at 11.3 billion for a new funding formula, what Mike from Beaverton was able to really break down is where that money has been allocated and that that additional
019money will not even cover operating costs with rising PERS impacts, recent bargaining, and other inflationary causes. And so we're we're trying to show our legislators that we are spending that money specifically um in ways that we're saying we're spending the money and we're also trying to show the impact of where we need to be able to have a certain amount of funds to be able to fund certain programs and and fund those in ways that we know they need to be completely successful. So starting to really get them to understand why more money doesn't equal more money. I don't it's difficult. It's a little bit difficult to explain, but I think I know I saw that true not doing a great job there communicating that. But after that, we were able to sit as a
020board with our representatives. we were sitting with Rhett Mlan and one of Senator Sullman's um aids and we were able to have a conversation not about particular bills but the whole uh the whole theme of those table conversations was how can board members work directly with legislators and superintendents to make sure we're getting all on the same page and Senator Soulman was at the next table and I thought to me one of the most powerful moments was when she talked about um how she can text and reach out to our superintendent directly with questions about legislation, questions about policy and and we know that's a great model for other school boards to be able to want to do where we can have that direct communication that's timely that leads us to make better development and
021better legislation. So, um that was the feedback so far that we've received as a regional planning team for that has been overwhelmingly positive. legislators have felt like they got information about school budgets that they they normally wouldn't have access to and we encouraged them to reach out again directly to our CFOs with continued questions. So, we really feel like we've built a stronger um a stronger relationship at that very meeting to be able to move forward together in our communication. I want to open up just for a minute to other directors specifically about your thoughts and feedback. we were all able to attend that evening and um and open it up to other pieces of feedback that you have. >> I thought it was a great opportunity. I mean, it was my first one there,
022so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but just to know that you expected 50 and we had 70 individuals there. Um, it felt really good. It felt really powerful to know that all of these individuals who are representing their communities were connected for one goal which was to promote success in our districts. Um and so that was something very powerful to be a part of and very grateful. Um I thought that Dr. West and uh Mike Snowfield did an excellent job in really breaking down the costs and and helping the legislators understand that each of the school districts may have different issues, but we're still all suffering with the deficit spending and um and that was really loud and clear. The presentation was excellent. So, thank you. Couple of things that I
023that stuck with me. One is that was the first time I had seen Mr. Scoffield used to be uh here in Forest Grove and that was the first time I had seen him since he left. And it was uh I was reminded that he and the then superintendent Jack Muser and system superintendent Dave Willard have a picture somewhere in the archives here in this office or in the district of them wearing wrestling singlets and uh that is not a pleasant sight to look at. still I think for a number of number of dollars you probably get from Mr. Scopio Muster Willard to not ever let that picture see the light of day. But on a more serious note, it was pleasant to to uh have Mike explain some of the some of the items that
024we are dealing with as far as uh the amount of money that is uh derived from our state income taxes and goes into the general fund. Um it's an involved process. Um, I am most appreciative of Miss Flute. I do not want her job. Um, it is a tough tough thing to do, especially when the forecast comes back and the legislature says we're cutting x amount of dollars. Uh, how you do it is up to you, but these are some of the limitations. Um, I do want to make one other comment about something that just drives me absolutely up the wall. And it did that when it also did that when I was a when I was in uh civic service over at city hall. The everp popular unfunded mandate is something that the legislature
025has to understand is not a workable item. will lead us over the cliff if we do not pay attention. If the legislature does say, "Here, you take care of it." Reminds me of the sheriff, the mayor in Carter country who says, "Handle it. Handle it." Uh, that's and I showed my age on that one. But the point that I'm getting at is that if the legislature is going to be holding the purse strings, legislature hasn't been part of the conversation and part of the solution. And there are days where frankly the legislature is not part of the solution. legislature is in my opinion adding to the problem and we need to have a a heart-to-heart and I'm not the first person to say this and I won't be the last but we can continue to
026keep the heat on legislature may get the idea sooner or later that education is probably not probably education is the most important thing this state But those kids in those classrooms are our future. And if we don't get that, then all the other work we do on economic development of infrastructure and all of those things aren't going to mean as much if we don't have an educated society coming up. And that's that's our job. uh who work with those kids in the legislaturator's job is to make our job a little bit easier. I've talked way too long. I apologize. >> No, sir. I would I would I I would concur with all that you said there. I've said it here before when we've talked about this. The question we or I continue to ask our
