001everyone and welcome to this regular meeting of the Tiger Talton School District Board of Directors. We met in a work session earlier um talking about our multil- language education and I would encourage anybody who missed it to uh go back and and watch the YouTube of it because it was an absolutely fascinating session. However, we'll now move to our regular meeting and so uh Mr. Superintendent, do we have any changes to the agenda tonight? >> Chair, there are no changes to the agenda. >> Okay. Then we have uh our consent agenda tonight consists of our uh August 25th work session and regular meeting minutes, our HR report, and our financial report. Chair would entertain a motion. >> I move to approve the agenda as presented. >> Second. It's been moved by Vice Chair Urban, seconded
002by Director Himeus, that we approve the agenda as presented. Is there any further discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, please say nay. >> Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Um, and just so everybody's aware, uh, Director Weston is online and hence the the lag on the, uh, on the the audio there, but we will make it work. Um, we'll now move on to the best part of the evening, which is our recognition and good news. There are an awful lot of people in the room in front of me, and I think they might have something to do with it. >> Lisa Burton, >> hello. >> Thanks so much for having us. >> Yeah. So, we have, you know, amazing students across our district,
003amazing athletes. And so, this evening, we are here to celebrate and congratulate um first our Twin High School. Um it's our your um competition. Yes. >> Cheer team and so I will let um coach um Cronis share a little bit about her team. >> Yeah. Hello everyone. Thanks so much for having us tonight. This is our co-ed team comprised of males and females. Some pretty incredible student athletes. Uh so this past season we had the honor of um representing our school and community at the OSAA state championships. Hello ladies. Come on in. And um for the second year in a row, we won. So we are now bringing home our 11th state title, if you can believe it, at Talatin High School, which is insane. Yes. Let's give them a round of applause. Number 11.
004Number 11. Uh we also were very fortunate that our administration allowed us to travel down to Anaheim, California to represent our state at the USA Spirit Nationals. And we won. Surprisingly, we beat out teams from California, Utah, Idaho. So, it was just the cherry on top cuz it literally happened right after our state weekend. We had like two days to practice and then we were on a plane to Anaheim. We were exhausted. We won. So, as you can see, they have two medals here today, their state medal and their nationals medal. And then we got home and cheered on our boys and girls in the state playoffs. So, that was so much fun. So, thank you so much for having us today. We appreciate it. comments or questions. >> U just congratulations. Thank you for
005everything that you do for uh your school and representing them uh and making us proud. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> I I have a question. Other than going to Disneyland, what was the best part of the competition? >> Who wants to answer? The best part of the competition >> besides going to Disneyland? >> Um, I would say seeing other teams. There was really some great competition we had and I loved seeing like the other teams and there was we got lucky enough to be able to go the same weekend as some college teams went to the same USA Spirit Nationals. So, my favorite part was also seeing all the incredible college teams. It was really fun. >> Anyone else? part of the competition. >> Well, congratulations. Welld deserved. Year three in a
006row. >> Uh, yeah. So, we've gone three times and every time we've gone, we've won. We weren't able to go last year because it happened the same weekend as our state championship, but we were able to go back this year. So, yeah, we've been pretty fortunate. >> Very cool. Very cool. Well, why don't you all come up and we'll get a picture? >> Yes, please. And then with us this evening from Tiger High is the Tiger Tigerettes who are the um state champions in for jazz competition. >> Yeah. Is there anything you'd like to share? >> I just we just want to say thank you for having us here. Um this team, this is just a small chunk of them, but um took third in 6A traditional and first in 6A jazz. So, we're really
007proud of the season they've had and thank you for allowing us to be here. >> They're so great. >> Oh, sorry. Again, just want to say how proud we are of of you guys. I know we have one of our board reps here. So, um, you know, we we couldn't be any prouder and thank you for making us proud. Thanks. >> Yeah, you you make us look good, which is really really helpful because I could no more do what you guys do than I could fly to the moon. I watched the YouTube of your performance and it was just amazing. It was so crisp and sharp and really neat to watch. So, >> well done. Congratulations. And did you want to add anything? >> It demonstrates a ton of hard work. So, congratulations and uh
008really impressed by your dedication. >> Yeah. Did you want to add anything? I was just going to say it was really great to see. There were just a ton of comments from the community and from their um the other teams that they competed against, which was pretty cool to see them congratulating them for their um for their win. So, yeah. All right. Well, thank you for being do a photo if you don't mind. Okay. So, I'm gonna go real slow so you've got time to settle in before it's time for your student representative report. as a member of that starstudded illustrious team. Congratulations. Okay, so tell us what's going on. >> Um, okay. >> My page isn't going to load, so I'll just like say it from what I have this week. Um, basically I
