001health. Um, so that's something that uh students and communities have been asking for. So the task force is thinking about increasing that health requirement. We have been getting some feedback um from a variety of stakeholders that it might make more sense to do like a half a credit of health and a half of credit of PE and core and then likewise a half a credit of health and a half a credit of PE and PPR. So that's something that we will take to the board for their June meeting. Um so all the things that are on the slide that haven't been decided yet, I think are things that the board will be discussing at their June board meeting. We'll then have um even more extensive stakeholder engagement opportunities between the board's June meeting and the
002task force's July meeting, which is their last meeting focused on implementation before um we have to get a bill draft to the governor's office. Um, so we're getting close to making a lot of decisions on things. Um, and it's hard when everybody feels that everything should be core and we're trying to provide more flexibility for students. Um, so I'm trying to think if there's anything else I want to be sure and say for the sake of time. Um, I do just want to point out, you probably saw it on the slide, that, um, based on the math subcommittee's recommendations, we are going to tighten what's allowed for a student's third math credit. um to the four courses you see listed on the screen. Um but then the task force wanted to make algebra 2 or
003integrated math 3 the default course if students don't know what they want to do for post-secary um to ensure that students are able to meet their minimum college admission standards um unless they make a really intentional choice not to take algebra 2 or integrated math 3 and after they've had some advising with their counselor. So, that's another big change that I want to make sure folks are aware of. Um, all right. Um, sorry, I'm I should not be trying to follow chat and present at the same time, and I am. So, um, apologies and we'll go back to some of these questions, but yes, Nancy, um, the goal is to have a bill ready for the 2027 legislative session, um, which the state board would have to route through the governor's office, which means we
004have to have a bill draft ready by midepptember. So, you know, no pressure, it's fine. We're going to get it all figured out by midepptember. Um, all righties. And then I know that we are running out of time and I wanted to have a few minutes for questions. So, we have some additional um slides in here that are examples of how this framework um could work. We included these really more for your reference when you're looking back at these. I'm not going to talk through them all right now, but Ariel, if you just want to maybe skip to just so folks see this, our contact information and then we had some discussion questions that I imagine we won't have time for. Um but we would certainly appreciate folks um feedback. Um if you have thoughts
005after this meeting and you want to reach out to us um we would always love to hear from all of you. Um all righties. So I think with that and we have resources linked as well as Ariel and I's contact information and of course Randy as our executive director as well. Um okay. So, Logan, do you want to help me uh prioritize because I know you have other presenters and I don't we have just a couple minutes left for questions. >> Yes. Um I am going to um actually I I might ask one that I think is on the minds of a lot of folks. Um I'm curious about funding um and how the board um will consider including um funding for anything that might come out as a part of this bill. that would
006be a new requirement for districts to have or offer. Um where there might be like so financial education is one that comes to mind for me. Um how is the board considering I guess the funding aspect of this as y'all are thinking about the legislation? >> Yeah. So for graduation requirements um anything that would be determined because OSPI does fiscal impact statements. Um, so anything that is determined by OSPI to have a fiscal impact would not take effect until it's funded. That's my easiest, shortest answer. >> Okay. Um, I'm just going to open the chat up here. Um, how is the board thinking about income and race-based resource and opportunity gaps in the current education system? Um, Dave, I'm going to try to answer you. uh feel free to put more in chat if I'm
007not speaking to exactly what you had in mind with that question, but I think some of the things um that we're thinking about we've heard from a lot of as you can imagine like some of the subcommittees trying to think about what can small rural districts offer versus of course what can you know Seattle or Spokane you know public schools offer. So trying to think about what requirements make sense for every district in the state versus moving some like I know a lot of small and rural districts sometimes struggle to find CTE certificated educators to teach a CTE class. So, that's one of the reasons the task force was considering moving CTE into the personalized pathway requirements um to try to uh keep in mind small and rural districts um if they can't offer any
008or can only offer one CTE class that may not make sense for an individual student and their goals. So, I think that's one thing. If you're talking more generally outside of graduation requirements, Dave, I don't I might need some help with that sort of general question if you want to put some more comments in chat or reach out to us. >> Great. Um I see one more and it's kind of long but I think in general um the questions from Lisa Gunthre about um if you can speak a little bit more about changing the two for one policy for CTE course equivalencies. Um I think in general the the concern is that um the arts community feels that this is proposing changes to deemphasize the arts. Is there any thoughts you can share on that?
