Issaquah School District Board Meeting 01/15/2026

001And uh at this point I would like to ask everyone to join us 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. So, first up on our agenda is public comment. Um, 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 the public uh specific agenda items, I'll ask you to hold your comment until that particular agenda item comes up. Uh, public comment time is not intended to raise an issue unique to a particular student, staff member, or administrator. uh rather it is your time to

002provide your insights on issues more gener more generally and of a wider concern. As a general rule, the board will not respond to comment and I ask you to begin your comments by clearly stating your name and your attendance area. Please limit your comments to two minutes. We do uh have a timer then we keep time. The board neither endorses nor censors any opinions expressed during public comment and please keep your comments civil and respectful. Let's all try to model for our students um that kind of behavior and avoid personal attacks on others. In the place of applause, you can acknowledge um support of a speaker by lifting your hands and waving like this. And we will start public comment with those in the room and then go to those um with hands raised on

003Zoom. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to give public comment that has not signed up yet? Okay, not seeing anyone uh anyone on Oh, we'll wait for Zoom. Okay, so I guess we will start then. I do have several people signed up uh for uh an agenda item that we'll be taking up later. So, we will start with instead Vanessa Lang who is going Is Vanessa in the room? Yes, come on up. Yes, you can speak right here at the podium. Just state your name and again your attendance area. that would be helpful. >> Hi, my name is Vanessa Lang and I have a student that attends Maywood Middle School. Good evening. Um, I'm here tonight to express serious concerns regarding safety follow-through and communication at Maywood, particularly in how threats,

004Title 9 related issues, and student safety reports are addressed. When students report significant safety concerns to staff, parents should be notified in a timely and transparent manner. Instead, many families experienced silence. On Tuesday evening, no communication was set sent until parents began calling one another in law enforcement only to be told that officers were unaware of any issues. As a parent, that was terrifying. It is unacceptable that communication only occurred after panic had already set in. Had there been a timely, transparent email acknowledging that a situation was developing. Much of that fear could have been avoided. Communication builds trust, silence destroys it. On Wednesday, approximately 160 students remained home because families did not feel confident that school was a safe environment that day. The subsequent message asking families to avoid spreading rumors through social media

005and text groups was received by many parents as dismissive. Parents were not spreading rumors. We were filling an information void created by the school. These concerns are not isolated. Over several years, parents have observed reoccurring issues including fights, bullying, assaults, and substance use on campus. When disciplinary responses appear inconsistent or limited, the message being sent to students is that there are few consequences. As parents, many of us have learned to rely on one another for information and reassurance rather than the administration. That should never be the case. It is also important to note that these concerns are not limited to parents. Staff members have expressed frustration with how safety issues are being handled. Leadership matters. partic I finish just >> please wrap up your comments. >> Leadership matters particular in how concerns are communicated and

006managed as principal Aaron Armstrong sets a tone of message at Maywood. Some actions and communications have been perceived by families and staff men of as minimizing or dismissing legitimate concerns rates by students, parents and employees. This has contributed to significant breakdown in trust. >> Please wrap up. For these reasons, parents have organized a petition requesting a third-party independent review of safety practices and potential title 9 of compliance involving ISD administration. The principal Aaron Armstrong and vice principal John Gardner. In less than 24 hours, we have over 300 community signatures and it support continues to grow a school. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> Okay, next up we have Mia Nazaro. Mia Nazaro, Grandidge Elementary. Your employees leverage their inherent power dynamics, legal authority, and public funds over parents to inappropriately lower the service level

007of a child's IEP. The systemic issue is clear through the number of complaints and the due process request initiated by parents, which you can access by looking at the procedural records. I informed the team for our IEP for our daughter that the planned 1-hour meeting was insufficient to reach an agreement while maintaining my daughter's services. Instead of collaborating, the district treated the hour like an ultimatum. Agree to the cuts or have them imposed regardless. This take it or leave it attitude isn't just poor practice. It is a blatant disregard for my rights as a parent and a violation of IDEA. A special education director is materially rep misrepresenting IDEA rights, creating procedural violations that invalidate IEP decisions. when I requested a stay put to allow for further negotiation or or an independent educational evaluation, an

008evaluation that the director herself had said she felt was needed earlier in an email. I was told it was impossible. I was falsely informed that the IEP would take effect regardless of my consent and that due process requires an attorney and a pre-me filing. These are blatant falsehoods. Parents can trigger stayput protections by requesting mediation or due process within 15 days of notice. No attorney required. I filed for due process immediately. We have now hired an attorney and will incur legal fees as will the district. Your employees show reckless disregard for the use of public funds using power dynamics to bully and coers parents into accepting inadequate services. The district prefers to pay outside counsel like Pacifica Law rather than collaborate, failing its duty to provide a free appropriate public education. You are not holding

009staff accountable for a known pattern in Isiqua of not meeting the educational needs of children with disabilities. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh Stephen, do we have anyone on Zoom? No. Okay. Okay. We will then uh now move on to the approval of the consent agenda. Uh the consent agenda is a meeting management tool whereby the board is able to um pass multiple items with one motion. The co consent agenda items have been reviewed by the board prior to the meeting. Any board me uh member may move an item from the consent agenda and place it on the regular agenda for discussion. Go ahead. >> I move the consent agenda be approved as presented. >> I second. >> Okay. It has been moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda as presented. All in favor, please

010say I. >> I. >> Okay. Consent agenda passes. Okay. And then next up is the establishment of the regular agenda. Superintendent, are there any changes to the agenda? >> No, there are no changes to the regular agenda. >> Okay. Fantastic. Moving right along then. Next up on our agenda is a um report out on the regional town hall and 2026 legislative conference, which are actually two separate uh events. Um first of all, members of our board were able to attend a regional town hall on January 7th, 2026 uh in Belleview at Newport High School. uh that was attended by several uh what I think 12 state legislators and um on the issue of educational funding in the state and then also this weekend we had the 2026 legislative conference um in uh Seattle as well.

011So um just wondering if anyone wanted to open up with comments that were able to attend. >> Yes, Director Coin. >> All right. Do you want to take the town hall comments first and then or do you want me to combine them? >> Do them all. >> Both. Okay. >> Uh so the funding town hall um last week was useful. I mean I think it's wonderful to get um see the community come together understanding the need uh for greater funding uh for public education in the state of Washington. Uh it was what was great too and Chris had one of the speaking roles which is wonderful. the students took the lead in really presenting um and taking us through the program. Uh and uh again, you know, good dialogue, good content. I was interested Chris

012Reichdoll, you know, superintendent of public instruction spoke. Um he always gives a very compelling uh gives always gives compelling remarks and I think there's a lot of good data in the in what he speaks about. One thing that really stuck out with me is he spoke and and really tasked all of our districts with think with emphasizing the importance of dual credit opportunity so that our kids can earn um college credit in the high school. So that was um something that he he really emphasized. I think one observation I had with it too and I'd be curious um for the other two board members that attended too that um well I guess um uh uh for director Taylor having the perspective from last year but attendance was down significantly. It was noticeable from what it

013was last year. Last year it was standing room only. I know the space was a little smaller too so it felt like that but that was kind of just an observation I had and I was I don't I'm not sure what caused that necessarily. maybe was the scheduling or timing but last year there were a lot of people in that space. Um switching to the legislative conference. So um I was able to attend it was a Friday Saturday conference. I was able to to attend the portion on Saturday. Um and you know just speaking briefly to the two breakout sessions that I attended. There's a new OSPI reporting portal um that the superintendent and I both uh joined that um that breakout was interesting. uh you know always having good data at our fingertips being

014able to compare um Bisaqua against other districts in the state of Washington. Um so some some good takeaways there. Uh there was also a nice breakout that I attended and again our our student uh board representatives who were there also were a part of this uh too on on student voice and um great speaker there. I you know he reminded us that uh students have uh we have to remember that I know this sounds basic but students have professional experience as a student. I think sometimes we forget that the idea that you know our seniors have 13 years of professional experience as students and good to make sure that we're listening to them. So, it was a good reminder there and and um and they there was a panel actually it was great because the

015same speaker then led a panel which you know many of our student uh bar representatives um sat on isqua was very well represented there as it always is with our students and spoke to that too in terms of you know just this general theme about making sure that we're listen you know that we're listening and and I think there's always opportunity that you know we have we have students in the room um and sometimes we're making you know we it's adults in in you know making a lot of decisions but we need to make sure that we're listening to students and that they have a part of that decision making too. So all in all two two great sessions I think town hall was great last week and the legislative conference was was wonderful as

016well. >> Great. >> Anybody else? >> No. Yes. Director Anderson. >> All right. So um the town hall seemed well uh attended to me but I wasn't there last year. Um I think the Rhettin reporter did a great article um on the whole town hall. Um they said that there was over 350 in attendance. So that was really good. Um let's see. Our own Chris Pashar was uh one of the 30 or so student speakers uh for the 10 school districts that were represented at the town hall. Um Norir was there, Mercer Island, um Lake Washington among others. Um, so the main topic of the town hall was a statewide budget crisis. Um, and I think to uh what director Coin said, uh, Chris Rectal, Washington state superintendent, did a great job of doing some

017myth busting um, because there's a lot of false narratives out there about um, funding and mismanagement um, circulating. So, um, and you know, I think the student speakers did a great job at, uh, pointing, uh, across our state is not adequately funding public schools. Um, there was a Q&A session at the very end with the representatives, legislative representatives that were there. Um, and I think that the moderators did a really good job of holding um, the legislators feet to the fire as far as what they're committed to do to help with this budget crisis. So that was really good. Um so I'm really glad that I attended that. Um the legislative conference uh was last Friday and Saturday. I attended both days. Um and the theme was uh student voice which was great. Um the

018sessions that I attended were uh very informational. Um being that I'm the legislative representative, it gave me a lot of great tools. Um and there were three hot topics that we talked about at the conference which I think were are really important to touch on which is uh pushing for an increase in MSOC. So material supplies and operating costs. Um we're severely underbudgeted there. 10% increase has only been given in recent years to that category for our budget while insurance has increased over 50% since 2019. utility costs 30% um and other increases with inflation. So OSPI is requesting legislation to increase MSOC um by $100 per student or a h 100,000 per district whichever is greater. That will not solve our budgeting crisis, but it will help get us current. Um the other two things

019that they touched on as the big three was exempt essential school district services from sales tax. So there was a a tax that went into effect or a law that went into effect ESSB5814. Schools were not supposed to be included in that, but the revenue uh service uh is taxing it anyway. And it's an essential things like temp services, live presentations, certain IT training. Um and so there's a lot of legislator that legislation out there that needs to fix the verbiage to make sure that schools are exempt from that tax. So that that was a big topic of discussion. Um and then pausing um pausing new requirements and addressing unfunded mandates. So there's been 77 new school year requirements that have been put into legislature since 2018 uh without funding. So those things have to

020be implemented, but there's no money to do that implementing. So um there's an ask to pause and not initiate new mandates. So, um, let's see. On Saturday, we had a great opening with Lieutenant Governor Danny Hec. Denny Hec. So, that was really good. Um, and then again, our student representatives did a fantastic job representing Isaqua, um, talking to all of these different school board directors from across the state. Um, I took two pages of notes. Um, and I want you guys to hear that I listened, that I took note of everything that you guys said. Um, and I think it was really important when it comes to student voice, all of the things that you shared. Um, a shout out to Rex. I loved your uh, five C's. That was awesome. Um, and just wonderful

021job overall. So, I was really glad I was able to attend that so soon coming on board. Um, because there's a lot of great tools that they offer. >> Okay. Thank you. Yes, Chris. Um, starting with the town hall, it was a really nice opportunity. I didn't know it actually existed last year. So, the fact that I got to participate this year was really fun and exciting. Um, I got to see a lot of other students stories and realize that I just wasn't alone. A lot of times we'll hear stories about these big three issues, right, with MSOC and sales tax. Uh, and we'll we'll think it's just an issue in our district, but the thing is it impacts every single student across the entire state. And there's actually this elementary school student I talked

022to. Uh she spoke at the conference about just little things like scissors in classrooms which you know it's it's a fundamental problem across the system. Uh and kind of like you guys said I'm a professional of being a student but I had no clue about how schools were funded. Uh and when uh the superintendent of OSPI, Chris Reichdoll, kind of broke down the funding formulas, I was I remember sitting in my seat and being like, "Wow, something is really wrong with this." Because uh he gave this example where, you know, if the classroom has 20 students or 15, you know, you still need all the same materials, you still need the lights, you still need the teachers. Uh and that was a really big thing. So, I like hearing those real stories. Uh and then

023the legislative conference was also really fun. It's always fun to see school board directors from across the state, get to meet them and see what they're doing in their own districts, but more than that, seeing the students as well. Um, and I got to speak on the panel again this year and talk about just how MSOC, you know, affects us directly, uh, and more so on the funding crisis we have. I think my biggest takeaway, and this is something that was said at the town hall, was that Washington spends around like two and a half% of its uh revenue on school funding where the national average around like three or 3.1. Uh so it's not a big difference, but it's it's $4 billion and that's enough to fund almost like the entirety of public education

024uh throughout the state of Washington and impact every single student tfold. Uh so really just looking at that, you know, that just opened my eyes. They were two really fun experiences and I'm glad I could go. >> Great. Thank you. Um I'll just offer a few comments about the town hall which I was able to attend. Um I agree that the uh attendance did seem to be down although the rent and reporter reported there were 400 people there and I had a hard time believing that. Um, so but anyway, um, part of the problem was is they did hold it in a very large gym, which I think kind of was a little bit of an awkward space to navigate. Um, and I will say, you know, I do want to thank the legislators that

025were able to attend. We had 12 state representatives and state senators there to um, hear the program and to offer their comments. Um, but I did have some mixed feelings in that, you know, we there was an hour and a half of very compelling uh testimony really by our mainly students from uh all of the districts that were represented there. I think there was 11 school districts represented um talking about the funding crisis. um lots of data to support all the points that were being made and then an opportunity for the legislators to um give their point of view and in the end all of those legislators were given an opportunity to talk about what they were going to do about the funding crisis in the state of Washington. And none of them offered one

026piece of legislation they were willing to introduce to create more funding for education or uh any kind of real tangible steps this session anyway to help us start working on what is a very large problem that we need to address. So I had some um like I said mixed feelings about that. I do understand the state is facing a huge budget deficit right now, but um I was hoping that we were going to hear someone be a champion for the cause, which um unfortunately I didn't hear. So um all righty. I think we will then move on to the next agenda item. Oh, separate. Okay. Are you up? [laughter] >> Okay. So that >> I did attend both as well, so I wanted to I can add on a couple comments. Um I I do

