001Greetings school directors and friends of public education. Thanks so much for joining us for WASDA's in session live. We host this webinar every Thursday from 12 to 1. We are so grateful for those of you who are able to attend attend today or who have attended previously or in the future. Please note that this entire webinar will be recorded for those members who aren't able to be with us live today but uh wish to benefit from the learning. So, thanks for being here. We want to acknowledge that our public schools and facilities operate on the traditional lands of indigenous peoples. As we engage in the 2025 legislative session, we remember that the lands of our state capital were cared for by the people of the Squatsen and Nquali tribes. We make these acknowledgements to open
002a space of recognition, inclusion, and respect for our sovereign tribal partners and all indigenous students, families, staff, legislators, and board members in our communities. in the no. Uh yesterday, our uh two best funding bills at this point in the legislative session are versions of Senate uh for both material supplies and operating costs and special education. They were heard in the House Appropriations Committee yesterday and three of your four um board members um board officers were there to represent the organization as a whole. Sandy Hayes, Nikki Oera Lockwood, and Melissa Beard. Um, and you can actually watch their testimony, and I would call it expert testimony by clicking on both of those links. I've was able to go back into the TVW recording and capture uh the the the brief but mighty presentation that they provided
003as a trio. They were the leadoff hitters, if you will. It is baseball season and therefore uh baseball references are in play. They were the leadoff hitters for both Bills yesterday and um really set us up for a successful game. So, please watch that and learn from um their modeling and uh hopefully gain some inspiration and hope as a result of their uh insight as well. So, with that, we have a very full agenda today and some VIPs who are here to share some insights, learning, and expertise with us. Um, we're going to kick things off with your colleagues from Central Kids App School Board and Breton School Board, Breezy Mitchell and Dr. Karen Bolton. Uh, they are here to share with you about their experience planning for and implementing their own director area day
004on the hill. And I am not aware of any other uh school director leaders from across the state who have done a director area day on the hill. I know many of you have done your own district days on the hill. All of those are good. I wanted you all to see how these two masterfully organized for um a a day on the hill. Highly organized materials which are replicable and I will put in the chat. So I'm going to turn my screen off and hand it uh to Breezy and Karen to tell us all the things they know about this. Well, thank you for having us. I'm Karen Bolton from Bmpton School Board. I'm Breezy Mitchell from Central Kids App School Board. And uh I'll go ahead up. I'm trying. So, can you guys
005see us? Okay. So, um we have a PowerPoint. Uh we'll go ahead and share that with you guys um in the Dropbox in a second. Um well, maybe we could share it now. Oh, yeah. We can I just made you co-host. Sorry, I didn't. Thank you. So it's not working. You want to talk a little bit about I get this set up. So um Dr. Bolton and I we are working in DA4 and we've kind of split the responsibilities. So Dr. Bolton has a good relationships um or good relationships with a lot of our legislators already and so she coordinated day on the hill and then I take on the role and I do the weekly updates um that I send out to board presidents and um board legislative reps and so that's how we've
006kind of been dividing our responsibilities as DA4 reps and so I'm are you ready to share that or it's not going to share but that's okay. Okay. So, but I I could tell you the most important part of any of the day on a hill was our collaboration was us meeting and talking about how we want to divide and conquer the work. Um the biggest thing is is the work actually started um in this work was a year before um and meeting and getting to know our our local legislators. Um that was really the most important thing. And so the other thing that we did was is we made sure we had a document, an Excel spreadsheet that had all of our DA4 ledge members uh and elected officials and what positions um they um
007what they hold as you can see here with Mr. Addison Richards um what what what he he sits at a housing agricultural um where he went to school. So it was important to have these little um notes and things that we share with everybody. Um, we actually made sure we verified a lot of the um, uh, legislative representatives who are going to be um, representing their boards. But the other thing we did was is we had one of the assistants for school district send out a doodle poll with what date works for them on day in the hill. Can you talk about that? Yeah. So, um, my superintendent's executive assistant offered to send out a doodle poll to the superintendent and to the legislative reps and board presidents to see if we can find a
008couple dates that worked well for everyone because there is so many districts in our in our DA4. And so, we were able to narrow it down to a couple dates and then um see what would work for people and then eventually we narrowed it down to our one date. So once we got that one day, I set aside a day and a half to just get down and call and email each um um representative for um which was acting I think four of just four areas. Um and there I actually emailed their assistants um because we all know that legislators are so busy the people who are running their um their offices are the people who are going to make or break this. So, I created an Excel spreadsheet with their names and and all
