001Good evening. The time is 5:37 on April 21st. Uh time for the uh special Board of Directors meeting, a regular Board of Directors meeting for the evening. Please rise with me to do the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. >> [clears throat] >> Director Groundwalt has our land acknowledgement. Evergreen Public Schools resides on the traditional lands of the Chinookan peoples and the Cowlitz tribe. They have lived on and cared for this land and its waterways since time immemorial. We thank them for their stewardship and make this acknowledgement to open a space of recognition, inclusion, and respect for all indigenous students, families, and staff in our community. Thank
002you. The next item on our agenda is to adopt the agenda. Move to adopt tonight's agenda as presented. Is there a second? President, um I'd prefer if we uh could remove one item off the agenda. Which item would you like to move? The um classified payroll report. Which item number is that? Um Are you referring to 7B? On the Superintendent's consent agenda? Can you put it up on the Oh, we can't move that. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. I don't see a 7B. Is it the classified personnel? >> I'm sorry. 6B. And do we need discussion or Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded to um move the um classified personnel report item 6B on uh the printed agenda uh for discussion later on. Uh from consent agenda, yes. Is there any
003discussion? Um yeah, I I have a question if we had uh quorum on it on that uh referencing something that's on there to approve it? Are you asking if we have a quorum in this meeting to approve that item? No, in the previous executive session. Oh, no no quorum was established at the previous >> All right. Thank you. >> meeting and the executive session did not begin. Okay. And therefore an item on there cannot be approved at this point in time. Are we discussing that item now or discussing No, I guess we can move on. Okay. Uh All in favor of adopting the agenda as amended. I. I. Motion carries. We now have an agenda. I'm having a technical difficulty on the laptop here. Okay, the next item on the agenda is the superintendent report.
004Okay, thank you. Um as typical of my superintendent reports, I attached the different topics that I'm going to share with you to the operational expectation policies. So, the first topic is legislative advocacy work and that is attached to the OE zero equity, OE nine communicating with the public, and OE six financial administration. I've had several meetings with Clark County superintendents, and with ESD 112 region superintendents, and with superintendents from across the state regarding legislative advocacy. We, all of us as a board and superintendent, also hosted a legislative advocacy meeting for WASDA this past week as well. I've been asked to represent Southwest Washington on the U Dub Superintendents Unified in Partnership for Equitable Schools, short acronym is U Dub SUPES for that, and that is a state-level committee with superintendent representation from across the entire
005Washington state. The U Dub SUPES state committee, it's a collaborative initiative between the University of Washington College of Education and the Washington State Washington State school leaders. So, there's not only other superintendents on it, but there are also other Washington State leaders as part of that. It was initiated back in July 2024 and to create a five-year actionable plan to reform K-12 education funding. So, it's really key that I have a voice at that table. The group represents a proactive approach by leading educators to address structural and systemic issues in school finance, aiming to improve resources for all students across the state. This partnership, it aims to influence state policy by bridging research on education finance with practical, on-the-ground, and equitable solutions. This work is so important for public education in Washington state and for
006the future here of Evergreen Public Schools, And I'm honored to be asked to be part of that committee moving forward. The second topic is transition to kindergarten and that falls under operational expectations for zero equity and operational expectations 11 instructional programs. This year Evergreen Public Schools received funding from the state for 82.6 FTE TK slots. So TK is short for transitional kindergarten. Next year the state plans to fund 43.76 slots. That's a reduction of 38.84 slots which amounts to around 47% reduction in funded slots for us. We were notified of this over spring break. This was a surprise as we were originally notified that we're only going to lose two classrooms or around 33% of our TK program originally and that ended up being part of our budget reduction plan. So this reduction brings the
007total to four of our seven current TK classrooms that we're losing funding for. However, I am currently working on a way to keep one of those classrooms open for next year. TK is incredibly impactful for our students and the data is undeniable regarding the success of our students who are able to be in TK. This program sets these students up for success throughout their entire K-12 school career and years. You may remember from the early learning program coordinator Galen Mills, her presentation to you on early learning that workshop that we did that the data truly does show that transition to kindergarten programs are successful improving readiness, their confidence and long-term academic outcomes especially for our most vulnerable learners coming from our low-income families. It is extremely disappointing that our state lawmakers made that decision to
008cut TK funding. Based on these cuts, students at district they lose access to this valuable program. My third topic is on teaching, learning, and equity department. It falls under OE zero, which is equity, OE 10, which is safe supported learning environment. So, as you know, we are in in year one of a three-year period of significant budget reductions. We have evaluated the structure of our teaching, learning, and equity departments based on district needs and findings from our external review that we had taken place this this winter. These adjustments are designed to align resources to the areas of greater impact directly in our schools. Following the resignation of the director of student equity and family engagement, we shifted our approach at that time to prioritize school biased school based support. An equity specialist was hired in
009October and is working directly with principals and school teams, and we will continue to prioritize this role. We explored adding an assistant director. However, we did not identify a candidate whose experience and background aligned closely with the priorities of that role. In addition, as part of our broader budget planning and commitment to prioritizing direct school based support, we have decided not to move forward with that role and we will not be filling that position. Instead, equity work will lead through a coordinated structure with the executive director of programs and school performance overseeing the department and ensuring strong alignment across the teaching, learning, and equity efforts. Additionally, a vacated social emotional learning specialist role will be repurposed as a discipline equity specialist, further strengthening our focus on student equity and increasing support to schools by supporting