027legislators and and our board of education and our Oregon Department of Education is who is setting the vision for what Oregon education is going to look like? And those questions are still being asked and there's there's just not clarity. I did I was disappointed to see in Governor Cotek's progress report that came out. Um, I had to look on the first page to see where education was mentioned and then I had to link to a second page where education was mentioned and the one piece that was highlighted was that the cell phone bill um was the piece of legislation that is going to affect student outcomes. And there's work we need to do as school board members to continue to have conversations with our legislators and the governor about and again this is this is
028me but I I do think I've heard this echoed in all kinds of different boards across the state um politics aside conversations about like the our I keep saying Mayor Truax I know you're I mean just a habit but um that director Truax said that we need that needs to be a priority and discussion and the the questions need to be where are we headed. So I think our board will continue to bring that message forward and hope for legislators to carry that forward as well. I I just wanted to add something is um the response I was still on my legislative dinner and it it said to me that the board members the superintendent everybody there really understands how serious this is and I think there's a momentum there and I really think there's
029only so many uh legislators here in our Washington somehow we need to go down to the Salem and for a day educators across the state and explain to them, you know, exactly the finances like what um um Mrs. has done with our business manager so that they can really see the numbers and then in the afternoon we have a discussion about you know these are our priorities but what's happening we we have a momentum now and what's happening is what is happening in southern Oregon what's happening in eastern Oregon and those legislators don't know I know our issues are are different I mean Washington County has a very high number of um ICE in this community which is a big issue. Um where it may be in southeast or southwest Oregon does not. So I
030think I would like to really see somehow we get and go to Salem because it's not just Washington County, it's the whole state and some of the issues are the same, you know, special ed, you know, and we're all um deficit spending. So I know it's a short session, but boy, I would like us to see us go down. I've been I know we're going to continue to talk as a board about our engagement. Legislative priorities are on our agenda. Um I will ask Dr. West her thoughts about that night as well and then probably like segue into your superintendent report. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> So thank you for all those comments regarding the legislative dinner. It was very productive from my seat. Similar to what you stressed, I heard nothing but
031positive feedback from superintendent, board directors, from legislators who have attended many of these events. Lot of positive feedback. So, I think there's some energy around this event and specifically some energy around the conversation for how we might do things a little bit differently going forward. Um, we shouldn't expect that we will always agree, but we should expect that we can have conversation and we can express disagreements openly and respectfully. And what I have learned through this process of working to organize these events is that there are many of us who don't even have the conversation to start um the dialogue around what is important to the school district, what is important to a legislator, how do we come to some dominat So, I'm really excited to see that move forward. Um, and I will jump
032into my comments, you know. Um, thank you for that. I actually want to take us to the enrollment report which should pop up if we advance there. There we are. Um, so this is a report that is shared with school board every month. It's in the board packet. It's brought to the first board meeting each month. There are two graphics that I'm going to walk us through here. It's familiar to most people on the board, but I want to spend just a minute here orienting to those who may not be familiar. This shows us average class size for kindergarten and then grade bands 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and then high school. You'll note that the weighted average class size applies only to our secondary schools and that's because there's a prep
033period at those levels. So we take that into consideration in the calculations. The next column, series of columns are what we budgeted. And then you can see in the final column there on the right hand side, that's the variance between the number of students that we actually have enrolled at the time this report was generated and what we budgeted. As a district, we are currently 78 students below our budget. If you recall, for those of us who were here last year, we ended the year somewhere around 130 140 students below our budget. Now, the state of Oregon smooths enrollment in the funding formula. And what that means is that over the course of a two-year period, they choose to higher at the two enrollment number so that the district doesn't get slammed with a significant
