001goodbye for the united states of america regardless justice for all okay well thank you all for being here on this lovely night it's the best night we've had in eons thank you for coming indoors appreciate that um the next item is consider admissions and changes to the agenda yeah so i'd like to strike item g from the content from the consensus um my one concern is just that it it has the appearance that we're approving uh by name individuals for something that's already occurred and i would like to look a little further into this it looks like we already approved these positions but i would like to kind of see what happens um also if it's something that has to do with us not having enough meetings so we had positions that ended up being
002filled we couldn't prove their name still after it occurred i would like to use this as a case to build that we move back two meetings a month at least during the school weeks but for now i'd like to strike that so we can look into kind of what happened here and why we have a buying name that's got individual stolen positions and we're approving it after you know potentially export seasons or foods you know we can always have a special meaning to put special needs agenda has um changed when you entertain emotion to approve sorry no conception to approve the compensation with the change um any discussion although some favorite significant eye i suppose move on to presentations reports how did she go she's getting the agenda um okay um we're gonna kind of
003change the order because she's you know getting the agendas for it so um right now it's hearing individuals and groups have anybody signed up yes thank you matt okay the first person on the list is there's quite a few people that want to speak tonight we're going to hold it to three minutes first okay all right three minutes per person all right let's start with katie skelton where should i let's phone up here it'd be nice if you're in the camera well thank you all for your time tonight and your continued service to our school district obviously this is not an easy job um but collectively and those online have decades of service so thank you for that my name is katie skelton i'm a proud eatonville graduate a few years ago um i moved
004back to eatonville about six years ago to raise my kids here um close to family and it's a place i've always called home although i haven't always been here i have two children that attend eatonville middle school they're active in sports leadership and community events children in eaton bell school district deserve an accurate honest and quality education students from all walks of life deserve safety and the ability to express themselves and support their peers without repercussions from other students staff or community members i watched the recording of the april school board meeting when so moved here i'm gonna start crying james even my bigger name i heard james bravely speak along with his mother i'm not talking has it come out of my time [Laughter] and others supportive community members in defense of the gsa
005club ems i was actually in the car driving when i was listening to this so i was crying and driving was probably very dangerous but i made it um i also wanted to thank jeff lucas um for acknowledging james and his brave message i also heard community members make sweeping statements about what people in our town think and support as it pertains to education surrounding sexual education gender identity student participation the gsa group or even being an ally just today actually there was an act of hate at the middle school and i can show you all photos and email it later against our students that's happening right now today i'm here tonight to let you know that i wholeheartedly do not agree with those statements critical by the programs that educate and support our students
006and there are so many people in this great town that stand with me i cry again but and to james and every other lgbtq plus student invo there's more than one we see you we support you and we are proud of you i want to take the time to state the english school district's vision statement as a reminder our vision for i can't even read my writing because i'm crying it's becoming duplicates here um for all students to graduate with the knowledge and skills to succeed in our community and the global society not just here in eatonville that part i added um we must inspire allow innovation create safe and strong academic opportunities to allow all students to realize success and thrive in the 21st century workplace so tonight i'm requesting that the invo school
007district and superintendent neil distribute a public message during pride month which is in june that reflects its own vision and values to show lgbtq plus eatonville students that they are an important part of our community all right our next one is hi my name is arise skelton i'm the asb president at the middle school i'm 14 years old and eighth grade i take pride in helping create a school atmosphere that's inclusive for friendships and growth i went to school being school board meeting last month and there was a lot of talk about the gsa group at the middle school as i was watching it i noticed how proud i felt when all these amazing community members came together the student support of the gsa they spoke about their feelings values and thoughts it made me
008proud to be a part of the evil community i go to gsa almost every wednesday during my lunch as a straight ally i get to hear other people talk about their struggles and so that i may have the opportunity to understand so i can try and make our school and community a better place but the sad thing is many people say that we shouldn't teach about any of this if not now when every person needs to learn about the lgbtq plus community sexual identity and gender identity and it will be part of our future and the evil district is supposed to prepare all students for their future in the best possible way we aren't teaching kids and doing all we can to prepare them for the real world then we will graduate and leave this
009community not understanding some very basic realities that's the fact that such an amazing opportunity a community like invo a place where people come together to stand up to one another all the time won't stand up for something like this is really sad thinking that the gsa club is inappropriate assignments and students from being themselves many say if you're gay just don't be gay but it's not that simple if you're straight you can't just not be straight that's not your choice it's who you are and you can't change that i envision a community and school that is welcoming safe and inclusive imagine a place where anyone and everyone can be who they are without being bullied or harassed i envision a beautiful wholesome community where everyone is accepted and appreciated all students should have the opportunity
010to do to learn about these things so that they can treat with people with dignity and respect and start with learning and educating yourself i'm asking you tonight to take the time to reach out to these students and get to know them a little better and let them know that you support them as students at the school thank you okay thank you guys for commenting us in the space it's so much better than a cramped room i mean it's cycling over there um my name is sarah cole like paulette i mentioned i graduated in 1992 for medieval high school and my husband brad and i raised all three of our kids here two of them are here tonight and um i'm here to speak tonight on the values that we as parents and community members
011share and that are echoed in school board policy and district values such as curiosity and character and principles we want to see in our children like compassion and respect for others that are a natural extension of our district's values i was deeply concerned by comments made at the last month's board meeting regarding the gsa club at ems that seem to threaten these shared values most of you know our middle son gavin he's a sophomore at western and he graduated from ehs in 2022 or 2020. he was school board student rep and he was for that was his junior year and then junior and senior year he was asp president he's also been gay since the day he was born but we didn't know that until he came out when he was 15. gavin didn't have
012the benefit of gsa club in middle school and i'm wondering if his middle school experience would have been different had he known that he had a supportive community at school and not just at home and gavin had so much support at home do you know what my then 81 year old dad said when gavin made the announcement he said what a blessing what a blessing for our family my dad was not born that enlightenment it took decades of work probably to get there he had 14 siblings he served seven years in the navy and his seven years as a trappist monk probably fast tracked him a bit to that enlightenment but what a blessing what a blessing that because of gavin's courage and authenticity our entire family and all of our friends get to experience
013life through a completely different lens and what a blessing for gavin that he was born into a large family who loves him unconditionally and just as he was created i know that this is not the reality for many of the students who attend edenville schools and i'm not just talking about those in the lgbtq plus community there is no shortage of hurdles that our students face every single day that limit their ability to develop their optimal potential as our district value state why would we take issue with activities or concepts that help students feel understood and appreciated do you know what happens when kids actually feel seen self-esteem academic performance and civic engagement all go up do you know what goes down emotional distress bullying behavior all of those things are impacted poor conduct all