010the development of equitable, inclusive, and student-centered discipline systems across the district and increasing our equity-focused staff at the district level. In Evergreen, equity means ensuring that every student, especially those historically marginalized, have access to rigorous grade-level instruction, culturally and linguistically responsive practices, and the supports they need to belong, to grow, and to succeed. This work is most impactful in the classrooms and schools, and that is where we are focusing our efforts. That concludes my superintendent report for tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Maloney. Any questions on the report? The next item on the agenda is the teaching, learning, and equity update. Dr. Fox. Good evening, President Perkins and members of the board. As with each teaching, learning, and equity update, my goal is to keep us grounded in our shared priority of student achievement. These
011updates help ensure that the work of our system remains focused on what matters most, what students are learning, and how well we are supporting them. And this falls under OE11, instructional programs. Recently, we developed a way to continue telling the story of teaching and learning across Evergreen Public Schools in something that we are calling academic spotlights. These spotlights highlight what's happening every day in our classrooms through the experiences of students and the expertise of our educators. And they will live in a dedicated location on our district website, making them accessible not only to the board, but to our broader community. And so that follows OE9, communicating with the public. Tonight, I'd like to briefly revisit one of those stories and then spend more time on a new one. You may recall our first academic spotlight
012on middle school robotics at Clark College. Students worked in teams to design, build, and program robots to complete complex challenges, testing, revising, and improving in real time. What stood out was not just the technology, but the learning. Collaboration, problem solving, perseverance, and the application of knowledge in a real-world context. It was a powerful example of student engagement and applied learning, and a reminder of the pathways we are building for students in STEM. And in this photo, you can see Shahala Robotics Club advisor, Todd Ashoff. Our second academic spotlight focuses on something even more foundational, early literacy. This spotlight features an academic interventionist at Fircrest Elementary School sitting with a small group of students and teaching a lesson with simple directions. And while the moment may look simple, it reflects highly skilled and intentional teaching. In
013this small group, students are listening for individual sounds, blending them into words, and writing what they hear. This is the beginning of literacy. The lesson is structured, fast-paced, and responsive. Every move the teacher makes is purposeful based on what students know and what they need next. This is also where it's important to make a distinction. Across Evergreen, all students receive receive strong research-aligned literacy instruction in their classrooms. What we refer to as tier one or core instruction, that is the foundation and for most students it is enough. But some students need more time and more targeted support. That's where small group instruction comes in. Academic interventionists provide that additional layer working with students in focused groups to accelerate skill development and close gaps. In this example, that work includes the use of UFLI, an evidence-based
014approach to teaching foundational reading skills. UFLI helps make the structure of language explicit. Students learn to hear and manipulate sounds, connect these sounds to letters, blend them into words, and apply those skills in both reading and writing. But the program is only part of the story. What matters most is how our educators use it. They're using assessment to pinpoint exactly where a student is in their learning. They're adjusting instruction in real time. And they are creating learning environments where students are both supported and accountable. And because of that, we're seeing strong results. Students receiving this targeted support are making significant gains in a relatively short period of time. In upper elementary, students are growing at rates that exceed their peers on district assessments. In earlier grades, students are building the foundational skills they need and
015reducing their level of risk. And perhaps most importantly, when students get this support early, the impact compounds over time. They don't just catch up, they begin to move ahead. YouFly is one example of how we are continuing to refine and strengthen our system in service of students. We're proud of the work our educators are doing and the impact it is having on students because in Evergreen Public Schools strong outcomes begin with strong teaching. While robotics and early literacy look very different, they reflect the same commitments. Strong teaching, aligned systems, targeted support, and a focus on results for students. And as we've shared before, our role is to ensure a guaranteed and viable curriculum across the system to create clarity, alignment, and the conditions for high-quality instruction in every classroom. My hope is that the academic
016spotlight will help make that work visible for you and for our community. You can see on this slide that I've linked our website so that you can see the academic spotlight on our website. It's very different from what I've just presented. You should I encourage you to read it yourself. The focus on strong teaching and strong readers is broken down in this post and the results that I referenced are are spelled out in greater detail here in this dark blue strip at the bottom. Thanks to Aaron Windersong for getting this posted today before my presentation to you. This concludes the teaching, learning, and equity update. And foreshadowing for your next meeting on May 12th, we'll have a winter sports review. Thank you. Are there any questions for Dr. Fox? Hearing none, we'll move to the
017next item on our agenda. Give me a moment. I'm missing a document. The next item on the agenda is public comments. Community members who wish to speak to the board Community members may address the board on matters of public concern during the designated time for public comments. Each speaker has 3 minutes. The microphone will be muted when time expires and no individual may speak more than once per meeting. Policy 5161 prohibits conduct that material disrupts the meeting but states that uncivil conduct does not include the expression of controversial or differing viewpoints that may be offensive to some persons. Audience members must remain uh refrain from applause, cheering, booing, or other demonstrations during public comment to preserve each speaker's full time. Okay. Our first speaker is coming in virtually, Rebecca Goldman. Rebecca, can you hear us?
