Issaquah School District Board Meeting 02/12/2026

001Thursday, February 12th, uh, 2026. At this point, will everyone please join me in 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. >> Okay. And uh before we turn to public comment, um the superintendent would like to make a statement. >> Great. Thank you, President Taylor. Um I'd like to make a statement. Um many in our community are aware of the recent student walkout and related incident. It is important that we share clear facts, reduce misinformation, and clarify the district's role. We remain grounded in our mission to educate students and maintain safe learning environments. We do not condone violence in any form. Students, like all citizens, have protected

002First Amendment rights to assemble under the US and state constitutions and district regulations. On Monday, February 9th, students from Isiqua High School and Isiqua Middle School participated in a student organized walk-off walk out off campus. Like all walkouts, the event on February 9th was not school sanctioned. District and school staff did not organize, coordinate or participate in the student organized and led walk out. Once our students left the campuses for Isiqua High School and Isiqua Middle School, schools cannot supervise their actions. District leadership and security staff did notify local law enforcement because the activity took place beyond school jurisdiction. The district is aware of an altercation, including two adults who engaged students and shared videos online. These adults have no direct connection to the Isiqua School District. At this time, the individual seen holding, pulling

003hair, and physically engaging with the adult in the video has not been identified as a district student. As of today, the Isiqua Police Department reports that no charges have been requested or filed related to the incident. We will continue to work closely with law enforcement. As we have been asked, schools may only discipline off-campus behavior if it disrupts our learning environments, and student discipline information is protected by law and cannot be shared. Both schools have received a high volume of offensive and threatening phone calls and emails, largely from outsider community and driven by viral social media posts. All threats are documented and reported to law enforcement. Some online narratives falsely claim that teachers organize the walkouts. That is not accurate. We will continue to encourage families to talk with their students about how to express

004their views peacefully and respectfully and we will always encourage students to be in school learning where we can provide a safe and supportive environment. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Superintendent. Okay. Uh now is the time on our agenda for public comment. Public comment is an opportunity for the board to receive public statements on items not listed on the meeting agenda for possible board action. If you have a point of view for a specific agenda item, which tonight would be monitoring report for results two, uh I'll ask you to hold your comment until that particular agenda item comes up. Public comment time is not intended to raise an issue unique to a particular student, staff member, or administrator. Rather, it is your time to provide your insights on issues more generally and of a wider

005concern. As a general uh rule, the board will not respond to public comment. I ask you to begin your comments by clearly stating your name and your attendance area. Please limit your comments to two minutes. We will be using a timer and it is a strict twominut time limit and we will cut the mic at the two-minute um timeline. The board neither endorses nor censors any opinions expressed during uh public comment. Please keep your comments civil and respectful and avoid any personal attacks on others. And in place of respon uh applause, you can acknowledge a speaker by lifting your hands in a waving motion. And we will start public comment with those in the room and then go to those on Zoom uh if any. So let's see here. Let's um begin. And the first

006person on my name I have Virian Ivy. Okay. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Reset the clock. >> Thank you. On Monday morning, I was walking in downtown Isiqua around 10:00. >> First name and attendance area. >> Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Sasha and I am a community member. >> Your attendance area pleases the request. King. I don't know what that means. >> Within the Isiqua school district, what is your attendance area? You or your students? >> What school? >> I'm a community member and I'm concerned about my private information. So, I'm not going to share that. >> So, you are not a member of the Isqua school district? >> No, I am not. >> Thank you. >> Nope, I am not. Um, may I proceed? >> You may. >> Thank you. On Monday morning, I

007was walking in downtown Isiqua around 10:00, a time when parents trust the school district to be responsible for their children. As I walked, I came upon a protest on the steps of city hall and the police department. I was surprised to see very young students out of school and asked one simple question. Do your parents know you're out of school? As a mother, this seemed like a reasonable and appropriate question. Within seconds, I was surrounded and violently assaulted. Several students struck me and pulled my hair, drugg me into the middle of the road, and desperately tried to get me on the floor. A man nearby intervened, and I latched on to him, and he helped me toward a police officer. I was shocked when the officer told me it was too dangerous for him to

008step in because the crowd of students was so out of control. Hundreds of students from this district's high school and middle school students dropped off by parents that morning and entrusted to the care of this school were instead allowed to leave school and engage in acts of violence. What happened to me was not only physical physically harmful but now leaves me and my family fearful. In the days since, my husband, children, and parents have faced harassment and threats online. From what I can tell, there has been little response from the district. This incident was avoidable if the district had acted responsibly to ensure safety on February 9th for students and the public alike. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. Um, Vivian Ivy. >> Hello. My name is Vivian Ivy. I'm also a community

009member. Do you know anything else? Go ahead. >> All right. >> Are you a member of the our district? >> I am a community member just as Sasha. I >> not not a resident of the Isqua school district. That was the previous question. >> No. So I was in Isaakqua on the 9th. I came down to survey some people about the new tax bill that we got going on. We were walking around the park. We saw a protest. We assumed it was probably a student protest. And because I'm a documenter and I cover local legislation, local news, local politics, I decided it's when the public within the public interest for me to walk by and document. The day before, I had interviewed a mother in Pierce County. I'll leave her private information to her, but

010she contacted me concerned because her child was found two miles away from school and she was not at all alerted by the school. This had nothing to do with the Isqual, but it's a growing trend in Washington state. I have hundreds and now hundreds more parents concerned about the safety of their children because many of them their children are leaving school without permission. So I decided, well, I'm going to walk past this protest and I'm going to film it. My friend here, she's not really well acquainted with protests. I am. I kind of know how they work. They can get violent very quickly. But I didn't expect this. Not from school students, certainly not in Isiqua. I was complimenting how safe it is, how nice it is in Isa how much I love coming out

011here and eating and grabbing a drink and shopping and all the community members are so nice. That's why Shasha and I were out here. I didn't expect that to happen. But then I could tell instantly, and I'm not trying to speak for her, but from my point of view, she seemed shocked at what she was seeing because we were seeing little tiny children. I mean 10, 11 year olds. And I have parents in my DMs that have identified their children at that protest that go to this district. I have students who go to this district who have identified multiple students who go to this district who were part of the assault against Sasha. I posted a video just hours ago and anyone can find me online can spare cookie and sparecookie.com. >> Look at all

012my videos. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Um, next is Shane Morardi. >> There's no deferment. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, Kurt Strickland, Isaqua School Board, Kurt Strickland, Clark Elementary, parent of fourth generation Isiqua School District children. They're out of school now. Okay. But what I witnessed from the video posted by some of these people here of students out of control on our streets and in a situation where harm could happen to them. It brought back not just that instance, but something relative but happened 20 so years ago and covered by the Isiqua Press where a four-year-old boy got uh away from his grandmother out on Newport Way and got hit violently by a truck because they didn't see it. And I'm going with these children out of control in some situations.

013Is there somebody wanting to have these children harmed so it will make media and their political agenda more relevant to whatever they're pushing? And I'm asking you as a school board here, are any of these teachers are any of these teachers prompting this? This is not what we have for Isiqua. And I've been posting it, not posting, but speaking with other people. This is not what we've had here. We've had a very good community. I'm hoping you can make some decisions. All right. In terms of control, there's an old Marine Corps maxim, you can't manage what you can't control. And if you're harming letting these children be out when they shouldn't be, it res raises a question of liability for the school district. And you're the decision makers. and I wish you well. Truly do.

014Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. Uh, next up is Jenny Constantine. Good evening. My name is Jenny Constantine. I am an Isiqua resident. Two of my children graduated from the Isiqua School District. I moved to Isiqua because Isiqua had the reputation of high education safety and a family oriented environment. It was disheartening to me as a minor, as a proud American citizen, immigrant into this country to see a behavior that is being displayed for children that come from different countries. Doesn't matter what your color skin is, your your um ethnicity, your background. You are here to be respectful of the home you live in, whether you're American or whether you're an immigrant. And you're here to obey the law and to be human and not think that you're above the law, that you

015can go and assault people and get away with it. It is disturbing to me that you will think that it's okay for my children as young as middle school, high school to be on the streets. When I gave them to you, I entrusted you, my children, to be safe. That they when I dropped them off at school, they were to be at school under your care being protected and being safe. And that is not what I witnessed. And it's terrifying that I could could be walking the streets of Isiqua, which is supposed to be a safe environment, and violence can be condoned without any consequences. And you are the people that are responsible. I am entrusting you with my tax dollar to keep my children safe. >> Thank you for your comments. Uh, next is

016John my >> hi. Uh, first off, I'd like to thank Can you hear me? Um, I'd like to start by uh um saying I've lived in Isqua since 2006. Like to thank you for your service uh as school board members. Um, I had two children that graduated from Isqua High School uh in 2019 and 2022. Um, I was like many horrified to see the videos that uh came online this week with um a poor mom and glad she's okay being assaulted by what can really only be characterized as a mob of Isiqua students from where my my kids graduated. It was embarrassing to the city. It was embarrassing to me as a parent of an Isqua High School graduate. And um it was just incredibly dangerous. It was dangerous for the students and it was

017dangerous for the entire community. Um, so the fact that the the police who I saw on video said that they were afraid to go into that situation because it was so unsafe. This is the people that are supposed to be keeping our community safe and Isqua schools created a situation where the police were afraid to go in. Um, is just absolutely horrifying to me. So the school board, you own policies. This is a policy question that we need to figure out, that you need to figure out. And my question to you is what policy changes will you be making to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again? And so specifically, I'm very interested in understanding what the consequences from IHS are for these students. And I understand some of this is private, but I

018want you to think about it for people that are assaulting moms in the community. I'd like to know what IHS is going to do about that. You don't have to tell me, but I want you to figure it out. I want to know what consequences there are for the organizers of this, whether those are enablers and organizers because the teachers may not have been organizing this, but we all know they were enabling it on many fronts. And I'd also like to know if school had a policy that if you were walking out and joining a mob that resulted in suspension or expulsion, would we be here today? And I contend that we would not. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. Uh, and then lastly on our signup sheet is Courtney Bey. >> Hi,

019I'm Courtney Bey. I teach at Skyline High School. I'm a parent of Skyline and Pine Lake. And I'm going to talk to you about something that actually has to do with what you all do. Um, so the whole district roll out of the process of the new humanities AP classes at Skyline has been disorganized, poorly communicated, and unclear. Uh the outof nowhere decision to remove the integrated block model that has been at Skyline since it opened 29 years ago without any discussion um with any stakeholders was indicative of this dysfunction and the reaction to the community to this decision showed just how problematic the process was. But to be clear the solution was also problematic. When we are looking at the solution that came up, stakeholders were not talked to. Curriculum was not discussed and

020the people who actually know how to blend curriculum as blocks were not consulted. A workable solution could have been to create 9th and tth grade AP blocks at Skyline and phased out the honors classes that have already been phased out at Isiqua and Liberty High School. uh instead what we have is a convoluted, bloated, redundant menu of classes that is confusing and will be unworkable for a master schedule. While this was in this was all done while inaccurately telling our community that AP could not be blocked due to college board expectations that do not exist. The College Board only mandates content, not delivery. AP can be blocked as successfully our neighbors East Lake have shown for decades. It is concerning as a parent and a staff member that our district was at best uninformed and