009>> Yeah, I'm sorry. I did sort of skip over the two for one policy because I know it's nuancey and I knew we have limited time, but since you asked, Lisa, um, under current law, if for CTE course equivalencies that are approved at either the local district or at the state level by OSPI to be a CTE course that also meets academic standards, then a student could earn, for instance, like if you have like a CTE agriculture course, maybe a student is checking off their CTE graduation requirement at the same time that they're checking off a science requirement, but they're only earning one credit. The task force would like to change that so that if a student is demonstrating proficiency over the standards of both within the CTE framework and the academic course like science
010that students are actually earning both of those credits. Um so it would help students um have again a little bit more room in their schedule. Um if if that's helpful for students. Um, as far as your comment about the arts community, yes, as you can imagine, we've been getting lots of stakeholder feedback from the arts community. Um, and while we, uh, I I don't think anyone on the task force would say that the arts are not important, um, but again, trying to be responsive to community feedback that students want more flexibility over their schedules. um where we would strongly recommend that every student take an arts course. if for a particular student that did not make sense um you know or if for some students like some student groups really struggle under the current requirements
011especially if they're in a sixth period day if they're a multilingual um student who is having to take English development courses or a student with a disability who has to be in a lot of IEP support classes they have no room for choice under the current requirements in a sixth period day oftent times so trying to figure out how do we priority Prioritize a lot of courses as being important and still provide flexibility for individual students when needed. >> Great. Okay. Well, it is 12:41. Um, I think we're going to move on. Um, thank you both for being here. Um, I did take a picture of the discussion questions slide that you had up and for members of the network um, we'll just whip up a quick little form um, that we'll send out in
012the email where you get all the slides following this and we'd love if we could just gather some of your feedback there and then um, uh, we can send that off to state board. Larry, do you have a question? >> I I do. You know, all these requirements is it's going to put a burden on me. You know, I'm a poor school district and I don't know how we're going to be able to do this because if they don't fund it, where do I get the money for it? I'm losing money both on the state side and federal side. I I just I these requirements are just ridiculous. I think I really do. It's just going to put a a bind in in my finances as a as a school district. You know, we're already
013at the low end of of of the on money situation. I I don't know. I I just don't see how we're going to be able to do this. I really don't. >> Is it Is it true, Alyssa? Did I hear you say that anything that is deemed to have a new cost, like the requirements wouldn't go into place until the state funds it? Did I hear you? Did I interpret that answer right when that was asked earlier? >> I want to caveat that with OSPI is the one who does the fiscal impact statement. So, if OSPI deems that any part of the new requirements have a cost, then yes, by law, they would not go into effect until the legislature funds it. Um, I and Larry, I don't want to take up more time necessarily
014because I know you have other presenters, but Larry, I would be curious if you want to follow up with me offline which piece in particular you're concerned about because the only new course in the framework would be the financial education course. All of the other courses are currently required to be offered. >> Great. Okay. Thank you. Um if y'all could drop your email addresses in the chat for folks, I think that'd be helpful. Um you all feel free to reach out to state board um should you have any questions. And then um I will also circulate um those discussion questions with you all. Um, and for our state board friends, we'll try to get everyone's responses through that form and then um, we'll send them to you in in that way. Give us a week
015or so to get some feedback. Thanks for being here. If you want to stay, you're more than welcome. If you need to head out to another space, that's just fine. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, I'm gonna pass it now to Mon'nique and Justine from ESD12. This is the the first time that we've brought some skill building into the advocacy action network. That was something that you all have been talking about and asking for. Um and so sort of coming off of the regional meeting cycle where we've been talking a lot about community engagement, legislative relationships, uh Mon'nique was the first person on my mind to say, "Hey, how can we um tap into some of the great communication skill building that you do?" So, um, introduce yourselves and take it away. >> Thank you,
016Logan. And what a a kind introduction. Really appreciate that and all the work that that you do with WASDA. And everyone on this screen, thank you for the work that you do. My name is Mon'nique Duga. I'm the executive director of communications and public engagement for ESD12. And we have the pleasure of working with a number of your school districts. I see a few familiar names. Um, so thank you for your work. Thank you for your partnership. It's nice to see you. I would like to also introduce my colleague on my team, um, Justine Vasquez, and she is a communication manager on the ESD12 communications team. And she is absolutely fantastic and supports many of our school districts, multiple school districts with communication efforts. and um she's here today to share some really great examples