018Hi, yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Go ahead, please. Okay. Um, can you see my camera? Do you want to see my camera? I'm told that we can't see the camera. Um, okay. That's fine. All right. I'm Rebecca Goldman, mom to a preschool student in the district. This is my natural speaking voice. Um, I've watched other public commenters appeal to board members' senses of morality, legal responsibility, basic fairness, um, all ignored. But, I have heard board directors say many times that we cannot possibly cut more positions or staff in the admin office and then approve the budget cuts to back that up. So, here's how getting rid of the video recordings under the new 1440 policy will create more work for our non-student facing staff. So, under the
019current policy, if I can't attend the board meeting, I can watch the video recording the next day. Um, it's not perfect, especially if I'm a community member with a disability or English isn't my first language, but I can ask for clarification of the automatically generated captions or visual description if I need those things to have equitable access. Here's how it's going to work if the revised 1440 passes. First, you literally can't add captions on audio recording. There's no visual channel to put them on. So, someone wanting captions will instead have to ask an EPS staff member instead of accessing them directly. Second, if there's no video to go along with the audio, it's really hard to match up any visual materials shared in the meeting with the portion of the audio recording discussing them. Speakers
020will need to take time to verbally describe any visuals used. Now, that would be great to do anyway, um, as an accessibility aid for our visually impaired community members, but based on prior attempts to reduce public comment time, I suspect this board is more concerned about meetings running long than disabled folks having equal access to the content. And if those visuals aren't included in the agenda packet, that's another public records request to get access to materials that again, prior to the 1440 revisions, would already be available in the video. More wasted admin staff time and more fees to our outside law firm, which is often called upon to assist in very routine records requests. Again, this is all work that cannot be automated. Have you all ever looked at the quality of our automatic transcriptions?
021I'm going to share some examples from the transcript of the March 10th meeting, um the one with no videos of public comments. The land acknowledgement references the Cowlitz Tribe. Um I think that's supposed to be Cowlitz. Um a speaker identified as being from Evergreen Book Schools, kind of ironic for a district with no librarians. A shout-out to REED Northwest, which the transcript spells R E E D. Not great. Um the transcript also mentions someone named Seal Gums, which from context I'm pretty sure is the current COO. In general, names of non-English origin get butchered in the transcripts, which is not a great look for a school district accused of not supporting people of color and immigrants. Please don't create more work for our overburdened admin staff with this absurd policy, and please provide better accessibility
022for our disabled and multilingual community members. Thank you. >> for your comments. Your time has expired. The next person I have on the list is um Danny Stevenson. Is he online? Danny, can you hear us? I can hear you. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Go ahead, please. Hi. Um hello, everybody. My name is Danny Stevenson. Until September of 2023, I spent years working in the Evergreen payroll department with very positive performance reviews. In September of 2023, I was confronted with the choice of implementing internal controls that existed and were put in place by the Evergreen School District with respect to issuing payment for a supplemental contract for overtime on an administrator on a bargaining team at the time. In 2023, I had a choice. On one hand, I could do my job
023as I was trained and to do it with integrity and accountability, or on the other hand, I could react in fear and not follow those rules. I chose the former and it eventually resulted in my involuntary separation from employment with the district. Since the last public meeting, I became aware that the Vancouver School District Accountability Audit was completed on March 26th, 2026. In the last 3 years, the State Auditor's Office has completed their accountability audits of Evergreen School District every year between mid-March and the latest is the first week of April. These dates of completion are also consistent with the completion of last year's accountability audit of Vancouver Public Schools. However, unfortunately, it has recently been confirmed with the Washington State Auditor's Office that this year's accountability audit of Evergreen School District will not be
024completed until probably as late as mid-May, potentially. It is understood that this 2-month delay is related to the State Auditor's Office not being aware that the September 4th, 2023 supplemental contracts and the related issues which should have occurred in the at least the last year's fiscal year 24 audit or the accountability audit conducted the year before that, the fiscal year of 2023. It is understood that all of you, the board members and or the superintendent, are aware of these circumstances. At least one of you has made public statements to the effect that the Washington State Auditor's Office is aware of the September 4th, 2023 supplemental contracts and that this was part of last year's fiscal year 24 accountability audit. The facts contained within the last statement have been verified by the State Auditor's Office to