014of those things increase like vandalism vandalism is a perfect example of the things the kinds of things that happen when we don't serve our children so i'm asking our district to be courageous be proactive a student in community service a survey is a great way to gain insight be vocal communicate honestly and often on important issues i don't know that the district has acknowledged or shown solidarity with the community of uvalde in texas from atrocities that happened yesterday but lack of communication creates confusion and missed opportunities to engage with the students in the community and then lastly be creative provide more opportunities for kids who need support or are otherwise not engaged because mission statements visions and values do nothing if they aren't actualized in effective concrete and in a variety of ways if we
015want to instill bravery and grit in our kids we adults will have to find the courage to model it first thank you all right thank you school board for your time and your service my name is jake poole i'm a graduate of eatonville school district and i have two children in this school district also the amount of people present this evening tells me there's a lot of people in this community that care when our community chooses to be brave by gathering and working together our community and our children benefit i am here today because i'm hearing reoccurring concerns from parents and community members over the past several months i am too concerned about the symptoms of our kids are displaying such as bullying drug use suicide fighting arson i'm curious if the root cause is
016mental health these symptoms are a cry for help and it's a duty for the school and the community to address those causes some of the public comments made during last month's board meeting were jolting bigotry silencing of fellow humans in our community was painful to hear we also heard some inspiring words from adults and one brave student they were willing to share their personal experiences and the real impacts that these harmful views statements and actions have on their on the students surprisingly i'm here to tell you that we have a lot we can learn actually from nature see i'm a plants person i'm a naturalist i'm a supervisor of the forest i know what a healthy forest system looks like and how they function just like our schools symptoms are the force way of telling
017us that there's a root cause to the problem so i'm going to take you for a walk in the forest the trees the shrubs the flora they're all connected quite literally by the mycelium network of the mushrooms when one plant is under attack or an insect or by disease or needs nutrients additional nutrients the mycelium helps transfer the necessary resources bringing balance to the whole system our school and staff act in the same way we're here to move resources to the students that are in need this movement of resources and form of specialist programs counseling support academic intervention service academy intervention services allow all students to accomplish the usd vision the esd vision states all students to graduate with knowledge and skills to succeed in our community and the global society and to thrive in
018a 21st century workplace interestingly plants move their resources through my ceiling not only to the same species but also to different species throughout the system why well because nature has figured out a way figured out that a diverse forest with plants with different abilities strengths and weaknesses and roles within the forest will thrive and secede together not separated removal of variety weakens individuals and the whole system of the mycelium while adding more variety that is working together creates a force that's resilient the district mission is together we commit to inspire lifelong learners and create a better future we need to support a variety of resilience through education we have heard the parents and queen matters ask the school board to survey the community for feedback as well as increase communication throughout the district i'm here
019to ask the board to survey the evil school district administrators and educators what are their needs what are the children's needs to succeed the educators are the ones walking through the force with our children every day they have seen the symptoms and likely have a great insight into the systemic root causes let's find a way to support our teachers in this difficult journey the curriculum is built and waiting for our forest museum to spread out the resources where it's needed most be the mycelium system get those resources to where they need to bring balance thank you for the opportunity to be heard because i'm julie hover and i have two children in the schools in the middle school district and i'm here to add my voice to others in our community we should advocate for
020a safe supportive welcoming and inclusive school environment achieve by providing for example safe spaces and inclusive curricula i realize that we as parents and as community members invested in the future of our students and our schools i realize that we all likely agree on that but we may interpret safe supportive welcoming and inclusive in different ways for me it means all students should be supported for who they are not hidden not shushed ashamed not swept under the road does this mean our students must always be comfortable with the beliefs and values of those around them of course not as our children develop into adults they should be able to tolerate some discomfort as they are exposed to diverse ideas viewpoints and opinions they should be exposed to the discomforting truths of our nation's history as
021well as the glories and understand how current events are tied to the past perhaps their opinions will be changed by what they hear their perspectives broadened perhaps they'll courageously stand up for themselves or others in expressing their opinions perhaps they will even disagree with us their parents and will challenge our values even here in eatonville we can't isolate our children from the world the world leaks in our children are strong and brave and fearful and distressed they want to fit in but they have to they also want to stand out our adolescents struggle with some of the same issues we did as they figure out who they are and begin to spread their wings they are also navigating a world that did not exist when we were kids i have two kids in school here
022one finishing up first grade the other in middle school my kids are black throughout their school years they have usually been the only black kid in their class they have always had caring and excellent teachers and for the most part kind classmates i appreciate our teachers and i want them to be supportive and safe as well i want them to be able to discuss uncomfortable topics without facing reprisal i want them to have the space to discuss racism sexism genderism ableism and current events in age-appropriate ways when it comes up in their classrooms and it does come up even in elementary school one year during black history month back when my daughter was small her class learned about the enslavement of black people in our nation's histories apparently this was a new topic for some
023children in our class i understand that most of us who are white don't necessarily talk about slavery around the damn people the kids in her class all turned to her and said i was so wrong you would never have done to you it was sweet but awkward i guess my point here is that while we as parents are our children's first teachers we are limited by our experience if we are white and cisgender two-parent families it may not even occur to talk to us to talk about black history and culture or that of the native peoples whose traditional lands we live on who are still here or families with two moms or dads or just one and the list goes on it's a lot to expect our schools and teachers to be able to fill
024in all the gaps but i do believe supporting teachers and cultural competencies choosing inclusive curricula and providing safe spaces are steps in the right direction and i appreciate the efforts of our board the efforts they have already made in this direction for the sake of our children please continue to do so thank you you don't have any trouble with the deadline for me thanks for listening um we all want children to leave high school with knowledge and skills to enable them to thrive as productive law abiding citizens of the wider world in fact several years ago each of those schools made a commitment to that goal in the district's statement of mission values and goals now posted on the district website i'd like to highlight a few aspects of that pledge it says we meaning
025the school district believe all children of different cultures and backgrounds must have the same opportunities and community support that we meaning the school district must create safe academic opportunities that the character trait respect is integral to student learning and that children need each of us as their advocate as you know not all children are the same race or ethnicity not all share the same religions not all identify as straight and many are differently able unfortunately some people in our community are unwilling to acknowledge and respect those differences regardless as leaders of our school district it's your responsibility to ensure that all children in school are valued nurtured and protected from harm i strongly believe that the majority of eatonville taxpayers and voters agree with me some of you may recall a 1990 book called all