021at worst purposefully dishonest in its communication with this decision. We as a community deserve transparency, collaboration, and answers, but more importantly, our students deserve that all of us work together to actually figure out a workable model that puts them first. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, is there anybody else in the room that did not sign up that would like to make public comment? Yes. Please come up and state your name and attendance area at the mic. Uh hello uh school board and shopping. My name is Bing Wu and I'm a parent of a student who's currently in the Pine Lake Middle School and is going to go to the ninth grade uh in the Skyline High School. So I'm here actually the same topic as the lady just said. I'm glad she already said

022many things I don't need to repeat. So basically I want to just repeat a little bit repeat what happened. January 30th, the Friday, almost two weeks ago, we all got an email from the principal of Skyline High School say, "Hey guys, we're going to add six more AP classes." And last year there were like four totally 10 AP classes, give people more options to choose from. And as part of the deal, we also want to remove the block schedule. As the lady said the block schedule existed in the uh high school for almost 30 years and then you know the same day there's a petition came up from the change say stop this you know can we get the block schedule back and uh actually I'm checking this that's you know it's like 1300 people

023you know join the petition and uh then the Monday next week February 2nd I had a a pleasure you know talk to superintendent about the topic and then the next day February 3rd the Tuesday we got announcement from the principal say you know the block schedule resumed and uh we're glad you know it's resumed because people really wanted to you know have that schedule for like 30 years right however I think as the lady just said the communication the transparency really did not show up this time. And I just want to read the the last few sentence from the petition. It says we're glad you know the Okay. Yeah, you you heard my thing. Yeah. The communication and the transparency needs to be really >> Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Um Okay. Anyone

024else in the room? >> Yes. Please. >> My name is Mark Wilson. I'm a community member with no affiliation with Isiqua School District. Um, when you opened the meeting, the superintendent gave a statement saying that once they left campus, law enforcement was notified and reiterated the fact that staff did not help organize or participate in any of the walkouts. However, there was an email that was released from the IHS school that starts with, "Dear IHS families, it outlines everything um that happened that day with timestamps and an estimate of the students that were involved." And part of it says that, and I don't know if this was to make parents feel more secure with the security of their child, and it says, "Our administrators and school staff did not lead or participate in the event,

025but were present to supervise and help ensure student safety on and near campus." So, I don't know if you guys need to communicate better because we now have two conflicting statements. And that's all. >> Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. Facebook. >> Hi. Can you hear me? >> Kristen. I have no affiliation with Isiqua. I'm a community member, but I would like >> What's your name, please? >> Kristen. Kristen Engan. Um, I would like to say that on the wall it says that students will live as responsible members of society. How are we supposed to have our children in your hands learn to be responsible members of society if they are allowed to go out into society and assault my friend? Stephen, do we have anyone on Zoom? No. Okay. Thank you. That will close public

026comment and we will move on. Uh, next up is the approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda is a meeting management tool whereby the board is able to pass multiple items for one with one motion. The consent agenda items have been reviewed by the board prior to the meeting. Any board member may remove an item from the consent agenda and place it on the regular agenda for discussion. Do I have a motion? I move the consent agenda be approved as presented. >> I second. >> It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda as presented. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Uh, the consent agenda passes. Okay, moving right along. Next up is the establishment of our regular agenda. Have there been any changes to the agenda since? Okay.

027Um there's been no changes, but there will be an update since we did get levy results reported later in the day. Uh we'll be sharing that as part of a a short PowerPoint, but we'll add that um as soon as this meeting is over tomorrow. >> Okay. Fantastic. Yes. Okay. And next up is works in progress. So again, I will turn it over to you, Miss Superintendent. Did I forget something? Oh, sorry. I did. I'm sorry. Yes, we'll get to the work uh work rec works in progress. Sorry. Now, we are going to discuss our work study. We had a uh work study before the board meeting tonight um in which we were able to uh discuss um some new uh data around um our district and what an uh population in the district might

028look like moving forward over the next uh many years. So uh I will open it up to the board for any comments they would like to make about that discussion. I say thank you to superintendent and your team for bringing forward demographers at routine intervals. It's helpful for it. I think for me it just reinforces the information that we got two years ago that showed we would have this low point in this year and next year and then start to continue to to grow as we go through. And uh I appreciate that the modeling shows our just consistent need for more space in our secondary schools. So thank you. >> Great. >> Yeah. Yes. Director Mullings. >> Yeah. Uh good conversation. And I think it's frankly really interesting that this is a discipline that people

029look at all of the factors around uh geography overlaid with school district overlaid with birth rates and property development and property sales and how that changes over time. It's it's a fascinating process to have someone walk you through. I think um again it's good to have it at regular intervals. I think that's uh really helpful and to make sure we're relooking at um the size and shape of of our district and how um that compares to how population is moving within the county, within the state and national trends. So again, just kind of a fascinating walk through how we even get there. I think, you know, as you look at the growth projected in our district and talking to our our city partners, particularly in Isiqua, where I know I've spent more time uh with

030Isiqua specifically over their growth plans over the next couple of decades. Um I it's one of the partnerships I I think works really well for us to have that connection and contact with how uh the city of Isiqua again that's the one I know I've worked with uh is looking at their growth and and how that will um work with the bringing of mass transit into the area as well and the expectation of how growth changes as we get mass transit uh out here into into their city. So um uh generation rates may have been like my very first board meeting six years ago and I was like what are we talking about? So I also feel super knowledgeable now six years later and how different types of property have different generation rates and so

031again I think it just underscores the level of depth and um thoughtfulness that goes into the planning of how we run and shape the district. and I appreciate being able to one understand now the conversations but have them. Thank you. >> What else? Director Coin, >> I'll just add some quick comments and um it is this data is so fascinating. I think um meeting with the demographer going through the data leaves me with so many questions. I probably I needed more than just an hour to go through it. But I, you know, I really, again, I'll just, I'll echo what you heard from, uh, you know, our other two board directors just that, you know, thank the district for bringing in, you know, doing this outreach, bring this in as they think about their longer

032term planning, look at some of the at these stats. I think it's always useful. You know, this this obviously, you know, it's it's data that's it's it's projecting, it's an estimate. So, it's always good for us to ask questions and us, you know, to be a part of that. And so, again, appreciate the district, you know, facilitating the discussion tonight. So um look forward to more conversation on this topic. >> Uh and I think I'll just uh say again yes fascinating also very um it's tricky business. I mean, trying to look out 10 years in advance and the just the sheer number of factors that go into our our projections and population growth and uh what could impact that and how public policy decisions are going to have an impact and as well as birth

033rates, affordability, housing affordability, all of those things. Um, but it's not just I think a matter of what the data shows us, but then how we how we choose to use it. And I think we had a good conversation about the fact that, you know, moving forward, it's usually a good idea to look at low numbers for budgeting and to make sure that we make wise decisions and are good financial stewards of the district, but also at the same time if um looking forward looking at high high numbers potentially for facilities and things of that nature so that if we do hit those high numbers, we make sure that we have the capacity to educate our our students. So overall, great great discussion. with that. Do you have some comments? >> Um, sure. Thank you.

034I appreciate um just the way that our board engages in in uh in query and inquiry and ask questions and it's so thoughtful and so helpful uh to ask questions of demographers and who have subject matter expertise. Discussion was great. I really want to specifically thank Mariah Bonassik who is our leader of looking at the uh right resources that we need to make strong projections that we then use for both long-term planning and short-term planning. Um so the day-to-day operations require us to really think through how we expense manage uh budget manage our budget and do expense management which is different from how we plan for the future which is oftentimes um not as precise but we have to sort of toggle between both the short and long term overall as we work together and

035so I really appreciate her leadership role in that effort. Um and then finally I'll say that um there's two you know really important things to know. One is that enrollment is a challenge across this entire country and certainly in Washington state. And so the fact that we are talking about that helps us make really thoughtful decisions in the day-to-day as well as the long term. And it's something that everyone is wrestling with right now um across all school districts in this country. And um we also know that we have unevenness where we have different schools with different levels of enrollment. So that's something that we have to also be thoughtful about as we again steward our resources on the day-to-day but also plan for the long term. So, um, that unevenness is something that I

036think, you know, people certainly can see from our enrollment numbers, but it's something that is, uh, uh, on my mind as well. So, thank you for the discussion and thanks again to to Mariah Bassic. >> Thank you. Um, okay. Next on the agenda is works in progress. This is an opportunity for the superintendent to provide a brief status uh, report on things going on in the district. >> Great. Thank you. I'll start with our calendar of the various district community educational and heritage and cultural events for uh this month here in February and just helpful to see where we are. I know that many of our students are excited about the second winter break because that's always a important time for some uh rest and relaxation and time to uh get what you need. Um

037I'll note that I'll be celebrating the Lunar New Year with my family. Um it's the year of the horse and I'll be um uh enjoying that time as well. So we like to make sure that people can see the wide range of ways that uh our community celebrates and that we recognize an uh very important concepts and um content that happens in our space and education. So want to uh show that um you can pull that down and I can share some of my works in progress overall. Um it is information nights right now for rising nth graders as we actually heard from one of our speakers. You know that is the important thing that's happening for eighth graders but also for any new students who might be entering the high school system here in

038Isiqua school district. I attended Isiqua High School's event earlier this week and uh we talked about or we uh the school members and leaders talked about the course request process which is an important step and sometimes we call course request process for short with another acronym that everyone loves um CRP. It's an important step for families and students to learn about um as they consider the programs and process for course registration in addition to the high school graduation requirements. At Isiqua High this week, Principal Connelly welcomed families prior to having them meet with their counselors and breakout rooms. And the new and awesome part of the welcome program, which was a very key first impression of high school for families and students, was a performance preview by the Isiqua High School Thespian Society for the

039spring musical Mean Girls Jr., which will be at Longman Performing Arts Center um very shortly. The performance will be held March 4th through 7:00 in a few weeks and that's from 7 to 9 for each of the performances. So, anyone can attend as these are um performances that are open to the full public. Um, and it was a really great and inspiring way to see and show what the high school experience can look like in addition to I think a lot of the um questions and uh a practical matter about what courses do I take, what are the expectations and it really brought a a really strong positive impression to um to families and students. Um, also some exciting thing. This is a historic first year of girls flag football as a sanctioned um, WIAA

040sport and all three of our comprehensive high schools have shined. 172 girls participated this year from across the district. All three high school teams have qualified for the state championship final four which is happening this weekend for a chance to win the first ever WIA WIAA state title in flag football. Um we have schools competing in the same division as well as uh a singler school competing in another division. So I'm wondering what the matchup might be in the finals, but we will see and we will be cheering on all of our all of our athletes in that regard. Um, so just thank you to our incredible athletics and activities director, Jordan Frost, our athletic directors across the buildings, building leadership, our coaches, and our operations teams for making sure that um, all of our