027want to note and thank um both the board directors from all the districts that were represented as well as our PTSAs and our um uh education associations as well as our student representatives for uh organizing. I mean organizing across so many districts is just fundamentally very challenging. So I saw a lot of improvements on the programming and sort of how we could provide guidance and agree that there could be things I'm sure that will be reflected on to tighten up uh for the future. But the fact that the the muscle and skill of coalition building was very evident and I think that is very promising. Um it is a long game to think about how our schools are funded and so by having those kinds of coalitions in place and the routines and rituals for

028space where our legislators do show up is very powerful. So that was my bright side for the regional um town hall. Uh the legislators were great. They were they they did come and that was a a sign of support. Um and I think it is a a pretty complex challenge that we are also al also facing. So um that's on the regional town hall. On the um legislative conference um we were joined by several members of the team Martin Tney, Jacqueline Downey, Marcel Howser and um and Mark Sherward throughout the weekend and we were able to attend all this as many sessions as possible but heard some great speakers as well. Uh I would say the highlights certainly was the um the student panels and so just wanted to echo my appreciation and affirmation for

029our students who represent uh your own professional experiences of uh you know in your time in school as well as then this the district at large. So thank you. >> Okay. Um sorry Milo go ahead please. >> Got to get get used to calling on the students. No I'm kidding. [laughter] U talking about the legislative conference, I didn't I didn't go to the um the other thing, but I did go to both days of the conference and I thought it was wonderful to meet with students of student representatives of other districts and see how they do things differently. Um I think me and the rest of the students who went, we went to all three sessions about like student leadership and making our voice count. Um, and I think us as reps, we saw specifically

030a lot of student advisory boards and committees from other districts along with their reps. And I think we were really impressed by that. And so that's something that we are looking into right now. Um, and I think I just want to highlight I love the reminder and I you mentioned that too that students are, you know, um, they're professionals at being students and I just wanted to highlight the fact that it's not just the the high school students. And I think that was a pretty big theme, too, was that all of our students are um, professionals, our middle schoolers, our elementary schoolers, even our kindergarteners. Um, um, and so I love being on the student panel. I got to present a start, stop, keep things for like admins, teachers, what they should do to support

031students. I think we should continuously be asking our students that. Um, yeah, just amazing to be held accountable for involving students of all ages and just as a as good reminders, >> right? um for the legislative conference. I really thought um something that I like I agree with Milo a lot that we really got to see in those like three student advocacy sessions a lot about maybe like a yeah student advisory like expanding reach beyond just student representatives. A lot of districts had uh councils and stuff that was really intriguing and um yeah it made me want to think okay like what are things we can do different? What are things that we want to keep the same? And also I really got thinking in one of the sessions they talked about how not just

032having student voices enough but also like I guess like like expanding on it and like making it really like indepth and I thought that was like really interesting because I think like it really encouraged me like do more with my position and like go out and try and talk to more people and try and get their voices heard and so I think it was a really valuable experience. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay, moving moving along. Um, now we will have a uh recap of a work study that we had uh this afternoon. Uh, the board had an opportunity to meet with ISD administrators um uh this afternoon and we had an opportunity to discuss OE14 and results uh to academics and we'll take this opportunity to recap um our discussions. Would anybody like to start?

033>> Director Mullings. Thank you. >> Uh I think you did a good job of describing what we were doing this afternoon. Uh I think you know the benefit of the work studies are a couple. One is obviously to allow more in-depth conversational time than we have in meetings like this. Um allow us to ask uh more in-depth questions about either topic. allow especially with onboarding of new board members if there's additional questions or background that would be helpful. So, you know, that work study time is um valuable and so happy we got to spend it today on the couple of topics. You know, as far as um I mean OE14 is going to come up for discussion in a little bit, so I won't get deeply into that. I'll hold my comments specifically on OE14

034and maybe stay more on results too. I think what's um helpful hopefully in the process of us reviewing data of monitoring the district that we have an uh the conversation is really about what information do we think we want to review in order to understand the progress the district is making to be able to have some dialogue about whether the data as presented is getting to the spirit of what we're hoping for to um answering the questions we want give the administrative uh staff some more time to refine before we get to the actual point of reviewing monitoring. So I think that's um always helpful and it also gives us a little bit more soak time in the topic in order to figure out you know to form a perspective or ask some additional questions.

035So, um, work study time in general always a valuable and, um, you know, I just think it's helpful people know like it's how we spend deeper discussion time on some of these topics versus just the the formal meeting. >> Great. >> Anybody else? >> Dr. Gallinger. Uh thank you to the students who came and listened and participated. I think it's important for as as you think about your roles to see there's more that we do than just this part. This is probably the smallest part about what our role is is this part where we set up here. Uh so you got to see the I think the dialogue that happens in preparation for the meetings and for our meteor uh OES and results so we can really uh talk about it and just have really

036good dialogue about it. And so just also a thank you to superintendent and her team for all of the preparation that it takes to be able to give us the information ahead of time for us to review and digest and be able to um discuss. So thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Just director Coin. I'll just add um just one additional thought too that again you know the work study time is always helpful for us as as schoolboard directors uh to go deeper on the data to be able to ask questions u many of the questions result in us asking for more data so we [laughter] appreciate the district and their patience um and appreciate too I mean again the way that the data is presented to us there's always you know we have comparative

037data on districts that you know state of Washington or or in some cases even some national data if it's available, but um and then also neighboring districts and that you know it's it's hard to necessarily pull some of that data and so appreciate all of the time and effort that goes into that and the patience of our of uh the folks in the district um when we ask for more data. So again, helpful session. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Um and I think I would just say um a couple points. Um, first of all, we really do have very rich data available, which is fantastic. And I uh hope the community the community will have an opportunity to look at that uh that data when uh through our monitoring reports and things of that

038nature. But the district's doing really really well in some key areas. The graduation rates in this district are off the charts. Um, which really, um, we should take some time to celebrate. And sometimes I think we have a tendency to focus on individual problems and not look at the overall picture. But uh graduation rates are fantastic. Uh rates around high growth for um kids as they kind of are going through the system and are um catching up in in certain areas also really really strong as well. So um it's nice to be able to have the opportunity to dive into that data and look at it. And I did think we also had a very interesting conversation around some of the math data that we saw and how grades are distributed throughout the district in

039math compared to some other disciplines and and you know the fact that there's a perception I think in not only our community but everywhere that there's this perception that math is hard and sometimes we maybe do our kids a bit of a disservice by setting that that thought early in people's minds. and um that does have an impact on how kids perform in math. But I think the district has really got some very innovative um ways to address um that particular issue and to really work with our our our students so that they can excel in math and tackle the challenges of math in many of the same ways they do other disciplines. But it was a very interesting discussion about that that uh concept. Anyway, um any other comments? No. Okay. We will move

040on now to works in progress with the superintendent. Oh, I'm sorry. Superintendent, you do have some comments. At some point, I'm not going to forget. [laughter] >> It's actually it's a great segue and I can segue in if that's helpful. But I I would just add thank you for the conversation. Our team did a a really nice job of um helping to answer questions but prepare for this moment in time. And I do want to share that on the math topic. Um you know, we are aware that that's an area for focus, you know, moving forward. I think we over the years have spent so much time talking about literacy. We just did a literacy adoption and that's sort of been implemented for two years. Um the state is revising uh and looking taking a

041look at the standards and and the superintendent of state uh public instruction also has said this is an area as a state we need to be looking at. So um it turned to a good productive conversation to set the stage for further conversation as we step out another work study at the end of January on results too and then as well as then the actual monitoring report and it's such a large monitoring report because it's academic foundation that's everything that we do for instruction and so um it's it's nice to be able to have different segments of the conversation with the board um and the work study. So thank you and thank you to the team for their incredible work as well. >> Great. Okay. Great. Yes. Moving on now, works in progress with the

042superintendent. >> Great. Thank you. I'd like to always start off with our calendar sort of looking ahead at this month and even a little bit into um February just around the key dates u where we are celebrating and highlighting uh various celebrations that exist on a national and local level as well as as we consider the heritage and cultural events that reflect the incredible um diversity of our of our community. and just as an an honoring of that and showing this and having it available for everyone as we look at the month ahead. Um so thank you. Um we also as I I as I as I build off of actually President um Taylor's comments um we can move to just the screen now. Stephen, I'd like to start with a celebration and then an

043update actually about the Google GSP fellowship that um I'm participating in and then also an announcement as it transitions into um the next conversation on CTE. So, uh in terms of the celebration, building off of what director uh President Taylor's comments were about our incredible graduation rates for the high school, um but they are deserving of significant recognition and celebration overall. Uh so that the district has achieved the high you know one of the highest graduation rates in Washington state um for large districts and certainly compared to our surrounding area districts um and we do have multiple comprehensive high schools and so that's something to really celebrate and to be really proud of. Um all high schools improved and nearly every campus exceeded a 95% four-year graduation rate. Our four-year graduation rate reached 96.3% nearly

044two percentage points higher than the last year. And while the district's uh 4-year plus continuing rate increased to 98.9%, this reflects the continued success in supporting our students who do need additional time to earn their diploma. As part of our ongoing commitment to closing um opportunity gaps, graduation rates also improve for students um who identify as black, our students who identify as indigenous um as Latino and Hispanic, as well as our students with IEPs, as well as our students who um come from low-inccome backgrounds. So, that's um really something to note. I shared this on on Tuesday with all of our administrators um about our incredible effort to thank them for uh the work that everyone does in our school district and thinking about um what that actually means and as a whole system we

045should celebrate that incredible effort from um our bus drivers to our nutrition services teams to our early learning center staff. Um but really as we think about early learning continue continuing on through elementary middle schools in the classroom on the playground on the bus in the lunchroom after school and in the community um this all come and it culminates at the high school level. So I I shared an analogy with um with all administrators that if we were relay team were the analogy for our efforts to uh support students through several stages. We know it takes all players who support that relay team. There are different legs that are run by different athletes and the smooth transitions really matter. Team members compete in other events to support the total team score and push the relay

046team during practice while coaches and trainers make sure the team is striving and healthy. Um, so finally, as this analogy continues, the anchor leg can dramatically help clinch that win for any relay team and our high school leaders really focus on that final push to get those kids across the line. So, um, we'd have many educators and staff members here, so uh, from all levels and I just want to say it does take all of us at every single moment in time to be able to help our kids get to that point. So, um, really kudos. Thank you. Um earlier this week I participated in the second in-person cohort gathering as a Google GSV fellow in Chicago. Um they selected us to um take a transformational opportunity as part of the fellowship and tune that

047cohort with our cohort and our and our members of the group. And I did select working on the portrait of graduate because it's an opportunity that was already underway in our district and and it was a good opportunity to also share and get feedback on the work and what might come next and also to highlight the incredible work that um happened and quite quick turnaround time actually um because there was a lot of uh overlap with the community and what the board was thinking about what those durable skills could look like for the future for our for our graduates. Um so we had a lot of time to make meaningful cohort connections to share what we were up to in our districts to find commonalities to find um new ideas and also to participate in

048some cross- sector learning and all in the spirit of accelerating student well-being and preparing students for the future. Um and so future readiness was certainly the primary theme for students and this uh very much connects obviously to our portrait of graduate which does hone in on the durable skills that are required to be able to be adaptive and adapted adapt and flexible and agile. I was using too many words about adapted um and flexible uh to the future and and that um ambiguity that does exist and the discussion across group and from outside presenters really centered on the rapid technological change um that could actually widen inequities in the future and that's something of grave concern I think as we think about the future from the level of just what what technology can promise but

049also how that can make things harder and we need to be able to prepare for that. Um we heard reflections um from Adam Leern who is um uh the lead for Google school for leaders and that's that was about navigating complexity and change and really that focus on finding the tensions around different polarities that exist in the system and thinking really about the and how do we really get out of a binary thinking of how we address problems because problems are not so easily neat and clean. They're much more complex than a complicated set of um sequential steps that we must solve for. They're really much more adaptive in nature and now more than ever that matters uh as we think about how we as um leaders support our students but how we then also

050prepare you as students to face that um very complicated set of things or complex set of things as you um leave our schools. We had a leadership case study with Cammy Anderson, the former superintendent of Newark public schools who led during the time when Mark Zuckerberg infused $und00 million to support turnaround efforts. um she's actually one of she was probably my first boss um outside of after teaching in the classroom. And so it was really especially powerful for me to hear her and her reflections um you know nearly two decades later uh about those efforts in New York and um a completely different set of context but really in the spirit of making sure access and opportunity was available to every single student um in in that school district. Um we heard a cross- sector

051innovation panel from different leaders who are working on different aspects of how to help support students. Um we learned from the head of learning and product innovation at Google um and how Google innovates and then we talked a lot about the future of AI with um Alex Kotran the CEO of the AI education project. Uh a lot of the work again was how rapidly things are changing and how even in December alone there was just some real specific leaps and advancements in um how there are agents who are doing coding for AI. And so when you think about the skills that we've been preparing ourselves for for this next future, it has been very much centered on learning how to code. But you can act that the that the value now is actually in the

052skill to create and direct an agent to code for you and uh refining your prompt and really thinking about the user. So I developed a math game for students who are ages 6 through 8. And I said I want it to be a multiplayer game. I want it to um focus on addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division. And I would like it to be um having some choice in themes. Minecraft, K-pop, Demon Hunters, Grizzly, and the Lemmings. And it gave me a game and an app. And so I would I can refine that. But that took me three minutes to just create something that could be of use for young people. Now, I was thinking of a specific person in mind in my household. Um, and so then I have a a user right there that

053I can test that with. But that was three minutes. And as I think about what um powerful technology um the power of that technology can do for us, it actually saves us time to do the things that we are most best positioned to do, which is thinking and creating and then thinking about how that can actually address an opportunity or challenge that exists in current day. So um I was um both inspired by that but also a little scared because it's just a different world. I I didn't I've never created an app before because I don't know how to code. Um but I didn't need to know how to code to create an app that could be of value. So um that was just something that was pretty powerful for me to learn about and

054a key takeaway was um how these skills are really important to be human and to be able to create and to be able to critically think about how um what we create is of value. Um, and I do want to appreciate that our administrators who I've shared this work about uh with have have asked different questions around what's happening with how we think about the the school experience here. And one of the most important questions I pulled from some feedback from our administrators is how do we help students to re-engage in learning, feel connected, be innovative thinkers, and be prepared for a changing world? Something has to change. So my final comment on works in progress is about the new high school. And I think this is really a nice um building upon what I've

