001Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order this meeting of the Tigard-Tualatin School Board. Um welcome, everybody. We have a slightly full house tonight. We have a few pieces of housekeeping to take care of before we get to the really fun stuff tonight. I want to start by letting everybody know that the board met in executive session prior to this meeting convened under ORS 192.660-2I to review and evaluate the performance of the superintendent or any other public officer, employee, or staff member unless that person requests an open hearing. They didn't. >> [snorts] >> Um we'll now move into um our approval of the agenda tonight. Do we have any changes to the agenda tonight, Mr. Superintendent? There are no changes to the agenda. All right, then the chair would entertain a motion. I move
002to approve the agenda as presented. Second. It's been moved by Vice Chair Urban. Was that seconded by Director Miles or Weston? I didn't see but I by Director Miles that we approve the agenda as presented. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. >> I. All those opposed, please say nay. Motion carries. Thank you very much. All right. We now have recognition and good news. Lisa Burton, come on down. Okay, good evening. Um Chair Zershme, Vice Chair Urban, board members, student representatives, and Dr. Udo. Um before we begin our presentation, we would like to thank this year's sponsor, Librarius Confectionery, located in downtown Tigard. Um they they have generously donated a special gift for each of our award recipients, and we are grateful for their partnership and support
003of the TTSD staff. And they are a Tigard-Tualatin School District family as well. Um So, good evening, and we are excited to present to you the 2026 Classified Employees of the Year. These individuals we are recognizing this evening were nominated by their peers and administrators based on demonstrating the qualities that we are looking for in our Bev Farnsworth Excellence of Service Award recipient. Bev Farnsworth was an incredible secretary at Byrom Elementary who was known for her ability to build community and connect in genuine ways with students, staff, families, and community members. She was a difference maker and demonstrated service excellence. Bev understood how maintaining positive relationships and attention to her role are key to a school's success. With that being said, I would like to introduce you to the following employees of the year who
004embody these same traits. As I read your name, please stand up, come forward, and line up along the left side um in front of the school board. For Alberta Rider, Sandra Jones. >> [applause] >> For Art Richen, Sherlena Ananta. >> [applause] >> Bridgeport Elementary, Becky Segundo. >> [applause] >> Byrom Elementary, Angela Paulson. CFT Elementary, Sherry Hannafin. >> [applause] >> Creekside Community High School, Steve Cohagen. Deer Creek Elementary, Kathy Wilton. Durham Elementary, Rebecca Larson. Fowler Middle School, Catherine Perez. Hazelbrook Middle School, Tatiana Toro. On behalf of Hibbard and the Family Resource Center and Caring Closet, Kim Thorne. >> [applause] >> Mary Woodward Elementary, Rachel Van Horn. Metzger Elementary, Haley Sweet. >> [applause] >> Nutrition Services, Abigail Budd. District Operations, Armando Islas. >> [applause] >> Special Programs, the WISE program, Rhonda Gregory. Templeton Elementary, Michelle Logan. Tigard
005High School, Katrina Curley. Transportation Department, Mike Elliott. Tigard Tualatin Virtual Academy, Mary Jimenez Salazar. >> [applause] >> Tualatin Elementary, Christie Perales. Tualatin High School, Zach Cooper. >> [applause] >> And Twality Middle School, Cynthia Jones. Uh let's give one more round of applause to our 2026 um uh classified employee of the year recipients as they move front and center. Before we dismiss um each recipient will receive a small token of appreciation from our district. And actually, if you could just um stay standing um when Dr. Udo um makes the announcement for the district employee of the year. Yeah. >> Okay. Michelle. Okay, we're almost there. Okay, we're almost ready here. Everybody received their awards. We have We have three people that are not here this evening, so those are probably our three night. Okay. Okay, Dr.
006We're ready. Yep. Sure. Yeah. Good evening everybody. Thank you so much for being here tonight. I My name's Ethan at the time superintendent and I get the honor of presenting the 2006 Beth Farnsworth award. So, um again, thank you everyone for being here. All of us have seen firsthand that many the many ways that classified employees contribute to a positive school environment and making a difference for every student. Each award recipient this evening was nominated by peers and selected by their building administration as an exemplary model in service. Tonight's celebration is a way to show our appreciation for our that their dedication. Among these amazing people is one staff member who has distinguished themselves as a community builder, a difference maker, who shows up in excellence every day and goes above and beyond what is
007expected. I'll read an excerpt from a letter from their supervisor describing what makes them this year's Beth Bev Farnsworth Award recipient. Simply put, he's one of the most joyous, dependable, and community-minded staff members in our building. What sets him apart immediately is his extraordinary ability to connect with students. He's a true kid magnet. Equally important is his reliability and his expertise. He's an incredibly knowledgeable, resourceful, and calm under pressure. Whether the issue is simple or complex, staff and students alike can know they can count on him to respond, problem-solve, and follow through. He has built a reputation for being steady, trustworthy, and present. Someone who shows up every day with skill, positivity, and solutions-oriented mindset. What a What a tribute to the job dedication, great attitude, and service to our students and staff. With those
008words in mind, please join me in congratulating Jeffrin Perez. Jeffrin Perez, IT technician at Fowler School. Jeffrin. Thank you so much for your unwavering commitment to your school community, and congratulations on being this year's award recipient. >> [cheering] >> All right, we want to give an opportunities for families to paparazzi for a minute. I know that you've been waiting for a moment. So, let's give like about a minute. If you want to come forward right about here to take photos, go ahead and do that before we turn it over for the board to come around and be able to um center yourself among these folks. But, let's give families an opportunity. I know. Oh, you're very welcome. >> All right, 30 more seconds of paparazzi. All right, 10 seconds. If I can have folks start
009heading back to seats. And if I could get board members to come around and fill in between these amazing folks. And families, thank you. Folks still stay up here. Nominees still stay up. Nominees still stay put. No. If we can just have the nominees and the board members only. So, admin, that means for you to come on out. Nominees, board member, superintendent. Can I have you squeeze in there? Thank you so much and congratulations. Let's give them a round of applause. Thank you, families, for your support of these amazing educators. And I'll turn it over back to board member Jill. Thank you so much. So I kind of hope that people don't leave yet cuz if we're going to talk about how wonderful your classified staff are, maybe you might want to hear what the
010board has to say or maybe we could just dismiss everybody and go on their way. Give it a moment. >> Okay, another like 30 seconds and then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled board meeting. Some board members are, you know, photo hounds. All right. >> [laughter] >> Moving right along. Um, our next um, agenda item is our student representative reports and it looks like we've got Tigard High in the room. So, who wants to go first? Um, for sports this week, we have spring sports that are started last week. So, that's like softball, baseball, all of that. And we have first games and jamborees next week. I think on the 17th. And the 9 to 5 musical was put on by Tigard theater last week. Um, kind of adding on to the performing arts,
011I watched the matinee on Saturday. Oh my goodness, I like 10 out of 10, completely recommend it. Um, it was amazing and I like the students put in so much effort into it and I highly recommend that you guys see it sometime this week. They are showing on Thursday and Friday nights at 7:00 and then a matinee on Saturday at 2:00. Um, and then going on, we have forecasting starting for current 9th, 10th, and 11th graders, um, starting tomorrow and it's also currently wellness week that our, um, stud group is putting on and so they are hosting lunch activities throughout this entire week. And then they're also, um, holding a rally on Friday during both lunches to promote wellness. Um, 2 weeks ago we had unity week, which was fantastic. Uh, the human rights and
012Random Acts of Kindness Committee for ASB put that on and there was a lot of tremendous feedback that was good. Um and that's all we have for Tiger Woods. Thank you so much. All right. We'll uh now move on to Superintendent and Board Communication. Mr. Superintendent. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening everybody. I actually put a Lifesaver in my mouth about 30 seconds ago and then I realized I had to talk so I'm just trying to get it down. I apologize. So um good evening everybody and uh you know, this month March is Women's History Month and I just want to make a couple remarks. Um last year I reflected on um teachers and and women in my life who made a big difference and and this year uh something that I reflect on as
013we look at Women's History Month is is leadership and leadership in education. Everyone from uh the board members who sit up here with me today um to principals, superintendents that I know and reflect and respect. Um your dedication and vision really help guide us through um very complex times and you're you all are doing this um during a time uh where we are continuing to um find ways to kind of overcome some of the inequalities towards women in our in our um school communities and you're doing so furiously. So that's just as I reflect on this month um uh there's a couple things I want to say is just thank you for your leadership. Um to the board members and then the female leaders out there in the education space. Um this month is also
014or maybe it's today. It's Rock Your Socks Day. And I know a lot of I'm going to spare I'm going to spare the general public. Um but our our board members have a a bit more um license to share their socks. So, uh today is a day when we celebrate Rock Your Socks Day by wearing the brightest and boldest and most mismatched socks to show support to people with Down syndrome. The colorful socks start conversations to remind us that differences make our community stronger, kinder, and more inclusive. And it's a fun and simple way to celebrate the uniqueness and stand up for everyone belonging in our schools. So, again, if you if you got some socks and want to show them off, make sure you do so today. All right. Now, on a little bit
015more serious of a note, I want to talk about our budget and provide a budget update. So, last week we received a budget update regarding our state school fund. And we've been anticipating a budget update from the state since the beginning of the school year knowing that district finances are tight. We received unfortunate news over the over unfortunate news that our overall representation of state ADMW went down from 2.01% to 1.95%. This was less than anticipated using the projection numbers where we thought it was going to be 1.98%. From our most This is from our most recent analytical analytics reports that we had. So, what does this mean in real numbers? While we're anticipating up to a $3 million deficit with 1.95 or with the 1.98 number that we were anticipating, this current assumption, which
