001Okay. All right. Welcome back. Um, we're convening our executive session and we will reconvene at 6 PM as the community comes in here. Hey Jen, I can hear you. Awesome. All right, everybody ready? Yes, sir. Okay, welcome everybody to this April 30th school board meeting. Um, thank you for being here. We will now stand and say to America for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. Thanks again for being here. Um, can I please get a motion to adopt the agenda? Motion to adopt the agenda. I'll second. Okay. All those in favor? I can I please get a motion to adopt the consent agenda? Motion to adopt the consent. I'll second. All those in favor? I I All right, moving on. Verian Middle School student recognition right out of the gate. Mr. Todd.
002Okay. do a dance. Um, so we've got one more of our student that's coming. So I'm gonna do a little bit of a song and dance here till our next student gets here. We figure you knew there'd be something coming, right? Actually, it might not be a bad idea. We could There is no public comment. You want to have Rob do his presentation? Great. Perfect. We can definitely Okay. And I'll be back. Oh, how I've missed him. All right. You want me to help you out? Yeah. How do I move this forward? Is just Yeah. And I'll be on my slide. Okay. We'll come back to student recognition and now we'll go to reports with Mr. Rob Dunn with food services report. Well, board, thank you all for having me. Dr. ever Kurt. Um, so
003yeah, this is my yearly presentation of food service and uh I think we got a pretty good thing going on here. Um, let's see. First of all, kind of an overview here. Um, I'm going to talk about participation and projections, uh, training and staffing, what we did, our health department inspections, uh, menu offerings, and then kind of the future of the program. So, a lot of numbers on this page. The biggest takeaway is uh breakfast counts are up 5.4%. Mostly at IR and lunch is up 7.6%. So that's um huge and that equates to a lot of dollars into food service. So that's very beneficial. Uh overall we're still at about a 41% free reduced percentage. Um that's slowly been ticking up over the last six or seven years, but we're still technically not a
004you know we're not a poor district, we're not a rich district, but we're kind of right in the middle there. 4041. So, um yeah, those numbers are great. That's participation through um through March. Um and if you just want to extrapolate them out, but and it's 7.6% is looking good. So, we talked a lot about House Bill 1238. According to my auditor, they're still kind of figuring out yearbyear. Uh basically what they're doing is everyone's free in a K um a K4 school, right? So I everybody's free if you're over 30% free and reduced. We're at 43 at so everyone eats for free. Um that's why we're having uh such uh great participation. Um but again, technically they don't know what they're going to do year after year, but taking something away like that away
005would be pretty uh detrimental to to all parents and whatnot. Um, and you know, the team over there, Renee Fox, uh, Pam and Valerie, they're doing about 230 at breakfast and over 500 at lunch. Um, which if you know any about like what most elementaryaries do, most elementaryaries have 500 kids in them. Um, we happen to have eight, but 500 is just unheard of. So, they're doing a great job and and getting kids and in and out every day. Uh, we have some new staff, which I'm pretty excited about. As we know, Bobby Frost left last year after 30 something years, 28 years. Uh so we have Missy is taking over the uh middle school here. Missy Stelman, she came from Rusty Wagon and uh she's got a daughter in the office, a daughter running
006start at the high school. I think she's got a grandkid, so she's kind of entrenched in the district. Uh and she's doing a fantastic job this year. And I was able finally to get a delivery driver about three month four months ago. So, I'm kind of excited on that. Um, can you tell me why you have a delivery driver? Uh, they work four hours a week. So, they do two uh two days of two hours. Uh, middle school's our hub. So, all our broadline stuff comes in. Tomorrow, I'm getting in about 160 cases of product. And so, um, what they do is they come and they disperse it out to the high school. um all the staff, all the trainings we did at the beginning of the year, the civil rights meal pattern, um about
007half my staff has completed the new one that came out. Um so they all know the deadline on the 14th on that. And then um we talked about the audit and health department expectations. So health department, we are required to email requesting two inspections each year. uh that was taken care of. Um and we received an inspection at IR in the high school and we've not received one at the middle school this year. Um so basically both I and the high school we had zero red high-risisk factors. So they both got perfect scores. Um the Renee had been out for a period of time. So it was kind of nice that Pam was able to step up and make sure that um they got everything done. Okay, school lunch. Uh, so salad bar. Um, I
008think we do a great job. Uh, I put on there the fruit that we offer because, you know, a lot of people don't really, you know, parents don't see it unless they see it. And, you know, we're doing cantaloupe, kiwi, strawberries, pears, apricots, all fresh stuff. So, um, we've got a great salad bar for the kids. Um, they don't enjoy it as much as we do, but, uh, you know, I can do is put it out there. Some of the scratch cook items we're still doing from last year. The green chili enchiladas, tater tot casserole. We had this last week. Uh both of those are two of my favorite. Uh that's Missy right there. Got the pulled pork. She's making uh homemade klelaw, baked beans. She just takes black beans, brown sugar. Um cooks them
009up and um anyway, it's a it's a nice little entree there. Uh this is from our holiday meal this last year. We had it uh the schools we had the the um little homemade pumpkin tarts and then turkey gravy. It's not sliced turkey but it's it's kind of like it you know it's gravy with turkey in it. Kids like it. I know. It was wellreceived doing that. Yes. Especially from the people serving it. They Yeah. We did a holiday meal this year. next year. Well, next year we'll do whatever we do, but uh yeah, I know. I don't know about that. Well, Bobby wasn't here to remind me. Um anyway, so yeah, we got the holiday meal in and it was it was it was a nice job. So, this is our big thing this
010year. We have um muscle sheet coho salmon and uh this is Lisa putting some uh oranges on it. Cook it off. Uh that's a plate right there. Uh we have broccoli um salad up in the corner there. It's got cranberries in it and um anyway it was it's great. I usually eat two portions whenever we do it. Um it's great. So all of these beautiful colorful meals fall with any budget. Yeah, it's great. Well, when you're doing 500 kids for lunch at at an at three people, we make a lot of money. I mean, we really do. and then for breakfast as well. So, um you know, state requires that we use that money in food service and also the salmon is um commodity. So, there's a there's another piece if I can around the
011financing that it's restricted, right? So, we can No, I just love that it's colorful, fresh, healthy food. That's what I'm focused on. Well, that was that was a directive from my uh supervisor and uh we made it happen. Actually, the ladies made it happen. Um, it may be the only colorful healthy meal a child has. So, I love that we're cook. Yeah, it's good, too. I mean, they do a great job. Mac and cheese, but we did it once. The high we did the first time at the high school. We didn't menu it. We just did like 20 portions because we wanted to make sure we didn't fall in our face. Um, and it was it was good. Lisa did a great job. And then we've done it twice the high school. We each time
012we've done about 35 portions. And we did it here and we did about 48. So, uh, 48 middle school kids. I didn't expect that, but um, you know, it turned out great. It was neither that or pizza. There's still a lot of kids get puns anyway, right? So, but it was it was good. So, that's what we got going on. Uh, the program going forward um, and one thing I say with the salmon too, Lori at the high school, the second at the high school, she um, gets creative with leftovers. So, I had some leftover salmon. Next day she made um salmon um cream cheese and put on bagel. We sold like eight of those. So anyway, you know, getting creative. It's good. Yeah. Um we're going to continue to cur scratch cooking and preparation.
013Um and then provide leads, things they need, you know, ovens, make sure they work, all that good stuff. Um and then always increasing the salad bar offerings is good. And then increasing some salads and grabbing your entre. Any questions for me? When did when did Missy start? She started the beginning of the school year. Actually, she started be beginning of the school year, end of last she had subbed for us. Yeah. And then she started the beginning of the school year and they um uh allowed Bobby to work with her for I think for the first month because this is kind of the hub like everything come all the commodities come here, the broad liner, all the produce comes here that gets delivered out. So, um kind of have, you know, overseeing that. Um, and
014she does a great job and they do a lot here, too. So, it's really great to see the push for scratching. Yeah, I recall my children were younger, it felt like everything was coming out of a frozen box and just being defeated and that I Yeah, it is a balance. It is kind of a lead to, you know, lead a horse to water situation. um you know, you offer it, hope 46 kids take it and hopefully next time 52 kids take it and Right. And it wasn't even the offering so much as just the process was we were feeding the kids frozen food and reheating it in our cafeterias and that that was I remember being fed in the basement of the old MHS and it they were cooking their big batches of chili and
015and it was scratch stuff that fed. So, it's I'm glad to see it come full circle where we're back to that. My other my actual question is when you say we're at 41% reduced, do you have any tidbits on how we are we missing the data? How do we get more information? When I got here five years ago, I I look back like the three years previous and we were like at 37 and a half, then we were at 38, then we were 30, you know, this was before I got here and we're we're just kind of creeping up a little bit. Um um I think they do a great job at about getting applications filled out probably all the schools. Um um but I I mean I don't think we are I don't think
016we're missing data. I think what's really difficult uh is the mechanism is an application and a lot of times the benefit is free meals if you do it and then when we have a program where everyone gets a p you know they get a meal for free regardless of whether you turn an application it's super hard to get responses right okay that's what I was wondering and we have other things like students at the high school level can get waiverss for SATs and things of that nature that the free and reduced so a lot of people don't realize that that's a benefit of having that understanding But it's always a struggle and and I think Rob's right. We know Lisa and the principles are doing a great job, but um the mechanism needs to change.
