06/09/2025 Regular Meeting of the TTSD School Board

001All right. Good evening everyone and welcome to this regular session for the Tiger 12ton School Board. I'll call this meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. At this point, I will Are there any changes to the agenda? There are no changes to the agenda. All right, then I'll take a motion to approve. I move that we approve the agenda as presented. Second. Motion was made by Vice Chair Himemes and seconded by Director Zerse. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I'll move to a coral vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. I. Any opposed? All right. And now we are going to recess the regular session and then move into our annual budget hearing. So, I will recess this meeting at 6:30 p.m. All right. I will now call to order

002the annual budget hearing at I was really hoping to be 6:31 at 6:30 p.m. All right. And I'm just confirming, are there any public comments signed up for the hearing? All right, hearing none, I will adjourn the budget hearing uh annual budget hearing at 6:31 p.m. And now I'll resume our regular session of the Tiger 12 and school board meeting um at 6:31. And with that, we will go to our bond recap reports. Uh, good news and recognition with our interim director of communications and team. Thank you. Thank you. Good. Kind of terrified about that gavvel the way you were wielding that. So, uh, good evening, Chair Irvin, uh, Vice Chair Himemes, members of the board. And as you know, I always appreciate so much our schoolboard representatives. Thanks for uh letting us present tonight.

003Um I'm glad to be joined today by Jeremy Wright, our bond consultant, and Karen Hugart, who along with Chair Irvin served as co-chair of the bonds political action committee and with us also are members of the pack and some members of our communications team. Great to have him here sitting here with me. Um, as many of you have heard me say, I didn't really have a plan B related to this bond campaign. And when I calendared this appearance a few weeks ago, I couldn't have safely predicted the outcome. And uh, it gives me great pleasure to sit before you tonight knowing that plan A worked. Through the efforts of dozens of individuals and the trust and goodwill of our voters, we can now celebrate the passage of measure 34342. The official vote certification comes June

00416th, but our TTSD team, particularly Darren, Kevin, Jessica, Dr. Udo, and many others are already gaining traction on the actual bond work. I expect you to be hearing a lot more about that soon. For now, passing a bond is such a monumental achievement that we want to take a few moments to celebrate that, retrace our steps. Um, before I move ahead, I just want to uh point your attention to this photograph. It's a one of many examples of the work that uh Gustavo did for us and it's hard to overestimate the power of a great visual and this is just one of the examples he did where really captures the joy of learning and I'm really grateful for that. Uh next slide please Thor. So this tells the story. This is the tale of tape

00552.7% and uh I'd welcome a round of applause for that. Thank you. Um looking at the next slide please Thor. So if you think of uh this work as a as a pyramid you look at that really bottom layer and that that foundation is the the historic ties that between this community and it schools and it's so important and it's embodied in in a lot of individuals who grew up here attended our schools. they've ended up buying homes, raising families and and raising another generation of civic-minded individuals and going up in that pyramid. Uh we have to really uh we owe a debt of gratitude to um the individuals who worked on that 2016 bond. Um and it relied on so many different individuals, but just to call out a few Karen Karen Hugarts who

006here with me today, Karen Emerson, Moren Wolf, Susan Stark Hayden, and and so many more. moving up uh and we're going to hear more about the the long range planning committee uh in uh from me actually in a minute and the pack and the volunteers and then ultimately the the top level building on all the the strengths of what came before is the campaign we ran in 2025. Next next slide please. So uh this the work of the long range planning committee uh dates back more than two years. You can see the many people that were involved with this. It obviously predates my time here. Um the report they did is an inch thick and about 200 pages and it was really critical to uh reaching the point that we are today. uh my predecessor

007Tracy Rose initiated that process and I really wish she were here today to uh celebrate with you all that uh the facilities planning committee considered various options and uh through our polling as well as some uh crucial planning work by Jessica and thank you Jessica we'll end it on a plan that became measure 34 342 uh now I'm going to ask uh Karen to talk bit about the pack's role in the campaign okay next slide please and Next slide, please. Okay, so our team um for the pack this year, Tristan Irving, myself and Ann and Joe Dupwe, Margie Green, and Alex um as our core team. You know, uh Ann and Margie with their marketing and design minds are unbeatable. Um Joe stepped up to be our treasure, which was just incredible. And Alex just

008jumped in with both feet and learned alongside of us, which was awesome. Um and then we had so much support from Kylie Mclofflin. She did all of the yard sign coordination. Got all of those out to uh homes. Marilina and Aaron who did our um our PSO coordination. They went to all kinds of PSO meetings and did everything we asked them to do in terms of getting stuff from parents. Allison Schubert with Lunaban Media who did our uh website. Um Amanda Shama and ambient sky photography who did our photo shoot. and Karen Emerson when our treasurer had a medical emergency stepped in and helped us to keep that treasurer role running which was so vital. Um next slide please. So on the pack side of things these are a lot of the things that we

009um are able to accomplish this year. a lot of fundraising, photography, PSO coordination, voters pamphlet arguments and endorsements, uh website design and marketing, mailers and flyers, yard signs and magnets, a social media and a text campaign, and just a lot of community outreach going to events and um talking to people. So, I just wanted to mention that um how grateful I am to be a part of the Tiger and Twin communities. Growing up here, I always felt surrounded by that support. And I think of all the voters of the 1980s and 90s that helped build these schools that now house our students. And I feel so fortunate to raise my own children in a place that values education, connection, and the future. Most members of our team have children that are grown or are nearly

010through our school systems and won't be personally touched by these projects. However, they stepped up and gave of their time and talents and resources to leave a lasting legacy for all future students of TTSD. I'm so grateful for all the community members who recognized the value of investing in our schools. Thanks to everyone who stepped up when we asked, put a sign in their yard or a magnet on their car, answered a question about the bond, or wrote a letter in support. And especially thank you to everyone who voted yes. Tiger and Twitin are amazing places to live. And I'm so proud of our community. And I'm gonna pass it to Jeremy. All right. So, building the case. Uh, you know, when I was last here, actually in person presenting to you all, we actually

011presented the last poll that we did before you took a vote to put this on the ballot. Um, and part of that is I presented this uh this ven diagram I use a lot with clients and you know the work that we did in the pre-planning. And I wanted to talk about that before we talk about the actual effort because it was really crucial. Whether it was the long-range facilities planning, whether it was the polling that we did to help make sure that we were aligned with the voters, whether it was your work as board members asking the hard questions, figuring out what was the right number, what was the right mix of schools and the bond projects. Uh that was really crucial to our success. So I wanted to start with that because getting

012that part right was absolutely important to getting the next part right which is winning this campaign. Next slide. Next. Yeah. There we go. So, you know, one of the things I joke a lot about is that you see I show up uh your work is going to double uh in order to uh finish and I'm sure the tag folks will will talk, you know, attest to that. Um because we lay out an aggressive plan and we say, "Okay, uh this is where we were for our polling. This is where we need to go. This is our votes to win and what you need to do." And so I lay out real fast the things we knew we had to do to win and we did. Um, first thing was tell the story of how we

013developed this bond. What I was just talking about before we were on the ballot, you know, the community input. Um, we developed really great, clear, neutral messaging that communicated what the bond does and does not do, focusing on facts, not advocacy. We wrote great ballot language. That was really important because that was the one thing everyone would see. Energized the choir, got all the supporters out, talking to people, sharing information. um we engra the broader community whether it was I don't know how many presentations that you all went out and did um the the the communications team should be really commended and board members and others who presented everywhere that was crucial uh we used the mo uh use of mail social media digital ads presentations we we we reached people where they were whether

014that was online or in person uh created really strong collateral stuff that was easy you started off We we saw the signs driving in or was it the vid, you know, the videos or the pictures. Um really told our story. Uh built transparency and trust, talked about where the money would go and how you would write uh you know, oversee it. Uh and we were consistent, clear, and repetitive. They got really t tired of talking about it. But for most people, it was the first time they ever heard you. And so you're tired of yourself, but you weren't they weren't tired of you. Um and that was really crucial to passing this. So, those are the things we knew we had to do to win. Uh, and to credit everyone in this room, they did

015them or we did it. Thanks. This is just a representation of the the three touchstones we had in this campaign, which is repair, secure, and prepare. Show you the next slide, please, Thor. So, it's hard to take a picture of a Google Drive. So, this is the low tech version of of uh where things were as far as the campaign. It's just the whiteboard in my office. On that Google Drive, we had calendars, spreadsheets, photos, graphics, website design, and a lot more. Uh, next slide, please, Thor. And this is just kind of the laundry list of all the things that we're involved in. Um, and I'm I'm sure that all of you saw most or even all of these, but uh gives you an idea of the breadth of uh of the work that was

016done. Um, and we got such huge huge support from from Darren, from Kevin, from Sean in operations, and every time that I said we need to be at a school at 7:30 in the morning or the Rotary at noon or to talk to the PSO at 7, Darren and Kevin were there, and you usually both of them. So, it's just Yes. Yes. Yes. I really, really appreciate that. Next slide, please. Uh just an example of how our messaging related to both the need and then if you look at uh the next slide the opportunity. So we're trying to balance those and and uh show you know what a new Fowler Middle School could look like. Um next slide. You know as events swore on uh clearly we had some headwinds in terms of the economy.