016accounts for declining enrollment, unfunded mandates, salary increases, and more, will tack on an additional $2 million in deficits for up to $5.5 million in deficits. So, how are we going to address this? Well, we've been there before. Last year we addressed an an $11 million dollar And um one strategy that we used, which was very effective, was doing a budget cool down. And that means uh uh vacancy savings from unhired positions, uh evaluating unencumbered expenses, and looking at expenses that aren't essential, and holding off on on the at spending. Um and in doing a couple of things like this, being really thrifty and tight with our spending, we can save $618,000 in this year's in the 25-26 school year alone. For next year, what we'll do is we'll continue to make minimal adjustments to staffing
017ratios. For context, making uh adjustments to the ratios by just one number from grades 3 through 5 can save us up to 1.5 million dollars in in staffing expenses. Um we'll also look at programmatic spending. We'll look at staffing expenses elsewhere. Um and we'll strive to be as efficient as possible. And even with these changes, a reduction of force is probable. So, we'll get more updates on the status of our ADM W and our and our funding by the end of the school year. Um we're hopeful that there could be a little bit more funding that could trickle down to TUSD, but we are um planning on moving forward with what we are anticipating to be a 5.5 million dollar deficit. Um as always, we're committed to being as transparent as possible, knowing that there's
018still some unanswered questions around what the funding will look like in June. So, um I mentioned this and I'll say it again. Uh this was not the news that we're looking for, but um we've been here before, and we're going to work our hardest to be as uh cost prohibitive as possible with minimal impact to services to students, knowing that we are going to have some difficult decisions to make to to make ends meet. And this is just the new reality in our schools. Something that I want to share though um to kind of end things. I know that's not that's kind of a somber note, but I do want to share areas where we have a little bit of hope. And I want to highlight TTVirtualA. So um we talked about the declining enrollment
019and although the enrollment isn't always student choice, there's other factors that impact enrollment. We're trying to be really thoughtful about how we keep kids and um maybe even bring kids back into our system. And part of that is doing our best to provide uh programming that meets all students' needs. And one of the programs that does an outstanding job of this is TTVirtualA, which is our online program, which provides opportunities, uh great educational experience, and hope to many of our students who where the comprehensive comprehensive school setting um isn't ideal. So with that being said, I want to close my remarks by showing this great video about TTVirtualA. When I was back in in-person [music] school, I didn't have a sense of belonging. My grades were flopping. I didn't feel that teacher-student connection. Ever since
020I transferred to TTVirtualA, I felt this [music] massive weight lifted off my shoulders. Communicating with these teachers like so effortlessly now and just feeling more comfortable in general. It built me to be a better version of myself. Tiger Twality Virtual Academy is an online school that's a collection [music] of learners who are just looking for something different. Students have [music] a weekly schedule, so there are still times where students meet live with teachers, which means they get support, they get to interact with their peers, they get one-on-one help from teachers, and [music] they still have some flexibility in their day with open periods where they're able to just focus and do their school work. Sports or clubs and other activities [music] like homecoming, prom, our students can still go to those with their neighborhood school.
021There's a small [music] school feel even online. It still does feel like a community. Thanks for joining in to our ninth grade [music] assembly. We're going to talk about how to read your progress reports. We've got the recording from the other day that's posted in there. Has student [music] examples from the past uh that you can use as well as our grading rubric. All types of students thrive at TTA. [music] In the virtual environment, there's not as much pressure. You know, that [music] in-class sort of participation on the spot in front of everybody. [music] I could be wrong. Oh, no. You don't get that. Okay. We will get going into our breakout rooms then, and I will see you guys in [music] a few moments. It's the ability to get to know each individual student
022and adjust to what they need [music] and how they need it. What works for one doesn't work for everybody. We have [music] to look at other ways to walk alongside of our kids so they can be healthy and thriving. [music] The opportunity to have an alternative for myself as a mom and a parent, it made me have to think differently of what school looked like. >> [music] >> And in turn, I think I learned and grew with Lauren just as Lauren grew. Like when she crossed that stage [music] and like graduated, it was just like so emotional for me and I honestly, I really do credit Tiger to Walton Virtual Academy for her graduating. I mean, 100%. So, yeah. now she's thriving. Thank you. Once again, you bring out the the video to make us
023all >> [laughter] >> But, it's okay. Vice Chair is not crying yet, so it's all right. Um, fellow board members, what communication have you got? Director Himes. First, I want to start by thanking our classified employees for all the work that they do. Um, you truly are the backbone of what, um, you know, of the operation that, uh, that we have going on here. Um, without you, we wouldn't get students to to schools. We wouldn't be able to feed students. They know, like, Sherry takes a really, um, you know, pleasure in then feeding all the students and when I worked with her is, uh, one of the funnest things that she would do is just, uh, make sure that everybody was was fed and and that was great. Um, you know, Becky Segundo, who was,
024uh, here before, she's amazing and doing great work with attendance. Uh, Armando doing a great job with, uh, with all of the facilities and taking care of them. You know, you guys are here early, way before to turn on the lights and to turn on the, uh, the heat and then you're late making sure that the classrooms are ready for the students, uh, when they come back again. So, you know, thank you so much for for all of that. And I want to echo the 9 to 5 shout out at, uh, Tigard High School, not just because my kids in the play, but because it was actually an amazing play that did an amazing job with you know the choreography and while some of the subject matter is a little bit more on the adult
025side I think it was nicely done and it was fun because it was on the adult side so you know it was it was fun. So thank you. Nice chair. All right, I have a few things. The first is I was lucky to be asked to be a judge for the Timberwolf pageant last Friday evening which I did a couple years ago and it is so much fun. It was sort of a full circle moment because I was the senior chairperson of our Mr. Axeman pageant at South Eugene my senior year. So a hundred years later I got to see that it's still going and it was lovely. There were four teams um and Ruby and Jade the unified team won and everybody did an incredible job and the ASB students that put on the
026whole event did a fantastic job of all the staging, the programs, the running it through, all of the things. So I just want to give a big shout out to all the students that took the risk to do that. It's a lot to put yourself out there and we had musical numbers and we had dance numbers and it was really it was a lovely beautiful event that really celebrated students and their different kind of there was a the service team or community team, emo team, dance team and unified team. So those were sort of like the groups and they there was hot ones which was they had to eat a hot wing while answering their interview questions which was fun. They did carpool karaoke and then a talent portion. So it was it was a
027really good time. So kudos to everybody involved. The next is that I was gone last meeting. I was at an innovative schools summit um and just a couple of notes from that just for fellow board communication. Um some of the things that stood out, um Jerry Brooks who's sort of social media famous, um he talked a lot about the most important thing you will ever give a student is their dignity and that is just something like the whole conference was really around relationship building um and how at the core of who we all are is the desire for relationships and I think a lot of the work that we're doing in the district really echoes um echoes that. And then finally, there was a really interesting session on cortisol and the brain. Um and there's
028all this new research that says um self-regulation and that cortisol regulation is one of the strongest, if not the strongest predictor of academic success, um which was fascinating and I have all the research, but really talking about how do we as educators stay calm and have all of those systems and those things in place and tools in place for us to stay calm so that we can also help model that and help our kiddos stay calm and have better success. It was fascinating. Um finally, the sprint of the short legislative session is done um and in some ways it's just a good predictor of what we have to do in the marathon of the long session um but just a couple of quick updates there. Basically, legislators were able to protect educational funding. However, they
029didn't add it back anything that was taken away. Um the two things that sort of will affect us and sort of signal some changes moving down the road. Um there was $17 million cut to the safe routes to school. That was through ODOT, which is why it wasn't kind of under the education umbrella, but it does affect us. Um and then the other thing that was interesting in terms of sort of a shift was that they're using $22 million from the common school fund to um fund the Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay. And so that is wonderful and it tells us that they're going to be essential services being pitted against each other for funding if this is what we can now do with some of that money. So, just a heads-up there. Think
030those are the main things and then I will be attending the rest of this week. I'll be in Eugene for the COSA Multilingual and English Learner Conference and I'll give updates on that next time. The end. Thank you. Director Weston. Thanks for that update with the legislative session. I just wanted to talk a little bit about the importance of education. What do we What do we all here to do? Um for me, education opened a lot of doors and for our community, it's our economy, our future, what our kids are going to be able to do in life and um I think about my grandparents and their hard work and um how that made it easier for my parents and then um their hard work and the doors that I was able to have opened
031for me. And every generation, I think, should be trying to make things a little bit easier for their kids. And I think it's a travesty if we ever go backwards. It's a failure of our state if we ever go backwards and I think that that's where we're at. And I want to express appreciation um for Director C for um Superintendent Udo Seneda, all their work on our budget and um trying to to stretch our resources. And we have a fiduciary district to the fiduciary duty to the district. We have to make sure that our budget balances. And also, no one moves to a district because of our fiscal conservativeness, right? They go for the educational experiences, uh the opportunities for the next generation. And we have some incredible programs, teachers, classified staff. Um we have
