001Thursday January 26th the board has been in an executive session related to legal matters which ended at 607 I will just note that director gallinger and director maraldo are not present with us this evening at this point I'd like everyone to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all this is amazing thank you okay so we're gonna get started this evening uh in our public comments section the first thing we're going to do though is superintendent I understand you have an introduction great thank you um good evening everyone I'd like to welcome Laura Carmichael director of Health Services uh to the podium to be introduced to the board in the community um although
002she probably doesn't need much introduction we can now tell you more about that as I read her bio but Laura graduated from Pepperdine University and received a master's in nursing as well as an MBA both from Seattle University she and her husband have lived in Issaquah since 2003 and have four kids a 13 year old 10 year old an eight-year-old and a seven-year-old I see you over there hi um as a family they also have three dogs four cats 12 chickens and two bunnies Laura and her family love to camp and visit State and national parks and here's the reveal as a nurse practitioner and hospital-based midwife she's had the honor and privilege of catching babies of many Issaquah School District employees at Swedish in Issaquah so welcome Laura we'd love to hear a few
003words from you as well oh thank you and welcome okay we are gonna move into our public comment this is an opportunity for the board to receive public statements on items not listed on the meeting agenda for public comment if you have a point of view for a specific agenda item I'll ask that you hold it until I request comments during that particular agenda item this public comment time is not intended to raise issues unique to any particular student staff member or administrator rather it's a time to provide your insights on issues more generally or of a wider concern as a general rule the board will not respond to public comment I ask that you begin your comments by clearly stating your name and School attendance area please limit your comments to two minutes we
004will be using a timer the board neither endorses nor sensors any opinions expressed during public comment please keep all comments civil and respectful and avoid personal attacks on others the audience should refrain for making comments or engaging in Applause please feel free to wave your hands in support of a speaker I do have a list here of individuals for public comment who are in the room and then after we go through this list we will ask if there's anyone on Zoom make sense okay so first up we have Diana Goldberg hi my name is Diana Goldberg and I am the parent of a 2022 grad and a junior uh who plays football both as quiet high school so I'm also the booster club president but I'm really here more as a parent um in 2012
005we passed a bond that included Renovations for esqua High School stadium 11 years later the renovations are considered completed but nowhere near at the capacity that was intended the original plan was for Issaquah High School stadium to have the stands both home and visitor enlarged a Press Box renovation enlarged coaches rooms lots of improvements the end product was a Press Box and Ada accessibility on both the home and visitor stands I'm wondering what happened to the rest of the 1.9 million dollars that was supposed to go into the stadium that is the most outdated but has the highest student population in the district when I was prepping for this I looked at the website and the numbers for the high school listed on the website for a squash School District are Liberty at 1500 Skyline
006at 2200 and his high school at over 2500. but our stadium is the smallest capacity by far and large and it's also the oldest the lights that are on our Fields have not been installed by the company since the mid-1970s older than most of the people in this room or close to it uh our Fields does not have potable water so in order for our student athletes to have water to drink while they're in practice or games it has to be brought down coaches have tiny offices and I'm just hoping for the board to come up with a plan to make this more Equitable thank you thank you for your comments awesome next I have I believe it's Eric Shipley thank you so my name is Eric Shipley I have been in the district for
007a while my student my oldest started at Endeavor at 2001 and I have had three kids graduate from Issaquah hi I currently have a senior at Issaquah High and I have an eighth grader at PCMS I've been on two boundary committees that were very interesting experiences I was on the bond Committee of 2012. I don't know how many of us are still out there but 11 years later I am here and the reason I'm here tonight is because uh since the original Bond committee I've been concerned about the usage of the or the lack of usage of the money from the bond the original committee was interesting for those of you want to go way back Skyline High School that time uh there the visitor stands that are there currently actually used to be the
008home stands and they collapsed they were actually unusable and unsafe I think was probably about 2011. uh and at the time during the bond committee we were approving some various School improvements and the stadiums were inserted and there was a discussion the bond committee about how much money should we spend at the three high schools and how much does each deserve um Skyline did not have covered Stadium uh neither Liberty did not have a covered stadium and then the funding was as I recall uh Issaquah had about 1.5 to 1.7 million I think skylines was like 2.5 Liberty was like 2.3 again this is by memory I can't find the exact amounts on the website there was a much discussion about well why should somebody get more what do we base this on should it
009be based on the population of the schools which was one of the arguments some made the argument well it should be based on Friday Night Football attendance which is a pretty crazy concept but that's ultimately uh what happened and so we had a disproportionate use at some of the schools getting funding uh skylines was done immediately thereafter given that it was an unsafe circumstance uh Liberty was done shortly thereafter and then Issaquah languished for years in fact the school district about 2017 even published publicly that the 2012 Bond was completed and final and I was like wait wait you haven't done Issaquah High School yet you have not done the stadium here I go to the stadium for all my kids who played soccer and football and Etc and between the lighting and the stadium
010and the visitor side it was never completed so this year you know they finally did portions of it but they spent 1.9 million dollars and didn't even prove the visitor seating they didn't do the live wrap up please yeah I like the red lights and uh so sadly in my estimation somebody was on that committee it was never funded to the intent and now it's dramatically different from the other schools dramatically thank you for your time thank you for your comment uh next we have I think it's Rishi hasra hello um good evening to the members of the school board and thank you for your service to our community and our schools and our students my name is Rishi hazra and I'm a senior at Skyline High School and I'm currently serving as student body
011president uh and on behalf of several student groups and student populations at the skyline I would like to express our concerns regarding the proposed budget reductions a number of students are concerned about the potential implications the budget reductions might have on their extracurricular programs especially the ones that involve a teacher that is provided a stipend by the budget um and the theater program is one such example and they're worried about limited capacity in the future based on the budget reductions we kindly request that the school board provide additional information to students staff school student leadership um groups about the potential impacts of the budget reductions which I know have not been finalized or discussed in entirety yet um and this information would help alleviate student concerns or direct possible student actions or the creation of
012certain contingency plans for student groups that would like to continue that have continued to enrich students academic and extracurricular experiences at school and at Skyline and we understand that the budget process is ongoing but we hope that you will consider sending additional information to our schools students and staff even if you're only at the initial stages in the budget process so we can comment and progress accordingly thank you so much for your time good night thank you for your comment and then the last one that I have in the room is uh Larry White uh Larry white both my boys graduated from high school um here with you again um I was at the Town Hall and I had raised a question for director Sherry Cox I want to go ahead and put it formally
013here uh in this setting so that it is on the record and I my question to her is to show me a black professional a doctor a lawyer a professor or executive who uses the n-word as part of their daily work life because that is what our middle school students are being allowed to do and apparently uh director Cox think that that is okay because that is part of their culture and I'd like to say that it is not part of my culture and thank you very much thank you for your comment Stephen do we have anyone on the phone okay thank you okay thank you so on behalf of the board I'd like to thank each of you for attending our meeting sharing your point of view the board appreciates the comments made at
014our meetings and through email uh we are not able to respond to your comments in the moment at this meeting but rest assured we've heard your voices and we'll take your comments into consideration uh so next what we'll do is we will turn to the approval of the consent agenda consent agenda is a meeting management tool whereby the board is able to pass multiple items in one motion the consent agenda items have been reviewed by the board prior to this meeting um do we have a motion I move the consent agenda be approved as presented second all those in favor aye aye that consent agenda passes thank you we're playing all the roles tonight the three of us next we're on to the establishment of the regular agenda superintendent are there any changes there's a
015regular agenda no changes awesome okay so in our regular agenda first up it'll actually be over to you for it works in progress great thank you um so I I want to first start off by acknowledging our recent announcement in media regarding Capital project bond funds from 2016 being used on older capital projects and I do want to reiterate that we are in progress with the state auditor as a next step and we'll honor that process as it relates to further details but I do want to acknowledge that in the space publicly and know that it's top of mind for for several people um including ourselves and we take transparency seriously but we also take following the process and what's ahead of us um and we'll follow follow along in that regard so I do
016want to say that out loud now I want to move on to talking about what's happening in schools so um Valentine's Day is coming up and I just want to highlight the great planning work that I have been seeing at one particular school that's taking this event of one day and turning it into a cross-cultural week of events at Cascade Ridge the Caped coyotes Cape coyotes as they're named which are fourth and fifth grade student leaders and they're Guided by two amazing fifth grade teachers they have been working in partnership with principal Jennifer Celine the school counselor the dean Equity lead and teachers to develop a week of kindness that promotes a daily kindness challenge including bringing a nice note or card for everyone in their class on February 14th I just want to highlight
017that great work to expand on one event in a year and make it a series of events that welcome and honor lots of different families and cultures speaking of student leadership at the elementary level many elementary students participate in student council this is a great way to Foster student agency engagement and involvement the recent culturally responsive tiered Fidelity inventory in which all schools participated in included a best practice item for soliciting student voice as a result at Sunny Hills the student council is providing a voice for review of schools tier one strategies including the Mustang way and behavior guidelines for all areas in school so student councils may also organize Community projects and other Spirit Day activities at the middle school level Middle School leaders held their monthly sexual meetings at Pacific Cascade Middle School
018principal Jeff McGowan shared a problem of practice about what is the best way to identify students for tier two interventions at the mid-trimester he and his colleagues use a protocol to thoroughly understand the problem and assumptions behind before brainstorming Solutions this type of collaboration is not only enhancing principal McGowan's practice but each leader participating in that conversation left with ideas to better identify and support students who need specific interventions or Behavior Support or academic support at another Middle School Issaquah Middle School principal Mark Jorgen samuda also AKA principal Jay-Z met recently with Brian Olson and Jason Morse in nutrition services and operations to discuss the launch of a breakfast program at Issaquah Middle School this is an incredibly exciting opportunity to ensure our students start their day with a healthy meal so they can learn
019to their full potential also our cabinet which is 15 people recently this week met to do our weekly meeting at Beaver Lake Middle School and enjoyed an opportunity to do Circle time led by principal Catherine coffin which is a way to settle ourselves and to Center ourselves for our time together and then we visited several classrooms in support of their efforts to incorporate social emotional learning across all content areas it was an incredible visit and we saw amazing teachers and amazing students engaging in specific strategies to optimize learning for the day um at the high school level Gibson Eck was featured recently in the Washington State Board of Education newsletter actually just yesterday um so not just recently um highlighting their work to do portfolio um type efforts to reflect their learning both based on
020internships and their classroom advisories and that is to support performance-based Mastery learning Liberty High School is conducting a survey of students staff and families about after their first semester on the new seven period schedule and the addition of flex time so we're getting specific information back from students staff and families about that change at Liberty um highlighting a couple things that came out in the horizons uh e-newsletter this uh also yesterday recently also yesterday um we were I'd want to feature the work on the Strategic plan which is a huge work in progress but that highlighted that to the community so I won't spend much more time on that one but it also um released some information about our efforts to increase meatless options for students uh using beyond meat and finally the PTSA meeting