017So we uh uh turned part of our focus at least to to local control. This is an example of the kind of messaging we're doing. Next slide. And a big change from 2016. Social media was uh really a major territory as far as the campaign uh both in in her paid and our unpaid work. I want to mention uh Britney Masked who is a Bridgeport parent. She's got a significant social media following and uh with on her Moms for Oregon page and she uh helps spread our message as well. the these are some some of actually hundreds of examples and as you look at the uh the reach uh impressions really just means that it got across someone's eyeballs so that I don't pay too much attention to that but but reach means that that

018uh we got to 231,000 individuals and we had a lot of video views so uh and and a lot of of those people about 25% got to the end of the video which I thought was really significant next slide You've seen obviously this kind of signage outside of our schools. And if you will advance to the next slide, Thor, you'll see how we are uh using some stickers actually to convert that to the thank you message that you see right on the top as well as uh keeping the the uh list of uh uh projects related to school site there for folks to see for for several months at least. We'll keep those up. Um next slide, please. So, got a lot of people to thank besides the ones I've mentioned. Uh, I'm really grateful

019to work with such a bright and dedicated group as Gustavo and Emma Gomez and and Lisa Burton. Emma had a big role in in doing calendaring related to this appearances at school events a lot more kept us on task. Lisa was busy doing Lisa. I don't even want to try to explain all things that she does. Uh, she loves PTSD. Uh, Dr. Uh Udo and Chairwoman spoke at community events. Uh a broad range of civic leaders from legislators Courtney Nickon and Ben Bowman to local city council members like Morin Wolf. That's a name that uh will live on forever in this district and uh Ean who uh another local city council member gave their support. School staff across the district uh made these personal connections that are so vital. Um in particular the principles uh

020were the most affected schools. I want to call out Cindy, Jerry, Matt, Siri, and Jordan. Uh really kept telling that message of the need. And um as to the two folks to my left, uh Jeremy, I've known him for more than a decade. He's the best at this business. He's really good at what he does. And uh the pack volunteers really pushed this campaign over the top. I cannot describe this lady did just uh amazing really and uh every time I started trying to practice this speech I kept breaking down on it so forgive me. Um that's not fair. I knew I'd get over as it relates to Karen. She's really an amazing advocate for PTSD students. U next slide please. And as far as thank yous go, uh it's important to note, I believe

021that the bond passed as you saw and as you know it with 52.7% of the vote. We know how rock solid our parents are, but that percentage uh uh really should be a message that that we understand that uh nearly half of of the residents of this district had some doubts about the bond. So looking ahead, it's going to be really important for us, as we did with the 2016 bond, to keep everyone informed, informed, excuse me, about how we're spending responsibly and how this investment is paying dividends uh to everyone in the community and not just for students. And uh lastly, I know Thor, if you go to the next slide, I know many of you have seen this, but I want to end with this uh one. There you go. With this message

022of thanks from us to our Yay, we did it. We did it. It passed. We did it. Thank you community. Thank you community. Thank you community. Thank you community. Thank you community. Thank you community. Thank you so much voters of Tiger Twalin. Thanks to you our local Tiger and Twin voters for passing this bond in the May election. We're really appreciative of everybody going out and voting and thank you for those that passed the bond. Appreciate your support and can't wait to meet you in our new building. Thanks to you, our local Tiger 12ton voters, for passing the bond in the May election and making a generational investment in our students. Thank you so much for supporting us. We needed this and you came through. Thank you. So, we did it. Thank you. [Applause] Any

023comments. Board members, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for all of your hard work and all of the uh effort that you put into this for our students. Um, thank you to the voters that uh allowed us to have this victory because it's a victory not for the district but for the students. It's all about being student centered and what kind of schools we can provide for them. So, thank you for partnering with us. So, I have two things I want to say. One is thank you to the pack in particular for the incredible amount of money you raised, the amount of persuasive materials that you were able to put out that mean because the district can only do theformational stuff. So, that persuasive to actually vote yes was I think absolutely

024crucial. And I know that's so much work and I really appreciate all of what you've done. Um it's a heavy heavy lift. You make it look easy for us. We get to kind of now do the fun part, right? But that brings me to the second part of what I want to say, which is um I really want to recognize that there were 48% of the community who did not want this bond to pass. And so we as a board have a moral obligation to make sure that every single dollar is spent correctly, spent wisely. Um we have a bond oversight committee that is now forming. So if anybody out there is interested, I encourage you to look into that and sign up for it. I had amazing conversations with people about this bond. I

025talked to a lot of people who didn't support it and the reasons were the financial situation that we all find ourselves in in this world right now. But I also talked to one elderly woman who is retired who was trying to figure out how she was going to make the the the extra amount of money in her taxes, what what she was going to give up in her life in order to pay for our bond. and she said, "I've already voted yes for it, but I have to figure out how I'm going to pay for it now." And it was so humbling to hear her say this. Here's somebody who's doing a real honest to God day in day out sacrifice because her social security payment ain't going up. And to realize that somebody would

026believe in this district and us as board members that we will do the right thing with this money was so overwhelming. And so I want to just remind all of my fellow board members, this is our responsibility now to do this right and make everybody relieved or at least let people know that they did the right thing when they voted yes and that maybe they didn't do, you know, maybe they didn't vote yes, but we're still going to make it right and we're going to do the right thing for kids with this money. So, Thank you. What an amazing effort put in by you all and other folks who aren't here. Um, you know, sweat, tears, hopefully no blood, but um, uh, I I also want to thank the the community and, um, also folks

027who don't have children in the system who also voted for this bond. It's really important that folks all over who both have students and who don't that um there was a recognition that uh facilities that curriculum that technology um that all of that is really important that an investment in education that this is a critical investment in education and that that's so important. Um, director Zerse said a lot that I was thinking just now and so I won't repeat any of that, but I think that, you know, part and parcel with the really clear messaging that you all put together that made it so easy for us to communicate that really concise messaging, that really clear plan of here's what we're going to do with the with these funds if we get this. Um, I

028know that, you know, the bond oversight committee and the reports that we'll be getting back about like here's what's happening are going to make that continue to make that easy to show the public like here's what is happening along the way because we continue like that is just the theme of how this district operates. And so, um, so I think that will that will go a long way to continuing to communicate to the community that this is really responsible spending. We're doing exactly what we said we were going to do with all of this and these are all really good investments for students and and staff as well. Um so so thank you all for your hard work. It really it paid off and just really appreciate everything that that you did and all the

029folks who participated in that as well. So, go for it. Um, I also just want to say thank you so much for your hard work. Um, I appreciate those that supported the bond. Um, and I'm looking forward to um, seeing some of our buildings be upgraded in our district. Um, especially around safety and um, making sure they're efficient and uh, good places for our um, kids to learn. So, thank you. So, I just wanted to personally thank you all, um, Alex and Karen and your teams for telling the story of our of our district and, um, telling the story, uh, of our community. um and telling it in a way that people were able to to vote and and support. And and thank you to Jeremy for giving us the tools to tell that story

030in a really concise way um in an accurate way, in an impactful and meaningful way. This was definitely a group effort. And I just hope that you all know that through your efforts, we're going to be able to bring really important um changes to our building so that kids can learn and so that teachers have the conditions to um be able to instruct. And in an age where public education isn't always prioritized, this is a very big deal what you all did for our kids. So, I want to say thank you and you should be very proud and um and just lastly, I guess I just want to say uh the emotion that's in the room that just shows how much care and effort went into this um from each and every one of you.