017about connection between school districts and boards and ways that we can strategically incorporate key messaging across the the many different areas of communication that we do on a daily basis. So u thank you for having us and if you'll give me one second I am going to share my screen um first as a presenter in slideshow mode and then let's see if I can figure this out. Give me just a second to uh wrestle with the zoom and get this up and presenting. >> It always feels like once you get your slides on the screen the hard part is over, right? Okay. Hopefully, it's showing you exactly what I want you to to see, which is communication best practices. >> Yep. >> Now, Justine and I are go going to kind of go back and
018forth as we talk a little bit about communication best practices. So, please bear with us as we do a little bit of pingpong back and forth. But communication is really a a such an important topic and skill for all of us, not just in our public capacity, but also in our our private capacity as well. And so today we want to just talk a little bit about strategy. Um not just reacting in in a manner of um of reactivity with communications, but being really thoughtful about communications and your approach as a district leader in your unique role. So why does communication matter? Anybody have another answer in addition to the ones on the screen? I would invite you to just shout it out. Um, this is one one opportunity that you get to um to
019yell into the Zoom screen if you'd like to. Building trust, uh, being visible, accessible, intentional, creating a connection with your community. you really are your communities representative. And so making sure that you're um present but also accessible and then of course keeping the focus on the work that you're doing every day which is to build those positive outcomes and opportunities for students. So Justine, do you want to talk about knowing your story? >> Sure. Um so um our our district story can um oftentimes be distilled down into key messages that we use um throughout all forms of district communication. And that district communication is a partnership between um schoolboard members um school and district staff um and families. And um people might not remember every detail of um your budget decisions or your policies, but
020they will remember your story and how your district made them feel. And having key messages helps to distill that down into memorable um pieces of information and pieces of your story that can then be used um over and over again um through small repeated interactions over time. Um we want to repeat them consistently across um different audiences and settings. Um we say seven times, seven ways. um we want to um have lots of opportunities for people to come across those key messages um and for those key messages to be delivered to them in a targeted manner. Um but those together will help to shape a story that is told by you and reflects the district's values rather than allowing um someone else to tell your story. You've probably heard the saying that um if we
021don't share our story, then somebody else will tell our story for us and it may not be positive. So, we really encourage um as a takeaway for board members. We talked about partnership and the importance of partnership as a board member between you and your superintendent. And if you are uh fortunate enough in your school district to also have a communications leader, making sure that you understand, this is a takeaway, what is the story that we're trying to tell as a school district and how can you play a role in telling that story? Um, oftentimes we talk about three key messages, really boiling things down to the big three things that we want people to know. So, if you haven't done that or had that conversation already with your superintendent and with your communications leader,
022if if you have one in your district, um it's very important to have that conversation about what are the things that are really important that we want to weave in to all of our communications and all of the the information that we're sharing with our community. Now, you all know this already. You have a really unique role as a school board member. You are not just a member of the district's leadership sta leadership team. You are a neighbor. You're an advocate. You're a connector. And you really represent that bridge between the school district and the community. And so you are in a really unique and powerful position of being able to have some extra influence within your community. you are your community's representative in the school system. And so that's why when we speak with
023board members as part of our our work, uh we strongly encourage board members to have that really close partnership with your superintendent and be really thoughtful about the messaging and the story that you're telling and the things that you're conveying both in the words that you say but also in our body language. Uh we want to make sure that that the things that we're doing as we are sitting in board meetings also help to tell a story of that trusted community representative and that can be hard to remember especially at times when you know you're talking about a really heated or difficult issue. Um, and I see a a few uh things in the chat here, and I'll do my best to um to respond and to uh leave some room for questions as well.
