001Okay, good evening everybody and welcome to this livereamed version of a Tiger Twalton School District um board of directors meeting. I wanted to start today by just letting people know we did not have an executive session prior to this meeting. So that part of our agenda is wrong, but I'll now call us to order and we'll start with the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda. Do we have any changes to the agenda? Mr. Superintendent? >> Leaving everybody. Yes, chair. We have two changes to the agenda. One that you just mentioned which is uh there was no executive session today that was canceled. So that should be removed from the agenda. And the second is a modification in the um action item. We had uh a 10 a um which was around it was
002related to curriculum adoption that should be moved to 9C which should be reports and discussions essentially for a first read of our curriculum adoption and then um it's up to the board to put it to action next time. >> That's 9 C not B. It should be if it goes at the end. It's your choice. If it goes at the end of the reports in action. Yep. Sorry. 9B, not 9 C. My apologies. 9B. >> All right. All righty. Um, so with those changes to the agenda, the chair would entertain a motion. >> I move that we approve the agenda as amended. >> Second. been seconded by dire excuse me it's been motioned by director miles seconded by directors that we approve the agenda and consent agenda as modified is there any further discussion hearing
003none all those in favor please say I >> I >> all those opposed please say nay nice and clearly all right motion carries thank you so much we'll now move into our recognition and good news I see a lot of names on the screen so this should be a good one um Yeah, >> take it away. >> Okay. Well, um, good evening, uh, chair and board members. And, uh, this evening, Jo joining us this evening is our Tiger High School theater, um, students. And I'll let them introduce themselves as they begin their presentation. And their um, their teacher, Mrs. Scholes, and they're going to share information about the March Theater um, in our schools month. and the impact of theater in their lives and and upcoming performance information. I'll let you guys take it away.
004>> All right. Hi, I'm Tori Lee Schools. I'm the theater teacher at Tiger. We also are have uh um all of almost all of um our school district represented with Towality, Twolitin, and Fowler in the meeting as well to go through March theater in our schools month. And I'm not going to talk too much because this is more about the kids and the influence of theater arts in their lives. So, um I'm going to start with my lovely student Amy. And uh Thor, if you could go to the next slide and she can talk about why theater is important. I apologize. We're uh having rehearsals for the musical so you might hear somebody belting in the background. So, thank you Amy. Take it away. >> Um yes. Hi. Hey, it's very nice to meet all
005of you. I'm Amy. I am a Tiger High student and I'm in the theater. And I know that when students speak about theater and the impact that it has on them, they talk a lot about the community piece and the belonging part. And I think that that is so crucial to why we fund theater and why it is such an important space in our schools. But for my side, I really wanted to focus on the other skills that theater gives us. Because when you think about the extracurricular in general, it typically just seems like a fun bonding activity, but it's giving you so much more than that. So to begin, I think that just being in theater in general gives you this sense of dedication and drive to do something that you have to commit
006to. Once you sign up for um a musical or a show, you are in this group and it gives a good example of what happens when you're all in a team and shows kind of like personal experience as to why you cannot let other students down. So, I think that's a really good experience for high school students to get and just people in general. Uh alongside that, theater is amazing and really benefits self-esteem, which is something that I've personally noticed and I've seen my friends um benefit from. In that vein, I think that being able to go up on stage or just being backstage and being able to be coordinated and do something you love while getting things done is so amazing and beneficial for self-esteem and helps you, like I said earlier, be disciplined
007and confident with yourself. And then lastly, something that I really value in theater is being able to comprehend and interpret more complex like writing pieces because, you know, I'm in theater class currently and we're reading a lot about um how complex acting is in general and how important it is to really understand yourself. So amongst that I get this amazing reading comprehension. I feel like I'm really gaining a lot. I also have analyzed Shakespeare and other forms of writing and art that are similar and it helps me a lot academically outside of theater because I can apply these skills that I'm learning to my daily life and what I'm doing in English class and what I'm doing in history. It's great. And then alongside that are the technical like backstage skills such as costume, set,
008building. You gain so much from theater that isn't just community. And as important as feeling like you have that space is, I think that it's important to recognize the whole picture. >> All right, Thor. Next slide. Hi. >> And we have our Fowler. Do we have our Fowler representative here? Uh, yes. >> Okay, I'm gonna mute myself. Hi, Aya. >> Um, hello. Um, I'm Haya Synth. I'm from Fowler and I'm in the uh the junior thespians troop. Um and our slide we um as our the our thespian troop um we mainly talked about um collaboration and community in uh theater. Um, and we something we talked about a lot was um, theater gives students um, a place to be themselves and it's definitely a safe space for a lot of students, especially those of the
009um, LGBTQ community. And um as someone who is LGBTQ, I definitely find that safe space um in theater. Um and I know so so do a lot of people that I know. Um, we also talked about how it gives you confidence with public speaking because you do do that and you talk about you just talk in front of people and you perform and it's a very like hard skill to get I guess in a way. um and being comfortable in yourself speaking in front of a large audience or group of people. Um we also talked about expansions of students con concepts of what they could do. Like I know at least for myself and other people um we kind of learned things that we didn't know we could do like being able to do makeup
010or costumes or being or even being able to act. Um which is a nice thing to have with theater. Um and theater also is giving that opportunity for um hands-on and collaboration skills. Thank you. >> For our next slide, I think we have our Twality or Twolitin, sorry, Twolitin, Twolitin students and their teacher here as well. >> Hi, my name is uh Jane Welch. I am the new theater teacher at Twalin High School. Um, I am joined here by my two amazing students, uh, Salem and Ava. And I'm going to let them take over because they truly are the voices to speak for us tonight. So, whichever one of you wants to get started, go ahead. >> Salem, do you want to go first or should I go first? >> Uh, you can go first.
011>> Okay. Um, hi, I'm Ava. Um, I'm on our council and I, um, am kind of like the regionals and state coach, which regionals is like a theater competition that we get to compete in every year. And here on the slide, we had to like have some photos that we put up of things that have just happened like recently. And what I mostly want to talk about and focus on is like the importance of just like theater classes in like our district because like something that is really really cool about theater classes is they're like very very interactive in a way that is like it's not the same as like a lot of other classes where it's like oh like you get to do like group projects or do whatever in other classes but within
012theater like you're really connecting with one another and doing a lot of things that I think is really really important towards like making friends and social skills and public speaking and things like that. Um over here in like the middle photo we have all of us at Twalin we can see some of those blue and yellow medals. Those are all groups of people that won things at regionals which is very impressive especially since um it being Jane's first year with us. So, we were all really really proud of all the work that we were able to do there. Um, I think there was nine groups from Twin that ended up winning something and that was just this past um I think it was the first weekend of February. So, that was that was really cool
013and that was really fun. Um, and then over here at the bottom we have some just some photos from like shows that we've done recently. And I personally always love the shows because like musicals are like my happy place. I really just love being involved in shows and being able to do that. And it provides so many opportunities for students. Like there's like we always have like a live orchestra pit and so there's students that get to be involved in that and play their instruments. We have a whole crew of people that do wonderful things and learn lots of skills in Salem. talk more about that, but um there's just a lot of things that are like essential to be able to put this stuff together. And not only is it for us, but it
014also provides like um entertainment for the community and lets people come together and like watch us like at the school. And so, yeah, I just think that theater is really important. And I I think um it's very important in high school but also middle school and lower because that's what allows the kind of pipeline for people to figure out if they want to try this kind of stuff. So yeah, >> thank you. Okay. Um I chose to focus on the more technical aspect. Uh my name is Salem. I am the tech representative for the thespian council at Toalatin. Uh for me and many others, tech theater has given me confidence and also just a reason for me to show up to school to begin with. Freshman year, I was very much a quiet person. I
015joined set crew for the school play on a whim freshman year because my parents wanted me to get involved in something school related. And honestly, this decision like did a lot for me during my four years of high school. I think if freshman year if freshman me heard that I was speaking at a schoolboard meeting right now, I would ask who stole my identity. Now, as a senior, I run our our theater, sound, and projection department. This story doesn't only apply to me. I've seen many of my fellow students become such more confident individuals just by being involved in the program. The great thing about tech theater is that you get a bunch of students who are interested in hobbies like programming, makeup, construction, music production, and sewing. And they have a chance to lead
016and manage these projects in a school setting. And this isn't something offered in many other areas like outside of school. Um, and these kids aren't cheerleaders or sports players. Rather, they are kids that need a community like this. Um, in order to grow the confidence they need to be successful as an adult. Um, there are many days where I just don't want to go to school, but tech theater and after school rehearsals have been like the reason I wanted to go to school that day to begin with, just so I have something to look forward to. Um, I'm an IB diploma student and the only nonIB class I have is tech theater class. And just like after having to worry about upcoming tests and research papers for the like last three periods, going to a
017class where I can be creative feels like a breath of fresh air. And honestly, my attendance would be significantly worse if I didn't have a theater program like this. And I'm sure many other students feel the same way. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you guys. Um Thor, next slide. And is our towality representative here? He is just chatting. All right, I will let you speak. >> Um so I kind of chose to focus on things like statistics and what theater does like for and like what theater does for you in the future. There's things like theater can teach teaches kids how um skills like working under pressure and collaboration. I'm told by a lot of my teachers I am very bad at teamwork and then but when I'm in a theater setting I feel like
018I can easily work with the people. I've made permanent friends from just like from just the general audience of pe of kids who like theater. Um, and like it's a it's a thing that I genuinely look forward to is going to the shows and like like I audition for the for the um the last play at our at our school. Um, it's like thing things like rehearsals and maybe if I missed one, asking someone who I who I now know from theater about rehearsals is always like a highlight of the day. And since I have theater for my last class, it feels like I can go there after the hard day and then and have some fun with people who understand how like I I just generally like acting and like and and just like
019having fun in that sort of way. Some uh some things I put on this slide which I should probably talk about now would be um the the skills of working under pressure and collaboration. These are essential pillars for jobs like acting obviously um business because you have to work under under the pressure of due dates, deadlines and thing and things like if you make a mistake having to redo it and it takes a lot longer and probably teaching because you you need to work with the students to teach. I know that from a lot of teachers and um and working under pressure like working so the students so you can get them to have a good learning day. There's a lot of websites that I went to for different quotes. I think I have all
020the sources on the slide. Um so there's a lot of things like how hang on sorry I'm trying to zoom in real quick. Oopsies. Empathy and tolerance acting roles from different situations, time periods, and cultures can promote compa compassion and tolerance for others. So, if you see someone who's like who does this one thing you don't like every day, but then you see a play and maybe you and maybe like the main villain does that same thing, well, how do you know that that didn't happen to that person? So, it makes you feel like it makes you remember, hey, even though I don't like this, they're still a real person and I should still understand what is happening and what they're going through. And then students involved in drama performance coursework or experience or experience
021outscored not not art students on the 2005 SAT by an average of 65 points in the verbal component and 34 points in the math component. I think the verbal component would come from needing to memorize scripts and and things like that. I str I I I don't think I've really ever struggled with memorization, but I think it's gotten even better after I've auditioned for shows and taken theater class. Um, something else would be many people how many people struggle with self-doubt, shyness, or fear of speaking in public. I had all three of those things for a while. Um, I I still don't I still haven't quite cured the self-doubt, but the other parts, honestly, doing theater has totally fixed all of that for me cuz it makes me feel supported and happy and safe. Drama
022classes provide a safe and supportive space, obviously, where individuals can step out of their comfort zone in ways that feel natural and enjoyable. So instead of being under a huge pressure to hey to maybe step out of your comfort zone a little bit, it feels more like, hey, this is fun, but it's still hard and I still need to work to do it. Through acting exercises, impro um improvisation, oh my god, and group activities, participants learn to project their voice. I'm that that's something I already like doing, but it's it's okay. Express themselves clearly and embrace being seen and heard. Over time, they become more comfortable presenting ideas, speaking in meetings, and handling social interactions with ease, even those who never perform in front of an audience. The self asssurance gained in drama class translates