031And we need more of that in our schools um for our kids and our staff. So, thank you for everything that you all put into it. And again, Jeremy, thank you for being along for the ride on this one. And I would just plus one what everyone said. And I think sort of being part of the process, I think one thing that we talked about and I think it's why we get why we are emotional around it is we know that the community showed up for our kids and staff in a way that said like they're worth it. And that was a message that we talked a lot about was kids and our staff and our teachers internalize when they know that they're valued. And I think we put we know that and feel that

032um and absorb all of that. And so to have our community into people's points about how folks that didn't have kids um this was really a community effort. Um, and we saw that when we talked in rooms that didn't have kids in school and they really understood that this is important and they understood that, um, whether or not I'm personally affected by this, the impact that will have on the bigger community is is what's really important and I'm and I'm thrilled that our community showed up in that way. And I think moving forward the transparency that we have shown historically around um how we manage our bonds and how we are still paying dividend. I mean we are still really up until last month. I mean, getting paying dividends is sort of like the opposite,

033but getting dividends on the way that we have responsibly financed and used our bond money um is really just sort of exemplifies how thoughtful we are around making sure that we take care of of this money that the voters have sort of allowed us to have. And so, I'm excited to see all that move forward. and all of you. It was tireless and it was hard and there were a lot of really hard conversations. Um, and I think that actually brought a lot of community together and were able to have hard conversations and be able to understand different perspectives and I think that was a it was actually a really great those were great moments um because it it kind of brought everybody actually together. So, I appreciate all that work and thank you. Thank

034you. Chair, I'm gonna forgot one thing. It's pretty important. of all the thank yous I did not thank the voters and so incredibly thankful for the voters and actually a very very quick funny story is last week when we're kind of coming down from the the high of having passed this thing said Alex's office is next to mine and I said hey Alex uh I have an idea we should do I we really need to get a thank you video out he's like dude you have a thing no we need to get one where like we thank the voters for everything goes we we filmed that a long time ago and I was like still a little suspect. I was like if you say so and I saw the I was like oh he was

035right we did film that video and I was on it. So anyhow but thank you to the community and thank you to the team again. Thank you so much. Just real quick I wanted to just to say I I forgot to thank Kelly Jenkins from my team who she was tireless every day working and I just wanted to make sure that she is recognized as well. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] All right. And with that, we will move to our student rep reports. Um, hi there. Um, so before I kind of start off with like Tiger stuff, Nathan would like to say that the board did a great job and that you that that he'll miss you guys. Um, he sent me that and I was like, okay, I should probably share that. Um so

036going on Tiger this week is finals. Um unfortunately um the fourth issue of the paw print has been published and then view the year a yearbook has sold about 750 books out of 800 so far. Um as most of you know graduation was last week. Me and Nathan were the graduates from Target High School. Um so yeah graduation was last week. So seniors have officially left the checkered high school. Um senior we also leading up to graduation we had our senior sunset which was a very big success that I personally went to and I thought it was really nice. It was a really nice location and everything. Um there was a lot of positive feedback on the safegrad. A lot of my friends went. They said it was overall really fun experience that they don't

037regret going to. Um, and just overall that full week was full of positivity, tears, and laughter. So, yeah. All right. All right. So, here we are. Thank you. Okay. So, June 4th was our graduation at Tiger High School. It went very well and it was very, you know, of course we are a smaller school so it was fewer students than you know Tiger or Charlton but since it's smaller it can always be more special. After all you can always get to know more of the student and they know you know their name more than a lot of 500 kids. Okay, moving on. We have the eighth grade the eighth grade uh virtual promotion that's tomorrow actually June 10th. There has been a link sent out to all parents and students. So that it's a really

038great monumental moment for them. They'll go on to high school, which will be a great experience for them. And our last day of school is Thursday, June 12th. On the last day of school, we have our celebration from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. here at the office. And students will receive their t-shirts like some of you guys ordered and got. And if you didn't know, the t-shirt design that you have is made from a student from our school. So is absolutely amazing. And every year we do it and can't wait to see what student does next year. Our student Sid did great this year. It's absolutely beautiful. And we have our Rise Award recognition. Rise award recognizes TTVA students who demonstrate how they rise above challenges and go beyond. So, our our winners were Alec

039D, Audrey B, Connor O, Elis G, Kaden C, Mia B, Olivia A, Sabrina T, and Xander S. And that's everything for us. Thank you. Thank you so much. And happy almost summer or kind of summer already for our seniors. All right, on to superintendent report. Thank you. So, happy last week of school. I know many of us were counting down and I know that across the state and we're not alone. We are contending with the good oldfashioned heat wave that we're hoping to miss. So I hope people are able to stay cool. I know our HVAC team is working really hard to make sure that our buildings buildings are in good condition. Um I want to say congratulation to our graduates. I congratulations. Um I had the honor of attending um backtoback, so four graduation

040ceremonies and I just thought it was it was really cool to see how unique uh each school um brought their graduation ceremony to life. Um we had the privilege of getting to see our own student representatives. Uh Jamie Hartman spoke at the Twitin and Nathan Tran had an amazing speech that um I needed a little bit of Kleenex after listening to him. So, it was uh it was a great um graduation season and I just want to give a shout out to our principles, head secretaries and just support staff who make those things happen. It's so much work behind the scenes. So, congratulations to seniors and school teams that made it possible. Um also today we had the honor of um recognizing 35 retirees. So, uh, we had retirees who had been here from a

041span from anywhere from 10 years to we had one person that was served our district for 38 straight years. And so, I just want to say congratulations to them on a fulfilling career and importantly on dedicating um their life's work to public service. And uh, we really hope that they have a the next chapter of their uh, life is equally as fulfilling. And uh coming up uh you know back in the day we used to end school in June and that was it until September. But we know how important it is to have um to to avoid learning loss in the summer. So we are offering a menu of uh summer school opportunities for students. And we're fortunate in that we received close to about $200,000 in funding from the state that will supplement other

042funding that we already had for summer school learning. Some examples of what we can offer K12 is everything from jump start kinder to the rising program which is like a summer bridge program for rising um sixth and ninth graders. Uh we have credit recovery programs for um our students who need to catch up a little bit and extended services for special education services and and life works. So there's a little bit of something for everyone. Um the focus with a lot of the state summer funding is around literacy which is important. So our goal in the summer is to again continue um closing learning gaps and also helping students avoid the summer melt which we know is a real thing. I also want to take a second to say congratulations to Dr. Sue Smith who

043was appointed as a representative to the house district 26. She's filling the seat that was vacated by um now Senator Courtney Nuron who was um appointed to Senator earlier um last month. Um and it's really comforting to know that we're going to have somebody in the seat who knows about schools and can advocate for schools. And so we also hope to see um Dr. Sue here when our um state reps visit us. So congratulations again to to Dr. Subki Smith on her appointment to the House of Reps. Um, I just uh listed some of the the school events that we have this summer, but there's also a lot of community events that we're we're proud to to partner with our uh our um local groups with in really the city of Tiger and City Dualatin.

044So, um there's a Junth event on June 14th at Cook Park. There's a little 2 pm walk that happens. is all like a health walk or a wellness walk and then the event kicks off at Cook Park at 3:00. Um there's the festival of balloons that takes place from June 20th through 22nd and that's also through the city of Tigard. And then there's um City of Tiger Pride Parade on June 28th, Happy Pride Month. Uh and that is uh starts with a parade that starts on 113th in Durham and then that ends with a celebration at uh Tiger High School. So again, a lot of stuff going on this June. And then finally, I know we just uh talked about this, but passing that bond was a pretty big deal. $421 million that will go

045to good use for students. And like director Zers said, we are uh we do not take it lightly that we did not have a a large margin and we know that we have a fiscal and moral responsibility to be good stewards of every penny. And for us that means having our projects come in delivered on time and um under budget or at budget, right? So thank you again to our voters and to our team and our pack and everyone who made that possible. And I always like to close my um my uh comments with normally a visit to a school. And I had a particularly good one today. Thor, do you happen to have a video? Thor does not have the video today, which is good because it showed how bad my aim was today.

