001All right, welcome to our schoolboard meeting today, Eatenville Middle School. >> This call is being publicly streamed. >> All right, and I'd like to call this meeting to order. And we're going to stand for the flag. So will be led by Stacy C. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We know you have a presentation. >> All right. >> Okay. We're going to turn the time over to our student representatives for their comments today. Um, well, I actually don't have anything to bring because I was going to save it for the next meeting. >> Perfect. That works great. >> I'll do all my things for next meeting as
002well. So, we'll make a statement together. >> Excellent. Great. >> Because we have a lot on the agenda today. So, that's wonderful. Thank you for being here and um being our connection with the students that are going to be presenting to us today. So, that's going to be exciting. All right, we're on to reports and presentations. And so we're gonna turn the time over to Mr. Justice. Correct. >> Yeah. >> Perfect. So, thank you for adjusting. I don't know if it's always this way, but thank you for adjusting the schedule for today so that kids could go first and get out of here and get get to bed at a decent time uh before we do all the data stuff. So, we're going to go down. We've got three classrooms to visit. Um, unfortunately, we
003I wanted to do fourth. I wanted to have a unified PE presentation today, but we had trouble getting some of our kiddos here for that unfortunately. I just it's such a cool thing to see and I invite you guys to come in at second period any day and just see it, check it out. Um, you know, it's just unfortunate that we couldn't get kids here today. I know Mr. Danielson and Mr. Potter would invite you guys and welcome you at any time. So, please do um just pop in it. You don't have to schedule it or anything. Uh so with that we have three other classes that we're going to go visit and we're going to see some science and STEM in Miss Metler's first then we will go on to art in Miss Meyer's
004class and then Mr. Snezax for some other STEM related activities and I'm hoping he's back from soccer. So yeah I that's >> we're going to follow you. >> I guess parents are welcome to I think the kids are all out there. And for the audience, it'll just be a screen, right, that tells Okay, perfect. Katie, we'll catch you on the back side. >> Sounds good. Have fun. All right, we are back. We had a really great time. Um, show everybody what we got. The students made this in STEM class, which is super exciting. Um, >> yeah. And then we got to do some art and look at some amazing art and some science projects that were really outstanding. So, thank you. Um, Mr. Jess, thank you for giving us that opportunity to remind us why
005we're here because that's the best part being with the kids, the best part about this job. So, with that, we'll turn the time over to you. >> All right. >> For your presentation. >> So, I mean, yeah, of course, it is the reason why we're here. And, you know, it is fun to see kids shine in a different way as well. But, you know, they're not kids I get to see always on a daily basis either. you know, in my position as I'm, you know, doing some other things and maybe working through some behavioral things as we're kind of curbing that. So, it definitely is fun to go and, you know, interact with them and see them just shine, you know, and share and be proud of what they've created. So, um, all right. So,
006thank you guys. So, we'll go over a little bit of the data, you know, kind of midyear data. We finished up with our I Ready assessments and in January, mid January, and we've put together some data. We're still digging into it and using it. We used it to adjust our excuse me, adjust our um intervention classes this semester. So, some kids were able to move and graduate out of interventions and move into our project based learning classes and some of them maybe got out of ELA intervention and were able to move into a math intervention and get that focus. So we we were able to do some of that which is nice and really trying to still serve kids where where they are and and meet all of their needs and you know if a
007kid is at level or not needing that intervention being able to give them something different as well in that PDL um that connects them to what we're doing and just brings them into school. So all right this picture one of those kiddos is Madison who you guys saw in science class and the art class there. Uh this is part of the science club that Miss Bland and Miss Metler do um after school. They've brought in um they've brought in speakers. They go out on field trips regularly. I I don't even have to ask Miss Metler anymore. I'm like, "You know the drill. I need photos and a Facebook little quote." And she's like, "Yep, already on it." She got to the point in the last one before they were going on the field trip. Yep.
008I know. I'll get photos and a blur for you. So, she knows I'm always going to ask for that, but it's to show off what they're doing. And this is outside of school stuff. These are the kids that they're coming, you know, almost once a week to a science club. Here, they were returning salmon back into the river just completing that cycle of life um to where they go. And so, I mean, seeing the size of the salmon that Madison is holding and getting ready to throw back in the river is pretty cool. And just turf. Um so, next slide, please. So I guess one more thing that I do want to share with you is as we're you know coming in and now being being here for a few months um you know we've
009really initially tried to focus on behavior and expectations and creating some uniform expectations whether that's you know big ones were cafeteria and hallways uh just because I I truly believe that what happens there you know happens in the cafeteria they leave there they go in the hallway and it's chaos and and then that travels into the classroom which impacts learning. And so it has been just reinforcement, reinforcement, reinforcement, reminders on the daily announcements, um talking to kids. I mean, sometimes it's like, "Hey bud, come back. We're going to we're just going to practice walking because that's that's what we got to do." And and then talking to them about what are our expectations, why are we doing it, you know? And there's always a why behind everything. So helping kids to understand that why of
010why do we walk in the hallway? Well, there's 250 seventh and eighth seventh and eighth graders. That's, you know, our halls are not very big. We need to make sure we're safe and not knocking somebody over and those type of things. So, a lot of, you know, I call it calm the chaos a little bit is kind of where we've really focused behaviorally. We don't have a ton of like major behaviors. We've got a really good good group of kids. Um, and I I really enjoy our kids. And so it's nice that we can focus on some of these little things that I think they make a difference building wide in what we do. Um, all right. So building wide ELA data just coming up. I'm not trying to block your camera. I'm sorry. So
011I already you can either do like a three, a red, yellow, green, or you can do like you can break it up into five and so five different levels. And so this is the top level where you get the green with the little marks and it just gives you a little bit more broken apart of like where a kids at instead of just seeing them as solid green and sitting 44%. Well, you've got 20% here that's just above that grade level placement and then you've got 22% that's like really farther out there. So this just breaks it up a little bit more and gives us that little bit of different different view of it. So we know like these kids are a little closer to here and you know we're still pushing them as you