023into real life confidence, whether it's speaking up in a classroom, leading a work presentation, or simply feeling more comfortable in social settings. And little note for me, the theater events, um, like plays and musicals, they they raise money for our schools. I can guarantee that. after um after a wicked Christmas Carol um which was the last play we all did. It it was I can confirm we made we made at least $200 without even counting tickets. Um could you could you go to the next slide please? I also included some images. Yeah, I So these are some images from LA from the uh I think the first Yeah, it's the first show. I know because my entire family's in the front row um in in in the corner, but basically it's um so yeah, it's
024it like it's fun for everyone there. You can actually um see me. I am the one in I in the the first image right next to in between the tin man and the scarecrow. So um so that that just like that shows just this is this is the second image is what is how much everyone likes all the theater things that we're doing here. This makes students feel happy, safe, and comfortable. And it teaches them so many skills. We like this this is the this is the best class that we have in school. All right. Thank you. >> Right. Thank you so much. Um we're over here wondering where Do do you go to Jane or do you go to me? Um, so or next year or in the following year. So, I'm just going
025to speak really quick. We have 9 to5 the musical coming up. We're in rehearsal right now. As you see, there's the QR code. Um, and it is based on the movie of the same name from 1980. And Dolly Parton was uh the person who uh produced this and wrote the music for it. So, you can you can bet on it being a toetapper. And then I'm going to hand it over to Jane um for her promotion for her um for her next show. Um Thor, if you'd go to the next slide, please. >> Hi. Uh we recently just started our uh show Uritysy uh which is a contemporary retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Uritysy if you're familiar with the stories. Um unlike Shrek, this is a completely change in genre. This
026is a very um powerful dramatic uh uh interpretation of this story. Um as you can see here, this is a little synopsis of it, but it is uh just beginning. Uh Ava, who spoke for us, is in the show and Salem is our uh sound uh designer as well. So they're both here to uh represent not only our school but also Uritysy. Um it is just a beautiful story about love and grief and um just the tragic uh feeling of loss uh and the memory of someone in the pain of letting go and it's just it's something that I hope uh viewers will come and watch and leave touched and will want to come again. Um, I I can speak with how a show like this really just expresses why I love theater because it
027just makes us feel things that we didn't realize that we needed to feel in that moment. And I really hope that this is one of those shows that has has you leaving um not ever forgetting it. And I think that these kids are going to do a really great job at uh presenting this beautiful show and representing it. and I really hope that all of you uh take some time to come and see it at the end of April and at the beginning of May. So, thank you so much for having us here. >> Thank you for your time and again come see 9 to5. It is um our theme this year is it takes a village and um so this uh story of female empowerment and um rising up against the the injustices of
028the world is what we need to have the students here and so we want to thank you for your time and letting us present um remember to promote theater in our schools in March. Um, excuse me. Just one thing. Um, I didn't Mr. Hennessy didn't actually send me the uh photo for this, but we are doing Meaning Girls Junior Tool. Um, I'm not sure when it is. You may have to ask Mr. Hennessy, but just I but just wanted you guys to know. >> I also wanted to give a final uh note that uh Hazelbrook Middle School will be doing uh Frozen Jr. uh in March 9101, I believe. So that's also something that Ava's mom is directing and we would love to go support her as well. So uh that is our final uh
029thing to continue to uh send out there. Thank you all so much. It's wonderful to hear students talking about classes that they love so much. And the the phrase it's what brings me to school is like music to our ears. Um every kid needs that hook to bring them into into school. Do any of my fellow board members have things they'd like to talk about, questions, comments for our students? >> Yeah, Director Miles, >> I'll just say thank you so much for for coming and speaking with us tonight. Um, that was fun for me. One of those pictures, uh, I knew one of those students very very well. Um, so I you know what you know you describe learning skills that you that you didn't know you had, solving complex problems, interpreting stories, coaching each
030other and stepping into leadership roles and that kind of peer leadership is really powerful and it's really wonderful to to hear about um experiences that you have that allow you to have that. And also one of the things that you described is that theater is a place that you feel like you can belong and be yourselves and feel safe and accepted and everybody deserves to have at least one place where they feel that sense of belonging. It's clear that uh theater provides that place for students. So all of this is powerful learning. Super fun to hear about. Um really appreciate you sharing that with us. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Well, thank you so much for coming this evening. And normally at this point in the meeting, we would have a photograph, so you'll
031have to like take a screenshot of the Zoom page, I guess, to show that you were at the board meeting. Um, thank you very much. We'll now move on to our student representative reports. And I believe I saw Edie Keenan in the room. Is she there? Yes, I'm here. >> All right, tell us what's going on at Tiger. >> Um, this week at Tiger, it's Unity Week. And so that's basically this week organized by um leadership at our school where we just try to promote kindness and belonging and perseverance are the themes for this unity week. And we've had it last year and it was a big success, so we're doing it again. And we have uh lots of activities throughout the week and a voices assembly tomorrow where students have the opportunity to share
032their stories and anonymously if they want. And that's just a really nice opportunity for them to just share anything that's on their mind and just anything they've been through. And we also have a community assembly on Friday where we'll see performances from affinity groups and just a way to bring awareness to the cultural groups that exist at our school. Um, this past weekend, dance had their last regional competition before state, which is coming up at the end of March. And we won first in 6A jazz and second in 6A contemporary out of more than 20 teams. And so that's exciting. And winter sports are coming to an end. And I've seen spring sports around the school like lacrosse and baseball and track just getting preseason and getting ready. So that's also exciting. And basketball senior
033night is this Friday, the 27th. And that's all I have this week. >> Thank you so much. Are there any other student reps in the room? I didn't see anybody, but I don't want to miss somebody who's here, but I didn't see going once. Going twice. Okay. Thank you so much, Edie. We'll now move on to our superintendent and board communication. Uh Dr. Udo, what you got for us this evening? Good evening everybody and I just want to say on the heels of that presentation from the um theater programs, it's just really good to see that theater is alive and well in in both of our theater areas um from the middle school up to the high schools. Um I know that there was some concern last year about the fate of our um theater
034programming among some cuts that we need to make. So it's great to see that they're thriving. Um our teachers do such a great job and I want to give a special shout out to Miss Welsh for jumping in at Walton and doing a good job as well. Uh so for my presentation I have a few things to talk about. I want to start with education advocacy day and Thor is going to be controlling the notes and or the presentation while I look at my notes as well just so you know. Um but I want to talk about ed education advocacy day. So last Tuesday a group of Oregon leaders led by Kosa and OSBA gathered at the state's capital for education advocacy day. I attended and I was actually joined by director of communications to
035be Dr. Jordan Mills and also director Himemes. This is something that normally happens during the long session, but this year was unique in that there are many pressing financial issues that were being uh considered at the capital and they need uh advocacy uh at the short session. So with that in mind, um we went there and advocated uh importantly for the education sustainability fund. This along with the rainy day funds are ways that we can ensure that we don't lose important services that require funding. It's something that the state has tapped into several times since its inception in the early 2000s. And one of the things that we shared with at with legislators is we can use that funding to support critical instructional services for everything from intensive instructional supports and interventions in classrooms, um,
036student support services and even programming that we enjoy and benefit from through our ESDs. This is everything from our diverse educators pathway programming to leadership and teacher coaching that we get through the ESDs as well. So all of these things are critical components to our education systems and if you care about these things or want to advocate, we just encourage you to reach out to your state leg uh your state or local representatives as well. All right, moving on to KPIs. So um tonight you're going to hear from our instructional leadership team about key key performance indicators and how they're fairing midway through the school year. Um, just as a note, KPIs are essentially um ways that we assess the vitality of our instructional systems and how we're doing in the classroom. Um, but think
037about it as getting a a systems health check or a health checkup in at the doctor's office to see um how your your body is doing. It's the same thing for our classroom and how instruction is going in our classroom. So, some highlights that we want to bring to your attention um if you go to the next slide. So um our KPIs some of them are real time instructional uh indicators around third grade reading and more that we can use I ready scores for but we also use some of our state um assess summitive assessment indicators as well to see how we're doing. Um about a month ago, the state released the district report card that's also incorporated into our KPIs. And here are some highlights that we want to bring to your attention. Um
038on the positive, we saw that our ninth grade on track was up by a couple of percent. Um we also saw that our 5-year completer rate was up by a couple of percent. Um our attendance is down by a percent and we we talked about that in previous board meetings. And then our graduation rate is also down by 1%. And graduation rates tend to eb and flow. Uh but one thing worth mentioning is the is that um we we saw that a small number of kids who were enrolled with us as seniors weren't graduating. And so we were starting to ask questions and we're able to to identify that uh some of our students who were initially enrolled with us but no longer enrolled with us uh are students who are also being tracked in
039our graduation. And so what we are being doing is being more vigilant on our cohort tracking to ensure that we aren't letting kids fall through the cracks. So even if those kids aren't with us anymore from 9th grade, we want to make sure that we know where they are and if they're living in a different district, that they're enrolled in a different school district and getting the instructional supports that they need. So again, um our instructional leadership team is going to go into more depth about our KPIs and how we're doing this year. So there'll be more to come tonight. Want to move on to um some more uh things to celebrate. So Toaltton cheer. So, Twan High School cheerleading team, coached by Crystal Corona, just won the 6A and 5A co-ed traditional state cheer
040championship for the second straight year. Uh, the Timberwolves cheer program is setting a high bar for success in Oregon and always makes us proud to see TTSD students shining at the state stage. So, again, congratulations to Coach Corona and the cheer team at Talton for their success. And then finally, I always try to wrap up on something um positive and light-hearted. Uh this one is the color splash or the color clash. So every year the Talon Middle School or Twality Middle School, sorry, has a color clash competition. Um and this is just an effort to boost school spirit throughout Talin Middle. Last year I got to join in on the fun and games and I got to join it again this year in Miss P's classroom. Um, and this year I was representing the green
041team. And so, uh, again, it's always fun to get in there. I think they get a little bit of extra points if they get a picture with me. So, I was happy to support that green team. Green's one of my favorite colors. And, um, I think the competition is still going. So, if people want me to join in the fun and games, be sure to reach out and we'll coordinate a time for me to get out there. But again, um, they do a lot of hard work getting after it in the classroom into, but they also know how to have fun. So, I just want to point that out. And that's it for my comments today. >> Thank you so much. Um, fellow board members, what board communication do you have for us this evening?
042Who wants to go first or questions for the superintendent? >> The only thing I had was the advocacy day, but uh, Dr. Rudo covered it, so that's great. >> Well, thank you so much for doing that. I was saddened that I couldn't make it that day. It looked like a really great day of advocacy. Director Miles, Director Weston, anything? Yeah, Director Weston. >> Yeah, thank you. Um I want to start off by just reflecting on the um on this the scores that were just shared. Um if we have 66% regular attenders, um it seems like 44% for um English and 29% um on grade level for math is is um it continues to alarm me. Um I feel like I would really appreciate like having an agenda item where we could really get into the
043data and like our approach. Um I think there's a lot of things um that I would like to see in our systems that I think we could tighten up. Um, as a parent, I find it really difficult sometimes to follow up. Um, like being able to make sure homework is done if it's all submitted digitally, for example, or um, the lack of paper grades makes it hard for um, parents to keep track. So, even those that are really engaged, sometimes it's it's hard. And I'm um, I just I think those numbers um, we're doing so many great things, but I think um, we'd be remiss if we didn't fix this. and I've been on the board for years now. Um, and I wanted to see these fixed um, you know, right then, like in the
044past. Um, our kids are going through this system and we should be delivering. Um, so I just I I'm not happy just like with the status quo. I know we have a lot of challenges, but um, I really think we need to do better and I think we can um because there are areas we we can improve on. So I just wanted to start with that. Um, and then I also don't always like to weigh in on national issues, but I've been thinking a lot about how our country has allowed leaders um, from both parties and beyond to victimize young people and really what that means for our society. Um, our younger generations look for role models and what do they see in our culture where um, power and wealth can mean impunity. So, as
045a local elected official, I just want to uh contribute to a culture where we don't only care about ourselves. We don't do things just because we can. Um, some people won't tolerate the smallest inconvenience for the sake of someone else. And other people really take pride in contributing and being accountable and our local communities are good places to create that culture that we want to see. I really enjoyed the theater discussion today about how theater immerses people in the experiences of others and really builds that empathy. So, thank you to all of our role models for setting a great example and lifting each other up. >> Thank you. Director Miles, do you have anything for us this evening? >> Not too much. I had a I went to uh Bridgeport this morning for a visit.