026i really need to know i learned in kindergarten that's when teachers traditionally teach kids how to get along but frankly in the 21st century lessons in civility cannot end there now more than ever it is crucial that our school system foster virtues of basic decency and good will among students during the past couple of board meetings we've heard a fair amount about the problem of student bullying and harassment in our schools i and others would like to know how the board plans to work with the superintendent and administrators to combat this dangerous trend thank you for listening thank you michelle moss hi i'm michelle cornwell i've lived here for over 18 years i wanted to stand up and speak tonight for what should be according to the mission statement and what should be and according
027to the mission statement is the majority providing a public education to all students i have two neurodiverse kids in this district they are both dyslexic as are my husband and i and one is five students in every classroom the planet over this does not mean they cannot learn how to read just that they need specific reading instruction instruction this district did not provide they went to years of year-round tutoring outside of school at considerable cost to our family that takes a toll on relationships and it hits your self-confidence i will spare you the increased rates of substance abuse depression incarceration and suicide among dyslexics but i have them my kids are in 9th and 11th grades now there has been some progress over the years in this whole system progress largely due to grassroots efforts
028by parents like myself for example when my oldest was in fifth grade the president made it legal to use the word dyslexia instead of referring to it as specific reading writing or spelling disability and this school year is the first year washington finally has a dyslexia screening lot in place for kindergarten through second grade i wanted to speak up tonight not just for my kids but for all the struggling readers i've listened to out in the halls over the years while volunteering in my career's classroom and not only for the nerve diverse kids but the lgbtq students all students at last month's meeting i heard one of the directors commend speakers for standing up and speaking their truth even when their personal opinions and philosophies are in contrast to the public being gay is not
029an opinion a philosophy or an ideology it is who these students are it's the whole student who deserves a free and appropriate education from this district i want every student to be able to contribute to their full and unique potential that diversity is what makes for strong and healthy systems schools and ecosystems alike diversity should be celebrated james was a powerful speaker last month's meeting mrs mclennan is an amazing leader and educator mrs ryrick was right the gsa kids need adults to stand behind them and i want this board to know i stand behind them i would like to see the support come out with a statement in support of the lgbt community in our district and provide a structured reading curriculum based on the science of reading that's what i wanted to say don't
030judge how others process just support because good evening um i'm here actually representing um somebody who unfortunately couldn't get tonight and um um and i'm just speaking from her perspective right so um good evening i'd like to first thank the board for your service i know that you have not always received the appreciation you deserve and well let's face it the page isn't very good either my name is kelly walker my family has lived in this community for over 70 years i have deep roots here both of my grandpas were real cruisers who worked in the logging industry and one of them served several years on the school board after living in many other places my husband and i chose to raise my children here i currently work as a school counselor on the joint
031base lewis and cord but i've also worked in the eagle school district while my sons were in high school i'm sure they loved that mom knew everything what was going on i've noticed a disturbing trend in the public comments in several recent board meetings often the speakers often the comments come from one perspective and those speakers sometimes will say that they represent most of our communities if eatonville is still the community i think it is i do not believe this to be true strong of opinions have been expressed about what should and shouldn't be taught and what kind of student club should be allowed in the eatonville public schools these individuals want to deny the rights of others to express who they are and access to complete public education my sons are entering a complex
032world that i couldn't have imagined when i graduated ehs in 1981. i can tell you that david has now earned a bachelor's degree in engineering and a master's degree in astronomic astronomical engineering i will begin his phd program at the university of southern california in august he likes to remind us that yes sometimes it does speak a rocket scientist some of you who have been part of the board for a while might remember daniel who was a student representative on the board he is finishing his junior year at oregon state he'll spend the summer doing a 10-week internship at cornwall university working on a lab that is exploring ways to make plants more resistant to the effects of climate change he also plans to pursue his phd after he gets a degree and i have
033no doubt that he will i believe that without the excellent education they received within the eatonville school public schools my boys would not be where they are i know that is true for many of our graduates no matter what they are doing after high school as proud as i am of their academic accomplishments i'm most proud that they understand everyone deserves dignity no matter what that does not mean they agree with everyone's values or choices just that everyone deserves kindness as a parent i mean forever be grateful to the teachers and all the other students staff that have taught them the academic and other life skills they needed to thrive when they left this community i agree that parents are critical stakeholders of their child's education but if you choose to be in a public
034education system where federal and state laws govern much of what is taught these laws were made through the democratic process based on the input of many people including professional educators and are there to protect the rights of students to receive a complete education not to deny them i fear that some parents in our community are actively encouraging the board to make decisions to create unsafe and incomplete learning environments for our students our kids need to be able to analyze information work with others to solve complex problems and have empathy for our citizens who are vulnerable and marginalized we owe it to our kids to have the opportunity to learn what they need to know be successful in life no matter who they are or what path they choose many years of study tells us if
035students don't feel safe or valued for who they are they will not learn it is the responsibility of not only the board and the staff of the eagle school district but every single member of the community to make sure that decisions that the decisions made protect the welding of all students and continue to uphold our mission our vision values of eatonville school district thank you for your time casey madison hello my name is casey madison and i'm madison i've been a resident in the area um i want to thank each of the board members receiving the community in particular i want to thank those of you who've reminded parents that the school board is a non-partisan and that it's focused to serve and respect all family students all students deserve a safe place to learn
036grow and realize their full potential regardless of their race gender sexual orientation social class or religious or non-religious affiliation okay why am i here today the last of my five children raised right here in eatonville graduated in 2017 and they got a great education i thank you for that like many parents whose children have graduated my attention actually turned away from our schools until last my heart sank after watching last month's school board meetings when i listened to public comment that declared our lgbtq plus students can do whatever they want at home but you should not bring who they are to middle school when community members say these things while claiming to represent the majority of parents i feel it's important for the board to know that these views are not the majority of voices
037in our community a community that is known as a small town with a big heart homophobic views are not the majority not in our community not in our country i watched james an eatonville elementary school student share his pain of being harassed and bullied at school because of a sexual orientation i was moved to tears as james mother shared her experiences fears and challenges this is our community we must not allow bigotry to have a place in our public schools intolerance and discrimination cannot be condoned through silence not by the school community not by the school board and not by the community at large so i know james is here tonight this is for you james your story is personal to me and my family i know firsthand the pain and the suffering you endure
038in eatonville schools i want you you and your mother to know that there are so many of us behind you we understand you you are not alone we believe in you for the human being you are you're not blessed because you are gay you deserve a safe place to learn grow and be a kid and it is this world's responsibility to ensure that you have that safe place to do it being gay is not a political perspective gay students are not voicing contrarian rhetoric for personal gain and notoriety being gay is who you are it is the way you were made it is a human right not a political perspective your sexual orientation is not a threat you are not a threat extremism is bigotry is intolerance is bullying is we will stand behind you