024Um, so let's just continue to go through some of our slides here. Um, connecting district priorities to community values. Um, so in your role as a board member, you are uniquely positioned to help to bridge that gap or connect district goals, the strategic plan of the district and your uh role as a board member. So Justine, did you want to share a little bit about um some of these quotes here that that you've gathered? Yeah, I'll just add um these are real quotes from school districts that we work with and um I gathered them as examples of how um as schoolboard members in your role as community advocates and connectors like like uh Mon'nique was saying um you um have this unique ability to take a district story and really bring it back home um
025to community values. Um, one example, the one on the right, our community has become known for its support of the arts, and a real important part of that support is in fostering the abilities of our young people. That was in a a quote in a press release and just an example of how the school board voice can be used to connect an art event that's happening in the district with the community values and bring that back home to why does this matter? and you as board members, I would argue that your voice carries a really important and extra weight as that community representative. And so talking with your superintendent and comm's leader about how and when it might be appropriate to include some board leadership quotes in stories that are being put out by the
026the district or in news releases or as part of an interview with a local media outlet. There are very appropriate and and important times for you to weigh in. So having a plan as to when that makes sense. Um and typically it's around some of these bigger uh issues and bigger goals and and the values that the district wants to represent in the community um and their ties to the strategic plan. I do want to try and uh answer a few of the the comments or questions in the chat. So I'm going to go a little bit off script here. And um Beverly asked, "Is it helpful to have a social media presence? Um maybe better to not put our story out there if the message has not been vetted." And so um I'll answer
027this in two parts and Justine, I would invite you to um to weigh in as well with your social media expertise. I I think social media is where our community is at in a lot of uh cases. So, we want to be part of that conversation, but we want to be really thoughtful about how we are part of that conversation. We work with a lot of schools um and school districts where social media is really reserved for um things that are more positive positive stories um and not some of the more announcementbased or perhaps negative information or or information that could be perceived negatively. Um we all know social media can take on a bit of a life of its own and so uh this is really important um and and that is an important
028place for us to make sure that we are connecting back to our strategic plan, our values, our key messaging as we were mentioning and allowing that to be the driver of stories on our social media rather than um perhaps negative or other challenging commentary. So yeah, the answer is yes. I think there is a lot of benefit to um having a social media presence, but go into it with a strategy and go into it with some idea of if a negative comment comes up, how are we as a district going to handle it and what is the board's role in that? And we can elaborate on that if if others have additional questions. The second piece of that around vetting is very important and I want to make sure that we um that we uh
029touch on that. You may have heard a Warren Buffett quote that it takes 20 years to build a reputation and um 10 seconds to ruin it and and or something along those lines. Maybe I'm not quoting that exactly, but you've probably heard that quote before and it's absolutely true. We we work very hard to um build up our school district's reputation and the work that we're doing and focus our actions on uh the student centered elements of our work and student outcomes and just sometimes an off-handed comment or an off-handed issue that comes up can really derail us from that focus. And so I want to um to emphasize the importance of making sure that you have a plan in partnership with your school board, in partnership um or excuse me, in partnership with your
030superintendent, in partnership with your communications professional about the messages that you as a board member will be sharing and reiterating on social media. and they line up very much or in my opinion should line up very closely with those key messages and the elements of the strategic plan. And you're really focused on those big picture messages, not getting into the nitty-gritty details and that you have a plan if someone does ask you a question about those nitty-gritty details. um and that that you have a plan to be able to refer that back to the appropriate channels um to uh allow for a response from um from the district. Justine, would you add anything additional? >> Uh I would just say that in general social media is for celebrating and um recognizing students, those types of
031things. And I I wouldn't put any big announcements or um decision making on social media. I would keep if you're going to have a social media presence, I would keep it light, celebratory um and um none of that back and forth in the comments that tends to um get derailed. I have a couple of um examples on the screen right here of um school district social media posts that um connect schoolboard members with district goals and values. Um they have schoolboard quotes. These are a couple of schoolboard members that are participating in student programs that can be helpful to um drive home the district goals and values and also increase visibility and trust. While we're on the topic of social media, >> yes, that was a perfect segue. And I just want to share a
