001I see good evening everyone and welcome to this regular meeting of the tiger Talton school board I will call this meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. all right uh are there any changes to the agenda there are no changes to the agenda hearing that I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented I move that we approve the agenda as presented I second motion was made by Vice chair H and seconded by director zme 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 motion carries all right and with that we will move to our best part of the evening um our recognition and good news and I will bring up Lisa Burton uh and direct
002Bailey a whole bunch of people all right good evening esteemed board members superintendent cabinet members and guests we are excited to present to you the 2025 classified employees of the Year these individuals we are recognizing this evening were nominated by their peers and administrators based on demonstrating the qualities that we're looking for in our Bev Farnsworth excellent of Serv Excellence of service award recipient Bev was an incredible secretary at bym elementary school who was known for her ability to build community and connect in genuine ways with students staff families and community members she was a Difference Maker and demonstrated service Excellence Bev understood how maintaining positive relationships and attention to her role are key to a school Success With that being said I would like to introduce you to the following employees of the year
003who embody these same traits as I read your names please stand up come forward and line up along the left hand side over here please before we read the first name I'd like to point draw attention to that first slide and have a public uh bit of gratitude for Humble Pie baking company our uh sponsor for this year who are uh kind to donate uh a small little token of appreciation for each of the award winners tonight and now the classified employees of the Year from Alberta Ryder Elementary Delbert radel learning specialist learning specialist [Applause] assistant from art rutkin Elementary Jackie ooyo [Applause] W from Bridgeport Elementary Michelle [Applause] Smith from bym elementary tumbo okara [Applause] from CFT Elementary Bobby [Applause] fito from Creekside Community High School Briana Kiki [Applause] from Deer Creek Elementary Elon
004[Applause] Jacobson from Durham Elementary Adela Mendes [Applause] zapa and from Fowler Middle School Natalie Sorano Castro hazelbrook Middle School an Leonardo from the hiber district office Rebecca pedrone [Applause] and from Mary Woodward Elementary Mary [Applause] Masten Meer Elementary Heidi [Applause] suy and in nutrition services Haley day in our operations Department Matt [Applause] younger in special programs Roger [Music] desert Templeton in elementary Helen AB at Tiger High School Olivia arismendi [Applause] Vasquez and our transportation department Cheryl Weiss [Applause] and the tiger Talton Virtual Academy Gabby [Applause] [Music] Oles at twon elementary Amanda Thor [Music] [Applause] to wallon high school Josh [Applause] burn and toity Middle School Michelle [Applause] Beck classified staff we appreciate appreciate you can we please give them a huge round of [Applause] applause before we dismiss everybody before we dismiss everybody each recipient
005will receive a small token of appreciation from the district which says 2025 classified employee of the year in appreciation of your service to Tiger Talton School District in addition we have a special local sponsor for this event Humble Pie baking company they donated some special pies for each award recipient [Applause] we getting close do we do we need to get out of the way for do okay everybody we're about we'll do a group pick in a second but before before we do what I'd like to do is um give the presentation for the 2025 Beth barnsworth [Music] award so um again thanks everyone for being here all of us has seen firsthand the many ways that classified employees contribute to a positive School environment and making a difference for our students each award recipient this
006evening was nominated by peers and selected by their building administrators as an exemplary model in service to their building tonight's celebration is a way to show our appreciation for their dedication and commitment to our school communities and District among these amazing people is one staff member who has distinguished themselves as a community Builder A Difference Maker who shows up in excellence every day and goes beyond what is expected I'll read this letter from the principal describing what makes them this year's Beth barnsworth award recipient this special person is in their third year as heads Secretary of our elementary school but her years working in this role do not reflect her impact on this community she's not only worked as part of the front office team before the role of head secretary they were a parent
007PTA member a founder of our school's Arts Foundation leads the Safety Committee is the classified staff union rep co-building Equity coordinator and co-leads the wellness committee she's amazing and is committed to the school in a way rarely seen by any staff member staff family and students know that if you need something or you need to know how to do something she has your back if she doesn't know the answer you can be guaranteed that she'll be going do doing her best to figure out how to solve problems that come her way as a building principal I'm not quite sure where I'd be without her she's someone I can count on and without fail is there to make sure I can do my job I know I'm not the only person that feels this way about
008her about her her dedication to our school is unmatched what a touching tribute to the job to the job that and dedication that this staff member does for our uh students with those words in mind please join me and congratulating head secretary at Talton Elementary Amanda thoron thers [Applause] thank you so much Amanda for your unwavering commitment to our school community and congratulations on being the Beth barnsworth Award winner and now it's time for pictures and to celebrate for one more round of applause for all of our amazing [Applause] [Music] CL e e e read I'm just gonna acknowledge that it's there that we have it because it's not part of consent and I don't want to read the whole thing so we're just gonna all right with that we are going to continue on