032great ideas. We have expertise, so much, and we can build on that, think creatively, be solutions-oriented, um and we can do a lot in our district. But at the same time, uh we should not accept less than fully funded education out of the state legislature. And I hope that we all work together to lift our voices above this level of government to the ones that really control it. Um I know we have other things that are being viewed as a priority, but nothing is a bigger priority than our next generation. Nothing is worse than going backwards as a society, as a community, as a state, um just letting it slide like that. Um it's giving up our future. Who cares about anything else if the kids aren't taken care of? I can't think of much
033else uh that that would be more important than that. So, I just want to um highlight that, and I I appreciate the more uh focused details about legislative sessions as well. Um but I think looking forward, we we have a lot of work to do. Director Miles. Um thank you, and I want to thank the classified staff that is here as well, as well as our winners that I know we gave applause to, but it's really wonderful to um to see folks celebrated in the work that they do that's so important for our students. Um and just uh looking back at the um the whirlwind short legislative session also. And just so the community knows, there were um in addition to funding things and always looking at what happens with funding, there were also um
034initiatives about early literacy, student support services, um with respect to attendance, and also um supporting students um experiencing homelessness, and then um and [snorts] then uh bills related to protecting students um in regard to uh immigration enforcement as well. Um as far as my activity since the last time, I went to the um solo and ensemble choir uh and band competition uh last weekend in Wilsonville. I believe that's where I went. And it's just wonderful to see our young musicians um thrive and shine and then be like adjudicated and asked questions right on the spot and they're so composed and so talented and so that was really wonderful to see. So [snorts] um I would like to just echo all the comments um expressing my gratitude towards classified staff. Once upon a time, a generation
035ago, I was a member of classified staff and it was hard work. I was out on the playground for five recesses in a row in February. That's hard work. My knees still hurt when I think about it. Um so I I feel how hard you work. I know how hard you work and I see how hard you work and I just wanted to say thank you for that. Um my report on what I did uh last week, I went to our first community budget meeting um where we did a really interesting walk-through um scenario where we were given a mythical school district with uh strategic plan and how do we adjust the budget priorities to match that strategic plan. And the takeaway I came from oh it came away with from that was their strategic
036plan sucked. And I am so glad we have our strategic plan because in this exercise, I was not able to choose the things that I am quite sure are best for kids because their strategic plan in the scenario did not allow me to do that. They did not allow me to focus on social emotional learning. They did not allow me to focus on equity. And so I am so glad we have the strategic plan we have because it's going to enable us to go forward in our priorities with a really good idea of what kids need. So, I'm very grateful to all of my fellow board members for putting together that strategic plan. Um I wanted to tag on to something the superintendent said about our declining enrollment. I want to make sure everybody in
037the audience understands this is not because parents are choosing to take their kids to a different district. This is because Washington County has a really bad economic situation right now with um employers laying people off. Washington County in general and Tigard-Tualatin in particular have really high housing prices. This is because people of that generation are not having babies as much and we're seeing that there are fewer kids being born. And if we look at the fact that we had 340-some fewer kids this year than last year, our graduating class was something like 170 175 kids fewer than our incoming kindergarten class. Well, if you do that year over year, guess what? Yes, we have declining enrollment. Um I think the ICE question is part of why we're having absenteeism and I'm quite sure that it's
038feeding into our enrollment as well. So, I want to make sure people understand that that it's not just our schools aren't good enough and they're going someplace else cuz they're not. Um I also want to push back a little bit I against what the superintendent said about this is our new reality and about what Director Weston said about if we ever go backwards, it would be a shame. It would be unfair. We are going backwards. This is not a new reality. This is the same reality I've been facing on the board for 20 years now. In the 20 years I've been on the board, I think we have added to our budget, increased services, increased program, something like three to five times. That means like 15 times we've been just holding our our own or
039else we've been cutting. This is not new. This is an endemic, systemic problem with the way this state funds education. Period. Just needed to say that. So, all of that having been said, um I think that probably we as a board need to make sure we have a reduction plan in place. I heard the superintendent say we might be looking at RIFs, so I think it's time to ask that we get a a reduction plan that we can have presented to the board so that we can talk about it. Um the community can hear about it, and we know what's coming up. We can bring one next meeting. Okay, thank you very much. And with that, I will get off my soapbox, and we will move on to public comment. And we have one public
040comment tonight, and that is Danielle Marino and Todd Winter. Come on down. And while you are coming on down, I'll just quickly review the rules for public comment. Um please give your name and your zip code, and are you giving one statement for the two of you, or are you each going to do it? Okay. Um and so you'll Okay. >> [laughter] >> Your emotional support, Todd. Yes. Okay, my name is Justin Yoder Marino. Okay, hang on. You'll have 3 minutes, and it'll start once you've indicated your name. And I don't think I need with you to remind you, but just in case, um if you're you're welcome to critique, um board uh board decisions, programs, district stuff, but not individual board members or staff members. Sounds good. Thank you. Fire away. My name is
041Danielle Marino. My zip code is 97007. Um first, I want to um thank our classified staff and congratulate all those winners. Um our school simply would not function without the work that the classified do every single day. Tonight, I really want to bring up an uncomfortable topic that we've already been talking about. It's our budget. And I'm asking the board to rethink how cost of living adjustments are given. A 4% raise does not mean the same for everyone. When you give a 4% raise to someone making $150,000 a year, that averages about 6,000 more a year. When you give a raise to a classified employee making around 30,000, that averages about $1,200 a year. The percentage may look the same, but the reality is very different. The district has offered 1.7 million over 3 years
042for 565 classified employees. When you have 60 administrators and managers that have received about $400,000 in COLAs annually, that is roughly the same amount the district is asking 265 classified employees to share. At the same time, the message we have been hearing for the past year is that there simply isn't enough money. The district's annual budget is 304 million, which is 114 million more than the general fund, the number that is usually highlighted when discussing finances. Basing their ability to pay us a fair COLA on projections that include how many citizens will be having children during the next 10 years, and if Nike or Intel lay off people, how many live in our district and will leave and pull their students out of the district. These types of projections are the justification to keep 60%
043of classified workers working full-time and shopping with an Oregon Trail card. Yet, those projections are being used to justify that leave many classified employees struggling just to survive. The median income in the metro area is 66,000 a year. Out of 565 classified employees, only 63 earn the median income. We also need to talk about retention for classified. The district has a turnover rate of over 70% for classified staff in just 3 and 1/2 years. of the 565 classified employees have been new hires. That level of turnover should concern everyone in this room. It's not just a staffing problem. It affects the stability of our schools, consistency of our students, and the relationships that help students feel safe and supported. Many classified employees are struggling just to get by. We are not shopping at the same
044stores. Many of us rely on thrift stores and places like Goodwill because that's what we can afford, and I don't see a single one of you there. Every other work group in this district earns a living wage, except for classified. District leadership answers to the school board. The school board has been entrusted by taxpayers to watch over the educational experience of their children and make it the best it can be. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> I told you I tried. Well done. Thank you so much. Okay, we'll now move on to our reports and discussion, and we'll start with our budget assumptions, and that is Director C. Good evening and welcome. First time this year made it so far. Good evening everyone. Yes, so thank you Superintendent Udaseneta for discussing the budget and I'm glad
045it's a timely topic. As part of our budget preparation, we wanted to give an update to the board as almost the general community just about the development and changes of our budget assumptions as we head into the 26-27 budget season. So in the board packet, I believe it's on page 78 is where we have a five-page memo for people following at home. It discusses a variety of issues and for the purposes of this presentation, I will just be sharing a couple highlights. So we will start with statewide issues. The most recent economic and revenue forecast occurred in February, although it's labeled the March update and it provided a clearer picture of the national economy as well as the state economy from our previous update in November. Specifically because of the federal government shutdown, a lot
046of data that would have been helpful in November wasn't available and so February just had a little bit of a clearer picture. What we learned at a national level is that although there were recession risks that were elevated throughout 2025, the nation in general had a strong second half performance economically which alleviated some recession concerns. Oregon output specifically rebounded in the third quarter and the quarter-over-quarter growth was ranked 20th in the nation. However, employment is lagging. This could be for up to three different reasons. Despite strong economic growth, there may be an overarching impaired confident impaired confidence in the economy which is causing employers to slow hiring. The um economic report also noted this just might be a timing difference and that employment will grow. And then a third less flushed out theory is what
047we might be seeing is that technology and artificial intelligence is displacing human labor. So, not enough time to give that theory credit, but it was noted specifically in that economic report. In Oregon specifically, the corporate income tax strength is compensating for softening personal income tax growth. And in good news, the population growth for Oregon was updated to be 1/2 of 1% over the next 10 years. Um this was not addressed in the economic report, but it is a timely update that the short session ended last week and Senate Bill 1507 was passed. This is partially decoupled the state tax code from the federal tax code, which will provide approximately 291 million more dollars in state taxes to Oregon. This does not fill the budget hole, but it did at least reduce it by almost half.