032couple of other notes about these examples. And if you're a board member looking to um to support the activities of your school district, a post like this would be an excellent opportunity for you to take this and reshare it or comment on the on um the district's post about how proud you are uh of the students, you know, in this performance or um something along those lines. That would be a perfect example of an opportunity to celebrate students and really tell a story about the amazing things that are happening in schools. And I'll also just chime in about one other kind of element. If you've worked with us to support communications around levy or bond, this is also another great opportunity to remind your community if a levy funded activity is pictured about the importance
033of levy funds, not right in the leadup to the election, but at other intervals throughout the year as part of your year round storytelling. So, I would encourage you, I'm sure you all have done this, but to go to Facebook and make sure that you've liked and followed your district's pages and then when these good news opportunities come up because of your elevated voice as a board member, uh, your voice carries some extra weight when you say and share on social media how awesome this activity is or how proud you are of these students. And that can sometimes lead to coverage from your local media. Sometimes that can um lead to others sharing and really getting the message out um as as far and wide as you possibly can. And I see a question from
034Dave about why should you not put district announcements on social media. Now, I would say that this really depends on your district's approach and what you have traditionally done as a school district. In some communities, Facebook is kind of like the the newspaper or the online platform. And so, there are times when you may want to share an announcement on social media. But I'll I'll just share, you know, I I work with a lot of school districts on crisis issues, and I will tell you that when there is a crisis or there's something that has happened that is um that is negative or um detrimental to the school district's reputation, that can be really a challenging thing to put on social media. So that type of announcement would not necessarily be appropriate for social media
035uh because it could lead to some other commentary and really as we all know um a long string of dialogue on an issue that um that maybe we can't resolve over social media and would probably not be the place where we want to have a two-way dialogue if people have questions. So again, kind of focusing back on the celebration and the importance of the celebration on social media and then thinking about before you post something on social media, if you do use Facebook, for example, to to share district announcements, thinking about kind of the bestcase scenario and the worstc case scenario as a response to what could happen if you post that information online. But having a really thoughtful discussion with your superintendent before posting. I always say think before we post. Um because once
036once information is out there, it's out there. And so we want to be just really thoughtful about our approach when we're putting something on social media. So Dave, I hope that that answered your question. There are certain things that are more appropriate in my opinion as a communicator that belong on social media. And as Justine said, it's really about celebrations and an opportunity to celebrate rather than the day-to-day business that might be better delivered in an email or in a standup meeting or in a community um message that goes out via a different channel. Not saying don't do it. It's just different for every school district and and based should be a customized approach based on your normal practices as a district. So these these questions are perfect transitions um into the next part of
037the presentation. Where can I share my district's key messaging? So I want you to think about some of the opportunities that you have. you kind of have a platform as a school board member. So in your regular school board meetings, there are oftent times where a superintendent might be giving a report and there may be times when you as a board member can provide some commentary on things. We would encourage as you're thinking about celebrating the district to really embrace those opportunities. Also, I'm sure many of you are going to community events with your school board of directors hat on. That is a wonderful thing because you are a walking billboard, right, for the school and the school district. You are the community's representative. And so, your presence at different community events is incredibly powerful
038and can be very positive as a representative of the school district. if you have Q&A sessions, um, press releases. Justine mentioned including quotes in press releases, um, if your district is sharing information out a little bit more widely or in, um, articles that might be shared um, in your local media. And then school visits and classroom walkthroughs. you may want to connect with um with the work that's being done in classrooms. Connecting with your superintendent and the leadership team and making sure that there are are opportunities to kind of coordinate and schedule that. Your presence can be a very very powerful positive influence um in the the school day and support the work that school districts are doing. ultimately connecting that goal back to the work of our support for students. Justine, anything to add
039on this slide? Uh, no, I think you pretty much covered that one. >> On this one, >> yeah, on this slide, we've got a few um more opportunities for communication, which I'm sure you're very familiar with. the um the screenshot on the right connects um very strongly with what we were um talking about earlier in the presentation. This is a screenshot of a um school district post that a board member of that school district shared. Um it was a very very positively um taken in their community. uh she shared it into their community's Facebook group. Um and she's just sprinkling in some positivity to the school tours. The school tours had kind of um there there was some positivity around the school tours and then some um like negative sentiments about why why are you