034reduction in a particular bianium. That said, we've seen declining enrollment for a while now. So, this negative enrollment number combined with what we saw last year is projected to result in about $1.5 million less than we have been perceiving. So that is on top of the already structural deficit that exists between what school districts like ours are allocated and what it actually costs us to conduct business. If you go to the second slide, thank you Enrique. Um this is similar information but it's broken down a little bit differently. So this breaks down by school rather than by grade band but we still have actual budget variance. And then in the last right hand columns there it's also broken down in the different categories that exist within our schools their stack. So class size based on
035instruction but then you can also see the instructional arts you see office support and it gives you some idea of how many adults we have in the system and how many students. Um, if you look down at the very bottom where it says total students per FTE and grades K6, we have seven students for every 1.0 FTE in our system. Grades 7, 8, we have nine, 9, 12, we have 11. And then overall, we have eight. We will not be able to sustain that with the projected budget reductions that we have in front of us. Just briefly, in addition to the enrollment um reductions that we're seeing, state is forecasting that we'll see a mid bienium reduction of some sort. Um as a reminder, the state is forecasting a $600 million shortfall. That may change
036based on the next revenue forecast for the state, but that's what we're using as our planning principle right now. In addition to that, the federal government is forecasting either a reduction or complete elimination of federal grants and that will certainly have an impact on us as well. So, we're monitoring this very closely. We do not want to reduce staff and staff is our greatest expense. So, we'll keep the board informed. We'll keep the community informed as we start to move into our budgeting process. that's going to kick off very pretty soon. Um, and then we'll get into the details. Any questions before I move off of this? >> Yes. >> Why is the number and Joseph Gale 56? I mean, that's a high number. Is it 56? [clears throat] >> Yeah. >> The number of
037students Yeah. >> below projection. >> Yeah. >> I would need to dig into that to give you the exact answer. I can tell you what is affecting our enrollment. It's also affecting our attendance this year. Immigration is certainly having an impact on enrollment. Um, for Joseph Gale, they're at about 70% Latino population. And I'm looking out in the audience to make sure. Okay. 70% Latino population at Joseph Gale. Um, and we have a couple of other schools that are even higher than that within our district. And the immigration enforcement that's taking place in that area is having an impact. Beyond that, I would need to dig into the actual data to tell you why we have that imbalance. Other questions? Couple more things and then we leave office. Um, I want to go back to
038what Maya said about visiting with the high school students. Um, that was a joy. It was the second day back from winter break and it was an absolute pleasure to sit and visit with you and your peers at the high school. Um, one of the things that I wanted to highlight, there's a lot that we can point to that's happening in our community, in our country, um, that is hard. It's frustrating. I've heard people use words like fear and despair. After that conversation with the high school students, I left with a lot of hope. Um there are some hard things that we are navigating right now. You and your classmates are going to take care of that. I have no doubt about that. Um so thank you for spending the time with me that morning.
039It was it was incredible. And I want you to know that we took really good notes. Um I shared back with the high school students what I had heard and I thought, well, I don't want to come in here with that big long list. So I summarized I think what I heard and you can tell me Maya if I'm close to this. The big idea that I walked away with is that students come to school when they feel safe connected and they're engaged in something that really matters to them. When school feels rigid or boring or disconnected from the lives of students they stay away. And the themes that um really stuck out for me are belonging, engagement, and meaning. And that that is where we need to focus our effort. But I do. >>
040That was okay. [laughter] Great. Um couple of other school highlights. I was able to visit Cornelius Elementary School and visit with our prek staff there. I think if you look at the slide there. So I these are a delight. So, these are emotion monsters. Um, I had to take a picture of these because, um, it was a really good reminder for me, and I think it's a good reminder for those of us who don't spend every day with four-year-olds, that emotions need to be explicitly taught. And one of the things that is taking place in our schools where there are preschools and very young students like kindergarten or first graders, our educators and support staff are spending time with students helping them identify and name what they are feeling and then also having conversations around
041what do you do with that? So if you are feeling sad like the blue monster up there with the frowny face, what do you do with that sadness? How do you regulate that? And that is so critical to the development of these very young students both in their academic progression through our system but also for the adult life that they will eventually step into once they graduate from high school. So, I wanted to highlight this because there's certainly academics going on and we can't have academics if we're not teaching alongside that the really important pro-social and emotional literacy skills that we all need. And then the last highlight that I want to bring up from school perspective, I stopped by Tali Plains High School um earlier in the week. Well, I guess that would interesting.
