001Um, all right. Happy August 12th. Um, this is our legislative representative network meeting. I'm excited to spend some time with you all today and be together. I'm just going to orient us real fast to uh how we're going to spend our time. Just a quick welcome per usual, our year- round advocacy calendar check-in. Um and really going to spend most of today talking specifically about um general assembly prep and sort of what's happening, what's next, what's coming up. Um all of that want to ground us in equity statement. Um really uh focusing on keeping this at the forefront of our conversations as we think about um participation in general assembly. Um, and not going to read it to you word for word as you all know what our equity statement is. Um, but just really
002want to make sure that we're approaching conversations uh with this lens in mind. And um, as a reminder, this is our year round um, advocacy graphic. Um, we still remain in the July through September bucket and where we were last month. Um and again this is sort of the time frame as you all know we are knee deep in it right now uh reviewing proposals and getting ready for the general assembly. Um right now in addition to those things um policy topics and conversations are starting to come up um as I'm out in across the state meeting with you all um hearing about your needs um as well as talking with our legislators. Um, this is a super fun time um to really get to be intentional about reflecting on what happened during the legislative
003session and trying to figure out what might come next. Okay. Um so as a quick recap before we dive into um our talk about general assembly today um just want to quickly review um that we spent our last two LED network meetings really focused on unpacking the legislative impact toolkit um was newest advocacy resource and that we spent a lot of time thinking about what it even means to be a lead and what you can be doing during the interim. um specifically when it comes to leveraging this network and the colleagues that you get to spend this time with. Um there's a lot of really great resources in that packet. Um if you don't have it printed, I would totally advise you to consider that. I've got mine right here. Um and also having that
004um saved to your desktop. Um it's clickable. Um, so as you're going through the actual packet itself, um, there's links and different things that you can click to and access, um, like templates for emailing your legislators, um, guides for gathering community engagement into policy ideas, legislative action planning, and more. Um, so just wanted to take a second to sort of review that with you. Um, and just ask if anyone has anything in particular they'd like to share about maybe something that stood out to them as the most important part of that learning over the last couple months. I can't see any of you, by the way, for some reason, so feel free to just unmute and jump in. Well, Logan, this is Marica. I just think that um it's really great to encourage uh ledge
005reps to speak with their legislators um because typically, you know, during non session times, they have a little bit more time. And so it's good to, you know, come up with ideas such as inviting them uh to tour the facilities or uh even come to a schoolboard meeting and recognize them. Uh or just find other venues where you know they'll be coming to. Um and I think that that's been really good. oftentimes legislators during this time have uh different um I don't know sometimes fundraisers or sometimes just community forums and I know that that's been a really good way to um for me to connect with my legislators. I mean, you know, our congressman Marilyn Strickland from the 10th Cong congressional district um spent a good 40 minutes uh at one of these such forums
006and, you know, took questions and so we were able to really connect and and push in on uh the effects of, you know, cuts in federal funding and um you know, just the whole uh the whole way things are organized and how that affects our individual school districts. And so I find it really valuable. Thanks, Logan. Great. Thanks so much, Marica. Really, really appreciate that. Karen, did I see maybe you were going to jump in, too. >> Yeah. And you know, to you, thank you, Marica, for for reminding me about that. It's it's not just the eviding and stuff is like I've become like I have their phone numbers like and we had an issue where our westound tech center was going to lose funding for the second bianium and they work our way to
007finish and that tech center um supports supports a lot of school districts not just ours and so I called them up and I said this is urgent and Senator Deb took it and ran with it. They all did. But you know, you sometimes you got to call and sound the alarm and um you know and you I couldn't have done that had I not got to meet them, get get their personal phone numbers and they'll give it to you and and you know every time I see them I always try to engage with them and I always invite them everywhere always. But you have to make that personal connection and and they're really open to it. >> It's great. Thanks for sharing that both of you. All right. Um we are going to move right