017And my understanding is the legislature understands that because you know they're seeing other districts that people aren't filling applications because their kids are the little kids are eating free anyway. So why go to why do this extra thing? So um you know who knows what it looks like a year, two years, five years from now. I would say yeah. I mean getting my second grader or fifth grader to eat at home is difficult and like I've been to Ireie and watched how everything is just run. It's it's phenomenal to watch. So it's it's so chaos. Yeah, it is. Yeah. But every kid sits down and they're relatively eating and not messing around. It's it's great. It's awesome. Great. And then thank you everyone. I've really enjoyed my time here. So this is my last year.
018Um, so I've got two more months left and then just gonna retire sunset. I'm gonna hate it. Everyone I've talked to, everyone I talked to has said, uh, the only thing they do differently is they would have done it sooner. Well, congratulations. Thanks for everything. Thanks, guys. For your leadership and you run it. Yeah. Five years. Appreciate that. All right. Thanks, guys. Can I add that Rob just passed a state audit with Washington state auditor's office too? So we didn't have any of the exceptions there. The recommendations. Nice job. Good job. Thanks. Good job. Thank you. Circle back. Bruce with me. All right. So we'll see like alumni work. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um it's a little bit different twist. Um but I'm really excited about this opportunity to highlight a couple of our students
019here. Think about our ML students, students that that are in um identified as um multilingual learners. So, wanted to share a little bit about what that program really means because there's like a couple of different acronyms that that fly around um with that and then be able to have a couple of our students uh just kind of share a story and they were a little nervous. So, it would be awesome and um so they'll be up here in a second. And then I'd like also like to intro introduce Judith Zinc. Um Jay-Z is in the house and oh um I'll invite you up here with us. Yeah. Come on up here. Come on up here just so um Judith does a fantastic job um making sure that all of our students feel comfortable and um
020welcomed here in our middle school. So the work that you do is fantastic and and so not only recognizing our students but also the work that that you're doing with them too. So as I as I go through this if there's things that you want to I will bounce right in there. You will bounce. All right. Um so who are our multilingual learners? So MMLS are um recent uh immigrants and students born in the United States come from homes where two or more of the languages are spoken and bring rich and colorful perspectives to our school. So thinking about that where um students have the opportunity to be able to have multiple language um languages that they speak. And so that's that's a that's a pretty cool deal. Um I think and so I'm really
021excited for them to be able to share some of some of their experiences. Um thinking about that sense of belonging. So if you can remember back in school and and anytime I mean that you transition from elementary to middle school there was that I don't know I'm so scared or you know going from middle school to the high school. But now even think about if you have some of those language barriers, you know, that make it difficult to really understand everything that's going on. And so here are some ways that, um, you know, that we want to be able to create that sense of belonging. So, um supporting inclusion and engagement in diverse classroom settings. Um creating a safe environment for students to learn, thinking about that safe place to kind of explore and make
022mistakes and learn um learn, fall, and grow along the way. Um feeling seen and heard and valued. Um confidence to speak up and contribute. That's really a tough sometimes a really a tough task to be able to come in and say, "Hey, you know, what do you think? Why don't you tell us u a little bit about what you're thinking?" So, some of the ways that we do that, well, I'm going to be back in a couple weeks or May 14th to talk to you a little bit more about what I do in the classroom and how we work with the kids. But just so you I'll just give you some examples to make it a little more concrete. So the supporting inclusion is literally what did you do in your home country. So recently
023we had a health class and the focus they brought in a speaker and the focus was on uh body autonomy and so for some of my students they even after we translated and we went over they had no clue what was going on. So instead, we talked about, well, is it okay if someone and they all said, "Oh, yeah, my teacher did it all the time." We were always hit if we didn't follow along. So, okay. So, you know, it it it is one way for them to tell me where they're coming from and then for us to be prepared for that. Uh, one more from the the one of the things that I noticed when I first started here was that the MLS were at the back of the room. They were not speaking
024enough and they weren't bringing their own. There's a ton of pride in all middle school students and these guys, I didn't hear it. So, we just pushed just little bits, little things, and it really made a difference. Oh, yay. um students here. So, uh yeah, I just want to add a little bit more to that to get you give you an idea what that means. Um how the sense of belonging impacts our students. And so you think about that, you know, here are some areas that academic performance, emotional well-being, motivation, and engagement. um especially critical for ML students facing those language barriers. Super challenging. Um some challenges for our ML students uh language barriers, cultural differences, stereotyping or bias, social isolation, and then limited representation in curriculum. Um what does belonging look like? I know
025you and I talked a little bit, but you talked some about this, too. Some of the things that you see in the in your classroom. One of the the first things when I started was I we weren't sure where my classroom was going to be was probably going to be in a portable and I thought, "Cool, that's actually great. They have better heating and they have AC." So, yeah, I'm in. I was pretty excited about that. Um, and they put me in the room that can start just over here. And I was like, "Oo, this is the nicest classroom ever." I've worked in some really awful, but some really nice place. It was a lot of windows. I've got plans. I was really excited. And then I was told, "No, you're moving." And so I
026went inside the building and I was where the nurse is now. And it was uh fine. It was just small space. I don't need a big space. And I noticed that I noticed that the kids were coming in really quickly. Like they they were coming in between classes. They were coming to a poor school. And I made the mistake of cutting my hair with bangs short. And I was gringador within 27 seconds. Every Spanish speaking student would call me Gringodora. There was a definite sense of belonging from their point of view. I was just a walkable creature. But they I said to Todd when they were ready to move me out to the portable that I don't think it's a great idea. Like I understand there's a distance going on, but if you move me
027away, we're going to be moving all of those kids away. They won't be coming through. And so now I'm in room five. I'm I'm right really central, right in the center. And my room is busy between before during lunch. Not all the kids come at lunches. Right now, grade eight's a really big thing and they all come in, they listen to music and close the door and try to block it and they dance. Lots of dancing eighth period 8 eighth grade lunch. So, so for them they feel better and we have other kids come in, kids that aren't Hispanic, kids that aren't, they do they are coming in more and more. So, it's more of a sense of everybody as opposed to just one bird, but it's also a place they can speak Spanish and
028feel comfortable. So thinking about that story that you just heard, you know, that scenario, feeling respected, valued, and included, being kind of in the center of everything, having strong peer and teacher relationships. Um, we talked about that, seeing one's culture and language reflected in the environment, you know, the dancing and and um feeling comfortable um participating in meaningful ways. So those are um you know, some of the ways that we look to build on that. So now we're ready for this is Miguel, an eighth grade student and we'd like to share a story with you. So I'm going to stand really close to Miguel. Yeah. Hi, my name is Miguel and I'm an eighth grader and I've been at Marian since fifth grade. I'm really thankful that it's a chance to speak to you with
029you today and I'll share my story. Outside of school, I love playing video games and basketball and baseball. If I had to describe myself in three words, I'll say kind, caring, and appreciative. One thing people might not know about me is that I speak three language months, which is in my main language, Spanish and English. My younger brother and and I are the only speak English speakers in our family. So I so I translate often translate to my for my parents whether it's helping paying rent or ordering food at restaurants or reading people. I'm proud to help my family but I but I'll be I'll be honest. Translating all the time can get really tiring especially when I don't know all the right words. I start learning English and food and even though I enjoy
030being bilingual bilingual and sometimes it's nice having a private language with my family language barrier is so it takes a lot of effort to switch between language in my head especially when I'm in class trying to keep up with my homework has always been positive place for me to feel safe and welcome I like seeing my friends and staff here are chill and patience. My teacher check in with me and I appreciate that class in activities and love that me in the morning. It takes it makes me feel I belong. If I could change one thing, it would be to encourage more friendship between students in different backgrounds and to support peers translate in class. I also think it would help to have more staff who speak Spanish and students in home language especially for
031kids who are to move to this country. A student welcome group or community could help your student feel included right away. I hope the school board school board remembers that speak Spanish English well face unique challenges. It's not just about learning the language. It's about being understood, supported and included. for my future. I want I want to stay in this area and become a police officer so I can help Spanish speaking communities and support people when they're in trouble. I like to speak to I like to go to a local college. I recently found out there are scholarships that could help who can really support students like me by sharing that kind of information earlier. Thank you for listening to me. I hope my story helped you to see the importance of culture, understanding, and
032empathy in our school. Man, how good is that? What was your favorite video game? Uh, it was way um Brawl Stars. Brawl Stars. Oh, my son loves that one, too. Yeah. Weird. Thank you for sharing your story. Um, she's going to read hers in Spanish and Jesus, a grade student, is going to translate. Okay. Um, [Music] Inco amigos is from this Mar and Twitter. I speak Spanish at home and started learning English when I was 10 years. Even before I moved here from Honduran, one of my favorite things about knowing two languages is that I help other students in class. I really enjoy learning, especially when I get to practice English with both speaking and non-speaking friends. Volleyball. I'm feel welcome. I like playing volleyball and soccer with my friends, going to the park with
033my family and dancing at church on Sundays and Fridays. I'm proud of my culture and the food from Andreas and I'm learning to cook with my mom. I also love church is very important to me. [Music] One thing I want this whole board to understand is how hard it can be for new newcomers. It's scary when every everything is new and different neighbors. I hope adults take the time to understand what we're feeling and give us space to grow with support. I think teachers would be more open to learning from Spanish speakers too. It's nice when it um in the future. I want to go to college and become a doctor or a police officer so I can help people, especially those who who speak Spanish. I hope my school and can help me teaching
034us early about college graduation and how students like me can reach 4. Thank you for listening to me and and for supporting students for learning in more than one language. We have a lot to offer and we try to we're trying our best every day. All right. So, that was pretty powerful. Um, just I am so proud of these students to be able to come up and stand in front and put themselves out there and that's these are not public speaking students. So, you know, they're not. They are what this is about. They agreed to do that. Yeah. But they want to do Yeah. So I think the courage to do that is really phenomenal. So thank you very much. Nice job. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. That was
035awesome. And I I did want to share um coming from a Hispanic family um we were not able to celebrate our culture and our differences in in the 50s and 60s my family settled here. So it's very nice to see you come up here and speak and share and that you feel like you belong because that wasn't the story of my family when they first got here. Um, so to know that you feel at home here and that you're being valued and heard, it gives me hope. So, thank you. Tell you what, it's a pretty good day if you can do some laughing and crying all in one day. Wrap it up with a good hug and you got the whole passion. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Judith.