009think boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse have games today. And I know girls golf and boys golf also left school early to go to their um tournaments. And we also have lots of students that are completing applications for leadership chairs and um NHS officer which I myself applied to be NHS president so we'll see how that goes. And at FBLA state I know 20 of our members qualified for nationals so that is really special too. And um we have a stud that which is one of the clubs at our school and they presented in front of city hall about an event that's going on this Wednesday. And basically a bunch of students are just going to stand up and present about drugs and alcohol prevention and student experiences in front of and a panel of teachers
010and representatives are going to speak and the public can all attend that event. It's at Tiger High School in the comments at um I don't actually know what time, but it's in the evening, maybe at 6. And that's this Wednesday. And that's all I have. Thank you so much. Are there any questions for our student rep this evening? >> Okay, we'll move on then to student ex student superintendent. We'll we'll give you a promotion. Superintendent and board communication. >> Thank you so much. So, um I want to add to some of the upcoming events. So spring is here and so what that means for us is IB testing OSAS at the elementary school but it also brings a lot of fun events. So uh at the high school level we have a couple of um
011play plays in productions. We have James and the Giant Peach at Tiger and I always mispronounce this but Urissy was that even close? Um huh. Yep. And that will be at at Twalin as well. So it's good to see those programs thriving. We also have tons of activities that our student representative just shared. Um indoor and outdoor events, sporting events. So at the elementary school, uh there's several multicultural nights. We have a kinder kinder kickoffs are happening which is a program that helps orient our rising kinders to routines and get them excited about coming to school and just a lot of fun things happening. So, one thing that we started doing is providing our board with a um community a school events um document that helps you track what events are going on. So, take
012a look at those and see what's what's happening and and we look forward to seeing you out there at some of these events. Now, I want to shift things to our budget update. So, I'm going to share some details related to our new budget challenges that have surfaced since the last board meeting. So, at the last board meeting, I reported on a projected budget shortfall of $5.5 million, largely due to declining enrollment and escalating operation cost. During that report, we also shared an additional $1.2 million gap for this school year and a $1.7 million gap for next school year. And these were as a result of unexpected uh low reimbursement for highcost disability. So, we have some more unfortunate news. Um, just not too long ago, we uh OD released the first round of reconciliation
013for 2425. Um, and for TTSD, we u have to return $600,000. So, and that that has to go back to the state school fund. So, um this is the first time in five years that we've had to that we've had an unexpected uh negative um reimburse or negative uh balance that we owe to the state. And after all of this, what will happen is that um after financial variables, looking at the savings that we had, how everything shakes out, we have a gap of $7.2 million for the 2627 school year, right? And so this is really the result of a a serious systems issue at the state level. And this has to do with how finances are calculated and delivered. So right now our finances are dependent on how accurate estimates are over 197 district
014districts and those are based off of estimates from the state. So right now we have is if you can use an analogy around like taxes for instance 197 different districts that are in different spaces are kind of guessing what their taxes might be and what their tax return might be. And this is off of a guest from the state. Now, a system like that works when you when districts plural have a healthy um ending fund balance in reserve and when you don't have declining enrollment. But when margins are razor thin, then there's really the estimates don't work because there's very little margin for error. And so what you're seeing play out not just in this district but across the state is the aftermath of having razor thin margins and using a process which historically worked
015which is just going off of estimates and it's not working anymore. And so for context 5 years ago in 2021 our ending fund balance our reserves was $34 million which is 22%. Now, after we um adjust for this new news and we'll use 75% of contingency, our ending fund balance is going to be 5%. That's too low. So, what are we going to do to adjust this? Well, we're going to develop our own system, which is a little bit more conservative. What we'll do is we will um set aside a little bit more um of our for of our funding for operational costs. We'll set those aside and we're going to go on the conservative side so that um if it's like almost like a tax refund, right? So, um, or your taxes. We're going
016to withhold more so that we're going to try to get it just right so we don't have another situation again where we get hit with a half million dollar surprise knowing that there's also other surprises that we've received over the course of a couple of this year. So, but here's how also we're going to attend to this. We're going to do a spending freeze. And so, we already mentioned doing a spending freeze, but just doubling down on how we're scrutinizing our operational costs. we're going to do um a hiring fees through vacancies, right? So, every time that there's a vacancy that comes up, we have to determine if we can get through the school year without that um without that position being refilled. And by doing that, we're going to save some money as well.