040doing this? Some um you know th we always have those naysayers. But this type of um um sharing the community or the school district posts with the community and throwing in your two cents as that community connector can help to um frame the district stories for your community. Um and this this one is a really great example of that. But in addition to that, you can um use your key messages in community conversations, um awards ceremonies and staff appreciation events um and if you um go to uh community meetings and civics groups like Lions Club, things like that. Um that um can be a great avenue too. >> And we've heard Justine mention key messages. I've talked about key messages in some of your districts. you have taken the opportunity to develop some talking points
041or key messages about the things that um your district stands for, the values that you hold close. Um if you haven't, that's okay. But what you can do is take a look at your district's strategic plan. I mean, everyone here is probably intimately familiar with your district's strategic plan or some of the strategic goals. And then bonus points if on social media you're able to share an activity like this um tour that Justine shared and then connect that kind of organically to an element of your district's strategic plan. You know, let's just say it's um it's student connections um that you're trying to emphasize. Really weaving in that message. That would be ultimate bo bonus points if you were able to do that too. But thinking about your strategic plan as a roadmap but also
042a set of talking points, right? These are some of the talking points that we can use to reinforce messages that we know are important and critical to our district. So, these are just a few examples of um different newsletters that our team has been involved in and um Justine, do you have u some specific comments about these? >> Yeah, they just really strongly um connect back to the strategic plan. So the example on the left um each of the stories you see the boot icon um with academic foundation and then the hikers um illustration with um learning partnerships. Those are icons and themes or categories from their strategic plan. Um, so, uh, when we were pulling newsletter stories, we thought, um, which which stories strongly connect back to the strategic plan and show, um, show
043progress in those areas. Um, and then we're visually linking them back to the strategic plan with those icons. Um, and we're we're doing the same thing in in every interaction that we just listed. um linking our stories back to the strategic plan. And I'm seeing a couple of questions in the chat that I just want to address and and this group is just on point. You are um just tying perfectly and be beautifully into our presentation. So, um I I got a direct message asking about um as a board member, do you need to have a social media account? And I'm just going to share that because I think it's worth bringing up. The answer is no. Not necessarily. You don't necessarily need to have a social media presence. Um, but it could be beneficial
044if uh you want to help to elevate or emphasize some of the district's happenings and key messages because you are in that unique kind of amplified role. So you are by your role able to share information kind of with a um a megaphone so to speak because people are paying attention to the work that you're doing as an elected leader. So, um, no, you don't absolutely have to have a social media account, but it might be a good idea. And then I'd be really thoughtful about when you use that social media account and being clear about um focusing on values related or um strategic plan related or or key messaging related posts and celebrating students. And I also see, do most board members avoid political gatherings? Our district is pretty divided. We work with a
045lot of school districts where um communities are very purple. Um so there's there's some division um politically. And so I don't necessarily have a recommendation regarding political view uh political groups, but I think it's important to remember that everything you are doing as an individual in your community because you are in that elevated role as a schoolboard member will be it has the potential to be looked at through that school district lens and it has the potential for your activities as a private citizen to be interpreted as activities on behalf of the school district. And so what we advise our our school board leaders and the school districts that we work with um is that you are public facing. You are whether you like it or not a uh a spokesperson for your district. And
046so everything that you do, please keep that in mind that it is a direct connection whether you intend it to be or not. back to the students and the schools that you represent. And so thinking of things through that lens um can be a helpful reminder just about the importance of the role that you play. So, I want to talk about complex and difficult conversations because I can imagine as a schoolboard member, you might be approached um with some some complex issues and some difficult conversations. And um as I mentioned, we support a lot of leaders with crisis communication. And so, these are some of the tips that we would often give. So, first things first, regulate yourself. Breathe. Um, oftentimes it sounds silly and simple, but we often forget to take a deep breath
047before responding. And it's most important that we ourselves are regulated before we're responding to anyone else. You can acknowledge concerns without conceding. So, I'll give you an example of that. Um, you can lean into I statements. Statements like, "I understand. I hear you. I want to know more about that. You're not agreeing necessarily with an issue that's being brought forward, but those statements can be really helpful in gaining the understanding of understanding. Most people when they bring forward a question or concern, they want to be primarily understood. And so if we can use some of those statements to help to um to position ourselves as understanding then it can really diffuse some of the u volatility of a conversation. As elected leaders we might have um difficult conversations that are brought our way or accusations
