MISD Board Regular Meeting - 2026 -5-7

001order everyone. You need to walk them back. Did it be back? It's back. At this meeting Director Martinez is taking a leave of absence tonight. But I have a motion actually before we establish the agenda I have two changes. I'd like to move our board director reports towards the end of the meeting. This time we did that at the previous meeting and I think and I just want to I'm worried that some people may have a problem with moving it back overall. So I'd like to table that for now and we can come back to what we're going to do permanently but tonight I'd like to do that. And then the other change is because Director Martinez is not here she we would like her here. She would like to be here for the discussion

002of 4F policy 10005 board on the certain member board member duties. Uh regarding the board reorganization process. And so we are I'd like to table that one until the May 20th meeting. Do you have any concerns or questions about I have a motion to establish the agenda with those of those changes. So moved. Second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. All members? Aye. Aye. After we I think I need to say 2040 in favor of establishing the agenda. And because we noticed that we have we will move on to board process monitoring, board policy 1009 for reviewing the board code of conduct. And we can move those functional minutes to chart for compliance with the code of conduct. We're all set here. And just to clarify, this is the current board that we're evaluating. Yes.

003Yes, for every time anytime we do one of these, we are evaluating the board as it currently stands. Okay. Comments on this one? Um Did we get some feedback from the superintendent or staff on item number two, um board members may not exercise individual authority over the superintendent or staff? Has anyone in your opinion tried to do that with this current board? Pretty good question. Um I feel like we have a pretty good cadence in there where I added into that section particularly, which is a responsibility of mine because I have a responsibility to this as well, where if one of you reaches out with a with a question or whatnot, um I put it into the board report how I'm answering it, so everyone gets to see um what that looks like. Uh and

004so I hope that that has helped um uh with some of those things. There's a little bit of a nuance on this one, so I'm glad we clarified it is because when you're on the campaign trail, it's really an interesting kind of betwixt and between. And then once you're on the board, um so um I you know, I think for the for the most part I have not been getting direction from any one person. And when people have ideas, we've been just transparent about it, so um I feel that that relationship is still pretty good. Thank you. That's good to hear. Well, I think yeah, I think we've done a we've done a working as a team on this. And I think it's a good example is if, you know, members of the community are

005speaking with, you know, different board members and, you know, I spoke with these people this week and for for me, I wouldn't just go directly to actual frontal interaction and say, "Answer a bunch of questions for me, for example, about first I think everyone needs to be able to answer them back. And I don't think I don't think the intent is for any of us not to be able to and ask questions individually. It's more to ask the staff to do a lot of work, right? It's like, you know, I would like someone to pull XYZ records for me and you know, produce a chart. Like that's something that has to go through the And the majority of the board has Right. Not not not asking a simple question here or there, but launching, you

006know, Yeah, but an investigation and stuff like that. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. No. Yeah. And, you know, I it's continuous work. You need more reminders that I have to have, you know, with staff around. Um you know, they want to be good stewards and they want to be responsive too. And so, you know, reminding them that, you know, if they're getting outreach or whatnot, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. You're all working back through me. Um and in times when I've known um you had particular interest in Well, we came downstairs for the letters training that one day. You have an interest there. You're working through me and I very much appreciate that. It takes the pressure off somewhat um them to feel like, "Who am I most responsible to?" So, thank you. Yeah,

007thanks. Definitely a part. Yes, it is. I hope that's all as well. Are there any other comments from With that said, can I have a motion to find the board in compliance with board policy 1009? So moved. Second. Members? Aye. >> [laughter] >> Dr. Tucker moved and Dr. Bradley seconded. 2 0 4 0 in favor of finding the board in compliance. We'll move on from this to board policy 1010, board member conflicts of interest. Any discussions on this one? I don't see any conflicts of interest for compliance. Agreed. Okay. If there's no other suggestions, Dr. Bradley, do you have any feedback on this one? Uh I do not. Uh you know, this is a this is a tricky one, not just for you as a board, but for, you know, staff as well in terms

008of um you know, opportunities that some of our staff um take to try to make extra money and you know, there's a conflict of interest if they're ever working with students who they're also teaching um and there can be some things there um and so that it also came up uh in some of the concerns related to some of our staff um and maybe some of the businesses that they've operated. So, we've definitely been paying attention to this and tightening some things up on the staff side, but I don't see any issues on the board side right now. Yes. I think I think it's good to get that because that is it's something that's a concern I think for a lot of community members. I agree that that's a good thing. It's certainly on the

009board side. So, uh would someone like to make a motion to find the board in compliance with board policy 1010? The vote? Seconded? I. I. Board directors? I. Just Carried. Moved. Dr. Tucker seconded. 2040 in favor of finding the board in compliance. We have a lot of like smaller items like this at today's meeting. We've had a couple of really busy board meetings and so uh a couple of these these things pushed to this meeting. So, a lot of the work of this meeting is getting care of this documentation. So, with that we'll move on to partial governance process monitoring. Board policy 1800 through 1809, communication and support to the board. Resolution number 757, authorized absence of a board director. And this is one that we've made a handful of revisions to. And so, we're

010going to uh review this one to potentially um hopefully approve it and move forward. Do are there any uh comments or concerns with the document as it currently reads? I think if 4A is, you know, the the main um is kind of the main talking point because if we agree or if you agree with 4A, then all the changes to 4B, C, and D all fall into place. Um Michelle did a nice job if you um Andrew, do you want to go back to the last you had just out of resolution? There it is. Um Michelle kind of created a crosswalk for you where it shows where each of the whereas or the items in here relate to the board policies that that we're talking about changing just for easy reference for you. So, that's

011what that document is for. And then the addition of 1450 is because we didn't have that and we felt that's 4B tonight. 1450 really clarifies um things a little bit more. So, while multiple policies pertain to this and in your absences, um I think 1450 really clarifies everything as well. Yeah, and I think that Michelle did a really nice job with this. Keep this Okay. Any comments or questions to these two documents? Yeah. I think that um it it's they they look really good. They look like I am pretty good at applying tooth comb. >> [laughter] >> I think they they everything hangs together the way it should and you can incorporate it. Um we can incorporate it. All the concerns people have raised have been incorporated. So, I um I move that we approve

012uh board policy Sorry, board policy 1800.09. No. Uh sorry. New board policy 1450 absence of a board member. Uh can I just ask a quick question before it gets uh and and this is more just about in practice uh cuz the policy just talks about informing uh the board president and the superintendent. I mean as a I mean it would be nice to be CC'd on some of those emails as board members just to kind of know what's going on. Um I know the policy doesn't state that but I would just like to see further. Yes. Again, we discussed this different certain stuff when you were traveling but I think that that actually raises a good point because I was thinking earlier today that it would be helpful to have some way of a easier

013way of keeping track of when certain board members are absent from meetings because I may hear about it and you know a month or two in advance and so for example, why would we move this one item because Dr. Martinez is out and I wasn't thinking about that when I spoke to Dr. Randall about adding it uh a couple weeks ago or last week. So, does anyone have any ideas of how we might be able to uh some of the one of the ways that we could sort of see when you guys are going to be absent or I mean, do we have do we have just like a shared I mean we all have a Google calendar already. Could there be like a shared Google calendar that just shows like all board members expect

014to be present. Do you think that we could um maybe list Fred's absences as board report? There cuz that's a communication that we get rather than creating another communication or another Oh yeah, it was like expected absences for the upcoming month say. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I added that section uh this with with this board at the bottom that has a agenda piece. It's like just an add a break to that spot there cuz I keep a running Michelle and I both keep separate ones to keep ourselves on track. Um so that we're hearing the same thing and so that would be very useful. Yeah, great. That would be great. That would be creating another public record. Do you still do you still like to see No, no, the board report is just fine uh because

015and I'm sure that we've all been in it's like, oh, I will talk to this person at the board meeting." And then if they're not there, or whatever I mean, it just throws that off anyway. So, it's helpful to know who is going to be there. Yes, I'm glad that you raised that. And again, that's not changing policy. It's just sort of uh more informal. And then it's also handy for instances like when we had to reschedule the meeting that was to be in May 14th, because as it turned out, three of us were going to be absent. So, you know, we just kind of realized, "Oh, the third person's out. We need to move this meeting." Yes, and the director rather, just so you know, you know, some of the changes that we made