025not exist. The State Auditor's Office has been clear that it did not consider the September 4th, 2023 supplemental contracts when conducting the fiscal year of 2024 accountability audit. To summarize, the statement by Evergreen School District Superintendent indicating that this did occur is false. In the past, you have heard my concerns about false statements made about me. While I maintain that it is important that this be corrected, I think it is really important to recognize the broader concerns here today that yesterday the false statements impacted me, but today the false statements impact and the failures to disclose those are impacting the entire district. For those of you on the board, it is your responsibility to hold that administrator who has engaged in providing publicly false information and contributing to the current delay in the accountability audit
026accountable. This falls at the feet of the superintendent and as a result, the board should request her resignation. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Camille Loman. Hi, my name is Camille. I'm a parent and a very involved volunteer in the district. It's on the agenda tonight for the board to have their second reading and vote on the revisions to policy 1440 and have future plans to make revisions to policy 1430. Instead of focusing on the impact of yet another significant budget shortfall, a looming audit decision, false or misleading statements being made by the superintendent and the district's attorney, the repeated requests by Director Wilson for an investigation of the events of January 14th, 2026 between the COO and PSE President, and a board seat vacancy, uh the board is instead choosing to
027rewrite these random policies. So, why is it that the board is so set on prioritizing how the public is heard and limiting the responsibility of the district to ensure that board meetings are actually accessible? Like at the beginning of the last meeting uh in March, there was a toddler crying and pretty much everyone in the room understood. We're all either parents or educators ourselves. And after what was likely an already exhausting day with the toddler, the mom of that toddler still showed up and participated in this public comment process. And during what should have been her 3 minutes to be heard, she was interrupted and shut down twice. And not based on any specific rule violation, but on a personal personal reaction to her naturally higher pitched voice and her chosen delivery of gentle parenting.
028Disliking a speaker's tone is human, but reacting on that discomfort in an official capacity is not an appropriate response from an elected official. And candidly, this is a room that has heard far less gentle approaches during public comment. Many speakers, including myself, are unapologetically gentle. Not gentle. So sorry. Not gentle. I'm actually pretty snarky, mainly for the laughs and to bring some life into these board meetings, but I've never been gabbled. But I understand this board wants to make board meetings boring again, so business can be conducted more quickly. Totally understand. But the district needs does not need less public engagement or less accessible information. It needs genuine action from the board rather than reactions and secret decisions being unilaterally made by the board presidents. And while there may not be a specific RCW citing
029a requirement for public comment to be on video or to keep a record of detailed meeting minutes, trust cannot be rebuilt by doing barely the bare minimum. And the revision of 1440 as presented should not be passed. Taxpayers also voted to pass the bond that paid for the video equipment used to record and stream these these public meetings. Also, what is an RCW? Is RCW 28A 150230. It estab- It establishes that the school board school boards are accountable to their local community and electorate. But yes, if the board is tired of listening to the same things and the same people all the time, let's make board meetings boring again through accountability and transparency rather than through limiting accessibility through policy. And it needs leadership that treats accountability as responsibility, not an inconvenience to be managed
030behind closed doors. But it's up to the board to make that choice. And remember, RCW 4256030 makes it clear that the public does not give their elected officials the right to decide what is good for the people to know and as what is not good for them to know. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Excuse me, Board President. Yes. >> Kind of clarification. Um I'm not seeing the um speakers on the video here. Tomorrow with the recording, will they be recorded or will it just be show of of names? They are. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Appreciate that. Our next speaker is Angie Bunda. Hi, my name is Angie Bunda and I'm a parent in the district. Since the last public meeting, I've submitted questions related to the concerns about the proposed changes to policy
0311440 and asking why now, whose idea this was and why it needed to happen. From being at other board meetings and workshops, it's been stated by the current board president that the desired form the change was from former President Witherspoon. This has not been verified. Additionally, the current board president indicated that Garrett Williams drafted the changes to policy 1440 and other public comment policies. Despite months of public comment speeches and emails, no one at the ASC and practically none of the board directors have even acknowledged the concerns about the actions of Steven Klee, attorney Garrett Williams, or the conflict that his behavior presents in drafting changes to public comment policies. There are a large number of unchallenged factual issues that have simply gone ignored and unaddressed. I recently received a a response by email from