046There was a dunk tank at uh at Templeton Elementary School where um Principal Moore uh uh through a contest. I think the students won, even though a lot of principles do this, uh allowed kids to one do a pie in the face and then two uh to dunk them in in the water and now it's not a dunk tank that's unsanitary. So, it's a a bucket that flips on them. and I had the honor of throwing the first pitch and I always kind of laugh at some of the celebrities that I see throw errant first pitches and when you got a like about three or 4 hundred kids cheering for you like the nerves go up and so my my aim was exceptionally bad which is why I'm happy that Thor has lost the video.

047So um to that end I just have visited several field day events. I went to one at Deer Creek and it's nice to see um schools closing the year on a positive note. So, happy summer. Thank you so much. All right, board communications. Who wants to go first? Director Zm. So, um I was at all four graduations and exactly as our superintendent said, I was really struck by the different tone and flavor of each of each event. It really did reflect the individual schools remarkably. Um, I also wanted to add on to what the superintendent said about um, Dr. Sue becoming House District Representative 26. She actually was sworn in by the governor this morning and took her seat on the floor and so we'll uh, be able to vote on the on some of

048the bills that she worked with on back in the day regarding education. So, it's kind of a a neat full circle moment. Um, and then finally, um, it came to my attention today that the Telton High School band, um, won the band sweep stakes award for the grand floral parade. And I just wanted to celebrate that a little bit because that meant they were the best band in the floral the grand floral parade. It's a huge big deal. And I'm immensely proud of those kids and I'm extraordinarily grateful to the amazing music teacher we have over at Twin High School. Thank you. No, no, I was going to mention that marching band thing. You stole my thunder twice tonight. That's okay. Um um so uh I attended um it's been a lot of uh fun

049activity here at the end of school. Uh both nights of the Towalin Choir Pops concerts. Both of those were wonderful. and the Thesps which showcased the uh Twelton Thesp thespians acting skills before they handed out awards. Um I only got to see a little bit of those though because that was the same night as the Creek Side uh graduation. So rushed out of there. Um and so I was able to attend three out of four of those graduations and and as everybody said, it was really wonderful just to see the the spirit of each school um alive in their graduations and to see students celebrating their accomplishments and the accomplishments of their classmates and um looking forward to the next stage in their own journeys, whatever those are, and hearing um about the diversity of

050where they have come from and where they intend to go. Um, so congrats to all of our grads in all of our schools and then to all of the staff and teachers that have supported them and held them and um, brought them along the way and to their families as well. Um, happy last week to everyone, students and staff and families and I know I'm feeling it. So, my household, it's always nice going last because everyone says all the things that I was going to say. Um, so really I had the congratulations for our graduates. Um, it really was I think the one of the coolest parts about graduations is regardless of kind of who says it or or kind of has the folks do it, there's always a part where the families and friends

051and teachers get to cheer for the students. And there is something and I think we were talking about this like their faces change the graduates when they see this huge roar of the crowd cheering for them. It is it's it you just you notice it and they kind of look around and and they're kind of like waving to their parents like they would maybe their first grade music concert, you know, like I'm over here. Um, but there is something just so genuine and so just sort of that aruck look when they just kind of hear the crowd cheering for them and it's it's so special and it it always just sort of hits different and I I love that. Um, and then for our retirees, it was really special. I was thinking I went to

052a school that um you know it I loved it and we had it was all project- based learning and and the teachers were always having us like inquirybased learning and all of these things and I thought that's what school was for everybody and so um it was interesting when I got into teaching to kind of understand that not all kids necessarily had that experience and so what I can solidly say and what I sort of started saying to the retirees is that you know they have helped shape and change what education and school looks like and feels like for generations of kiddos. They get that experience. So kiddos leave here and think everybody had that teacher that valued me, that saw me, that let me just sit in the back for a minute and take

053a beat when I was getting overwhelmed or the teacher that like really pushed me to do this thing because they knew that I could. I just needed that little extra encouragement. So, I love I love knowing that those folks has spent their life's work, as you talked about earlier, really shaping futures um for all these kiddos and and really changing what they see education as being. And I really appreciate that. Um and I think that's it. So, with that, we will move to Oh, and we have two birthdays. Director Kinch, who is not here, um her birthday is on June 15th. and Thor, happy birthday, June 3rd. I'll take her cookie for her. She's open to having so we'll pass those out momentarily. Um, and so with that, we will move to the public comment

054portion of this evening and I will get up the list here and then I'll briefly read um the process here. So, after being recognized by the board chair, you will identify yourself with your full name and zip code of residence. Public comments are shared with the board during public comment portions of the meeting and are limited to three minutes. Your comment should be brief and concise. Please be aware that the time will start after you've provided your name and zip code. A group of visitors with a common purpose should designate a spokesperson for the group. You may also submit written comment which will be read by the board and become part of the public record. It will not be read aloud at the meeting. Speakers may offer objective criticism of school operations and programs. The

055board will not hear comments regarding any individual district staff member nor any person connected with the school system. Um, we won't go over 30 minutes. Um, board members will not respond to public comments. This is a time for board for members of the public to express their views. TTSD is no place for bias or hate. There will be no profanity or language that minimizes or causes harm to anyone else's identity per policy ACC. So, with that, our first person is Eliza. Come on down. And then the mic has a little button on it, and you just push that. It'll turn green, and you'll be ready to rock and roll. Hello. Um, my name is Eliza Coucher Lee, and my zip code is 97223. Um, what seems like a small reduction in your budget has a

056huge impact on my high school experience. Reducing the choir program in half at Tiger High School means that the teacher can't put their full attention and energy into the student they're teaching. Also, not offering a full-time position means that the students are not able to acquire the skills and opportunities that we deserve. This deduction, this reduction will result in huge choir classes of 80 students, which is not fair to the students or the teacher and it means that the teacher cannot have an individual connection with every student. Choir students may feel anonymous in the choir program because in a class of 80 you simply cannot be seen and heard in the same way. Choir is my safe space. It's a place where I can go where I don't feel judged but feel accepted and seen.

057Choir is the reason that I go to school even on the days that I don't want to go to school because I know that I have a space face to go even on my hardest days. The insignificant amount of money that is being saved through these rifts is taking away my safe space. Hundreds of students will miss out on opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive. The music we create together connects us in a way that nothing else can. Music allows us to experience and explain things that you can't just feel with words. It's not just me who feels that the community has been built through choir. Um, on senior skip day, our seniors in concert choir chose not to go out in an adventure, but to stay in town and come to class. They took

058the day they were all skipping and simply couldn't miss being in a community with their people. That says everything you need to know about how impactful choir is. The skills I am learning in choir are things that I wouldn't learn anywhere else. It has given me leadership opportunities and it's given me a chance to put myself out there, learn who I am, and become the person I am meant to be. Please reconsider cutting this thriving and vital program. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, next up is Sky. Welcome. and then just go ahead and start with your name and zip code and then the little timer will start for you. Okay. My name is Sky Borger and my zip code is 97223. When I was 14, I joined choir for the first time

059at Fowler Middle School. I was living in an abusive household and struggling with depression and anxiety. When I joined choir, I found sanctuary people who cared about me and the music we were making. My hobby and love since then has been choir. Making music has helped me exponentially. No one's sanctuary, no one's hobby, no one's love and passion and even career deserves to be cut like dead ends. Making music has become my passion and alongside so many others, I am heartbroken to hear that the choir program may be cut in half. Overcrowded classes and forcing away people's passion is never the solution. The arts matter more than people may think. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Next we have Emily. Good evening. My name is Emily Keler Lee, zip code 97223. I am

060an elementary music teacher in this district and also the parent of a current student at Tiger High School. That one back there. So proud. Sorry. I would like to speak on behalf of the secondary music programs in our district. We currently have 13 music programs in our middle and high schools with offerings ranging from band, orchestra, and choir to guitar, recording and production, and musical theater. These music classes enrich the education of thousands of students in our schools, and three of you mentioned them tonight. The marching band, first grade music programs. We know what impact it can have. Our music programs have recently sustained significant changes due to the rift process. I want to be clear that I am not here to argue against your financial decisions. I understand that these decisions are not made

061lightly and are sadly a part of education today. I am here to share with you the enormous impact that your particular decisions have made to these programs. The cuts may seem insignificant.17 here.17 there. It seems like such a small number, yet the impact is acute and far-reaching. Astoundingly, out of our 13 secondary music programs, there are only three teachers who are not being touched by these changes. Three. That means 10 of our secondary music programs are being affected with just a 1.01 01 FTE cut. There will be a 40% reduction in music offerings for our students next year alone. Make no mistake, hundreds of students will no longer be involved in our music programs. Hundreds of students have lost the opportunity to create and experience the wonder of making music. There is a better way.