055just shared. Um I do want to share that this next high school will initially launch as a choice school. I think it's pretty loud and clear that that's an important um component. And as I've been reflecting on all the different um input and discussion with our board and the community over the past really, you know, four years, that is a very um clear pathway for us. And that's an important anchor to set in place as we continue to move forward in the engagement process and the refinement process of what the programs will be at the next high school. And we also know that there are some pretty important themes that we've heard consistently through so many different mechanisms starting with the strategic planning process but also through recently design sprints um with students and these

056are the pathways that we that we've talked about as as you know here with the board with our community um and I do want to share what some of those important pathways are because they serve as a foundation to continue to again narrowing down how to engage and think about what design structure and systems could look like and culture. Um so those these themes and pathways are that are ideal moving forward to for us to really consider and start to test out um are entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, health sciences, networking and cyber security and robotics and engineering. So we do have a series of discussions coming up this spring with the board you know including um uh times at our board meetings as well as at the retreat and there are you know this hopefully this

057is some high level details that continue to we haven't had this topic back in a while so I wanted to make sure I brought this forward but these are the things that we have been discussing um and just wanted to sort of summarize where we are at this moment in time there it does take some time to prepare to launch another learning site in general so that timeline is uh really going to be kicking back up into into gear. We've been we have been doing that sort of behind the scenes and engaging collecting and organizing ourselves behind the scenes, but it does take some time. Those decisions don't happen overnight and they do take further engagement. So, um these are good anchors to help us further engage and and continue to go back to the

058community and engage with our um planning team. So, more to come on that and we will be starting to stand up some communications around that and a website to provide the kind of real updates as now that we're getting closer and closer to um that moment in time when we can open another campus. So, other than that, I'd like to just pause there and see if there's any questions and andor we move on the agenda. >> Um I would just like to to make one comment. I just think it's super exciting that we're starting to see um the plans start to coalesce around the new choice high school that we've always envisioned. Um, so that's really really exciting and I just, you know, I think to emphasize the point that it'll be a long process

059to to see what that programming is ultimately going to look like and that, you know, we'll certainly make sure that we are interacting with the community and the community has opportunities, lots of opportunities to have input into to what that school is going to look like. And uh, to me again, just super super exciting. So just wanted to emphasize that point. >> Yeah. Director Coin, I >> I'll just add to um exciting uh news and I think hearing about the fact that really, you know, the intent is to be to open as a choice school. I think there's been conversation and I think we've been thinking that that was probably going to be the direction, but it's nice to hear that that will be the the plan. And I, you know, I reflect on, you

060know, when we the second goound with our bond last year that failed and I was pretty determined to knock on as many doors as I possibly could in our community and I talked to a lot of people and there was something that I heard and I think at the time I wasn't necessarily wanting to hear and that was choice. We want choice. Our kids want some level of agency to pick something um that um you know that aligns more closely to their career track. And frankly, and I hear this all the time, probably, you know, as a board director living in the community, we're always approached by by members of the community who have thoughts. And what's most common is inequity between the three high schools in terms of the different class structures or electives

061that are offered. And this idea again of having a school that maybe could champion some of the best of the best uh programs in the district and again offer access which was something I continued to hear while still continuing to keep kind of those three ecosystems relatively intact which was also something I heard that was always concern I will say for my board director area in particular which would probably be the most impacted um by a mapping strategy that was always kind of the concern too around you know being mapped to a school particularly when there was conversation moving forward with a smaller school footprint um and really being mapped to kind of half a school. So this idea of knowing that hey current ecosystems will stay in place but they'll be this wonderful choice

062school um I think it's really going to resonate with our community. So again excited about next steps and excited to hear more. >> You know I'm actually one one other point I just want to [laughter] make uh which not related to that. I just wanted to note that um the district um just I think it was just last week was awarded a Microsoft Elevate grant um which is a fantastic development. Um Microsoft uh in the fall of this year uh came out with a public announcement that it was infusing money across the state um at in all levels of e education. And one of the programs that they were um um fostering was this opportunity for districts to apply for grants for innovative uses of uh AI and how they could use AI to build

063efficiency and so forth um in their in their programs and uh Issach was able to submit an application regarding special services and AI and was awarded the grant. So just >> big kudos to everyone involved in that. Okay, next up we are going to have a presentation on the current and future plans for career technical education. All right. So, welcome to uh the the podium um Lisa Neighbors and then we also are supported by Rich Malish and we'll let you introduce yourself and take this away in terms of uh sharing an update about where we are with career technical education. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Um good evening school board. My name is Lisa Neighbors. I am the CTE director for the Isqua School District. Um this uh in the last year CTE has implemented a

064new aerospace manufacturing course to support students interested in aerospace design manufacturing and assembly fields expanded access to indust we have expanded access to industry recognized credentials and we're partnering with the high school innovation uh to expand the queer kickstart program to every comprehensive high school through generous funding from the Isqua schools foundation. I always want to begin by grounding in the data. Um, so what you see here are the top six saved careers in Zello, which is our high school and beyond plan. Uh, in order starting from the most saved, lawyer, and on down. Um, actually that's not true. The most saved is still professional athlete. I always leave that out. Uh, as we plan CTE pathways, we continually monitor employment demand and wage projections from Washington's employment security department. This data helps ensure we're

065aligning the programs with high-skll, high demand, living wage careers, and it also helps us anticipate how emerging technologies may reshape the workforce. This year, we launched our first aerospace manufacturing corpus cohort with 12 11th and 12th grade students. This is a three-hour perday program that integrates applied physics, material science, third-year math, and technical writing into aerospace manufacturing. The course is facilitated as a WAN course, which means it's open to all 11th and 12th graders, including those in our WIC consortium districts that surround us. Students who successfully complete this course are given higher consideration for manufacturing jobs at Boeing and have access to a summer manufacturing internship at a Boeing site. Students are already sharing meaningful feedback. They're seeing real world connections to engineering, building confidence with precision tools, and exploring aviation and manufacturing career related

066and manufacturing related career possibilities. Ensuring long long-term sustainability will include strong recruitment from um students and continued partnership with the industry. Um these are just a few quotes from students in the class right now. um and the reasons that they took the course. One of the most valuable components of CTE is access to industry recognized credentials, which are certifications that help students gain employment or accelerate post-secondary training. This slide shows the most requested credentials in King County job postings. You'll notice many like the food handler and first aid CPR are already offered in our high schools as noted by the uh yellow highlight. A few additional options like certified nursing assistant and automotive service excellence are accessible through high school at the high school level through academic wicked programs. Uh the Isiqua School District currently

067offers a range of credentials across multiple career clusters from health care to digital technology to advanced manufacturing. In 2020, last school year 2425, we expanded access to industry recognized credentials in high school and as a result over 2,100 certifications were earned by students across all of these career clusters in all three comprehensive high schools. Our areas of expansion have included all of the digital technology certifications and the parapro certification. That one was brand new last year. Um the parapro represents our first implementation of an earning ready certification, meaning students who earn that certification are able to get employment as a paraprofessional as soon as they turn 18 and graduate high school. The next slides will illustrate how CTE pathways progress from middle uh into each high school. This helps families understand available options as students

068begin their high school and beyond plans in the seventh grade. These courses are organized under a new career cluster uh structure. So, this changed in early 2025 and reclassifies the prior 16 career clusters that I used to talk about these under into 14 new career clusters. So, I just wanted to give you a heads up that there's been some slight change in the terminology here. Um, there are many courses offered to middle and high school students in the Skyline High feeder pattern. The courses with the most scheduled sections include those under digital technology, financial services, and marketing and sales. In the Isiqua High feeder pattern, the most scheduled courses also include those under digital technology and marketing and sales, followed closely by healthcare and human services and hospitality, events, and tourism. And in the Liberty

069feeder pattern, the most scheduled courses fall under arts, entertainment, and design, construction, and hospitality, events, and tourism. What questions do you have? >> Any questions from the board? Director Mullings. >> Best presentation. Thank you. Um, one very tactical question. PCMS isn't listed. >> That is because I do not have any CTE programs at PCMS. >> Why? >> Uh, we had some previously and there was a teacher departure and no one qualified to fill those courses and then the one following that the teacher was unable to obtain a CTE certification. So we were unable to continue offering those courses. >> Okay. So obviously that's going to be a priority for me at least emotionally. Um so uh so so one of my deepest held things is that how we use the time in which we have

070the students we have is critical. And in a more traditional core 24 way, we sort of tick away at individual classes and at the end students are ready to then make a choice. And so what um this work represents is how do we start to use the time in a way that supports the completion of that core 24 but also better preparation for what happens next. And so I just uh in looking at like this aerospace um manufacturing course, it is just an absolute beautiful representation of what's possible in the time we have with the students we have um when we can think more creatively outside of ticking off the individual boxes. So, I just can't commend more um that example and desperately await how many more ways we can do this. And I love

071talking about it on the heels of talking about the new high school because often um today one of the things we're most limited by and offering more to our high school students is the number of students we have in every one of our buildings, right? The how we can use our space in each building. So often, you know, we will get commentary that's deeply frustrating to me is, "Well, why aren't you thinking at that for x other high school?" Because there's too many kids in it. Like that's the answer legit. Full stop. So if we can combine um making room with a wonderful new choice option and then um the more creative substantive thinking about how does how do we stack uh how we're spending the time of our students? the output goes from sampling

072and being curious about topics to leaving with real actionable earning ready um experience which is just exciting beyond measure uh for me. So obviously we have to figure out uh PCMS that's great. So um I just uh it's literally my hap when I open this whenever two days ago whenever I opened it it's just uh dove singing for me. So thank you. Director Gallinger, >> I mean that's why you put it on the agenda for you is like we knew no >> yes middle schools is 12 the magic number for core plus for aerospace or was is like tell me about like is there expansion in the future also that's just one of many core plus programs so is there plan to like expand the core plus options so just bit more about that and

073then I'll follow Absolutely. Um so we started the school year with 15 students in that program. Um two of them dropped within the first week. I don't think this course was the right fit for their career interests. Understandable. Um actually our magic number I want to say may have been 12 um to run the course. Um we have I've been talking with the instructor to increase uh encouraging students who are interested in this field to enroll in the course in the future. Um and then we are also going to Wanik has an open house annually and so uh the instructor will also be going to that to encourage consortium students to attend as well. >> Which school is it housed at? >> Liberty. >> At Liberty. >> Yeah, we laid it over the welding shop.

074>> Perfect. And then do we transport kids or they have to get themselves there? I'm just curious. >> Students have to get themselves there. Yes. >> Okay. And what are the future core plus programs that you've looked at? Um, as of right now, uh, we are working on kind of sussing out the courses for the new high school and how those might overlap. Um, as it stands right now, we're not looking at expanding core plus options, but we're looking at taking that program um, style where the kids are learning academic skills under a career related umbrella and bringing that into the new high school. and what that'll look like with the pathways superintendent mentioned a few minutes ago. >> Okay. And then my uh followup question is I love the slide that talked about you

075know your first like earnings ready one with the parapro. >> Yeah. >> Is there any thoughts of having a CNA program? >> Um the barriers be for that? >> That is one of the programs we're looking at hopefully adding under the health sciences umbrella at the new high school. um uh in addition to potentially some lead to other certifications in like medical assistant or pharmacy technician >> and or >> director Anderson. Yes, >> I just wanted to comment. Thank you so much for this update. Uh CTE is also very close to my heart. uh I graduated Northshore and didn't have options like this, so I just went straight into the workforce and um seeing aerospace where I've been for the last 23 years. Um it's just fantastic. So I Director Gallinger took my uh question

076as far as expansion um in aerospace. Again, sounds like it that's we're at the right number right now, but I'm hoping there'll be more interest and then that can grow in the future because um having Boeing right here and being able to feed them our students, I think is just a fantastic opportunity. So, >> and I actually I'm sorry. Did I do it? >> No, you're fine. >> Okay. I was going to say to add to that actually that triggered a new thought. Um, we are looking at adding the year 2 core plus aerospace, but we want to get the numbers up a little higher to make that more sustainable. >> Director Coin, >> thank you. Uh again, great presentation and I always love hearing this, but I'll always I will say generally when I

077hear about CTE, you naturally go to your feeder pattern and you think about, okay, here's what I have versus what the other feeder pattern has. What is interesting about the dialogue tonight and the conversation around this choice high school is access for all students in across our district to be able to get these wonderful programs. And I think that's what's sitting with me. So this where I get excited and then there's that level of dis disappointment. that disappointment piece feels like it's lessening with this idea of, hey, this could potentially be open to all of our students. So, um, thank you for the presentation. Again, exciting in terms of next steps with the high school. >> Director Mullings. So I'm curious about what may what has to change what may have to change from an

078advising perspective like in order to look at how a schedule may work in the first year or two of high school in order to take advantage of this year. you know some of the programs I'm just going to use the aerospace as the example as you said you might do that same footprint and so have has that thinking started about where in what age sorry at what age or what grade that sort of advising because it is a different um obviously we're introducing something new in general but it is also a different way of thinking about again how to use the time of high school so has there been any thinking so far about how this fits into the advising process process along the way um of who could take advantage or how they take

079advantage of it. >> Yeah. So, we have been working through the strategic plan process actually for the last three years to try and make the high school and beyond planning more robust. And what I mean by that is not just kids going and doing assignments on their own, which is what it's been in the past, but we're trying to engage the teachers in that process as well. um and help educate them on um for example, one of the professional developments we did this year in August for teacher returning back to work was around how to better support all student pathways um and what resources exist when a student comes to you and says, "Hey, I'm interested in doing these things like what should I do?" um where they can go to look for that and

080in addition to utilize current uh home room and flex time uh to better have a connection with an individual teacher which hopefully the hope is that it'll follow all four years so that the students are comfortable with that person and are able to get that advice. We're still thinking about what that might look like in the middle school like to your middle school point. Um the students do start the high school and beyond plan via a career interest survey in the seventh grade. Um, and then they start creating the first year of their four-year plan in the eighth grade. Um, thinking about where they want to go and what they might do to get there. >> Um, but we are not sure what that looks like because the counseling structure in the middle schools is