008along into some general assembly content. Um and today um just want to spend some time thinking about um why general assembly is important and maybe hear from some of you on that topic. Um go through some responsibilities and just sort of things about how it works, things to keep in mind. Um we have a full calendar of upcoming opportunities and events. um as well as just uh having some discussion around all the things that we talked through today. Um so diving right in um it is August 12th and we are 39 days um from general assembly starting today. Um just wanted to have that sort of timeline um in front of each of you as we dive into this conversation and also um want to really focus on why general assembly is important. Um this
009really is your opportunity within the organization every single year um to bring forward um policies, legislative and permanent position proposals, bylaw proposals, etc. Um and this is really your space to participate um and ensure that your perspectives are representative uh representative and advanced um into conversations um to be included in Wazda's platform. Um, also following the event, but arguably just as important, is your opportunity to actually set uh and participate in the legislative position prioritization process. Um, after the general assembly each year, as many of you know, um, there is a window of time, it's uh, give or take about 10 days, uh, where you all, each school board has the opportunity to submit what their top legislative position proposals are. um as a result of after general assembly um that's then used to sort
010of guide our advocacy efforts throughout the year. Um there's a formal process that goes through WASDA's legislative committee and then WASDA's board of directors to adopt a legislative platform that'll guide our work through the upcoming legislative session. Um and then also this is really a space for you all to collaborate with your fellow schoolboard members um from neighboring districts and even districts from across the state. um to be able to just share about what things are looking like in your district um share stories and experiences and again really help to shape the WASDA advocacy platform. So just sort of want to center us there. Also on the screen in front of you is uh just some data that shows general assembly attendance and voting participation as of 2024. Um we had 142 school district voting
011delegates represented at the event. Um so putting this in front of you just for you to sort of look at. Um on the right hand side um you can see the number of districts by directory area. Um so you may want to pay attention to your directory area and sort of how many you see there. Um it also has sort of east west um and large small. Um all sort of there on the right hand column. Um, I put this in front of you right after talking about how important this event is because this is really a space where um, I would love to see that 142 reflect 295. Um, I'd love to see every single school district represented to here. Um, and so anyway, I ask all of you to think about your region
012um, on this map where you might see gaps in attendance um, and maybe where you might pick up the phone this year and call your neighboring legislative representative um, or some other folks in your region to encourage um, again maximized participation in the event. Jackie, I see your hands up. Go ahead. >> Yes, thanks Logan. I was just wondering is that 142 delegates? Does that represent 142 districts? >> That is correct. Um, each district gets one delegate, 142 districts. >> Thanks. >> Good question. >> Okay. Um, moving right into um, general assembly responsibilities and thinking about the roles that each of you and or someone from your board may play at general assembly. um first and foremost the window that um has happened this year to propose new or amended positions for the WASTA platform.
013Um many of you submitted proposals through that window and really appreciate that. That is sort of what sets uh the agenda for the general assembly. Um and that window is open every year from April 1 to April 30. Um, so if you missed it this year or you're already thinking about next year, you can definitely save April 1, um, as the next opportunity to submit new or amended positions across WASDA. Um, the next piece is definitely around representing your board at the assembly, showing up, engaging, taking votes. Um, and that's really where we'd love, love, love to see all 295 school districts represented. Um we are having a virtual and free event this year. So really hoping in that regard we can be removing as many barriers to participation as possible. Um so again just
014making sure you show up um you represent you vote. Um and again that event is on Saturday September 20th this year. And then finally what we just talked about um participating in the prioritization process. um year-over-year we actually have less boards participate in the prioritization process than we do at general assembly. So just sort of flagging for you again this year per the last couple of years and per usual um that process will happen electronically this year following the general assembly. Um I don't have the date right in front of me. Um but we'll definitely make sure you get it before this webinar wraps up. We just need a couple of days after the actual assembly event to reflect changes that you all have voted on and adopted um before we actually get that survey
015sent out to you for prioritization. But it does typically open that week following the general assembly event. Um each school board gets the opportunity to submit one prioritization vote of your top 10 legislative positions. Okay. Um, one more thing I'm going to put in front of you. It's a slightly modified version of what we just talked about, but I think equally as important to just sort of look at and see in front of you. Um, it's just presented in a slightly different way. Um, but just want to make sure everyone has a really good understanding of sort of the step-by-step process. Process point one, you all submit proposals should you wish. Process point two, you get to discuss, debate, and vote on them at general assembly where every single school board gets one vote. And