017We're also going to continue to look at staffing thoroughly. Um and that's from an administrative standpoint. That's from licensed declassified as well. And then um to deal with this immediate um shortfall, again looking at our contingency funding, though we hate to do it, we're going to bring it down um from uh 6% to 5.25% essentially. And then longterm, what we need to do is we need to continue advocating at the state level. And that's everyone that's in this room. anyone who believes that we need updated um processes from the state on our state school fund, an adequate state school fund and how our funding is calculated and importantly how our funding is delivered. Uh we all have an opportunity to to advocate the state for better systems and I'm doing that as well. um looking
018into 26 27 uh we're anticipating a a a less than fruitful bienium and so we're going to continue to look at our staffing models and try to get really efficient and I'm going to talk about our future forward planning because even though this sounds like a downer it sounds um bleak I think we actually have an opportunity to rethink how we do schools and be innovative and be really efficient and continue making TTSD a destination destination ation district. So those are things that you'll hear from me later on, but I just want to provide that news for you. Also want to give you a little riff update. So last board meeting, we provided a comprehensive plan for reduction in force. And I just want to report that our riff process is being conducted as planned
019with with RIFF list being communicated with our associations this week and layoffs and bumping scheduled for April 30th to May 1st. Uh, one issue that's come up is has been the number of administrative reductions and that's fair. Um, we've gradually added administration positions over the course of several years and this was largely based on a lot of um, programs uh, that have come up that warranted um, and behavior supports, right? So everything from MTSS to um AVID to um twe programming and um a lot of our uh SIA and grant funds were were used to address some of our admin cost as enrollment has declined and um we've gradually started reducing the number of administrative staff that we have in this district and we're going to continue to do that. For instance, we had a
020director submit a resignation at the cabinet level um in the last week. We do not plan on refilling that position. So that that's an a reduction from a cabinet staff, right? When there's about 10 of us, 11 people on cabinet. Last year we had a um a retirement at the cabinet level. We did not fill that position. And what we did is we consolidated positions. The year before there was um a retirement at the teaching and learning level at the cabinet level. We did not refill that. So over the course of the year at the central office level, we've been gradually um releasing or reducing the number of administration that we have and we're going to continue to look at that on a ratio basis at this at the building level as well. So just
021want I know that there's some questions about that. I just wanted to be really transparent about our approach to reducing um administrators. And then finally, I know that some are um wondering about where we are with OEA. So on April 6, we received a proposal from OCA and we're really grateful for that. And on April 7th, we sent a counter proposal, but we haven't received a proposal since that time. So it's almost two weeks since we've received a proposal. And so I mentioned in one of my last communications, this was in a written communication, that we can only get to an agreement as fast as we can exchange proposals. So if we're not exchanging proposals in an expedited manner, then we won't get an expedited agreement, right? So we're looking forward to hearing from our
022partners from OCA and we're also still hopeful that we're going to reach an agreement. It just we can only do it as fast as we exchange proposals. And that's all I have for our update. >> Thank you. Board members, you have any communication? >> Oh, new slide. That's cool. >> Huh? >> The new slide I just noticed. Oh, >> nice. There's Oh, there's slides. Nice. Okay. Thank you. Um I want to say um I think uh super superintendent mentioned James and the Giant Peach. The reason why I mention it is my son is in it, so you should all go watch it. Um I went to the Tiger High School multicultural night. It was pretty eventful. They had a a guy on a ladder with a piñata. Uh, probably not an OSA violation at all,
023but you know, it was good. Um, but but I did get a um some candy from the piñata, so that was good. Um, we also went to the uh foundation uh fundraiser, which was amazing. Um, what was it called? Walk on the wild side. And um just want you guys to know that I carried my table in the heads and tails heads or tails game. So you're welcome. >> Hey, I didn't say how many rounds, but still it was I I did it. And then uh going to the uh Tiger Shining Stars here pretty soon. I don't have much to add. also was at the gala um which is really always an incredible event and just they did the um the presentation of the work that they do a little bit differently this year which
024I really loved and really highlighting what this money is used for at each school specifically whether it's um teacher support student support program support whatever those pieces are and really that the impact on the students and the staff that it's having and so that was really um I was on that board for several years also. So, it holds a special place in my heart. Um, and so they continue to do really incredible work. Um, let's see. I also wanted to mention relative to the budgeting piece, I think another sort of hitch in the giddy up, so to speak, is and I know that other districts are experiencing this to a greater degree than we are, but the the shift in the poverty rate um is sort of what some of that money is coming from.
025And so, that's a federal piece, too. So looking at the federal um census bureau I believe if I got that correctly um they've sort of changed how they measure those poverty rates and so that's another reason why and other districts are giving upwards of $14 million back um because this federal government has decided not as many people qualify um sort of what that rate is. And so that's another piece that we're all managing and to the point of advocating at the state during this and we talked about this a little bit last time this interim between when the session just ended in the long session beginning there is a lot of groundwork being done committees and meetings um with legislators um to really figure out what they're going to bring to the table right when
