001Okay, everybody, it's 6 o'clock. Time to start. If we could all stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Has everybody had a chance to look at the agenda? >> I move that we approve this evening's agenda. >> Can I second? All in favor? >> I >> Okay, we have an agenda. And onto the superintendent's report. Mr. Jesse. Thank you, board pre Oh, boy. Thank you, board president Wheatlander, other board directors, student representatives, staff, and community members. Um, I'm going to keep my comments pretty brief. Uh, I just really want everyone to hear me that a huge thank you to all the voters out
002there. um that really just showed a sign of unmistakable sign I think about uh unconditional commitment to our students. It's the future of Shelton. This community is comprised of these students. The future is looking really bright for them. A lot of people came out, a lot of lot of comments, a lot of conversations uh that definitely unfolded over the last probably say 10 months almost a year uh directly related to the levy or questions about the district or a lot of long history to be honest with you. And so that outreach effort, a number of people um actually a countless number of people that participated who supported the district holding whether you're holding a sign, sending an email, sending a picture, uh a text, uh knocking on a a door, uh submitting a ballot, a
003lot of a lot there's just a lot of effort that went into it. And um what came out of that I think is really a deep appreciation uh for what public education has to offer. I will keep in my role and even outside my role as a as a citizen here in Washington state and as a dad I will most certainly continue to fight for public education. It here where I'm at. If it wasn't without public education I would not be here today. And I know that's a story that resonates with a lot of people because we take those things for granted. We forget about what other people did for us that helped educate us, taught us the right way, how to be citizens. The power of your own knowledge to be an independent thinker
004in a democracy. That's powerful stuff. That's cool. Um and so thank you. Thank you so much to the voters. Um everything you did. And I'd be remorse if I did not um at least give a special shout out to Marie Little. She headed up the citizen for Shelton schools. Uh she came when we most needed her. Uh if that isn't a sign of leadership, I don't know what is. She definitely got behind it. She's definitely a supporter of public education and she definitely has an unconditional commitment to the students and is um definitely a partner with all the educators, the amazing educators that we have here who continue to get up every day and help serve these students and the families. So with that, um I want to say thank you again um to everyone
005who was involved in in the levy push um bright future. Speaking of brightness, and I was out in schools last week, I was at SHS, so at the high school and also at Bordeaux. Wasn't looking for anything. Uh, one of those, um, uh, opportunities, uh, was, uh, with Director Dale. He accompanied me over there at Bordeaux. Um, it was great. We're just looking around and we've been having a really big movement here in the district around student engagement. Um, we're always in competition with phones, we're in competition with games, we're in competition with a lot of things for attention or and especially sustained attention. Um, and so, uh, really cool at both schools. Um, didn't get into a ton of classrooms, but we did stay and actually see a lot of things through about all
006the moves that our teachers were doing around to engage students. So, we've been working a lot on what we call a turn and talk. We work a lot on instructions of just trying to sit, how to pay attention, but also um, in particular at Bordeaux, uh, they've been trying on the calling sticks. So, it's really just really just tongue depressures that you would normally see in a doctor's office and it just has student name on it and it's just in a you know old coffee can and you can just pull it out and you call on the student and um one of the educators at Bordeaux had been try I definitely I've been in his classroom a number of times was trying this move out and it was really great because uh student um who
007I don't know this particular student that well but it it seemed like he hadn't always participated that much or at least wanting to participate or called on or invited sometimes. And so he did and he didn't have an answer. That student did not have an answer right away, but that but the teacher stuck with it and had some patience and some wait time and the student generated an answer. Then another student followed up on it and then that student turned around and engaged further into the dialogue. It was really kind of a cool mo moment. It was right there. It was live. is authentic. Um, and it was just uh I think some a summation for the week for me both at SHS. There was really some really good tactics going on there for high
008schoolers. Different moves about engaging questions that were very probing. Kids able to to take time to respond. Some cold calling there. Didn't even need sticks. They know the student's name. So, really proud of our educators. Really cool to watch students um work hard to engage because it's a two-way partnership, right? um that was taking place. So um kudos to all of that. So with that, that will conclude my comments. Thank you. Thank you. On to community comments. As part of the regular school board meeting, the board welcomes community members to make public comments in person and and or by phone as conditions allow. Please see the full script with the call-in instructions and guidelines for community comments displayed on the screen above. And first up we have Nick Sanders. Good evening. My name is Nick