016then step three, you get to go through and actually identify your top legislative positions um that'll be used to guide the legislative committee and the WASDA board to set a legislative agenda for the upcoming session. So, just sort of wanted to put all of this um in front of you in multiple different ways so that it's really clear um and hopefully easy to understand. Um I'm going to pause and just ask if there's any questions about this content so far. I'm sure this is making a lot of sense and resonates with many of you um by looking at who's in the meeting today. I've seen many of you at general assemblies over the years. Um, and so some of this might feel pretty basic, but really just want to make sure um, all of our
017school board members have this knowledge and understanding. And I can see your faces now. So, if I'm looking this way, it's cuz I can see you. All right. Um, a couple of other things I want to put in front of you. Um, just as reminders for you all to carry back to your boards. Um, this may be relevant directly to you if you are going to be the voting delegate for your school district. You may want to just take a picture of this slide or reference the PowerPoint later and share this with the voting delegate or whomever might represent your district at the assembly. Um, but want to sort of remind you that one preparation in advance is only going to help maximize uh your day and your participation at general assembly. um you have
018the opportunity to actually share the handbook um with others on your board um or other colleagues that you work with. Maybe it's even neighboring uh neighboring ledger reps um to be able to walk through the proposals and you know ask yourselves questions and really just sort of understand what your position might be um on any of the proposals in the handbook. You have the opportunity to do that right now um which is why we released that first version of the handbook on July 1st. Um the amendment window has closed. I'm going to get into that in a second, but the amendment window happened. Um the final version of the general assembly handbook to include all of those amendment submissions um will be coming out to you uh on Monday um August 18th. So that's probably
019the version that I'd recommend shopping around with your board um once that's the most current. But really preparing and having a good understanding of how you're going to vote on behalf of your district feels really important. Um, additionally, there are a lot of proposals that happen at general assembly, lots of conversation, um, and just active participation, um, only makes the debate and dialogue better. Um, so when you have a perspective that you want to share on an issue, I strongly encourage you to weigh in on that discussion, um, and again, really just be active in making sure that your district's perspective is really heard by the membership, um, prior to voting. So, just encourage you to be really active there. And then also go back to your the rest of your board following the general
020assembly and just sort of share how it went, what maybe what some of the discussions were around items of key importance to you. Really just making sure that the results from general assembly get communicated back to your board. Um, and in some cases maybe even your community who might be interested in that as well. And then lastly, just in general in your roles as led reps, but also I felt like this related to general what's related to general assembly, um is just a reminder that our roles are inherently nonpartisan. Um we have, you know, the opportunity to show up and engage in really great conversation at general assembly that can really focus on the needs of your students and the needs of your district. Um, and so just sort of wanted to put this in
021front of us. Um, as these conversations really can be helpful in terms of networking with members, uh, schoolboard members from around your area and around the state, raising more perspectives and more conversations. Um, and again, really just keeping discussions focused on education. Um, and so, you know, lots of opportunities for this at general assembly. Uh, and just wanted to put this up in front of you as a nice reminder as you're getting ready. All right, we got one more slide and then we're going to stop and um have some group discussion. Um but want to flag for you a couple of key dates and learning opportunities that are coming up, things that you should be paying attention to. Um the first is that this week we opened up an RSVP process for general assembly. Um
022want to be really clear that this is not a registration process. Um, regardless of whether or not you fill out this form, your board president will get credentials to general assembly. However, um, it is really helpful for us to best sort of prepare and plan for general assembly if you RSVP. Um, and let us know that your board plans to participate. Um, so we highly highly encourage you to use that RSVP button. Um, I'll make sure to drop that link in the chat here in a second so you have it and just let us know, hey, yep, the Breton School Board is planning to participate. Sorry Karen, you're the first person on my screen so I just had to pick on you. Um, so RSVP be really helpful. We just opened that up yesterday. Um,