046Had a great visit there and of course got to visit with uh Jordan Mills um in both of her capacities and uh her incoming capacity capacity and her current capacity. Um it was a wonderful visit touring around seeing kids and then um uh just discussing upcoming things. So always great to be in schools. >> I absolutely concur with that. Um the only thing I've got was uh I went to the unified basketball game last week uh senior night at Twaltton High School and it was a hoot. It was such a fun event. Um and for anybody who wasn't able to make it, there's a really nice news segment. I think it was Fox um did a really nice and lengthy news segment on the game. Um and a huge shout out to uh teacher Jen
047Mills. This is the fourth year she's put this on. Uh having a senior night with the kids graduating from the program was really special. Um so yeah, it was I I encourage everybody to look up that uh that that episode on the TV news. All right. Um I understand we have no public comment submissions for this evening. So we will move straight on to our reports and discussion items. And our first one is uh director Weston will be pleased to know is our key performance indicators, our data um and interim assessments graduation report. So Amber Fields and Laura Kitz, take it away. >> Thank you so much. Good evening board. and we are very excited to talk about these pieces tonight. So, thanks for the setup. Um, tonight we will be talking about our key
048performance indicators and actions that we are taking. Tonight you've got myself, director Fields, uh, director of secondary and teaching and learning. We have director Kinch, director Dr. Un, director Kint, and Paul Verstrait all here tonight to present this information. Next slide, please. Hi. The key progress indicators um that we're reporting on tonight are chosen because they tie to the OD's accountability metrics, but they are also key indicators for student success throughout their K12 education. So, these are transitional points in a child's educational experience that predict future success. For example, data regarding kindergarten attendance is one of the most powerful early indicators of a child's academic trajectory. And this is because research consistently shows us that um missing school in kindergarten creates this cumulative disadvantage that grows over time. And the impacts are primarily seen in
049two major milestones, third grade reading proficiency and high school graduation. The data suggests um that missing 10% of um school the school year for a student in kindergarten can be the first sign that a student is at high risk of struggling to read by age nine and potentially failing to graduate by age 18. Students who can't read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school. And th those two metrics are inextricably linked. And so tonight we're focusing on the academic indicators and that's just one that reason that the one of these key indicators is so powerful in um predicting success. >> Next slide please. >> All right. Hello again everybody. It's good to see you uh for our midyear report. Um, as always, there is uh more data in
050the slides uh that I'll be presenting uh today that we'll be commenting on. Um, so I look forward to hearing uh feedback regarding this summary and those highlights that I'll be focusing on, and we'll be happy to get back with you on any questions you may have beyond the key points I'm sharing today. Uh, beginning with reading, we look at both our English and Spanish language arts data and those students that are early on or above grade level in at least one language. The data highlights the percentage of students that meet that threshold in either Spanish or English or both. It is also important to note that our I Ready data uh in our I Ready data we are comparing students against a benchmark for the end of the year and are tracking how well
051students grow towards that benchmark for fall and winter. We are looking at those students that are already where we want them to be in the spring. This is true for reading here as well as math which I'll be reporting on later. Uh so for fall and winter we see a bump in third grade, a relatively stable trend over time in fifth grade and at this point we are not going to be reporting on 8th grade for the reasons outlined on the slide. Um the bump in third grade reading is counter to the trend we see for the previous couple of years. Prior to this year we saw fewer kids each year at winter scoring early on or above grade level. Um this year we saw more. Uh one data point does not make a trend
052as I've said before. So, we will need to wait until next year to see if this is the start of a new trend, but it is promising at least to see a break in a downward trend. Uh, next slide. This improvement in third grade can be attributed in large part to our underserved students of color, specifically Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and Black African-American. We see an increase in the percent of students who score early on or above in reading midyear. You may have noticed that we are also not reporting for American Indian Alaskan Native students. We have suppressed that data for public reporting as the number of students being reported on falls below our threshold for keeping student confidentiality. This will not be the last time in this report tonight in which we are
053not reporting on data for the sake of student privacy. Next slide. Um so I do have another asterisk to to mention when it comes to our data before moving on to our multilingual learners of English. Uh, I want to point out that I Ready recently changed its testing blueprint and scoring methods for the Spanish language arts assessment to ma to more closely match their English language arts assessment. This has led to what appears to be a slight artificial increase in the number of students scoring at least early on grade level. But given the development of this assessment over time, it is safe to say the new scoring methods is it is a better representation of our students skills and ability. I would say that previous years were artificially deflated rather than this one being artificially
054inflated. A great indicator that the assessment is still a valid measure of reading ability is that trends for fall to winter still are still the same for third grade this year as we saw in previous years. We see the same doubling of the number of students moving towards uh uh being on track scoring early on or above grade level. This year it went from 11 to 23%. Last year from 5 to 10%. We cannot show the exact number of fifth graders at this time because those numbers save for this winter are below 5% and therefore meet our privacy and confidentiary rules for not publicly disclosing them. Next slide. Uh so talking about math, we have more years worth of math data for our uh scores than we do for reading. uh a full five years
055instead of just the four I've been reporting on. I have very quick and very good news for our fifth grade data. Looking at fall and then winter, it indicates that our upward trend in our district for I Ready Math is continuing. More kids this year than last year, then the year before that, than the year before that are at least early on or above grade level in math and which forecasts that they will be there will be more kids early on or above by the end of this year. This is great news as many as you may remember me reporting on our math scores being hit the hardest by the pandemic. Moving on to the next slide. Uh disagregated by race and ethnicity. That growth is uneven across our population. Some of which we don't
056report for privacy and confidentiality. Um whenever you see a 5% or a 95% uh that is the line the highest and the lowest we can report on uh to save uh uh privacy for students. Um we do see variation across the different populations. Next slide. Um uh like our uh MLE students when we are multilingual learners of English during reading uh we cannot publicly show our numbers for fifth grade math uh for those students because of that threshold. Although I cannot share the specific rate of students scoring early on or above grade level in math. It is unfortunate uh and important to note that that number remains below 5%. And I believe Zenia you had a comment at this point. >> Yes, thank you Paul. Can we stay at the Emily data? So um I
057want to pause and anchor us back to policy ACC educational equity and um racial justice. The policy calls us to have um cultural competency. And the reason why we've been focused on our multilingual learner data is because um as uh we talk about the work of instructional clarity and um the work of ensuring that um we have a just system for our students as instructional leaders it's our responsibility to have a clear framework. Can we go to the next slide please? But equity requires us to ask for whom and for what purpose. And so the reason why we've been explicitly naming our multilingual learners of um English is because in the policy ACC uh we talk about accountability, professional learning and cultural competency. Um we see the results that we see because we need to
058have and ensure that all educators own the success of our multilingual learners. And as we um take a look at um our charge as instructional leaders, it's critical that we um do um the work across the departmentally. Um as you see here in the coherence model, um teachers are experts in understanding content and what we found especially as um we've had in our community conversations, our demographics are changing and the way in which we instruct need to also change and support those students that we're serving. And so, um, we, uh, started a lot of that work, um, three years ago when we focused on our disproportionality work where we looked at, um, the disproportionate, um, identification of our Latin students in special education. And in that work, um, the three of us, um, Laura, myself,
059and, um, Carol, director, uh, Kinch worked on, um, better understanding that coherence. Um, Laura, can you share a little bit about what we learned? Yes, thank you. So, um, one of the things that really resonated and stood out to us is the importance of tier one instruction for our multilingual learners. Um, just as it is for all students, but we really need to be intentional about our instruction for for multilingual learner learners. And, um, so thinking about that interaction between student, teacher, and content. Um this year our administrators, teachers, specialists um wanted to know more about each multilingual learner um in their classes. So they used our new elevation data platform to look up um the language levels of students and how they did on proficiency for each of the English language proficiency standards. And
060from there they created strategies needed for these learners to have the opportunity opportunity to show what they know and meet proficiency. So these um they call these their student profiles or learner profiles and this information uh supports the student wherever they go in the school building and then also they are passed on from one level to the other. So from elementary to middle so that um so that all of the information known about the students and what they need to succeed is shared. >> Thank you Laura. Can you we go to the next slide? So as we talk about um aligning our instruction um one of the most important components of this is knowing our students and just as director Weston had highlighted the importance of attendance and engagement is a part of that. Paul
061can you walk us through these next few slides? Of course, uh attendance at our transition grades, kindergarten, 6th grade, and 9th grade, are important indicators of student engagement. Uh especially as students transition uh into new learning environments, attending school for the first time when they enter kindergarten, going from seeing one teacher for most of the day to seeing many teachers and having those teachers focus on specific subjects moving into sixth grade. And finally, from subject area proficiency to credit attainment, moving into nth grade. Uh for all three grades, we see an uneven increase in their attendance for quarter two over the past couple of years. Not up and up and up year-over-year like we saw for our uh math. Uh but more an uneven rise up then down a little, up a little more, down
062a little, up some more, etc., but trending upward nonetheless. This data is not cumulative, meaning we are seeing only attendance for quarter 1 and only attendance for quarter two. uh as we have in previous years, we'll report on the cumulative attendance for the year at the end of the school year. However, discrete quarterly data helps us determine what may or may not be happening during that specific time of year to affect our attendance. As you can see, quarter 1 attendance is almost always higher than quarter 2, but of course, quarter 2 is Thanksgiving, winter break, snow days, and things like that. Uh next slide. Um as always, we have our disagregated data by race and ethnicity. And the trend I want to point out is uh the one in which we saw in the previous
063slide uh that we do see a consistent drop from quarter 1 to quarter 2 across our populations uh for kindergarten and sixth grade. Uh next slide for as well as for our nth grade. Next slide. Uh when looking at our multilingual learners of English, we see uneven trends or breaks in trends. Kinder at quarter 2 is an uneven trend upward. the same for sixth grade at quarter 2. 9th grade quarter 2 uh is showing an unfortunate reversal of a trend going up for a couple years and now trending downward for the past couple of years. Next slide. Uh regarding our nth grade on track rate, uh in nth grade, we define students as being on track at midyear as earning three or more credits at semester 1. uh that means they are on track to
064earn the 24 credits needed to earn a uh the Oregon diploma. Our data remains stable over five years at or above 9th grade here at semester 1. Our multilingual learners of English however are seeing a slight decrease over the last few years. Um there are fewer students on track earning three credits or more at semester 1. Uh one trend we see similar to what we saw with quarter 1 and quarter two for attendance uh is that from semester 1 to year we see a drop in the percent of students uh that are on track from semester 1 where the benchmark is three or more credits to the end of the year uh where the benchmark is six or more credits. So, while we've been really proud of a lot of our ninth grade on track
065rates, um we actually have OD coming to visit two of our schools, both Creek Side and Twitton High School in the spring because of their rates. They want to come and find out what our systems and practices are because we have some of the highest outcomes, which is great. But when you're in an opportunity to move from good to great, you also get to get really specific around where around where we can continue to improve. So this week districtwide we're going to have uh multi MLE specialists specialist administrators culture responsive coordinators and administrators will be coming together to review our data but instead of doing a holistic review because we have a lot of pockets of excellence. We're really focusing specifically on two pieces that you heard Paul say. One, how does our tier one
066better support our MLE students so that that is consistent and there's not a gap there? And number two, looking at what happened semester 1 and this drop in semester 2. That is a really place that we can focus to say what shifts what what are those root causes that are causing a shift in that second semester from where we see our great success in first semester. So excited to really drill into those two problems of practice with the collective team um to move from great to wonderful. Next slide please. Director Fields, I think you got a question from Director Weston. >> Yes, Director Weston. >> Thanks, Director Fields. Um, I just wanted to um point out, sorry, I'm getting over a cold. Um, I just wanted to point out something. Um, I'm noticing about I
067believe these are OD um, indicators. So, we probably can't control them, but um, I think it's interesting because Oregon doesn't really do very well on education. And if you think about regular attenders, it's a kind of a yes no. It's not very granular. So, I mean the same data we could look at average attendance or median attendance by um like the number of days or the percentage attended, but we cut it off into this kind of like artificial measure. Um so, as long as you're above that like arbitrary line, you're a regular tender. And then the same thing with on track. Um, I just want to point out that you can have um like all barely C's like almost like a high D that's been rounded and be considered on track. Um, and that's not
068what I want to shoot for. So, I think um like they're important indicators, but I just want to point that out because I think, you know, when we're setting our goals, I'd like to um these are good indicators and I think um we're tied to what the state does, but I just want to point out that they don't if we got 100% on these, it wouldn't necessarily be very good. So, just wanted to point out like um how those numbers work and what they really mean. um because ninth grade on track doesn't mean our kids are thriving, but it is like an important indicator. Thank you. And I'll just add that one clarity that nth grade on track is what we bring out of the university of Chicago research that if you're on track by
069the end of nth grade, specifically even by the summer, you're three and a half more times likely to graduate in that four-year cohort. And director Weston, what I hear you saying is also like the quality of that experience, which is great because we'll be talking about our our efforts around improving quality. Um, and then you can start drilling down even more and more, right? Like now is it are you at a a B or above? And when that B aligned with our policy represents what students know and are able to do, that's when we can start feeling really good about what skills we know students have. Director Weston, your point's well taken, but we we would be happy with 100% on track. >> Well, I wouldn't be I want more than like the C average,
070but I mean, I'd be happy if it also came with the other data. >> That doesn't mean C average. I get your point. Yeah. But yeah, 100% would be good. That's all I'm saying. But your point's well taken. We want all of our kids to thrive. We want them to to be straight A students if if they all could be. like don't don't get me wrong. So, we're working towards it. >> Let's go to the next slide or talk to this slide, please. >> Oh, if you could uh uh go back to the previous slide. Um uh so, uh moving on to graduation rates. As um our superintendent reported the uh the state uh uh uh released our uh graduation rates back in late January. Uh the state report card uh reports on the 2324
071school year. Uh we are however given um uh the same data for uh the previous school year which is 2425. And so we're able to see the uh how well our students uh were at the end of last year. And so while we continue to outperform the state, Tiger Twalton saw its second year with a slight decline and I mean slight as in it is uh within uh less than a percent uh in our four-year cohort graduation rate. Uh it is important to note that the class of uh the classes from 23 to 25 were all in middle school uh sorry 23 24 were all in middle school during the time of the pandemic. Um that slight TTSD decrease can be compared to the slight increase year-over-year uh by the state. Again, very slight increase.