009Sanders and I'm the president of the Shelton Education Association, also known as the Teachers Union. Tonight I'm again speaking to our community. I'd like to share something simple but deeply heartfelt. Thank you. Thank you, Shelton. When you voted yes on the replacement levy, you chose our students. You chose their classrooms, their opportunities, their music and sports, their support services, their safety, and their futures. In a time when so much feels uncertain, you sent a clear message to every child in this district. You matter. That means more than you know. We are very aware that this was not an easy decision for many families across our region. Neighboring districts were not able to pass their levies. My heart truly goes out to those communities. We understand that for many families, budgets are tight and choices feel
010heavy. Sometimes it can feel like you're being asked to choose between sustaining your own household and sustaining your schools. This is a painful place to be. And yet, Shelton showed up time and time again. Even when we don't agree on everything, even when there are hard conversations, this community puts students first. You show our children that they are worth investing in. You show educators that our work is valued. You show up not just in words but in actions. You see your children. We see your children every day. We see the perseverance it takes to learn something new. We see the dedication they bring to their goals. We see the courage it takes to try again after failing. They inspire us. As their teachers, we are committed to matching that perseverance. We will keep showing up
011for them with dedication, with care, with the belief that every child in Shelton deserves the very best we can give. We do not take your trust lightly. Years from now, when these students walk across a graduation stage, earn a certificate, start a career, or chase a dream, this vote will be part of that story. Thank you for being the kind of community that shows up when it matters most. Thank you. >> Thank you. Lori Chapel. >> Good evening board and superintendent Jesse Lori Chapel um parch at MS but co-president of uh the Shelton ESP. We have a theme going on here tonight about thanking this community and the people who um went above and beyond to make sure that this levy passed. Two weeks ago when I stood here, it was a night of adrenaline
012because it was the night of the levy. We didn't know what was going to happen and um they wanted me to speak and I didn't know what to say because my emotions were all over the place. But it turned out pretty well, especially by the next afternoon when it was uh 62%. Um I wanted though tonight to take a moment to shine a light on um someone who doesn't want the recognition or the adelation and that is Maria Little who is the citizen of the uh chair of the citizens of Shelton schools. Um, as you guys know and hearing her speak, she has two incredible children in our schools and she s and she serves as the parent um on the parent advisory board as the president. Um, she has an unwavering belief in publication
013and that has been in inspiring to me. She changed a lot of things in this last three months with me that I was feeling kind of negative about, but her inspiration um inspired so many as we can see by the passing. Um you know, when you hear Maria speak, she talked about her her fears um especially as a child, a parent of a child with special needs, but she didn't let that fear stop her. Um, she made meaningful connections with teachers and parents and admin and staff, the district, anybody who touched her child's life. And she understands more than anybody very deeply that parents are their students first teacher. And that partnership between home and school is absolutely vital to a children's success. Um, her dedication is a perfect example of that. She shared along
014with others in this levy process heartfelt stories celebrated the achievements of our students past and present. She immersed herself in understanding the nuts and bolts of how our schools are funded. But she didn't just talk about it. She put her boots on the ground for these last three months. Actively advocating, answering questions, and spreading positivity. Her honesty, her passion, and her timeless work help ensured that this levy passed. and in doing so she helped protect the programs, the staff and the opportunities that make our school strong. So my first thank you of course is to her to her dedication and her resilience. I know as a community and as a district we are very grateful to her. I also want to thank our district team. Um, everybody down there, Aaron, Crystal, Clinton, Tabitha, Chelsea, everyone,
015the SCA leadership, Nick and his team, and we Cassie, who came and helped organize canvasing, the Shelton School District staff, the administrators, the school board, every single person in this community played a part. Thank you. >> Okay. With that, we'll move on to reports and recognitions. Uh 5.01, the budget update. Mr. Sherman. >> Uh good evening. Um this is the same slide we've seen lots of times except after the last communication that we had. I will you set that for me? Thank you. I had really wanted to kind of lock in our projections and then move through those through the year, but we knew we were doing an aortionment advance and that makes it look just like we're way out performing the projections and we are outperforming them, but not by that much of a
016delta. And so I um I I reforcasted those to include that aortionment advance. So it'll look a little different once we move on to the next slide. Um >> it does say February 10th up there on your screen. Is that just because this is >> No, I don't think so. We'll see >> because it's the 24th today, correct? >> All right. Um Oh, here we go. You did make me feel like a crazy person for like two seconds. I was like, wait, can you afford that for me? Thank you. Great. Um, so our ending fund balance for January was 620,000, but you can see I adjusted that gray line to account for the aortionment advance that we received um earlier in the school year. It doesn't change the ending forecast of 1 and a.5 million.