023a couple of key dates coming up. Um, I did mention that we will have the final general assembly handbook released next Monday, August 18th. that will include everything that came into us through the amendment window. Um, also save the date, September 4th, um, at noon. Um, if you're interested in coming to join us, we're having a pre-learning webinar um, experience, I'll be moderating a couple of guest presenters. Um typically last year if you participated um Marissa Rathbone my predecessor had a very extensive pre-learning um week I think it was um with lots of discussion um this year just given that um a lot of the proposals that were in the handbook were more around consolidating existing language that you have all already adopted um I chose to offer one opportunity this year focused on a
024couple of key topics that a new position ition proposals are focused on. Um so if you're interested in coming to uh learn just very neutally about a couple of the topics and just sort of what's out there um would encourage you to join us on September 4th. Um all these links by the way I'll drop in the chat and send to you in an email. And then also during the week of September 8th, so that following week will be caucus week. Um each of four caucuses will have a meeting that week. um one per day, September 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. Um so if you are participating or want to participate in the school director of color caucus, the small schools forum, the equity and access caucus, or the large schools caucus, um the week
025of September 8th will be your opportunity to do so. Um these meetings will be run not by staff. I will be there, but more just to run the Zoom and share some logistical information about General Assembly. And these will be your opportunities to talk with your fellow directors um and caucus participants about the proposals that are going to be up for vote at general assembly during the following week. Um and then of course I have to just remind you again September 20th is the actual date of general assembly. Um we will start at 8:00 that morning. So, want to make sure that gets on your calendars now and that you and your board um consider sort of what your attendance might look that look like that day. And as a reminder, you don't have to
026be the voting delegate for the entire day. Um you have the opportunity to quote unquote pass those credentials um back and forth between yourself and other board members. So, it could be that each of you wants to participate at some point during general assembly. That would be the goal. I know some of you might not be in that kind of a scenario. Um, so anyway, just consider you to take this conversation back to your board and figure out where you want to plug into some of these events and opportunities. Um, and then of course schedule yourselves out for the September 20th day. Any questions on any of these dates or opportunities that you all have right now? Okay, we are going to move right ahead. Um, you all are much less uh talkative than I
027expected you might be today. Um, I am going to move to put you all in breakout rooms um to discuss a couple of questions. Um, and I'll drop these in the chat so that when you go away from this room, you won't lose the questions. Um, but hoping you all can sort of think about what stands out to you as the most important from today's conversation that you might take back to your board. Um, what advice, if you've attended before, might you share with your colleagues about past participation at General Assembly? What does that day look and feel like? Why should your colleagues attend? Um, especially if you have people in your group who may not have attended General Assembly before. um a question about what other resources could help you feel more prepared or
028most prepared for general assembly. Um, and then I'm really curious, um, you know, sort of going back to one of the first slides I showed with 142 voting delegates, just thinking about, um, in your conversations, in your years of experience navigating this event, um, what might be stopping all districts from attending general assembly? Um, are there barriers? Um, and how might this group, the Ledger Network, advocate for your colleagues from around your region and around your state to participate? So, all of those things um are your discussion topics for the next 15 or so minutes. Um I'm going to stop sharing the screen, open up some breakout rooms, and um I will drop these questions in the chat so you don't lose them. Oh, and that pasted really funny. Okay. We're not going to just
029send you an image. Okay. The questions are now in the chat and breakout rooms are opening now. You should get a popup on your screen to accept the breakout room request. Um, if you're not seeing that, let me know and there's probably a button I can push to fix it. Karen, you got a question? >> No, I was just saying jazz hands for Liza. >> Yay, jazz hands. I don't know what we're jazz handsing, but we're doing it. >> Liza Minnelli. Liza. Okay. Am I the only nerd that knows that? [laughter] Okay. Hey, Logan. This is Karen Chase. Oh, wait. Now I see the breakout room. Never mind. >> No, sorry. That was my bad, too. I >> Okay. Yeah. >> And never opened it. So, uh, yeah, welcome back. Um, good to >> see