012get to like our reds. These are the kids that are like two levels or more behind um grade level according to Ira. And so one of the big things is you've got our follow diagnost diagnostic here that's a little bit lighter and then our winter diagnostic that we just took. So you can see the you know the biggest goal is we want to see an increase in the greens. Oops. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have touched that. um you know which we went from 16 or 36% to 42. So you know having a goal of 10% growth you know we're still measured against end of year standards. So we're not measured against midyear standards we're still measured against end of year standards which is why you know it comes in at like 36% and you know
013because they're measure if it's an eighth grader they start the eighth grade year they're measured on end of year eighth grade standards. So, it just gives it a little bit of showing how we're growing toward that goal. Um, however, you know, to me, when we have 42% of our kids, you know, at grade level, obviously that's not where we want to end up and that's not where we want to be long term either. Um, you know, I I came from my when I was in Centra, we always talked about those big hairy goals, you know, and getting to 80%. And if we can get to 80%, it's the same as if we're doing a classroom intervention. You know, we want to we don't want to move on if 80% of our kids aren't where they
014need to be. And then we can pull the other 20% into intervention. So those are things that, you know, with staff we'll talk about and we'll get to um as we create those goals for long term, you know, those three, five, seven year, sevenyear goals of where we want to get to. We're not going to get there year one. You know, it's about incremental growth over time. So, as long as we can do the things and the right things to get ourselves there over time and make that incremental growth, we will get there. You know, it just it just takes time. And I don't believe it's out of reach. It's just, you know, some people look at you and they say 80% that's crazy. You'll never get there. I I can tell you you can
015I I've been very close when we were in Centraa with our and it was a subgroup. It was our EL population and we were at 70 bush we were at 77% of our kids passing the of our English language learners passing the Smarter Balanced um in third grade and we were at that point where we're talking about one individual kid and it's such a cool feeling and it just showed like our staff like hey it is possible you know we're not just talking numbers but we we can do things to get there and we can you know always have that growth. Um and I will say I think you know as we look at this and we talk about our interventions that we're doing um the stories I heard before I started um you know
016teachers came in and they were working with Allison and you know Allison they were they weren't sure you know is this intervention having that first period intervention is this going to work you know is this something we should we should do we've got maybe some history teachers that are teaching ELA we've got some science teachers that are maybe going to do some math intervention and is this, you know, is this the right right approach? And then we had some teachers, Allison told me, come to her and say once they saw the data and where our kids are at and say, "That's not good enough. I'm in. Let's do this." You know, and to me, that's that's what it takes. That's, you know, it's that type of attitude of I'm here for the kids and what
017they need that's going to get us there in the long run. >> Can I ask a question? >> Absolutely. >> These are this is eighth grade data. >> This is whole school right here. full school. >> So, we'll go into >> Okay, >> there's a one slide where it'll be broken down by each grade level. >> Okay, great. >> Yeah. So, this is just whole school start. >> The the one thing we want to see is we want to see less reds. That means kids are moving in the right direction. And then obviously more greens. These yellows may or may not stay pretty similar, but as long as it's kids moving up in the right direction, that's the ultimate goal. Okay, next slide, please. I won't talk that long on every slide. No, this is
018good. This is >> so unfortunately I Ready I could like if I held over the numbers I could see where they're at. But this is just a breakdown of each domain in I Ready and this is building wide. So you've got phonics funological awareness at this level is not tested. Um that's an elementary skill. So they they don't test and you know you get into phonics almost every kid is green here. You've got a very small percentage. Typically, those are going to be your kids that are on IEPs that are just struggling and gaining some of those very foundational skills. Um, and then high frequency words, vocabulary, comprehension overall, and the comprehension of literature andformational text. Every building I've been in, um, the comprehension piece has been the domain that has struggled the most and
019it is here too. Uh, it just I, you know, vocabulary is always the second one. high frequency words, they get it because they get so much repetition early on in elementary. So, by the time they're out of elementary, they do pretty well. But comprehension is is notoriously one of the harder ones for kids. All right, next slide, please. So, this is broken down by grade level. Um, so you've got eighth grade, seventh grade, and sixth grade. So, I pulled this data just before we had some stragglers that hadn't finished yet. But so there's a couple kids you'll see that just weren't finished, but they did finish later on. Um, so like 8th grade looking in our two green sections, you know, 33% up to 40 and then in yellow 22 to 25 and seeing 46
020down to 35% in the red. So we're making we're making that progress. We're moving in the right direction. Um, you know, again, when when you see, you know, half of your kids or not even half of your kids though at grade level, you know, that's that's obviously not where anybody wants to be and that's, you know, but I do know that we've got staff that are that are working hard and there is some significant improvement going on and they're just they're just brainstorming and trying to find new strategies to engage kids. Um, and we'll talk a little bit about I Ready as well at the end and and things because I Ready is one measurement. Um, you know, there's classroom based assessments and some kids don't test well and sometimes I ready as they adjust
021their questions, you know, like it it's not always the be all endall for where a kid is at. So, same with seventh grade and then sixth grade. So, we're moving in the right direction and we're bu I think we're building those foundations to continue to build on going forward. All right, next slide. Miss, you guys have questions, please stop me along the way. All right, so math, we know math is our biggest struggle um with Smarter Balance, too. It is math is a struggle everywhere. It's not an excuse. It's a challenge to be better. Um and we can get there. So again, looking at fall to winter, you know, 25% up to 32. You know, if we're looking at our 10% goal each year, um, still we're not, you know, we're not at that 10%,
022we're on pace to beat that, but I would still challenging myself. I want to be if I'm going toward 80% and trying to get there in five to seven years, I I want to knock that out a little bit quicker. Um, and when we're at a lower lower score, that's when we have more room to grow, right? So, because as we get closer, we're going to be growing in smaller increments and maybe not that 10% as we get there. So, >> so can may I ask a question? I love that idea that 80%. Um, but you have three years to work with these kids. >> So, what are you doing or have you considered vertically aligning with the elementary school so that when they come in, you're not trying to >> I have and I
023have ideas. I haven't broached them with um Nick or Lynn or Allison yet. Um, but you know, there's some things that as right now for me this year, honestly, it's that common chaos. It's built those expectations, those routines, build the trust with staff, um, so that they know I'm here to support them and that we're here to grow together. There are lots of ideas, um, you know, especially around literacy and basic math instruction that I've I've seen when I was at the elementary level and Centra and some things. And I don't know, honestly, what Nick and, you know, Lynn and Allison are doing right now. So there's got to be a learning experience for me to come in and say I can't go in and be like hey let's do this and that you know