048As we move into the 2026-2027 school year, it will be the second year of the biennial budget, meaning that statewide 51% of the K-12 allocation will be dispersed to schools. Every school receives an updated annual state school fund estimate based off of a variety of a variety of a factors. But they're really doing is taking 51% of the biennial pie and cutting off slices for districts based off of their percentage of students that they're serving. I know that we've spoken about enrollment and here are just some numbers that we've shared in either demographer reports um both last year and this year. So, as we came into this school year, we used as we used in prior years the middle forecast, which estimated that we'd have approximately 11,025 students in TTSD programs. In the fall, we
049actually had 10,738. I know um Director Smith spoke about just changes in grade sizes. So, the class of 2025 was about 170 students more than the incoming kinder um class coming to coming into our um program. For 2026, we modified our estimate to the state using the low forecast. That was using the demographer's information as well as just current student count in December. And so, we've basically rolled all current cohorts forward and used the demographer's report for kindergarten to project for 2026. That means that the district is still in declining enrollment, which under the state school fund model means that we'll receive funding based off of the best enrollment of either next year or this year. And so, we'll be funded based off of our 2025-2026 enrollment count. So, what that means is that um
050I know we've talked about the percentage of the pie. So, this year we represent about 2.01% of students statewide. And next year um we're projected to be funded based off of 1.95 percent. That means that 600% of a change in statewide ADM translates to a reduction in our state school fund estimate of $5.4 million. And just for some context, so when we um when the legislature passed the $11.36 billion in state school fund, we saw a $7.1 million increase in state school fund from 2024-2025 coming into 2025-2026. Because of this change, we're estimated to only receive $1.1 million more in state school funding. PERS rates are something I can't seem to not talk about when we talk about the budget. It's a um significant assumption. So, you might remember last year when I gave this
051presentation, we had some um they were called final employer rate, yet the legislature wanted to do something because most school districts were seeing alarming rate increases. And so, they passed Senate Bill 849, which gave all of school districts about a 1.68% rate relief. That will be good through this biennium. And unless there's action taken, um that rate relief credit will go away. So, we've received our advisory rates for 2027-2029, and you can see the change here. So, for our Tier 1-2 employees, that employer rate will increase from 25.65% to 29.34%, and for our um OPSRP employees, also known as Tier 3, they will see a rate increase of 22.47% to 26.63%. For context, our 2025-2026 general fund budget, using those revised rates, which had that rate relief credit, still saw a total PERS expense increase
052by $3.2 million. And so, that is a big pill to swallow when trying to balance the budget. Um we have all contracts open for 2026-2027, and we'll begin negotiating with TTEA this spring. We're in current negotiations with OSEA. So, although we don't have final benefit costs and ratified contracts, it has been the historical practice to increase our monthly insurance contribution by 3.4% because that's the rate that OEBB statutorily required to increase their They can't increase their um their premiums or like their um subscriptions by more than that. They have to do plan design and negotiations that will that and overall um either the employer or employee cost can't increase by any more than 3.4%. So, if we were to do that, that would mean monthly insurance contributions of about $2,270 for employees. We're also budgeting
053a 15% increase for property and liability insurance. And that does include the district taking a separate sexual abuse and molestation policy because PACE changed their coverage last year, which reduced our coverage. And so, like all other districts over 10,000 students, we elected to have a higher coverage limit. Our local option levy, we're still experiencing some compression. Um although our updated forecast using February receipts indicate that 25-26 will increase about $159,000 more than the prior year. And that specifically is to support licensed teachers. And then finally, I just wanted to touch on class size. Although we didn't change ratios last year, we mentioned when we presented our budget message that we would be applying them with fidelity. And so, these ratios reflect those pre-exist This chart reflects pre-existing ratios and also shows you where our average
054class size is by grade band. With that, that's the um all of the slides I've prepared. I'd be happy to answer any other questions either about the slides or contents of the memo. Quick question, and it may have been embedded in one of these, but the costs around um like the unemployment insurance like this for the summer, Is that allocated in one of these or is that another additional sort of expense? I know there was a huge increase, and so I was wondering if that was already reflected in one of those or if that's an additional Yeah, that's a great question. So, our district had is self-insured for unemployment, so we reimburse the state for all benefits paid that are attributed to our district. We have built up a pretty I want to say like
055very healthy reserve, but so far the reserve we've historically built up has been sufficient to to pay our current expenses, which have increased. We saw about a 30% increase in the summer of 2025 compared to the summer of 2024. Um but based off of our analysis, we have not adjusted the rate that we put into that account. You know, at least through this year. That might need to change for next year. Any other questions? Yeah, Director Mount. Um just about insurance. It went up like 20% last year as well, right? Didn't like didn't cost for pace go up? Something like 20% >> I was going to say last year. Yeah, property and liability. It was about We were budgeting and experienced about 20% plus the change to the sexual and abuse molestation policy. >> And
056so now we're anticipating another 15%. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, and actually Director Mount again and I were talking, you know, pace readjustments and some wood trust like coverage and so there's some things that like pace, you know, in order to manage some of those costs. They're working with reinsurers. We are seeing certain facets of our policy change. Thank you. And I just want to say um thank you for all of this information on with the frequency that you provide it. Um I have said this before, but by the time budget season rolls around, we have so much information. I usually have not not many questions about at least clarifying what because we get all of this information. This is the stuff that I wish the community could hear because because so much of it comes from
057the outside and is not controllable by us at all and I really appreciate all the context that you provide and the information that gets us ready for budget season. Thank you. And I'll add on I just appreciate how clear and frequent the updates are. It's really nice when we get the ADMW update that we know what the financial impact is by the next board meeting. I I really do appreciate that and I hope the community appreciates the transparency of our financial dealings. Thank you very much. I don't believe there are any other questions. Thank you. And now we'll move on to our bond update and I see Director Monte hanging in the wings. And Director Bernard. Good evening. [cough and clears throat] Tonight we're just going to go over what we've been doing in the
058bond department. We've been having a lot of fun. >> [laughter] >> So we're just going to go through the first one of course is Fowler Middle School cuz that's our big our big project that everybody wants to know about. So right now we're just wrapping up schematic design that will be complete by the end of the month. That includes site massing, building sighting, massing, and diagrammatic plans. And if you look on the on the slide, you see diagrammatic. It's essentially you move a bunch of boxes around to fit in the space that your footprint works and then you go that's It's going to work. We're going to move them around again. Remember the exercise we've all done with furniture where we cut out the little paper and we moved it around and this is really
059kind of what we're doing right now. Um the design advisory committee we had our fifth meeting last week at Fowler. That's that's a fun meeting and committee to sit and watch to see the commit community input on what we're doing and what they want to see, how we're aligning to North Stars on the project. Um the baseball field conversation um we because of what is where the site is going to go, we are going to lose the baseball field. Um so we have been having communications with the community and and the groups that use that field and how we mitigate that loss and try to get that um to where it works for everybody that has been involved in that field um and we've been working through that. I think we we've got good good
060community results and good conversation going on around how we actually make that that work because of the the way that the project is laying out. Um we went through a long lengthy process around the existing gym, whether or not we keep the existing gym or we we build new, tear down and build new. And we have determined that the cost impact for building new is approximately the same as keeping the existing and retrofitting the existing. The the swing vote there was the fact if we keep the existing, we get approximately 8,000 square feet more than we can afford by building a new space. So that made the decision fairly simple. It took a while for us to get there with our cost estimators. Um the RFP for CMGC projects, if you recall it came the
061board gave us a resolution to do an alternative procurement process for this build for CMGC. The um there's a typo in this slide. The bids were actually due on 3 5, not 4 5. Um so, we had we had 12 firms that qualify or showed up to the pre-proposal to qualify to pro- provide us proposals. And we had nine that we received last week. So, we are currently in the process of reading nine RFPs that are lengthy, very very wordy, and very small print on on them because we limit the page count. Um so, and currently the program estimate level the estimate for the program level, which is really those boxes again, um we are about 4 million over budget, which is within the realm when you're doing that box exercise. It's within that realm.