016we we talked through, okay, well, you know, what are the circumstances under which someone should be excused or shouldn't be excused, because it was fairly rigid and we wanted to um it was a couple of those required things like military service that we had to advise so we were trying to make it a flexible enough to acknowledge that there are times when in life Yeah. people should be excused for good reason. Uh so, Director Tucker has moved to approve Resolution 757. >> She actually moved on the board meeting. Do you want to I'm sorry. Okay, yeah, yeah. I retract that. I take that back if I can do Do you want to approve the resolution tonight? It could be a first reading with a second reading or whatever. This is for 748. Yeah, so 4A,

017I I move that we approve Resolution number 757. Second. Yes. I vote for. I. So, Director Tucker already seconded. So, there are four zero in favor of approving Resolution 757. And we will now move on to the Board Policy 1450 that goes along with that. Do we have any additional comments on this policy? Someone like to make a motion to adopt Board Policy 1450. I'll I'll it again since I was so enthused about it last time. I move that we adopt board policy 1415. Again? Yeah. I think the students All right, members at the time. Mr. Tucker. I did. Tucker seconded 2040 in favor of adopting board policy 1415. And with that, we are moving right along to board policy 1809. Communication and support to the board. Propose revisions to board policy 1400 meetings. So,

018this one has potential to take action to approve this policy. Any discussion? Um in the past, there's been some discussion on you know, if we want to move to having like a business meeting once a month and like a study session once a month. Um would that be an appropriate time to have that conversation as we're getting into planning for next year? Um cuz I don't know if I mean, I would like more time for deliberation and discussion. And then put all the business in one meeting once a month. That would be my personal preference, but It feels very much like this is a business meeting. Yeah, that's correct. Correct. Um so, I mean, I think that uh with 4F, uh the board reorg, I Yeah, but I don't I think that we could potentially

019incorporate that under that one because I know that Dr. Martinez has also had thoughts about that. Or we could start a conversation today under this um one and then, you know, continue it next week as well. >> That's uh I I think Christine would want to be here for that conversation as well. Um and I mean, just as we're setting the schedule for next year. Well, in that sort of part of the idea, I think that um we the idea for the board we are conversation was talking about, you know, certain um George Martinez has some thoughts ideas for how we might change elected positions and just a couple other things like that. And so I feel like that under that umbrella it's a good time to talk about how we structure our meetings. My

020only suggestion is um this is something we've been talking about a fair amount since about 2021 and um it never happens. And so anyone who is interested in this idea of splitting up into like a you know, study session versus a business session should take two representative months out of the year and look at the agenda and do the splitting up and see if you think it would be enough. Like see if you think it would be enough time because my suspicion is that one of the reasons it hasn't really happened is because because like there are months where we have, you know, a crazy amount of stuff. Like we have two full packed long meetings and then we also have a study session in that month. So if you think one of those really

021busy months, just look at it and try and just mock up like how long do you think, you know, would we have to have two business meetings and one study session or the other way around. So that's my suggestion between now and when we start this session. Yeah, I think that is a good um a really good thought and I you know, it might be something that could be discussed as a goal. Sure. That you know, we take a look at the planning the agendas if possible because I think there would probably need to be some flexibility anyway. But there are districts that do it like there's so many people who go around and look at how they do it and look at some of their agendas and be like, oh, they don't have the

022dis- maybe they're all business and they don't really have the the big study sessions that we do or maybe they're just killing it. So we should do what they're doing, you know, so Yeah, I mean I think I mean the overall goal is I think that there some of us would like a little bit more time for discussion and deliberation on some of the kind of curriculum academic stuff and you know, it seems that there's some feelings that they may be getting cut short at certain meetings. And so, trying to have those discussions in a more full way. Right, like when we were doing uh maybe was it in January where where we had to do two sets of school improvement plans at the same meeting? Yeah, I mean, you know, that's right, like it's

023just a very full meeting. Where it would be nice to like have those split up. Can I ask, do you feel that have there been times when you would have asked additional questions, but because of the time allotted Specifically that meeting where we had the two school improvement plans at the same time. Like that was the meeting where I was like, "Oh, that was Yes, I There were questions that I would have liked more, but I was like, "Yeah, we're we're going to be here till midnight if we ask any more." I would actually agree with that on that meeting. That was a lot. And we were also preparing before that. >> Yes. But it was it was a lot of information, and I also wanted to ask some questions. Do you agree with him?

024I think that maybe it's also not just segmenting them purely, but looking at it and making sure that we're allowing additional sufficient time for those discussions. A couple um things come to mind on this, you know, one is another way that boards uh try to work around that is they take an hour kind of the first hour before their meetings is generally just more open discussion study session. So, rather than jumping right into formal business, they go into those things. I think the conversations with our school teams, if they were even more of a study session two on their school improvement plans, would decrease the stress around that as well to just say, you know, we're here to just talk about school improvement and and to, you know, what that looks like. So, that's another

025way. Now, does that mean you still start at 5:00 and 5:00 to 6:00 is that? Or if you start at 4:00 and go 4:00 to 5:00 and then 5:00 to 6:00? Um you can discuss that as a board, however you want to do that. The other thing that comes to mind is, you know, um Michelle and I will start working on for the '26-'27 school year. Um so, that in June you get your first look at it and that's the whole calendar for the year. So, when you come back in August, the first meeting is kind of your first reading and you get to ask a bunch of questions, make sure we're all on the same page and that you approve it at your second meeting. Um so, the more that we The more information

026we have that helps shape that, okay, the better so that we make sure that we get you something in June that reflects kind of what you want, okay? One One other thought would be for us that we could identify specific types of meeting or agenda items that we would specifically like more time allocated for and hold those as study sessions as opposed to always doing it one way or the other. School leaders usually be one or two there rather, so. It's a great idea. Thank you. That It is nice to get a to have a chance to speak with the school leadership about their you know, in a more in a more informal way than just them feel like, "Okay, you have 20 minutes. Tell us about your school." Well, especially because it was all

027the elementary schools that we went to. Yeah, even though they were all the same person, they were from different schools and uh that kind of thing, so. I think that's the the exciting part is like the is talking to our school leaders and and sort of seeing what they're doing in their schools and and what they see as the future and I think that that is something that is a little lost when we get overwhelmed with that. Right. It's a really good point. Yeah. And Fred, if you and Michelle could just give me like five different allocations for the entire year Fred, yeah. If you could color code it. Yeah. Well, yeah, you got a professional over here on that. That's yours. Yeah, that was it. Maybe in the animation and the motions. It's your

028stuff. Okay, so with that I I believe that we should table this one and not take any action and move this to We continue this conversation for the next meeting. Um or Isn't that I mean, if we do make a change, wouldn't it be a change? I mean, it Are we adapting it? Are we on board D? Is that what you're No, we are on Or no, 14D, sorry. Yeah, so the reason that I suggest that I can not take any action tonight is because this does have 4D or policy 1400. It does have to do with the types of meetings, regular meetings, special meetings, etc. So, it would be important to make a change, a formal change to our regular making our regular meetings and also we want to want to make other changes

029to this. The The only thing is the changes that you would likely be making that you're talking about here are really in 1008, not one not the 1400 cuz the 1400 that we're suggesting changes here are just related to forum and I think it's order It's establishing the order of business in the agenda. That's what it is. That's true. It goes further. And I don't have any issues with the proposed changes. Yeah, I agree with that. Like I don't have any issues with the proposed changes. I just as we plan for next year, I would like more discussion related opportunities and condensed business as a choice. At least have someone look at it. >> Yeah. Many times suggested without voluntary resources. Definitely not. I think it's a big question because it does feel, you know,

030it seems like we've we've gone through a lot of these calls. There's been quite a few changes over the past couple of months to policies. Is this something that is done regularly each year or is it more prevalent more this year? Um there's a there's a regular There's like a regular Is it every other year that we do it? We review them all annually. There's a set kind of cadence to that, but I think we've been making more changes to the policies. We're just tightening things up or adapting. Okay. Yeah. Because if we were in the future years to not need to make as many clean up or any changes, then we could maybe have a little We could add them to the consent agenda, which would sure allow for more time for discussion. All

031right. So, if we agree, I don't think we need to make a motion or anything. Just have a consensus agreement to place this item uh upon formal action at the next meeting. I'm going to go ahead and move. And then we'll move on to board policy board. Proposed revisions to board policies 1005 board officer and board member to be civil law. Currently, here we have the option to approve this as modified and or to uh place it on the civic consent agenda or for formal action at the next meeting. This just folds in the changes that we made in our other policy hearing. Basically, they are the policy changes, yeah. I think it's fine. Okay. So, I move that we adopt the updated version of board policy 1005. Second. Okay. Students? I. Members? I. I.