024like it's like hey what are you doing how can we support that how can we build on that you know we're putting in some mentor programs with uh ees right now between the counselors are working on that so that's you know some things where they're going over and helping kids and we're we're building some of those things and to me like yeah I want to build that cohesion I would love to build the cohesion K through 12 not just we're on an island you know That's >> that's the only way it's going to really be effective. See that five to seven year, >> right? Exactly. You know, like we need to we need to know what the elementarymentaries are doing because I know they're doing some great things. We need to figure out how we
025can support that and build on that. And then, you know, same thing as we're tying into the high school, like you know, building those connections and Amy's been great to have conversations with as well and just continuing to, you know, we'll get there. Uh but right now for me this year it's honestly been well and it's it's important for me to build the relationships with staff here too and and learn from them and listen and understand all of all of the things that they're doing because they're doing some great work and I want to you know I want to be here and make sure I'm supporting them in that growth as well to continue that progress. And then as we go forward, we start looking at like, okay, you know, we don't want to we
026don't want to do a whole bunch of things and just be okay at them, but how can we take a few things and be really really great at them before we start bringing in other ideas too. So focusing on that and becoming really really good at these core pieces and then being able to expand on them and bring in things when because you know one of my frustrations is when we try to do too many things um you know then you start touching one thing and you're like okay now let's we got to go work on this and we don't touch that for another year and if it frustrates me and I know it frustrates teachers and staff too because they're like what do you want us to work on you know what do you
027want us to do and and improve on and so really just trying to narrow that focus as well. And that takes, you know, that trust and that communication with them too and making sure their voice is heard of, you know, what's working well and how do we, you know, what's not and where where are those changes. So, um, all right. So, yeah, math, you know, this is overall building wide as well. So, you know, we're seeing the right the right progress, but again, not, you know, we're not satisfied with where we're at. And we know that and every every staff member here can tell you the same thing. Next slide, please. And then this is just broken down by grade level. So again, you can just kind of see going from 29% to 38% at
028sixth grade. Um, you know, they've almost got to that 10% already for for the year, which means we can make more than that, right? Especially being measured against an end of the year standard and getting to that point. So we're see again we're seeing that that right progress all the way around. Um it's just continuing to get great at what we're doing. All right, next slide. And then this is the domains um for math. You've got numbers and operations, algebra, algebraic thinking, measurement and data, geometry. Um like I I always find it kind of curious that geometry seems to be one of the lower the lower ones. Um, but in my experience as a principal and with new curriculums and using I mean I've used different curriculums. We've implemented new curriculums in each of the
029districts I've been in. It feels like there's always so much to do in a math curriculum that you have to start pulling out pieces of like, hey, we just can't get to all of this by the end of the year. And so geometry is one of those at the early levels, even at elementary level, too. uh in my past districts that has always just kind of got put to the side and not like, oh, we're gonna try to get through this at the end of the year. We're gonna try to do this because we know more of the state test focus on these other skills. And so there's it's it's not a fault of anybody. It's typically just like in your curriculums, there's so much to do. And as you're honing in and trying to
030figure out like what are the most important pieces or can we do something different and and still hit geometry but maybe we're not hitting it as strong as we can. It it just see that seems to be a common thread in my ten years in other districts as a principal. So I don't know that that's the same here but that's just speaking from past experience. So all right next slide. All right. So what's happening right now? What's working well? what you know what next um intervention model and PBL I think is is working really well because we've got staff that are bought in uh we've got staff that believe and you knowve I've had Mr. He had come to me several times and talking about his intervention groups and he's just like you know what
031he goes I love this because I can actually see these kids learning. I see their progress every day and you know so like coming in for he does teach some ELA and he teaches humanities and stuff but to have you know have a teacher come to you and say like hey I I'm seeing this growth every day and like I love this model. I want to see that. Um, you know, there's always kinks and plans and how can we improve it, but you know, when teachers are seeing that growth, um, you know, that continues that support for it. Consistency in developing building wide expectations, we're working on it. I mean, I'm announcing on the radios all the time or not the radio, but the intercom in the morning talking to kids, you know, like we'll
032get we'll get going really well. Then like this week after the Super Bowl, we had a couple days of like, "Yeah, time to be back on the announcements in the morning. Hey, remember here's our expectations for the cafeteria in the hallways. Here's why, guys." Um, you know, sometimes you sound like a broken record, but it's, you know, it it is that, you know, reinforcement. And it's also not just the reinforcement of when things aren't going well, but part of PDIS is like, "Hey, thanks for walking. You're doing a great job in the hallway today." you know, hey, thanks for doing this. Thanks for helping out in the cafeteria, you know, thanks for just all of those where, you know, we're celebrating what we want to see more of and we're talking about it. So, implementing
033that PBIS piece and and really trying to not just be reactive and like this isn't going well, but how are we being proactive and recognizing the things that are going well and kids are doing right, you know, because other kids will hear that and they'll they'll want that positive attention or those cards and stuff as well. So, uh, teacher buying and student growth, I've talked about that plenty. Um, you know, I I think community involvement, you know, we've had our healthy youth street fair here. Um, Ana did a great job of putting that together. That was fantastic. She brought in some community members to, you know, um, and just having kids out there and community members out there with their booths, you know, and we're looking to continue to build that. Like, we want those
034relationships. You know, it was nice to be invited to Rotary and, you know, make some of those connections. does something of above to continue to do just all of those community connections because I think there's a lot of resources out there that we just don't always harness as well. Um but I think we're moving in the right direction with some of those pieces. Social media presence that's been something we've really tried to focus on. Um we when you know when I came here one of the conversations we had was hey you know it's only the fun stuff. um you know the sporting events and the dances and the you know and all of those are great and we want to celebrate those but how are we prioritizing academics you know are we showing that that's