041high schools um, could launch this effort and be supported in their in their endeavors. Um, strategic plan work and uh, refresh is happening. As a reminder, our strategic plan runs a three-year cycle. And so, while we're in the third year of the first ever strategic plan for the district, we're also planning for next year. And just some high level reflections that we've been sharing um as we are working to do further work on this with our schools and our community um are just some reflections and insights over over the past couple years. So the first and foremost is that we um should really think about how we focus through fewer strategies. Um so a prioritized set of high impact strategies that can be measured is an important uh value moving into the next stage. um

042thinking through what the appropriate grain grain size is, meaning what's the right level of scope and scale of the impact for the different strategies. Um we also want to move away from technical to adaptive strategies, thinking through about the long-term work that we um have ahead of us and um we did have a lot of technical pieces that kind of came up because it was our first time doing a strategic plan. So part of that was a bit of like cleanup, the things that had been on everyone's list of like if we could just do X, right? Um so I think we're moving past that and that work of technical change. Um, and improvement is just part of the natural cadence of our continuous improvement cycle. And we do want to make sure we're looking

043at the longer term and thinking through what are the short-term aspects of our work that need to be put in place to have um adaptive change. Uh really reentering the work on the instructional core and ensuring that um the district is creating the kinds of positive conditions and removing barriers to support what happens daily in classrooms and across each of our learning sites. And finally um equity engagement is tied hand inand and that is truly crosscutting. So as we as we had continued to weave um equity work throughout the strategic plan um we want to treat equity engagement as a combined set of concepts that um are treated throughout the entire uh next version of the strategic plan. So just some things that we're thinking about. Um we are also as we are coming out

044of the levy which we'll talk about shortly as an agenda item um constantly thinking about how our world world is evolving. I know this board um has been really eager to understand the changing world and landscape and that's something that our our district and our district leaders, our teachers, our students, our family members, our community members are wrestling with. And so as I as I consider um the strategic planning process as well as the rapid changes in our world, I do want to reconsider how we do our work differently at a district level specifically and that we are aligning our people and our resources in ways that are truly going to meet the needs um of our students, our our families, and our teachers and schools. Um I do hope everyone has a productive and

045relaxing winter break. I know that I'm looking forward to that myself. >> Thank you, Superintendent Next up on our agenda is a discussion of the 2026 uh levies. The administration will update the board on the EPO capital projects and school bus levies. Before we welcome up um Mark Sherwood to the podium and Martin Turney, I just want to say uh I feel so grateful um to our community and to our voters for stepping forward and stepping up to be engaged in the process as well as to help us um with the passage of three propositions. U mathematically that's where we are and I just want to say that that's um I just say thank you. Um we have pushed out communications as of this afternoon through our school bulletins um with uh that sort of

046overview of where we are and I think that's just important to get out that information. We did wait a couple days because we want to make sure we're always you know uh cognizant of the way uh votes have to be coming in and counted but because of the math as it is today uh we feel very clear about where we are. And again thank you to our community. Thank you to the incredible work of all of our team members um and and our volunteer um uh volunteers in Isiqua schools. So, thank you. >> Thank you, superintendent and board. Uh Mark Sherwood, executive director of communications. Um and I'll just echo the superintendent's sentiments. thanking everybody, the support from the board, student reps, um, teachers, every educator, support staff member, everybody knew the importance of this,

047and we're all pushing out factual information and trying to redirect when there's misinformation out there. So, I definitely want to give a a big thanks to them. And there's a lot of community partners, too. And uh, and I and I'd be remiss if I didn't give a big shout out to my team and my fellow peer members that kind of worked on this levy. they they uh they worked a lot of extra hours on this on this levy campaign. Um I'm going to go to the next slide to kind of show the results. As you can see right now mathematically uh the the latest results were came out this morning. 23,000 out of 24,000 ballots have been counted. So the majority of the ballots have been counted. Um we on election night we were on

048the EPO we're at 51 1.5 12% a little over 54% and you can see that's probably going to be a trajectory that it'll probably surpass where we were in 2022 um when we actually certify this election on February 20th. Same thing for when we look at the capital levy where uh election night 51 a half roughly 53 and 3/4 uh today and it's uh it's it's probably it's definitely already surpassing what we did in 2022. Um, transportation certainly is not going to surpass probably in our 2022 of 62 uh.28% but at 5528 you can see all of these levies were pretty consistent in terms of the types of numbers in terms of the approval rating. So again this this will uh be certified on February 20th, but um we're all feeling pretty confident that this

049will this will be certified and be approved and um continue to keep the things stable for our students. So I don't know if you have any questions specific to this and I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Turney. Any questions this point? >> Pretty straightforward data. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Oh, yeah. Don't walk away. >> All right. So, now we can talk about some next steps. But before I do, um, it may have been said, but because I spent so much time with the levy advisory committee, I wanted to give them a special shout out, too. A lot of work went into that. So, appreciate all of the all the folks that served. Uh, so next steps, right? So, we're going to continue working on budget uh our budget development and aligning here. Make

050sure uh aligns with student needs, enrollment trends, and community conditions. Obviously, um finding opportunities for efficiency while meeting those levy expectations. Very important part about this. We want to keep showing how those levy dollars are at work. Uh and thoughtful expense management as we do every year and throughout the year. We want to make sure we're uh making thoughtful decisions there. accountability and transparency, providing regular updates. We have um among other things, we have a capital projects oversight committee. I know that they're going to uh be reviewing the critical repairs list and the priorities as we go along and and do those projects, sharing that clear, accurate information um with community and families. Um and we will continue to present here at the board meetings. Um, as well, uh, we will continue community engagement, um,

051looking at hosting annual levy update information sessions, partnering with PTSA as an organization, uh, community organization, excuse me, uh, and promoting open dialogue and thoughtful questions. So, again, just keeping this alive, making sure people know where those lovely dollars are at work, uh, and we're being transparent. So, >> thank you. >> Any questions? Uh, Director Gallinger, >> I appreciate all the work both your teams have done uh to get these across the finish line. And yes, thank you to our community. Uh, my question is, as you look to do the reporting to us for the 2026 capital levy, there were a lot of very significant projects on that levy, more so than have been in past years, that we did in response to feedback we got after the bond. >> Sure. So I would really

052like you guys to probably re like make an adjustment for how those reporting are done on our website as well as to us for highlighting a lot of those very big projects at our high schools that are also going to be very visible. Um vestibules, roof replacements, field improvements, things like that. So that we have visibility on that because we will get asked a lot about like what's the time frame? And so it' be great if it we could one answer the question and two be able to point them to where that will live versus normally in the cadence for a capital levy we wouldn't hear or see updates for a couple years into it >> here I think I'd as you guys get those sort of timelines settled we would like to be able

053to have that more visible and published ahead of time. >> Great. That's great feedback. I know our comms team has some ideas on how to display that on the website and and have things a little bit more dynamic. >> Director Mullings, >> um very excited. Thank you. Great update. I actually just really appreciate seeing the um performance versus previous elections. Um just today I was seeing some maybe messages that the reality was to the contrary of that. So, I think it's a very positive sign to see that those uh numbers of support, while I'd love for them to be higher, I think in general they should just be 100%. Um I think it is important to be very clear that those numbers are outperforming uh previous um previous times been on the ballot. So, thank

054you for sharing that because I just heard that today. Yeah, that that's a great point because to get in the mid-50s in spite of a really aggressive misinformation campaign that's funded really inappropriately by community leaders in other parts of our local governments is really problematic. And in spite of that, I think it will continue to show that our community uh will get past these uh just blight of misinformation that is spread across our community. And I think the thought that they maybe could sleep better at night by saying like, "Oh, well, we're only coming out against one of them." That that that the community would only choose to only vote against one of them. When the reality is they would be fine with them voting down all of them. And that's what we saw very

055consistent passage rates across like gaps of like 200 votes which are showing that people are pretty much voting in general all yes or all no. >> Dr. Coin, >> I want to echo um what others have said obviously um thank you both um thank thank the the district and and really thank our community. Thank you, you know, for your support of our renewal levies. I, you know, I would be remiss if I didn't reflect on the fact though that I was hopeful that that passage rate would be higher. I compared it obviously to other districts in King County. And I think my takeaway from that, as I've said before, is I I want to continue to expand upon members of our community to have a more positive view of our schools, to become raving fans

056of the Isiqua School District. I think we need more people really looking at our schools in a positive light. I will say when I look at this, it is hard especially to have those low, you know, to have those numbers. Again, very appreciative of where they're at. But, you know, one of the reasons, well, really the key reason that my wife and I moved to this area was because of the schools and because we wanted to live in a community that supports education and supports schools. So, it almost feels it like I'm in kind of an odd place seeing that because there's been such a level of misinformation out there that I think is unfortunately kind of hurting how people view the district. And I would just again first and foremost want to thank our

057community. But I also want to those folks that maybe were questioning supporting our levies, questioning um the school system to maybe think differently, to ask questions, to learn more about our schools because there's some amazing things that are happening in the Isqua school district. And I'm so hopeful for all the things that we're going to continue to to to share more broadly with the community, particularly the outreach Mark, you and your team have done um with members of our community that don't currently have kids in our district. Um, I think that that has been exceptional. The transparency um that that has been put in place with the capital projects um committee um and you know just the broader outreach we're doing. I want those are all things we want to continue to lift and I

058think that for those community members that are already fans of this school district really asking them to continue to promote that because it it's we need uh we need more folks really supporting education because it's really important. Thanks, Director Gallinger. >> And to that point, I think that also in addition to having the capital projects show like these were all the things on the levy and these are all the projects here because there was misinformation about oh, they're going to go use it for something else. I think we probably also need in the fact guide to show this was all part of the educational programs and operations levy and in a onepage summary like these are all the things that were part of it and here are 100% of those things are here and could

059be cross referenced through all the different parts of our budget in that descriptive guide because I think that will just go forward so then four years from now because when yes again yes again from now we can tell you in 2030 there's going to be another levy in case people are qu wondering we're going to have another one in four years. So again, the answer is yes, but that we can say like look it this was a concern of misinformation that was brought up and here's yearbyear that every single year we said this, we did this. That's super important. uh none of us or the previous even people were at this dis wanted to make any sort of budgetary moves that we made four years ago. Like no one finds joy in having to do

060reductions in force. No one. But what we did then we would do again today I suspect because that has put the district in such strong financial footing that where we are where we are today when we can focus on leveraging funding for equity to serve the students of highest need and to expand programming offerings versus we have a neighboring district that is in binding conditions which means the state is one step away from taking over and we're like nearly identical guys. So those were really hard decisions, not fun, but if we had to do it again, absolutely. Because we are positioned to be able to serve students in a so much better way than we otherwise would be. >> Okay. Uh I will just say again also thank you um for all the great work