009the information and then I just sent out an email and whoever responded first with the time I plugged it into the Excel spreadsheet and it actually ended up working out. And if there was one thing I learned about that process is be flexible because um um 4 days before we were supposed to go um one of the representatives was not going to be able to make that time. So, we had to make some adjustments. We did not have any overlapping time. The only thing we didn't have is a lot of time to eat lunch. Um but that just goes with the day on the hill. So you have to be ready to go. The other thing is we um worked with our superintendent to um get student represent representatives to go with us. That was
010the key piece right there because we knew right then and there we didn't want to be the ones speaking. Yeah. And they did a great job and that took a lot of planning. So once we had a date, the the superintendent executive assistants really got on all the field trip um paperwork and so that I believe your superintendent was the chaperone. I was a chaperone for my students, but um getting all that paperwork approved um takes a few months. Um so that's a good thing to keep in mind when you're bringing students. The the other thing is is um you bring your superintendent. So really kind of we sat in the background. I you know as as we went into each appointment um we sat down I greeted the the legislators that came in. I
011made sure the students sat right in front of the legislators and then the rest of us in the back and then I had the superintendent um to do cuz they know more of the data and things like that. But before we did any of that, we did a group photo right there in the hall and then kind of do a quick debrief on how the day is going to go. We want the students to speak. Um we asked the superintendent, is there something you want to say? Um because I just want to make sure their voice is heard as well. And we have one um West Sound Tech which affects all of the districts in the whole area in the peninsula um is um in need of urgent funding. And so we allowed the students
012to speak. Then the legisl then the superintendents anchored it with that. And then um and then I gave made sure our students gave handouts to the um legislators and some swag, little stickers and stuff like that. They like that. And then an important part was for the students, we briefed them on the Bills and the big three and then just some other bills that WASDA is watching um with some explanations and then it was they came up with their own stories that kind of dovetailed really nicely into um both of those bills. Yes. We made sure to thank um the Senate for pushing those bills through their side and just reminded the representatives that um we appreciate their support. And I will tell you um if you don't think the marketing and Mr. So, I
013don't think you know this, but one of the legislators said the big three, the big three, like I don't know what you guys are doing hammering that home, but they were they're very inundated and they're very aware of the big three uh and our ass. So, that that's what was really cool. Um, but the stories, we want to make sure not just to come with we need money, you're not doing this. We want the students, they came up these stories. Um that was really really cool and it got them very energized and you know the more and more it went on um that was really kind of cool. It was very organic. Yeah. They did a great job. Yeah. And I really think the legislators appreciated hearing from them versus us. Right. But the the
014you know as I said the this um the connection you need to make with your legislator starts now. So, as soon as they're out of session, invite them to um any school function that you have. Um I even reached out to um one of the legislators who was from a different party than me and had them come swear me in when I got reelected. And so, you got to build those relationships ahead of time. And I learned at one time sitting in a ledge uh committee meeting um and they someone made that comment. And so, from that, I sat at that meeting texting legislators and say, "Hey, let's go have coffee." And I give them my private cell phone number, not my district cell phone. Uh, and they've called me about things when I meet
015up. And but um, and you always make sure um, the day after I sat here and I sent emails out to them thanking them and then I invited them to to our West Sound Tech um, and just to keep that open lines of communication open. And I made sure to take the pictures, post them on social media, and then tag them because they they just, you know, you know, they're out there doing a lot of work, and it's a thank you for them. And I really appreciate them spending time. And I know, shout out to Senator Drew Hansen, who always seems to derail my meetings, uh, goes off script, but he was so intrigued with the students. He actually gave us 30 minutes instead of the traditional 10 or 15. Really nice. It was really
016nice, and I thanked him for that. So, I'm gonna I'm gonna deliver him some donuts here whenever he's done because he likes to eat food. So, yeah. And then our students are doing paper um thank you cards that are going to be sent off to their offices as well. Oh, anybody have any questions for us? I think there is a question in the Q&A. Let me check it out. Um oh, uh there was a there was a request to be sure that that resource was in the chat. Uh cuz someone joined a little bit late. So, I'm going to make sure it's in there. What I really appreciate um so much about all the work that you did, soup to nuts, right from start to finish, just the coordinating takes so much work, all that
017behind the-scenes stuff. But then you also created a document to help support all of all of you who were going there in person and that serves as a model to other school boards across the state on how you can put together something that's not complicated. There was a lot of cut cutting and pasting going on. It's really it's really time and capacity, I recognize, which you have a limited amount of. Um, so thank you for creating space to do that work. Um, and even though your um, meetings with legislators right now um, may or may not change what the final budget outcome is this session, the fact that you came to them during the legislative session, you brought students, you shared your stories, that's relationship building that will benefit all of you in the interim.