042[laughter] >> Yeah. So I I stopped by to Plains High School and uh Stephen Bernard who is one of the teachers there who does some really creative and fun things. He had invited several community members in to do some mock interviews. So Russ Peters, Howard Sullivan, and John Shrag who have volunteers in our schools for a long long period of time. They are there meeting with students and working students through some mock interview questions. And these are young people just about ready to graduate. They're going to move into whether it be college, trade school or a career. These are the kind of skills that are going to help them step into that next chapter of their life. But I I I wanted to highlight how critical it is that we have these volunteers in our
043schools and the important work that they do. Our educators have a lot on their plates. Our support staff handle a lot. And so to have volunteers come in and fill some of those gaps and bring some of their expertise. These are all community members who have hired and been in the workforce a long time. They know how to coach and mentor our young people so that they can find the job so that they're people out of high school. So I encourage anyone who's watching, if you want to get involved in our schools, call our schools, talk to the office staff, talk to the principles. We we have volunteer opportunities available. So with that, we'll turn it back to you, Chair. >> All right, we do not have a presentation from Forest Grove Education Association tonight,
044but I'm going to move on to unscheduled public appearance. We do have one. I will um say that the board appreciates community members sharing information during public comments. Public comments can be made in person or through Zoom by submitting the designated form on the web page. Public comments will be limited to three minutes as is the protocol for board meetings. Board members will not comment or respond to questions. Public criticism or complaints about school district personnel are not allowed. And I'll look to that. >> Brian Shio, >> you can right up here. >> Welcome Brian. >> If you could state your name and address his name >> and importance. Uh good evening board of directors and Dr. West. Uh it's a privilege to to be here. Um >> uh not here as a parent any
045longer since my adult kids have already journeyed through the school district. Um, but I am here as a lonesome city councelor uh actually in uh to return the favor for uh Chair Kaki's uh continued uh participation in our our city council. So, thank you chair. Uh I the the the timeliness of being here is that just last night we we we took two measures regarding immigration. We we passed a resolution to extend our state of emergency uh due to the impacts of immigration enforcement uh through the balance of 2026. Uh we also passed an ordinance that codifies sanctuary city and to our our city charter. Um, and I think where where it's relevant to the the board is uh we put a on the resolution to extend the the emergency, we put a pin on
046additional funds or new measures uh until we have a work session and two weeks uh to discuss as a council what provisions we want to extend or what additional money we want to put forward and for what eligible [clears throat] purposes. So what I want to encourage is u you know some consideration over what what provisions are relevant uh at [clears throat] this moment um for uh our our children and for the the schools to provide better public safety. Um and I have made an appeal uh Dr. West to have you invited to for the discussion. Um that's at the discretion of the of my colleagues. Um so if if there's at least something written prepared written that we could uh consider along with other uh civic leaders uh we welcome that. But uh I
047I find it you know essential that you know we're we're making every attempt to restore public safety, curb the loss of life. Um we understand that there are continues to be inst instances that we want to to slow or reverse um but we understand it's you know things are escalating pretty rapidly. So uh I I certainly welcome your advice on on what we can do as a council. Thank you >> councelor. [clears throat] Uh we are on to consent agenda. The consent agenda is made up of routine non-controversial items to be yeah voted on under one motion. Are there any items within the consent agenda a board member or the superintendent wishes to discuss separately? Seeing none >> I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second discussion. All in favor say I. >>
048I. >> Opposed. All right. And we are on to our first presentation of the evening. The national board certification with Joseph Gale principal. Welcome. >> Do you want me up here? >> Yes, please. >> Hi. >> Come on up team. >> And [laughter] well, good evening. I have an amazing um opportunity to work with Miss Sans. And so this um so we're excited to share that uh Aaron Sans, a kindergarten teacher at Joseph Gale Elementary School, has earned a national board certification and early childhood uh literacy for reading and language arts. Uh the national board certification is the most respected professional credential in education. It represents a rigorous reflective reflective process that recognizes accomplishment accomplished teaching a and a deep commitment to student learning. Achieving the certification requires sustained analysis of practice evidence of impact
049and a strong focus on instructional uh excellence. with Aaron certification. Our Forest Grove School District now has five teachers who are naturally board certified um which helps strengthen the profession and elevate instructional practices across our schools and positively impact learning for all students districtwide. Um, I know our district remains committed to continuing uh continuing continuing its efforts for educators pursuing the national board certification, recognizing this work as a powerful investment in instructional excellence and an effective way to serve all students. We want to congratulate Aaron for this and for uh for this outstanding professional accomplishment. We do have a little award that we're going to hand her in a goodie bag that Miss Monica put together for her because she's amazing like that. So, here you go. Congratulations. And I know right now I have
050another teacher at Joseph Gil that's also working towards that and um super excited to be a part of this process. So, congratulations. Thank you. >> Congratulations. I did speak with Aaron before the meeting to ask if she would talk a little bit about the process and what it meant to her. This is such a rare um certification to have as an editor. I think you had met and would would you also introduce your so we've got Sienna Garrett who's our literacy specialist who is also nationally board certified and uh works at Joseph Gale and then Christina Mica who's her student success coach who is also a a Joseph Gail teacher back in her day and also naturally board certified. So Joseph Gil is the place to be if you want to go to that process.