061that the district um did. I'd also be remiss without uh also thanking the folks at Volunteers for Isiqua Schools who were just really put on a tireless campaign this time. Uh we're out in the community talking to folks and evangelizing and really spreading the word of the importance of these these levies. So, thank you to that organization as well. And um you know I just folks have heard me talking often all the time too much maybe about just how crucial these levies are to our funding in a time of very challenging state funding um environment that we're in. So a thank you to the community for understanding the need for these levies and all the great work that the district can now do uh with the money that they will provide. So, um, just overall

062very happy with our our result. Any comments, superintendent? Any more comments? I should say. >> Uh, I'll also say thank you to the board because you play that key role in advocacy and representing the community. Um, and and you approve putting something on the ballot. So, thank you also to the board. And, uh, just while while Martin and Mark are here, just want to say thank you very much for your leadership. Um we also had other team members that were out there doing lots of presentations. Jacqueline Downey um Marcel Hower for playing a project management role as well as um Wendy uh Castleman and Mariah Benasic. So, a lot of we've done the by the numbers before about how many presentations were were uh we were at and or joined by and so uh I

063just want to really thank our team uh exceptional work and all of our building leaders and administrators who also held information sessions with their team members across the district at school sites was also tremendous. So, it was a true team effort and just thank you. >> All righty. Okay, I think that that's a wrap. Uh, moving on. Next up on our agenda is the monitoring reports for results two, academics and foundations. Maybe we can start with a motion. >> I move the board accept the monitoring report for results two, academics and foundations R2 as presented. >> A second. >> And I think we will have a presentation from the administration and then followed by public comment if we have any. >> I'll turn it over. >> Great. Thank you. As uh Dr. Downey um and

064Rich Meash join us up here at the podium. I just want to share two things about uh results too and the monitoring report here. And again uh the monitoring reports for our results are about progress toward which is different from operational expectations uh which is a little bit more binary and sort of how we look at the the content and evidence. But um we've got a great story building off of what Director Coin said. We've got a lot of things to celebrate. We've got incredible results. Um, yes, there are things we can always be working on, but um, you know, coming off of that levy conversation, it's really important to highlight our students are doing really well and our staff are the primary drivers of helping to support them in partnership with our families. So,

065we've shown consistently um, positive efforts to sustain a high level of excellence, but also really starting to move the needle on opportunity gaps. And so the real question before us is how we continue to maintain that level of excellence and continue to address achievement gap. So um that is what we're focusing on and that is in this very much the spirit of equity and access as well. So I'll turn over to um to Dr. Downey. >> Thank you superintendent. We are excited to share tonight's results 2 report which shows that our district continues to perform at a high level overall while also making measurable progress on one of the most important priorities closing opportunity gaps. This report connects directly to our strategic plan and our school improvement efforts across elementary, middle, and high school. At

066the elementary level, student performance on state math and literacy assessments remain strong. On the Smarter Balanced Assessment, third through fifth grade math and literacy results continue to perform at or above most pure districts and well above the state average, reflecting steady implementation of our elementary curriculum and targeted supports. At the middle school level, we see solid performance in both ELA and math SBA results as well as long as well along with consistently high percentage of students earning B minus or better grades in math courses. Middle school course uh performance shows that most students are mastering standards for their grade level and our MTSS intervention structures are helping students helping more students stay on track. At the high school level, several leading indicators remain strong. 9th grade passing all classes, an indicator of on track to

067graduation remains above state averages. Algebra B minus or better rates have improved compared to prior years following course redesign and added supports. and four-year graduation and continuation rates are among the highest in the state for districts with multiple schools. >> Most notably, this report shows clear opportunity gap closure in graduation and continuation rates over three years. Sustained improvement gaps have narrowed substantially substantially for our BIPO student group, low-income students, and students with disabilities. This is an important proof point. With focused strategy, aligned supports, and consistent monitoring, gap closure is possible at scale. This also shows that in the Isiqua School District, students are receiving intentional instruction and support from our incredible teachers and staff in partnership with hard work and commitment from families, community partners, and of course, students such that all students, inclusive of

068all identity markers, can succeed and graduate from high school. Moving forward, we seek to replicate this gap closure success across all measures. While we celebrate these gains we've outlined, the report is also clear that disproportionality still exists across several academic indicators, including course grades, assessment results, and advanced course participation. Teaching and learning has changed over the past 10 years. To reach every student every day, our system must be designed for learner variability from the start. Our instructional pathway forward centers on universal design for learning, inclusionary practices, and multi-tered systems of support. These approaches strengthen core instruction, expand access to grade level learning for all students, and ensure timely evidence-based intervention matched to student need. >> These practices are already contributing to gains in early literacy, math intervention, nth grade ontrack outcomes, and graduation rates. Our

069commitment now is to systematize and scale this work so that gap closing progress is not isolated to a few measures but becomes consistent across our academic system. In summary, this results two reports show strong overall performance, credible and measurable progress in closing opportunity gaps and a clear instructional direction to accelerate equitable academic preparedness for every student. >> And we're prepared to take your questions. >> Are there any questions? I thought maybe we would start with our students with any insights or qu Oh, public comment. I hold that thought. [laughter] Do we have anybody online? Anybody in the room for public comment? Okay, hearing none. Um, okay. I'm not seeing uh any comments from students. I'll open it up for the board. Director Gallinger, >> I'll just say that uh you know it's pretty crazy that

070for eighth grade math performance is almost twice of what the state averages which almost doubling 38% for what our eighth graders are performing to what director coin has said like there's so much negativity about public education and yet like our students and our teachers are just hitting home runs and for the community This is the investment. The investment in our levy dollars is smaller class sizes, updated curriculum, professional development to ensure that our students and teachers are ready to embrace that new curriculum. And then looking at through the lens of equity so that all students, no matter what you look like, are able to access the curriculum and be successful in it. And so I I just love that this is really a culmination and I think should be looked at as a moment of

071celebration because in so many of this to your point uh superintendent is we look at such binary of like wow we could always do better and yet I think we probably need to pause more and say there's some really amazing things that are happening that it's like we're not even playing by the same playbook as the rest of the state. So, thank you to Superintendent and your team and all that's represented here because and to our community. This is where your dollars go and it it really really shows in the results. So, thank you, >> Director Cole. >> I want to um second what Director Gallinger said and I just want to pull up page eight on the monitoring report again. And I remember when I first saw our graduation rates, I asked the question,

072"So now what?" Um [laughter] because I'm not really sure we can do better than that. And I remember the district said, "Well, celebrate." And that's really what we need to do. I think we need to as a community really lean in and and really realize like, wow, this is absolutely incredible and recognize this. Again, this goes back to I think any of us who have had kids who have gone through this system. And I know that, you know, for those of us that have had students that have gone all the way through, I think about my son who's now in college and he was so incredibly prepared and I attribute so much of that to the Isqua school district um at all levels of his education. And I think um yes, there are always areas

073for improvement and there are questions that we've all had and there's questions I know that many of us, you know, probably still have tonight. But I I want us to really focus in on this and again thinking about thinking about this across school district in a really positive light because it is doing some amazing things. And for those folks that are thinking otherwise, for those folks that understand this data and are fans of our district, I want them to tell others this these results are incredible. Director Mullings, >> thank you for the report. Again, I mean, the results are fantastic. I what I appreciate about this um this report this version I guess of the report is I do think uh we're taking a little bit more time to do some comparisons so we know

074what how we compared to the state as we've talked about how we've compared to neighboring districts as an example and I think that's important because one of the things uh that grinds my gears about some of the misinformation about our school district is this disingenuous application of poor performance and national trend information and and hanging on that as truth while not recognizing that we were absolutely operating in a different paradigm from those national statistics that we have continued to perform outperform all of the peer statistics. And so I think as we look at how again I love the the fan comment that's something we really have to break through like we we cannot talk about isqua school district in the same breath with national not even statewide trends and results because we are not in

075the same category and to achieve that we make different investments. And so when those who would say uh why do you need those big fancy schools or why do you need that big fancy administration building is because we're getting big fancy results. And I am exhausted by this rhetoric of overlaying the performance of states at the bottom of our educational system with what we are doing here. And each and every one of the adults who intentionally does that, funds that, shares that, knows they are doing it. And it is maddening to me. So I just want to say when we look at how we how and why we invest in the infrastructure of our schools, in the amount of students in our schools, in the teacher ratios, in the um counselor ratios, and do we

076have to adjust those over time? Sure. Do we have to adjust to all of the unusual things that have come our way? At least even over only my last six years. Yes. But we we have to change the conversation to look at the results, the actual mathematical results of this district and how they compare to other places. And any adult who continues to pedal the misinformation to the contrary is doing it purposefully and they are disingenuous. Milo. >> Um, I just had one quick question, but I just also wanted to say that I love the report and I really like the focus on early intervention in our school district. I think that's been something that we've been really pushing recently and I know I grilled Jacqueline about it earlier. Um, and so just thought I

077would highlight that. Um, my question was on kind of the end of page six and the start of page seven, we were talking about the disproportionate outcomes and them being persistent. And I was curious because on one of the bullet points for the things that we're doing, it said we are providing intervention staff to ISO High School. And I was curious if because that was the only one that came up if it was any other schools that we had added to. I mean, I know we have. I just wanted to know like clarifying if it was purposeful that we just put Isaokqua High School there or if there was more to that. Thank you. >> Yeah, that is a great question and I want to start off by acknowledging back Milo your interest in early

078childhood education is lovely. So, um yes, uh we engage in equity based budgeting um through the process that's been discussed here. Um, also some of our funds are geared towards gap closure that we get from the state or from the federal government. And so based on our data showing where there is the most need for gap closure, that's where those resources get allocated. So that was the example to Isqua. >> Okay. I don't see any other comments. I'm going to make a few comments. Oh, you No, no, no. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Uh yeah, just a few comments I wanted to make as well. Um you know, in a in a high-erforming district, it's incredibly difficult to move numbers forward, but yet across the entire report, again, I say I've said this in other context,

079but these numbers just jump off the page. It's really pleasing. You said you were pleased, you should be pleased um by the results. They're just fantastic. And uh one little anecdote, I was having coffee actually with a uh board member from a neighboring um school district and he was just envious of the graduation rates that he saw in the report. So um I think that's a good indicator that uh you're definitely doing something right. Um but at the same time I do want to acknowledge that I I it came through the report to me that the district is very much not satisfied with um areas where it sees disproportionality and that we have to continue to work in those areas and I'm confident that that we will uh and I know that planning continues to

080do that. So um that was great too. Uh couple of things minor things I wanted to comment on. Uh it was noted in the report of the high fail rates in US and world history which pains me greatly being a history major throughout my um entire academic career. Um, but I really think it's incredibly wise the plans to introduce more curriculum with differing histories of differing peoples that allow uh students from all kinds of different backgrounds to start try to engage in those stories and that history as an opportunity to excel in that uh discipline. So, uh, that really stood out to me. And then I did have a question which there is a note that math interventions are particularly difficult to or present a unique challenge. Just wondering if I could get some more