030you. >> All right, I am just about to throw Well, I'll leave the screen off so we can just chat. Um curious to hear um maybe if one person at least from each group um wants to share a little bit about um what your discussion was. Let's go to room one first um which had Dan Hansen in it. Not saying it has to be you Dan, you're just the first name I see on that list. Dan's room. We talked uh quite a bit about u factors that might be keeping some of our neighboring school districts um from participating um like the east west divide or the um rural um um urban divide and misperceptions on um how much impact districts can have. Um and then um we also talked about the need for um delegates
031to come um delegates to be selected by their boards with a with a sense of trust that um there will be amendments. Um um and those delegates need to be prepared to vote regardless of whether their board has spoken, you know, discuss that that very specific thing that they're voting on that amendment or whatever. Um and not say I can't vote on this because my board hasn't discussed it. You were you were appointed delegate because they trust um your judgment. And if they don't trust your judgment, then they shouldn't have selected you for delegate. >> Thanks, Dan. Really appreciate that um perspective and feedback. Anyone else from Dan's room want to add anything to that? I just wanted to throw out there um Kush Kushep I hope I said that correctly uh from Lynden came
032on late and had some some good questions I think about uh GA in in general. Um if you you wanted to jump in there. >> Sure. Thank you Jackie. Appreciate it. Um one of the points that we as a board you know have discussed and you know contended upon was what's the purpose of school board's participation in WASDA you know what kind of impact does our voting whether it's on proposals whether it's on bylaws you know whether it's WASDA as a whole what kind of impact do we have you know are are we actually making a difference you know and I think that's um you know every every year when you attend annual conference right you're in person and you meet a lot of different board directors um that definitely has been a a point
033um of discussion and I I think you know if if it were not merely just it's like okay yeah WASDA is an organization who does testify at the legislature you know when it's time but do we are we really part of the round table you know as a director association if we are to take votes then do they have a real impact if if that makes sense so that I think that you know if if that changes in in some point um then we might see more participation because then every vote counts you know every district's vote every voice is being heard um and there's a decision made based on on on voting So that that I think would definitely impact participation. >> I think that's all um really good perspective. Thank you for sharing.
034And I think um you know that's why um I I a lot of that is why I asked this question of you all today to think about how this group can really help be a catalyst for getting that real full true participation at general assembly and getting that number of delegates all the way up to 295 because that is the ideal dream that I have every year leading up to general assembly of how do we get every single district um involved actively participating um and showing up to vote on our position. So, thank you for sharing that. Um Marica, I think I saw your hand went up and then it went down. Did you have anything you want to add on that? >> I did. I think um I and I I can't help but
035pipe in as vice chair of the ledge committee. Um but I think it's so important for all of our districts uh to weigh in and general assembly is the time to do so. uh because when we decide what those positions are, that gives our strategic advocacy committee uh or director uh Logan uh the ability to actually testify uh pro or con or other um because he cannot, you know, as as good as a bill might sound, he cannot testify in favor of it on behalf of WASDA unless there's something definitive within our positions. uh that says that our body uh is in favor of you know something um you know that would uh you know in a certain effect or something. So he can't testify in favor of uh say you know reduce school or
036free school lunches for kids unless you know we unless Wazda as a body has said uh that this is something that we believe in. Um, so I think that's really great and also I don't mean to jump the queue or anything. Um, but I heard a really good suggestion from a member of my team uh of my group who said that uh who suggested that maybe at annual conference if we had a session on um you know just a short uh session on general assembly uh and how to do it for new ledge reps uh or even others who might be interested in why do we do this? uh to kind of set expectations um and and help them, you know, in the months leading up to it so that they understand what's going on,
037not only during the ledge session, but also uh you know, to inspire them maybe to write positions, you know, to submit through their boards. Uh so that we can really have uh better discussion and representation for uh the views that unite um our organization, our state organization. Thanks. >> Thanks so much for that, Marica. Um really appreciate all all of that perspective and the ideas that you shared. Um since we're on your talk your since we're on you, um is there anything else from um from Marica or from Marica's room um that anyone else would want to share from their conversation? Okay, I'm not hearing others, but uh we also had folks ask, you know, does um does a particular vote of, you know, from a school district make a uh make a difference at