018and then again next session and on and on. So there's no right or wrong time to build relationships. It has to start sometime and then you have to just keep it up. So um I I just really am so grateful for all the work that you put into that and for creating some models for others. I was also really impressed, Dr. Bolton, that you sent a thank you. I think it was the same day if not immediately the day after. The next day. So all of those things take so much work. each each little step. So, or big step as the case may be. I could tell you have to wear comfortable shoes. Yeah. Because as I saw Senator Wellman, I ran down the hallway and jumped in the elevator as the doors were closing
019to have a conversation with her and my superintendent was behind me, but she wasn't quick enough. Yeah, she didn't make it. Bye. Yeah. Bye. Yeah. So, we Yeah. Thank you so much. But thank you because it was during one of the sessions that you led that that pushed me to develop a deeper relationship with all our local legislators. So that was all you. Thank you. Um yeah, I mean to be on a text basis with them, to be able to message them. Um yeah, that's that that's the ultimate, right? That you've got one another's cell phones and if you text them, they'll respond. That's the key, right? That they respond. Yeah. Um and I also just love your messaging. We didn't cue this up intentionally, but I know you had brought students and the fact
020that uh you you just remarked that really without the students um you might have only gotten 10 or 15 minutes, but you got a full 30 because legislators want to hear from the people who are um really our customers, right? Um within the system and we we made sure to have the message that it was that we had cool scene. So, we had one district that was way out and I think they only have maybe two or 300 students, but they bought four students. And so, um, and we made sure to kept the students together as much as possible and a couple of superintendents, but it was a lot of fun. Um, but we messaged it out to the whole DA and and so we had the 26th, the 35th, and the 23rd legislator. Yeah,
021that's great. That is really amazing. Excellent. Good. Well, anything else you would want us to know before we actually move into the presentation from students per your uh your insights? I'm good. We're good. We're good. Thank you. Thank you. Right. Thank you both so much. Appreciate you. Okay. I also did upload into the chat a word version of um the documents that we share. There's also a PDF if you want that. The PDF isn't uploading into the chat for everyone, but the word version is there. So, let us know if you have any trouble downloading those and I can send them to you via email. So, with that, I don't want to waste any more time. I want to get our VIPs here on the screen. Um, we have Carter Mcnite, Aditi Marhali, and Abby
022Kosh. All uh student board reps um in their own districts and also members of the student rep network and also in leadership roles with the student rep network. Abby, I saw that you were having some trouble with the background. I'll see if I can um help figure that out while I turn to Carter and AdT. I made both of you hosts, so you can drive the PowerPoint unless you'd like me to. What is your preference? I think I'll try sharing my screen here. Okay, that works. Absolutely. I'd be happy to have you drive it. Oh, good. Abby, you got it figured out. Great. Okay, I can see it. Looks great. Okay. Is it working? Yep, sure is. Okay, starting off, here's our presentation, amplifying authentic student voice. So, this is kind of like if you
023don't have a student rep, here are some tips towards getting student reps and how to do it effectively because we all know that you guys want to have student reps in the most effective way. And then if you have student reps, here are some ways that you can really expand the role and even just minor things for making getting more authentic student voice. So, I'll start off with the introductions. Um, I'm Carter Mcnite. I'm the chair of the WADA student representative network and this is my second year as a student representative on the south school district school board. I'm Aditi Moni. I'm the vice chair of the WASDA student rep network and this is also my second year as a student representative and I'm with the Isiqua School District. Hi, my name is Abigail Coed.
024Um, I'm a member of the Vasa Student Representative Network and this is my first year as student representative um for the Richmond School District. This is what our agenda looks like for the meeting. If you have any questions on that, not really, but anyways, moving on. Okay. What are student representatives? This is actually a really good question because um recently at the educational service district student representative retreat for for the service district 189 this was our question to tackle and they came up with this definition. A student representative is an individual who chooses to learn from, advocate for, and make decisions that benefit all students from diverse backgrounds to demonstrate respect and responsibility through their actions and involvement in the community, which are guided by a passion for equitable education and a desire to build
025lasting connections and pathways to success for all students. This is kind of a definition that goes more into depth of what a student representative is to like a student. Um this next definition that I kind of made that we kind of made here is more aimed at like as a board what would a student rep look to you like to you guys I think so basically student repers they attend every board meeting that's pretty set but I think one thing that's really important is that they sit at the table with you guys I know some school boards tend to have their student reps off to the side or at another table or something like that and while it's good to have student reps at least there's really important I think to have them at the
026same table as you guys as equals So they have the same opportunity to share their voices and stuff. And speaking of voices, usually they'll have the same speaking rights as a board member, which means they get to weigh in on different issues. This is important because they're often issues which you might not think a student representative has has valuable input on that, but they have a lot of things that students can share that might not be as obvious to a board member. And then with that um they present is student issues to the board and try and just bring a student perspective to all the things that happen there and they familiar themsel familiarize themselves with the district policies and create reports on student perspectives in relation to those policies so that you can get