026session starts next year or later this year. So I would really encourage all of us collectively to have those conversations. There is a lot of talk right now especially between the executive order, all these changes in rates, all these pieces that a lot of things need to change and on the landscape of educational funding um and how that gets allocated. So, the time is ripe to have to make those connections, have those conversations because there are a lot of folks in Salem that are seeing finally what we've been seeing and saying for a very long time. Um, so I just wanted to kind of double down on that. Um, and the other piece is we are continuing this week with our um, TTEA bargaining and so those negotiations and so it's been wonderful so far
027and um, we continue that this week. Thank you, Director Miles. >> I don't have much. I just want to um just from a board perspective, ju just talk about the the funding piece a little bit because it's really critical that um and Dr. Udo mentioned this, it's really critical that the community understand that this latest change and news has nothing to do with district management. This is about the system at the state that does calculations and then goes back and reconciles and when it's wrong districts have to they literally have to pay the price for that. And so um this is not like a shift at the district level or an intentional thing or a a matter of choice. Um it's just really unfortunate news from the state. And I was also going to mention
028as vice chair Irvin said that you know then there are other pieces coming um related to uh instructional time and also some of the unfunded parts of the accountability bill. And so districts all over the state including ours um just still have a ton of navigating to do and we'll have future navigating to do. And um and as Vice Chair Irvin said, as the as a short session ends and and ramping up for the long session begins, um I am sure as always that uh that funding will be a huge part of this and also some of the requirements that have recently been added to district's plate without any funding associated with that. >> Director Weston, do you have anything for us? >> Yeah, thank you. one's concerned about um not only not having enough
029money but also the changes that make it so um so we don't even know what we're going to get and then have to make do. Um I'll show I also um want to echo remarks about um staffing models um keeping a close eye on um admin to staff ratio and um and just doing the very best we can um efficiency wise with um with not really enough money. Um, so thank you so much for those considerations and um, we do also have a lot of great events happening right now. So it's important to um, remember those highlights and and good work. Um, but definitely um, want to speak to the community about um, advocating for stable and adequate fully funded education in Oregon. Thank you. >> Thank you. I love being on this board because
030I was going to say what she said and then I was going to say what she said. Um the only thing on the matter of the funding that I would like to clarify um regarding the governor's mandate about not cutting instructional hours. I think every board member, every district person across the state knows that our kids need to be in school more and that cutting instructional hours is the last resort. But by mandating that we can't do that at the school board level, she has taken away a tool that is in the toolkit of school boards for when a budget hit comes late in the year. As we've just had three budget hits in the last month, totaling multiple millions of dollars. This district is really lucky in that we still have some reserve left
031and we can manage to cover those added expenses. But for districts that don't have any reserves, they can't cover them. And the last resort tool has always been to cut days, which is why you always hear about it towards the end of the school year, right? Somebody's not got quite enough money, they can cut a day or two and they can can make it through the year. And now the the the governor has said school districts can't do that. And she's provided no funding to compensate school districts who have suddenly lost funding in March or April when there's very little time to make up the funding. So it's a really cruel situation. That being said, I want to make sure everybody knows we're not cutting days this year. That's not on the table. That's not
032the way we try to work. Um, on a different note, I wanted to mention um, the foundation walk on the wild side. You did okay with the heads of dales. I'd like to point out that director Kins did a lot better than you. She was she was standing a lot longer than you were. >> Final four. >> She was she was final four. Um, I also want to mention that I uh had the opportunity to tour the Towitan food pantry uh a week ago to see the amazing work that they're doing with um our families to help them make ends meet with food and the need is continuing to grow month over month and it's happening at all of the local food pantries. Um, I did hear that our family partnership advocates are coming to
033the food pantry and picking up food to deliver it to families who don't have the transportation to get to the pantry or can't get out of their houses. That was heartening to hear that there's real concrete useful necessary to a family's function and our our family partnership and our kids are picking up that slack. And then as we're beginning gardening season in Oregon, I'm a gardener. Um, so if you have a garden in your backyard, I urge everyone plant as much as your garden will hold and then donate your extra produce to the food pantry. Don't ditch your extra zucchini on your neighbor's front doorstep. Take it to the food pantry. And if you can't get it to to um the food pantry, give me a call and I'll find a way because I go
034there every week taking in my produce. Um, it's really important our food pantries are able to supplement with fresh produce from people's backyards. It makes a difference. And with that, I will Are you done? >> I'm done. Okay. I did forget to mention um relative to the student representatives to the board, um, there were two schools that we didn't get any applicants from, which was Towalton High School and Creekide High School. So, Oh, there was one that came in. Oh, um well on on so that came since we decided to make this. Okay. Um please hold. Um that came and by the the deadline and so for those two schools, we extended that deadline to this Wednesday um just for those two two schools to get applicants in. And so since then, one has come
035in. Thank you, sir. C can I say >> Nope. >> Can I say one thing? >> No, no, no. Um, I just want to say how um Alex is like, you know, he never looks at me weird when I talk, but Mills over there, she's like just hanging on for dear life whenever I say something. So, I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Yeah, keeping me on my toes. Right. >> We're not supposed to call out specific staff members. I just like to point that out. Moving right along to public comment. We have two public comments for this evening. Um, they're both people who have been here before, so I don't need to give you the full spiel, but just uh to remind you, come on up. Make sure the the light on the microphone is