032the Board President and he was not responding oh that he was not responding on behalf of the board and in the next sentence indicated what the board's position was on the matter. There's a difference between selective interpretation and fact. The ESP school administrators and board directors have been very creative in their interpretation of events and behaviors for years and in doing so, they've avoided taking action or providing substantial checks and balances. However, facts are not as easily to creative to creatively interpret. The thing about facts is that you may not like them, but you do have to face them. They're pretty cut and dry. Policy GC1 states the EPS Board of Education holds itself accountable to them, them being the community, by committing to act in their best interest and by ensuring that all board
033and district action is consistent with law and the board's policies. And GC7 says, "The board members code of conduct, the board and its members will conduct themselves lawfully with integrity and high ethical standards in order to model the behaviors expected of staff and students and to build public confidence and credibility. The entire board has been given emails from Garrick Williams telling a VPD detective that no complaints were made regarding supplemental contracts, no investigator was retained, no investigation occurred, and the state auditor's office reviewed and found no issue with the supplemental contracts." However, the board has also been given emails of complaints against the supplemental contracts. The invoices to Superintendent Maloney of a third-party investigator, the board actually attended the appeal proceeding regarding the supplemental contracts, the declarations of statements given at that appeal at that
034appeal, and an email from the state auditor who conducted the FY24 audit saying they never reviewed the supplemental contracts or can confirm that they even received them despite Dr. Maloney stating on February 10th that they did receive them and that they were approved. Despite all this documentation, you maintain on behalf of the entire board that there's no misconduct and additionally no conflict in allowing Garrick Williams to work on policies as 1440 limiting public comment when he's currently the top the topic of a great deal of public comment. This makes no sense. You need to follow your own laws. You need to be accountable to each other, and you need to uphold integrity in this position. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Adam Aguilera. Good evening. Good evening. To the Evergreen
035School Board and Superintendent Maloney, my name is Adam Aguilera and I'm speaking as a member of the Evergreen Education Association. I want to first state my gratitude that you restored closed captioning on board meeting recordings to remain compliant with accessibility laws so that all members of our community can access the board meetings. I hope transparency and access will prevail over undemocratic plans to limit public comment. Since January 13th, I have come before this board repeatedly on the issue of integrity and accountability. On March 24th, I addressed how those issues bear directly on the decisions this district is making during a budget crisis. On March 26th, the Washington State Auditor's Office completed the Vancouver School District's accountability audit. For the past 3 years, the Auditor's Office has completed Evergreen's audit no later than the first week
036of April. This year, Evergreen's audit will not be completed until late April or early May. Information provided by the State Auditor's Office confirms two things. First, they were unaware of the September 4th, 2023 supplemental contracts the district's bargaining team received as bonuses until earlier this year. Second, a contributing factor to the the delay is that the issues surrounding those four supplemental contracts had to be addressed by the State Auditor's Office for the first time. That the audit is delayed in part because district management did not disclose material information in fiscal years 23 or 24 is a failure of district management's fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers. Administrators have an obligation to provide that information. Let's remember on February 10th, Superintendent Maloney lied to this board and to the public that the State Auditor had examined the
037district's financial practices and determined, and I quote, that "no material non-compliance was identified, including in regard to supplemental contracts for Ms. Gomes and others on the bargaining team that year." Voters and government bodies like the State Auditor's office should be able to rely on Evergreen administrators to be forthcoming during accountability audits, especially when it involves a chief operations officer who is allegedly enriching herself with public funds, forcing an employee to resign who did his duty to report the incident, and blatantly threatening district employees. Even Director Wilson has called for an investigation concerning the Chief Operations Officer's behaviors four times in a row. Is this some kind of biblical thing where he has to ask seven times before an investigation finally happens? Accountability can come through the ballot box, through board recalls, or through separation from
038employment. But isn't it easier for those who are responsible to acknowledge what they have done, resign, and move on? Isn't this dwindling school board tired of holding onto its secrets and pretending like everything is fine when it's not? Read the room. Nobody believes it. Thank you for your comments. Uh the next speaker is Kendall Teaman. Kendall. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. Good evening. My name is Kendall Teaman, and I am here as a EA union member to address the issues in that capacity. >> [snorts] >> I open today with a request for transparency and accountability. At the last meeting, I highlighted to you all a quote from the superintendent on February 10th, 2026, where she stated the following as fact, that State Auditor had examined the district's financial practices for fiscal year 2024 and