032Dr. Bradley, Dr. Bradley seconds 2020 in favor of approving board policy 1005 as presented. Wow, this is extremely This is the most exciting school board meeting. It really is. So great. Be worried. You know. Stay in your seats. Uh Students? Board policy 1809, communication and support to the board, proposed revisions to policy 1605, monitoring superintendent's performance. This is just clarifying that board policy trying to match it closer to some of the laws that changes over time. So, uh Good luck. But it stops to hit. It's just kind of clarifying things. Discussion? Second. Dr. Bradley. I. Yes. Um I move that we uh adopt the proposed revisions to board policy 1605, monitoring superintendent's performance. Second. Students? I. I. Board? I. Dr. Bradley. Gaines. Dr. Bradley seconds 2040 to approve board policy 1605 as presented. And we

033are now going to skip over F and move on to G, post monitoring language review, board policy 1807, financial administration. And once again, here we have the option to approve language revisions or to as discussed or with no revisions. So So I think the main topic that we wanted to discuss was was the question of the budget reserves being still set at 8% and minimum 8% of the target of 10%. Yes, and I have some thoughts on this. So I have a little thought into this in the past couple of weeks and Dr. Rowley, did you have a chance to catch up on this discussion? So I'm not comfortable changing the you know the stated goal of having a reserve I'm getting to reserve I just I don't think that that's the right move in

034our goal of you know building healthy reserve funds, but I also completely understand the reasoning that it doesn't you know having a goal that is unattainable doesn't get us anywhere. It doesn't make sense. So my suggestion would be to revise the OE to you know keep that 8% 8% 10% but then add in you know basically with the acknowledgement that we are in very very difficult financial times right now for public education for our district and that it is and then you know all of the other financial um you know economic uh considerations and impacts on our district finances that it is very difficult to achieve that 8% right now. And so, basically to give the district some shorter term smaller goals in the interim. So, for example, one thought would be in the 2026

035school year to say, yes, the overall goal is 20%. 2026-2027 school year, we would find the district in compliance if they were able to increase the fund balance by 1%. But even if they don't reach that 8% by increasing to 1%, we'd find them in compliance with the acknowledgement that there's a gap there. And then, you know, maybe we keep it lower for the first year then say 2 to 3% the second year. That that's my thought. So, I'm curious what you think first of all just conceptually about that approach. I think that there's a lot of merit to that approach. You know, from my personal perspective, at some point during my four-year tenure, I would like to be able to vote the district in compliance with its financial metrics. Like, I don't want to

036go through all four years and just acknowledge that we are out of compliance. So, coming to some way that we can both be in compliance and come up with a strategy for that, I think it actually is very important. And so, no, I would agree. You know, I think that there's some language that we can do where it's like, okay, we're above 5% and we grow it 2% a year. Then like be in compliance. Something along those lines that even if we're below the 10% target, that that when you're growing the fund balance, you can find yourself in compliance with your financial management OEs. And so, that would prevent you from spending down the fund balance, but would also allow yourself the flexibility to find yourself in compliance because, you know, when was the last

037time the district was in compliance with its financial management? 2019? Well, there wasn't a set percent number prior to kind of the post-COVID there. That was added um there, but it was in compliance prior to that. I would say probably up through 2020. Yeah. I think 2020 2021? Oh, god. Um it might have been my first year was the first year of not being in compliance, which would have been uh 2022 for the monitoring. Is there language from OSPI about other ways to be in compliance? Do they have They do not um have that kind of um recommendation. I think we saw when districts go into binding condition, 6% is where they're trying to get them back to before they're kind of or by percent before maybe it depend on the size of the district.

038Before they're under binding condition. So, we're kind of climbing our way out of our own binding condition that we put ourselves in. Um but there isn't kind of set guidelines. There was some discussion in the legislature about wanting to set some of those statewide benchmarks. Um uh but I there's not something that's Can you explain this? Is Is our Is our language as a maybe you or our director talked about it if you remember like is our language as a result of the sudden spend down of our amounts that we had under the previous superintendent? Like Are you talking about the COVID? Yeah, or just wasn't there wasn't there a sort of a The 5% language is. The 5% The 5% is, yeah. But that I actually remember that I could be totally wrong. I

039remember that 8 to 10% number being one of the first things that I heard talked about whether it had actually been adopted or not. So, I joined the board in December of 2019. Okay. >> So, I think it may be like two before COVID, like January. There was at least discussion about setting an 8 to 10% um Yeah. So, so so >> [laughter] >> just I wanted to just chime in and say like I totally agree with Julian's kind of framework there that it would be really great to get to that. Superintendent in compliance at some point. Um but I I I do think that the language maybe needs to change a little bit that they're in like item number five because right now the language says the superintendent will maintain annual budget reserves for

040the least 8%. We can't leave the language like that if we're also like patting him on the back for getting the the budget reserves up at all. Like we're saying we're setting a lower goal. I think it we could say something like like the superintendent will like do everything possible to eventually return to you know eventually return our budget reserves to like an ideal 8 to 10% level. In the short you know the shorter term goals you know and is is has made progress towards shorter term goals of you know 6% by 2027 you know whatever 6% by 2029 you know x% by this. You know so I think you can incorporate both things but you can't just change the language just to say has to >> Yes, and then I would like to propose

041that we do we do change that language and just say that superintendent agreed It would be something to the effect of I wanted to just talk about it first. >> Yeah. We can play with the language and have it be presented at the next meeting but uh you know will do everything possible to get it up to that goal in and with I think even adding with an acknowledgement of the sort of you know unprecedented or unusual financial times you know for these the following two school years you know within a limited timeline, we will find, you know, the district in compliance with this OE if they increase by X percent this year and X percent the next year. And then And then I I think that it's more effective, too, for any organization if

042you have goals that are attainable. Right. And right now, you know, we've seen our finance team over there working, you know, talking to the power network right to type everything up. Um and, you know, looking at this massive unattainable what the goal that feels unattainable right now is is not particularly motivating. So, I think if we had some interim attainable or more attainable goals, it would be more likely that that they could deliver those things. I think that's a smart take, Dr. Burnett, cuz I just I just feel like also, I'm sure there is no community appetite whatsoever for the kind of cuts that we would have to make if we were like, "Okay, let's find our way going up that percentage." I mean, it would drastically reshape the way that our schools look and

043our education system looks, and I think it's more important to provide, you know, the high-quality education that we do. At least I'm more sensitive to the economic times, and I I think so. I really appreciate the thought you've put into this, and then and an approach that will be more attainable and less frustrating, maybe, for all of us. Cuz as Julian says, maybe just once in our 40 careers. Uh well, and I mean, having healthy reserves does take stress off the system, right? Right? You know, it prevents having to do RIFs every spring or cut some, you know, have discussion about cutting some significant program. Um and I mean, so there are I mean, it is wise to have reserves. It Um but I would be interested in seeing kind of multiple different languages about

044how we do it, as well as some kind of supporting documentation from from OSPI, right? Like, if you're out of binding condition of 5%, maybe that is a good number. I mean, so it'd be helpful to see some supporting documentation as well. Right. And is there a step to get there not like we're going at this other percentage of a goal. Sorry. Um I I totally agree with that. I think that um some some feedback from our finance folks would be helpful because we can't just pull numbers out of thin air and just be like, "Well, if we eventually want to get to 8% we should hit six and then seven." You know, like we like can we increase the fund balance at all in the next year is a better question maybe, you know,

045so so we need like I would like to be able to set realistic goals but also not set goals that are so unrealistic that then we can put the district and ourselves in the position of making cuts that we are not comfortable making, you know, so just We want to make a well-informed It would be helpful to have a number. What are the numbers I just said? What is 1%? What is 2%? What is 3%? Yeah. I agree that um probably just a student pop then as well. Yeah. Yeah. And just remembering that 1% one year is not a static number because it's based on your expenditures. So it's all of your expenditures over the year and then what you have left and so that's how it's determined. Um but we can get you pretty

046close. Yeah. That is correct. Does it include all of like the special education spending that gets reimbursed from other I mean so it includes all of Okay. All and everything into the general. It's all um that's good clarification too. We're talking about the general fund. Um fund balance all that. But yes, um special education so when we get safety net back, you know, all of that's included. Okay. Students, do you have any thoughts? I mean I think that kind of tempering that down is good because we don't want to be making cuts that like like Director Lee said would hurt our schools and hurt our students. So, I think I think we should have that we have good expectations that we can, you know, increase our fund balance and have good financial health without harming