036green. Identify yourself by full name and your zip code of residence. And um you'll have three minutes. The timer will be up for you. Um, you may offer objective criticism of school operations and programs, but we will not hear comments regarding individual staff members. That's why I'm that's why I'm giving him the hairy eyeball as I'm saying that. And finally, this is no place for bias or hate. No profanity or language that minimizes or causes harm to anybody else's identity per policy ACC. All right. So, our first uh speaker tonight is Scott Buridge. You're the first one on my list. That means you go first. >> I think this list is alphabetical. Okay. >> Um, should we get this message? My name is Scott Burich. Uh, my zip code is 97006. Good evening. Uh, public
037speaking is not my strong point, so I'm going to keep this brief. I want to talk about the recent compensation decisions alongside the recently announced reduction in force. Last year in 2024-25, teachers settled on a contract that awarded them a 4% increase. Shortly after that, managers and admin also received a 4% increase and because of a meto clause classified were able to receive a 4% as well. Not long after that, the district announced a reduction in force. So, I think it's clear last year TTSD was facing some financial constraints or problems. My concern isn't just the increase themselves, but how they were applied. A flat percentage increase affects people very differently depending on their salary or their paycheck. For example, a 4% for $135,000 is $5,400 while 4% of $60,000 is $2,400. That's a $3,000
038difference. Uh it's about $250 a month before taxes. At a time when we are reducing staff and classifying employees and teachers are losing their jobs, I believe we should take a more equitable approach to compensation. I believe that the increase should be a flat dollar salary or an increase to the dollar per hour amount. So in summary, I have one recommendation and I have one question that's related to what I've been talking about. First, I encourage the district to consider a flat dollar increase or salary increase in the future to reduce widening pay gaps. Second, as we move through the RIP process, I have to ask how many managers and admins will be included. That's all I have. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Our next public commenter is Danielle Marino, who just
039happens to be right there and ready. Good evening. >> Hi, my name is Danielle Marino. My zip code is 97007. Good evening. Um, I'm here tonight because I am concerned about the direction of the district's budget decisions and what they signal about the district's priorities. We continue to hear about declining enrollment and budget shortfalls. At the same time, since 2014, admin positions in the district have increased by 47%. We've heard that some of this growth is tied to administrative burnout. We know burnout is real, but burnout is not limited to one group. It is happening in schools and classrooms every single day. Teachers are managing increasingly complex student needs. Classified staff are supporting students with trauma, behavioral challenges, and academic ga gaps. And yet the reductions being proposed are not focused on the admin. They
040are focused on the people who work most directly with the students. We already see the impact when we have over a 70% turnover rate with the classified employees. This is because of burnout, safety, and pay. This is a choice that is being made. A choice to preserve administrative growth while reducing student facing support. A choice to balance the budget on the backs of the people closest to the students. These are the adults who provide consistency, build relationships, and create self safe, supportive learning environments. When those positions are reduced, students don't just lose services, they lose the stability. At its core, this is about priorities. If we truly believe in supporting students, then our budget should reflect that. It should prioritize the people who are working with students every single day. I urge the board to
041take a close look at how resources are being allocated, to re-evaluate administrative growth, and to reconsider reductions that directly impact student support. And just as importantly, to invest in the people we rely on to serve students, providing fair, livable compensation for classified staff. Because when we support the people closest to students, we strengthen our schools. Thank you for your time tonight. >> Thank you so much. We are now moving into our reports and discussions section and our well our sole report and discussion is on our future forward initiative. That is our superintendent and Dr. Mills. Come on down. I >> think Dr. Mills is going to hang out on the sidelines, but she's available to to support throughout the body of this um report. So, thank you for so much uh chairs. Um, can we
042get the um pres Power PowerPoint presentation up? Oh, it is up. Sorry, I was thrown off by the picture on the top. So, I was like, that's not on my presentation. Um, so I'm really excited to have this um to deliver this presentation and have this conversation. Uh, as we continue to talk about declining enrollment and look at some of the bleak outlooks of other districts um throughout our state, one thing is evident. Um, that's the last slide. So, one thing is evident and it's that uh we're going to continue to see a trend where we have unpredictable funding and we're going to continue to see a trend where we um enrollment is on the decline. And an example of that, and I have a kind of a a heat map that Thor is about
043to pull up, but an example of that is um we peaked when it came to our enrollment in 2018. And since then, it's been on a steep decline. And um we were fortunate enough to speak with uh some of our district uh some of our colleagues throughout the state who are facing similar issues. and they all took different approaches to addressing some of these um ch these budget challenges and enrollment challenges. Um we can't control how many kids are being born. We can't control the economy. We can't control the housing availability, but we can be really strategic to make sure that we can seize an opportunity here to continue providing robust and innovative educational programming for students so that TTSD continues to be a destination uh a destination district in our state. And I think