039went on to say, and I quote, that the State Auditor determined that no material non-compliance was identified, including in regards to supplemental contracts from Ms. Gomes and others in the bargaining team that year, unquote. You all know Superintendent Maloney stated something that was not true. You also know that the State Auditor's Office did not consider the September 4, supplemental contracts in last year's accountability audit fiscal year 24. You know this because you were provided with an email from the Auditor's Office on the same issue from early of March this year. You also know Dr. Maloney was part of both the intake process for fiscal year 24 accountability audit in January of 25 and the spring exit for fiscal year 24 and interviews in the spring of 25 for excuse me, 2025 for the audit of
0409123 through 83124. The State Auditor State Auditor's Office has recently confirmed that the current audit will be delayed for public release until mid-May. This is due in part because of the Auditor's Office having to go back and examining disabling of and examine the disabling of the internal controls surrounding the 9423 supplemental contracts. You all knew this and you've all known about this because there were details were provided to you on October 10th, 2024 where Danny Stevens, Camille Lehman, Tim Seitz, Adam Aguilar provided documentation and live statements to you all on the supplemental contracts. Why didn't Dr. Maloney provide disclosure to the Washington State Auditors last year in fiscal year 24 accountability audit about the supplemental contracts? And why on earth on February 10th, 26 did Dr. Maloney tell the public that the State Auditor's Office
041had already considered the supplemental contracts and found no wrongdoing? Why have you not acted to correct the false record created by Dr. Maloney on February 10th, 2026? RCW 28A.150.230 for guidance indicates that quote each school board director whether or not acting through its respective administrative staff be held accountable for the proper operation of their district to the local community and its electorate unquote. In closing, I've been made aware that you've all received public records requests for your notes from the last meeting. Although you appear to all take notes, only two of you complied with this request. Transparency and accountability go hand in hand. Finally, please hold the superintendent accountable for providing false and misleading information on February 10th, 2026 and please endeavor to be transparent have you be the employer of the superintendent and follow
042your example. >> your comment. >> Thank you. This concludes the public comment portion of the meeting. Next item on the agenda is the board's consent agenda. Is there a motion? I move to approve the board's consent agenda as presented. Mr. President, I had asked in email about one of the items on the agenda concerning the EV electrification project. I asked if we could have that taken off and reviewed separately. Give me a moment. Yeah, could you share some details about that and um Okay. It's 6B. Okay. That is the closure of the EV study that was commissioned to see what it may cost and by 2035 right now districts are expected to move to EV and have infrastructure around that. So about two years ago, a study was commissioned to look at that what it
043would cost us, what the viability of doing that is. And so, that is just closing out that study. That's it. We are not pursuing that at all right now because of the budget issues that we are finding ourselves in for now and the foreseeable future. Transportation may be looking at are there some grants that we can apply for that would maybe help us obtain some of that infrastructure or the EV buses, but we're not using any of our general funds, capital funds, transportation funds for that at all. So, this is just closing out the study to say, "Hey, it's going to cost us this much money." It actually gives us a good uh, talking point with our legislators as well saying, "Hey, when you require districts to move to EV, the infrastructure is is a
044huge expense. And so are the EV buses. And so, we need we need you to provide that support for us via funding." So, we're not spending anything else. This is just closing that study out that was commissioned to give us an idea of what it may cost. Right, cuz at this time it's an unfunded mandate. Yes. >> they were saying a $250,000 grant, but it's going to cost 3 and 1/2 million, so. And the payback period, I think we're saving about $31,000 a year, and the payback would be 107 years. Right now, this is a huge unfunded mandate that we are not moving forward with. Right. Yeah, I just wanted to share that. And I actually a friend of mine's a state representative and asked if this could be appealed or, you know, down the
045road. I mean, there's a lot of information coming out that, you know, can whether you want to believe in climate control or and all that, but there's been some things coming out that you know things aren't the way they were portrayed and so I'm thinking this he thought this will probably end up being delayed. And from 2035, I don't know but yeah I just wanted to make sure we're not going to be moving forward. I think at the time we were looking at four vehicles. Um purchasing four EV vehicles just as a test. But yeah I think at this time yeah I wouldn't for till like 2031 maybe another five years before I'd even think of doing anything more with this cuz I think things could change so thanks. I would actually like to reward
046my motion. Um I'm sorry I was I misunderstood. I actually thought we were pulling a personnel report from the agenda. So that is I it was I is 6B is what we pulled. Which is what we just discussed. I I thought it was part of the superintendent's consent agenda. So my motion is to approve the board's consent agenda as amended. And then we do the second one right? Cuz we pulled it out of the board consent agenda for a discussion. We pulled was it your intention to pull 6B or 7B for discussion? >> I wrote 6B down. This shows 6B for superintendent consent agenda for the classified personnel report. 6B's board consent agenda school bus fleet and then you just pulled that one. Right. >> I'm confused. Um yeah I wanted to pull both actually.