035important to us you know because what we show is important is what will be important to our families to our kids and you know it all ties together and carries over so we've been really trying to focus on you know putting a lot of like academic pieces out there the science club or you know those field trips or like ma math students of the week and you know teacher doing some teacher highlights and highlighting our staff and building that culture you know of community relations as well. Um we did part of our as we were shifting with PDL and interventions of the semester we created a communications club or communications group that is now second semester they're if you're watching our social media they're actually creating a lot of the posts and a lot of
036the stories that are going on there. Um, next is to build in website presence. And so they'll be creating stories that go on the website so that we can update our outofdate website as well. Uh, which we know is out of date. But we we want we want to build that. And so we've got a group of kids. Uh, Allison Mus has been working great with them. She does most most of the just leadership and it's really given them guidance. And then they're setting up I mean they're taking the lead. they're setting up interview times with teachers or reaching out to teachers about, hey, can you tell me about this thing you did in your class um and getting the story from them, interviewing them, they we gave them Miss Harper in our office gave
037them a lesson on Canva on how to create the backgrounds and and put all of that together. And then when they're done, they send their finished products to Miss Minus and myself for review. Obviously, we're not having kids just send it directly to Allison to put on Facebook, but they send it to us. We take a look at it. We give them suggestions on like, hey, let's, you know, maybe not have that picture in there or let's let's add this. Have you thought have you asked Mr. Mac about this part of his history lesson that you guys highlighted today? And so then they go back and they they make any edits and they have a deadline each week to get us their story. And then once they're approved, we send them to Allison. She puts
038them on Facebook. Um, so it's something, you know, there's only, I think, eight to 10 kids in that group. I don't remember offh hand, so there's not a lot. And they work in groups, but right now it's, you know, big social media focus and trying to highlight academics and most pieces, but it's it's cool that it's studentled. They're doing some really good things because it takes a load off of our plate, too. Um, and they they love it. There's there's some kids that got some really good buy into that. And then um next we'll be teaching them like take that little blurb now now we want to write a bigger story and we want to link it to the website. So now we're getting some up-to-date highlighted stuff on our website too that is you
039know coming from students and you know and eventually like if it continues to go well giving them some freedom in do you have a piece that interests you like what are some ideas that you would want to do and then letting them obviously run with approved ideas but giving them some some choice and some voice in that too. So, it's something that we're just starting. We weren't sure how it was going to go. Uh, but I think it's going really well. And Allison has been amazing. She comes down usually first period, sits with them. Um, you know, she'll work in here or whatever and just give them some guidance, answer questions as she's doing things, and they're they're most of them are pretty self-directed group, too. So, you don't have to like be on them
040because they want to be here and they're bought in. So, it's it's really cool. um building culture, you know, that's for me that's that trust, those relationships with staff, students, you know, connecting with them, connecting with families that come in and having that communication. It all ties together in my book of, you know, like sometimes we're, you know, I got a call that's the kid, you know, had a little bit of an issue and but talking to them and, you know, having that conversation, we work together to try and build that relationship, you know, and help the kids solve whatever's going on in their life and get back to being the kid we know they can be. Um, and then, you know, helping that connection between kid and teacher as well. And, you know, we're
041all tied together. So, uh, and then building that trust with staff, you know, being here, being here every day, um, you know, asking, "How can I support you? What can I do?" And trying to just be present and be there and and work through those things. So, it's all about trust, relationships, you know, that that ties into our our culture as well. So, what next? Attendance is we know is a big issue here. um our attendance team hasn't in all honesty it's not where we want it to be as far as regularity of meetings. So that's that's going to be an upcoming focus like we know when kids aren't here they don't learn right and so we want to make sure that we're we're going to put a focus on that um you know solving
042one one issue at a time but we definitely want them here and we want to make sure they're here. So curriculum adoptions um going through math ELA adoptions you know I know Sally has started conversations with science um looking at possible science curriculums so there's always there's good things with that all of those there's bumps in the road as you start having to implement new curriculums and learn what works what doesn't um you know what is this curriculum missing is it missing intervention pieces is it missing certain aspects and you know every there's always kind of a bump in implementation in those. They're obviously, you know, always better tied to new standards and new practices, but it takes time. So, those things those things are all coming though. Um, you know, and then part of
043that too is making sure that when we do go to that new curriculum, we're using that new curriculum and we're not going back into the old stuff because that's what's easiest and that's what we know. but getting this is know this is what we're using and building that you know just that fidelity you know in that curriculum because we can't go and put pieces of other stuff in there increasing rigor and student student motivation I mean you know I ready this I just brought this as an example so like I ready is not always the most engaging thing to kids um we know that especially when it comes to assessment or like the middle school level like it's just not always always the most engaging. It it has its place. It has its purpose for
044sure. Um but when we did our most recent I Ready testing, you know, our my biggest concern for me was how do we get kids to buy in and just try their best. That's all we want. Just do your best. So we I went and I bought a roll of tickets. I don't know if you buy the new rolls, you know how big they usually are. Okay. Um so this is just one grade level. So what we did is all I wanted was growth out of kids. And so one ticket that if you just grew one point, that's all you had to do was just grow one point. You got one ticket. If you grew a half a year's worth of growth, the way I measures it, you got five tickets. If you grew a
045full year's worth of growth, the way IRA measures it, you got 10 tickets. So you the better you do, you could get more tickets. Um, and it was just to incentivize kids to like all you got to do is do your best. Like I mean one one point growth and you you're at least in the drawing. Um, and so we started our drawings this week actually. We've done eighth grade yesterday, seventh grade today and sixth grade. And I drew I'm drawing 15 tickets out of each grade level. And I just went to the dollar store and bought like a whole bunch of I probably shouldn't say this, the boxes of candy, you know, like the movie boxes, you know, like I mean they GOT FOR A DOLLAR AND A QUARTER. They're not a dollar anymore.