062Uh we had another meeting with our estimators uh today. It's trending up, so we're we're saying it let's trend it back down the other direction with the boxes as we move them around. Um this is kind of the site concept at the on the site that we have ended up with. Um as you can see, given this location, keeping the existing gym, building the the school on the existing football field track area, um the new track and football field uh unfortunately take out the the baseball field, which is why the uh determination was made. We had we were going to lose the baseball field, unfortunately. There was, if you recall, um we had narrowed it down to two spots where we could actually build, and this is this is where we ended up landing on
063that. Um this When I say site massing, this is what that actually looks like. It's what does the mass look at look like on the site? And currently, this is what we're what the boxes look like when you sit it on the site. The classroom wing on the right-hand side of this uh slide is a three-story site and the um the rest of the building is two stories as it ties into the existing gym. We did not want to go three stories in the classroom wing. We tried everything we could, but we could not make it work with the existing with the space we had with our storm water retention systems that we needed to do. So, we ended up having to go three-story. Moving on to the four elementary modernizations, this slide really is
064a conceptual slide, but I want you to remember this slide for later on in the in the report cuz I'll I'll refer back to it. Um Byron and Mary Woodward, we are still we are working through schematic design through the end of April. Um and we're in that same same process of what does it look like if you move this box there and move that box to there. Um we've had we have stakeholder and user meetings scheduled over the next 3 weeks. We've been engaged with community and we've been engaged with uh the principals of uh at the sites to figure things out what what really works. Um we had an RFP pre-proposal meeting there. We had 19 proposers that showed up. Again, this is following the trendline that we're seeing with very high uh
065interest in our bond projects, which hopefully leads to good pricing as we move forward with our projects. Um and we are looking for a an estimate to come back this week on what that program what what where we are currently in the program what it comes back looking like. This is one of the layouts with again uh referencing the move the box. What does this look like? Um I'll draw your attention to the bottom right corner that says clearly this is a concept floor plan, not a actual floor plan. Um so, this is one of the concepts we've come up with to uh increase circulation, um feedback from staff and community around the library and and the things that we can do there Um and we'll see how that works when we get some pricing
066back later this week. And these are just again concepts. Just so you can see what that might look like the library. And I will call out that this design doesn't do anything to those wonderful um trusses that go through the library right now. Um it incorporates them. Those trusses are in this design. So um they go away. They disappear and it looks like a space like this conceptually. So that's that's a big um a big thing I think for the libraries um in those in those schools. Another again concept area uh to the left of this you can see there's a You can't really tell but there's a big giant skylight that comes in there to bring in natural light into that space. Conceptually this works really well and everyone that has seen this understanding
067it's a concept not the actual thing. I want to I don't know how I want to stress that a lot. Um they really like that but that's that's the path we're moving down with on the design. Um And those and again some some breakout spaces that that we can maybe fit into those spaces as we reconfigure some of the classrooms and teaching areas. So some other bond projects that we're working through cuz those are not just I mean those are the big uh projects we're working on but we're working on a whole bunch of little ones as well. Um Tualatin field lights um you know because you passed a approved the contract for those to go in. Those are those are going in over spring break at Tualatin on the field. Um we're continuing to
068do playground planning for all of the elementary schools and engaging the communities um around how that actually looks. We're developing a um kind of a It's a project workbook, but it will go to community and students to say, "Okay, what what kind of a slide do you want? What kind of a climber do you want? What kind of of those different components?" And we'll get that information back and incorporate that into the planning. Um Tualatin High multipurpose field lights and Tigard High soccer field lights. Um the slide was developed um before we got some information on um Thursday afternoon to actually get that contract in front of you, which is on the agenda later. Um so, um that is moving forward. We feel comfortable that that will potentially happen this summer. We haven't got yet
069from the uh vendor that they can confirm that, but uh it looks like we will be able to get those two projects in this summer as well. Uh the tennis court reconstruction at Tualatin High is is moving forward. The contract is signed, and that's that's going to go this summer as well. The bleacher replacement at Tualatin High in the main gym. Um the HVAC contract, uh that contract is in place for summer of 2026. We are looking and tracking that. We do have information back from the equipment suppliers that um a couple of pieces of equipment for Tigard High potentially could be long long enough lead times where we might have to adjust schedule on that. Um we don't know for sure yet, but we're we're watching that very closely. Um and then the summer
0702026 Deer Creek security and infrastructure and high school restroom projects, um those are those two are also on the board agenda for approval um because we we have received the bids and proposals on those and that they came in well. I'll give you more of an update when we get there. Um one of the things that we've been doing is making sure that we get engagement from students. Um so Eric Nessie has gone out. He went to Durham and he did a little proposal around what what it how do schools get built and that type of thing around what is you know what is a bond, what do all of those things work? Um at Byron the the brick team put together some coloring books and if you remember I said pay attention to that
071one slide, that's what came back from that coloring activity at the with the students around what what an entry look like at Byron. Um and then we also have the design design advisory committee for students. We have the adult version that we had last week and we also have a student version that is tracking along. Brick is is doing that exercise with the students on a after school program to get those those voices heard into the design. And I'm going to turn it over to my colleague here about curriculum and IT stuff. So just a quick nod um the bond also funded 20 million and 40 million dollars in um curriculum adoption and technology respectively. So I just wanted to make a connection with our bond program um update to the curriculum and the technology
072components of the bond. Last board meeting you heard a recommendation from our teaching and learning directors regarding the K8 science adoption curriculum and you'll hear again from them um for a recommendation for approval for mystery science in K5 here later this evening. Um and then secondary or middle school 6-8 style um will come before the board in May. And then also the final steps for secondary language arts will be coming in May both the recommendation and the adoption. So we've got science and secondary language arts for um teaching and learning and the curriculum adoption. And then for the technology updates um I was here last well, virtually last time. We talked a little bit about some geeky network equipment and some incoming ninth grade um devices for our students. And then again this evening we'll
073be talking a little bit later about outfitting our elementary our younger kids with some devices and then working on our replacement plan for elementary middle school labs and then our staff are getting a refresh this year for our licensed staff for their devices. I will leave that as the end of our presentation. >> Well, that is. Any questions from the board? Director Heimlich. So with the construction of Fowler Middle School, what is the plan to include more gender neutral restrooms? So currently in the design, we are tracking um it's kind of a vertical horizontal concept. So on one side of the building there will be a gender neutral access. On the other side of the classroom where there will be traditional too. So the thought process is that you can either go up a story
074or horizon- vertically or horizontally to get to the the restroom of of that you would like to go to. Have we thought about um copying like the Portland public restrooms where they have single use stalls and then the area is open to everybody. The hand washing and >> Yes. Yeah, that's that's essentially the same concept that we're tracking on on the Fowler school. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Director Weston, do you have a question? Yeah, thank you for the presentation. I was wondering where will the kids play baseball? So during construction uh um we always knew we would struggle with with that because of the site constraints, uh where the contractor would have to use uh lay use that space for lay down areas. Um we are currently have it on our plan to talk to
075contractors when we're doing the interviews for CMGC to see if they could keep the field accessible during construction. Um we're also talking to the city of Tigard around um utilizing Dirksen Park, uh which is just across the bridge. And which Dirksen Park is really nice. Second. Thank you. Dirksen Park is a really nice. Yes, it is. Yeah. And since Dirksen Park used to be Tigard Tualatin School District land, I'm really hopeful that the city will look upon us favorably. I can't say what the meetings that we've had with the city so far have been very productive and and there's a lot of interested in creating some kind of a partnership to do that. I'm really glad to hear that. Any other questions, comments? I have one. Yeah. Well, I actually have a city question, so
076that answered that just kind of in terms of any collaboration and sort of shared use. And so, the other thing is just a comment, which is it does sound like you're having a lot of fun. Like you This is awesome. I am so joyed to hear the brick design club situation that's happening at Fowler. That's so cool, um to have kids involved and and I think frankly a lot of us as adults could be like, "Could we please take that?" So, we know how schools built and how a bond works and all the things. Um so, I just I love that again that community feel of how are we getting all the people involved that are sort of the constituents and get to be in that space. Um so, just a big kudos to all