047And I had emailed Rob about this one earlier in the week. Mhm. How do I fix it? Uh we'll just take these two items one at a time. The first item is 6A, the minutes of the regular Board of Directors meeting for Tuesday, March 24th. Uh I think I already did that with the amended Board Consent Agenda. And I don't think I don't think there was an amendment to it. >> Well, cuz we amended it in our regular agenda. We pulled it out. Okay. >> it be a separate item by itself for discussion. Which discussion we're having. >> Which we just had. So, we had to do them separately, but I just did that one with our Board Consent. All right. So, the motion could be I move uh a motion to adopt um the
048Board's Consent Agenda as amended. Is that Yeah. Yeah. This printout shows um 5B for the school bus fleet electrification, but it's showing 6B up there. So, As long as we're all on the same page, it's going to be okay. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Uh uh I I I could take a motion for item 6A to approve the minutes of the the last uh the Board of Directors meeting. And then we'll We already did that. Okay. Yeah. That's what I did with the amendment. Okay. And we're going to approve in one motion uh the Board Consent Agenda as amended. Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. I. Motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the Superintendent Superintendent Consent Agenda as amended. Uh we are removing item 7B as enumerated up here. Um
049for discussion after we approve the rest of it. So, the motion could be uh approve Consent Agenda as amended. Superintendent? Yep. Superintendent Consent Agenda. I move to approve the Superintendent's Consent Agenda as amended. Second. Moved in second to approve the superintendent's consent agenda as amended. All in favor? I. Motion carries. Now we go back to >> like to add something here because 7B classified personnel report contains a lot of different personnel. So I one is the one that I I one is the one that you're interested in. I was wondering which one. Perfect. So the item is 7B I one. I want to make a motion. Very good. Um and then We need to move to pull that one that one specifically. I know we we did that when we adopted the agenda. Um and
050it's okay. It's okay. >> [laughter] >> Uh as long as we know what we're doing and I think we do. Uh I would like to consider uh 7B I one. Uh thank you. At this time. Uh after which we'll move on to proposals for action and and the other items. Uh is that all right? We need to go back to 6B and approve that one if we're moving forward with 6B. You wanted it pulled for discussion, right? >> we already approved >> We had the discussion. But we didn't approve it. I thought we did. We approved the board consent agenda as amended. Okay. That's m- Okay. Next item on the agenda. Christine, okay. Thank you. Next item on the on the agenda will be consideration of item 6B off of the board consent agenda. I
051move to approve item 6B from the original board consent agenda. Second. All in favor? I. I. Motion carries. Okay. And then the next one is the superintendent's consent agenda as amended. We did that. The next item on uh our modified agenda here is to consider uh item I1 from 7B, the classified personnel report. Um I will consider the rest of the items on that. Yeah. I would just like to make a motion to pull 7B I1 Mhm. for reconsideration at a the next at our at a at a later meeting. Motion is to pull 7B I1 >> uh for consideration at a later meeting. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? It being a personnel issue, it's probably not appropriate to get into too many details about this. Uh hearing none, all in
052favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. That motion carries. Yeah. Yeah. Um the next motion would be for the remainder of the classified personnel report since Did we do that with consent agenda? Okay. I think we're good. Thank you for your help. We're fortunate that the small group rules are very forgiving. Um Very good. The next item on the agenda is a proposal for action. It being a second reading of the proposed uh changes to policy 1440. Um you can see on the left uh it's also Yeah, on the left of the screen uh is uh sort of a track changes uh document containing the changes that uh are in the proposal. The second one is uh just the the clean version, right? So, action would require um this is second reading. So, action would require a motion
053to approve uh policy 1440 uh from our first reading. Yeah, I need a motion and then we can discuss. Which one is it? Policy 1440? Mhm. I move to approve the changes to policy 1440 as presented for second reading and final approval. Is there a second? I will advance the second. Is there any discussion? Yeah, once again um I believe in transparency and I know our minutes have you know, over the years keep getting whittled down and um I'm not in favor of that. Um I just think the more transparent we can be the better and people can look at the minutes and decide if there's something there they want to view in the video. Um so, again, I would always err on the side of transparency and uh that's my my feelings. Any comments?