048or frustrations expressed at us. But knowing your um clear and respectful boundaries and having some talking points to um to be able to respond in the moment can be really really helpful. And an example of this would be um I really would like to hear more about this issue, but in order to do that, we're going to need to lower our voice. If someone's yelling at you, that type of of interaction. So setting some very kind and clear boundaries, but you are a human and you are able to very kindly set some parameters for how you um will receive information. You're not going to be able to to solve problems in the moment, but what you can do is you can gather more information and you can follow up. And oftentimes that can be a
049helpful thing. If you're in a community conversation and someone wants answers in the moment, it is absolutely okay to say, "I don't know the answer, but I will look into it and I will figure it out." And then commit to following up. So that might be done through your school district. That might be done through you as an individual, but just being really mindful about about actually doing what you're what you say you're going to do. I see a question about um for a board meeting one pager would that be expected to be available prior to the board meeting or post and where would that be shared? So a board meeting one pager I'm not sure I understand what exactly that is. Are we talking about social media? Amanda maybe you could clarify if you
050don't mind. That was on the slide. Um, the Vancouver public schools. >> Oh, the one. This one right here. Got it. Got it. >> And I believe that they um just have copies of this at their board meeting. >> Yeah. Yes. So, just having that available for people who attend the board meeting um can be really helpful in just sharing some of your key messages. So um just one final note on the complex or difficult conversations um acknowledgement is very very helpful um in kind of diffusing the situation and you'll see this example here. I understand your frustration um sharing the law or policy and procedure because you do have to follow law and you do have to follow policy and procedure and then talking about a follow-up that can be a very helpful framework
051if you're navigating a tough conversation. Have you all heard of blocking and bridging? Um this is another tactic utilized uh in navigating difficult conversations and um this is sometimes used with the media and if you've ever watched a political show like on a Sunday morning there is a lot of blocking and bridging that happens with politicians but it can be used for good purposes and it can help you to um acknowledge a comment and then pivot to the topic that you are comfortable speaking about. And so sometimes we'll get asked questions and we may not necessarily know exactly how to respond in the moment. But this framework, the block and the bridge, can give you some tools in your toolbox to be able to politely redirect um a a question and stop yourself from getting
052on that uh rabbit hole of of language or or commentary. and then bridge to a topic that you feel very comfortable talking about. So for example, there are a couple of of examples here on the screen. So you might get a pretty charged question. So why are school constru construction projects taking so long? That's just one example. A blocking in a bridge might be large construction pro projects involve careful planning, permitting, budgeting, community input, and we want to ensure we build spaces that serve students well for decades to come. So we we can thank um an individual for asking a question and then bridge to an answer. So another example might be um around um you know finance and um and how schools spend money. What you can do is you can acknowledge the question.
053Thank you for asking that question. I I want to defer that uh detailed information to our CFO. But what I can tell you is that we take our responsibility as board members to protect um and serve our community extremely seriously. And one of the things that uh that we do in relationship to serving our community is ensuring um good fiscal management. that sort of um block and bridge where we are are um politely stopping and then redirecting a question that might be asked. Justine, do you want to talk briefly about levies and bonds? >> Sure. Um so you all have probably um uh been involved in some way with levies and bonds. Um but um during an election season, a school election season, um we um have a duty to share information about um the
054election measure in a nonbiased and non um emotional way um so that community members can make an informed decision um about the election measure. Um we uh there uh is uh something called the public disclosure commission commission or PDC um that publishes guidelines um that schoolboard members have to adhere to in their um official capacity. Um and so in your official capacity um there are things that are permitted and not permitted. you can um engage in political activities on your own time. Um so on your own time as a as a personal individual um you can say vote yes or vote no on a measure. Um, but the PDC um guidelines include clarifying that you're speaking as an individual um and not using um district resources to deliver that message um or on district grounds
055as part of a district event. Um you um can't in your official capacity direct staff to perform tasks that support or oppose a ballot measure. um or use public equipment and that includes um laptops um vehicles, facilities for political activities. Um but what you can do is you can share information about um why uh levy and bond measures are important um and how they support student programs and services. And so this is a a great example of an opportunity to sort of lend your amplified voice to information sharing. But we need to be really mindful of public disclosure commission and uh how we can't influence uh the out outcome of an election. Um, can and Bev asked, can we share why we will be voting for the levy? So, as a individual in your personal