081commentary as to what those challenges are exactly or and and how we try to plan for math interventions versus different types of interventions. >> Oh boy. Sounds like a that's like a thesis question. Um, so let me let me try to keep it >> give me the executive >> the super the super high level. I I all interventions are approached with a great deal of passion and interest and complexity because every every student is a complex learner and an individual. So I don't want to I don't want to say that it's like easy to do literacy intervention. Um but I think the challenge that we constantly have when it comes to curriculum based interventions is that math is incredibly linear and marches on whereas in the language arts we do a lot of spiraling back

082on concepts and skills. And so, um, one of the big challenges that we face, and I think there's some really we're really looking at some really great evidence-based ways to approach this is how do you how do you make sure that you can continue on on complex grade level content while still backfilling um the this fluencies that students who struggle with math tend to have. So, if I'm struggling with multiplication, but I'm solving multi-step multiplication problems and then moving on to the next chapter while I'm still building my multiplication fluencies, it's it presents a different challenge than we see in literacy. So, it just means that we need to structure things a little bit differently and we need to think about how we scaffold and keep students involved in grade level learning in mathematics while

083they're still building those mathematical fluencies. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, and then one last comment. I just want to completely agree with everything Director Mullings just said about um there's like there seems to be an assumption that these results are guaranteed that if we fund a public school system you get these great results and it's just obviously not true that there's so much thought and talent and resources that went in that are provided in this district that create these results. And I just want the community if you ever need proof of that then pick up this report. pick up results to and look at the progress that's being made and also to director Mullen's point how we compare across the entire state and with our neighboring uh districts. So, um just fully fully concur with

084what director Mullen said. Director Gallinger, >> we started this off and appropriately so acknowledging all the amazing things about that we see here. Uh I want to say two things to start. one, we've talked about this in work study for two hours before this, so this may be more abbreviated than it otherwise would be. >> Uh, but in page 17, the bottom, I think I would like to see internal consistency. And so you spend a lot of time in the narrative talking about how B minus what B minus or higher represents. And then when a a report then includes a plot in table of C minus and above, I would requests that there's internal consistency that either stick with one or stick with the other. Uh so that's just a a housekeeping commentary to under

085the graduation thing. So we have had various iterations of this report based on what the collection of the five up here want and I understand that that always changes and I appreciate your flexibility. Uh, but I think I would like to see linked to a linkouts to what our SAT data is. I understand why I think AP is less relevant to me because not every student takes it and and whatnot. But I think most of our students take a take an SAT score or ACT score, choose one, I don't care, choose one, choose both. But why I think it's relevant to me is we're talking about all these amazing things that our students and teachers are doing. And I think that just further bolsters like this isn't like there isn't great inflation here in our

086school district. I would argue that there's probably grade deflation >> compared to what you then see nationally norm test where the average in our high schools is crazy. So I think having those linked out would be really helpful. So that way if community wants to look at it, they're seeing like it's not just here are the how our students are performing in district and with state based assessments but nationally and and national norm tests they're out there just way outperforming their peers. So I think that's an important thing just to provide that context. And then my specific questions are in the table that talks about our science classes and for biology. I would love to hear what the thoughts are on why why our student performance in our biology classes in high school is far

087lower than I would expect. Of any core class that I would say a person taking biology in general, a freshman takes in our high schools. It's the lowest percentage of students at the level that you would say is like exceeding expectations compared to any other core subject. We've noticed this as well like in our regular data studies uh alongside principles and our principal PD as we're looking at data and progress monitoring and one of the the theories that's come about is the level of language um that is in the biology curriculum. Um a lot of that really technical and specific content driven terminology can be challenging. Um, also it is a ninth grade course largely and so it is a challenging transition year. So you have both the content challenge and just the load of

088high school all at once. So it is something we're continuing to look at. And this way I would say this is the the the challenge about being a district like this where the standards are so high as far as like what our biology teachers and how they're teaching are not the same as what they're doing at our high schools versus other districts. So, what I worry is is that, and I know it's a fine balance, but if that's the entry level science course for most of our high school students, like what percentage of students are we turning off to to science right away that they walk out of that class be like, "Oh, I'm not good at science, so I'm I'm going to prematurely close a door." And so, I I guess I would love

089to see some greater exploration and explanation a year from now when we see this report. So hopefully this captured in our notes about biology because I I don't want doors closed as a ninth grader. I mean at any grade, but certainly not as a nth grader. and and that that's so I I think that there would be should be special attention to that because if we saw that in our math like why we're specifically reporting on algebra 1 and algebra 2 is because we had these concerns about those being classes that we we don't want our students to be like oh I'm not good at math or so that would be my request about that. Thank you. Noted. >> Hey, sorry, I didn't have my microphone. >> Um, I just wanted to talk uh quickly

090about what I saw about because I saw that the world history and US history were some of the highest fail rates. And I know um take this with a grain of salt because I tend to not do as well in history and stuff, but I've seen uh in at least in Skyline in um some of the onle US history courses that I'm taking this year um I've seen a large amount of like like just out of school content that I wouldn't expect necessarily from um you know courses that are generally on level courses meant to take a little bit less of your time. Like people are spending like hours on these history uh um history projects and history homework that um people aren't even doing in their college level STEM courses at Skyline at least.

091And I just wonder like um I know that like maybe the history needs that more of that rigor to um better uh comprehend the content, but it just generally feels like sometimes there's a mismatch between the amount of homework assigned in um STEM classes and then the amount of homework uh assigned in um uh humanities classes, specifically in this case on level US history, which might be causing some of this um high higher fail rate cuz people might have less time and not be able to really complete all of that work cuz like it's like sometimes it can be hours at uh time and yeah, >> Director Coin, >> thank you. Um, two quick things and I know my board colleagues are going to laugh because I'm going to go back to page 10 on

092the senior exit survey. I find this data useful and I know we're not getting this from all of our high school students and so I would love to see if we could get a higher participation rate across all high schools and it's interesting because I received some feedback when we had our our work study conversation a couple weeks ago and I had brought this up and I think an interesting point with this too is probably framing the survey too in the sense that I think the feedback I've received is not kids aren't always proud about that next step and So, they don't feel comfortable necessarily completing the survey or telling the truth. And I think that there's a way to maybe frame it in a very positive way. Um, and so maybe I would just

093throw that back to the district because this data is very useful. I mean, I think it's really helpful, but when we look at it and we see, oh, well, only seven kids are deciding to go to trade school. I'm sure that that's higher or they're considering it. maybe they haven't committed to that for the for their you know the year after graduation but I would just love to see more here because I know that this also you know we look at when when the district I know is making programming decisions this type of feedback is useful um so um uh that would be my my comment there and then I'm going to go back I know we've talked about this director Taylor me mentioned it just mentioned it too um but it did stand out

094to me so page 23 world history and US history highest fail rates I was reading that last night and um I I absolutely loved history um when I was in high school and so that I w I was surprised by that and I guess I know that the report talks about the district is looking at ways to kind of to engage students um in a more positive light and we as members of the school board I know all of us get questions from from community members around civics and history and the importance of that and when we see that this high this this fail rate is so high that is concerning to me. So I guess I'm curious when we think about some of the things that the district is doing to kind of re-engage

095students in that space. I don't know if you have some higher level themes maybe you could share with us just to give us a perspective on that. Yeah, probably easiest is uh the world history course, the standard level world history course is in its second year of implementation with a new curricula and a new course design and they're still meeting multiple times a year with the entire instructional team to look at the data, look at how students are doing and say how are we tweaking this course. So some of the things they did is a little bit more project based, a little bit more thematic based so that and a lot more um very explicit and intentional ties to modern modern their modern world experience because the we're talking about you know ancient and medieval

096history or or we're talking about not modern world history here. So it's it's things that don't have in students mind always looking at it and saying oh that is perfectly relevant to me today. So really working to say how these themes actually project into the world of today. So um and then of course also making sure that we got materials that were more representative of our student population and our our world population. Um the world history 3 course of old is now global studies and is very focused on modern global issues. So to really look at the current world challenges of today. So to really make that a super high engagement curriculum and so then the US history they're selecting a curriculum right now they're in that process and we'll go through that same that

097same kind of course design with the idea of how do we engage students apply universal design principles and um make sure that's accessible and relevant to our students. Um, it's really fun work to see social studies teachers working together that way because they are passionate about their subject and they really want kids to be successful. So, um, and we're relentlessly looking at the data every time they come together. We look at the most recent grades, the most recent outcomes and say, are we making progress and are we making progress across demographic groups? >> That's great. Thank you, >> Dr. Kallinger. uh going near the end of the report. So I wanted just [clears throat] to sort of kick off any sort of potential dialogue about uh 2 nine because that's a recently adjusted one where

098it says students will understand and apply current and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and I know near the end of that section or subsection there's bulleted comments about that. I think it would be helpful for me as a board member and as a parent. I don't get a sense that the district has staked the position on that. And just starting with that, I know there will be so much more professional development and a lot of uh just in time learning, but I think there's a really unevenness across our district and across subject areas. There are some classes and teachers that are absolutely like you can't use AI for anything. It's bad. And then some are like, "Oh, you can use it for this." So, it'd be great for there to get to a standard because

099I don't think it's binary of AI is bad or AI is good. >> I think ultimately we want AI to be a tool that our students learn how to use, but they're not going to learn how to use it if the position of a lot of our teachers are AI is bad. And so it would be really great if there were just some baseline parameters that were established soon on like here's where you could consider using it or here's how you can consider using it and here's where you shouldn't be using it and here's where we we as professional educators have a problem with. I think just trying to get all of our teaching staff onto the same page >> would be helpful for all of our students. uh as so just and and I

100know that whatever that framing is will change and evolve but right now it seems like there needs to be a little bit more I think central guidance because other we care about equitable opportunities and right now our our students are having widely variable I think approaches to that that is probably too variable at least that's my personal opinion and watching my lived experiences so I don't know what other people's thoughts are on that >> I agree I I I really think we should be looking into it as net positive. I mean, it's the future. It's the skill sets that we're all going to have to develop. And I I really like the suggestion you bring up, uh, Director Gallinger, about in my work at at Microsoft, I get an email every week at the beginning

101of the week essentially, here's all the ways that you could be using AI in your in your work if have you thought about using it this way or that way or this would be a benefit to you or way to build efficiency. So, um, I I fully support that. I I do think I do hope that our messaging is like I said a net good and that we can we can drive to that. Director Mullings, I think [clears throat] I have two sets of thoughts. One is on where what is the guidance on where students should not be using AI is interesting. Right? That's one. Um and then the other is this last bullet here about teachers including collaborative tools and lesson activities. So I I think on the first one I agree there's probably

102a better an opportunity to improve the consistency of what the message is or the why behind it because AI is a lot of things. It shows up in a lot of ways. I feel that what I see with my student is it's more about um maybe it's the courses he has but it's more about um document checking like does the document include uh known pieces that are found someplace on the internet or wherever to say that he it's enhanced with AI. I don't know that that's the most productive check especially in documents full of quotes and other other things. So I just I don't know that the why is super clear of like why do we not want students to use it in this way there because because of some reason and therefore something will