009to our next item and I did just want to acknowledge that we do have the classified Appreciation Week resolution 24 25-8 that is in honor of our classified employees so with that we will move on to student rep reports and whoever would like to begin all right okay so a few weeks ago we had U my lansu Chinese field trip um it was on the 15th and as you know that was also the snow days which was really really scary because I thought it would be cancelled which I was not very happy about but it didn't cancel we went to it and we had such an amazing time I really loved it and um with that this week is our kindness week at Tiger high school and so I'm teaming up um so stud are
010no place for hate leadership um um and one more I think is we're all combining or collabing together to help spread kindness throughout TIG high school and I'm super excited today we helped make little cute chains and we places we place some like kind Hearts onto our little kindness tree and then next week after that is Wellness week and so I'm hoping to plan for that as well um and then for last week we also celebrated Unity week and it was so so so amazing so throughout the week um we had uh so many activities uh for example we had our voices assembly which is always nice for each year to hear all the different stories that all of my uh peers have and it's just so amazing just to hear how similar and how
011different we are and it was just an amazing experience um as well as that we also had our Multicultural assembly which was so so so nice um I definitely had a workout during it so uh we were able to do some dances which was so much fun and um for Asia student union we did some origami for our lunch activity it was super good we also shared some Asian jelly cups which were so so so nice um to see everybody Crow around our table so that's kind of what we did for Unity week um also is yeah also for un week we um had like Nathan mention we had like little activities each like lunch so one lunch Shea did a cou and then like pins and then MAA did some pinata making and then
012black student union had a cahoot and there just different activities like that and along with our Unity our Multicultural assembly we had many per performances we had um a group perform from our I think it's our guitar three or four um they performed and then met and then we also had pacif doing some of their dances which were really awesome and then moving on to my aspect of sports so today was UniFi um senior senior night today so it was very nice um on tomorrow we'll be having a girls basketball game versus St Mary's as well they will be having their senior night as well um freshman boys basketball is on Wednesday Thursday we have a guitar rock showcase at 6 I think Friday is our Japan night 5:30 which will be presented by our
013Japanese H society and then girls and B girls and boys basketball team has a game at L goo from 4:30 to 7:30 yeah oh and um theater shows will be opening next week so it' be we'd be really glad if you guys came and join us on Thursday Friday or Saturday yeah okay at twon um last Saturday the 22nd was our winter formal um it was very successful um and from all the feedback that I've received so far a lot of people had fun so that's a great plus um and then also over the weekend uh our host our HOSA Club went to um our state leadership conference um was also very successful we probably had like the most qualifying students going to Internationals in a long time so that's really great to see um
014and then last week on Wednesday was our blood drive where we collected around 50 successful units which is great um tomorrow night there is a snowboarding and ski club fundraiser at mcm's John Barley corns um which the snowboard and ski team had a competition over the weekend as well and two boys placed top 25 uh one actually got second so that's big congratulations um and then F has a fundraiser at Red Robin uh at nberg um on March 6 um um last sat is this on okay um last Saturday Toton hosted the stamp test for the Seal of B literacy uh it's a great opportunity for kids that grew up in a bilingual house or students who were learning a foreign language at the high school um to be able to test to get that
015intern naal recognition uh for students who couldn't make it there'll be additional opportunities at Tiger this Saturday or during wind times in March uh Friday we have the curriculum Fair where uh usually seniors will be hosting stands advertising to underclassmen about a curriculum than like any elective that they have um I think it's great that the seniors who have gone through it get to talk about the experience that they had and are currently still having for the next few months uh to really talk about firsthand why they enjoyed it um and in the middle of our very extended weekend uh very extended weekend two weekends back on Saturday the 15th uh tier one State uh the last two years they went to Nationals uh this year State and Nationals were the same weekend so they
016stayed local and went to State and won and then um for other sports wrestling has their state championship on Friday and Saturday Memorial Coliseum um and then just to add about the curriculum Fair um this year we're like our school's really emphasizing like our IB classes like really pushing those out so for every IB class at our school um will be two students that will have their own table at the curriculum Fair um and so it's for parents and family students to come and really um just see like from from an actual student that takes the class like what the workload is like and how the class is structured which is great just to add on also Tigers wrestling girls and boys qualified for St as well we had many people so that's very exciting
017for wrestling so just wanted to add that yeah great updates thank you you guys I know it's a kind of rolling into a very busy time of year so I'm excited to hear everything that's going on I want to close the loop um on our last it was an action item typically those resolutions are in a consent agenda but this one was pulled out and so I just want to cross our te. eyes so I will because it was an action item call for a vote um to approve this celebrate um classified appreciation week which is um resolution 24258 as presented so I don't want this to sound like an afterthought because our classified staff are so super important to us um this this resolution really does talk about all of the amazing things that