044that's really possible. But what it what it's going to take is a lot of innovative thinking. It's going to take strategy, timing, great communication, and community support. And so, let me just, if we can go to the next slide, let me show you an example of the heat map that we have going on here. So, this is the demographic of TTSD schools in 2526 and what the projected enrollment looks like in 3536. The red represents our elementary schools. The blue represents our middle schools and the green represents our high schools. You see that we're going to be down probably another 800 or so students. So, we've kind of leveled off, but we're going to continue to be on decline. Those are things that we can control. And what happens when we're um and and here's
045one of the challenges. If you go to the next slide, here's a trajectory of when we've had um school openings and it starts in 1992 with the opening of uh uh Twin High School in Hazelbrook and then when we had bonds and boundary adjustments that coincided coincided with enrollment increasing. So, as enrollment increased and it was spiking, um we knew we needed to open buildings and we knew that we needed to uh maintain those buildings. And the way that we do that, that we build buildings and we maintain them is through bonds. And we've been really fortunate in that we've had a supportive uh community that's always backed us in our bonds. Um and then something happens right around 2008, right? And it's actually 2016. You see, we peaked and went down a little bit
046and we passed our bond because we anticipated the enrollment going up and so we were going to build art rockin. We built art rockin and that was a decision that was being made when we were peing around 2012 I think and then the pandemic happened and then we started to see this decline, right? And those are things that we did not anticipate five or six years beforehand. And so now what we have is a utility rate in our schools. And we'll get into this a little bit more in a second, but we have a utility rate where we have underutilization in schools. Meaning that if the capacity for a school is supposed to be at 85ish%, we have schools, some schools that have a capac that are operating at about 50 55% capacity. Those are
047um Art Rucken, but we're filling that. Deer Creek, some of our smaller elementary schools are not Deer Creek, sorry, um, uh, Arum, uh, Mary Woodward, right? And part of the challenges with the boundary situation and trying to stabilize it. Um, and then we have a couple of schools that are operating at 100 to 110% capacity and those are happen to be our schools that have specialized programming. So we have uh Bridgeport and Mezer that are operating at 100%. And this is really important because it's important that we have neighborhood schools, but we also need to um maximize our occupancy in schools because doing so helps us to be efficient and it also is a signal that special programming is a draw. So if we start thinking about our innovative programming and um putting our collective
048uh creative heads together, then we can do greater innovation that might help us bring back students who have left and make TTSD and enticing school location and school choice for those who are in homeschool maybe in other districts and are thinking about coming here. We're not trying to poach, right? But it is and we want to make it as a a district where kids want to be and we can do that if we're meeting the needs. So we saw all these things come together and we thought okay how are we going to be innovative and how are we going to be future forward. If you go to the next slide we started off with our strategic planning and this is around um August or September of this year. Eric Nessie had presented um and was
049really leading the charge on that. We've done some visits uh to Bethl. We u had people visit from uh North Clakamus to show what their strategic planning process uh that they went on. And we knew that we needed to create a vision and a pathway and a blueprint for how we were going to uh imagine what TTSD looks like in the next three to five years. But we also know that we have a bond going on and that we have some boundaries to review and if we get really innovative, we can bring kids back. And so we have four very discreet initiatives happening but they're all connected to each other and that's our future forward planning that's coming. And so if we're for instance this is how connected they are. If we're going to expand
050twe for instance or innovate STEM programming steam programming at the elementary level then we need to have facilities that can support those programs. Now, if we're about to embark on a lot of our bond work, Kevin, uh, Director Montag and his team need to get that information really soon, which means we need to reimagine that um, before we get to the bulk of our construction work for the bond, which is in summer 2027, right? So, this timeline shows how we are about to really get into intensive strategic plan work so we can imagine what needs to happen and that will involve innovative work as well. And then we also know we need to um once that's done, we need to tightly do our boundary work. And that boundary work will then inform where students will
051potentially be in three, five, 10 years down the road. And then we need to start implementing those programmatic changes. And so how are we going to do this? Next slide. So we have four team structures. One's our bond team that already exists. The other one is um our long range facilities planning which it will do a lot of our boundary work and that's also a a pretty traditional um team or group and then the other is our innovative plan programming team and that's where we really started uh exploring what innovative programming we need in this district and then our strategic plan team right and so these three groups will meet um and they're led by our district leaders Um and then um they'll have outcomes that we'll be able to report. And here's what their
052goals are. If you go to the next slide. So for the long the long range facilities group, they're going to be looking at rates of underutilization, how we can balance enrollment. They'll use everything from um analyses from uh enrollment projections to um to uh history from how we've done boundaries in the past. We'll have conversations with the community and the goal for this group is to give recommendations for balanced enrollment through boundary changes. Um, we really want to consider a student experience, especially as we um go into construction. I think last time I talked a little bit about uh occupied site um uh occupied schools during construction in the bond versus swing sites. Those are things that this group's going to look at, right? And what's important is we want to engage the community on
053this work and we need to be financially responsible. So those are things that this group's going to work on. If you go to the next slide, our innovation team is going to look at some of our dynamic programming around Twe, right? And and we need to determine um and we're working with Dual Language New Mexico. We have a great uh group of uh Twe teachers and leaders that are looking how do we want this uh program to take shape? Do we expand the program? Um do we create create magnet sites? are there other types of specialty programming that we haven't looked at around CTE? And um so this group will will do that type of exploration and again make recommendations um to the board um around uh how we want to address uh future programming