021happened today and many of our team members at the district office participated to discuss and uh highlight our work to promote multi-tiered systems of support I previewed the strategy work that we will be doing with the PTSA at Large and the general membership meeting in February and then by level um but for secondary elementary the PTSA leadership met with District administrators to meet or re-meet and open further lines of communication collaboration so that's just several snapshots of what's happening in the district and uh that's it for me thank you I love getting the the tour and the acknowledgment sounds like your week has been as long as mine yesterday and last week uh so thank you for that and I also just wanted to acknowledge you know I think you started off with the commentary
022about the e um the email the information gone out and just acknowledge the speed and transparency from you and your team of um being able to recognize concerns and and really demonstrate transparency and accountability so I just want to thank you for that as well so next um on the agenda we have an opportunity to have some of our student reps give input um on el14 which is about instruction looks like we have Paige in the room to do that and then we have Sophia on Zoom so page how about I have you come up and share some of your thoughts on our policies as we've um as we've talked about in the past we're we're really excited about this opportunity and found it really helpful to hear from our students on policies as we
023do our policy work and I know it's also a key input superintendent for you as you're looking at policies uh going forward so page over to you um hi my name is Paige Bryan I'm the student representative from Issaquah High School and today I'm going to be talking a little bit about el14 which focuses on the district's management of instructional programs um basically this El says that the superintendent in the iscos school board are expected to design curriculum that benefits its students and prepares them for the future so this doesn't just mean colleges can mean any like professional um setting that people want to go into in the future and since I returned to in-person learning this has become especially important because there was a decrease in behavioral and educational development during the pandemic so
024the district has had to make changes in order to account for these losses in educational standards um and to gain a better understanding of what the students at my school thought about this I decided to do a different time of a type of poll from last time so last time I did like a very in general poll and this time I did an eight question survey which was optional and Anonymous and I sent it to the librarian at our school which then sent it out on canvas so it was accessible to everyone at our school and we actually received a good amount of feedback from it which I would like to share and I'm really excited I was really excited to read um so the first thing is that I had students rate eight questions
025on a one to five scale um one meaning that they strongly disagreed with the statement and then five meaning they strongly agreed and then um three would be like in between so neither agree nor disagree and there was actually a lot of interesting feedback that we received from this so there were 208 people who took the survey um voluntarily and over 70 for 70 percent of people felt that Issaquah High School's base curriculum aligned with State educational standards which I thought was really great and they also thought over 50 of students thought that textbooks and technological resources were used really well so I thought that was a really great thing especially because we're going to be talking about technology in future meetings so I think that'll be something cool to cover um but basically those
026were like the general good results there were a few negative results that I would like to share as well um first was that over 50 of students indicate that they do not believe that the high school's instructional programs addressed different learning styles and they also agreed over 50 that students are not really encouraged to engage in research projects which are two standards that are mentioned in el14 so the data suggested that students believe the district is meeting State educational standards um the Baseline standards but they don't really believe they're expanding Beyond it which is understandable um the number of students who voted the district's educational programs don't support different learning styles um shows that there's still work that needs to be done and developments that need to be made to make a more efficient curriculum
027so one solution that I got from a student was that um the district could create several options for implementing lesson plans so that the teacher could decide which one works best for them and kind of develop it based on specific classes which may be more difficult but also maybe more effective in helping people's retention increased and then another student also that I received input from was talking about the other issue with inspiring students to engage in research and they said that in order to make information like in order to make information more accessible about research they need to promote it a little bit more um and I honestly understand where the student was coming from because on the Issaquah High School counseling website there is some information about like potential research opportunities and stuff like
028that to get more involved in what you're interested in but it's really not publicized very well so I think that if that was publicized a little bit better and make it um a lot easier for students to engage in that research about what they want to learn so in summary I think that the students at Issaquah believe that educational programs are well researched and well thought out but they could be improved so in order to allow students to reflect on their preferred ways of learning and give them more ownership over their education the district needs to learn how to diversify its curriculum a little bit more so that applies to all students in learning styles thank you uh thanks good job and I'm loving using the librarian that was awesome okay so do we have
029Sophia on the zoo foreign okay thanks okay so hopefully we can get um Sophia's written written comments as well or if she joins us just let us know and we will we'll put her back to the top of the cube okay um thank you that was awesome um and as I said that feedback which was quite Rich so thank you that'll get be an input in some of the conversations we have and it's how how we look at the policies going forward so um next on our agenda we have a a demographer update and so I think we have there he is CFO CEO Martin Turney joining us and we will I will turn it over to you all right thank you Martin attorney chief of finance and operations I just want to do a
030brief introduction for um Mr Shannon Bingham who's joined us tonight from Western demographics and he is going to give us a brief presentation on preliminary demographic findings on enrollment and future growth expectations which of course are very important as we plan next year's budget and years forward so hold on one second Stephen could you help us with the tilt of the TV none of us can see the screen I'm sorry that's why we were Whispering oh thank you I can finally see it from the seat yes yes that's why I asked you that's good is that better for you guys yeah thank you okay sorry about that thank you well thank you good evening board it's a privilege to be here I'm Shannon Bingham my own Western demographics um I have offices in Ferndale and
031in Colorado and work all over the West in Alaska doing school demographic work um I've done that for about 40 years um on the next slide you'll see some of my preliminary findings as I look at Issaquah um we are beginning to show some signs of aging all over the West we're seeing some significant demographic and social dynamics that are resulting in school districts um having fewer children the pandemic was really a catalyst for a lot of that stuff becoming very apparent housing costs all over the west and especially here and in Bellevue and in Seattle and in a couple of other big high housing cost districts and the Puget Sound are really beginning to affect families abilities to reside here and so we're really seeing a lot of that kind of effect doesn't really
032have anything to do with what the districts are doing it just has to do with the ability of families to reside in these areas so that's beginning to affect enrollment Millennials in general are not having children at the rate of Prior Generations regardless of their housing value and so we're beginning to see a bit of that effect on Elementary and preschool age ranges the pandemic uh cost us about three percent of enrollment all over the west and Alaska so for the most part the majority of those children did not come back and high-value housing markets they especially did not come back in lower cost housing environments a lot of the children returned uh and were more prone to be um uh participating in in-person education than than others um the competition from a lot of
033the online and non-neighborhood schools especially private schools that popped up during the pandemic as persisted as those organizations have retained their market share I'm on the next slide you'll see just some demographic Snippets there uh we are a high income High housing value um School District we have a diverse population uh predominance of white-collar uh professions um on the next slide you'll see um kind of how we're looking from a demographic standpoint these are five-year groupings of population and you can see the preschool children in ages zero through four right on the bottom are smaller than the children that are Elementary age to the tune of about 15 or 12 percent so that's kind of what you start looking at when you try to understand what's your future School populations might look like um on
034this graphic you can see we've picked up about 20 000 people in the school district over the last 10 years so our total population is growing uh rapidly the next slide shows what has happened with school enrollments in the state of Washington so as a result of the pandemic we've had a pretty significant dip in the total enrollment as accounted for by ospi this graphic shows that we've had an increase in private schools we've had an increase that diminished a bit in homeschooling and that little map in the lower left right hand corner shows private schools that have popped up in Issaquah and vacated office space in quite a few cases and I've had friends here for decades and I don't remember there being 12 or 15 private schools here so I think a lot
035of that is relatively new next slide shows what has happened to birth rates in King County our fertility in King County is the lowest in the state of Washington and it has been accelerating and I think we'll probably drop below um 40 babies per thousand moms um by the end of this calendar year which will be a pretty historic low for us from a child production standpoint uh next slide shows that we're not alone other districts have also declined and experienced the same thing especially the high housing value districts the solution to this is to provide affordable housing that would appeal to families and um until these four or five communities start doing that we probably should expect enrollment decline uh the next graphic shows um other districts that are either declining or remain stable
036the next slide shows how are grades from five years ago to today are smaller in grades k-7 so you can see that we have we have lost children in those Elementary grades um over that six year period this shows some average housing there are only 30 homes under construction in the school district today and a lot of those are really expensive homes so our average is actually two million dollars now that wouldn't be the case if we had quite a bit more housing being constructed in the district right now but we're in the middle of the winter and there's not much available and so most of it is between about 1.5 and 2.4 million dollars town homes are also averaging around a million um condos or less these are very consistent with what I'm seeing
037in Bellevue and Seattle um who are people going they're going um over the past Ellensburg uh they're going to other less expensive housing markets here in Central and Southwestern Washington they're going to Spokane Texas Arizona Nevada where are they coming from they're coming from high value housing markets like California a lot of people coming in with Equity to put into a home so that they're not having to get a mortgage and pay what's currently being charged at a rate of about seven percent which is pretty much cut two-thirds of every housing market in the west and that's expected to persist for another 18 months until those interest rates normalize the next slide shows um kind of some of my housing observations there are the four developments where I'm finding homes under construction I have not
038inventoried all of my apartment buildings yet so that's on the docket for next week and the week after to start doing an eight year absorption schedule for apartment buildings that we expect to be built in the district the next slide shows um our history we lost about 500 students this year um and then on the next page you'll see my forecast and short of getting the apartment inventory finished I'm showing that we would be down a little over 200 for next fall and again that's a result of all those dynamics that I just mentioned so that's my presentation I'm delighted to respond to questions research requests uh things that you're interested in and thanks for your attention thank you that was yeah I think it's going to take a little bit to absorb all that
039that was a lot of 25 minutes I did it at seven oh wow they told you five minutes I guess before the questions um yeah Facebook um can you go back there oh now you did so many there was a slide I was really interested in and I think it was the I'm going back that all made sense this one tell me this one this again so these are the grades of our um grade sizes of our grades uh six years ago versus this year so you can see that in k-7 all of the grades are smaller so that's what has kind of happened to us over time is that those grades have gotten smaller so we have K through 12 but those incoming grades have gotten smaller and that has resulted in the enrollment
040reduction that we're looking at it's not you know kind of a one-time event kind of a thing it's happening in all of those grades and down on the bottom you can see we kind of eased into that over a five-year period and that's what's happened in all of the top five housing value markets in the Puget Sound region especially Bellevue Lake Washington Issaquah as that housing price has increased we have fewer and fewer families and it's of a magnitude to where we'd have to start building four or five hundred single-family detached homes a year that would be priced more in the seven to eight hundred thousand dollar range in order to get more families back into the district so that's kind of what we're seeing it's not a result of you know I mean given
041our reputation we have people coming in and we have people that want to be here but it's just the ability to afford to live here if you also have children like the um woman who had four sitting behind me uh they're expensive trust me they're expensive so um I think that um that on top of a 1.3 million dollar house which is probably the real working average for Issaquah right now when we're building and the homes that are under construction about a mile over there are all about 1.4 is what those sell for and in the Colorado Market those homes sell for 840 to 780. so if that gives you an idea of what construction costs are in the Puget Sound region not just residential but institutional and I work with a lot of districts