046>> Um but they're pretty good size, you know, and like so in the morning announcements the last couple days, you know, calling down 15 kids and uh you know, like and being able to celebrate like you know, hey, I appreciate all of the tickets that you guys did. You know, all the growth, the work, the hard work that tells us, you know, where you're at. It gives us a better idea of your growth and and where you need to be and you know just incentivizing some of that. We'll do some things around I Ready or the Smarter Balance in the spring too and um trying to figure out how we can incentivize kids to just it's all about effort, right? Like you can get burnt out at that time of year, but how do we
047try to get you to just do your best? So, um and then revamping handbooks, emergency plans. I talked about a little bit with the athletic stuff at the last board meeting, but just making sure all of that is, you know, where we want it to be and there's there's work to do there and making sure our emergency plans and our safety plans are all in place so that nobody has a question. And we're, you know, we talked about safety at our last meeting as well for cabinet. So, that's just always a priority and we want to keep everybody safe. So, next slide, please. All right. counselor's report. Um I can't capture everything that our counselors do in this little graphic by any means, but um seal they, you know, Kylie does um Tuesday and Thursday
048student groups when she's here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. That's how she starts her day, first period. So some kids do miss some intervention time, but they're getting that seal instruction. Um our panorama, they monitor that. They're doing all of that data and all of that intake and giving us a sense of where our kids are at, not just um academically or attendance-wise, but as a as a whole student. And then uh harassment, intimidation, uh bullying, education, leading some of that, leading some of those conversations and those problem solvings as well with kids and and helping kids to work through those situations in a healthy way. uh when you look at community, you know, food donations and connections like that, um other supplies or needs as well as a healthy youth fair. Um I mean, they're
049a big part of having those community connections for us. Resources again, the food, um counseling, you know, individual counseling or group, you know, student groups, all kinds of type of things with kids. And then family support. They're really a great resource for our our families and as far as when they need services or where to go and where they can find, you know, support for different types of things. And then building support, check-in, checkout. Um, which I don't know if you guys know what check-in checkout is. I mean, they do it pretty frequently at the elementary levels as well, I think. And um, so they've got that set up. We've got about 15 kids 12 to 15 on check-in checkout here and help organize that so that it's it's as consistent as it can be
050for our kids. Uh PBIS support, uh student support just in in general with kids. But our PBIS is one of the things um as well that we're just trying to revamp right now. We've got a lot of work to do to bring it into um how it's supposed to be tier one across the board. what we we started a little bit with MASH on revamping some of that um when we came back from winter break of what that looks like and how that how that should look like in a building. Um, but we we've got work to do, you know, and and it'll it gives us a baseline for going into summer and coming back into the fall of trying to be a little bit more, let's just um on track with how it's supposed
051to be used, you know, and the rewarding and the recognizing of positives and stuff. So, we'll get there, but it it's one of those pieces that's in that, you know, along with attendance that's like that's next on our our list of how to, you know, big things that we need to continue to grow and improve. All right. And I think that's it other than questions. There's the volunteer part, too, but I don't know if that's >> I don't have that. >> Oh, we have it printed right here. >> Okay. you know, we're running long on time here coming up, but I just want and you can email. >> No, I don't care about that. It's good information. That's not I just like question as a board member would be you don't have to answer right
052now, but if there's one or two things that you would need now, you're relatively new, but come in and by the way, awesome job, but um what would you what what would be your dream that you would need from us to move the needle wherever you think it needs to be moved to? You can think about it like if you could had a wish list, you had a couple things you needed from us, you know, or from the district as a whole, what would that be for you and for your kids? >> That's a great question. It's definitely a thinker. >> Yeah. because I think when you think about different areas of the building and you know because it's not just the academic piece that it's that social it's that whole child piece um seal
053um you know the culture and you know just all of the things so each each little area probably has something a little bit different um >> yeah let me think on it and I'll definitely email you because that's a great question because >> you know sometimes And sometimes things hit different, right? Like some days you're like, "Oh man, I really need six six more people, you know, which isn't possible." Um, you know, and then some days you're just like, you know, really like more more of our like as we're doing PBIS rewards and we're building that like, you know, more of those things for the just the little prizes for the kids that are doing great and as we're auction them off or you know, and sometimes it's just something little because kids are just
054they're nailing it, you know. So yeah. Yeah, I like the question, but >> I didn't expect the answer. >> Yeah, Ruby. >> Um, do you still do pride cards? >> We do. We actually changed what they they look like a little bit. Um, when we came back from break as we kind of started the PBIS piece and and wanted to start building that. So, they're not green anymore. They're like a pinkish red, but we fit them to the I wish I had one with me, but we fit them to like our pride values. So they say their pride values on there and that's going to be part of like how we revamp as like everything when we go to our student of the month assemblies, you know, those should all be tied to, you know,
055character traits or our pride cards of like is it responsibility, you know, like who's showing those? How are we nominating those kids? It's based on these values that we're trying to celebrate. And same with we started staff nominations too for staff members of the month and we do that every month. But those, you know, because I believe kids need to see um us celebrating each other as well and the hard work that we're doing. And so staff nominate staff anonymously. Um and but again, I want to tie those also to that same trait that we're recognizing kids for each month. So that's that's the ultimate goal when we bring all that together. So hey, you know, we're celebrating this staff member for responsibility the same as you know, we're celebrating each of these kids in