036All right. That's a tough act to follow there. Finance. All right. Oh, yeah. I got that pocket. Oh, yeah. District resources. All right. Food service. We saw that once. Yeah. Okay. So, I'm here today to share a little bit about our counseling and wellness report. Um, two things I want to focus on today. First is under counseling. I want to talk about the um Oops, hitting the wrong button there. Uh, so let me go back for just a second. So, starting with student health services. So, that's going to be our school nurses. It's going to be our health room assistants and the work that they do in the district. And then I also want to talk about behavioral health support specifically. I want to zero in on the partnership that we have with the ESB
037for the mental health practitioners. Um, and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a second, but u it's actually a really cool program that we're we're able to provide to our students. Um, and it's pretty unique when we look at what's happening in some other places right now. So, um, first I want to start with successes. And that first bullet point is a huge success for us because we're one of the only school districts in the area that can say we have a mental health practitioner at all three levels in our district. We have one um at the elementary school, middle school, and the high school. Now um this year we added one at Irene Ryder. Um combined uh Laura's received 151 uh referrals to her for supports from from family, staff members,
038kids themselves. um and 75 of those students are receiving services through one of those three people. So, it's it's a pretty impactful um system that that we've been able to put together over the last few years and you know using really grants um to to help support it along with um that partnership with the ESC. So, I'm, you know, case loads are full, like they're hopping. And, uh, the best part about those 75 kids is is each of those mental health practitioners are available for kids for services over the summer also. So, we they come on campus one day a week. We've been last year we did it at the high school. We'll have to figure that out. We're going to do that again this year for all of them. Um and it was a
039great way for kids to stay connected with the supports that they were receiving dur throughout the school year so that you know they have some continuity in that. Um one of the big successes in health services has been the triage process that we put in place in an effort to try to maximize the efficiency of that department. So a lot of times kids were going to teachers saying I don't feel good. They were just going to the health room. And so what that did was really bog down the system and really kind of probably resulted in kids um going home a lot more frequently than um they necessarily needed to. So that triage form has been really helpful. A lot of the work and I think one of the things that you see over at
040um Irene Ryder right now with with the increase in student attendance is obviously that's been been a big focus for Tyler, but Amber Erdman who's the nurse over at Irene Ryder really attributes a lot of kids being and staying in class to that triage form. So, um I really want to call out the work that they've done that. They do it differently. You know, at Irene Ryther, they use a a Google form. Up here at um the middle school, they use a Qualrix um form for that. Um but it's it's been really helpful for them and in being able to focus on the supports that they needed to focus on. Um hey Erin, sorry it's Jana. I'm in the middle. I I know. How are you Janet? Hi. Before you move on from that, um
041um can you explain the credentials and education someone needs to hold those the mental health pract practitioner position? Yeah. Yeah. So they are all M's level. Um so they they've gone to school for this so to speak. Um they've been through a mental health counseling pro uh program. uh they've received a mental health uh lensure or credential. Um there is uh with that comes things like HIPPA. So you know there there is a a health department component to that where they have to have their um they have to keep up with their lensure every few years. So there's specific classes they have to take and different things uh areas of focus and everything. Um, does that answer your question or is there more you you we you want to know? Nope, that was it. Thank
042you. Okay. Yeah. And if there's if if you do have more questions about that, I'm happy to share who the who the mental health professionals are, kind of what their systems look like. If you guys want me to send that to you in this next week, I'm happy to do that. We can send it through James. I think it's just great for us to understand the work and education um and continuing education all of our um staff needs to go through. Yep. Yep. and and the the these folks in particular, there's specific things they have to receive education on. So, you know, it's not just they can go and take any classes. There are specific um focused areas and I can get more of that information to you if you want. So, they aren't necessarily
043masters in like clinical psychology or they have a master's in mental health, masters in or it it's also possible for for like um social work a lot you'll see. Yeah. And one just on that was a topic before each one of these folks come to us at a third of their cost, right? So this one person is is the cost of all three because of the grants or the really it's really unique for us to Yeah, it's it's a really I will say in talking with other people who handle this part of their work in other districts, we're we're pretty lucky to have what we have. So, I feel very grateful for the work that Kurt did working with the health department to get that in place, Laura with with um working with the ESD
044and then just the ESD being willing to to help us um push her get some extra support for our kids. And how long is that grant available to us? We have it for two more years. It also is um you know, we look at funding questions, something that gets on the bottle. So we'll end those as we see. Yep. For sure. Um so looking at areas of growth in both of these parts of our district, um our mental health professionals have full case loads like I mentioned. Um that means we have waiting lists. Um they do a really good job of of assessing as they work are working with students. And so when a student is ready to be exited off their case load, they do go through a a a process for that. Um
045and they are looking for opportunities to do that. However, that's different for each kid. And so um you know, we we we did this year have um we lost the in building support from Compass Health. Um, and so, you know, that's something we're going to have to talk about, and I'll I'll talk about that in just a on the next slide. Like, we have more kids than we have even though we for we than we have support for right now, even though we have a lot of support compared to others. Yes, Michelle. So, when you're saying they have waiting lists, are these students who do not have access on a personal level to mental health? Laura is continuing to try to help support kids. A lot of the kids that are being seen in the
046buildings are kids who struggle with access outside. Okay. So they she so yes, some kids we continue to come back to trying to find resources. It's not like Laura's like, "Oh, you're on a waiting list." Then she moves on. She's continuing to keep working on it. So because I know there's waiting lists everywhere in private practice for everyone as well. Yeah. Okay. Um you know that from your sister's practice. I do. Yeah. So, um, one of the things that is going on at Irene Ryther is this focus on increasing student attendance is leading to students coming to sick or coming to school sick sometimes. And so, um, it's I mean, it it's a tricky thing um to navigate a little bit. And so, you know, a lot of times there's phone calls home and parents
047are, well, you want my kids at school. And we're like, yeah, we want them at school healthy. and and so, you know, continuing to educate the community around these are the types of things that we really want kids to stay home for. Um, you know, allergy season is always one of those times where things get tricky a little bit. Um, that last bullet point, um, compliance with policy 6700. So, uh, food at schools and you know if, uh, for for those folks who have students at Irene Ryder, I know a lot of messages have come out, um, around the types of foods that come in for classroom parties and different things. And, you know, um, one of the one of the things that I'd say is, you know, five years ago, we had three type
0481 diabetics in our district. This year, we have nine. And so, and students who are getting identified older and all of a sudden we just find out we have a diabetic like we just had that happen a few weeks ago. Um, and so the food that comes in really does matter. And so that's going to be an ongoing um area for us to work with educating our our parents about, yeah, we want you to celebrate the great good big things in the classroom and stuff, but we got to do it in a way that's going to keep our kids safe and not not set ourselves up um for something, you know, bad maybe happen to one of our kids. So, are we seeing that maybe greater attention at as opposed to Here's what I would
049say. I would say so I will say when I was at the high school when I was at the high school we we had like we had an incident with a peanut butter cup. So you know I think it happens at every level. I will say and I I give Tyler a lot of credit that Tyler's really leaned into this with with um staff and making sure the staff understands so that staff can reinforce it. Um it's it's everyone being on the same page and you know it that sometimes takes a little bit of time. So just wondering if the high school the kids are self monitoring a little bit better. They do. Well, I hope so. But every now and then, like I said, you get surprised. Um future challenges, like I said, the
050type 1 diabetic situation in the district three, five years ago, nine this year. Um increase in seizure disorder, um challenges, um more epipens, um just things that we have to monitor. So something like outdoor ed, which is a really great program for us to offer, becomes a pretty tricky thing to support as we go because we got to make sure that we are keeping kids safe when they go on these trips. Um, continuing to find more ways for students to find behavioral health supports. That's going to continue to be a need, um, just like it's a need in our community for people who are kids. Um, and then staffing in in health services. James talks about, you know, budget challenges and different things. And we do a really good job, I think, in our district
051compared to a lot of other districts of making sure that we have folks on boots on the ground to help support kids. But as budgets get stretched, resources get stretched for continuing to to keep ourselves staffed at that level. And so our staff does a really good job. I'm really proud of of Stacy King, Amber, um Jenny Kenudson and Brena Amed and the work that they do um with our kids and they do it. Stop by the health room sometime. It's a hop in place, let me tell you. So, it can be pretty stressful. Pretty nice. Any questions or Sounds like a tough job. No, they Yeah. And I'll I'll get more information on on the mental health professionals to you guys so you know who it is and and a little bit more about
052maybe what their specific programs are looking like, the specific programs of support. So, we know that we're asking a lot of our nurses. I mean, there strikes going on at the hospital, right? Um, so what are we doing to support and care for our team members in that role so that they don't have the burn? I mean, we know that it's Yeah. um turn and burn and well I mean I I have I have a lot of flexibility with our our staff and you know I look at at you know this year we have a nurse who's taking time to to help take care of her family and we're trying to navigate it the best we we can. It's also not the easiest position in the world to to back fill when you have someone
053step out of it. Um, so you know, flexibility, understanding, you know, um, each each of each I I I have made a joke with with Julie several times, whether it's this part of our district or special ed, like I feel like every time I turn around, we have something else going on for for one of our staff members that we need to support, you know, through a tough moment or family situation or different things. And that's a big one, I think. Um, Amber and Stacy have a lot of voice in the supports of of kids. Um, you know, they, you know, I check in with them really frequently. I know both of them check in with the building principles and and have a lot of respect from everyone who's working with them. So, yeah, we
054we do our best. I mean, it it is it's a it's a tough I'm guessing what we're doing to fill their tanks because we know that we're like asking a whole lot. Yeah. And I and I think that's a good question for for all of our staff really because I think that when you work in education your your chain gets drained pretty quick. So y thank you. Moving on. New business. Woohoo. First review, facility naming and dedication committee recommendation. Hi all. Um, thank you for having me. I know I was at it kind of a little bit late. Um, we met as a group uh this past April 16th, I believe. um and came to a conclusion about what we liked the PowerPoints on here. Angie, thank you. Oh, I know. We have it. Oh,
055you guys have We have totally No, I that's fine. I just I'll I'll look at that. So anyways, I'll go through it as if I had the PowerPoint. Um, so anyways, uh, we met as a a group twice. Um, we had the option of meeting like four or five times to kind of see what we wanted to do. The committee was made up of, um, former athletic director Steve Miller, a community member. Uh, Randy Kirk, who's a community member, also works for the district, has been here a long time. Uh Shane Stacy, who's a current coach, um former athlete, um Ryland Bernardi, not Ryland, sorry, Eden Bernardi, um who is a current student athlete, um myself, obviously. Um Mark Simmons was part of the group and uh Von Hagen was also part of the committee.