054and then that will then impact our um our boundaries and our bond work as well, right? Depending on what we decide. So um and then the final one is our strategic plan and this is just a Gant chart for um when we are launching our strategic plan work which is in November of 2025 and when we're going to finalize it which is February 2027. What's important is that it starts with admin but really we need to have tight communication with the board with our teachers and importantly our community. And that's what's going to get us to our final draft which represents what the community's needs are. And so on the next slide, you'll see that community engagement is important. So we're going to launch into doing community engagement um fairly soon um this spring to
055to look at our planning structure to look to give a synopsis of the district standing, but really to get input on what uh their aspirations are for their children in this district. And that's really important. Um and then we're going to scale up our community engagement. So I want to be out in front of a lot of families and next fall. I'm really looking forward to it. This is the type of work that we get excited about. Um because it gives us some hope in times when things aren't um going so great, but it also uh is why we get into the work is to be doing stuff that's on the cutting edge to be representing our kids and be really helping um making an impact on fueling the dreams of our kids. So um
056you all might be wondering about cost for all this uh work and our goal is to make this costneutral. Um so strap plans normally cost a little bit of money but um we know that if we are looking um if there's an initial investment but if we get really efficient especially around the way we use buildings and there could be building consolidation for instance down the road and I want to be really open with people here and what this what that looks like we don't know it might be repurposing a building it could even mean um closing a building down the road right if if it means that we can save a little bit of money and offer more specials because we have more kids in schools and have less split classes, then those are
057things that we're willing to look at, right? Um, but this is all out of a sense of cost neutrality and efficient programming and that's really important to us and is um what we're committed to doing. So that's that's the future forward planning and the pro and the the strategy behind it. What questions are there from the board right now? I have um thank you for this. Really appreciate um that update and that thinking given that the board's role is up here, its governance, its policy and um and also uh monitoring and strategic priorities. Where do you see the board at what points plugging into the strategic planning process? Um yeah, so I know in the past my understanding is the board hasn't um been intensely involved in strategic planning, but we anticipate the board really
058being involved in strategic planning. And so, um, that's invitations for the board to take, um, take, uh, part in, of course, the community sessions, that's having opportunities for the board to get informed, whether it's in this setting or maybe other settings, but we really want the board's input on the strategic plan. I hope that answered your question. Okay, good, >> Dr. Weston. Yeah, just um definitely a lot to take in and think about. Um appreciate all the thought that went into it. Um I think uh the community engagement is really important. Not only what we think the community needs, but what the community tells us they want. Um what direction our community wants to go. And I think um looking at that innovation and um and ways to draw students in with um what families
059are really looking for and um what future they're envisioning for their kids, I think is uh really important and a a really um great way to think about this even though we obviously have a lot of challenges right now. Um but I um I think um trying to look at this proactively is is a a much better way to do it. Um, I'm interested in thinking also, um, it just made me consider with our bond unrolling, um, or process kicking off, uh, if we are looking at schools, um, just hope that we're very deliberate about, um, not investing in a building that might end up closed. Um, just from kind of a fiduciary fiduciary duty kind of standpoint. Um but I'm it sounds like um that thinking is already kind of underway. Um trying to
060be strategic about it. >> Yes, it is. Thank you so much, Dr. Wesson. >> Um I'll push back a little bit about the board's not involved in strategic planning because I've done an awful lot of work on two strategic plans over the years. So um because the vision behind the strategic plan is the boards um and and so >> noted >> we have a lot to say about it um regard I've lost my other train of thought um regarding the com the the other thing that I think the board can do is as we start having these conversations with the public it's going to be really incumbent upon board members to listen to all of the community members and not just the ones who have kids in the district, not just the ones who have
061kids at their school, not just, you know, the ones who are the kids their age, but all of the people in the community, all of the kids in our district, and what's the right thing to do for all of the kids in our district, but listen to all of those different voices along the way. It's going to be a really important job because we are in that regard the eyes and ears of the of the superintendent since there are five of us and only one of him. >> Okay, if there are no further questions, thank you so very much. >> I'm not quite done yet. >> Oh, >> so in in typical presentation fashion, we have a video and this is one of my favorite. This is the last of the four videos or five.
062It's the last of our series of videos um where we tried intentionally to tell the story of public schools. And we saved this one not for our our remarks, but as we are in a boardroom talking about strategic planning and student experience, it's hard to imagine, it's hard to conceptualize what that looks like. And we are all very committed to our students having the absolute best experience they can have. And I think that this video truly captures the work that um what's possible and the great work that we've done. And so I want to leave you with this as we think about our future forward planning at TTSD. We believe that every student counts. That means that we come to work focused on creating successes for young people. It means each child has limitless potential.