027a fuller depth of what the district looks like and how your policies play into that as a schoolboard member. That's just the basics. Yeah. Yeah. So, this next segment, we're just going to move into what being a student rep actually looks like, and Carter and I recorded a little video with Marissa, actually. Um, and so we just want to share that video with you all. Uh, I think we did, um, a good job of just kind of explaining the role of a student rep and what authentic engagement looks like. So, if you want to go ahead and play that video, Carter. Hi, Carter and a DT. uh so grateful for your time uh giving us some insights about who you are, who the student rep network is and um opportunities for advocacy going forward. So
028Carter, since you're the chair, would you get us started? Tell us a little bit about who you are um and what made you interested in being the chair of the student rep network. So yeah, um I'm Carter Mcnite. I was elected to the S Soom chair this year. Um, I've been on my school board, this is my second year, and this is my first year as the SRN chair. I think what really got me into this was when I first joined the SRN, my first year on the school board, I gained a lot of information on how to make real advocacy in my district, how to do advocacy legislatively and in a lot of areas. I learned a lot, got a lot of resources from the student representative network along with getting to speak with
029other student reps was so helpful to me. And I wanted to carry on that kind of idea of sharing different stories with people and experience and how to really make change together and that was really helpful to me. So I wanted to carry that on. Awesome. Carter, we really appreciate your time and your leadership in that role. And Aditi, you're the vice chair. Um tell us a little bit about uh where you reside and what made you interested in that role. Sure. First of all, thank you for having me on. Um I'm Adid Mari. I'm from the Isiqua School District and I've been a student representative, this is my second year. Um, and so what really got me interested in the SRN and being vice chair is attending the WASDA legislative conference. Um, so I
030attended that conference last year. Unfortunately, this year I was unable to go, but I did go to the WASA, WASDA, and WBO conference. And so just being able to see a community of student representatives um seeing you know just the possible impact that we can have if we come to together collectively um that really made me uh interested in being the vice chair and so I'm really excited to be in this position. Thank you both so much. We're excited to have you in those roles. Uh Carter, uh would you tell us a little bit about what the student rep network uh does? Um you've been involved with it now for it looks it sounds like your second year. Um so what did you do last year and what are the plans for this year? The
031last year um mainly it just provides a space for students to come and share their own experiences with being a student rep and get to connect with other student reps because I mean there's only really one or two per school district. So it's really important to connect with people from other districts. Um last year our main goal was making an advisory on how to implement student reps in our school district. And this year our goal is going to be to get as many school districts as possible to have student representation. So it's gonna include different strategies like outreach to students in those districts. Um outreach to school boards and districts without student reps and just trying to make sure everyone has representation. That's great. We're excited to see that work. Ad anything else that you
032would add about um what you've seen the student network do or what you're hoping for as a group for this year? Yeah. So, just building on top of what Carter said, we have a really clear timeline of of how we're going to um carry this project out. We know that we're going to reach out to schools ASB program so that we can get students who are really passionate about leadership involved in their um school districts um and potentially in legislative advocacy. Um we know that we're going to reach out to school boards that don't have student representation. And so, we kind of have a timeline of um the steps that we're going to take in order to accomplish this goal. That's great. And will we see the fruits of your labor by the end of
033this year? Is that the goal? I hope so. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Awesome. We're excited um to support you in that and and to see the results because it'll be helpful to so many districts. Um, so a curious question as as it relates to the student rep network or as in your experience as a student board rep uh within your own school districts, what do you think good advocacy looks like when authentic student voice is engaged? And DT, why don't you take this first? Yeah, sure. So, I think good advocacy, you know, occurs on so many different levels. It occurs in the classroom. It occurs uh in each individual school and then it occurs on the district level. Um, but I guess for our purposes, um, what good advocacy looks like is when, uh, school
034district administrators, school board members, um, kind of advocate keeping students in mind. Um, and so that can include having student representatives like us advocate with them. Um, but that also doesn't I mean, it's not just limited to that. It also means reaching out to students in your own district and asking them what issues do they face on a daily basis and how does advocacy truly impact them their stories. Not just getting more funding because you know it'll make our schools better, but actually understanding that students are behind this um and the reason that we're advocating is so that we can better each student's education. Awesome. Thank you so much for that. Carter, what would you add? Yeah, I strongly agree with um Aditi's perspective on that. I think it's really important to keep students at
035the center of it. They're the reason that we do a lot of this work and that's why we're trying to legislate is to try and make students experience at schools better. And that's all you got to make sure that your stories and your experiences that you're sharing with your legislators and advocacy are always centered on the students and not also someone's perceived idea of what a student experiences in school, but what the students are telling you their experiences are in school. Accepting that and then carrying those stories and experiences and giving them to the legislators as saying MSOs aren't just important because of insurance and other costs, but they're important because they impact students in this exact way. and we've talked to students and we know how this is now impacting that and you're connecting
036those dots between the more obscure like formula stuff and the actual student experience and that's what really drives the change. That's cool. So well said and maybe even better yet bringing a student along to have those conversations with legislators might even the best delivery of that kind of information but maybe a both and. Thank you so definitely. Yeah, thank you so much for that insight. Um, I think what I would offer to our members who are listening is that if you have a student board rep now, please be sure that they're plugged into the student rep network. And if you have questions about how to do that, you can email Wazda staff at strategic advocacy wazda.org. And if you don't have a student board rep yet, you should just ask Carter and Adt and their