056that in that area. So that's all part of those bringing those pieces together um over time that that we will we will do. >> As far as your volunteer report, thank you for providing it. It's very interesting to me. I think most of us here have been very involved parents in schools and that's one thing that I think has been >> and I did Oh, go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say I did leave something off of there that as I was >> thinking back cuz I like man you know some of this like baseball I'm like that was those people came in a couple of the academic ones were gone by the time I started here they weren't here very long but dances and our field trips that Mr. feedback puts on. Um,
057you know, there's always parents chaperone. >> Sorry, I didn't mean to. >> No, that's good. I think that's really good information because I think, um, one of the things that I think has placed each of us in these seats is the fact that we volunteered and, you know, deeply cared about what our students were doing. And so, I love that you said that you're hoping to increase the number of >> adults. And I think I I don't want to blame co, you know, co for everything, but it certainly did suck the volunteer presence out of our school and our community needs to know that we welcome them >> and that we want them and um that they have something to offer. So, thank you for >> Yeah. And I just replied to an email today
058from Kyla about volunteer opportunities that she's going to like try to include in a newsletter that goes out. Um it's not just COVID, you know, like there's always elementary to the middle school jump. There's fewer volunteers. Um I think for a variety of reasons, we had like we had one parent that she was coming in every single day when I started just at lunch hanging out with kids until her daughter said, "Hey, can you not come in all the time anymore?" You know, because there's that social aspect, right? You know, even her daughter's like a great kid. Um but just you know like they want that social independence too. So they're like no you don't need to come. And then I think also you know the way we've you know we teach math and and
059things anymore too sometimes are scary for for our families because it's different than how we all learned in school. Um, so, you know, providing opportunities where that doesn't have to be scary, right? That they can come in and, hey, we could always use kids that are reading or adults that are reading with kids and connecting with kids and in safe environments and just building relationships that tie them, you know, to to our school and and maybe help them turn a corner socially and and things like that, too. In the right way, obviously. >> And also, as you're revamping your PBIS, like get your families involved because I think it's >> Oh, for sure. >> So helpful. when I was in charge of that for this building, the families like donated primarily everything and they were
060there and supported in a big way and then when adults are there to also recognize good work that's going with the kids and then they go out to the community and they share well I was at the middle school and I saw these great things happening it really it kind of comes full circle so that's awesome I agree because it's it's about share like there are a lot of great things happening so you know we have to share that we have to tell that story and you know that's where part of that focus too and our social media piece has been like, "Hey, let's not just show the fun things, but let's show start showing the other things that you guys are doing academically and, you know, these these clubs and these things that we
061have to offer that, you know, aren't always celebrated too outside of, you know, sports or a band concert, you know, and things like that." But just um and let's show you know, start showing what we value as well. >> Absolutely. >> You know, >> that's great. And thank you for this report. This is really good information. >> Thank you. Sorry I talk so ramble. I talk with my hand all over the place. I think I saw Ruby a few times going where's his hands going? >> So I apologize. >> You get to come once a year to really see all the great things. >> But you guys are any of you are welcome here anytime. Um and I do encourage you please please come and check out Unifi P if you've not seen it. I
062think Gracie would say the same thing. It is because it's not just our, you know, our high needs special education students that are getting things out of this, but all of our mentor students that are connected with these kids and going through the activities with them. You know, the empathy that they're learning and the the social skills to interact and and be there and help, you know, kids that, you know, have harder challenges than them. And, you know, those are things that our kids are going to take out into the community as well. >> It really is. I I think last year video went and it was it was really inspiring. But I if um yeah, Eric's willing to let us keep >> Yeah, he is. He wanted to do it tonight. We just couldn't
063find >> um you know, kids out of a couple of the classes to to be here. >> Awesome. >> So, please do. >> That's great. Anything else you want to share with us? >> I wish you guys had more questions. I already talked too much. I'm going horse. No. Well, if you if there's ever anything you need, you know, Mr. had a great question, but that's our job is to think about >> Yeah, send him a long email and then he'll have to >> No, I'm actually I'm curious because I know it's hard to fit when you have like students that have need math and ELA interventions and then on top of it, they need SEAL. So, all that same time being divided up. you got like how many extra I mean what's that look
064like and how how would you want to solve that problem? >> Yeah and during our interventions you know first period Wednesdays are dedicated to instruction so it's not five days of you know just academic intervention but they do um you know like second step and and things like that. So they are doing some of that like every teacher and getting kids some of that instruction as well and trying to make sure that we're including that what we do. >> Awesome. >> Well, thank you so much. This is >> um sorry. Um I know running start students have a lot of free time especially since they're not following like the traditional school schedule. Um, and I've started volunteering at Warehouser um, because they don't have a lot of support in their math programs. And they found
065that a lot of fifth graders who are going to be coming to the middle school are really struggling in math and are like at like third grade baseline and it's more than half the students since they don't have that intervention piece at the at warehouser. Um, they've gotten some running start students to come in and just pull kids out and work on tax. So, I know like the kids really really like it and they think I'm really funny for some reason, but they find it really entertaining. So, I wonder if that would be something I love that. That is great because you're right. The schedules can be and it works really well like there. >> That's awesome. Thank you, Ruby, for doing that for that suggestion of sharing that idea and recruiting other registered students.