051[laughter] Um you one of you had mentioned the percentage of teachers. Would you be able to share that Britley? >> Less than 3% of all teachers in the United States are nationally board certified and in our state we have less than 1%. In fact it's less than half of a percentage point of educators. So less than 300 educators in the state of Oregon um are nationally board certified. So with that, Erin, what could you talk about your motivation to go through this process and and what you what was challenging and what was maybe your biggest takeaway? >> Motivation was hearing about it from that one. >> Every year since I've known her, um then finally I just decided, okay, I'm going to do this. Um it was challenging. Uh there are four components to it.
052You're allowed three years to complete all four components. I jumped in and attempted all four components my first year trying last year. Um missed by just a few points. Uh so she talked me into keeping trying and my family back there, husband and daughter. Um they're like, "Let's keep trying." I redid one component this year and December 6th, [clears throat] actually it was December 5th, 9:00 at night, found out that I had scored high enough on that one component to get those last few points. Um, it's I always thought I was reflective and analytical until going through this process. And you have to get dive really deep into why you're doing what you're doing and what those choices were and then be able to explain it to other people. And it has really helped. I
053found myself this year, I go to Mara a lot saying, "Can we try this? can we try this? I think our students will benefit from it and just trying a lot of new things now because I went through that process. So, >> and I think that's one of the things that we hear about this certification is not only the challenge it is for the individual teacher, but the the gratitude as a board that we would feel because of the ripple effect of what you just talked about is how both of you and even teachers that are around you hearing about the process, how it changes how you think about things. Um, I'm really thankful on behalf of our board for all of your work towards that. Also, would you introduce your family? A big piece
054of having that support system for someone going into that work is is key. >> Yes, that's why I wanted them here. My husband Ben and then our daughter Natalie is in second grade. And >> Ben and Natalie, thank you for being you talk is there can you talk about a specific thing that's changed in your teaching practice that you've noticed because of it? I don't know. Now, this I didn't prep for, but [laughter] >> um I am finding myself paying a lot more attention what the students are doing and how they're responding to the different activities and lessons that I'm doing and how I can change it to improve it for them and make them more successful and gaining the skills and concepts that are being presented. So, it's just really paying more attention to
055the students and their outcomes than I was before. A lot more. >> Yes, of course. >> Yeah, I I understand that you want to take a picture and I think we should. But before that, Erin, I um I want to throw out there, this is an incredible accomplishment, and you should feel a lot of pride for what you've done. >> As has been mentioned already, I think there's tremendous benefit to our students and your colleagues for this. And I want to highlight the commitment to practice. It takes a great deal of effort and humility to step into a journey like this and to really work on the improvement of practice. And so I want to elevate that because I think you deserve a lot of credit for that. It's not an easy task to Dr.
056>> Yeah. Should we take a picture? I want to ask if there are any other questions or comments that board members have. portion. >> I think I'm just excited for your new found knowledge to be spread as it already has been. I think that's something I look forward to for yourself and for this. >> Thank you for going through all of that. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Yes. Thank you. I would I spent a few years in in the classroom here in the Forest Grove School District. I did not teach at the elementary level. I taught at middle school and high school. And I thought that was where the rubber met the road. Um, after I retired and was teaching student teachers at at Pacific, for some unknown reason, they decided to put me as an
057evaluator of an elementary student teacher in the elementary classrooms. And I went in and you guys, if you screw up, we can't fix it for middle school and high school. >> That's true. >> There is no way. You put the foundation together. You take that empty-headed kid, four, five, six, seven years old, and you throw the ability to read. You throw the ability to compute. You throw the ability to think rationally into the net that that child's brain. And then we get to sharpen it and hone it at the other level levels. But if you do if you don't do your job, we can't do ours. Oh, you are um and and don't tell my wife I said this, but you guys are the key the key to education. She seems to think that elementary
058teachers are great. like we would have dinner table conversation [laughter] >> and I I'd like to add that what you know the five people that have been certified um it just really shows the commitment in our community and how each one of you support the next person and our children our children really really benefit and the sense of community and colleagues talking to each other and sharing and you know building each other up um that's what makes sports grow so special. So, thank you. Thank you very much. >> Yeah, I'd actually like to add just yesterday in my education class, we learned all about this exam. Um literally I was shaking in my room without [laughter] certified journey and I cried in front of me for her. But those early that mention are extremely important.