042that have you know Bond packages and challenges with construction costs right now and that's also in the housing market as well so much of that relates to you know not having new children coming in or when houses are turning over you know a fam a house that had children that maybe have gone through the system and they sell is not being replaced by a family that has young children to keep replenishing for this so that that that's definitely one issue that um you're describing the other is you know kind of the shift in where students went that we had like with the idea of movement to public or private schools and homeschooling do we know how many more children from our school district are in private school then you know pre-pandemic um we can guess
043they're not required to give us their student data so we would have to ask them nicely one at a time and have them comply because they we don't have that kind of tracking but District to District we have a total I think so I could come up with a total if you would like to know that number um and I could I could research that because ospi does track that um but as far as specifics which school are they in is it yeah inside the District boundary just outside of the District boundary for former Issaquah child that they go over to North Bend did they go to Bellevue do they go to Lake Washington we can't really get that kind of detail but we can get that one summary figure for you okay and I'd
044be delighted to obtain that okay I have a question as I look at this chart and there's obviously really large gaps on k-6 maybe even k-7 and the pandemic effect as we saw it was largely in k6 and we thought well yeah you know those are the kids that struggle with online learning and they're being homeschooled or they went to private but you know maybe they'll be back as they become middle schoolers and that's so much harder now you're describing a second thing that's happening which is that younger families are priced out of the market as I look at that chart do we think that those lower k6 numbers are going to roll through high school or do we think that as families get more mature and their kids are older they have more money
045and will be able to live here so that maybe we're not going to see the dramatic decline at middle and high it'll be a little of both because of the price profile of our housing we're more able to account dominate Senior High and college age parents but I'm suspecting that those small bars will probably over the next decade to a certain extent roll into our middle and Senior High distribution and again the solution to that is to increase the total size of the housing market in a manner that families can't afford and that is you know when you own the property that those homes are built upon it becomes hard to kind of for institutions to dictate what gets built there so affordable housing in the Puget Sound region has been a challenge for that
046region reason and so you know we're seeing um affordable housing counts District by District that aren't really filling the Gap and aren't really helping us fill in that um gap between those two bars and so it's really you know systemic housing costs Millennials not having children the birth rate in general is significantly lower all over the United States and Canada right now um and then we also have the pandemic where we had a 15-year transition to what I call the Star Trek learning model where a child sits in front of a computer and gets virtual instruction we had 15 years of transition to that over an 18-month period and a lot of families decided that learning style was appropriate for their child or appropriate for their family circumstances and so they decided to stick with
047it and the people that run those programs are just as um interested in retaining those children as we are in getting them back so we're seeing a lot of that kind of of a market share competition all over the West I'm working for 20 districts right now that are looking at a significant pandemic loss and we're trying to figure out how do we get those kids back how do we maintain the quality of our programs given the fact that we've lost them um how do we make adjustments um my my personal feeling is that in high value housing markets they're not coming back and moderate and low Market housing market environments they will come back but not all of them yeah and what you're saying is and where we on the map you had of
048who's joining they are likely joining with a lower number of kids than who left yes ma'am given where they're coming from yeah and just imagine if you're in Issaquah school teacher and you bought a home here in 1996 for uh 280 000 and it's worth 1.5 million now and you can sell that and go pay cash for a house someplace else and not have a house payment and raise your kids you know through their middle and high school years well and that's kind of a a kind of a bonus to being a member of this community what you gained in equity by living here and so in these high value housing markets we're seeing a lot of families we say I now have either a retirement Equity or an equity where I can not have
049a housing payment and I can put that investment in my children so I'm going to move around a little bit to facilitate that and then to further exasperate the problem the person that moves into that 1.5 million dollar house to afford it doesn't have young children bye um that's what we're seeing on us on an increasing basis just because there is a pretty clear correlation at least in the five high value housing markets and school districts that I mentioned where the higher the value of the home the lower the yield regarding how many children would be associated with the house it's just that people that um are um earlier in their career I tend to be more likely to have children um I think the other thing is I actually can't see the lower the
050lower piece of it I understand the words um but can you give me a sense because I think there's been a lot of conjecture and maybe recent pandemic and post intra I guess we're not post intra pandemic um conjecture about the decrease um of grades but can you tell me how far back you said it's been happening gradually about five years it kind of crept up on us over about a five-year period and that was the housing cost issue okay so last year you know I'm also working in Bellevue I think an average house in Bellevue was 1.3 and I think this year it's like 1.8 or something like that and then the year before that I think it was everybody was up in arms because it was 1.05 year before that it was 9
05130 or something like that so we've seen this almost doubling in house values in this region over a six-year period um as the cachet of the region has increased the number of um Progressive intelligent people who have moved here um and a variety of other factors business investment that has happened here and all of those folks have come and competed for um appealing housing and that has accelerated its value and just the fact that incomes are very high here as well um so we're seeing that that being a kind of a perfect storm for housing prices yeah I think that thank you any any additional questions or comments I think that was very helpful well thank you very much thank you thank you so much have a good evening and will that presentation be sent
052out to us or and or the attached to the agenda we will uh upload these to the agenda okay great yes okay thank you thank you okay um it really is a nice segue into the next topic uh such good agenda planning um so the next topic already here at the podium and superintendent to talk about is obviously as we go through this budgeting process into next year the demographic information super important input but also the next topic which is a review of um what we've done over the last couple of years to get grounded in that so superintendent great I'll just set the stage for a moment and then transition to Martin Turner who's already been introduced tonight and then Mariah banastic but at the budget work session in November with the board um
053we discussed having a presentation to review the impact of the past two years of budget reduction so I just want to say thank you to Mariah Vanessa and Martini for leading this work on behalf of the district to pull together this high level analysis but also a very hearty grateful appreciation to the entire cabinet for collaborating because a nor to do the analysis you need to have multiple lenses and also talk to each other about where we've seen some of the impacts over the past couple years so I just want to say thank you to the entire cabinet for that collaboration and it's really um an important value that we're trying to stand by so with that I'll pass it to Martin all right thank you I also say thank you to Mariah and our
054cabinet colleagues for the work a tremendous amount of work thank you there again this is analysis of impact and it is a an exercise that we went through and we hope to use this similar approach as we go into discussions of potential 2324 budget reductions as we go through the slides we'll highlight one or two things we'll have cabinet colleagues come up in the particular slide and give some information share a little detail go into potential opportunity costs or how things were rearranged to accommodate for certain areas of reduction and then of course at any point if you have questions we can stop and and answer those questions uh and I'll hand it over to Mariah first to give a real brief um explanation of methodology and then some high-level information on the amounts thank
055you Martin so we had a collective conversations and pulled the most Salient areas for the analysis it won't cover everything but we we pulled together um go ahead and next slide so for 2122 we had a 17 17.1 million dollar reduction and that's five percent of the total operating budget for 353 million dollars and then in 22-23 there was 11.3 Million production for three percent of the operating budget at 371. and I'm going to hand it over to Donna Hood thank you Don Hood assistant superintendent of human resources and I couldn't have had a better setup than our demographer who explained the enrollment decline so thoroughly and you can see on this particular Slide the certificated Staffing reductions that were made in that particular year were exactly about those enrollment declines so roughly 1800 students
056did not appear at our doors and so we could not keep on staff those teachers who had originally been teaching those students and that is where those came from you'll see some Office Professional reductions there as well we had added some support into the Office Professional roles but ultimately decided to revert back to our 1819 Staffing levels in order to again make some wise fiscal decisions there not a huge impact on the buildings although we always love our office pros and love their support and I think the other critical piece here to look at that riff reduction is all about what was actually in the contract for the 18 2022 contract we had a four-year deal and in the year following Arif it stated that we were not to pay teachers their overload when those
057thresholds were met so we did not pay that amount that totaled about that nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars you see there the reduction of the extended day contracts we also had contract language that allowed us to reduce or eliminate those in the event of a budget deficit for example or enrollment decline or other fiscal experience and we had all of those things occur and so they were reduced but definitely that had an impact on our ability to provide services for staff and students I think most acutely felt before the school year but certainly continued on throughout the school year as well all right I was just going to speak a little bit to the elimination of the professional learning coaches program coming back to that that slide there um so that was a program
058that was run to provide uh support for new teachers in our secondary schools uh nine FTE and it was eliminated um we did we were able to bring back a mentor program so that new teachers are paired with their with a mentor in their building so that provides some support and then we have definitely found that new teachers are reaching out more to say TLS doses when they need some content specific but um it definitely had a significant reduction in the amount of support that we could provide new teachers two things happened at once uh in considering the middle school counselor reduction the opening of Cougar Mountain Middle School and then reducing the counseling allocation to each Middle School from three to two the impact here was in 2021 the lowest range of the students
059to counselor ratio was 1 to 283 and the high range was 1 to 410 and this year the low range for student to counselor is one to 315 in the high range is 1 to 450. foreign um for the CTE enhancement that was additional FTE that helps us cover our CTE courses um so the impact there is um there can be a variety of ways in which that's handled essentially Sometimes some of our CT classes were run at larger numbers than in the past um sometimes it means if enrollment would or course requests were low let's say 20 students wanted a particular CET course they might had to have collapsed that class or in the past they may have run it on a slightly smaller amount because they had some extra CT enhanced Staffing we
060had online learning building support where there were building certificated stuff where students could take an online class as part of their school day on campus without that there now they choose to take an online class they're off campus they do come on site to do some testing support but that requires them to provide their own transportation uh theater managers was designated staff that helped run our events in our theaters um and we as you know we don't have those anymore and that means a decreased number of Theater events particularly outside groups our inside groups are still using our theaters um for performances Performing Arts as well as ASB groups um so we don't have any more of that revenue from our outside groups being able to reserve our theaters and then that's required some upskilling
061from staff on site to learn how to run those light and soundboards to be able to host events in the theater so our ASB directors our theater teachers have had to learn how to do some of that equipment and do some additional work when they're running their own ASB internal events in our theaters back uh I think we need to go back to the other slide there we go um so that CT enhancement is the same as I just spoke about it was just an additional year in 2022 so there's some loss to that CT enhanced Staffing in 2122 and then it happened again but the same impact um and then High School Deans um just like anything else there's uh shared shared responsibilities among administrators and the Deans kind of count as part of
062that High School admin team so just time allocation for all the shared work um so it may be things like attendance or paraprofessional evaluations being shifted um so kind of the focus became a lot on compliance rather than you know doing some stuff that's creative because they just have more responsibilities in areas of oversight uh we had a reduction in release time for our high school activities coordinators so they're teaching additional classes without having they have less one period less of release time to focus on their activities coordinator work so that just means there's a little bit less availability of those activities coordinators to provide support to all the other club advisors so helping them through their first field trip paperwork helping them organize event things like that they're just less available one period less