072>> Um when looking at our individual focus groups, we see a similar trend with very slight decreases except for our students with uh disabilities who are best represented uh by our 5-year completion rate, which is coming up next. It is important to note that one specific group is not represented here which are students experiencing poverty. This data point is no longer being measured uh as it had previously by free and reduced lunch but is a combination of data from SNAP, Medicaid, housing assistance etc. And because of the sensitive nature of the data, we are not given that data point specifically but it is a part of the combined focus group data which you see at the top of this table. Next slide. The, as I said, the other major measure of student success is the
073five-year completer rate. The measure includes those that graduate, but extends the time to graduate by another year and also includes those that leave with an alternative certification like the GED, adult high school diploma, or the extended high school diploma. We saw a 1% decrease from last year. This decrease does not represent a downward trend at this time. As always, one data point is not a trend. uh it is in line with previous years of stable scores however r as you can see ranging from 90 to 93%. And just to highlight we know that our alternative and option schools are most represented in this 5-year completer data knowing that many of the students who come in may come in as a sophomore or freshman uh or sorry a sophomore or junior with say three credits. Um,
074and so setting up a plan that works well for them. We're both proud of our four-year cohort completers as well as our fiveyear and beyond completers because finishing up this part of their journey is what is most important. Um, and just one highlight, Creekide, whose rates grew from 75 to 82% of their five-year cohort completer rate. Next slide, please. And uh uh when looking at our individual focus groups, uh uh we do see a similar one-year drop uh for each of our populations from the 23 24 to 2425 school years. And as I mentioned regarding special education, you can see a better representation of their outcomes, which is still down, but not as significant as in the four-year graduation rate as it takes in those alternative certifications. Next slide. So, one thing we really pride
075ourselves on is being honest and transparent, which is part of where we really wanted to highlight our MLE data specifically last year and are really holding ourselves accountable to that. And to fulfill the promise of every student, we have to ensure that the tier one, the core, is steady and predictable and consistent for every single student. And when we see in some of our data that we've got some places that are steady, we have some places that are accelerating, and we have some place where growth is uneven, that tells you and signals that there's some inconsistency in our core. And so that is where we've been focusing really strongly to ensure that skills build over time, that things are not predictable by which teacher you have or which school you're going to, etc., but that
076consistent building of skills is happening year-over-year no matter who you have. And so that system of coherence and connecting this bridge is something that we've been focusing on with a lot of intention. Next slide, please. As you've seen on these couple slides, this center core, the student, the teacher, and the content. When these three things improve together, we know research tells us that is how outcomes change, not in pockets of excellence and not in uneven ways, but consistently across the system. And that requires the tasks that students to do to be rigorous and to be clear on how teachers will teach that and then how students engage in it. And so learning can only improve collectively when all these things are strengthened together. Next slide please. So we wanted to share where in the past
07718 months this work has been really focused around the teacher piece and around the student engagement and ownership and really specifically around how we've been trying to align our academic tasks and content. Um we have not necessarily historically had a system that is aligned with the scope and sequence with standards that are clear with how we assess those standards. So to your point, Director Western, we know exactly what skills students know and are able to do and they can articulate that as well. And so later tonight, you'll hear more through that adoption process where we've really shifted that adoption is really not about getting materials. It's an opportunity for the whole system to be together, the one place across all schools and content areas and grade levels that we can create this kind of alignment
078that will result in consistency of expectation, greater clarity um and ownership for students. And in all of that, when those strengthen together, that is where we have coherence and that is where we should see collective movement across the system and with that specialized lens for our multi-learners of English. If our tier one meets the needs of those students, it will meet the needs for all students. Next slide, please. So, alongside the curriculum adoptions that you're going to hear about in the next report and including the instructional design, we also partner with our school leaders to facilitate a focused leadership series and that includes traditional professional development. It also includes um quarterly system and data reviews and we also lead cross school learning walks. All of this is designed to create a shared vision for our
079students, strengthen our collective efficacy and ensure coherence across the system. We'd like to share a couple examples with you, Director Kint. >> Thank you, Director Kinch. So um as Dr. Kinch explained um part of what we have been implementing is regular data system reviews and on December 11th of this year uh we brought together principles um administrators uh classroom teachers specialists multilingual learners of English um teachers as well as um other specialists and we came together to look at literacy and language language data together. So we looked at our typical I Ready and um Aadians and Dibbles um for elementary, but then we also looked at our language data like our ELPA data and our progress monitoring data for our most lingual lingual learners of English. And um what what what we came to at
080the end of that after looking at all this data across our all of our schools is that the data revealed that clear and urgent reality that we've we've been painting a picture of all night. Um that while our multilingual learners of English enrollment has nearly doubled since 2018, the proficiency rates have remained flat. So we are seeing persistent predictable achievement gaps for our Latinx students, our indigenous students and our Pacific Islander students because and those have stayed stable and low for the over five years. So this consistency across different schools and grade levels suggests that our challenges are systemic rather than specific to one building or student cohort. So the primary theme that came out of this and and and it came from like all the groups was in this K8 review. So it was
081all elementary and all middle school is that our tier one instruction is not yet meeting the needs of all our learners. So to address these gaps uh the district we are committed to a languagerich instructional model where every teacher is viewed as a language teacher. So for elementary, we are developing a professional development that will um that will be next that will begin next fall where um we'll have all of our general ed teachers together. And at first we are going to analyze a grade level CKLA and commun lesson. So CKLA as you know is our reading or literacy program in elementary. So what we're going to do is is backwards design that and this will be led by multilingual learners of English teachers as well as classroom teachers as well as literacy specialists as
082well as coaches. Um and through this backwards design fit in those language supports embed those language supports so that becomes automatic in every classroom every day. And then the next professional development next fall uh on the planning day we will do the same thing for I ready classroom mathematics in all of elementary director fields. So I get to highlight an example. Um last week we went on one of our learning walks in feeder pattern. So that's when our elementary, middle, and high administrators are going to school so they can see the coherence of the student experience. And so we got to go to Hazelbrook last week. And what was exciting was the emerging practices that we are starting to see which were sentence stems, vocabulary walls, a teacher saying, "Hey students, what skill are you
083learning today?" And then students being able to identify and answer what skill they are learning. um and that agency and how important that is and opportunities to respond. And so this moment to imagine that existing across our entire system across six and seventh and eth horizontally and vertically aligned. So those skills stack over time. So the excitement of us going in that direction while that will be clear really supports the policy that you all just passed around policy IKABA which is really reporting so that grades represent what students know and are able to do and what skills they have. And so we will know what all of our data means. We know what skills that students need um and are learning and how they're doing on those skills. So teachers can say, "Oh, in our
084PLC's, we can look at common outcomes because we're teaching common skills and then we can make our instructional shifts and with those skills, our data improves." So really exciting emerging practices in place. Next slide, please. So in conclusion, what you're hearing tonight is not a new initiative. It's a system coming into alignment. And as one of our instructional coaches reflected, I quote, "In my five years in TTSD, I've watched real cultural shift. We've moved from working in silos to a shared collective purpose. With two major curriculum adoptions nearing completion, we aren't just using new materials. We're using them with intention, intentional instructional design. We're reducing cognitive load while increasing rigor, especially for our multilingual learners. This is the first time I've seen this kind of deep systemic work sustained year after year. That cultural shift
085is called coherence. Designing instruction so that the needs of all of our learners integrated from the start, including our multilingual learners and our students with disabilities. So our vision is that students are empowered to take ownership of their learning, explain their thinking, and make informed decisions about their next steps. And that empowerment is built in classrooms when the goals are clear, success criteria is transparent, and instruction is rigorous and languagerich. And that is the work, and that's the direction we're moving in together. That concludes our presentation for the night. Any questions or comments? I'm looking to my fellow board members. Any questions, comments? I would just like to say thank you for that presentation. That's a lot of data. Um because it wasn't in the board packet, could you please make sure that board members
086get all of those slides because there was some really good data in there and I'm squinting at the screen trying to to see it all. Um but I really appreciate it. Um I am perturbed but also heartened um by what Paul said about the change in I Ready for MLES and the fact that the the data is is maybe inflated or maybe was deflated. Um it's always really frustrating when they change how they how they rank things after we've been doing it for a while because now it's not um updated uh you know smoothly. But it's really nice to hear that they've got a better um a better handle on what what students are actually learning. So I'm delighted to hear that. Uh Director Himemes, do you have a question or comment? >> So does
087this mean we're going away from the uh co-eing model and more to an integrated model of um English language development? So in uh integrated um is includes co-eing. There's co-eing within that spectrum of integrated. Um >> it wasn't mentioned in the presentation. So I wasn't sure whether that was still continuing or not. >> No, we still have co-eing. Yes. As part of our models for services. >> And what kind of instructional practices are we implementing for our MLAs? I I can start and then the team here can work through that. Um so I for instructional strategies, one of the things that we're working on is to level set the um standards for um for content standards and to be able to work with um our co-teers and our ML um specialists supporting with integrating the
088ELP standards and content. Um we're also um supporting uh integrated where we have dualendorsed um uh teachers as well specifically in the high school where some of the um I think problems of practice that uh people were trying to solve was around more access to well-rounded education. And so having dualendors teachers um support that instruction has been helpful. some of our um uh students that we saw a gain in exit rates in specifically Tolitin High School came from um really going back to looking at student data over years and um targeting instruction to support that and that's where some of the um in uh increased exit rates came about when I started working with um ML specialists and administrators to look at data more consistently and quarterly. ly so that whatever instruction we have needs
089to also um be responsive to the um the outcomes that students are gaining. It makes it a little bit more difficult when um we aren't clear what those standards are which is why um director fields are is highlighting the importance of understanding um what students um skills are needed so that we can support that more sufficiently. Um Laura and Amber do you have anything to add to that? Yeah, I would just one reinforce the clarity. That's why it's one of our biggest focus areas because without that clarity and how language needs to be used that's embedded um and director as I can share with you one of the frames that we're helping give folks is when you're embedding what is when you're sharing what is the skill we're working on today let the language objective
090is embedded in that um in addition explicit vocabulary we're talking about uh structured academic talk because language actually needs to be used but also used with scaffolds and support so scaffolding specific specifically around the use of sentence stems. Um, for example, >> do you happen to know what the ratio of dual endorsed teachers versus uh non-dualendorsed teachers is? >> I don't have that in front of me right now, but that is part of our systems health check is uh one of our goals to work with HR is to increase um that endorsement. I think right now um what we are finding um over the last couple of years is just because you're endorsed does not mean that you have like the practice and the skill set to be able to um uh facilitate and support
091that work. So those are the things that we're doing as part. So um a as um director kint and uh director fields um and director kinch are helping with a lot of the tier one instruction and um interventions in our RTI process. Part of my job is to actually look at what are the things that we need to have as like ML specialists to be um case managers so that they are keeping pulse and track of student progress over time. And so um so those are the type of things that we're um bridging but we do have that as part of our collaborative work with HR and director James I just have a couple specific examples of ways we're supporting MLS MLE our students um receiving MLE services and it's going to ch it's going
092to vary depending on on what grade level you are and what your needs are. So there's definitely um a spectrum of services but just a couple of examples for context. uh at um Mezer for instance, we use language specialists two to three times a week uh that um work spec specifically with uh students and what we do is uh whether it's Mezer or Bridgeport or any of our I'm just focusing on elementary at this moment um using data to screen students so we um are able to identify what students needs are especially around reading for instance and then plugging language specialists that's almost something we do throughout the throughout the district. So, uh to be able to give intensive supports and we've seen that has been helping bridge the gap uh when it comes to
093to um literacy and also language acquisition. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Director Miles, you had a question. >> I think Director Weston had her hand up first, so she can go ahead. >> I think yours was up first. You go first. >> Okay. Um I I want to thank you for the very very detailed report and um as we know um it's really important to look at both positive data and not so positive data. The research shows that um that districts that present those things in public like that that makes a measurable um that moves the dial on student outcomes because they're looking at everything and really appreciate everybody diving in and then um and then really talking about what the plan is. um that you had a slide that had I don't know I'm
094not certainly not asking to go back there but um it was a slide with some concentric circles and the outside circle um I think it was blue being like systems environment stakeholders and all of that and I think that that's where the board falls and can really support you all like that's that's our work we're not we are not on the inside of that and um and so as I was looking at that you know my question is always like what what do you need from us? because it's it's hard to sit here and say we expect we expect we expect without providing support and um and so you know there's aspirations you know everybody wants something I mean we all want our kids to do phenomenally and to get the best education they can
095and do as well as they as they you know do as well as everybody and do as well as they can and and be successful and um and then we also as a board have to create the conditions for that to exist. So, um, and so, you know, like if we're going to extend the sense of urgency, like it's on us also to help create those conditions where those goals can be met. And so um so as we talk about these things, I don't know that this is a conversation for right now, but you know, as we look at how do we point our resources in the budget toward our strategic priorities and these kinds of things, I just, you know, like my question is always, you know, what what do you need from the
096board in its role as a board, right? Like you don't need strategies from us and we should not be giving you strategies, but like what what can you use from the board? And again, that might be um not necessarily direct question right now, but like something that I hope that we can sort of, you know, that we can all come along with because it's our job to to help set the container for you all to do your really good work. >> Um, Director Miles, I do want to like jump in there because I think um because you highlighted that I also highlighted policy ACC. Um the board did the right work in being able to um write those tenants. I think um when we talk about setting the conditions, the fact that you show up
097at roundts and ask the questions, what about our MLAs? The fact that you you know continue to ask for these updates and the questions that you pose to challenge us as leaders to make sure that we are we're doing our part to um close those gaps. Those are the things that we need to do. Public practices and transparency is a critical compo critical component for a just system. So, I think just keep doing those things that you're doing and expecting us to, you know, um, be able to answer these questions. >> Thank you. >> Now, Director Weston, >> thank you so much, Chairs. Um, well, I I wanted to um build on some of our discussion. I think um it's important to focus on our multil- language learners and that should close some of that
098achievement gap. Um but I'm curious about if math is it less than 30% grade level for some of these metrics and English is a little over 40% on grade level. then that tells me that we have something more foundational to work on than one group is not getting what they need compared to other groups because if it was students that were struggling to learn English, you would have math be higher than English. So that number is really I think important um to look at. um that that number indicates to me that there's something more foundational about our instruction or the amount of time we have or what what material we're getting through. Um the first thing is getting through the material, right? We've got kids, we've got teachers, we put them in there, some magic
099happens, right? And then um I just wondering if if we're missing some basic thing um to to be able to even have those numbers. Um and I think it is also important as um elected officials that are representing our constituents to be open to that input. Um, so we are not necessarily providing strategies, but I think we can provide input that we've heard and I think we can open up discussion like what what are our families asking for? What are students struggling with? Um, and some of those might be granular um small things, but they some of these things might make a big difference. And I think we need to be open and have that um public input and problem solving across the board because um I mean our numbers we are making progress so
100I don't want to discount that but it's small progress. It's very incremental. We need big big moves big progress um to get where we should be. um we're we're not we're going to have problems with like property values, the economy, like the if you know 30% of the kids on grade level for some of these things like we can't continue as a community with those kind of numbers and I think um making sure we have all those um things in place um is so important and I think we need to maybe we could dedicate more of our agenda to um having those conversations and not just the presentations but like kind some of the discussions we're having. Um, and I think it's a community thing, right? Like, um, our parents need to be involved, our
101communities need to be involved. Like, who else can join with us because this is a communitywide effort. Um, and I know we already have a lot of really great resources. Um, but we're just not where we need to be. Like, you can be doing very good and hard work. Um, and it still can not be where you where you want it. like it's not a reflection on effort, but like it it's it's not good for the health of our community to have these numbers. Um I think um you know we've heard we've heard I don't know we've heard different input but I think we could um open it up and really take a look at um some of these things. One thing I do want to mention which I've mentioned before is when you look
102at our ontrack um I think it's some of our numbers um on grade level are really low in the fall and get much better by the end of the school year. And so I think um we continue to struggle with the length of the school year. Um, maybe that's a conversation we need to have if maybe we need a longer winter break so some of those folks that are taking vacation don't miss school and then maybe those kids will remember things um when they come back in the fall because the summer's a little bit shorter. I just think we need to look at those things a little bit more um and not just kind of um business as usual. >> Thank you so much. Um, I see several hands raised and what I what I'd
103like to do is is bring this to at least this component to a close just to keep us on track. But, um, Director Weston, um, your concerns around math achievement are shared by by me and the rest of our instructional team, and these are things that we talk about um, at different grade bands around instructional approaches. And so, um, it is a high priority for us. And you're right. Um we do uh need to see different shifts and we're going to um commit to um to uh looking at our math instruction and and making the appropriate adjustments. So your your points have been well taken. Um and then also these are things that we have been discussing uh depending on the school at our at our SIP meetings. Um and um but we could uh
104bring your information back again to our district leadership team and then speak with uh um uh discuss how to more consistently bring this into the the boardroom if this is the the will of the board as well. So thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much. Yeah. I think we need to move on and since we're our next item is all about our science curriculum. Um, it seems like it's a pretty good segue to go from the the the metrics we've been looking at um and the interim assessments to what are we doing for the future for science. And so I believe our uh this is our new item B our new curriculum proposals uh for science and I believe that's director fields and director kint again >> again. Um good evening again board.