056So, we had a good group of people uh people who had been reaching out and asking about being part of the next committee um after we did uh Dian's ceremony and everything. Um sat down um talked about it for a while, came up with a bunch of names um and one name kind of came to the top and that name um was uh Bob. So, for those of you who have been around the district um or who lived have lived in the area um the name probably sounds familiar. Bob was a longtime coach and teacher at Meridian. Um he coached um for a very long time. Um racked up 333 wins, 25 playoff appearances, 19 league championships, 10 state semi-final appearances, six state championship game appearances, three state championships. Um and his influence um it
057goes beyond the wins um and and the losses and the titles and all of that. Um, if you know Bob at all, um, you know the type of guy he is, the type of person, um, he is, the type of coach he still is since he's still volunteering his time, um, the type of teacher he was, just a great a great guy. Um, the other names that, and I'll talk about Bob um, a little bit more here, but I want to make sure we recognize the other individuals that were discussed. Um Steve Al Steven was a former um athlete um who passed away um very very early in his life but he was coaching at the time um and then had to step away for health reasons um passed away. Mike Proeller was a longtime
058assistant coach with um with Bob Matt Meridian and Proeller is also back helping coach. He just kind of showed up last year and we got him all squared away. Um, if you know Mike, he is another fantastic individual, quirky, funny. Um, he there are a lot of other words I could use to describe um, Mr. Proeller. But I had the the great opportunity of um, being his student much like, uh, I was Bob's student. Um, also coaching uh, being coached by Mr. Proeller and then also coaching with him until he he retired from coaching or he unretired from coaching. Um, and then we also talked about Dick Jabbora, who's a longtime running coach, teacher. Um, Ron Beckbed, um, who's a dedicated community member, supporter, and a super fan of Marine Athletics. Ron passed away not
059too long ago, has had put in lots of time and effort into the community, into athletics, donating energy, financially. Um, and so we went through and talked about all of these people. But yeah, again, Bob, um, f fantastic guy. Um, and very deserving in in our mind. Um, clearly we're we're going to allow the board to make the decision about what you would like to do. Um, but it is the committee's recommendation that you would move forward with Bob Amos Field. We've talked about um, and I'll just give you a little bit more information. I know there's a lot that needs to go on still, but the group wanted me to recommend a couple things. Um so we we were hoping that we would be able to have a planned celebration barbecue tailgate for after
060the game um former a formal sign unveiling. Um there's a concept that I attached um that's pretty rough. So just heads up. This is not a finished copy by any means. This is just me messing around um and trying to put some stuff together. Um, we want to do, um, this was actually the idea of Mark, um, Michelle's brother, who was, uh, gracious enough to be part of our group, but he said, "What about like a a stencil and we could like spray it with signature?" Kind of like what we have on Dax, we have our signature. It'd be great if we had field turf and then it' be permanent, but also um, can't have everything we want. So, uh, potential thing we could do is talk to Grau Signs, ask them to create a
061stunt for us. They just throw that sucker down on the ground, spray it, and right there on the 25s like they have in the NFL, the NFL logo. And we think that that would look pretty cool. You have to explain that to me. Yeah. I was like, that's a good idea, too. When Mark brought it up, I was like, man, that's a great idea. Yeah. Um, and then we talked about a pregame ceremony with speakers including uh former athletes, assistant coaches, current former athletic directors. I can be left out of it if need be. That's totally fine. I don't mind. uh superintendent um and whoever else we kind of decide needs to or would like to speak um modeling it after Diane Ason's event, we probably would like to keep it pretty similar. So, we'd
062probably use the model just like that. Um and then I I did um just like I talked to Diane when her name popped up as the number one person, I wanted to reach out to Bob, see if this is something he'd be comfortable with. Um, you know, Bob, he is a he can be a prickly guy sometimes. And in my mind, I'm sitting like, "Oh my gosh, this can go one of two ways." He could say, "Absolutely not. What a ridiculous idea." Like, "Don't even mention my name." Um, it's just way off to one side. Um, but the conversation was actually great. Um, he said, "Okay, yeah, that'd be okay." Um, and then he said, you know, well, I don't know, like maybe I'm not really the person to talk to about this. And I
063was like, okay, well, is is Pam there? His wife. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hold on. And I hear some talking in the background. All of a sudden, Pam grabs the phone and she's laughing. I was like, "Hey, Pam, how's it going?" She's like, "Good. Um, yeah, Bob just told me that you guys want to like name the bathrooms after him or something." Like, "Oh my gosh." So, I was like, "No, no, no. We're talking about the other." Oh, that's great. like but like he totally had convinced his wife that that we were going to put Bob in his bathroom or something. So very very Bob if you know him at all. Um so anyways um again very crude illustration here. Um but this is kind of the idea right Bob as Field. Um, if you look
064look at the current scoreboard that we have at the high school for the stadium field, the bottom right hand corner when we originally installed it back in 2017, it said Aquafina. It was blue and it had white writing. Well, time does not do nice things sun with that. So, it's kind of faded out, which is kind of nice. Um, since Walton Beverage has not given us money to renew that um aquafina sign. Um, and so the idea that the group had was to figure out maybe a picture of Bob put up there or a caricature. There are many Bob Yodas or Yoda Bobs or just cool pictures of him um that could go up on the scoreboard if that's something the committee feels that we should do. Um, if you've been to Bob Tisdale up
065at Mount Baker, they have like a handdrawn picture of Bob Tisdale um at Noac. don't think they do and I don't remember the name of their field but it is also named. Um so that is an option Lambert. Sid Lambert. Thank you. Um Shell's brother Mark also had the awesome and I I I don't think this is something we should do personally but if the board decides it's something you want to do but he he said you know it would be really cool if we had like Bob always wore and you can see in this picture but a backwards Hawaiian rainbow hat. We should like get a giant backwards Hawaiian rainbow hat and just hang it on the corner of a little scoreboard so it just hangs off. I actually said that I agreed it
066like but in bronze or a metal. Yeah, I was like man that's a very another very unique idea. Um I leave all those decisions up to um people who are higher up than me um to make. But I I think uh very very cool. Um so um that is our not mine. Um that is our hope that you as a group would decide that that is something you should do. Um and we believe he is a very deserving person that has made a longlasting um impact, positive impact in the community. Um looking just at this group, we have former players. Um we have former coaches. We have um people whose children have played for him. We have, you know, siblings. Um yeah, and people who have been taught by him, I know Janna's not here,
067but um and Michelle, oh, I'm here. And I was the cheerleader. Yeah. So, um I think everyone here has probably a Bob story or you know, a story of a Bob story that they've heard. So, he was also the driver's ed. He taught me how to drive and he also influenced all of us with the lovely Hawaiian culture. Oh, yeah. I think that was for Laurel that was a big deal. He he was always quick to share his culture and throw him out. So, do we do we have feedback on the board? I'm a Yes. Well, we'll come back. We'll come back with a second. I don't know why it says June, though. I corrected May 14. I'm sorry. I corrected it out. Thank you. Yeah. So it'll come back for a vote next time.