063a day we had an online learning tosa that we shifted from a toasted position to stipend in positions out in the buildings to be mentors to our students who are accessing online learning courses and that's actually a program that's going really well I believe we're on the next Slide the science support I wanted to speak to the science and math path search staffing and support Staffing so um it was a determined at one point that was really important that we were able to offer a wide range of classes and as you know that when you have tighter Staffing you need to fill the classes that are available so if you had 45 students sign up for a specific science class you had to ask yourself are we going to offer one class and have some
064students go find a different science class or could we offer two classes with smaller class sizes and make that work that's what the Staffing and Science and Math provided was some flexibility to offer science kind of as science and math classes as students signed up for them and more flexibility to do that that has had the effect in math of reducing the number of intervention classes and kind of pre-algebra and some of those classes that we offer because we don't quite get enough students to sign up and there's only so many small classes that a staffing can accommodate in high school and or a middle school so that's right okay and then okay so speak to uh two two kind of very interrelated areas or the curriculum adoptions and some of the tosas and we
065have we have some of the different doses in different areas different parts of the cuts suspension of curriculum adoptions um basically we have a curriculum adoption schedule to keep curriculum fresh the couple of areas that have been highly impacted though specifically um the middle school math curriculum we'll get into E2 here soon we'll talk about that that's an area where we are really concerned that the math curriculum does not meet the needs of our students and then the line to the standards and our teachers are working very hard to adjust for that social studies and World Language were two areas where we were um really excited about updating to align to the kind of diversity equity and inclusion work so that we could have multiple stories and representations in our curriculum again this is an
066area where teachers go out of their way to make sure they do this but we are resources that we provide them don't align to those commitments that we've made to those areas and we do have other curriculum adoptions that are on hold and it just leads to um teachers not having the best the best and newest material that they should have to teach those courses um and or that they start getting out of alignment with kind of changes in the standards and professional practices content area ptosis you'll see ptosis from a couple different funding sources that were reduced and the common area that we want to really talk about that is it part of what they did was support curriculum adoptions so with the stalling of curriculum adoptions that that had some uh reduced expectations
067of work for them and um but we also when we don't do curriculum adoptions that dated curriculum requires more support and maintenance and help and replacement of old materials and things like that that happen so we've had less support um and what we've moved to is from some specialist support so having a math teacher specialist who Math teachers could call for help to having more of a generalist who can help them with instructional practice and can help them find materials and things like that so less less specific support for teachers um and then of course the professional development that they would help with especially around the implementation of any new practices or curriculum okay at the elementary school and at the middle school all the pbses coaches were cut as law as well as their
068corresponding tosa an impact of this is noted and the reduced support in Direct Services on Behavior to students and direct coaching to teachers in response to some high needs areas the district developed an integrated mtss specialist position and are placed at one middle school and two elementary schools that evidence Thai need and the integrated mtss tosa supports a third Elementary School so the instructional coaches um played a real Central role in supporting our elementary teachers who do teach five subject areas and um and so they worked with the principals to take uh both districts program decisions and their school Improvement plans and turn that into a job embedded professional development program so they did coaching Cycles with teachers they helped teachers make sense of new curriculum and really help turn that into specific clear plans
069as they went through their day and scheduled their their time they did job embedded professional development meaning modeling in classrooms helping set up small groups just doing a lot of real Hands-On support in classrooms and instructional leadership in their buildings and while we're confident in the principal's instructional leadership most of this work now relies on that leadership of the principle to do and um over time the Fidelity and the support for instructional practices um will lose consistency across the schools I was going to speak to the elementary tosa that one that one okay this is the tosa that would support the elementary special program specifically and we're talking about highly capable Science Tech Early Learning dual language several of those were expanding at that time um and are are in you know a little bit
070larger now and so the support for PD for the development of those programs also was lessened I I already covered most of the kind of tosa uh conversation but I didn't want to make a comment on glad because over over two cuts we reduce both of our glad trainers and Specialists and that included local glad trainers as well so the formal glad training regiment has been suspended and um we we did a lot of material support for glad strategies that's also been suspended um or greatly reduced um uh we are still using glad strategies and we are still promoting them embedded in all of the other work that we're doing so I just wanted to kind of be clear that even though the the keeping the training at the Forefront has been suspended for now
071we are still doing glad strategies in our district and just registered before you oh good I was gonna say you guys have rattled off a lot of acronyms yeah um super inside ball on that one and on that last slide if you go you can we can do the actual event we just run the acronyms for a second because there was a lot there particularly I think we use toast up many times TLS many times and then you just did glad which actually isn't here yeah a guided language acquisition and development is a strategy for supporting multilingual Learners um in content area courses but it also is just loaded with strategies that help all Learners so we leaned into glad a long time ago and have continued to commit as one of our culturally responsive
072practices in our district and toses are teachers they're just doing this particular assignment teachers on special assignment yeah so I believe we'll be posting these slides at the end of the meeting as well um the last three are appendix so reference items for the rest of the presentation thank you so I think that was a um a good kind of grounding in review of the last couple years are there any questions or comments from the board the last one so you know you where did Rich go Rich was there um he used it as an example the glad you know as much as we may have eliminated um The Upfront teaching it's still our glad strategy that's we're still um encouraging that as a strategy in the classroom like with the pbses coaches right the
073pbses coaches have been eliminated but the pbses as a program within the schools still existed and continued and was supported by all the staff in the schools yes yeah yes absolutely it's always one of those things where we're not going to abandon best practice um anytime but we also believe that these support positions helped us to maintain real um consistency continuity and a focus on those things so over time when you don't have that that cheerleader and that trainer and that that person kind of that standard Bearer it does have an impact over time becomes the responsibility of the overall administration of each School yes oh I'm glad you're both back my my question did you have let me go ahead okay um I guess question one is really about the curriculum adoption so uh
074I fully you know I understand that we put those on hold we talked about that I think we also at the time part of the conversation was not just that we need to update the curriculum but also we were having a number of conversations about the amount of change in the system we want to change we were driving with teachers and systems and all of that sorry um and all of that and so I know that that was a part of it as well it wasn't just hey we're going to choose to not adapt the curriculum so I think that's important to note right the last couple of years have been significant change uh uh change years I guess my question is on the ones we halted or other ones that need to happen on
075that cycle is do we keep a prioritization list like I don't know if it's most old most out of date or how does that how do we think about that going forward of what we might need to prioritize yeah so so both we keep very we keep very clear track of kind of that cycle and that calendar and so right now we do know exactly when the last adoption for every curriculum was and which order we would work those in as more time goes on sometimes the priorities change and so our Ed planning committee before we'd ever authorize an adoption they have to go through and Charter that and so we look at what adoptions are due and we set a priority based on our district priorities and and right now um I I think
076that probably middle school math is our our highest priority um and the social studies has been a topic of discussion just because we were we're excited to get more diversity equity and inclusion in it and for that social studies is that at what grade level oh I'm sorry that is 6 through 12. uh we we actually have a pretty relatively new social studies program at the elementary and and the world language was actually approved by the board we actually went through the selection in most of the World Language curriculum has been approved by the board but it just was approved right before we had the challenges that that caused us to be in this place uh I I guess on that point you just said about already been approved by the board I got asked
077a question this week which I'm about to ask you to see if I got the answer right which is like what is the cost of updating curriculum what goes what goes into the cost of that so that the cost for updating a curriculum to run the committee to to make a really joint decision with our teachers we release teachers from teaching you Subs to hold a committee to really uh very meticulously review available curriculum and make a choice based on the research and then we pilot curriculum and so there's roughly about seventy five thousand dollars to run a curriculum adoption process with just release time it also takes some leadership so it takes some staffing to run and get the materials organize the meetings run the pilot process the data and the results and make
078sure we make a really good database decision um currently a lot of correct the way curriculum is price has changed in recent years because it's very digital and subscription heavy so uh just recently kind of doing some research um so for a curriculum that say is universally taught across a grade level can easily cost um about 120 to 150 000 per year for a single grade level um for a single subject single course and um some are more expensive science is notoriously more expensive Elementary literacy is uh significantly more expensive and that is one of ours that we have on hold right now um so um just because of the amount of tangible physical materials like books or science lab materials um add can add significantly to the cost they're also teacher training involved in
079yes absolutely absolutely we always build in three years of kind of a gradual you know obviously a flooding of training up front and then kind of the third year is a little bit of just kind of like what are the last bits of training we want to make sure we get in um some of that is is um using ptosis as trainers and some of that is uh usually Contracting with the company that does the curriculum to provide the training because they know their curriculum everyone dad director Morgan please Ponder are you okay if we don't have any more questions at this time again more more food for thought as we continue down the path of our budgeting process thank you that was very comprehensive and super helpful to make sure that we are um
080grounded in in what we've done up to date so really appreciate that topic so the next section is on well uh the board budget development guidelines so I know we have you superintendent here but we actually uh Suzanne were you planning to take us yeah this part okay um I would and I realized sort of after the fact after I sent the first draft out to you all um I had a conversation with director Moore who pointed out that I probably should have run a couple of things by the superintendent before I put them in here but this is just a draft so feel free to chime in if I've got dates or something that uh aren't supportable um we basically um decided that this was in sort of three chunks the first chunk is
081what happens in the classroom um what the budget needs to support that happens in the classroom the second chunk is what operationally has to happen with the development of the budget and then the third third chunk was sort of the timeline um and hopefully this is yes the redline version so we didn't do a lot in the first section um uh we we changed some wording well okay we did add in the third bullet point uh the ability to access Alternative Learning pathways um and then this last part that's in yellow was just because director Moore pointed out that the bullet points weren't grammatically correct in the way they were written so um we fixed that and then the last one that was originally about the covid-19 pandemic we changed to provides targeted resources for
082social emotional supports student staffs well student staff safety Gap closing and learning loss and I I think that scratched most of the itches that I heard um expressed in the meeting um as the superintendent pointed out section 2 had a lot that was pulled right out of the Els and we agreed that it wasn't really necessary to restate all the Els and in fact almost everything in this section was pulled out of Els four five and six which are the financial executive limitations however director gallinger and I talked about this and we thought that this is a public-facing document and there were a few that we thought were just critically important so we wanted to leave them in um and remembering that the the first section talks about the budget will direct resources towards the
083support of mission Els and ends so that's all-encompassing we're going to do everything in the Els the second section talking about the financial executive limitations um I believe that first bullet point is is right out of the the preamble to either El for el5 um we wanted to leave in the reserve fund the startup costs for schools and the board emergency fund um we wanted to leave in the part about not leaving our assets unprotected um some of this other stuff we didn't think was as critical to reiterate since it's it's already in there um and then these last three bullets were a little weird because they seem to sort of drift into um Personnel compensation things that we weren't actually quite sure why they were in here the um the last bullet that talks