038general assembly? Uh and then we also talked about uh just the different barriers that can exist. I mean, if people attended general assembly two years ago, it was just um kind of a horrific way to begin because I think it took almost 5 hours uh to get through the first vote. uh and so some people might swear off general assembly after that or you know if if they didn't um nobody wants to go in looking like a fool and so I think it would be great uh just you know again to have a really low stakes uh session or something that people can you know come to and not have to look like the smart person in the room or something but you know just to answer all of those questions that have been kind
039of niggling in the back of their minds but they didn't want to ask um you know to talk about general assembly, what it does, why it's not a waste of time, and how to again set expectations and help your board prepare for a successful general assembly. And I see Karen has something she was in my group. We we also talked about um uh you know a lot of times you know a lot of the discussions we have because you have to do your homework before general assembly or else you know you're going to be it's like what wait what and that was me the first time I went so that was a rookie mistake but the other thing a lot of times if there's a controversial topic a lot of times it's not that controversial
040engaging and having a conversation with someone about it really helps to bridge to divide and so um and you know to demystify because a lot of times it's like sending someone a text message you know you can't express a tent or your feelings through a text message so sometimes a zoom call or phone call or email hey do you have time to meet for coffee I'm very curious about this position so it's nice to be able to do the homework before you get there and and to seek clarification >> really appreciate that thanks both of you. All right, I'm going to move to the next room which included Christina from Mercer Island and others. Um, again, not doesn't have to be you, Christina, but someone from that group if you all want to share a
041little bit about what you talked about. >> Uh, so Larry and I uh we were the one uh the ones talking in the room and we actually did not talk much about this general assembly. We were talking about uh when talking with our legislators uh how how unpromising this new short session looks like and that they have been saying that any bill takes two years to develop. So more on how can we prepare for the long session and next general assembly. So how can we organize ourselves for next year not this year. So it was more on on that point and also a little bit on the impact aid and and how is it going to look this year a little bit Larry. Uh you you can share some of that. So so that was
042our conversation. >> Yeah. For impact a you know it's looking bleak again. We're not going to get any increase in impact data again. So uh uh and that's going to I don't know what what's going to happen. You know we were in limbo there for a while there. Now we know, we know, you know, nobody knew or could give us an answer. So yeah, it's going to be level funded again for the next into 26 for sure. And then uh but we did discuss uh u um general assembly and uh a little bit there. And I know for me a lot of the most of my board is brand new and most of my folks feel intimidated because they don't know how that works. And I've told and I've told them, well, let's get together
043and we'll and then I'll sit you, you know, we'll talk about it and then and then when we set up a meeting, it looks like I'll have maybe one or two of them show up, but that's about it. I I would like to have them all there, but I um I don't know. I think a lot of people are intimidated because they think it's so complicated. And it's not that complicated. I mean, you know, uh if you read through all the all the bills and everything that are coming through and just read and and and look at it that way and not put too much into those, I think you're better. You're all right. But when you start thinking about this and thinking about that and how it's going to work, I I just I
044just think people overemphasize how how um uh how am I going to say it's not that complicated uh to me. I mean uh you know over over the years I've I've I've been able to understand it better and better. But you know when I first started out in this thing I I had no idea about it. I I knew nothing about it. I knew I knew nothing about Wazda. I've learned over the years and that's and that's because I had no one to teach me when I first got on the board. No, white swan had never gone to these conferences from what I understand and I I believe I was probably one of the first to start going to these conferences. So it it it's it's not that complicated and it's not that intimidating. You
045just got to learn learn it and and and and have someone to teach you what's going on. And that's what I've been trying to do with my board. Teach them what the ropes uh and and and tell them don't be afraid. It's not that bad. You'll get through it. You'll live. There's another day. >> That's really great advocacy, Larry. Um and and really really appreciate um all of all of those perspectives um including, you know, thinking about 2027 general assembly. It's too early. So I love that. Um and you know I think also when we think about you know educating our colleagues and sharing information and perspective that is one of hopefully many um things that you all can get out of learning from others in this exact space and others like it at WASDA.