037fellows on the student rep network. We will also be sending out with this video resources for how you can start a program. And it sounds like there's going to be awesome. Uh let's go to the next slide, please. Oh, sorry. I was muted. I think I'm just going to pause that because that would give the same resources that she's giving there even a DT. There we go. So, one of the most crucial aspects to being a student representative and something that I do and that my fellow student representatives do as well is something called the student report. So, what these are are detailed reports that we send to the school board on student life on perspectives that we have in relation to district policies. And so really the reason behind this is so that we
038can amplify our student voice. Um and so that we can bridge the gap between policy makers, so that's you, and us. Um a lot of students at school don't know what's happening at the district. And you could say the same the other way. The district administrators might have an idea of what's happening at at schools, but they don't truly know until a student actually tells them. And this is why the student report is so important. Um, it's because it's a firsthand perspective to the board on what a student goes through on a daily basis and how their policies could be adjusted to better support student needs. So, if you scan the QR code on the screen, it will take you to an example of a student report. Um the way that we do it in
039the Isiqua School District is each student representative reports on three to four policies a year. Um and so that's anything from the technology policy from equity to um discipline to facilities really just covers the broad range of policies in the district. The one that uh is linked here is on one of our district's results. It's basically the overarching goal for our district. Um, and this one in particular is on academics. So, if you want to go ahead and scan the QR code, it'll take you to that. And that's just a good example of what this is. The way that we do these is um we typically either survey our student body or we host focus groups um of our student body and just kind of listen to their perspectives on that particular topic which we're
040reporting on. We compile it into a report. um we present the raw data to the district as well as the condensed uh data and then we really take we really present three to four takeaways. Um and so these reports are sent to the board before each board meeting. Um but we also present these reports publicly at the podium at the board meeting. And I found that these reports when you share at the meetings where they're shared it really moves the conversation when sometimes the conversation might be far from students or like more financial it brings the conversation back to being like how do we m prioritize the students in this the advisory vote. This is my favorite one and it's really important to me because in my district I have worked to advance the advisory
041vote. Basically, the advisory vote is it's not it doesn't actually count as a vote, but it advises it goes before the what's it called? Before the school board members and it allows the students to put in their how they would advise a board member vote on very specific policies and all policies basically. Um, it's really good for just getting stuff on the books on how students vote. It gives students a chance to express the way they fall on certain votes and stuff. Um it also yeah it also does go into the records which is really important just having that. So one thing I would add is I I also um was so I I actually advocated for the advisory vote in my district. Uh last year we did not have any advisory votes and this
042year we do and it's really an awesome opportunity for students to make their voice heard in a way that's quantitative rather than just qualitative. Um, sometimes it's tricky for students to actually insert their voice into the board meetings, especially when, like Carter said, the meetings are super financially oriented or very logistical or even political. Um, but this advisory wrote just gives students an opportunity to share their perspective where otherwise um, the board might not be able to effectively hear from them. And the way that we do this in at least my district is these advisory votes are anonymous just so that students um don't have to face any public pressure on the way that they vote in relation to topics. And we vote on almost all topics that the board votes on excluding things like
043um you know appointing a new board president for example. Um, but yeah, these are really for a consultative purpose, just to highlight student perspectives on issues in a way that you wouldn't otherwise get to see, especially if it's really hard to speak up in the middle of a board meeting. So, wait, Abby, did you have something on that slide? I did not have anything on that slide, but I will say that um I think that having it be anonymous is especially important because a lot of the times um people I guess school board representatives might not want to say exactly how they feel about certain topics or um something like that. Sorry, my school. But um I think it's especially important for uh it to be anonymous so people don't feel pressures as um IDT
044highlighted. Um it's definitely been uh something that our my school board um struggled with last year, but we've definitely improved on it and um we've given a space where um school board members do feel more schoolboard reps feel more comfortable uh to say how they feel. Um but yeah, next slide. Legislative involvement. This is kind of what um the people from the last presentation kind of said, but students get to when they get into this position as student representative, they get to really get involved in the legislative process. And it is very like it's personal for us because this is like my education, what programs I have, what programs I don't have and like state of my building and everything. So it really does impact like it's a lot more impactful on students. So it
045gives students the opportunity to get involved legislatively um and they get to experience kind of democracy firsthand. I think it's a really important thing for that getting to experience how these things work and giving students chances to learn how the legislative process kind of works. And I know that me personally, I always end up going around to all the advisories and getting input on certain bills and stuff and me like education funding here. And then I get to carry that kind of thing back to my district to kind of educate people on that too. So it's a district-wide impact that it has. And then here's a picture from what's it called? a student representative day on the hill we hosted where was all student planned and students went down and lobbyed for more education funding