084about um current compensation and benefits deviating materially from the market is right out of el3 and um we just weren't exactly sure why you know we felt it necessary to say the superintendent wouldn't give herself a raise I mean that's not something we would expect you to do anyway so anyway we did we did not feel that was necessary unless somebody else wants it um but the general language around not having more costs and revenues and um and address uh not allowing Jeopardy to fiscal Integrity or Public Image we thought was important to move in there everybody with me so far questions comments with you okay um then what we added was the timeline and this is the part that I probably should have bounced off the superintendent um the following timeline will be observed
085um the board will approve the final budget after a public hearing during the month of August that's our normal thing that we always do we have the public hearing the first meeting we approve the budget the second day then if program cuts are anticipated a proposal of options must be presented to the board no later than its first regular meeting in February we actually only have one meeting in February is that too soon or is that doable well if I uh if I were to go back and look at some of the materials from the past it does look like there was an agreed-upon timeline that the district put forward that was part of the approved resolution that went with the board development guidelines so the operational which is the how which I believe under
086policy governance fits under the direction of the superintendent and her staff would be that we would put forward as part of the as a companion piece the board development guidelines a proposed timeline overall for the whole process not just uh a menu of options no later in the first regular meeting in February so what if for example we were to discuss hey we actually need to do that a little bit later because we need to do different analysis or we're thinking about a shift in how we consider allocation of resources in which case we have to go through some processes that give us sort of content that would then put us potentially doing a menu of options in I don't know in March for example so I would imagine that that timeline that we put
087forward in the past and I have some examples of that um I believe the even the April meeting of um and even further back in 2020 where there was a plan that was also proposed as a companion piece to the budget development guidance that was agreed upon as part of the um adoption so that's my one thought there um and so when I think about this one right now a proposal of options well it must in my mind sort of hinge upon well what are the frames or the principles that we want to go through and this is one part of it but I believe there's further discussion that someone needed to have even at the first meeting of um the board in February as well okay um so yeah so my point is is
088it doable yes but we also have put this in a timeline before with other components of a budget process all the way marching all the way through to the August timeline okay but that's not part of this document no but it was part of the approved process that we've done in the past so if you look at the when this document gets approved there was a companion document that would show the timeline that the district would develop that was oftentimes discussed in January so there was clear um before code because kova interrupted a lot of timelines and operations and how we did business previously we had a timeline put forward that was discussed so I would anticipate that we would be discussing that certainly in November December and January um and that whatever uh Direction
089the board would want us to follow for a process we would then usually you know put forward and incorporate into a timeline that would then get I mean I would be willing to oh let me just help because what she's talking about is when we've developed approved the budget development guidelines before in the blurb that it contained the motion also had a timeline listed I hope that talked about you know like when this legislature's in session and when we might get information when we need to make our budget so it's a it's a high level timeline that that's what she's referring to just to connect it back to you for you well okay so would it make more sense to just put in here that that the superintendent and the board will agree upon a
090budget developed timeline by such and such a date yeah I think that makes sense that we would aim for doing that by a certain time frame I mean I know the reason that you know Dr gallinger pushed to have this in here was because we didn't want to get in a situation where we were that we were in last year where the proposal was presented to the board in such a way that the board either had to vote yes we we like the proposal or no we don't like the proposal but it's the last week of April which means we don't make any cuts at all right so that was and we needed to be another another meeting in there that we didn't have that that makes a ton of sense and I and I
091can't speak to that directly operationally for how that came about and I know that there's probably more to sort of how everything was happening last year again we were still in a pretty intensive coven mitigation year um but if I look back at the past practice a lot of those conversations were had in January which I think meets the timeline and the desire to be able to talk about what the process is moving forward that incorporates specific components that the board wishes to also give direction on through the board development process so when we look at the board development guidelines and preparation for when this might be approved um we would then put a companion timeline together that would then meet the elements that had been discussed so far we put forward all the different
092things that we heard from the November um board work session on budget and Incorporated that you know to sort of play that to show that we were hearing specific priorities coming from the board so um and process is one of them so we would put forward a process that would hopefully meet some of those principles so so I I do understand that conception on a go forward basis I think what I'm trying to wrap my head around is where we're already past some of the dates that you you know the timelines we just mentioned and so how do we balance both what are the guidelines that we'll use going forward for next year but how do we practically execute this this year's conversations so we we can't go back now and say we could have
093done a timeline in January because this is January right we're past it we practically have the one meeting in February right so that's it and then we'll have it's two in March yes correct and one in April and one in April and so I'm not um I I definitely agree with director gallinger's push to ensure that there is ample time to to review and discuss what might be um approaches earlier than that April crunch so we're not trying to give you a timeline in April well I mean yeah I don't think anyone played to give us the time on April last year right so I'm just trying to be practical I'd say um I I fully respect it in in establishing how we do this go forward um that making sense of establishing a joint
094guideline earlier in January but given that that's gone now I guess we need a proposal for how we Traverse these next three months right and I mean even to the Point around you know a proposal of options must be presented to the board by February for the right first regular meeting in February setting aside the time I mean what is the proposal of options what does that even look like what do you foresee being able to provide to the board regarding the options for reductions to meet our budget needs so what level would that I'm not sure exactly what the the board or the you know how this was written what the their intent was and also then on the flip side what your expectation in this process is or what your expectation you were
095able to provide to us so that we haven't discussed that that's your point so yeah right so that would be a worthwhile discussion which I I don't know if we have that that prepared for right now um and then if this is not being motion you know put on the yeah until the the February 9th yeah exactly so um Martin attorney if you went away and I saw you sort of um moving towards preparing and sharing more from your perspective yes thanks um I you know not to go backwards I know last year was a unique year and I know um from where the conversation is now out you're talking about how to Traverse this year I do know last year when we have a year where we're um going out for a levy or
096there are things that push the timeline later that can be a complication so that that was something I was going to add earlier in the conversation um but of course that's not the case this year um anytime um we have uh a timeline where we need to provide that kind of information early uh limits the amount of analysis and preparation we can do when we have more information so I fully respect what you're saying what I'm trying to get to is practice operationally so forget the levy for a second and let's use the um date of the legislator later finishing their work which I think we ran into both of the last two years not just last year last year was over complicated because we also had the levy and so um what I recognize
097that having a specific date may be the problem but what I maybe I'm not willing to let go of is an iterative approach at which the requirement is that there's more than one review and so the dates of that you know provide that but I think the challenge of the one bite at that apple is for me what what um I'm not comfortable with going down this cycle I also foreign how I've experienced it whether it was what was really happening is that we have been buoyed by external forces longer than we needed to be like at some point we need a what we believe are whether it's a good better best option A B and C or something instead what for the last couple years we've done is say well we have to wait
098for the legislator to do their work oh they're going long and so I have to wait to know what they're doing oh we're going long and I think that that approach didn't didn't at least make it a a satisfying experience so how we can maybe not um articulate maybe a specific date by which it will be done but conditions under which we might operate which is that we're agreeing that there would be more than one potential review that um that yes we may have insights that come to us from additional external forces that doesn't actually change the analysis right we know what things cost we know what our priorities are so those are the things I'll just voice that I'm I think if it's not the specific date I'm okay with that but those are
099the things that were less than satisfying the last couple times through so it sounds like there's like the following process will be you know what I mean um adhered to right or observed to use the language that's currently there and it sounds like there's one is uh we start this process as early as possible right um especially if there are um factors in the market or in the budget that require uh additional input more thought more analysis it sounds like there's a conversation or a process point that would require also you know hey we have multiple times to work through this because we should right in public and together uh between our staff and with the board and and to be able to have that time for us to consolidate the the learnings from each
100um session that we discuss the budget and possible options during a reduction year um and also if there's a if there's a increase year that we would be talking about what those Investments might be so alternatively that there's an iterative process not only during budget cut times but also during boom times I call it where we would be thinking about where do we strategically invest and or how do we allocate our resources in a way that meets our needs given our current climate so I think those are helpful values to go by and then we construct the timeline that allows us to map the other work processes um in a way that that meets those needs within a process that's iterative that's repeated that's early and often I mean I think there's lots of words
101that I think I've heard the board say that can instruct this and as we um move forward that will be very helpful for us to know right I think the inclusion of the word iterative right that it's that it's a um we have multiple takes at it right of of taking a look at it and coming back again um is key we've all said it and I mean maybe there's a way to structure this that just says you know the board and the superintendent will agree upon a budget development time frame that takes into account you know uh the fact that we have more than one one look at it more than one opportunity one more than one opportunity for feedback um I'm trying yeah I'm just trying to think how to um phrase it
102there's also I'm just going to say this out loud there's there's a fundamental um disagreement among the board but I think different board members look at this different ways because as I remember developing these guidelines way back in the day this was the whole policy governance thing of we give you these broad guidelines that reflect our values and we want you to do the ends and then you go off and determine the budget that you feel will accomplish that and the board does not direct that the board says these are our guidelines you go do the budget when we get into cuts theoretically in a sort of pure policy governance world we would say well you know our priorities they're listed in the guidelines you propose the cuts that cause the budget to balance and
103you feel will best achieve the goals and we as a board would approve that because we're a policy governance board that's the point at which not everybody agrees what a policy government's board is because there was no no no we're going to look at the the list of potential cuts and we want to pick and choose from the shopping list based on what we're hearing from the community and I totally understand that point of view but I think I personally think it causes us to drift a little away from the policy governance model now I've had this conversation with other board members in the past they have not agreed with me uh but I just I want it I wanted to say that because theoretically the cuts should be yours you know if you say
104well here's a menu of cuts and we say we really don't like that one we think you should cut this instead now you can say well I didn't achieve reasonable progress against the ends because I didn't get to do what I wanted to with the budget the board told me what to do so um now I don't I don't think we operate quite that way that's sort of a dramatic um end point but but it does get into sort of how much should the board be sticking their hands in the pie right because if if we're being provided with a list of options of things to cut is the board deciding which of those options we're cutting yeah I do I vote for the five I want to have cut and somebody else votes for
105another and how do we rank order these I mean this isn't making sense we we give our priorities and expect our superintendent to balance the priorities and what we want to accomplish in educating all kids targeting resources for kids that need more where are the best ways to close gaps I don't necessarily know the best way to do that yeah and I'm sorry Dr gallinger isn't here because I know he would be back on me let me push back let me do that let me try Okay I'll Channel my Marlin I think I think there is I agree with you that there's a a difference in opinion I don't think it's a stark is the one you just laid out I think my I will I will um give an homage to Dr gallinger while