039and every marginalized student in eatonville to demand that all students have a safe and nurturing environment thank you what isn't it um thank you all for having me here i appreciate it um i'm speaking today because i would like to address the conversation that took place at last month's board meeting um i'm bringing it up because i feel a key point was missed due to there being an emphasis on an idea that there was a group of irate parents set out to believe this board or even students to eliminate the gsa club i'd like to point out that wasn't the case then and it is most certainly not my intention now the point i feel was missed and what i believe is the most concerning was the lack of transparency provided by the schools to
040inform us of the resources being provided to our children regarding sexual orientation and gender identity knowing how diverse the opinions of this topic in this community are the schools still chose to leave parents out of the equation parents should be encouraged and supported to educate their children in regards of sexual matters that align with their values and faith that right was taken when the school neglected to provide any communication to us regarding the establishment of the gsa club and the sexual orientation flagler's flag nobody wants to take away a child's place of safety and no child should ever feel unsafe at school however when a school neglects to be transparent with parents with these topics when these topics are being discussed and supported they limit or possibly eliminate the opportunity for conversations to be had
041within the place the child should feel the most safe their home nobody gets to assume a parent's reaction to these conversations and nobody gets to assume parents don't want to have these conversations with their children we unfortunately live in a world that disgustingly over sexualizes our children which is why it is so disheartening the school chose to exclude parents from these decisions that contribute to that kind of social norm after speaking to other parents it is clear that there is a sense of distress that appears to be developing within the school due to situations like this and policies implemented due to coping so how do we come back from that how do we heal we could start by keeping parents informed whether it be a controversial issue or standard information nothing should be kept for
042parents of children of the children these uh these schools have the privilege to educate i doubt i'd be so inclined to speak today and i learned of everything i've mentioned from the administration approving these decisions and not my 12 year old child so inform us because we want to know we should know but most importantly we have the right to know thank you hi there i'm gonna talk about kind of everything that everybody talked about but um start with the fact that um reoccurring heard that a lot um there is reoccurring issues here the bullying is out of control and it doesn't have anything to do with a specific group of people um my son is straight and a very good athlete he's also a good student he works hard and he gets bullied there's
043lots of kids that are getting bullied and the problem is out of control so it is not specific to a specific group there's only 1850 kids in this entire district and we really need to get it under control so um what i suggested was a dad's group to get some on the floor representation extra set of eyes um and i believe jeff said that we could sit and kind of drop up something for that so i'm going to be doing that but i just wanted to point that out um last month and now i did not hear any bigotry or hate i've heard opposition and questions because of lack of transparency large population there's a large population out there with obvious disparities including social class income educational levels etc we have lots of stay-at-home moms
044and lots of kids and family um settings that you know with grandparents and aunts and uncles so there's a lot of people that care and a lot of opposition just in the area and diversity in our area um opposition is life and it's healthy with respect so um how are we going to combat this how are we going to work together what ideas do we have and how do we start solving and making forward progress how do we be more proactive instead of reactive about an issue that's completely out of control um surveys in my opinion service should not be limited to only parents or even admin for that matter but they can be sent to students as well those are um those are direct feedback um gathering points for metrics that can be measured
045i feel like they should be shared with our community just like i suggested about the bullying app about every week they send out kind of like they did with the covet cases but every week there's like a pie chart something simple and a visual illustration that's sent out that shows like hey this is what's going on in our community those are talking points for our kids for our families for continuity um and they are important and transparency is key and um and i think you basically heard that from every single person up here so um i wanted to plan to go over brought up dyslexia program my oldest son has dyslexia and struggled his entire school year he only everything only started clicking this year and as a parent it was one of the most
046heartbreaking and nerve-wracking um things to watch your child go through when you're doing everything you can but they are they all learn their own pace and um there isn't a lot of great programs and support and interventions for dyslexia as i believe it was you mentioned it just got recognized as a um actual learning disability a couple of years ago i believe like doesn't even diagnose this and um i suggested to travis rush uh in formally in writing on 517 to have the board presented wilson reading system as an equity issue and i'd like to see if i consider it because in my opinion every single child could use a dyslexia curriculum not just a dyslexia a child diagnosed with dyslexia so thank you thank you um i want to thank each one of you
047for your very thoughts and presentations and thank you for um sharing your your concerns and and for um showing the appreciation for us to appreciate that a lot um feels very appreciated you know but um we want to do our best to help uh see this district we have things that we will be working on so thank you all very much appreciate everything i um like what i have to say isn't nearly as meaningful as what we've heard tonight like i'm gonna be a major let down to everybody but um so our enrollment is rebounding kind of how we anticipated one thing that i noticed that's a little different this year is we do have um quite a few more bilingual kids um in our schools which is pretty neat so um financially um we're
048just right on track to end with where we started um although we are feeling some um effects of some stopping absences um recently um certainly um some of that has to do with covid but um so we are seeing higher salaries um and benefits because of the um the costs that are associated with that um but other than that everything is pretty much um within the norm so be working on we're working on budgeting and we'll be ready to present that at one of the next coordinates and that's all i have thank no unfinished you can i ask a quick question um i'm looking for running start on your oh got it 37 total yes 17 running starts 27 at the skill center yes is that correct okay so we're significantly lower we've been uh
049several years a little bit it seemed you know a little bit less so yeah which is it's true thank you uh again i'm just gonna clarify because it says for 22 school year athletic events i'm just going to clarify that we're not approving things that happened in 2021 correct okay yeah it looks like on our uh our agenda here that these are starting tonight and fourth for may but the fact that we're approving something the day of a departure is more proof for why i think we need to move to two minutes wow i agree with that statement but i'm also super pumped that we have all of these kids heading to state i think it's fantastic so for those of you who i don't know if you have it in your minute but we
050have tennis fast pitch and track hitting on the state level and that's phenomenal i just so we've got a great i think it's incredibly considerate and they have to be good um academically to just participate so we're very proud of each one of them all right um do you have a discussion here again although the favorite signifies by saying aye aye motion carry item b consider approval of wiaa membership renewal discussion this is an annual penny we do every year nothing has changed consider a vote to continue or abandon current strategic plan and reporting so i'm going to say so we have a conversation we have to have a motion or have a conversation and i was surprised to see this on the agenda but it was part of our conversation that we had on
051our agenda planning meeting and it is that we have a board of fruits for people that we put into motion that has and i think it's attached here it has very specific calendaring reporting dates from every aspect of our district that helps us with our budgeting our staffing our district goals we've heard so much about our district goals and our vision and our mission all of that i think is fantastic and good work um and i was recently brought to my attention by uh was that our state agency that if we are not in complaints of our strategic plan we are out of compliance with the board and so i would like i the way this was brought up on here was a surprise to me but i'm grateful that we can uh pass the