066That's wonderful. >> So, I guess what she's saying is you could maybe I know a lot of the kids I know like when parent volunteers come in it's sometimes like oh now here's another teacher watching us. But I know it's like nice to have another mentor or someone older that you can look up to. And it's nice knowing and they also have like firsthand experience of what are you going to be learning in high school? What's the math going to look like? Because I know a lot of parent volunteers come in and the math is a little bit outdated or it's not used to what um what is the test and what's the parents can't do it. >> Yeah. But yeah, I agree. And you know, that's where like I love that we're getting this
067mentor program set up with, >> you know, the elementary here and, you know, some of our kids going down and helping and, you know, our counselors are organized in that. We do have one high school kiddo um that is going to start um doing some math intervention and mentoring with one of our kids and you know, got connected through Amy and I initially and then our counselors have kind of helped set finish setting that up too. So yeah, you know, there's something there is something different too about a way a kid talks to a kid versus an adult talking to a kid, you know, always. For sure. >> That's awesome. And then I mean, this is just something to consider in our tutoring programs to um maybe in the middle school reaching out to high
068school students to come down if however you decide to land with your program since it's those are fun. >> Yeah, that's actually was a subject of our last touring meeting with Men. >> Yeah. So, good things to say. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, guys. >> All right. It is um you have a long drive home to play this evening. So, we'll go to our superintendent comments. >> Yeah. So, just I know you used to ask me for just an update with the stadium. So, just real quickly, obviously, you can see a lot of things that are going on. We already uh done the punch list for our turf where we actually um pointed out just a couple things, but for the most part it's just a really really nice turf is done. And
069now they're working hard in the DZone or kind of behind um on the north side where we'll have our long jump, triple jump, and high jump. And so they've got that all prepared as well as kind of around the whole track. They're just making sure we got everything all leveled. Right now the state first part went up pretty fast the stands stands up but now they got to go back through and ripped everything make sure they they b down the hatches and anyway then the t start to come for the top back to the side and um and then meanwhile we're really excited because we have the the ADA access which we now that we have the stadium centered we have a lot nicer slope as we come toward for the ticket booth uh once
070we're safe and so an awful lot of work's been done there and and uh again we've got a crushed rock down and just you know just try to get crush rock all over the place just make sure we can uh when come in that they can hit it hard and go for that. And um and then speaking of which uh kind of leads into the fact that one of the things we've been working hard on is legislatively uh got to you know strike all the irons hot. It's a short session, but still we've been down in Olympia and if we're not down Olympia, we're talking to and I appreciate the board being so involved in Olympia as well. And uh but just making sure we do advocacy for you know, make sure that our students
071have our community has what it needs in order to help our students thrive and do the things that Andy was talking about minutes ago. And uh so we've just we've written some some requests and those requests are moving forward and we're coming for that. Two of our requests are moving forward. don't want to say anything more right now and jinx anything. The point is is that our um senator legisl our senator and state reps are working hard to uh bill and and that's not it has to do with stadium and some of the things that expect to actually creating a stadium for you know maintain walls and support like that. So, um, yeah, the I'm really excited about the midyear um, you know, diagnostics, you know, whether it's I Ready or or otherwise. I'm I'm
072feeling like we're moving in the right direction. We're working really hard as we all know on the two goals this year to an achievement, right? And then we're just adding into that kind of like the scaffolding that talked about how um you know preparation for life and when you know that all those things like you know communication and transparency and um also you know fiscal responsibility those all just all support academics. That's what we're trying to do is is talk about that all the time in cabinet and everything we do is always about, you know, to the end of how we help our students get to the highest levels that they possibly can regardless of who they are, what level they're at. And we'll continue that pretty hard. Um the uh I know that some
073of our pillars talk about communication and transparency and that's something that's expected from the community. And so recently we know sometimes we'll hear something from students or from the community about a certain concern. And so uh we want to make sure uh we write our narrative so that people don't have to write their own. have to, you know, create, you know, that um kind of like fill in the blanks and and so we're working hard to make sure we're proactive in the recent uh communication regarding some information that we've heard and and uh just to make sure we communicate with our parents and community around what our expectations are for students as well as staff members and and also as parents and and stakeholders like how do we how do we keep stay focused on
074our students? just make sure they all have what they need to make sure we create an orderly um place to learn where where you know we show up and as we say you know show up and pay attention well we want to make sure that we keep our on attendance and making sure our students are focused on why they're here um as you mentioned the tuing program we continue to work on on how to expand the tuing program uh met with our principles this last week along with the funer um for the Jill Hornet student services program and and got some more ideas on what they need and and how to help our uh help that tutoring program really be really really be most effective and uh so we'll continue to to do that. still
075worked on community our our community involvement where we're we're trying to be everywhere always all the time doing everything we can I know with groups like Lions Club business association community foundation and others so um just going to continue to do that um sometimes we get chance to present so we'll always present and let them know how they can they can support what we're doing um and with that I just want to again thank the board for your advocacy for how you stay focused on students and advocacy whether it's Olympia or in the community and I feel good about where things are going. I feel like we're culture is building and the the support around student learning is just continuing to move forward. So thank you. >> It's great. Thanks. All right, board comments. Travis,