068Yeah. I think it is long overdue. Y do we absolutely to get the committee to attend the approval board meeting? Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. That would be fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Any other questions? Pretty simple. Okay. I'm looking forward to the tailgate. Absolutely. Should be Hawaiian themed probably. Yes. Yes. And big pig roast. Bob likes a good pig roast. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Uh, thank you very much. Thanks, Brent. Thanks, Bryant. Yeah. Thank you to the committee for their work on that. I will relay that to Thank you. Um, I'm gonna leave. I got a unified soccer. Thank you. All right. Next up, Dr. uh to present the law academy agreement. So I'm actually going to defer to Aaron on this. This concerns our student that was in Utah and was brought back and it's a transitional placement.
069So just if you could quickly give an overview and how well it's going. Yeah. um this student has returned to another placement um to help support transition um back to family at school. Um the previous placement terminated very quickly um due to just how the program runs. Um students been there for a month. Um by all accounts it's a very successful placement for the student. Um we are working diligently to have the student return. Um the hope is that it will be a short placement. Um and the idea is to move from a much more clinical um supervised program to move more towards what that student will see when they return to school, which is going to be, you know, home school without people supervising all the time. um and interaction with just larger groups
070of people. Uh the student did come home. Um did have some interaction on campus. It was successful, but that was one of the things that was um very overwhelming um in the in the short times on campus was just the sheer amount of energy and people on campus. Going from a place of, you know, 30 35 kids to 485 um is a lot. So uh they are working hard with the student to gain the skills to be successful when they return. So this will also come back May 15. So and this should be fully safety net eligible. Yes. It's it's in the application for next week. So the $85,000 is reimbur. Yeah. So, it should be Yeah. Yeah. I'm putting it in the application that we submit next week. So, y good. And I had
071I had I was under the impression that it was students may have went for placement based on like a behavior situation. But in in these situations, is it really in the best interest of the child's safety that they go to these and nothing like of this nature is available in Washington state? There's nothing like it goes to Washington state. And I think what I would say, Michelle, is it could be a lot of different reasons why. Um, and then we talk about safety and and the behavioral piece could be a component of that. Um but yeah for for what we're what we are talking about it's safe related moving on first review boys and girls club data sharing and um so this is an agreement that surfaced after Monday because Tyler Dawkins and I met
072with Heather Powell from the Boys and Girls Club of Watkins County and we are also partnering with Boys and Girls Club as part of the Limitless Learning four-year project that we have and we had the idea um Boys and Girls Club of Wakam County had partnered previously with Mount Baker um with a 21st century grant and they were providing after school support both academic and and other activities and that came to a conclusion a couple of years ago. There was not a 21st century grant opening last year but they have opened it up this year. Um they have a grant writer and we will be uh working with them with serving students at the elementary and at the middle school. That's the plan. Um it will be to provide some uh again academic support as
073well as some activities uh social emotional arts, STEM um some career outlook. So different things that um will provide support both after school and then probably in the morning or Fridays as well. So um could be really helpful. will will have some pieces that we have to figure out as we put the the grant together, transportation and things of that nature. But this is the data sharing agreement so that we can have the teachers that they employ work with our teachers to understand students are and how to help them meet the targets of to close gaps. So that's what this is. So this for ML students, will there be specific supports for ML students? So there will we have um ML students participating. So they have um criteria around students who are one and two
074grades behind. So there's a population that is targeted in the 21st century ranch and then it's also open to some siblings as well. So we're working through what that could look like. But we're talking about approximately 160 students. What was the provider previously of after school activities that was available at YMCA? Thank you. Okay. Yeah. So, this is a five-year endeavor. And does YMCA not offer that anymore? I'm sorry. Does YMCA not offer that? That wasn't that wasn't the model YMCA. That was just a um activity child care option for B. Okay. Um the one question I had was like the data sharing um attendance grades, behavioral assessment, report cards. um is can we share those things with the outside organization or do we need like written like authorization for the parents that are going
075to do that? So this is actually what we're providing is academic and other supports for them and so that's why the agreement is coming before you to allow us to have that relationship so that we can engage in that. We wouldn't have like no one's being forced to join. So families that do want to have their kids be involved there's an expectation of 85% participation. So there will be some orientation and some sharing of what what is involved in the programming. So are we giving access without friendly consent for the data or do they share the data after the child? So what we're talking about is how do we communicate with boys and girls club and their teaching staff where students are at any given time. So this is a component of applying for the
076grant. you're jumping way ahead to us actually engaging with this work without having talked to parents yet to be involved. So we still have to go through we have to get the grant and then we have to engage with families to know what the possibility is and then all that information will be shared that in order to do that coordination we need to be able to share progress of students and what they're working on where they're at. So to get the grant we will be sharing the death on children. So to get the grant we need an agreement that says we're willing to do that. Sure. So this is just that we would be willing to share the data if the grant is received. Yeah. Anonymous the kids names like I mean no we have
077a student that you know Billy is two grade levels behind and they're they're needing specific supports. They'll be in a group by grade level. So it's very targeted support. So would Billy's parents know before we gave them anything? Everybody Yeah. Everybody who was going to have their kids engage and got to know what the purpose and intent is and how it designed. Boys and Girls Club does a summer school program. Same kind of thing. Yeah. Moving on. First reading of policy procedure 2020 course design selection and adoption. Good evening. Tonight we have two policies for you. Both of these policies are essential and both of these policies are updates to our existing policies. Um the for both of them they are based off of um Senate Bill 5462 and Senate Bill 23 or House Bill
0782331. And I'm going to tell you a little bit about what those bills are and what they have in them. And then I'll go into the specific changes um that was made to the policy 2020. So, engross Senate Bill 5462 uh promoting inclusive learning standards and instructional materials in public schools. And what the bill basically says is the state is going to review the learning standards and they're going to rewrite them and they're going to look for eliminating bias and make the standards more inclusive for all learners. Um if you read um and gross Senate Bill 5462, it's broken up into basically probably five sections. Um the first one talks about board responsibility. Um and it gives the board the responsibility of establishing the curriculum standards consistent with OSPI rules. Um and those curriculum standards
079should meet the relevant needs of students and ensure quality education for each student. Um the second portion bullet in 5462 talks about instructional material policy and committee and establishing that. Um 5462 prohibits discrimination and so any any curriculum or targeted learning targets that are developed um cannot discriminate against any other culture or protected classes. Um and then it finally directs WASDA um to create a policy that aligns with um Senate Bill 5462. Um the last little bit is it of the of the bill is it has a timeline for OSBI and WAZDA to update local to update this and then from that local districts have a timeline that we need to adopt a policy that aligns with this bill and then we report to OSPI 10 days after um the board adopts it. Um and
080and I don't know if that is individual like once the board adopts it or if OSBI will send in out a survey and so I'll gather more information on that. Unknown. Do we know what the deadlines are or the dates that we're working with? Yeah. The fall OSBI had to establish it I believe by June 2025 and then school districts will be asked to report I want to say by October but I can I can get that to you. Um so that's that's the one bill wants to modify it based on the second um and grow substitute house bill 2331. Um that deals with modifying requirements for public school instructional and supplemental instructional materials. And this one 2331 is in my opinion really what was used to modify um 2020 school board policy and procedure
0812020. um 2331 a little bit about it is it outlines how school boards adopt curriculum. Um and it talks about again discrimination is prohibited in schools. Um it talks about school boards, school district board of directors uh their duties um to adopt similar to the previous bill. Um, and then 2331 outline supplemental instructional material. And what it what it does is it provides a a review process for supplemental um curriculum and a process for removing it. Um, and previously we had not had that process though we have followed the same process and I'll get more into that in a minute. Um the other piece of 2331 is it talks about again the instructional materials committee and requirements of who's on that committee and how we get those how we get people on the committee. Um
082and then um it also talks about a complaint system. So those are the two bills um that was made changes to 2020 and 2021. So I'll talk specifically about the changes to 2020 procedure and then in this I will also share um whether what Radian school district is currently doing. Um so one of the m one of the first changes to 2020 is if a new course is proposed by the and I'll just use the high school. If a new course is proposed by the high school or a major modification to an existing course is proposed. Um this policy states that the superintendent or designate will review any new courses or changes to existing to ensure that there's rigor that there's appropriate instructional materials um are used and that it aligns with college and career
083pathways. Um so that is just written in there. Um, and I met with Adrian on this as well and so she she kind of shared what we're currently doing and we currently do that. So any new program course that the high school I'm just using in the high school um proposes it goes through this adoption goes through a process. Um the next portion that that they've added in is inclusive instructional materials and we must adopt inclusive curricula and select diverse equitable inclusive age appropriate instructional materials and then they add it in there within available materials. So, I think OSPI recognizes that there's there may be not all curriculums have it and there may be a limited amount, but it it does say within available materials. Um, in speaking with Adrian, this portion is part of
084our curriculum adoption. Um, there's a rubric that we utilize when we adopt core materials. The rubric is um an OSPI tool. Um, but they go through this process. Um this just um cod codifies it. When I read this, I watch mainstream news. Do we have a are we concerned of any proposed conflicts in the future when we're adopting educ components and from the federal level we're hearing that will be impactful. I will get clarity on that question right answer that don't know that we will but we know that a statement from superintendent Ral says that we'll follow state law until there's a new law or federal law supersedes that I understand why you're asking. I mean, I could see it too, but I don't know that we can I mean, I don't know what you're
085going to look at to get answers, but I just better reach out. Yeah, to see what happens, but I'll reach out to our attorney. Um other questions on money don't uh the other piece that they added um is the instructional materials committee and they they again just codified it uh but they have recommendations must include culturally and experientially representative instructional materials again including the protected classes. Um, they've tied it to RCW28A 320 233 which says board cannot refuse to approve or prohibit any instructional materials for student instruction because they relate to or include a protected class link. So again, that is codified in there. And then the other thing it did is it it just separated out the protest procedure for core instructional material. Um, and according to Adrian, this is the same process we
086currently use. And then the other piece they have is they've added included the supplemental material. And supplemental material is different than core instructional material. Core instructional material is board approved. Um, and it goes through this committee. Supplemental material is most times teacher provided. Um, and it and it tends to fill in the some gaps. um or it could be culturally responsive to the students in the classroom, but it is typically teacher um teacher chosen. Um and the teachers understand that it must fall within the same policies even if they're selecting it on their own. Yes. Okay. um questions on this first read. So like the instruction materials instructional materials committee, they'll kind of like we've done with a couple other of our of our of our curriculums. They'll kind of meet and present like they'll
087look at five and then kind of present it to us. Is that Yep. Okay. And that'll happen for every piece of curriculum. Every that's our current practice for for if we adopt a new curriculum. Yes. Okay. Yeah. But we when we adopt like a math curriculum and they present to us, is that an alternative core then? No, math curriculum. It could be both. And that I'm going to let I'll get clarity from Adrian. Okay. Other questions on 2020? And I guess as always, as you have questions, please send them to tennis. I find it interesting to read WASDA's updates, but then also go back and read the actual the bill reports and how it just gives you more clarity and then compare those to the RCW. It's it's kind of a fun process. Sounds great.