059to seeing you take the time and just really show how much passion you have is something to be proud of. Um, and it's it's people like you that make me feel like relieved because my little sister is going into school soon and I know that she's going to have just passion like that. So really congratulations and something to be extremely proud of. And like P also mentioned um the kids are our teachers. So yes again congratulations. >> Thank you. You want to bring your family up? >> I think we should. >> Why don't we step over here? >> Stretch. >> I'll take the picture. That's >> Ben. Thank you. Let's put the board certified >> in the front. Yeah. And the family. >> Oh, what? >> Do we do a separate thing? >> Yeah. Bring
060the family in for the second. >> Okay. Never have another go. >> Well, what about >> I know, but I mean you take a picture. >> Okay, take a smoke break. Be a while. >> As a family and animals. One, two, three. Smile. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Massachusetts. All right, we are almost up to action items, but we do have a surprise item that's on the agenda. It's not a surprise of on the agenda, but a word appreciation. Um, I'm going to pass it to Dr. West. Great. Thank you. >> Yeah, it's it shouldn't be a surprise. It's January. Would you advance the slide, please? Thank you. Um, so I have a few remarks and then we have some gifts that I'd like to talk through. Before we get to those gifts,
061I I just want to stop and say thank you to start with because the work you do is volunteer work. You're not getting paid into this. It's a lot of hours. It's a lot of wrapping your heads around school district stuff. And for those of you who weren't teachers and maybe have worked in a school district, it's a lot vacant. Um, it's also a chance to recognize, I think, something that takes place typically quietly in the background. And that is the role of a school board to ensure that public education remains exactly that, that it remains public, that it's locally governed, and that it's focused on students. Um, and this is a board that understands that and advocates for that both at the local level but also at the state level. And I appreciate for
062this board in particular that that advocacy is in full. You are in our schools. You are talking to our community. You're talking to our students. You're talking to our staff. So when you are sharing what is taking place at Forest Road School District, you're talking from what you have actually seen and experienced and that is powerful. So tonight our students and our schools, they wanted to offer some tokens of appreciation. Um not just because they capture what you do, but also because every one of those gifts up there carry great gratitude. Um, and I think you saw that from the Viking Cafe and certainly by the heartfelt thanks that we'll send home with you here. I do want to make a special note that as we um look at your gifts here, the cutting boards,
063they were made by the cabinetry class, but these are very special cutting boards. Um, they were made from the walnut tree that was removed from school district property. Um, so that tree was salvaged and now being put to good use as a cutting board in your kitchens very soon. So, happy school board appreciation month and thank you for all you're doing. >> Thank you so much. Yeah, really excited about the personal gifts and the personal touch from the Viking family and thank you for the kind words and for the work as well, Bethany, that you did on this. All right, we are going to move on to action items. Number one is Sports Grove High School JB baseball field reconstruction with director Cloot. >> Good evening. Tonight we have the reconstruction of the Davy baseball
064field at Forsville High School. Right now it has some significant safety concerns with the holes and the drainage and it's not playable most of the year. Um, and so our goal is to make a to have a solid, safe, and playable surface by next August and utilize the summer months to reconstruct that. Um, Pacific Sports Turf utilizing the KCDA purchasing agreement provided us a quote for $65,925. And we are also truly grateful for our community partners who have also agreed to contribute to this renovation. Um, our goal is to get 40% community match and we're already at $21,000 between the Viking Booster Club for scrub B baseball and youth baseball. So, there's about 6,000 left, but we are almost there. The rest would be funded by bond interest questions. Um, I move to approve the
065Pacific Sports Turf to complete the Forest Grove High School JV baseball field repair for $65,925. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yeah, I would like to this community piece is is very important to me. I would hope that uh members of the board and I include myself in this would go to the various service organizations in this community. Um I am a member of the Daybreak Rotary Club and I'm one of the things I'm going to be doing is asking them to look into their foundation monies for uh an opportunity to be a part of this operation. When I was athletic director back in ancient history, one of my dreams was that someday we would get those fields lighted so that we would be able to play night baseball so that we would not miss
066as much time in school as we do for those athletics. And it that is again side the point. We're not going to be putting lights in on this in my understanding, but somewhere down the road, we might want to be looking at again that community partnership and that also as part of my increasing role as a member of the uh city's park and wreck committee commission because I was appointed by a new people. Um, I would hope that we could increase the partnership with the with the city for summer recreation programs utilizing those facilities on a year round basis. Uh, that would again benefit the entire community of Forest Grove. I'll shut up. >> Okay. Well stated. I'm going to do an all in favor say I vote. >> I >> opposed. All right. That