052motion to really refocus or commit at the board to reach focus on this recipe plan and if we feel like it needs to commit then we need to improve it but we certainly need to move forward on um really looking at i think what was good work brought forward not just by key stakeholders in the community this just wasn't a board effort this was a community effort and i think it just worked then and it could work now and if it needs to be uh amended then we can do that work too but and that is again why i think you need more than one week a month because but we're not getting your strategic plan with integrity if we're not getting the reports that we need and our public and our community and our
053research here and some of the challenges that we're trying to overcome our school so that's why that was a surprise that was on there but i'm grateful for the opportunity to have that discussion and open to hearing other people [Music] i think it's been very well i agree with everything so i guess my motion is to get my motion is to continue with our current strategy actually no i actually like this thing okay jeff's here yeah do you want anything yeah i agree and i've been thinking about that i think we've all been thinking about it for a while the strategic plan is uh certainly at a time it needs to be uh renewed yeah that's going to be a big process that's going to take a long time and i think we need to
054make the plans to get that started so then the motion is to continue to continue your existing strategic plan that's my motion rationing purposes for cte biomed progressive doctors we have anybody here to you know whatever please come up so that people that are watching virtually so we can hear you well i'm here because dr hancock and um kelly cowell is our teacher ct director were not available tonight so um as you guys i think know we have we started uh two years ago i should pre-covet and we've continued to expand our biomedical medical careers pathway and cte um dr hancock is uh she's got professional background that allows her to kind of teach that ct cluster science background so we have the human body simply on the biomedical is the first course and then
055we have the human body systems and we have kids that um will go through that and then move on to skill planner or sometimes they you know take that on into college university so uh this is ultrasound machine so the um the ultrasound machine is for it's a small one it's not like it's not a big thing that you would maybe have at a doctor's office but it does allow for um imaging of small animals or well pretty much small animals i don't know if there's small humans we don't have access to that no we want access right but we have the great thing about this particular one is that it does allow for recording or imaging so if if there was an opportunity for animals to be present with the kids great they could
056do the imaging there read the imaging or that can be done outside and then that the kids can just look at the imaging um working with dr best to try to help um students kind of have that check if they're doing a great job analyzing it or not um and or or sometimes uh they were talking doctrine i was talking about uh they're gonna die like i don't want to say what they dissect because it'll make your hearts hurt but they dissect things and um to do the imaging prior to that make them uh you know interpretations of the images and then actually do the dissection to confirm or you know kind of clarify so the goal really is to kind of expand kids understanding of medical career pathways um you know i think kids
057sometimes tend to think doctors nurses but they're obviously you know there's a huge uh field of medical careers and so just trying to create those career pathways and those experiences for kids so as you know cte is all about um industry standard and making sure the kids are getting those um real-world job skills and real world experiences in our classroom so that is um where we're at with that i think there was some budget questions that you guys had so i also would like well one more other questions yes um so we get special cte funding yes so that is assigned specifically for this purpose but i wanted to also highlight that this was really an important factor for me that this is dual credit class oh yes it's cte as well as a regular
058high school credit and has the opportunity to be in college as a high school credit um i think through central central washington university so this is uh by using this they can use this as a college credit in the future and i think that that's really important and impactful that helped me with you know understanding the reason that we would be spending this kind of money on tools my question that you might be able to answer is how many students are impacted by this how many kids are gonna be able to use this device so this year we had just under 50 kids in the two courses and next year i was looking at the numbers today and if they're bigger both of them are bigger they're going to push them 30 so i mean
059we're pushing over that 50 mark and getting it to 60 and we it just continues to grow it was really hard um you know i felt like we kind of got some momentum going in that program and then when you go online and take some fun out of some of these lab hands-on classes they're not that fun online so um kind of coming back to it again i know that i when uh we were touring the soup one as students and some of you i don't think wrong you might have been there but had students touring around the superintendent candidates a year ago the classes they wanted to talk about were those biomedical and human body systems platform and cte budget it's generated by the number of students in the program right and their design
060and is are we bound by certain brands certain manufacturers so i actually use an ultrasound daily when i work and i'm fascinated by the program i just upgraded from an old machine that i have used that was 25 000 to the one that i now carry that i have at home that i take with me they cost 2 300 and this is substantially better images okay so get looking at the numbers and seeing that we could potentially get three devices for close and have more hands-on for teachers i would suggest that the table doesn't look a little more and potentially totally on board with that i think that um just based on kind of what dr and the research that she did that was what but i mean if you could so could we make
061a motion to this amount to be and or or not to add it down or something and enough because what's going to happen is we don't have another board meeting scheduled and so i'm looking at krista what does the motion need to look like um if we if we want to encourage if you could get three devices and kids could be involved to me that is phenomenal so with cte funds there's there's definitely a timeline that we have to use these by and there's a huge misconception that carryover we get all of our carryover we do not get all of our carryover we actually lose money so we're better to spend it this year if we can um so i would say if what are we habits at 77.5 500 i mean i don't know
062i don't know the market um so the device that i use currently that i will vouch for that we should get a quote from is at 23.99 when it discounts over two so if we approved 7500 would probably be getting commercial that's for anybody but looking into it and its capabilities compared to these i think we improved as a 70s 500 limits we could potentially do better for our students having a one to ten instead of a one to thirty ratio for devices um yeah but as long as we cover tax and shipping because i know that i mean i know that's a big concept a misconception about districts that we don't pay tax sales tax but we do actually have to pay sales tax though um sales tax on an amount like that could
063end up being a little bit but i don't know just another thing so could we but if you want to put a limit to the number of devices like [Music] hi opposed no okay consider approval of the greenhouse purchase for school district farm so here we go um i was asked to also do a quick review of the what the goods program is which i think i should probably do every year [Laughter] 25 years in the last five years i've been the leader of the uh gritz farm which was established five years ago by school board and administration at the time that uh and our mission uh i need to do my official thanks to the grub program in olympia we are a pollination of that program and they help us with all of our
064a bunch of our grants and a bunch of our just my mentors um and the program is called grits which is an acronym it stands for growing relationships in the soil and that's what we do we grow relationships and we build this healthy community um of kids that meet in block times uh during the day um through meaningful work and that meaningful work uh a lot of times has to do with with gardening and some farming we build we do some construction in the in the wintertime and uh just do all kinds of cool work we learned about survival skills and homesteading skills as part of our natural resources curriculum our science curriculum the science of fires so we're always making these little campfires and stuff like that so it's a really cool program but
065the emphasis is in building that healthy community where we have a diverse group of kids out there over here and it's been a beautiful thing so here's some here's some examples of some things that have really worked in every year and every group has a few members of the lgbtq community we have some people that are non-white and what happens is that we have people that that challenges sometimes and so we have we have the ability out there to have those conversations um and we talk about half of the battle is if if there's a population of people that you don't understand or creates confusion or something for you meeting them and actually being around them and working with them that creates that communication that creates that that level of understanding what we talk about