047students. This Yeah, I think that would be good. You know, and I it just becomes dangerous once you start cutting programs to get the fund balance to a certain level cuz then you realize it's so much more expensive to bring them back later. And then, I think that in terms of long-term goals, it's best to have as much information as we can before making any sort of decision about this. Welcome to the board. I think we all saw firsthand um what the impacts are on programs. That's a good question. conversations and how helpful that can be for all of you. Which is what led us to this discussion. Never mind. >> No, no, this is a good discussion. Okay. Is there any other comments tonight? Now, this So, can we We'll bring back some sample

048language um for you to kind of kick around at the next meeting. Next meeting. Dr. Trussell will be the one we get up to when he's not here. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Yes. Okay. Great. With that, we are moving on. Superintendent report? Two. No. Yes. Uh we uh have a recognition at 6:00 p.m. We do not have any public investment income. >> We got We received one. >> Oh, you did? Yeah, 6:00. Okay. So, we'll move on into the consent agenda. Pushing through right now. Any comments or Do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second? Students? Aye. Board of Directors? Aye. Dr. Lee approved. Dr. Lee seconded. in favor of approving the consent agenda. Two three four five report. I'm going to kick it

049over to start with my fancy new what's that? I am a C. And I can. Okay. So I'll start with what we have been referring to as access broad. The tool that we supplementally have been using in that work is called or dealing in class and We as a supplemental tool don't need to bring it to the whole process but we wanted to make sure that the board was aware that we needed a decision to move forward with using that in classrooms. What that means is that teachers will have the option if they want to to get trained. So far we actually have quite a number of teachers who have chosen that already outside of the initial grouping of teachers. So most of K2 at Island Park is all trained. Either I'm choosing the three

050four and five at West Mercer also have some folks trained and Lake Ridge has a couple of people trained. And a list of people who they would like to train are ready in my inbox. So we just wanted to let you know about that Michelle. Any questions about that? For sure to be a topic So since it's voluntary for the training does that mean that some classrooms will incorporate it and some classrooms will not? Yeah, so our target will still be so we're actually going to be pulling together a group tomorrow we're starting conversations about what that will look like and then we will subsequently involve our teachers who have been pivotal to involve the work, right? And so the plan will be to build a scope and sequence so that teachers feel more comfortable

051with what the expectation is. Uh I would say that the vast majority have already requested to train. Um so I don't see that as being an issue going forward, but um it'll be a slow rolling process as people go. I'm just curious if, you know, there was for example one first grade teacher at the park who wasn't trained and then there were kids in that class who have, you know, potentially used that. >> Yeah, that's a great question. I think our principals are trying to do their best job to cluster our students in the appropriate spaces based on what they need and about the classrooms. So I anticipate that won't be a problem. It's then you would just debate it sounds like uh each of the four elementary schools That is right. What about IMS?

052Um yeah, we are working with IMS. I have I have a meeting with Katie next week to talk about planning for PD for IMS. Um that process is a whole school-wide model. Uh we started with the seventh grade team there. Uh seventh grade boys strangely like morphology and I love that they like morphology. Um so they've started that process. It's kind of a three-pronged approach. So we've done um the most work with morphology in seventh grade, but we have also trained all of the staff on comprehension strategies and vocabulary through morphine strategies. Uh that will kind of be the ongoing plan is we will continue to train all staff in strategies and then our ELA teachers will be trained in the content materials. So uh those three content areas will be morphology, uh comprehension routine,

053and um writing. So writing will be the last component. I'll be but we're working on it. Um any other questions about that one before we shift? Uh the other thing is um there will be messaging going out uh early tomorrow about how to keep it cool. Uh Weston is here. He um will be sharing a message that's very well written and explains kind of everything that's um transpired and the numbers that highly capable classroom will open at Island Park. Uh he will communicate to families directly and then he's already got a survey queued up to see kind of in terms of some of the schools home to Park. Naturally the students at Island Park would stay at Island. Would that be that the Island Park highly capable class be in grades three, four, and five?

054Uh no, there will be a split is my understanding. So we'll do a three four split. Three four split. Following year would that be separate? >> be in separate classrooms. Yes, sir. Right. Question. Yep, that's right. That's great. That's great. Would so Island Park families who are now going to Lake Ridge would they get to come back to [laughter] Island Park if they choose or I'm going to let you answer that. That would be up to Third and fourth grade families next year if they want to do that can do that. They would return to Island Park. Right. Um couple other things. Thank you very much Superintendent Lakes. I prepared for you tonight. I put it on here. It's some discussions that we're having around making some changes to how we recognize our graduates. We

055are one of the districts and um uh Mr. Henry over there did some work and our high school has as well really trying to look at what's happening across the state. How do we recognize graduates particularly related to their grade point average and there seems to be a pretty split down the middle between those who use the valedictorian, salutatorian, and those who use the Latin summa laude, magna laude. We have been a valedictorian um uh high schools for as long as I've known and we started looking at that and started thinking about, you know, if a student if we're talking about wanting students to take risks, but they have a goal and they take a risk and they have one class that they don't quite make it, and then they really don't have a chance

056to get any recognition, um what is what message is that sending to our to our graduates? You know, in the current class right now, if they were to walk across the stage tonight, we'd have 20 valedictorians. I think that's what you're going to see here in a couple weeks, and one salutatorian. So, I 21 people getting uh recognized. But, we have 84 students who earned a 3.9 or higher. And so, we are contemplating moving away from the valedictorian salutatorian, and instead looking at the so uh the um the Latin uh terms so that we can capture and really honor and recognize more students um in the future. And so, I wanted to get that, you know, just to make sure that that's something that even makes sense to you as parents, and community members, and

057ultimately, most importantly, as school board members, hear from a couple students on um some thoughts before we go racing down the track, and we get out too far ahead of this. Um I'd rather get some direction now uh to to shape our thinking. So, I think we should start with students. Um I mean, I think it would be great to like celebrate more people. I think that would be amazing. My question is, we always do it based off of on weighted GPA? We don't calculate like a weighted GPA. What's been We do not do a weighted GPA. Is that a state thing, or is that just us? >> It's district by district. So, there are some districts that do do the weighted um GPA. Um for those of you um just catching up on that,

058um classes AP classes can have a higher weight. So, instead of being worth a 4.0, um in some districts, they take their highest level classes, and they make those off of a 5.0. Um so, that students um could still be above a 4.0 even if they don't um achieve an aim, for instance, in that class. So, we haven't done that historically, and I I think that would be a much bigger conversation of whether or not we change that. Yeah, so I was just thinking of like celebrating like students taking active risks. I feel like celebrating students who have like an like a weighted GPA would kind of do that a little bit better just because, you know, there's always been discussions around, you know, that person's a valedictorian, but they didn't take any hard classes,

059and that sort of thing. Or they took classes that may not have been even all their academic classes at Mercer Island, and we're not talking about people who moved in, but they may have taken off off-campus or online courses, and are those the same rigor and and expectations of Mercer Island high school classes? So, there are there there is a factor there, for sure. But then otherwise, I think it would be amazing to be able to celebrate people at graduation. I think this is like a win-win-win. I strongly support this because I think being able to support like being able to celebrate more of our students, removing some of the pressure, and I just I just think this would be this this is more appropriate like sort of developmentally for high school students to have

060sort of like a ladder you can climb, and like if you don't get to the very tippy top rung, you'd still like, "Woo, you made it up this ladder, you know?" Um I lived with this for 4 years. One of my twins was a valedictorian that were 10 his year, and I know that there are classes he did not take because he didn't want to risk his perfect grade point average. So, I would have loved to have had this something in place for him. Um I also think in terms of like when to if you do it, um for sure it's too late this year. Like, it's really can't like change up what people are expecting this late in the school year, but if you could start it next year, I think that would just

061be great. I would agree on that. The reality is that that is huge. I was talking about the incredible accomplishment. Yeah, it's huge. Yeah. So, I have a question. For the districts that do the weighted GPA, do they consider the valid criteria? Still 4.0 and above? So, yeah, they usually take a percentage cut scores. Do you know? I think it's if you take the most AP classes and you get the most fives, usually it doesn't take a lot. And so, usually they have one valedictorian. >> Oh, just one? Or maybe two. Yeah. >> And then we could do a system too, though. I think that would be able to celebrate more people through that, too. Others take, you know, the top 3% of the group of the class is designated as both. The next, you

062know, 3 to 5% is designated as both. And there's some that do, through the research, where uh uh summa, magna, and then just two left. And so, there is three in some districts as well. I would imagine if you have, you know, there's probably different reasons to do Very good. Yeah, I was just thinking that um in terms of the the like pressure to keep a certain grade point average, I think that sometimes what it leads to is in certain classes the grades stray from actually being related to um academic content. And so, uh while it has benefited us, like I know um there was a school board candidate came up with some classes did extra credit for, which allowed more attendance there. Um all in all, sometimes things that aren't actually necessarily fully related