081a little different. And then the teachers feel less um confident in their knowledge of high school courses and what pathways look like. So, we're just thinking about how to better educate staff to better support kids. >> Um, okay. I actually had a whole bunch of really insightful comments written down in my digital notebook here, which has died. So, those are lost to time now. But, um, basically, it really all just boil down to CT is really cool. [laughter] And and I will just say though the one thing that I was really struck with in particular with the aerospace program is what a great reflection that is of the portrait of a graduate that we talk about all the time about building durable skills in kids. Them having these students having the opportunity to engage in

082a program where they can collaborate, think critically, work on projects, all of those things. Uh I just thought it was such a fantastic example of what we've been talking about. So um that is all I have. Any any other comments? Okay. Nothing from the students. All right. Thank you very much. Next on the agenda is a update on the levy and the administration is going to provide um particulars on communications and the levy overall. >> Yeah. Before we get started, we are continuing with many presentations. So um Mr. Tony and I were able to do a presentation today at Isiqua High School and over to you. >> Yes, thank you, Superintendent. Um, so we're going to bring us uh up to speed on where we're at in the uh renewal levy process. So, just a

083kind of a reminder and a little bit of information for the public. Uh the focus in 2026, first Proposition One, 4-year educational programs and operations renewal levy. Uh that's the general fund operating uh supplement to what we get from the state. um in federal government. It continues the programs we're already doing, right? Um and for context, about 16.6% of the general fund operating budget. Uh the second proposition two, uh the capital renewal levy contains technology and critical repairs, helps us continue to deliver up-to-date classroom technology, um making the highest impact repairs to our buildings. Um, and we like to continue to uh make the point that there is no new construction involved in uh the the capital renewal levy. Uh, also a one-year transportation levy. Uh, exciting wrinkle this time is that we're able to

084uh if passed uh expand into our pilot of electric buses and add electric charging infrastructure if this passes. Okay. So, some important facts. Um, I kind of alluded to it just a second ago. These fill in the gaps. So these renewal levies filled in the gaps where the state and federal government fall short uh to what we really need um for these basic educ modern basic education. Um these were designed to keep the tax rate the rate per thousand of assessed value stable over the four-year period. These three levies work together um in various ways, but one example is that when you have a healthy capital um fund with critical repairs funding, you are not spending money on repairing things in your general fund, dollars that should be um used in the classroom where they

085belong. Um again, no new construction. Uh and a reminder that this was a communitydriven process uh coming up with the re recommendations that eventually uh went to the board of directors uh to be put on the resolution and the ballot. Uh I wanted to show just flash up here some of the common themes we're seeing. Um I will highlight you know one of the things that we've gotten um in the presentations I know that I've been in is you know what happens what happens say if the EPO levy does not pass. And so obviously we remind folks that when you're talking about a sizable portion of your budget uh 16.6% um upwards of $75 million plus uh that's a significant um uh decision point and something that the system would really have to take um

086a lot of hard uh process and analysis to figure out how we would address that, right? Um also all of these things are being used as we hear themes out there. uh those being transferred into our frequently asked questions uh and being used in our messaging going forward uh so that hopefully we can answer those questions um before people you know hear them in a presentation or or or don't see what they are looking for a little bit on the the timeline here. Uh again the levy committee was uh earlier in the fall. Um the recommendation obviously went to the board. Um we are in this fact information coordination and sharing phase right now. Ballots will be mailed out next week. So that's coming right up. Uh last day to register is February 2nd and

087that election date uh being February 10th. Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Attorney. [clears throat] Um just to reiterate on the terms of the communication timeline, uh we're still obviously, you know, connecting with a lot of local associations. Actually just came back from a presentation up in Samish. Um had a good opportunity to hear some of the very similar common themes um from those folks and that Mr. Attorney just shared with you. Continuing doing some outreach, continuing um sharing information through our bulletins on social media, um some of our sponsored ad work. So it's just we're just in that ongoing phase right now. uh we'll have some additional uh you know you'll see some additional videos and that kind of stuff starting to re uh be released out this week. So we're just certainly in the

088in the strong sense of the campaign phase. Um and just a reminder in terms of we have a lot of different le uh presentations that we're doing certainly we're continuing at our all staff multiple departments departments are asking sometimes some of us to come and present to them. uh PTSA meetings are very important and some of the common themes we're still hearing is people want some clarity between what a levy and a bond is. Um so we have to go back to the basics at almost all of these presentations. I just did it this evening and it was it was a some people were eye opening. Oh, you're not going to be constructing a new school with this with these levies. So that was a a very very nice opportunity to to connect with some

089of those folks. As you can see, in addition, we have some community meetings, uh, the Quanas and, um, senior centers and, uh, the Rotaries, as I was just at. So, we're continuing over 60, you know, 60 presentations plus, and anytime somebody asks us to take on a new one, we're taking it on. So, we'll be, uh, continue to do that work. Again, our assets are out there. Um, Mr. Attorney, the our our mailer is uh, been out to the post office. I've heard from a few people that they've already received it. Excellent. Excellent. And that was our goal is to get out the week prior to the ballots being dropped. So uh we can uh obviously get into into people's uh hearts and minds um early. And um and also an opportunity at these presentations

090to remind people to leverage the actual um um ballot boxes, the enrollment or the uh the the voter boxes to drop them off versus just at the post office as we're hearing some some possible delays at the post office. Um may may continue in this ballot cycle. And we're starting to see signs up. Obviously, you probably see it on your ride and you'll still see more going up um over the next week or two and then I think we'll have every sign out out in the in the community. And that is it. I wanted to wrap it up pretty quick for you. So, I'm open to any questions uh if you'd like me to provide any or Mr. Attorney. >> Any questions from the board? >> No. >> Have any questions have comment? >> Director

091comments please. uh mailor was beautiful and I suppose after spending some time with you on what it look I was like oh I thought the final edits were were were great so thank you super clear I hope for other people um I guess my comment I have a I actually went out and looked at the ballot so it was fascinating one of the things I was really um interested in is the tone of voice taken in the pro statements that are actually written from our students so I was excited to see um I know we assigned a student to work on that like when we do the selection of who does it and so it was great to actually have the statements in the ballot written from a student's perspective. So that was another really

092cool place to hear to see student voice show up. That was my only comment. >> Director Anderson. Um, so I just want to make a comment that, uh, I am hearing on social media, um, that community members and families are sometimes unhappy with things that are going on in the district. And I see comment responses, well, vote no on the levy. That'll show them. Um, and I just want to say that displeasure is not a reason to not vote for a levy. Um, we're 40th in the country for the state funding our public education. Um, and so we heavily rely on these levies to, you know, fund our educators and our students. Um, so just I just want to put that out there because I see those comments and I don't respond because I'm a

093board member and I don't want to, you know, be out there, but I want to say it here on this platform because uh, these levies are very important. So, >> anybody else? Oh, director Coin, >> I just wanted to highlight on slide seven and Mark, thank you to you and the team uh, from a communication standpoint with this. You know, I I appreciate your focus on I mean the over 60 presentations delivered by the district and school leaders um by election day and really the diversity of that too in terms of the different groups you're getting in in front of in particular as we as we know this from the past. Those the majority of people who vote are those that do not currently have kids in the district. And so I appreciate your creative

094ways of thinking about how we do outreach to those members of our community because they don't always know, right? you know, currently what's happening in our schools and so you're really helping to highlight that. So, thank you for that work and I, you know, this slide I think does a nice job of highlighting. It's a lot of presentations, a lot of work that goes into that. So, thank you. >> There was at tonight's presentation, there wasn't a single person in the crowd that had a kid in our district. >> Perfect. >> So, >> yeah, that's great. >> Had some great comments. >> Thank you. >> Interesting. >> Um, couple comments from myself. I would uh first of all I will take every opportunity to reiterate the fact to the community there is no money in

095the levies going towards the construction of the new high school. Just want that to be very clear. Um and then lastly just a plea for folks to please vote. This is a February election. It's out of cycle. There's no no major statewide or local um elections other than uh some of these levy measures and such. So, please take the time to vote in February. Uh, turnout is traditionally low and we just want everybody to make sure they have the opportunity to vote. So, I hearing that I think we are done with that topic. Okay. Now, next up on the agenda is our monitoring report for operational expectation 14. Um, I realize that we have some public comment in the room on this, but I believe we start with a motion. Is that correct? >> I

096move the board accept the monitoring report for operational expectation 14 instructional program OA14 as presented. >> I second. >> Okay. Well, presentation first. Okay. Sorry. newbie here learning learning the ropes. I think we will go ahead and start with the presentation then we will take public comment and then we can have discussion. Thank you. >> All right. Hey well good evening uh board directors assistant superintendent Jaclyn Downey Sharen Carver executive director of special services and myself Rich Melish executive director of teaching and learning services are here to introduce the report on operational expectation 14 instructional program. This report has been subject of a few work studies where school board the school board has engaged with district leadership. So our conversation about this report is not starting from scratch and we submit this report with one

097exception to 14.3. In today's work study, our admin team presented our plan for realignment with expectations. OE14 is a very robust report as it describes the current state and areas of continuous improvement for our instructional programs, a core function of our district. We know that you have read the report. So rather than introduce each section, we will highlight a few themes throughout the report. [clears throat] ISD provides one of the premier educational programs in the state of Washington. We offer a broad range of courses that allow students to explore and build skills in areas of interest from the arts to career and technology education. As we heard earlier, students participate in a rich array of advanced learning opportunities. We provide supports for students with diverse needs with a focus on inclusion and gap closure to

098increase opportunities and equitable outcomes. We sustain a focus on building our programs and our skills to deliver a culturally responsive education to a community that is rich in culture and linguistic diversity. And we invest in programs to ensure current relevant curriculum. Even as we are proud of our programs we offer our students, we are making strategic and continuous improvements as guided by priority two of our strategic plan academic opportunities. This investment and improvement includes two key areas of focus. First, we aim to increase supports for diverse college and career pathways. A large number of our students pursue post-secary education and we provide many opportunities to prepare for college and frontload with college credits. But not all students um pursue college immediately after high school and we are committed to monitoring and enhancing career interests and

099opportunities for our students beyond college including certification and other career prep programs. The second area of strategic investment is to increase equitable opportunities and outcomes. We recognize that to do this, we recognize that we do not produce equitable or equal outcomes for students who have disabilities and students who identify as black, African-American, or Hispanic, Latino. We are committed to a multi-year effort to reduce and eliminate disproportionate outcomes. Three areas of focus to this end are highlighted in the reporting of OE14 and include the development of multi-tiered systems of support. That is how we organize and distribute resources to ensure our whole organization is focused on closing gaps. Installing universal design for learning which includes instructional practices that are c culturally responsive and plan for the variable learning needs of our students and centering on inclusionary

100practices to ensure that all students learn with their peers in a culture and environment characterized by a strong sense of belonging and positive relationships. We know that even as a highly performing school district in a community that deeply supports the education of their children, we are always working to improve our instructional programs to best meet the needs and dreams of our students. Drs. Carver and Downey and I are here to support your discussion of this report. Thank you. Okay, we will take public comment now on OE14. Um, I see here the first person signed up is Molly Peterson. And just a reminder, please introduce yourself and um, also be mindful of our twominut timer, please. Thank you. >> Good evening. I'm Molly Peterson, Skyline High School Humanities Department co-chair. Um, I encourage you to reject

101the monitoring report on OE14 provided by Superintendent Taek specifically because the interpretation requires a quote consistent sequence of progression of courses in math and English. What the board did not hear from the superintendent at today's work study was the shocking directive given to the Skyline humanities and counseling departments yesterday morning detailing what AP courses specifically are required to be offered next school year including AP US history, AP Lang, and AP Lit. Each of these courses in is in direct competition with our current successful IB course offerings in 11th and 12th grade humanities. The untenable directive to add courses that will erode the IB program was made with no input from teachers. You cannot support this interpretation of OE14 and say that you support IB. You cannot have it all. You must choose. I heard the

102superintendent say she was open to changes to this interpretation during the work study. Please, let's make changes with teacher input. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, next up we have Gwen Lloyd. Hello, my name is Gwen Lloyd. I'm a humanities teacher at Skyline High School. I want to focus on our non-olbound kids and the impact that this will have on them. Um, the ones that are struggling to succeed. Our credit recovery courses for our world history classes are completely out of step with what's taught in the classroom because they weren't updated after curriculum adoptions. Students who already struggle basically have to self-e material in a whole new course and call it credit recovery. I've been asking for three years to update those classes and every time I am told we just don't have the money.

103I've wished for offerings like wood shop, autoshop, culinary pro culinary programs for these kids at our school, but I've been told we don't have the money. I've watched as pushing more choices for those at the top of the academic ladder has forced those furthest from educational equity into just a few classes. We have 15 plus students with IEPs and 504s being served in a single classroom. And while we may meet our legal obligation to serve them, we don't meet our moral obligation to actually engage and help them or foster a love of learning. I'm guessing it's because we don't have the money. We don't have the money for the supports that our struggling students need, but we do apparently have the money for five new course offerings, all of which require extensive staff training. And

104let's not forget that we will need to buy books for all of those students for our highest achievers. These offerings are on top of Running Start, on top of an IB program, on top of on online AP offerings. five courses that Skyline Professionals have made clear we don't need or want. These have these uh we have the uh tens of thousands of dollars for those five courses. We have the money for the already successful kids while the others fall further behind. We want an equit if we want an equitable experience fine. Then make ISD a school choice district. give them the option to attend any of the three comprehensive high schools and actually support and develop strong programs at each AP at some IB at Skyline elsewhere more hands-on trades. >> Thank you. Um next

105is Courtney Bey, excuse me. >> Thank you. Uh I'm Courtney Bey. I am a parent of a Skyline junior and a Pine Lake 7th grader and I am a teacher um at Skyline. I teach in the humanities. I teach both English and history. Our master schedule this year is an absolute mess um due to in part because of the district mandated additional courses that were added this year. Students, parents, and teachers are still angry about the uneven course loads and the kids' inability to access courses that they want. Many of those courses are the very electives that you guys have been speaking to how important they are. The tonight adding the ninth and tth grade AP courses to meet the board's directive to offer the same amount of college bearing courses as this Quan Liberty

106at each grade level would not further harm our master schedule because our plan to replace our honors SS courses with those AP courses uh was something that we started to figure out. We didn't love the idea of it. You guys have heard from us a lot, but we were accepting it and we were figuring out a plan to make that work. And that was until yesterday. Right now, suddenly 11th and 12th grade AP humanities courses are being mandated next year and they are being not being added to the board directive. They are not adding more college options. Every 11th grade English teacher or English student at Skyland High School is in a college credit bearing course this year. Instead, these are just additional ones that we aren't understanding the motivation. It does seem like it