067motion passes and we are on to Forest Grove High School baseball out of state trip request with Dr. West. >> Yes, thank you. The Forest Grove High School B uh excuse me, baseball team has submitted an overnight trip request to compete in the spring break tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. This is an annual trip this year. The trip will take place between March 19th and March 23rd. The total cost of the event will be approximately $30,800 should maximum out-of- pocket expense to players of 600. The team is actively engaged in fundraising programs. Um so that amount will come down substantially and payment plan options are available to families if they cannot afford the cost of out of pocket. Questions? Motion to approve the Porsche Grove High School baseball's out of state trip request to Phoenix, Arizona
068from March 19th, 2026 through March 23rd, 2026. >> I'll second. Any discussion? >> Yes. Same thing on this one. Again, uh let the community organizations, let community know that this is an opportunity to benefit uh those those kids. Um, and to me, baseball is the greatest game in the world. I will get teeyed talking about it. So, do tell me to shut up on this one. But, uh, this is an opportunity again to let those kids experience not only baseball, but also another part of our country. Arizona is not exactly Oregon and getting the opportunity to see uh what this great land can offer uh I think is also a priceless opportunity and if you need to send a school board chaperon to this u I have a candidate in mind that's a that's a
069joke okay I'm not serious >> half a joke so >> you must he must really love baseball because the only other time I've seen a tear in his eye is when he accepted award at League of Oregon Cities and was talking about his amazing wife. So baseball amazing wife tears. [laughter] All right. Um other any other comments? Discuss. Were we on discussion? >> Yes. >> Yeah, we were. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> All right. Motion passes. >> And first read. We're on to first read. Uh, we do have one more. >> Oh, out of date request. >> You're right enough. >> It's DECA. Yeah. >> Sorry, DECA, if you're watching. >> Okay. So, Forest Grove High School DECA officers are requesting an overnight trip to the International DECA competition and conference.
070It's in Atlanta, Georgia this year, and it takes place from April 24th to April 29th. The total cost for the trip is $14,410. And currently students are responsible for $1,400 each. Um, so you mentioned fundraising and community support. This is a group that could use some of that as well. Um, they are actively fundraising, but they have a greater gap to cover than our baseball team right now. Um, so we'll monitor that and if there are community groups that you know that may want to contribute to that, we can connect them to the right people to make donations for this trip. >> Any questions? Madame Chair, I move to approve the Forest Grove High School DECA out of state trip request to Atlanta, Georgia from April 24th, 2026 through the 29th of April, 2026. >>
071Second. >> Any discussion? >> Yes. One question. How do we go about knowing what the fundraising events are like for any of these group fundraisers? >> Yeah, it's a great question. That is something that we can share with the board. We'll get that information from DECA in their case. It's a it's a club. Um for the athletics, we can get that information to you as well. We can talk to our athletic director and ask if they're share that with the board. >> All right. All in favor say I. I >> opposed and we're going to move on to legislative short session priorities with Dr. West. Yes, thank you. This is um being brought forward a second time for action as was shared last time. Um we did this last year with the long session where
072we identified several legislative priorities. This is a short session. It's much more rapid, more focused. Um and we presented here to the board um this draft so that during that very brief period of time that we have to work with our legislators we can be as effective of a condition as possible. So as a reminder two key areas of focus for us as a school board if school board approves this. The first is stable and adequate public education funding. There are several different categories there. one of which we've talked about tonight like no one led mandates please. And then the second category is relating to the accountability measures that have been a topic of conversation in the state for quite some time. And as we have discussed, there's nobody in a school district that is
073opposed to accountability. We just want the accountability to make sense. um especially given the unique context that every district ranks like ours where so many of our students are learning simultaneously in two languages. Comments on I know our board has had time to look at this as a draft. I also know one of our um board commitments this year was to advocacy work. Um, we just had that legislative dinner and I think we've talked before about potentially some kind of a work session where we really can take pending this passing and work together on what this is going to look like to operationalize for us and the order before discussion. A motion. Oh yes. >> I move to approve the 2026 legislative priorities as presented. >> Second. [clears throat] >> Any discussion? >> I have
074something. Thank you, Dr. Watson. I would say that this is the trend at these meetings like the last few things maybe in addition the cookie, the hot chocolate. I don't know. It's all adding to that. But thank you for your grace in that. Yes. So, I like this as it stands. I did share this with all board chairs. As I mentioned at the last meeting, our board chairs got together for the first time ever, and we're going to get together again on February 2nd. At that time, the first meeting, I did float a draft of this since it was public, um, two board chairs with the idea that eventually our region could land together on some similar talking points and a document. We're not quite there with that conversation with chairs, but I think really
075they all were not even in agreement of understanding that maybe that is where we're headed. What I really appreciate about this is the clarity and the simplicity and the talking points that were attached. What I would like to do or I need to do myself is have some practice and maybe that's in a work session with what that conversation looks like because I find that when I come to explain to people in the community or explaining a short blurb of what we're all about or even up here on the dis I still can't find my words to be succinct. Um I really appreciate Dr. West your work and again the numbers um director include thank you and the formatting to give us what we need um that's just personally what I feel like I need