017That's still what we're shooting for. Um, and the top lines are the forecasts. In blue is of revenue and of expenditures is in uh orange. And you can see that our expenditure line is trending uh underneath our projections. That's on purpose. Uh we're trying to be as conservative as possible with our projections. Um and that revenue line uh in October spikes with taxes and we'll see it spike again in April. That's why it jumps high with uh additional tax collection from the expiring levy um in April. So, I just want to show that that's what it looks like graphically a little differently, a little more accurately than the initial projections because we didn't include the aortionment advance um in the fall. So, still outperforming, still expected to end of one and a half million. Uh
018we're still watching everything and prioritizing local vendors. Um having great conversations with those folks and again has been has been um reiterated time and time again, we are grateful for that levy. Uh 62% is a resounding yes from our community. Uh, I was reeling at 60%. It was um just really amazing to be able to continue to build something special here at Shelton. Um, and that's what that looks like. And other than that, we're looking at uh enrollment that's kind of leveling out for the year. We'll take a look at that in the budget process and talk more about it uh as we move into budgeting for next year. Um, and what questions do you have for me? >> Thank you as always. That information is so helpful. I appreciate every week even if there's
019not a big change. >> Sure. >> Which it probably shouldn't be, >> right? Um hopefully. Yeah. >> Yeah. Hopefully. Um just to reiterate what I saw there, >> we are on track this year to have $1.5 million. >> Mhm. >> Right. In there as the uh remaining balance on the positive side >> after last year not being on the positive side. >> That's correct. >> So that's that's a really important change and that step towards the long-term goals. Right. >> Yeah. And we've talked a handful of times about the the importance of this of this three three and a half year plan to dig us out of that negative $2 million hole. And this is a part of that. Last time we spooked about um that plan existed with all things being equal. So the
020levy was a huge part of that. That this whole conversation is much different without that community support. Um we know that we're not going to get a lot through legislative sessions this session. Um it just feels uh really impossible for anything to come our way. Um, but we are going to move through that plan. We had a rough experience having to cut some of those salary costs down last year. Uh, but that's what's allowing us to get to the positive end of this year. >> And that kind of goes to the second question. Yeah. >> Knowing that we have a levy now. >> Yes. >> Does that give you you had a projection but give you that freedom to really just lock in. We know what we're getting in that portion at least as we
021project out. >> Um, so that because that is a locked in for three years. We we will do and we'll talk more about it during the budget workshops. We'll do a four-year projection and having that levy locked in is really helpful for those projections because without it it's it's really hard to have a crystal ball without a levy um for an extended period of time. So, >> thank you. >> Great. Those are great questions. >> Anything else? >> What other questions you have for me? Yeah, I guess to build on that then too, just having now that we know that the levy has passed, that gives um because I believe in your Friday report you may have mentioned that the principles have been given what their budget is for next year. So that locks that
022in much better as well for them to have a better understanding of the funds that they have >> at their school and also the funds that can continue for our athletics and clubs. >> Yeah, the that's exactly right. The goal for the finance office is to provide predictability for the taxpayers, for the staff, for the principles, and for students, which a stable, predictable moving forward on a path. That's the whole that's the whole point. >> Yeah, that's which is fantastic for ultimately our students so that they have things they can count on for moving forward next year. >> Thank you. >> All right. And now on to the report from the uh student school board representatives. We'll start with Abigail from Choice. Hello, I'm Abby from Choice. The Pathway program is working on healthy relationships
023and skill building. The Pathway students said a shout out to Mason County for helping them get around the community in transit. Thank you to Scott and Sarah for helping the students get to school on time. The middle school has been learning about art artists. They've been learning about Supreme Court cases in ELA and science. They've been learning about dinosaur. Check-ins are this week. 11th and 12th did the ASVAB test. Food drive ended. The team who gets the best food drive will have a pizza party. Open Doors is partnering with the ESD where students are learning about programming. Open Doors and ESD113 are working to help students get their GED. Super. All right, Sophia Todd from Shel High School. >> Um, for athletics, we had 24 wrestlers make it to state, 14 girls and 10 boys.