106I give my opinion so this is solely mine I think that what has been dissatisfying is the lack of opportunity to um have some intellectual dialogue about whether or not the cuts as presented represent the board's values and so it's not weather they're the right cuts to make it is whether how how do we how do we have a dialogue that would allow me at the time of voting to not to believe to trust to support that those items selected reflect the values as laid out and I feel that without having the multiple opportunities to have the conversation that was that was what was unsatisfying I am in no way trying to dictate what is on the list I am merely trying to have another conversation which would say um tell me how you got
107to this answer versus another one tell me how your priorities fit into getting to this list versus another one tell me how to the curriculum the Aging the need in the system otherwise I have a spreadsheet and no way to to um I guess intellectually investigate whether that list meets or does not meet the values as stated that's the conversation I want to have I'm not trying to say I want you to recalibrate the Aging of you know roofs on buildings because I think they should last longer or that roofs are more important than Paving the you know the parking lots or doing the curriculum that's not my point and I believe and again us as we all know I've only been here through the years of challenge I missed the boom ears so I
108have only the and so maybe I am more skeptical when it comes to this but uh my I think our opportunity is to have that intellectual exploration of whether what ends up on the page is representative of the board values and I believe that was not offered to me the last two years right if I could recap what you've said in in how to do it this isn't so much the superintendent or CFL coming back with this longer list of what things should be or could be cut and it's pick and choose it's this is what I believe we need to do coming from them uh to balance our budget these are the program cuts that need to be done and what it leaves behind is a educational system that will broadly educate our students
109will work to fill the board's priorities around targeted interventions Gap closing right and bring it to us now we get to have a conversation about it in in a way you know ask you know why this thing and how do you know and and if you cut that thing how are we supporting kids to to accomplish something help explain to me why this thing and not something else so kind of that like I get to push at it and say why on some of the things yeah and when it fills the Gap that that whole right that might that leads exactly and then it it also gets or gives our superintendent an opportunity to hear our values coming out of those questions gives her and team the chance to go back and think about what
110we've said and you know it's possible they'll come back with the exact same list because they can justify it it's possible they'll learn something from us in our discussions our dialogue our you know and they'll make changes and then the result of the next one or I don't know if this is a two or three type thing but we'll come back again now with either same and justification or changes and at the final point the Board needs to make a decision and then approve or not is that is that starting to be what what I that is what you said I think that 100 represented and I I can be there as long as what we're starting with is what our superintendent believes needs to be done not a list that's twice as long with
111the board picking and choosing yeah well this was actually the conversation that director Moore and I had offline when I first drafted this with the wording a proposal of options that's cause that creates a number of problems right one we have ten things we need to cut seven which ones do we like we have members of the public or the the staff or students coming in and lobbying for their favorite thing and and then you end up at the end of the day you've cut say six of them and four other groups know that they weren't valued enough that they were on that cut list even though we ultimately didn't cut them that creates a lot of bad feelings and ill will and things that I really don't want to do so she and I
112offline were already talking about changing that wording on on proposal of options but I like the language that I'm hearing here A whole lot better I don't know right exactly how to put it into words right I like but what I can get up there so so I didn't like the proposal of options but what I do like is the iterative this is an iterative process of which we should be brought what our superintendent's proposal is at an earlier time so that we have multiple opportunities and I don't mean to say poke at it as in a truly negative way but it's a way to um to review it and analyze it and think about it um and as an extension of that share board values and you share why those things um because something
113has to be cut so why those things and what is Left Behind that's going to be the robust system that does support our students so what you described matches what what what Mr Tony and I have discussed as an ideal process as well um and what we were very committed to across our entire cabinet and being able to pull forward not a surgical list of items that are all a cart but actually a holistic view of the interconnectedness between the work and what that implies and our analysis about the what those trade-offs right and or as we said earlier what those opportunity costs might be um and that would be true even in boom times right um as well so um I also hear I also had heard from can I bring up two other
114points so so one is I think we had discussed at the last meeting uh including language around the Strategic plan right so if if the Strategic plan itself is an exercise and prioritization then that is a helpful and instructive companion to support the budget process which which may be more of how we then you don't even bring forward um to director Moore's point of rationale and linkage to the work um I didn't know that was something that the the board wanted to include here in some way as a reference um and the second is uh I've heard very loud and clear other language around making sure that we are um investing where there is highest need and I think that somewhat is addressed in other other components of of this which um include but it's
115kind of it's kind of lost here in the second bullet point under section one a comprehensive educational program which reflects overall Community Values and provides about interest and provides a balance and Equitable educational experience for all students but I think the finer point that I've heard the board talk about languages directly investing um where there is higher and bigger need that's different from funding equally so I wasn't sure if that was it came up in your conversation uh director Weaver with director Gallagher and they don't know if you guys would have thought that was under this Gap clothing learning loss I guess that to me becomes the high need but maybe it's just another way of um looking at those words yeah potentially is where it could fit in there but I wasn't sure yeah
116it was a straddling multiple bullet points or it was uh the desire of the board to actually name that very even more deliberately as I've heard the words be spoken in our various sessions [Music] um talking about budget right and and actually a little bit of that language ended up in the timeline section which is a little weird but oh yeah theories of greatest oh right prioritizing yeah he's the greatest need okay I mean I've heard director Calendar use very um compelling language around funding in an equitable Way full stop right we're not putting more Investments towards the highest needs schools in particular um which means that there's you know potentially a different funding approach for other schools as well not a take away from but they were really looking at the model of how
117we look at investing our resources where there is highest need yeah I think that's good well and I yeah I do think the bullet around providing targeted resources for social emotional sports Gap clothing and learning loss is is a paraphrasing of that okay good um so yeah so what next I was gonna yeah I was like before I go to yeah I'm gonna give one more I just I would just go but one more fine point and then get to like how do we get to the end so I'm gonna tie I guess just to make sure I'm being clear in what I'm hoping for and how this works I'm going to tie it to the next topic which we're going to move to shortly but um one of the things for me in in
118that intellectual investigation of whether the budget meets the um board values really ties to when we talk about some of the monitoring and so when I look at the monitoring reports and we say my hope would be that the budget the budget reflects the preservation of those things that most move the needle toward things we Monitor and a deprioritization of those things that while interesting we are not finding to have the most direct correlation to moving the metrics that matter in the system so when I last time I talked about the big tick marks on the ruler if we if we are getting better at saying we know the key moments in in across the Pre-K to 12 Journey that we need to make sure we have the right supports the the potential pitfalls that
119should one be coming across and when we monitor but it also the how I'll know that the values are being reflected if they'll think those things we are preserving are in direct line with those things we believe have the biggest correlation to what moves the system forward positively and so as I reflect on again the spreadsheets as provided I have I have no way to investigate that like okay that's an interesting list it tells me what we we might might get might get rid of what we might deprecate in the system but it doesn't communicate to me we're doing that while keeping whole these things that we know are best contributing to how we move forward so again I'm not I'm not so interested in saying which things end up on the list and which
120these zones I think the Administration has to be in the position to create that list but when I talk about an intellectual investigation I need to be able to ask okay well if that goes what stays and how do I know that thing moves the dial on graduation rate on any of the other things that we said we have to prioritize fourth grade reading whatever it is that that's how I'll know that we've done those values that makes sense right because it's kind of if it's a difficult thing we're talking about what we cut right but what we really care about is what's left behind correct and how that is going to continue to move the needle on these big tick marks are big benchmarks right and so that's I think where the it it
121gets lost because we're very focused on what's going to be cut hopefully that was helpful because okay so what do we need to do so it sounds one of the things we we have I think some good updates from a board perspective on what goes into the guidelines a good opportunity to line on the language that we may have on satisfying that iterative feedback loop a way to know that what is remaining in the budget meets those the board values those sorts of things um and so thank you so much uh director Weaver and director gallinger when you listen to this for doing the work to get us to this draft I will thank you again for doing the work to get us to the next draft in advance and for um I'm wondering if
122it would be okay if we can schedule to bring this back next meeting along with what you think might be that planning timeline I think if we could have both of those together that would be what we need yeah because I'm thinking I mean there's there's two pieces this is really the draft for this year we can change it again for next year um but what what I'm thinking we're saying is to change this around to um the board and the superintendent will agree upon a budget development timeline no later than the first week in February which or the first meeting in February which is what we're going to do um and then I can have bullet points of if we anticipate cuts you know there's there's enough play in the timeline for that iterative
123process I don't know exactly how I want to say that the fact that we agree to a timeline will sort of take care of that but I think it's worth calling out the fact that we want room to to uh dialogue about it more than once um in the context of the board values and I am willing to um try to draft that up for the next meeting right and I think uh to Sydney's point I was going to make the same suggestion that that timeline because we really need to get this approved yeah no no we do at the next meeting because this is your our direction to you regarding this budget development so we so let's get that timeline but let's also um have more detailed steps in the timeline for example the
124timeline that's there now or that was used last year you know basically just had when the the regular session of the legislature ends you know when we needed to make program changes and then like our budget right so it didn't really lay out the parts of the steps that we're all mostly concerned about that get us that iterative process of being able to look at your proposed reductions more than once so if that were also included in here like bringing to the board our first look at the program reductions whichever you know we have three more meetings after February right we have two in March and then the April one is the final opportunity so whether it comes to us in the first one in March and gives us two more opportunities or the second
125one in March it gives us only one more opportunity you guys decide but I think that needs to be explicit I agree with you and uh we are keenly aware of the number of board member board meetings left on the calendar year and in which to engage in these topics so we appreciate the uh the concept of that that does match on iterative process and being able to thoughtfully engage hey outstanding um wait one second I think I was gonna allow public importance is it fair to say that you guys are okay with um the first and second sections of this as it sits yes uh the only thing I was going to point out as something for future policy work is to look at um the bullet where we talk about limit the use
126of the board designated emergency reserve of a million to emergency Capital Equipment and or facility repair slash replacements that is all in the El but somewhere along the line the budget development guidelines added the phrase or other unforeseen liabilities or expenses which makes it very big right not just Capital so if that is something that we since it's in here that we really want then we probably should consider adding it to the actual El and that one was in el5 number seven so just Future something to look at when we review policy in other words we we took a bullet point out of an El and then we added some stuff and if we want to add it in here do we maybe want to add it in the El right they really should match
127and because it is actually a really significant change yeah um I think that's a great catch I also we also did indicate that we would allow public input on this item so I do want to take a pause and on that point and see if there's anyone in the room who wanted to give public input on this topic which is on budget development guidelines a signaling in the room um okay uh thank you thank you for that it was a great conversation I feel comfortable with your next steps on kind of I'll Bounce It Off superintendent feel comfortable with your next steps yeah wonderful thank you and we will um move that to the next meeting where we will actually take action okay so next on our agenda is the monitoring report and to part