076in addition to that defining as a board what are we going to do going forward between now and June what can we commit to what does that look like so those are my initial thoughts as far as this document I like the layout with the talking plat and let's I mean I'd like to hear other thoughts about whether we're on track with this or or do we need to be more specific, less specific, add something, take away, how are we doing? I think it's very good. I think it's concise, clear, it's not overwhelming. Um and I I think when you meet with the people in the other um board chairs their input also we could you know add or delete from this but I I think it's a good starting point. Director D. >> Thank
077you Madam Chair. I will second and follow up on what Director Granduski has given us. Um, it is crucial that school districts, school boards go to Salem with a unified message. There are certain basics that each kid in this state needs and it's our responsibility to deliver them. I get I understand that there are differences throughout the state. For example, there may be very urban high schools that for a variety of reasons may not um support and that's a lousy word um focus on uh such things as FFA because the m vast majority of their population may not be uh agriculturally Oregon, but here in Forest Grove and in many school districts in Eastern Oregon and and down in the valley, FFA is a crucial part. And those school districts have to unify and go
078down there and grab the legislators by the ears and shake them till they understand that that is a crucial part of education. And Dr. Wes talked about connected being connected to the schools and that's why kids go to school because they get connected sometimes they get connected through algebra sometimes they get connected through drama sometimes they get connected through uh following the janitor around and helping him or her and sometimes it's programs such as DECA such as FFA those are key programs for that particular student, that particular family, and to have somebody dismiss them such as what has happened with the Oregon Department of Education's uh look at what may happen to various programs across the state um in the event of budget cuts is is disconcerting and disappointing. And I would I would hope
079that this document, this two-page document that has been fashioned by uh Dr. West and her staff here would help us focus on things that state of Oregon needs to do. Um secure and stable funding. Um, there has to be a serious serious discussion in the legislature about that. They cannot kick that can down the road anymore. Um, special education. Uh we have students in this district and in every district in the state of Oregon that learn in different ways, not in the traditional way that I may have been exposed to when I was growing up or that I may have used when I was teaching. And those tools for those students need to be sharpened, need to be developed, and need to be delivered. Uh we we saw an example of that tonight. So those
080are and and we see other programs. Uh, two that stick in my mind um are Head Start, which I think is the single most important educational act of the 20th century and something that seems fairly minor. start making a reader today, which is a communitydriven program where people from the community come in and help students, help teachers, help students learn to read. And that program is on the chopping block and we look forward to that. That to me is impromissible. Um, but I just this document gives me hope. And if we can take this document and get other school districts, I won't say to march on Salem with torches, but to march on Salem with torches uh to get the idea that this is not a game. It never has been. And um the it's
081very serious right now and I again I've talked way too long and I apologize. >> There you go. >> Thank you director Tax. Other thoughts director Franco on I think it's a wellorganized document. I think that is a true reflection of not only what our district but what our students are. Um, and my director Truax stated, I am very hopeful and hopeful that other districts will also be in agreement. So where we're at >> I do think um one of the things we talked about at the bell meeting and chairs will also talk about is taking for instance the talking point so that when we're throwing out a number from Forest Grove but we also are prepared to share a number from banks and number from Gaston and we were able to start doing that
082last year and that's our local superintendent group really doing great collaboration with CFOs to create a conversation about those numbers but at the regional dinner that is what we heard from Rep. MLAN is we want to see we want you to put together these numbers and in all fairness we have put together the numbers and they've been here and we've been sharing those loud and clear. So I think we're on the right track for our advocacy. Um and with that it sounds like we're ready to maybe take a vote. Did we have a motion? All in favor say I. I >> I >> opposed. >> All right, motion passes. Thank you everybody. I think person is there. >> Do we need to talk about three? >> Uh if I Yes, please do. If I may,
083this is very quick. Um you take a look at the materials that have presented. These are the proposed services that our Northwest Regional ESC would like to offer as core services. school districts core services are those that are included within our plan for every single school district that the ESC supports and then there are pay for service programs as well and those are listed separately. So as you review the materials if you would like to talk through any of the services that the ESD is proposing please feel free to send me a message and I'd be happy to talk through that with you. All right. There being no further business this meeting as adjourned at 6:50. Put another [laughter] >> put another point. Turn is