018classified staff do and I would encourage Anybody Everybody to read it um we talk a lot about how important our teachers are often when we talk about teachers we're really talking about every staff member in the building and that includes all of our classified staff because every child who has an adult doesn't necessarily have to be a teacher who's important it could be also a classified staff so with that I'll stop uh I'll get off my soap box and say I move to approve resolution 24258 classified appreciation week as presented second motion was made by director zme and seconded by director miles um 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 perfect and I know this will also be
019talked about I bet in our board Communications um so with that I will pass it to our superintendent thank you very much um first off it's just great to see um all of our our teams having success right now as we um bring our winter season to a close and as we start to open up our spring Sports so I'll be really interested to see how our wrestlers do how our basketball teams do as we as we go to close out the winter season strong um also starting the night off with a recognizing our classified employees and um and classified employee week was just a wonderful way to kick things off this evening um I can't emphasize enough how essential their contributions are to the success of our schools and to put it plainly our
020classified employees they're the heartbeat of our schools they're often the first people that our students see when they're getting on the bus or the front office um they're the on the front lines ensuring that our schools are safe and ready for students but they also do so much work behind the scenes that we we just don't see making sure lights are turned on making sure bills get paid and that our schools are running smoothly and their dedication is just truly unal invaluable so I just want to take a moment um to to tell you all if you think about that classified employee that um that really helped you out when you were in school or that you had a strong connection with for me it was a guy named Walt fgator at Roosevelt Middle School
021who made sure like he was someone to talk to if you need to talk to him but also made sure you crossed the road safely so um and and think a a classified staff member that you're currently working with now so again thank you to all of our classified staff um moving on to our special education funding I want to talk about that for a moment we have over 3,000 bills that were presented in this year's legislative session so there's a great deal of things being debated in Salem right now and there's one issue that I'm particularly hopeful that we'll get attention and that's the the issue of special education funding um at the last board meeting during our work session director of student services Carol kinch did an outstanding job of articulating our philosophy
022of inclusion and ensuring that all students with disabilities and special needs have access to education in the at least restrictive environment and so tonight you'll hear a presentation again from director Kent showing how high cost special education is impacting our district in 2223 alone high cost special education services cost ttsd about $2.8 million um and in 2425 it's only going to be more and um here's the challenge is you can't put a price tag on the commitment that we're making to ensure that all students have access to the opportunity to the education that they deserve so as the state Works through the 2527 State School fund and makes decision on critical issues uh we're closely monitoring the high cost special education funding and this is something that we're going to advocate for um we're really
023fortunate in our district that we have two representatives and and representative Bowman and nuron who understand the needs of our districts but um we really need for to make sure we're we're raising Awareness on what it takes to ensure that we're providing high quality education to all and the impact of the high cost special special education spending as well um also boundary updates so last um board meeting we gave you an update on um where we are with our boundary uh adjustments over the last few months we've resumed the planning on our boundary adjustments uh and today I want to share some details so we're in the process of developing a multi-year plan with changes set for the 2526 school year now some options are under consideration for next year including uh redistricting 79 students
024from the Mary Woodward uh catchment area located just north of Bull Mountain Road and or 79 students from the Deer Creek catchman area just north of beef Bend Road um this will increase the overall enrollment in art rucking would take it from about 130 135 to well over 200 and on its way to to be operating at capacity after a few years um we're also scheduling Community engagement session with the impacted schools on March 3rd and March 4th um and in this in in this uh these sessions we'll meet with schools from the impacted areas and um especially at the Mary Woodward Community we'll see that some of these changes will really improve uh or reduce the amount of travel distances of the affected students and also make for I think cleaner boundary lines so
025um again we're looking forward to engaging with the community about this as well so we can get their input and then we'll bring our final recommendations to the board on the 7th and then La uh finally just some upcoming events this week uh just really one event we on Wednesday we have our budget committee uh our second budget committee meeting oh there's picture of yours truly speaking at our first budget committee meeting um we had about 30 participants or so and our first meeting was hard to tell because there's a lot of District staff sprinkled in there but that was our budget 101 session so this next session this Wednesday here in the training center will be focused on uh instructional programming and how it ties into our budget events like these are examples of
026authentic Community engagement and they'll also help us gather really important community input so we really look forward to to seeing more community members show up again that will be here um at the training center starting at 5:30 on Wednesday and that's it for my updates thank you so much and we will move to board Communications anyone want to start us off Vice chair um I don't have much but I do want to say that uh I would like to thank as the superintendent said all of our classified employees because without them we truly couldn't run the school district um like you said I agree with you I think from the moment that our students get on the school bus and you know they come in to our schools they're greeted by our