046which I thought was really fun. Can I just add that even if you know students aren't hosting their own day on a day on the hills like this, if they're just going with the board members from their own district, I think it's really important that students are the ones that are actually speaking because legislators want to hear authentic student perspectives and authentic student stories rather than, like I said, what the board thinks that students go through. um they really want to hear why is special education so important from a student perspective, not just from a board's perspective. That's just one example. Um so yeah, really giving your opport giving the your students the opportunity to actually speak to the senators and representatives while they're there is super important. Why are student representatives important? This is
047a good one. Yes. Um, so, uh, when I when I first think of, uh, why student reps are important, I think of advocacy. And I want you guys to think to yourself, are you guys do you guys feel like you're truly advocating for the students correctly? And I think that um, looking at uh, student representatives, it's really um, important to see that uh, with having student representatives, you really get to see the reactions of students. Um, first of all, you really have get to have that perspective in meetings and it's very important. I know that with my experience, a lot of school board members don't necessarily know exactly what's going on in within schools, but um, students will really give that perspective of how um, things are can inform your school board on current policy
048um, and on future policies. Um, I think that students really do uh have the best um perspective when it comes to policies. I mean, we're doing this for uh students. So, um they really get to know how other students feel about this. um also um how teachers feel about uh how student teachers feel about um certain policies and it it helps to improve the policies and creating um I guess not um wasting as much time um fixing and amending things just because of um certain opinions. I mean any of you guys can jump on in on this and add um more notes. Yeah, I think it may. Yeah, I agree. Um, yeah. Um, moving on, uh, I will be talking about benefits for school for school boards and the student body. Um, school boards are
049more informed, like I said, more informed with decision- making. Um, more accurate decision- making when it comes to policy policies. Um, direct student feedback. Um, really detailed reports during schoolboard meetings are so important. So, um, school board members really know what's going on within schools. I must reiterate that. Um, and students feel more connected with school boards if there is someone that they know on the school board or um, if there's students who are there saying like I guess informing other the people around them about what's going on within the school um, within the school district. And for the student body, honestly, it's a more it's a better representation of the student body and what they want. Um, a lot of the times, um, people have blinders on. They might not know what's going on
050within the schools. Um, I know I've been able to give a better perspective, um, especially for people in my demographic. Um, and I think it also it bridges the it bridges the gaps between students and policy makers. Um it's all not a lot of the time there is a big disconnect between um the policies and the students and how well it actually affects them or how um how how accurate it is. And students really do love seeing um other students uh be successful and also um advocate for each other. I've definitely had different comments from other um students saying how much they really appreciate um my perspective and um advocacy. Um oops. Okay. What is authentic student engagement? Here we have a little video here that we put together which just includes like examples of
051how a student might give their input on certain policies and stuff just to show you what like a student representative looks like in action. So I'm just going to hit play. So I think next we will have our student advisory report and Tiffany and Abby are going to do that for us tonight. So we talked about alternative learning experience programs and Mr. Shaver shared information on River's Edges High School, which is a project-based learning program that runs on trimesters and the class sizes are small and students attend about 30 hours a week. So, I'll be talking about the discussion that followed. Um, so we talked about social emotional learning and how it's very successful in River's Edge. Um, also in Home Link and how it's embedded in all of their classes and there's a lot
052of staff buyin, not like their staff are very like involved in it. they really do care about the program policy as a community member. Thank you. I really agree with the idea of don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I think we really just need something on the books because I also this goes back to this statement versus policy thing. I don't think they have to be against each other because I think if we look back to some of the things which I really think supported students, I look back to our letter to the WIAA in support of trans athletes. That was something that was basically just a statement to the people, but that showed our students that we were here for them. Um the last question as I referred to earlier
053was the open-ended question and I specifically referred to the bond in this question um asking students if they had any thoughts, comments, concerns, questions um on the bond and overall I received the response that students were in support of the idea of the bond but they didn't actually know what the actual investment um would be for Liberty. like they didn't they didn't understand the return on investment that they would get for supporting a bond for Liberty in particular. So I think some communication and education on that front would be um really helpful. Yeah, you can kind of see the the different ways that student representatives are helpful. In the first example with Abby and Tiffany, you saw how they were presenting a detailed report of student perspectives and even of teacher perspectives. Um, in Carter's
054segment, we saw how he was connecting different ideas together, different policies, and really bringing the student perspective on how policies in the district um, flow together and what students make of that. And then uh I guess in my segment at the end um I really brought in student perspective on the bond that our district was running. And so student perspective is really crucial for everything that that includes the financials. Um that includes tough logistics that includes daily life. Um so students perspective is just is really really necessary. And if you don't already have student reps, I hope we've convinced you to add some to your board. So I think okay now here's the kind of final thing like what can you do this me okay yeah basically create space for your student representatives to engage.