066in fact i brought up a bunch of testimonies but um uh and that's all i'll highlight a couple of the ones that we talked about before that actually apply to what we were talking about just earlier today and that is this is that for example we've had a number of students who either begin or recently start identifying as a gender that looks very different than than what they how they appear and we talk about how do you handle that because you have some kids that really that's true they struggle with that idea so we we talk about i kind of it's actually part of my personal journey through understanding it as well is that initially there's gonna be some confusion this is a friend of yours you've known them for at this time they've been
067going through this for ever but you're just now hearing it and your first initial thing is when we identify how we communicate with people we identify really what our feelings are and when we dissect them the first feelings are feelings of confusion um where you're like what what what's going on and and that's okay to be confused and that's what we talk about we give them permission it's okay to be confused when something like this happens and that confusion can lead to discomfort as we talk about how it's okay to be uncomfortable and then that's where we talk about okay now here what do we do with that what do we do with that discomfort um and that's where we really look that's where kids really start to grow in the area of like well
068i mean some of them initially just leave them to be angry at people who are making them uncomfortable and we talk about how it was making you uncomfortable just an uncomfortable situation for you but um but then we most of them with working with these different people they start to realize okay this is not that big i can i can get used to this i can work around it and then some of them work to understand in fact i have one of the testimonies i have in here even though it doesn't specifically talk about this i think one of my proudest moments is i had a kid um it was the beginning heck beginning of this year it feels like a long time beginning of this year um i have we had a student that
069came out as a gender opposite of how how she appeared originally was originally um identified as male for years and now females new dam and everything and then we had this this one kid that he it it was a struggle he's a nice kid but he was really struggling with it um and not that this association goes with it i i don't want to do this but yeah i'll leave that part out um he uh he just yeah he exudes uh that misunderstanding but he made a goal and i was so proud that my goal is to understand and they named this other students i don't know like that but uh uh that is that was his goal for the year is to understand that and it was it was such a big moment and
070i've had a number of moments out there like that so we have a program approved by the school board supported by the school board where it does work to create that safe space and that that that ability to to learn and understand different different perspectives um the main group the main thing of the group and then i'll get back um but one of the main things in the program they earned um they earn a science credit natural resources they earn uh farm management ct credit and their pe credit um working hard we're gonna get some more pe skills thanks very much um but uh we work on really a lot of is what they call in the cte world soft skills how to manage conflicts how to present your ideas in a way people are
071willing to hear them which i heard a bunch tonight i can use this as an example uh tomorrow i talk to the kids about presenting yourself in a way where people are willing to hear um if you're just yelling at them or calling a memphis obviously not going to influence them very well so um that's a lot of soft skills and then what comes to the greenhouse i'm trying to shorten it when it comes to the greenhouse um i believe there's several reasons i want to buy this greenhouse one is that the funds are typically there almost every year at the end of the year there's like this amount that is can afford this greenhouse and in the past when i've been aware of that amount it was too late to order because i have
072to be here by august 31st so so the funds are typically there i'm usually pretty low maintenance um but i have a concrete pad that's sitting out there already um i sized it to that pad uh and i want the greenhouse because i want to do some research i was just talking to krista about even the certification potential so in our in our area when it comes to farming we're not going to ship kids to like big branches a big farmer necessarily in this area but they've gotten a higher likelihood that they could actually transfer skills in nurseries and greenhouses and so i think if we got a professional grade greenhouse um that we could actually work those kids into actually earning either earning an official certification at the very least i wanted to travel
073to the different nurseries and find out what specific skills they're looking for for those kids um to master their through the winter months which is you know where we can still do some growing it would lead to a much more robust mayday plant sale for us because we could start things early enough um and it would just be i think there's just so many advantages to that the program has a lot but i think this one is can be more of a concrete um skills transferable skills situation um the program has um i have a list of questions the program serves daily a group of middle schoolers in the morning first and second a group of high schoolers in the uh afternoon fourth fifth and sixth um you usually start off around 30 middle schoolers
074um at the beginning of every year and then we start around 25 high schoolers um those numbers will fluctuate through the years people move away and whatnot but um but more importantly not only do we impact those kids um every year we do the uh the this last few years through covet we've done the mobile um preschool uh pumpkin patch where you will see it so we go to all of the uh preschool classes and kindergarten classes in the district so under the kids there in previous years we actually involved first graders in a pay it forward program where they would start pumpkin seeds in their classrooms and a lot of schools have their own greenhouses and then they would come out and plant those for the next generation of kindergarten now you're setting that
075up for the next group and i think there was a question about the future of the program some of the future of the programs we actually would like to have a great level through all elementary grades um some sort of project or activity that would involve a farm and probably the greenhouse as well so um that's that's some future goals for the for the program um outcomes of the grits program that's where i had all the testimonies that's where a lot of it comes from there's a ton of these kids when we talk about uh we talk about kids that are suicidal when we talk about kids that don't fit in we talk about kids that feel they're on outskirts of things um those are a lot of times the kids that are attracted to
076this program because we are creating that we really going in and create that situation where they're not having to deal with a lot of the stresses that they might have to deal with in this classroom so it gets them out of the building a little bit away from a lot of that stuff and into an area where we really work hard to to create that all-encompassing um feeling we it's designed to catch those kids that are falling through the cracks especially those suffering from anxiety depression and uh are not likely to finish school um and we've had some success in retaining some of those kids that um would probably stick it out yes i'd love to hear a couple of them um all right let's do this one is going for the kid this year
077uh griff has helped me a lot in my life uh this is my first year before grits i had a lot of issues i was really depressed i had great or really bad anger issues i had no friends that i joined brits and yeah sometimes we'll send you to mrs morris can before but um but listening to what he talks about about communication and personality stuff it motivated me to work on myself become a better person now i'm happier than ever before in my life i worked a lot on my anger and now it's been four months since i've lashed out my personality and can change the tongue for the good and now i have so many friends that i can't even keep up with people actually like me and think of me as a
078really good general person it wasn't for friends i don't know where that sketch ritz has helped me a lot with changing my ways and sitting still i was not in the best crowd and the program got me away from knowing this kid that was he put that nice he was in a very dangerous path um program that got me away from those people and helped me learn better respect for others i was getting in trouble almost every day but because of the respect and ways to keep my energy low and sit still i didn't get into trouble at all last year or this year also um teachers always sleep to me and support me and says much nice thing about me you know i mean so anyway i'll go with those two but um yeah
079there's just a lot of transformation because that's what we focus on uh yes there's employability we talk about perseverance we talk about how to get through a job that gets starts to get boring that's one of the things we really have to tackle out there every time that okay they get excited about something at the beginning and then halfway through man you want to get that reward of finishing so talk about that a lot and so a lot of very general um personality uh personal growth ideas um all of our standards that they come up with are respect and kindness they fit in those two areas um again but um but yeah so that's one of the major impacts of the programs these kids um learn how to do what a lot of you were