076>> I'll be quick. Uh, thank you for the night. Awesome. And hear nothing but positives, which is always nice. It's always nice when you don't hear anything, too, which is always um shout out to whoever kid drew the mystery machine up there. That's absolutely awesome. Um, but in all seriousness, um, I love the clubs that you've started and are doing and your science teachers and science club. I know it's always hard to get more clubs and it's a really large piece I think that I think we're missing across our district because we have sports and things, but clubs really help connect kids and I appreciate that. And I love what you're doing with social media. As much as I cannot stand on social media, I love what you're doing with your kids. It's a soft
077skill. It's not soft to us, but for kids to learn and for them to be active and involved in it and learning a positive way to do it. Awesome. Good way to tackle that. I appreciate. So, >> I wish I could say that I started those clubs, but those are teacher led and they're doing an amazing job. >> Yeah, it's and it's so hard to find what triggers to get more teachers to want to do clubs. And so, you know, I'd love if you ever have ideas that help us out with that. So, >> yeah. And I do love that we have so many staff members that are coaches, too. So, that they're not they might not be doing clubs, but they're involved with our kids in some way. >> You know, it's nice to
078have a lot of staff, you know, that are coaches. Thank you for hosting us tonight >> and um just everything you said I I mean I feel I don't know you very well yet or anything but I feel you're a great leader and so I I um I think you're a good hire so far. Um it it just I was on the same page with you on most everything and I I just loved hearing the camaraderie that you're you know focusing on here amongst the teachers and the students and just all the teamwork and um I think it's going to go far. So I'm really I'm really happy and excited to see what's to come. >> Me too. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. You know I've had talked before about middle schoolers and They
079are my favorite people in the wide world. So that must say something odd about me. >> But anyway, um I like what you talked about getting um running start students to help with the math um you know because they would be more inclined to know what it's about and you know they're closer in each group. If you have parents or older people who want to be involved in volunteering in some of the programs is would really help if you find them to be sure that they have the education they need so that they're comfortable, you know, being there. I remember I was a math volunteer years ago and during the era of new math and the teachers stood up one morning and said to the students, "Mrs. Skillard is going to help you with integers
080today. And I turned and looked at him and I said, "What's an integer?" And you know, because I, you know, I ended up taking the books home and learning, you know, but it's just if parents or, you know, older people want to volunteer, they need some education >> and there's always a spot we can make somebody be successful, right? And put them in the right spot if they can. >> For sure. That's the only thing. Otherwise, I think what you're doing is great and I think your staff is really supporting and increasing in their support and I appreciate that. >> Great. Katie, are you with us? >> I am. Um, >> you want to share? >> Yeah, thank you um Andy for your awesome presentation. It was very thorough and uh I agree with um
081so far what uh the rest of the board members have said and and Karen specifically. It sounds like um you're doing a really awesome job at creating a great um inclusive culture of students, parents, and staff. Um, and I do think that that's really going to go well for uh, like you said, increasing trust and confidence between the students and families that were serving um, which will in turn lead to uh, more progress in the uh, reports that we looked at tonight. So, that's awesome. Um, one of the other things that I mentioned to Jay a long time ago and I'm still kind of learning um, about a lot. I mean, we have so many amazing programs that we're offering to our kids and our community. Um, but I had mentioned a Jay a long
082time ago even prior to this position was getting more parents and family members involved in the math portion of things. Um maybe offering some uh you know I know we have some family math nights and stuff like that but maybe some adult math tutoring because I feel like it's an area that most of us parents really struggle in. We can't, you know, one I think one of the reason our scores are so low is, you know, when our kids come home, reading and writing is pretty much the same and science is kind of the same, but math has changed and we don't know how to help because I mean, I don't know about the rest of you, but beyond like third or fourth grade, I don't understand what we're supposed to be doing. It's very
083complicated now. Um, and so I think that if there's ways to uh include some of that for the parents and hopefully they want to be involved in that, that'd be super beneficial to the kids as well. Um, but it sounds like we've all come up with a really good plan and we're on the right track and uh I'm just really grateful that we have your leadership here to take us to the next level. >> Thank you. Agreed. Thank you. Thank you, Katie. And you know, I remember when we transitioned to the new math, we did do parent nights where we did kind of parent tutoring, but I guess we've forgotten that we need to continue to do that. >> It's like we brought in the new program and refresh, but yeah, new parents. So, that's
084really smart. Thank you for reminding us about that, Katie. That's great. >> Yeah. >> Fresh eyes, fresh perspective. That's always wonderful. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for the great work you're doing, Andy. Um, and for focusing and really focusing on just getting that the calming uh nature around hallways and the lunchroom. I know that that makes a big difference. I know that we haven't heard nearly as much um kind of drama from the middle school this year, which has been refreshing. So, I know that takes intentional focus and relationships. So, thank you for building relationships. >> Oh, thank you. Yeah, I I'm just in all honesty, I love it here. I I really do. The staff are awesome. The kids are awesome. It's it's just been, you know, I walking in and feeling like, you
085know, people are here for the right reasons. >> Yeah. >> And so like that just helps carry that piece along. So it's been it's been awesome in the first few months and just with staff with students. >> And you do have a wonderful staff here that deeply cares and deeply invested in kids and community. So you're blessed to work with them. >> Thank you very much. Safe travels swim everyone. I call this meeting to close at 9:05. Anybody need pizza? There's leftovers, I'm sure. In this >> hungry. >> It's Miles pizza, too. So, it's good. your face.