024And 14 girls is the most girls to make it to state in school history for wrestling. Um, there was five placesers, three boys, two girls. I placed fifth. Amaya Kerrion placed fourth. Adele Anderson placed third. Dwayne Nunes Lopez placed eighth. And Noah Tuitea placed second. Noah is the first wrestler to make it to state make it to the state finals since 2008. Uh the girls team also placed seventh, which is the highest in school history, and the boys placed 18th. Um Tuan Benedict also competed in the state swim competition and placed seventh. And we have six people going to state for DECA. That includes Lo Hernandez, Danny Eggger, Madison Schultz, Ayana Wararees, Zoe Bass, and Josh Ora Hernandez. The DECA state sendoff will be the 26th during fifth period. Um ASB also went to the
025capital where students got to meet with legislators in our legislative district. We have to next weekend, which is a fundraiser for cheer. That's all. Okay, thank you. Okay, on to item number six, the consent agenda. So, everybody had a chance to look at all that. >> I motion to approve this evening's consent agenda. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay, on to item number seven, discussion and action items. And the first one we'll talk about the uh Drake scholarship and appointment of the scholarship committee. Uh and um I'll talk about that for a second. Um so uh as a board this is the one scholarship that we typically um get to run and and get the applications and choose the kids and it's based on um financial ability where they're going or
026not where they're going to school but they got to be going to school and um yeah. citizenship and financial need is the last kind of criteria on that. Um need to put together a couple of people that want to be on that committee and then uh we'll work with uh the office to get the applications out and get some dates set and get those uh applications coming in. Um I will be meeting there's the application or the scholarship roundt on March 11th at 7:30 in the morning. I'll be there for that. Um, so Carrie, if I'm missing anything. >> Yeah, I just want to jump in. So, I've done it quite a few years in the past, but having a daughter who is a senior in high school, I'm going to choose not to be
027on the committee just because I know quite a few people in her class, and I I'd like everybody to feel comfortable applying for one, and for two, just know that um there are no biases in the process of it. But I'm happy to help out with that. Typically in the past, uh, they submit it to the high school so that it gets put on the scholarship calendar and we give them a date range and then there's a point person on the board. It's been me in the past. So, my name's been on the general application and the students email that point person directly and then you give it to other people on the board. depending on how many applications we get in, we try to filter it down to like a top five and then
028you bring those in for an interview within a specific time frame because the scholarship um presentation that all scholarships get pres presented on is somewhere in mid to late May. So, we need to make sure that we give students enough time to get their applications in and and for board members to take a look at that. Is there a discussion this year about maybe increasing that scholarship award amount? >> That would be um we've always done that in the past in the workshop when we kind of get down to that last couple uh figuring out how we want to disperse it. >> Yeah. >> Um so >> and it can't go below the principal amount. So it's based off of interest and you just have to see how much money that is earned for the
029year and and what we have the ability to give. >> Thank you. So, does anybody want to be on that committee? >> I have had the privilege of doing it the last two years, and I would be happy to help run that with Carrie out because you're usually our fearless leader there. So, >> I'd be happy to be on that as well. >> It's uh it's tough and these kids are really impressive. It's >> it's always really wonderful to hear. So, get those applications in. I really enjoy reading them. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh, anybody else want to be on it? Okay, good. All right, we'll uh probably mimic last year's schedule as close as we can because that one worked out and we actually got it all done in time. Um, and we'll move on
030from there. So, we have a committee. All right. on to the proposed revised policy 2402, the English language arts, uh, with Chelsea Brady. Good evening, board president Wheelander, members of the board, Superintendent Jesse. I'll actually be up here for a few minutes. Um, as you can see on the agenda, I have five policy updates tonight, all related to the same um, subject here, which is masterybased credit. Um and so this allows each of these policies in different ways allows students to demonstrate mastery and earn credit. Um the policies outline a variety of ways to do that depending on the content area including state assessments, uh course exams, student portfolios, experiences or subsequent courses. Um having these policies in place allows students to stay on track for graduation. It removes barriers um and maintains student engagement
031so they're not just retaking courses over and over again. Um it also maintains rigor when we have these um policies and procedures in place. So over the past year I worked with high school principles um and teachers across different departments and content are areas to gather their feedback and to get these policies um updated. So the first one is uh 2402 for ELA. Um and so you can see that this is an outline of exactly what we just discussed. Um the opportunity to have state assessments provide credit as well as other exams. Um are there any questions on this particular policy? Not in particular for this policy, but the way they read in general looks like it can be either a credit recovery process or even like a springboard forward if somebody wanted to take
032advantage of this and then maybe want to graduate sooner. Is that is that possible with this? >> Um, I would say the intent is not for early graduation. Most of these are written primarily around credit recovery, although there are in in different policies opportunities to obtain credit. Um, and so typically that would be to make room in their schedule for other courses. Now that we offer a lot of college in the high school and some of those other opportunities, students want to take advantage of that and demonstrate mastery in a different way. Um, so you're right, there are opportunities to obtain credit and also to recover credit. Uh the only question that I had is on the demonstrating mastery proficiency in English uh section of it and it's this in in each of the policies.