103happen. So I think that's part of it. I think there's sort of a reaction of because of the amount of AI we know and I think what a lot of people think is like the document editing side of it. Go off crawl for information put it in my document. That's just a very small piece even of how our own kids are using it. So I think there's a better message on like what am I concerned about? Am I cons and telling the kids that like do you actually know the information? How do you demonstrate it? Can you create something with the information you found? So I just think there's we we have to kind of rever change how we're thinking about it. And so that's why this last bullet I really liked which is teachers

104include collaborative tools and lesson activities to expand students authentic real world learning experiences. My hope is that that's the piece that's leading us to um how the actual delivery of educating changes because we have the access to AI. And the example the best example I've heard in the last several months is you know math changed how we deliver math change when kids got calculators. So what is the correlary change where there has to be a different engagement model because of the access to AI because I can look farther look through more data sources more quickly because I can leverage that then what does the actual delivery change to and so so I hope both of those sides can be true one is that we can get more clear on what are we hoping students will

105or won't do because frankly our current AI checkers that a lot of teachers are using is I you know I could have done the same thing with encyclopedia Bratannica 40 years ago like what do I pick up and can you catch that it was straight out of encyclopedia bratannica it's a very you know me it's not a very sophisticated check the answer is yes they have used AI to search the internet like so what are we really doing but on the other side is we're I'm hoping that the conversation is moving to what is the actual delivery and experience of education with AI as a given that's what I feel like we have to move to pretty quickly because of course they can do all they can do all these other things. So let's not

106spend our energy trying to catch them doing it because they are doing it. It's fact. So those are my thoughts on the last one. >> And yeah and just one other related point I think part of it is also we have to let our staff catch up right they have to learn the technology in order to to talk to the benefits of it. And just one more plug for our levies as part of our technology levy there's money now for training for for staff. So, I I hope we're mindful about that. >> Yeah. And I know you have a student comment to get to, but and but that's my point is I think though the the quote let teachers catch up part of it is I think the district needs to probably like plant their

107flag in the ground on hey here's what we're going to center on just so there's some consistency like when there are teachers at Skyline who make students do timed rights because they don't want them at home. They're worried that they may do something on AI like that's not the right reason to use do a timed right. There are there are purposes for why you would do a timed right. That's not one of them. So, but without in the absence of guidance, there's a vacuum that teachers are making their own interpretation. But while this point is regional progress, a year from now because things are going so fast, teachers getting in the way of students learning how to use AI as a tool, like bullet three of the interpretation will be not true. And that's why

108I'm having this conversation now. So there's an understood reflection on what needs like we we here are saying the rapid pace of change. We have to stay on that leading edge of it for our students sake because we don't want them [clears throat] at a disadvantage at any point in any place where they go next after our district. Sorry, I know you have a student comment. >> Rex, please. Um, hello. Yes. Um, I wanted to say similarly to Milo, this report is great. I was looking at both the SBA test scores. um not that a test score is comprehensive of our students understanding, but I think it's a very good place to start seeing that we're double in um ELA at the um level four scores to the uh Washington state level and then 10%

109over double the um level four scores of uh Washington state test takers. I I think that's incredible. Um my one question was on page 34 about the enrollments and science courses. Um, I was looking at the uh top additional courses selected from the 2024 to 2025 um school year and I was wondering why the uh sports medicine classes weren't included um for Isqua High School, Liberty High School, and Skyland High School because um just from my understanding I know that there are I think seven periods of um sports met at least at Isqua High School. two of the advanced and five of the intro. I was just wondering why um those didn't make it on the report as well. >> Uh that is a great question and um more more the way that our data

110system is set up that we categorize courses in one of about 12 categories. And so some of our CTE courses um have been categorized in some of the career exploration areas. And so the sports medicine has been more in there. But a lot of the CTE courses have very strong science components. So you're you're not wrong that there are actually additional courses that are very scienceheavy that might be more frequently accessed than some of the ones on this list. And sports medicine absolutely is one of those. >> Director Coin, >> I'm going to go back to AI. I want to elevate a couple things that were brought up. So to director Gallinger's point um around increasing greater adoption and I want to just give the perspective of the person maybe up here on the dis

111who is probably more afraid of AI and like starting to be to be introduced. I am also in an industry that's playing catch-up with with AI and so I get it and I get where some of our educators would be a little worried about it too. But director Taylor you said something that was brilliant and I think you work at Microsoft so it's just natural. You said on Monday mornings you get an email that says here are ways you can use AI. That's probably just common at Microsoft. So brilliant. I just wrote a note. I'm going to talk to my director of AI at work and say please >> generate something like that. So >> I apologize creating that gentleman bunch of work. >> But I think there's this there's this sense of there's this

112sense of fear and there's also this sense of how do I use it? So, give me some ideas that would be approved ideas where I'm not going to suddenly get in trouble or, god forbid, lose my job by using something. So, you know, I wonder I just want to elevate that cuz maybe that's an idea for the district, too. Cuz it was like a light bulb moment for me. Like that's so basic. Why aren't we giving that like sending out ideas like that? Because I think we're all hungry for that. We want to use it in productive ways. Yeah. >> And that would be a great idea. So, thank you for sharing that. >> The key is you have to do the things in the email when it comes to you. >> [laughter] >> Yeah,

113that's me. >> That Yes, that is true. Yes, that is true. That is true. >> So, I'm going to kind of jump around a little bit based on what we've discussed. I'll start with AI, look at some stats, and then I have some questions. Um, starting with AI, I definitely echo the sentiment that the essays going through like Turn It In and things like that are almost always getting flagged. Like, we're using quotes from our books and things like that. So, it's honestly just like normal. I turn in an essay, it's like 30% plagiarized because I used text evidence. Um, and I think that like a lot of students are also often nervous about it because sometimes like those percentages are higher, just variable, especially when you're talking about books and things that have already

114been written about. So, I think I'm definitely excited to look at the way that we're kind of changing the way that we assess AI. Um, and I just want to highlight the fact that at IHS there's definitely some teachers that are doing a great job at walking students through why AI isn't a tool that can fully replace their learning. Um, I know especially like looking in English classes and things like that, we've had times where we've sat down and compared like, okay, this is how AI can respond to a prompt like this. This is how students and humans do it. Um, and the level of emotional depth and um, honestly just humanity that comes through in looking at examples like that uh, I think does far more for helping students understand why learning is important

115even when they can just go on chat GBT and generate something than saying that any sort of like touching AI or like using it is going to have con which is going to have consequences. Not that it shouldn't, but I think that it's very important that students understand the why behind that. Uh, so I just wanted to echo that. I also thought it was really um exciting on page nine of results too. Um, one of the stats that just jumped out to me a lot was uh the gap between district total four-year graduation and the BIPO focus group going down from 8.3% to 1.4% in like two years. That's such a reduction in that gap. And I know that we've talked a lot about um when you're performing so well as a district like it

116can be hard to reduce those things. Um but it went from a group that had like a substantially higher gap than students with disabilities or low income to a lower one which I just thought was really cool. And then my third thing is in relation to kind of like the fail rates um with history and history as a whole. So I again just wanted to echo the fact that history having a larger focus on world history is something that I've seen so much excitement around as a student body. Um I think that when I was a freshman incoming there was a good amount of frustration with the fact that the further history studies was mainly just like AP European history. Um and now we've been able to kind of move a little bit more away

117from that like primarily European focus. I'm in AP African-American studies right now. At the beginning of the year, all the students went around and shared why they took the class. Um, and almost every answer was, it's just so exciting to see uh ways that we can delve into these specific pockets in like an AP class that will not only be good for college, but also like critical thinking skills and an understanding of the world. Uh, that does bring me to a question though. I know that um Vet was talking about how uh history at Skyline is like considered really difficult um especially with AP US or not AP US history regular US history um at IHS I think that that take this with a grain of salt because this is generally coming from what I'm

118hearing from students but that uh US history world history the on level history courses aren't so much what's concerning or difficult so much as some of the onle sciences and maths which I think is also reflected in the graph of the fact that I think only like 66% of students are getting a B minus to an A in biology and I was just wondering if there was any like school specific data or if the struggle with history is districtwide because I know there's also a cultural difference between the STEM and humanities focus at Skyline Isiqua and Liberty. Yeah. So, we we definitely do look at the data school by school as a as a leadership team and um we're working um just recently on getting more and more data out in the hands of our

119instructional teams to do some uh data study protocols. We just went through that as a a district-wide professional development to really to really engage the entire district around this because it actually is pretty even across the schools. some of the some of the gap areas that that we have. And um it also does connect with that uh supporting the ninth grade transition is a really important one for us because when we talk about biology and world history, those are two ninth grade classes. And that transition from middle school to high school is a difficult transition for some. And so we've really been focused on our strategic plan on that 9th grade transition which then focuses us again on world history, biology, algebra 1, and nth grade ELA as those kind of four core courses that

120we want to make sure everybody's off to a success on. So I am I am hopeful. I haven't gotten a chance yet. Just got the semester 1 data. So, I look forward to a data study soon on looking at our ninth grade and courses and some of these courses from our semester 1 data this year because we're in a regular habit of doing that. And I'm crossing my fingers and really hoping that that some of the work that um our teachers have been really dedicated to is going to show up in those grades. And um and I I I hope to continue to hear from students as well as their quality of experience in those classes as well. So, I want to thank you for that. I do want to I do want to jump

121real quick on the um AI conversation because I I really appreciate hearing that um the idea of cutting through the noise of AI with some clear and simple messaging. So, I I appreciate that input and I just wanted to note that and that we hear that and share a few updates on some of the things that have been done that we're excited about. So on our non- studentent day in January, uh we did a a program with Lenovo and um it really the our keynote on that day really did a great job of speaking to all of our secondary teachers um about both the recognizing some of the dangers like some of the things that's that that teenagers are getting involved in that are not good for AI but also the importance of leaning in

122and guiding students and um we've heard that from our students too who have reported that the teachers who are helping helping me figure out how to use AI. I'm not cheating. I'm I'm following their advice. I am using AI appropriately. The teachers who just say don't use AI, I'm more likely to use AI without letting them know. Um, and we've we've heard that and I think that's a message that we really want to continue to lean into with our teachers. And to do that, we we have started with building up teacher skills and AI. So, colleague AI for teachers is where we really leaned in first. And we're just launching our colleague AI for students um with a pilot group of teachers right now with the hope of of um uh that being a mechanism

123for us to get to very clear and consistent messaging on how to use AI in a safe uh AI environment. Uh one that's protected so that students aren't risking their identity um or their loss of their personal information and property. Um it will probably continue to be a little messy. Um, but I do appreciate that in the midst of that mess, making sure we're clear and simple about some of the messaging that we want to say is most important. So, thank you for your input. >> Thank you for entertaining with the AI conversation. Now, I'll move to 2.1. And I think we need to update this language. And I think for me, I would rather it say something like >> students will apply academic skills to explore career pathways. that >> because I'm not sure