063to content become extra credit, and therefore people go because they know that they'll get a grade for it rather than actually trying to study harder for their classes and the material that's in the content of it that course provides. Um I had a question. I have not attended a graduation for Marshall High School. Um, are there student speakers and how are those student speakers selected? Um, the valedictorians traditionally give a speech all together where they kind of each have a little bit of a part in it and then there's the senior class who usually selects the student speaker that does those two student speeches. 20 is I think the most since I've been sitting on stage. Um, so I don't know how they're doing it this year. I have not talked to Mr. Wolfe and

064the team of whether or not they're going to ask all 20 to weave together a speech. Um, when it's 10 or 12 it's manageable. I don't know what that looks like or they're selecting one from amongst them. I'm not exactly sure about that. Um, I mean I would just encourage to give thought to how the student speakers are selected. And then for like the graduation program, does it designate things like AP Scholars, National Merit a finalist and semi-finalist right like There's lots of different ways that students are recognized. To what extent is that included in the graduation uh, program? I'm trying to picture the program. I know the senior assembly they go through all of those things and and go through all of those. I'm trying to think about >> like a cord if they're

065There are different cords um, you know, National Honor Society and different cords that they wear. Um, in the program you know, if there was the the laudes, those would all be designated in there typically just like the 20. I don't think the National Merit Scholar that kind of thing that's not in the program. But they were recognized uh, you know, a few weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they were recognized Um, I just uh, strongly support this change as well. Um, I had friends who had a a couple of valedictorians last year and their senior year was extraordinarily stressful at a time when they were already into college and it was the spring, and you know, seniors do like to relax a little bit and they just could not. And I think that this is an

066excellent way to you know, reward our our top scholars, but not you know, every step that we can take to reduce student stress a little bit, I think student mental stress is a good step, so I strongly support this change. I think it's great. >> We're not going to solve the 4.0 piece. If people really think that's the most important thing, we won't solve that, but at least someone who says, "Yeah, I'm still going to be honored. I may not be valedictorian, but I'm going to be, you know, magna laude." That's a pretty big accomplishment. I really like the point about risk-taking and encouraging students to take the classes that they feel, you know, drawn to take because they're interested in it, and it's not because they're worried about They don't take classes they want

067to just because they're worried about their grade point average. Just I remember why I originally said win win win. The third win was was getting, as you said, like students more focused on the actual learning in the class again. All right. I think Reagan has one question for you as a rising senior next year. Um a change like this going into your senior year, and you know, you don't have the answer for all your classmates on that. You know, when we make changes to graduation requirements, so for instance, if we were to go to 25 credits to graduate, we would start that with the freshman class that was incoming. It wouldn't be applicable to the others because they're midstream. Something like this is a little different because it's not about more credits or less. It's

068just changing valedictorian, but if there's someone who that's been their goal to be valedictorian, and all of a sudden now we call it something else, what might that do, or do you think it's a big deal? I mean, we are a very tradition-heavy school district, and I think that we kind of know that, and um, I mean, it's something it's definitely much more of a small percentage of the of a small graduating class that is going to actually be affected by this. And I think that it is nice to recognize more people, but I think that um I I can't speak for everyone in my grade, but I think that there are some people who do, whether that's the right thing to value or not, base part of their high school career off of, "Oh,

069I want to get at this school. I want to have this thing that I achieved." And I think that changing it may um they may feel like they don't really know what to do at that point. But I think that the idea of acknowledging them in a similar way is nice. And I think that um I mean, there are 20 valedictorians, which is the same amount that you would have magna laude and I think 20 valedictorians is something that not every school has. And I don't know if that's the point of a valedictorian at all to have 20 of them, because that's like the top earner. Whereas magna laude is like the group of top earners. And so I think that that functions pretty similarly to how we are right now, just with a different

070name. They would still be salutatorians and the valedictorians, like The salutatorians and anyone with it looks like a 3.9 GPA is it would be minimum. And those would be adjusted more. Yeah. Yeah. Could we Can we keep the valedictorian term and then just add the magnum term? I don't think that's put the same impact, because like if you If you do like including magna laude, then it's like a you could call it like a spectrum. It's like a it's like a you know, like everybody's kind of on the same level. They're just getting sorted in levels of honor, if that makes sense. Whereas it's like these people are super special. They're the valedictorians. And then these other people get like the Latin titles. I don't know if that's is solid with the kids or not.

071I think to me it seems like the people who would feel the most kind of left out from that would be the salutatorians cuz salutatorians and valedictorians versus salutatorians are kind of the same thing. I think you might have a few salutatorians who feel like oh I'm going to shove them with you know 84 other kids or something like that. They didn't ask. Can I can I do the tassel turn? If I'm my I don't know if I'm wrong about that, but they have a small role and so getting thrown in with 80 other students again I can't speak for them, but maybe they have a role. That's just me thinking. Would it be possible to do a like student survey? Yeah, I think we can look at different stuff and we can even say

072you know what the junior class next year you're already halfway through you're almost there we'll start it two classes back and there's lots of things we could do. Okay. We can take a break for my report and You're still taking a break. You have 15 minutes. Ready to move on to the public recognition? Do we know if we have all the scouts here? All the scouts? Four. Five. Six. Seven. Seven. We have seven scouts here. Yeah. 13 total, but I believe there's four that aren't coming. Correct. So that'll take us down to nine. So we might need to assume two. So what if we do do we have one person here for public comment? Why don't we start public comment and give staff two minutes to join us? I'll give you a minute. Audio. Audio.

073Yes, it is. The public comment Just so you know we'll take that five minutes to bring them in. So then we'll wait. When those other scouts can join us. We'll see them. It's a lot of cool stuff here. >> Hey. I'm going to read. School board meetings are business meetings of the board held in public. Public comment is an opportunity for community members to provide input on the work of the board and the district. It is not a time for dialogue between the board and the public. Board directors cannot respond directly to public comment. However, the board's silence should not be taken as agreement or disagreement with the speaker's remarks. The board may later direct the superintendent to respond to issues raised during public comment. Public comments must adhere to the same level of civility

074that the board expects of itself as specified in board policies. Speakers may not use threatening or profane language in comments and may not direct individual attacks against staff, students, administrators, or board members. Please note that comments have the potential to violate the rights of others under laws protecting privacy and laws prohibiting defamation. Comments that name a district student are not permitted without permission of that student's guardian. The board president will cut off speakers who violate any of these rules. Their speaking time will be ended. Speakers should state their full name for the record at the start of their comment and their relationship to the district, if any. Speakers will be allowed 3 minutes to comment. Okay, you'll see there's a timer there, so just keep going with that. Well, thank you. I'm happy to be

075making public comment and I appreciate your time. Um So, I wanted to extend an invitation to the board or members of the board. I don't know if all of you can attend to There's a meeting on the 18th at at the library, I think. And And it's pertaining to outside course for credit. Am I Am I correct? >> Yeah. Um And so, it's just come to my attention. I have uh What about? three students that have gone through the district, one that's coming in from eighth grade. Um And I'm I'm concerned. I don't know all the ins and outs of of what that pertains to, but the reason for my invitation to the board is I think it will probably come to some decisions or a crux. That, but um for me, um I have

076students that have benefited from outside course for credit. Um The reason being uh it's not an indictment on the school or the teachers there. In fact, many times they take all their courses pretty much out on Mercer Island, but at times they've had some issues with learning learning style, things like that. And for us, how we got involved with private learning about which is at at times certain subjects that they struggled in. And we had tutors and then went that route, but from my experience, what we found was they were able to gain a lot of confidence in their learning because when they were falling behind or they needed more help, more support, um uh that was beneficial. And what I found for them is that it grew their confidence. If they had a subject

077that they were struggling in, you know, in my son's case, it was math. Felt like he was falling behind. And uh you know, was able to gain that confidence back, I guess I would say. And that translated through all all of their subjects and I believe their performance at the high school. So, it's important to me. I don't know what the decision points are or any of that, but I just wanted to raise awareness to the rest of anyone that I have pertaining to the board. I appreciate it, Glenn. Thank you. >> Thank you. Could you send the information on that meeting to the board? Yes. at [email protected]. Mhm. Yes. Okay. Nathan, I'm so excited to have you here. Six. Table Scouts here. Sure. I didn't get those Scouts. You can sit at the table