077the work that you guys as a whole team are doing around all of these projects and all the moving parts within all of the projects is really pretty phenomenal. Thank you. And again, I just wanted to say thank you for the transparency as we're going through this process and we're spending an awful lot of the taxpayers' money. It's really nice to have updates frequently that are detailed enough members of the community know that their tax dollars are being spent wisely. So, thank you. Anybody else? All right. Thank you so much, Andrew. We'll now move into our action items and I suspect Director Montague is going to be here for a while because now we're going to start spending the money, like I said. Okay, so starting with our Deer Deer Creek Elementary School Security and
078Infrastructure Project Contract. Um if >> [clears throat] >> as as you remember, I can't remember exactly the timing, but I came to you for a resolution to do a different procurement method for the Deer Creek project where we did not we did a two-step qualification process for that where we qualified contractors prior to the bid coming out. Um we previously qualified 18 uh contractors for that project and we received or excuse me, we received 18 proposals and we qualified 15 of the 18 to be able to propose on the project when it came out to bid. Um we did receive um nine of the or excuse me, we received five bids in response to the invitation to bid and using that pre-qualification plus bid that came down to essentially it was a public bid opening
079uh that happened last week. Um and the low bid low bidder got that project. It was a very aggressive, very competitive bid um and it came in well under budget. That is a um that's kind of the thing that that we were hoping to see and that's what we saw on this project. Um, Inline Construction is the firm that that was the low bidder on the project. Uh, and we've done uh, Inline Construction has done a lot of work for us over the the previous bond cycle, so that was nice to see that they uh, put their pencils Usually, they don't come in as the low low bidder, but they did on this particular project. So, we are asking for the board to approve a contract for to Inline Construction to do the Deer Creek
080uh, infrastructure and security project in the amount of $1,178,697. Director Haymes. I move to award Inline Commercial Construction Inc. the Deer Creek Elementary School Security and Infrastructure Project contract for the amount not to exceed $1,178,600 $697. dollars. Second. It's been moved by Director Haymes and seconded by Director Weston that we award Inline Commercial Construction Inc. the Deer Creek Elementary School Security and Infrastructure Project contract for an amount not to exceed $1,178,697. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. >> Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. Motion carries unanimously. I will I will add one thing to that. I forgot to um, when we put the proposal out, we had two alternates in the in the proposal because we didn't think we would maybe go over budget and
081that number includes both of those alternates, so we're able to get that in. Okay, so the restrooms Uh, >> [sighs] >> I'm going to invite uh, Amalia Moore from our bond oversight committee to join me at the table with this one. Good evening. This is my first time, so I'm a little nervous. My name is Amalia Moore. I am a parent to a fifth grader at um CFT. I'm a volunteer on the bond oversight committee, so we are a group of volunteers um that help Kevin and other staff members um with the overall um we serve as the advisory role for the TTSD staff. So, I was a part of the selection crew um evaluating the qualifications and proposals for the TTSD high school restrooms project, which will include the Tigard high school and Tualatin
082high school restrooms. Uh we received seven proposals and we deemed all of the proposals um complete. Uh we utilized a qualifications plus bid evaluation, and it is great because it is a pass fail. Um and they um met the qualifications for the summer work project um as outlined in the RFP that was um developed. Um following the technical review, we also did a comprehensive score um which uh was calculated within the final bid amounts. Um the bond team, which included myself, uh then met and uh we provided the scoring, um and then we presented this to the other um bond committee members, and we have chosen Inline Commercial Construction. Um they earned the highest cumulative score. Uh they have demonstrated um as Kevin mentioned earlier uh qualifications and competitive pricing. Um so, we recommend uh
083that the board approve the contract Inline Commercial Construction Inc. Um which was already funded by the 200 or 2025 bond program. Um the award will not exceed $1,366,000. I'll add a little bit of context to that as well. >> [laughter] >> Um of the five proposals, we had one outlier in the proposals, but the other five were all within approximately $191,000 spread. Three of those were within 4,500. Um so it was a very competitive process. I've never seen numbers that close together on a project of that size. So that was that was good to to see. And additionally, Inline Construction is our they were our highest scoring firm and they are a low bidder as well. I have one question. Um I'm delighted to see that Inline has been bidding and bidding low because they
084do do great work. I do want to make sure that you have considered that they can take on two projects in the same summer. That was the the number one question that came up when we when we got that. And we reached out to them. They have they have over the last couple of years they have expanded their capacity. For those who may not be aware there was a large contractor that went out of business while doing school projects and they have brought on a fair amount of those employees to their firm. Um it's to most of those folks that worked for that contractor that went out of business have have found jobs and just they just moved over to other firms. And Inline, they they sent us over the their superintendent and their project
085team of who that would be in this situation and we had no issues with it. And they're also dedicated 100% to that was one of the qualifiers is that they the superintendent had to be um um 100% dedicated to these projects. That was one of the pass/fail. If you didn't say your superintendent was going to be on our side 100% of the time, you failed and didn't get the points for that question. So, they're going to have two superintendents, one for each project. >> Yes, they will have they will run them separately. Terrific. Yeah. Um I have a question on and I didn't see the scope of the work on here and it's probably been discussed, maybe, but uh do you mind giving a little synopsis of what the scope of the work is? So,
086it is construction of new restroom outdoor restroom facilities at both Tigard and Tualatin High School. Uh they're they're park style restrooms. They have six six restroom stalls or not stalls, they're actual individual restrooms. Uh one uh small storage area for the in-season sports for their storage area and then a custodial room. Um just kind of a park style uh vandal resistant block building. Uh nothing really glamorous, just a just restroom so we can eliminate hopefully not We won't be able to eliminate all of it, but hopefully a fair amount of our uh porta potty rentals that we have to do for events. And they're non-gendered. Yeah. I move to award Inline Commercial Construction Inc. for the TTSD High School Restrooms Project for an amount not to exceed $1,366,000. Second. It's been moved by Vice Chair
087Irwin, seconded by Director Hames, that we award Inline Commercial Construction Inc. for the Tigard Tualatin School District High School Restrooms Project for an amount not to exceed $1,366,000. Are there any further questions? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. And on to our next. Uh so, the last one we're bringing tonight was a late addition because we we just got stuff back at late last week and since we don't have a board meeting another board meeting until April, we felt like it was important to get it on on the board's agenda to get that passed. And that is the installation of field lights at Tualatin High the upper football field or multi-purpose field and also the replacement of the soccer
088field at Tigard High where we're replacing the old uh incandescent lights metal halide lights with LEDs. Um we utilize the same process that we did with the Tualatin lighting where we utilized the the cooperative that Musco Lighting has um through KCDA. Um and that that pricing came in for the two of them uh came in at 768,682 dollars to do both uh both fields. So, that's the recommendation we're asking for to approve the contract for Musco Lighting uh for that amount. Any questions? I move to award Musco Sports Lighting LLC via the KCDA cooperative for construction services in an amount not to exceed 768,682. Second. It's been moved by Director Weston seconded by Director Heimuller that we award Musco Sports Lighting LLC via the KCDA cooperative for construction services in an amount not to exceed
089768,682 dollars. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so very much. >> We are getting good at spending money. It's a little scary. All right. And now, we'll spend a little more. Um but now we have our new science curriculum proposal. Director Kincaid, Director Fields, come on down. Good evening. So, tonight we're here for second reads of the presentation that we shared with the board on February 23rd, which was the K-8 science adoption recommendation for materials instructional materials. So, because this is a second read, I'm suspicious that we probably won't have many questions, but I want to make sure board members have an opportunity if they have questions. And if they don't, the chair would entertain
090a motion. Sir. Um have we I I think you guys mentioned this, but um have we curated a a list of the things that we're purchasing with this curriculum? Like I I don't know if it's outlined in here or not. Like are we going to buy all of the essential stuff? And and I know it's got, you know, a lot of experimenting and and and things like that. So, is that included in the price going forward? Yes, sir. So, for I'll talk the 6-8, and it's similar, but process is between once it's approved by the board, then we work on numbers. We're working with teachers as we create the scope and sequence and aligning what parts of the materials we're going to use, then drives or we're going to get student workbooks, etc. And all
091that changes the pricing. Lab kits, all of those things, which is why it's a not to exceed. That's the most expensive it would be, but it could be up to like $250,000 less depending on the pieces that we order. And that comes after we meet with the publisher and get more of that information. And then we get those final quotes in May. Director Weston. Um and just uh wanted to ask, I think I asked this before, but um I wasn't 100% sure. So, for both the elementary school curriculum and the middle school curriculum, does it work without devices? Yeah. So, yes, it works without devices in the sense that you can do a PDF print of almost anything. And so, what I think I was sharing at the last meeting was as we work with