046Um so really really appreciate that. That's all really great. Thank you. Um moving to our last room. We just have a couple minutes left. Um, it had Dave and Alyssa and Karen. Um, anything um, any of you might want to add to the conversation? >> I just want to say, Logan, it was really nice to, you know, have informal discussions with school board members across the state and that's what I really find valuable about WADA. >> Yeah. One of the things we we talked about as far as general assembly, if you go way back when we used to have the general assemblies in person, the ability to, you know, network uh in person in with ways with with people that you wouldn't normally connect with. Uh I mean Karen was talking about the how do
047you connect in this kind of virtual world. Um I understand we you know went to general assembly virtual now pime a lot to at least to some degree because of the money monetary considerations but what we lost was kind of I think the the ability to connect onetoone and and develop uh collaborations and you know with with people that you wouldn't necessarily meet otherwise. So perhaps figuring out some ways to to some avenues to to get that back. I mean that's what we in our group we spent a lot of time just uh talking about the issues in general which was uh great because we were you know Edmonds and Onion Creek and Tuga different places around the state and it gives you a different um uh I think some more of that kind of
048stuff would be helpful as part of the general assembly process since we kind of lost that with going away from in person. >> Great thanks to both of you. That's that's also all really really good perspective. I'm so glad that um that we spent some time today really thinking through this um and you gave me really good notes. I was looking all over my screens uh cuz I'm over here capturing all the really great suggestions that you put forward um for us to consider as we continue to try to make this um an attractive and really great event um for schoolboard members to participate in. So, thank you. Thank you very much um for that conversation. I appreciate it. Um, and hope you all got to learn some fun things, too. Um, all right. We
049are Oh, Larry, I see your hands up. >> Yeah, I I just wanted to I don't know if you folks know, but uh for those of you who knew John Fork and Brock, [clears throat] uh Mr. We call him Mr. Impact Aid. He's the one that got all four subgroups together and as one whole organization, passed away on August 6 of this year, this past August of a heart attack. He was 77 years old. Uh he was the main man who kept the impact together for for everybody for both military uh Indian land schools, federal lands and uh and um one other group. I can't remember now, but yeah, he he passed away and uh he was my go-to man. Every time I had questions on Impact, I'd call him and he would he would
050find answers for me if I had questions and stuff. but he was a true fan to impact aid and uh will be dearly missed. So I just thought I let you folks know about that who for those of you who receive impact aid. >> Thanks Larry. Really appreciate you sharing and it sounds like the education community lost a really great guy. >> Yes. Yes. >> So just want to send condolences um myself and on behalf of WASDA. >> Yeah. >> And really appreciate you sharing that. Thanks. >> You bet. >> Um okay. Uh we are going to move Ledrep Network to a close for the day. Um and since there are so many opportunities for us to be together and in person next month um with the pre-learning webinar with caucus week with general assembly
051um unless you all send me a bunch of emails after this and say why would you do that? Um, I'm thinking about cancelling this meeting for next month just to give you all a little bit of WADA reprieve. Um, and really make sure that you all are um, dedicating the limited and of course unpaid time you have to this to really focus on general assembly. Um, but if you all really feel like a space for this type of conversation would be really helpful next year or next month and next year uh, and you'd be really bummed about it being cancelled, just let me know and we'll see what we can do. So, as of right now, our plan is to get back together with this group on October 14th from 12 to 1. Liza, your
052hands up. >> Thanks. Yeah, I was just going to say I think something that we talked about in the breakouts. >> Yeah. Um and and just now again was that the main value I could see in having this meeting again next month is if there are if if in the next few weeks we all reach out to folks who haven't participated and um that would be another opportunity for them to get some pre-information before general assembly. >> That's an interesting perspective. I also know we will do something similar to this um starting at 8:00 on general assembly day. I know that's the day of and you know some folks, myself included, are processors and maybe it would make sense to hold this space one more time in September, but I would also offer that we'll
053do something similar um at the first hour of September 20th. That might be a space to refer them to if not here. Um, but definitely would encourage you all to um reach out to your colleagues and get as many people RSVPd as possible this year. >> Thanks, Logan. >> All right, thanks everyone. Hope you have a good rest of your day and we'll see you all soon.