107is a move against IB in that this effect of adding these classes are going to harm our master schedule more. They will run a couple of extra sections. They will further complicate that master schedule which in turn actually damages student choice. It affects our programs that already kids are struggling to get into because of the way the schedule runs. I asked that the original plan of adding only 9th and tth grade AP courses, which is what we thought was going to happen until yesterday morning, um would be actually reviewed and actually considered rather than this very aggressive plan that suddenly just showed up. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh next is Megan Wendenlie. >> Good evening. I am Megan Wenden Louie. I am also a humanities teacher at Skyline. I would like to address this

108mostly to Superintendent Tao Yik, but the school board is also here, so I'm happy to say it to you, too. Yesterday morning at a last minute meeting, our department and the counselors were informed of the addition of five additional AP offerings to our catalog. Many of us were shocked and a gasast by this edict. We were told that 50 families emailed the school board asking for AP at Skyline. 50 families represents 2.2% of our student body. So, let me outline the issues with this plan. There are many as my colleagues have already spoken about, but the four ones that I want to focus on, the students will lose out. We have seen student anxiety, depression, and suicidality skyrocket at Skyline. This edict would add an additional burden to our students as they try to ride

109two horses with one body doing IB and AP at the same time, which would be incredibly detrimental to their ability to succeed in either program. Additionally, some students as a result of this change will be able to graduate high school without learning about the Holocaust, a violation of new Washington state social study standards, as well as a morally repugnant stance. Second, teachers will lose. As my colleagues already shared, the master's schedule was a nightmare this year. But also, in my six years at Skyline, I have only taught ninth and tth grade world history, and I have never taught the same curriculum two years in a row. This kind of constant change leads to burnout. You are burning out good teachers with this constant change. And I was told this year by representatives of the school

110district that we would not have another change. And yet here we are. Third, the school will lose. Qualified, passionate staff have devoted their careers to this IB program at Skyline. When this edict has its intended impact of killing IB and a slow, painful death, amazing and beloved teachers will leave Skyline. The school board and administration have shown repeatedly through their actions that they do not respect teacher expertise. And why would teachers work in a school district where their expertise is not valued? Finally, the community will lose. They will lose out on a rigorous and intentional program. Please don't do this. Thank you. >> Thank you, Stephen. Do we have anyone online? No. Okay. Thank you. I will open the floor now for comments. Milo, >> I have so many questions. Um, I have so many

111questions. Um, on page two, um, you talk about increasing the inclusionary practices so neurody divergent students learn alongside their peers. Does alongside I know we're very particular with wording in the district. Um, does alongside mean the same amount at the same level or does it just mean alongside with potentially like differences? And also, um, what inclusionary practices were implemented this year? Because page seven says that staff indicates the need to improve training for behavioral supports. Did we do that? Are we doing it? How are we supporting our neuro division kids? Thanks Milo. Wonderful question. Um yes. So learning alongside. So when we think about inclusionary practices, first and foremost, we need to go back to the fundamental laws that surround special education services. So quick little history lesson goes all the way back to the

11270s. And when we think about so over 50 years ago thinking about civil rights and access for our students that receive special education services. So special education services are not meant to be segregation or exclusion. So thinking about learning in the least restrictive environment that can look different for all kinds of different learners based on disability neurodiversity. So thinking about what does that mean through the provision of an individualized education plan. So that might be accessing the core content with accommodations and modifications. It might mean scaffolding. It might mean a learning different plan within the context of that classroom. So it could mean lots of different things. Also within the context of inclusionary practices, that also means that sometimes students will learn outside of the classroom, but it's what's best and right for them. And

113yes, we have begun providing um training and supports across the system to enhance our ability to plan for and implement learning uh services that include planning for learner variability. >> Wonderful. Thank you for educating me. Um when was the last time an updated credit recovery program curriculum was implemented like for um what the public comment said about um like the social studies? I'm just curious. >> Y So, credit recovery happens in several different uh settings. So, we have summer credit recovery where we have courses that students can take. We have online credit recovery. We have the ability to retake a class for credit recovery in persons taking the class again. And um during the COVID time where we had some increased need in COVID recovery, we did some strategic work to really rethink some unfinished

114learning. Um it was a temp it was in a temporary measure. And so there are some of those courses that we um are currently looking at to reinvent um to to kind of get out of that kind of uh unfinished learning kind of mentality that we had um coming out of COVID and back into kind of a more true standards um based credit recovery. um it's always attention because there's a wonderful idea that for some students they came close and we don't want to make them have to relearn everything. So there is that kind of idea of unfinished. So in terms of timing it's been a continuous process where we've added various options through the years. Um and a as per your question about the public comments, yes, there are some courses that um the

115secondary education department and the teaching and learning department have identified need significant investment for uh new revised versions of credit recovery and that work is in progress. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead Ve. Yeah. So, I just wanted to ask about I saw these uh the Skyline new APs added in the 2026 2027 school year and I had a couple of questions. So, I wanted to know with these now two concurrent pathways that seem to be being set up, how will switches between the courses work? Will there be any regulations offered like I mean imposed onto students on which courses that they are allowed to take? And if they are allowed to switch between the AP and IB uh pathways, when would that be? Um, and how do we know that the skills built up

116in between like the AP humanities classes and the IB humanities classes um will transfer correctly? Because as it stands right now, as I know, um in 9th grade and 10th grade, there are a lot of um scaffolding skills within the system in uh building towards IB humanities in the honors level 9th and 10th grade courses. And I just wanted to kind of get some clarification on how that's planned to be dealt with. >> Great question. Certainly adding this number of AP courses in the humanities is going to require some adjustments and collaboration to figure out the best pathway forward for implementation. In terms of selection and how are students in certain courses, our approach to all course registration is student choice. So what do students want to take? What are they interested in? What do

117they feel ready for? So that holds true um in this situation as well. Um a question around advising came up from counselors and that is something that we'll need to think through what makes sense for students and I think again each student situation is different and their goals may be different. The reason with the 9 through 12th grade AP course offerings was to provide that progression of learning so that AP and IB could coexist as pathways uh within the humanities and within math. So that was the intention. Uh, sorry if I'm taking up more time. I also had a couple more questions. Um, I also had saw here that AP literature in 12th grade will be uh the next natural course in for current 11th graders taking IBSL English and as far as I'm aware

118IV English SL is an on level course offering. So, I was just wanting to know because I know that AP literature is an honors level C course offering um typically like it's more rigorous. So, I'm not sure how that jump from English SL which is an onle course offering to an AP uh literature course would um I just wanted to like get some clarity on that. >> Sure. it is standard level uh and yet depending on how students score on the assessment they can earn college credit for that class. So it is the option for English that is one year the opportunity to earn college credit in English at Skyline um versus the two-year uh IB um diploma pathway. So, if a student was in the one-year 11th grade, and they wanted a a one-year

11912th grade class, a single 12th grade, there wasn't a dual credit option um for a single one-year 12th grade in English at Skyline. So, that was the interest in adding the 12th grade English dual credit with AP Nilla. Um >> I don't know if I don't know if I was misinterpreting the question, but I think it was directed towards the like jump in curriculum um more than like its purpose for college credits. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think it was um that that comment um in the report that you're referring to is um a little bit vague and I can see how it would be interpreted different ways. Um, the intent is for those seeking college credit their 12th grade year in ELA, this would be the natural course for them to seek

120college credit their 12th grade year. There are a rich array of other 12th grade non-ol credit bearing ELA courses for students who are not seeking that college credit their 12th grade year. Um, and those would also be natural next courses for those who are not seeking college credit. Can can I ask a clarifying is your concern how does a student go from taking online onle class to an AP class the next time and does that work? >> Is that what you're asking? >> Yeah, I was just asking cuz um there was like an arrow pointing directly cuz like kind of seemed like it was like a funnel kind of situation. >> Students do that every day. So I feel prepared to take a more rigorous course. They take a more rigorous course. So that is

121a fairly regular jump. Some kids will be like, "No, I don't feel like I'm prepared to take a more rigorous course." So, they don't. So, I think it's two separate problems you're talking about. One is preparedness by the individual student to make a jump to more rigorous coursework or is it the right next class and was there one available? They're two separate questions, but yeah, I mean you your own experience. Is there subject matters where you were like, man, I killed that last class. I am ready to take on something more, you know, um, rigorous the next level. That's a That's why student choice matters from my perspective. >> And I think that's what this is most about for me is this isn't about what is best for adults in our system or adults in

122the building. It's about what is best for our students. And what's best for our students is is for them to choose their path. And what I just want to bring clarity to. So there isn't there's an IB pathway and there's an AP pathway. uh for IB there's definitely like uh a structured expectation of the number of courses you must take in order to get a diploma whatever label you want to use for AP you can pick and choose based on your interest and so it isn't like oh if you're going to go the AP pathways you stated that you would have to take all of those if your love is math math, then by all means take the math part of it. But it isn't one of those things where like gosh, if you took

123that, you can't pick and choose. So part of being able to separate this is to give our students at Skyline the same choices that our students at is Quaan Liberty have that they currently don't have right now. And that's what's really important because not all students and in fact less than one in four students at Skyline actually want to take all the IB coursework that leads to diploma. So what are we doing for that? There's 75% of graduating seniors and that's what this is about. >> Is there data behind that to support that? Director Garland, >> which part? the uh part that we have all of the because what I heard is we have 50 families saying that they want this. So, do we have data showing that it's more than that and that all

124of these all this money that we're putting into this is worth it? >> Yeah, good question. So, I think that was a um I won't say misinformation, but approaching that. So when this topic came up a year or ago in the community, we got like 95% of all the emails we got were like we want AP. The point was like we were getting only emails that saying yes, please implement AP curriculum, not emails that said please don't touch IB curriculum. Uh I have that's why I was looking up data showing when we asked the students as well and twothirds of our students at Skyline in the survey reported yes I would be interested in taking AB coursework in English and in math. So I will send that to the board. Again this is kind of

125hard because this is uh continued conversation that we've had in the community certainly up in the Spanish area for numerous years. And I just want to add there's also the data of how many current skyline students even though they are taking IB also are sitting for AP tests. So we have students on top of their workload to the hundreds I always forget the number who are also doing both. So when we talk about stress or strain to me that's a phenomenal strain like we are we are taking discretionary time on top of an already regul rigorous curriculum to take more. But again this isn't my commentary on this so we're going to get to what I care about on this one soon. Um but uh looks like we have another or my look. >> Um

126I I wanted to go back to what Nil and Videt were saying about um the the jump. I think what they were talking about potentially was if we are adding more 10th grade um AP options and a student jumps from an AP class to starting IB diploma. I I I'm trying to think that what they were potentially getting at is that the first two years, she used the word scaffolding. We're scaffolding for the IB diploma program, helping the students build up to that. And I think what they were trying to get at is does that AP prepare them for the same if they're jumping from AP to Ivy? Because what I'm getting is that Ivy and AP are very different. They both provide college credit, but from what I've heard from Nilla and Viday who

127are both doing Ivy is that there is a there's a different expectation there. So I would like to ask them about that again. >> Go ahead. >> Alo, I think Milo hit the nail on the head. I was really trying to get on the point that I truly believe that I mean I know we do a lot of student choice and that's the principle that we uh use for like school um choosing uh course schedules. Um but I think I mean obviously I'm not advoc advocating against that. I'm ju I'm just wondering about if if we're setting up students because students at Skyline are going to be doing the most no matter what. And that is it's going and sorry, this is a little bit of side tangent, but um the if we're talking about

128the mental health of our students, uh I know that students are going to want to do as many AP classes as they can do in 9th and 10th grade and then they're also going to want to do seven IV classes in 11th and 12th grade. And then the idea that we were trying to spread out the load or sort of distribute the college uh credit across four years or that we were going to kind of help students mental health by choosing this AP pathway is is going to be ineffective because students are going to choose to do AP and IB and then suddenly it's just adding more stress onto these um kids' lives and then they're already stressed out as is right now. But I think it would end up actually doing the opposite effect

129that what we think it's going to do. And it's going to stress out kids more. And that's also why I was saying like students are probably going to end up doing 9th and 10th grade. They're going to do AP US history and they're going to be doing AP human geo and then they're going to hop on over to history HL and Langlet HL. And then all of the work that our humanities department has put into preparing students accordingly so that they can be successful in history and language HL is not going to happen because obviously there's different curriculum expectations that they have to be that have to be met if they're teaching AP classes. And I feel that students, they're going to do it anyways, but they're going to be set up maybe to be

130less successful than students who were in the pathway as it was intended. So that's what I was kind of trying to get at. And maybe um yeah, >> I guess you know students are doing this today, correct? And so they're doing it in a self-paced uninstructed way. this hundreds hundreds are doing both today in a self-paced way. So I that's where I'm struggling with the I would prefer, you know, if you ask me that they do none of them. But that's me. I think we take on too much excitement all the time. But at Skyline High School, hundreds of students are doing both while doing the AP in a fully self-instructed way. And so that's maybe where I am struggling with this potential future because in my mind it's now. >> I feel as though

131um kind of in the work study we were kind of talking about how students prefer a self-paced environment. And I think that while obviously taking the AP test at all is adding more stress. It's a lot different than enrolling in a class and having that be a part of your curriculum as well as IB being a part of the curriculum. >> Okay. >> But they will. >> Yeah. So I I I think that uh this is the I look forward to this conversation a year from now when you're seniors because I think that there's part of it is as you experience your junior year and go through the IB curriculum that the challenges that you're facing that is unique for IB. I don't think that you're any less prepared no matter what class you take

132in ninth and tth grade. So what is important to know is that your the pressures that you face because the IB curriculum is unique because it's a three-part assessment where you have your IIA, you have your IO and then you have your IB test. You can choose instead if you don't want that, you can take AP language in your 11th grade year and get and then take AP literature in your 12th grade year and you'll actually graduate with twice the amount of college credit as if you took IBHL English. And so students and families should have a choice to earn twice as much college credit for the same amount of work. They deserve to get that choice and that's what's important. >> Director Mullings, so I would I would love to talk about the rest

133of this uh we if I could. Um, that would be awesome because I think we have had an incredible focus on what is a very small part of what this uh policy is about and what this policy is doing. Um, and so what I would love to do is regground us in what is this actual policy because it is not about a single course option at a single school. Um, so again, I think I've done this probably at the last three board meetings. I'm going to do it again. The the goal of this policy, as all policies have a value statement at the beginning, is that the board believes the district should provide students with challenging and engaging opportunities for educational exploration, acceleration, and remediation. And we should be able to provide opportunities for differentiation