092teachers to develop the scope and sequence and go through the lessons, we look at and say, "Okay, in order to teach this, is this best done in a Socratic seminar? Do we want to print that out and do it with pen and paper? Does that piece of it we want to do digitally?" So, it's a combination of various instructional approaches, not just a sit down and press play to the curriculum to teach the kids. So, it's a a mix of modes. Okay, thank you. I move to approve the purchase of a 7-year adoption of Mystery Science, copyright date is the current calendar year, not to exceed $250,000, and Style Education, C2026, not to exceed $800,000 as science programs K-8. Second. It's been moved by Director Vice Chair Irvine, seconded by Director Himes, that we approve
093the purchase of a 7-year adoption of Mystery Science, copyright date is the current calendar year, not to exceed $250,000, and style education copyright 2026 not to exceed $800,000 as science programs K through 8. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. All those opposed, please say nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. We have curriculum. And now we'll go to our 2026-27 draft calendar. Director Reed and Bailey. Welcome to the hot seat. All right, good evening. So, Director Reed and I are here to talk about the draft calendar for 26 through 28. So, you'll see that it's a 2-year calendar and as you know, the board is charged with adopting this school calendar. Um so, I'd like to present tonight uh the process that we used, some
094of the challenges that we faced, the draft um the drafts themselves and the feedback that we received and our hope at the end of this is that we get a um motion and approval for a 2-year calendar moving forward. So, as we look at the calendar development, there's a lot of pieces that we have to take into consideration. It's bigger than I ever thought it was um before I started into this work. Um so, we have to pay attention to the collective bargaining agreements, the state requirements, uh what are our neighboring school districts doing, federal and state holidays. You can see the list, it's pretty lengthy one. Um but we're also looking at balancing grading periods, um uh high school graduation. I'll talk about that just briefly. Um in our district, we have one of
095our high schools that contracts out and they host their graduation to Tualatin High School at the Child Center. They signed a 2-year contract. That date is locked in and so, when we're developing a calendar that has that contract, we have to take that into consider Excuse me, into consideration. We do look at our traditions and what we've historically done in this district in the past, and then uh for the first time since I've been in the district, something we've been talking about for a while, we're looking at a 2-year calendar um to give folks plenty of time to plan ahead. Some unique challenges that we're facing in the development of these calendars is um as uh as you may know, if you look ahead, Labor Day is extremely late this year. Uh this coming year
096in 2026, it's the latest possible day that it can be, the first Monday of September being the 7th um this coming year. And the next year, it's not a whole lot better in that it's on the 6th. Um we've had this before. This is not new, but it is the first time that we've had this late of a Labor Day holiday since the addition of the federal holiday for Juneteenth. And so, that gives us a shortened window of actual business days in which to operate our school year. We Another challenge that you'll see in both of the calendar drafts is that uh for the next couple of years, we're looking at midweek um Veterans Day both years. That just creates some challenges with grading periods, and and we all know that midweek breaks are are
097challenging. For the process, uh we went through and developed uh two different 2-year calendar options. Um these drafts are initially reviewed internally. Um changes are made, uh uh adjustments are are made, and then those drafts are shared in a survey that went out to all staff, licensed, classified, admin managers, and to all of our parents in the community. Um what I'll propose what I'll I'll present to you next will be kind of a summary of the results of of that feedback. One note from the draft that went out compared to what you see in front of you tonight is there was one shift in the beginning of Kinder Connect. And so, over the last several years, it's been discussed and missed each of the last couple years and we finally caught it this year where
098we can look to add an additional day of Kinder Connect before the kindergarten's first start to give a little bit better onboarding and and an on-ramp for our newest students. So, in draft one, the summary of draft one is this is our traditional start. This is our post Labor Day start. Um it extends the school year deeper into the month of June. Um because of that condensed number of business days that I mentioned earlier, there are only so many business days between Labor Day and Juneteenth that it would actually force us to get rid of another one of our traditions, which is that day off before Thanksgiving. There are just literally not enough days unless we extended past Juneteenth in the month of June. Um it still does present a possible overlap with Juneteenth if
099we have any sort of inclement weather that that pushes us to you know, causes us to cancel school and make it up at the end. Draft two, we're calling it the pre-Labor Day start. Um this would be totally new for us and to begin the school year prior to the Labor Day holiday. Um it does align with several of our neighboring school districts. Uh it is an easier window now that we brought we lengthen that window out from the start to end. We have a little bit more flexibility. We can adjust when and where we take our days um with a little bit more flexibility. Um it also gives us a little bit more room to make up school year at the end of the year if we have to. Um and knowing that it's
100different than what we've traditionally done, we feel like it's important to put this out in front of everybody. Um the other piece with that though is even with because Labor Day is so late, we still wouldn't actually start school this year until September 1st. So, it's still in the same month, which is unique. The feedback summary, so brief overview of the participants. Um as you can see there there were 743 different participants. They were ranged for parent guardians 409, 229 licensed staff, 92 classified, and 13 admin managers. And several of those fit into two categories and they were allowed to choose both of those. So we did have parents and staff members and so on and so forth. In looking at the summary by the stakeholder group, just a brief kind of looking at the
101overall preference. One thing that I will point out is the far right column for the preferred draft. Each of the four groups did show draft two the pre-Labor Day start as their preference. It was closer in some of the groups than it was in some of the others. And there were a handful in each of those categories that gave no clear preference as indicated in the third column. What stuck out to me and you'll see this come up again. The largest kind of margin that was opting for draft two was our licensed staff. And we'll go over each of the stakeholder group feedback next. So looking across all groups when you look at draft two, the most frequently cited reasons where support was for ending the school year earlier, avoiding that late June dismissal. Comments
102included across the board student and staff fatigue that late in the year, attendance concerns that late in the year, alignment with summer planning, camps, child care. General concerns about extending instruction too far into June, maintains traditional day before Thanksgiving off that I had mentioned earlier was unable to pick up in draft one. Another piece that came up that is really hard to predict is that a number of our staff members also take classes in the summer. And those classes start as soon as the school year gets out. And if we go too far into June, they could actually miss opportunities for in-person learning for themselves as professional development in the summer. Draft one feedback. The supporters of draft one most commonly cited a a desire to maintain tradition. It's what they're used to. Um, there
103was preservation of the traditional summer break timing that that we've been used to. There were concerns, um, about classified staff returning early, impacts to family child care schedules in August, and possible pre-planned trips the week before Labor Day being impacted by this. The overall conclusion, the feedback indicates that there is a preference for all groups for draft two. As I mentioned, licensed staff was probably the strongest preference margin. They were about two to one, um, preferring draft two over draft one. Um, I want to note that the draft two concerns are valid, but appear to be outweighed by stakeholder interest in the earlier summer release, a more traditional Thanksgiving holiday, and just a general kind of better balance throughout the year, um, of of making this sprint that we do every year into a little
104bit more of a jog if we can. Some final considerations, um, or fiscal, excuse me, fiscal considerations. We can't do this without noting that we do have some contractual obligations when it comes to federal holidays. Um, some classified staff normally begin after Labor Day. Their contract reads anybody who begins their their calendar year before Labor Day gets paid for that for that holiday. There's an approximate cost to the district of about $75,000. These are primarily our, um, 9-month employees who work, um, uh, calendars that are similar to the students. And so, they would now have, uh, that time beforehand and that one additional day. Some classified staff normally end their year before Juneteenth. So, if draft one was extended due to inclement weather, they would earn holiday pay for Juneteenth. So, we could be in
105the exact same boat if we had inclement weather. Um, from a budgetary standpoint, knowing that that is going to be a cost makes it easier for us to plan for it then if we have inclement weather then we need to make arrangements for that $75,000 at the end could be problematic. Um if only teachers return after June 10th, so if we only had to make up and move the grading day beyond that, there would not be a fiscal impact. What questions do you have? Director Miles. Thank you for all of that, very detailed, very bold to consider moving schedules. >> [laughter and gasps] >> Um you mentioned that uh Tualatin course uh high school has their graduation elsewhere and and that there's a contract for that. Would this impact I mean, does it still work
106with the contract that they have? It does. So when we look at the seat time requirements for high school students, there's a carve out for seniors that doesn't require the same amount as everybody and so either of these calendars, both of them happen to fit with their plans and their contract for the child center. So that's a a moot point in determining between draft one and draft two. >> great. Um I also will just say that I think it's um thank you for getting all that feedback. I think it's really important to take the feedback of our staff and our families and the fact that that all of those groups showed support for draft two. Um I think it's a really important consideration. Vice Chair. Yeah, it's not so much a question. It's interesting because