128two do I have a motion uh I move the board accept the monitoring report for E2 part 2 academics and Foundations as presented second thank you superintendent over to you all right before I turn it over to Rich malish with support from Dr Dana Bailey I'll just say uh thank you to the board for the feedback and input at the last meeting as we reviewed um E2 part one and just along the way as we revise the interpretation and and the subset of you know progress evidence that is shared um and so ends to part two was certainly drafted with the feedback from part one in mind and just really appreciate um sort of the focus on reducing the data points further and great work from Rich malish and you know support from Dr Dana
129Bailey so turn it over to Rich all right thank you um yes and so as we as we jump into this I know we're rightly going to spend some time at looking at some of the problem points that we see in the data but I don't want to lose track of some of the wonderful things that are happening in the areas of math and science and CTE and Technology um we offer a very robust Rich selection of courses and we have a lot of students who achieve very highly in those courses and I just want to always kind of keep that context in mind because I do think that in addressing issues of equity starting from a really strong stance of Excellence is a great place to start so um with that I I do
130want to note that um nationally locally Statewide math achievement which is kind of a big chunk of E2 part two it took a big hit during the pandemic and I think our data shows that very clearly that especially in the secondary we saw a lot more Rebound in the elementary and again we saw that students who um were thriving in math prior to the pandemic have kind of rebounded faster than students who already had some fragility in their math understanding prior to the pandemic so it's it's been a big it's been a big lift and we are not we are we have some some big lift left ahead of us in the mathematics so we did go for a fewer fewer bigger marks on that ruler um and so focused on three points in time
131and we also tried to go away from a linear I'm gonna I'm gonna play on your uh analogy uh director mullings and say that we want to do a three-dimensional measure so instead of a ruler so we focused on uh indicators of proficiency and growth which tend to be assessment-based measures we looked at enrollments and proportionality of enrollments because we know that the course selections you make help steer you towards ultimate life selections and then we also looked at whether or not you're successful in those courses so not only Pass rates but are you getting A's and B's because we know the data shows us that students with that 3.0 GPA or above have a higher success rate of eventually getting certification or a degree on post-secondary so we looked at that a b rate
132to see are we getting students to be not only successful in getting credit but successful at getting opportune further opportunities after those courses and finally we we really try to get a strong indication while trying to be brief of what we're doing as a district to support our schools and their engagement of students in these areas that this report's on so hopefully you see some very clear indications of the actions we're taking as a district um with that I'm not going to go through the report because I know you've read it and instead we'll kind of pause and see where you would like to go next with this conversation um thank you and I love the introduction of a three-dimensional model we'll talk more um let's why don't we first see if there's any public
133comment before we get into the board discussion um is there any public comment on this topic in the room okay seeing then any on Zoom okay thank you as always our email is available if folks have some after this so how about we turn it over to the board uh for discussion and questions I'll give one a try um and this is around the middle school math pathways and the changes that are partly the changes that are coming I think it was on page five um talked about objectives of the change in the Middle School pathways um obviously to increase the proficiency on the SBA which you know has been your goal all along but um it does talk about um you know avoiding students skipping content and ensures all students receive a full year
134of algebra and I was trying to understand that in relation to what I found for the middle school math Pathways because not all Pathways actually give students an entire year of Algebra I didn't know how that's how to take that statement okay thank you to clarify so um the proposed Pathways do not give all students algebra a full year of algebra in middle school there is a pathway that results in math three and eighth grade but then they would would go into a full year of algebra in high school our current Pathways there are a group of students who take a a cc8 algebra and those are the only students in our system that don't get a full year of algebra focused just on algebra so this pathway eliminates that compacting algebra with other Middle
135School content so that's what it's that's what it's trying to uh indicate so I found a chart that has the ISD math Pathways for fall 23. and oh yeah okay I'm sorry let me I'm sorry that what you're seeing on that is for the current sixth grade students so I do want to be clear that that the we're phasing out the old pathway over a three-year period because we already have students already on the pathway with our current sixth graders so our current fifth graders as they choose their sixth grade Pathways by the time they get to eighth grade there will be no cc8 algebra any longer so wait so I just want to be clear so are you telling me now in the Middle School Pathways there is no way for a student to
136achieve both algebra and geometry in Middle School oh no there is okay because I don't see that path on the website yeah I the only way I see that path is um for kids to continue with the CC 7A cc8 algebra and then geometry and that's why I'm asking because it seemed to me when I read this chart and I understand the difference between you know trying to help FaZe kids out of these the choices based on where they are that you would be offering nine different middle school math courses which to me would be a scheduling nightmare but I want to ensure that there is a path that allows students to complete both algebra and geometry in Middle School yes I do I do see that yes they're um there is and you're right
137the website because it's in a state of transition as we phase out the old Pathways May I'll have to double check and make sure that's very clear because I thought on the charts that go into the high school level you can see how you would complete geometry in in middle school we will continue when we have the full phase in of the new pathways most sixth graders because they're in a regular fifth grade learning experience will be choosing between a the the six and the I'm sorry the math one or the math one two compacted course that's where most students are and that's where most students as you can see in the data choose between now the math well most yeah but but you're also talking about today I mean about 75 to 80 percent
138to take or have started with the cc6 where then they had choices of continuing with cc7 or going to a cc78 yeah but a good 25 of kids chose the path that gets them both algebra and geometry in Middle School yes and so that path there will be a path that still has that under the new Pathways if because there's still always gonna be the option to choose to go straight into the the math 2-3 in sixth grade and then you do seventh grade algebra and eighth grade geometry okay so that pathway will still be there okay that's the path I was looking for was the one that is math two three in sixth grade and then a full year and then you do then it does match to your statement that says everybody gets
139a full year of algebra because then they do algebra in seventh grade and geometry in eighth grade great yes and I'm sorry you don't see that pathway there because if they choose the equivalent of that pathway they have to join seventh graders next year and those seventh graders will still be taking the CC 7A so it's a transition that's going to be kind of there's a transition plan in place yes yes and then for most kids it does avoid skipping content except for those kids that are choosing to skip the content of the math one too to go on to the math 2 3 and 6th grade and then if I can I'll keep going with that one just a little bit um because I mean there's and this is one of the disproportionalities that
140we see is in the math path the course that students are taking by race right um you see a wildly different spread and you know we you know It's tricky because on the one hand we say kids that are in the advanced track having um completing either algebra geometry while they're still in Middle School are highly successful and of course it doesn't mean that just everybody should be pushed into that track and they would be successful we need all kids to be in the path that that um follows what will allow them to be most as successful but we also want all kids to have more opportunities for higher level math because that is something that they take from high school on into college and gives them different opportunities if that's where they're headed for
141different careers and degrees so I I don't know what we can or what is in the works to try to help with some of that disproportionality by race yeah so the the discussion about the new Pathways is that um and I we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna have to monitor this closely and I think we also are going to have to make very intentional efforts at that to make that happen I don't think it's going to happen just because we change the course selection but I think we have a really great opportunity because our data shows that by fifth grade we have we have been traditionally getting a very significant chunk of our students to be meeting standard by fifth grade and then we saw that little slip and at that moment that they're at
142that slip they're making the choice of what pathway they're going on so the theory the theory of action behind this is that if we can catch them at their best their Readiness they say we are meeting standard and we can say when you're meeting standard you have every pathway Choice ahead of you you choose and so you can choose that math one two you have the skills you have the background you can do that so we can get you to meeting standard in fifth grade you can choose the pathway that will lead you to offer to get on that path that leads to the calculus and the advanced mathematics if you so choose we still believe it should be self-select we want students to have that choice to make that choice but we believe that
143we can catch them at that time when we can help them make the best choice for them um and our hope is that that will with some intentional I call it recruitment where we where we encourage students to see themselves as a student who could take on that challenge um I think we can get more Equitable participation in those Pathways um because that's that's ultimately what I think we want is we want Pathways that students can choose that's right for them but it shouldn't be dramatically different by racial group well I can see with the changes in your Pathways why it could become more appealing to kids to try that path versus today making the decision between cc6 and jumping to the cc78 seems like a much bigger jump than going from what would be
144math 1 to the math one two um for those kids and and all of this also shows us who is who needs the most targeted help and resources are the kids that that are in math one and then two and three because we want them we we want them to be very well grounded in that math so that they can successfully come out of middle school and take algebra in in ninth grade and be successful with it yes and I don't want to lose that one of the strategies is we need to strengthen those courses we need to strengthen the curriculum in those courses right being on my middle school experience one of the things that I think might be a comfort spot for students and families to choose a more advanced path is there
145is in the New Path selections of course correction so in the previous path selections it felt like I'm in this path or I'm in that path and there's no fixing it so if you were maybe in the middle you wouldn't take that big challenge to say there's really no if it doesn't work out for me there's no real rescue but in the New Path there is a beautiful opportunity to aim big and if it isn't the right choice to move to the math 1 math 2 math 3 path and as a parent and as a person with Middle School experience I do think that might be just enough of an edge for kids and families to choose that more advanced path as they enter sixth grade great yeah I think that's good and I do
146want to point out I'm we're beginning to see more students take a second opportunity to change Pathways which is when you're taking geometry so we are seeing some students taking geometry and Algebra 2 together which allows them to also change their math course out in as well so there's a couple of we're trying to move one of the things I heard in our discussion last time we discussed this was to be really careful about how we describe Pathways so that you don't feel like you're locking a student in right we need to give students lots of transition points so that they have options along the way and so as we tried to build the graphics as I worked with the with various folks involved in this to come up with the new graphics is we
147wanted to show that there are multiple choices along the way that can help you fulfill your personal pathway of choice okay so you know just along those lines I was a little bit confused um when I was looking at some of the Benchmark data and uh you know it says we have four kids who are in 12th grade taking algebra one those kids aren't on track to graduate then are they or how does that work they could be students served in special education taking that class would be the next extension of their class okay supported by special education okay you're not wrong on the fact that a typical graduation would include more than just algebra one right well and even juniors in algebra one unless I didn't realize you could do algebra and geometry simultaneously
148but although it doesn't seem like there's any reason you couldn't but um yeah I was just curious about that because struck me as odd but that makes sense actually are you when you talk about trying to help kids um have a have another opportunity to accelerate are they taking geometry in Algebra 2 . typically that's what we we've seen some of that more often um I because the middle school doesn't have a six period day you know I don't know that we're seeing a lot of algebra one and geometry together at the middle school right good with it so um I think no I loved your description of your three dimensions I I just maybe didn't get that from the right up here so um and I don't know how to how to think of
149what you said so and maybe that's just a continued evolution of how of how we look at I guess the executive summary of what some of these but some of these reports say because I think the way you describe it if I if I wrote it down correctly was that you're looking at what was that right proficiencies and growth and then enrollments grades past fail and then School supports are those your three dimensions my three dimensions that are the kind of metrics that I would monitor were kind of proficiency and growth which is going to be more of an assessment measure so SBA especially when it gets the secondary is going to be the primary measure on that um enrollment enrollment is kind of getting proportionality and enrollment so are we seeing different racial groups