033Um students may recover credit within one year of failed course by demonstrating mastery in the following ways and then it lists off the three different ways. Is that you got to hit one or more or all three or >> each of those is an opportunity to earn the credit. So you don't have to do all three of them. Three different opportunities to earn that credit after a failed course. >> Okay, that's what I thought, but >> good question. >> And then through that process, uh, who's overseeing the the application of those tests or or um presentations? >> Yeah, that's a great question. So that's our school counselors at the high school work with students and so when a student um fails a course they're working directly with them to look at what their different options
034are for recovering that credit. Um and so then they have the state assess assessments and so they can work with that student and then the register to make sure it gets transcribed. So that's all laid out with different forms and procedures for that. Okay. Listed here. It's uh first reading, although it recommends approval. Um I don't have any questions with this at this point. Um anybody else? >> So when it says, are we having a second reading I guess then or are we we are not? This is a first reading and since it's pretty straightforward, >> we can then vote on this because typically we do have a second reading, but if it's this is pretty straightforward. >> Yeah, these are all straightforward. You'll notice a lot of the language is actually in the procedures.
035are not voting on procedures, they're voting on the policies, which are >> um straight uh updates for us um based on the WASDA model policy >> and they're also just I mean >> and it references the RCWS on the bottom as well too. >> Correct. That's why we're just procedurally we have a lot more policies coming your way. So, we're just trying to knock knock knock some of them off. If you did have a question or a concern with it, um most certainly we can pull an item. So, I didn't want to take that away from you either. >> Well, and just to clarify then because Andrew was talking about that and it sounds like this is a situation where if somebody fails a course, this is a credit recovery. It's not a situation. It
036would be a different situation possibly if somebody comes in from a different school district and say they don't have a credit but they can show mastery in something that's a whole different ball of wax or >> that is embedded into each of these policies. It is >> um and it is again dependent on the content area which is why the language in the policy is is the same. The opportunities look slightly different depending on on the different content areas. >> Okay. And then that would be a one one-on-one situation with the counselor where they would get assessed and then >> family member would be involved, student counselor. Um, so it's definitely a partnership between them to determine which of those options they're going to uh take or maybe that they've already shown um mastery and
037they go through that process and then they're able to get that on their transcript. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And to clarify, this is just basically an update in the law as much as anything. >> Yeah, just up update to the policy. The last time this was reviewed was 2020. So, >> okay. Do we have a motion to approve the policy? >> I motion to approve revised policy number 2402, English language arts. >> I second. All in favor? >> I >> Okay, you have a policy. >> All right. >> And next, don't go anywhere. Proposed revised policy number 2403, math. So, as Superintendent Jesse mentioned, this is the same language. Um, and so if you have any other questions, you can see that the language is the same throughout these policies. Was there any questions
038specific to math? >> I move that we approve policy number 2403, the math policy. >> Second. >> Andrew seconded. Oh, okay. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> All right. And 2404 science. >> I would love to be original, but the language is still the same on this policy as well. So, if you have any questions, happy to answer it about science. >> Go for it. I make a motion to approve policy number 2404 for science. >> Second. I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay, on to policy number 2405, social studies. >> Language is is the same on this as well. >> I motion to approve policy proposed revised policy 2405, social studies. >> A second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. and we're going to skip one to 2407,
039health and physical education. >> So, the only difference in this is it's covering two content areas. This allows the opportunity to earn mastery based credit in health. Um, but then it also allows students to earn credit by participating in a school sport or outside activity for PE. >> I'm Well, any >> Yeah, go ahead. I motion to approve policy number 2407, health and physical education. I'll second that. >> All in favor? >> I I >> Okay. >> All right. >> You're done. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. On to 7.07 proposed revised policy number 6700 with Tabitha Whiting. >> Good evening. um much like Chelsea just did, the next three board policies are really kind of connected um and why they're all being presented at the same time. So, the one that I
040am presenting today is nutrition, and you can see that it used to be nutrition and physical fitness. Um and then you'll see the other policy being presented tonight by Dusty is wellness. Um and those three all really have some similar components. Um but we decided as a district that we wanted those to each have their separate policy and address their specific areas. So there's nothing radical in here. It's really just saying that we are going to follow, you know, state uh requirements and federal requirements for nutrition services, but it's being set aside to be speak to just nutrition services instead of those other areas. >> Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but this was something where kind of the the whole subject matter was sort of all lumped together and now they're broken apart into