105We are delighted to be here again to talk about elementary and middle school science adoption and be able to present this together as all of K12 is doing uh science adoption this year. Our high school is still in process. Uh they were 10 plus years of gathering and doing standards work etc. So the process has just taken a little bit longer but they are well underway. Um so tonight we will be focusing on our K8. Next slide please. So here tonight we have uh director Kint as you already know. We also have instructional coaches Angela Hartnes and Sonia Seely uh along with some teacher reps Tiffany Kerry Shodden and Madison Gurley. Next slide please. Um, as we talk through not just the process tonight, I just really want to encourage you to listen to how
106we are doing adoption. Um, in the past it's more been around standards alignment to instructional materials, but we're actually we've kind of shifted how we talk about it to really being about intentional instructional design. And related to our last conversation, this has really been our opportunity to get really clear on what skills and prioritize the standards and the skill. What skill will every sixth grader get? Every seventh grader, how will those stack over time so that we don't director Weston to your point you've brought up earlier have kind of sporadic pieces of success, right? It is not a lack of effort but without the co that coherence you don't have that predictable stacking of skill and so we are using these processes now as the opportunity to build these structures so we know what every
107teacher is teaching to and towards what every student is supposed to be learning to and towards. So, we're going to be talking about that in context of science tonight, but know that this is our process for ELA that's happening right now and all the other content areas to come, which means everyone by the end will have a clear scope and sequence to follow with aligned materials, common assessments, and how to assess those with proficiency scales. Uh, again, that will also serve as how we will then start reporting on what students know and are able to do. Next slide, please. So on our curriculum adoption committee um we started out K through eight and we had many constituents on the committee um before we then broke up into levels. So we had secondary teachers, all the
108teachers you see listed, um elementary teachers, specialists from instructional coaches, TAG, um multilingual learners of English teachers, technology, parents, uh teaching and learning staff, and through this process um starting with the alignment and the the stacking of standards as um director Fields explained, we then um drill down into the levels and you'll hear about the levels next. >> Yeah, thank you. Um so since both elementary and middle school started this process at the beginning of the year, we had this opportunity to work together um and collaborate elementary and middle school. So um we came together and talked uh talked about what best practices um is for science instruction in tiger twolatin and we prioritize standards kindergarten through 8th grade. So like um director fields was talking about we really had this vertical alignment kinder all
109the way through 8th grade um on day one and we aligned uh we um also did an analysis of our current K8 science instruction. Um, Angela, you want to take it from here? >> Sure. Um, both K5 and 68 reviewed various resources and created or refined evaluation tools to define what quality instruction looks like. Both teams explored many curriculum options and evaluated finalists using a shared criteria evaluation tool. And we had an amazing opportunity to align and collaborate K8 um so u in K8 science. So now we're excited to bring forward two uh curricula for recommendation. Um next slide please. Uh because our goal was not simply to select a program but to build a coherent system for highquality in science instruction. We committed to a teacher-led process that was grounded in best practices and
110strong standard alignment. Together we organized our work around four core areas. Uh you could see here we have uh best environment, content, instruction and assessment. We engaged in crossgrade level conversations to ensure our practices support students consistently and promote equitable access to rigorous learning across classrooms. Through a gallery walk uh collaboration, excuse me, through a gallery walk, multiple rounds of uh calibration and thoughtful discussion, we refined and reached consensus on our shared best practices. Pictured here is a final draft of our best practices and some snatch snapshots from the collaborative calibration process. Next slide, please. Next, we engaged in a similar collaborative uh calibration across our process to refine our priority standards. Teachers reviewed multiple resources including NGSS guidance, OSAS test specifications, and the real criteria, which stands for readiness, endurance, leverage, and assessed. In
111cross-grade level discussions, we analyzed carefully for gaps, redundancies, and sequencing. We continually asked ourselves, do these standards represent the essential learning all students must master at this grade level? Are they instructionally meaningful, reportable, and reflective of the discipline's big ideas? Priority standards serve as the instructional spine and they are the standards we will uh standards we assess not because others are unimportant but because prioritization allows us to focus deeply on the learning that has the greatest impact on student success. This works reflects prioritization not elimination ensuring coherence clarity for all students. Next slide please. Great. Okay. Now I'm going to take you through um elementaryaries curricular review and recommendation. Next slide, please. Um, so after grounding in our best practices, the elementary committee, we looked through um the OD's approved science adoption list, as well
112as teacher and community recommendations. Um, and as a group, we were able to narrow down the search to five curricula, which are listed here on the screen. um where we did a deeper dive into the strength and weaknesses of um each of the programs. Next slide please. So ultimately we asked two pres uh publishers to present. We uh heard from mystery science and the um 2022 edition of twig. Um and using our evaluation tool, we scored each uh publication based on the public publishers's presentation as well as what we learned from our indepth review of the materials. So based on the scores um through our evaluation tool, next slide please. We um our recommendation is unanimous. 100% of our committee members agree that mystery science is the right choice for our students. Next slide, please.
113So, when we came together on that first day, elementary and middle school teachers and committee members, what we heard from every elementary teacher was that they really wanted um science to be a fun and joyful part of the day. and they really wanted students to leave elementary school and enter middle school excited about science, inquisitive, ready to learn more. Um, and so, um, the unanimous decision was in part due to mystery sciences highly engaging lessons and activities that promote oracy and meaning making and mystery science is a rigorous curriculum that is fully aligned to Oregon state standards. Our committee was particularly impressed by the accessibility of mystery science for all learners, specifically our multilingual learners. The curriculum intentionally supports structured oracy and academic discussions um helping students bu build vocabulary and background knowledge to access
114core content. And I'm excited to uh I have with me two teachers that were on our science committee. I have Tiffany Kerry Shoden who's a fifth grade teacher at Deer Creek Elementary and I have Madison Gorle who is a second grade teacher at Templeton Elementary. Um and they have been piloting mystery science these uh for a few months and they're here to share about their experience and the experience of their students. So Tiffany, next slide please. Tiffany, you want to take it from here? >> Yeah. Um on this slide you'll see some feedback from our teachers and community members. Um from day one our committee was excited about how engaging this curriculum is. It quickly felt different in the best way. Uh teachers have described mystery science as a gamecher that not only simplifies lesson
115prep but also brings curiosity and energy back into the classroom. Um, we're seeing students ask thoughtful questions, build on each other's ideas, and truly engage in the academic conversations. Um, I'm going to turn it over to Madison to share a little bit more about what teachers are saying. >> Thank you, Tiffany. Um, I'm Madison Glay. I teach second grade at um, and we love mystery science. The kids love it especially, and it's one of the um, biggest reasons that I love it as well. Um the students are so engaged with the lessons. Each lesson begins with some sort of um phenomenon um shown in a video in a way that's really relevant to the students lives. Often told from the point of view of the narrator experiencing something in his or her life that our
116students might have experienced themselves. Um observations made at a park, outside nature, or even at their homes. Um, I love the way that students can engage in an open discussion with each other and they're able to um bring forth ideas and predictions that they may have without necessarily being correct at first and then they get to explore and revise their thinking as they explore um these phenomena through over multiple lessons. Um, another wonderful thing about mystery science is the hands-on activities. Um, the students really enjoy those. um you'll see in a testimonial coming up from some of my students, but um some of them even described it as a little bit like recess because of how much it feels like playing to them. Um and they of course are also exploring um you know these
117in-depth scientific concepts while they're doing this and getting to be engineers and builders and scientists of all sorts. Um so it's uh it's very fun and engaging for for everybody involved. Um let's go to the next slide, please. So here you'll see some of >> so on this slide you'll see some >> Go ahead Tiffany. >> Okay sorry um so in this slide I can share a little bit what the fifth graders are doing. Um we you'll see that there is a plate of worms. We went digging in some of their green space to look for decomposers with our decomposer decomposing unit where we got to observe uh the worms and uh kind of see how they um look in their environment but also what they do um for uh the whole process of decomposing.
118Um we are also creating sund dials who are looking we're learning about our planets and how um the sun will rotate along with the earth and we are also the making um some chemical reactions. We're mixing together some ingredients. One of the slides shows I think the last slide showed um their goal was to try and mix certain amount of vinegar and baking soda in order to make the bag pop to inflate it and pop it. Um some of them even uh were trying to make it grow big without popping it. So it was lots of guess and check work. Go ahead Madison. >> Thank you. Um, and so there is also some second grade action shots in here. And the second graders, a big topic in second grade science is learning about different materials
119and their properties. And so they are exploring an imaginative scenario where they're stranded on a desert island and they need to only use the materials around them to build a hat to protect them from the sun. So they're exploring the different properties of paper plates and foil and um yarn and and paper clips um and trying to build Oh, and paper towels. trying to build a hat that will absorb their sweat and shade their face from the sun. Um, and testing it out um, in groups and uh, small groups and partners. Um, and we also um, we can go to the next slide. We have some video testimonials um, from some of the second graders um, talking about what they enjoy in mystery science and what they've been learning. So, please enjoy. Is anyone else
120having trouble hearing the volume? >> I've got no audio. They're very cute, though. Sorry about that. And so, um, what we're learning now in mystery science is, um, so like we're on a deserted island and we're learning about materials to like build clothes and stuff and then shaded from the sun. So, so we weren't so hot. Science is my favorite cuz you get to do more like interesting stuff. Interesting stuff. It's like recess but with like working. It's kind of like recess. >> Oh yeah. And the towers that we made >> houses made out of sort of things. Like there's a house made out of bottle. There was a house made out of Legos. And we had to make one out of paper. >> Yeah. I we did little insect ones. So, I did this
121one mini lesson about how cicas and grasshoppers and crickets like make their insect noises, but they don't have vocal cords like we do. Like we can like we can easily make noise like but insects have to like rub body parts together to make noises. And the reason I like that lesson so much is because is I is because I want to be an entomologist when I grow up. And it it all started with us being at the park and a giant wasp nest was just standing was just there. It it was abandoned but We're just sitting there. That was that was the best part of the presentation. Uh and here you see a couple of more photos of fifth graders. uh they were still playing with shadows as part one of the mystery science lessons.
122So next steps um in uh mystery science after um that is you know after assuming um the board approves the purchase of mystery science on May 22nd um our principles gave up their planning day so that we could all come together um actually in buildings um so our our staffs will stay in their own buildings but coaches and teachers who like like uh Tiffany and Madison today who who are here with us. They will be helping to lead the first professional development to introduce all teachers uh to mystery science. Actually, all of our teachers in elementary already have access to all the lessons in mystery science. So, you could probably imagine that um many of them are using the lessons already, but they will get the formal training on May 22nd. And then um they
123will also receive um many um documents that have been created as well as support that has been created. Um and three of our teachers um Sonia and Maddie and also Tiffany here helped create um these alignment documents for the standards to the curriculum and to the assessments. Um they were already done vertically K through 8. Then we also have a TTSD K5 scope and sequence document that will be shared. And then there's another um alignment um resource that actually takes um our new mystery science lessons and CKLA because um in Camino and CKLA there is a lot of background knowledge that is built through those units and through those lessons and through those um um selections that students read that are science-based. And then tribal history shared history lessons in every grade K through five
124also has science. So we are mapping those out so that there is coherence across content across subjects so that our teachers can make the best use of time with the students in front of them meeting their needs and delivering uh the instruction. We also are organizing materials. So, we have like how-to guides on the mystery packs. So, we are purchasing we would purchase the mystery packs that go with uh these lessons um digitally and they have like the cotton balls and the um popsicle sticks and all the things that they need. and they are going to be organized. And there is um a prep preparation guide for every lesson that this team also has prepared so that the teachers know exactly what materials they're going to be using and like what graphic organizer students will
125need during this lesson to record the data that they're taking as they um perform this experiment. And lastly, the performance tasks that we have, this team actually developed for division 22 compliance with our twig science that we um you know are finishing out this year with. We um we will be developing new performance tasks that align to mystery science and u the standards as we teach through the phenomenon and the cross cutting concepts and all of the NGSS standards. Um, so that's that's it for elementary. Next slide, please. And I will give an overview of where we are with the middle school. Um, next slide, please. So, for the secondary curriculum exploration, the middle school teachers conducted a thorough review of multiple OD approved science curricula. This process included a deep dive into materials, pub
126publisher presentations, and extended Q&A sessions and a mini pilot. Publishers that presented to the committee included Activate Learning, Amplify, HMH into Science, and Style. We also observed pilot lessons delivered directly from directly to our students from one of our finalists style which allowed us to see in real time how the curriculum translated instruction provided access points and met the diverse needs of the learners in our classroom. This hands-on experience also gave us a meaningful insight into into how the program would function in in an authentic classroom setting. Next slide please. To ensure fairness and consistency, the team engaged in scoring calibration of the two finalists, Amplify and Style, using the collaboratively designed evaluation tool. This ensured that the programs were assessed equitably equitably and aligned to the criteria that teachers had defined as most important
127for highquality science instruction. The evaluation and CA categories included alignment to NGSS standards with a focus on rigor um and coherence instructional supports including student engagement and teacher usability assessment and monitoring of student progress and technology integration. Next slide please. Ultimately style earned the highest scores meeting the most of our agreed upon shared criteria. So, we are recommending style for adoption. In case you're wondering, style is an acronym that stands for students and teachers integrated learning environment. Next slide, please. Here are some screenshots from the student and teacher materials of style. It's fully aligned to Oregon uh science standards and is intentionally designed to bring those standards to life in a meaningful way. The curriculum is grounded in real world phenomenon, including connection to Oregon contexts, helping students see the relevant of science in their
128own communities. Students are challenged to grapple with complex, meaningful problems, engage in rich classroom discussions centered on authentic science questions. Through rigorous content and hands-on investigations and lab experiments, the program builds knowledge and skills while sustaining curiosity while sustaining the curiosity and excitement the students develop in elementary school. It's flex flexible and customizable, allowing teachers to adapt lessons to meet the diverse needs of students. The structure of the program enables teachers to differentiate more frequently and provide students with timely, actionable feedback. Um, next slide, please. Uh the teachers consistently highlight so here's some quotes from our committee members and the teachers consistently highlighted that this curriculum keeps accessibility and student outcomes at the center ensuring that all students can engage meaningfully with rigorous science content. We heard that it sustains and builds students builds on
129students joy and curiosity from elementary school creating engaging and hands-on opportunities to explore and investigate. Next slide please. Pending approval, our focus now shifts to thoughtful implementation, ongoing professional learning, and continued science or continued standardsbased refinement. We'll begin we will begin the spring with a district-wide middle school science launch to ensure all teachers are prepared and feel supported to teach style this fall. This will be followed by a full-day collaboration session focused on literacy alignment and instructional planning. A dedicated subcommittee will continue refining the scope and sequence, developing proficiency scales for reporting on priority standards, and customizing lessons and student workbooks to meet the needs of our learners. This next phase ensures not just adoption, but long-term sustainability and instructional coherence across our middle schools. Next slide, please. Ultimately, this ensures consistent highquality and equitable
130science experiences for every student, bringing joy and curiosity to science. We are grateful for the depth of our teacher expertise and leadership in this work. This process reflects our shared commitment to excellence, equity, and coherence for all learners. Uh, next slide, please. Thank you. So, I just wanted to take a minute and highlight the incredible leadership of our instructional coaches. um you know they work side by side with teachers the trust that they have the knowledge of what the needs are and in the building the feedback from teachers around the process of adoptions which I think is very unique and rare um have just been incredibly positive feeling like needs have been met there's been thoughtful pilot we got to watch teachers you we got to watch the publishers teach students um of some of
131the teachers on the committee to then see it in action and kids adjust and how it actually works for students Um, and then one of the big thing is asking teachers, what do you need to be able to do this well in the fall? Well, often in historically some of that training has happened not till August. Again, that was that was shared hearing what all the things that teachers need to be set up well for success. We know that if you're planning well in July and August, you want to review and know what your opening sequence is and not learn that in August, three weeks before you're about to teach. Um, and so starting that now pending approval is something that's going to be really important and set our teachers up for success leadership in
132all of this work because it's been a big lift. Um, but a hugely foundational to our work moving forward. Next slide, please. And that's it. We will welcome any comments or questions. >> Thank you so much. That was an amazing presentation. Um, I've got a couple of questions, but I want to look to my fellow board members to see if they have questions first. I'm seeing a no from Director Heimes, Director Weston, Director Miles. Okay. Um, then my question is clearly in the elementary uh curriculum you had u uh pilot classes in the schools this year um with students really engaged. It was wonderful to see. I'm wondering, did you have similar opportunities to do piloting at the middle school levels for that curriculum? >> Oh, can I just address that first? Um um chair
133Zersine. So the since mystery science is a digital platform, what happened was um some of our teachers had been able to use those lessons because you can get a free um trial. And so they were some teachers were already supplementing lessons with mystery science. And I see that in like districts across the United States actually because it's very user friendly and and it can be used as a supplement. So there but there but the components that we are adopting obviously is the the main comprehensive mystery science. Um that said um once we our committee did decide with 100% clarity that that is the program that they wanted to um adopt or recommend to the board for adoption. Then um they turned on mystery science for all of our teachers in the district. So they have
134been able to um not necessarily pilot but like use it and see how it's working already so that they have familiarity with the program and how the lessons are designed so that when May 22nd comes around they have all these resources to then support uh the implementation throughout um the school year next year. And now I'll um I'll I'll pause that just I just wanted to clarify the piloting piece and then let Angela or Sure. >> Yeah, I'm happy to answer on behalf of the middle school. Um thank you um Chair Zers for your um question. So um the the two finalists were Amplify and Style and Amplify is our current um adoption. So it's what many of the teachers would be teaching already. So then style was um uh put out there to the
135team the committee of nine of the um we have 202 science teachers in the middle school and about nine folks who teach science or support science were on the committee. It was put out to the team would anyone like to um either uh pilot the lessons or have style come in and we had a teacher and a co-teer volunteer and they said they would love to have um our rep from Style present. And so uh she came to Tality and she did all day um all full schedule full seven classes um and then we had the science teachers from Twality they popped in throughout the day and some support staff as well um popped in throughout the day and um observed the uh the pilot. So, um, the the the, uh, rep piloted it and
136then the teachers, we had a a premeating and a debrief meeting and she she kind of gave us all her thought processes in between in in between each lesson. And then also, um, we have the whole science department has demo access to style. So, people can start going through the slides, they can see all the the planning, they can see all the materials. Um, and so many folks have been um, looking at that basically since we got access as well. I'm so glad to hear that because it's it's always one thing when it's curriculum in the box and the the stuff and the but actually getting the hands on it and getting the kids hands on it is so crucial to to know whether or not it's really going to it's going to fly in
137the classroom. So that makes me very happy. My follow-up question then is do we have a pretty good um bridge since they're the two curricula are not by the same company. Do we have a pretty good bridge between fifth and second? Uh fifth and sixth since, you know, does one end where the next one's going to pick up or is there some work we're going to need to do to make that a smooth bridge between elementary and middle? >> I would say it's less of a bridge of curriculum because that's the vehicle to the skill. What's stacking and bridging are the skills and that's kind of when we're talking about that scope and sequence and that work around how those skills build. Um that's really the bridge as opposed to curriculum bring being a bridge.