150accessing the different math selections at an equitable rate and then the third one was are they successful in those courses so um are they getting A's and B's are they passing their are they getting the credits and making their way towards graduation okay I so I think I I I think that that's a very good way to frame it and I think that would help if maybe that could come out a little bit more in the actual write-up I think in I I fully understands a lot of ground to cover and so I'm not trying to Discount that piece um it's just as you just described as those three dimensions I I didn't get there from reading that in the write-up it's clear like now that you said it I can track that through the
151Benchmark data um but it would almost it would be interesting to see it even on like a historical cohort like how do you see someone go across those things but um so I like those three dimensions and I get it now that you said it and I go back and read it but I I didn't get that the first time through um for sure yeah I do like in your um your I've realized it's not in the main report but in The Benchmark summary for high school math how you're building up um over the years so for students that are in I guess 10th grade then you'll fill it in for the 11th grade and 12th grade so we can see the passage rates of that as a cohort you know the same grade level
152kids and where they're going in these math classes um and they're the pass rate so their success rate addict I'm sorry I read that exact thing earlier Jane that's what I've been trying to find again in the spreadsheet but I can't find it so you're in high school so in The Benchmark data summary yep that's what I'm there's a in the high school at the very top but you have to be in the one that was attached to this agenda because that's where they added the um the math yes I've got that at the very top oh yeah I scrolled past it got it okay yeah it's like I read that earlier yeah um so it gives us the the semester one enrollments what courses students are enrolled in at by grade level yes and
153I and the you know the algebra 2 by grade level is important because again that kind of ties back to those math paths right and um again that's where you see a uh the continuation of the large racial um disproportionality in how students access the courses along the way that get them to that algebra too and I think of when you when you triangulate that when you think of those three dimensions it's not I don't I couldn't tell you what percent of our students should reach Algebra 2 by 10th grade versus 11th grade I but I'd like to see that be proportionate across racial groups I could tell you what that number is but I'd like them to be equally successful in Algebra 2 whether they take it in 10th Grade or 11th grade and
154I think our data shows that we've got work to do both in the representation and the success once you get there and so I'd love to see us nudge that 11th grade A or B rate to be a lot closer to that 10th grade A or B right for example yeah I think that chart um for me this algebra 2 by um I don't know yeah by grade level that gives you the um for some reason just adding the grad year for me made it a lot more helpful because it also gives you a sense of um which years maybe had some of that interrupted math uh through covid yeah for me this was one of the most helpful charts in the whole in the whole thing um for sure these these couple that are
155grouped together here and I will note today I I when I Was preparing for this I caught that the all group on that second chart of that cluster of charts was left off for some reason so I added that back and uploaded that again um I'm not sure why that all group was left off of that but fixed that today if you downloaded the chart earlier you wouldn't see that fix okay um I have a question about science yes can I look at that now I don't even know where it is but I'll reference it okay remind me I'm sure I've been told I just don't remember the whole math science SBA type test whatever wcas yeah the right words for it okay at the high school level explain to me how it works and
156why so few kids must take it to this High School you know our participation rate in 2022 was pretty high um across all three schools um I I know for a while we had a lot of students not choose it but we actually I looked at the participation rate and well the um sorry I'm gonna get the right and see if I put it in there the um it isn't a grad requirement which is the short answer as to why people choose that's the answer I wanted yeah they choose not to take it because in the end they're like okay so what's gonna happen to me if I don't and I have a teenage son right now and if he says if I told him well and then that's about what happens to you he's
157like so I don't have to take this and so that's that's they're we have smart kids they know they know what matters right because um the um yeah I can't find the spreadsheet that had the detail but I mean the 11th grade uh overall pass rate went up from 2019 to 2022. it went from like 30 to 46 right so except when you look at the detail it's like for whatever reason Skyline kids take that test and their pass rate is 77 you know I think Liberty was lower as again it's more about participation than the actual passage you know it went up to 57 but is for high school is 12.4 and that's all about participation to be clear and I guess that's what I'm clarifying right it's because if kids don't take it
158that are in that grade band they get a zero yeah and as a yes as a parent of one currently making that choice is exactly as stated as if I don't have to I'm not going to yeah and that's why I think Issaquah just maybe has more of an embracer effect than okay maybe Skyline not to be all right I that's why I'm asking because I just that's what I thought the answer was and that's what I wanted to know okay um yeah in the main chart it's on page 12. yeah it has the overall but some spreadsheet has the breakdown yeah um yeah it's in the SBA the sba's data summary has the the breakdown by school oh yeah it's in the SBA data summary spreadsheet I'm having trouble pulling it that particular one
159up okay um okay um there there is one item I probably did not bring out I know I didn't bring up last time and I'm not sure I don't believe it's in here I went through the whole Benchmark it could be in another spreadsheet though and it's on the grading the common grading practices yes um is my question and so what i s I'm never gonna say I don't have it because I might have it somewhere here but I guess I'm I'm very curious still on now that we actually have a common we have a common platform in canvas um how are we getting visibility to how those grading practices are playing out so for example um when you look at the the prevalence of grading zeros versus not grading zeros or other practices how
160do we start to see the the actual implementation of some of these things we would expect to see in alignment of grading practices yeah you know and I I was a little afraid to put that comment in there but I think once we kind of started talking about noticing disproportionality in the a rates of A's and B's and asking the question of so what do we do about that I I wanted to make the connection because I think a lot of our executive limitations and ends have cross connections um I think when we get to el12 we'll be bringing you the full report of what we did last year to prepare for implementation and um kind of what that launch of implementation looked like this year um so I'm a little loathe without having calibrated
161that conversation with my my colleagues um we didn't really come prepared to go into the all the how we're monitoring those grading practices right now my my point of raising it is that I do think that a focus on providing students an opportunity to recover like if I do poorly on a test and then having that recovery opportunity being graded on the proficiency rather than with a significant penalty that that causes you not to get credit for your ultimate learning is something that we've opened up in the el-12 work that I think directly relates to the E2 work and so I just wanted to make that connection but um I I really didn't come prepared with a full report for the el12 el12 work um that is something that is uh what we're just we're
162really implementing right now and I think we need to be prepared to to bring you kind of a progress report on that at some point um yes completely understand that that will be that's a place we can discuss that's what I was like I don't want to read it before I I guess I'll just share my hope and expectation when we have that conversation um that we're really getting to some specifics of how we are seeing the implementation like in reality and how we can see that demonstrated or Trend toward or something in that nature whether it's you know zeros whether it's number of attempts to resolve um those sorts of things would be really helpful okay anything else you want to add superintendent awesome so we have a motion on the floor we did
163our public comment earlier so great just making sure I check all the boxes um uh so I think we need to vote all those in favor of approving this motion say aye aye aye uh it is approved thank you thank you for that review super helpful um okay monitoring awesome Okay so okay so we're gonna move on to the next topic which is the discussion of el 10 the structure of schools um and then this one we're not going to take any action so we won't have a motion on this one and um this is you're doing interpretation correct the revised interpretation okay so I'll turn it over to you superintendent after that we'll see if there's any public comment on this one before our discussion great thank you um before I go into highlighting
164the changes in the interpretation I just want to thank Mia and tarang for their feedback at the last meeting sorry I have a cold so now it's coming out in full force I apologize um much of their feedback was very specific um as it relates to the current seven period schedule and start and end times and um that is being continually assessed through mechanisms including the survey that I spoke about that's being put forward at liberty for further input and um in particular was also good to know from their feedback that there are minimal um flashing interruptions as well so that's helpful just to know um I do want to highlight three changes in the interpretation uh so there are changes in verbiage um phrasing but not necessarily meaning in some cases I also added
165in specific connections to our mandates by the Washington state public education relations commission perk to negotiate calendars with the Union and include also notably um the input that we would want to receive from students staff and family and explicitly for a series of calendars um in my interpretation and then I also just added as a clarification that the role of the district to support any board discussion or deliberation for schedule changes or grade level configurations would be supported directly by the district for input research and possible recommendations um to support board discussion so I just made that explicit and clear in the interpretation um Revision in the track changes so would appreciate then further discussion from the board on the interpretation and I'm interested in hearing anything about additional like specific evidence that actually this
166would also you know you'd want to see um and we have a reference to the interpretation and evidence of modern report from last year as well as a resource thank you so why don't we before we get into the board discussion we'll see if there's any public input in the room on this topic which is reviewing the interpretation on what will become our monitoring for this policy anyone in the room okay no public comment in the room anyone on Zoom no on on Zoom thank you very much so uh over to the board for commentary questions uh feedback again on evidence well I appreciate the addition of the language around uh perk because I think most of the community thought that was just a weird thing that we do to be annoying so it's a
167it's nice to have it articulated that no there's a reason but but it's balanced with the uh the input from Stefan family so I think that's good you know it adds adds the phrase in partnership with the board which um maybe calls out more of a upfront discussion with the board uh in advance of calendar development um and I do like the series meaning multiple years right that's what you mean by Series yeah yeah yeah I can make that more clear too yeah yeah so we don't have to open bargaining every time a calendar rolls around yeah which is great and we do have a series of approved calendars available online I think there was a there's some finger snapping in the back of the room yeah I I have had a couple people say
168when is going to be the next calendar next another three years three yeah we have three additional three years of approved calendars available come outside a little bit of excitement about that sorry well I guess we have yeah that was amazing it's exciting it was um I I guess what I will comment on is one of the things that I'm just really um excited about what you mentioned superintendent is this process of having our student reps available to actually um survey I mean they're talking to tens now hundreds of their peers in their buildings I think um that's that's a a level of feedback we haven't gotten in the past I think we have uh often a lot of adults that want to comment on student voice and what students want in the system so
169uh tonight when Paige said she had I think she was like 208 respondents to her eight point survey I just have to acknowledge that I am just super excited about that voice and getting that in ahead of you updating interpretations in our review um actually you know getting that deep voice and so I I just can't be more excited about that foreign any other thoughts or comments on the language maybe before we get into what we're hoping on evidence you know I uh I actually I don't have any new feedback on evidence in in this space I think the we've got parent we've done staff parents student surveys on the the day obviously build times was an entire project in and of itself um anything else that you get as you all look at the
170previous reports that pops out this might be the easiest one um okay yeah thank you I think there used to be more in this El and somewhere along the way we broke it out and separated it into two wheels so this one's pretty straightforward okay if we don't have any more discussion or or um interest in kind of giving some input on evidence then hopefully that is what you do you have enough on this one uh yes thank you awesome thank you foreign call for public comment there was none on the in the room or on the zoom again please leverage email if if someone has an idea that popped up uh after that you know here um okay good work let's so that brings us on to the legislative matters we have neither of
171our Representatives that usually give us updates on legislative matters so anything no other things Marnie is already in uh Washington DC for the advocacy Institute and she's there early for her nsba board work and then Harlan will be eventually joining her there for the advocacy advocacy Institute uh weekend put on by the National School Board Association thank you announcements and correspondence do we have anything we need to add no additional everything's already been uh turned over awesome uh so we'll move on to calendar and future agenda topics I have no little notes on things we need to calendar no I don't have anything that we have to calendar but we did get an invitation to the great careers Expo for our um students and so um it looks like it's February 16th so I'm going
172to give it a go to go that afternoon and attend it wonderful okay with that this meeting