080able to do today that's present themselves in a way where people can are willing to hear us and so um and that's they don't start off that way so uh it's a lot of work and uh and we do a lot of that stuff and a lot of the kids will have to talk to me about the fact it keeps them engaged they come to school every day because and they it keeps them in school longer into their career so that it's easier a lot of the kids will transfer from the grits program going directly to the skill center um and it helps them keep their grades up that way because i have the time to work with them on their grades in my classes and sometimes there are others and so that's three classes
081that we know we can get them to pass whereas in them it narrows it it shrinks down their pressure a little bit so um again i can go on that so um i guess any we're talking about the greenhouse um any questions about the greenhouse okay um and you know okay but um you said something about there was money and we lose it if we don't do this where does it come from ct it's the cte budget and it's based on the numbers of students that i have okay okay the state funds us for students right student we get 1.25 so that's that yeah i knew that i just didn't know what i said went away and i know personally and in my defense i really asked for her okay you just need to be
082aware another question i had and this was something that i i was talking to somebody about um and they said that the concrete pad where it would be put on is in the danger zone of the bond yes so what what's going to happen this summer as far as really it's a it's a it's a danger and it would cost the the cost of restoring that bomber um it would be an amazing space to use but the amounts of money that i've heard to restore it or too much so we're really looking for someone to help us disassemble or take it down save the wood replace it with maybe some sort of pool barn or something and then use a lot of the existing wood to create a similar feel of the violence that's that
083that's the eventually that part hasn't been all approved yet but that's kind of the idea and right now the barn is it's propped up and it's they had some people go in there and we don't go in the barn but it's it it is a hazard and if we weren't allowed to put a greenhouse anywhere in the fall zone of the barn there would be so um so yes that was the idea yes okay [Laughter] um yes i do paulette that is a huge surprise uh i think deciding to take down the barn is a decision that we need to talk with our community about there are tremendous feelings about that barn in this community okay and uh yeah i think it also might be on the historical registry it has special about what you're
084looking for i wasn't i wasn't thinking anything okay um but i i don't i either ways finally um if we if we keep it up in its current condition that does restrict a lot of our movement out there um but if somebody wants to if somebody wants to fix it up for me that'd be awesome i would love that too i was going to say this for my comments but i think now is an appropriate time to say this that we need community support around foreign restoration grants or any kind of grants or any kind of support and we have a really fantastic group here and i think you you just so well put how this program really benefits our students and i know that there are programs in other states who have taken these
085farms and turned them into really functional educational opportunities and so um i'm pleading to you use your resources reach out help us find a way to really keep this as a place where students can honor the history of our community and also continue this fantastic program and i do also believe that um the skills that they can learn in the greenhouse are very valuable and important and so i will support that as long as we can also support uh moving forward on one historically appropriate sure uh you know because it is on the historical registry i'm quite certain because i work through the process of getting that involved and so we've got to be really gentle about the process and uh it's yeah probably wouldn't come down in the summer it would take a lot
086of let's rewind yeah yeah okay we'll put it somewhere okay yeah um important like you said that it needs to be done and delivered by august 31st so right and and the idea was delivered and then we could we could set it up later if we needed a ton more time for that so there's that idea um but yeah i even had a couple guys come up to look at what a less expensive restoration wasn't it got into engineering so yeah i would 100 support a remodel of it but i'm gonna stop talking all right yeah no and todd you're absolutely right i mean we this is just an if uh if we restore it if we replace it uh it's it's time to have that conversation in the community um yeah and it may
087not be savable but uh you know either way it's gonna cost an awful lot of money to uh to either resurrect that or build a new one so uh and i i see the the next uh i'm probably gonna have to go here in a couple minutes so i fully support uh rebuilding a team to come up with the future of the of the barn there yeah and uh i i i just i can't support spending that kind of money on a greenhouse uh until we we have a plan we you know unless we know we're going to have some place to put it because we can't put it on that pad well the barn is standing so i think we're we're at the place to make a plan and and go from there so
088that's my two cents and i have to go okay sorry thanks folks thank you chad and i get that so i i understand and you're saying there's no location we could pour for okay so so um so part of the greenhouse um would be paid for with the perkins grant um it's eight thousand dollars it was it it was a grant that was done um a while back and um it's very it's hard to um redo those those perkins grants not that that should be a factor in the decision that has to be spent by the end of all it has to be received by the end of august um would your kids be interested in learning how to do flowers yeah i don't know i i wouldn't imagine we have community members right it's
089not like if it's leaving yeah sure absolutely that doesn't have to be spent immediately that portion we don't need to be assembled before august or no we just need to receive it because it yeah okay and same thing with the green house does not be assembled that you know by 30 horsepower the funds have to be spent so that we have to whatever is it has to be sent and received by it has to be received by the end of august goods okay so we have not had a motion on this yeah with concrete ago they were saying it was two to three weeks now we're in season so it could be that's right i mean it could be six to eight weeks by now is what i'm thinking but maybe not maybe we get
090lucky and it's shorter yeah that's one of the reasons this company was a better deal for guessing other companies yes why don't we put those two together yeah so i'm gonna also include in that motion to set up a vision team to discuss the future of the farm and so we can try to figure out kind of what we're gonna do and sort of work these pieces together while we have this greenhouse inbound so we can use the money that we have available while it's available and then be able to do that in time so my motion is both we approve the greenhouse we get it ordered but we also set up a committee to figure out the future by saying i opposed motion terry all right that is regular business on the super business
091con comments mr neon hello can you guys hear me okay yes we can okay thank you uh first of all i apologize for not being there in person right now but i'd like to uh thank tyler and his team for getting us hooked up video videoly and audibly so that we can go ahead and do this i'd like to start off with kind of the state of the district report and give it um an update on what's going on around at our buildings and i'm starting off with a columbia crest academy they're concluding the state testing this week which is a smarter balanced assessment sometimes called the sba and they would like to thank all the donations that came from various parents who helped provide healthy snacks to keep the students fueled during the testing
092the student council elections were held and there were many students interested in running for office there was a strong group of student leaders for next year who are eager to make a difference and the proud to announce the school president is a current sixth grader addison johnson you can go to the website uh to read her statement that she has also the uh fifth and eighth grade students leave overnight for an overnight camp on tuesday and they're very excited to spend four days learning outdoor education from high school students in the highline school district at camp wascowitz i believe is how that's announced but anyway um they'll be heading out on tuesday and they look forward to that opportunity uh warehouse or elementary's got a few things going on they have gone through the sba
093or the smarter balanced assessments and they will be testing through june 2nd and that's grades three four and five that are working on that currently they also have plans uh for their field day on june 15th and along with this event they need lots of volunteers so if uh you still need to if you're interested as a volunteer get the paperwork in and we'll get that approved and moving that forward and also over 25 incoming kindergarten families attended the kindergarten roundup on may 11th so thanks to all the families that showed up for that occasion okay next from eatonville elementary we kind of have some dates here that i'm going to go over and i'm going to go through them fairly quickly but um you can always go onto the website and um make sure