062I had the chance to meet with Dr. a call last week and I'm hopeful that she will share with you more details of the impacts to secondary music education than I have time to share here tonight. My agenda tonight is to make sure you know that there are other options. It is possible to make the cuts that you say we need without killing music programs. Ways to reach your goal while minimizing the impact to students and staff. I implore you to explore other possibilities. To the board, I ask, have you talked to a music teacher or even a music student about how these cuts will affect their program? To the TTSD directors, where do you see music in 5 years in our district, and how will these cuts help you reach this goal? Our students

063deserve the best possible music education taught by the best possible music educators in every one of our schools. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. And finally, we have Dennis. Good evening. My name is Dennis Warsnack and I live in 97223 uh in Tigert. My wife and I, my wife and I have lived in Tiger for 53 years and have two daughters who graduated from Tiger High School, both who played sports all four years during every season. I'm here tonight to show my support for the Tiger girls track athlete who showed such courage in her opposition to share the podium with a male athlete at the Oregon State track competition. I know I'm not alone in having so much respect for this young lady who took a stand against such an unfair practice. She

064should be very proud of herself as many in the community are. It's just too bad that she had to resort to this action. Let's hope fairness for female athletes is coming soon so this doesn't happen to another one of our girls. Thank you. And PS, regarding the choir, I think we just passed a half billion dollar budget and I think a lot of it pertains to maintenance. I know it can't be used for uh wages, things like that, but since you've got this budget uh for improvement, uh I'm sure there's got to be some place there for next year you had maybe already thought of this where you have maintenance uh scheduled for next year. Take the money out of the budget, pay for the maintenance, take the maintenance, keep prayer. Thank you. Thank you

065so much. All right. And with that, we'll move on to our action items. First is adoption of strategic financial plan with director C. All right. Good evening, Chair Urban, as well as the other directors and superintendent Udo Senita. And the first item today we'll be sharing is an update to our strategic financial plan. The packet including the executive summary and all of the detailed agendas um were included in the board packet on Friday but we'll take some time to do a high level update. Next slide please. Um just for anyone upon the strategic financial plans approval it will be updated to the district website. The format includes a very high level summary with then again like I mentioned detailed agenda providing data and more specific forecasts as we relate to the strategic plan. Um today

066though we'll go over the five components comprising the strategic financial plan update. Next slide please. The first section of the strategic financial plan pertains to the executive summary and the strategic financial plan that we're specifically reviewing. This is the second version and the third annual update. We had a strategic financial plan which aligned to the prior five years work. And then with the inception of the 2227 strategic plan, we have used the strategic financial plan as a bridge to um really put our money where our aspirations lie. And so we continue to visit this document to report on student performance as well as budgetary priorities. So again, everything we do is anchored in our strategic plan and we um work from the center of equity and have specific goals related to student achievement, safety, culture

067and climate as well as talent. And then um we specifically have identified four investments that we um review annually to share with the board. So next slide. So, as I mentioned, the strategic financial plan is derived from the strategic plan. And where we find ourselves in this graphic are, if we start, we're we're kind of always living right now between I'll say seven and um 9:00. So, at the inception of the plan, we developed the four strategic initiatives. We developed stages of implementation and established metrics for accountability and implemented those investments. And now we are continuing to progress monitor and review annual metrics. And then um part of tonight is sharing the results with our community. And we also point back to this work during our community budget workg groupoups which happen in the winter

068as we form the budget. Next slide. So this is a highle summary of the five years comprising the strategic financial plan. We update this every year. So last year um or I guess what I should say is this year specifically we updated the 2324 actual amounts based off based of audited financial data. We've also reviewed our 2425 budgetary plans to give a more up-to-date estimate of what investments will cost. And then we updated the 2526 budget column and the 2627 forecast column to reflect what we've included in the district's budget for next year. Overall, the investments for the five-year plan decreased by approximately $3 million from last year when we updated this forecast. Um, as we know, and we'll might talk about when we look at the budget, the district went through a $10.7 million

069budget reduction and um, specifically some investments had to be reduced just because of the reality of the budget situation. So specifically, if you were to pull up last year's um summary and compare it to this year's instructional coaching has been reduced um specifically because that staffing has been um impacted and then we also made some FTE reductions in early learning. So um on the other hand, academic transition and social emotional learning investments increased and that just is related to updating um either estimated or budget forecasts based off of um you know we're a year smarter this year and so we have updated payroll estimates for those investments. So next slide. So um these are the highle summaries that are included in the front half of the strategic plan. I really encourage people if you want

070to learn more about these four investments the frameworks have a lot of really rich information and provide several data updates. I we just have a high level summary here, but I want to thank um directors director fields um Kint Kinch as well as Paul and um Scott from our data team for updating the frameworks. It's a really collaborative effort as well as Sarah Morabza from the finance office. So a lot of um people have a lot of work went into just a simple table update but um yeah it was important work. So this is our update for our social emotional learning. So the third column specifically is the updated 2425 estimate. And here if we are to look to the far right at updated data, some items of note are that we saw um through

071our PBIS system implementation tiers of fidelity that those scores increased significantly from the previous two years and that staff perception of student behavior and feelings of success and student support for social emotional learning needs increased from 23 24. Next slide. For our academic transition investment, we saw that the percentage of sixth graders passing all classes rose for both students overall and historically underserved students from 2324. Um although these amounts still remain lower than the start of the plan in 21-22. Next slide. For instructional coaches, we see that staff perception survey results increased for the third year in a row related to the effectiveness of professional development. Similarly, we also saw that um the percent of students at least early on level and I read math increased from the same time last year by 2.2% overall

072to 50.3% and our underserved students of color increased by 1.9% to 28%. So I know the board um looked at I Ready math investments last year and we can see um the combination of professional development and the use of that tool has helped address math performance. And then next slide for early learning we continue to see gains in math as noted that the percent of um K through third grade students at least early on grade level and I ready math has at least remained steady from the same time last year and that there was an increase of point4% for underserved [Music] students. Next slide. So, our 2526 budget includes assuming $11,184 students. The total operating expenses in the general fund is $180 million and the expenditures per pupil is approximately $16,000. And this also details

073um the demographics of students served. There's um been because of CI the way we've provided lowinccome information in the past isn't repeatable for this year. So the amount you'll see here is um an amount that OD uses for statewide um estimates related to lowincome students. Next slide. So I do want to touch base because a component of the strategic plan is also providing a five-year financial forecast. Um I will give a high level overview of the assumptions. I know we talked at detail about the 2526 budget and 2627 assumptions. Um but we do provide like I said an additional three years. So um what you'll see specifically um at appendix 5A we give um I said a pretty robust update about the different assumptions we use high level though I wanted to address what you're

074seeing here so for revenue we assumed the state the same we have our current state school fund of 11.36 billion for the fiscal years ending 2026 and 2027 and then for the next bianium which are affecting years 2028 and 2029. We remained with the state school fund assumption of $12 billion. That is what has been presented in prior years. And just because of updates and uncertainty about economic factors, we elected to use the same bianial budget for the next bianium. And then for 2030, we've assumed a 13 billion state school fund. So overall revenue is increased. It's largely driven by the state school fund allocation. But what you'll also see with local sources is that while we would maintain like a normal 3% increase in property value, the compression that we're experiencing in the local

075option levy is offsetting that 3% which is why you're seeing a slightly less than 3% increase for local sources. For expenditures, we continue to use the estimates that we shared in our um budget update, which is a 3% cost of living increase for salaries and all other benefits. We also continued to try to model a 3% increase in all other expenditures. However, you are seeing that a deficit reemerges in 2028. And this is solely tied to what could be a change of 2% in our employer rate for PERS contributions. So again, we had some legislative relief for school districts to help offset the cost of PERS, but just based off of the actuarial assumptions, um we wanted to at least be conservative to show what a change of 2% in the rate could be because