134relevant to a broad range of students. And so, um, as I look at what is included in the report, one, I appreciate its structure, I appreciate the clarification, um, in calling out the except exception to the existing board policy and the cycle, um, at which the district is going to work on the exception to 14.3. But I also think that there's an incredible amount of other deep information in uh the report that is about the rest of the way in which we are focusing on ensuring um those things I just talked about exploration acceleration as well as remediation. So, there was some I'm not finding the page, but maybe the thing I wanted to talk about in um in in this document is maybe focus some more on some of the support items that were

135here because now I've gone all over this report on um like you mentioned a little bit rich in the beginning about MTSS and the other items. I would love to talk about in bit more detail if you go through some of the items you list here on um uh additional support structures and how those are uh progressing. There's some comments here on early literacy uh expansion and structured math intervention etc. >> Sorry, I'm looking for that page. fee and where you get to >> like continued implementation of beauty law. I guess I'd like Sorry, this is off. I'd love to dig into >> um >> if there's some of these in the newer ones. I'm not sure which one is the best one to pick. I guess that's what I'm asking around like the MTSS

136for success or on the high leverage practices. Where are you seeing the indicator from the support side that we're making additional progress? >> Yeah. Yeah. Um it is it is all definitely a work in progress. Um probably some of the um gosh there there is so much going on at once in this area of rethinking our support systems and structures and realigning and reinvestigating the literature and the evidence-based practices. It's become a major part of uh collaboration between special services and uh teaching and learning services. We've hired a director of MTSS who also is one of the state leaders in multi-tered systems of support. So, we've really invested a lot in in rethinking these things and bringing a higher rigor of research to things like study skills classes, guided studies classes, lab classes, um the

137success block at elementary and how we use our time there. uh a complete revamping of how we approach title and lap services over the last five years and we've we've begun to see some really some some promising indicators early on. Um I think that uh I'm I'm hopeful that we'll see be able to bring more and more data that shows that that effect as we as we continue on and go forward. um as we discussed in the with the work study and as we started looking at the results too data just ways that we can really investigate the efficacy of all of those programs is really important to us. So I think the first has been a relentless u pursuit of the use of data. So are we getting quick early data in intervening? One

138of the great early successes of that was at elementary where almost all of our title app services were focused on reading comprehension. And when we got better assessment data and earlier assessment data in the fall, we learned that we were giving a comprehension intervention to students who could not decode text. And so we revamped the intervention program to really focus on their most primary need to be able to decode that text. Um and so we've now we're now replicating that with mathematics and um building that up through the years. Um, some really wonderful work happening this year with the middle school math adoption where we're rethinking kind of like how do we how do we intervene and jump in quick and early in the core class instruction as well as in the supporting systems in

139in middle school to really use some evidence-based approaches because students who struggle in math need a really strong grounding in the concrete nature of mathematics. So a lot of times you would see middle school you'd think, oh, we don't need manipulatives in middle school. we're beyond that. We're into the abstractions of mathematics. Well, when a student struggles with mathematics, it's because they can't make that concrete connection. And so, really rethinking about the research and what it says about how students who struggle with mathematics learn mathematics differently than students who are just cruising along at standard and mathematics. So, we're we're beginning to see some real promising professional development, some real promising changes in structures and systems. And I and I I'd be remiss to say that the the common theme in all of those things

140has been about executive functioning. And we've talked about that a lot over the years because it's not just your content, it's how you learn to learn. And so that how do we teach students how to learn math? How do we teach students how to learn to increase their literacy skills is also as important as um the learning of the content themselves. So, those are I I know that's kind of not we're we're we're still in that phase where we're we're reconstructing and rebuilding and we're starting to see some promising results, but I think the best fruits are still to come. >> Fair enough. >> Dr. Coy, sorry. I'm going to I'm going [clears throat] to bring us back to 14.3. I wanted to sorry but I want and I want to drill into a slightly

141different area here but I want to kind of just ground us and I think what the conversation is around OE14 and I think it really is choice student choice um you I'll go back to the note from last week that Chris Reichdel mentioned this idea of schools providing as many collegebearing opportunities for students um and you know I I see this doing that in a lot of ways I also want to know so if we could Stephen if you can go to page 13 something that sits with me particularly joining you know as I joined the board this well for all of us this has become more important and that's student funding and funding per FTE and this idea of running start is a and it is obviously a viable option for students but this

142we had during our work study conversation and we see you know the number of running start students continue to tick up and I've had several conversations with members of our community saying gosh kids exiting for running start that changes the culture of the school. And so I go back to choice in our schools. That's a way to retain students. And I think a challenge for the district that I've mentioned tonight too is let's continuing to think about retention strategies. How do we keep these kids in our schools because um again, Running Start might be a viable option for kids and I and I understand that. But because the number continues to tick up and because we're continuing to hear again that that changes the culture in a school, I think we need to be aware

143of that. And obviously the the funding follows those students when they leave too. So you know I look forward to further conversations with the district on that. And it's a you know a broader conversation a lot of it tonight around choice around what's possible with the new high school around the CTE offerings that will be more broadly op you know potentially offered particularly now with this with this new high school that's being built that will give students more choice. So I'm excited. I see what's possible and I think a challenge for the district to continue to think about retention. I know you know obviously we've also looked at you know with the the the roll out of the online school too. I think a great opportunity. So I really look at this enhancement to 14.3

144again is adding more choice again more choice and opportunity I believe to retain students. And so I and again I guess I'll I'll just close by saying I look forward to more conversation around that the retention of student um conversation Rex. Um I really hate to hammer down 14.3. I just have one clarifying question. Um I apologize to bring this up again. I'm just trying to acclimate myself as a non skyline student. Um I'm seeing sides of both motions and as we're discussing this I have one more question. Um what is making AP advantageous to other courses like CTE dual enrollment and um CHS to expanding college credit? Because just as I'm like thinking about this, I'm looking at what qualifies AP students to receive college credit and it's test scores usually like scoring a

145three or above. Whereas um some CTE CHS are just based off of getting a C or better or a B or better. So I'm just I'm interested in what is making us look to AP instead of some of these other options. >> Sure, good question. college in the high school is a great option. It's more complicated to offer. So, you have to have a partner university that is sponsoring and they'll only often provide certain courses that they're willing to sponsor and it doesn't always stay consistent. Sometimes it's year-to-year where they have capacity in their department at the university to offer it. And then teachers have to have specific credentials to teach that class. Oftentimes a master's degree in the subject area. Um, so it is hard for a school to commit to a college in

146the high school class in the long term because of those constraints. And then the CTE dual credit also wonderful and we are offering that wherever we can with our CTE courses. CTE courses also require a specific endorsement and credential for teachers to teach. I think Rex also think about it in the in the context of currency. Uh if you're looking to go to a four-year college, AP credit is accepted almost universally. IB credit is accepted not universally. And then same thing for college in the high school. Then it would be depend on if if they accepted it from so if it was a UDub college and the high school course like has for Spanish that's going to be accepted universally. It's if it's a Belleview college pre-calculus class it won't be accepted universally. It'll be

147dependent on whatever college you metriculate to. So having universality and portability is really important in the context of equity for me. >> Dr. I also just want to make sure we're talking apples to oranges when we talk about CTE and dual credit, which is, as I understand it, a very different thing. That dual credit is is counting off of multiple high school graduation requirements, not necessarily dual credit to college. >> The term dual credit courses usually refers to college credit earning. And there are some CTE courses that have alignment with different community colleges to provide college credit if students receive a certain grade in that course. >> There are some but not all. So I mean that so so again back to there is a you know imagine it's a spreadsheet with lots of X's

148of where does that particular offering allow for credit in the future? And it could be in a particular course that I'm I am knocking off two things that I need for high school. It could be that I'm knocking on I am getting um credit no grade in college. It could be that I'm not getting anything at college. It could be multiple pieces. So the goal again because if you go back to the spirit of what the policy is about not any one individual offering which is what 14.3 is what we've been talking about is the I is that the goal is that our students are able the breadth of our students are able to um benefit from exploration acceleration and remediation across the breath of our students. So where it's their strength, where it's their

149interest, where it's available, where it may or may not carry over to. And so while this one particular piece is important and again it's a choice question, I think well that part doesn't matter. I think we we sometimes when things are our norm, we believe that's how they work and how they work everywhere and they just don't. They just don't. And so what we're trying to press on with this with this policy is how do we look outside of our working models today and say what are choices that can and should be available and how do we offer them at the broadest um uh availability to our students who will have different strengths and different applications and and where is the choice given? Is it given to the student and their family or not? Dr.

150Coin >> and I, as you were mentioning, I had jotted down, you know, I think that this encapsulates the idea of offer as many options to as many students is ultimately what we're trying to do. I mean, this whole conversation, all of these tracks, there's a level of complexity. IB, AP, college in the high school, running start, and each of these paths may be the right fit for each student. and we want to offer as much choice as possible and we don't want kids to be boxed in based on the geography of where they live. That's the struggle that I have with this. We we're boxing certain kids in based on where their parents happened to move. Um and I think as a district we can do better and we are. That's the intent with

151this to offer more choice because there is a lot of complexity as we just talked about and we want as many options offered across our district and I think that's really the theme when I think about this OE and I would also offer I know we think we worry about stress for more choices. I think we see as many anecdotal examples of where families are opting out of our comprehensive high schools to running start to simplify their choices. So uh yes some may add complexity but many are choosing to decrease their complexity by exiting these offerings as well. So again how do we provide offerings to the the vast majority the broadest range of our students in the ways that it works for them and the 50 so I have to get back to the

15250 emails. It is rare on any topic we get 50 emails. So it's not about whether it's 50 or 10. It's about the the vast majority on this topic is people who who are saying why can't we explore another way which which if you get over three emails on any topic that is worth exploring in some way. But in addition to just emails we've backed it up with town halls. We've backed it up with interviews. We've backed it up with student listening sessions. And it continues to come up that that there are choices. I personally would love would love to to add to the conversation the addition of by of I IB participation at other schools. I say this every time we talk about it. The chief factor of why that is impossible is space.

153So because we got to get programs out of these three high schools to offer any of these other programs. So that's why another reason why I'd love a new high school because then we can start to think about which is what we've been trying to do for multiple years. How do we use our space differently to provide again more flexibility? So these are these are all related topics. They are not I I I have take umbrage with when we like pick at each individual part they are all connected. So it is not about what the number is. It's that on this topic of choice, it is an overwhelming ask in conversation in town hall in email and other forms that we are offering limited options at one high school. We got other problems, but this

154on this one, that's what this this one is. >> And to to emphasize that point, completely agree with you, Director Mullings, is the fact that I tell people this all the time that as a member of the school board, we are a represent representation of the community. We are the community's voice in the educational system. And when the community is telling us that they want this option at a high school, it is our role to voice that desire andor need of the community. So totally agree with that. And I do also just to to [laughter] support um Director Mulling's plea. There is so much in this report that that runs the whole gamut of our program uh of of our district and all of the amazing supports and programs that we run starting with transition

155to kindergarten all the way up to the graduating uh from our system. So, um I'm happy to continue to have more conversation, but I would uh welcome other comments on other parts of the report if possible. Uh does anyone >> Sure. >> Director Gallinger, I think he put his hand down. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Director Gallinger, please. >> So, I I agree. I would love to not talk about one singular item on this very uh what is this 32page report that you have? Yes. uh two things that I thought highlighted that were unique or differences from last year to this year that I really appreciated. One was outlining all the changes you're doing curricular and I know we got behind on curriculum adoptions and there was then there was a cost-saving issue when it had

156to do reductions in force. So I like the return to that and a predictable path for that. So I think that's super important for delivering quality education. Uh the second thing that I liked in 14.4 for that you outlined uh part of the teacher evaluation framework that highlighted about focusing on like how do you know like the individual needs of students and I thought that was a a nice addition as well. So thank you for those things. >> Any other comments? Does Vid do you have a comment? Hi. I I know we are wanting to move on and I'm sorry, but um just one last kind of thing I wanted to circle back to. Um I know we were talking about Skyland students taking AP exams and why that would be a factor of stress.

157Um I just wanted to acknowledge that exams are really really different than the actual courses and um exams are like one day. They are like a finite amount of time and a lot of people study for them, but a lot of people um I can definitely I'm looking I'm interested in looking into this more, but I'd wager to say that classes and rigorous class loads are much more like lifealtering and schedule altering than a singular exam. and then that a singular AP exam would not be equivalent in stress year round to students actually taking those AP classes at Skyline and so yeah >> thank you anything else okay hearing none I think we are ready for a vote but do we have a >> an advisory vote see >> I make one sorry one more

158comment uh well not one more I have not shared anything uh on this matter but I do want to >> just highlight 14.1 um it's a starting point in this um report and monitoring I got to go to the actual page sorry because I was down on a a couple pages lower um but the the focus that we have had truly on helping provide support for instructional practices to be able to really uh at at the core level of all instruction ction reach our many diverse learners. I think is incredible work that I want to make sure that we highlight the efforts to um really root ourselves in best practices based on brain science uh on universal design for learning on increasing access for students who have previously not had as much access to learn

159alongside their peers as when Mila opened up with her commentary about about clarifying what that means. um and the work to develop and implement a system uh multi-ch system not only in our schools but also as a district to be able to monitor are we seeing an impact for the um efforts of our teachers to really think about how they serve a wide range of learners and um I want to just highlight that work particular Shireen Carver um Rich Melish Jacqueline here at the at the at the podium but many others who are um in this room and outside of this room. So I really want to credit our teachers for really also um engaging in that work truly and and the Ignite program that's a sort of incubator of being able to accelerate those

160practices even further. So that is something I just want to highlight as we think about the whole system and at the core we have to have high quality instructional materials and we have to have high quality teachers and so that's what instructional program is and so I want to make sure I bring that back to the forefront. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh, student reps, I think we will continue with the advisory vote. Stephen, can you cue that up for us? two yes, two no and three abstain. Okay, >> questions. >> Most certainly. Director Mullins, >> what is what is the driver? That's an That's a interesting split. So, what are some of the drivers? >> Go ahead. >> Um, so again, after talking with our Skyline student reps and our own AP experiences, too, um,

161I think one of the core things that maybe hasn't been talked about as much today. Um, we're all all of us here are four choice. Um, some of us do Running Start, some do AP, some do IB. We love that our district has those options for us. Um, I think for at least from what I understand, one of the key concerns with Skyline is that it's not being in a way that goes along with the current system. Um, students have expressed that the AP curriculum in 9th and 10th grade would not prepare them for the IB curriculum. So then it would either have to be that students choose the AP curriculum or they choose the IB curriculum. um they can't I think it wouldn't be possible for them to do both and also I think