078something to sit. All right. So, tonight uh we have the opportunity to recognize um there are 13 total Mercer Island School District students uh who have achieved the Eagle Scout um which is the highest uh award in the in Scouting America. I know um my own grandfather who was an Eagle Scout uh and had high hopes for me. I got through part of it, but I did not quite get as far as you did and so I I sit here in admiration. We have students from four different troops on the island. Troop 457, 624, 647, and 678 uh which is one of our girls' troop. Eagle Scouts are known for their integrity, preparedness, and commitment to making a positive impact. That's why the journey to achieving Eagle rank is designed to help Scouts develop essential

079life skills such as project management, leadership, and perseverance. These scouts must advance through six prior ranks, uh the scout, the tenderfoot, the second class, first class, star, and life before become beginning the process of earning the Eagle. Along the way, they learn essential outdoor skills, participate in service projects, demonstrate leadership within their troop, and complete a series of merit badges, which you have far exceeded the expectations set by the scout. Um I think most importantly is the way that you give back to the community. And there's a culminating project that the Eagle Scouts must uh complete at the end, um which is a service project. And I know that it oftentimes involves others who you have to recruit to be a participant um and to be part of that along the way. So, both the

080community service project and the 21 merit badges must be completed before they turn 18 years old um as they move forward. So, what we're going to do is have each of you introduce yourselves, the troop you're from, um and then if you'd share what your culminating project was and who you were there, uh and then the um our scout leaders, our parent leaders, if you'd like to come forward too and talk about say a few words about each of the individuals tonight, that would be great as well. So, who wants to start? Sure. Um I was You're right down there. Go ahead. Uh my name is Colby. I'm from uh troop 647. Uh and so, my Eagle project was creating two uh shark-shaped signs for the farmers market. Um so, they have two signs they

081have on either entrance um during the summer and celebration or the summer. Forget. And um these kind of invite, you know, people in and kids can like poke their heads out and uh it adds to the, you know, aesthetic of the program. And maybe one thing about scouting and its impact on your life or what your biggest takeaway has been today. Um, I think that it's kind of you know, helped me get better at like leadership and um helped me like shape or helped shape me and like how I carry myself um with respect to you know, like like guiding others. And I think especially summer camps um when I was able to like be a SPL which is like senior patrol leader. Um, I was able to like help other you know, younger scouts

082like guide them along with their activities. It was really fun. Um, I'm Sabina Lubbeck. I'm from Troop 678 and my project was installing a gaga pit at Jewish Community Center. Um, a little bit of backstory. It wasn't originally going to be my project. I originally wanted to do like a bike rack at the new um at Viking Park by Allen Park, you know. But I ran into a little bit of trouble with that with the city. So um but eventually like a company donated me a bench and pivoted to installing it at the JCC. And scouts impact on Oh, um I feel like I've just gained so many cool like little cool skills that just make me me and I feel like I'm a lot more confident. Um, my name is Emmanuel Lubbeck and I'm

083from Troop 624 and my Eagle project was I built a greenhouse at Food Bank Farms. And uh Food Bank Farms is like a service that like allows people to like who are in need of food like to eat. And installing that greenhouse allowed them to like extend their growing season for like warm weather plants such as tomatoes. And our troops have been working there for about 6 years now. So it's just really nice to be able to give back cuz like since I've joined scouts like we've been doing projects there and it's really helped to give really nice to give back. And uh the way that Scouting has impacted me is I think it helped with my leadership and it like being an SPL and teaching younger Scouts really is something you can only gain

084from doing Scouting. Yeah. So, I'm I'm the I am an Eagle from Troop 624. My Eagle project was like cubby for the preschool at the MYPC. Um that sort of helped clean and to keep the like the the classrooms clean. Um that like made it safer for the preschoolers cuz we have our troop meetings there every week on Mondays. It's just like to give back to them. Um sort of what I've gotten from Scouting is kind of like the leadership, the experience, working with teamwork, and stuff like that. That's really important to me. Um as well as learning how to like make like level-headed decisions in tough situations. I feel like that's helped helped me a lot. Yeah. Okay. Um I'm Davis Beck. I'm from Troop 647 and my group project was I worked with

085Parks and Rec at Luther Burbank. Um and I helped design personally I measured like all the lengths of a tool shed and there was a bunch of tools in there. It was very this like not organized very well and went to Home Depot, bought a bunch of supplies, and kind of um a bunch of wood and cut it out and fitted it so the tools would fit better. And also kind of did some hashed up the tool shed some. And then my experience from Scouting I think it helped me learn from a young age, like leadership uh like um starting at a young level kind of and also a love for the outdoors at a young age. Yeah. Uh my name is Vander Haar. I am from Troop 647 like a couple of the other

086Eagle Eagle Scouts here. And for my Eagle project, I led our troop in creating a flag retirement box at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Association. And it really just came about when uh the Veterans of Foreign Wars reached out to any potential Eagle Scouts on the island who would like to help them with this and I'm so glad I said yes. It was a really rewarding long-term experience. Uh it took a lot of planning and it was really nice to see it all come together at the end. I mean, it's still there um just got to near the kitchen actually uh by the VFW. If you have any flags you want properly retired, you can take them there. And I'd say scouting it really taught me the giving me the appreciation for teamwork and all

087that I can achieve when you can just get a group of people working in a very cohesive way and it just makes everything so much easier and pleasant. So, yeah. Scout leaders, do you want to come forward or stand up say a few words about your uh Say a few words about it. You can stand from here. That's all So, um first thank you for recognizing our Scouts for the significant achievement. I'm uh Ryan Patton, the Scoutmaster for Troop 64 at Sea Scout Ship 11. from our brother and sister troops are here as well. Um I think asking them about their service projects is is critical but to your point about this being years of work, I mean, they've given back to the community for years. Uh and so each of these young men and

088women have um cleaned up parks, removed invasive species from some of the most run uh state parks. Uh they've supported civic organizations including some local churches. Um but, you know, Eagle Scouts reach the pinnacle of a lengthy Scouting career uh that reflects years of leadership uh and and steadfast service to the community. As you noted about, um you know, there's an element of adventure to Scouting. Um you know, away from home in the wilderness, sleeping in sub-zero temperatures. Uh I think many of the Scouts that are here today have gone on a long hike with us with 70-plus mile 9-10 day hike. Uh I know our Scouts from 624 here have done that one or twice. Uh quite an accomplishment. Um they're both going to do a 100-plus mile canoe trip uh in uh in

089the northern uh in the Boundary Waters and um they've both been on a 6-day sailing adventure out of Savannah as a crew on a sailboat in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida. Uh so, if all of these Scouts have a tremendous sense of adventure in my experience, there's probably no better demonstration of um trust and adventure than eating a mystery stew cooked by a 13-year-old. And I'm sure about the adventures that have been done. Um you know, here from from 624 for starters, we have a we have a 6-decade um history with um Mercer Island. Uh our Scouts uh are the 100 17th through the 122nd. Uh the ones who will be in our class today uh who have been who made Eagle uh since our troop was founded. I want to you know, we were

090able to hear from Neil and and Amani. I want to point out we have four Scouts who are absent because they're at a uh a track event um for high school. Uh so, uh Timothy Patera his mother's here today as well. Uh Kai McGlown, Neil Camp, uh no, sorry, Bohan Young. camp and the old park. So, they would like to be here today they can't. So, let me end my thanking this board and really the community of educators and staff within the Mars Area School District who have given our youth including these young men and women the tools to succeed and reach this high level of achievement. Other result leaders. Real briefly, I wasn't planning to say anything but I I'd like to add that there's another step in earning Eagle that hasn't been mentioned

091been mentioned yet. That's for the Eagle Board of Review. So, for every rank advancement a scout needs to sit down with adults that are not his parents and it's essentially a debriefing and interview process. And I would like to point out that when you become very discouraged about what's going on in the world today uh all that you need to do to be cheered up is go attend one of these Eagle Boards of Review and you will appreciate that our future is in very good hands with these young people sitting in front of us. It is inspirational to hear their aspirations, their desires, their goals for their life, what they have achieved already, what they plan to achieve and you do not have to be involved in scouting to sit on an Eagle Board of

092Review. Anyone's interested, you can reach out to any one of the leaders here and we can arrange for you to sit on an Eagle Board of Review. It is really an experience. Do it at least once. Thank you. I'll stand up so that you can see me in the second row here. I want to thank the school board for inviting the Eagle Scouts before us and the adults who could attend this evening. We are among a phenomenal community. My son and my daughter both graduated from Hurst High School. They both attended the scout troops that we have before us. My daughter and my son, they both reached the rank of Eagle and they're now finishing their college career. Um, I am really impressed with every scout, even those who don't go to the rank of