076when you run that through the forecast model, it actually increases those line items by 9% in the 2729 bianium and then 8% in the 2029 2031 bianium. So we're trying to isolate and show just the impact that PERS has on local governments including school districts. So um with that for showing what a fund balance could be. This just um echoes the questions we discussed at the budget committee which is what can we do to help um address our fund balance and that's working collaboratively with labor to manage costs. Um unfortunately the unfunded actu actuarial liability is just a beast we continue to chase and so um that's just a really important factor for us to monitor in forming future budgets as well as continuing to educ um advocate for a quality education model funding level

077from the legislature. So, with that, that's the summary I have for you tonight, and I'd be happy to try to answer any questions. Any questions? Questions? I don't have any questions. Um, but I first want to say thank you for this incredibly detailed update. Um, and then I just want to say it is heartbreaking to see that that that what are we three third year now of our strategic plan and we are having to go back on things that we said were important to us because we no longer have the money to to to to fund them. And I know that this district is in no worse shape, probably better shape than many other districts in the state. And so to know that this is happening in district after district after district around the state

078is beyond heartbreaking. It's frustrating. It all of the fields. Um but I really appreciate having a road map that shows me where we think we're going to be going and how we're going to best get ourselves um giving the best education we can along the way. So, thank you very much for that. Yeah, I also want to thank you for your hard work on this. Um, it's, you know, very thoughtfully put together. Uh I also want to echo your sentiments that it's um sad that we're having to you know reduce what we've wanted to do and how um how we have to you know redo our budget plans for you know for the following years just because there's a reduced funding or the potential of reduced funding in the future. So, um I do want

079to echo your sentiment of being sad for that, but um I would like to introduce a motion if there's no other thoughts. I I'll just have one thought which is again I know there were a lot of folks director fields director Ken Kint you a lot of people putting this together and I appreciate that and I think it's important to note that this district uses mechanisms like a strategic financial plan where others don't and um I think the other piece here is all of the AROI work that the the district did this year really while we are making reductions um which there's no good in that. They were really thoughtfully and strategically done in terms of what does our strategic plan say. what is what investments are we making that are working and continue using

080those levers and then if we need to decrease something we sort of under like we I think you have a very clear understanding of sort of where kind of like what the the impact or outcome will be of sort of some of those reductions um versus just sort of like winging it and just making um reductions just because we have to. So I I appreciate the transparency in the work that went in the kind of choosing the areas where we had to reduce. Um and then I think it's just important to underscore the kind of PERS piece. So things outside of our control like so much of this, but that's that's just another piece that all districts are sort of having to manage. And so the little bump looks nice and also um it's hard

081for the next year when that sort of bump is gone. So, I appreciate all the work on that. And then if there aren't any other comments, I would Oh, director Weston. Yeah, thank you for all your work on this. Um I I am struggling with this a little bit because I think that the strategic plan um kind of assumes um a a floor of existing services that the budget doesn't really allow for. And so that's kind of why we're seeing some of it not being able to be implemented. Um but you know it would be uh my preference if we were able to um you know have an agenda item where we went through and kind of did another look based on our um current financial situation which continues to deteriorate and so I feel

082like um our strategic plan is a continuation um and it's not things are different and so it's continuing doing as though we had the same ability to invest um in these areas and I don't think unfortunately we do. Um, and so, um, that doesn't mean it's not a good, um, investment, but, um, I think at some point we need to call it what it is and think through what we can do with what's what we have because if if we have this plan and then we can't fulfill it, then um, we're not really being strategic. We're just talking about things we can't do. And then um the parts we don't do won't be as strategic because we won't necessarily have talked through as a board. So I am struggling with this. Um I think they're

083good priorities, but I don't know that we can actually do it anymore. And so in that way it becomes just not as logical to me. And I think that you the point you raises is exactly why when we adopt the strategic financial plan, it's for five years because we can't really see past five years. And so here we are with two years left and we're in dire situation much faster than we thought we would be. Um and so when we come to redo our strategic financial plan starting in 2027, I think we're going to have to have a good hard look at what that new floor, as you said, needs to be. And it's not going to be a fun task. I'm not looking forward to it. Um but I agree with you. I think

084it's it's going to be a a cold bucket of water over our heads when we get to that conversation. And I think too there is sort of like how and maybe part of that conversation too when we're kind of looking at like how are we right sizing in a way like what is that floor because I think we can still have some of those you know they may look different that floor or that whatever may the number may be different but I think we don't necessarily need to abandon like I love what you said um kind of like putting our money where our aspirations lie. And so I don't think it serves anyone to, and I'm not saying this is what anyone was saying, but I I think sometimes a knee-jerk reaction can be like,

085okay, we can't do anything. We got to like hold on to everything now and and maybe work on the one thing. But I do think there is a way to continue to kind of look at what are maybe there's three instead of five or whatever, those those big priorities, those things that really will impact student learning. um and and still say like these are still our drivers and we have less money to do that. So we have to be more creative. We have to kind of look at that academic return on investment but still continue to invest in those things and not sort of throw the like proverbial like baby out with the bathwater type thing. Like we still need to hold those things steady even if it looks different on how we either write

086it in the new strategic plan or fund it. Um If I can just add real quick, uh, Director Weston, I think you you you uh raised a very valid point, so thank you. Um, this strategic financial plan was based off of our strategic plan, which was drafted in 2022, and there was just so many unknowns then. It was coming, it was coming off of the peak pandemic. Um, there was still, uh, SR funding that was readily accessible. Um, and it was hard to really predict what things would look like in 2025. And fortunately, and to director Zers's point, um, we're actually probably going to expedite the process of evaluating our overall strategic plan. And with that, we will, um, then develop a strategic financial plan that meets the needs of our kids between 2027 and

0872032, right? or whatever that might be. And then also, it's not outside of um the scope of possibility to look at reducing how long that strategic plan is. Maybe it's a four-year strategic plan instead of a fiveyear strategic plan just so that we can be a little bit more nimble as a district knowing that things change so fast, so quickly these days. Um, so those are things that we're going to be looking looking at as a leadership team and of course bringing you all in and bringing the community into it as well. All right. And with that, I move to adopt the tire school district strategic financial plan dated June 9th, 2025. I second. Motion was made by Vice Chair Hime and seconded by Director Zerse. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none,

088I'll move to a coral vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Director C, I know you're with us for the long haul here. So, action item B, the DBDB fund balance modification. Yes. So, the budget committee reviewed the budget and made a recommendation for approval um last month. um that budget specifically the general fund budget included a fund balance proposal which is less than um the amount specified in the board policy DBDB. Therefore to adopt a budget with a reduced fund balance a resolution is required by the board. So specifically the resolution language in um let me give you a summary of the fund balance. What is proposed in the fund um the 2526 general fund budget is an operating contingency at 2% which is approximately

0893.58 million and the unappropriated ending fund balance is budgeted at 8.94 per 8.94 million or 5% as specified in policy this year in the 2526 budget though we see that the sustainability reserve which is also sometime referred to as the rainy day fund is eliminated. So whereas in the prior year it was 1%, we are proposing um a budget with no stability fund reserve and that needs to be um approved by the board in the proposed resolution. I I feel a little sick to my stomach when I hear you say that our sustainability reserve is at zero because I mean everybody knows when your bank account is at zero, you're you're you're stuck. Um I'm delighted we still have the operating contingency. I am relieved we still have the unappropriated ending fund balance, but our

090rainy day fund is gone. Um, and it's kind of still raining out there. So, we're between a rock and a hard place. And this is this is a hard vote to do. Um, but it's also the reality. Um, I would like to just bring up publicly that perhaps this coming year the board should look at what the correct numbers for our three accounts, our three reserve funds should be. And we might need to we might want to revisit this policy in in the coming year to see if there's different percentage numbers that make more sense for us. Just an idea I'm throwing up. If anybody else has no comments, I'll make a motion. Oh, did you ever I'm um I'm always happy to have those kind of discussions. And I'll move to approve resolution 2425-22