138>> That makes sense. Thank you. Director Weston, you have a question. >> Yeah, thank you chairs. Um thanks so much for the presentation. Um I especially liked seeing the um interactiveness of the um of the um elementary age one. Um but they both um sounded like went through a really great process. So thank you for all that work. Um I was just I had a follow-up question. Um, I saw with some of the um I think it was a a graphic organizer type of thing. Is is that able to be used either online or on paper as preferred >> or does the whole thing? >> For which grade level? >> Um, I guess for both. >> Yeah, I >> Oh, sorry. >> Oh, go ahead with the element. Um, mystery science does have um it
139could be online or paper pencil. Typically in elementary teachers and students prefer paper and pencil until you get up to the upper grades, but they have both options. Yeah. >> Um much like our current curriculum, Amplify, um Style is primarily a digital platform, but there are opportunities for um workbooks that that uh they can accompany. And many teachers also have science lab books that they they have on paper or pencil anyway that accompany the lessons. >> So for the middle school one, um could a teacher do it without the iPad or is it like an integral part of of the curriculum? >> Technology is one of the main components of the curriculum for the um one of the the highlights is basically the instant feedback based on the standard. So, uh, they have it so
140that in a lesson there's the standards are all aligned to questions. And so, as the kids are progressing through a lesson, they can, um, answer the questions and it will give instant feedback on their progress towards that standard. They also have on the workbook page, if you print that, there's a QR code and it's individual to the student. And if they scan it, it will upload it into their um their style profile and basically like autopop populate it as if they answered it digitally. So it will um sync up with that too. So even if they want to choose the paper version which is available, they can it will uh sync it with the digital platform. And I would just add that one thing we're trying to do is a balance. What we don't want
141is just kids lay on iPads all day, right? Going through that's really important to the committee is a balance. And so doing it this early allows us to be able to sit with, okay, based on the standard and based on how it's offered, do we want to print that? Do we want to insert an instructional move here and turn that into a Socratic seminar, right? This gives us the time to do the instructional practice, which is what curriculum doesn't give you. It gives you content so that you can use your expertise for what the instruction should look like. And that is what we're really spending our time on to be able to go, "Oh, we're going to print that for this piece. That part makes sense online. Oh, that'd be a great moment for feedback.
142Let's do that. But how do we want to do that dance between both the online platform and the sort of pen and paper in alignment to the skill we're trying to teach and then the best mode for that instruction? >> Yeah, I um it it does bring some concern for me um hearing that it's so um tech heavy for the middle school. Um I don't know how many of you have seen some of the research on edeek and it's um kind of build as a cure all but um >> it sounds like it's more >> as a technology is a platform for the curriculum rather than the curriculum is technology and I'm looking at the lesson on digging up worms. There's no way that's happening online. So I think it's it's a balance. I hear
143your point Director Weston. I want to keep us moving though because it's getting late. Um, but I I hear your concerns about about too much technology in front of students. Um, >> I mean my kids still using this so I think I can finish my statement if that's okay with you chairs but um I I think there is a lot of concern around Edute. Um, and um, I mean, if we're doing curriculum that's not led by a teacher, I mean, we could put our kids in front of iPads at home, right? So, it just brings up a lot of concern for me. And then it is difficult to know what kids are doing on those iPads. They're very good at getting in there and playing games um, instead of doing their work. Um, and as
144as a parent, it's very hard to know if they've done the work and submitted it um because it's kind of a black box um to know what's been submitted. So, I just want to bring that up. Um, I do find it concerning. >> Director Fields, did you want to chime in one last time before we >> Yeah, I just want to make sure to distinguish the difference between curriculum as a vehicle versus as the as the pedagogue. like the expertise of instruction sits with the teacher and so it is not about logging in and having a like self-guided platform. So I just want to make sure that we're making that distinction uh between where the instruction is coming from is with the expertise of the teacher versus like the content which is something we're pulling
145from and again is both in a digital and a um you know pen and paper mode but no in no curriculum makes up for instruction. So, I just want to make sure we're kind of clearly separating those two pieces. >> Thank you so much. I really appreciate all of the work that you guys put into this. Um, I look forward to um to seeing it come back for second read and approval. Um, I understand next steps are parents and community members who are interested in looking at this curriculum more can do so uh by contacting the district office. Um, if parents have any questions. Yeah. Amber, fill that in for me. >> We did host our parent and community nights. Um, excited to share that. I think because of parent square, the notice that went
146out at middle school right before we had 13 attendees. Um, the average typically is anywhere from zero to three and that seems to be like everywhere we hear from publishers. So, it was pretty exciting that we had a little crowd. Um, no questions that came. They seem very excited about it. But those parent and community nights have happened. But there's always access. It's at district office still and then there's that online access as well for people to explore. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. Appreciate the clarification. Okay. So, we'll move on now to our um item C in our reports and discussion. Um and that is the board goal self assessment. And just a reminder to my fellow board members, this is because we did not have our um our midyear retreat as we had
147intended. So, I'm trying to get some of those elements of what we would have done at the board retreat into nice little bite-sized chunks at board me. So, um you should all have seen the uh Jade sent out the what our goals were, our individual board member goals were for this year. And this is not meant as a competition of like, oh well, I got three dots under each one of my goals and they only got one dot, but rather just a checkup for ourselves, like these are the these are the goals that we each set out for ourselves at the beginning of the year and how are we doing on them. And um I just want to give an opportunity for board members to talk a little bit about what goals they've achieved that
148they're really stoked about or ones that they're having some struggles with. then maybe we could do a quick brainstorm of how to get us through the remainder of the year. I just didn't want to leave goals until April when the the year is almost over. So, does anybody want to volunteer their goal review? >> One of the goals that I had assigned for myself was to do some advocacy work and continue that advocacy work. And uh I think I'm pretty well on track with that one uh in terms of going to DC and going to the advocacy day. So um the rest I'm still working on. I mean for me um a lot of these are just continuous and um but one of the things that I will look forward to and I said this
149in here is that every year I hear our um our educational equity advisory committee asked to be involved in in in policy in some way and I know we haven't met as a policy committee in a while. we haven't needed to and uh but I do think you know following any legislative session there will be a need to and so I'm hoping that that we as a committee can also look for a way to um to bring them in looking at at least one policy and get um get a lens on that so that um so that we can also meet that ask that they have made as well. >> Yeah, I think that's a really good point. Director Weston, your thoughts? >> I'm not sure I should go through all of this um because
150it might be really boring for those watching at home. Um >> we'll just highlight >> and give some highlights. Um I had some community engagement goals. Um I did attend a lot of events, um cultural activities, performances. Um served on a panel for leadership leadership tiger on um government day. Really appreciated that opportunity. um met with some disability and child welfare advocates to understand um overlapping systems. Um you all know I continue to advocate for certain um achievement um advances. Um I think there's um also been some focus on my end on kind of some foundational resources. Um, and I think that relates to the advocacy, so I'll just focus on that. Um, really appreciate the opportunity to serve on the um, Oregon School Board Association Legislative Policy Committee. Um, and, um, worked with others
151on the, um, Washington County legislative summit and, um, LPC convening. Um, really, um, enjoyed collaborating with with other districts on advocacy. Um, and I also wrote in testimony for um, several bills and um, testified in person for HB 4125, which um, would send some of the kicker towards the PERS liability, which would make our budgets um, more robust at the local level by um, meeting some of that obligation for us. And and I think um a lot of that work would hopefully um make our um foundational resources more robust and be able to meet some of our larger goals. Yeah, I think that advocacy piece for all of us, it was a major board goal for the board as a whole and it was a I think it was a goal for pretty much every
152single one of us and it feels like we've really been been kicking that in. I think we as a board should be pretty proud of ourselves for all of the legislative advocacy work that we have done. Um I would defer especially director Weston, Director Himemes, and dire uh vice chair Iran who's not here tonight. I know she's just done a ton of stuff um advocating for for schools and funding for education. Um that's our job as board members and I think our our legislative priorities document has made that work a lot easier for us this year. I certainly have felt like I have a clear blueprint of going forward what I need to be focused on. Um I think we're all doing really great based on what I'm seeing in the report and what you're
153talking about this evening. Um, so yeah, I think when we come back together in April for our uh our much delayed retreat, um, we can hopefully uh move on with with our goals and and move on to the other things that we've got uh for us to work on. Um, if anybody has anything additional to add on this item, say so now or forever hold your peace or at least hold your peace until April. Um, seeing nobody with hands up, let's move on to our next report and discussion item which is our we're calling it board nuts and bolts. Um, and this is we've had some uh conversations about the timing of our board meeting and also the date on which we hold our board meeting. And I wanted to have board members have an
154opportunity to talk about are Monday nights at 6:30 the best time to have our board meetings or is there another time, another date that would work better for people with the caveat that now that we're at the end of February, we're well over halfway through the year. Do we want to try to do this before July 1, or is this something we want to implement starting for next year? So throw those questions out there for topics of discussion. Whoever wants to go go. >> I would be happy to move the meeting earlier. Um but uh if we are talking about changing the day of the week um at least for me that would be impractical at right now. Like I don't know how many other folks have calendared their entire year out. Um, but I
155do and I book my work schedule months in advance. And so if we are looking at changing the the day of the week, I think that would be fine looking at next year. I would be curious as to, you know, if there's a conversation about that, you know, what is generating that interest. Um, but certainly happy to talk about moving the time of the meeting. Director Heimes, I saw a pretty strong reaction from you on that one. >> Oh. Um, no. Earlier probably wouldn't work cuz, you know, I work during the day, but um um I'm okay with Mondays. Mondays have been the past four years have been okay. Um I I think there's only been a couple times when it's been a little bit rough getting here. uh to the 5:00 hour, but other
156than that should be fine. >> So, would it be more helpful if we did work sessions, executive sessions after the board meetings, later in the evening, rather than having them at 5:'? That means staff has to stay really late. And so, I'm sure the superintendent is not liking me say that, but it's our board meeting, so we get to decide what we want to do. I would not like that, but because I think it's only it's only been once where I haven't been able to make it here on time. So, >> yeah, I mean, life gets in the way for all of us. We're all volunteers at this. Director Weston, you had something? >> Yeah, I think um I have some other um obligations on Monday nights that make it difficult to be at the
157board meeting in person a lot of the time. So, um, but I hear Director Miles has, um, wouldn't necessarily be able to change, um, this year, but I think, um, an eventual change away from Monday night would be my preference. Um, as far as the executive session being later, um, I don't think anyone quite asked for that. Um, is it just as long as it's after 5, I think it works for folks or should it be like >> um we're like 5:30 or I'm not sure about the start time. As long as it's after 5, I think it mostly works. >> What's the earliest you could start? Director Hemings comfortably. Five. Okay. Okay. So if we maybe if we didn't have work sessions before we could start the actual board meeting a little bit earlier.