088Sounds terrible. Uh the next one again um based off of um engross Senate Bill 5462 and engross substitute House Bill 2331 is policy and procedure 2021. Um library information and technology programs. Um and this one there were fewer changes to it. Um but what they did is they've in the policy they added some legal references um to 28A 320 235 which is around supplemental instructional materials and then 28A 320 230 which is the complaint system for the the supplemental materials. Um those were the major changes in the policy. In the procedure, they've included additional language around consideration for deselecting materials. Um, and then they've added a request for review and removal of library media materials. And and they've outlined that and that that request is request for review. They would seek resolution. Um, ultimately the
089p the principal will have a decision and then there'll be an appeal process. Um and again all decisions must comply with another RCW questions on library. So from a community perspective, this is looking at basically when parents are potentially unhappy with library content and requesting to have it removed, which we've seen across the country. and the other the curriculum basically under the same terms when community members are seeing curriculum that they would prefer not be in our public school there's now a process there's a review process yeah and I think the review process has been there this just is codified and and the review process for core material versus supplementary material is is the same core material has a little bit longer timeline um supplemental I think is is 30 days and core material I
090think you're at 90. So there's just a length of time. And remind me again our comprehensive sex education. How many years was that curriculum in circulation for? Is it was it like a 5year review or what was that on? Remember it was adopt. I have to get that out. I'll find that out. Another question. Okay, Jan, you good? I'm so good. All right. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Eric. All right, moving on. Finance stuff. Let's do it. Thanks. Live and in person. Yeah, it's much better in person. Oh, sorry. Last month or two weeks ago was a little dry. All good. Okay. So, we're I've got two months for you. February and March. And once we get into the finance side of things, this this is the enrollment trend. Uh enrollments looks to be going down
091at the moment from March to April. down seven program down one in the P3 some increases in special ed and decrease in running start and dropout re-engagement still up from the budget 35 in the core to an MP3 for a total of 17 above budget So the the February and March have been updated here. Just kind of go over March for the most part unless there's something that sticks out. Beginning fund balances many 817,000. say most of the revenues are kind of to be expected. There was this uh so midway through the year they always evaluate u transportation that's funded at the beginning of the year based on the prior year's allocation and then they then they look at writership and those those types of things and um we'll make adjustments sometimes. So this is
092an adjustment to 1.5 million from 1.3. So that was an increase on transportation and uh March was the first month that we had that increase and so the increase ends up being spread out over March and the remainder of the months. So that's positive there. So looking at Oops, the revenues for the month were 2,947,000. March, you you also do see a little bit of tax receipts starting to come in. So, 318,000. Obviously, today's tax day. So, most of taxes coming in April and we'll see some pretty large numbers, probably about $2 million um in the next report on the expense side. So we've got salaries are kind of leveling out a little bit below 1.8 million and accounts payable were lower in February 268,000 and bit higher in March and kind of when you
093have a low month you tend to see a higher month following. Weren't a whole lot of uh big items increasing that. Mostly it was just additional um activity. We did have uh a big purchase go out to micro computer systems for 76,000 uh 23,000 of that document camp 52,000 for for the monitors or the TV and TV stands for classrooms and there's another 50,000 for for the TVs and stands coming out this month as well. Uh we had um 100,000 go out to Northwest ESD for the mental health counselors that Aaron was speaking to earlier. Uh 21,000 per walk in Discovery. That's our behavioral program that we have that we sent some students to. We also paid athletic officials 18,000 for winter and spring thus far and that's just for the high school. Um that
094that's going to be expense side of things. As you can see that uh so down in these budget percentage this is like a a pretty important indicator. If you remember last year we were actually turning higher than the budget percentages and we were doing a lot of things to try to reduce costs. This year we have already made a lot of those reductions in the budget process and we have a lot of procedures to kind of hold the line on expenditures and we've been turning below for most of the year plus not fall but September ending year purchases the uh ending fund balance is u about 1.81 8 1 1,795,000. So I would like to see that number never drop below 2 million. So we're working towards building that up um at the end of
095this year a little bit hopefully and next month when we get our tax. So typically our lowest month will be March before we get those tax receipts. Part of that is just the way that the revenue streams come in based on we're expected to get that big inflow of local money and again when we get an adjustment from the state for enrollment January. Okay. Yeah. So it's Jan you get squared up for in January for September through December and then the it's updated every month after that. So that's when you see your um increased enrollment, the funds will come. Questions on the general fund finances. Um it's only question, but it's exciting to see almost a 2% difference between y downing here. We've done a lot of work for that. It's I mean it's as
096you know the financial climate really challenging for school districts right now but we're we're hanging in there really it's it's planning over the last 10 years that has gotten us there. It's kind of a lot of really kind develop the last couple years, but taking care of facilities and more pool and all those things along the way and be mindful and we're signing association contracts and things like that that put us in a good place. Uh the budget status reports, I look through these and it's all just kind of business as usual stuff for the other five. So, I'll go through that. Um, I did want to give an update on on the audit. So, we're almost done with the audit. It's it's gone extremely smooth. Um, they they have everything complete for the most
097part except they're doing a payroll audit. And so, within that payroll audit, um, they're getting an understanding of our internal control procedures. And I think they had their last interview today with HR on on that. Maybe some followup there. Um and then they'll select some testing. One one of the areas that I believe they're testing is is kind of what goes into those direct deposit payments that go into um employees accounts and things. They pay um various vendors like for for health benefits and those things. So, it's good to see them looking into that. And then as as well, they will typically select um payroll for for a group of employees. So, they they will select based on what they feel are the highest risk employees for this statement and they'll review their payroll, look
098for backup documentation, all that. So, that's a a positive audit to go through. It's been a while since they've looked at payroll and so sounds like they selected it based just on the time frame that it's been since they reviewed it last time. Um they so they're complete with the financial statement on it. They haven't found any everything in there seems to be accurate and complete. Um there may be like a verbal recommendation just on the timing of the submission from that. So, if you recall, I was working through um where we had part of our process in AP was getting posted. Um the timing of it was was off on the posting and so we did a lot of work to research that, figure out what it was, identify it, and then make the
099adjustments and then then I corrected the financial statements and submitted it to them. So, by the time I gave it to them, it was corrected. So essentially like that's it's like the drop dead time of when you can get it done. It's like if you hand it to them and there's something that's misstated, then that's when you can end up with findings and things. So it was a lot of work this year to get everything really in line, identify that, make the adjustments and then the corrections and get all of that to them before they got on site. So I don't know. We'll see. They they told me it's not going to be any kind of like major recommendation. if in at the highest it'll be an exit recommendation. So when they do their um
100meeting at the end of the audit might be something they bring up to you guys. It might not. But anyway, that's that's the only thing they found so far they did um in the federal audit. They they audited the transitional kindergarten funding for last year. They haven't found any u exceptions there. They also audited food service. No exceptions there as well. Um, under the accountability audit, they reviewed the financial condition of the district and everything seems to be okay there as well. They look at they looked at local levy spending, how we account for that. That's come out clean. They reviewed the state funded professional learning base. Uh, so there's a lot of requirements there. taking in that state funding for those PD days and having the proper agendas and people signing in and all
101that stuff. That's something that gets audited every accountability cycle. Um that so besides payroll, the only thing I think they still have outstanding is um employee supplemental contracts. So if for teachers you have their base contract, but if they're doing anything, you know, above and beyond that, that's a supplemental contract and that's under review as well. But I would expect they'll probably be done by the end of May. Right now, they've released all the audits except for one. So he's kind of just plugging. Nicely done. Yeah. Thank you. As usual, it's been a lot of work and we talked the last few years about how budgets hit audit hits trying to figure out staffing and just got to be a better way. I think they prioritize larger districts sooner, but that we have to deal
102with. It's what we have to deal with it. It was easier five years ago. They would, the guy was kind of requesting to be first and they used to come and hit us right in January and it was nice but they bumped us towards kind of towards the end of the schedule and it's where we remain we bring it up each year but is what it is. Save the easy ones for last. The less we go. We try to be easy. Okay, that's it. Thank you so much. Thanks. Superintendent report. Thank you. What happened? Yeah, that's all right. It was presented as if it's there. Isn't that what Brian said? Yeah. Here we go. Why? Well, I don't need the picture for the first item and that's the failure of the bond. So, pretty disheartening
103to see that we didn't hit 50% but we do have an update tomorrow at five and 600 votes were collected that weren't approximately counted. So, I don't have any doubt that we'll meet the validation number. We needed 2727 to validate and we need in my mind over 50% to then at least meet the the threshold of just basic majority right so you still have the super majority in the uh in the state but um you know I think things that have been discussed already is the the economic climate the volatility in the market the fear about what the future is going to going to hold and I'll just I'll say that It it's disheartening that our own legislators were throwing around the idea of raising property taxes in in an arena where they're trying to