162it's so important to make sure that we take student and staff um you know uh considerations into our own decision- making um and really ensure that we work with everyone to make that uh change. Again, I'm I I love AP. I'm I I that's what I do, but I think it's so important that we implement it in a way that really works because I think we're hearing right now that it may not work based on student perspective. Yeah. >> Okay. So, this is an interesting one. So, I want to talk about this is a monitoring question, not a policy question. So, you're giving feedback on the policy we've implemented, which is a fair fair feedback and that's why they're policies, that's why they're changeable, but that's actually not the question. Right. So the question is

163has the has the district provided evidence that they're meeting the overall pol they're meeting the policy as stated. So that's what I want to just make sure and again since I this this is my program with you guys. I want to make sure you're you're answering the question not whether you have an issue with the policy. You guys actually all got to give input on the policy already. So this is when you read the policy, is the district implementing the policy as it's stated? That's the question. >> I think >> from you move over. >> Okay. >> This is where I get to do my student rep leadership a little bit. >> Okay. >> Because I want to make sure we're answering the right question right now. You can answer whatever you want. I'm not

164trying to change your answer, but I want to make sure you guys are answering because last time I think we did this a little bit, too. Like, hey, am I happy with the out? It's different because we did the policy already, right? What is in there? So, this is is the district showing progress toward that whole policy. Not is not are we happy about how AP at Skyline is being implemented? That's not the question. >> Okay. Are we good? Okay. Uh Chris, >> um >> sorry, I'm going to just do this for a little bit because they're >> Thank you for the >> And they're going to learn. They're learning to be policy makers. I want to make sure they're answering the right question. >> No, thank you for the clarification. I voted for just

165looking from the growth from last year to this year in terms of curriculum offerings, course offerings, all the different options we didn't have going into like running start, CTE, college and the high school dual credit. I mean, when I look at my friends in neighboring districts, they don't have half the stuff we have here, right? >> And so for me, that's really the really big driver thing. And the other thing is I completely agree with the directive and underlying vision behind 14.3 that you know regardless what high school you go to in a district your experience should to some extent be the same. Um and regardless of the implementation details I have full faith that our district will achieve that goal. So that's personally for me why I voted yes. >> I'm not telling you

166thank you for saying that but you don't have to unearth how you voted. I just want to make sure you're answering the question that's posed, not whether we're happy or not with the policy because again when we bring the policy back up for revision, you guys get to have that input again. Okay. Who else was it over here? Rex. >> Um yeah, I I came to a similar conclusion as Chris did. Um you guys tell me the answer. Oh, don't tell me the answer. Um just tell me that whether you answered this question or a different question. Um, oh, I I answered this question. The report seems thorough. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Noah. >> Um, I think I chose my answer based on the fact that I felt the evidence um

167on the paper wasn't really reflecting what I felt around me and in the kind of conversations I have in my community. So, that's kind of what led me to my answer. >> On what question? Um the question of the the poll like has the board provided suffic because this is about district progress >> provided sufficient evidence to meet the expectations >> of the entire policy. >> Yeah. >> And so you're you're having community conversations that says like remediation as an example that folks don't feel like they have the right remediation um support because that's the the policy is not just 14.3. the policies, the whole thing is that that's your experience. Okay, awesome. Go ahead. >> No, no, no. >> Micah, did you have something? >> Micah, >> I just I feel like your question

168that you're asking right now feels a bit um what's the right word? unclear because I'm not sure if you're asking if I I I don't know if you're asking if we know what we're voting for right now or if you're asking. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, I voted for >> what the question I'm not saying what my answer was. My single answer was I'm saying I voted based off of what it was asking like do you believe the district has provided sufficient evidence to meet the expectations of OE14 >> across the whole policy? >> Yes. Across the entire policy. Yeah, the entire policy and I saw what each one of the things are and I saw different evidence and different parts of actions from each part of the policy and I decided through that concluded

169my answer. >> Okay, wonderful. Again, I just want to make sure. >> Yeah. Uh, also I just talked about 14.3 because that's what we were talking about before, but I after reviewing the whole document and looking through each one, that's how I also made my >> conclusions. Um, but I just wanted to talk about 14.3 because that's kind of what we were talking about before. Uh, so >> Okay, thank you. I just want to make I just want to make sure. Yes, because it gets real easy to have it's called recency bias. This is the thing we're most recently talking about. So, this is the thing I'm reacting to and make sure you're looking at the policy as a whole and how you're voting. Okay. Thank you. Just Okay. Thank you. Thank you students for

170your vote. Uh that I believe brings us to a board vote. There is a motion on the floor. It was raised quite a while ago. I hope that we all remember it. Um so, we will take a vote now. All those in favor for the motion on the floor to accept the monitoring report, please say I. >> I. >> All those opposed? None. Okay. So there, the monitoring report is accepted. Next on our agenda is legislative matters. >> All right. >> Director Anderson, do you have any goodies for us? Um, Day on the Hill is Tuesday, January 27th. Um, a number of board, staff, and student reps, I hope, uh, will be heading to Olympia with a jam-packed schedule of meeting with senators and representatives of the 5th, 11th, and 41st legislative districts, as well

171as the secretary uh of Department of Children, Youth, and Families. Um, my goal in those sessions is to discuss the big three that I talked about earlier, uh, in hopes to continue to advocate for those matters. Um, being my first time going to the Hill, I'm really excited to see how that goes. >> Great. Great experience. >> Yep. >> Anybody have any other updates? Okay, I will keep us moving along then. Uh, next, announcements and correspondence. Do we have any announcements or correspondence to share? I do not believe so. Okay, look at this. Now comes the fun part. Calendaring and future agenda topics. People, please get your phones out and we will run through this. Uh, I'm actually going to start before we get to some of the bulletin matters here because um I was

172scheduled to appear before the Isiqua City Council next Tuesday night to speak in favor of endorsement of the um the city council of the levy. Uh I unfortunately had that on my calendar on a Monday because their meetings are usually on Monday nights. They moved it to Tuesday for Martin Luther King. I am fearful I'm going to have a hard time getting there on time. Would any of my colleagues be available? >> Yeah, it's just public public comment at the >> This is the 20th. >> It is the 20th. Yes, >> I am in Atlanta. >> That would make it very difficult. Yes, >> Tuesday. Yeah, >> I'm available if you need me. >> Yeah. Thank you, Harla. Appreciate that. Uh, I believe it's 7 o'clock. I will let um Councilwoman DM Michelle know and

173she will connect with you. >> President, >> thank you. >> President Michelle, thank you very much, Director Anderson. >> Yeah, that's right. I forgot. >> Um, okay. So, uh, first thing on the list here is listening sessions with students. I must admit I wasn't aware of that >> that was coming up. >> Are we doing a particular >> Yeah. What type of group or how many? I don't know. >> Oh, this is with >> I was thinking student reps. I'm sorry. >> I listen to them all the time. >> Themes we >> Yeah, we've done different groups. >> Yes. I'm sorry. My brain was in a different place. >> Yeah. >> I believe that this topic would be about going further, especially on the homework topic. Um but pairing homework and grading because they have

174to kind of be in hand in hand but but going a little deeper with homework. >> Yeah. >> Exactly. Like focus like that request and the topic will be homework but we know it'll >> go other places. >> And are you thinking this is uh in the past we've done these? >> Have we done? >> We've done it in different ways like how many which schools it's like how many? So in generally what how it's done is we have this the staff set the three dates for the theater patterns >> and then two per because we want to make sure that we don't have a quorum that no >> like to protect students like >> so it's not an open meeting. So that's historically how it's done. >> Okay. I think that if I guess

175we could align on dates and then I I don't know what what was your preference superintendent as far as because the timing would be potentially variable based on if you think that getting students that would be on campus because the whole point of what we're talking about is we're trying to get seniors and we already talked about how >> we have absence of a lot of people from schools because of uh going off campus for writing start. Is there a certain day or time that most people most students are there because of some sort of graduation requirement class? That's my question. >> I like your earlier point because this is probably a complex question. Yeah. >> I would if you could come back like if we're looking at the three high schools with just options

176that would be best for me that we know are ideal for the students, for the staff >> and for staff. Yeah. >> Yeah. Because I >> I agree. We can come back with a couple then we'll have to set up a a complex scheduling poll. Yes. And that will be very fun. And so please respond to that once you do receive it [laughter] so we can quickly through that. But that is a consultation point. We'll need to So the goal is to optimize for highest amount of participation from students and staff uh and board members and uh and an an open meeting format would be appropriate for this versus a closed session because it would be a wider audience. Is that what I'm hearing? Just to recap. Okay. >> Yeah. And the question to be

177asked is also like is something so what we tried it before we tried it on before late start Wednesdays and so we did it and we hosted breakfast for them. I think attendance was uneven at best that might not be the best option versus like if they're incoming from class or if there's something like right after school if you know like hey right after school is a good time to >> Yeah. So optimizing for high volume. >> High volume. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Okay. um PTSA and ISF engagements. Does that refer to >> that? Is that is a joint uh meeting between um the PTSA council um leadership council as well as on the board as an opportunity to continue >> to collaborate. We had one last year now um

178and that was helpful the same way we would potentially do that with ISF. Uh and so I think that there is an important opportunity to continue especially because we are welcoming uh a new board member who has been involved with the PTSA. Um that's and still is. Yes. Uh I should not neglect to say that. And um there's a desire I think from the PTSAs to also continue that that relationship building and how how uh both entities can work together. >> And so these are you call them linkages what we're saying. We're talk we're not talking about we're talking about what is the session we get together big room these groups. Okay. Which we've traditionally done right before >> I see the linkage. Okay. I was thinking we were going Okay. >> Yeah. The word

179engagement threw me for a loop. So >> I went ahead. Okay. I see. >> Um >> because that's the coherent language or I mean is engagement instead of linkage. >> Yes. >> Good job. And so if there's a desire to do that, which I think is part of the scheduling, I think there's also the question of we want to tack on because we have a lot of content also that happens in in that 5:00 time before 6:00 meeting. So I think there's sometimes the question of uh is the board willing to even meet at 4 to tackle some content and then do an engagement at 5 as we look at the rest of the year. Uh, President Taylor and Director Gallen will want to be thinking about how we can slot this in because there's

180probably more things on here than can actually happen with our current time allocation, which might require some discussion on can we tack on an hour in addition to to start at four instead of five. >> That that would be my preference if we could have it all night. >> I agree. >> But was that something we could just >> So we're looking for candidate nights that people could fit in a four o'clock start. That's what we're really asking. >> Yeah. of the board nights. >> Yeah, >> I would be I mean I've kind of already allocated that time for the night. So if it's four o'clock I I would be fine with >> it doesn't impact either. I can be here an hour. >> I've made that commitment. So >> yeah, I would agree with

181that for the most part unless I just can't be here at all at all which I'm just clicking through. I think is not >> I don't seem to have any major conflicts. So that a four start for the most part should be good. Like I I would rather just say if you feel like there's enough content between content and these engagements just say um kind of philosophically let's look think about starting at four or here to the end of school that would be easier than like trying to pick apart >> separate times. >> Y >> so does it make sense then that maybe Dr. Gallinger or myself speaking with you we can >> slot those in where it makes sense in the agendas moving forward. Yeah. I mean, I think we should tentatively look at

182the second March meeting and then the April meeting. >> Yeah, it makes sense. >> It gets too crazy by the time we get into May. >> Yeah. With our other obligations. Yeah. >> Okay. Well, we'll shoot for that and we'll look towards the agenda to do that. Um, we have had some uh outreach andor communication with various city councils. >> Yep. >> That are interested in linkages as well. Uh, so I do we can certainly talk about those. I I believe director Anderson, you had conversation with the folks at Newcastle. >> Yeah. So, I've had both Deputy Mayor Charbano has contacted me directly on behalf of Newcastle City Council, um, and suggest setting up a joint meeting between us and them. Um, and I've also had a conversation with council member Ber uh of Seamish,

183so they are also interested in connecting. Um, and I would also like to bring in Rhett into the fold at some point. And I I think we could tackle this in a way where we only have two maybe board members in the area, you know, so like Samish is obviously I think all of us would be interested in meeting with Isaqua City Council, but I think if we could try to find a way to have like two of us meet with the city council, you know, I it's important to build those relationships in my opinion and I know it's hard with schedule, but >> yeah, I think I think traditionally though we've chosen >> prefer to meet as a group. >> Yeah. in order to have conversations >> and if we can make that happen

184that would be great but >> I think we will be challenged to get the four or five >> linkages with the end with you know commencement superintendent all these things >> um but yeah let's have a discussion about what the interest is and how how they might cascade that >> so let's just divide out engagements kinds of engagements today so there are what I'm gonna go back to old language of linkage for a second which is all five like full governing bodies meeting for a deep dive on a topic or to just get to know you versus where I think we've had the best ongoing relationship is isqua where there's leadership connections that are reg regularly scheduled those have tended to be to president past president on a monthly cadence so I think the question

185would be >> um which style of those engage engagements we're talking about because uh we have had less frequent discussions with those other >> cities. We they've been more membertomember or smaller groups. Um it probably makes sense with >> uh to think of like whole body meetings for each of those. I think why isqua in particular works should probably I would hope would fall in the same category as not historically. we have more overlap of program whether it's uh youth programs, facility use etc that that um drive that ongoing like leadership how are we actually co-running these things or thinking about them together so I I just would want to put out those two styles are very different I would probably argue for Newcastle rent we never talked to Belleview like those cities it's probably

186more of a governing body to governing body kind of conversation versus like an ongoing business meeting. But I I think we should actually have that meeting with Seamish. But those are my thoughts on that. >> Can I just tack on to I would say >> I'd like to for Seamish I'd like to have the engagement here like we do for Isqua. I just for those of us who were past engagement and it was not productive. >> So unless we could have it here, I would prefer it here. So >> well that I mean that makes sense to me about uh full engagement with Isiqua and Seamish and then uh smaller engagement linkage [laughter] whatever the taxonomy is. >> Yeah. Right. Uh makes sense. I I know I can make connection with the Belleview City Council.