093Eagle because they really work together. They are ones who follow the rules. They they work together as a team. There is a It's called the buddy system and you work together. You you two heads are much better than one and that's what scouts they demonstrate, they model to one another, they model to the community. And we have sitting before us these Eagle Scouts and all of their peers who have attained the rank of Eagle, who are our future leaders of our community. And it gives me great pride to say I look forward to a life of service within Scouting America. Used to be called Boy Scouts of America, but now it's including girls and boys, so we just call it Scouting America. And I I look forward to assisting. I am a former Scoutmaster for

094three years, but I'm continuing on now as assistant Scoutmaster, which I began in 2012 with my son joining. And my daughter a few years later. But uh I just want to thank you for this opportunity and to allow us to share with you how proud we all are of our scouts and to let you know we are on a sitting on a gold mine because every scout is really a stellar academic model within the school. They they have discipline, perseverance, they work together well, they are really less likely to get in trouble, they they're much more likely to succeed in whatever their aspirations are. The merit badges that scouts are required to earn, uh they open up a whole world of career opportunities for them. Whatever they pursue, they may be law, veterinary science, uh

095general science, general medicine, um just all the range a lot It's it's a great program and if you ever have an opportunity to put a plug in at the local elementary schools for Cub Scouting or middle schools or high schools, I promise you the scouts will be graduating with greater honors than if they went through the school system without having been in scouting. So, thank you for this opportunity. Yeah, I want to say a few words to Emma sitting beside me on this camera so from 4126 and I am in nice which is the troop for girls. And just to tie in with the tie in with the word tonight, what I like about scouting as well on top of what the other people said is that in a troop you have like youth from

09612 years old sixth grade or end of fifth grade up to 18 years old senior year and they are sharing their weekly meetings together, they are going on outings together, they are challenging themselves together and they learn from each other. And it's really very impressive to see the older scouts teach the younger scouts and also they often talk about their academic journey. Oh, how is it in high school? I mean middle school currently. Oh, did you know my teacher? Oh, and you know, and I feel like it gives you it gives the younger scouts the confidence when they move into the high school program. And just to come back to Sabina, I'm very proud of Sabina. She was so shy when she started in the scouting program and she gained so much leadership. She went

097over the board. How many merit badges do you have Sabina? 46. A lot. And just to come back to the link with the school, Sabina came back to me this year and she said, "Oh, I know I'm done with the program but I I have a an idea. I have a teacher I really love at MIHS, my material science teacher and I asked him if he would be willing to teach a merit badge for the scouts and so we had all had um some class with Michael Kitchen at the high school one night all the scouts of the island were invited to take this class and we enjoyed it. Um yeah, so thank you for being amazing beings these amazing people. I'm very proud of them. Thank you. Hello, Sheila Miller Vera with both the

098girls troop and troop 647 and I just wanted to name three scouts that were not able to join their fellow scouts here tonight. David Chang who worked with the Mercer Island Municipal Court in my location and Zair Thing who worked with Seattle's Buddhist Temple on their conservation project and Alexander Yin who created the little library at the Mary Way pool and wanted to be sure that their names were also mentioned as they were able to join and they're part of the one of the three nice equals that 647 has uh graduated. Oops. I just We are proud of all of you guys and excited that you'll be joining the straight and have two boys in 647 and I know how much work you all put into achieving this rank and what a life changing experience

099scouting is and uh Mr. Mayor, I just want to say thank you for listening. So, just want to I mean just to echo it's it's so impressive what you guys have done and that Mercer Island has so many Eagle Scouts is I think particularly impressive. Um but just hearing about the projects that you've worked on um with your individual like Eagle Scout journey it's just it's really um inspiring I would say. So, um it's great to see you guys succeeding like this um even though being an Eagle Scout is so shy. Um but it's uh it's great to see you guys um achieving at this level. All right. Each of you should have a deep sense of pride in what you've accomplished. Um when you're you know, under 18 to stick with something for six

100years really says a lot about your dedication. And you so you should just have an incredible sense of pride. And then you take it forward into your life and that sense of service to others hopefully will stick with you forever because really our lives are about what we do for others and less of you know, what we do for ourselves and scouting is a wonderful way to learn that lesson. I'm also from a scouting household and so I'd love to congratulate you guys because I know what an accomplishment it is what you've done. And I'd love to thank you also for everything you've done for our community and other communities, you know, around the world. And I really look forward to hearing what you go on to do from this because I it's a habit

101I think, you know, reaching out and helping other people and seeing how things can be made better. And so I'm sure you're not going to stop with this. Congratulations to all of you men and women CP. What an accomplishment. I mean, so much dedication to be able to do this through sixth grade all the way to now. That's amazing. Seeing all your guys' badges, that's like an insane amount of work. So huge congratulations. And really inspiring to hear everything you guys have done for the community. Yeah, I agree. Especially with Director Bradley about what you do for our community, how important it is and us in here we feel it but also everyone out there they feel it and so the fact that you have done so much amazing work and also so many of

102you become mentors for younger students to do that work and become those amazing people is really awesome. So congratulations and thank you. Please join me in congratulating our newest Eagle Scouts. Eagle Scouts, Dana, our Scoutmasters, if you would join the board, they will squish together here. If you'll join behind them, we'll do pictures. Mr. Henry will do the ones for the district first and then we'll have parents come forward and take pictures as well. Would it work if Brody and Lucy can pull up a chair on either side so that we can have a little bit more space? ability to student agreement. And that's much better. Okay, on me, 3 2 1. 3 2 1. 3 2 1. The parents Almost. All good, parents? All right, one more. 5 minutes. I know we're towards the

103end, but just 5 minute quick break to get food and we will get food and we will resume at 6:30 p.m. >> Mhm. >> Right. Um, picking up on a few more announcements. I'm going to, um, start a conversation with the president and vice president, um, around some thinking that I've been doing around your OEs. And in listening to some of your conversations and thinking about priorities, um, you started this work already and that is really thinking about um, there are certain OEs where you have just level ones and you never really get any more in-depth reports which are via level two. And you have others where we've been monitoring level twos for a very long time. Data's in pretty good shape and it's not getting worse. And so I think those are opportunities to

104scale back. Um, and so how can we shift some things around and then what should we maintain? So, I'm going to be um, having a a larger conversation starting with the two of them and then probably come into you to eventually have to. Um, to think about how might we um, re-prioritize some of the OE reports so that it becomes more strategic and aligned to the current priorities of the district as well as some goals. So, that just gave you a kind of a heads up on that. Um, as I'm moving forward um, on those. Similarly, I've been doing a lot of talking with Assistant Superintendent Williams and really thinking about those fundamentals. And I know that there's been an interest for a while by Director Martinez to possibly even rewrite the fundamentals. Um, before

105we do that, what we'd like to do is rather than monitoring fundamental three and four coming up in May, we'd rather postpone to your June um, board meeting bring you fundamentals one, three, and four as they would be normally reported out on. And then side by side bring you a different look at how we might be able to monitor that and what it could look like. Again, to be more strategic and aligned to the work that the district um, is doing um, behind the scenes or or or right on stage. And then also some of the priorities that you've been talking about. So, um, not not doing things, just changing it trying to think about different ways we might do that. So, um, I just wanted to just kind of give you some updates there.