104drum up emphasis over revenue and using education as the leverage point because uh the range of how much the shortfall is what anywhere from 7 billion to 20 billion depending on who you're talking to. That's too big of a range for them to I think use beer as a mechanism to try and get revenue. So we did have some things in the budget that I think are going to be good for us which I'll talk about but the middle school uh what I said to the reporter is that we are making no decisions. going to still need to meet and do some reflection. And uh I have talked to Jay Jagger about prioritizing what what systems are focus on make sure that keep the building up and running and working well. Um we'll pull the
105committee back together again and talk about next steps down the road. Right now something to do with capital levy or something different or so capital levy is really difficult for us. you have to be able to um capital levies are different. So, and it's 50% but you get the funding is distributed just like levies are. So, in October and April, you get a portion. And so, if you do a two-year or fouryear or a capital levy, then you then I believe you run the risk of um not being able to meet your levy obligation when that comes up in the future. So, we see places that have been Arlington's a good example. they have had six or seven bond failures. And so their their feeling was they would do a capital levy because they they
106wanted to meet that 50% threshold and then they would bank the funding until they would be able to do different phases of construction. So they weren't able to even pass the capital levy. So um one of the concepts is let's not let's not teach our community no right. Let's be thoughtful about go to our community. Um I think clearly this is not any one person's I mean this is this is the effect of what was happening in the environment and um we had no way of knowing that five weeks ago or two months ago for South the answers I have in my head so we'll see what the rest of you know what the feedback is but um I am very hopeful we'll hit that threshold for validating and that we'll be over 50% and
107it's just a matter of um you know we didn't see anything come through with changing 60% to 50% through the legislature it is always an item that comes up fact that there was a bills will always come back in the next in the second um so we had long session this time short session is uh is next year and so wherever a bill progresses to if it doesn't survive in the short sess short session it comes back in the previous step and so we'll be considered and so we know that's going to an item and we'll have some we'll have some information to share. So stay tuned on this one. It'll be interesting to see tomorrow night where things things land on there. Some of this is going to be like show and tell. Um
108so more classroom visits. So I went to Lisa Maxwell's um classroom was a first grade classroom just you know I taught I taught high school and so and I taught middle school and to be in the elementary and being with first graders and they want to know what's my favorite fruit. favorite piano or just things like that. So, it it was fun. I'm actually going to be with um Michelle Whitney's classroom tomorrow with preschool and so that'll be fun. Um we we do have a meeting with the advisory group tomorrow. So, what's our what's our topic today? Wellness. Wellness. So, so that'll be good. Um, but it really is uh, you know, Kurt was sharing with staff this morning with our directors just spending some time in middle school and high school. Just it's fun
109to be back with kids. So, we always have that option, but it's it's not always not always easy to do. Um, legislative update. You know, the the thing that's probably most frustrating as a as a educational leader in the state of Washington right now is to to hear uh the legislators or the governor say patting themselves on the back. You know, hey, we we bought two 2.6 or 2.5 billion in for education and 2.09 of it was required by state law. And so really barely 400 million is what they brought in for 1.1 million students. It's just it's just inadequate. And so, um, overall K12 spending went down slightly. Um, but my number was original and I did go back and and modify this. So, special education, like I said, we did see some things
110that worked. So, the 16% cap went away. So part of the bill for special education, what that means if you're a district and you have a population of students who are being served with special education services and it exceeds 16% prior to this law, let's say you're serving students of 20%. You would have to use your own funding from your levy or other funds to to meet those students who were beyond we don't label which kids are beyond the 16% but to meet the full scope you would have to use your funding. So now it'll eliminate that. Okay. So now they're eligible for funding. We just need more special ed funding. So uh it's a it's a step in the right direction. Mock uh almost 80 million um equates to about 35 or $40. So
111um and we know just with insurance costs across the state 15 to 40% increases. It doesn't even cover insurance costs. So um and then local effort assistance that is an effort to allow districts that are land poor and may collect levy funding to have additional support to help equalize what happens with um larger districts. So you take a metro like a Belleview or a Seattle, they're super excited about the the levy change because they can go to their community and say, "Hey, we want to raise the levy." Um, and for a lot of people that live in in those areas, we have the high assessed value, it's pennies on the dollar, and so they're super excited to to vote for that. Whereas in a district where it's it's hard for your community. And so it
112actually just exacerbates the distance between districts that have high assess values and those don't. So, um, a way to make that work is to have a higher local effort assistance value. So, um, what we said probably a month ago is we know that, well, we hoped that they would get done on the 27th and now it's going to take some time. We need the governor to sign it into law and we need OSPI to do some assessments for what each district's going to receive and we'll know better where we're at. So, we would be one of those effort assistant to some degree. Well, we've had, you know, we've had some really good influx of business in and building in our district the last four or five years. So, we've seen 24% increase in assessed value
113for some years. So, so maybe we'll have to see. So, that's why we need that calculations to be able to know for sure. Yeah. The big three is just really just a mocking because we one of the things that went really well across all is educational leaders whether they're superintendent or they were lobbyists or they were people working in central office or educators WA WASDA doesn't matter everyone spoke about transportation M socks special ed um and that that was better than ever before been know this a long time and haven't seen all of the educational associations speak with one voice and so um that was good and I think it's going to help as we move into the future but again we're in we're in the long game and there is already talk about a
114mccclary 2.0 each one of 2.0 That's right. It was the first one I get. It wasn't actually. Uh, MSO, special ed, and and transportation, those are all um required, constitutionally required to be funded, and they're not being funded. So, there's a it's one of the reasons why those were a big area of emphasis as well. Um, so we'll leave that alone and uh we'll see where things fall and we'll go from there, right, Dan? Um, one of the exciting pieces, uh, Sean Dawing from the high school, Jill Hammock, who is our assistant principal of the middle school, and Heather Pow from the Boys and Girls Club, and then Heidi Ethan, who is vice president of instruction at BTC. We make up the Limitless Girl from Meridian. And so, um, this is a Oh, boy. Hope
115I mess this up, Joe. So this is a very crude rendering of uh the the emphasis on our our limitless. Let me just stop there. It's good. Um and so it's that idea of how do we prepare and actually we heard from our multilingual students today. We want to hear more about college stuff sooner. We need that across our system and that's part of what we've envisioned on this. So this I'm I'm really excited that you're seeing this version of this image because you're going to see Lisa's impact on this as we as we develop it some more. But the idea is that we look at late elementary and we have exposure and we have exploration and we have ways for us to have students think about what it is that they do and what
116they might want to do and then moving into planning and preparation. And you can see that you know the arrows going whether it's college or it's trade school or it's military or it's um we really want to get into I mean I want to get away from the high school beyond plan and talk about what's your pathway. Let's be career focused. If you want to be a doctor then your career focus means you're going to go to university. So you'll want to plan for colleges that do that or for uh courses that do that. If if you really want to be um a welder that that does work uh whether it's in commercial or underwater or whatever the case may be, then you're going to maybe go for an apprenticeship. And your pathway is determined
117by your career path, not how many kids we have going to a second year and a fouryear. Super important, but it doesn't fit every child. And so we we want to use this as a way that really embeds the work. And so we think about, okay, our community based organization, the Boys and Girls Club, they have career explorations. They serve fourth and fifth graders and sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. The activities they do help students also get interests around things that we'll we'll be doing in our schools. BTC, we're going to develop dual credit courses that have alignment for students that are going from nth grade to 10th grade. and then potentially to the skill center or to running start or to BTC. But it's not, hey, you're you're you're graduating. What do you want
118to do? It's actually a conversation we've had throughout the whole time. So that's the that's the image. So we're working on Cool. So um you had just mentioned whether they wanted to go to the technical for a technical um on campus for BTC running start. Are we doing anything to advance our college in the classroom offerings so we can keep kids on campus and engage? We have that as well. We also had some here. You might have to remind me. We had some um Everick Community College who we had course work through stopped offering it and so we scrambled to work with Central East Eastern. I'll have to same question. I'll have to ask Adrian on some of those but we do have some culture in high school classes as well. It's really great to
119keep students on campus as much as we can. Yeah. Um Michelle on that topic can can um since we have um everybody there can we remind us what the financial responsibility is when somebody goes to like Watcom is even if it's for like one class. So we have um so if a student is running start we retain 7%. Is that correct? Did you say seven? Seven seven%. That's that's all we keep. Correct. Yeah. So even if they keep just do one class up to like three classes. I think it's prorated at that point. But there is there is a super FTE that can happen for a student that's that's in Running Start that helps us maintain a little bit more of that FTE. Um, so if it's a full-time if it's a full-time Running Start
120student, then basically we would pay Walker Community College 93% of the aortionment that we get. We would save 7%. Now, if somebody's like 5050, we would get to keep a little bit more than half. Okay? College in the classroom, we keep it all. Right. Um and that's about like 10 grand, let's just say, right? Yeah. Okay. And so if that kid fails, we lose 10 grand. Okay. Um, so what's to say? Let's say the kid's a junior and they they go to um Wacom and they fail the first time and then they become a senior. So let's say, okay, let's go back. Let me back up. They go junior and we say, okay, shame on us. That like shame on us uh syndrome. And then next year they go again and because it gives them