055Um, this can kind of come in a lot of different ways, but it's making sure that your students feel comfortable to give their input. When it's the same when it's giving input that's like supporting you guys' ideas, even if it's something that's kind of going against what the district is doing, it's really important that you create a space where students feel safe to share that no matter what. So you guys can have a constructive relationship. So like one of the things that I know a lot of board would do is they will look to the student reps sometimes and ask if they have any input during conversations if the conversation seems to be going fast and not including students or they'll yeah when they students might not have as much time to speak. Sometimes what
056this is really important is meeting before a meeting with your meeting before a board meeting with your student reps so you guys can talk about like what's on the agenda. What are these things actually doing? What is it? just so you can have a clear understanding of like what's actually happening at the meeting so your students aren't blindsided and be open to like what's happening and listen to your students experiences. This is the really really important part is that when your students share something with you do not dismiss it because you have countering information. You might have gone to the school and done a visit and thought all the facilities were amazing but if a student says the facilities aren't meeting their function then you have to kind of listen to the student perspective on
057that. even if it might go against your perspective because the student's perspective is the one that's most centered on the school. I also would like to add that um if like if there isn't as much of a um foundation, if you're um trying to figure out how to really bring in students who are really active, um having a student advisory council is very um it's very helpful because um a lot of the times we have student advisory councils um um do reports. the example that we used in the video, I was presenting um about a student advisory council uh meeting and basically the different perspectives. So, it's a great way to bring in students who are really um active and interested in learning about different school district uh the school districts and what's going on.
058Um, this is kind of probably um not uh we normally have other students involved in schoolboard meetings and um student advisory council uh presentations, but that's a great way to start if you're looking for what what to do. And these are model just resources I guess. Um there's the was the model policy and the was the model procedure. And then there's a bunch of resources for student reps on the WASDA website under the student representative network. These are all really great resources and full of ways you can include student reps. And I believe these this presentation is linked in the Dropbox. So I think you have access to that. Um and if not Mercer, is there a way that we can get these into the chat? Yes, I um I put the slideshow in the
059chat and I will also I will also put these links in the chat. Awesome. Okay. So, I think I'm just gonna move into our Q&A segment. Yeah. So, I see a couple questions in the chat and um I guess we can start in the order that I guess I see them in. So, I see one from Dave Larson saying for Isiqua, how did you ensure that all different students were represented in the focus groups? I guess I can take that one since I'm in the Isqua school district. Um so really the way that uh our school works is we have um sessions called advisory times. Um they're every other week on Tuesdays and they're like 40 minute se uh sessions and they have about 20 to 25 students in them and those students are all
060in the same grade. And so what we did, me and my fellow rep from my school, is that we split up and I went to two of these advisory sessions, one with juniors and one with seniors. And these advisory sessions, the students that are in them, it is not by academic level, it is not by interest, it is simply by last name. So you're taking a chunk of 20 to 25 students in a grade by last name. um and you're able to meet with them and talk to each of them individually or talk to them in a big group um and really hear what they have to say. And so I did that for the junior and senior rep or senior students and my fellow representative did that for freshman and sophomores and from there
061we were able to kind of assemble that input. Um, Carter, Abby, do you want to take another question in the I'll take um Mandy Ohigh's one. Do you have a general plan of how you go about do go how you go about doing what you do in your school? Like how a district will follow a strategic plan? Um, I know usually students will create a general plan for how they're going to involve student reps at the start of the year, how how they're going to reach out to students at the start of the year. Um I know in my application process I did I develop a little form of like my kind of plans for connecting with students. So while there's not like a strategic plan students do yeah work on that a bit I
062think is the best way I can answer that question. Anyone else have anything on that? Okay. Um I guess I can take u Hillary uh Hillary's question. How do you get input from other students about what's happening in the district so that you can share comprehensive perspective on student body at board meetings? Um what I could say is that like I said um student advisory meetings is how we uh really get information about what's happening within this within the district. A lot of the times what's on the agenda will align will align with what's going on um what we're going to be talking about at the next schoolboard meeting. It's really a great way to see how um different students from different schools get to see um well get to you know uh get to
063see what they think about these certain topics. And also um they will have our superintendent in there and uh vice superintendent or assistant superintendent of um secondary schools there. So they can answer any questions that students might have. It's very interactive and you get to see um how students from other from different high schools and how they think about it because a lot of the times our school district focuses on comprehensive high schools but with that we get to see how other people from different um our alternative schools also also think. I know one way that I connect with a lot of students is my school has an advisory period where it's used for things like surveys and all sorts of random things throughout the year. So that's like an hourong period and I just
064tend to run around between all the classrooms cuz I have a smaller school and just talk to students for like 10 minutes or so on one topic like the bond. I just run around and ask like okay students what do you think of this? I get everyone's input and then go to the next classroom. And that was a really effective way because there's like a more smaller group conversation setting. People are all comfortable sharing with each other in there. So that's one way that I did it. But it honestly varies by school district on how like bigger the district is, how many high schools there are, how many middle schools there are. It's up to how you want to do it based on your district's circumstances. Sure. And the one thing that I'd add is