041the three policies all directed by the state. >> Correct. So, you'll hear um I said um Dusty and Adrian come up right after me and speak to the other parts that are really being kind of pulled apart into their own policies. >> Okay, >> super. >> Any questions for me? >> I didn't have any questions. Anyone? >> I move that we approve proposed revised policy number 6700, nutrition. >> Second. All in favor? Hi. >> Hi. >> You have a policy. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Proposed revised policy number 6701, resource and physical activity. Adrien Minry. >> Good evening, board members, Superintendent Jesse, and student board representatives. Um, as Miss Whiting was sharing, uh, this I'm here to present tonight on the recess and physical activity portions of this policy that have been put into their
042their own piece. Um, this ensures that at our elementary grades that we uh schedule a minimum of 30 minutes of recess and that we also promote physical activity and sports through a variety of methods for K12 students. The good news is we were already doing these things. Um, and so, uh, this just codifies it into board policy. So, with that, opening it up to see if there are any questions. >> Uh, I don't have any questions. The one comment I have is, um, kudos on keeping up. There's an entire page of laws and law changes in attached to this policy. So, um, the fact that we were already doing it, good for us. Any other questions? I'd take a motion. >> I motion that we approve proposed revised policy number 6701, recess and physical activity.
043>> Second. >> All in favor of physical activity and recess? >> I I >> All right, we got recess. Thank you. >> Okay. Policy number 6702, wellness, Dusty Trickle. >> Good evening, board president Wheelander, other board director, student representatives, and superintendent Jesse. Um, I'm here this evening to present the first reading of policy 6702 for wellness. This is a new policy that outlines the establishment of a district wellness committee um that will advise schoolboard members on the implementation of a comprehensive wellness policy and procedure in compliance with federal regulations. Some of the things the policy outlines are really that schools will provide much like Adrienne said, things that we're providing already such as quality physical education, so our PE courses, activity during the day for students, safe um inclusive recesses, staff wellness, community involvement, things
044of that nature. Any questions for me? I don't have any other than I noticed it's a lot of federal regulation instead of just state policy. So, um those are worse to read. I will say that. >> I guess my question is when and who would be looked out for the wellness committee? >> Absolutely. So, um, some people that we would like to make sure are included on that in that committee would be parents, students, teachers, administrators, nurses, and other district directors. Um, as far as when we are planning on starting it, we haven't come up with a timeline as it's a brand new policy. Um, I don't know if Superintendent Jesse has an idea. I was thinking probably next year so we would have time to kind of think about a scope and sequence and
045get invites out and make a plan of action. Yes, this the wellness committee is actually some new language for us. That's one of the reason probably why they split some of this out. But um yeah, I think we were thinking next year for us. Obviously, we're already trying to wrap up this year. We actually have, you know, some topics that have come up um across the district. You and I were having a conversation about energy drinks, for example. Um but those are things that we do have to take seriously. there's a lot of guidance around the food and um beverages that can be served at schools. And so, uh those are just some of the things that we just want to think about um as we think about the the best healthiest things. And so,
046why not have a committee do that? And those are things that again are in procedure and those should be handled, you know, kind of really at each individual school because they're just different needs for different populations. What you can do at the high school is different than what you can do at MS or what you can do here at Mountain View. But those would all have student and community input for each one of those, >> right? >> The committee like uh Dusty mentioned, those are the members on that committee and they make a recommendation to me and the board. So if there's any changes we want to do um formally in policy, uh it goes to you. If there's some procedural stuff for us, that's fine. Like I said, if things are at the school,
047it probably go in the student handbook and just put be put on their website. So, but that committee is far reaching, right? Like it's not just a policy thing. um because there's just a lot of nuance and things like who's bringing snacks or birthday party. I mean, there's just all sorts of topics that come in into play for us, but also about advertising against like vapes, right? And so, there's just things and topics and ideas that we should also think about. So, it's good. I think it's okay. Anything else? I would take a motion. >> I motion to approve uh proposed revised policy number 6702 wellness. >> I'll second. Oh, >> sorry. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Up next is our legislative update with Lauren. >> All