054Just by way of context, uh the Just have to gather my words. The uh reason for uh proposing updates to this policy and others has to do with uh their age. The last uh revision for some of these thousand series policies was uh 2016. I think this was 2020 2014. So, um and it goes for two pages. So, if you can come down to the second page as well, Lori, on the left-hand side. Um we needed to bring the policies up to date to bring them into compliance with state law, which requires an audio recording where in the past no audio recording was required. It's been the district's practice to um upload a recording of the meeting as soon as practicable uh after it completes. Um and it's been the district's practice as a public
055courtesy to publish uh YouTube videos of the meeting. We have the equipment and uh so, we ought to do that. The purpose of this policy is uh to make sure that we have policy that complies with the state law. Whether or not we go beyond that is still um up to us. And I would not support a complete retreat onto what is described here. I think we ought to continue our practice and continue to post the videos as we have in the past and not to change that part of it. Uh but, the policy needs to um conform to the law. So, the policy um states the legal minimum and then we can continue doing uh what we have been doing. I don't believe adjusting this policy from what it was to what it is
056constitutes a lack of transparency. The meeting is available in video, audio, and um in minutes form detailing the action that the board has taken, which is what the state law requires us to detail. So, you know, that's pretty much where I sit, and so I'm in favor of this revision. I doesn't you know, we heard some public comments today about um this policy constraining public comment or free speech in some way, and I just don't see it. Um but we can go beyond it and continue to go beyond it for as long as we want to. So, are we going to continue having um the list of um people who spoke publicly and a brief summary of what they spoke about? It'll be a It'll be a list of the people who signed up to
057speak uh and the topic that they gave. Okay. And board comments, that's nothing is recorded for board comments now. The audio recording and the video recording has board comments. Yeah, but if someone wants to view quickly just the minutes and see if there's something they want to see, okay, this person's spoke about that, um it would be helpful. Like I said, it would be more transparency is better than less. That's So, I I disagree with you saying this isn't so, you know, restricting, you know, transparency. I think it is. So, but I haven't really noticed that anyone has a problem finding the place in the video that they want. We've had several public commenters over the last year come up and name the point in the video and the time uh which suggests to me
058that it's easy to find. It might be easy to find, but whether or not a person even wants to go back and look um the minutes gives them a kind of a little a map and you know, okay, I want to go I want to check out board comments. I want to see what they referenced here or there. I mean like I said, more transparency is better than less for me. So, I'm good. Well, and I would I guess my opinion would be that we're being fully transparent by posting those videos. I mean, they can go back and watch whatever they want. Our board comments don't usually have topics. They're all over the place. It would probably I would say require one of our staff members, which we all know we're very minimal at the
059time to go back and rewatch a video to be able to put all that in there. And I just I fiscally, I don't it I don't see us having the manpower to really spend a lot of extra time on meeting minutes when we do provide a full video. Um I don't know if it's something we can discuss maybe later about putting the time in the video in which board comments started. Um I don't know if that's something that we can easily grab so that we can, you know, point them to just forward, you know, go forward to this point and you can see our board comments. That's something we can definitely talk about. I don't I mean, for this like Rob said, this these are our minimums. These we can always agree to do more
060but nothing less than this. That's my opinion. Okay. Any other comments? I'd like to see this be more. So. Nope. Hearing none, we'll move to a vote. Um those in favor uh say I. I. And those opposed, nay? Nay. My vote is I, and the motion carries. The next item on the agenda is an information item. It's the uh financial statement for March of 2026. No action is required. And the next item on the agenda is board comments. Yeah, I want to thank everyone for speaking tonight, and um there's a lot to there's a lot there, and um we'll see what the audit turns out. Um May 8th is when the exit conference will be. We just got notified of that. I think it was yesterday or today. Um so I'm I'm interested to find
061uh what comes about with the supplemental contract as well. I know I had forwarded that to um the state auditor's office as well. Uh but they were already in the process of willing to look at it based on uh constituent uh you guys, you know, your concerns about it. So, they want to you guys to be very um be the word. Uh feel comfortable that the district is doing things appropriately. And if this supplemental contract was inappropriate, then they will do their finding, and we have to abide by whatever their finding is. But I'm glad it's coming to a head to have someone look at it. I've tried to have Wasatch Legal look at it, and um hadn't gotten a response back. so I'm thankful that the State Auditor's office is doing that for us.
062And you know, I'll be interested in finding out what the ramifications of that is. So, thank you. I have no comments today. Uh the next item on Well, we'll go into recess um and reconvene in a board workshop to discuss uh response to health conditions, the timeline for the director area four vacancy process, uh and uh board protocols and cal- calendaring. So, we're in recess. >> [music] [music]