124what life situations are and maybe that >> predates all of us here but uh I think the intent especially by the superintendent's interpretation is talking about career or future connected learning and so I think that our language needs to probably push on that some more. So that would be something that I would love to uh hear what my board colleagues reflection is on that. >> You say it again one more time. What you >> students will apply academic skills to explore career pathways. I mean basically we want all of our students to be able to do career exploration in high school. that's why we are doing so much work that we're doing besides just the academic things and I think that would just bring more clarity to it for me at least because we go

125through essentially discipline by discipline we talk about math and then we talk about social studies and language arts and the arts. So just seems like we should really articulate that here. So if that's something that the >> coin >> um I I would fully agree with that. I mean I think we've had more conversations around career readiness. It's funny because I reflect on it and I think this is this is a generational difference. I think this is language from frankly when we were going through the system. There weren't the conversations around career readiness that we're having now. and I appreciate the fact that we're having that. Um, and so I think that that is clearly language we should be updating. I think this is reflective of the past. What's in here now? >> Dr. I

126think I'm you bring up a very interesting question about this language and I'm going to agree with you and then give you all the reasons why I don't agree with you like in my brain like what comes up for me cuz there what I I'm looking at that wording and then I'm looking at what the evidence is and maybe it's what I maybe hope that language is saying. It's of course I'm I I love the career connected piece. I want um our students to get more exploration that helps them get hands-on, rule things in what's possible for them. I love that. I think what is the piece I would love to keep here though or keep someplace is sometimes the work in school we make it so academically focused. What I'm hoping that our students

127are learning is how to exist in the world, how to debate, how to how to engage with others. Like the pieces about actually building up their their skills around resilience and building up their ability to like investigate who they're becoming is what is in that life situations for me. And sometimes I feel like um it is through the non-academic that they get to be challenged with some of those things and like uh in debate club or forming their business for DECA or um some of that sort of exploration. So, I fully am on board with what you said about should we be more clear about one of our goals being the career exploration, but I'm also hoping that what this one can can call out is like that purely an appreciation of the arts is

128something that will carry you forward in life situations of understanding culture and language and other things. So, I'm you've given me like my own internal debate with with that comment. >> Yeah. And I would say that in the same way, yes, I think arts are really important. That's why it's included in here. I think career connected learning is also to me a foundational skill. And to your point, but that's why we have results four. And results 4.6 says be resilient, take informed risks, deal constructively with failure, and be flexible and adaptive to change. >> Yes. >> 4.7 says be able to cooperate and collaborate within within a diverse group of people in order to attain desired outcomes. So I think that we have a standalone just as important to us results about who you are

129as this is the what you do. >> And so I think we we treat them equally. So for me I think dividing that out of still saying through the academic lens of here's what you do because we want career connected learning for every student. That that's I think that just more articulates why we have a seven period day. It isn't that we want you to take another academic class. Now, if if you're geared towards that and you want to take a like double up on maths or double up on science because that's your passion, then that's great. For the overwhelming majority of our students, we want to see exploration. And I think the more we can articulate it here, I think that would be signaling for our community and our school district leaders. But that's

130just me. I don't know what I'd be curious what our newest member thinks about all this. Uh uh well I was looking at 2.1 and thought you had lost your mind so uh [laughter] I apologize for now looking at the actual >> yes one zero that makes sense to for all the reasons that you said yes. >> So I think that this is largely oh sorry >> n I'm done go ahead. Uh I think this is largely a good dovetail conversation that I think that the board wishes us to have around policy discussion around the results in particular um through the lens of the work that uh was done on the portrait of a graduate. And so I think that as we bring this, you know, I think that's a natural dove dovetail point to

131have that conversation and also expand on that even more because I think it might spark further dialogue around how do we then see this overlay and as we consider the next high school programming that's it all kind of comes um at at that connection point. So I appreciate hearing that connection and uh I think it's it's yeah this is sort of older language I think in 2.10 which in my brain was 2.10 10. But yes, [laughter] I went to 2.1 as well. I'm looking for a zero. >> Yes. Anything else at this time? Oh, Vet. Yes. So, about the BIPOC focus group. Sorry, I lost it. Um, I just had some questions about like what that entailed because seeing as they like um closed the gap so much in the last couple years. So I

132was just wondering like like what happened and like how many people does that include just like so that like I can like and it is what happened is what happened in that group being applied to like more students. >> Yeah. >> So our bipok focus group is a way of us having a metric for disproportionality based on race. So it combines four groups that have um predictable disproportionality in our outcome datas. So that includes African-American, includes Hispanic, includes Pacific Islander, and it includes Native American. Um altogether it is I want to say around 15% of our district. Okay. So 225 graduates um somewhere around there. And um and I think I'm missing one of the questions you asked. >> I think I just like kind of misunderstood it. I thought it was like a small

133group of people, like a focus group, but I think it's like the entirety of those populations. Okay. >> Yeah. >> And then just one other question. Sorry. Um about uh what Ava said about um like maybe breaking the data down by school. I would even wager to see like if like even more specific like by teacher maybe. Um I know of like uh about like alignment uh this about like the US history and the world history. Um the alignment can be like a large issue for a lot of students at Skyline at least. Um where a lot of students feel like the work load in one course is substantially more than the other. And that uh at least I know at uh Skyline there are some history teachers that assign a lot more work than

134others and that might also be a reason why which you wouldn't be able to see at like the school level but maybe at the teacher level that you could see like maybe that's causing some of the issues but um yeah thank you. Yeah, thank you for sharing your experience and certainly when we are reviewing the data on a regular basis at the school level, we do have that information that is by teacher, by period, um by student group and [clears throat] it is so that our school leaders and our teacher leaders can look at that data collaboratively to problem solve. Um it can be really grounding for for a teacher to see it too. Oh, my data looks different um than other similar courses that my colleagues are teaching. Um, for the purposes of this

135report, because it is so public and districtwide, we tend to not drill down to that level, but we are doing that in our regular practice at the building level. >> Superintendent, did you have >> uh Yeah. So, I I do want to just add a couple things and just appreciation because this work um would not happen without many many people. I know we talked about the incredible work of our teachers, but we have a lot of other additional supports that provide the kind of um uh ongoing uh bolstering, right, of the educational experience for our young people. Um our district-wide executive academic cabinet team and the teams that they lead just do incredible work to help provide that support to buildings. But specifically, the push really comes by our building leaders and and their teams.

136So, Principal Erin Connelly, principal um Andrew Brownson, and Principal Keith Henig, um and principal Tanya Rice will just really help lead that charge in their buildings because at the end of the day, it is a it is a sprint, right, to move towards that last part of the high school career and making sure our students have what they need to get to that finish line. And just thank you to Sher Cox for her leadership and and leading those teams of people because I think that's important to know that that's the support that they get. >> Great. Okay, I think we're at the point uh for an advisory vote from our students. Stephen, can you cue that up for us? Oh, very very rapid rapid results. Going to refresh. Let's see. Eight. Wow. Great. The results

137are in. All in favor? Fantastic. Uh, okay. We have a motion to accept the monitoring report for results to academics and foundations as presented. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> And the results are unanimous. Great. Moving on in our agenda, it is now time before 8 o'clock even for legislative matters. Do we have anything in the legislative realm? Director Anderson. >> Um well, first I would like to publicly recognize and thank uh Martin Turney for his dedicated work in communicating with our legislators um and advocating for our school district. Um, his deep understanding of how our legislative decisions impact our school make his advocacy especially meaningful. He consistently represents our district during their legislative sessions and I greatly appreciate the thoughtful outreach he provides. I don't even Oh, he is in the

138room. Okay. His efforts deserve to be acknowledged. >> We're not all leaving. No. [laughter] >> So, thank you. Thank you, Martin. Appreciate you uh advocating for the district. Um, just some updates. We have the uh substitute House Bill 2257. Um that did pass the House Finance Committee, but there's a push to get the bill moving out of the rules committee and onto the House floor before the February 17th cutoff. So, that was one thing that Martin was um communicating and advocating with all of our legislators uh to get that bill movement um to prevent that $1.4 4 million in taxes that uh the ISD would be um uh impacted by. Um House Bill 2432 and substitute Senate Bill 6222, the surplus technology. The House bill went to the rules committee on February 4th and the

139Senate bill passed uh 49 votes to zero. Um so that's moving along. And then the MSOC funding, which is Senate Bill uh 5918, was referred to Ways and Means on February 4th. So, making some progress in this short session. Um, keeping an eye on everything. >> Great. >> So, that's where we're at. >> Director Galler. >> Yep. Uh, I went to represent our school district at the NSBA Advocacy Institute uh last weekish. Uh, and there's two things I want to update the board on. one uh was something I never heard about, but it was passed as part of the big omnimous bill last summer, which is a federal tax credit of $1,700 for education. Our state hasn't adopted it or opted in. Half of the states have, and I was surprised to have not heard

140about it yet. So, uh, when I I asked for our Washington delegation to sort of come like all talks among themselves and get a sense on where they are with that. But for us in in our community, it would be people could donate directly to the schools foundation. Schools foundation would be donating money for mentorship, after school supports, technology. All those things are a one for one tax credit uh through what we already has an existing 501c3 structure. Now, not every community in our state has that. And so, but I don't think that's a good reason to not adopt it as a state. So, uh, I do think that once we get landscape from the rest of the delegation in the state of Washington, we probably need to lean into that for a conversation uh,

141with our regional colleagues >> because I think all of our re Eastern East King County schoolers could benefit because they all have existing structures that already exist to be able to leverage those dollars that would benefit the community directly and our students. We're waiting on two pieces of guidance. One is in the federal rule making it isn't been made clear if public school students could benefit. So that's it would be an important carve in. And then two would be like how how will you actually monitor the distribution of funds and the accountability piece. Those are the two important questions that have been raised that have not been answered federally yet. So this would take effect January 1 of 2027. But again, I was surprised that I had not heard about that at all. So wanted

142to say that's one learning I had. The second one I had is one of the ask you sorry before you move on. Sorry to interrupt. Um would you be willing to approach Trisha uh with the with the schools foundation on that? um with this I don't know if you already have or not because then the my next piece would be I'd be fascinated if the National Schools Foundation if they are have an approach what their opinion is on it too and she could open that connection point so just throw that out there. I don't know if you've already talked to her or not. >> Yeah, I wasn't going to till I found out what the Washington delegation thought because I I don't want to approach something and then like sure well the door is not

143open in our state period. >> I would be Yeah, >> but certainly there's already 26 states that have opted in. >> Yeah. I mean, I would just I'm curious and I could go back to my connection points with the National Schools Foundation because I was used to be on it um and see what their approach is with that be curious. Yeah. So, Oh, interesting. >> So, I thought that was fascinating. Uh and then the second thing is is that one of the keynotes was uh from public health and showed a linear like correlation presumably about the air quality inside of a school building and student performance. And so what immediately came to my mind was OE7 for which we don't have a lot of like what is the data going to be? So it was