158That a possibility or is this again something that's been calendared out for the rest of this year and something we should be thinking about for July >> at like six? Like is it a possibility for anybody to start the actual board meeting at six? Would that work? >> Yeah. I mean, I I'm okay with starting at five, like, you know, it's it's fine. I think whenever >> Okay. >> And we hear you, director of Western, that you've got other commitments that make it difficult for you to attend in person on Mondays. Um, but if you're able to attend virtually at least through the end of this calendar, this school year, then we could always reassess next year going forward. It's always hard to change it midstream. Uh, superintendent, do you have something you'd like to
159say? >> Yeah, I just want to be mindful that this is really a board discussion. um patterns that I've seen in the boardroom is it feels like people are more or less um ready to jump into um board meetings at 6 p.m. and um and so if you know as far as uh start time and I've heard director uh communicate that five is early enough. So I think um starting at 6 um p.m. um would allow for one of two things. One um routinely an earlier um adjournment which means people get home a little bit earlier especially in when it's dark and raining out and then um and people get sleepy. Um and then also uh or if we have a longboard meeting like tonight um it would just again mean for like an earlier
160conclusion for when we have to go long. >> Is it I think we've only been starting at 6:30 because then the board meeting is homogeneous and then sometimes there's a work session, sometimes there's not. Um but we could always just say if we don't have a work session, we move it up earlier. I mean that seems a reasonable um if that's kind of what others are comfortable with. >> Yeah, it just it just depends on if how um flexible uh your colleagues are. Um we could sometimes the the we don't schedule out those work sessions until later on into the year. And so, um, we could always, from my side of the the, um, house, we could always adjust based on what the the would be helpful for the board. >> We do owe it
161to our public to start the meetings at the same time pretty much every time. So, um, and we don't usually count work sessions as part of our regular meetings. So, uh, we want to make sure that the public knows that Mondays at whatever 600, 6:30, that's where they can find us, um, doing our work. So, but I am hearing that there is some room to move it forward a little bit. So, um, we'll we'll bring that back um, and see what we can come up with. And I appreciate all of your um, cander and uh, contributions to the conversation. And I think with that we should close out our reports and discussion items. Um I do see that it's it's getting on the late side. So I just want to check in with everybody in
162the board. Do we need a five minute stretch or are we good to go straight into our action items? Everybody good? Okay. Great. Then we will just keep on going. And so our first action item tonight is our e rate network tech purchases and that is director Bernard. Take her away. >> Good evening board chair. Um I have two action items this evening. The first one you mentioned is the network infrastructure purchases um underate. We'll be using bond funds for that purchase. Um, we have roughly $5 million of network infrastructure across our district for a variety of things for running our business operations to security cameras to telephones and a variety of other um network um and business related as well as instructional um uses of our network and -ate um since us since the
163district moved to C um that increased our rate reimbursement. So, we were at 50% and now we are at 80%. So, it's a great opportunity for us to make the most of our funding and um try and spread that dollar as much as we can. The rate process is pretty structured. We go through a bidding process. We put out to bid what we are interested in purchasing. We have vendors respond to those bids. There's an evaluation matrix that we go through. Um and then we identify the the um it's not always lowest bid but the most comparable um solution for our district. So at this point um this year we went through a variety of resource of um devices that we were purchasing. Some were wireless, some were um switches for our infrastructure and then
164also um a UPS which is a big old battery that helps maintain our systems at a school level. if the if the um power goes out, we get our phone can maintain our phones for a little bit of time. And then also there's a very large UPS at our Hibbert administration building in case we lose um power there. So it keeps up payroll and our network and a variety of other things so that we can continue our our business. Um the um successful better biders at this point were three different companies and so trying to make it as efficient as possible. Um we landed with uh Ednetics for our switches and we landed with a company called OEG for the UPS at the Hibbert administration building and then the smaller batteries the UPS's in the
165schools we went with Questivity and so the total investment that we will make up front is around $440,000 and then of that roughly a little under $100,000 will actually be what we pay out of pocket. we pay upfront and then we get reimbursed at the quarter um through this next year. The 2627 school year is what we're looking at. So, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have around network infrastructure and or what is on the the purchase items or what the process might be. If there are no questions, I'd entertain a motion. I move that the board approve purchase of network infrastructure purchases and authorize the district superintendent or CFO to sign the purchase order to Ednetics, OEG, and Questivity as outlined above in an amount not to exceed $440,984.84. >> Second. been
166moved by director Miles, seconded by Director Heimes, that the board approve purchase of network infrastructure purchases and authorize the district superintendent or CFO to sign the purchase order to Ednetics OEG and Questivity as outlined above in an amount not to exceed $440,984.84. Any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed, please say nay. Nobody unmuted. Okay, motion carries. Thank you very much. We move on to our next tech item. >> Thank you. Um this second and last one from the tech world um is replacing our incoming 9th grade Chromebooks. Um, in our system for onetoone devices, if the student graduates, um, we allow them to take the four-year-old, almost 5-year-old device with them when it becomes basically obsolete in our environment. It's still a decent machine
167for them to get online to finish going into college or career or wherever they might be going. So, it's it's actually more useful for us to kind of have them take it with them. So, with that, we need to replace those every year. Um, and what we have learned over the years with damage and loss and all the rest, we buy a little bit of a surplus because we need to have enough on the ninth grade year to last us all the way through those kiddos as a senior. Um, and so we buy a little bit more than our enrollment amount so that we can accommodate for those loss and damaged devices over the years. We're buying a little bit earlier this year because of the cost increase that we're experiencing across everywhere. Um, so
168trying to get the the um correct device that we have landed on that's quite durable and works well within our environment um at a discounted price by buying it about a month earlier than we normally would. Any questions about the devices or the quantity? I just want to say I love the fact that we give the the Chromebooks for the kiddos after they've graduated. It's a huge boon to a lot of our kids, especially those from families who couldn't otherwise afford to buy a computer for their kiddo. Um, and I think that's a really a really great thing that we're able to do. Um, >> they've been filling in at Tiger High School with a a vacancy in the position. And so just today we had a student, a younger sibling ask um she was
169a sophomore asked if she could take the device with her because she knew her brother had. So, um, it's making its rounds finally. It's taken about three years for kids to realize it. But yes, I think they they appreciate it more and more, which is great. Good transition tool >> indeed. I would entertain a motion. Wait, can I just say the other day I found my daughter's Chromebook and I was like, why is this still here? >> You bring it in, we'll wave the fee. >> Yeah. Like, why didn't you return it? But anyway, sorry. I move that the uh board approve purchase of Acer Chromebooks with 2025 bond funds and authorize the district superintendent or CF. >> Huh? >> Oh, >> I'm sorry. My computer announces the time. >> Okay. or CFO to sign
170the purchase order to OEC in the amount not to exceed $649,683.34. >> Second. Been moved by director him, seconded by director miles, that the board approve purchase of Acer Chromebooks with 2025 bond funds and authorize the district superintendent or CFO to sign the purchase order to OEC in an amount not to exceed $649,683.34. Is there any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> All those opposed? Nobody unmuted. All right, motion passes. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Director Bernard. All right, we now have the second read for our open enrollment and district transfers. Um, is that Dr. McCall? >> Actually, Lisa Burton here. >> Actually, it's Lisa Burton. Okay. >> Um, but director >> Director McCall does oversee the interdist hardship approval process. Um, but I'm
171joined this evening by Emma Reid who manages the indistrict transfer application process um, which we are seeking uh, approval for the 20 2627 school year. Next slide, please. Uh so we'll quickly review the interd district transfer process and recommendation for the 202627 school year. Next slide please. So currently families have three options for transferring in and out of the school district. Option one is through an approved interd district hardship transfer agreement. Option two to paid tuition or option three they transfer through court placement. Next slide please. For the 2025 2026 school year, the board approved unlimited applications to attend TTSD schools and hardship release approval required for families wanting to attend a district outside of the Tiger 12ton School District. Next slide. Uh this slide lists the current process for approval of interd district transfers
172to attend TTSD schools. Students who move midy year or during the summer are approved to complete the school year with TTSD. Siblings of students already on an interd district transfer. Um and families who present approved release from their resident district. Next slide, please. Uh just a note that currently Twality Middle School and Mezer Elementary uh remain closed for all transfers based on current enrollment numbers. Next slide. And this slide outlines the current process for a student to be released from the Tiger Twitton School District. Um that is the interd district transfer process similar to the process for students to attend with the exception of hardship release if families do not qualify under the priority release options. Next slide please. Um and then an update for the virtual charter school releases. Uh beginning in the 2026
1732027 school year, the plan is that TTSD will offer two additional options for K12 virtual school in partnership with um two other districts. Um still working on determining um who they are, but that is the plan moving forward for next school year for the virtual charter school releases. Next slide, please. So pending approval uh we will open the transfer window beginning March 1st 2026 and then final slide. So we ask the school board to approve unlimited applications to attend TTSD schools and again hardship um only releases to attend a district outside of TTSD. Are there any questions? No questions. Uh, I'd like to make a motion. I move for approval of the 2026 2027 interd district transfer process as presented. >> Second. Been moved by directors, seconded by director miles, that we approve the 2026
1742027 interd district transfers process as presented. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. Thank you so very much. >> And we'll move to our um general fund budget resolution. And so that must be Jessica C. Good evening. >> Good evening. And I um just one point of order. Do we want to do the budget committee appointments first or would you like me to do the general fund resolution? >> Oh, yes. I skipped a line. >> So sorry. I know we're running late. Okay. Lots of >> fine. I've got >> Yeah. Thank you. Um so just for reference for um folks following at home, we're on page 69 of the board packet tonight. And this is an overview of the nominations
175for two openings on the budget committee. The board recently adopted the budget committee policy back in November and so this process reflects um that policy. So again, last year we had two vacancies. Um the district is recommending renewing uh Megan Madlam. She's been a budget committee member who is interested in continuing to serve. That would take care of one of the openings. And then as we finish rolling out the incorporation of the education equity advisory committee representation, Henry Castillo will be taking the second um opening slot to u meet the policy requirements of the five elected officials and then the five appointed community members. That sounds pretty perfect. >> Those are both very strong committee members. So, I'm pleased to see that they want to continue on the work. >> Um, can I make a
176motion? I move to reappoint Megan Madlin to the three-year budget committee term and appoint Harry Castillo as the representative for the educational equity advisory committee. >> Second. >> Been moved by director, seconded by director Weston that we reappoint Megan Madlin to a third three-year budget committee term and appoint Henry Castillo as the representative for the education equity advisory committee. Is there any further discussion? hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. All those opposed? Motion carries. Director Himeus, did you not get a chime in? >> Chime in. I I vote. Yes. >> Okay. Excellent. All right. With that, we uh approve the motion and we now move on to the budget. Uh sorry about that. skipped a groove. >> No, it's okay. Um, thank you so much. So, we're going to continue
177to follow the packet. Starting page 70, we have a summary memo explaining the request for a supplemental budget. This specifically affects the general fund. As we've noted throughout the year in our general fund updates to the board, the 2425 school year ended with a fund balance that was better for better than forecasted by approximately $3,800,000. The supplemental budget recognizes that better than budgeted fund balance. It also additions um or sorry it also acknowledges an addition of $100,000 in local revenue and then requests that the board consider appropriating $1 million of that total $3.8 million to support instructional services and support services. So, as we came into the school year, we noted we had some additional instructional and school needs um and a couple of support items as well. And approval of the supplemental budget would
178just ensure that we're able to meet our appropriation thresholds for the 2526 school year. The residual funds of $2.7 million flow through to the fund balance and become resources available for the district to plan the 2627 budget. Thank you for your work. I move to approve. Can I do that? >> Absolutely. >> Unless there's any questions. Sorry, I didn't offer to answer those. >> I move to approve resolution 2526-17 supplemental budget number 3 2526 general fund as presented. >> Second. Been moved by Director West and seconded by Director Miles that we approve resolution 2526-17 supplemental budget number 32526 general fund as presented. Is there any further discussion? I would just like to say I really like the way that when we've got a little the money we weren't expecting there to be, we put some
179into this year's student needs and some into savings for next year. I think that's a really smart approach. All right. Uh any other discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. >> Motion carries. Thank you so much. All right. Now, hopefully I'm on the right line of the document. Now, we've got our Twan High School tennis courts contract, and that is Kevin Montag. There's the >> Good evening, board. Um tonight we're bringing a contract for the the restoration of the tennis courts at Twitin High School. Um this is a project that was identified on our in our bond project list. We didn't think we would be able to get it done this summer, but uh due to some scheduling we were and some um getting our project
180managers on board, we were able to work with Bayon Sports uh working through a couple of cooperatives to get the best price. We worked through the the um the source world contract, source world cooperative and also we had them look at the intermount ESD contract to see which one gave us a better better proposal for that. And the Source World contract came in um on the cooperative at about roughly $20,000 less than the Intermount ESD uh cooperative. So that's the one we're bringing to the board tonight for replacement of the Twatin tennis courts. uh that will be cutting out the existing quartz approximately 16 inches inside of the existing fence um and just replacing the interior. If we went outside of that, we would have got into land use and a bunch of other things.