091DBDB fund balance modification as submitted. Second. Motion was made by Director Zers and seconded by Director Weston. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I'll move to a coral vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. We are to action item C, resolution 2425-23, adopting the budget. All right. With the approval of the fund balance modification, we now have the resolution adopting the budget, making appropriations, and imposing and categorizing taxes. The proposed resolution meets the requirements in Oregon Revised Statutes and Administrative Rule. Specifically, upon its approval, the board will be adopting a total budget of $32,669,125. This budget makes appropriations for the seven comprising funds at legally required appropriation levels. So, we can't spend outside of those appropriation thresholds without board approval. And finally, um the third item

092is imposing and categorizing taxes. There's three tax levels. The permanent rate levy of $4.982 per 1,000, the local option levy of $1 per $1,000 assessed value. And then we also have the general obligation debt of $22,557,800. preview to your summer. We will be bringing a supplemental budget and a second budget hearing to adjust the certification of taxes to reflect the general obligation bonds that we'll be issuing over the summer. So, this is a temporary approval, but we'll have another board item later this summer with the actual amount we're going to levy. So um with that have the appropriate comments or questions. Nice wait time. I move that resolution number 2425-23 is adopted as submitted. Second. Motion was made by director Miles and seconded by Vice Chair Heimes. Is there any discussion on the motion? Director

093Weston. So, similar to my concerns about the strategic financial plan, I also have concerns about the budget. Um, not as a reflection on our finance chief or superintendent or um and not because I don't think we need to make cuts. We obviously do. Um, but I am concerned about um the logic behind some of the academic return on investments and other studies. A lot of educational studies um have a lot of variables that can't be controlled. Um there's a lot of uncertainty. um in the field of academic um research around education and um and with that uncertainty, I just wonder if some of these investments still hold water um in the situation we find ourselves in um after COVID um for all instructional models um and with no um kind of floor as to our

094basic operations um and the disruptions due to the riffs um and that uncertainty for me adds wait to input from parents and teachers and folks that are watching what's happening on the ground and giving us our input because um we don't have perfect information. And so I think it's important to weigh all these things. Um I'm also concerned about relying more on tech instead of on people. And um and I also have concerns about how our courses are being prioritized and um opportunities across the school district and the lack of a policy um that lays some basic groundwork on um what we're offering where and um the state budget is obviously a disappointment to us all. Um but we do have some ability to decide things some things locally. And so, um, I really appreciate

095the discussion about the strategic plan and the strategic financial plan and the ability to have that discussion. Um, but right now, um, that's kind of where I'm at for the budget. So, I just want to say I hate this budget. I think we all hate this budget. It none of it has in it all the things that we each individually as as humans want and what we collectively as a board want. Um our role as a board is to set the tax rate, set the budget number. Um it is administration's job to decide how that money is spent, which exact buckets it all goes into. And so our role as a board is to hire the best superintendent we can to make those really awful, horrible decisions. Um I'm really glad I don't have to

096make those really horrible, awful decisions. Um, but I also have to respect the professionals with whom we have entrusted these these jobs to make these decisions given the amount of money that the board allocates. Um, so while I appreciate what you were saying about you don't like the things that have been cut, the riffs that have been done, I get it. I don't like the riffs. I don't like that we might be cutting music. We might be cutting all kinds of things, right? English and math and all teachers at all the levels and instructional coaches. The instructional coaches actually really bugs me probably the most because um they're they're a convenient scapegoat, right? They're not a teacher in front of the class. And I always hear from teachers, well, cut the cut the tossas, they're

097they're the ones who aren't really teaching kids, but the tossa in their school is wonderful and meaningful and helps them teach. so much and and all of our toasts are like that, right? They're all helping our teachers do their jobs better, but they're easy to cut. And now we're at a point where we really have to cut. And so, we're cutting a whole lot of of these instructional coaches who do amazing, phenomenal work. So, I could go on for hours about all the things in the budget I don't like, but that's not my job here tonight. My job here tonight is to set the tax rate and approve the dollar amount because that's the dollars we have. It's a sucky job. We don't get paid enough to do this. Um, yes, that's all I'm going

098to say. Any other? So, we have a motion and a second. Any other further discussion? All right. Hearing none, I'll move to a coral vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? No. All right. Motion carries. All right. Action item D, resolution 2425-24, extending workers comp coverage. Yes. So, um, the district administration had a chance to review insurance as it does annually and, um, it was just noted that our district does not cover board members, specifically under workers compensation insurance, which is an anomaly, I would say, compared to other local governments and school districts I've worked with. Um, I just want to emphasize that as a matter of the district's risk management from an administration lens, we're requesting this resolution be approved. Um, just to align our district's practices with most

099other local government um, coverage in Oregon. So specifically, um, this resolution would classify board members under the district's workers compensation, um, policy because you specifically have a higher risk of being injured on the job. So um, anyways, we're proposing resolution 242-24, which is required to extend coverage. Director Miles, there's no ethics implication for us voting on this for ourselves. Correct. Okay. And it's actually required per OS. Yes. Well, if it's required by law, then I move that resolution number 2425-24 is adopted as submitted. Second. Motion was made by Director Zerse and seconded by Director Miles. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I'll move to a coral vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Approval of 2025-26 fees is next. Yes. So, um to

100round out the various items, this is just an action item. It's not a resolution, but we do present the fees for the next school year for the board's approval, specifically those that are required per policy. So, um, we provided a summary memo and just for record, I'll repeat the changes. Out of district student tuition, the district would charge 11,238 per student. This is specifically for students who want to attend Tiger to Wallatin but aren't released by their district under transfer um, provisions. We also have building use fees with a recommended increase of seven and a half% for both building use fees and the hourly labor charges to support those. um meal and milk prices. The district continues to participate in the community eligibility provision under the national school lunch and breakfast programs. Um but we

101do need to charge for additional meals as well as for things like adult meals and milk. So we have the proposed fees should um again a student want a second breakfast or lunch or an adult would like a lunch. um fees for copies as well as fees for requests for information haven't changed from the prior year. And that is the summary of the proposed fees for the 2526 school year. There are questions, comments, or a motion. I would just like to say I'm super pleased to see that we have C for another year and so our kiddos will get free breakfast and lunch for another year. Um if there are no additional comments, I would like to motion to adopt the proposed fees for the 2526 school year as presented. Second. Motion was made by

102director Zers and seconded by Vice Chair Himeace. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I'll move to a coral vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. And now we are to our last action item which is the Spanish language arts and heritage Spanish curriculum adoption recommendation with director Fields and team. Okay, good evening board. We are excited to be here tonight to talk about our process for our 612 um SLA Spanish language arts and heritage Spanish curriculum adoption. Um one moment of celebration, we are able to move forward on this adoption because of the passing of the bond. So, just want to take a moment and yay to see in in action something we're able to do as a result. Um, tonight

103we have myself, Amber Fields, director of secondary. We have Pam Art Twitosa who is also celebrated um retiring. So, this is a a great way to go out with this celebration. Um, we also have Sari who's one of our teachers at 12ton High School. And online we have Kate who is our secondary ELA TOSA. Next slide please. So, we just wanted to highlight our adoption team. So, a mix of both heritage Spanish and Tweed teachers um along with our process that we shared information with board member Miles um as well as community. Next slide, please. During this process, we've followed the um Tiger Twitin process for curriculum selection. Each of the steps are described here and um we'll explain what how it looked for this this round um as we go through the presentation. One

104uh challenge for this group was that we started with prioritizing standards that uh they needed to work from three different sets of standards because of the unique place of Spanish language arts in our curriculum. And so uh they were looking at the Oregon state standards for secondary language arts. They also um the Oregon standards are not available in Spanish and don't reflect Spanish language goals. And so they were looking at the common core standards and espanol which pull out specific elements that um are unique to the Spanish language. And they also were looking at the Oregon standards for world language because our students earn world language credits for their Spanish language arts courses. the uh best practices article or or the best practices document is what follows the standards. And what we're doing is looking

105at those standards and saying which practices do we uh do we believe should be in place in order to meet those standards. Uh there are four categories. There were six to eight statements for each of these best practices. We pulled out a I pulled out a few examples here because they also ground us in what the purpose of a two-way immersion program is that we want an environment that shows and promotes cultural awareness of all Spanish speaking cultures and celebrates diversity of all students and communities. They want instructional practices that build skill in all three pillars of dual language. So that would be being bilingual and biiterate that our students would have high academic achievement and socioultural competence uh content that facilitates the development of rigorous instruction in all four domains of language. So, we're