187Of course we have a very small footprint but I I know the mayor and deputy mayor well and think we could set that up. Uh, and uh, I know Deputy Mayor Charbano as well. So, >> yeah, but I also don't want to leave Renton off. >> No, no, we wouldn't. Yeah, we wouldn't. >> Um, >> we have more to do with Renton than probably most >> true. And we can stretch this also into, you know, across the calendar year. >> Um, okay. Well, I will. So maybe we can look for some dates for I like linkages too, engagements with Seamish and Isiqua. Uh because I think we should get back into that cadence of meeting with those two bodies. >> Uh but we're not going to do that now. I mean, I don't think we

188can we can go. >> I think we'll have to find more time, but then we can also start to work back and forth on calendars. Maybe they could. >> You've got all the 4 PMs at your >> Yeah, we have a bunch of 4 PMs. >> Or 5 PMs. >> Yeah, like you >> have Adam and I'll uh I'll take it on myself to work on the other three and then we can talk about who can potentially meet with those bodies when the time comes. >> Yeah. Right. So I think the priority should be Emily can help reach out to Samish and Isizakiqua. Yeah. To find out what their availability is for their whole council >> to meet and then that will narrow it >> and then after we get those scheduled then you can

189domino the rest. >> Makes sense. >> Yep. Okay. >> And and just to say like in my mind I the priority goes to either percentage of our population where the students come from >> or percentage of overlap of program like in a priority order. So >> Seamish is under reppresented in what we do today because they're over they're most of our stu right they have a larger stake in our students and so it's not that the other aren't important I just like to lay out a couple principles because people have feelings so for me it's an order of either percentage of our student population that are in those municipalities should be the priority or again our youth programs our youth employment our um parks and wreck those sorts of things where we have real joint

190interest are are the things that uh I care about from a prioritization of the order. >> I agree. Okay. >> And we must have join interest in a meeting because one council I've reached out repeatedly and have not had much success. So I'll leave it at that. [laughter] Okay. Um moving on. PTSA council general membership meetings. Two per meeting. >> That's a request for two board members to attend those general council meetings that occur on a monthly basis. What time? >> Those are during the day. They span typically 10:00 a.m. to noon, but the portion that I mean the district sometimes comes at different times, but we typically um are invited in to after they do regular business. Um so around like the 11:00 time, but um uh prior director Moraldo would join for mostly

191the full-time uh in her most recent role when she was on the board also because she was representing another entity as well. So that's sort of how you got to the whole 2hour full span. >> Yeah. And I was there the whole time as well. >> You would go for the pool. >> I think historically that uh we've I think moved to having it be where it's not just the board president goes be any two board members to try and broaden the view of >> both directional >> of >> so they get to know all of us and we get a sense of them individually and collectively. I've attended in the past and they've been helpful. >> Well, we're all working professionals, too. I mean, it's hard though. That's the >> struggle. The day. So,

192>> I would prefer bring the backup for ISF than PTSA. I'll just >> I am going to have a really hard time with any of those dates unfortunately for the for the midday PTSA council meeting. So, I don't think I commend any of that. Unfortunately, I don't get those. >> So, >> there are some that are virtual. >> What was that? There are some that have a virtual option. It's only some are in person only. >> Virtual option then I might be able to make those work. >> Same. So I'm seeing 129 virtual 226 in person only. Uh 326 virtual option. 423 virtual option. 528 is their end of year celebration in person. So, I can I can do February 26th. >> And you said the the the meetings again are 10, >> 10 to

19312. >> I can do virtual. I mean, I'm usually in Redmond. Um, but I can certainly make one. I, you know, put me down for the May 28th one for sure in person. I can do that. >> Could try to do the January 29th one. I um virtually, but I'd have to I wouldn't be able to join until 11:00 if that would be okay. >> I can do virtual on the 29th as well. >> Okay. >> And April 23rd. >> Okay. >> 26 coverage. I can do my >> I might be gone on the 26th. Hold on. Otherwise, I'll >> Are you able to send us calendar invites for those too? Okay. Awesome. Thank you. >> Calendar said the 26th of March >> confirming you said the 26th of March. Director Gallender that you could

194make. >> Yes. Sorry. >> Thank you. >> Uh I can do the 26th of February as well. >> Oh, >> that's in person. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, we have the January, February. Do we have March covered now? Did I hear that? >> March. >> April, Director Anderson is okay. And then May 28th is me. Anyone else want to come with me? >> Is that Is that That was midday. >> That's the end of celebration though. Come on. >> Um yeah, I can I'll join you for that one. And that but it is midday though, right? Okay. I'll I'll try to make that. Yes, I'll make that work. >> Okay, fantastic. ISF board meeting. Yeah, I am not available on that date. >> [laughter] >> Can somebody cover the ISF board

195meeting on March 24th? >> I'm available, but I think Sydney said she was gonna do it. That's what I thought I heard. >> It sounded that sounded. >> Yeah, I've got a potential hold for travel right now and I don't have travel booked, but So, >> just keep me posted. >> Okay, very good. >> Peter, not down. >> Okay. And then board retreat planning. What What is that about? Sorry, really quickly. It's a 5:30 meeting. ISF ISF is a 5:30 meeting. >> ISF 5:30 meeting. >> Yeah, that's an evening one here in this building, right? >> Yeah. >> Is that it? Yeah. Go ahead. >> Yeah. the board retreat the um the board received a um agenda with a uh well agenda for two retreat days with topics and I think the interest of um

196during agenda planning was to make sure we solicit any kind of questions or objectives that would be on your mind for those that would then guide preparation and if there was any information or data requests that um were around that so we could start to work backwards scope and scale that and make that um time useful. So day one um if we just take it maybe in days there's a overview of coherent governance and history uh of our governance model and that is uh with volunteer former board directors um who have all confirmed that they would be here for that time. Um I don't know if you want to ask any questions. >> Uh then there's then there's long range planning enrollment and budget and that's a more districtled to provide deeper information as we

197continue to march forward as as we prepare for the next budget year and that's an important space and time to make sense of that. Um there's a informal optional discussion on disk styles that's part of the board um self assessments of working styles and so director um Anderson I think is completed. Is there a reason why we'd have that as optional? Because we do have a new board member and it it's not as effective if not everybody's part of the conversation. >> Well, it may be optional. >> It wasn't optional. >> It was in for >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. [clears throat] It's just during lunchuration. >> We'll just kind of share. >> We're not going to have a formal like Okay. Okay. >> Posted. >> Yeah. >> Facilitated session. Yeah. Then uh yeah >>

198then the next topic is a new high school campus program structure and operational implications that's bringing together a variety of different inputs. We you know we've been talking about different components of the next high school in different ways. So this is sort of bringing more together in that front. Um and then special services inclusionary practices overview and updates and that's what um Dr. Carver was speaking about in reference to as part of her presentation on this. This was a topic that had been of interest to the board to just get an update on and to be able to um engage in dialogue with our team um earlier, but we wanted I think that for agenda planning the the team wanted to make sure that this next iteration of the board of this year would be

199able to engage in that. So those are more district kind of led in terms of providing information updates and sort of um dialogue. >> And so it's helpful to know what questions you all have and what information would be helpful. Just two I have two [clears throat] questions. I'm wondering >> Let's pause on this day so that way we can Yeah. >> Oh, you want to come back? Oh, okay. >> No, this is a good time to pause. >> I think this looks good. I did when I glanced at it. I'm wondering can we expand the time for the new high school and do we need as much time for the overview of coherent governance because it seems like a lot of time dedicated to that unless we're unless there's new concepts. I mean, I

200know for director Anderson that piece will be good. But I just that was my first thought if we could cut there because I think the high school conversation is going to be pretty robust. I just want to make sure there's enough time for that. >> Was the hope that we would start to get into actual policy update or literally just the background? >> Uh that's the end of the second day. I think it it really is I I guess my personal belief is it's [snorts] really important for uh everyone including Natalie to understand like how do we get to where we are and how do we sort of at least go through like what are >> like we have like four different groups of policies and just to talk through like the origins and just

201the background of them before we can even then have a coherent conversation on what updates >> Oh, I agree. I think they're important. And I just wondering if we need that much time. That's my And it's just my thoughts. >> I think we do. >> I I think we do as well. I don't think we can have any conversation that short. And I agree the high school but this is not a isolated conversation. >> Sure. >> This is nested within whole series that starts really soon even before this retreat. So this is just going to be more >> structured time for that. >> But there's time built in in our board schedule for before and after. >> Yeah. And I'm fine. I mean, I still think that's pretty lengthy for that, but I'm I'm fine

202if majority of the group thinks that that's that's >> Well, we can manage as we go, too. >> Well, I you know, I'm just going to hearken back to tonight's conversation. I think there's a fundamental >> piece we have to make sure we're operating clear on, which is the policy is a policy. We're not relitigating that. We talk about monitoring it. >> And so, we got far a field, I think, because people have feelings about what's in that policy. People have feelings about lots of policies. So like I think it's actually really important to talk about not just like the structure of the policies but how we use them, what our what our role is in them and um and the role of monitoring because I feel like we're getting a little dicey there. So

203I I feel like that's a probably not enough time, but I think that's a good amount of time. >> Yeah. Okay. Anything else? Okay, let's take a look at day two then. Uh we'll kick off the morning with an overview and history of teacher evaluation system. Um I think we saw the monitoring report. There's you know been things going on in that space and it's a topic I'm very much interested in myself and would like to learn more of the history. Um so that was the intention of that session. Uh we'll have a break then operational expectation 12 homework and grading topic that will never go away. Uh then a lunch break, then the strate strategic plan refresh which will be a really great um conversation with that work starting break and then the policy

204review where we will uh take that opportunity to look at our results and expect operating expectations and see if there are changes that we think we need to make uh during our board work. Yes, director Mully's. So I think the topic for me that I would like to spend time on whether it's here or in a workday or someplace else. So I'll just table it is I I feel we have not um successfully cracked the code on um I'm trying to think of what wording I want to use for it but I'll use I'll use the term discipline but it's not about the discipline itself. It is about how we are communicating um about discipline, how we are the systems in place to follow up on discipline. I think it's another topic that gets a

205lot of heat and light and a lot of that is because we just still are inconsistent in and not in how we I actually think we're not very inconsistent how we how we um implement discipline. I think we're very inconsistent in how we talk about discipline and still too timid in being clear in what our practices are. Um, which leads people to believe we're inconsistent in how we apply discipline, which I actually don't think is the case. So I think there is how so it's not like a it's not necessarily a discipline like what's happening today conversation but it's kind of an expectation and it's a commu communications piece that I think we need to still push on >> and can you cross reference and look at the upcoming OES in the springtime to see

206if it would nest well within a work study prior to >> that's a good Right. Just because I think I mean we're trying like uh we've been very intentional for how we've delayed the topics that we're now currently talking about and doing work studies and we're and then the retreat topics to try and provide as seamless of onboarding for you as we can. Perfect. That's why we did the CC thing today. Uh so we're going to do all the academic things over the next two meetings and we started that today. like we're wanting to really uh make sure we get you the hight touch topics and the ones that have been longitudinally talked about like issues. It's just what special services he highly capable so you get a sense really early on as much from

207fire as you can. So that's how we're trying to build not just this but our work studies uh and all of our borders in this. So >> yeah, >> as well as for what Sydney brought, there are other topics you feel like, wow, I really I have this itch that I need and scratched a lot earlier. Can you bump that up? That would be helpful for us to know, too, because we're trying to >> shove as much in front of you as we can. >> Yeah. >> Lucky you. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Any other comments? I mean, I think we're in good shape. Everyone feels good about Director Gallinger has something. He has >> different topic, not this. Go ahead. I think I think we're okay. >> Uh so my my final question

208was uh now that we've settled on those topics and you I've heard from you all about it. If there's something specific So now think about it further. If there's something specific in terms of what you hope to get out of that um or information uh just kindly ask you let us know by Wednesday of next week just so we can start to think through what that looks like holistically and then come back if there's further clarification and and so forth and we can start to plan for that. So that would be just a request. You can send that directly to me, please. Call, email, whatever method is preferred for you. >> And then it'd be great if then our next meeting you would uh have this similar thing, but would show like the data that's

209been requested by various people. >> Yeah. >> Because that will probably spark the most conversation at this point two weeks from now. Yeah. Like, oh, well then that I actually want this or whatnot. That would be my best guess. No. >> Uh, yeah. Hence the whole bring it back for clarification for the whole board for further direction andor uh modification. >> Oh yeah. >> Yeah. >> Anything else for the good of the order? Oh, director. Yes. Oh, that's right. We didn't get to it. >> Thought that was it. [laughter] >> Oh, that was >> Sorry, getting fuzzy. Go ahead. uh through consensus uh rather than actual formal board act board action. I would love for us to pursue having the district do an RFP for having a board uh member like coach mentor. Like the

210difference is that all of us were full-time jobs and that hasn't happened in a really long time in this board history. And so, uh, I think WAZA is a great resource. I think Matt will obviously be a great resource. Also, having more resources that we can wrap around you and other future board members because we're not all over here. Uh, I think it would just be good practice for the district to have um people that can help do that, that can be resource for you because sometimes it might be a topic that you want actually not to talk to board members that are currently on the board about and that would be important too. >> Well, coincidentally, today was the kickoff meeting for WASDA doing a new director network meeting. um I attended this afternoon

211and it was awesome because um there were familiar faces I had seen at the legislative sessions um ones that I met campaigning and so um it's a really cool and they do do some training as well um you know to get everybody on the same page and then we're also making connections with other board members and other districts. So it's uh it's only once a month um about around the 15th of the month and so I'm going to go to all of them. >> Yeah, it's great. It's great to make those connections, >> but kind of the same like another facet to get information and make connections. And >> I'm in favor of that. I mean, would have loved to have had a coach. [laughter] >> Think where I'd be today if I had had

212a coach. >> Yes. Headon. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think it would be >> I was sitting here thinking coach. I was [laughter] >> you were mine. >> Perhaps No, I mean like you know Marne was fantastic. I Yeah. >> Would the coach are you envisioning like the direct? So they would really have to understand our policies and procedures. What role would they Okay. So >> I think we have to keep going like >> Yeah, we we have some folks. >> Yeah. >> Yes. And they would all be great, I'm sure. Y So yeah. >> Yes. I'm nodding my head. Yes. Okay. >> Sounds good. Yeah. Um, I think it probably be helpful to get from director Anderson some specific objective she might have in mind since she is it's in context of welcoming and on

213boarding. So maybe that can be a good follow-up question. >> Any other things for the good of the order? Okay, we are adjourned. >> Thank you. >> Way too much water. Yeah, way to go AJ. Yeah. >> Well, we can talk about 14. Are you getting Are you getting tired here? Yes. Now