144the schools that had that met the standard for indoor air quality which we had lengthy conversation uh when we entered COVID about how often our room exchanges are and we were meeting that standard but I don't know if that was a temporary basis or if we've kept our HVAC systems to that but five exchanges an hour and or certain filtration was associated with the best academic outcomes for Huh, fascinating. >> And I was like, wow, just another way which it's just we we have an unfair advantage, but our community has invested in really updated buildings and updated equipment. That's another reason why these levels are so important because that there's this association between academic performance and air quality. Uh so it was crazy. So, uh, I'm gonna request that slide deck from that presenter and

145then I will forward it on to >> Heather and the rest of the board. But those are the two learnings that I had from that conference uh that I wanted to share. >> Thank you. Anything else on legislative matters? >> Okay. Not hearing anything uh announcements and correspondence. Uh, opportunity for the board members to add any other correspondents anyone's received or want to talk about. No. Hearing none. Okay. Oh, I guess it is time now for calendaring. Is am I correct? Yes. Future agenda topics and calendaring. Let's see. We have it here. I have it here somewhere. Hold on. Whole bunch of things to talk about calendaring wise. Do we want to start with the state of the city breakfast? Do >> we have a date on the state of the city breakfast? >> Yes,

146the the state of the city breakfast is at East Church. It's it's hosted by the um uh chamber of commerce. You'll have uh this is for the state of the city for Isiqua and you'll have uh newly elected mayor Mark Mullet, um Chief of Police Paul Schwan, uh and myself speaking. So, we want to make sure if that that's on board members radars. If they can attend, that's great. If there's more than three or more that we would notice that as well, >> I will be there. >> So, I did I didn't hear the date. >> The 26th >> of February. >> 26th of February from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. >> This is >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. >> I I'm tentative. I'd like to attend, but it's um so I'm tentative. >> I'm a

147no. And then maybe lean. Yes. I'm a no. >> One yes. Two tentatives with a variation of one tentative lead. Yes. >> So notice or not? Yeah. Well, we will >> we will once we get that confirmation on the tentatives we will >> notice and then we'll also sign people up too and that that's a practical matter. >> Can I just ask a practical question? >> You may. It feels like we're no I guess noticing more things than I remember us doing historically. Is there a reason? Yes, we may all be in the same place, but I thought the issue was if we are discussing the business of the district, which we wouldn't be. So, I guess I I just want to >> maybe understand it seems like we're noticing more than we have done.

148>> I believe three or quum three or more is a public meeting. So, we do have to notice of an assembly, but we don't have to make a motion if there's no business being conducted to attend. >> So, I think we we decide to over uh notice >> and I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but I don't I don't think we have to notice assembly for social reasons, but I think we've chosen to do that recently. I don't recently mean over the course of the past couple years. >> Yeah. cuz like the state of the city as an example wouldn't we we don't we may all be present but we're not assembling we don't have any part of the agenda we we don't there is nothing for us to do but be physically in

149the same place it was like I think it was a similar one on like >> I think it's because you're attending in the role of your capacity as a board member is more the thing but a so you know a purely social we don't noticed. >> But I live in Isiqua. Like why? I guess we should we should take a look at it because I've seen stuff lately just in general. Like if I I'm not going to notice to anybody if I happen to walk into IHS to this the basketball game. Like we all end up at football games at the same place. It's a strange where I do not have the agenda. So the state of the city breakfast, I am actually not there in my cap capacity as a schoolboard member because I

150can't act as a schoolboard member at this event. I I happen to be a schoolboard member, but there's nothing about my capacity in governance or policym that will be engaged in. So I just would it just seems like we're doing a little extra on this one. >> I wonder if the distinction is where you show up as a board member. So I always think about it kind of where I show up with my badge. So I probably would show up with this with my badge and I would show up as well. >> That's a bad example. >> Well, no, but I would but but I think there are other things maybe where where I where I wouldn't. So I think it's a you know it's like for instance I've always wondered like with this West

151schools foundation like like many of us are major donors and we would naturally go to these events and we still have to notice but and I would show I mean yes I show up as a board member there but technically I'm there because I'm a donor and I' I'm a supporter and you know so >> right >> there's I think there's a gray area but I guess that's how I've always thought about it if I'm showing up representing myself as a board member versus a community member. I don't know. I just think I just feel like we've gone a little the pendulum swung a little over on the notice side. You >> I won't be at this one. We can go on [laughter] >> next. >> Well, I will uh I do want to add

152that we are putting these also more on the on the sort of calendar topic just to make sure board members are aware but also it's helpful for the public to see the ways in which the board or you know what I mean have opportunities to engage. uh so we can take note about the uh the noticing topic but this is also important to show the ways in which board members are uh engaging with the community as well. >> Next up is the ESCO schools foundation impact in action uh event Wednesday March 4th 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. I think that's already on my calendar so I think I'm there. >> I'm a yes too. >> I'm a yes. I won't be able to make this one. I love this one though. Maybe >> with a lean

153one way or the other. >> No, no leaning. No leaning. Okay. >> Uh, next. Five chamber breakfast. Which five chambers? >> The five chambers include um Samish Isiqua, Newcastle, Snowqualami Valley. >> Oh, wow. Okay. >> And Mercer Island. >> Interesting. >> Oh, and Belle. I'm sorry. Mercer Island. Scratch that. Belle. I don't think that's one I can >> these are regular events that they host. Um and just again just an opportunity to >> Yeah. I'm a maybe on that one. >> I'm a no. >> I'm a maybe. Can you put it on my calendar and see what happens? [laughter] >> Maybe. >> Well, okay. Thank you for all that. We will be confirming with you individually because there's a registration process and a fee and we want to make sure that we are are uh

154[clears throat] uh in good standing there. >> Okay. Uh senior exit interviews Liberty High March 18th. Skyline April 1st, Isiqua High April 8th. I think we all got emails on this as well. >> We I haven't seen the one on Liberty. I confirmed for Skyline and Isiqua. Um I know Skyline I think because it conflicts like I only did the first hour. Um, but Liberty, I haven't seen anything. So, if there's an opportunity to get that from Liberty, that'd be great because I'd love to participate in that one, too. >> The one from Skylines at 7 start at 7. >> I think there's a Yeah, like 7:30 like the training. I think they do the And then that's what I how I interpreted it. And then it was like 8 to 9's the interviews. >>

155I just more in case anyone know the email that came out said. So, >> Oh, sure. I think I need maybe by person or by event so I can and then I'll get you registered. >> I'd like to do all three. >> So yes to Skyline for the first hour because then we have retreat. Yes to Liberty Afternoon. As a reminder, the um morning time on the 18th um there in the midday points, it's a opportunities to engage on the digital promise topics. So that's a reminder on that morning >> and then no to isqua. >> Emily has right now I can only do is >> I can Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I can do uh Liberty uh afternoon right now. I think if there's another evening one I could probably do, but the morning

156ones I can't. At least not right now. I missed the distinction on Liberty. The morning versus the afternoon. What was it? >> And the morning of >> But it's the same thing. It's It's just exit interviews. Two opportunities. >> Two opportunities. >> Okay. I thought I heard that something else was happening. >> Well, there's like a se You said there was a 700 p.m. that came out for one of them. >> Oh, no, no, 7 a.m. for >> Oh, 7 a.m. for Skyland. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Gotcha. Okay. Sorry. >> March 14th. >> The morning of uh March 18th for my was my point uh Director Bowling is that there's the digital promise convening and there's an there's a opportunity for board members to attend that morning. Okay. >> Time frame. So that's why I

157was noting that as a conflict potentially board member. >> That's what I was like there was something else said about the two times. >> I believe we've locked in they've locked in a um speaker from Microsoft at 8:30 to do that keynote welcome. >> Um so for me >> I should be able to do Liberty High School the 3 to 5. Um the first is is our retreat day. Correct. I don't have that. I'm not going to get to Skyland at 7 in the morning. Um, so and then we'll do is high. Yes. On the 8th. So yes to Liberty, yes to Isaqua, no Skyline. >> And Emily, just to clarify, I'll do the Liberty but the afternoon. I might be able to. Okay, moving on. Uh, scheduling city, PTSA and ISF engagements. Are there

158particular ones we need to or just all? Right. We want a city. Is that city of Isiqua connection? >> So, right now we have Isiqua Schools Foundation. >> Oh, this is the only one here. I see. And we are in talks with city of Isiqua. >> Okay, got it. So the question is, would Wednesday, March 11th work for us? >> Where are we? >> Oh, right here. >> Yeah, it's a board. >> Oh, yeah. >> Board meeting. >> Oh, it's right before. Yeah, of course. >> It's would be our work study before a board meeting at 5 p.m. >> Yeah, this one's on a Wednesday in March. >> We did that, but we we did an engagement. I think our last engagement with ISF >> this was the so the March 11th slash12 is the

159weather makeup day situation. So no weather makeup day so far. Knock on wood. So the board meeting will be on Wednesday the 11th >> no matter what. >> If we have a weather makeup day >> then then it shifts to Thursday. >> Okay. >> If it's on Wednesday I will not be able to attend. >> That's the Skyline senior parent meeting. Okay. >> So, do we need a motion? >> Uh, I move the board schedule an engagement meeting with the leadership team of the Isqua Schools Foundation on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. in the ISD administration center boardroom. If we have a weather makeup day on Friday, uh, March 13, the meeting will move to Thursday, March 12th. >> I second. >> All in favor? I >> I >> uh sorry just on

160that one if there's a note that if it moves >> actually I won't be at either date 11th or the 12th I won't yeah I'm in DC okay all the newbies on the board holding it down holding down the fort >> [laughter] >> I know. >> Yeah, we we So, yes, we we'll need firm confirmation from you two that you will be here. >> Yes, I wouldn't be. >> I think so. I think I had I blocked them out all options on both options on my calendar. >> Yeah, I'm good to kind of blocked it. Okay. 2026 Student Summit, Tuesday, March 24th from 10:00 a.m. to 2 PM at Gibson EC. I am out of town. >> And what is that? >> Yeah, I was just going to say, what is the student summit? >>

161Um, it's our students of color and excellence summit. Oh, >> I will not be there this this year, but I did agree to pre-record something for the summit. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Did every Did we get everyone? Did anyone else? >> I don't think I can make that work. >> I don't think I can make it work either. Oh no. Okay. Okay. Last then is the Wazda District Area 2 meeting at Tacoma Wednesday, April 29th. Uh hopefully can make this all of us 6 to 8. Think I'm here. That should work. >> Yep. >> What is the date? the 29th. >> Yes, I can make that work. >> I think I can. >> School District boardroom, >> Maple Valley. >> I think we have enough. We need a motion. No. I move the board attend

162the WASDA district area 2 meeting on Wednesday, April 29th, 2026, 6 to 8:00 p.m. at the Tacoma School District boardroom in Maple Valley, Washington. >> I second. All those in favor? I I Okay. Okay. There anything else for the good of the order?