056capacity, you are able to share information about your personal vote, you just have to remember that in your official school district capacity, we have to be really careful about not advocating. Um, as a board, you can adopt an res a resolution and take official action to support um or in favor of a levy on behalf of the entire board. But in your official individual capacity, you have to be really careful about not appearing to advocate. So, one clear distinction that helps me to remember with PDC and communications is the district shares information, individuals can advocate. So, we as board members in our official capacity are best served to be sharing information. So, one of the things you can do if we want to go back to social media is the district is going to be
057sharing information about what levy funds actually fund. A great thing for you to do as a board member would be to share that post and say, "Did you know that these uh activities or programs are all funded by the local levy?" And share information through your amplified voice. Well, we just want to be really careful about uh the advocacy piece in your official board capacity. Now, I want to make sure that we are sticking with our time here and it looks like we're we're pretty close to being done, but the final takeaways are you are in partnership with your school district and you have a very powerful and important voice as a piece of the school district communication puzzle. So, um, please please connect with your superintendent and your communications person if you have not
058already and make sure you have a clear plan about the messages that you want to make sure that are being emphasized throughout public communication and then you as a board member can help to emphasize and amplify those messages in your communications. Consistent messaging helps to strengthen trust and you are a pivotal component in the trust equation. So I I just want to share briefly our email addresses in case you have any follow-up questions and then I want to leave the final minute or two if anybody has any questions that you would like to to ask. I know there might be some questions on social media. Anyone brave enough to to um to come off mute, maybe we just covered everything and you don't have any follow-up questions. Um if you do, please feel free to
059reach out to us. We're happy to to help to navigate kind of unique circumstances. Logan, is there anything that um that I missed you that you'd like us to touch on? >> I think you all did so great. I see Larry has a question. Larry, you're you're the brave you're the brave soul this afternoon. >> Yes, this is well well presented. I I like this. This this is what new board members need to know what you folks just said. you know, I've been doing this a long time and you know, and it's good to get a refresher because it's it's well done. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Larry. >> Thank you for that comment, Larry. And I have to give credit to Justine. She put this presentation together. So, she did an amazing
060job and I think hit on some really important points for schoolboard members. Now, this is not going to be the end all be all. You're still going to have things that come up, but being able to >> focus back on the district's key priorities, the strategic plan, and key messaging can help you in a lot of situations. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Any other brave souls? >> If not, Mon'nique, Justine, thank you so much. Um, ditto. What Larry said, that was super super helpful. >> Um, we appreciate you being here. >> Um, >> thank you for having us. We really appreciate the opportunity to connect and thank you for the work that all of you are doing. It's a very important role. >> Great. All right, y'all. With our one minute left, um, we I
061wanted to let you know that, um, the WASTA story bank form um, will be coming soon. Um, for those of you that are new to this gathering, um, one of the recommendations that you all gave to Cynthia and I, I don't know, at some point during the legislative session, um, was to create essentially a story bank form, um, that we can use to help gather sort of data, talking points, on the ground perspective from you all in your districts. um that we can then chew on and be able to give you more informed and stronger talking points and resources that you can use to engage with legislators and your community members. Um glad to say that that form is almost ready um for you all to have. We'll be sending that link out um shortly
062likely through the WASDA member update. you all will get it directly from us as well. Um we hope you'll use it. Um and we'll talk a little bit about it and walk through that form together when we're together next month. And then um Nancy, great question. That was my next talking point before we wrap. Our next meeting is June 23rd from 12 to 1, so it's just 1 hour next month. And we'll be talking specifically about cell phones in schools. Um we'll have our friends from WASA join us um to share some of their research around that work. Um as well as we'll be ready to share some policy updates of things that we're hearing from lawmakers and OSPI and the governor's office um about what kind of legislation we might anticipate um during the
063next session. Um one more note on calendar invites. Some of you somehow still have floating out there my calendar invites called the legislative representative network. Um the advocacy action network invites have replaced those that used to be called led network. So if you still have those on your calendar, I don't know how you do. Um but delete them. They are not real. We will not be on Zoom at those times. Um and the next time we get together is June 23rd. Um, happy graduation season to all of you. Um, I hope you have so much fun over the coming weeks. Um, I have a baby sister who's getting ready to graduate from Olympia School District. Happy and sad all at the same time. So, hope you all have fun and we'll see you here next
064month. Thank you for joining.