063It means that you matter. Your dreams matter. Your aspirations matter and your experience matters. And we want to help you along the way. And that starts with the first day of school. We get students for 13 years. And those 13 years fly by so fast. >> It's up to us to deliver in a big way. We do that by offering services like virtual learning, >> dual language instruction, >> school gardens, >> inclusive special education, >> advocates to build bridges between schools and homes, and so much more. Affirming that every student is unique, valued, and welcomed. From the first day of kindergarten to when we hand them their diploma on graduation, parents are trusting us with their kids. It's really important that we're meeting students where they are so that when they're done their senior year,
064they're done career and college ready. One big thing for this year is us telling our own story. It's the story of public schools. It's the story of Tiger Twallin. It's the story of our community. We're grateful to be part of a community that's so deeply invested in its school system. And we're so proud to tell the story of TTSD. This is who we are and this is why we love the work. Every student really does matter and every student really does count. All right, that's it for my presentation. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think he likes it best because he got to narrate it. I think he likes that video best because he got to narrate it. All right, that ends our reports and discussions and now we'll move on to our action
065items and we have two tonight and we'll start with our transportation services contract award. Good evening, Jarvis and Jessica, or I should say >> good evening. Uh, thanks for having Jessica and I. We're here to um present and get approval for our transportation contract. As you saw in the board packet in 2016, we entered in a contract with Student Transportation of America uh for five years and then we extended that contract as much as we could. And then after that, in the winter of this year of 25, we went out with for a new RFP. Um, and it was very competitive. We had four proposals in there from Zoom, STA, Durham, and for student. And then also in the packet, you'll see the rating system that we went through. And it came up with um
066STA as the winner of that RFP. He was very close with another bus company, but when you look at finances, that's where it really came down to. And we have a relationship with them, which is great. Side note, so we're just asking that you approve an a new 5-year um contract with STA. Um and in that, it does give us the option to extend that contract after those five years. Any questions for Jessica or I? Director Weston, do you have any questions? >> I guess that's a no. >> That's a no. So, I move to approve a five-year contract for Student Transportation Services to Student Transportation of America effective July 1st, 2026. >> Second. It's been moved by directors, seconded by director miles that we approve a five five-year contract for student transportation services to
067Student Transportation of America effective July 1st, 2026. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, please say nay. Motion carries. I believe that was four votes. I didn't I'm a little concern. Do we still have director Weston with us? She is. Okay, she did vote. Okay, great. So, five to nothing. Uh, thank you so very much. And our final item of the evening is our RFP uh for Byum and Mary Woodward remodeling projects. Director Montag. Good evening. Um, I'm going to be joined here by one of our uh, bond oversight committee members, but I just wanted to uh, tonight we're here to do the CMGC uh, pre-construction services contract uh, recommendation award uh, for the elementary schools. And Molly Moore is going to
068be joining me. I just want to point out um this this process was a huge process. We had 13 proposals. We interviewed seven of those proposers. Amalia was there all day. Um and she was the only person on the on the group that did not get paid to be there. Not only that, she brought donuts for everyone. Um so I just as you know we brought the this to the to the board for resolution in February and this process has been ongoing process. So I'll let her walk through it because I think when we met with the B uh the uh bond oversight committee the question was who wants to come present to the board and she said I want to close this loop because she has put in a ton of work for this.
069So I'm going to let her go ahead and present. um the the whole process to you. >> Oh, the whole process. Okay. >> However you want to do it. >> Okay. I was not prepared for that. Um good evening TTS uh school board of directors. Nice to see you all. My name is Amalia Moore and I am on the bond oversight committee and a mom of a fifth grader at CTF. Um, just a reminder, the bond oversight committee is a group of volunteers uh who assist Kevin and his amazing team to make sure that the bond dollars are spent wisely. I'm excited to be here tonight um to close the loop because it's been a a long process um but to recommend a GC for the Byum and Mary Woodward um CMGC contract. Um as
070Kevin mentioned, uh the process was rigorous to include a full day of interviews. Um, prior to that, do you want me to give an explanation? >> You can or I can. >> You give Yeah, I'll have Kevin introduce the project and then I can give an overview of how we came to the selection. >> Okay. So, um, as as we've talked before, the CMGC process allows us to bring contractors in in through the design process, which is, uh, with the elementary schools, this we think this is an important factor to get the contractors involved early in design. Um so the RFP went out um as I mentioned before we had 13 respondents um going through those proposals. We uh came up with the scoring of those uh firms and we landed with there was a
071there was four firms that really stood out um in that initial scoring. Uh but the fifth through seventh were so close in that and we started looking and we're going you know we we really need to interview all seven of them because the the point scoring was so close on that we felt it important to do that. Um folks really weren't happy about a full day of interviews stacked on top of each other but we felt like that was the right thing to do to get the right contractor on a project of this of this scope. So um during that um as you can see in the board packet there's the the scoring matrix that we came up with and um at the end of the of that do you um do you want to
072give who who it is >> surprise tower that's right um we are recommending them I think one thing to point out um we did go to seven um I don't know if you've been in interviews for contractors or anything like that but seven is a lot in one day. Um, and I even do this partly for a living. And, um, we we went in asking them to prepare a plan, um, of how they are going to deal with construction during, um, school. And that was really important for all of us to understand. Um, and they all presented really well, but in the end, uh, we are recommending along with Kevin and his team, um, Howard S. Wright for the Byum and Mary Woodard CGC contract. So, we're asking for a recommendation for um 75,000 not
073to exceed $75,000 per per contract for Mary Woodward and Byron each for a total of 150 on the pre-construction contract for that. >> Are there any questions? >> I move to award Howard S. Right. The Broom Elementary School remodel project contract for an amount not to exceed $75,000 and the Mary Woodward Elementary School remodel project contract for an amount not to exceed $75,000. >> Second. >> It's been moved by Vice Chair Urban, seconded by Director Himeus that we award Howard S. Wright the Broom Elementary School remodel project contract for an amount not to exceed $75,000 and the Mary Woodward Elementary School remodel project contract for an amount not to exceed $75,000. Is there any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, please say nay. Motion
074carries unanimously. Thank you so very much. Loop closed. Loop closed indeed. And with that we