106addressing speaking, listening, reading, and writing and assessment practices that allow for growth opportunities after targeted and personalized feedback. So, we're assessing as a tool to move forward. Next slide. We uh kept all those things in mind when we reviewed three different curricula. Um as a series from Vista Publishing called Perspectivas and Galleria. Um and Vosa from Carnegie Publishing and Ivy Espanol from Inquiry by Design. So, we're going to let Kate share about how that looked. So, we looked at those curricula ahead of time because most of the Spanish language arts stuff that's out there is focused on world language and we were specifically looking for materials that met the goals of Spanish language arts. Um, and there aren't very many unfortunately. We're a little bit ahead of the curve. uh curriculum companies are catching up

107to us I think in that regard. But in order to review those three options that we did have, we created an evaluation rubric. There is a link to that rubric so that you don't have to read this teenytiny font uh if you'd like to look more closely. But our key priorities when we were creating the evaluation rubric were were looking at the curriculum through a language arts lens. Again, we weren't specifically looking through a world language lens. We really wanted to focus on that language arts piece. Uh, and additionally, a worldwide representation. A lot of curricula focused on a specific area of the world as opposed to a broader perspective. We wanted to make sure that we engaged in all four domains uh, and had authentic texts at our disposal rather than ones that had

108been translated just from English. and we really wanted to make sure we were building critical thinking skills for our students. Next slide. So after we created that evaluation rubric, we created a tool, just a Google form, um that took all of those key areas and put them so that teachers could rank um if it met or didn't meet um and where in between it might fall, as well as offer commentary on why for each curriculum and then specifically within that for each of those priority areas. And this allowed us not to vote through the form, but to gather really clear in um information. It wasn't so much I want this one and not this one, but rather identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the three options. Then we had an informed conversation so that we

109could lay out what made sense. We thought about how we might use one or the other first or in heritage, but maybe not in um twe and we played around with that. Next slide, please. And this is where we landed. So, while Envos Alta had strong curriculum for world language, and there were a lot of things that folks really liked about it, it didn't meet the needs for our standards um for an SLA curriculum. So this is the final agreement for scope and sequence across heritage and twe which spreads uh galleria and perspectivas across multiple grade levels and spaces both across twe and heritage. Um and then at the higher levels for IB in 11th and 12th grade we had already adopted a few things. Um, Teas and Oxford are two resources that we were

110already using that we're going to continue to use. But the other thing that every single group basically wanted um was a novel study, an opportunity to really dig into that language arts piece of what is so special about our programming um and talk about things on a a much deeper scale of analysis rather than just more fact-based work. Next slide, please. So, after we created a number of posters that looked something like that, we uh looked and combined and made our final what we thought would be the best option. And we had everyone vote on a fist of five and we had all fours and fives. We weren't going to move forward if we had anything less than that without discussion, but we had unanimous 100% fours and fives across the board. So we were

111able to move forward from there and back to Pam. So with our selection of Vista products, we'll start with Perivas and then move into Galeria one and two. We'll be dividing those books between two years, doing half of the book each year. Um, this what Bristol brought to the table was a proficiencybased program with standardsdriven curriculum, language arts standards driven curriculum, high quality and engaging multimedia that reflected many reflects many learners and target cultures. So, we're not just learning Spain, Spanish. We're hearing about Argentina and Mexico and Puerto Rico, all many lovely places. Um, there's a plethora of support materials available with that. The assessments are editable and there's an assessment builder so teachers can really dial in to the standards or skills they want to emphasize and the there is a teacher and student

112support via chat on with the Vista online product. Uh, I don't know that they would help you with your homework, but they will help you access different parts of the platform. And you can see comments from one of our teachers uh speaking to the fact that we spent three days and determined that Gary is the best curriculum option for all our students. H best aligns with the capabilities of our multilingual learners at each grade level. And the teachers were very pleased that it um ensures some alignment growing up through the years that we know that all students will get um an expanding curriculum as they go through the grades. And I'm going to invite Sie Vega to share a few of her comments about the Vista products. Um it was a pleasure for us to

113contribute in this um evaluation. Um we were always expecting to have a respectful teamwork and uh finally we agreed that Galadia is the best one for us uh focus on the achievement that we want to reach with our three students um and level of competency. So um the adoption that we are planning is the update version uh that reach out more digital resources and provide a more a level assessment and materials and supplies for teachers. So facilitating our work. So I has been using Galleria the version for um heritage and twe. So we are planning to now separate perspectivas for heritage and galleria just for three students. In that way we can move um in two different ways but um seeking to reach out the same goals for both be bilingual and biliterate. Thank you.

114So I'm going to steal the mic back to talk about inquiry by design so we can actually leave Yeah. leave that up. Um, so inquiry by design is something that actually a lot of our teachers are already using in the ELA department and they do have an SLA offering as well. Uh, the Inquiry by Design curriculum supports our multilingual learners by building strong literacy skills in Spanish through engaging texts, critical thinking, and meaningful discussion. It's specifically designed to be inclusive, culturally rich, and aligned to academic standards. Specifically though, what we really wanted to use inquiry by design for is to support our novel studies so that we're not just reading books, but we're reading books with really specific purpose behind it and evidence-based practices to ensure that our students are getting a lot out of

115those novel studies. Next slide, please. So, a novel study is when our students are reading and exploring novels together. sometimes independently, sometimes in small groups, sometimes as a whole class. Uh, and they're digging into different characters, themes, and and language structures, which I think is one of the coolest things about doing Spanish language arts is that there are different language structures in Spanish than we necessarily have in English. And so, they're really getting a a much deeper understanding of unpacking lit uh literature in that way. And it's not just about reading, but it's also about how they're thinking about those texts and using academic Spanish to discuss and write. The curriculum, the inquiry by design curriculum, supports this by focusing on student led inquiry, meaningful discussion, and close reading, helping students grow as readers, writers,

116and critical thinkers. Uh, next slide, please. So, these are just some highlights from teachers. I'm not going to read them all out to you, but I did want to highlight one of them um that says, "I'm the most excited about novel studies. Novel studies offer an immersive and enriching experience that enhances language acquisition and cultural understanding. They can instill the love for reading in students, fostering critical thinking and empathy." And so that's from one of our teachers. And then on the next slide, we also were able to get some feedback from a community member who said, "I was able to look at some of the sample curriculum and promotional videos, and they actually look pretty good." I love the actually there. I like I appreciate the skepticism. Uh, and they admit that they know they're

117a skeptic when it comes to curriculum. They said it teaches explicit grammar and vocabulary in an engaging way. So, we feel pretty um strongly about having made good decisions moving forward as we got input from all of the various uh stakeholder groups that we could. So, our immediate next step is our hope for approval tonight from the board. Um and then following that, if we're successful, then we will put together our PD um planning and implementation plan to support teachers with roll out next year. It's very exciting. I'm excited about this curriculum. Any questions, comments? Dr. Z, I have one question. So, I noticed um the uh recommendation mentions hardback copies of the of the texts. Are we also getting an online version of all of the texts? Does that include the novels or just

118hardback of the novels? Novels will likely be class sets um but hardback of the um adopted curriculum. Okay, cool. I love it when we get both. I would say that was the most exciting part for teachers was the ability to look into novel studies. That was something everybody was really excited about. I can understand why. I mean the reading a novel in in a different other than English language is such an amazing fun and gives such a sense of pride like I can do this. It's it's it's wonderful. I'm really pleased to see that. Director Weston, thank you so much for all of your work. Benel. Um, my only criticism of all of this is that we don't have this um at all of our schools, which is really um unfortunate and I wish we

119could have um these kind of language learning opportunities um throughout our entire district. So, thank you so much for your work. Um really appreciate it and um looks like a a really fantastic course. Thank you. If there's no other comments or questions, I'd entertain a motion. Um, let's see. the approved purchase of a 7-year adoption of C2022 uh perspectivas hardback copy and a few that's a C 2025 galleria and one and two a three-year adoption of inquiry by design and grade level novel sets motion is made by vice and seconded by Director Weston. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I'll move to a coral vote. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Congratulations. And with that I will adjourn our meeting at 8:17.