107we have floated this, I feel like, for years and years and it's and and I know maybe part of it is that neighboring districts have sort of made that shift, but it is fascinating to me um that the the survey results were as clear as they were and I appreciate too that sort of um like being able to listen to sort of what that feedback was and our staff, our both classified and licensed all and the family is really on board with that. It's the first time I remember seeing it that clear, and I think that's a great signal to and it, you know, potentially getting back some of our our instructional days, too, if we want to, right? Cuz I know that we have a real short year anyhow, so I think that also
108gives opportunities for that as well, so. Very impressed. That was a lot of work, I know, to even I've watched try you guys try to put together calendars, and it's a Jenga puzzle that I don't wish to do, so having two drafts and sending those out is is a lot of work, so thank you. Yeah, one of the um common comments that we heard in draft two was they felt like starting the school year with two 4-day weeks in a row was a nice on-ramp into the school year. And I think in some of the previous calendars where we proposed some pre-Labor Day starts, there was maybe two or three days, and it felt disjointed, whereas this felt like a little bit smoother, but still giving folks a 3-day weekend to catch their breath after
109starting it and doing that 2 weeks in a row. Yeah. I I actually want to hear what the students have to say, cuz um I know we uh surveyed the families and the staff, but I don't know that we did students, so. I feel like, I don't know, I I feel like starting the school year early is good to me personally. I'm like, just like let's just like get it over with. Um >> [laughter] >> and like, that's just kind of how I am, but also kind of cuz like kind of I don't prefer to look at the two drafts, but I feel like the draft I prefer I would prefer draft two if I were to be coming back as a student next year. Um simply because like those first 2 weeks like are
1104-day weeks, and it's like, okay, cool, like woo. Like I have 3-day weekends to kind of recover and then it's like bam bam bam. Um I don't mind having a shorter summer. Like me. Um I'm not the biggest fan of summer, so there's also that. But like I understand why licensed or licensed staff would prefer the second draft. I have kind of talked to some of my teachers about this and that's like why I don't like we have never started before Labor Day and like why can't we now? Um and I feel like that is uh like every school district in Minnesota is already doing that summer quarter. Why aren't we doing that? Um cuz we are kind of one of the schools to start the latest in the state. Um yeah, I agree. I
111wouldn't mind starting before Labor Day either as I think starting out and giving students that chance to kind of space it out more and like get acclimated is really important. So I agree with that, too. Thank you, both. Board member Weston. Oh, thank you so much. Um I just wanted to um confirm that we have at least the same number or more school days as previous. Yes. So this maintains the 190-day licensed um work year, which is in their collective bargaining and the 171 student contact days. I got to say I'm really surprised by the survey results. Um um I'm I I concur with Director Miles that I think we really need to pay attention to what our teachers and parents and staff tell us. Um it just wasn't what I was expecting. >> [laughter]
112>> I agree. Director Weston. Thank you. Just wanted to say a few words about this. Um we can't learn without putting in the time. And if you consider kids when they if we if you look at the data, which I know we we've all looked at the data um when kids start school, there's a certain percent that are on grade level and as the year progresses, a lot more are on grade level. Um so it goes from about 30% to 70% uh depending on the the year and and the school and the grade. Um and then when they when that same cohort comes back in the fall, a lot of them have fallen back down to not being on grade level because we have such a long school year in Oregon. And Oregon's school year
113is simply too short and I appreciate the thoughtfulness um of working with the community and and juggling all these different logistics. And I know traditionally Oregon has started or our district in particular has started after Labor Day. And you know, we have other traditions that have fallen by the wayside. We have music on tape. We have margarine. We have lead paint. And I think some traditions are better left behind. Oregon needs a longer school year and to do it, we must start before Labor Day like most of the country. And this is not the thing to keep weird in Oregon. So, this is the third at least time, I believe, where I've sat in this seat and we've attempted to start before Labor Day and I think it's time to do it. The chair would
114entertain a motion. Yes, let's no longer attempt. I move that the Board of Directors adopt the proposed 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 school calendars identified as draft two, which begin the school year prior to the Labor Day holiday. Second. It's been moved by Vice Chair Irwin, seconded by Director Miles, that the Board of Directors adopt the proposed 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 school calendars identified as draft two, which begin the school year prior to the Labor Day the So, any further comments? I would just like to say I want to make sure we get a really good communication out to parents so that they know quickly because clearly so many people are coming to the board meetings. Um but also that this is a two-year um plan and so that means parents can actually make plans for a a
115vacation the following summer and know what the the bumpers are on that. We'll make sure we're proactively communicating with the with the public. And also just wanted to say kudos and thank you to the hard work that um Director Reed and Associate Director Bailey put into this. A lot of work went into this and it's a good job. Yeah. And thank you for doing that survey because without without those survey results I think we would be having a different conversation tonight. Okay, with that all those in favor of the motion on the floor please say I. I. >> I. All those opposed please say nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. And now we have uh two items for technology purchases. Director Bernard, back in the hot seat. Good evening Board Treasurer Schmied and members of
116the board. Um there are two items in front of us this evening. The first one is Apple. So we're buying I separated them by vendor just to keep things as clean and clear and consistent as we come talking about technology purchases as possible. There's a There is a misprint on the Apple one. We are not replacing all of the middle school student devices. We did that last year. So if you're looking in the table that was left over but we are moving forward with the request to purchase um some elementary school student devices. We do a rotation of every 4 years for our student devices. Um So, there are a couple schools that need new devices. We've got one middle school program lab at at Hazelbrook. And then again, all of our high or licensed
117staff will be their devices will be refreshed. So, that is the Apple purchase in front of us right now. Are there any questions? I move that the board approve the purchase of iPads, laptops, and program lab equipment for staff and students to be funded through bond proceeds. I further move to authorize the district superintendent or chief financial officer to execute the purchase order with Apple Inc. in an amount not to exceed $1,065,000. Second. It's been moved by Director Miles, seconded by Director Hymes, that we approve the purchase of iPads, laptops, and program lab equipment for staff and students to be funded through bond proceeds. Further moved to authorize the district superintendent or chief financial officer to execute the purchase order with Apple Inc. in an amount not to exceed $1,065,000. Is there any further discussion?
118Director Weston. Thank you, Chair Zusman. Just want to express appreciation for Director Bernard's work on this. And I as you all know, have concerns about devices in the younger elementary grades. And so, I really appreciate your work. And I know everyone else is going to vote yes. But to express my views on that, I will be voting no. But thank you for all your your work. And I'm sure it will pass anyway. If if I may add in response to some of the concerns, we've got some pretty specific work going on with our elementary early elementary grades, where we've got a tool called Jamf Teacher. So, that when we use the tools at those elementary levels, the the teachers have complete control to lock it down for just a single purpose. So, um, to the
119efforts of trying to be intentional about our use of technology in all grades, especially the younger grades, we just want you to know that as well, regardless of how you vote. I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Okay, so there is a motion on the floor. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. All those opposed, please say nay. Nay. Motion passes 4-1. Our second and or our second technology and final action item of the evening is our technology purchase with 2025 bond funds for the other thing. So, not sure if you'll recall, but last year we found that we could, um, find we found a a significant cost savings by continuing to shop for some best pricing beyond just what the bundle price was with Apple, um, and we found that buying cases
120and the services outside of Apple saved us tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, this particular purchase is through just a different vendor as just to buy the cases for those devices and their services in order to help onboard the hundreds of devices that come in at the at a very short amount of time for the staff. So, this is, um, related, uh, but the reason we're going with a different vendor is the cost savings. I really appreciate the attempts to meet, uh, control costs in this, and I would never want to have to set up 750 MacBooks. >> [laughter] >> So, I'm delighted to think that somebody else would do that. I move that the board Oh. Sorry. I move that the board approve purchase of student technology equipment and services, and
121I authorize the district superintendent or CFO to sign the purchase order for in the amount there's a something overlapping it. In the for OETC in an amount not to exceed 81,000. Been moved by Director West and seconded by Director Miles that the board approve the purchase of student technology equipment and services and authorizes the district superintendent or CFO to sign the purchase order to OETC in an amount not to exceed 81,000. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. I. All those opposed, please say nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so very much. Thank you. And with that, we are adjourned at 8:24.