048right. Good evening everybody. Uh last week on Monday, February 16th, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council released the updated revenue forecast, which legislators used as they finalized budget proposals. The forecast shows projected state revenue through 2029, is up by 1.8 billion compared to November's forecast. However, the state remains in a multi-billion dollar deficit over the next four years, which will continue to significantly impact education funding. Tuesday, fe February 17th was the House of Origin floor cutoff, meaning bills that did not advance from their chamber of origin are no longer active. On Sunday, the House and Senate unveiled supplemental budget proposals. Both proposals would increase spending by about 1.5 billion to address a more than two billion deficit in the 2527 budget cycle. The budgets do not address the increased cost districts are facing
049for materials, supplies, and operating costs MSOC, transportation, and other mandatory expenses districts have been highlighting. So, we were tracking those last session, and I was using those as guidance in these updates, and there's just really nothing to update on those. Um uh the house budget aligns closely with the governor's proposed education spending and includes smaller reduction than the senate proposal. Uh notably in transition to kindergarten and local effort assistance. uh local effort assistance was reduced by 25.1 million in the house and uh the governor's proposal was and the governor and senate proposal at 59.1 million. uh transition to kindergarten was reduced by roughly 19 million in the House and governor budgets and 39 million in the Senate proposal and bus depreciation was reduced by 21.1 million in all three proposals. Uh additionally bus depreciation is
050extended to 180 months in all three proposals effectively increasing the assumed life of buses and delaying replacement cycles. Um uh these proposed reductions warrant close attention. Uh transition transitional kindergarten remains one of the state's most effective early learning strategies for narrowing readiness gaps. Uh the local effort assistance continues to serve as a key equity tool supporting property poor districts that cannot generate comparable local levy revenue. Um reductions in these areas increase fiscal pressure on districts and disproportionately affect rural and lower property value communities. So bills with uh upcoming executive sessions uh just kind of the last couple bills really I'm keeping a close eye on are uh Senate bills 6247 school district financial management. Um that one had an executive session today at 4 p.m. It uh strengthens school financial oversight by expanding um ESD
051monitoring and reporting duties. It requires reporting of suspected financial misconduct and directs uh the Washington State School Directors Association to provide finance training for schoolboard directors. Um the bill also bars certain violators from future K12 employment and creates a state reimbursement backs stop um when misconduct related losses are not fully recovered. Uh the second bill is House Bill 1795 restraint and isolation. Uh this one is scheduled for an executive session in the Senate early learning and K12 education tomorrow. Uh this bill further limits the use of restraint and isolation in schools by prohibiting certain practices uh restricting when restraints may be used and prohibiting isolation rooms as planned behavioral supports. And then House Bill 2636, a review of the public education system, also uh scheduled for executive session tomorrow, establishes a public education review steering
052committee and uh directs the joint legislative audit and review committee uh usually called JARK as resources allowed to evaluate policy and funding issues identified by the committee and report them back to the governor. So uh finally uh February 25th is the opposite house policy committee cutoff in the uh state legislator legislature. Bills that failed to move out of the pro opposite house policy committee by this deadline are genuine generally considered dead for this session. I wrote too much. >> That's good. Uh while the updated revenue forecast count forecast provides somewhat more flexibility as budget negotiations continue, the state still faces a significant projected deficit. As decisions move forward, it remains important to recognize that reductions to K12 funding have meaningful district impacts and basic education funding that does not keep pace with inflation reduces purchasing
053power. Sustained investment in K12 education remains the state's paramount constitutional duty and current proposals do not fully address the cost pressures districts are experiencing. So your voice still matters through this budget through these budget decisions and uh out outlook isn't great on funding for education. So thank you. >> Thank you if I heard that right. We get to drive older buses. Yeah. Okay. On to board member comments. We'll start on the end with Mr. Wilford. >> I don't really have much to say today other than to thank the voters. That was a tremendous increase in support from the previous levy. So, u I was really impressed. Thank you, >> Director Dale. think we're going to echo that same thing all the way down the line, but it's worth saying that many times. Thank you voters,
054not just for showing up, but showing up 62%. That is a significant thing. To get a community to agree to 62% on anything is is remarkable. So, thank you. Um, I want to say thank you to the Bordeaux School, uh, Principal O'Neal for letting me come visit. I did get to walk around third grade classes and and thank you to those teachers. And what was really remarkable because we just dropped in was to watch the attention of the students and the teachers had it. They were sitting there. Um there were there were students that maybe had different challenges but they were still engaged and to watch the turn and talk and to get to go to different classes to see the alignment but personality of those teachers. Um it is just great to get a