181So, we chose to just replace that just the interior because the fencing is still good. This puts us slightly about $1,800 over our our original estimated bond budget. So, we're right right there, which we're happy with. So, tonight we're asking for approval to award um this contract to Bandon Sports Services for a not to exceed amount of 50187141. >> Any questions on that? >> I move to award Benon Sports Services Services Inc. in conjunction with Field Turf USA via Sourcewell contract for the Twitin High School tennis court improvements project for an amount not to exceed $51,87141. >> Second. Been moved by Director Miles, seconded by Director Weston that we award Bennon Sports Surfaces, Inc. in conjunction with Field Turf USA via Sourcewell contract for the Twitter High School tennis court improvements project for an amount
182not to exceed $51,87141. Is there any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say I. I. >> All those opposed say nay. >> Motion carries. All right, we now >> uh next >> go ahead. >> Um Okay. Sorry. Um, so our next contract we're bringing for approval is for the Deer Creek Elementary for the prek playground. This is a part of the project for Deer Creek that will happen this summer in 2026. It's part of the larger project. We have chose to pull this out of the general contractor scope and do this uh directly with the have the district directly do this with the uh vendor in order to for realizing some savings and not have the general contractor markups. Um we have chosen to go with game time uh who did all
183the uh art rutkin and templeton uh playgrounds as well. They provided the existing structure that is is in the prek playground at Deer Creek currently that was put in about four years ago by game time. And so we're uh proposing that under the Omnia Cooperative uh that we utilize them to finish out that playground, add additional components as a component to the larger piece of contract that we will be awarding in the future to a general contractor. But this will get us moving forward to get um playground equipment ordered and coming on the way to get that done this summer. Uh, so we're asking for board approval to utilize the Omnia Partners Cooperative to award that to Game Time in an amount not to exceed $179,676.73. >> Any questions? Director Weston. >> Um, yeah, I
184just had some comments um pertaining to the $73,000 line item for the port in place. uh safety surfacing. This material uses crumb rubber from recycled tires for its shock absorbing base layer and that means it contains 6 PPD which is added to tires and converts to the highly toxic 6 PPD quinone. Um turf and rubber products can expose children through accidentally eating dust particles. Runoff from these surfaces gets into water sources and impacts fish. You can be exposed by drinking the contaminated water or eating contaminated fish. The six PPD is especially bad for coo salmon, toxic at the one parts per billion level, but also steel head, rainbow trout, and brook trout. Managing this issue means expensive storm water retrofits and downstream health issues. Human health effects include reproductive health issues in both genders, liver
185damage, neurotoxicity with higher concentrations observed in the brain and spinal fluid um with people who have Parkinson's disease. There's also intestinal damage, inflammation, and influenza um in higher amounts for children who were exposed. And similar to the effect on fish, C the 6 PPD um quinone can can relate um can um result in oxidative stress and damaging DNA in people. The surfacing is 73,000 again, and that's the largest line item for the playground. Um almost half the total cost. And I want to point out that Tumbleton has wood chips. Um, which means that this contractor could do wood chips. So, I would like to amend the um the motion to omit this item or change it to be wood chips instead of this toxic material. Before we amend the motion, I'd like to um have
186uh Director Montag have a moment to um address all of what you've just said. >> Certainly. So, the the the ported place rubber has two-part. It's a two-part system. It's actually a three-part system. There is definitely as director Weston indicated there is chrome rubber that's used for the shock absorbing uh purpose of that. That product is completely encapsulated with a uh the top layer which is a nonchrome rubber uh product. The EPDM it's virgin rubber that is made specifically for that um and covers it up uh entirely. So there is there is no leeching or ability for that to get out the um the product comparatively to an artificial turf field uh where creme rubber is used and exposed to dust there is no opportunity for that that actually to to occur. Um the uh
187we have t we took this to the bond oversight committee and and asked them in one of our meetings. We went through a lot of the things had the safety documentation around it. Um we've vetted it with um our administrators that our current administrator Redken that has the port in place. Um and the comments that we got back was it's a gamecher. We've asked many of our administrators around that um accessibility of of wood chips. While wood chips do meet the um ADA requirements in a lab setting, one of the things that we've noticed over time is when you put those uh for them to meet the ADA requirements for accessibility. Uh they they they key up and create a mat uh for wheelchairs and uh students with disabilities to get across them. that works
188great in a lab environment, but our experience in real world applications is that that does doesn't um stay that way at the at the site where kids are always kicking it out and and mounding things up. So, as we toured the sites with the bond oversight committee had robust conversations around it, uh the bond oversight committee uh came back with a recommendation that we move forward with port in place given all of the um the benefits and there there is to to be fair there is a there is concern around it, but we've done our due diligence and um I believe that that this is the proper way to go. I also would like to say that um having worked in schools where there were wood chips in the playgrounds um you know it I
189agree with uh with Kevin that it's really not accessible for our students who have a hard time walking or uh you know can fall down easy. that's uh the the plastic or the the the turf or whatever you call that. Um you know, that's really accessible. It's really bouncy. Uh people don't get uh or kids don't get hurt as easily. And then in the winter time when it rains, you don't have that uh where kids are losing like their their boots in in the mud and the uh and the bark chips like they think we almost lost a first grader or kindergarter at Durham one day. Um, okay. That was specific, but you know, >> yeah, that is that is one of the major um problems that we have at the Der Creek uh prek
190playground is drainage. Um it's it's one of the issues that we have districtwide with where when we have wood chips, um as the wood chips decompose, they break down into very very fine particles and they create almost a an imperous mat that blocks the drainage. um and then they become saturated and create um just sloppy messes in those areas where they break down um and create those problems with kids. And that's um we've struggled with that at anywhere we have bark chips and the pre prek playground at at Deer Creek is a a very um problematic area that that we struggle with drainage and keeping that playground open and accessible during the winter months. Direct Weston. >> Yeah, I share the concern about kids getting dirty, they go outside, they get muddy. Um but um
191my preference is still the chips because although they break down, they break down into something that's not toxic. Um yes, there's more maintenance, but when the rubber mat breaks down, then it releases all of those particles um and contaminants. And um I just wouldn't feel comfortable signing off um and I might be in the minority position, so I'm comfortable with that, but I wouldn't be comfortable signing off on something that we might have to clean up later um at a larger expense if these chemicals are eventually ever regulated. Probably not in this regulatory environment, but um knowing as I do the um the harm, um I can't in good conscious support it. We hear you. I think it we as a board would need to be very mindful of the fact that if that top
192layer of virgin rubber does get compromised, we need to be responsible and make sure it gets covered back over so that the possibility of harm to children or fish is mitigated. Um, but I do understand your descent, Director Weston. >> Do I have a motion? Um, well, hold on. Um, >> yeah. >> So, like, uh, is this, so what you're saying, Director Weston, has that been like proven? Has there been studies done? U, I mean, it's not regulated or anything, but do we need to slow down and consult with with our attorney now that this has been brought up? Well, that's a good question. Um, there are studies um about this harm, but um a lot of times when you have a toxic chemical, it's not actually regulated by any governments. Um so a lot
193of times the law is playing catch-up to the scientific findings and this is one of those cases. Um there might be some kind of general um liability. I don't I don't know about that. Um what I do know is that I don't think it's right because whether it's regulated or not, I know it's harmful. And even if it's initially not breaking down, I know all of these are breaking down. All of these turf fields are breaking down. And I mean, if it's some of it, I don't see an as easy of a um alternative, but for the playgrounds, I do. And so um if I don't like the tennis court, I'm not 100% comfortable with it. But I know um I don't think there's a ready alternative, but for this there is. And so, um,
194you know, if they start regulating this chemical and then it becomes a brown field, how much does that cost to clean up? And it's for children, like little children play in the dirt. I've seen them at turf fields, um, gathering up little turf pellets in bowls and playing with them and running their fingers through them. Um, it off gases, it rolls, it goes into the water. Um, I'd just rather not drink it or be a part of that. Just to clarify, we're not talking about a turf field here. We're talking about a port in place rubber mat. But Director Miles, you had your hand up. >> Thanks. Um, so I sit on the bond oversight committee, which means I'm mostly just sitting there listening to the experts talk because I'm not one. Um, but I
195was there when this was discussed. And I think that um a couple of things, one is a question to Kevin and the the other one is is just a statement that there was discussion about especially between these these two things like what is you know what is the the risk here and then I also heard discussion about like replacement of these things. This is not one of those things that would go down and then be there forever. That there was a calculation of how often does this material need to be replaced? What would that look like? And I know that was also, you know, taken into consideration. I think that, you know, if we've got folks on staff certainly who have done the due diligence and were interested in that information, I think that it
196would be responsible of us to to see that. Um and um because everything that I heard in that in that room was there was a lot of due diligence done and a lot of study on this and it was not the first time anybody had thought of this was in that conversation that that work had already been done to look at at this. The other thing that I wonder is that, you know, we can't probably just change the motion and go with chips because I'm guessing that's a completely Well, I believe it's a completely different cost. Like, we would probably have to, you know, do something else. I don't know that that could be necessarily just amended tonight and go with another motion. I'm guessing that would have to come back at another time. Um,
197because that probably couldn't be calculated right here. Um, so That that is my assumption. Um I could be wrong about that, but um those are my comments. >> And just to clarify, um the rubber tire bits um the it's a they take the tires and they shred them up and then they add them to these various products. So the playground um rubber and the turf has the same little rubber um pellets. Some of you might have um turf pellets, we call them, that throughout your houses. Um am I the only one? Um kids that go on the turf, they come home, they're in their shoes. Um but the little turf pellets, um it seems nice cuz they're recycled and I support recycling, but if it has a toxic chemical, um then I don't like it
198so much. Um so it's the same chemical that ends up um in both of those uh end uses. uh this being the playground one which I view is um something we don't have to do whereas I recognize some of these other ones are harder to replace. Uh but this one I feel is straightforward. Um I would also um be interested in maybe um asking that there be um an alternative proposal that that could be brought for our discussion. maybe um the pallet one and the port in place um material. Maybe we could um have two different options um that could come back for a vote would be one option. Okay. I want to um I just noticed that Damon Henry who is on the the bond oversight committee is in the room and I'd like
199to give him an opportunity to talk since he was undoubtedly part of this conversation about the safety and the the the the various pros and cons of the support in place rubber surface. So Damon, do you mind if I put you on the spot and ask you? >> No, not at all. Not at all. Um I I don't have a ton to add from what's been said. the the bond committee takes its job very seriously. Uh and there was some pretty spirited discussion with regard to um not just the cost but the potential uh other impacts related to this. We talked about how the rubber pellets would be totally encapsulated. Uh we talked about potential risks associated with the chemicals. We talked about splinters coming home in boots with, you know, uh, the impact on
200wood chips. What really kind of settled it for me as we related in that discussion was the um the comments of the parents who were also educators and they universally wanted the rubber the rubber mat that it was such a mess that the risks far uh the risks were far less of a concern than the uh the benefits that it provided. And so um yeah, I I I think there is some concern with regard to it. Uh but that was what that was what settled it for me when the parents who were educators said far and away we want the rubber mat. This is the best solution for us. We also talked about how over the long term it's cost-effective. that replacing the chips that digging out the chips that have become water logged to
201address the drainage that it's a good it's a good way to spend our money. >> Thank you. I appreciate that input. Um I just noticed the time. It is 9:31 and I do need um a motion from the board to extend the meeting >> or we could stop it right now at night. I move that we extend the meeting. Is it just that simple? >> That that simple. Yeah. Did you >> I did I move that we extend the meeting >> and I >> All right. It's been moved by Director Miles, seconded by Director Heimes that we extend the meeting. Uh is there any further discussion hearing? None. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. Um, I feel like we've all had a
202chance to chime in our opinions. I think um, for expediency's sake, we should just go to a vote. If I can get somebody to please make a motion. I move to award game time via Omnia Partners for the Deer Creek Elementary School Security and Infrastructure Project for an amount not to exceed $179,676.73. >> Second. Been moved by Director Himez, seconded by Director Miles that we award game time via Omnia Partners for the Deer Creek Elementary School Security and Infrastructure Project for an amount not to exceed $179,676.73. So, any further discussion? Thank you, Damon, for chiming in. Thank you, everybody, for the vigorous discussion. We'll now hold a vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. All those opposed, please say no. >> No. >> Okay. Motion carries 3 to one. Thank you all
203for your thoughtful consideration. We'll now move to our final action item, which is our HVAC contract. Director Montag, still you. Um, I am going since Damon is here and we've asked him to be here and he was heavily involved in this RFP, I'm gonna um turn it over to him to to present this one. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, yeah, I mentioned earlier this this uh the bond committee takes our job very seriously since this is our first recommendation uh with a committee member being involved. I'll just give my 22nd uh plug for the bond committee that uh we're a diverse group of community members and professionals. We spent a lot of time talking about our role, how we can be a resource for the community, how we can assist uh the district in making
204its decisions, but ultimately everything we do is geared towards accountability so that we can pass the next bond. when the next bond comes around, we want to be able to say to the community, we spend our money well. We spend it carefully. We do what uh we we've got teams in place and processes in place to make sure that all of the money that we ask you for as taxpayers gets put to work. Uh so that's our goal. Uh with that goal in mind, when the bond program team comes to us, they present us with the information where we're at in the budget, what sort of things are going on within the bond program, and in situations like this one with the HVAC equipment replacement, we're asked to be a part of making a recommendation
205for the school board. So requests for proposals were sent out for uh HVAC equipment replacement at Alberta Ryder, CTF, Mezer, Toualatin, and Tiger High School. I believe it's 26 units in total. Uh we received eight proposals. The process by which they were qualified was sort of a pass fail if they had the necessary uh bonding capacity, experience doing school work, things like that. They received a pass grade. All of the contractors passed. Uh and after reviewing them and comparing numbers um we were presented with the highest scoring um uh contractor and that's Piper Mechanical. So the recommendation of the uh bond committee is to award the contract to Piper Mechanical. Uh their budget amount is within the uh planned budget for for the bond. Um, and so the materials that you've got in front of
206you does contain a recommended um, motion, but I'm also happy to answer any questions and let Kevin correct me if I've uh, left anything out or said anything fuzzy. >> No, not you. Um, pretty well nailed it there. Um, we are significantly lower than our budget. We're happy with this with those numbers. Um, and the it's always nice when it lines up where your highest scoring firm actually also is your lowest bid. Um, and in this case, that's what Piper Mechanical is on this project. >> Are there any questions? I have one quickie. Is this a a company Piper Mechanical? Is this one we have worked with before? >> We have not. This this would be a new This would be a new one. um our the project manager that we have on the project
207has worked with Piper Mechanical prior um on several projects um where he's been the project manager and he um he was the third reference that we checked for them and everything came back great. Um and in fact Piper Mechanical was listed as a first tier subcontractor on one of the other proposals by a general contractor. So, >> excellent. Good to know. Thank you. If there are no other questions, I would entertain a motion on this. Our last action item of the night. I move to award Piper Mechanical Inc. the 2026 HVAC equipment replacement project contract for an amount not to exceed 4,413,32 $229. >> Second. Been moved by Director Miles, seconded by Director Heimes, that we award Piper Mechanical Inc. the 2026 HVAC equipment replacement project contract for an amount not to exceed $4,413,229. Is
208there any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all very much. And with that we are adjourning this virtual meeting of