065that it's really important for student representatives to get input from all students, not just their friends or not just people that have the same interests as them, but really represent the entire student body because we are student representatives. And so we're meant to represent our schools. Yeah. Um I see another question from Rob saying, "How does your district conduct an anonymous advisory vote of student reps?" So, the way that my district does it, and it might be different for Carter or for Abby, but the way that we do it is we have a menty poll. It's just a software that allows you to pull um individuals. And so, we just put that on the big screen or we live stream that um and then the student representatives are able to just select yes, no, or
066they don't have to select an option if they don't want to to a particular policy. Um and then the total count will be displayed. So our school district is pretty big. We have eight student representatives, which is a lot. So um we'll total a entire count. So maybe there's four student representatives that say yes, three that say no, and then one doesn't vote. Um and you can see that result on the screen, but you can't see who did what. Maybe that's different for Carter or Abby. My yeah, my district's smaller, so we don't have anonymous votes necessarily. We have the option where we can always abstain from votes like any other board member could. Um, and because there's two of us, the person, the board chair just looks over and says, "Can I get your
067advisory votes?" And then we say, "Yay, nay, abstain." But we can always also go before the meetings and just say, "Hey, here's my position on this vote. Here's how we advise you." And then vote and abstain if it gets pretentious. That is contentious. Yeah, it's the same for my um school district. We only have two uh school rep school board representatives, so it's kind of hard to do it um anonymously, but uh we've just tried to make it a space where it's comfortable to say um yes or no. Um our schoolboard members reiterate that um there's no judgment. Hey y'all. While you're looking at just a few last questions, um we have to wrap up uh just in a couple minutes. So, I'm going to go ahead and just ask for just quickly if you
068could tell me if you have a list of expectations that you can share for student reps and how you report back to the board. Could each of you feel that? and then we'll wrap up for the day so that I can do some closing remarks and um move on to a 1:00. Yes. Okay. Um list of expectations for board reps. Our list of expectations I guess is basically just attend all the meetings. That's really the important part. Um also just like engage with students. Um, I would advise away from any GPA requirements unless like being a school board member will actively get in the way of succeeding academically. I would advise against that, but mainly just like be at the meetings, represent students, and be authentic. Yeah, our school district has a entire policy for
069that and I can put it in the chat if you'd like to see and it is really based on the WASDA model policy. Um, I hope everybody can see that. Please let me know if you can. I see. That's great. And I'll be sure. Yeah. So, feel free to read through that. And that's those are our expectations. Oh, wait. What was the final one again? How do you report back to the board? We have the I have a couple ways. Um the student report is one where we always can give our input on student issues. Um everything you know but also I feel like the entire time we're kind of reporting back to the board like every meeting you know like like a school member is always representing their constituents. Um student reps always representing
070our constituent interest as students. So we're kind of in a way always reporting back but the student report would be the kind of more generic answer to that question. Ad Abby, anything you wanted to add there? No, I don't think so. I did realize that I put the wrong file in. So, I'm going to try to find that, but you can go ahead and wrap up. Um, and hopefully I'll get that in before our time is up. Great. and if not you can email it to me at DT and um then folks can reach out and I can be sure to share it with them. First uh before I wrap things up I just want to thank all three of you so much for your leadership at the local level with your students with your
071school board in your community and then also at the state level through the student representative network. Appreciate all of your insights and the resources you shared today. Uh my guess is that the folks who joined today took away something that will help to inform how they work with their students moving forward. Uh that will hopefully make that um effort more effective and more enjoyable for everyone. So, thank you for sharing your time and your wisdom with us today. Um just a couple things I wanted to share with all of you because you're probably curious uh what the heck's going on with the budget. It's a good question. Um we are seeing uh the Senate budget come out today. the House budget right behind it. Um the hearings are already scheduled for next week. I put
072those into the chat. Uh in between now and then, the education advocates will work together to try to unpack those uh budgets and see what the difference between the two is. There will be an opportunity to testify um uh supportively of what looks good for us and also where concerns might be. So um we will be communicating. Be sure to read our in session tomorrow as well as um Quo. Both will be full of information you need. Uh in a nutshell, you may also know that the revenue forecast came out this week. Um not a not a lot to report as it relates to that in terms of it being significantly different from the revenue forecast that came out before the legislative session. Um in in essence they're looking at um uh a 2.5 IPD
073continues. Um they're looking at a decrease of 844 million over the next four years. So the way that's different from the revenue forecast uh in 2024, the last one in 2024 versus this week is about a billion. What's a billion these days? Um only what we want for MSOC. Um, so not a significant change to the estimate moving forward. The House may intend to use some rainy day funds, but what we know is that we're going to see significant difference between the House and the Senate, and that's what the remaining 37 days will be all about is to work out those differences. We will definitely see a tax package or revenue package incorporated to all of that, which probably will include property tax increase to pay for LEA. So with all of that, that's a
074very high level summary. At one o'clock, I have to sign off for another commitment.