055peak inside what is happening in our schools and it was very very positive. So, thank you Bordeaux for letting me come visit and congratulations to wrestlers and to swim and to DECA. Lots of good things happening. >> Director Gilmore, thank you to the community and uh thank you for the lovely gratitude that was shown on the community comment earlier. >> Director Davidson. >> Yes. I'm also going to say thank you to the voters and thank you to all of the school district employees again to the teachers, to the community members, to the students that all came out and and voiced their support and got this community engaged. And also very much thank you to uh Mary Little. I was really impressed when I went to one of the citizens meetings and just all of the
056effort and energy and she really brought a lot of people together and that was pretty amazing to see those numbers come in two weeks ago. I think everybody that was heavily invested in that was breathing a sigh of relief um at seeing such a great number come through. So that was wonderful. Um I also want to say congratulations especially to you Sophia for your fifth place there at state for wrestling. That's awesome. It was fun to see the pictures for that and to all of the wrestlers. It's amazing to me, especially to see how much girls wrestling has grown in the last few years and to reach a seventh place win in state for the whole girls team is amazing. And the boys continue to do such a great job and for Noah to get
057second place. Um, really cool. We were, my husband and I were listening on our phone to the whole thing and our daughters had gone up to the Tacoma Dome to watch the state uh matches. So, it was really just cool to hear all of that. Also great that the swim coaches continue to put the swimmers um races and things like that on social media. So, if any of us are not able to make these things, I I do appreciate whoever is updating all of those social media pages. And it's great to hear about the DECA students, too. I just I'm I am personally thrilled for all of the students in our school district that we do have that levy support for these things to continue without a hiccup. I mean when I was hearing that
058sports would end up costing potential, you know, families potentially, you know, a thousand plus dollars to just play next year. That just is not something that I wanted to have happen because it takes away those um amazing opportunities that kids can have. So, um, just really excited about that. Very similar to Director Dale, I had a chance to walk through Evergreen Elementary this afternoon with the superintendent and um, and that was wonderful and something that I I actually haven't been to Evergreen for a little while myself. And that school was, you know, you walk in to the school, they are warm and welcoming. It feels safe. It is clean. We went into a number of different classrooms where again just like you had mentioned kids are engaged in uh reading and language activities, word work.
059We got to see a teacher demonstrate with the the sticks um that are tongue depressors with a kid's name on it so that they are mindfully pulling out and and making sure that every student gets called on. So unlike you know when I was in elementary school sometimes you have the same people raising their hands because they really want to answer a question but I have very shy children who might always shy away from answering that question. So it was a good exercise to see that happen and and it was also really wonderful to hear the superintendent. I I think sometimes people don't get to hear this side of things, but he was telling me all about the brand new teachers down there who are doing incredible work. And that was just a conversation between
060he and I. And he's like, "And then this person is doing these amazing things and they're brand new and they've just, you know, really got a handle on their classroom and their kids are doing really well and it's wonderful to hear your support of those new teachers and and the learning that they're doing as well too. So, I was impressed today with Evergreen and Paula was there, principal Paula, who was just always very positive and it was a great walkth through of that school. >> All right. Um, not a whole lot left to say other than again, thank you uh to all the people that supported the levy out there. Um, not only uh did we have the the highest yes vote uh ratio, but we were also the highest voter turnout of any of
061the the uh levies in the area. Um, rest assured, we will continue to work hard to earn those votes. Um, and uh we will continue to see some success uh as we move forward with everything. Um, mention a little bit about uh what Director Davidson just said. uh we talk about uh teachers needing to know the story, strengths, and needs of of all of the students. And one of the things that has impressed me about our superintendent is that that he knows the story, strengths, and needs of every teacher. Um he knows the majority of the students, too, but he really does dig in and make sure the teachers are getting the support that they need to do the job that they need to make sure that your kids are learning the most that they
062can in a safe and welcoming environment. Um, with that, uh, we do have an exempt session, so we're going to take off for how long? >> We'll be back in about 25 minutes. Um, and is all we're going to do is come back and adjourn. So, there won't be much of a show left. If you want to go, now's a good time.