106Um what we will be doing on May 28th is bringing you a new capital projects I wouldn't call it a proposal. I would say our latest thing around capital projects as you think about potentially a cap tech maybe in 2 years, but more importantly if you're going to entertain a bond in in the next school year. In that we would have some answers to questions that you provided us through a survey that we gave you. What would help you to make a good decision? Our thinking around what would a bond look like if you were to run one next February. And then in 3 years from now as the 2014-15 bonds are coming off what we would think would be the next projects. And then what would be 10 years out from now as well

107to give you an idea. So, I met with Brandy, Tony, and Matt this week. Had some conversations. So, we're going to be bringing you that at your next board meeting. Um On that June 25th meeting, that's been a meeting we've typically held during this during the day because school is out at that point. It's kind of your last meeting before you break for July. And my hope is that we can do that kind of around noon or 1-ish and then extend into about 4:00. So, in the update this week, I'm going to put that in there and have you check your calendars and make sure that that time would work for you to do it in the day. If not, we could do it in the evening, but we typically try to do that. It

108would be part board meeting and part study session. To catch up on some stuff because June 25th? 25th. Yeah. So, if you want to look at calendars now and that's easier, we can do that. I can catch up with Director Martinez, but I'm thinking 12:00 or 1:00 till about 4:00-ish or so. Does that work for those scheduling? Great. Is it Is it any point was this scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m.? It was going to be. We have a leadership training that morning that we're going to finish up on that I'd really like to be part of with the So, we could start it at 9:00 a.m. Thanks. Okay. I will get with director Martinez then as well. Um and then I wanted just to give um a quick update uh and we'll have this

109in some upcoming um work reports and or fundamental reports um that we report out on, but this coming Wednesday Dirk Franklin and I are going to present to the PTA and then we'll start getting some of this information out as well. The results from the 2025 that would have been last October Healthy Youth Survey um or was made available uh last week. And so, we've been taking a look at some of those um results. This is given to our sixth graders, eighth graders, 10th grade, and 12th grade in every other year as a reminder. Um but we have some things that are improving in a really positive way. So, for instance, um our 12th graders with binge binge drinking, that is having drunk five or more drinks in a row in the past 2 weeks,

110um 2 years ago our seniors reported 27% um who had um reported binge drinking, and this year was down to 12% um with this current senior class. Now, that's not class to class, but if we back up where they were as 10th graders, um it was 12% and we're staying at 12%. Um noting previous years we had gone up from 16% to 27%. So, the fact that we flatlined, I think it's some good work that our schools have done along with um Youth and family services um and working with our community. The other one that I'm just going to point out quickly tonight actually I'd like to point out two. One is lifetime sexual violence. Percentage of students who report having ever been in a situation where someone made them engage in kissing, sexual touch,

111or sexual intercourse when they did not want to. Our 12th graders are down 18% the last time they reported down to 6% and that grew from 3% to 6% for that cohort versus the previous cohort was 8 to 18% or 11 to 27%. So we are seeing a decline in that as well as we're working. So that's another one obviously with the student safety that we're going to be monitoring. And the last one is screen time. I don't have the year-over-year comparisons but I do have comparisons to the state. Excessive screen time which is three or more hours of screen time on any average school day. Our sixth graders 23% reported three plus hours compared to the state average of 50%. Our eighth graders are 44% compared to a state average of 61%. And so

112some of that work that I we're going to continue to do to monitor that. I think we're at least starting in a decent position as we begin that work with the technology advisory group and our school team. So just a couple of data points that I think are important to point out. That's some great work that our community is doing. So with that that's my report. Great. Thank you. So we will switch to board updates now. Yes, started. I we had a meeting of the safety committee with Presidian and that was a really interesting meeting with Tiffany had a chance with the administrators present to just speak to President had a lot of questions for them. It sounds like they had a really good meetings earlier big curves also and really looking forward to getting

113their report and then having them the safety committee safety and well-being committee present to the board in a few weeks too and I know the committee is really excited to and so am I. Excited for you all to hear sort of where we where we are at and you know the idea will be that the committee will present to the board and hopefully that will be the city's report will come out and then the committee will do a final report because they're what they are bringing to the board may change once they hear feedback from the city because there were some things that the committee had questions on and so just glad that was the space moving forward there and I personally am excited because I my uh youngest son who's in fifth grade who's

114been attending Hamlin Robinson for a year is moving back to the middle school next year um largely due to the access for all program and how successful it's been and so I just love hearing updates on that really warms my heart. I'm really excited for community this weekend the salad group is putting on a lot of meetings at the North Board from 10 to 3 and I know the salad group has been really working very hard on that and really looking I would say this just overall I've been hearing from a lot of community members in the past couple of weeks about a range of different matters and so I just tend to have a lot of things on my mind right now um big break a lot of feedback about conversations around enrollment around

115uh math pathways especially for the code 32 kids at the elementary schools I've heard concerns about sort of, you know, feelings about Crest not necessarily this coming year, but [laughter] then in the future beyond that. And we're looking at financial updates as we work on our budget, about tech use, and there's so many things. There are so many people, but I did hear some really great feedback. I wasn't able to attend the sixth grade new parent night at the middle school, but I heard some really nice feedback from parents who were really happy with the changes to the tech use at the middle school next year. They were very I was just really pleased to hear the changes that are being put into place. So, I just wanted to pass that on. And they also

116expressed that they were happy that the technology advisory committee recommended it's right about these, so. Um, you know, we'll see. Heard that from a number of different people. Prior to last night, I also just happy with where things are going. So, it's great. And that is all I have for now. Um, I don't have much of a board report. Um, it was a quiet couple of weeks on the board front. Um, I did attend a bunch of band programs. So, I just you know, our band students a bunch of them went to the state level solo ensemble. Um, thank you Ian for the post. Uh, and um, I also went to the Bellevue Jazz Festival last Saturday. So, our band program continues to be thriving and doing a lot of activities. Um, and that is

117basically all that I have. Yeah, um, it's hard to believe that I was seated in December, so it's been almost 6 months. Um, feels like in some ways I'm still getting up to speed. In some ways I feel like I've learned a great deal. Um, it's nice to see some of the work that we've done start to take root. Uh, I wanted to specifically follow up on the technology advisory group that's now up and running. They did a survey last month. It's my understanding that some of the those results from the survey will be in our board reports this weekend. So, I look forward to seeing those. Um you know, so it is very nice to see some of the work that we're doing kind of being start to take action and you know, the

118priorities that matter to the community are starting to, you know, uh take root and action is starting to happen on those. Um in the last couple weeks, I uh had the pleasure of attending a couple of parent advisory group uh meetings at Island Park where we discussed uh interventions, how they happen, and then how they're tracked, as well as the Island Middle School uh Tier 1 team. Uh as we come to the end of the year, I want to thank everybody who participates in these groups uh from the district staff who lead them to the parents who show up and engage. Those really do make a big difference in how we approach our work as board. Uh so, that's uh super helpful. Um and then also, I want to do mean, hopefully people have uh

119have heard this before, but I want to give one more plug for it, that this Monday evening uh President Burnett and Superintendent uh Ronald are hosting a listening session in the Mercer Island High School Performing Arts Center. And so, if you have questions about the district, this is a great place to get them answered, and I encourage everyone to attend. I don't have a legislative report. So, thank you all. Thank you, Sherri. Brian, is there something you'd like to Mention that uh when you're finished. Mention that in the fact that they're going to come home in the middle of the school year and ask questions. Okay, good. So, then it's there. Okay. Thank you both for our legislative reports. Uh it was published in the agenda. Let me just pull it up real quick. Uh

120not very much have gone on in the world of uh legislation. Um you know, and so to the extent that you're you know, relatively limited impacts to Merced Union High School District, but to the extent that you're interested, it's been published there. So, we don't need to say on legislation at this meeting. Questions, sir? Go ahead. All right. Well, I have one more thing. Um tomorrow is National uh School Communications uh officer day. So, uh we have a little uh recognition for Mr. Henry over there. You know, I think that's been one of the you know, turning points for our district certainly in the last four or five years has just been the work that that Ian's done on social media, but also on our website working in conjunction with Andrew with the relaunch of

121our website, but all of the communication that goes in, uh you know, it's surprising to me when I'm walking around in my own community and as a constituent that you hear about our district, um and some things that I didn't even know happened until now, but Ian's out there and he's um publishing things and, you know, it just continues to uh highlight and showcase our students, um but also the things that our district's doing with such a positive way. So, um I just want to give a certificate for School Communicators Day to uh Ian to Ian and then Ian, we also put together this year, um we invited um people from across the community and and across your colleagues to write some things that you've done to make a difference for them, the highlights that

122they've seen you do. And so, we have a collection of some really uh exciting things. Uh we hope that you share with your wife to remind her what a big guy you are. Uh but it truly is um all of those uh touchpoints that you make with our district um put us on the map in such a positive way. >> I don't know. >> [laughter] >> You're supposed to take a photo with me. >> [laughter] >> All right. Sorry. No. Sammy has the board. All right, let's go. Press this. What you tell us? Try to ask me what you want. 3 2 1. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. All right. >> [laughter] >> 3 2 1. 3 2 1. 3 2 1. I just need to say It's like a picture of our fingers, picture

123of our feelings. That's very painful. Hey. Uh thank you all this morning. Thanks for being up with us. Yes. And uh well, we got a lot of this meeting done. And that's what we're saying. You guys got to do something. Uh can I get a professional engineer, please? I move to adjourn. Second. I vote aye. Aye. Meeting is adjourned. All right. This meeting's all over. This meeting's adjourned. All right. I got to go now. I'm going