094that you if i missed these days you didn't have a chance to write these down but on may 24th which is yesterday they had they started their structured learning community and they had a community access at the fire station uh today excuse me again on the 24th yesterday the preschool got a chance to go to the zoo tomorrow we have the second grade music program and that will be at the high school at 7 p.m so make sure you go to the right location if you plan on attending that may 27th again the preschool will be going to the zoo uh the june 3rd structural learning community will be access will be at the point defiance zoo and they're happy to announce that on june 10th they will have their kinder graduations and donuts and
095diplomas will be held in the cafeteria june 15th is their field day and june 17th is the fifth grade promotion and that goes from 10 15 to 11 15 an early dismissal is at 11 30. eatonville middle school track and volleyball seasons are coming to a close next week they're hosting their league track and field at the east ville high school track on may 31st at 3 30. anyone interested in volunteering just check in with the middle school they also have some upcoming events that they want to point out june 2nd will be the sixth grade teachers visit eatonville elementary and weyerhaeuser fifth grades to give them an orientation on what to expect on june 3rd they will have their asb dance from 2 30 to 4 30 and this is their first dance they've
096had since january 2020 so everybody's very excited to have this up and running again june 7th will be the future warrior night at 6 30 p.m in the gym for all the incoming warriors and parents and guardians june 8 is the roll-up day again with eatonville elementary and warehouser to the fifth graders to the middle school and then as well as the eighth grade students for the middle school going to the high school june 8th will be the band concert at 7 p.m and that's open to everyone june 15th the eighth grade field trip and the sixth and seventh grade awards in the field day uh let mrs resh know if you're interested in volunteering they could always use some additional help and june 16th the eighth grade celebration at 10 30 a.m in the
097big gym there will be awards and certificates also if um you didn't get all those dates marked down just please go to their website and you can see what they have going on there as they have that posted eatonville high school there were 175 students who attended prom on may 14th they had a great time to hate student behavior was excellent they have finished up their advanced placement exams this last week and have started their smarter balanced testing for english language arts and math and then they will start their science testing the following week they have over 50 scholar athletes for spring sports and a scholar athlete must be a varsity student athlete who has a cumulative gpa of 3.5 or higher so great job by all those folks there are eight students competing in
09812 events at the state track and field championship in cheney this week that's uh thursday through saturday the 26th through the 28th the eatonville high school fast pitch team won the district championship on saturday play friday in the state tournament as the number one seat congratulations to them east valley high school girls aaron mitchell and cassidy fosters the doubles team play in the state tournaments tennis tournament in yakima this week and the spring band concert will be thursday june 2nd at 7 pm a reminder about some of the the activities for the seniors coming up june 6th is the senior parade and elementary school grad walk on tuesday is the seventh grade graduation practice senior awards is that night at 7 p.m wednesday june 8th is the last day for the seniors move up assembly
099including the eighth graders from ems and columbia crest is at 10 o'clock with an all-school lunch to follow and then a culmination to everything that the students have done since uh they've been in the school district is saturday june 11th is the graduation at 5 p.m at st martin's so hopefully as many people can attend that as possible i kind of like to to conclude with cut out the national tragedy that occurred yesterday and i i woke up this morning um with a heavy heart and extremely concerned about our children and our staff um you know it's been a very stressful and emotional year there's been a lot of things going on and i'm really proud of the hard work the students and the staff have put in this year to make this work there's
100been a lot of sacrifices that they've made they've gone beyond the call of duty both students and staff and i'm extremely proud of all the work that they do and parents i know you talk to your your children but continue to talk with them talk with them ask them not only what's going on that's good in their daily lives but ask them things that they might be struggling with or problems that they have and and if you need additional help or if you need additional information feel please contact your child's uh teachers and have conversations with them because they would love to chat with you and talk with you and uh to work with you as a team as as you you go and you don't have to do this work alone so please do
101that and you know finally um again to to all our staff members i i just really thank you for all the the courage and adversity that you've shown this year um you continue to show up each and every day you put your best foot flow forward in a time that's been extremely difficult and i really want you to take care of yourselves and take time to connect with each other and if you need support please please do not hesitate to reach out and to talk with somebody whether it's your building or someone from the district office um but i i'm very proud and honored to say that you know i work side by side with with these folks and i again i'm just i have a great admiration and gratitude for the work that they
102do each and every day and i'm very proud of of them for that that concludes my report thank you okay and on to four comments other than i think just being especially proud of our students our student athletes our students in general our coaches parents thank you all for being here it's so wonderful to be and to hear from each of you i really appreciate the work you do and particularly the students who come and [Laughter] sorry mr morish for the great work that you uh have done at the farm it really is a tremendous opportunity and a blessing to those students to our community and you would you have really done that all that work yourself the longest i've had um she knows exactly how my brain works and is able to fill in
103the gaps for two years and i'd be remiss if i didn't share my frustration with the fact that she's been removed from that program not by her choice or mine but because of some sort of frustrating process that they have um and i it's just really sad for me and for her so i don't know if there's anything to be done about it but i'll just leave that hanging okay but uh she's amazing and so she she i just can't i can't give her an effort so that's what makes i look forward to having additional meetings and i'm looking at amanda to make sure that we get back now that we have four promotions um and i appreciate the board for um refocusing and re-affirming our strategic plan and that will be important part of
104the schedule that we're working on and so we can make sure that um good work goes forward even when these kids aren't in the building thank you okay and i have just um and i appreciate each and every one of you tonight and for those of you who spoke who spoke from the depths of their heart and we heard and we're listening and working on some things and go through the things that we as board members can do and to support your students and your families thank you for that i um along with that there's a program that um i i fully support um it's called carry chris strong and it goes all the way from kindergarten through adults actually when we were at the small school conference we got to participate in it and
105it was amazing as adults to participate in and i listened to a webinar today on the um um until fifth grade and there's one tomorrow on the older kids that i'm going to listen to but the three main points of character strong are be kind be strong be well and the the things that they do don't take up a lot of time and they don't take a lot of learning they have a lot of tools they have a lot of resources and they have um it's very simple this is it's just the simplicity of it really struck me but it's the things we're talking about you know it's like helping kids to maneuver through some of the things by these um unique ways and one of the things they played today that was so cute
106and i didn't i went to write down the title of it but they have these little songs that kind of reiterate you know how to be kind to the first graders you know that they were working with and it's just that you know empathy cooperation respect gratitude honesty uh responsibility here so these are the these are the things that are in this program and i'm i'm totally sold on it i'm really down and um hoping we can have it going next for our students it's another piece that way i think will help in all the things that we've been helping just helping kids to be comfortable being themselves and be comfortable being around others and that's my footwork and so i want to thank all of you for coming and gary thank you and um
107at disappointed there's no other business during the meeting you want me to use the hammer you