121an opportunity like like put them like on a P like a PIP and then if they increase and get better but then they fail again now the financial responsibility falls on them. Can that happen or is that like is that like a not can that not happen? So there there are different phases that can that can happen. So first off, each time that there is uh someone not meeting their courseworks, they're they're getting farther and farther behind. So then now you're talking about someone that's not not quote unquote on track and a higher at a higher risk of dropping out or doing re-engagement. And then at that point, we have a program through BTC called uh re-engagement or impact. And students would then have an opportunity um at no cost to go and obtain a
122GED, which is not going to give them as many opportunities as a diploma. Um but will allow them to continue uh as a student at BTC to uh obtain an AA to which they could get a diploma and an AA degree. The problem is we aren't seeing that happen with hardly any of our students. the persistence the persistence to move to that that far down the road. So um some of the some of the pieces around running start I think um running start was devised with a type of student in mind and is an option for families that uh we can't deny. But we have students who aren't successful. We have students who were super successful um and being able to provide um supports and uh check-ins along the way is super difficult because they
123essentially are college student at that point. They're not in our system anymore. We don't interact with them. And so it's it's a conundrum and it it's a struggle but but there are also some kids who are really successful at it. So yeah but if the kids are in Running Start they have failed. You're saying they can go to BTC without cost because it was my understanding there still are financial responsibility until a certain age. So we are required to cover the costs of Korean. Oh, I meant no cost of stew, right? But it's costing us. Of course it is. Okay. So, it's going to cost us over and over and over. And I guess that's where I'm getting at. It's like, so it cost us once. Shame on us. So, where do is there a
124plan where we can come up with or is that just not a thing? Like I know in like the private side of, you know, financial stuff, we can go, yeah, okay, shame on you. Okay. Next time, shame on us. type of thing. Is there a way to say, "Oh, you want to you you failed the first time. You want to take it again? Let's put up like a performance improvement plan process. If you do if you fail again, you're going to pay us back." So, you understand the implications of that $10,000. Your parents need to understand. You don't you're not given that. This is the financial responsibility of what that means. So, how do we do that? You got to take that up with the state. Got it. But I think I think what you're
125saying is to my point is if we had college in the classroom, the students remain on campus. Yes. Student and the parents are being communicated with because you don't have that that barrier of going to the community college. Yeah. They're not running away. Correct. We can't keep them engaged. Keep them communicating when there's when they're dropping in their grades. I I've seen it at other rural schools where they keep kids on campus with college in the classroom, not sending them to welcome them where you can lose them and lose the dollars and still not see the outcomes you want to see. And that's why it's really good when the parents do attend the running start engagement with this is what it's going to look like. we're not going to have communication with you or your
126your student. Yeah. And for some students it works and a lot of students it doesn't. And Jana, I know you know this. Um where they don't excel and they're not going to class and they're sleeping in and they're staying up playing video games and you turn 18 and you can't do anything. Yeah. So I don't know. That's that's my my talking point is I'd love to see more available on campus. Yeah. I I think um so a couple of of things um we're having this conversation and if we back up a slide to the Limitless part of this is really good guidance, right? Part of this is making sure students know what's available to them. We have students that go to Running Start because they're really driven and they want to do that or they
127feel like um they want to try something that's not as stringent schedule as every hour is uh dictated and where you're going. they know they can go to three classes and spread throughout the day and maybe they don't meet every day, right? Or maybe they want to try and see what different teachers do, right? So, so they go for different reasons. We don't have any measure where we can say you didn't perform well, you can't go. We don't have that authority. Right? It is something that is that is provided by the state. Now, we can provide opportunities. There are so one of the things that that we're really is working on our our guidance. We're also doing the open doors as a way to keep students in our district to support them when they are
128struggling. We have students who are struggling and it's not because they're playing video games. It could be, but there are students who are truly struggling because they have life circumstances and they need to be able to have supports for that. And we think we can do a better job than anybody else to provide that support. The other thing is we have some difficulty with college and high school because a lot of times faculty at colleges dictate who is allowed to teach a course or not. For instance, Steve Lawrence does not qualify with ever community college to teach college and high school because he doesn't have the masters. Correct. but he has 30 years of exquisite experience and probably could run circles around some of those people at that college. So there's some difficulty. Not all
129the requirements are the same with different universities if that makes sense. Um so there's a we are looking at this. There are districts who don't invite community college to come and present on dual credit night. If you're someone that wants to do Running Start, that's a college program. and reach out to the college, have a conversation with them and set it up. I'm not sure we're going to go there yet, but there are different ways that we can look at this and and we are looking at it. Good question. Thank you, J. Other thoughts. Okay. So, um we've sent this out and uh we shared with you Mr. Toruson is taking care of his family and so we have um a little more than six weeks left. And so, um with the knowledge and the
130understanding that Mr. Katzik has at the middle school, um the obvious choice was to re-engage him at the middle school and to help them finish strong. And then, um with Shawn, we uh Mr. We are supporting him. Both Kurt and I and Aaron on occasion are going over and supporting um the high school when they have uh their lunch supervision or timing and things of that nature. And he has a couple things. We're going to be going to a um I can't think of a workforce at the ESD and and so Kurt's going to be at the high school district be with me that. So, we're covering the high school and uh every week we're like, "Okay, what do we need? Where do you need me?" That kind of thing. So, um uh senior presentations
131were fantastic this year. Um what you think, Kennedy? Well, it was a lot better than I thought. What do you mean? I can't I can't talk for 13 minutes straight, but I did it. And the people were actually really nice. So, yes. I I think the thing that was really um a marked improvement for me was that uh in the past there had been a lot of emphasis on what you did in high school and that was much less an emphasis and more on what was your interest inventory? What are things that you've been exploring? Some students have been doing an internship or have been involved in some things and talking about next steps and that's where we want to go with this. And as we talk about that progression a high school that high
132school on the culminating senior presentation super valuable in doing a public demonstration, right? But to be able to talk about what you've done and prepare yourself to what your next steps are, it's awesome. And I felt like we get going down that road. So just I know like once we understand why you do it and actually do it, it's better. And just like letting students know that's important makes it better. You know, sometimes it's hard. We tell you and we tell you and we tell you and you don't know until you do it, right? You have 15, right? Right. Once you do, you're like, "Oh, this is not bad. Not yet. And you get a free lunch. Yeah. Um a followup if you remember uh viewing the history of state projects over here. Um so
133they all went well three of them three of the teams. So a team so three groups went and presented and and they didn't place but man they had a really great experience going and being around others and seeing what what else was there. And um as you can tell they barely gone so they'll be back at it again. So, uh, wanted to celebrate them for that and, uh, really interesting projects as well. So, good job for them. And then we also had the talent show last week and, um, some photos. We had uh, one of the things that was uh, I think Zoro Pon is a kindergartener that did a Well, why don't you why don't you share it, Kennedy? He like did the I have a dream speech and he like did all the
134like kind of like I feel like Mario, I guess, and like how he presented himself and I was really bad. It was like I was like during kindergarten this I was like I cannot do that. That's all. Anyway, again, talents and assets, right? Giving the opportunity in a state of our students to demonstrate what they can do. Pretty cool. Um, we do have a cultural fair on Friday. I think it's at six, but I'm I'm going to double check that. um it's at the high school, but actually the um multiling multilingual group at Irene is working with the high school uh multicultural club and they're putting this on and they're inviting families and um they're pretty excited about it to be able to talk about their culture is demonstrate a little bit tonight. So, um,
135being able to do what we can to demonstrate and make space for people to share their culture and help them feel like they belong is what we were envisioning when we talked about it with the strategic plan, right? And so, um, pretty exciting to see that come together. And then, so we got the cultural fair. We have schoolboard meeting on the 14th and the 28th. and I neglected to put it on here. But um Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, I'll be at the superintendent's conference and then that really except for the one day trip with Mr. Doing that's all I have left this year. So that's what I have. Very cool. All right. Well, do we have any information from our student board representative this evening? Um, yeah, we have the district wide advisor tomorrow night and
136we're focusing on wellness. Logan had a track tonight, so she was unable to make it, but she made the agenda for it. So, yeah, we're focusing on wellness and all of the things people have been doing in their own district advisory group to share. So, that'll be exciting. And then afterwards, we'll have more information about cool. So, considering you're a senior, will you be joining our board meeting on like the 28th so we can recognize all of your service or what is what like as you get closer and closer to graduation like when are you when are you tapping out? We scheduled that. I just didn't know if you'll be attending because there's like so much going on at the end. You're going to be around? No. And I know elections and everything already took
137place. Do we know who next year's representatives are? It's on the agenda, I think, at the Perfect. Okay, great. Great questions. Yeah, good question. It's been a joy. You're going to go do a great We have information from the other board directors. July 16th, I'm sorry. July 16th. Oh, thank you. I come back on the 15th. Excellent. Sweet fish. Okay. Well, we can sign some official documents and thank you everyone. Thank you.